Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T21:24:25.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Environmental Policy Since Earth Day I: What Do We Know About the Benefits and Costs?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

A. Myrick Freeman III*
Affiliation:
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine
Get access

Abstract

Data on costs and benefits of the major environmental laws passed during the 1970s are reviewed. The winners in terms of benefit-cost analysis include: getting lead out of gasoline, controlling particulate air pollution, reducing the concentration of lead in drinking water, and the cleanup of hazardous waste sites with the lowest cost per cancer case avoided under Superfund. The losers include: mobile source air pollution control, water pollution control, and many of the regulations and cleanup decisions taken under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and Superfund.

Type
Invited Presentations
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. (2000, July 21). “BriefAmici Curiae in American Trucking Associations, Inc., et al. v. Carol Browner.” Washington, DC. Online at http://www.aei.brookings.org/publications/briefs/brief_00_01.pdf. [Retrieved September 5, 2001.]Google Scholar
Augustyniak, C. M. (1997). “Asbestos.” In Morgenstern, R. D. (ed.), Economic Analysis at EPA: Assessing Regulatory Impact (pp. 171203). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Bingham, T. H., Bondelid, T. R., Depro, B. M., Figueroa, R. C., Hauber, A. B., Unger, S. J., and Van Houtven, G. L. (1998). “A Benefits Assessment of Water Pollution Control Programs Since 1972.” Revised draft report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, prepared by Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC.Google Scholar
Carson, R. T., and Mitchell, R. C. (1993.) “The Value of Clean Water: The Public's Willingness to Pay for Boatable, Fishable, and Swimmable Quality Water.” Water Resources Research 29(7), 24452454.Google Scholar
Crandall, R. W. (1997, Summer). “The Costly Pursuit of the Impossible.The Brookings Review, pp. 4147.Google Scholar
Daily, G. C., ed. (1997). Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Dockery, D. W., Pope, C. A. III, Xu, X., Spengler, J. D., Ware, J. H., Fay, M. E., Ferris, B. G. Jr., and Speizer, F. E. (1993). “An Association Between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities.” New England Journal of Medicine 329(24), 17531759.Google Scholar
Freeman, A. M. III. (1982). Air and Water Pollution Control: A Benefit-Cost Assessment. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Freeman, A. M. III. (2000). “Water Pollution Policy.” In Portney, P. R. and Stavins, R. N. (eds.), Public Policies for Environmental Protection, 2nd edition (pp. 169213). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Hahn, R. W. (1996). “Regulatory Reform: What Do the Government's Numbers Tell Us?” In Hahn, R. W. (ed.), Risks, Costs, and Lives Saved: Getting Better Results from Regulation (pp. 208253). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hahn, R. W. (1998). “Policy Watch: Government Analysis of the Benefits and Costs of Regulation.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 12(4), 201210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahn, R. W. (2000). Reviving Regulatory Reform: A Global Perspective. Washington, DC: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies.Google Scholar
Hahn, R. W., and Burnett, J. K. (2000). “The EPA's Radon Rule: A Case Study in How Not to Regulate Risks.” Regulatory Analysis Pub. No. 01–01, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. T., and Viscusi, W. K. (1999a). “How Costly Is ‘Clean’? An Analysis of the Benefits and Costs of Superfund Remediations.Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 18(1), 227.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. T., and Viscusi, W. K. (1999b). Calculating Risks: The Spatial and Political Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Harrington, W., Morgenstern, R. D., and Nelson, P. (2000). “On the Accuracy of Regulatory Cost Estimates.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 19(2), 297322.Google Scholar
Jaffe, A. B., Peterson, S. R., Portney, P. R., and Stavins, R. N. (1995). “Environmental Regulation and the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?Journal of Economic Literature 33(1), 132163.Google Scholar
Krewski, D., Burnett, R. E. T., Goldberg, M. S., Hoover, K., Siemiatycki, J., Abrahamowic, M., White, W. H., and others. (2000). Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and the American Cancer Society Study of Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality. Cambridge, MA: Health Effects Institute.Google Scholar
Krupnick, A. J. (1997). “The Proposed NAAQS for PM and Ozone.” Testimony before the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Google Scholar
