PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Randy A. Becker
TI  - On Spatial Heterogeneity in Environmental Compliance Costs
AID  - 10.3368/le.87.1.28
DP  - 2011 Feb 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 28--44
VI  - 87
IP  - 1
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/87/1/28.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/87/1/28.full
SO  - Land Econ2011 Feb 01; 87
AB  - This paper examines the extent of variation in regulatory stringency below the state level, using establishment-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey to estimate a county-level index of environmental compliance costs. County-level variation is found to explain 11 to 18 times more of the variation in environmental compliance costs than state-level variation alone, and the range of environmental compliance costs within a state is often large. At least 34% of U.S. counties have environmental compliance costs that are statistically different from their states’. Results suggest that important spatial variation is lost in state-level studies of environmental regulation. (JEL Q52, R52)