Research On The Impact Of The Central Environmental Protection Inspection System On Rural Air Pollution

To solve environmental pollution problems has become a common responsibility of all mankind,among which the rural environmental pollution control and prevention is particularly urgent.Many highly polluting enterprises are gradually moving from urban to rural areas.The pollutants such as industrial dust and wastewater have seriously damaged the physical and mental health of rural residents and hindered rural economic development.In recent years,China has actively promoted the Rural Revitalization Strategy and the Green Development Strategy.Problems in the traditional ecological environment governance policy have gradually appeared,and effects of policy implementation in rural have not been satisfactory.Therefore,in 2016,Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China began to implement a special sportsoriented environmental governance policy,the Central Environmental Protection Inspection(CEPI).One of its objectives is to effectively prevent the deterioration of the rural environment and restore the lucid water and lush mountains.Therefore,under the dual pressures of urban-rural pollution transfer and traditional environmental governance policies failure,to evaluate the effects of CEPI on rural environmental pollution is conducive to ecological civilization of China.This paper took the deterioration of rural air pollution caused by urban-rural pollution transfer as the point of penetration.First,the changes of air pollution level in rural areas within the supervision area were characterized.We accurately identified the difference between urban and rural pollution and stripped out the air pollution level of rural areas of 297 prefecture level cities in 31 provinces from 2010 to 2020.Second,we regarded the CEPI implementation as a quasi-natural experiment and evaluated its policy effect on rural air pollution by two-way fixed effect double difference model.Third,we identified the mechanism of the CEPI implementation on rural air pollution and verified the authenticity of the empirical results through the robustness tests.The conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The CEPI implementation can significantly improve the rural air quality in the supervised areas.Among the three rounds of environmental protection inspections carried out during the study period,the policy effect of the “look back” inspection is the most prominent.The CEPI implementation still has a strong deterrent effect and continue to play a role in reduction,even if the lag item of the CEPI is introduced.(2)The results of heterogeneity analysis from the perspectives of rural economic development level and rural industrial production level show that they can significantly affect the reduction effect of the CEPI implementation on rural air pollution.The problem of rural air pollution caused by the transfer to places with weak supervision cannot depend on the improvement of the policy effect for a long time.(3)The local government’s choice of strategy for the CEPI implementation can influence the ultimate reduction in rural air pollution.Only when the central government maintains its deterrent power relative to the local government,and the local government actively performs its responsibilities and implements environmental protection policies,can the best supervision effect be achieved.Based on the above conclusions,this paper has the following policy implications:(1)The reform of the CEPI mechanism needs to be further deepened to ensure the orderly development of the economy and achieve precise control of air pollution.The CEPI system should be regarded as a continuous but irregular work.According to the severity of air pollution and the difficulty of governance in the area under supervision,the form of supervision should be selected reasonably and flexibly.It is necessary to break the current situation that the inspection cycle and scope is basically fixed.(2)The radiation scope of the CEPI system should be strengthened,and local governments should be urged to establish a rural green ecological development system.At the same time,the local government needs to focus on supervising and controlling the production behavior and relocation approval procedures of enterprises with high pollution and high energy consumption.To vigorously develop the green economy and achieve sustainable development,the government should actively optimize the rural industrial structure and support the development of green producer services.(3)The overall evaluation model framework of the CEPI should be established,and its values should be quantified and analyzed.The local government should reduce the cost of supervision through incentive means and spontaneously form a top-down central and local government self-discipline interaction mechanism.The information asymmetry between the central and local governments can effectively improve the effect of the CEPI system.