Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effect of Energy-Saving Regulations on the Location of Manufacturing

博士论文研究：节能法规对制造业选址的影响

• 批准号: 1303113
• 负责人: Matthias Ruth
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-04-01 至 2015-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1303113&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effect; Energy

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the effect of regulatory differences in regional energy savings on the location and growth of manufacturing industries in China. The concern for industrial redistribution induced by different environmental regulations across jurisdictions, namely the pollution-haven hypothesis, has long interested geographers and economists. A stricter environmental regulation may increase polluting firms' abatement costs, reduce their competitiveness, and shift them to areas with laxer regulations. This process makes areas with laxer regulations suffer from more pollution, and areas with stricter regulations lose jobs. Using industry-level and firm-level panel data from 2002 to 2010 in China, the doctoral student will investigate whether inter-provincial regulatory differences in energy saving affected the location of manufacturing industries. The analysis will focus on three aspects: two-digit industry-level and firm-level employment, firm-level location choice, and firm-level growth. The econometric analyses will be applied to all provinces for aggregate policy effects and restrictively to counties along provincial borders. The latter analyses should help identify whether there are more abrupt changes in manufacturing activities in border areas and identify differences in the geographical scope of the changes that result from a regulation change across borders. Generalized difference-in-differences models, conditional logit models, and multi-level models will be used for estimation.This research project will advance basic knowledge about the pollution-haven hypothesis and the cost of environmental regulations. It will identify common biases in measuring industry relocation by employing both industry-aggregate and firm-level data with the same sample frame using multiple estimation methods. It will compare the effect of a command-and-control policy with that of a market-based one by incorporating both in the estimation. With comprehensive datasets and estimation methods, the project will measure policy-induced industrial relocation and the relative strength of alternative policy approaches. Project findings will shed light on future energy saving, energy consumption, and natural resource consumption in different areas in China. The findings should help improve the current policy frameworks that governments in many nations can use to meet energy-efficiency targets with fewer adverse impacts. The policy implications of the decentralized regulation in nations like China are highly relevant to the impacts of international climate change policies, especially the issues of carbon leakage and loss of competitiveness for countries that joined international commitments of greenhouse gas reduction. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.

本博士论文研究项目将考察区域节能监管差异对中国制造业区位和增长的影响。长期以来，地理学家和经济学家一直对不同司法管辖区的不同环境法规--即污染避风港假说--引发的产业再分配问题感兴趣。更严格的环境监管可能会增加污染企业的减排成本，降低它们的竞争力，并将它们转移到监管较宽松的地区。这一过程使监管较宽松的地区遭受更多污染，监管较严格的地区失去就业机会。这位博士生将利用中国2002年至2010年的行业和企业层面的面板数据，调查省际节能监管差异是否影响了制造业的区位。分析将集中在三个方面：两位数的行业级和公司级就业，公司级的区位选择，以及公司级的增长。计量经济学分析将适用于所有省份的总体政策效果，并仅限于省界沿线的县。后一项分析应有助于查明边境地区的制造活动是否发生了更为突然的变化，并查明因跨国界的规章变化而引起的变化的地理范围的差异。估计将使用广义差分模型、条件Logit模型和多水平模型。本研究项目将增进对污染避风港假说和环境管制成本的基础知识。它将通过使用多种估计方法，使用具有相同样本框架的行业聚集和公司层面的数据，来确定在衡量行业转移方面的常见偏差。它将通过将命令和控制政策与以市场为基础的政策的效果进行比较，将两者纳入评估。通过全面的数据集和估计方法，该项目将衡量政策诱导的产业转移和替代政策方法的相对强度。项目成果将为中国未来不同地区的节能、能源消耗和自然资源消耗提供参考。这些发现应该有助于改善当前的政策框架，许多国家的政府可以利用这些框架来实现能源效率目标，同时减少不利影响。在中国这样的国家，分散监管的政策影响与国际气候变化政策的影响高度相关，特别是对加入国际温室气体减排承诺的国家来说，碳泄漏和竞争力丧失的问题。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该项目将为有前途的学生建立独立的研究生涯提供支持。