Economic disparities have long been suspected to be a root cause of environmental inequality. But is this really the case? This column links data on income and wealth with data on air pollution exposure over 40 years to provide new evidence on the relationship between economic wellbeing and environmental quality in the US. The authors find that (1) the relationship between income, wealth, and pollution exposure is relatively weak, (2) non-Hispanic Black individuals face significantly higher pollution exposure than non-Hispanic white individuals at every income percentile of the distribution, and (3) large income windfalls lead to modest, though persistent, reductions in pollution exposure. The findings challenge the notion that reducing income inequality alone would significantly reduce environmental inequality.

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18 March 2025

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Vox EU

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https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/income-wealth-and-environmental-inequality-us

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