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How to comply with environmental regulations? The role of information

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Abstract

The effectiveness of environmental regulation can be viewed as conditioned by the action of at least two main agents: the regulated firms and the public agency (the regulator). The agency’s role is, on one hand, to enact environmental regulations and, on the other, to monitor firms’ environmental behavior and enforce environmental regulations. The regulated firms, on the other hand, must be informed about the legal limits imposed on them and subsequently they must be able to comply with those limits. Using a questionnaire on the pulp and paper industry in Portugal we found that firms decision to comply with environmental regulations is strongly influenced by firms’ information on its legal obligations and that this effect is stronger for smaller firms. Moreover larger and younger firms are less likely to comply with environmental regulations than smaller and older firms. With respect to the public agency’s behavior, we found that greater monitoring efforts are directed towards larger and younger firms, as well as towards those firms most likely to cause higher pollution levels.

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  • Anabela Botelho & Lígia Costa Pinto & Isabel Rodrigues, 2003. "How to comply with environmental regulations? The role of information," NIMA Working Papers 25, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    • Handle: RePEc:nim:nimawp:25
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    1. Dion, Catherine & Lanoie, Paul & Laplante, Benoit, 1998. "Monitoring of Pollution Regulation: Do Local Conditions Matter?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 5-18, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anabela Botelho & Ligia Costa Pinto, 2002. "Hypothetical, real, and predicted real willingness to pay in open-ended surveys: experimental results," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(15), pages 993-996.
    2. Anabela Botelho, 2012. "An empirical analysis of the factors influencing compliance with healthcare waste management regulations," NIMA Working Papers 46, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    3. Aslan Zorlu & Joop Hartog, 2005. "The effect of immigration on wages in three european countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 113-151, December.
    4. Paulo Guimarães, 2002. "The state of Portuguese research in economics: an analysis based on publications in international journals," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 1(1), pages 3-25, March.
    5. Botelho, Anabela & Pinto, Ligia Costa, 2004. "Students' expectations of the economic returns to college education: results of a controlled experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 645-653, December.
    6. Pinto, Ligia M. & Harrison, Glenn W., 2003. "Multilateral negotiations over climate change policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(9), pages 911-930, December.
    7. Anabela Botelho, 2001. "Strategic behavior at trial-The production, reporting, and evaluation of complex evidence," NIMA Working Papers 14, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    8. Joao Cerejeira da Silva, 2002. "Identification of the Portuguese industrial districts," NIMA Working Papers 17, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    9. Anabela Botelho, 2011. "Achieving compliance with healthcare waste management regulations: empirical evidence from small European healthcare units," NIMA Working Papers 42, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    10. Elvira Lima & Teresa J. Esquerdo, 2003. "The economic costs of alcohol misuse in Portugal," NIMA Working Papers 24, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    11. Pedro Portugal & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2001. "Disentangling the minimum wage puzzle: an analysis of job accessions and separations from a longitudinal matched employer- employee data set," NIMA Working Papers 9, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    12. Ana Rute Cardoso & Priscila Ferreira, 2009. "The dynamics of job creation and destruction for university graduates: why a rising unemployment rate can be misleading," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(19), pages 2513-2521.
    13. Elvira Lima & David K. Whynes, 2003. "Finance and performance of Portuguese hospitals," NIMA Working Papers 20, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    14. Anabela Botelho & Lígia Costa Pinto & Miguel Portela & Antonio Silva, 2001. "The determinants of success in university entrance," NIMA Working Papers 13, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.
    15. Anabela Botelho, 2013. "The impact of regulatory compliance behavior on hazardous waste generation in European private healthcare facilities," NIMA Working Papers 49, Núcleo de Investigação em Microeconomia Aplicada (NIMA), Universidade do Minho.

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