Study on Spatial Correlation of Air Pollution and Control Effect of Development Plan for the City Cluster in the Yangtze River Delta

Regional planning plays an important role in controlling air pollution in urban agglomerations with spatial spillover characteristics. This paper empirically examines the control effect of the Development Plan for the City Cluster in the Yangtze River Delta (Plan). We first use a spatial autoregression (SAR) model to analyze the spatial and temporal effects of air pollution in 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2011 to 2018. We then use a difference-in-difference (DID) model to investigate the implementation effect of the Plan. Finally, we combine the SAR and DID models and study the Plan’s spatial effect of pollution between cities. Our empirical findings reveal the spatial correlation of air pollution between cities in the YRD and show that the Plan has significantly reduced the annual average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration. This paper enriches the literature about effects of socio-economic plans and provides an empirical reference for collaborative management of air pollution in city clusters.