Pollution control success in the United States: A cross sectional analysis

This thesis empirically examined pollution control success in the United States during the period 1987 to 1992. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether pollution control success can be predicted by a set of factors suggested by the economics literature as being important to effective control of pollution. Multiple regression analyses were performed on dependent variables representing air, water, and solid waste quality. It was found that although the predictors of pollution control success differ across the three types of pollution, variables representing pollution abatement expenditures and strength of enforcement were important throughout.