Environmental Health Risks and Housing Values: Evidence from 1,600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings
Janet Currie, Lucas Davis, Michael Greenstone, Reed Walker
American Economic Review · 2015 · Volume 105 · Issue 2
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)
Keywords
Health Behavior, Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General, Pollution Control Adoption and Costs, Distributional Effects, Employment Effects, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Noise, Hazardous Waste, Solid Waste, Recycling, Environmental Economics: Government Policy, Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration, Regional Labor Markets, Population, Neighborhood Characteristics, Housing Supply and Markets
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.