Does International Harmonization of Environmental Policy Instruments Make Economic Sense?

Anni Huhtala and Eva Samakovlis

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2002, vol. 21, issue 3, 259-284

Abstract: Harmonization of the instruments used in environmental policy has beenconsidered necessary to guarantee “fair” competition in internationalmarkets. We examine the economic costs of harmonizing paper recyclingstandards in countries where the urgency of the waste disposal problemsdiffer. Using data of seven European countries we estimate thetechnologically feasible input combinations of pulp and waste paper forpaper production. Short-term effects of two environmental policy measures,minimum content requirement and utilization rate target, are analyzed. Bytranslating the two administrative instruments into taxes and subsidies, weshow that the shadow costs of the harmonization vary considerably betweencountries. The difference in the domestic availability of waste may explainthe variation, and a modification of the policy measures to incorporate thisaspect is suggested. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002

Keywords: environmental policy harmonization; recycling; standards; subsidies; taxes; waste paper (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1023/A:1014585213584

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