Discontinuous Behavioral Responses to Recycling Laws and Plastic Water Bottle Deposits

W Viscusi, Joel Huber, Jason Bell and Caroline Cecot

American Law and Economics Review, 2013, vol. 15, issue 1, 110-155

Abstract: Using a nationally representative sample of 3,158 bottled water users, this article finds that both water bottle deposits and recycling laws foster recycling through a discontinuous effect that converts reluctant recyclers into diligent recyclers. The impact of the warm glow from being an environmentalist and an environmental group member is about equal to that of a 5-cent bottle deposit. Respondents from states with stringent recycling laws and bottle deposits have greater recycling rates. The efficacy of these policy interventions is greater for those who do not already recycle, have lower income, and do not consider themselves to be environmentalists. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2013
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Working Paper: Discontinuous Behavioral Responses to Recycling Laws and Plastic Water Bottle Deposits (2009)
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