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Third Party Certification and the Effectiveness of Voluntary Pollution Abatement Programs: Evidence from Responsible Care

Author

Listed:
  • Vidovic, Martina
  • Khanna, Neha
  • Delgado, Michael S.

Abstract

We analyze whether third‐party certification has been successful in improving the performance of voluntary pollution abatement in the Responsible Care (RC) program which made certification mandatory from 2005 onward. We use facility‐level panel data from 821 plants between 1996 and 2010, and exploit the change in the program requirements to estimate the causal impact of third‐party certification on participating facility emissions compared to non‐RC plants in the U.S. chemical industry. We address endogenous selection into RC via instrumental variables, and explore heterogeneity in the treatment effect. We find that, on average, there is no statistically discernible effect of third‐party certification on facility emissions, and that this result is robust to a variety of models that correspond to different assumptions related to identification. (JEL Q53, Q58, L60)
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Suggested Citation

  • Vidovic, Martina & Khanna, Neha & Delgado, Michael S., 2013. "Third Party Certification and the Effectiveness of Voluntary Pollution Abatement Programs: Evidence from Responsible Care," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150706, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea13:150706
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.150706
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bui, Linda T.M. & Kapon, Samuel, 2012. "The impact of voluntary programs on polluting behavior: Evidence from pollution prevention programs and toxic releases," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 31-44.
    2. Matthew Potoski & Aseem Prakash, 2005. "Covenants with weak swords: ISO 14001 and facilities' environmental performance," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 745-769.
    3. Robert Innes & Abdoul G. Sam, 2008. "Voluntary Pollution Reductions and the Enforcement of Environmental Law: An Empirical Study of the 33/50 Program," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(2), pages 271-296, May.
    4. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-161, April.
    5. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti, 2006. "Did the EPA's voluntary industrial toxics program reduce emissions? A GIS analysis of distributional impacts and by-media analysis of substitution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 391-410, July.
    6. Shanti Gamper-Rabindran & Stephen Finger, 2013. "Does industry self-regulation reduce pollution? Responsible Care in the chemical industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 1-30, January.
    7. Martina Vidovic & Neha Khanna, 2012. "Is Voluntary Pollution Abatement in the Absence of a Carrot or Stick Effective? Evidence from Facility Participation in the EPA’s 33/50 Program," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 369-393, July.
    8. Rondinelli, Dennis & Vastag, Gyula, 2000. "Panacea, common sense, or just a label?: The value of ISO 14001 environmental management systems," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 499-510, October.
    9. Abdoul G. Sam & Madhu Khanna & Robert Innes, 2009. "Voluntary Pollution Reduction Programs, Environmental Management, and Environmental Performance: An Empirical Study," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 85(4), pages 692-711.
    10. Vidovic, Martina & Khanna, Neha, 2007. "Can voluntary pollution prevention programs fulfill their promises? Further evidence from the EPA's 33/50 Program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 180-195, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Huan Li & Neha Khanna & Martina Vidovic, 2018. "The effects of third party certification on voluntary self-regulation of accidents in the U.S. chemical industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 327-356, June.
    2. Li, Huan & Khanna, Neha, 2016. "Does Voluntary Regulation Provide Regulatory Relief? A Lesson from the Responsible Care Program," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235652, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Daniel Berliner & Aseem Prakash, 2014. "The United Nations Global Compact: An Institutionalist Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 217-223, June.
    4. Li, Huan & Khanna, Neha & Vidovic, Martina, 2014. "Third Party Certification and Self-Regulation: Evidence from Responsible Care and Accidents in the US Chemical Industry," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170492, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies;

    JEL classification:

    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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