Using the pollution abatement costs and expenditures micro data for descriptive and analytic research 1

The Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey (PACE) is an annual survey of manufacturing establishment's operating costs and capital investment expenditures for pollution abatement purposes. This paper provides a description and evaluation of the PACE micro data available at the Center for Economic Studies (CES). This paper provides an overview of the survey, how the sample is drawn, how the survey questionnaire has changed over time, an assessment of the data quality, and suggestions for the use of the data, as well as its limitations.

This paper also discusses the advantages of using the micro data for descriptive and analytic research when integrated with economic data from the US Bureau of the Census and emissions data from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Examples of recent and analytic research are cited throughout.