Environmental Inequality in China: A “Pyramid Model” and Nationwide Pilot Analysis of Prefectures with Sources of Industrial Pollution
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Logic of Modelling EJ in China
2.1 Non-Applicability of U.S. EJ Models to China
2.1.1. Race-Based EJ Model
2.1.2. EJ Model from an Income Perspective
2.2. Socioeconomic Perspectives of EJ in China
2.2.1. Household Registration System
2.2.2. Migrant Population in China
2.2.3. Urban and Rural Differences
2.2.4. Regional Disparities
3. “Pyramid Model” and Dataset
3.1. Baseline “Pyramid Model”
3.2. Expanded “Pyramid Model” Based on Three Factors
3.2.1. Functional Form
3.2.2. Basic Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors
3.2.3. Control Indicators Following U.S. EJ Principles
3.2.4. Indicators Based on the Characteristics of China
3.3. Dataset and Estimation Methods
4. Results and Discussion at the Prefecture Level
4.1. Baseline Results
4.2. Discussion Based on a Broader Perspective
4.3. Limitations
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Category | Variable | Definition | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Dependent variable | Number of sources of industrial pollution in unit i as monitored by the MEP in 2010 | MEP | |
Independent variables | |||
D | Log of the residential population of geographical unit i | Population Census 2010 | |
Per cent of middle-school-educated residents | |||
U | Percent of ethnic minorities (Here, ethnic minorities refer to all fifty-five ethnicities other than the Han people in China) in the population of geographical unit i | Population Census 2010 | |
(In China, an official discrepancy has occurred in the statistical definition of urban and rural income, whereby the former represents the per capita disposable income of urban residents and the latter refers to the per capita net income of rural households. Therefore, to measure the income level at the prefecture level, we extract the first principal component of these two indicators, which accounts for 91.51% of the information) | Principal component scores for urban and rural income in geographical unit i | Authors’ calculation based on the Population Census 2010 | |
C | Per cent of the urban population in the total population | Population Census 2010 | |
Ratio of permanent resident population to registered population (The registered population refers to citizens who have registered their permanent residence (“Hukou” in Chinese) with the administrative department responsible for household registration at their habitual residence, in accordance with “the household registration regulations of the People’s Republic of China”. According to the 2010 Population Census [21], the permanent resident population includes individuals living in townships, towns and street communities with household registration in the same townships, towns and street communities or those with household registrations to be determined; individuals living in townships, towns and street communities who left other registered townships, towns and street communities for more than half a year; individuals living in townships, towns and street communities who left the same townships, towns and street communities for less than half a year; and individuals working or studying abroad. The relation among the permanent, registered and migrant populations can be summarized in a single equation as follows: permanent population = registered population + net migrants (flow in).) | |||
Per cent of migrants in geographical unit i | |||
Per cent of rural migrants in geographical unit i | |||
Dummy variable = 1 when unit i belongs to the central, western or northeastern economic area; 0 otherwise. | National Statistics Bureau | ||
Extended models | Log of the area of geographical unit i | Statistical yearbooks 2011 at the provincial level | |
Log of the population density of geographical unit i | Population Census 2010 | ||
Per cent of employment in mining, manufacturing and electricity generation | Population Census 2010 | ||
Log of the average volume of water resources per capita of geographical unit i over the past 3 years | Water resources bulletin 2008, 2009, 2010 at provincial level | ||
Dummy variable = 1 when unit i is ethnically autonomous at the prefecture level or belongs to the autonomous region at the provincial level | National Statistics Bureau |
