Building the Prototype Census Environmental Impacts Frame / John L. Voorheis, Jonathan M. Colmer, Kendall A. Houghton, Eva Lyubich, Mary Munro, Cameron Scalera, Jennifer R. Withrow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Voorheis, John L.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Colmer, Jonathan M.

Houghton, Kendall A.

Lyubich, Eva.

Munro, Mary.

Scalera, Cameron.

Withrow, Jennifer R.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w31189.

NBER working paper series no. w31189

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2023.

Summary:

The natural environment is central to all aspects of life, but efforts to quantify its influence have been hindered by data availability and measurement constraints. To mitigate some of these challenges, we introduce a new prototype of a microdata infrastructure: the Census Environmental Impacts Frame (EIF). The EIF provides detailed individual-level information on demographics, economic characteristics, and address-level histories - linked to spatially and temporally resolved estimates of environmental conditions for each individual - for almost every resident in the United States over the past two decades. This linked microdata infrastructure provides a unique platform for advancing our understanding about the distribution of environmental amenities and hazards, when, how, and why exposures have evolved over time, and the consequences of environmental inequality and changing environmental conditions. We describe the construction of the EIF, explore issues of coverage and data quality, document patterns and trends in individual exposure to two correlated but distinct air pollutants as an application of the EIF, and discuss implications and opportunities for future research.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2023.