American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy
American Economic Review
vol. 101,
no. 5, August 2011
(pp. 1649–75)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This study presents a framework to include environmental externalities into a system of national accounts. The paper estimates the air pollution damages for each industry in the United States. An integrated-assessment model quantifies the marginal damages of air pollution emissions for the US which are multiplied times the quantity of emissions by industry to compute gross damages. Solid waste combustion, sewage treatment, stone quarrying, marinas, and oil and coal-fired power plants have air pollution damages larger than their value added. The largest industrial contributor to external costs is coal-fired electric generation, whose damages range from 0.8 to 5.6 times value added. (JEL E01, L94, Q53, Q56)Citation
Muller, Nicholas Z., Robert Mendelsohn, and William Nordhaus. 2011. "Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy." American Economic Review 101 (5): 1649–75. DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.5.1649Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E01 Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
- L94 Electric Utilities
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- Q56 Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth