TY  - JOUR
AU  - Zivin,Joshua Graff
AU  - Neidell,Matthew
TI  - Days of Haze: Environmental Information Disclosure and Intertemporal Avoidance Behavior
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14271
PY  - 2008
Y2  - August 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14271
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14271.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joshua S. Graff Zivin
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0519
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519
Tel: 858/822-6438
E-Mail: jgraffzivin@ucsd.edu

Matthew J. Neidell
Department of Health Policy and Management
Columbia University
600 W 168th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212/342-4522
Fax: 212/305-3405
E-Mail: mn2191@columbia.edu
AB  - In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of informational regulatory approaches by analyzing the impact of smog alerts issued on consecutive days on discretionary outdoor activities in Southern California.  Short-run adjustments to transitory risk entail costs that are likely to influence the set of evasive actions pursued by those at risk.  Our results confirm that the cost of intertemporally substituting activities is increasing over time: when alerts are issued on two successive days, any response on the first day has largely disappeared by the second day.  Small reprieves from alerts, however, reset these costs.  Our findings imply that a time-varying decision rule that accounts for multiple day air quality forecasts may improve social welfare.
ER  -