regulation differs based on differences across firms in compliance behavior and/or differences across states in industry … between regulatory stringency and three factors: the firm's overall compliance rate, a Herfindahl index of industry … compliance rates, suggesting that low compliance rates are due to high compliance costs, not low compliance benefits. The …

This paper examines differences in compliance with air pollution regulation for U.S. pulp and paper mills. Our analysis … profitability. Finally, we use several regulatory data sets. From EPA, the Compliance Data System provides measures of air pollution … enforcement activity and compliance status during the period, while the Permit Compliance System and the Toxic Release Inventory …

much larger than the costs of compliance. …