第七讲： Mobilizing Green Support: The Role of Digital Technology

时间：2025年 05月16日 周五 北京时间 上午09:00-10:30

地点：ZOOM会议（会议号: 897 2560 1400  密码: 938759）

主讲人/Speaker:   邹咏辰  Eric Zou

主持人/Host：       胡佳胤 Jiayin Hu

Abstract: We examine how mobile technology can transform people’s firsthand exposure to environmental improvements into broader support for sustainability efforts elsewhere. China’s recent reforestation campaign has driven remarkable vegetation growth across much of the country. We link cross-city variation in this greening to citizen engagement through Ant Forest—a sustainability program embedded in China’s leading mobile payment platform. The program encourages low-carbon behaviors, such as walking, taking public transit, or using digital payments, by awarding users virtual points that contribute to planting real trees in arid regions of China. We find that residents of faster-greening cities show significantly higher rates and intensity of Ant Forest participation, despite living far from planting sites and receiving no direct benefit. Survey evidence supports a “Green Experience” channel: local environmental gains heighten appreciation for nature and motivate support for distant conservation. This effect is especially pronounced among Generation Z. Since its 2017 launch, Ant Forest has attracted over 700 million users—half of China’s population—and facilitated the planting of 500 million trees and shrubs. Our findings highlight the potential of mobile platforms to scale and activate latent public support for environmental action.

主讲人简介：

Eric Zou is an Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Zou studies the economics of pollution prevention. His current work targets emerging sources of pollution, evaluates their impacts on human and ecosystem health, and explores regulatory and consumer technology solutions. His research has been published in leading economics journals including The American Economic Review and The Review of Economics and Statistics, as well as general science and medical journals such as the PNAS and JAMA Internal Medicine. His research has been covered by popular media including The New York Times, The Economist, and other international media outlets. Prior to his Michigan appointment, Zou was an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, and a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University. Zou received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and holds a B.S. in Economics from East China Normal University.

邹咏辰（Eric Zou）是密歇根大学斯蒂芬·M·罗斯商学院的助理教授，并担任国家经济研究局（National Bureau of Economic Research）的研究员。邹教授研究中国和美国的环境经济学。他当前的研究目标是新兴的污染源，评估它们对人类和生态系统健康的影响，并探索监管和消费者技术解决方案。他的研究已经被发表在领先的学术期刊上，包括《美国经济评论》（American Economic Review）、《经济学和统计评论》（Review of Economics and Statistics）和《公共经济学杂志》（Journal of Public Economics），并且被《纽约时报》、《经济学人》和其他国际媒体报道。在加入密歇根大学之前，邹老师是俄勒冈大学的助理教授，以及康奈尔大学的博士后研究员。邹老师从伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校获得了经济学博士和硕士学位，并从华东师范大学获得了经济学学士学位。