Environmental Pollution Impact And Its Economic Growth Effect From The Perspective Of Urban-rural Income Disparity In China

Environmental pollution,residents’ income distribution and economic growth are hot topics today.They are not only closely related to social-economic development,but also related to residents’ welfare.There are many existing articles that study the relationship between environmental pollution and residents’ income distribution,the relationship between residents’ income distribution and economic growth,and the relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth,but there are still few articles considering the relationship between the three.The main content of this article is divided into three parts:(1)analysis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the research objects;(2)the impact of environmental pollution on the urban-rural income gap;(3)from the perspective of the intermediary effect of urban-rural income gap,the different impact of environmental pollution on the overall,urban and rural economies in the short and long term.This article analyzes the temporal trends and spatial distribution characteristics of China’s environmental pollution,urban-rural income gap,and economic development based on the two dimensions of time and space.For the spatial distribution of environmental pollution: From the perspective of PM2.5 density and smoke(dust)emissions,environmental pollution in the northern region is more serious than in the southern region;from the perspective of wastewater discharge,the eastern coastal region is more serious than the inland region;From the perspective of industrial SO2 emissions,China’s southwest,midland,northeast,Inner Mongolia and other regions are more serious.For the time development trend of environmental pollution: the amount of wastewater discharge has been increasing,and it has not declined until recent years.The emissions of the three wastes of air pollution(SO2,NOx and smoke(dust))have been on the decline.Regarding the spatial distribution of the urban-rural income gap: the urban-rural income gap in the central and western regions is much larger than that in the eastern region,and the urban-rural income gap within each region also varies.Regarding the time development trend of the urban-rural income gap: from 1978 to 2003,it showed a tortuous upward trend.From 2003 to the present,it has been slowly declining,but the urban-rural income gap is still large.Regarding the spatial distribution of economic development level: the eastern region is higher than the central and western regions,and the regional aggregation characteristics are obvious.With regard to the time development trend of the level of economic development: entering the 13 th Five-Year Plan,China’s economic development has shifted from extensive development to high-quality development,and economic development is in a stable medium-to-high-speed growth stage.The impact of environmental pollution on the urban-rural income gap is the combined effect of multiple pollutants.At the same time,the relationship between environmental pollution and the urban-rural income gap is a mutual causal relationship.Existing relevant research articles pay less attention to these two issues.In response to these two problems,this paper uses the entropy weight method to construct an environmental pollution index that reflects the comprehensive level of environmental pollution.According to the characteristics of environmental pollutants,the annual rainfall and the temperature of 2 meters above the ground are used as compound tool variables.Using the prefecture-level cities panel data from 2003 to 2016,we examine the promotion effect of environmental pollution on the urban-rural income gap,and verify the theoretical analysis results of this paper.Based on the estimated results of instrumental variable regression and benchmark regression,we found that after using the instrumental variable,the negative effect of environmental pollution on the urbanrural income gap was significantly enhanced,which was more than 14 times greater than the previous research estimates,which shows that the previous research have underestimated the impact of environmental pollution on the urban-rural income gap.The estimation result of instrumental variable regression strips the coefficient estimation deviation caused by the endogenous problem,so that the estimation result can more truly reflect the impact of environmental pollution level on the urban-rural income gap.In the robustness test of the model,we selected industrial wastewater,SO2,and smoke(dust)as environmental pollution variables for robustness test.The test results not only proved the robustness of the model,but also confirmed the different roles of compound instrument variables chosen by ourselves.This article also analyzes the impact of environmental pollution on economic growth from the perspective of the intermediary effect of the urban-rural income gap.With regard to the overall economy,the urban economy and the rural economy,we analyze the impact of environmental pollution on its growth from the short-term and long-term perspectives.Empirical analysis shows that:(1)Environmental pollution has widened the urban-rural income gap and suppressed economic growth.Environmental pollution can not only directly affect economic growth,but also indirectly affect economic growth through the intermediary effect of the urban-rural income gap.The direct impact of environmental pollution on economic growth shows a significant difference in the short and long term.At the same time,the indirect impact of environmental pollution on economic growth through the intermediary effect of the urban-rural income gap also has a significant difference.In the short term,the impact of environmental pollution on economic growth is mainly achieved by means other than the urban-rural income gap;in the long run,the impact of environmental pollution on economic growth is mainly achieved through the intermediary effect of urban-rural income gap.(2)The impact of environmental pollution shocks on urban and rural economic growth varies in intensity and time.Compared with rural areas,the direct negative effects of environmental pollution shocks on urban economic growth and the indirect negative effects through the intermediary effect of the urban-rural income gap are both stronger,and the sustained impact of environmental pollution shocks on urban economic growth is longer.In the impact of environmental pollution,the rural economy has played an important role in stabilizing the overall economic development.Finally,a counterfactual analysis based on the absence of urban-rural income gaps shows that if there is no urban-rural income gap,under the existing environmental pollution level and other conditions,the level of economic development will increase by an average of 61.3%.Based on the analysis in this article,we give some policy recommendations:(1)Coordinate environmental pollution control and help farmers and peasants work,avoid uncoordinated and conflicting policies under separate governance systems,and establish a sound and coordinated pollution control system and urban-rural coordinate development system.For example,while rectifying or shutting down heavily polluting enterprises,ensure the orderly and stable placement of employees of related enterprises;for the pollution problems caused by straw burning in rural areas,instead of adopting a rough "one-size-fits-all policy",instead guiding farmers to establish biogas through subsidies The pond is used to treat straw and other wastes to avoid negatively affecting the development of the rural economy.(2)Reduce the degree of dualization between urban and rural areas and narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas.The government can appropriately increase the proportion of fiscal expenditures used for rural education and medical treatment,reduce the gap between urban and rural public services,and gradually achieve the unified development of urban and rural economies.(3)Increase the filtering and purification of environmental pollution "before leaving the factory" to reduce the impact of environmental pollution on the urban-rural income gap and economic growth at the source.On the one hand,the government can formulate more stringent pollution emission standards;on the other hand,the government can promote the rapid development of the environmental protection industry by providing financial subsidies to the environmental protection industry.