Pub Date : 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103199
Man Li
This paper examines the impact of extreme heat on the sectoral reallocation of working-age adult male labor in rural Bangladesh using a three-period panel on individual employment. It shows that high temperatures prompt a labor shift from the non-agricultural to agricultural sectors, primarily into agricultural wage jobs. Variations in employment choices in the agricultural sector depend on household land ownership. Individuals in households with more land tend to engage in crop cultivation, whereas individuals in households with little or no land are more likely to work for wages. Two key channels explain how extreme heat influences employment. First, extreme heat raises demand for hired agricultural labor, especially during busy farming seasons, as labor loss risks crop failure. Second, local demand effects become evident as higher temperatures reduce overall household income, raise food prices, and shift spending towards food, causing the non-agricultural sector to contract.
{"title":"Labor reallocation in the heat: A comprehensive analysis in rural Bangladesh","authors":"Man Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103199","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103199","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of extreme heat on the sectoral reallocation of working-age adult male labor in rural Bangladesh using a three-period panel on individual employment. It shows that high temperatures prompt a labor shift from the non-agricultural to agricultural sectors, primarily into agricultural wage jobs. Variations in employment choices in the agricultural sector depend on household land ownership. Individuals in households with more land tend to engage in crop cultivation, whereas individuals in households with little or no land are more likely to work for wages. Two key channels explain how extreme heat influences employment. First, extreme heat raises demand for hired agricultural labor, especially during busy farming seasons, as labor loss risks crop failure. Second, local demand effects become evident as higher temperatures reduce overall household income, raise food prices, and shift spending towards food, causing the non-agricultural sector to contract.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103199"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145155107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103228
Francesc Ortega, Ivan Petkov
We present a model of the demand for flood insurance, construct individual insurance histories for the universe of policyholders, and empirically analyze the effects of the latest NFIP reform (known as Risk Rating 2.0). The reform increased exits, both in the flood zone and its periphery, particularly among policyholders with subsidized rates and those paying the highest premiums. The reform also reduced new entry, had highly heterogeneous effects on insurance costs and triggered adjustments in deductibles, generally shifting flood risk toward policyholders in exchange for lower premiums. While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.
{"title":"To improve is to change: The effects of Risk Rating 2.0 on flood insurance demand","authors":"Francesc Ortega, Ivan Petkov","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103228","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103228","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a model of the demand for flood insurance, construct individual insurance histories for the universe of policyholders, and empirically analyze the effects of the latest NFIP reform (known as <em>Risk Rating 2.0</em>). The reform increased exits, both in the flood zone and its periphery, particularly among policyholders with subsidized rates and those paying the highest premiums. The reform also reduced new entry, had highly heterogeneous effects on insurance costs and triggered adjustments in deductibles, generally shifting flood risk toward policyholders in exchange for lower premiums. While the reform may have improved the solvency of the NFIP, it has exacerbated the decade-long decline in enrollment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103228"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103214
Raisa Sherif, Sven A. Simon
Today’s environmental challenges prompt individuals to take personal actions, though motivations vary. This paper presents causal evidence of a trade-off between two motivations behind pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs): maximizing environmental impact or being seen as green. In an experiment on voluntary carbon offsetting, we first isolate each motivation and quantify their impact. We then investigate whether individuals deliberately trade-off impact for the visibility of their actions, and why they do so. Our results show that while individuals respond to salient differences in efficiency and visibility, visible PEBs crowd out efficient alternatives, indicating a preference for being seen as green over actual environmental impact. We disentangle two motivations driving this preference for visible actions: hedonic social image concerns and instrumental role model aspirations. Role model aspirations exert a stronger influence, leading individuals to choose visible PEBs over efficient ones more frequently.
{"title":"Impact, inspiration, or image: On the trade-offs in pro-environmental behaviors","authors":"Raisa Sherif, Sven A. Simon","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Today’s environmental challenges prompt individuals to take personal actions, though motivations vary. This paper presents causal evidence of a trade-off between two motivations behind pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs): maximizing environmental impact or being seen as green. In an experiment on voluntary carbon offsetting, we first isolate each motivation and quantify their impact. We then investigate whether individuals deliberately trade-off impact for the visibility of their actions, and why they do so. Our results show that while individuals respond to salient differences in efficiency and visibility, visible PEBs crowd out efficient alternatives, indicating a preference for being seen as green over actual environmental impact. We disentangle two motivations driving this preference for visible actions: hedonic social image concerns and instrumental role model aspirations. Role model aspirations exert a stronger influence, leading individuals to choose visible PEBs over efficient ones more frequently.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103214"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145106499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103227
Erik Hille, Cian Angerpointner
While research has considered the labor market consequences of environmental and climate policies in developed countries, empirical evidence for developing countries is largely missing. This paper uses rich firm-level data for all economic sectors in Vietnam to analyze the employment effects of energy prices. We take advantage of the fact that energy prices have been under relatively strong state control. Utilizing an instrumental variable approach, we find effects that are heterogeneous across sectors, indicating regulation-induced structural changes. Although energy price increases entailed layoffs in manufacturing firms, additional jobs were created in firms in service sectors. As a result, employment in the whole economy tended to remain unaffected. This result is notable as Vietnam has been associated with a comparative advantage in relatively labor- and pollution-intensive production. Layoffs were particularly pronounced in large or trade-exposed firms and in energy-intensive industries. They were also more common in foreign than in state-owned firms.
