Industrialization, Regional Difference and Environmental Pollution

摘要

Based on province-level panel data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics of China for the years of 1992 to 2005, an empirical analysis was carried out on national, easternregion, and western region samples for the relation between industrialization and environmental pollution. The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis(EKC) is tested by use of a fitting equation that involves three variables, I.e. Industrial waste water, waste gas,and solid discharge, and per capita gross industrial output value. Results show that differences between eastern and western regions lie in the quality of industrialization development, the manifestation of the EKC curve for industrialization vs. Environmental pollution, and the general capability in environmental protection. In terms of the intensity of industrial pollution, western regions suffer two or three times as intense pollution as easternregions. In terms of the manifestation of the EKC curve, there is no EKC curve for industrial waste water, either nationwide or in eastern or western regions; for industrial waste gases and industrial solid wastes, the entire country and eastern regions show an EKC curve of inverted U type, whereas western regions show that of N type. In terms of the general capability in environmental protection, eastern regions are superior to western regions such that polluting industries are being moved or spread from eastern regions to western regions.