Looking Back at Fifty Years of the Clean Air Act
56 Pages Posted: 27 Feb 2020
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Looking Back at Fifty Years of the Clean Air Act
Looking Back at 50 Years of the Clean Air Act
Date Written: February 20, 2020
Abstract
Since 1970, transportation, power generation, and manufacturing have dramatically transformed as air pollutant emissions have fallen significantly. To evaluate the causal impacts of the Clean Air Act on these changes, we synthesize and review retrospective analyses of air quality regulations. The geographic heterogeneity in regulatory stringency common to many regulations has important implications for emissions, public health, compliance costs, and employment. Cap-and-trade programs have delivered greater emission reductions at lower cost than conventional regulatory mandates, but policy practice has fallen short of the cost-effective ideal. Implementing regulations in imperfectly competitive markets have also influenced the Clean Air Act’s benefits and costs.
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