Breathing inequality: Air pollution widens gap between ‘the two Pittsburghs’
“It is well known that air pollution has a panoply of adverse effects on society. What might surprise the casual observer is that air pollution actually contributes to the widening gap between Pittsburgh’s haves and have-nots. The U.S. Census Bureau commonly reports income inequality through statistics like the Gini coefficient. This measure indicates that inequality has been increasing over the past decade. To get a more complete picture of the distribution of economic resources, our research deducts the monetary damages from air pollution exposure from household income and explores the distribution of this adjusted measure of income.”