Impact of Purchasing Power Parity and Consumption Expenditure Rise on Urban Solid Waste Generation in China

Abstract

The paper focuses on the socio-economic factors of municipal solid waste generation (MSWG) in China. China achieves a rapid economic development since the economic reforms adopted in 1978. The study shows that only 33percent of population lived in urban areas in 1985 that increased to 54 percent in 2014. Consumption expenditure rate increases to 3.96 percent and solid waste generation rose about 2.96 percent annually from 1990 to 2014. A huge amount of solid waste in urban areas causes serious environmental woes and human health hazards that are hindrance to sustainable urban development. The study aims at finding out the associational effects of purchasing power parity (PPP) and consumption expenditure rise (CER) on the solid waste production. The paper shows the negative association of purchasing power parity (PPP) and consumption expenditure rise with solid waste production and their relationship is significant at 5% level. In addition, rapid urbanization is positively correlated to consumption expenditure rise and it is significant at 5%level as well. I prepare the dataset using the extracted annual and national records of National Bureau of Statistics of China and World Data Indicator (WDI) from 2000 to 2015. I analyzed the data applying Correlation Matrix and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The findings will facilitate to formulate efficient solid waste management to sustainable urbanity. Contribution: The paper's primary contribution is finding that purchasing power parity and consumption expenditure rise have a negative effect on urban solid waste generation. In addition, consumption spending growth is positively linked to rapid urbanization.