Cobenefits and Regulatory Impact Analysis: Theory and Evidence from Federal Air Quality Regulations

Joseph Aldy, Matthew J. Kotchen, Mary Evans, Meredith Fowlie, Arik Levinson () and Karen Palmer

Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, 2021, vol. 2, issue 1, 117 - 156

Abstract: This article considers the treatment of cobenefits in benefit-cost analysis of federal air quality regulations. Using a comprehensive data set on all major Clean Air Act rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency over the period 1997–2019, we show that (1) cobenefits make up a significant share of the monetized benefits; (2) among the categories of cobenefits, those associated with reductions in fine particulate matter are the most significant; and (3) cobenefits have been pivotal to the quantified net benefit calculation in nearly half of cases. Motivated by these trends, we develop a simple conceptual framework that illustrates a critical point: cobenefits are simply a semantic category of benefits that should be included in benefit-cost analyses. We also address common concerns about whether the inclusion of cobenefits is problematic because of alternative regulatory approaches that may be more cost-effective and the possibility for double counting.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/711308 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/711308 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Chapter: Cobenefits and Regulatory Impact Analysis: Theory and Evidence from Federal Air Quality Regulations (2020)
Working Paper: Co-Benefits and Regulatory Impact Analysis: Theory and Evidence from Federal Air Quality Regulations (2020)
Working Paper: Co-Benefits and Regulatory Impact Analysis: Theory and Evidence from Federal Air Quality Regulations (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:epolec:doi:10.1086/711308

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().