This report assesses what evidence exists for the ways in which local air quality could influence local economic growth and how those effects might be relevant to the Pittsburgh region.

This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the economic consequences of outdoor air pollution in the coming decades, focusing on the impacts on mortality, morbidity, and changes in crop yields as caused by high concentrations of pollutants.

The seven contributions in this book examine the potential impact of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico on the U.S. economy. They cover such key aspects as the general sources of comparative advantage between Mexico and the U.S., regional and local effects on production and employment, and the effect on production in particular industries. The authors start from the premise that the trade agreement will have a small impact on the overall U.S. gross national product because the U.S. economy is large compared to that of Mexico and because there is already much unrestricted trade between the two countries. Several chapters consider how some sources of comparative advantage that cut across industries differential environmental regulations and wage differentials - may affect the outcome. These are followed by chapters that assess the locational effects on U.S. production, either from the viewpoint of which metropolitan areas will gain employment or of the scale effects-transportation cost-tradeoff. Concluding chapters address the effect of the NAFTA on several individual U.S. sectors such as agriculture, automobiles, and financial services. Peter M. Garber is Professor of Economics at Brown University. Contents: Introduction, Peter M. Garber. Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement, Gene M. Grossman, Alan B. Krueger. Wage Effects of a U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, Edward E. Leamer. Some Favorable Impacts of a U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, J. Vernon Henderson. Mexico- U.S. Free Trade and the Location of Production, Paul Krugman, Gordon Hanson. Trade with Mexico and Water Use in California Agriculture, Robert C. Feenstra, Andrew K. Rose. The Automobile Industry and the Mexico-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Steven Barry, Vittorio Grilli, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes. Opening the Financial Services Market in Mexico, Peter M. Garber, Steven R. Weisbrod.

Diseases related to the air pollution caused by road transport affect tens of thousands of people in the WHO Europe region each year. This publication considers the policy challenges involved in the need to reduce the related risks to public health and the environment, whilst meeting socio-economic requirements for effective transport systems. It sets out a systematic review of the literature and a comprehensive evaluation of the health hazards of transport-related air pollution, including factors determining emissions, the contribution of traffic to pollution levels, human exposure and the results of epidemiological and toxicological studies to identify and measure the health effects, and suggestions for policy actions and further research.

Is economic growth good for the environment? A number of economists have claimed that economic growth can benefit the environment, recruiting political support and finance for environmental policy measures. This view has received increasing support since the early 1990s from empirical evidence that has challenged the traditional environmentalist's belief that economic growth degrades the environment. This book reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on growth and the environment, giving an in-depth empirical treatment of the relationship between the two. Various hypotheses are formulated and tested for a number of indicators of environmental pressure. The test results indicate that alternative models and estimation methods should be used, altering previous conclusions about the effect of economic growth on the environment and offering an insight into the forces driving emission reduction in developed countries.

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and GDP in China using both aggregate and provincial data. The Kuznets elasticity is about 0.6 for China, higher than that in advanced countries but below that of major emerging markets. The elasticity is somewhat lower for consumption-based emissions than for production-based emissions, providing mild evidence consistent with the “pollution haven” hypothesis. The Kuznets elasticity is much lower for the last three decades than for the three previous decades, suggesting a longer-term trend toward decoupling as China has become richer. Further evidence of this comes from provincial data: richer provinces tend to have smaller Kuznets elasticities than poorer ones. In addition to the trend relationship, we find that the Environmental Okun's Law holds in China.

Featuring an original introduction by the editors, this important collection of essays explores the main issues surrounding the regulation of the environment. The expert contributors illustrate that regulating the environment in the UK is conceptually complex, involves a diverse range of institutions, techniques and methodologies and crosses geographical and national boundaries. In the USA it is more formalised, juridical, adversarial and formally dependent upon legal rules. The articles highlight the fact that despite differences in the UK and the USA's regulatory styles, environmental regulation today has much in common with both traditions.

This report assesses the evidence that exists for the ways in which local air quality could influence local economic growth through health and workforce issues, quality-of-life issues, or air-quality regulations and business operations. It then extrapolates some of the existing results to the Pittsburgh region.

It is possible to "grow out of" some environmental problems, but there is nothing automatic about doing so. Action tends to be taken where there are generalized local costs and substantial private and social benefit. Where the costs of environmental degredation are borne by others (by the poor or by other countries), there are few incentives to alter damaging behavior. Trade, debt, and other macroeconomic policy variables seem to have little generalized effect on the environment.

Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC): A Manual provides a comprehensive summary of the EKC, summarizing work on this economic tool that can analyze environmental pollution problems. By enabling users to reconcile environmental and economic development policies, Environmental Kuznets Curve studies lend themselves to the investigation of the energy-growth and finance-energy nexus. The book obviates a dependence on outmoded tools, such as carrying capacity, externalities, ecosystem valuation and cost benefit analysis, while also encouraging flexible approaches to a variety of challenges. - Provides a comprehensive summary of EKC studies, including advances in econometrics, literature reviews and historical perspectives - Outlines solutions to common problems in applying EKC techniques by reviewing major case studies - Explores frequently-utilized proxies for environmental quality