Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program

Maureen Cropper, Yi Jiang (), Anna Alberini () and Patrick Baur ()

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2014, vol. 57, issue 1, 117-143

Abstract: Ground-level ozone remains a serious problem in the United States. Because ozone non-attainment is a summer problem, episodic rather than continuous controls of ozone precursors are possible. We evaluate the costs and emissions reductions of a program that requires people to buy permits to drive on high-ozone days. We estimate the demand function for permits based on a survey of 1,300 households in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Assuming that all vehicle owners comply with the scheme, the permit program would reduce nitrogen oxides ( $$\text{ NO }_{\mathrm{x}}$$ NO x ) by 42 tons per Code Red day at a permit price of $75. Allowing for non-compliance by 15 % of respondents reduces the effectiveness of the scheme to 33 tons of $$\text{ NO }_{\mathrm{x}}$$ NO x per day. The cost per ozone season of achieving these reductions is approximately $9 million (2008 USD). Although year-round measures, such as the Tier II emissions standards, might be preferred on benefit-cost grounds, an episodic permit system might be considered as an interim measure before the Tier II emissions standards are fully reflected in the vehicle fleet. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Ground-level ozone; Episodic pollution control schemes; Mobile sources; Oxides of nitrogen $$(\text{ NO }_{\mathrm{x}})$$ ( NO x ); Cost per ton of $$\text{ NO }_{\mathrm{x}}$$ NO x removed; Q52; Q53; Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2010)
Working Paper: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2010)
Working Paper: Getting Cars Off the Road: The Cost-Effectiveness of an Episodic Pollution Control Program (2010)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10640-013-9669-4

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