We study whether a government-sponsored voluntary pollution reduction program (VPR) promotes or deters the development of new environmental technologies that yield future emission reduction benefits. Using a panel of 127 U.S. manufacturing industries defined by 3-digit SIC classifications over...

By estimating a simultaneous panel data model of environmental innovation and toxic air pollution, this paper identifies bi-directional causal links between the two. We study a panel of 127 manufacturing industries over the period 1989-2004. Pollutant emissions are an implicit measure of policy...

We broaden the existing empirical literature on environmental regulation and voluntary pollution abatement programs by testing the effects of implicit boycott threats and a firm's participation in a partnership program on its subsequent regulatory oversight using EPA's 33/50 program as a...

This paper examines, empirically, the mechanism by which a voluntary pollution reduction program (VPR) achieves pollution reductions. We find that participation in the 33/50 program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first VPR, spurred the adoption of total quality environmental...

EPA-sponsored voluntary pollution reduction programs (VPR) have gained increased prominence in U.S. environmental policy. However, as commitments to these programs are not enforceable by design, the empirical literature has mostly focused on studying the motives for their adoption and their...

In the context of the EPA's 33/50 program, we study whether a VPR can prompt firms to develop new environmental technologies that yield future emission reduction benefits. Because pollutant reductions generally require costly reformulations of products and/or production processes, environmental...

This paper studies determinants and effects of firms' participation in the 33/50 program, which is a voluntary pollution reduction (VPR) program initiated by government regulators. We examine a wide range of explanations for voluntary corporate environmentalism and find evidence in support of an...