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Technical Change and Measuring Pollution Abatement Costs: An Activity Analysis Framework

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  • Carl Pasurka

Abstract

The cornerstones of studies that estimate the effectof environmental regulations on an economy areestimates of the pollution abatement costs incurred bythe manufacturing and electric utility sectors.However, there are concerns regarding the accuracy ofthe surveys used to generate these cost estimates.This paper demonstrates that technical change tends toresult in an increasing share of pollution abatementcosts being impossible to measure. This finding hasimportant implications for estimating the productivityeffects of environmental regulations, developingregulatory budgets, and data collection effortsrelated to environmental accounting. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001

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  • Carl Pasurka, 2001. "Technical Change and Measuring Pollution Abatement Costs: An Activity Analysis Framework," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 18(1), pages 61-85, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:18:y:2001:i:1:p:61-85
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1011160322894
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    Cited by:

    1. Chih Chen, 2015. "Assessing the Pollutant Abatement Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulation: A Case Study of Taiwan’s Freeway Bus Service Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(4), pages 477-495, August.
    2. Surender Kumar & Rakesh Kumar Jain, 2021. "Cost of CO2 emission mitigation and its decomposition: evidence from coal-fired thermal power sector in India," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 693-717, August.
    3. Ye Wang & Yunguo Lu & Lin Zhang, 2021. "Opportunity Cost of Environmental Regulation in China’s Industrial Sector," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Aiken, Deborah Vaughn & Pasurka, Carl Jr., 2003. "Adjusting the measurement of US manufacturing productivity for air pollution emissions control," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 329-351, October.
    5. Liu, Haiying & Owens, Katharine A. & Yang, Ke & Zhang, Chunhong, 2020. "Pollution abatement costs and technical changes under different environmental regulations," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Yajie Liu & U. Rashid Sumaila, 2010. "Estimating Pollution Abatement Costs of Salmon Aquaculture: A Joint Production Approach," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(3).
    7. Färe, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Pasurka, Carl, 2016. "Technical change and pollution abatement costs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 715-724.
    8. Nikos Chatzistamoulou & George Diagourtas & Kostas Kounetas, 2017. "Do pollution abatement expenditures lead to higher productivity growth? Evidence from Greek manufacturing industries," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(1), pages 15-34, January.
    9. Du, Limin & Lu, Yunguo & Ma, Chunbo, 2022. "Carbon efficiency and abatement cost of China's coal-fired power plants," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    10. Haiying Liu & Ying Zhong & Chunhong Zhang, 2021. "Energy Costs of Reducing Industrial Sulfur Dioxide Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Färe, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Pasurka, Carl A., 2007. "Environmental production functions and environmental directional distance functions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1055-1066.
    12. Brunnermeier, Smita B. & Cohen, Mark A., 2003. "Determinants of environmental innovation in US manufacturing industries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 278-293, March.

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