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Centre for international environmental studies
05 April 2016

China, information and air pollution

Recent completed research published on Vox.EU and conducted by Prof. Tim Swanson and Dr. Chiara Ravetti studies the role of information on air pollution in Beijing.

Chinese cities have become renowned for their extremely hazardous levels of air pollution. The problem of air pollution is particularly challenging in China, because the government exercises tight control over the economy and the media, and thus not only on pollution regulation, but also on public information regarding air quality.  All major media outlets in China are owned by the government and the country is among the worst in terms of media freedom – ranking 176th out of 180 countries.

Recent CIES research explores how the Chinese government has incentives to bias information on air pollution, in order to keep the population satisfied with working in polluted cities. The study looks at the pattern of divergence between the official Chinese news, relative to that issuing from the US embassy in the same city. Comparing the official daily information published by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the one provided by the US Embassy in Beijing on its hourly Twitter account (see Fig. 1 for a snapshot of a short time period), the discrepancy between the two sources of information is quite stark and appears not be coincidental: the Chinese signal is systematically lower the higher the pollution gets.

Figure 1. Chinese versus US index (daily minimum)

graph.png

How does such information affect household behaviour? CIES researchers conducted a survey across different districts of Beijing to examine the sources of information that households use and how these relate to their behaviour during pollution peaks. The costs associated with air pollution are quite substantial among the households studied: the average annual expenditure in medical costs, medicines and foregone wages is of more than 3000 yuan, almost a month of an average salary. Yet, the majority of households still use traditional sources of information (radio, TV, newspapers) and many declare that these are sufficient for them to know about pollution peaks. The study examines whether people who rely on government-controlled sources of information and perceive them as adequate are less responsive to pollution peaks and finds that that households relying on official information were indeed less likely to adopt self-protective measures (such as wearing a facial mask, changing means of transportation, or using an air purifier during pollution peaks). 

Dealing with public environmental goods in developing countries is always challenging, because the key priority is growth and poverty reduction, rather than environmental protection. China, however, faces a further difficulty – its government has the incentive to misinform the public about pollution hazards. In the long run, this will result in unnecessary public health costs.

Recent completed research published on Vox.EU and conducted by Prof. Tim Swanson and Dr. Chiara Ravetti studies the role of information on air pollution in Beijing.

Chinese cities have become renowned for their extremely hazardous levels of air pollution. The problem of air pollution is particularly challenging in China, because the government exercises tight control over the economy and the media, and thus not only on pollution regulation, but also on public information regarding air quality.  All major media outlets in China are owned by the government and the country is among the worst in terms of media freedom – ranking 176th out of 180 countries.

Recent CIES research explores how the Chinese government has incentives to bias information on air pollution, in order to keep the population satisfied with working in polluted cities. The study looks at the pattern of divergence between the official Chinese news, relative to that issuing from the US embassy in the same city. Comparing the official daily information published by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the one provided by the US Embassy in Beijing on its hourly Twitter account (see Fig. 1 for a snapshot of a short time period), the discrepancy between the two sources of information is quite stark and appears not be coincidental: the Chinese signal is systematically lower the higher the pollution gets.

Figure 1. Chinese versus US index (daily minimum)

graph.png

How does such information affect household behaviour? CIES researchers conducted a survey across different districts of Beijing to examine the sources of information that households use and how these relate to their behaviour during pollution peaks. The costs associated with air pollution are quite substantial among the households studied: the average annual expenditure in medical costs, medicines and foregone wages is of more than 3000 yuan, almost a month of an average salary. Yet, the majority of households still use traditional sources of information (radio, TV, newspapers) and many declare that these are sufficient for them to know about pollution peaks. The study examines whether people who rely on government-controlled sources of information and perceive them as adequate are less responsive to pollution peaks and finds that that households relying on official information were indeed less likely to adopt self-protective measures (such as wearing a facial mask, changing means of transportation, or using an air purifier during pollution peaks). 

Dealing with public environmental goods in developing countries is always challenging, because the key priority is growth and poverty reduction, rather than environmental protection. China, however, faces a further difficulty – its government has the incentive to misinform the public about pollution hazards. In the long run, this will result in unnecessary public health costs.