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The effect of information technology on environmental pollution in China

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Abstract

Environmental pollution has become a common topic in the world. The existing literature rarely studies the relationship between information technology and environmental pollution from a spatial perspective. This paper uses spatial econometric models and the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2003 to 2016 to study the effect of information technology on environmental pollution. The results of spatial auto-correlation analysis show that there is a significant positive spatial auto-correlation between information technology and environmental pollution, and the spatial path dependence characteristics are obvious. The estimation results of the spatial econometric models show that information technology has significantly aggravated environmental pollution, and the rebound effect of information technology on environmental pollution has played a leading role, indicating that the policy effect of China using information technology to improve the environment quality is not obvious.

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Funding

The work in this paper was supported by the Major Project of the National Social Science Foundation (grant no. 16ZDA047), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 71803087), the Jiangsu Social Science Foundation (grant no. 17EYC010), the Top-notch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. China Institute of Manufacturing Development, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Zhonghua Cheng, Lianshui Li & Jun Liu

  2. School of Management Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Zhonghua Cheng, Lianshui Li & Jun Liu

  3. Reading Academy, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Zhonghua Cheng

Authors
  1. Zhonghua Cheng
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  2. Lianshui Li
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  3. Jun Liu
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Correspondence to Zhonghua Cheng.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Cheng, Z., Li, L. & Liu, J. The effect of information technology on environmental pollution in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 33109–33124 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06454-7

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