Pub Date : 2025-11-01Epub 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":"2025-11-01","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 : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103240
MohammadAli Mokhtari , Hamed Ghoddusi
Recent estimates suggest that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies could prevent 1.6 million premature deaths annually by reducing air pollution, while also addressing the unequal distribution of resources. How unequal are the benefits of these subsidies? Using Iranian household expenditure data (1984–2019) covering three major subsidy reforms, this study estimates the inequality-reducing impact of replacing fuel subsidies with direct, universal, and unconditional cash transfers. Our robust estimates show that reallocating USD 1 per capita per day from fuel subsidies to direct cash transfers reduces the Gini coefficient of expenditure by 8 %. These findings underscore the redistributive potential of such reforms and their role in fostering more equitable and sustainable policy design.
{"title":"Fueling inequality: A novel estimate from large-scale reforms","authors":"MohammadAli Mokhtari , Hamed Ghoddusi","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103240","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103240","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent estimates suggest that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies could prevent 1.6 million premature deaths annually by reducing air pollution, while also addressing the unequal distribution of resources. How unequal are the benefits of these subsidies? Using Iranian household expenditure data (1984–2019) covering three major subsidy reforms, this study estimates the inequality-reducing impact of replacing fuel subsidies with direct, universal, and unconditional cash transfers. Our robust estimates show that reallocating USD 1 per capita per day from fuel subsidies to direct cash transfers reduces the Gini coefficient of expenditure by 8 %. These findings underscore the redistributive potential of such reforms and their role in fostering more equitable and sustainable policy design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103240"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266140","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 : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-08-14DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103219
Kathryn Baragwanath , Nilesh Shinde
Satellite data is essential for enforcing and evaluating environmental policy, but technological limitations of monitoring systems can create perverse incentives and bias impact assessment. This study examines how detection thresholds in satellite monitoring systems affect both the implementation and evaluation of forest conservation policies. We identify three key mechanisms: a measurement issue, where datasets with larger minimum detection thresholds systematically miss small-scale deforestation; a loophole effect, where policy only reduces detectable, large-scale deforestation; and strategic adaptation, where regulated agents adjust behavior to exploit known detection thresholds, substituting from large- to small-scale deforestation. Studying Brazil’s 2008 municipal Blacklisting policy, we find that the government’s primary monitoring system, which does not report patches below 6.25 hectares, overestimates policy effectiveness by a third compared to datasets with smaller minimum detection thresholds. When measured with those datasets, blacklisting reduced deforestation by 31.2 % from baseline—substantially less than the 47.6 % reduction suggested by government data. Average clearing size declined by 28.9 %, with significant increases in patches below detection thresholds, reflecting both undetected and strategically fragmented activity. Our analysis reveals a critical challenge for environmental governance: as monitoring systems improve, so too do evasion strategies, requiring close attention to how technology shapes observed outcomes and on-the-ground incentives.
{"title":"Beyond the canopy: How satellite data detection thresholds influence policy evaluation and deforestation behavior","authors":"Kathryn Baragwanath , Nilesh Shinde","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Satellite data is essential for enforcing and evaluating environmental policy, but technological limitations of monitoring systems can create perverse incentives and bias impact assessment. This study examines how detection thresholds in satellite monitoring systems affect both the implementation and evaluation of forest conservation policies. We identify three key mechanisms: a measurement issue, where datasets with larger minimum detection thresholds systematically miss small-scale deforestation; a loophole effect, where policy only reduces detectable, large-scale deforestation; and strategic adaptation, where regulated agents adjust behavior to exploit known detection thresholds, substituting from large- to small-scale deforestation. Studying Brazil’s 2008 municipal Blacklisting policy, we find that the government’s primary monitoring system, which does not report patches below 6.25 hectares, overestimates policy effectiveness by a third compared to datasets with smaller minimum detection thresholds. When measured with those datasets, blacklisting reduced deforestation by 31.2 % from baseline—substantially less than the 47.6 % reduction suggested by government data. Average clearing size declined by 28.9 %, with significant increases in patches below detection thresholds, reflecting both undetected and strategically fragmented activity. Our analysis reveals a critical challenge for environmental governance: as monitoring systems improve, so too do evasion strategies, requiring close attention to how technology shapes observed outcomes and on-the-ground incentives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103219"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145010870","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 : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-10-09DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103243
Andreas Skulstad , Erlend Dancke Sandorf , Zander Venter , Anders Dugstad
Use-values of nonmarket environmental amenities are often elicited by studying the demand for outdoor recreation, and credible value estimates are essential for designing efficient policies affecting the supply of such goods. Yet, rigorous causal identification of outdoor recreation demand remains limited. Our study contributes to the growing literature that applies causal inference techniques and GPS-based observational data to the valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities. We exploit a sharp increase in electricity prices in Norway following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as a natural experiment to study the price sensitivity of cabin-based outdoor recreation. Using activity traces from the training app Strava, spatially merged with geolocated cabin sites, we find a 15 % decline in cabin recreation following the price shock. From this response, we infer an average consumer surplus of approximately $6000 per cabin owner per year, equivalent to about $204 per use-day, and a price elasticity of −0.24, indicating inelastic demand. These findings point to considerable welfare benefits from cabin recreation and illustrate the value of combining quasi-experimental designs with high-frequency mobility data for valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities.
