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The impacts of openness on air quality in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2013

Pei Li  and
Yong Tu
Pei Li
Affiliation:
Institute of Real Estate Studies, National University of Singapore, 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119613. Tel: +65 65168288. E-mail: bengcome@gmail.com
Yong Tu
Affiliation:
Department of Real Estate, National University of Singapore, Singapore. E-mail: tuyong@nus.edu.sg
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Abstract

This paper investigates how openness resulting from the adoption of the open-door policy influences air quality in urban China. City-level information is used to minimise the impacts of data inconsistency and data measurement problems. The intensity of international trade is used as a proxy for openness to examine how freer trade influences urban air quality. Several alternative measures of openness are adopted to investigate how different forms of openness can influence urban air quality. Our findings show that technique effects are the key to reversing the degradation of urban air quality and that openness is not necessarily a problem for urban air quality in China.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 201 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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