智慧城市建设对空气质量的影响——一项准自然实验研究

Impact of Smart City Construction on Air Quality——A Quasi Natural Experiment

以2008年至2017年我国197个地级市的面板数据为基础,将智慧城市试点政策作为一项准自然实验,研究智慧城市建设对当地空气质量的影响。实验结果显示,智慧城市建设对CO_(2)和SO2排放量的减少都具有显著效果。经过安慰剂检验以及其他一系列稳健性检验,结果依然稳健。其中,异质性分析结果表明,经济相对发达的东部地区试点城市的空气质量改善效果优于中西部地区。由实验得到的政策启示是:在现有基础上推动智慧城市建设向更高水平发展,在智慧城市建设过程中优化地区间产业协同联动,为实现碳中和与碳达峰目标做出贡献。

Based on the panel data of 197 prefecture level cities in China from 2008 to 2017,this paper studies the impact of smart city construction on local air quality by taking the pilot construction of smart city as a quasi-natural experiment with the help of Difference-in-Difference model. The results show that the construction of smart city pilot has a significant effect on both CO2emission reduction and SO2emission reduction. After placebo test and a series of other robustness tests, the above conclusion is still robust. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the air quality improvement effect of pilot cities in the eastern region with relatively developed economy is better than that in the central and western regions. The policy enlightenment of the article is to promote the development of smart city construction to a higher level on the existing basis,optimize the collaborative linkage of industries among regions in the process of smart city construction,and contribute to the goal of carbon neutralization and carbon peak.