The Historical Impact of Coal on Cities

Karen Clay, Joshua Lewis () and Edson Severnini
Additional contact information
Joshua Lewis: University of Montreal

No 16229, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Historically coal has offered both benefits and costs to urban areas. Benefits include coal's role in fueling industry and thus employment. The primary costs are air pollution and its impact on human health. This paper starts by using a Rosen-Roback style model to examine how differences in local coal availability affect equilibrium city employment. Drawing on the model, the paper surveys papers that examine the net effects of coal on the growth in city population and air pollution on health. The paper then turns to papers that explicitly consider the trade-offs between production benefits and pollution disamenities across space and over time. The paper ends with a discussion of opportunities for future work on coal and cities in historical settings.

Keywords: air pollution; local development; coal availability; trade-offs of coal consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N52 N72 O13 Q53 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2023-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-hea, nep-lma, nep-res and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2024, 107, 103951

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Related works:
Journal Article: The historical impact of coal on cities (2024)
Working Paper: The Historical Impact of Coal on Cities (2023)
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