Environmental justice: The experience of the United States

The environmental justice literature has shown that poor people and minorities live in more polluted neighborhoods than other groups. This literature has sparked a broad activist movement and several federal policy reforms. This entry considers five possible explanations for the observed correlation between pollution and demographics, the evidence in support of each, and their implications. These explanations include coming-to-the-nuisance, industrial cost-minimization, and political economy and bargaining processes. This entry also considers ways that environmental justice considerations may be incorporated into benefit-cost analysis and related planning tools.