The complaints process in China provides useful information and helps encourage community participation in environmental policy. But it also directs a big share of inspection resources to areas where people tend to complain. After analyzing provincial data for 1987-93, the authors find the subsequent allocation of resources biased, in terms of social welfare. The incidence of complaints reflects potential abatement benefits and the intensity of exposure to highly visible pollutants. However, citizen complaints seem not to be affected by harmful pollutants that are less visible. Basic education seems to have a strong independent effect on propensity to complain. Relying on complaints alone would lead to inappropiately low allocation of inspection resources to less-educated, relatively silent regions. To compensate for incomplete information upon which regulators must rely, the authors say that agencies should invest in public environmental education targeted especially to poorly-educated communities and consider outreach to encourage better communication. The authors also recommend giving priority to technical risk assessments in determining resource allocation.
Details
-
Author
Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler,David R.
-
Document Date
1997/01/31
-
Document Type
Policy Research Working Paper
-
Report Number
WPS1704
-
Volume No
1
-
Total Volume(s)
1
-
Country
-
Region
-
Disclosure Date
2010/07/01
-
Doc Name
Citizen complaints as environmental indicators : evidence from China
-
Keywords
Environmental indicators; Environmental education; Environmental monitoring; Pollution control; Community participation; Grievance procedures; Allocation of resources
- See More
Downloads
COMPLETE REPORT
Official version of document (may contain signatures, etc)
- Official PDF
- TXT*
- Total Downloads** :
- Download Stats
-
*The text version is uncorrected OCR text and is included solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.
Citation
Dasgupta, Susmita Wheeler,David R.
Citizen complaints as environmental indicators : evidence from China (English). Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 1704 Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/450781468746709957/Citizen-complaints-as-environmental-indicators-evidence-from-China