Abstract
The effects of the Administrative Examination and Approval System Reform on economic growth and entry of businesses have drawn much attention. However, few scholars pay attention to the impacts of this policy on SO2 emissions. Keeping in view the existing research gap, a spatial difference-in-difference (SDID) model is employed to assess the effects of the Administrative Examination and Approval System Reform on SO2 emissions in 297 Chinese cities during the period 1995–2020 from the perspective of spatial spillover effects. The results show that the establishment of Administrative Examination and Approval Center (AEAC) has significantly positive effects on the local SO2 emissions. The significant indirect (spatial spillover) effects are confirmed. That is, the establishment of AEAC of a given city has a significant positive impact on the SO2 emissions of neighboring cities. The findings are confirmed by several robustness tests. Our study findings have significant implications for the cross-border coordination of environmental policies that aim to improve the quality of the environment across borders.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Adejumo OO (2020) Environmental quality vs economic growth in a developing economy: complements or conflicts. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:6163–6179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07101-x
Ai L, Wang G, Zhang WQ (2013) From centralized examination and approval to integrated service: the path to the Reform of the Administrative Examination and Approval System and the development trend of the government service center. Chin Public Admin 04:15–19 (in Chinese)
Anwar A, Ahmad N, Madni GR (2020) Industrialization, freight transport and environmental quality: evidence from belt and road initiative economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(17). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07255-8
Apergis N, Li J (2016) Population and lifestyle trend changes in China: implications for environmental quality. Appl Econ 48:5246–5256. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2016.1173184
Bi QM, Chen XL, Xu XX, Li SJ (2018) Administrative approval reform and firm entry. Econ Res J 53(02):140–155 (in Chinese)
Borck R, Schrauth P (2021) Population density and urban air quality. Reg Sci Urban Econ 86:103596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103596
Cai YY, Hu ZQ (2022) Industrial agglomeration and industrial SO2 emissions in China’s 285 cities: evidence from multiple agglomeration types. J Clean Prod 353:131675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131675
Chen J, Xian Q, Zhou J, Li D (2020) Impact of income inequality on CO2 emissions in G20 countries. J Environ Manage 271:110987. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110987
Corrado L, Fingleton B (2012) Where is the economics in spatial econometrics? J Reg Sci 52:210–239. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00726.x
Ertur C, Koch W (2007) Growth, technological interdependence and spatial externalities: theory and evidence. J Appl Economet 22(6):1033–1062. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.963
Fahad S, Wang J (2018) Evaluation of Pakistani farmers’ willingness to pay for crop insurance using contingent valuation method: the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Land Use Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.12.024
Fahad S, Wang J (2019) Farmers’ risk perception, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change in rural Pakistan. Land Use Policy 2018(79):301–309
Fahad S, Dong B, Liu L, Dagar V (2022a) Comprehending the environmental regulation, biased policies and sFDI reverse technology spillover effects: a contingent and dynamic perspective. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17450-1
Fahad S, Faisal A, Su F, Deng J (2022b) Adoption of green innovation practices in SMEs sector: evidence from an emerging economy. Econ Res-Ekonomska Istraživanja. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2022.2029713
Grossman GM, Krueger AB (1995) Economic growth and the environment. Q J Econ 353−377.https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-226865-2/00084-5
Hu G, Wang J, Laila U et al (2022a) Evaluating households’ community participation: does community trust play any role in sustainable development? Front Environ Sci 10:951262. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.951262
Hu GY, Wang J et al (2022b) Influencing factors of farmers’ land transfer, subjective well-being, and participation in agri-environment schemes in environmentally fragile areas of China. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22537-4
Huang SZ, Sadiq M, Chien F (2021) Dynamic nexus between transportation, urbanization, economic growth and environmental pollution in ASEAN countries: does environmental regulations matter? Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17533-z
LeSage JP, Fischer MM (2008) Spatial growth regressions: model specification, estimation and interpretation. Spat Econ Anal 3(3):275–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/17421770802353758
Maddison D (2006) Environmental Kuznets curves: a spatial econometric approach. J Environ Econ Manag 51(2):218–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2005.07.002
Nan S, Huo Y, You W, Guo Y (2022a) Globalization spatial spillover effects and carbon emissions: what is the role of economic complexity? [J]. Energy Econ 112:106184
Nan S, Huang J, Wu J, Li C (2022b) Does globalization change the renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions nexus for OECD countries? New evidence based on the nonlinear PSTR model [J]. Energ Strat Rev 44:100995
Ozturk I (2011) The macroeconomic effects of IMF programs in MENA countries. Afr J Bus Manage 5(11):4379–4387
Ozturk I (2016) The relationships among tourism development, energy demand and growth factors in developed and developing countries. Int J Sust Dev World 23(2):122–131
Ozturk I (2017) The dynamic relationship between agricultural sustainability and food energy-water poverty in a panel of selected Sub-Saharan African countries. Energy Policy 107:289–299
Ozturk I, Ullah S (2022) Does digital financial inclusion matter for economic growth and environmental sustainability in OBRI economies? An empirical analysis. Resour Conserv Recycl 185–106489
Ozturk I, Aslan A, Ozsolak B, Atay PM, Turan Z (2022) Impact of fossil fuels and renewable energy consumption on economic growth in Paris Club Countries. J Renew Sustain Energy 14–5:045901
