Special Interests and Comparative State Policy: An Analysis of Environmental Quality Expenditures

Increased federal environmental regulation during the 1970s had major effects on the political markets of state environmental quality. We test several theories in the literature on comparative state policy for the time period beginning with the National Environmental Policy Act and ending with the federal deregulatory period (1980). We find that special interests, wealth, and intergovernmental relations theories are primary determinants of state air quality expenditures. Intergovernmental relations, wealth, and ideology are primary determinants of state water quality expenditures.