Disparities in Avoidance Behaviours to Air Quality Information Disclosure Exacerbate Environmental Inequality

Disparities in Avoidance Behaviours to Air Quality Information Disclosure Exacerbate Environmental Inequality | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Disparities in Avoidance Behaviours to Air Quality Information Disclosure Exacerbate Environmental Inequality Haosheng Yan, Lunyu Xie, Dongli Yu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5907718/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Environmental inequality among people of different socioeconomic statuses are well documented in the literature. However, the effects of individual avoidance behaviours on the inequality are often overlooked. We address this question by examining how individuals of different socioeconomic statuses adapt their daily travel behaviors in response to air pollution information. We apply the regression discontinuity (RD) design using individual-level travel records from the Fifth Beijing Urban Transportation Comprehensive Survey. The results demonstrate that air pollution information disclosure significantly reduces the probability and duration of travel. This effect is weaker in the low-income group than in the high-income group, indicating it exacerbates environmental inequality. Moreover, the results reveal that lower avoidance behaviours in the low-income group, compared to the high-income group, stem from lower avoidance awareness and capability. These findings highlight the importance of considering avoidance behaviours when addressing environmental inequality. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Environmental economics Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Economics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationDBPRNCOMMS2507261.docx Supplementary Information file Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5907718","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":409518879,"identity":"32133e3d-a977-494d-ab3f-9a1a84b51784","order_by":0,"name":"Haosheng Yan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACNhCRAMSMDxgY5EAcA6K1MAOVGpOmhU2CKC0Gx88ee/Cjoi6PX7r9WsXPNgM5BvbmbRIMNXdwazmTl27Yc+ZwseScM2U3e9sMjBl4jpVJMBx7hlvLgRwzCd62A4kbbuSk3WZs+5PYIAEUYWw4jFvL+Tdmkn/b6hL3A7UUM7YZ1DfIvyGg5UaOmTRvG3PiBon0Y8xALQkMEjz4tUjeeGMmLXPmcOKMGznMkj3nDAzbeNKKLRKO4dbCdz7HTPJNRV1i/4z0hx9+lBnI87Mf3njjQw1uLQoH4EweSHTAowkXkG+AM9kf4FE3CkbBKBgFIxkAAIPuVf8XO80VAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8907-7669","institution":"Central University of Finance and Economics","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haosheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Yan","suffix":""},{"id":409518880,"identity":"f853f866-53a5-4be6-af5f-0baaf2807a06","order_by":1,"name":"Lunyu Xie","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Renmin University of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lunyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Xie","suffix":""},{"id":409518881,"identity":"2c30af73-c265-43d4-88d1-2dce0102414e","order_by":2,"name":"Dongli Yu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7597-458X","institution":"Renmin University of China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dongli","middleName":"","lastName":"Yu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-26 17:35:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5907718/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5907718/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":78257230,"identity":"ae15e497-20f0-4d7e-9955-996ba4ae0ef6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-11 10:53:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":596563,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MaintextDBPRNCOMMS25072612.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5907718/v1_covered_5c6da053-8738-4147-9e68-c38520ce9341.pdf"},{"id":75296627,"identity":"bd738894-e869-4adc-ac25-7af8b15c8527","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-03 06:54:17","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":658343,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information file","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformationDBPRNCOMMS2507261.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5907718/v1/b4e40368a224a10756283751.docx"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Disparities in Avoidance Behaviours to Air Quality Information Disclosure Exacerbate Environmental Inequality","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5907718/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5907718/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eEnvironmental inequality among people of different socioeconomic statuses are well documented in the literature. 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