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Main Title Pollution abatement expenditures and plant-level productivity : a production function approach /
Author Shadbegian, Ronald J.
Other Authors
Author Title of a Work
Gray, Wayne B.
Publisher U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Economics,
Year Published 2003
OCLC Number 57246839
Subjects Pollution--Economic aspects
Internet Access
Description Access URL
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/WPNumberNew/2003-05?OpenDocument
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
Modified
Checkout
Status
EJBR EPAAUX HC79.E5N386 2003-05 Headquarters Library/Washington,DC 04/03/2020
Collation 29 pages ; 28 cm.
Notes
"August 2003."
Contents Notes
In this paper we investigate the impact of environmental regulation on productivity using a Cobb-Douglas production function framework. Estimating the effects of regulation on productivity can be done with a top-down approach using data for broad sectors of the economy, or a more disaggregated bottom-up approach. Our study follows a bottom-up approach using data from the U.S. paper, steel, and oil industries. We measure environmental regulation using plant-level information on pollution abatement expenditures, which allows us to distinguish between productive and abatement expenditures on each input. We use annual Census Bureau information (1979-1990) on output, labor, capital, and material inputs, and pollution abatement operating costs and capital expenditures for 68 pulp and paper mills, 55 oil refineries, and 27 steel mills. Overall, our results point to the importance using detailed, disaggregated analyses, even below the industry level, when trying to model the costs of forcing plants to reduce their emissions.