This study analyzes the mechanisms behind the overexposure of poor households to environmental nuisances, with particular emphasis on the sorting mechanism namely the coming to the nuisance phenomenon. Using an exposure prole based on polluting sites, and taking into account spatial heterogeneity due to population density, we assess whether environmental degradation leads to a sorting process within the population of poor households. Our ndings show that environmental degradation triggers sorting processes in urban and peri-urban areas, characterized by a higher growth rate of poor households and a lower growth rate of non-poor households in newly exposed areas. This pattern suggests the presence of a coming to the nuisance phenomenon among poor households in these newly polluted areas.