Model | Baseline Models (As Discussed in Section 3.2.4, Three Different Indicators Associated with the Migrant Population are Respectively Introduced into the Baseline Models (1)–(3), Including the Ratio of the Permanent Resident Population to the Registered Population () and the Percentages of Migrants ( and Rural Migrants () Relative to the Permanent Resident Population.) | Extended Models (Due to Space Limitations, Only the Results of the Extended Models Based on Baseline Model (3), with the Percentage of Rural Migrants Relative to the Total Population (), Have been Provided in the Text, with the Remaining Results Available upon Request.) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variables | (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) |
Population size () | 14.67 *** | 15.34 *** | 14.41 *** | 14.50 *** | 14.43 *** | 14.49 *** | 14.48 *** | 14.13 *** |
(2.566) | (2.662) | (2.562) | (2.613) | (2.562) | (2.596) | (2.941) | (2.532) | |
Middle school education | 0.511 *** | 0.373 *** | 0.460 *** | 0.460 *** | 0.469 *** | 0.457 *** | 0.466 *** | 0.290 ** |
(0.131) | (0.141) | (0.137) | (0.137) | (0.14) | (0.137) | (0.121) | (0.126) | |
Minority ( minor | 0.197 *** | 0.208 *** | 0.183 *** | 0.184 *** | 0.180 *** | 0.188 *** | 0.182 *** | |
(0.0521) | (0.0551) | (0.0523) | (0.0528) | (0.0524) | (0.0546) | (0.0543) | ||
Income level | 11.85 *** | 11.80 *** | 12.39 *** | 12.41 *** | 12.42 *** | 12.08 *** | 12.44 *** | 11.81 *** |
(2.803) | (2.658) | (2.764) | (2.758) | (2.755) | (2.8) | (2.864) | (2.697) | |
Urbanization ) | −0.068 | 0.215 | −0.0195 | −0.0219 | −0.0162 | −0.0259 | −0.019 | −0.021 |
(0.0525) | (0.131) | (0.0536) | (0.0534) | (0.0533) | (0.0583) | (0.0546) | (0.0601) | |
Net migration () | −12.79 *** | |||||||
(3.279) | ||||||||
Migrants ) | −0.560 *** | |||||||
(0.207) | ||||||||
Rural migrants () | −0.524 *** | −0.526 *** | −0.541 *** | −0.561 *** | −0.531 *** | −0.516 *** | ||
(0.194) | (0.193) | (0.191) | (0.196) | (0.199) | (0.18) | |||
Central region ) | 3.132 | 3.514 | 2.857 | 2.82 | 2.78 | 3.208 | 2.854 | 1.905 |
(3.43) | (3.395) | (3.382) | (3.37) | (3.393) | (3.515) | (3.38) | (3.475) | |
Western region WESTi | 13.20 *** | 14.53 *** | 13.61 *** | 13.61 *** | 13.62 *** | 14.23 *** | 13.72 *** | 11.76 ** |
(4.813) | (5.042) | (4.677) | (4.658) | (4.681) | (5.067) | (5.277) | (4.816) | |
Northeastern region ) | −7.243 * | −9.700 ** | −9.319 ** | −9.310 ** | −9.548 ** | −8.723 ** | −9.397 ** | −7.991 ** |
(3.923) | (3.97) | (4.107) | (4.117) | (4.144) | (4.432) | (3.892) | (4.06) | |
Geographical area | 0.664 | |||||||
(1.006) | ||||||||
Population density () | −0.574 | |||||||
(1.137) | ||||||||
Employment in polluting industry | 0.0901 | |||||||
(0.205) | ||||||||
Water resources ) | 0.122 | |||||||
(1.097) | ||||||||
Ethnic autonomous ) | 7.615 *** | |||||||
(2.549) | ||||||||
Constant | −211.4 *** | −230.3 *** | −214.2 *** | −218.7 *** | −212.4 *** | −216.5 *** | −216.5 *** | −204.2 *** |
(38.57) | (40.91) | (39) | (42.15) | (39.1) | (40.2) | (51.79) | (37.64) | |
p-value of Sargan statistic | 0.2816 | 0.3448 | 0.3200 | 0.3104 | 0.3323 | 0.3013 | 0.3229 | 0.902 |
p-value of Wu–Hausman F-statistic | 0.0071 | 0.0086 | 0.0081 | 0.0084 | 0.0075 | 0.0122 | 0.0084 | 0.0886 |
Observations | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 |
R-squared | 0.392 | 0.394 | 0.387 | 0.388 | 0.388 | 0.39 | 0.387 | 0.384 |
Mean VIF | 1.83 | 2.65 | 1.95 | 1.85 | 1.88 | 2.28 | 2.03 | 1.85 |
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He, Q.; Fang, H.; Ji, H.; Fang, S. Environmental Inequality in China: A “Pyramid Model” and Nationwide Pilot Analysis of Prefectures with Sources of Industrial Pollution. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101871
He Q, Fang H, Ji H, Fang S. Environmental Inequality in China: A “Pyramid Model” and Nationwide Pilot Analysis of Prefectures with Sources of Industrial Pollution. Sustainability. 2017; 9(10):1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101871
Chicago/Turabian StyleHe, Qi, Hong Fang, Han Ji, and Siran Fang. 2017. "Environmental Inequality in China: A “Pyramid Model” and Nationwide Pilot Analysis of Prefectures with Sources of Industrial Pollution" Sustainability 9, no. 10: 1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101871