1. Read through the 1999 EPA report titled "Latest Findings on National Air Quality: 1999 Status and Trends," available on the agency's web site.
   
   What have been the trends in the six major pollutants from 1980-1999? Emissions of which pollutant declined most significantly? Why? How many Americans live in counties with air that does not meet EPA standards? Finally, do you think that current pollution levels in the United States are optimal, too high, or too low? How would you determine the optimal level of pollution?
   
   
2. Read through the "Introduction" section and the Ciudad Juarez case study in the 2000 paper titled "Informal Sector Pollution Control: What Policy Options Do We Have? " by Allen Blackman.
   
   Summarize why pollution control of the "informal sector" is technically and politically difficult. Summarize the regulatory approach taken by the Mexican government to reduce pollution from wood-burning kilns. Why was the policy initially very effective? Why did it eventually fail? What do you think could have been done to avoid the failure of the program?