Conference Agenda

This paper explores how the quality of emission disclosures shapes public perceptions of pollution and trust in officially reported data. I examine a nationwide platform that provides daily emission records for all municipal Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants in China. I combine emission data from 2020 to 2022 with a second-hand housing dataset covering 92 cities. I estimate pollution beliefs using a residential sorting model where households base housing choices on perceived pollution exposure and the quality of disclosed information. I find that, in most cities, pollution is perceived as higher when emission records are flawed, compared to when they are valid. I then explore possible sources of the prevalent "over-perception," including plant manipulation and city-specific characteristics. Such divergence, however, can be mitigated by enhancing long-run information quality, defined as the valid rate of emission records over the three years. Finally, I estimate an average marginal willingness-to-pay of $4.13 for a 1% improvement in information quality within a reference period. The substantial substitution effect between information quality and distance to the plant reveals that better-informed households are more willing to live closer to WtE plants, suggesting reduced local opposition to these facilities.