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Spatial Heterogeneity in Environmental Regulation Enforcement and the Firm Location Decision among U.S. Counties

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  • O. Ashton Morgan
  • Simon Condliffe

Abstract

We estimate a negative binomial model with fixed effects to examine the impact of spatial differences in environmental regulation on manufacturing capital flows. Using a newly available data set, we find that stricter air quality standards deter births of polluting plants, suggesting heterogeneity in regulatory standards may create a temporal browning process. We also find that spatial differences in environmental regulation do not play a role in the location decision of non-pollution intensive plants. Key Words: Environmental regulation, firm location, air pollution

Suggested Citation

  • O. Ashton Morgan & Simon Condliffe, 2009. "Spatial Heterogeneity in Environmental Regulation Enforcement and the Firm Location Decision among U.S. Counties," Working Papers 09-12, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    • Handle: RePEc:apl:wpaper:09-12
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    File URL: http://econ.appstate.edu/RePEc/pdf/wp0912.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Henderson, J Vernon, 1996. "Effects of Air Quality Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 789-813, September.
    2. Randy Becker & Vernon Henderson, 2000. "Effects of Air Quality Regulations on Polluting Industries," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 379-421, April.
    3. John A. List & Daniel L. Millimet & Per G. Fredriksson & W. Warren McHone, 2003. "Effects of Environmental Regulations on Manufacturing Plant Births: Evidence from a Propensity Score Matching Estimator," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 944-952, November.
    4. Cletus C. Coughlin & Eran Segev, 2000. "Location Determinants of New Foreign‐Owned Manufacturing Plants," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 323-351, May.
    5. List, John A. & McHone, W. Warren & Millimet, Daniel L., 2004. "Effects of environmental regulation on foreign and domestic plant births: is there a home field advantage?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 303-326, September.
    6. Virginia D. McConnell & Robert M. Schwab, 1990. "The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Industry Location Decisions: The Motor Vehicle Industry," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 66(1), pages 67-81.
    7. Timothy J. Bartik, 2002. "The Effects of Environmental Regulation on Business Location in the United States," Book chapters authored by Upjohn Institute researchers, in: Wayne B. Gray (ed.),Economic Costs and Consequences of Environmental Regulation, pages 129-151, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    8. Adam B. Jaffe et al., 1995. "Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 132-163, March.
    9. Levinson, Arik, 1996. "Environmental regulations and manufacturers' location choices: Evidence from the Census of Manufactures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 5-29, October.
    10. John A. List & W. Warren McHone, 2000. "Measuring the effects of air quality regulations on "dirty" firm births: Evidence from the neo- and mature-regulatory periods," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 79(2), pages 177-190.
    11. Carlton, Dennis W, 1983. "The Location and Employment Choices of New Firms: An Econometric Model with Discrete and Continuous Endogenous Variables," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(3), pages 440-449, August.
    12. List, John A., 2001. "US county-level determinants of inbound FDI: evidence from a two-step modified count data model," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 953-973, May.
    13. List John A. & Millimet Daniel L & McHone Warren, 2004. "The Unintended Disincentive in the Clean Air Act," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-28, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cui, Jingbo & Moschini, GianCarlo, 2020. "Firm internal network, environmental regulation, and plant death," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Glenn Sheriff & Ann E. Ferris & Ronald J. Shadbegian, 2015. "How Did Air Quality Standards Affect Employment at U.S. Power Plants? The Importance of Stringency, Geography, and Timing," NCEE Working Paper Series 201501, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised May 2015.
    3. Jiajia Zheng & Pengfei Sheng, 2017. "The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the Environment: Market Perspectives and Evidence from China," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Yingming Zhu & Nian Wang & Ronghui Xie, 2022. "Exploring the Role of Heterogeneous Environmental Regulations in Industrial Agglomeration: A Fresh Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Yinhao Wu & Changhong Miao & Jianming Miao & Yan Zhang, 2020. "How Does Environmental Regulation Affect the Location of New Polluting Firms? Exploring the Agglomeration Threshold of Effective Environmental Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-16, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    environmental regulation; firm location; air pollution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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