The Local Benefits of Federal Mandates: Evidence from the Clean Water Act
Presented by:
Rhiannon Jerch
Temple University
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
12:00 pm-1:30 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
Online - https://go.wisc.edu/jmydkq
I use the 1972 Clean Water Act to estimate how local governments finance federal mandates and their impacts on house price and population growth. My empirical strategy takes advantage of the spatial nature of river networks and pre-1972 pollution regulation to instrument for mandate compliance. Local governments financed the non-subsidized costs of mandate compliance through a two-fold increase in resident user fees. Despite these higher fees, house prices and populations grew faster in the twenty years following mandate compliance, particularly among smaller communities. These findings suggest that mandates can alleviate under-provision of local public goods, particularly for smaller municipalities.
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