The impact of air pollution on R&D input and output in China

This study examines the impact of air pollution on research and development (R&D) in China on the basis of province-level data for the period 2007—2016. The study discovers a significant adverse impact of air pollution on both R&D input and output in China. The estimation results in this study are robust to the different indicators used to measure R&D input and output and control for possible endogeneity problems via the instrumental variable approach. According to our estimates, if the concentration of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) increases by 1%, then the scales of annual R&D personnel, expenditures, and new patents will decline by 0.359%, 0.169%, and 0.293%, respectively. The findings indicate that air pollution is a considerable threat to innovation and technological progress in China.