Relationship between pollution and economic growth in China: Empirical evidence from 111 cities

Abstract

Steady economic growth and environmental protection are two contradictory goals of top priorities in China 2016-2020 Planning Project. Cities play important role in economic and environmental development. The research on cities’ economic-pollution relationship is vital to the choices in city developing patterns. This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution of 111 Chinese prefectural-level cities in the period 2004-2012 and how it might influence the choice of a city’s developing pattern. These 111 cities are classified into five different clusters, one of which has particular pollution-economic relationship and some of which coordinate the EKC theory. The paper suggests that city features, scale effect and composition effect are important in the distribution of cities’ developing patterns.