Sacred Cars? Cost-Effective Regulation of Stationary and Nonstationary Pollution Sources

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fowlie, Meredith; Knittel, Christopher R.; Wolfram, Catherine
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.4.1.98
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 98-126
• 关键词: air-pollution; MARKET; POWER; PRODUCTIVITY; emissions; mortality; HEALTH; ozone; so2; nox

摘要

For political and practical reasons, environmental regulations sometimes treat point-source polluters, such as power plants, differently from mobile-source polluters, such as vehicles. This paper measures the extent of this regulatory asymmetry in the case of nitrogen oxides (NOx), the most recalcitrant criteria air pollutant in the United States. We find significant differences in marginal abatement costs across source types: the marginal cost of reducing NOx from cars is less than half the marginal cost of reducing NOx from power plants. Our results measure the possible efficiency gains and distributional implications associated with increasing the sectoral scope of environmental regulations.(JEL Q53, Q58, R41)