This study investigates the effect of Chinese environmental regulations on the quality of export products. As the main way for the government to protect the environment, environmental regulations have greatly influenced the production behavior of enterprises. Based on the data of China’s pollutant discharge fee implementation and industrial enterprise-pollution panel data, we find that the government’s environmental regulations have significantly improved the quality of export products, and this conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests. Further analysis shows that the increase in the quality of export products originating from the regulated areas could be attributed to promoting enterprise innovation and reducing resource misallocation. The results in this study provide evidence that the Chinese government could coordinate economic and environmental protection in the new era.
The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is one of the most developed regions in China. It has been undergoing a rapid urbanization since the reformation and opening of China in 1978. This process plays a significant impact on the urban environment, particularly river water quality. The main goal of this present study is to assess the impact of urban activities especially urbanization on river water quality for the study area. Some Landsat TM images from 2000 were used to map the areas for different pollution levels of urban river sections for the study area. In addition, an improved equalized synthetic pollution index method was utilized to assess the field analytical results. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between the rapidity of urbanization and the pollution levels of urban river water. Compared to the rural river water, urban river water was polluted more seriously. During the urban development process, urbanization and urban activities had a significant negative impact on the river water quality. 相似文献