Economic activity and biodiversity in the United States

The environmental impacts of economic activities extend beyond those directly affecting humans. This paper provides new evidence on the link between economic activity and ecosystem decline using a novel dataset that compiles longitudinal ecological sampling information at tens of thousands of locations across the United States between 1960 and 2015. Local shocks in economic activities, such as those driven by national military buildups, led to a significant reduction in species abundance, diversity, and stability, with one-third of the observed effects explained by the causal impact of air pollution. Government environmental regulations significantly mitigated pollution externalities.