Digital government and air pollution inequality: Evidence from Chinese cities

Abstract

The uneven spatial distribution of air pollution represents a significant externality problem in environmental governance. Using novel government procurement data from 283 Chinese cities, we examine whether and how digital government initiatives mitigate air pollution inequality. We construct an objective measure of digital government investment based on procurement contracts and employ a Theil index of PM2.5 concentrations to quantify interregional air pollution inequality. Our findings demonstrate that digital government significantly reduces air pollution inequality through enhanced public supervision, optimized resource allocation, and accelerated green technology diffusion. Machine learning analyses reveal that digital government's impact exhibits an optimal threshold at 5.18, while heterogeneity analyses show differential impacts across sample percentiles, digital procurement types, and pollution intensity levels. These findings provide important policy insights for leveraging digital governance tools to achieve more equitable and sustainable environmental outcomes in emerging economies.