Dan Pan

Severe land pollution poses a great detriment to the environment and human welfare, which is a main challenge to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, it lacks evidence to demonstrate whether land pollution regulation can increase people’s subjective well-being (SWB) and what its underlying mechanisms are. This paper delves into the influence of land pollution regulation on rural residents’ SWB based on a nationwide 3,560 individual samples from China. Our results show that land pollution regulation can significantly increase rural residents’ SWB. This effect remains robust after dealing with the potential selection bias and endogeneity problems. Besides, the monetary value of land pollution regulation grounded on the life satisfaction approach shows that the resulting improvement in rural residents’ SWB brought by land pollution regulation is equivalent to 5.3 times of the effect of household income. Moreover, we detect that the positive impact of land pollution regulation on SWB is more noticeable for rural residents with lower education and household income, and those who are junior and old-aged. Further mechanism analysis highlights that agricultural income improvement and health promotion are two crucial mechanisms. Our results highlight the importance of implementing land pollution regulations to facilitate individuals’ SWB.

Understanding the key determinants of rural household waste separation willingness (HWSW) is indispensable in promoting sustainable development for many developing economies. Few studies have been dedicated to examining the impact of large-scale rural labor migration (RLM) on HWSW in rural China. Based on a nationwide sample including 6849 rural residents, this paper investigates the relationship between RLM and rural residents’ HWSW. The generalized propensity score (GPS) method and the instrumental variable (IV) approach are used to account for potential selection bias and endogenous problems. The results show that RLM inhibits rural residents' HWSW. Specifically, with every 1% increase in RLM, the likelihood of rural residents’ HWSW will decrease by 3.5%. This effect remains significant after a series of robustness checks. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative impact of RLM on HWSW is larger for rural residents who live in Midwest China, with low education and less income. Further mechanism analysis shows that RLM reduces rural residents’ HWSW by decreasing their social capital, undermining their rural community administration, and diminishing their village's collective economic income.

Property rights reform has been widely regarded as a powerful tool to narrow the urban-rural income gap (URIG). A recent nationwide property rights reform in China, namely, the rural collective property rights system reform (RCPRSR) was implemented in 2015, offering rural residents rights to rural collective assets, especially land assets. However, whether it can help to narrow URIG or not remains controversial. Based on 2,322 county-level big panel data in China from 2010 to 2019, this paper takes RCPRSR as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically evaluates its impact and mechanism on URIG by using a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model. The findings suggest that RCPRSR can decrease URIG by 4.2%, and this conclusion is still reliable after six robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of RCPRSR on narrowing URIG is significant in eastern and northeastern China, but not in central and western China. Mechanism analysis shows that RCPRSR can decrease URIG mainly through optimizing the industrial structure and improving the agricultural mechanization level. This study provides a reference on how to mitigate URIG through property rights reform in developing countries. JEL Classification: O20, D31, D63.

Increasing people’s subjective well-being (SWB) remains a critical challenge for all countries. However, few studies have been dedicated to examining the influence of environmental governance programs on SWB, especially in developing and non-democratic societies. This paper aims to fill this void by taking the Rural Living Environment Improvement (RLEI) program in China—the largest rural living environment governance program in history, as an example to understand the role of environmental governance programs in SWB in the world’s biggest developing and non-democratic country. Based on 3747 individual samples from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey database, we found that RLEI can significantly improve rural residents’ SWB. This effect remains significant after using the propensity score matching method and the instrumental variable approach to address potential selection bias and endogenous problems. The indirect analysis shows that RLEI can increase rural residents’ SWB mainly through improving their income, consumption expenditure, and health. Compared with rural sewage and livestock manure RLEI programs, rural waste RLEI program has a greater enhanced impact on rural residents’ SWB. The monetary value of RLEI based on the life satisfaction approach shows that the resulting improvement in rural residents’ SWB created by RLEI is almost equivalent to the effect of household income. While the monetary value of rural sewage, livestock manure, and rural waste RLEI program is equivalent to 1.2, 3.67, and 1.1 times the effect of household income. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that RLEI has a greater positive impact on SWB for junior and old-aged, low-educated, Midwestern and Northeastern, and working rural residents.

