A Study On The Impact Of Environmental Decentralization And Central Supervision On Air Pollution Control

To further improve China’s ecological civilization system by examining the impact of China’s environmental decentralized governance system on air quality improvement and clarifying the division of environmental governance rights and responsibilities among different levels of governments is of great importance.Although our ecological environment has improved significantly in recent years,the problem of air pollution has not been fully and thoroughly solved,and there is still a long way to go in the fight against pollution.To solve the dilemma of air pollution control in China,we should not neglect the important role played by institutional factors.The environmental decentralization system,which is composed of the central government and local governments,is the core of China’s environmental governance system.An in-depth analysis of the impact and mechanism of the distribution of environmental duties and powers on air pollution control will not only contribute to the in-depth fight against pollution,but also contribute to the further improvement of China’s ecological civilization system.This dissertation first analyzes the institutional structure and implementation mechanism of China’s environmental governance system,pointing out that the essence of China’s environmental decentralization is that the central government transfers part of its environmental governance powers to local governments.However,this division of power and responsibility is not always the same.As the central government gradually takes back the power of law enforcement and supervision,and gradually strengthens the environmental supervision of local governments,the control effect of air pollution in China has improved significantly.The reason is that when the central supervision is lacking,the local government has the power of pollution control and environmental law enforcement supervision at the same time and has certain discretion in the process of implementing environmental policies.The environmental decentralization without supervision is not conducive to the implementation of environmental policies.Further,based on the relevant theories of environmental decentralization and central supervision affecting air pollution control,a theoretical research framework is established in combination with China’s reality,and a mathematical model for the transmission and implementation of environmental policies among multi-level governments is established.Starting from the three levels of lack of supervision,temporary strengthened supervision and institutionalized supervision,the impact of institutional factors on air pollution control is studied.It is found that local governments are subject to financial constraints and time constraints.In the absence of supervision,they will give priority to catching up with the economy,reduce the intensity of environmental regulation,which is not conducive to air pollution control,indicating the need for the central government to strengthen supervision.When the central government temporarily strengthens supervision,although it can improve the air quality through the mechanism of increasing the administrative compliance pressure of local governments,the conflict between economic development goals and environmental governance goals is exacerbated in the short term,which is not conducive to the people’s livelihood.It is further proposed that the central government’s institutionalized supervision can improve the effect of local governments on air pollution control through the dual promotion of administrative effectiveness and social effectiveness.To verify the above theoretical mechanism,the empirical test is carried out in three steps,and the main empirical conclusions are as follows.First,the increase in the level of urban environmental decentralization is not conducive to air pollution control in the case of insufficient regulation.This dissertation mainly uses a panel fixed-effects model to test the effect of environmental decentralization on the effectiveness of air pollution control and a spatial spillover effect model to test the mutual influence of cities’ pollution control behaviors,and further clarifies the transmission mechanism by calculating the economic catch-up pressure of cities,and finds that(1)using a panel fixed-effects model,the test results of city-level annual data from 2003 to 2018 show that the central under-regulation scenario,the probability of poorer air quality increases by14% for every 1-unit increase in the level of environmental decentralization of local governments,and the regression results using the dynamic panel model also find a lag in local governments’ management of air pollution.(2)The results of the spatial Durbin model show that urban air quality is not only affected by the level of local environmental decentralization,and that the intensity of environmental regulation decreases among urban local governments due to multi-objective conflicts and competition for economic growth.(3)The causes and mechanisms of the above phenomenon are further tested by calculating the economic catch-up pressure of prefecture-level cities,and it is found that the higher the economic catch-up pressure faced by local governments,the more serious the urban air pollution level is,and the urban catch-up pressure amplifies the adverse effects of environmental decentralization on air pollution control.These findings suggest the necessity of strengthening central regulation for air pollution control.Second,urban air quality improves significantly in the short term under the temporary strengthened regulation scenario.Using city-level daily and annual data,a double difference model is used to measure the air quality improvement effect of temporary enhanced central government regulation,and a panel model is further used to verify the transmission mechanism to show that the administrative pressure to meet the standards is the reason for the improved effect of pollution control by local governments,and finally,the financial constraints and resource constraints faced by local governments are discussed,and it is found that(1)using city-level daily air pollution The test results of the data show that the temporary enhanced regulatory policies improve the air quality of the corresponding cities by 19.6%.(2)Under central government regulation,the probability of over-implementation of environmental policies increases by 31.7% for every 100% increase in local government pressure to meet standards near the assessment period.(3)Temporary strengthening of central regulation leads to over-implementation of environmental policies,thus negatively affecting the livelihood of society and,for the implementation process of a given environmental policy,exacerbating the multi-objective conflict faced by local governments under fiscal constraints and resource constraints.While the above findings confirm the effectiveness of central regulation,they also illustrate that a purely outcome-oriented terminal assessment cannot be the main form of central regulation.Third,institutionalized regulation significantly improves urban air quality,and the main mechanism of action is to enhance the administrative and social effectiveness of local governments in implementing environmental policies.Based on daily and annual data at the city level from 2015 to 2018,we first use a double difference model and a panel fixed effects model to verify the effectiveness and heterogeneity characteristics of institutionalized regulation implemented by the central government,then use a threshold effect model to analyze the relevant factors affecting the effectiveness of institutionalized regulation,and finally discuss the transmission of institutionalized regulation from the perspective of administrative effectiveness and social effectiveness mechanism,the results found that(1)institutionalized regulation improved the annual average air quality of the cities concerned by 4.674 and the air quality of the cities during the heating period by 7.138,which played a significant role in the immediate period,and the findings were significant and robust at the1% level for a variety of air pollutants.(2)The results of the heterogeneity test indicate that both urban economic catch-up pressure and local government’s willingness to govern the environment affect the governance effect of institutionalized regulation.(3)The test results of the threshold model indicate that based on the differences in urban economic catchingup pressure and local government’s willingness to govern the environment,differentiated regulatory strategies should be adopted.(4)The test results of the transmission mechanism indicate that central regulation improves air quality by enhancing the administrative effectiveness and social effectiveness of environmental policies.Finally,this dissertation puts forward corresponding policy suggestions from the perspectives of improving the institutionalized long-term regulatory system,strengthening the regulation of environmental policy implementation process,and constructing differentiated regulation.