An event study analysis of price adjustment of refined oil and air quality in China

Date

2018

Authors

Zha, Donglan
Zhao, Ting
Kavuri, Anil Savio
Wu, Fei
Wang, Qunwei

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer

Abstract

Since marketization of the refined oil price, the Chinese government has used refined oil price adjustments to control air pollution. Using an event study analysis, we examine whether these price adjustments have impacted air quality. We test the abnormal returns of 12 price adjustments between 2014 and 2015 in 51 major cities of China. The results show that the impact on air quality of refined oil price decreases is larger than the impact of oil price increases. Although results indicate air quality has deteriorated, the impact is insignificant for most of the cities. Consequently, we conclude that price suspension of refined oil has had a negligible impact on air quality. This policy is not a viable method to improve the air quality in the short run.

Description

Keywords

Oil prices, Air quality, Rate of return, Event study

Citation

Source

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2099-12-31

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