Rahman MM (2017) Do population density, economic growth, energy use and exports adversely affect environmental quality in Asian populous countries? Renew Sustain Energy Rev 77:506–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.04.041
Rios V, Gianmoena L (2018) Convergence in CO2 emissions: a spatial economic analysis with cross-country interactions. Energy Econ 75:222–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.08.009
Shi W, Du Y, Chang C-H, Nguyen S, Wu J (2021) Spatial heterogeneity and economic driving factors of SO2 emissions in China: evidence from an eigenvector based spatial filtering approach. Ecol Ind 129:108001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108001
Song J, Peng R, Qian L, Yan F, Ozturk I et al (2022a) Households production factor mismatches and relative poverty nexus: a novel approach. Pol J Environ Stud. https://doi.org/10.15244/pjoes/146987
Song J, Geng L et al (2022b) Fiscal decentralization and economic growth revisited: an empirical analysis of poverty governance. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18470-7
State Council (2007) Circulation of the 11th five-year comprehensive work plan for energy conservation and emission reduction. Retrieved from: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2007-06/03/content_634545.htm in 2012 (in Chinese)
State Council (2011) Circulation of the 12th five-year comprehensive work plan for energy conservation and emission reduction. Retrieved from: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2011-09/07/content_1941731.htm in 2012 (in Chinese)
Stern DI (2004) The rise and fall of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Dev 8:1419–1439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.03.004
Su F, Liang X, Cai S, Chen S et al (2021) Assessment of parent-subsidiary companies’ geographical distance effect on corporate social responsibility: a case of A-share listed companies. Econ Res-Ekonomska Istraživanja. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2021.2019597
Su F, Song N, Shang H et al (2022) The impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate social responsibility: a new evidence from food industry in China. PLoS One 17(6):e0269165. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269165
Su F, Chang J, Li X, Fahad S, Ozturk I (2023) Assessment of diverse energy consumption structure and social capital: a case of southern Shaanxi province China. Energy 262(Part B):125506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2022.125506
Tang YL (2014) The basic experience and optimal path of the reform of the central government’s Administrative Examination and Approval System since 2001. Theor Investig 05:148–153 (in Chinese)
Tao M, Chen L, Su L, Tao J (2012) Satellite observation of regional haze pollution over the North China Plain. J Geophys Res: Atmos 117:12203. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017915
Wang YJ, Feng X (2018) The reform of administration approval system and firms’ innovation. China Ind Econ 02:24–42 (in Chinese)
Wang W, Rahman MA et al (2022) The dynamic influence of renewable energy, trade openness, and industrialization on the sustainable environment in G-7 economies. Renew Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2022.08.067
Xia JC, Liu C (2017) Administrative approval reform, transaction costs and China’s economic growth. Manage World 04:47–59 (in Chinese)
Yang Y, Che M (2020) Administrative Examination and Approval Reform and institutional transaction cost: based on the perspective of efficiency evaluation. Reform Econ Syst 01:13–20 (in Chinese)
Yang K, Dickerson R, Carn A, Ge C, Wang J (2013) First observations of SO2 from the satellite Suomi NPP OMPS: widespread air pollution events over China. Geophys Res Lett 40:4957–4962. https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50952
Yang K et al (2022) Assessing the oil fume exposure impacts on Chinese women health: an influential mechanism analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19368-8
You W, Lv Z (2018) Spillover effects of economic globalization on CO2 emissions: a spatial panel approach. Energy Econ 73:248–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.05.016
You WH, Zhu HM, Yu K, Peng C (2015) Democracy, financial openness, and global carbon dioxide emissions: heterogeneity across existing emission levels. World Dev 66:189–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.08.013
You W, Zhang Y, Lee CC (2022) The dynamic impact of economic growth and economic complexity on CO2 emissions: an advanced panel data estimation. Econ Anal Policy 73:112–128
Zhang KZ (2003) Reform of Administrative Examination and Approval System: the government’s transformation from control to service. Theory Reform 06:42–45 (in Chinese)
Zhao HR, Guo S, Zhao HR (2018) Impacts of GDP, fossil fuel energy consumption, energy consumption intensity, and economic structure on SO2 emissions: a multi-variate panel data model analysis on selected Chinese provinces. Sustainability, MDPI 10(3):1–20
Zhu HM, You WH, Zeng ZF (2012) Urbanization and CO2 emissions: a semi-parametric panel data analysis. Econ Lett 117(3):848–850
Funding
This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) “Research Fund for International Young Scientists” (Grant No. 72250410374); National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19BJL044); Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project of China (Grant No. 21YJC630035, 19YJC630206, 21YJC630035).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The manuscript has four contributions including the following: Fenfen Ma: innovation and main idea of the paper, data analyses, literature review and methodology sections, interpretation of the estimation results, discussion, and conclusion sections; Wanhai You and Shah Fahad: introduction, review and editing, validation, and discussion of results; and Mancang Wang and Shijing Nan: review and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
No ethical approval was necessary for this study.
Consent to participate
All participants in this study consent to participation.
Consent for publication
All authors consent to this publication.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Ilhan Ozturk
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Ma, F., You, W., Fahad, S. et al. Quantifying the effect of administrative approval reforms on SO2 emissions: a quasi-experiment in Chinese cities. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 30741–30754 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24348-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24348-z