IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i4p1452-d1336058.html

Effect of Environmental Courts on Pollution Abatement: A Spatial Difference-in-Differences Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jingjing Deng

    (School of Economics, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China)

  • Mingxian Li

    (School of Economics, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China)

  • Yi Li

    (College of Tourism, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China)

  • Jun Lu

    (School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of environmental courts on pollution abatement at the city level, utilizing the establishment of environmental courts in China as a quasi-experiment. A spatial difference-in-differences model is employed to control for the influence of environmental courts on neighbouring non-pilot cities. The results underscore the effectiveness of environmental courts in reducing industrial pollutant emissions, evident in both the pilot areas and adjacent non-pilot areas. The influence of environmental courts on pollution abatement is more pronounced in cities characterized by stronger environmental regulations, higher level of economic agglomeration, and higher level of openness. Mechanism analysis shows that environmental courts promote environmental supervision by governments, public participation in environmental protection, and expenditure on environmental governance by firms. In summary, this paper unveils the tangible effects of environmental courts on pollution abatement and elucidates the mechanisms underpinning this relationship. These findings provide timely implications for regulators concerned with environmental protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingjing Deng & Mingxian Li & Yi Li & Jun Lu, 2024. "Effect of Environmental Courts on Pollution Abatement: A Spatial Difference-in-Differences Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-20, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1452-:d:1336058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1452/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/4/1452/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yenipazarli, Arda, 2019. "Incentives for environmental research and development: Consumer preferences, competitive pressure and emissions taxation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(2), pages 757-769.
    2. Daniel Friedman, 1998. "On economic applications of evolutionary game theory," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 15-43.
    3. Chagas, André L.S. & Azzoni, Carlos R. & Almeida, Alexandre N., 2016. "A spatial difference-in-differences analysis of the impact of sugarcane production on respiratory diseases," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 24-36.
    4. Narong Kiettikunwong, 2019. "The Green Bench: Can an environmental court protect natural resources in Thailand?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 385-404, February.
    5. Huang, Xiaoling & Tian, Peng, 2023. "Polluting thy neighbor or benefiting thy neighbor: Effects of the clean energy development on haze pollution in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    6. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    7. Diao, Mi & Leonard, Delon & Sing, Tien Foo, 2017. "Spatial-difference-in-differences models for impact of new mass rapid transit line on private housing values," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 64-77.
    8. Megan Heckert & Jeremy Mennis, 2012. "The Economic Impact of Greening Urban Vacant Land: A Spatial Difference-In-Differences Analysis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(12), pages 3010-3027, December.
    9. Hu, Yucai & Ren, Shenggang & Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong, 2020. "Can carbon emission trading scheme achieve energy conservation and emission reduction? Evidence from the industrial sector in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Qi, Xiulin & Wu, Zhifang & Xu, Jinqing & Shan, Biaoan, 2023. "Environmental justice and green innovation: A quasi-natural experiment based on the establishment of environmental courts in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Shi, Qingling & Shi, Chenchen & Guo, Feng, 2020. "Political Blue Sky: Evidence from the Local Annual “Two Sessions” in China," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    12. Campa, Pamela, 2018. "Press and leaks: Do newspapers reduce toxic emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 184-202.
    13. Qu, Weihua & Qu, Guohua & Zhang, Xindong & Robert, Dixon, 2021. "The impact of public participation in environmental behavior on haze pollution and public health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 319-335.
    14. Xiaoguang Chen & Jingjing Ye, 2019. "When the wind blows: spatial spillover effects of urban air pollution in China," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(8), pages 1359-1376, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lv, Yan & Wang, Fan & Liu, Guoliang & Ren, Ruixue, 2024. "The impact of environmental court construction on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PC).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Chen & Xia, Yuqing & Liu, Qing & Hou, Bojun, 2023. "Deregulation and green innovation: Does cultural reform pilot project matter," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 84-105.
    2. Reinhold Kosfeld & Timo Mitze & Johannes Rode & Klaus Wälde, 2021. "The Covid‐19 containment effects of public health measures: A spatial difference‐in‐differences approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 799-825, September.
    3. Miaomiao Tao & Pierre Failler & Lim Thye Goh & Wee Yeap Lau & Hanghang Dong & Liang Xie, 2022. "Quantify the Effect of China’s Emission Trading Scheme on Low-carbon Eco-efficiency: Evidence from China’s 283 Cities," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(6), pages 1-33, August.
    4. Yu, Yantuan & Zhang, Ning, 2021. "Low-carbon city pilot and carbon emission efficiency: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Zhu, Chen & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "The effects of low-carbon pilot policy on technological innovation: Evidence from prefecture-level data in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. Fan, Xiaomin & Xu, Yingzhi, 2023. "Does high-speed railway promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Cheng, Zhen & Ding, Chante Jian & Zhao, Kunqian, 2025. "Energy use rights trading and carbon emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    8. He, Ling-Yun & Hu, Ke & Lin, Xi, 2025. "The impact of collaborative governance on air Pollution: Evidence from high-frequency data in Pearl river delta, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    9. Gao, Kang & Yuan, Yijun, 2022. "Government intervention, spillover effect and urban innovation performance: Empirical evidence from national innovative city pilot policy in China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Zhang, Yaoyu & Liu, Jin & Wang, Bo, 2022. "The impact of High-Speed Rails on urban expansion: An investigation using an SDID with dynamic effects method," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    11. Fanchao Kong & Hongkai Zhang & Xiangyan Meng & Shuai Li & Jia Liu, 2022. "Can the Policy of National Urban Agglomeration Improve Economic and Environmental Gains? Evidence from Quasi-Natural Experiments with 280 Cities in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-18, June.
    12. Kaicheng Zhang & Kai Liu & Caihong Huang, 2024. "Cooperative Innovation Under the “Belt and Road Initiative” for Reducing Carbon Emissions: An Estimation Based on the Spatial Difference-in-Differences Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-32, November.
    13. Aparicio, Genoveva & Camacho, Maximo & Maté-Sánchez-Val, Mariluz, 2024. "Quantifying the impact: Are coastal areas impoverished by marine pollution?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    14. Chen, Lifeng & Wang, Kaifeng, 2022. "The spatial spillover effect of low-carbon city pilot scheme on green efficiency in China's cities: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    15. Diao, Mi & Leonard, Delon & Sing, Tien Foo, 2017. "Spatial-difference-in-differences models for impact of new mass rapid transit line on private housing values," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 64-77.
    16. Nicolas Debarsy & Julie Le Gallo, 2025. "Identification of Spatial Spillovers: Do's and Don'ts," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 2152-2173, December.
    17. Yan, Zichun & Zhang, Jingjia & Wang, Zehan & Du, Zizhe, 2025. "Does international coordinated industrial policy stimulate regional low-carbon aviation development? Evidence from CORSIA and the APEC developing economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    18. Ai, Hongshan & Zhou, Zhengqing & Li, Ke & Kang, Zhi-Yong, 2021. "Impacts of the desulfurization price subsidy policy on SO2 reduction: Evidence from China's coal-fired power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Da Gao & Yanjun Cao & Chang Liu, 2023. "The Low-Carbon Policy and Urban Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from a Spatial Difference-in-Difference Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-20, February.
    20. Zhenhua Zhang & Jingxue Zhang & Yanchao Feng, 2021. "Assessment of the Carbon Emission Reduction Effect of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-13, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:4:p:1452-:d:1336058. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.