ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS AND COMPETITIVENESS

Costs of environmental regulations, although relatively small, can be critical in the competitiveness of a product since the cost advantages of producers in one country are often very slim. Additional costs derived from new regulations are a factor in the continued importance of exports and of the maintaining or increasing a nations share of the international market. Governments try to assist their industries in overcoming the disadvantages caused by such added cost through subsidies, tax breaks, technical assistance or in other ways. In agriculture these are increasingly taking the form of green payments, which are currently exempt from the limits imposed on domestic subsidies. In addition to these mechanisms for addressing the environment, there also has been a selective but subversive process of erecting non-tariff barriers based on environmental protection issues. It is often difficult to determine if such measures are really for protecting the environment or for protecting domestic producers. They are, none-the-less, generally effective approaches for achieving environmental objectives and can also be effective measures to alter competitiveness. Competitiveness can be either enhanced or diminished by the environmental regimes of competing nations. The existence of negative externalities means that prices are lower than would prevail if all costs where included in the prices of the products.Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade,

International Competitiveness and Environmental Regulations

This study follows the standard factor endowment approach to explain the effects of environmental regulations on net exports in different product-based industries. It constructs an econometric model which includes factor endowments and environmental regulations to examine how strict environmental policy impact export competitiveness. Cross-sectional and time series (panel) data for 6 countries and 17 years were used in this model. In this study, capital services increase net exports in labor-intensive industries like textiles, textile products, leather and footwear industries. The effects of increased labor intensity in food, textiles and machinery is higher than for other capital intensive good industries. The environmental regulation imposed in textile, textiles products, leather and footwear industry, and manufacturing (n.e.c) industry negatively impact net exports.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Navigating Environmental Regulations

When compliance with federal and local laws is at issue, knowing where to look is key to ensuring not running afoul of either, explains Helen Kang of Golden Gate University School of Law

Navigating Environmental Regulations

When compliance with federal and local laws is at issue, knowing where to look is key to ensuring not running afoul of either, explains Helen Kang of Golden Gate University School of Law

Environmental and Economic Impact Assessments of Environmental Regulations for the Agriculture Sector: A Case Study of Hog Farming

A multi-year research study was established under the environmental pillar of the Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) to evaluate the role and impact of existing farm level environmental regulations administered by local, provincial, federal governments. The Phase 1 study entitled "Inventory and Methodology for Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Regulations in the Agricultural Sector" was released in March 2006 on AAFC online. There is a growing concern about the impact and effectiveness of environmental regulations, specifically impact on the competitiveness of primary agriculture. Empirical analysis is required to better understand the exact role that agri-environmental regulations play in determining a farm's cost structure and to compare difference between provinces within Canada. With this purpose in mind, in Phase 2, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), has commissioned hog case study to increase the policy makers' and industry's understanding of the impact and role of environmental regulations in the farming sector. The study estimated the compliance costs of existing agri-environmental regulations for a newly established -600 sow farrow to finish-hog facility in 2006. It was also assumed that the facility would follow good farming practices (i.e. sufficient land available to absorb the manure from the operation). The results show that environmental regulation compliance costs were generally less than 1% of total annual production cost.Environmental regulations, hog operation/farming, compliance cost, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics,

Can Environmental Regulations be Good for Business? an Assessment of the Porter Hypothesis

The Porter hypothesis asserts polluting firms can benefit from environmental policies, arguing that well-designed environmental regulations stimulate innovation, which by increasing either productivity or product value, leads to private benefits. As a consequence, environmental regulations would benefit both society and regulated firms. This point of view has found a receptive audience among policy makers and the popular press but has been severely criticized by economists. In this paper, we present some of the arguments in this debate and review the empirical evidence available so far in the economic literature.Porter Hypothesis, Environmental Regulations, Competitiveness

Introduction to the Political Economy of Environmental Regulations

This paper introduces a volume of collected papers on the political economy of environmental regulation: economic analyses of the processes through which political decisions regarding environmental regulation are made, principally in the institutional context found in the United States. Despite this geographic focus, many of the papers contain analytical models that are methodologically of interest and/or have lessons that are relevant in other parts of the world. In the environmental realm, questions of political economy emerge along three fundamental dimensions, which are closely interrelated but conceptually distinct: (1) the degree of government activity; (2) the form of government activity; and (3) the level of government that has responsibility. The first three parts of the book deal respectively with these three fundamental dimensions of inquiry. Part I features a set of six articles that examine how the targets and goals of individual environmental policies are established. Part II brings together nine articles that employ the analytical apparatus of positive political economy to address questions related to the choice of policy instruments for environmental regulation. Part III features four articles that examine — both positively and normatively — the level of government that is delegated responsibility for environmental protection. Finally, in Part IV, three articles are featured that assess the use of economic analysis in contemporary environmental policy.

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS AS CONSTRAINTS TO AGRICULTURE: A DISCUSSION

Environmental Economics and Policy,