Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 10, October 2017
(pp. 2958-89)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
The demand for air quality depends on health impacts and defensive investments, but little research assesses the empirical importance of defenses. A rich quasi-experiment suggests that the Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Budget Program (NBP), a cap-and-trade market, decreased NOx emissions, ambient ozone concentrations, pharmaceutical expenditures, and mortality rates. The annual reductions in pharmaceutical purchases, a key defensive investment, and mortality are valued at about $800 million and $1.3 billion, respectively, suggesting that defenses are over one-third of willingness-to-pay for reductions in NOx emissions. Further, estimates indicate that the NBP's benefits easily exceed its costs and that NOx reductions have substantial benefits.Citation
Deschênes, Olivier, Michael Greenstone, and Joseph S. Shapiro. 2017. "Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program." American Economic Review, 107 (10): 2958-89. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20131002Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- Q51 Valuation of Environmental Effects
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy