1/🚨New chapter in Handbook of Regional & Urban Economics: Spatial Environmental Economics
🌍 How do spatial forces affect the environment? How does enviro shape spatial outcomes?
Thread, chapter explore this nascent subfield via stylized acts, models, building blocks for rsrch. w Clare Balboni.
🌍 How do spatial forces affect the environment? How does enviro shape spatial outcomes?
Thread, chapter explore this nascent subfield via stylized acts, models, building blocks for rsrch. w Clare Balboni.
Comments
Can combining environmental & spatial economics unlock insights for research & policy? 🤔
Start w stylized facts on space & pollution.
Fact #1: spatial forces drive polluting activity. Example: CO2 emissions reflect density/transportation
📄Chapter: https://joseph-s-shapiro.com/research/Spatial_Environmental_Economics.pdf
Measurement matters: Is pollution from city centers or suburbs? 🚗🏙️ Depends if we consider emissions by production or consumption. Either way, space drives pollution.
📊Chapter slides: https://joseph-s-shapiro.com/research/SEE_slides.pdf
More densely populated US counties = more GDP (scale) + dirtier industries (composition) + cleaner production (technique, thanks partly to tighter regulation). 🌆
Again, space drives the generation of environmental damages.
Fact #2: Spatial forces (wind, streamflow) transmit environmental quality. 🌬️🌊 Canonical spatial models reflect movement of workers/goods/ideas, not enviro externalities.
Pic from @hernandezcortes.bsky.social @kylemeng.com https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272722001888
Fact #3: spatial variation in damage functions drives social welfare.
Effect of enviro on well-being depends on choices, tech, endowments.
🌡️e.g., Climate change increases temps most in far North/South, increases mortality most near equator. Pic from https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/137/4/2037/6571943
Classic models (public goods, Hotelling, Rosen/Roback, ...) have limited spatial-environmental links.
Space is often "here" or “anywhere else”; cities have limited geography.
Example: is Clean Air too lenient? NYC/Boston no closer than NYC/LA
Pic from https://joseph-s-shapiro.com/research/IsAirPollutionRegulationTooLenient.pdf