城乡收入差距扩大会加剧环境破坏吗?——基于中国省级面板数据的实证分析

Does Urban-rural Income Gap Aggravate Environmental Damage?——An Empirical Research Based on China's Provincial Panel Data

笔者运用中国2003年～2010年省级面板数据,对城乡收入差距与中国环境破坏(污染排放)之间的关系进行了实证分析,静态估计和动态估计的计量分析结果都表明,除了人均收入的影响外,城乡收入差距对污染物排放有显著的正向影响。因此,要减少全国的污染排放水平,缩小城乡居民收入差距是有效的方式之一。

This paper analyzes the mechanism that income inequality leads to the deterioration of environmental pollution and estimates the relationship between urban - rural income gap and environmental damage by using the 2003 - 2010 provincial panel data. The em- pirical analysis, both static estimation and dynamic estimation shows that other than the impact of per capita income, urban - rural in- come gap has a signifieant positive impact on pollutant emissions. It is pointed out that narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents is one of the effective methods to reduce the national wide pollution emission levels.