PNAS, 4 April 2025

Transparency by Chinese cities reduces pollution violations and improves air quality

Governments around the world have been urged to become more transparent, because it allows the public, firms, and other governments to hold them accountable for achieving policy goals. In a national-scale experiment in China, we provide evidence that transparency by local governments increased firms’ compliance with environmental regulations and improved ambient air quality, which we calculate saved 2,008 lives per year in the treated cities and would save 24,350 lives per year across China with similar improvements to air quality.

This study provides strong causal evidence about the potential for transparency to improve policy outcomes, bolstering calls for greater transparency in a variety of policy domains around the world.