Essays in Environmental Economics

Abstract

The last century has generated an unprecedented level of economic growth throughout much of the developed world. These dramatic economic gains have not been without cost. Indeed, in the first chapter of this dissertation, I provide novel insight into the social damages from the emission of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances into local groundwater supplies, a water source which is generally thought to be safe from environmental pollutants. I find annual costs in excess of $8 billion, driven by increases in infant mortality and extreme birth outcomes. In the second and third chapters, I begin by documenting a high degree of variation in expected future damages from human-caused climate change within a middle income country-Mexico. I then provide a novel statistical framework which allows me to study how individuals will adapt to out-of-sample changes to their environment, in this case, the climate. I find that migration reduces climate damages by 28%, but much moreso for the portion of the population I estimate as being fully-informed on the climate system than for those who are instead naive as to its progression. Finally, in the third chapter, I study the role of social networks for contributing to the effectiveness of migration as an adaptive tool to the damages of climate change. I find that social networks can be an amplifying force against the damages of climate change: moving from the bottom to the top 5% of social network structures is estimated to reduce the full cost of migration as adaptation to climate change by over $32,000 per move.