The effect of county non-attainment status on the product mix of plants in the pulp, paper, and paperboard industries

摘要

This paper examines the effect of ground-level ozone county non-attainment status on the product-mix decisions of plants in the pulp, paper, and paperboard industries. Plants located in non-attainment counties face more stringent standards than plants located in attainment counties. These standards may plausibly induce firms to reduce output of pollution-intensive products (products that lead to ozone-forming emissions of volatile organic compounds) or drop some of these products entirely. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find evidence that plants in non-attainment counties (treatment group) are more likely to drop pollution-intensive products relative to non-pollution-intensive products compared to plants in attainment counties (control group).