IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v25y2003i1p17-31.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Real Options Approach to Abatement Investments and Green Goodwill

Author

Listed:
  • Tommy Lundgren

Abstract

In this paper we adopt the green goodwill argument as to why firms voluntarily invest in abatement capital. We investigate the effects on the abatement investment decision of changes in uncertainty about future green goodwill, competitor abatement investments, regulations, etc., using a real options framework. Our results indicate that increased uncertainty about consumers' willingness to pay for “green” products in the future discourage voluntary abatement investments. The model also suggests that voluntary abatement investments are promoted by an increased threat of regulation and competitor abatement investments. Furthermore, the benefit-cost ratio of the abatement investment project, at the point where it is optimal to invest, is independent of what regulatory regime (stringent or lenient) the firm operates in. We also conclude that despite the fact that voluntary abatement investment exists, there may still be room for environmental policy. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

Suggested Citation

  • Tommy Lundgren, 2003. "A Real Options Approach to Abatement Investments and Green Goodwill," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 25(1), pages 17-31, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:25:y:2003:i:1:p:17-31
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1023602426857
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1023602426857
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1023602426857?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. Y.H. Farzin & P.M. Kort, 2000. "Pollution Abatement Investment When Environmental Regulation Is Uncertain," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 2(2), pages 183-212, April.
    2. Arora Seema & Cason Timothy N., 1995. "An Experiment in Voluntary Environmental Regulation: Participation in EPA's 33/50 Program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 271-286, May.
    3. Richard Hartl & Peter Kort, 1996. "Capital accumulation of a firm facing an emissions tax," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Prakash,Aseem, 2000. "Greening the Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521662499, September.
    5. Richard F. Hartl, 1992. "Optimal Acquisition of Pollution Control Equipment Under Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 609-622, May.
    6. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    7. Merton, Robert C., 1971. "Optimum consumption and portfolio rules in a continuous-time model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 373-413, December.
    8. Stuart L. Hart & Gautam Ahuja, 1996. "Does It Pay To Be Green? An Empirical Examination Of The Relationship Between Emission Reduction And Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 30-37, March.
    9. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    10. Bengt Kristrom & Tommy Lundgren, 2003. "Abatement investments and green goodwill," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(18), pages 1915-1921.
    11. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    12. Merton, Robert C., 1976. "Option pricing when underlying stock returns are discontinuous," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1-2), pages 125-144.
    13. Runar Brannlund & Karl-Gustaf Lofgren, 1996. "Emission Standards and Stochastic Waste Load," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 72(2), pages 218-230.
    14. Hamilton James T., 1995. "Pollution as News: Media and Stock Market Reactions to the Toxics Release Inventory Data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 98-113, January.
    15. Prakash,Aseem, 2000. "Greening the Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521664875, September.
    16. Beavis, Brian & Dobbs, Ian M., 1986. "The dynamics of optimal environmental regulation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 415-423, September.
    17. Seema Arora & Timothy N. Cason, 1996. "Why Do Firms Volunteer to Exceed Environmental Regulations? Understanding Participation in EPA's 33/50 Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 72(4), pages 413-432.
    18. Robert D. Klassen & Curtis P. McLaughlin, 1996. "The Impact of Environmental Management on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(8), pages 1199-1214, August.
    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. Bengt Kristrom & Tommy Lundgren, 2003. "Abatement investments and green goodwill," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(18), pages 1915-1921.
    2. Ziegler, Andreas & Schröder, Michael, 2006. "What Determines the Inclusion in a Sustainability Stock Index? A Panel Data Analysis for European Companies," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-041, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Dietrich Earnhart & Lubomir Lizal, 2007. "Does Better Environmental Performance Affect Revenues, Cost, or Both? Evidence From a Transition Economy," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp856, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    4. Stefan Ambec & Paul Lanoie, 2007. "When and Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Working Papers 2007s-20, CIRANO.
    5. Delaney, Laura, 2021. "A model of investment under uncertainty with time to build, market incompleteness and risk aversion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1155-1167.
    6. Pfann, Gerard A., 2001. "Options to quit," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 259-265, February.
    7. Suresh M. Sundaresan, 2000. "Continuous‐Time Methods in Finance: A Review and an Assessment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1569-1622, August.
    8. Madhu Khanna, 2001. "Non‐Mandatory Approaches to Environmental Protection," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 291-324, July.
    9. Wayne Fu & Basak Kalkanci & Ravi Subramanian, 2019. "Are Hazardous Substance Rankings Effective? An Empirical Investigation of Information Dissemination About the Relative Hazards of Chemicals and Emissions Reductions," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 602-619, July.
    10. Wang, Tan, 2001. "Equilibrium with new investment opportunities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 25(11), pages 1751-1773, November.
    11. El-Shazly Alaa, 2004. "Investment Under Uncertainty in Egypt: A Real-Options Approach," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 51-60, August.
    12. Peter Kort & Maria Lavrutich & Cláudia Nunes & Carlos Oliveira, 2022. "Preventing Environmental Disasters in Investment under Uncertainty," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(1), pages 199-220, September.
    13. Liu, Yang & Yang, Jinqiang, 2015. "Optimal investment of private equity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 76-86.
    14. Delaney, L., 2020. "A Model of Investment under Uncertainty with Time to Build, Market Incompleteness and Risk Aversion," Working Papers 20/13, Department of Economics, City University London.
    15. Song, Dandan & Wang, Huamao & Yang, Zhaojun, 2014. "Learning, pricing, timing and hedging of the option to invest for perpetual cash flows with idiosyncratic risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-11.
    16. John P. Small & Henry Ergas, 1999. "The Rental Cost of Sunk and Regulated Capital," Econometrics Working Papers 9908, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    17. Gürtler, Marc & Sieg, Gernot, 2006. "Crunch time: The optimal policy to avoid the "Announcement Effect" when terminating a subsidy," Working Papers FW24V2, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Finance.
    18. Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2010. "The effect of mean reversion on entry and exit decisions under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 725-742, April.
    19. Wooster, Rossitza B. & Blanco, Luisa & Sawyer, W. Charles, 2016. "Equity commitment under uncertainty: A hierarchical model of real option entry mode choices," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 382-394.
    20. Belke, Ansgar & Göcke, Matthias, 2019. "Interest rate hysteresis in macroeconomic investment under uncertainty," Ruhr Economic Papers 801, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    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:kap:enreec:v:25:y:2003:i:1:p:17-31. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.