Productivité et réglementation environnementale: une analyse de l'hypothèse de Porter

The Porter hypothesis predicts that environmental regulations (ER) should have a positive impact on the productivity of the regulated firms. In this paper, we review the theoretical and empirical arguments surrounding this hypothesis. We show that there are relatively few formal theoretical justifications to this hypothesis. However, some recent theoretical advances (particularly in firm theory) provide intriguing possibilities. Generally, empirical evidence suggest that ER have a negative impact on regulated firms. However, these studies have numerous limitations and particularly a lack of theoretical framework. Moreover, the measures of productivity used are generally inadequate since they do not explicitly include undesirable outputs. We discuss the recent development of green productivity measures. From this review of the literature, we conclude that while there are evidence against the Porter Hypothesis, it is probably too soon to completely reject it.