The effect of joint prevention and control plan on atmospheric pollution governance and residents’ willingness to pay

This study investigates the governance effect of China’s joint prevention and control of atmospheric pollution (JPCAP) plan and residents’ willingness to pay for clean air. First, this study delves into the JPCAP plan’s atmospheric pollution governance effect using the difference-in-difference and spatial difference-in-difference models. The results showed that the atmospheric pollution in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) and surrounding cities have significant spatial autocorrelation characteristics. From the autumn and winter of 2017 to 2019, the JPCAP plan implemented by BTH atmospheric pollution transmission channel cities significantly reduced atmospheric pollution. However, the atmospheric pollution governance effect of the JPCAP plan is weaker in 2018–2019 than in 2017–2018. Second, this study introduced the air quality index and three atmospheric pollutants—PM(2.5), NO(2), and SO(2)—into the hedonic price model and investigated the residents’ willingness to pay by employing the spatial error model and spatial lag model. Finally, subsample and quantile regression were used to discuss the heterogeneity of residents’ willingness to pay. The results show that the reduction in atmospheric pollution increases residents’ willingness to pay for clean air. Residents have different willingness to pay for reducing different atmospheric pollutants, and there is heterogeneity in willingness to pay across regions and consumption levels. Residents in areas with the JPCAP plan have a higher willingness to pay than those without the JPCAP plan, and there is no spatial autocorrelation characteristic of the willingness to pay of residents in BTH and surrounding cities.