Category Archives: Pollution

Some Carbon Tax Scenarios

How does a competitive industry respond to an emissions tax in the short run and the long run?  What if the industry is a monopoly? In this post I bring together two standard pieces of microeconomic analysis: the effect of … Continue reading

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Behavioural Economics and Environmental Valuation

The behaviour on which revealed preference valuation methods are based almost inevitably results from thought processes involving bounded rationality.  What does that imply for such methods? The insights of behavioural economics have been applied to many sub-fields of economics, and … Continue reading

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Pollution Control and Output

Discussions of pollution control often focus on abatement technologies. But that’s only half the picture. Suppose a profit-maximising firm is producing and selling a good, but the production process emits a pollutant. In the absence of policy intervention, it will … Continue reading

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The Economics of Urban Rainwater

Lack of natural drainage in urban environments can lead to flooding and pollution.   Economics can help find appropriate solutions. There is a furore in Maryland, USA, where many residents will soon have to pay a “stormwater management fee” based on … Continue reading

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