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  5. Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution

  • Spencer Banzhaf
  • Lala Ma
  • Christopher Timmins
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 33, no. 1, Winter 2019
(pp. 185–208)
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Abstract

The grassroots movement that placed environmental justice issues on the national stage around 1980 was soon followed up by research documenting the correlation between pollution and race and poverty. This work has established inequitable exposure to nuisances as a stylized fact of social science. In this paper, we review the environmental justice literature, especially where it intersects with work by economists. First we consider the literature documenting evidence of disproportionate exposure. We particularly consider the implications of modeling choices about spatial relationships between polluters and residents, and about conditioning variables. Next, we evaluate the theory and evidence for four possible mechanisms that may lie behind the patterns seen: disproportionate siting on the firm side, "coming to the nuisance" on the household side, market-like coordination of the two, and discriminatory politics and/or enforcement. We argue that further research is needed to understand how much weight to give each mechanism. Finally, we discuss some policy options.

Citation

Banzhaf, Spencer, Lala Ma, and Christopher Timmins. 2019. "Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33 (1): 185–208. DOI: 10.1257/jep.33.1.185

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
  • Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
  • Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
  • Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy
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