This paper investigates the effect of air quality management areas (AQMAs)-local, non-binding commitments to improve air quality -on pollution levels in the United Kingdom. I exploit the staggered declaration of the policy which is triggered when a local authority marginally and temporarily exceeds national air quality benchmarks. The institutional setting thus creates a natural control group, namely local authorities with pollution levels just below the thresholds for the time being. The difference-in-differences estimation suggests that AQMAs fail to lead to decreases in average NO2 concentration and the number of days on which daily NO2 limits are exceeded.
| Date of Award | 24 Feb 2021 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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| Supervisor | Markus Gehrsitz (Supervisor) & David Comerford (Supervisor) |
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