This research uses neighborhood characteristics (at the zip code level) in 1990 to explain toxic releases in 1993. It combines the Toxics Release Inventory data with demographic data from the 1990 U.S. Census. We first analyze the location of manufacturing facilities in a particular neighborhood...

This paper examines participation in EPA's 33/50 program to assess the potential for voluntary environmental regulation to achieve improvements in environmental performance. The program's goal is to reduce the releases and transfers of 17 toxic chemicals by 50 percent between 1988 and 1995. The...

We examine whether pollution prevention actions result in innovation. Since a change in the product or process is not instantaneous, we compute the buy and hold returns for the long run to capture the gains due to innovation. We compare the stock market performances for firms that reported...

While public benefits of environmentally friendly practices are well understood, there is anecdotal evidence that suggests that firms that follow such practices also receive private benefits. The paper investigates the effect of pollution prevention activity in creating private value for the...

Conducting cost-benefit analyses of health and safety regulations requires placing a dollar value on reductions in health risks, including the risk of death. In the United States, mortality risks are often valued using compensating-wage differentials. These differentials measure what a worker...

A contest is a situation in which individuals or groups expend costly resources while competing to win a specific prize. The variety of economic situations that can be described as contests has attracted enormous attention from economic theorists. Despite the extensive theoretical research of...