 Spatial Heterogeneity and the Choice of Instruments to Control Nonpoint PollutionStaff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics Abstract: Because it is difficult to monitor emissions and to implement differential taxes and standards, uniform taxes and standards on agricultural chemical use are often proposed and used to control nonpoint-source pollution. This article analyzes the relative efficiency of these uniform instruments in the presence of spatial heterogeneity. We show that the relative slopes of the marginal pollution cost and marginal profit of chemical use are only one of the factors that affect the relative efficiency. Other factors include correlation between marginal pollution costs and marginal profits and the slope and variability of marginal profits. In addition, a uniform tax may result in some farmers not using the chemical, and a uniform standard may have no effect on low-input land. We show empirically that the presence of corner solutions can reverse a conventional finding of tax or standard superiority based on the relative-slop rule. Date: 2001-01-01 Published in Environmental and Resource Economics 2001, vol. 18, pp. 173-192 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:1012 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics Iowa State University, Dept. of Economics, 260 Heady Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1070. Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.