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Drilling Like There's No Tomorrow: Bankruptcy, Insurance, and Environmental Risk

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  • Judson Boomhower

Abstract

This paper measures the effects of bankruptcy protection on industry structure and environmental outcomes in oil and gas extraction. Using administrative data from Texas, I exploit variation in an insurance requirement that reduced firms' ability to avoid liability through bankruptcy. Among small firms, the policy substantially improved environmental outcomes and reduced production. Most production was reallocated to larger firms with better environmental records, but high-cost production where social cost may have exceeded social benefit decreased. These results suggest that incomplete internalization of environmental costs due to bankruptcy is an important determinant of industry structure and safety effort in hazardous industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Judson Boomhower, 2019. "Drilling Like There's No Tomorrow: Bankruptcy, Insurance, and Environmental Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(2), pages 391-426, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:109:y:2019:i:2:p:391-426
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160346
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lade, Gabriel E. & Rudik, Ivan, 2020. "Costs of inefficient regulation: Evidence from the Bakken," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    2. Walls, W.D. & Zheng, Xiaoli, 2021. "Environmental regulation and safety outcomes: Evidence from energy pipelines in Canada," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Castillo, Emilio, 2021. "The impacts of profit-based royalties on early-stage mineral exploration," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Lange, Ian & Redlinger, Michael, 2019. "Effects of stricter environmental regulations on resource development," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 60-87.
    5. Shiyi Chen & Xiaoxiao Ding & Pingyi Lou & Hong Song, 2022. "New evidence of moral hazard: Environmental liability insurance and firms' environmental performance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 581-613, September.
    6. Weber, Jeremy, 2021. "Bonding Requirements for Oil and Gas Wells in Pennsylvania: Cost-Based Recommendations," MPRA Paper 110035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Yang, Peifang & Davis, Graham A., 2021. "Why don't environmental bonds fully cover reclamation costs?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Tijana Matejić & Snežana Knežević & Vesna Bogojević Arsić & Tijana Obradović & Stefan Milojević & Miljan Adamović & Aleksandra Mitrović & Marko Milašinović & Dragoljub Simonović & Goran Milošević & Ma, 2022. "Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Hotel Industry Bankruptcy Risk through Novel Forecasting Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-44, April.
    9. Huhtala, Anni & Ropponen, Olli, 2020. "Resource and Environmental Policies for the Mining Industry: What Should Governments Do About the Increasing Social and Environmental Risks?," Working Papers 137, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Aghakazemjourabbaf, Sara & Insley, Margaret, 2021. "Leaving your tailings behind: Environmental bonds, bankruptcy and waste cleanup," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Marko Špiler & Tijana Matejić & Snežana Knežević & Marko Milašinović & Aleksandra Mitrović & Vesna Bogojević Arsić & Tijana Obradović & Dragoljub Simonović & Vukašin Despotović & Stefan Milojević & Mi, 2022. "Assessment of the Bankruptcy Risk in the Hotel Industry as a Condition of the COVID-19 Crisis Using Time-Delay Neural Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-54, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L71 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels
    • Q35 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Hydrocarbon Resources
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects

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