Inequities in enforcement? Environmental justice and government performance

David M. Konisky
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David M. Konisky: Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri, Postal: Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2009, vol. 28, issue 1, 102-121

Abstract: This paper examines whether state governments perform systematically less environmental enforcement of facilities in communities with higher minority and low-income populations. Although this is an important claim made by environmental justice advocates, it has received little attention in the scholarly literature. Specifically, I analyze state regulatory enforcement of three U.S. pollution control laws-the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act-over the period 1985-2000. To test for disparities in enforcement, I estimate a series of count models and find strong evidence across each of the three environmental laws that states perform less enforcement in poor counties, but little evidence of race-based inequities. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:28:y:2009:i:1:p:102-121

DOI: 10.1002/pam.20404

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