Local Exposure to Toxic Releases: Does Ethnic Diversity Matter?

After many years of work Matt Cole, myself and Kate Khemmarat have finally got our "environmental justice" paper out in working paper form.

This literature has seen a recent return to the academic agenda with Wayne Grey, Ronald Shadbegian and Ann Wolverton also putting out a recent papers on this topic.

Wayne B. Gray & Ronald J. Shadbegian & Ann Wolverton, 2010. "Environmental Justice: Do Poor and Minority Populations Face More Hazards?," NCEE Working Paper Series 201010, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Sep 2010.

# Ronald J. Shadbegian & Wayne B. Gray, 2009. "Spatial Patterns in Regulatory Enforcement: Local Tests of Environmental Justice," NCEE Working Paper Series 200902, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Jun 2009.


Local Exposure to Toxic Releases: Does Ethnic Diversity Matter? [PDF]

Date: 2010-11

By: Matthew A Cole
Robert J R Elliott
Khemrutai Khemmarat

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bir:birmec:10-29&r=env

This paper examines the role played by community characteristics in influencing local environmental quality, focusing specifically on ethnic diversity. In contrast to the previous literature, this study argues that it is the fractionalization and/or polarization of ethnic groups that is the relevant consideration, rather than the population share of ethnic minorities, since such diversity may significantly increase the difficulty of co-ordinating community action. Using toxic release data for the period 1990-1995 and, for the first time, 2000-2005, we find that measures of ethnic diversity do indeed influence local toxic release emissions. This finding persists across a range of robustness exercises.

Keywords: pollution, ethnic diversity, fractionalization, polarization, community characteristics, environmental justice
JEL: Q53

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