Can Consumers Enforce Environmental Regulations? The Role of the Market in Hazardous Waste Compliance

Sarah Stafford ()
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Sarah Stafford: Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

No 19, Working Papers from Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

Abstract: To assess the role that consumers can play in encouraging environmental compliance, we examine the U.S. hazardous waste management industry to determine (1) whether environmental performance affects consumer demand and (2) whether markets affect compliance behavior. We find that noncompliance does decrease demand, at least in the short-term. While we do not find any evidence that market size affects compliance, local competition does appear to increase compliance. However, as competition becomes less localized, it has a smaller, if any, effect. Finally, regardless of the pressures exerted by consumers to comply, commercial managers are more likely to violate than on-site managers.

Keywords: Commercial Environmentalism; Compliance; Enforcement; Hazardous Waste; Market Size; Competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q28 K42 D21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-law and nep-reg
Date: 2005-06-28

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cwm:wpaper:19

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