Does regulation stimulate productivity? The effect of air quality policies on the efficiency of US power plants

Rachel Fleishman, Rob Alexander, Stuart Bretschneider () and David Popp

Energy Policy, 2009, vol. 37, issue 11, 4574-4582

Abstract: This research examines the effect of air quality regulations on the productivity of US power plants based on both economic and environmental outputs. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate an efficiency measure incorporating both economic and environmental outcomes, we look at changes in efficiency in US power plants over an eleven-year time period (1994-2004) during which several different regulations were implemented for the control of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The paper then models how estimated efficiency behaves over time as a function of regulatory changes. Findings suggest mixed effects of regulations on power plant efficiency when pollution abatement and electricity generation are both included as outputs.

Keywords: Data; envelopment; analysis; Air; pollution; Regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4215(09)00427-3
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:37:y:2009:i:11:p:4574-4582

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().