How Do Place-Based Policies Affect People? Lessons and Implications for the Inflation Reduction Act

Grant description:

This project will use newly linked administrative microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the first comprehensive descriptive portrait of “energy communities,” evaluating whether the Inflation Reduction Act’s geographic targeting aligns with its stated equity goals. The authors will then examine historical patterns of firm entry and exit in these regions and track employment and earnings outcomes for affected workers. The analysis asks whether displaced fossil fuel workers or other local residents benefit when new firms enter—or whether these opportunities disproportionately go to in-migrants. These findings are poised to offer critical insights into the distributional impacts of place-based policy and establish an empirical foundation for evaluating the equity and effectiveness of clean energy investments.