Unregulated contaminants in drinking water: Evidence from PFAS and housing prices
利用PFAS污染被媒体广泛报道这一事件，研究未受监管污染物信息对房价的影响，发现高调报道显著降低了受影响房屋的价值，并可能加剧环境不平等。
Our understanding of individuals’ response to information about unregulated contaminants is limited. We leverage the highly publicized social discovery of unregulated PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination in public drinking water to study the impact of information about unregulated contaminants on housing prices. Using residential property transaction data, we employ a difference-in-differences research design and show that high profile media coverage about PFAS contamination significantly decreased property values of affected homes. We also find suggestive evidence of residential sorting that may have worsened environmental inequality.