Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Environmental regulations and industrial location: Testing the relationship between state environmental regulations and changes in state manufacturing employment
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between policies designed to protect the environment and economic growth. Examined specifically is the relationship between state environmental regulations that were in place by 1980, and changes in state manufacturing employment during the 1980s. The hypothesis is that states with more stringent environmental regulations should have been associated with a decrease or smaller increase in the percentage change in manufacturing employment than states with lax environmental regulations. To test the hypothesis a state environmental regulatory climate index is developed. The index is based on ten variables that reflect a state's concern for environmental protection. The weighting of these variables is based on survey responses from state environmental protection offices and state economic development offices. Two empirical techniques are used to test the relationship between state environmental regulatory climates and changes in state manufacturing employment. First, a simple rank correlation coefficient is calculated to test the relationship within a ceteris paribus framework. The second empirical technique employed is regression analysis. Within the regression analysis framework, the states are divided into three and four stringency groups according to the states' index scores. The groups are represented in the regression equation by dummy variables. Other state characteristics such as wage rates, labor force unionization and taxes are also included in the regression analysis. The results of the empirical tests suggest that there is not a tradeoff between stringent environmental regulations and manufacturing employment. Results from the regression analysis indicate that the states with the most stringent regulations were associated with a greater increase in manufacturing employment than any other group. A possible explanation for the statistical results is that the framework for analyzing the relationship between the environment and economic activity based on "tradeoffs" is not appropriate. Perhaps a framework that emphasizes the sustainability of resources and a codevelopment process is necessary for understanding the relationship between environmental regulations and industrial location.
Subject Area
Economics|Public administration|Urban planning|Area planning & development
Recommended Citation
Aske, David Richard, "Environmental regulations and industrial location: Testing the relationship between state environmental regulations and changes in state manufacturing employment" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9233391.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9233391