Marketable permit system on air pollution

Abstract

In evaluating current environmental protection policy, economists often note that current regulations are more costly than necessary to meet environmental quality standards. While the a priori case is strong that current regulatory approaches are resulting in higher-than-necessary costs to attain environmental standards, there is relatively little empirical evidence to support this claim in Korea. The purpose of this analysis is to supply some of the missing evidence by presenting the results of one study that assesses some of the potential savings associated with implementing economic, rather than command-and-control, regulatory approaches to abate one type of air pollution in one region, in Korea. Specifically, the analysis examine the costs of meeting a longternm standared for TSP under the alternative control ctrateeies for stationany source of TSP in Ulsan Industrial complex region. The alternative strategies that are considered are current command-and-control and various marketable permit designs. The analysis shows that the most efficient policy of emissions control is the economic aaproaches alike results of any other empirical studies.