Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector

Deindustrialization, stagnant real incomes of production workers, and increasing inequality are latter day features of many economies. It is common to assume that such developments pressure policymakers to relax environmental standards. However, when heavily polluting industries become less importan...

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Main Authors: Gassebner, M., Gaston, Noel, Lamla, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44565
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author Gassebner, M.
Gaston, Noel
Lamla, M.
author_facet Gassebner, M.
Gaston, Noel
Lamla, M.
author_sort Gassebner, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Deindustrialization, stagnant real incomes of production workers, and increasing inequality are latter day features of many economies. It is common to assume that such developments pressure policymakers to relax environmental standards. However, when heavily polluting industries become less important economically, their political importance also tends to diminish. Consequently, a regulator may increase the stringency of environmental policies. Like some other studies, we find that declining industrial employment translates into stricter environmental standards. In contrast to previous studies, but consistent with our argument, we find that greater income inequality is associated with policies that promote a cleaner environment.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2008
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-445652018-03-29T09:07:09Z Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector Gassebner, M. Gaston, Noel Lamla, M. cleaner environment income inequality Deindustrialization, stagnant real incomes of production workers, and increasing inequality are latter day features of many economies. It is common to assume that such developments pressure policymakers to relax environmental standards. However, when heavily polluting industries become less important economically, their political importance also tends to diminish. Consequently, a regulator may increase the stringency of environmental policies. Like some other studies, we find that declining industrial employment translates into stricter environmental standards. In contrast to previous studies, but consistent with our argument, we find that greater income inequality is associated with policies that promote a cleaner environment. 2008 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44565 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2007.00086.x Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc. restricted
spellingShingle cleaner environment
income inequality
Gassebner, M.
Gaston, Noel
Lamla, M.
Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title_full Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title_fullStr Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title_full_unstemmed Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title_short Relief For the Environment? The Importance of An Increasingly Unimportant Industrial Sector
title_sort relief for the environment? the importance of an increasingly unimportant industrial sector
topic cleaner environment
income inequality
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44565