{"title":"The effect of energy prices on employment: Evidence from a developing country","authors":"Erik Hille, Cian Angerpointner","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While research has considered the labor market consequences of environmental and climate policies in developed countries, empirical evidence for developing countries is largely missing. This paper uses rich firm-level data for all economic sectors in Vietnam to analyze the employment effects of energy prices. We take advantage of the fact that energy prices have been under relatively strong state control. Utilizing an instrumental variable approach, we find effects that are heterogeneous across sectors, indicating regulation-induced structural changes. Although energy price increases entailed layoffs in manufacturing firms, additional jobs were created in firms in service sectors. As a result, employment in the whole economy tended to remain unaffected. This result is notable as Vietnam has been associated with a comparative advantage in relatively labor- and pollution-intensive production. Layoffs were particularly pronounced in large or trade-exposed firms and in energy-intensive industries. They were also more common in foreign than in state-owned firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103227"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103225
Manuel Grieder , Deborah Kistler , Jan Schmitz
Firms frequently engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and encourage employees to follow their example. We explore the effects of different forms of environmental CSR on workers’ personal pro-environmental behavior in the form of a donation to an environmental charity. In three field experiments (, , and ) in an online labor market, we find that environmental corporate philanthropy has a positive impact on workers’ personal pro-environmental behavior. In contrast, CSR that involves directly contributing to environmental sustainability through one’s work shows only directionally positive effects on personal donations. The effect of corporate philanthropy appears to extend across domains, as non-environmental corporate philanthropy also increases personal donations to environmental causes. Normative framing plays an important role, as even verbal expressions of support for environmental causes can influence employee behavior. Yet, CSR actions without normative framing (beyond mentioning the recipient charity) also have an effect. Taken together, the results suggest that both firm behavior and its normative framing can serve as social information that shapes employee behavior and that CSR initiatives can have hidden benefits. Charities cooperating with firms on their philanthropic mission may therefore stand to gain from an increase in overall contributions.
{"title":"The hidden benefits of CSR: Corporate philanthropy begets giving of employees","authors":"Manuel Grieder , Deborah Kistler , Jan Schmitz","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Firms frequently engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and encourage employees to follow their example. We explore the effects of different forms of environmental CSR on workers’ personal pro-environmental behavior in the form of a donation to an environmental charity. In three field experiments (<span><math><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>2365</mn></math></span>, <span><math><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1156</mn></math></span>, and <span><math><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>1462</mn></math></span>) in an online labor market, we find that environmental corporate philanthropy has a positive impact on workers’ personal pro-environmental behavior. In contrast, CSR that involves directly contributing to environmental sustainability through one’s work shows only directionally positive effects on personal donations. The effect of corporate philanthropy appears to extend across domains, as non-environmental corporate philanthropy also increases personal donations to environmental causes. Normative framing plays an important role, as even verbal expressions of support for environmental causes can influence employee behavior. Yet, CSR actions without normative framing (beyond mentioning the recipient charity) also have an effect. Taken together, the results suggest that both firm behavior and its normative framing can serve as social information that shapes employee behavior and that CSR initiatives can have hidden benefits. Charities cooperating with firms on their philanthropic mission may therefore stand to gain from an increase in overall contributions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103225"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103226
Dorothée Brécard , Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline
How do environmental information and awareness interact to improve environmental quality by changing consumer behavior and firm strategies? This article provides theoretical insights using an original differentiation model within a general framework whose specific cases have been studied previously. On the demand side, only informed consumers differentiate brown from green product quality, while uninformed consumers consider these perfect substitutes. Moreover, all informed consumers value the green product and devalue the brown product due to an aversion effect but are heterogeneous in their environmental awareness. On the supply side, two firms offer different environmental qualities and compete on price. We consider two types of environmental campaigns: increasing the number of informed consumers and increasing the environmental awareness of informed consumers. We show that these campaigns crucially determine three market configurations: segmented; fragmented, with a brown product that appeals to both uninformed consumers and a fraction of informed consumers; and covered. Assuming that the greenest consumer behavior is abstention, we find that a situation where all consumers are informed and some are highly environmentally aware is not necessarily the greenest. Depending on the aversion effect, the campaign organizer’s budget, and their relative cost-effectiveness, information and awareness-raising campaigns require a judicious mix.