Reducing carbon emissions is of paramount importance to the accomplishment of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The effect of rural e-commerce on agricultural carbon emissions (ACEs) is controversial, and particularly the mechanism behind the effect is unknown. To identify the impact of rural e-commerce on agricultural carbon emissions and its mechanisms, we take advantage of China’s Rural E-Commerce Demonstration County Program (REDCP) as a quasi-natural experiment and use the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model to investigate the relationship between rural e-commerce and agricultural carbon emissions. Our data are based on panel data of 355 prefecture-level cities from 2010 to 2019 in China. We identify that rural e-commerce can reduce agricultural carbon emissions by an average of 14.4%, but this effect is not long-lasting. Mechanism analyses suggest that the reduction effect of rural e-commerce on agricultural carbon emissions is mainly due to fostering agricultural economic growth, increasing the share of low-carbon industry, and improving agricultural total factor productivity (TFP). Further heterogeneity analyses demonstrate that rural e-commerce has better carbon emissions reduction performance in eastern cities as well as in non-major grain-producing cities in China.

Triggering economic growth is a requirement to promote human welfare and realize sustainable development in many developing countries. However, place-based policies’ impact on economic growth is debatable, and its underlying mechanism is unknown. China’s Old Revolutionary Development Program (ORDP) is a large-scale and novel type of place-based policy targeted at undeveloped regions in China. We evaluate the effect of ORDP on economic growth by employing a time-varying difference-in-differences model and further explore the potential mechanisms and heterogeneity effects. VIIRS/DNB nightlight data is used to measure economic growth. We find that ORDP can significantly promote economic growth by 4.0% and the result is still robust after several tests. Mechanism analysis shows that ORDP can improve economic growth through government intervention, industrial structure optimization, and information infrastructure construction. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the ORDP performs better on economic growth in central Chinese cities and high-economy cities. At the same time, our paper provides three practical suggestions for stimulating economic growth in ORDP, which can be enlightening for other developing countries.

The effectiveness of environmental regulations on green total factor productivity (GTFP) is controversial, and the mechanisms of the relationship between environmental regulation and GTFP are unknown. In this article, we take advantage of the Environmental Protection Interview (EPI) program—the harshest environmental monitoring program in Chinese history—to carry out a natural experiment to estimate the effect of environmental regulation on GTFP. Applying a time-varying difference-in-differences model based on city panel data from 2003 to 2018 in China, we determined that the EPI can lead to an average GTFP promotion of 35.6%, but the effect of the EPI is not consistent in the long term. A heterogeneity analysis documented that the effect of the EPI on GTFP is more significant in cities with low initial GTFP levels and low economic levels. A mechanism analysis showed that the EPI increases GTFP, basically, through technical creativity and industrial structure upgrading.

Well-designed environmental regulations are a prerequisite for achieving green economic growth. However, the effectiveness of campaign-style environmental regulation—a widely used environmental management instrument in developing nations or even in some developed nations, on green economic growth remains under-researched and has not reached a consistent conclusion. This paper takes advantage of China's Central Environmental Protection Inspector policy—the strictest and largest campaign-style environmental regulation policy in China's history, as a natural experiment and uses the difference-in-differences method to explore the effect of campaign-style environmental regulation on green economic growth, and further analyze its underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity effects. The panel data covering 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2019 are used. Our results show that Central Environmental Protection Inspector can result in an average of 14.2% increase in green economic growth, and this effect is sustainable for a long time. Mechanism analysis shows that Central Environmental Protection Inspector boosts green economic growth mainly by promoting green innovation and optimizing industrial structure. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of Central Environmental Protection Inspector on green economic growth is greater in eastern China and underdeveloped cities.

Reducing urban-rural income inequality (URII) is a prerequisite in promoting people’s welfare and realizing sustainable development for many developing countries. However, virtually little is understood about how place-based policies affect URII. To fill this void, we utilize China’s Old Revolutionary Development Program (ORDP)—a large-scale and novel type of place-based policy targeted at undeveloped regions, as a natural experiment and use the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate the effect of ORDP on URII and further investigate its potential mechanisms and heterogeneity effects. The panel data covering 613 Chinese counties from 2010 to 2019 are used. Our results show that ORDP can lead to an average of 11.2% decrease in URII, but this effect takes a period to emerge. Mechanism analysis presents that ORDP mitigates URII chiefly through government intervention and financial development. Further heterogeneity analysis casts light on the fact that ORDP exerts a greater role in alleviating URII in old revolutionary counties that are located in western and central China compared to those located in eastern China. Additionally, the effect of ORDP on URII is greater in undeveloped counties compared with developed counties. Our findings provide enlightenment for the government in China and other developing countries on how to mitigate URII through well-designed place-based policies.