{"title":"The value of cabin-based outdoor recreation: Evidence from a natural experiment","authors":"Andreas Skulstad , Erlend Dancke Sandorf , Zander Venter , Anders Dugstad","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103243","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103243","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Use-values of nonmarket environmental amenities are often elicited by studying the demand for outdoor recreation, and credible value estimates are essential for designing efficient policies affecting the supply of such goods. Yet, rigorous causal identification of outdoor recreation demand remains limited. Our study contributes to the growing literature that applies causal inference techniques and GPS-based observational data to the valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities. We exploit a sharp increase in electricity prices in Norway following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as a natural experiment to study the price sensitivity of cabin-based outdoor recreation. Using activity traces from the training app Strava, spatially merged with geolocated cabin sites, we find a 15 % decline in cabin recreation following the price shock. From this response, we infer an average consumer surplus of approximately $6000 per cabin owner per year, equivalent to about $204 per use-day, and a price elasticity of −0.24, indicating inelastic demand. These findings point to considerable welfare benefits from cabin recreation and illustrate the value of combining quasi-experimental designs with high-frequency mobility data for valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"134 ","pages":"Article 103243"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145266138","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-06-23DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103196
Valentin Cocco , Raja Chakir , Lauriane Mouysset
Land consolidation is a standard policy tool to reduce land fragmentation through the spatial redistribution of property rights; however, the risk of adverse effects on the landscape raises concerns about its environmental sustainability. This study investigates the landscape impacts of consolidation on the hedgerow network of Lower Normandy, France. Implementing a staggered difference-in-differences strategy on a longitudinal survey (1972–2010), we show that consolidation led to a significant reduction in hedgerow density of −14.3 m/ha (standard error: 2.33), accounting for 13.7 % of the overall decline observed in consolidated areas. We also find a diminishing impact over time of consolidation and time since consolidation, an increasing impact with higher initial hedgerow density, no spillover effect, and a negative impact on network connectivity. An outline cost-benefit analysis suggests that the social costs of uprooting hedgerows outweigh the private benefits. Overall, this paper confirms that land consolidation has significantly contributed to the decline of hedgerows with economic costs, but it challenges prevailing beliefs about the policy’s share of responsibility with respect to other landscape change factors.
