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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Partisan Sorting In The United States, 1972-2012: New Evidence From A Dynamic Analysis, Corey Lang, Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz
Partisan Sorting In The United States, 1972-2012: New Evidence From A Dynamic Analysis, Corey Lang, Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications
Whether Americans have “sorted” into politically like-minded counties and to what extent is hotly debated by academic and journalists. This paper examines whether or not geographic sorting has occurred and why it has occurred using a novel, dynamic analysis. Our findings indicate that geographic sorting is on the rise, but that it is a very recent phenomenon. In the 1970s and 1980s, counties tended to become more competitive, but by 1996 a pattern of partisan sorting had emerged and continued through the present. Results suggest this pattern is driven by Southern re-alignment and voting behavior in partisan stronghold counties. Lastly, …
Do Weather Fluctuations Cause People To Seek Information About Climate Change?, Corey Lang
Do Weather Fluctuations Cause People To Seek Information About Climate Change?, Corey Lang
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications
Learning about the causes and consequences of climate change can be an important avenue for supporting mitigation policy and efficient adaptation. This paper uses internet search activity data, a distinctly revealed preference approach, to examine if local weather fluctuations cause people to seek information about climate change. The results suggest that weather fluctuations do have an effect on climate change related search behavior, however not always in ways that are consistent with the projected impacts of climate change. While search activity increases with extreme heat in summer and extended periods of no rainfall and declines in extreme cold in winter, …
Are Fulbright Applicants Idealists Or Opportunists?, Corey Lang, Carrie Gill
Are Fulbright Applicants Idealists Or Opportunists?, Corey Lang, Carrie Gill
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications
The Fulbright program attracts applicants passionate about service and research abroad. Applicants apply to one country. To aid their decisions, competition statistics giving approximate probabilities of being awarded a scholarship are released for each country. This paper examines how competition statistics influence country choices. In aggregate, our results suggest that applicants are not swayed to apply to countries with low competition or deterred from countries with high competition. However, accounting for the difference in scholarship types and the macroeconomic context, there is strong evidence of opportunistic behavior by teaching applicants and for all applicants when the unemployment rate is high.
The Windy City: Property Value Impacts Of Wind Turbines In An Urban Setting, Corey Lang, James J. Opaluch
The Windy City: Property Value Impacts Of Wind Turbines In An Urban Setting, Corey Lang, James J. Opaluch
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications
This paper examines the impact of wind turbines on house values in Rhode Island. In contrast to wind farms surrounded by sparse development, in Rhode Island single turbines have been built in relatively high population dense areas. As a result, we observe 48,554 single-family, owner-occupied transactions within five miles of a turbine site, including 3,254 within one mile, which is far more than most related studies. We estimate hedonic difference-in-differences models that allow for impacts of wind turbines by proximity, viewshed, and contrast with surrounding development. Across a wide variety of specifications, the results suggest that wind turbines have no …
Who Benefits From Environmental Regulation? Evidence From The Clean Air Act Amendments, Antonio Bento, Matthew Freedman, Corey Lang
Who Benefits From Environmental Regulation? Evidence From The Clean Air Act Amendments, Antonio Bento, Matthew Freedman, Corey Lang
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications
Using geographically disaggregated data and exploiting an instrumental variable strategy, we show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the benefits of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) were progressive. The CAAA created incentives for local regulators to target the initially dirtiest areas for cleanup, creating heterogeneity in the incidence of air quality improvements that favored lower-income households. Based on house price appreciation, households in the lowest quintile of the income distribution received annual benefits from the program equal to 0.3% of their income on average during the 1990s, over twice as much as those in the highest quintile.