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Achieving Air Pollution Control Targets with Technology-Aided Monitoring: Better Enforcement or Localized Efforts?
Achieving Air Pollution Control Targets with Technology-Aided Monitoring: Better Enforcement or Localized Efforts?
Lin Yang
Yatang Lin
Jin Wang
Fangyuan Peng
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (Forthcoming)
Abstract
Weak enforcement of environmental regulations remains a global issue
due to inadequate monitoring and misaligned incentives. This paper
examines the effects of automated monitoring on achieving air pollution
control targets amidst China’s war on pollution. Utilizing the staggered
roll-out process and remote-sensing data, we find that local governments
respond to the advanced monitoring system by strategically targeting
areas near monitors, resulting in a 3.2% decrease in pollution adjacent
to automated monitors compared to areas farther away. Furthermore,
we observe heterogeneity in response across cities with varying degrees
of pre-existing data manipulation and among officials facing different
incentives and public pressure.
