%0 Report
        %A Aydin, Eren
%A Gehrsitz, Markus
%A Traxler, Christian
        %T Greener Fleet, Cleaner Air: How Low Emission Zones Reduce Pollution
        %D 2024
        %8 2024 Jul
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 17144
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp17144
        %X Using a stacked differences-in-differences approach, we study the effects of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in Germany. The implementation of stage 1 and 2 LEZs, which banned the most pollution-intensive vehicles from city centers, significantly reduced PM10 concentrations. The most restrictive third stage had no detectable, additional effect. Analyzing the mechanisms behind these improvements, we find weak evidence of a 2% traffic decline inside LEZs. Exploiting novel data, our main results document small but precisely estimated effects on the local fleet composition: LEZs induced the replacement of 50,000 older, emission-intensive diesel vehicles with newer, less polluting gasoline cars. Our estimates suggest that LEZs had lower social costs than previously estimated.
        %K low emission zones
%K vehicle fleet composition
%K emission standards
%K social costs
%K diesel cars