Does ranking stimulate government performance? Evidence from China’s key environmental protection cities

• Published in: Social indicators research Vol. 158; no. 2; pp. 699 - 725
• Main Authors: Liu, Lei, Yang, Zhaotian, Song, Suqin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Science + Business Media 01.12.2021; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air; Air quality; Cities; Ecology; Environmental protection; Human Geography; Local government; Microeconomics; ORIGINAL RESEARCH; Outdoor air quality; Pollution; Public Health; Quality management; Quality of Life Research; Ratings & rankings; Social Sciences; Sociology; China; Air quality; Ranking; Local government

With the air quality ranking of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment as a case, this paper examines whether the public ranking could stimulate the ranked cities to improve performance. The results show that the horizontal ranking, i.e., the relative position among the cities, significantly st...