Levin, R. (1997). “Lead in Drinking Water.” In Morgenstern, R. D. (ed.), Economic Analysis at EPA: Assessing Regulatory Impact (pp. 205232). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Lutter, R., and Belzer, R. B. (2000). “EPA Pats Itself on the Back.” Regulation 23(3), 2328.Google Scholar
Morgenstern, R. D., ed. (1997). Economic Analysis at EPA: Assessing Regulatory Impact. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Palmer, K., Oates, W. E., and Portney, P. R. (1995). “Tightening Environmental Standards: The Benefit-Cost or the No-Cost Paradigm?Journal of Economic Perspectives 9(1), 129132.Google Scholar
Parry, I. W. H., and Oates, W. E. (2000). “Policy Analysis on the Presence of Distorting Taxes.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 19(4), 603613.3.0.CO;2-3>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, C. A., Thun, M. J., Namboodiri, M. M., Dockery, D. W., Evans, J. S., Speizer, F. E., and Heath, C. W. Jr. (1995). “Particulate Air Pollution as a Predictor of Mortality in a Prospective Study of U.S. Adults.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 151(3), 669674.Google Scholar
Porter, M. E. (1991). “America's Green Strategy.” Scientific American 264(4), 168.Google Scholar
Porter, M. E., and van der Linde, C. (1995). “Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9(4), 97118.Google Scholar
Portney, P. R. (1990). “Air Pollution Policy.” In Portney, P. R. (ed.), Public Policies for Environmental Protection (pp. 2796). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Portney, P. R. (2000). “Air Pollution Policy.” In Portney, P. R. and Stavins, R N. (eds.), Public Policies for Environmental Protection, 2nd edition (pp. 77123). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Raucher, R. S., Drago, J. A., Trabka, E., Dixon, A., Patterson, A., Lang, C., Bird, L., and Ragland, S. (1993). An Evaluation of the Federal Drinking Water Program Under the Safe Drinking Water Act as Amended in 1986. Prepared for the American Water Works Association by RCG/Hagler, Bailly, Inc., Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Seskin, E. P. (1980). “Automobile Air Pollution Policy.” In Portney, P. R. (ed.), Current Issues in U.S. Environmental Policy (pp. 68104). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Shapiro, M. (1990). “Toxic Substances Policy.” In Portney, P. R. (ed.), Public Policies for Environmental Protection (pp. 195241). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Smith, V. K., ed. (1984). Environmental Policy Under Reagan's Executive Order: The Role of Benefit-Cost Analysis. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Stavins, R. N. (2000). “Market-Based Environmental Policies.” In Portney, P. R. and Stavins, R. N. (eds), Public Policies for Environmental Protection, 2nd edition (pp. 3176). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Tietenberg, T. (2000). Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, 5th edition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Google Scholar
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (1999, May 26). American Trucking Associations vs. Browner, Docket No. 97–1441.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1985). Costs and Benefits of Reducing Lead in Gasoline. EPA, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1990). Environmental Investments: The Cost of Clean Environment. EPA, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1997). The Benefits and Cost of the Clean Air Act: 1970–1990. EPA, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1998). National Air Quality and Emissions and Trends Report. Report prepared for the U.S. EPA by Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1999). The Benefits and Cost of the Clean Air Act: 1990–2010. EPA, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board, Clean Air Science Advisory Committee. (1995). Letter to Honorable Carol Browner, Administrator of U.S. EPA. EPA document no. EPA-SAB-CASAC-LTR-96-002, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board, Clean Air Science Advisory Committee. (1996). Letter to Honorable Carol Browner, Administrator of U.S. EPA. EPA document no. EPA-SAB-CASAC-LTR-96-003, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board, Advisory Council on Clean Air Act Compliance Analysis. (1997). Letter to Honorable Carol Browner, Administrator of U.S. EPA. EPA document no. EPA-SAB-COUNCIL-LTR-97-008, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Science Advisory Board, Advisory Council on Clean Air Act Compliance Analysis. (1999). Letter to Honorable Carol Browner, Administrator of U.S. EPA. EPA document no. EPA-SAB-COUNCIL-ADV-00-002, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
U.S. Supreme Court. (2001, February 27). Whitman vs. American Trucking Associations, Docket No. 99–1257, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Van Houtven, G., and Cropper, M. L. (1996). “When Is a Life Too Costly to Save? The Evidence from U.S. Environmental Regulations.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 30(3), 344368.Google Scholar