A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Transnational Public Goods (TPGs) to Upgrade Environmental Quality

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in awareness of trans-boundary pollution that places environmental assets at risk both globally and regionally. Globally, manmade pollutants have degraded the stratospheric ozone shield, the oceans, the atmosphere and the biodiversity of the planet. Regionally, these pollutants have harmed aquifers, rivers, lakes, soils and forests. Harmful effects of acid rains, greenhouse gasses, and thin ozone shield are not concentrated within political boundaries of a country, thus jeopardizing the well-being of people in other countries. These trans-boundary pollution problems—termed as Transnational Public Goods (TPGs)—often share two common features: strategic interactions among nations and public good properties. This paper applies the theory of voluntary provisions of TPGs to the behavior of nations to curb chloro-fluoro-carbon emissions that, in large part, preceded the ratification and institution of the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.