Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists · 2026 · Rhiannon L. Jerch
中文摘要
1972 年《清洁水法》是美国历史上成本最高、最有效的环境规制之一。我利用基于河网与普通法环境司法先例构建的新颖合规工具变量，研究该规制如何影响市政财政、增长与水质。我发现，地方政府通过将居民用户收费提高至原来的三倍，为强制性水处理基础设施的直接成本融资。尽管收费提高，在人口少于 10,000 人的小社区中，合规后的 20 年内市政人口增长更快。合规还使市政辖区 25 英里范围内的地表水质在 20 年内改善 19%。这些发现表明，环境规制可以缓解地方公共品供给不足，尤其是对小城市而言。
Abstract
The 1972 Clean Water Act is one of the most expensive and effective environmental mandates in US history. I study how the mandate affected municipal finances, growth, and water quality using novel instruments for mandate compliance based on river networks and common law environmental legal precedents. I find that local governments financed the direct costs of mandated water treatment infrastructure through a threefold increase in resident user fees. Despite these higher fees, municipal populations grew faster in the 20 years following compliance among small communities with populations less than 10,000 people. Compliance also caused surface water quality within 25 miles of municipalities to improve by 19% over 20 years. These findings suggest that environmental mandates can alleviate underprovision of local public goods, particularly for small municipalities.