Effect of driving restrictions on air quality in Lanzhou, China: Analysis integrated with internet data source

Driving restrictions are often introduced as an urban management method for reducing the air pollution and traffic congestion by prohibiting drivers from using their vehicles on given days, based on the last digits of vehicles' license plates. A number of cities in developing countries have used driving restrictions. This paper proposes an empirical strategy to estimate the effects of driving restrictions on air quality. The strategy combines internet based semi-structured data source, big data processing procedure, and different estimation methods of regression discontinuity design to carry out the analysis. The results show that the driving restrictions are effective for short-run period, but are ineffective for long-run time period. Heterogeneity in short-run effect for different cut-points has also been observed. The results of the study are helpful in understanding the effectiveness of current driving restriction policies and to improve these further to achieve better results in future.