What Do Emissions Markets Deliver and to Whom? Evidence from Southern California's NOx Trading Program / Meredith Fowlie, Stephen P. Holland, Erin T. Mansur.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fowlie, Meredith.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Holland, Stephen P.

Mansur, Erin T.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15082.

NBER working paper series no. w15082

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

A perceived advantage of cap-and-trade programs over more prescriptive environmental regulation is that enhanced compliance flexibility and cost effectiveness can make more stringent emissions reductions politically feasible. However, increased compliance flexibility can also result in an inequitable distribution of pollution. We investigate these issues in the context of Southern California's RECLAIM program. We match facilities in RECLAIM with similar California facilities also located in non-attainment areas. Our results indicate that emissions fell approximately 24 percent, on average, at RECLAIM facilities relative to our counterfactual. Furthermore, we find that observed changes in emissions do not vary significantly with neighborhood demographic characteristics.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2009.