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An empirical study of federal law versus local environmental enforcement

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  • Sjöberg, Eric

Abstract

A potential problem with local enforcement of national legislation is the varying degrees of implementation that the decentralized structure may create. To study the severity of this problem, induced by the mismatch of local and national incentives, I look at the enforcement of the Swedish Environmental Code which is enforced at the local level. I measure enforcement in terms of environmental fines issued in each of Sweden׳s 290 municipalities. I argue that the Green Party values the tradeoff between business friendliness and environmental concerns differently from other parties. Using both a difference-in-differences approach and IV, I find that municipalities with the Green Party in the ruling coalition issue more fines than other municipalities. This is problematic from an efficiency and equality perspective. The result suggests that politicians do not only affect environmental policy, but also that for a given policy, they can affect the outcome through implementation and enforcement.

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  • Sjöberg, Eric, 2016. "An empirical study of federal law versus local environmental enforcement," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 14-31.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:76:y:2016:i:c:p:14-31
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2015.11.007
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    Cited by:

    1. Ren Wang & Wenhao Jia & Ran Sun, 2024. "“Words” and “actions” of environmental policy and their effects on regional green development: an empirical research based on China’s 88 cities," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26909-26944, October.
    2. Júlia Gallego Ziero Uhr & André Luis Squarize Chagas, Daniel de Abreu Pereira Uhr, Renan Porn Peres, 2017. "A study on environmental infractions for Brazilian municipalities: a spatial dynamic panel approach," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2017_13, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    3. Zhang, Bing & Chen, Xiaolan & Guo, Huanxiu, 2018. "Does central supervision enhance local environmental enforcement? Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 70-90.
    4. Chang, Hsuan-Yu & Wang, Wei & Yu, Jihai, 2021. "Revisiting the environmental Kuznets curve in China: A spatial dynamic panel data approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    5. Ruiqi Wang & Huanchen Tang & Xin Ma, 2022. "Can Carbon Emission Trading Policy Reduce PM2.5? Evidence from Hubei, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-21, August.
    6. Sjöberg, Eric & Xu, Jing, 2018. "An Empirical Study of US Environmental Federalism: RCRA Enforcement From 1998 to 2011," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 253-263.
    7. Jie Ouyang & Kezhong Zhang & Bo Wen & Yuanping Lu, 2020. "Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Environmental Governance in China: Evidence from the River Chief System (RCS)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-23, September.
    8. Haiqing Hu & Di Chen & Chun‐Ping Chang & Yin Chu, 2021. "The Political Economy Of Environmental Consequences: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 250-306, February.
    9. Ren, Shenggang & Sun, Helin & Zhang, Tao, 2021. "Do environmental subsidies spur environmental innovation? Empirical evidence from Chinese listed firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    10. Lundin, Erik, 2023. "Wind Power Approval, Decentralization, and NIMBYism: Evidence from the Swedish Greens," Working Paper Series 1464, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    11. Bryngemark, Elina & Söderholm, Patrik & Thörn, Martina, 2023. "The adoption of green public procurement practices: Analytical challenges and empirical illustration on Swedish municipalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    12. Jaeger, William K. & Kolpin, Van & Siegel, Ryan, 2023. "The environmental Kuznets curve reconsidered," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental regulation; Decentralization; Law enforcement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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