RESEARCH ARTICLE
Impact of Climate Policy on Labor Earnings: Evidence From Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy in China
Han Li,
Qian Lu,
Han Li
College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Qian Lu
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
Correspondence: Qian Lu ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorHan Li,
Qian Lu,
Han Li
College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Qian Lu
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China
Correspondence: Qian Lu ([email protected])
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 27 February 2025
ABSTRACT
This paper use China's Low-Carbon City Pilot program as a quasi-natural experiment, combining city-level data with the China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS) data to empirically examine the impact of climate policies on labor earnings in the aggregate labor market. Our findings reveal that climate policies have a significant positive impact on earnings in the overall labor market without adversely affecting employment. However, climate policy has substantial distributional effects, favoring skilled workers in green industries but disadvantaging low-skilled labor. This distributional effect primarily stems from the industrial restructuring and technological upgrading in cities induced by climate policies through administrative regulations and economic incentives. Furthermore, our research indicates that the effects of climate policies on the labor market extend to the household level, raising certain social distributional concerns.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings will be available in CLDS at http://css.sysu.edu.cn following an embargo from the date of publication to allow for commercialization of research findings.
Supporting Information
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