AUTHOR=Wang Ren , Huang Jiaqi , Zhang Lizhi , Xia Yu , Xu Xu , Nong Tongli 

TITLE=Assessments of Air Pollution Control Effectiveness Based on a Sharp Regression Discontinuity Design —Evidence From China’s Environmental Big Data 

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2021.724716

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2021.724716

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=<p>The <italic>Assessment and</italic><italic>Appraisal Method for Ecological Construction Targets</italic> (the <italic>Method</italic>) was promulgated in 2016, which provided a concrete instruction for China’s air pollution control and established an explicit standard for reducing air pollutant concentration. This study implements a sharp regression discontinuity (RD) design and makes an assessment on air quality control effectiveness of the <italic>Method</italic> based on the high-volume big data acquired from 173 cities in China. The results show that the <italic>Method</italic> has significantly improved air pollution control on the overall air quality index (AQI) and reducing concentrations of PM<sub>2.5</sub>, PM<sub>10</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, NO<sub>2</sub>, and CO across the country in the observation periods. However, no reduction effect was observed for O<sub>3</sub>. The robustness tests support the conclusion as well. Besides, the heterogeneity analysis illustrates that the policy had a significant short-term treatment effect in East, South, Central, North, Northwest, Southwest, and Northeast China. However, the <italic>Method</italic>’s effect is found to decline over time either nationwide or regionally according to the persistence analysis. Therefore, this article puts forward several suggestions regarding the formulation of long-term regulations for air pollution control, the transformation of the growth model for sustainable development, and optimization of the incentive system for improved pollution control and prevention.</p>