Vehicle exhaust standards and urban air quality in China

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Shu, Li; Wang, Chunhua; Wang, Wei
• 署名单位: Nanjing Normal University; Shanghai Jiao Tong University; University of International Business & Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103387
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Exhaust standard; Vehicle fleet; air quality; CHINA

摘要

This study quantifies the effects of increasing the share of low-emission passenger vehicles on urban air quality in China. We estimate a two-stage least squares model, using the phased implementation of National Vehicle Emission Standards VI in 2019 as an instrumental variable for fleet composition. Our findings indicate that a 1% increase in the share of vehicles compliant with the stricter vehicle exhaust standards leads to a 0.083% reduction in the average pollutant concentration across three measures of air pollution. Furthermore, our calculation suggests that the monetized health benefits from reductions in particulate matter outweigh the costs of adhering to stricter exhaust standards by a factor of two.