An Analysis of State Air Pollution Conrol Expenditures

Abstract

Air pollution control, a significant problem facing state governments, receives a varying amount of fiscal resources in each state. The purpose of this paper is to examine social, economic, and political factors that may be related to state air pollution control expenditures. The indicators of the social-economic factors are urbanization, industrial pollution potential, income, and industrialization. The indicators of the political system are interparty competition, malapportionment, voter participation, local control effort, and general state expenditure efforts. The findings show that the few states expending for air pollution control in 1963 were, for the most part, characterized by a high level of economic development. In 1967, states at all levels of economic development allocated revenues for air pollution, although the more developed continued to hold an edge. In neither year did the political variables differentiate between levels of expenditure. The reasons advanced for the expenditure behavior in 1963 are the historical predominance of local control and the structural limitations of state governments. The wider, and increased, expenditures in 1967 are assessed to be the result of federal grants, the vigorous effort put forth by state control officials, and the increased public concern for the problem.