Interest group pressures and US county-level toxic emissions

Abstract

We address the relation between interest group characteristics and industry environmental performance. Using data on industrial activities from 2097 US counties, we show that there is an inverse relationship between variables proxying for pressures associated with varying levels of county income, population densities and environmental preferences and toxic emissions at the county level. Our results are broadly consistent with the notion that administrators are receptive to interest group pressures in shaping firm policies towards the natural environment.

Notes

¹ We expect that our sample captures the upper tail of the relationship observed and reported by Grossman and Krueger (1995). That is, unlike the more diverse, in terms of income levels, sample of countries reported in their study, even the poorest of the US administrative jurisdictions (US counties) we consider are wealthy enough to lie in the portion of the curve above the $8000 threshold, where rising incomes are associated with reduced emissions.

² Plants have to disclose their toxic releases by filling a TRI report if they have 10 or more full-time equivalent employees and manufacture or process more than 25 000 pounds or otherwise use more than 10 000 pounds of any listed chemical during a calendar year (US EPA, 1999).