IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fae/ppaper/2016.08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multiple Standards: the Case of the French Building Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline

    (Paris School of Economics, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and INRA UMR Economie Publique,)

Abstract

The building sector is simultaneously characterized by regulation pervasiveness, by the superposition and overlapping of technical standards, and by a profusion of labels. This paper analyzes the rationale for such a multiplicity of mandatory and voluntary standards. The main consequences are the risk of confusion in the minds of buyers and the rise in prices due to the additional costs imposed by the continuous progression of requirements and the need to comply with many different standards. Both effects seriously hamper the penetration of the market by the products with the most demanding labels. The simplification of this regulatory and normative package would likely improve the economic efficiency of the sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2016. "Multiple Standards: the Case of the French Building Industry," Policy Papers 2016.08, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:fae:ppaper:2016.08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://faere.fr/pub/PolicyPapers/Chiroleu-Assouline_FAERE_PP2016.08.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baltzer, Kenneth, 2012. "Standards vs. labels with imperfect competition and asymmetric information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 61-63.
    2. Stefan Lutz & Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2000. "Quality Leadership when Regulatory Standards are Forthcoming," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 331-348, September.
    3. Ben Youssef Adel & Abderrazak Chema, 2009. "Multiplicity of Eco-Labels, Competition, and the Environment," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Joseph Farrell & Garth Saloner, 1985. "Standardization, Compatibility, and Innovation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(1), pages 70-83, Spring.
    5. Brécard, Dorothée, 2014. "Consumer confusion over the profusion of eco-labels: Lessons from a double differentiation model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 64-84.
    6. Truffer, Bernhard & Markard, Jochen & Wustenhagen, Rolf, 2001. "Eco-labeling of electricity--strategies and tradeoffs in the definition of environmental standards," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 885-897, September.
    7. Timothy Simcoe, 2012. "Standard Setting Committees: Consensus Governance for Shared Technology Platforms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 305-336, February.
    8. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    9. Constantine Manasakis & Evangelos Mitrokostas & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2013. "Certification of corporate social responsibility activities in oligopolistic markets," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 46(1), pages 282-309, February.
    10. Charles Mason, 2011. "Eco-Labeling and Market Equilibria with Noisy Certification Tests," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(4), pages 537-560, April.
    11. Amacher, Gregory S. & Koskela, Erkki & Ollikainen, Markku, 2004. "Environmental quality competition and eco-labeling," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 284-306, March.
    12. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    13. Mahenc Philippe, 2009. "Wasteful Labeling," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-20, December.
    14. Lévêque, François & Ménière, Yann, 2011. "Patent pool formation: Timing matters," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 243-251.
    15. Lucie Bottega & Jenny De Freitas, 2009. "Public, Private and Nonprofit Regulation for Environmental Quality," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 105-123, March.
    16. Grolleau, Gilles & Ibanez, Lisette & Mzoughi, Naoufel, 2009. "Too much of a good thing? Why altruism can harm the environment?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2145-2149, May.
    17. Vito Albino & Umberto Berardi, 2012. "Green Buildings and Organizational Changes in Italian Case Studies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 387-400, September.
    18. Adel Ben Youssef & Rim Lahmandi-Ayed, 2008. "Eco-labelling, Competition and Environment: Endogenization of Labelling Criteria," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 41(2), pages 133-154, October.
    19. Turcotte, Marie-France & Reinecke, Juliane & den Hond, Frank, 2014. "Explaining variation in the multiplicity of private social and environmental regulation: a multi-case integration across the coffee, forestry and textile sectors," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 151-189, April.
    20. Manning, Stephan & Boons, Frank & von Hagen, Oliver & Reinecke, Juliane, 2012. "National contexts matter: The co-evolution of sustainability standards in global value chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 197-209.
    21. Joseph Farrell & Timothy Simcoe, 2012. "Choosing the rules for consensus standardization," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(2), pages 235-252, June.
    22. Noe, Thomas H. & Rebello, Michael J., 1995. "Consumer activism, producer groups, and production standards," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 69-85, June.
    23. Codron, Jean-Marie & Giraud-Heraud, Eric & Soler, Louis-Georges, 2005. "Minimum quality standards, premium private labels, and European meat and fresh produce retailing," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 270-283, June.
    24. Lisette Ibanez & Gilles Grolleau, 2008. "Can Ecolabeling Schemes Preserve the Environment?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 233-249, June.
    25. Greenstein, Shane M, 1997. "Lock-in and the Costs of Switching Mainframe Computer Vendors: What Do Buyers See?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(2), pages 247-273, March.
    26. Eva Boxenbaum & Aurélien Acquier & Rebecca Pinheiro-Croisel & Gabriela Garza de Linde, 2011. "Processes Of Institutional Innovation: Reference Tools For Eco-Cities In France And Denmark," Post-Print halshs-00743372, HAL.
    27. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2015. "On the Economics of Labels: How Their Introduction Affects the Functioning of Markets and the Welfare of All Participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 239-259.
