Do households' recycling efforts represent a social cost, which should be taken into account in cost-benefit analyses of alternative waste treatment systems.' Some argue that it should not, since recycling efforts are to a large extent voluntary. We demonstrate that if the government can...

According to optimal taxation theory, raw materials should be taxed to capture the embedded scarcity rent in their value. To reduce both natural resource use and the corresponding emissions, or the throughput in the economic system, the best policy may be a tax on material inputs. As a first...

During the last decade, Norway has carried out an ambitious climate policy. The main policy tool is a relatively high carbon tax, which was implemented already in 1991. Data for the development in CO2 emissions since then provide a unique opportunity to evaluate carbon taxes as a policy tool. To...

According to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) literature, several mechanisms within rich economies, including increased willingness to conduct abatement policies, contribute to reduce environmental problems. Unilateral environmental policies in open economies may affect other countries...

The environmental Kuznets curve theory suggests that economic growth may reduce environmental problems. In this article, we analyze the changes in environmentally damaging emissions to air in Norway from 1980 to 1996. In order to reveal the factors which decrease the emissions per produced unit,...

Generation of solid waste is closely associated with the use of tangible factor inputs and production levels in the economy. In this paper, we present projections of waste generated in the Norwegian manufacturing industry based on the development in these factors as simulated by a computable...