 Do environmental markets cause environmental injustice? Evidence from California’s carbon marketDanae Hernandez-Cortes and Kyle C. Meng Journal of Public Economics, 2023, vol. 217, issue C Abstract: Market-based environmental policies are widely adopted on the basis of allocative efficiency. However, there is growing concern that market-induced spatial reallocation of pollution could widen existing pollution concentration gaps between disadvantaged and other communities. We examine how this “environmental justice” (EJ) gap changed following the 2013 introduction of California’s carbon market, the world’s second largest and the most subjected to EJ critiques. We estimate that the program lowered GHG, PM2.5, PM10, and NOx emissions by 3–9% annually between 2012–2017 for sample industrial facilities regulated only by the carbon market. Using a pollution dispersal model to characterize resulting spatial changes in pollution concentrations, we find the program caused EJ gaps in PM2.5, PM10, and NOx from these facilities to narrow by 6–10% annually. We demonstrate that explicit modeling of pollution dispersal is critical for detecting these results. JEL-codes: D63 I14 Q51 Q53 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:217:y:2023:i:c:s0047272722001888 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104786 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Public Economics is currently edited by R. Boadway and J. Poterba More articles in Journal of Public Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.