In the standard economic model of cap and trade policies, the regulator is assumed to place zero value on pollution reductions below the cap. This paper considers an alternative case, where the policy makers can manipulate the rules of the program to achieve improved environmental performance....

We explore the efficiency of allowing participants in transferable-rights programs to sell credits in multiple markets, i.e., to double dip. In a first-best economy double-dipping is efficient, but if the cap is set suboptimally, then the answer depends on the relative slopes of the marginal...

There is rapidly growing interest in the use of market-based (MB) instruments in environmental policy. The papers in this session discuss three relatively new areas for such policies: groundwater contamination, nonpoint source surface-water pollution and carbon sequestration. The papers point...

Legal issues in environmental policy are considered, as well as property rights and voluntary regulations. Taxation, Fines, and Producer Liability Rules: Efficiency and Market Structure Implications Stephen Hamilton, Kansas State University. Regulatory Takings and the Diminution of Value: A...

In the standard economic model of cap and trade policies, the regulator is assumed to place zero value on pollution reductions below the cap. This paper considers an alternative case, where the policy makers can manipulate the rules of the program to achieve improved environmental performance....

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/20/11.

The considerable difficulties associated with cross-border environmental management are compounded when polluters are unlicensed micro-enterprises such as auto repair shops and traditional brick kilns; such "informal sector" firms are virtually impossible to regulate in the conventional manner....

In many developing countries the informal sector, comprised of low-technology unlicensed micro-enterprises, is a major source of pollution. Environmental management in this sector is exceptionally challenging. Though clean technologies offer a means of mitigating the problem, to our knowledge...