Do economic development and population agglomeration inevitably aggravate haze pollution in China? New evidence from spatial econometric analysis

With sustained economic development, China’s ecological environment is becoming increasingly fragile and the problem of haze pollution is becoming increasingly prominent, which has affected the normal life of human beings and the stable development of society. In this paper, 287 cities’ panel data from 1998 to 2016 are used, PM 2.5 is used to represent haze pollution, and the spatial Durbin model is used to explore the role of the economy and population agglomeration on smog pollution. The empirical results show that (1) haze pollution has obvious spatial spillover. From the perspective of China as a whole, the relationship between the economy and smog pollution is an inverted U shape. (2) China is divided into three economic regions, i.e., the east, the middle, and the west. In the east and middle regions, it is found that economic development also shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with haze pollution. (3) Regardless of the country or the three major economic regions, population agglomeration is the primary factor that aggravates haze pollution; the progress of technology and the optimization of the industrial structure can improve haze pollution. (4) Through further analysis of the indirect effects of haze in China, it is found that there is a significant spatial spillover effect. According to the results of this research, policy suggestions are put forward.