Tiebout solution to pollution externalities.

摘要

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the extent to which pollution externalities affect migration patterns. Building upon the Tiebout's argument that relocation is a mechanism by which individuals reveal their true preferences for public goods, we examine whether air quality, a local public good, is a significant factor in determining out-migration flows. We use the annual emissions levels of three criteria pollutants, particulates (PM₁₀), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO ₂), as a proxy for air quality in locations surrounding manufacturing plants.; The rate of out-migration from census tracts in the period 1985–1990 is taken as a unit of observation. Data from two census years is used to create the out-migration variable. Particulates, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions data are obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Emissions Data Standard database and represent the 1985 emissions levels.; The study finds that all three pollutants have a positive and significant impact on out-migration. However, a marginal unit of emissions has a significantly different impact on migration flows depending on the initial level of emissions. Specifically, a 100-ton increase in emissions in a relatively clean area will induce more out-migration than the same increase in an already polluted area.; The results are also tested for a bias arising from spatially autocorrelated errors. Although further investigation is needed into the spatial relations between the census tracts, spatial characteristics of data do not seem to introduce a bias in our analysis.