{"title":"Guilty or scapegoat? Land consolidation and hedgerow decline","authors":"Valentin Cocco , Raja Chakir , Lauriane Mouysset","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103196","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103196","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Land consolidation is a standard policy tool to reduce land fragmentation through the spatial redistribution of property rights; however, the risk of adverse effects on the landscape raises concerns about its environmental sustainability. This study investigates the landscape impacts of consolidation on the hedgerow network of Lower Normandy, France. Implementing a staggered difference-in-differences strategy on a longitudinal survey (1972–2010), we show that consolidation led to a significant reduction in hedgerow density of −14.3 m/ha (standard error: 2.33), accounting for 13.7 % of the overall decline observed in consolidated areas. We also find a diminishing impact over time of consolidation and time since consolidation, an increasing impact with higher initial hedgerow density, no spillover effect, and a negative impact on network connectivity. An outline cost-benefit analysis suggests that the social costs of uprooting hedgerows outweigh the private benefits. Overall, this paper confirms that land consolidation has significantly contributed to the decline of hedgerows with economic costs, but it challenges prevailing beliefs about the policy’s share of responsibility with respect to other landscape change factors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103196"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144338467","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-07-21DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103211
Sayahnika Basu , Jonathan D. Ketcham , Nicolai V. Kuminoff
We investigate how environmental regulation under the U.S. Superfund program and Clean Air Act affected exposures to fine particulate air pollution and hazardous waste for Americans over age 65 during the 2000s. Our research design uses quasi-random features of how the two programs enforce regulations and provide information to estimate their causal effects on migration and pollution exposure. We show that senior Americans’ average pollution exposures declined substantially. We also show that spatially heterogeneous improvements in environmental quality had little-to-no effect on residential sorting. This led to relatively large reductions in pollution exposure for seniors living in the dirtiest areas.
{"title":"Environmental regulation, residential sorting, and pollution exposure among senior Americans","authors":"Sayahnika Basu , Jonathan D. Ketcham , Nicolai V. Kuminoff","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103211","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103211","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate how environmental regulation under the U.S. Superfund program and Clean Air Act affected exposures to fine particulate air pollution and hazardous waste for Americans over age 65 during the 2000s. Our research design uses quasi-random features of how the two programs enforce regulations and provide information to estimate their causal effects on migration and pollution exposure. We show that senior Americans’ average pollution exposures declined substantially. We also show that spatially heterogeneous improvements in environmental quality had little-to-no effect on residential sorting. This led to relatively large reductions in pollution exposure for seniors living in the dirtiest areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103211"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144829121","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-06-23DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103200
Xiaoxi Wang , Meng Xu , Kevin Chen
This study examines the effects of China's cross-provincial ecological compensation scheme (CpECS) on trans-boundary water pollution. Using a staggered difference-in-differences method, we find that the CpECS significantly reduces water pollution in terms of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentrations by 33.4 %. By linking water quality with point-source and nonpoint-source pollution control practices, we find that these improvements result from reductions in industrial wastewater discharge and pig production, and improvement in municipal sewage treatment capacity. However, the scheme does not yield a significant reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations, likely due to a lack of incentives to exceed contractual targets in policy areas once those targets are met.
{"title":"Internalizing externalities through ecological compensation: Evidence from trans-boundary water pollution in China","authors":"Xiaoxi Wang , Meng Xu , Kevin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103200","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103200","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the effects of China's cross-provincial ecological compensation scheme (CpECS) on trans-boundary water pollution. Using a staggered difference-in-differences method, we find that the CpECS significantly reduces water pollution in terms of ammonia nitrogen (NH<sub>3</sub>-N) concentrations by 33.4 %. By linking water quality with point-source and nonpoint-source pollution control practices, we find that these improvements result from reductions in industrial wastewater discharge and pig production, and improvement in municipal sewage treatment capacity. However, the scheme does not yield a significant reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations, likely due to a lack of incentives to exceed contractual targets in policy areas once those targets are met.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103200"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144579274","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-07DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103218
A.Patrick Behrer , Hemant Pullabhotla
Depletion of groundwater is a major challenge in India. We examine how a major rural public works program (MNREGA) that financed the construction of surface water infrastructure may have plausibly increased aquifer recharge rates and impacted groundwater levels. Using a difference-in-differences approach on the staggered and heterogeneous roll-out of MNREGA, we show that groundwater levels increased after its implementation. These increases were concentrated in states that constructed the largest number of MNREGA-financed surface water projects. The increases we observe in groundwater appear to have led to increases in the irrigated area of high value crops and greater overall irrigation during the dry season.
