IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/halshs-02492834.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Optimal Environmental Radical Activism

Author

Listed:
  • Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

We study the problem faced by activists who want to maximize …rms'compliance with high environmental standards. Our focus is on radical activism which relies on non-violent civil disobedience. Disruptive actions and the threat thereof are used to force …rms to concede i.e., to engage in self-regulation. We address the optimal use of scarce activist resources in face of incomplete information by looking at a general mechanism, directly adapted from Myerson's (1981) optimal auction theory. The characterization informs that the least vulnerable and most polluting …rms should be targeted with disruptive actions while the others are granted a guarantee not to be targeted in exchange for a concession. This characterization allows studying the determinants of the activist's strength and how it is a¤ected by repression, a central feature for civil disobedience. We …nd that optimal radical activism is relatively resilient to repression. In an extension that accounts for asymmetry between …rms'abatement cost, we …nd that the mechanism optimizes the allocation of abatment efforts and creates incentives for innovation. We discuss some other welfare properties of optimal activism.

Suggested Citation

  • Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky, 2020. "Optimal Environmental Radical Activism," Working Papers halshs-02492834, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02492834
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02492834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02492834/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David P. Baron, 2016. "Self‐Regulation and the Market for Activism," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 584-607, September.
    2. Gupta, Sonam & Innes, Robert, 2014. "Private politics and environmental management," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 319-339.
    3. Charles Eesley & Katherine A. Decelles & Michael Lenox, 2016. "Through the mud or in the boardroom: Examining activist types and their strategies in targeting firms for social change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(12), pages 2425-2440, December.
    4. Michael J. Lenox & Charles E. Eesley, 2009. "Private Environmental Activism and the Selection and Response of Firm Targets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 45-73, March.
    5. Heyes, Anthony & Lyon, Thomas P. & Martin, Steve, 2018. "Salience games: Private politics when public attention is limited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 396-410.
    6. Roger B. Myerson, 1981. "Optimal Auction Design," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 58-73, February.
    7. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01109153 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Koessler, Frédéric & Lambert-Mogiliansky, Ariane, 2014. "Extortion and political-risk insurance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 144-156.
    9. Shon R. Hiatt & Jake B. Grandy & Brandon H. Lee, 2015. "Organizational Responses to Public and Private Politics: An Analysis of Climate Change Activists and U.S. Oil and Gas Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1769-1786, December.
    10. William Smith, 2012. "Policing Civil Disobedience," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 60(4), pages 826-842, December.
    11. David P. Baron & Daniel Diermeier, 2007. "Strategic Activism and Nonmarket Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 599-634, September.
    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. Chiroleu-Assouline, Mireille & Lambert-Mogiliansky, Ariane, 2023. "Radical activism and self-regulation: An optimal campaign mechanism," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Dorothée Brécard & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2020. "The market for "harmful component-free" products under pressure from the NGOs," Working Papers halshs-02878337, HAL.
    3. Dorothée Brécard & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2024. "Information campaigns and ecolabels by environmental NGOs: Effective strategies to eliminate environmentally harmful components?," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-04592469, HAL.
    4. Sophie Hatte & Pamina Koenig, 2020. "The Geography of NGO Activism against Multinational Corporations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 143-163.
    5. Alessandro Piazza & Fabrizio Perretti, 2020. "Firm behavior and the evolution of activism: Strategic decisions and the emergence of protest in US communities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 681-707, April.
    6. Piazza, Alessandro & Perretti, Fabrizio, 2019. "Firm Behavior and the Evolution of Activism: Strategic Decisions and the Emergence of Protest in U.S. Communities," OSF Preprints dnhgw, Center for Open Science.
    7. Richard Hunt & Lauren Ortiz-Hunt, 2018. "Deinstitutionalization through Business Model Evolution: Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa," Chapters, in: Ladislav Mura (ed.), Entrepreneurship - Development Tendencies and Empirical Approach, IntechOpen.
    8. Heyes, Anthony & Lyon, Thomas P. & Martin, Steve, 2018. "Salience games: Private politics when public attention is limited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 396-410.
    9. Hadani, Michael & Doh, Jonathan P. & Schneider, Marguerite, 2019. "Social movements and corporate political activity: Managerial responses to socially oriented shareholder activism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 156-170.
    10. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2013. "Activists versus Captured Regulators," CESifo Working Paper Series 4444, CESifo.
    11. Adam R. Fremeth & Guy L. F. Holburn & Richard G. Vanden Bergh, 2016. "Corporate Political Strategy in Contested Regulatory Environments," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(4), pages 272-284, December.
    12. David P. Baron, 2016. "Self‐Regulation and the Market for Activism," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 584-607, September.
    13. Christopher Hajzler & Jonathan Rosborough, 2016. "Government Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment Under the Threat of Expropriation," Staff Working Papers 16-13, Bank of Canada.
    14. Rodolphe Durand & Panayiotis (Panikos) Georgallis, 2018. "Differential Firm Commitment to Industries Supported by Social Movement Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 154-171, February.
    15. Koenig, Pamina & Krautheim, Sebastian & Löhnert, Claudius & Verdier, Thierry, 2021. "Local global watchdogs: Trade, sourcing and the internationalization of social activism," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Volkswirtschaftliche Reihe V-86-21, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    16. Patrice Cassagnard & Tendai Espinosa, 2022. "From boycott to buycott: is activism from the North good for the South?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 158(4), pages 1107-1135, November.
    17. Michela Limardi & Francesca Battista, 2022. "Global Supply Chain Sustainability: the Role of Non-governmental Enforcement Mechanisms," Post-Print halshs-03704334, HAL.
    18. Boso, Nathaniel & Danso, Albert & Leonidou, Constantinos & Uddin, Moshfique & Adeola, Ogechi & Hultman, Magnus, 2017. "Does financial resource slack drive sustainability expenditure in developing economy small and medium-sized enterprises?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 247-256.
    19. Baron, David P., 2011. "Credence attributes, voluntary organizations, and social pressure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1331-1338.
    20. Chang Hoon Oh & Daniel Shapiro & Shuna Shu Ham Ho & Jiyoung Shin, 2020. "Location matters: Valuing firm‐specific nonmarket risk in the global mining industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1210-1244, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Activism; self-regulation; mechanism design; repression Keywords: Activism; repression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:wpaper:halshs-02492834. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.