Abstract
The passage of environmental legislation was accompanied by concerns about its potential detrimental effect on productivity. We assume inputs can be assigned to either abatement activities or good output production. This allows us to specify regulated and unregulated production frontiers to determine the association between pollution abatement and productivity growth. We then employ our “assigned input” model to determine the association between productivity and abatement activities for manufacturing industries in Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asmild M, Paradi JC, Aggarwall V, Schaffnit-Chatterjee C (2004) Combining dea window analysis with the malmquist index approach in a study of the canadian banking industry. J Product Anal 21(1): 67–89
Becker RA, Shadbegian RJ (2007) Issues and challenges in measuring environmental expenditures by U.S. manufacturing: the redevelopment of the pace survey. Working paper 07-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau or Working Paper no. 2007-08, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Bouman M (1998) Environmental costs and capital flight. Tinbergen Institute Research Series, vol 177. Thesis Publishers, Amsterdam
Caves DW, Christensen LR, Diewert WE (1982) The economic theory of index numbers and the measurement of input, output, and productivity. Econometrica 50(6): 1393–1414
Conrad K, Morrison C (1989) The impact of pollution abatement investment on productivity change: an empirical comparison of the U.S., Germany, and Canada. South Econ J 55(3): 684–698
Conrad K, Wastl D (1995) The impact of environmental regulation on productivity in german industries. Empir Econ 20(4): 615–633
Denison EF (1978) Effects of selected changes in the institutional and human environment upon output per unit of input. Surv Curr Bus 58(1): 21–44
Färe R, Grosskopf S, Norris M et al (1994) Productivity growth, technical progress and efficiency change in industrialized countries. Am Econ Rev 84(1): 66–83
Färe R, Grosskopf S, Pasurka C (2007) Pollution abatement activities and traditional productivity. Ecol Econ 62(3–4): 673–682
Federal Republic of Germany, Statistiche Bundesamt (1978–2003) Statistisches jahrbuch. Wiesbaden
Federal Republic of Germany, Statistiche Bundesamt (1980,2000,2004–2005), Investitionen für umweltschutz im produzierenden gewerbe, Unwelt, Fachserie 19, Reihe 3, Wiesbaden
Gallaher M, Morgan C, Shadbegian R (2008) Redesign of the 2005 pollution abatement costs and expenditure survey. Working paper no. 2008-01, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Gray WB, Shadbegian RJ (2003) Plant vintage, technology, and environmental regulation. J Environ Econ Manag 46(3): 384–402
Groningen Growth and Development Centre, ICOP Database 1997 Benchmark. http://www.ggdc.net
Groningen Growth and Development Centre (2006) 60-Industry database. September. http://www.ggdc.net
Harrigan J (1999) Estimation of cross-country differences in industry production functions. J Int Econ 47(2): 267–293
Heston A, Summers R, Aten B (2006), Penn world table version 6.2, center for international comparisons at the University of Pennsylvania, September. http://pwt.econ.upenn.edu/php_site/pwt_index.php
Inklaar R, Wu H, van Ark B (2003) ‘Losing ground’ Japanese labour productivity and unit labour costs in manufacturing in comparison to the U.S. Research Memorandum GD-64, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen
Jaffe AB, Peterson SR, Portney PR et al (1995) Environmental regulation and the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing: what does the evidence tell us? J Econ Lit 33(1): 132–163
Japan (1997–2005), Japan statistical yearbook
Lau LJ, Yotopoulos PA (1989) The meta-production function approach to technological change in world agriculture. J Dev Econ 31(2): 241–269
Millimet DL, Osang T (2003) Environmental regulation and productivity growth: an analysis of US manufacturing industries. In: Böehringer C, Löeschel A (eds) Empirical modeling of the economy and the environment. ZEW economic studies, vol 20. Physica Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 7–22
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Japan (2002–2004) Survey results of investments for industrial pollution control facilities
Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan (1977–2001) Survey results of investments for industrial pollution control facilities. In Plant and equipment investment plans in major industries (ShuyōSangyō no Setsubi Tōshi Keikaku), Ministry of finance printing bureau, Tokyo
Netherlands, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (1982–present) Milieukosten van bedrijven, Voorburg (1998–Present data available at www. cbs.nl)
OECD, Economic analysis and statistics division (1995,1999) The oecd stan database for industrial analysis. OECD, Paris
Pasurka C (2008) Perspectives on pollution abatement and competitiveness: theory, data, and analyses. Rev Environ Econ Policy 2(2): 194–218
Pyrwes M (1984) The cost in lost productivity of new regulation in the U.S. chemical industry. J Policy Model 6(3): 411–419
Schreyer P, Suyker W (2002) Creation of the euro area: implications for economic statistics. OECD Statistics Brief, February, No. 2
Shadbegian RJ, Gray WB (2006) Assessing multi-dimensional performance: environmental and economic outcomes. J Product Anal 26(4): 213–234
Shephard RW (1970) Theory of cost and production functions. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Shestalova V (2003) Sequential malmquist indices of productivity growth: an application to oecd industrial activities. J Product Anal 19(2–3): 211–226
Uno K (1987) Pollution prevention and environmental quality. In: Japanese industrial performance, Chapter 16. North Holland, New York, pp 271–310
Uno K (1995) Pollution prevention investment. In: Environmental options: accounting for sustainability. Economy & environment, vol 10, Chapter 6. North Holland, New York, pp 143–198
U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office (1985) Environmental regulation and economic efficiency. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (1978–1996) Pollution abatement costs and expenditures. Current Industrial Reports, MA200. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. http://www.census.gov/prod/2/manmin/ma200x94.pdf
Valentini L (2003) Pollution abatement expenditures and international competitiveness: estimation of total factor productivity. Paper presented at the 12th annual conference of the european association of environmental and resource economists, Bilbao, Spain, 28–30 June 2003
van Soest DP, List JA, Jeppesen T (2006) Shadow prices, environmental stringency, and international competitiveness. Eur Econ Rev 50(5): 1151–1167
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Earlier versions of this study were presented at the 1994 American Economic Association meetings (Boston) and the 2005 Western Economic Association meetings (San Francisco). All views expressed in this study are the authors’ and do not reflect the opinions of the Consumer Product Safety Commission or the U.S. EPA.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aiken, D.V., Färe, R., Grosskopf, S. et al. Pollution Abatement and Productivity Growth: Evidence from Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. Environ Resource Econ 44, 11–28 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-008-9256-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-008-9256-2