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Measuring The Impact Of The Toxics Release Inventory: Evidence From Manufacturing Plant Births

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  • Nicholas E. Powers

Abstract

The Toxics Release Inventory was the first major initiative to take a disclosurebased approach to environmental regulation and has served as the model for several other disclosure-based environmental policies. Yet the magnitude of its direct impacts on industrial manufacturing outcomes has not been established. I use Census Bureau micro-data to estimate the impacts of the Toxics Release Inventory on the opening of new manufacturing plants. I find that on average, counties that were found to be among the dirtiest in the country, in terms of toxic emissions, experienced a decrease in �dirty� plant births and an even larger increase in �clean� plant births. Furthermore, the magnitude of this shift is closely related to per capita income in the affected coun- ties - the effect is strongest in high-income communities and is reversed in low-income communities. I discuss the implications for information-based environmental policies.

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  • Nicholas E. Powers, 2013. "Measuring The Impact Of The Toxics Release Inventory: Evidence From Manufacturing Plant Births," Working Papers 13-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-07
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    Cited by:

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    Keywords

    Firm heterogeneity; microdata; quality; trade; unit value.;
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