ABSTRACT
Assessing the impact of the driving forces on environmental pollution has a significant theoretical value for the construction of high-quality economic development. However, to our knowledge, no past study considers how semi-urbanization impacts the environment. This study provides empirical evidence on environmental pollution in China from the perspective of semi-urbanization. Also, the underlying mechanisms of semi-urbanization affecting environmental pollution are explored. The estimation results indicate that semi-urbanization shows prominent spatial agglomeration. We also observed that semi-urbanization in China can achieve a meaningful reduction of environmental pollution. Further, semi-urbanization negatively influences environmental pollution in the local region, but it contributes to environmental pollution growth in neighboring regions. In numerical terms, for every 1% rise in semi-urbanization of the province leads to a decrease in emissions by around 0.19% locally and by around 0.30% in neighboring regions; every 1% rise in semi-urbanization of the province decrease SW emissions by around 0.28% locally and increase by around 0.29% in neighboring regions. The investigation above helps policymakers to formulate effective emission reduction policies for realizing the “win-win” situation of promoting semi-urbanization and curbing environmental pollution.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71834003).
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Xing Wang
Xing Wang is currently a associate professor at School of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University.
Dequn Zhou
Dequn Zhou is currently a full professor at School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.