With the dramatic increase in federal and state environmental regulation in the 1970s, the cost of compliance also rose. While compliance costs have been discussed elsewhere, the implications for the competitiveness of markets have been evaluated using case studies of specific law changes and...

This paper examines the determinants of the EPA's litigation strategy between 1977 and 1996 focusing on the tenure of Ann Gorsuch. Two hypotheses about this period are tested: (1) that changes in the EPA's litigation strategy were in fact an effort to reduce the expected penalty for violating...