Drawing on a natural experiment generated by prefecture-level centralization reforms in China in the early 2000s, we study whether a centralized system delivers better environmental outcomes in a developing country context. We examine the impact of centralization reforms on firm air pollution...

This paper investigates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic firms’ air pollution emissions in a developing country context. We provide quasi-natural experiment evidence from China, using a plausibly exogeneous relaxation of FDI regulations upon China’s WTO accession in...