IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/ajagec/v85y2003i1p44-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevention versus Treatment under Precautionary Regulation: A Case Study of Groundwater Contamination under Uncertainty

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Lichtenberg
  • Tony M. Penn

Abstract

Policy discussions on agricultural pollution problems characterize prevention as more cost effective and precautionary than ex post treatment. We derive conditions under which treatment alone is more cost effective in situations involving multiple sources of emissions, multiple sites affected, and a commonly used precautionary approach to uncertainty. We also show that a greater degree of precaution can result in less reliance on prevention. An empirical case study indicates that treatment alone is the most cost-effective means of dealing with nitrate in most Maryland community water system wells. The use of leaching prevention measures is restricted to the most intensive poultry producing areas. The incremental cost of precaution is substantial. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Lichtenberg & Tony M. Penn, 2003. "Prevention versus Treatment under Precautionary Regulation: A Case Study of Groundwater Contamination under Uncertainty," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(1), pages 44-58.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:85:y:2003:i:1:p:44-58
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1467-8276.t01-2-00102
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Innes & Dennis Cory, 2001. "The Economics of Safe Drinking Water," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(1), pages 94-117.
    2. A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell, 1992. "Optimal Cleanup and Liability After Environmentally Harmful Discharges," NBER Working Papers 4176, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Shibata, Hirofumi & Winrich, J Steven, 1983. "Control of Pollution when the Offended Defend Themselves," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 50(200), pages 425-437, November.
    4. Olson, Mancur & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1970. "The Efficient Production of External Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 512-517, June.
    5. Beavis, Brian & Walker, Martin, 1983. "Achieving environmental standards with stochastic discharges," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 103-111, June.
    6. Lichtenberg, Erik & Zilberman, David & Bogen, Kenneth T., 1989. "Regulating environmental health risks under uncertainty: Groundwater contamination in California," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 22-34, July.
    7. Linda K. Lee, 1998. "Groundwater Quality and Farm Income: What Have We Learned?," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 168-185.
    8. Carolyn R. Harper & David Zilberman, 1992. "Pesticides and Worker Safety," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(1), pages 68-78.
    9. Erik Lichtenberg & David Zilberman, 1988. "Efficient Regulation of Environmental Health Risks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 103(1), pages 167-178.
    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. Gray, Emily & Ancev, Tihomir & Drynan, Ross, 2011. "Coexistence of GM and non-GM crops with endogenously determined separation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2486-2493.
    2. Eric Giraud-Héraud & Hakim Hammoudi & Louis-Georges Soler, 2006. "Food Safety, Liability and Collective Norms," Working Papers hal-00243034, HAL.
    3. Heikkila, Jaakko, 2006. "Economics of invasive alien species: pre-emptive versus reactive control," Discussion Papers 11865, MTT Agrifood Research Finland.

    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. James BARRETT & Kathleen SEGERSON, "undated". "Prevention And Treatment In Food Safety: An Analysis Of Conceptual Issues," Department of Resource Economics Regional Research Project 9521, University of Massachusetts.
    2. Lichtenberg, Erik, 2002. "Agriculture and the environment," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 23, pages 1249-1313, Elsevier.
    3. Y. Farzin & Jonathan Kaplan, 2004. "Nonpoint Source Pollution Control under Incomplete and Costly Information," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 28(4), pages 489-506, August.
    4. Zilberman, David & Hochman, Gal & Sexton, Steven E., 2008. "Food Safety, the Environment, and Trade," Agricultural Distortions Working Paper Series 48637, World Bank.
    5. Gray, Emily M. & Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun Z., 2008. "Uncertainty aversion in Australian regulation of agricultural gene technology," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6045, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Horan, Richard D. & Lupi, Frank, 2005. "Tradeable risk permits to prevent future introductions of invasive alien species into the Great Lakes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 289-304, February.
    7. Horan, Richard D. & Lupi, Frank, 2005. "Economic Incentives for Controlling Trade-Related Biological Invasions in the Great Lakes," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 75-89, April.
    8. Gray, Emily & Ancev, Tihomir & Drynan, Ross, 2011. "Coexistence of GM and non-GM crops with endogenously determined separation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2486-2493.
    9. Barrett, James & Segerson, Kathleen, 1997. "Prevention and Treatment in Environmental Policy Design," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 196-213, June.
    10. Kaplan, Jonathan D., 2001. "Prevention Versus Utilization Of Excess Nutrients From Animal Feeding Operations:The Case Of Managing Nutrient Uncertainty," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20533, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    11. Zivin, Joshua Graff & Zilberman, David, 2002. "Optimal Environmental Health Regulations with Heterogeneous Populations: Treatment versus "Tagging"," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 455-476, May.
    12. Horan, Richard D. & Lupi, Frank, 2003. "Tradable Risk Permits To Prevent Future Introductions Of Alien Invasive Species Into The Great Lakes," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22111, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Horan, Richard D. & Shortle, James S. & Abler, David G. & Ribaudo, Marc, 2001. "The Design And Comparative Economic Performance Of Alternative Second-Best Point/Nonpoint Trading Markets," Staff Paper Series 11595, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    14. Anetta Caplanova & Keith Willett, 2019. "Emission Discharge Permit Trading and Persistant Air Pollutants (A Common Pool Market Application with Health Risk Specifications)," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 19-38, February.
    15. Owens, Nicole N. & Swinton, Scott M. & Ravenswaay, Eileen O. van, 1995. "Farmer Demand for Safer Pesticides," Staff Paper Series 201201, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    16. James Shortle & Richard D. Horan, 2013. "Policy Instruments for Water Quality Protection," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 111-138, June.
    17. Ghosh, Gaurav & Shortle, James, 2012. "Managing Pollution Risk through Emissions Trading," FCN Working Papers 1/2012, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN).
    18. Bernknopf, Richard L. & Brookshire, David S. & McKee, Michael & Soller, David R., 1997. "Estimating the Social Value of Geologic Map Information: A Regulatory Application," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 204-218, February.
    19. Donovan, Pierce & Springborn, Michael, 2022. "Balancing conservation and commerce: A shadow value viability approach for governing bycatch," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    20. Sergey S. Rabotyagov & Adriana M. Valcu-Lisman & Catherine L. Kling, 2016. "Resilient Provision of Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Landscapes: Trade-offs Involving Means and Variances of Water Quality Improvements," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1295-1313.

    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:oup:ajagec:v:85:y:2003:i:1:p:44-58. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    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.