First CEnREP Colloquium of the semester this week

Date & Time: Friday, January 10th, 12:00-1:00 PM

Location: Nelson Hall 2405
**Please note the change in location from the Fall 2019 colloquia location.**

Please join us this Friday for the next CEnREP Colloquium and brown-bag lunch, a forum for Agricultural and Resource Economics students, faculty, and alumni to present their research and receive feedback from their peers and professors. This week features the following presentation:

Dr. Jin Qin (Ph.D., ’19), Lecturer of Economics, College of William and Mary
“A Test of the Relationship between Air Pollution and Trade Liberalization: The Case of China”

Abstract: This study estimates the effects of trade liberalization on the air pollution in China. To avoid endogeneity issues, I use an instrumental variable strategy, which relies on the exogenous shock to trade brought about by the Great Recession and the fact that most traded goods from China are produced in coastal provinces. In my empirical work, I employ data from the China Statistical Yearbook. Concentrations of sulfur dioxide and smoke & dust at the province level over 13 years from 2003 to 2015 are used to measure the air pollution intensity (the ratio of air pollution to GDP), and are related to the provincial trade intensity (the ratio of exports plus imports to GDP). The econometric model utilizes a two-stage IV regression. In the first stage, trade intensity is instrumented using the exogenous variation from the Great Recession and coastal location. Then, the predicted trade intensity from the first stage is used as the regressor in the second stage regression explaining air pollution intensity. I find that an increase in trade intensity lowers the sulfur dioxide pollution intensity and smoke & dust pollution intensity in China, and hence air pollution intensity associated with the production for trade is lower.

All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend!