Regulating Chemical Accumulation in the Environment: The Integration of Toxicology and Economics in Environmental Policy-making

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Contributors......Page 11
Moving towards a preventive approach......Page 13
The setting of quality objectives and standards for pesticides......Page 17
The zero tolerance approach for pesticides in drinking water......Page 18
What has been the outcome of the zero tolerance policy?......Page 19
Outputs: how should chemical accumulation in drinking water be regulated?......Page 20
References......Page 22
Acknowledgements......Page 23
Introduction......Page 25
The problem under consideration......Page 27
An overview of the volume: empirical studies......Page 30
The valuation of resource contamination......Page 33
Existing market and regulatory failures......Page 36
Optimal policies for accumulative chemicals.......Page 40
Conclusion......Page 43
References......Page 44
Part I The characteristics of accumulative chemicals......Page 45
The risk of herbicides in groundwater......Page 47
Why herbicides?......Page 48
Soil-applied herbicides......Page 49
Herbicide applied on vegetation......Page 50
Evolution of weed communities and weed control strategy in Italy......Page 51
Time and space distribution of atrazine bans in Italy......Page 55
Selection criteria for alternative chemicals......Page 57
Selectivity and action spectrum......Page 61
Application of the selection criteria to atrazine substitutes......Page 63
Price......Page 64
Persistence......Page 65
Action spectrum......Page 66
Reliability......Page 67
Toxicity......Page 68
Conclusions......Page 69
References......Page 72
Introduction......Page 74
A model......Page 76
Treatment price and characteristics......Page 79
A basic model......Page 81
Sensitivity analysis......Page 86
The supply side......Page 88
Discussion......Page 91
Notes......Page 93
References......Page 94
Part II Estimating the costs of chemical accumulation......Page 97
Introduction......Page 99
Toxicological and ecotoxicological testing......Page 101
The setting of environmental quality objectives......Page 104
The setting of acceptable daily intake and maximum allowable concentration......Page 106
Factors regulating the biogeochemical cycle of xenobiotics......Page 108
The behaviour of a chemical in soil......Page 109
The role of molecular properties......Page 111
Leaching indexes and ranking systems......Page 114
Partition analysis and multicompartmental models......Page 115
The problem of persistence......Page 116
How to perform a risk assessment......Page 118
Exposure assessment......Page 120
Toxicological assessment......Page 121
References......Page 122
Some basic definitions......Page 125
Empirical methods......Page 129
Indirect estimation methods......Page 130
Direct estimation methods......Page 133
The value of a statistical life......Page 135
Groundwater contamination......Page 137
Appendix......Page 140
References......Page 141
Introduction......Page 145
Introduction......Page 147
Hypothetical behaviour......Page 150
Selection of benefit estimation method......Page 151
The contingent valuation approach......Page 154
The study location: Milan......Page 155
Municipal water supply in Milan......Page 156
Water consumption behaviour......Page 157
Valuation issue......Page 158
Payment vehicle and WTP elicitation method......Page 161
Questionnaire development......Page 163
Response rate......Page 165
Age......Page 166
Household typology......Page 167
Familiarity with market decisions......Page 168
General environmental concerns......Page 169
Consistency tests and correlations......Page 170
The binary choice WTP question......Page 172
Open-ended WTP questions......Page 177
Comparison of mean WTP estimates: compliance bias and anchoring effects......Page 178
Trimmed mean WTP......Page 182
Protests, non-responses, and sample and aggregate WTP estimates......Page 184
Estimation of a WTP function......Page 185
Selection of explanatory variables......Page 186
Findings from the WTP function......Page 189
Size of the benefit estimates......Page 191
Prediction of benefit estimates......Page 193
Recommendations......Page 194
Water quality......Page 195
Institutional framework and tariff systems......Page 196
Description of the research project......Page 198
Final questions for interviewer......Page 201
Notes......Page 204
References......Page 205
Part III The analysis of market and regulatory failure......Page 207
Externalities......Page 209
Consumers’ demand......Page 211
Manufacturers’ profit maximisation problem......Page 212
Social planner’s maximisation problem......Page 213
Imperfect competition......Page 216
Model basics......Page 218
The social optimum......Page 219
Firms' profit-maximising decisions......Page 220
Imperfect competition and externalities......Page 221
Notes......Page 222
References......Page 223
Introduction......Page 224
The first best......Page 225
The dynamics of environmental pollution......Page 226
The ignorant regulator (IR)......Page 228
First best versus ignorant regulation......Page 229
The first best (FB)......Page 233
The ignorant regulator (IR)......Page 234
First best versus ignorant regulation......Page 235
Summary......Page 237
The product market......Page 238
Product innovation......Page 239
The effect of strategic behaviour......Page 240
Case study: the Italian herbicide industry......Page 242
Conclusions......Page 244
Notes......Page 246
References......Page 248
Part IV Policies for regulating chemical accumulation......Page 251
Introduction......Page 253
Agricultural chemical characteristics: their design and their measurement......Page 254
General persistence taxes......Page 256
Unregulated competitive firm......Page 257
Regulating the production of persistence......Page 258
Societal maximisation conditions......Page 259
Integrated accumulation taxes......Page 262
The integration of accumulation policy......Page 263
Local characteristics and accumulation taxes......Page 264
Local level regulatory instruments (user taxes and zoning)......Page 267
Regulating for strategic industrial responses......Page 268
Regulating the transition phase......Page 269
Conclusion: application of optimal policies within the European Union......Page 270
Affinity quotients:......Page 271
References......Page 272
Introduction......Page 273
The European Union Standard......Page 274
The Italian approach......Page 276
Regulating pesticides: goals and incentives......Page 277
Setting the level of environmental protection......Page 278
Differentiation and optimal specificity......Page 279
The costs of differentiation......Page 280
Interest group aspects......Page 282
Liability rules......Page 283
Economic instruments, the accumulation tax......Page 284
Command and control regulation......Page 285
Zoning......Page 286
Quality or target standards......Page 288
Licensing......Page 289
Standard-setting in a European context......Page 290
Regulation of the EU level......Page 291
Enforcement of EU legislation upon Member States......Page 292
Summary......Page 293
The European Union standards......Page 294
The national standards......Page 296
Conclusion......Page 298
Notes......Page 299
References......Page 301