Legislative Decentralization and Regulatory Dilution: Evidence from Air Pollution Control in China
Description
Research Hypothesis: This study hypothesizes that decentralizing legislative authority from China's central to provincial governments leads to the dilution of environmental regulations. Specifically, it explores how this dilution impacts air quality by weakening local enforcement, allowing increased pollution and the entry of more polluting firms. What the Data Shows: The data indicates that after the provincial legislations adapting the national Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law (APPCL) were enacted, air quality worsened by 3.5% on average. Key pollutants such as PM 2.5, PM 10, and SO2 increased in affected regions. The data suggests that local governments diluted the central regulations to prioritize economic growth, attracting more polluting industries and lowering firm closures in these sectors. Notable Findings: The enactment of provincial APPCLs corresponds with a deterioration in air quality. Local environmental enforcement declines after the passage of these laws. Cities under closer central supervision or those with political ties to central leaders experienced less legislative dilution. Data Interpretation: This dataset includes air quality readings (AQI, PM 2.5, PM 10, SO2), records of environmental penalties, and data on polluting firms' registration and closure. It covers 334 cities from 2014 to 2020. The difference-in-differences analysis links the introduction of local APPCLs to declines in air quality. The data reveals that local adaptations often weakened enforcement, particularly in regions with less central oversight. Data Collection Method: Air quality data were collected from official monitoring stations, providing monthly averages of pollutants. Legislative data on APPCL enactment was gathered from provincial records. Environmental penalties were sourced from a national legal database, while firm registration data came from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Meteorological data were included to account for weather effects on pollution levels, and economic data were used as controls. How the Data Can Be Used: This dataset is valuable for researchers studying environmental governance, decentralization, and regulatory enforcement. It offers insights into how political and institutional factors affect environmental policy outcomes at the local level. Analysts can use it to replicate or expand upon the findings regarding governance quality and environmental regulation under decentralized systems.
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Steps to reproduce
Data Availability and Reproducibility: Although the raw data itself is not provided due to file size limitations and confidentiality concerns, we have made the data processing code available for full reproducibility. The replication of results can be initiated from the provided code file located at $root\Dofiles\makedata.do. All corresponding tables and figures in the paper can be fully replicated using this script. The primary software used for data processing and analysis is Stata. Users can reproduce the entire workflow by following the provided .do files, which handle tasks such as data cleaning, merging datasets, and executing the statistical models outlined in the paper.