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Effects of unit-based pricing on household waste collection demand: A meta-regression analysis

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  • Bel, Germà
  • Gradus, Raymond

Abstract

Reducing the quantity of waste is an objective pursued by an increasing number of governments. Pricing waste has been one of the most important tools used for that purpose, and the literature on the demand for household waste disposal shows a wide diversity of price elasticity calculations. We explore this issue by means of a meta-analysis on a database of 25 studies. This allows us analyzing which is the effect on the results of different data, model specification and (statistical) methods. We find no evidence that either treating prices as exogenous or including curbside recycling effects in the model influence price elasticity. There are some indications that price elasticities in the USA are more elastic, and that municipal data provide higher estimates than household data. We find that much of the variation in elasticities is associated with substantial methods; in particular it can be explained by the use of a weight-based system and by the pricing of compostable waste. In contrast, the bag-based system does not present a significant relation with elasticity. Finally, our results do not find evidence of publication bias, while they do indicate some evidence of the existence of a true empirical effect.

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  • Bel, Germà & Gradus, Raymond, 2016. "Effects of unit-based pricing on household waste collection demand: A meta-regression analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 169-182.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:44:y:2016:i:c:p:169-182
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2016.03.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier Beaumais & Apolline Niérat, 2019. "Exploring in-depth joint pro-environmental behaviors: a multivariate ordered probit approach," Working Papers hal-02361390, HAL.
    2. Carattini, Stefano & Baranzini, Andrea & Lalive, Rafael, 2018. "Is Taxing Waste a Waste of Time? Evidence from a Supreme Court Decision," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 131-151.
    3. Bueno, Matheus & Valente, Marica, 2019. "The effects of pricing waste generation: A synthetic control approach," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 274-285.
    4. Pfister, Naomi & Mathys, Nicole A., 2022. "Waste taxes at work: Evidence from the canton of Vaud in Switzerland," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    5. Valente, Marica, 2023. "Policy evaluation of waste pricing programs using heterogeneous causal effect estimation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    6. Picchio, Matteo, 2021. "Microchip Bags and Waste Sorting," GLO Discussion Paper Series 772, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Antonella Tomasi & Giovanna Messina, 2021. "Wasted in waste? The benefits of switching from taxes to Pay-As-You-Throw fees: The Italian case," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(2), pages 7-38.
    8. Tobias Erhardt, 2019. "Garbage In and Garbage Out? On Waste Havens in Switzerland," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 251-282, May.
    9. Germà Bel & Marc Esteve, 2018. "“Is Private Production of Hospital Services Cheaper than Public Production? A Meta-Regression of Public vs Private Costs and Efficiency for Hospitals”," IREA Working Papers 201824, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Oct 2018.
    10. Elbert Dijkgraaf & Raymond Gradus, 2017. "An EU Recycling Target: What Does the Dutch Evidence Tell Us?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(3), pages 501-526, November.
    11. Thornton Matheson, 2022. "Disposal is not free: fiscal instruments to internalize the environmental costs of solid waste," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 1047-1073, August.
    12. Ms. Thornton Matheson, 2019. "Disposal is Not Free: Fiscal Instruments to Internalize the Environmental Costs of Solid Waste," IMF Working Papers 2019/283, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Matteo Picchio, 2023. "Microchipped bags and waste sorting," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 25(1), pages 1-30, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Solid waste; Unit-based pricing; Elasticities; Meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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