Author
Listed:
- Eric Njuki
- Boris E. Bravo-Ureta
Abstract
Analyses of the costs of regulating greenhouse gas emissions from dairy production, which could be used to assess the effectiveness of alternative policy measures, is a missing link in the literature. This article addresses this gap by establishing the economic impact associated with a hypothetical greenhouse gas environmental regulatory regime across major dairy producing counties in the United States. In doing so, the article makes three important contributions to the literature. First, it develops a comprehensive pollution index based on Environmental Protection Agency methodologies, which contrasts with previous studies that rely on partial measures based only on surplus nitrogen stemming from the over-application of fertilizer. Second, the article uses a directional output distance function, an approach that has not been employed previously to evaluate polluting technologies in the U.S. dairy sector. Third, the article incorporates a four-way error approach that accounts for unobserved county heterogeneity, time-invariant persistent technical efficiency, time-varying transient technical efficiency, and a random error. The results indicate that regulating greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farming would induce a 5-percentage point increase in average technical efficiency. In addition, the economic costs of implementing this hypothetical regulatory framework exhibit significant spatial variation across counties in the United States.
Suggested Citation
Eric Njuki & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, 2015.
"The Economic Costs of Environmental Regulation in U.S. Dairy Farming: A Directional Distance Function Approach,"
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1087-1106.
Handle:
RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:97:y:2015:i:4:p:1087-1106.
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