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  - 2024 Feb 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 66--88
VI  - 100
IP  - 1
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/100/1/66.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/100/1/66.full
AB  - Using national microdata from Zillow, we examine how U.S. 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 that 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.