What Determines Environmental Performance at Paper Mills? The Roles of Abatement Spending, Regulation, and Efficiency

Ron Shadbegian and Wayne Gray

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: This paper examines the determinants of environmental performance at paper mills, measured by air pollution emissions per unit of output. We consider differences across plants in air pollution abatement expenditures, local regulatory stringency, and productive efficiency. Emissions are significantly lower in plants with a larger air pollution abatement capital stock: a 10 percent increase in abatement capital stock appears to reduce emissions by 6.9 percent. This translates into a sizable social return: one dollar of abatement capital stock is estimated to provide and annual return of about 75 cents in pollution reduction benefits. Local regulatory stringency and productive efficiency also matter: plants in non-attainment counties have 43 percent lower emissions and plants with 10 percent higher productivity have 2.5 percent lower emissions. For pollution abatement operating costs we find (puzzlingly) positive, but always insignificant, coefficients.

Keywords: CES; economic; research; micro; data; microdata; chief; economist (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-04
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

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https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2003/CES-WP-03-10.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: What Determines Environmental Performance at Paper Mills? The Roles of Abatement Spending, Regulation, and Efficiency (2003)
Working Paper: What Determines Environmental Performance at Paper Mills? The Roles of Abatement Spending, Regulation, and Efficiency (2003)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:03-10

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