Research Experience

Working Paper:

Equity Consequences of Climate Adaptation (job market paper)

As the costs of climate change become increasingly apparent, attention has turned to the role of adaptation strategies. In the case of hurricanes and associated flooding, adaptation can take the form of relocation. Some areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change risks. North Carolina (NC) hosts a high concentration of hog and poultry farms near human populations. Local communities suffered large property damages and increased health risks during Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018) as animal waste was released into their drinking water sources. Combining data on inundated areas with farm-level and household-level demographic data in NC, I find floods increase households' propensity to migrate. Responses are stronger for households with private wells and those living next to the animal farms. Although results do not show significant differences in out-migration by races or income, I do find that low-income and minority residents are more likely to move into flooded areas, especially flooded areas near animal farms. These dynamics expose disadvantaged populations to greater risks from future climate events, exacerbating environmental justice concerns.

(Please find the most recent version here)

The Costs of Exposure to Industrial Livestock Operations

With Christopher Timmins and Kay Jowers

Concentrated animal feeding operations, particularly hog and poultry farms, have expanded rapidly in North Carolina in recent decades. The air pollution and water contamination they generate cause many environmental and health problems for local communities. Using the universe of farm characteristic and housing transaction data in North Carolina, we recover hedonic estimates of property value impacts from exposure to these industrial livestock operations. Our results show large and significant negative impacts on nearby home values, particularly when those properties are dependent on private wells.

The Equity Implications of Exposure to Industrial Livestock Operations

With Christopher Timmins and Kay Jowers

Concentrated animal feeding operations, particularly hog and poultry farms, have expanded rapidly in North Carolina in recent decades. The air and water pollution they generate cause many environmental and health problems for local communities. Combining farm-level data with address- and household-level data on race and income in North Carolina, we non-parametrically describe exposure to hog and poultry CAFOs by race-income characteristics. Results show strong evidence of disproportionate exposure for low-income Hispanic relative to white households. This exposure gap falls with income, but the gap between African American and white households rises with income, particularly in the case of hogs.

Individual Sorting Behaviors: Do People Run Away In Response to Poultry Siting?

Environmental Justice (EJ) refers to social inequalities in the distribution of natural hazards (e.g., hurricanes, floods, and animal farms) and examines intra-ethnic diversity in patterns of environmental injustice. Many previous quantitative studies have demonstrated that racial/ethnic minorities and people with lower socioeconomic status are disproportionally exposed to environmental hazards. One possible mechanism causing such inequality is individual sorting. Households move and choose preferred residential locations based on their willingness and ability to pay for a clean environment. When environmental qualities degrade, people with financial means to move will choose to relocate themselves in more environmentally desirable and expensive neighborhoods. This study utilizes the detailed individual household data, InfoUSA, and examines whether such sorting moving behaviors hold when new poultry farms enter household's neighborhood. This study finds people move away in response to new poultry farm siting. Compared to white households, minorities (Black and Hispanic households) are less likely to move and Hispanics are least likely to move. Households with children are more likely to move, suggesting possible health concerns for their children from parents. Compared to piped-water households, groundwater-dependent households are less likely to move, highlighting some health concerns due to water contamination caused by CAFOs.

The Impact of Industrial Opt-Out from Utility Sponsored Energy Efficiency Programs

With Gale Boyd, Jennifer Weiss, and Matt Dolin

Industry accounts for about one-third of energy consumption in the US. Studies suggest that potential energy efficiency opportunities represents an energy resource for regulated utilities and have resulted in rate of return regulated demand-side management (DSM) and energy efficiency (EE) programs. However, many businesses complain about the value of these programs and associated higher rates, so many public utility commissions (PUC) in the U.S. have instituted changed the participation provisions for business customer regarding these programs. In the Carolinas (NC and SC) this comes in the form of a formal “out-out” process in the regulated rates. Over half of industrial and large commercial customers in the Carolinas have selected to opt out. Although these customers claim they invest in EE improvements when it is economic and cost-effective to do so, there is no mechanism to validate whether they actually installed any EE measures or achieved energy savings. This project examines the industrial energy efficiency between the program participants and non-participants in the Carolinas by utilizing the non-public Census of Manufacturing data and the public list of firms that have chosen to opt out. We compute the energy efficiency measures nationally for each plant and then compare the relative energy efficiency between the stay-in and opt-out plants within these two states. We first conduct a simple t-test and find opt-out plants are more inefficient. However, the opt-out decisions are not random; large plants or plants belonging to large firms are more likely to opt out possibly because they have more information and resources. We then conduct a propensity score matching method to account for factors that could affect the opt-out decisions. We find that the opt-out plants perform at least as well or slightly better than the stay-in, however we cannot conclude from this analysis whether utility programs are effective, since we do not observe if the stay-in group actually participate in the programs. It may be that firms that opt-out are more aware of their utility costs and more actively manage their energy, even given that the stay-in plants have access to utility provided resources.

Work in Progress:

The Impact of Strategic Energy Management on Energy Efficiency

With Gale Boyd, and Matt Dolin

This paper plans to estiamte the effects of strategic energy management (SEM) practices on plants’ energy efficiency using plant-level energy and production data from the Census of Manufactures together with detailed Energy-Management data from the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS). We plan to compare the energy use and energy efficiency for the plants that use SEM with the ones that do not.