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Centralization or Decentralization of Environmental Governance—Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhigao Luo

    (National Research Center for Upper Yangtze Economy, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

  • Xinyun Hu

    (National Research Center for Upper Yangtze Economy, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

  • Mingming Li

    (Department of Economics and Business, Central European University, 1051 Budapest, Hungary)

  • Jirui Yang

    (National Research Center for Upper Yangtze Economy, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China)

  • Chuanhao Wen

    (School of Economics, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China)

Abstract
From the perspective of environmental federalism, we extracted the environmental intention words from the work reports of China’s central and provincial governments through data mining, and used the instrumental variable method to conduct empirical experiments concerning the dispute between centralization and decentralization of environmental governance in the Chinese context. The results suggest that a negative correlation exists between the intention of the central government’s environmental governance and the provincial environmental quality, whereas a positive correlation exists between the intention of the provincial government and the provincial environmental quality. Our interpretation is that environmental centralization, coupled with its political, economic, and cultural factors, has converted provincial governments into supporters of environmental pollution, and that the central government’s ongoing environmental protection inspection campaign has forced the provincial government to be somewhat effective. We propose establishing Chinese-style cooperative federalism in environmental authority and not only centralizing or decentralizing in one direction. New transition mechanisms for the central government’s authority should be implemented, such as the environmental protection inspection groups mechanism and the ecological gross domestic product based political tournament.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhigao Luo & Xinyun Hu & Mingming Li & Jirui Yang & Chuanhao Wen, 2019. "Centralization or Decentralization of Environmental Governance—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:6938-:d:294596
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    7. Jing Sun & Jienan Hu & Hongmei Wang & Yinfeng Shi & Ziru Wei & Tangzhe Cao, 2023. "The Government’s Environmental Attention and the Sustainability of Environmental Protection Expenditure: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-12, July.
    8. Haisheng Chen & Manhong Shen, 2022. "Do Central Inspections of Environmental Protection Affect the Efficiency of the Green Economy? Evidence from China’s Yangtze River Delta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Li Feng & Ziming Chen & Haisong Chen, 2022. "Does the Central Environmental Protection Inspectorate Accountability System Improve Environmental Quality?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, May.

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