American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Environmental Health Risks and Housing Values: Evidence from 1,600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings
American Economic Review
vol. 105,
no. 2, February 2015
(pp. 678–709)
Abstract
Regulatory oversight of toxic emissions from industrial plants and understanding about these emissions' impacts are in their infancy. Applying a research design based on the openings and closings of 1,600 industrial plants to rich data on housing markets and infant health, we find that: toxic air emissions affect air quality only within 1 mile of the plant; plant openings lead to 11 percent declines in housing values within 0.5 mile or a loss of about $4.25 million for these households; and a plant's operation is associated with a roughly 3 percent increase in the probability of low birthweight within 1 mile. (JEL I12, L60, Q52, Q53, Q58, R23, R31)Citation
Currie, Janet, Lucas Davis, Michael Greenstone, and Reed Walker. 2015. "Environmental Health Risks and Housing Values: Evidence from 1,600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings." American Economic Review, 105 (2): 678–709. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20121656Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- L60 Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General
- Q52 Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- R31 Housing Supply and Markets