Sharing the air: Transient impacts of ride-hailing introduction on pollution in China

摘要

The benefits and problems of sharing economy models have been debated heatedly in the literature. In this paper we investigate the introduction of ride-hailing services on pollution in the largest developing economy in the world, China. We use a difference-in-difference approach to longitudinally examine cities that introduced the Didi Chuxing service. Our results suggest that the announcement of the ride-hailing service led to a decrease in PM2.5 pollution in the month before service launch and in the early months of its introduction. However, this effect is temporary, as the growth in ride-hailing vehicles and a rapid increase in the number of overall trips gives way to an increase in vehicle pollution in this underdeveloped market. We conclude with implications of the research.