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This publication is concerned with two major current debates in public policy in all affluent societies. One is the widespread concern with the quality of the natural environment-the quality of air, water, land, and wilderness areas-which has expressed itself in the passage and implementation in recent years of a variety of environmental laws and regulations. A second debate concerns the adequacy of energy resources to meet the requirements of a growing economy. The requirement that industries must abate environmental pollution leads to increased costs of production and, in turn, to higher prices, falling output in those industries, and reduced employment and income in the region where such industries are located. There may be, at the same time, growth in indus tries that supply pollution abatement equipment and services in those or other regions. Over time, the health and economic benefits of higher envi ronmental quality express themselves in changing patterns of consumption.
Focusing on the practical aspects of using economic incentives to achieve environmental goals, this book analyzes the design and implementation of market based programs and identifies critical issues for creating successful programs in the future. The book examines the conditions in which market incentives are most useful and probes the important new roles of both government and the private sector. It highlights the administrative, institutional, organizational, and informational requirements for successful operation of the programs, and it especially stresses the importance of program evaluation. This analysis is based on case studies of four programs at different levels of government--local, state, federal, and overseas--that use different tools--credit trading, direct taxes, variable fee structures, and refunds: the air credit trading program in the Los Angeles metropolitan area; the national pollution charge system of Russia; the recycling initiative of King County, Washington; and the deposit refund system of Michigan. Distributed for the National Academy of Public Administration