    28. Heyes, Anthony G. & Maxwell, John W., 2004. "Private vs. public regulation: political economy of the international environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 978-996, September.
    29. Aurélien Acquier & Eva Boxenbaum & Rebecca Pinheiro-Croisel, 2011. "Standards and innovation in emerging fields: Pushing breakthrough innovation or enrolling actors? An analysis of eco-district standards in France and Denmark," Post-Print halshs-00743376, HAL.
    30. repec:hal:journl:hal-00593744 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Bagwell, Kyle & Riordan, Michael H, 1991. "High and Declining Prices Signal Product Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 224-239, March.
    32. Carolyn Fischer & Thomas P. Lyon, 2014. "Competing Environmental Labels," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 692-716, September.
    33. Brécard Dorothée & Lucas Sterenn & Pichot Nathalie & Salladarré Frédéric, 2012. "Consumer Preferences for Eco, Health and Fair Trade Labels. An Application to Seafood Product in France," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-32, April.
    34. Martin Mueller & Virginia dos Santos & Stefan Seuring, 2009. "The Contribution of Environmental and Social Standards Towards Ensuring Legitimacy in Supply Chain Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 509-523, November.
    35. Vermeulen, Walter J.V. & Hovens, Jeroen, 2006. "Competing explanations for adopting energy innovations for new office buildings," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2719-2735, November.
    36. Richard Schmalensee, 2009. "Standard‐Setting, Innovation Specialists And Competition Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 526-552, September.
    37. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    38. Lutz, Stefan & Lyon, Thomas P & Maxwell, John W, 2000. "Quality Leadership When Regulatory Standards Are Forthcoming," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 331-348, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Poret, Sylvaine, 2019. "Label wars: Competition among NGOs as sustainability standard setters," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1-18.
    2. Li, Yi, 2020. "Competing eco-labels and product market competition," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Brécard, Dorothée, 2014. "Consumer confusion over the profusion of eco-labels: Lessons from a double differentiation model," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 64-84.
    4. Dorothée Brécard, 2017. "Consumer misperception of eco-labels, green market structure and welfare," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 340-364, June.
    5. Philippe Mahenc, 2017. "Honest versus Misleading Certification," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 454-483, June.
    6. Olivier Bonroy & Christos Constantatos, 2015. "On the Economics of Labels: How Their Introduction Affects the Functioning of Markets and the Welfare of All Participants," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(1), pages 239-259.
    7. Li, Yi, 2016. "Competing eco-labels and product market competition," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235389, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Jason Walter & Yang-Ming Chang, 2017. "Green certification, heterogeneous producers, and green consumers: a welfare analysis of environmental regulations," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 333-361, December.
    9. repec:gbl:wpaper:2013-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Yokessa, Maïmouna & Marette, Stéphan, 2019. "A Review of Eco-labels and their Economic Impact," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 13(1-2), pages 119-163, April.
    11. Frank Wijen & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2019. "Controversy Over Voluntary Environmental Standards: A Socioeconomic Analysis of the Marine Stewardship Council," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-02071504, HAL.
    12. Dorothée Brécard, 2023. "How Corporate–NGO Partnerships Affect Eco-Label Adoption and Diffusion," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(1), pages 233-261, October.
    13. Sylvaine Poret, 2017. "Label Battles: Competition among NGOs as Standard Setters," Working Papers hal-01512229, HAL.
    14. Pio Baake & Helene Naegele, 2017. "Competition between For-Profit and Industry Labels: The Case of Social Labels in the Coffee Market," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1686, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Valeria Forlin, 2021. "Optimal Eco‐Label Standards in an Oligopolistic Setting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(2), pages 682-701, March.
    16. Li, Yuanhao & van 't Veld, Klaas, 2015. "Green, greener, greenest: Eco-label gradation and competition," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 164-176.
    17. Walter, Jason M. & Chang, Yang-Ming, 2020. "Environmental policies and political feasibility: Eco-labels versus emission taxes," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 194-206.
    18. Alexandre Volle, 2017. "Why is price useless to signal environmental quality ?," Working Papers 2017.30, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    19. Hend Ghazzai & R Lahmandi-Ayed, 2018. "Ecolabels: Is More Information Better?," Working Papers hal-01877934, HAL.
    20. Creane, Anthony & Jeitschko, Thomas D. & Sim, Kyoungbo, 2019. "Welfare effects of certification under latent adverse selection," DICE Discussion Papers 312, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    21. Anthony Heyes & Sandeep Kapur & Peter W. Kennedy & Steve Martin & John W. Maxwell, 2020. "But What Does It Mean? Competition between Products Carrying Alternative Green Labels When Consumers Are Active Acquirers of Information," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(2), pages 243-277.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    NGOs; Energy efficiency; CSR; Labels; Voluntary self-regulation; Building industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • L74 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Construction
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fae:ppaper:2016.08. 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: Dorothée Charlier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/faereea.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.