Definition
Environmental law and economics has been largely focused on the effect that different environmental rules can have on economic outcomes, while only few detected the difficulty of analysis of such subject, mainly due to the measurement of environmental stringency. There is no homogeneous way to measure environmental regulation, due to its peculiarities; environmental rules are often designed based on elements other than just the legal principle, such as geographical characteristics, scientific data, the level of pollution and the industry sector involved, and elements that must be taken into account in order of not incurring in methodological mistakes. This essay examines the main approaches and indicators of environmental regulation, considering the advantages and disadvantages of any of them. It also analyzes the main risks of a wrong methodological approach to the measurement of environmental rules.
Environmental regulation is an atypical form of regulation, which needs to...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Albrizio S, Koźluk T, Zipperer V (2014) Empirical evidence on the effects of environmental policy stringency on productivity growth. OECD Economics Department working papers, vol 1179. OECD Publishing, Paris
Becker RA, Henderson JV (2000) Effects of air quality regulations on polluting industries. J Polit Econ 108:379–421
Botta E, Kozluk T (2014) Measuring environmental policy stringency in OECD countries: a composite index approach, OECD economic department working papers, n. 1177
Brunel C, Levinson A (2013) Measuring environmental regulatory stringency. OECD trade and environment working papers, 2013/05. OECD publishing, Paris
Brunnermeier SB, Cohen MA (2003) Determinants of environmental innovation in US manufacturing industries. J Environ Econ Manag 45:278–293
Carraro C, De Cian E, Nicita L, Massetti E, Verdolini E (2010) Environmental policy and technical change: a survey. Int Rev Environ Resour Econ 4:163–219
Creason J, Fisher M, Morin I, Stone SF (2005) Comparison of the environmental impacts of trade and domestic distortions in the United States. Environmental economics working paper series, EPA, Washington DC, USA
Dasgupta S, Wheeler D, Roy S, Mody A (2001) Environmental regulation and development: a cross-country empirical analysis. Oxf Dev Stud 29:173–187
De Serres A, Murtin F, Nicoletti G (2010) A framework for assessing green growth policies. OECD Economic Department working papers, vol 774. OECD publishing, Paris
Eliste P, Fredriksson PG (2002) Environmental regulations, transfers and trade: theory and evidence. J Environ Econ Manag 43:234–250
Esty, Daniel, and Michael E. Porter (2002) Ranking national environmental regulation and performance: a leading indicator of future competitiveness? In The Global Competitiveness Report 2001–2002, by Michael E. Porter, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Peter K. Cornelius, John W. McArthur, and Klaus Schwab, 78–101. New York: Oxford University Press
Esty D, Porter ME (2005) Ranking national environmental regulation and performance: a leading indicator of future competitiveness? Available at http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/GCR_20012002_Environment_5d282a24-bb10-4a9a-88bd-6ee05e8c6678.pdf
Gallaher MP, Murray BC, Nicholson RL, Ross MT (2006) Redesign of the pollution abatement costs and expenditures (PACE) survey: findings and recommendations from the pretest and follow up visits. Final report for the US Environmental Protection agency, EPA, Washington DC, USA
Gray W (1997) Manufacturing plant location: does state pollution regulation matter? NBER working papers, vol 5880. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA
Gullop F, Roberts J (1983) Environmental regulations and productivity growth: the case of fossil-fueled electric power generation. J Polit Econ 91:654–674
Henderson JV (1996) Effects of air quality regulation. Am Econ Rev 33:789–813
Heutel G (2010) Plant vintages, grandfathering and environmental policy. Econ Fac Publ 14:1–59
Johnstone N, Hascic I, Kalmova M (2010) Environmental policy characteristics and technological innovation. Econ Polit 27:277–302
Keller W, Levinson A (2002) Pollution abatement costs and foreign direct investments inflows to U.S. states. Rev Econ Stat 84(4):691–703
Kozluk T (2014a) Measuring environmental policy stringency in OECD countries: a composite index approach. OECD economic department working papers, vol 1177. OECD Publishing, Paris, p 35
Kozluk T (2014b) The indicators of the economic burdens of environmental policy design: results from the OECD questionnaire. OECD Economics Department working papers, vol 1178. OECD Publishing, Paris
Levinson A (1999) An industry-adjusted index of state environmental compliance costs. NBER chapters behavioral and distributional effects of environmental policy. Cambridge, MA pp 131–158
Levinson A (2001) An Industry adjusted index of state environmental compliance costs. In: Behavioural and distributional effects of environmental policy. Universitty of Chicago Press, Chicago
Levinson A, Taylor MS (2008) Unmasking the pollution haven effect. Int Econ Rev 49:223
Malatu A (2008) Weighting the relative importance of environmental regulation for industry location. University of Manchester, Economics Discussion paper, EDP-0803
McConnell VD, Schwab RM (1990) The impact of environmental regulation on industry location decisions: the motor vehicle industry. Land Econ 66:67–81
Pearce D, Palmer C (2001) Public and private spending for environmental protection: a cross-country policy analysis. Fisc Stud 22:403–456
Sauter C (2014) How should we measure environmental policy stringency? IRENE working paper 14–01. Institute of Economic Research, University of Neuchatel, pp 4, 5
Smarzynska BJ, Wei SJ (2001) Pollution havens and foreign direct investment: dirty secret or popular myth? In: The BE journal of economic analysis and policy. Berkeley Electronic Press, 3(2):pp 1–34
Surminski S, Williamson A (2012) Policy indexes. What do they tell us and what are their applications? The case of climate policy and business planning in emerging markets. Working paper, vol 101. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
Wing-Hung L, Zhan X, Liu N (2011) Understanding styles of corporate compliance with environmental regulation: towards a multidimensional conceptual framework. Paper prepared for the 11th national public management research conference Syracuse University
Xing Y, Kolstad C (2002) Do lax environmental regulations attract foreign investment? Environ Resour Econ 21:1–22
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Colombo, V. (2019). Measure of Environmental Regulation. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_722
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_722
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7752-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7753-2
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences