ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief review of some of the issues surrounding industrial pollution in relation to plant size and local incomes. It focuses on air pollution because this poses the most serious threat to human health and provides the first systematic assessment of the relationships linking income levels, distribution of plant sizes and industrial pollution. The chapter includes data from Mexico and Brazil to analyse relationships linking income levels, the size distribution of manufacturing plants, and exposure to industrial pollution. If small plants are dirtier and plant size increases with incomes, does this imply that industrial pollution is more problematic in lower-income areas? The chapter discusses the factors likely to influence the pollution intensity of smaller plants, factors likely to influence the location of smaller plants in relation to local incomes, and factors likely to influence the location of dirtier industries in relation to local incomes.
