The Impact of Voluntary Programs on Polluting Behavior: Evidence from Pollution Prevention Programs and Toxic Releases

Linda Bui and Samuel Kapon
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Samuel Kapon: Undergraduate student, Brandeis University

No 40, Working Papers from Brandeis School of Business and Economics

Abstract: We investigate how a class of voluntary environmental initiatives known as pollution prevention (“P2”) programs affect toxic pollution. We construct a data base on federal and state-level P2 programs and exploit variation in adoption dates and program characteristics to study their effects on facility-level releases. We find convincing evidence that these mechanisms can alter polluter behavior. In particular, we find that (1) state P2 programs had a significant impact on average facility level toxic releases, reducing annual releases by 11%-15%; (2) for every $100,000 of federal matching funds awarded for state P2 activities, average facility level releases in the recipient state declined on the order of 1%-1.5%; (3) P2-induced reductions are significantly enhanced by information spillovers, diffused primarily via industry networks rather than geographic proximity; (4) facilities respond to technical assistance programs by reducing toxic releases, but only for substances that are not simultaneously regulated by formal command and control strategies; and (5) facilities respond to filing fees and non-reporting penalties by altering their toxic releases, but only for chemicals that are easily monitored by regulators.

Keywords: TRI; Information Spillovers; Voluntary Programs; Toxic Pollution; Environmental Regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2010-01, Revised 2011-11
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http://www.brandeis.edu/economics/RePEc/brd/doc/Brandeis_WP40.pdf Revised version, 2011 (application/pdf)
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Related works:
Journal Article: The impact of voluntary programs on polluting behavior: Evidence from pollution prevention programs and toxic releases (2012)
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