New Perspectives on Environmental Justice
Paper Session
Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (CST)
- Chair: Sarah Jacobson, Williams College
Racial Compensation Differentials in Federal Property Buyouts
Abstract
Recent climate projections forecast significant increases in flood risks, and the greatest increases are anticipated to be in communities of color. The use of managed retreats, or ``buyouts," of flood-prone properties as an adaptation response is also likely to grow. This paper investigates the equity implications of managed retreat by analyzing the role of race and ethnicity in buyout bargaining outcomes. To do this, we combine nationwide administrative data on federal property acquisitions and housing sales transactions. We then estimate the discount in buyout payments relative to a property's fair market value and whether this discount differs by race. We find that the buyout compensation received by minority families is between 11 and 15 percent lower than that received by white families. We investigate the mechanisms behind this compensation differential by race and highlight how government policy, aimed to address increasing climate impacts, may exacerbate the burden of climate change on vulnerable communities.Do Trends in Pollution Disparities imply Narrowing Health Disparities? Evidence from California
Abstract
Pollution concentrations in the United States have fallen in recent decades. Despite these improvements, relative pollution concentrations between minority communities and other communities persist. This paper analyzes recent trends in PM2.5 concentration disparities across racial groups in California and compares these with disparities in health outcomes often attributed to PM2.5. We combine administrative data on the universe of emergency room admissions across California with satellite information on PM2.5 concentrations to document three new facts. First, consistent with findings in the literature, we detect an overall decrease in PM2.5 concentrations across California between 2006 and 2017. Relative differences in pollution concentrations have also decreased, though environmental disparities remain: predominantly Black, Asian, and Hispanic communities are subject to greater PM2.5 than predominantly White communities. Second, despite decreases in relative PM2.5 concentrations, health disparities have largely remained constant. Black individuals persistently are admitted to emergency rooms for asthma at twice the rate of White individuals. These health disparities are particularly higher for younger populations: Black children aged 0-10 experience an almost three-fold difference in asthma incidence compared to White children. Third, these health disparities remain even after controlling for observed demographic characteristics and for patient zip code of residence and year fixed effects. Black patients experience a larger incidence of asthma and other upper tract respiratory diseases both in urban and rural zip codes, and across different income levels. Finally, our paper analyzes whether air quality regulation decreases health disparities. We analyze whether the revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone (2008) and PM2.5 (2012), decrease disparities in asthma incidence between Black and White populations. We find that these air quality policies had no effect in reducing health disparities suggesting that additional policies to reduce health disparities might be needed.Anticipatory Migration Responses to Rural Climate Shocks
Abstract
Climate change has increased the incidence and severity of temperature and precipitation shocks affecting agricultural production. Observed levels of adaptation remain low, suggesting that rural households are constrained or adaptation decisions are suboptimal. We integrate panel socioeconomic and demographic data from rural Mexico with high temporal and spatial resolution weather data to assess if individuals adapt to the heat-induced crop losses of neighboring households via anticipatory (ex ante) responses. We find evidence of domestic migration in anticipation of crop shocks, particularly among females and households with lower land-labor ratios. The majority of migrants temporarily relocate to a city, other state or country, which is consistent with spatial risk diversification to climate risk. This study highlights the substantial influence of the environment-agriculture mechanism, the salience of anticipatory adaptation, and the relevance of learning from others in the context of climate risk. These findings have important implications for the design and targeting of rural climate change mitigation programs, suggesting that adaptation gaps are likely overstated and that rural households have different capacities to mitigate the risks associated with climate shocks.Discussant(s)
Janet Currie
,
Princeton University
Noelwah Netusil
,
Reed College
Catie Hausman
,
University of Michigan
Edward Miguel
,
University of California-Berkeley
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics
- Q0 - General