Environmental Regulation and Labor Reallocation: Evidence from the Clean Air Act

2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 442-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Reed Walker
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
County Level ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
Labor Reallocation ◽  
Regulatory Status ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Plant Level ◽  
The Impact

This paper uses newly available data on plant level regulatory status linked to the Census Longitudinal Business Database to measure the impact of changes in county level environmental regulations on plant and sector employment levels. Estimates from a variety of specifications suggest a strong connection between changes in environmental regulatory stringency and both employment growth and levels in the affected sectors. The preferred estimates suggest that changes in county level regulatory status due to the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments reduced the size of the regulated sector by as much as 15 percent in the 10 years following the changes.

The Impact of Inspections on Plant-Level Air Emissions

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rema Nadeem Hanna ◽  
Paulina Oliva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Air Emissions ◽  
Abatement Costs ◽  
Manufacturing Plants ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Plant Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Each year, the United States conducts approximately 20,000 inspections of manufacturing plants under the Clean Air Act. This paper compiles a panel dataset on plant-level inspections, fines, and emissions to understand whether these inspections actually reduce air emissions. We find plants reduce air emissions by fifteen percent, on average, following an inspection under the Clean Air Act. Plants that belong to industries that typically have low abatement costs respond more strongly to an inspection than those who belong to industries with high abatement costs.

scholarly journals The Unintended Disincentive in the Clean Air Act

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. List ◽  
Daniel L Millimet ◽  
Warren McHone
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
The Us ◽  
Entire Plant ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Plant Level ◽  
Current Standards

Abstract The Clean Air Act and its subsequent amendments have been lauded as the primary stimulant to the impressive improvement in local air quality in the US since 1970. A key component of these regulations is the New Source Review (NSR) requirement, which includes the contentious stipulation that when an existing plant seeks to modify its operations, the entire plant must comply with current standards for new sources. This requirement was included to improve air quality in dirty areas, and prevent a deterioration of air quality in clean areas. Yet, whether NSR provides the proper plant-level incentives is unclear: there are strong disincentives to undertake major plant modifications to avoid NSR. In our examination of more than 2500 and 2200 plant-level modification decisions and closures, respectively, we find empirical evidence suggesting that NSR retards modification rates, while doing little to hasten the closure of existing dirty plants.

scholarly journals Does Environmental Policy Affect Income Inequality? Evidence from the Clean Air Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 271-276
Author(s):  
Akshaya Jha ◽  
Peter H. Matthews ◽  
Nicholas Z. Muller
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Pollution Damage ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The Impact

This paper quantifies the impact of environmental policy on income inequality. We focus on the Clean Air act and the National Ambient Air Quality standards for fine particulate matter and ozone. Using a matched difference-in-differences estimator, we find evidence that both standards increased inequality in market income and a measure of income that deducts per-capita air pollution damage from adjusted gross income. While pollution standards can reduce pollution levels and thus result in significant environmental benefits in aggregate, our findings suggest that these standards appear to distort the distribution of economic resources in complex, and at times unfortunate, ways.

scholarly journals The Transitional Costs of Sectoral Reallocation: Evidence From the Clean Air Act and the Workforce*

2013 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 1787-1835 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Reed Walker
Keyword(s):  
Clean Air Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Job Transitions ◽  
Earnings Losses ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Regulated Industries ◽  
Firm Data ◽  
Plant Level

Abstract This article uses linked worker-firm data in the United States to estimate the transitional costs associated with reallocating workers from newly regulated industries to other sectors of the economy in the context of new environmental regulations. The focus on workers rather than industries as the unit of analysis allows me to examine previously unobserved economic outcomes such as nonemployment and long-run earnings losses from job transitions, both of which are critical to understanding the reallocative costs associated with these policies. Using plant-level panel variation induced by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), I find that the reallocative costs of environmental policy are significant. Workers in newly regulated plants experienced, in aggregate, more than $5.4 billion in forgone earnings for the years after the change in policy. Most of these costs are driven by nonemployment and lower earnings in future employment, highlighting the importance of longitudinal data for characterizing the costs and consequences of labor market adjustment. Relative to the estimated benefits of the 1990 CAAA, these one-time transitional costs are small.

Measuring the Impact of Anti-SLAPP Legislation on Monitoring and Enforcement

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bevin Ashenmiller ◽  
Catherine Shelley Norman
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
State Legislation ◽  
Monitoring And Enforcement ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Enforcement Activity

Abstract We examine changes in environmental monitoring and enforcement activity in the presence of state legislation prohibiting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP laws). Using data on the Clean Air Act from the Environmental Protection Agency’s ECHO database, we find evidence that state inspections increase by almost 50% after a state passes anti-SLAPP legislation. In addition, we find strong evidence that the ratio of findings of noncompliance to inspections more than doubles in the presence of anti-SLAPP legislation.

scholarly journals The Public Health Aspects of Environmental Enforcement

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Kundis Craig
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Environmental Enforcement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Clean Air

Beyond being an environmental concern, pollution is a public health problem. As a result, enforcement of anti-pollution statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, not only protects the environment, but also furthers fundamental public health goals. Moreover, public health benefits provide politically salient arguments for continuing and even strengthening environmental protection that can counteract any political opposition that can arise as a result of the costs of environmental regulation and compliance to regulated entities and the taxpayers.Thus, it is worth examining the extent to which the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) considers the public health in its environmental enforcement priorities and decisions. Focusing on the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, this Article undertakes such an examination by: (1) outlining the statutory connections between public health considerations and environmental regulation; (2) examining the EPA’s enforcement priorities and guidance; and (3) criticizing the EPA’s presentation of its own enforcement effectiveness over the last decade.This Article concludes that public health considerations do play a significant role in environmental enforcement policies and decisionmaking. However, the EPA’s commitment to presenting the public health benefits of its enforcement actions has varied considerably over the last decade. With the release of its FY2009 enforcement assessment, however, the EPA has both expanded its analysis of the connection between environmental pollution enforcement and public health benefits and created new tools to enhance the transparency of these benefits to the affected public.

International Real Estate Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230
Author(s):  
Mark P. Berkman ◽  
◽  
Kyle J. Hubbard ◽  
Timothy H. Savage ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Property Values ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Residential Property ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Percent Increase ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Multiple Pollution ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Percent Decrease

Recent litigation with regards to property damage associated with carbon black emissions provides an opportunity to measure the impact of particulate matter (PM), a Clean Air Act pollutant. By using property-specific PM concentrations, we estimate the impact of PM on residential property values, which accounts for relevant characteristics and multiple pollution sources. This study simultaneously incorporates all important econometric modeling features cited in the prior literature. We find that a 10-percent increase in PM concentration results in a statistically-significant 1.1-percent decrease in value. In 2007 dollars, a one-standard deviation increase in PM concentration results in a statistically-significant reduction of approximately $4,800.

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