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The politics of pollution: party regimes and air quality in Canada

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  • Ross McKitrick

Abstract

. Environmental concerns often figure prominently in opinion polls. But do election outcomes actually affect the environment? I test the influence of the party in power on urban air pollution in 13 Canadian cities. The government's political stripe is not reliably associated with positive or negative effects on air pollution. Provincial parties on both the right and the left are associated with elevated levels of some air contaminants. Federal effects also go in contrasting directions. Overall it appears a change in government is unlikely to be a reliable predictor of changes in air pollution. JEL classification: Q51, Q58, D78 Le jeu politique de la pollution: les régimes de partis et la qualité de l’air au Canada. Les problèmes environnementaux ont une grande présence dans les enquêtes d’opinion. Mais est‐ce que les résultats des élections affectent vraiment l’environnement? On jauge l’influence que le parti au pouvoir a eu sur la pollution de l’air dans 13 villes canadiennes. La «couleur» du parti ne peut pas être co‐reliée de façon fiable avec des effets positifs ou négatifs sur la pollution de l’air. Des partis politiques provinciaux de droite et de gauche sont associés à des niveaux élevés d’agents de contamination dans l’air. Les effets des gouvernements fédéraux vont aussi dans des directions contrastées. En général, il semble qu’un changement de gouvernement n’est pas susceptible d’être un la base d’une prédiction fiable de changement dans la pollution de l’air.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross McKitrick, 2006. "The politics of pollution: party regimes and air quality in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(2), pages 604-620, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:39:y:2006:i:2:p:604-620
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0008-4085.2006.00362.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Chang, Chun-Ping & Wen, Jun & Dong, Minyi & Hao, Yu, 2018. "Does government ideology affect environmental pollutions? New evidence from instrumental variable quantile regression estimations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 386-400.
    2. Wen, Jun & Hao, Yu & Feng, Gen-Fu & Chang, Chun-Ping, 2016. "Does government ideology influence environmental performance? Evidence based on a new dataset," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 232-246.
    3. Christian Bjørnskov & Niklas Potrafke, 2012. "Political Ideology and Economic Freedom Across Canadian Provinces," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 143-166.
    4. Josip Lesica, 2018. "Lobbying For Minimum Wages," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(4), pages 2027-2057, October.
    5. Zhou, Di & Zhong, Zhuoxi & Chen, Lubin & Gao, Weixin & Wang, Mingzhe, 2022. "Can the joint regional air pollution control policy achieve a win-win outcome for the environment and economy? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 13-33.
    6. Y.H. Farzin & C.A. Bond, 2012. "Unbundling Technology Adoption and tfp at the Firm Level. Do Intangibles Matter?," Working Papers 2012.97, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Wanjuan Wang & Hongbo Gong, 2022. "Formation Mechanism of a Coastal Zone Environment Collaborative Governance Relationship: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on fsQCA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-26, September.
    8. Niklas Potrafke, 2010. "Labor market deregulation and globalization: empirical evidence from OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(3), pages 545-571, September.
    9. Haiqing Hu & Di Chen & Chun‐Ping Chang & Yin Chu, 2021. "The Political Economy Of Environmental Consequences: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 250-306, February.
    10. Chang, Chun Ping & Berdiev, Aziz N., 2011. "The political economy of energy regulation in OECD countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 816-825, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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