We synthesize and review retrospective analyses of federal air quality regulations to examine the contributions Clean Air Act (CAA) vast improvements seen since 1970. Geographic heterogeneity in stringency affects emissions, public health, compliance costs, employment. Cap-and-trade has delivered greater emission reductions at lower cost than conventional mandates, yet fallen short textbook ide...

We examine the introduction of automatic air pollution monitoring to counter suspected tampering at local level, a central feature China’s “war on pollution.” Exploiting 654 regression discontinuity designs based city-level variation in day that was automated, we find an immediate and lasting increase 35 percent reported PM 10 concentrations post-automation. Moreover, automation’s increased onl...

Leaded gasoline is still used globally for aviation and automotive racing. Exploiting regulatory exemptions a novel quasi-experiment, we find that leaded use in racing increases ambient lead, elevated blood lead rates, elderly mortality. The mortality estimates indicate each gram of added to exceeds $1,100 damages. Our setting allows us rule out potential confounders, such as correlated polluta...

We estimate hurdle rates for firms’ investments in pollution abatement technology, using ex post data. The method is based on a structural option value model where the future price of polluting fuel is the major source of uncertainty facing the firm. The empirical procedure is illustrated using a panel of firms from the Swedish pulp and paper industry, and the energy and heating sector, and the...

This article uses theory and experiments to investigate voluntary-threat approaches for regulating nonpoint source water pollution. The policies allow a group of polluters to voluntarily meet a pollution standard, under threat of a mandatory tax policy to be implemented in the case of noncompliance. Building upon recent work by Segerson and Wu (2006), who propose what we label an “exogenous” vo...

We investigate the effects of consumers’ environmental concerns and market competition on firms’ decisions to innovate in “clean” technologies. Agents care about their consumption footprint; firms pursue greener products soften price competition. Acting as complements, these forces determine R&D, pollution, welfare. test theory using panel data patents by 7,060 automobile sector 25 countrie...

In the past 10–15 years, innovations in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have fueled a boom in the production of natural gas from geological formations that were previously unprofitable. The rapid deployment of fracking has been accompanied by concerns about negative externalities. In response, a regulatory regime has emerged that requires disclosure of chemical additives, but prese...

On June 25, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to introduce carbon dioxide emission standards for electricity generation. This paper proposes an efficiency analysis approach that addresses which emission rates (and standards) would be feasible if the existing generating units adopt best practices. A new efficiency measure is introduced and further decomposed to identify different sources’...

Information disclosure regulations are increasingly common, but their effects on the behavior of regulated firms are unclear. The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act mandated that community drinking water suppliers issue to customers annual consumer confidence reports (CCRs), containing information on violations of drinking water regulations and on observed contaminant levels. We exa...

This paper adds to the existing literature on the estimation of future consumption patterns. I first forecast the demand of beef, chicken and pig products for the years 2020 and 2040 using a simultaneous equations model for the world and specific regions. Then, using existing research on “best existing case” scenarios of the ecological impact of different foods, I estimate the land usage and gr...