On 8 April 2022, the 12th Xi Xian Academic Luncheon, co-organised by IIDPF and the School of Public Finance and Taxation, was successfully held in Conference Room 119, Wenqin Building.
IIDPF researcher Dr. Wei Zou presented The Art of Not Being Choked: Environmental Awareness, Vote with Feet and Land Finance as the keynote speaker for this academic luncheon. The forum was chaired by Dr Wan Xin and over forty faculty and students, including all researchers at the base, attended the academic lunch.
There is no doubt that environmental protection is an unavoidable issue in the process of industrialisation in all countries of the world. The public's sensitivity to environmental issues will, to a certain extent, influence their mobility decisions, which in turn will lead to "voting with their feet". In this context, Dr Zou Wei analyses the impact of changing public awareness of environmental protection on land finance from the documentary Under the Dome. Using the Baidu search index and based on the DID estimation model, the study found that an increase in local attention to record films leads to a decrease in the total value of land transactions, a result that was further validated by instrumental variable estimation.
Dr. Zou Wei's wonderful sharing captivated the faculty and students in the audience. During the exchange session, students and faculty had in-depth discussions on variable measurement, instrumental variable estimation and robustness testing. Dr Zou Wei's research provided strong evidence for the "voting with one's feet" theory.
