Environmental Abatement Research Articles

The policy relevance of environmental protection expenditure accounting

AbstractAs a result of theoretical concerns about the use of GDP as the main policy indicator, and the implications this may have for the achievement of other policy goals, the UN proposed a system of integrated environmental and economic accounting (SEEA). Part of their guidelines recommends the collection of data regarding environmental protection expenditure (EPE). Both EUROSTAT and the OECD have designed and implemented methodologies with the aim of producing EPE accounts for international comparison. While much effort has been employed in examining and refining the design and implementation, to date little has been said regarding the policy relevance of such accounts. We have applied the Eurostat and OECD methodologies to produce the first ever EPE dataset for Ireland. This work involved a detailed examination of both public and private sector environmental expenditure and estimated that EPE in Ireland was equal to just under 1% of GDP in 1998. We conclude that the main policy relevance lies in the assessment of the potential for industries involved in the supply and operation of environmental abatement services in Ireland. To the extent that expenditure can be disaggregated to sectoral level in those sectors exposed to international competition, it can also inform a discussion about the relation between environmental compliance costs and sectoral competitiveness. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.

Environmental abatement and intergenerational distribution

This paper employs an overlapping generations model to explore the impact of public abatement on private investment and the intergenerational distribution of welfare. Whereas public abatement benefits old generations in terms of non-environmental welfare, future generations gain most in terms of environmental welfare. The overall benefits tend to be smallest for generations born at the time of the unanticipated policy shock. Public debt policy, however, can be employed to ensure that welfare gains are distributed more equally across the various generations. Such a policy implies that natural capital crowds out man-made capital.

Growth or environmental concern: which comes first? Optimal control with pure stock pollutants

This paper models an economy with a stock pollution problem that must choose between productive and environmental investments. Both increase consumption, but only the former leads to economic growth. An optimal control model is solved giving four different paths depending on the initial parameters. For small values of pollution maximizing economic growth is optimal; and for massive pollution all investments are dedicated to environmental abatement. Similarly, the role of discount and savings rates, the relative profitability of abatement and productive investments, and the length of the time horizon are analyzed. Optimal control models simple enough to solve analytically often give intuitively unsatisfactory, boundary-type solutions. Our model, however, does have a large domain of parameter values for which “interior” solutions are optimal. These may start with a period of exclusive productive or environmental investments and then switch over to a mix of investments that corresponds to real-life expectations.

The challenge of managing water and material balances in relation to eutrophication

Eutrophication is the result of overfertilisation of the aquatic environment. In other words, the detrimental effects derived from increased anthropogenic release of nutrients to the environment. By modern concepts of environmental abatement this is no longer only a question of identifying and purifying discharges. It is a question of keeping track of the system of nutrient mining, utilisation, recycle, transport, conversion, containment and release in the modern society - in effect, the total balance of nutrients in society. In Denmark, the point sources of nutrient release have been reduced by an order of magnitude. That has contributed to some improvements, but the diffuse sources have turned out to be more significant than originally expected. They are harder to reduce. That is why more integrated approaches have to be analysed. Four approaches will be analysed: the DPSIR-approach, the 5-options approach, the cause-effect relationship and the material balance analysis.

Renegotiation-proof equilibria in a global emission game when players are impatient

In a two-country model, in which countries differ with respect to the perception of environmental damages and abatement costs, the stability of international environmental agreements is analyzed in a dynamic framework. Three types of agreements are considered: A socially optimal solution, a uniform emission tax (a tax equally applied in both countries) and a uniform emission reduction quota (an equal percentage emission reduction from a base year). Stability is checked for these agreements according to the concept of renegotiation-proofness. It is shown that the stability requirements depend crucially on the parameters defining the interests of the two countries and the type of agreement. Moreover, it is demonstrated that if punishment options are restricted for some reason the stability of an agreement may suffer. One important result of the paper is that if countries exhibit asymmetric interests, stability in the quota regime is higher than in the tax regime and in the social optimum. This might explain why emission reduction quotas have been so popular in international politics despite recommendations of economists to use market-based instruments.

The challenge of managing water and material balances in relation to eutrophication

Eutrophication is the result of overfertilisation of the aquatic environment. In other words, the detrimental effects derived from increased anthropogenic release of nutrients to the environment. By modern concepts of environmental abatement this is no longer only a question of identifying and purifying discharges. It is a question of keeping track of the system of nutrient mining, utilisation, recycle, transport, conversion, containment and release in the modern society - in effect, the total balance of nutrients in society. In Denmark, the point sources of nutrient release have been reduced by an order of magnitude. That has contributed to some improvements, but the diffuse sources have turned out to be more significant than originally expected. They are harder to reduce. That is why more integrated approaches have to be analysed. Four approaches will be analysed: the DPSIR-approach, the 5-options approach, the cause-effect relationship and the material balance analysis.

CHILDREN AND ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS

Environmental toxins have been shown to produce harmful effects in children, who may be exposed in the home, in public spaces, and by passive contact with adults. This review discusses common toxic substances, including lead, radon, tobacco smoke, asbestos, pesticides, mercury, carbon monoxide, and electric/magnetic fields. The focus is on identification, environmental abatement, and parent education. Practical suggestions for the primary care clinician in a community setting are emphasized.

