IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v10y2010i1n76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Information in Regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Magesan Arvind

    (University of Toronto)

  • Turner Matthew A

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of an imperfectly informed regulator constrained in his choice of environmental regulation by the political opposition of those affected by the policy. We compare the value of two types of information to the regulator: the social cost of pollution and the profitability of firms present in the economy. We find that in environments where small increases in the losses to regulated firms greatly affect the regulator's ability to implement the policy, it is most valuable to learn the types of firms whereas it is most valuable to learn the social cost of pollution when small increases in losses are relatively ineffectual.

Suggested Citation

  • Magesan Arvind & Turner Matthew A, 2010. "The Value of Information in Regulation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-30, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:10:y:2010:i:1:n:76
    DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2495
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2495
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1935-1682.2495?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tracy R. Lewis, 1996. "Protecting the Environment When Costs and Benefits Are Privately Known," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(4), pages 819-847, Winter.
    2. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, December.
    3. Becker, Gary S., 1985. "Public policies, pressure groups, and dead weight costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 329-347, December.
    4. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002. "Special Interest Politics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262571676, December.
    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. Häggquist, Elisabeth & Söderholm, Patrik, 2015. "The economic value of geological information: Synthesis and directions for future research," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 91-100.

    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. Ambec, Stefan & Coria, Jessica, 2021. "The informational value of environmental taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. Arvind Magesan & Matthew A. Turner, 2008. "The Value of Information in Public Decisions," Working Papers tecipa-345, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    3. Lassi Ahlvik & Matti Liski, 2019. "Think global, act local! A mechanism for global commons and mobile firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 7597, CESifo.
    4. Mason, Charles F. & Plantinga, Andrew J., 2011. "Contracting for Impure Public Goods: Carbon Offsets and Additionality," Sustainable Development Papers 101290, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    5. Chiappinelli, Olga, 2020. "Political corruption in the execution of public contracts," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 116-140.
    6. Porteiro, Nicolas, 2008. "Pressure groups and experts in environmental regulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 156-175, January.
    7. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2013. "Activists versus Captured Regulators," CESifo Working Paper Series 4444, CESifo.
    8. Huennemeyer, Anne-Juliane & McKitrick, Ross & Rollins, Kimberly S., 1999. "Optimal Compensation For Endangered Species Protection Under Asymmetric Information," 1999 Annual meeting, August 8-11, Nashville, TN 21693, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Daniel T. Haile, 2005. "Wealth Distribution, Lobbying and Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-21, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Katrin Millock, 1999. "Endogenous Monitoring: a New Challenge for the Regulation of Energy Externalities," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 68(4), pages 635-646.
    11. Kollintzas, Tryphon & Vassilatos, Vanghelis & Papageorgiou, Dimitris, 2015. "A Model of Market and Political Power Interactions for Southern Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 10359, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Filippo Belloc, 2014. "Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 821-848.
    13. Khalil, Fahad & Lawarree, Jacques, 2001. "Catching the agent on the wrong foot: ex post choice of monitoring," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 327-347, December.
    14. Jeffrey S. Rosenthal & Martin J. Osborne & Matthew A. Turner, 2000. "Meetings with Costly Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 927-943, September.
    15. Congleton, Roger D. & Lee, Sanghack, 2009. "Efficient mercantilism? Revenue-maximizing monopoly policies as Ramsey taxation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 102-114, March.
    16. Tapas Kundu & Tore Nilssen, 2022. "Delegating pollution permits," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(2), pages 457-487, April.
    17. M. Martin Boyer, 2004. "Overcompensation as a Partial Solution to Commitment and Renegotiation Problems: The Case of Ex Post Moral Hazard," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 71(4), pages 559-582, December.
    18. Matveenko, V., 2010. "Stimulating Mechanisms in Ecologically Motivated Regulation: Will Ecological Policies in Transition and Developing Countries Become Efficient?," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 8, pages 10-34.
    19. Mark Armstrong & David E.M. Sappington, 2006. "Regulation, Competition and Liberalization," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 325-366, June.
    20. Lassi Ahlvik & Matti Liski, 2022. "Global Externalities, Local Policies, and Firm Selection," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 1231-1275.

    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:bpj:bejeap:v:10:y:2010:i:1:n:76. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.