THIS PRESENTATION HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FALL 2023. FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE POSTED ONCE THE EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED.
Neha Khanna, PhD, Professor of Economics at Binghamton University, will present the EEEP Seminar Series, “Firm Behavior under Unanticipated Change in Regulation: Power Plant Emissions during the 2018-2019 Federal Government Shutdown” on March 15, 2023.
Abstract: We show that firms strategically reduce their compliance effort when regulatory stringency unexpectedly declines in short run. We analyze daily air emissions from coal-fired power plants in the United States, using the Environmental Protection Agency’s furlough during the 2018-2019 federal government shutdown as a natural experiment. Using an engineering-based approach we confirm that coal-fired power plants increased daily particulate matter emissions during the furlough of Federal employees by temporarily reducing end-of-pipe pollution control. At the same time, consistent with our expectations, there is no detectable increase in daily emissions of SO2 and NOX during the furlough, because they are continuously monitored and the furlough did not represent a change in regulation stringency for these pollutants.
Speaker Bio: Neha Khanna is Professor of Economics at Binghamton University (State University of New York). Her research covers multiple aspects of energy and environmental economics including climate change, global oil markets, the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality, and voluntary and strategic self-regulation. On-going projects examine the intergenerational persistence in exposure to pollution as well as the welfare consequences of exposure to roadway noise. She is also studying strategic behavior and pollution spillovers under the Clean Air Act.