The relationship between pollution abatement costs and environmental regulation: Evidence from the Chinese industrial sector

Since the 2000s, China has been trying to strengthen emission controls in response to increasing pollution problems. However, strict implementation of emission controls generates pollution abatement costs. Using regional data for 29 provinces in the Chinese industrial sector from 1995 to 2010, this study estimated the pollution abatement costs for each province through the measurement of environmental efficiency, by applying a directional distance function approach. Moreover, using panel data analysis, this study clarified whether there is a nonlinear relationship between pollution abatement costs and environmental regulations. The empirical results are as follows. The study confirmed that the burden of abatement costs tended not only to occur in the central and western regions but also to increase in the eastern region. Moreover, the nonlinear relationship is inverted U‐shaped; thus, pollution abatement costs increase, as a negative effect of environmental regulations, until a certain inflection point, after which they decrease.

自21世纪以来，中国一直试图针对日益严重的污染问题加强排放控制。然而，严格执行排放控制会产生污染减排成本。本研究利用1995年至2010年中国29个省份工业部门的区域数据，通过应用方向距离函数法对环境效率进行测量，估算了每个省份的污染减排成本。此外，通过面板数据分析，本研究阐明了污染减排成本与环境法规之间是否存在非线性关系。实证结果如下。研究证实，减排成本的负担不仅往往出现在中西部地区，东部地区也有所增加。此外，这种非线性关系呈倒U形；因此，作为环境法规的一种负面效应，污染减排成本会增加，直至某个拐点，之后则会下降。