The silver lining of rust belt manufacturing decline

Between 1969 and 1996 manufacturing employment declined by 32.9% in the Rus t Belt, leading to severe dislocations in cities specialized in manufacturi ng. However, one silver lining of reduced manufacturing activity is improve d environmental quality. This paper exploits a unique merger of air quality and county manufacturing data to quantify manufacturing's pollution intens ity by industry and then uses these estimates to judge which Rust Belt citi es experienced large environmental improvements. It uses valuation estimate s to assess the economic magnitude of the pollution reduction, (C) 1999 Aca demic Press.