Human Right to Water Act and drinking water compliance: A synthetic control approach

Chanheung Cho

Economics Letters, 2025, vol. 253, issue C

Abstract: This paper evaluates the impact of California’s Human Right to Water Act (HR2W) on drinking water compliance using a synthetic control approach. We construct a counterfactual from other U.S. states to estimate the 2016 policy’s causal effect. The results show a significant decline in the enforcement priority of public water systems (PWSs) in California relative to the synthetic counterpart. Robustness checks confirm that this decline is not driven by confounding factors like federal regulations. These findings provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of targeted water governance policies.

Keywords: Drinking water compliance; Environmental regulation; Regulatory enforcement; Synthetic control method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 Q25 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001983

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112361

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