{"title":"Informing the uninformed, sensitizing the informed: The two sides of consumer environmental awareness","authors":"Dorothée Brécard , Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103226","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103226","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How do environmental information and awareness interact to improve environmental quality by changing consumer behavior and firm strategies? This article provides theoretical insights using an original differentiation model within a general framework whose specific cases have been studied previously. On the demand side, only informed consumers differentiate brown from green product quality, while uninformed consumers consider these perfect substitutes. Moreover, all informed consumers value the green product and devalue the brown product due to an aversion effect but are heterogeneous in their environmental awareness. On the supply side, two firms offer different environmental qualities and compete on price. We consider two types of environmental campaigns: increasing the number of informed consumers and increasing the environmental awareness of informed consumers. We show that these campaigns crucially determine three market configurations: segmented; fragmented, with a brown product that appeals to both uninformed consumers and a fraction of informed consumers; and covered. Assuming that the greenest consumer behavior is abstention, we find that a situation where all consumers are informed and some are highly environmentally aware is not necessarily the greenest. Depending on the aversion effect, the campaign organizer’s budget, and their relative cost-effectiveness, information and awareness-raising campaigns require a judicious mix.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103226"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103224
Shuo Li , Min Wang
The paper explores the impacts of environmental regulation on Chinese firms’ extensive margin decisions and resulting changes in market structure and competitiveness. We find that environmental regulation significantly deters firm entry in pollution-intensive industries, while its impact on firm exit is negligible, revealing an asymmetric impact at the extensive margin. The theoretical model and empirical evidence suggest that regulation raises average productivity by selecting against low-productivity entrants and allowing high-productivity firms to enter at smaller scales. We also test for spatial spillovers and find no substantial firm relocation to unregulated areas. These results highlight market selection as a key mechanism through which environmental regulation reshapes industrial dynamics.
{"title":"Environmental regulation and firms’ extensive margin decisions","authors":"Shuo Li , Min Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103224","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103224","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper explores the impacts of environmental regulation on Chinese firms’ extensive margin decisions and resulting changes in market structure and competitiveness. We find that environmental regulation significantly deters firm entry in pollution-intensive industries, while its impact on firm exit is negligible, revealing an asymmetric impact at the extensive margin. The theoretical model and empirical evidence suggest that regulation raises average productivity by selecting against low-productivity entrants and allowing high-productivity firms to enter at smaller scales. We also test for spatial spillovers and find no substantial firm relocation to unregulated areas. These results highlight market selection as a key mechanism through which environmental regulation reshapes industrial dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103224"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144902800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103221
Jiaqi Zhang , Robert J.R. Elliott , Bing Zhang , Mengdi Liu
Public complaints are increasingly employed as a governance tool to supplement environmental enforcement, yet empirical evidence on how regulators respond to such bottom-up signals remains limited. This paper examines the impact of environmental complaints on the allocation and intensity of on-site inspections in Jiangsu Province, China. Employing a local projection estimator, we show that firms receiving complaints within a given month experience a 13.92 percentage point increase in the likelihood of an on-site inspection in the same month, with effects persisting over the next two months. Contrary to concerns about regulatory crowd-out, public complaints complement existing enforcement efforts and even prompt additional inspections initiated by local regulators. Moreover, complaint-triggered inspections are at least as effective as routine inspections in identifying violations and are associated with higher penalty amounts. These findings underscore the broader value of citizen engagement in enhancing regulatory effectiveness.
