Regulation Strategy And Local Governments’ Regulation Behavior

In resent years, air pollution in China is serious, and the central government has taken a series of measures. But the air quality is still not satisfactory and pollution incidence occur frequently. How to improve the efficiency of regulation? To answer this question, we need to know the air pollution control strategy in our country, understand the mechanism and practice effect of the implementation of various regulatory policies. Only on these basis can we explore the upgrade path of air pollution control accord with the actual situation in our country. For these above purpose, this paper first refine the regulation strategy of air pollution control in our country by sorting out our control system and regulation measures.Then classify all kinds of control measures into one unified framework, test the effectiveness of these measures by using panel data on city level on this basis.Thirdly emphasize the important role the local government plays in the process of air pollution control by analyzing the regulation around Beijing Olympic Games. Fourthly, analyze the motivation and mechanism of local government’s regulation behavior, then make empirical research to test the strategic interaction behavior among local governments. Lastly, put forward some pertinent policy suggestions according to our research findings.The air pollution control system of China is consist of central government and local governments.The central government plays a directive role in pollution control, Local governments’ regulation behavior is motivated by the performance evaluation mechanism made by central government. From the perspective of control measures, under the macro legal system of China,the specific measures of air pollution control can be concluded as the following three categories: administrative regulation, market incentive ways and information disclosure. This paper then made empirical research on the effectiveness of various control measures by using the data on city level, results show that effect of different policies varies according to the level of economic development and industrial structure. The administrative regulation has a significant effect on pollution control in the area which is economically developed or has heavy industry. Market incentive ways play a significant role in reducing emissions in moderate development areas or the city with higher proportion of second industry. Information disclosure plays an useful role in restraining enterprise’s sewage behavior except the city with high proportion of second industries, but its effect needs to be further improved.The successful experience of air pollution control during the Olympic Games suggests that the local government has the ability to control air pollution, but the efficiency of regulation is determined by the enthusiasm of local government on pollution control. Based on theoretical and mechanism analysis of local government’s regulation behavior, we made empirical research to examine the strategic interaction behavior among local governments. We find that there are positive correlation between local government’s regulation behavior and its competitors’, there are two kinds of competitors: adjacent areas or areas of the closet economic level in the same province. This proves that local government competes with its competitors on air pollution regulation. We also find the competition level is affected by city’s economic development, the competition phenomena is more obvious between cities with lower economic level.Finally, based on the above discoveries, this paper propose some policy implications. First, the central government should enact stricter macro policies to make better use of the incentive role of performance evaluation mechanism. Secondly, air pollution control strategy should be implemented according to local industrial structure and economic development. Thirdly, it is necessary to give financial and policy support to the region with financial difficulty or high proportion of second industry. Fourthly, improve the information disclosure and feedback mechanism to help the public play better role of supervision and promotion in air pollution control process. Lastly, improve industrial structure transformation and optimization to achieve the goal of sustainable development.