The effect of Beijing's driving restrictions on pollution and economic activity

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Viard, V. Brian; Fu, Shihe
• 署名单位: Southwestern University of Finance & Economics - China
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2015.02.003
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 98-115
• 关键词: Driving restrictions; externalities; Environmental economics; Air pollution; Commute costs

摘要

We evaluate the pollution and labor supply reductions from Beijing's driving restrictions. Causal effects are identified from both time-series and spatial variation in air quality and intra-day variation in television viewership. Based on daily data from multiple monitoring stations, air pollution falls 21% during one-day-per-week restrictions. Based on hourly television viewership data, viewership during the restrictions increases by 9 to 17% for workers with discretionary work time but is unaffected for workers without, consistent with the restrictions' higher per-day commute costs reducing daily labor supply. We provide possible reasons for the policy's success, including evidence of high compliance based on parking garage entrance records. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.