{"title":"Spilling over: The benefits of public works projects for groundwater in India","authors":"A.Patrick Behrer , Hemant Pullabhotla","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103218","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103218","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Depletion of groundwater is a major challenge in India. We examine how a major rural public works program (MNREGA) that financed the construction of surface water infrastructure may have plausibly increased aquifer recharge rates and impacted groundwater levels. Using a difference-in-differences approach on the staggered and heterogeneous roll-out of MNREGA, we show that groundwater levels increased after its implementation. These increases were concentrated in states that constructed the largest number of MNREGA-financed surface water projects. The increases we observe in groundwater appear to have led to increases in the irrigated area of high value crops and greater overall irrigation during the dry season.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103218"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144878604","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-06-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103195
Hongshan Ai, Xiaoqing Tan
Using a pipeline gas connection program in Chinese communities, this paper estimates the long-term impact of household access to cleaner fuel during pregnancy on child development. Our difference-in-differences estimates show that in-utero exposure to pipeline gas connection increases height-for-age z-score and reduces the rates of stunting and severe stunting among children aged 0–15 years in China. We do not find statistically significant impacts on weight-related outcomes. The positive effects on child height are larger for girls, poor children, and rural children, suggesting that building public energy infrastructure during pregnancy could help reduce gender, socioeconomic, and urban-rural disparities in child development. The improvement in birth outcomes and infancy health status and the increase in household investment might be two main underlying mechanisms behind the long-term health benefits from in-utero exposure to pipeline gas connection. Our further calculations show that the pipeline gas connection program is highly cost-beneficial and should be subsidized and supported by the government to increase household access to clean energy.
{"title":"The impact of exposure to pipeline gas connection during pregnancy on child development: Evidence from China","authors":"Hongshan Ai, Xiaoqing Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103195","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103195","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using a pipeline gas connection program in Chinese communities, this paper estimates the long-term impact of household access to cleaner fuel during pregnancy on child development. Our difference-in-differences estimates show that in-utero exposure to pipeline gas connection increases height-for-age z-score and reduces the rates of stunting and severe stunting among children aged 0–15 years in China. We do not find statistically significant impacts on weight-related outcomes. The positive effects on child height are larger for girls, poor children, and rural children, suggesting that building public energy infrastructure during pregnancy could help reduce gender, socioeconomic, and urban-rural disparities in child development. The improvement in birth outcomes and infancy health status and the increase in household investment might be two main underlying mechanisms behind the long-term health benefits from in-utero exposure to pipeline gas connection. Our further calculations show that the pipeline gas connection program is highly cost-beneficial and should be subsidized and supported by the government to increase household access to clean energy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103195"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144242414","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 : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-07-05DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103206
Edward B. Barbier , Angela Cindy Emefa Mensah
A seemingly overlooked impact on economic well-being is rising health risks attributed to the environment, which are impacting welfare worldwide. We modify the consumption-equivalent macroeconomic welfare measure developed by Jones and Klenow (2016) to include the impacts of these risks on life expectancy and the utility flow of the average individual. Employing the Global Burden of Disease dataset of environmentally related mortality and morbidity across 163 countries over 1990–2019, we compare welfare with and without environmental health risks to GDP per capita for each country relative to the United States. In addition, we examine the extent to which welfare in rich and poor countries converge. Across all 163 countries over 1990–2019, adjusting welfare for environmental health risks is significant when compared to income (GDP) per capita or to welfare that excludes these risks. This divergence in welfare is especially prominent among low and lower middle-income countries.
{"title":"Environmental health risks, welfare and GDP","authors":"Edward B. Barbier , Angela Cindy Emefa Mensah","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A seemingly overlooked impact on economic well-being is rising health risks attributed to the environment, which are impacting welfare worldwide. We modify the consumption-equivalent macroeconomic welfare measure developed by Jones and Klenow (2016) to include the impacts of these risks on life expectancy and the utility flow of the average individual. Employing the Global Burden of Disease dataset of environmentally related mortality and morbidity across 163 countries over 1990–2019, we compare welfare with and without environmental health risks to GDP per capita for each country relative to the United States. In addition, we examine the extent to which welfare in rich and poor countries converge. Across all 163 countries over 1990–2019, adjusting welfare for environmental health risks is significant when compared to income (GDP) per capita or to welfare that excludes these risks. This divergence in welfare is especially prominent among low and lower middle-income countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"133 ","pages":"Article 103206"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144597127","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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