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Costs of Inefficient Regulation: Evidence from the Bakken

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  • Gabriel E. Lade
  • Ivan Rudik

Abstract

Efficient pollution regulation equalizes marginal abatement costs across sources. Here we study a new flaring regulation in North Dakota's oil and gas industry and document its efficiency. Exploiting detailed well-level data, we find that the regulation reduced flaring 4 to 7 percentage points and accounts for up to half of the observed flaring reductions since 2015. We construct firm-level marginal flaring abatement cost curves and find that the observed flaring reductions could have been achieved at 20% lower cost by imposing a tax on flared gas equal to current public lands royalty rates instead of using firm-specific flaring requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel E. Lade & Ivan Rudik, 2017. "Costs of Inefficient Regulation: Evidence from the Bakken," NBER Working Papers 24139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24139
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    Cited by:

    1. Xinming Du & Muye Ru & Douglas Almond, 2024. "Rapid Increases in Methane Concentrations following August 2020 Suspension of the US Methane Rule," NBER Chapters, in: Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy, volume 6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Chen, Fanglin & Zhang, Tianzi & Chen, Zhongfei, 2024. "Assessment of environmental concern for enterprise pollution reduction," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 772-786.
    3. Mark Agerton & Ben Gilbert & Gregory B. Upton Jr., 2021. "The Economics of Natural Gas Venting, Flaring and Leaking in U.S. Shale: An Agenda for Research and Policy," Working Papers 2021-02, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    4. Lange, Ian & Redlinger, Michael, 2019. "Effects of stricter environmental regulations on resource development," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 60-87.
    5. Kenneth Gillingham & James H. Stock, 2018. "The Cost of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 53-72, Fall.
    6. Blundell, Wesley & Kokoza, Anatolii, 2022. "Natural gas flaring, respiratory health, and distributional effects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    7. Timothy Fitzgerald, 2024. "Regulatory capture in a resource boom," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(1), pages 93-127, January.
    8. Alex Hollingsworth & Taylor Jaworski & Carl Kitchens & Ivan J. Rudik, 2022. "Economic Geography and the Efficiency of Environmental Regulation," NBER Working Papers 29845, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Žiga Kotnik & Maja Klun & Renata Slabe-Erker, 2020. "Identification of the Factors That Affect the Environmental Administrative Burden for Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Cao, Jing & Ho, Mun S. & Ma, Rong & Zhang, Yu, 2024. "Transition from plan to market: Imperfect regulations in the electricity sector of China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 509-533.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L71 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy

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