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Attributing Benefits to Voluntary Programs in EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery: Challenges and Options

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  • Boyd, James

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Manson, Cynthia

Abstract

This paper reviews the economic justification for voluntary environmental programs to derive defensible measures of their positive social outcomes. We consider ideal experimental and statistical designs to detect and attribute benefits. We also explore a set of more practical approaches to benefit attribution that take into account the data gaps and statistical challenges that often make more rigorous approaches infeasible.

Suggested Citation

  • Boyd, James & Manson, Cynthia, 2011. "Attributing Benefits to Voluntary Programs in EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery: Challenges and Options," RFF Working Paper Series dp-11-09, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-09
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    File URL: http://www.rff.org/RFF/documents/RFF-DP-11-09.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory Tassey, 2005. "Underinvestment in Public Good Technologies," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 30(2_2), pages 89-113, January.
    2. Anna Alberini, 2007. "Determinants And Effects On Property Values Of Participation In Voluntary Cleanup Programs: The Case Of Colorado," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(3), pages 415-432, July.
    3. Ian Lange, 2008. "Evaluating Voluntary Programs with Spillovers: The Case of Coal Combustion Products Partnership," NCEE Working Paper Series 200812, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Dec 2008.
    4. Boyd, James, 1998. "Searching for the Profit in Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in the Corporate Evaluation of Environmental Opportunities," RFF Working Paper Series dp-98-30, Resources for the Future.
    5. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2000. "The Contributions of the Economics of Information to Twentieth Century Economics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1441-1478.
    6. Lange, Ian, 2008. "Evaluating Voluntary Measures with Spillovers: The Case of Coal Combustion Products Partnership," Stirling Economics Discussion Papers 2008-24, University of Stirling, Division of Economics.
    7. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    8. Gregory Tassey, 2005. "Underinvestment in Public Good Technologies," Springer Books, in: Albert N. Link & F. M. Scherer (ed.), Essays in Honor of Edwin Mansfield, pages 61-85, Springer.
    9. Boyd, James, 1998. "The Benefits of Improved Environmental Accounting: An Economic Framework to Identify Priorities," RFF Working Paper Series dp-98-49, Resources for the Future.
    10. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment: A Theoretical Perspective," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 240-260, Summer.
    11. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Ferrara & Ian Lange, 2014. "Voluntary Programs to Encourage Diffusion: The Case of the Combined Heat-and-Power Partnership," The Energy Journal, , vol. 35(1), pages 161-174, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    voluntary programs; cost–benefit assessment; program evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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