The Political Regulation Wave
A Case of How Local Incentives Systematically Shape Air Quality in China

Offers an innovative theorization of how local political incentives impact bureaucratic regulation, using the case of air pollution control.

Shiran Victoria Shen (Author)

9781009107099, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 October 2022

161 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.9 cm, 0.272 kg

'Expert warnings about that existential threat that environmental degradation and climate change pose to our way of life has become increasingly more desperate. Scientific solutions are available, but governments have made little progress in implementing them. Shiran Victoria Shen persuasively leverages expertise in the social and physical sciences to demonstrate that a critical political economy issue is that bureaucratic incentives for implementation are not appropriately matched to the specific causes of individual pollutants in authoritarian regimes, particularly China. More broadly, this book is a must read for those interested in a nuanced understanding of bureaucratic politics in authoritarian systems.' Edmund Malesky, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Duke Center for International Development, Duke University

Why has there been uneven success in reducing air pollution even in the same locality over time? This book offers an innovative theorization of how local political incentives can affect bureaucratic regulation. Using empirical evidence, it examines and compares the control of different air pollutants in China-an autocracy-and, to a lesser extent, Mexico-a democracy. Making use of new data, approaches, and techniques across political science, environmental sciences, and engineering, Shen reveals that local leaders and politicians are incentivized to cater to the policy preferences of their superiors or constituents, respectively, giving rise to varying levels of regulatory stringency during the leaders' tenures. Shen demonstrates that when ambiguity dilutes regulatory effectiveness, having the right incentives and enhanced monitoring is insufficient for successful policy implementation. Vividly explaining key phenomena through anecdotes and personal interviews, this book identifies new causes of air pollution and proposes timely solutions. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. Introduction: an inconvenient truth
2. Theory of the political regulation wave
3. Local governance in China
4. The case of sulfur dioxide control
5. The case of fine particulate matter control
6. The tradeoffs of the political regulation wave
7. Conclusion: rethinking governance.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Environmental economics [KCN], Political science & theory [JPA]