Costs of a Practice‐based Air Quality Regulation: Dairy Farms in the San Joaquin Valley
利用加州圣华金谷奶牛场面板数据，评估基于实践的空气质量管理法规对牛奶生产成本的影响，发现法规并未显著增加总成本，但可能对不同成本要素有差异化影响。
Abstract Facing the difficulty of accurately measuring pollution from agriculture, economists have recommended regulatory approaches using proxies such as management practices to reduce agricultural pollution. Using farm‐level cost data on a panel of dairy farms, I estimate the effects of a practice‐based air quality regulation for dairy farms in the San Joaquin Valley in California. As opposed to ex ante analyses, my econometric results indicate that the air quality regulation has not significantly affected the total costs of milk production. Estimates also suggest that the regulation might have differential effects on different elements of costs. I support the econometric findings with evidence on how dairy farms comply with the regulation. Calculated adoption rates of different pollution‐mitigation practices using administrative data reveal that dairy farms have mainly adopted labor‐intensive practices to comply with the regulation.