The Environmental Implications of Place-Based Policy: Evidence from Minimum Wage Ordinances
Abstract: Place-based policies aim to boost local economies and improve welfare. This paper examines city minimum wage ordinances, a popular place-based labor regulation intended to raise earnings and living standards for low-wage workers in over 60 U.S. cities. Using variation in timing and intensity across 17 California cities in the 2010s, I show that higher local wage floors increase rents and incentivize workers to live and work in neighboring areas outside the policy jurisdiction. These spatial shifts alter commuting patterns, increase traffic congestion, and worsen air quality, with neighboring areas affected even more than policy cities, despite not being the direct policy targets. The worsening of air quality disproportionately affects poorer and minority communities, partly due to their limited adaptation capacity rather than workers re-sorting into these neighborhoods. Simulations combining a traffic-emissions model with a particle-dispersion model attribute up to 2.8% of traffic-related emissions and 15 additional annual deaths to the ordinances. For low-wage workers, the costs of these unintended externalities offset 40% of the intended wage gains. In summary, the results suggest that environmental externalities, acting through the displacement channel, can drive the welfare impacts of place-based policies far from their intended goals.
Do microclimates matter? The Health Impacts of Urban Heat Using Fine-Scale Data
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2025
Abstract: Cities tend to be warmer than their suburban counterparts, a phenomenon known as the heat island effect. This effect varies significantly over time and across different neighborhoods. This study examines the health implications of neighborhood-level temperature variations and the role of urban heat in the temperature–health relationship. Using high-resolution satellite-derived surface temperature data and emergency medical service records from Northern California, the analysis employs fixed-effects Poisson regressions. The findings show that neighborhood-level extreme heat has significant adverse health effects. However, urban heat—a highly localized and predominantly anthropogenic component of overall temperature—is less harmful than temperature shifts on a larger geographic scale. This is likely because people can better adapt to urban heat. These results highlight the importance of considering both overall temperature exposure and adaptation potential in urban environments. The effects of urban heat also vary by season. While additional warmth can provide protection during colder periods, it poses substantial health risks on warmer days. Finally, policy simulations suggest that mitigating extreme urban heat could effectively reduce health risks, particularly during warm periods. Tree planting, especially in less vegetated areas, is a beneficial strategy for protecting urban populations.
“How Did Safety Net Reform Affect the Education of Adolescents from Low-Income Families?" with Jeffrey Grogger and Jacob Bastian
Labour Economics, 2022
Abstract: Roughly 25 years ago, the US safety net was substantially reformed. Here we ask how those reforms affected the educational attainment of youths who were teens at the time those reforms took place. We take a difference-in-difference approach, following adolescents from two generations roughly 20 years apart. In each generation, we compare two groups, one which was more likely to have been affected by safety-net reform, and one which was less likely to have been affected. Under some assumptions, our approach identifies the joint, or bundled, effects of the constituent policy changes that make up safety-net reform. We find evidence that safety-net reform may have reduced educational attainment for women, and had small positive effects on education for men. We offer suggestions as to why our findings differ from those of previous studies of the components of safety net reform.
“How Did Safety-Net Reform Affect Early Adulthood among Adolescents from Low-Income Families?"
with Jeffrey Grogger and Jacob Bastian
National Tax Journal, 2021
Abstract: In the 1990s, the US safety net was substantially reformed. We ask how those reforms collectively affected early-career outcomes among youths who were teens when the reforms took effect. We consider employment, safety-net participation, marriage, and childbearing between the ages of 18 and 32. We take a difference-in-difference approach, tracking adolescents from two generations roughly 20 years apart. In each generation, we compare two groups, one of which was more likely to have been affected by safety-net reform than the other. We find evidence that safety-net reform increased women’s labor supply and decreased marriage.
Disparity Through the Grid- The Hidden Costs of Climate Adaptations in the Electricity Sector