Read Me for Data for "Metropolitan air pollution abatement & industrial growth: Global urban panel analysis of PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2"

Creators: Benjamin Leffel, Nikki Tavasoli, Brantley Liddle, Kent Henderson & Sabrina Kiernan

Description: Data were gathered to test three hypotheses on the impact economic growth has on environmental conditions in urban areas. The three hypotheses are: 1. Income will be associated with reductions in PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and SO2. 2. Public Administration GVA will be associated with reductions in PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and SO2. 3. Urban density will be associated with reductions in PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and SO2. More information about the research and the data can be found in: Benjamin Leffel, Nikki Tavasoli, Brantley Liddle, Kent Henderson & Sabrina Kiernan (2021) Metropolitan air pollution abatement and industrial growth: Global urban panel analysis of PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and SO2, Environmental Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2021.1975349. 

Methodology: Data for 96 metropolises from 56 countries are observed, including annual city-level measures of four airborne pollutant outcomes, PM2.5, PM10, NO2 and SO2 from 2005 to 2017, expressed as the annual average exposure in micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3), derived from the Passport database by the international market research company Euromonitor. The Euromonitor Data accounts for growth by industry with Gross Value-Added (GVA) classifications of industries across public and private sectors. These GVA classifications follow the UN International Standard Industrial Classification (UN 2002, 2008). Observed metropolitan areas range in population (2005–2017 average) from 411,000 (Sarajevo) to 23.9 million (Tokyo). Data for 96 metropolises from 56 countries are observed. Income per capita and Public Administration Gross Value Added (GVA) are expressed in millions of $USD, and urban density is expressed as the ratio of population to square kilometers. Measures for ‘Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying’ (Manufacturing GVA), Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE), Construction and Agriculture are included. The green bonds data is from Climate Bonds Initiative, representing the allocation of municipal green bonds, or tradable loans earmarked for use in projects that yield environmental benefits, given their ability to reduce the cost of pollution abatement efforts; the local presence of environmental services firms (time invariant) from a cross-database search of Mergent Intellect, Standard and Poor’s Capital IQ and Uniworld for firms belonging to the Standardized Industrial Classification code for ‘Environmental Consulting Services’ for all cities in the sample. Last is ‘world city hierarchy,’ representing the relative integration of each city economy into the larger world economy. Cities can be hierarchically ranked by their relative network centrality in flows of transnational capital flows, calculated via Lexis-Nexis 2016 directory of corporate affiliation from inter-city headquarter-branch ties of major corporations.


Explanation of the variables listed in the spreadsheet (Variable name: Description)

City: name of city
Year: year
Cityyear: concatenated city-year
UHI: Urban heat island score
Country: country
WCH: world city hierarchy
environmental firms: number of environmental firms in city
GVAAgr: Gross value added (GVA) of agriculture industry
GVAConst: GVA of construction industry
GVAConstrs: GVA of construction industry rescaled
GVAFire: GVA of finance, insurance and real estate industries
GVAManufElec: GVA of manufacturing and electricity industries
GVAManufElecpc: GVA of manufacturing and electricity industries, per capita
GVAAdmin: GVA of public administration
GVAAdminpc: GVA of public administration, per capita
GVA: GVA total
GDP: Gross domestic product
Publictranspopass: Amount of population using public transportation
Density: population/area
Densityrs: population/area, rescaled
Population: population
Income: income of population
Gini: GINI coefficient
GVAAgrpc: GVA of construction industry, per capita
GVAConstpc: GVA of construction industry rescaled, per capita
GVAFirepc: GVA of finance, insurance and real estate industries, per capita
Incomepc: Income per capita
IncomepcSQ: Income per capita, squared
CO: Carbon monoxide
NO2: Nitrogen dioxide
PM10: Particulate matter 10 microns
PM2.5: Particulate matter 2.5 microns
SO2: Sulphur dioxide
green bonds issued: Green bond issuance
Long: longitude	
Lat: latitude

To cite this data set:
Benjamin Leffel. (2022). Data for "Metropolitan air pollution abatement & industrial growth: Global urban panel analysis of PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2" (Leffel, et al., 2021, Environmental Sociology) [Data set], University of Michigan - Deep Blue Data. https://doi.org/10.7302/s3nc-wh40