Geschlechtsspezifische Einkommensunterschiede in Österreich

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Informal environmental regulation of industrial air pollution: Does neighborhood inequality matter?

This paper analyzes if neighborhood income inequality has an effect on informal regulation of environmental quality, using census tract-level data on industrial air pollution exposure from EPA´s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators and income and demographic variables from the American Community Survey and EPA´s Smart Location Database. Estimating a spatial lag model and controlling for formal regulation at the states level, we find evidence that overall neighborhood inequality - as measured by the ratio between the fourth and the second income quintile or the neighborhood Gini coefficient - increases local air pollution exposure, whereas a concentration of top incomes reduces local exposure. The positive coefficient of the general inequality measure is driven by urban neighborhoods, whereas the negative coefficient of top incomes is stronger in rural areas. We explain these findings by two contradicting effects of inequality: On the one hand, overall inequality reduces collective action and thus the organizing capacities for environmental improvements. On the other hand, a concentration of income at the top enhances the ability of rich residents to negotiate with regulators or polluting plants in their vicinity. (authors' abstract)Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Three essays on economic inequality and environmental degradation

Rising income and wealth disparities are increasingly viewed as serious economic and social problems, but what are the environmental consequences of an unequal distribution of income and wealth? Are low income neighborhoods disproportionately negatively affected by pollution exposure, and does economic inequality thus manifest itself in environmental inequality? Are poor or unequal communities less successful in collectively organizing local environmental improvements and does inequality thus increase pollution exposure for all residents? This dissertation provides some empirical evidence on these questions. Chapter 1 analyzes regional variations in environmental disparities in US cities. Using geographic micro-data from EPA\u27s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators on industrial air pollution exposure and socio-economic data from the US Census at the blockgroup-level, we find strong empirical evidence for environmental disparities by income and race/ethnicity in US cities. However, we also find some striking regional variations in the magnitude in cities across the country. A finding that stands out across regions is that race and ethnicity are stronger predictors for air pollution exposure in the poorer half of neighborhoods in US cities. Chapter 2 investigates if neighborhood inequality affects the neighborhood\u27s organizing capacities for local environmental improvements, using census tract-level data on industrial air pollution from EPA\u27s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators and income and demographic variables from the American Community Survey and EPA\u27s Smart Location Database. Estimating a spatial model of pollution exposure, we find evidence that overall neighborhood inequality - as measured by the ratio between the fourth and the second income quintile or the neighborhood Gini coefficient - increases local exposure, whereas a concentration of top incomes reduces local exposure. Chapter 3 analyzes the socio-demographic correlates of proximity to fracking wells in five US states. The geocoded fracking well data were merged with blockgroup-level socio-economic variables from the American Community Survey and the Smart Location database; the socio-economic characteristics of neighborhoods with increased proximity to fracking activity were compared. I find that racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately live near fracking wells, and that educational attainments decline with proximity to fracking activity. However, there are substantial regional variations in these patterns

Work-sharing for a sustainable economy

Achieving low unemployment in an environment of weak growth is a major policy challenge; a more egalitarian distribution of hours worked could be the key to solving it. Whether worksharing actually increases employment, however, has been debated controversially. In this article we present stylized facts on the distribution of hours worked and discuss the role of work-sharing for a sustainable economy. Building on recent developments in labor market theory we review the determinants of working long hours and its effect on well-being. Finally, we survey work-sharing reforms in the past. While there seems to be a consensus that worksharing in the Great Depression in the U.S. and in the Great Recession in Europe was successful in reducing employment losses, perceptions of the work-sharing reforms implemented between the 1980s and early 2000s are more ambivalent. However, even the most critical evaluations of these reforms provide no credible evidence of negative employment effects; instead, the overall success of the policy seems to depend on the economic and institutional setting, as well as the specific details of its implementation. (authors' abstract)Series: Ecological Economic Paper

Measuring Environmental Inequality

This study presents alternative measures of environmental inequality in the 50 U.S. states for exposure to industrial air pollution. We examine three methodological issues. First, to what extent are environmental inequality measures sensitive to spatial scale and population weighting? Second, how do sensitivities to different segments of the overall distribution affect rankings by these measures? Third, how do vertical and horizontal (inter-group) inequality measures relate to each other? We find substantive differences in rankings by different measures and conclude that no single indicator is sufficient for addressing the entire range of equity concerns that are relevant to environmental policy; instead multiple measures are needed

Effects of Carbon Mitigation on Co-pollutants at Industrial Facilities in Europe

In addition to global climate benefits, carbon mitigation improves local air quality by reducing emissions of hazardous co-pollutants. Using data on large industrial point sources in Europe, we estimate how changes in carbon dioxide emissions affect emissions of the three co-pollutants SOX, NOX, and PM10 for samples of 727 to 2,653 facilities for the years 2007 to 2015. We find substantial and significant co-pollutant elasticities of 0.7 for SOX and NOX, and 0.5 for PM10, which are robust to different estimation approaches. Large CO2 emitters and the energy sector are characterized by higher-than-average co-pollutant elasticities. For climate policy induced CO2 emission reductions we find co-pollutant elasticities in the energy sector of 1.2 for SOX, 1.0 for NOX, and 0.8 for PM10. Using these estimates to calculate monetary air quality co- benefits suggests that conventional European Environmental Agency estimates of carbon damages that omit co-benefits significantly underestimate the benefits of carbon mitigation

FDI and domestic investments in Germany: crowding in or out?

This paper estimates the effects of outward FDI on domestic business investment in Germany at the industry level for a panel of 19 industry and 10 services sectors. We pay particular attention to the different motivations behind FDI, and distinguish between FDI to high-versus low-wage countries, to Europe versus the rest of the world, and FDI in services and industry sectors.We find that, in industry, FDI to low-wage countries crowds out domestic investment, whereas FDI to high-wage countries outside Europe crowds in domestic investment. In services, FDI to Western Europe crowds in domestic investment

Spectroscopic in Situ Imaging of Acid Coextraction Processes in Solvent Polymeric Ion-Selective Electrode and Optode Membranes

Time-dependent processes induced by acidic solutions in solvent polymeric membranes with a H+-selective chromoionophore are studied in a spectropotentiometric setup. They are important for understanding the response time of anion-selective optodes and the response of H+-selective electrodes at low pH when anion interference is potential determining. The extent of anion - proton coextraction is characterized with extraction experiments on thin optical films (optodes) containing the same components and described by theory. Imaging experiments indicate rapid diffusion processes and unusual nonlinear steady-state concentration profiles that are explained by parallel extraction of undissociated acid into the membrane. Long-term potential drifts of the respective electrode are detected and related to the diffusion processes