{"title":"Public environmental complaints and regulatory intensity","authors":"Jiaqi Zhang , Robert J.R. Elliott , Bing Zhang , Mengdi Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public complaints are increasingly employed as a governance tool to supplement environmental enforcement, yet empirical evidence on how regulators respond to such bottom-up signals remains limited. This paper examines the impact of environmental complaints on the allocation and intensity of on-site inspections in Jiangsu Province, China. Employing a local projection estimator, we show that firms receiving complaints within a given month experience a 13.92 percentage point increase in the likelihood of an on-site inspection in the same month, with effects persisting over the next two months. Contrary to concerns about regulatory crowd-out, public complaints complement existing enforcement efforts and even prompt additional inspections initiated by local regulators. Moreover, complaint-triggered inspections are at least as effective as routine inspections in identifying violations and are associated with higher penalty amounts. These findings underscore the broader value of citizen engagement in enhancing regulatory effectiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103221"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145020419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-21DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103220
Vincent Thivierge
Pricing the carbon content of imports, or carbon tariffs, is being considered as a solution to policy-induced carbon leakage. However, the unilateral implementation of carbon tariffs could have unintended consequences, such as further emissions reshuffling or costly trade retaliation. This is particularly the case as proposed carbon tariffs will target emissions from upstream products. This paper estimates how upstream carbon tariffs will affect carbon leakage by exploiting variation in export tariffs. Using a two-country model, I first show that an upstream carbon tariff can lead to emissions leakage down the supply chain. Empirically, I estimate the upstream and downstream foreign emissions effects of export tariffs using plausibly exogenous increases in export tariffs during the 2018–2019 trade war for US manufacturing facilities, while controlling for other tariff changes. While I find evidence that US greenhouse gas emitting facilities respond to export tariffs on their outputs by reducing their emissions, I also find evidence of increased emissions from downstream facilities through input–output linkages. In the case of the US manufacturing industries that faced export tariff increases during the trade war, emissions increases from input users could offset the emissions reductions from facilities in upstream targeted industries. Results in this paper highlight the importance of input–output linkages for the net emissions effect of incomplete carbon tariffs.
{"title":"Downstream carbon leakage from upstream carbon tariffs: Evidence from trade tariffs","authors":"Vincent Thivierge","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103220","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pricing the carbon content of imports, or <em>carbon tariffs</em>, is being considered as a solution to policy-induced carbon leakage. However, the unilateral implementation of carbon tariffs could have unintended consequences, such as further emissions reshuffling or costly trade retaliation. This is particularly the case as proposed carbon tariffs will target emissions from upstream products. This paper estimates how upstream carbon tariffs will affect carbon leakage by exploiting variation in export tariffs. Using a two-country model, I first show that an upstream carbon tariff can lead to emissions leakage down the supply chain. Empirically, I estimate the upstream and downstream foreign emissions effects of export tariffs using plausibly exogenous increases in export tariffs during the 2018–2019 trade war for US manufacturing facilities, while controlling for other tariff changes. While I find evidence that US greenhouse gas emitting facilities respond to export tariffs on their outputs by reducing their emissions, I also find evidence of increased emissions from downstream facilities through input–output linkages. In the case of the US manufacturing industries that faced export tariff increases during the trade war, emissions increases from input users could offset the emissions reductions from facilities in upstream targeted industries. Results in this paper highlight the importance of input–output linkages for the net emissions effect of incomplete carbon tariffs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103220"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-21DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103223
Yunzhi Lu, Lanfang Deng
Air quality affects labor supply decisions through two primary channels of health impairment and compensating differentials. Our extended Roy/Borjas model, which reconciles both channels, demonstrates that poor air quality discourages high-skilled job seekers and reduces their expected wages through compensation effects. Using a unique online resume database from China in 2016, our findings support the compensation theory, revealing that high-skilled job seekers are more inclined to migrate from more polluted cities, significantly lowering wage expectations in exchange for improved air quality in the job-changing context. Conversely, those who intend to remain in polluted areas expect wage premiums to offset environmental disamenities. These findings persist across alternative specifications, various robustness tests, and rigorous endogeneity models. Furthermore, we reveal that the compensation effects are more pronounced among high-skilled job seekers with greater risk awareness and weaker wage-bargaining power. This study contributes to the literature by revealing the economic consequences of environmental quality on labor market dynamics.
{"title":"Human capital impairment or air pollution discount? Air quality and expected job seeking","authors":"Yunzhi Lu, Lanfang Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103223","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103223","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Air quality affects labor supply decisions through two primary channels of health impairment and compensating differentials. Our extended Roy/Borjas model, which reconciles both channels, demonstrates that poor air quality discourages high-skilled job seekers and reduces their expected wages through compensation effects. Using a unique online resume database from China in 2016, our findings support the compensation theory, revealing that high-skilled job seekers are more inclined to migrate from more polluted cities, significantly lowering wage expectations in exchange for improved air quality in the job-changing context. Conversely, those who intend to remain in polluted areas expect wage premiums to offset environmental disamenities. These findings persist across alternative specifications, various robustness tests, and rigorous endogeneity models. Furthermore, we reveal that the compensation effects are more pronounced among high-skilled job seekers with greater risk awareness and weaker wage-bargaining power. This study contributes to the literature by revealing the economic consequences of environmental quality on labor market dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103223"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144903547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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