Racial disparities in environmental auditing

Arbeitspapier

This paper investigates the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in advancing environmental justice through monitoring and enforcement efforts mandated by the Clean Air Act. Our analysis relies on a comprehensive dataset encompassing auditing information from all environmentally relevant plants between 2000 and 2018. Leveraging county-level variation in racial composition and environmental auditing, we find a substantial and persistent reduction in the proportion of inspected plants following increases in the share of non-White population. This decline coincides with a decrease in political activism, particularly among entities typically advocating for more stringent environmental protection.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: AWI Discussion Paper Series ; No. 745

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination ; Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law ; Energy; Environment ; Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects ; Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling ; Environmental Economics: Government Policy
• Subject: Environmental auditing ; Racial demographic shifts ; Environmental justice ; Political activism

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Balietti, Anca ; Zeising, Tom
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
• (where): Heidelberg
• (when): 2024

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.11588/heidok.00034516
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-345167
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET