In China, environmental regulators play by the rules, but often bend them in ways that reflect important environmental and social concerns. Regulators give little or no slack to heavy dischargers. Old factories pay more, state-owned factories pay higher rates, and big employers get a...

In this paper, Dasgupta, Wang and Wheeler analyze China's industrial pollution problem and the possibilities for significant improvement through policy reform. Their assessment is based on a large-scale econometric exercise, with data provided by China's National Environmental Protection Agency...