Environmental Governance in China: Governments, Corporations and Individuals

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

What explains responsible environmental governance at the corporate, institutional and individual levels? This panel explores environmental governance in China in search of a solution to arguably one of the most important policy issues in China. Since economic reforms started in the 1970s, the Chinese state has led the country down a path of rapid, unchecked industrialization, leaving the natural environmental devastated in its wake. Air, water and soil pollution not only pose serious public health threats, but have become a threat to the economic, political and social stability of the single-party regime. In light of the state’s increasing emphasis on environmental protection in recent years, significant challenges remain. This panel covers a wide variety of topics concerning environmental governance in China, including the uneven implementation of pollution regulations (van der Kamp, Seligsohn, Zhao & Sun), corporate behavior over environmental protection (Xiao & Yin, Zhang), and individuals’ perception and behavior over environmental issues (Ding). By including participants from diverse institutional backgrounds, this panel seeks to foster intellectual communication between scholars of environmental governance in Asia and North America.

Area of Study

• China and Inner Asia

Session Organizers

• Yue Ding, Harvard University

• Denise van der Kamp, University of California, Berkeley

Chair

• Yue Ding, Harvard University

Individual Presentations

• Corporate Concentration and Air Pollution Governance in China - Deborah Seligsohn, University of California, San Diego

• The Political Economy of Pollution Reduction in China - Denise van der Kamp, University of California, Berkeley

• Air Pollution and Willingness to Pay in China - Bing Zhang, Nanjing University

• Disparities in Information Disclosure on Pollution: A Fig-Leaf for Local Industry - Junxiu Sun, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Rui Zhao, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

• Energy-Saving Policy and Firm's Productivity: The Impact of China's Top-1000 Enterprises Energy-Saving Program - Yuxian Xiao, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Haitao Yin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University