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A dragon eating its own tail: public control of air pollution information in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

Chiara Ravetti Open the ORCID record for Chiara Ravetti [Opens in a new window] ,
Tim Swanson ,
Yana Jin ,
Quan Mu  and
Shiqiu Zhang
Chiara Ravetti*
Affiliation:
Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, Italy
Tim Swanson
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of Geneva (IHEID), Geneva, Switzerland
Yana Jin
Affiliation:
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Quan Mu
Affiliation:
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
Shiqiu Zhang
Affiliation:
Peking University, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Beijing, China
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: chiara.ravetti@polito.it
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Abstract

This paper analyses the implications of government control over public information about air pollution. First, we model the incentives for a local government with control over the media to affect popular perception concerning pollution. We argue that biased announcements can influence the inflows of labour force in a municipality beyond economic factors. Then, we examine some evidence on information misreporting in the context of Beijing, China. We show that official air pollution announcements diverge systematically from an alternative source of information, provided by the US Embassy. The results point at a manipulation of popular perception consistent with the motives indicated in our model. Furthermore, using an original household survey, we examine whether the distorted public signal affects agents' behaviour. We find that households that depend upon government-controlled media are significantly less responsive to pollution peaks.

Keywords

Air pollutionaverting behaviourgovernment policyinformationlabour

JEL classification

Q56: Environment and Development • Environment and Trade • Sustainability • Environmental Accounts and Accounting • Environmental Equity • Population Growth H41: Public Goods Q58: Government Policy Q53: Air Pollution • Water Pollution • Noise • Hazardous Waste • Solid Waste • Recycling
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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