Working Paper: NBER ID: w14238
Authors: Edward L. Glaeser; Matthew E. Kahn
Abstract: Carbon dioxide emissions may create significant social harm because of global warming, yet American urban development tends to be in low density areas with very hot summers. In this paper, we attempt to quantify the carbon dioxide emissions associated with new construction in different locations across the country. We look at emissions from driving, public transit, home heating, and household electricity usage. We find that the lowest emissions areas are generally in California and that the highest emissions areas are in Texas and Oklahoma. There is a strong negative association between emissions and land use regulations. By restricting new development, the cleanest areas of the country would seem to be pushing new development towards places with higher emissions. Cities generally have significantly lower emissions than suburban areas, and the city-suburb gap is particularly large in older areas, like New York.
Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions; urban development; land use regulations; environmental externalities
JEL Codes: Q5
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| urban development patterns (R14) | carbon dioxide emissions (Q54) |
| stricter land use regulations (R52) | emissions (Q52) |
| land use policies (R52) | direction of development (O29) |
| direction of development (O29) | overall emissions (Q52) |
| growth in metropolitan areas (R11) | emissions (Q52) |
| standardized household emissions in different metropolitan areas (R20) | emissions levels (Q52) |