IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jaerec/doi10.1086-732203.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Incentives and Information in Methane Leak Detection and Repair

Author

Listed:
  • Eric K. Lewis
  • Jiayang (Lyra) Wang
  • Arvind P. Ravikumar

Abstract

Capturing leaked methane can be a win for both firms and the environment. However, leakage volume uncertainty can be a barrier inhibiting leak repair. We study an experiment at oil and gas production sites that randomized whether site operators were informed of methane leakage volumes. At sites with high baseline leakage, we estimate a negative but imprecise effect of information on endline emissions. But at sites with zero measured leakage, giving firms information about methane leakage increased emissions at endline. Our results suggest that giving firms news of low leakage disincentivizes maintenance effort, thereby increasing the likelihood of future leaks.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric K. Lewis & Jiayang (Lyra) Wang & Arvind P. Ravikumar, 2025. "Incentives and Information in Methane Leak Detection and Repair," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(3), pages 637-662.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/732203
    DOI: 10.1086/732203
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/732203
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/732203
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/732203?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.

    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:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/732203. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JAERE .

    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.