IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0263883.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air pollution, service development and innovation: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Yong You

Abstract

The environment is crucial in economic development. However, the impact of the environment on cities, especially, on urban innovation still needs more attention. Based on city-level and PM2.5 data from 280 prefecture-level cities and municipalities in China from 2003 to 2016, we empirically studied the influence of haze on urban innovation and its mechanism. The results show that (1) haze has a significant negative impact on urban innovation, which varies with regions, resource-dependent cities, provincial capital cities, and sub-provincial cities. (2) This result appears to be driven by industrial structure. By influencing the development of the service industry, haze affects the level of urban innovation. (3) In particular, advanced producer services and basic producer services are heterogeneous. Advanced producer services have a stronger impact on innovation, while basic producer services are more sensitive to haze. We used the Instrumental Variable (IV) regression to address endogeneity, the conclusion remains robust.

Suggested Citation

  • Yong You, 2022. "Air pollution, service development and innovation: Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(5), pages 1-20, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0263883
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263883
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263883
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263883&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0263883?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tom Y. Chang & Joshua Graff Zivin & Tal Gross & Matthew Neidell, 2019. "The Effect of Pollution on Worker Productivity: Evidence from Call Center Workers in China," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 151-172, January.
    2. Xu, Bin & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "How industrialization and urbanization process impacts on CO2 emissions in China: Evidence from nonparametric additive regression models," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 188-202.
    3. Gozgor, Giray, 2018. "Does the structure of employment affect the external imbalances? Theory and evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 77-83.
    4. Ariel Pakes & Mark Schankerman, 1984. "The Rate of Obsolescence of Patents, Research Gestation Lags, and the Private Rate of Return to Research Resources," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 73-88, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nicolas van Zeebroeck & Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2011. "The vulnerability of patent value determinants," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 283-308.
    2. Diego Comin, 2004. "R&D: A Small Contribution to Productivity Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 391-421, December.
    3. Symeonidis, George, 2001. "Price Competition, Innovation and Profitability: Theory and UK Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 2816, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Jianglong Li & Shiqiang Sun & Mun Sing Ho, 2024. "Immediate Impacts of Air Pollution on the Performance of Football Players," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(6), pages 753-776, August.
    5. Ehigiamusoe, Kizito Uyi & Lean, Hooi Hooi & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "The moderating role of energy consumption in the carbon emissions-income nexus in middle-income countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    6. Chang, Sungyong & Kim, Hyunseob & Song, Jaeyong & Lee, Keun, 2024. "Dynamics of imitation versus innovation in technological leadership change: Latecomers’ catch-up strategies in diverse technological regimes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(9).
    7. Zhonghua Cheng & Xiaowen Hu, 2023. "The effects of urbanization and urban sprawl on CO2 emissions in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1792-1808, February.
    8. Ju, Heng & Tang, Yao & Zhang, Meilan, 2024. "Air Pollution's Grip: Drug Cost and Its Heterogeneity in China," MPRA Paper 121154, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Li, Kunming & Fang, Liting & He, Lerong, 2019. "How population and energy price affect China's environmental pollution?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 386-396.
    10. Marion Leroutier & Hélène Ollivier, 2025. "The Cost of Air Pollution for Workers and Firms," PSE Working Papers hal-05009744, HAL.
    11. Carol Corrado & Jonathan Haskel & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Massimiliano Iommi, 2012. "Intangible Capital and Growth in Advanced Economies: Measurement Methods and Comparative Results," Economics Program Working Papers 12-03, The Conference Board, Economics Program.
    12. Doraszelski, Ulrich & Jaumandreu, Jordi, 2006. "R&D and productivity: Estimating production functions when productivity is endogenous," MPRA Paper 1246, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Fan, Xiaomin & Xu, Yingzhi, 2023. "Does high-speed railway promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Andrea, Bastianin & Paolo, Castelnuovo & Massimo, Florio & Anna, Giunta, 2019. "Technological Learning and Innovation Gestation Lags at the Frontier of Science: from CERN Procurement to Patents," Working Papers 405, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2019.
    15. Du,Xinming & Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik & Russ,Jason Daniel, 2023. "People's Unequal Exposure to Air Pollution : Evidence for the World's Coal-FiredPower Plants," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10400, The World Bank.
    16. Ornaghi, Carmine, 2006. "Spillovers in product and process innovation: Evidence from manufacturing firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 349-380, March.
    17. Lin, Jiada & Wan, Haiyuan & Yu, Yangcheng, 2024. "What you breathe makes you poor: The effect of air pollution on income," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Jakob B. Madsen, 2008. "Economic Growth, TFP Convergence and the World Export of Ideas: A Century of Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(1), pages 145-167, March.
    19. Per Botolf Maurseth, 2005. "Lovely but dangerous: The impact of patent citations on patent renewal," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 351-374.
    20. Colmer, Jonathan & Lin, Dajun & Liu, Siying & Shimshack, Jay, 2021. "Why are pollution damages lower in developed countries? Insights from high-Income, high-particulate matter Hong Kong," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0263883. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.