Environmental Information Provision as a Public Policy Instrument
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Emmanuel Petrakis
We examine information provision as a public policy instrument when products generate damages to consumers as well as environmental externalities. We show that information provision dominates taxation in terms of welfare, if information can be provided at low cost. This is because a uniform tax alone levies a heavier than optimal burden on informed consumers and allows the uninformed consumer to free ride partially on the informed consumers voluntary actions. If the cost of information provision is substantial, taxation is welfare superior. A policy regime that combines information provision and taxation leads to higher welfare relative to the use of either instrument alone.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Contributions Article
- Cash Constraints and Business Start-Ups: Deutschmarks Versus Dollars
- On-the-Job Learning, Firing Costs and Employment
- The Effect of the Nonprofit Motive on Hospital Competitive Behavior
- Electoral Competition and Redistribution with Rationally Informed Voters
- The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Exploring a Fresh Specification
- Uncertain R&D and the Porter Hypothesis
- Do Economists Recognize an Opportunity Cost When They See One? A Dismal Performance from the Dismal Science
- A Theory of Health Disparities and Medical Technology
- Entry-Level Products with Consumer Learning
- A Test for Collusion between a Bidder and an Auctioneer in Sealed-Bid Auctions
- Fatalistic Tendencies: An Explanation of Why People Don't Save
- Adjustment Costs and Irreversibility as Determinants of Investment: Evidence from African Manufacturing
- An Index For Venture Capital, 1987-2003
- Environmental Information Provision as a Public Policy Instrument
- Competition Policy and Exit Rates: Evidence from Switzerland
- Political Variables as Instruments for the Minimum Wage