Who Benefits from Environmental Regulation? Evidence from the Clean Air Act Amendments
利用地理细分数据和工具变量策略，研究发现1990年《清洁空气法修正案》的收益是累进的，低收入家庭从空气质量改善中获益更多，其收益占收入比例是高收入家庭的两倍以上。
Using geographically disaggregated data and exploiting an instrumental variable strategy, we show that contrary to conventional wisdom, the benefits of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) were progressive. The CAAA created incentives for local regulators to target the initially dirtiest areas for cleanup, creating heterogeneity in the incidence of air quality improvements that favored lower-income households. Based on house price appreciation, households in the lowest quintile of the income distribution received annual benefits from the program equal to 0.3 percent of their income on average during the 1990s, over twice as much as those in the highest quintile.