Differences In Environmental Regulations Research Articles

Spatial Dynamics of the Livestock Sector in the United States: Do Environmental Regulations Matter?

The US hog and dairy sectors are increasingly shifting production toward western states away from more traditional production regions in the east. In contrast, production levels in the fed-cattle sector have increased over the last three decades only in the three main producing states. One possible reason for the shifts in production areas is that a state may introduce or keep less stringent environmental regulations relative to neighboring states as a means to cope with inter-jurisdictional capital competition. Such differences might create pollution havens. This study examines the factors affecting the annual growth rate in inventory for each of the hog, dairy and fed-cattle sectors using data from 48 states for 1975 to 2000. The results indicate that environmental regulatory stringency is generally not as important as other economic variables in the location choices of livestock producers. In the two sectors (hog and dairy) where significant regional production shifts have occurred, major drivers appear to be relative prices and business climate. Inventories are rising in more remote areas and regulatory stringency appears to increase ex post as a response to increasing livestock production levels. Thus, with the exception of the fed-cattle sector, regional differences in environmental regulations appear not to have a significant influence on livestock production decisions and consequently regional comparative advantage

Environment and trade: the implications of imperfect information and political economy

The last ten years have seen an upsurge in interest in the nexus of trade and environmental policies. In part this reflects the need to deal with major global pollution problems, and in part a concern that globalization may have adverse impacts on the environment. Environmentalists worry that globalization may trigger a race-to-the-bottom in environmental standards. While they would like to see upward harmonization in environmental standards, they are sceptical about the ability of supra-national agencies to achieve this. Industrialists also raise concerns about the need for a ‘level playing field’ in environmental regulations because of fears about the impact of environmental regulations on competitiveness. However, developing countries question whether disputes over differences in environmental regulations simply reflect a covert form of ‘green protectionism’. In this paper we review what light recent developments in economic analysis (conceptual and empirical) can shed on these concerns. We quickly summarize conventional trade models in which government bodies have perfect information and are welfare maximizers, and show that this analysis does not provide much support for the concerns or proposed policy recommendations. We then turn to models of political economy and imperfect information to see whether they provide a better explanation for the concerns and policy recommendations.

Deodorant compositions containing antibacterial zeolite and silicones

Livestock manure is a major contributor to ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions and treatment technologies such as slurry acidification can be used to reduce both. In this study, life cycle assessment was used to compare impact potentials of slurry acidification at either the pig housing or the field application stage with conventional slurry management. Furthermore, the effects of differences in environmental regulations concerning nitrogen application limits were analysed. The impact categories analysed were terrestrial eutrophication potential, climate change potential, marine eutrophication potential and toxicity potential. Slurry acidification reduced the terrestrial eutrophication potential by 71% for in-house acidification and by 30% for field acidification. Changes in regulatory plant-available nitrogen application limits resulted in changes in climate change potential and marine eutrophication potential, with lower limits favouring in-house acidification. Acidification can substantially reduce the environmental impacts of animal slurry, but the effect depends on the context of the regulatory regime.

Environmental regulations and manufacturers' location choices: Evidence from the Census of Manufactures

This paper uses establishment-level data from the Census of Manufactures and the Survey of Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures to examine the effect of differences in the stringency of state environmental regulations on establishment location choice. Unlike previous work in this area, which has focused on particular industries or sets of plants and on one or two measures of environmental regulatory stringency, this study explores the relationship between site choice and environmental regulations using a broad range of industries and measures of stringency. It uses a conditional logit model of plant location choice to show that interstate differences in environmental regulations do not systematically affect the location choices of most manufacturing plants.

TIMING AND INTENSITY EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS

This paper examines the investment timing and intensity conditions under which advantages may exist for first movers in environmental investments. The potential advantages on which the paper focuses are timing and intensity of investments in recent pollution-reducing manufacturing technologies that produce salable product at the same time that they reduce pollution. The data come from 50 chemical bleached paper pulp manufacturers in eight countries. The model measures the impact of the independent variables on growth in profits from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, controlling for national differences in environmental regulations, among other variables. Results indicate a positive relationship between timing of investments and profit growth. There is also evidence that more intense investment patterns, when not tempered by sufficient time to absorb the investments, may lead to lower profit growth.