Decentralization and Environmental Quality: An International Analysis of Water Pollution

Hilary Sigman

No 13098, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper explores the empirical effects of decentralization on environmental quality by studying water pollution in rivers around the world. It examines the level of pollution and variation in pollution across jurisdictions within a country, for both a local and a regional pollutant. Federal countries exhibit greater interjurisdictional variation in pollution, supporting the traditional view that decentralization allows policies more tailored to local conditions. However, the analysis does not point to a "race to the bottom" in pollution levels.

JEL-codes: H77 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env, nep-pbe and nep-ure
Note: PE EEE
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w13098.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13098

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w13098

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().