Research Paper

University of Pennsylvania Law School

ILE
INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND ECONOMICS
A Joint Research Center of the Law School, the Wharton School, and the Department of Economics in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania

RESEARCH PAPER NO. 13-2

Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness

Jonathan Klick
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Joshua D. Wright
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2196481

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2196481

Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness

Jonathan Klick Joshua D. Wright

November 2, 2012

Abstract

Recently, many jurisdictions have implemented bans or imposed taxes upon plastic grocery bags on environmental grounds. San Francisco County was the first major US jurisdiction to enact such a regulation, implementing a ban in 2007. There is evidence, however, that reusable grocery bags, a common substitute for plastic bags, contain potentially harmful bacteria. We examine emergency room admissions related to these bacteria in the wake of the San Francisco ban. We find that ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar increase.

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Klick ([e-mail]), Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania and Erasmus Chair of Empirical Legal Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Wright ([e-mail]), Professor, George Mason University School of Law and Department of Economics. We thank Nathan Harris, Natalie Hayes, and Elise Nelson for excellent research assistance. Klick thanks the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) for support for this project through its Julian Simon Fellowship.

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2196481

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