IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v23y1991i8p1163-1182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Cost of Improving the Quality of the Environment

Author

Listed:
  • R Boyd

    (Department of Economics, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA)

  • N D Uri

    (Resources and Technology Division, Economic Research Service, Room 428, US Department of Agriculture, 1301 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA)

Abstract

The analysis in this paper is directed at comparing the relative effectiveness of two different methods of meeting the Bush Administration's goals outlined in the Clean Air Plan. The analytical vehicle used in the analysis consists of a computable general equilibrium model composed of twelve producing sectors, thirteen consuming sectors, six household categories classified by income, a foreign sector, and a government. First, it is found that irrespective of what type of strategy is followed to improve environmental quality, both output and consumption decline as does household utility. Hence, there is a quantifiable trade-off between economic activity (economic growth) and the quality of the environment. Beyond this, the aggregate loss in production and economic welfare (measured by consumption expenditures and utility) is less under a policy which stresses reliance on alternative fuels (brought about by taxation) than through one that requires the installation of pollution-abatement devices (that is, regulation).

Suggested Citation

  • R Boyd & N D Uri, 1991. "The Cost of Improving the Quality of the Environment," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 23(8), pages 1163-1182, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:23:y:1991:i:8:p:1163-1182
    DOI: 10.1068/a231163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a231163
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a231163?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas H. Tietenberg, 1980. "Transferable Discharge Permits and the Control of Stationary Source Air Pollution: A Survey and Synthesis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(4), pages 391-416.
    2. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249, January.
    3. Johansson,Per-Olov, 1987. "The Economic Theory and Measurement of Environmental Benefits," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521348102, January.
    4. Seskin, Eugene P. & Anderson, Robert Jr. & Reid, Robert O., 1983. "An empirical analysis of economic strategies for controlling air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 112-124, June.
    5. Deaton,Angus & Muellbauer,John, 1980. "Economics and Consumer Behavior," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521296762, January.
    6. Kokoski, Mary F & Smith, V Kerry, 1987. "A General Equilibrium Analysis of Partial-Equilibrium Welfare Measures: The Case of Climate Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 331-341, June.
    7. Boyd, Roy, 1988. "An economic model of direct and indirect effects of tax reform on agriculture," Technical Bulletins 312290, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    8. Huang, Wen-Yuan & Uri, Noel D., 1991. "An analysis of the marginal value of cropland and nitrogen fertilizer use under alternative farm programs," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 433-453.
    9. Malueg, David A., 1989. "Emission credit trading and the incentive to adopt new pollution abatement technology," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 52-57, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Berck, Peter & Hess, Peter, 2000. "Developing a methodology for assessing the economic impacts of large scale environmental regulations," CUDARE Working Papers 43917, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    2. Rask, Kevin, 2004. "Clean air policy and oxygenated fuels: do we get what we pay for?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 161-177, January.
    3. He, Hongming & Jim, C.Y., 2012. "Coupling model of energy consumption with changes in environmental utility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 235-243.
    4. Ferng, Jiun-Jiun, 2002. "Toward a scenario analysis framework for energy footprints," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 53-69, January.
    5. Nestor, Deborah Vaughn & Pasurka Jr, Carl A, 1995. "CGE model of pollution abatement processes for assessing the economic effects of environmental policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 53-59, January.
    6. Berck, Peter & Hess, Peter, 2000. "Developing a methodology for assessing the economic impacts of large scale environmental regulations," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt51v1b6wm, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    7. Mao Xianqiang & Yang Shuqian & Liu Qin, 2013. "The Way to CO2 Emission Reduction and the Co-benefits of Local Air Pollution Control in China's Transportation Sector: A Policy and Economic Analysis," EEPSEA Research Report rr2013036, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Mar 2013.
    8. Kiuila, Olga & Peszko, Grzegorz, 2006. "Sectoral and macroeconomic impacts of the large combustion plants in Poland: A general equilibrium analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 288-307, May.
    9. Xie, Jian & Saltzman, Sidney, 2000. "Environmental Policy Analysis: An Environmental Computable General-Equilibrium Approach for Developing Countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 453-489, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stavins, Robert, 2001. "Lessons From the American Experiment With Market-Based Environmental Policies," RFF Working Paper Series dp-01-53, Resources for the Future.
    2. Cropper, Maureen L & Oates, Wallace E, 1992. "Environmental Economics: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 675-740, June.
    3. Stavins, Robert, 2003. "Market-Based Environmental Policies: What Can We Learn from U.S. Experience and Related Research?," Working Paper Series rwp03-031, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    4. Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Experience with market-based environmental policy instruments," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 355-435, Elsevier.
    5. Glenn Jenkins & RANJIT LAMECH, 1992. "Market-Based Incentive Instruments For Pollution Control," Development Discussion Papers 1992-02, JDI Executive Programs.
    6. Arguedas, Carmen & van Soest, Daan P., 2009. "On reducing the windfall profits in environmental subsidy programs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 192-205, September.
    7. Stavins, Robert, 2004. "Environmental Economics," RFF Working Paper Series dp-04-54, Resources for the Future.
    8. Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh & Peter Nijkamp, 1998. "Advances in Environmental Economics: Analysis and Modelling," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-094/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Erik T. Verhoef & Bert van Wee, 2000. "Car Ownership and Status," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-076/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Cohen, Alex & Keiser, David A., 2017. "The effectiveness of incomplete and overlapping pollution regulation: Evidence from bans on phosphate in automatic dishwasher detergent," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 53-74.
    11. Erik Verhoef & Peter Nijkamp, 1997. "The Adoption of Energy Efficiency Enhancing Technologies," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 97-077/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    12. Newell, Richard G & Stavins, Robert N, 2003. "Cost Heterogeneity and the Potential Savings from Market-Based Policies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 43-59, January.
    13. Lozano, S. & Villa, G. & Brännlund, R., 2009. "Centralised reallocation of emission permits using DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 752-760, March.
    14. Richard Batley & J. Nicolás Ibá-ez, 2013. "Applied welfare economics with discrete choice models: implications of theory for empirical specification," Chapters, in: Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly (ed.), Choice Modelling, chapter 7, pages 144-171, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Immervoll, Herwig & Linden, Jules & O'Donoghue, Cathal & Sologon, Denisa Maria, 2023. "Who Pays for Higher Carbon Prices? Illustration for Lithuania and a Research Agenda," IZA Discussion Papers 15868, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Jeroen Bergh, 2007. "Evolutionary thinking in environmental economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 521-549, October.
    17. Yong-Jin Cha, 1997. "Evolutionary Environmental Policy: An Analysis of the U.S. Air pollution Control Policy," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 102-114, December.
    18. Iho, Antti & Parker, Doug & Zilberman, David, 2015. "Optimal Regional Regulation of Animal Waste," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211780, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Bruno, Ellen M. & Jessoe, Katrina, 2021. "Missing markets: Evidence on agricultural groundwater demand from volumetric pricing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    20. E Verhoef & P Nijkamp & P Rietveld, 1997. "Tradeable Permits: Their Potential in the Regulation of Road Transport Externalities," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 24(4), pages 527-548, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:23:y:1991:i:8:p:1163-1182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.