PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Moulton, Jeremy G.
AU  - Sanders, Nicholas J.
AU  - Wentland, Scott A.
TI  - Toxic Assets: How the Housing Market Responds to Environmental Information Shocks
AID  - 10.3368/le.100.1.102122-0089R
DP  - 2023 Aug 18
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 102122-0089R
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/08/15/le.100.1.102122-0089R.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2023/08/15/le.100.1.102122-0089R.full
AB  - Employing national microdata from Zillow, we examine how United States housing markets respond to expanded information on local pollution stemming from a 1998 reporting change to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Using both a difference-in-differences and a regression discontinuity in time design, we find news coverage of the new TRI data lowered sales prices of homes near the largest reporting polluters, but only within a tight geographic distance. Effects are isolated to homes within 0.5 miles of facilities reporting the largest amount of emissions (>100 tons). This price capitalization implies public information on local polluters shifted private market behavior, suggesting a role for government as provider of information.