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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Effects of Environmental Regulation on
Environmental Equity: Evidence from China
1
School of Economics and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi 541006, China
Submission date: 2024-02-05
Final revision date: 2024-03-30
Acceptance date: 2024-04-13
Online publication date: 2024-11-21
Publication date: 2025-01-09
Corresponding author
Chenyang Guo
School of Economics and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi 541006, China
School of Economics and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi 541006, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(2):1621-1639
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Sustainable development plays a decisive role in achieving the Chinese government's goal of
"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality". Taking panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2003-2021,
we constructed a fixed-effects econometric model to study the effect of environmental regulation (ER)
on environmental equity (EE). The link between ER and EE was explored. The results show that the
ER indeed has a beneficial effect on EE and exhibits significant regional and individual characteristics
heterogeneity. Particularly, the effect of ER on EE is stronger in Chinese eastern and middle regions and
in provinces with lower incomes, higher tax costs, and higher innovation levels. In addition, mechanism
analysis reveals that the favorable effect of ER on EE is affected in three ways: government greening
services, energy industrial investment, and public environmental attention. Finally, our findings provide
an important decision-making reference for advancing the development of ecological civilization and
implementing the new development philosophy of a green economy.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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