Risk analysis and management

During the past several decades, the pbulic has given increasing attention to environmental problems and increased their demands that these problems be solved. During this period, the difficulty and costs of solving the problems have become apparent. Environmental abatement programs must be effective in achieving the desired goals and efficient in achieving them at low cost. Risk analysis is necessary to quantify the benefits of proposed solutions in order to make them effective and efficient. The necessity for performing risk assessment stems from a presidential executive order, from a Supreme Court Decision, and from the public's demand fdor information about the extent of possible danger from ahazard, rather than knowing simply that it is a hazard. The science of risk analysis is in an early stage and so there are many uncertainties concerning interpretation of the estimates. This approach has sharpened the scientific questions and hastened improvements in scientific understanding. Risk analysis is most helpful when the analysis reflects the science, without intrusiton of the risk assessor's values or attempts to force a risk management outcome by skewing the risk analysis.

The Differential Effect of Regulation across Plant Size: Comment on Pashigian

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Differential Effect of Regulation across Plant Size: Comment on PashigianDavid S. EvansDavid S. Evans Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Law and Economics Volume 29, Number 1Apr., 1986 Sponsored by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and The University of Chicago Law School Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/467115 Views: 7Total views on this site Citations: 16Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1986 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Muhammad Husnain, Kashif Islam, Waris Ali Reflection of Regulatory Announcement in Equity Market: Fresh Insight from Oil & Gas Sector of Pakistan, Journal of Accounting and Finance in Emerging Economies 6, no.33 (Oct 2020): 799–820.https://doi.org/10.26710/jafee.v6i3.1357Jessica Coria, Efthymia Kyriakopoulou Environmental policy, technology adoption and the size distribution of firms, Energy Economics 72 (May 2018): 470–485.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.04.025Daniel H. Simon, Jeffrey T. Prince The effect of competition on toxic pollution releases, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 79 (Sep 2016): 40–54.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2016.03.001Wulf A Kaal What Drives Dodd–Frank Act Compliance Costs for Private Funds?, The Journal of Alternative Investments 19, no.11 (Jun 2016): 8–26.https://doi.org/10.3905/jai.2016.19.1.008Jessica Coria, Efthymia Kyriakopoulou Environmental Policy and the Size Distribution of Firms, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2015).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2574715Wulf A. Kaal What Drives Dodd-Frank Act Compliance Cost for Private Funds?, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2015).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2629386Wulf A. Kaal The Impact of Dodd-Frank Act Compliance Cost on the Hedge Fund Industry, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2014).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2389423Randy A. Becker, Carl Pasurka, Ronald J. Shadbegian Do environmental regulations disproportionately affect small businesses? Evidence from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 66, no.33 (Nov 2013): 523–538.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2013.08.001Randy A. Becker, Carl A. Pasurka, Ronald J. Shadbegian Do Environmental Regulations Disproportionately Affect Small Businesses? Evidence from the Pollutionabatement Costs and Expenditures Survey, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2012).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2205196Anthony Heyes Is environmental regulation bad for competition? A survey, Journal of Regulatory Economics 36, no.11 (Jun 2009): 1–28.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-009-9099-yDaniel L. Millimet Environmental Abatement Costs and Establishment Size, Contemporary Economic Policy 21, no.33 (Jul 2003): 281–296.https://doi.org/10.1093/cep/byg011Thomas J. Dean, Robert L. Brown Pollution Regulation as a Barrier to New Firm Entry: Initial Evidence and Implications for Future Research, Academy of Management Journal 38, no.11 (Feb 1995): 288–303.https://doi.org/10.5465/256737Carol Adaire Jones, Suzanne Scotchmer The social cost of uniform regulatory standards in a hierarchical government, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 19, no.11 (Jul 1990): 61–72.https://doi.org/10.1016/0095-0696(90)90060-CRigoberto A. Lopez, Nona R. Henderson The determinants of location choices for food processing plants, Agribusiness 5, no.66 (Nov 1989): 619–632.https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6297(198911)5:6<619::AID-AGR2720050607>3.0.CO;2-AWilliam A. Brock, David S. Evans Small business economics, Small Business Economics 1, no.11 (Jan 1989): 7–20.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00389913Janusz A. Ordover, Garth Saloner Chapter 9 Predation, monopolization, and antitrust, (Jan 1989): 537–596.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1573-448X(89)01012-5

Direct and indirect effects of regulation: a new look at OSHA's impact.

AN extended series of economic studies has failed to find any statistically significant impact on national injury rates due to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.' Two distinct explanations for this apparent failure of OSHA have been put forward in these studies. The first is that, because of limited statutory and budgetary authority from Congress, OSHA is unable to compel industrial compliance with its own standards. Advocates of this position point to the pitifully small level of OSHA fines and to the small number of firms that will actually be inspected. For example, in 1975, the average fine per violation amounted to only $26, while the average number of inspections per firm was only .02,

The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Optimal Plant Size and Factor Shares

The method for measuring the effects of environmental regulation on the size distribution of industrial plants and the distribution of factor shares described in this paper focuses on the 20 industries with highest per unit pollution abatement costs and the 20 with the lowest costs. The study finds that compliance with environmental laws has not only reduced the number of plants in the affected industries, but has placed a greater burden on small rather than on large plants. Besides redistributing within-industry market shares, environmental regulation has increased the use of capital relative to labor. Although the disproportionate burden placed on small plants in the high abatement cost industries may have been unintended, it is likely that large firms will be less vocal opponents of environmental regulation than are small firms. 22 references, 12 tables.