Letting states do the dirty work: State responsibility for federal environmental regulation

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Under most U.S. environmental regulations, the federal government shares responsibility with the states by authorizing them to implement and enforce federal policies. Authorization provides states with considerable discretion over the effects of regulation and is perhaps the most significant decentralization in U.S. environmental policy. However, few studies address its role. To fill this gap, this paper explores the empirical determinants of authorization for water pollution and hazardous waste regulation. Although no single hypothesis strongly explains authorization, I find some evidence that states authorize to increase the stringency of regulation, which suggests that environmental decentralization would be beneficial.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)107-122
Number of pages16
JournalNational Tax Journal
Volume56
Issue number1 I
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2003

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Economics and Econometrics

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