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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Economics Of Household Garbage And Recycling Behavior, Don Fullerton, Thomas Kinnaman
The Economics Of Household Garbage And Recycling Behavior, Don Fullerton, Thomas Kinnaman
Don Fullerton
This book collects ten previously published papers by Don Fullerton, or Thomas Kinnaman, or both together. These papers include a theory of optimal pricing per bag of garbage when recycling and dumping are available options, empirical work using a cross section of cities that charge different prices, and empirical work using a cross section of households at the start of a price per bag of garbage at the curb.
Garbage And Recycling With Endogenous Local Policy, Thomas C. Kinnaman, Don Fullerton
Garbage And Recycling With Endogenous Local Policy, Thomas C. Kinnaman, Don Fullerton
Don Fullerton
This paper estimates the impact of a user fee and a curbside recycling program on garbage and recycling amounts, allowing for the possibility of endogenous policy choices. Without correction for endogenous policy, the price per unit of garbage collection has a negative effect on garbage and a positive cross-price effect on recycling. When we correct for endogenous policy, then the effect of the user fee on garbage increases. The implementation of a $1 per bag user fee is estimated to reduce garbage by 412 pounds per person per year.
Household Responses To Pricing Garbage By The Bag, Don Fullerton, Thomas C. Kinnaman
Household Responses To Pricing Garbage By The Bag, Don Fullerton, Thomas C. Kinnaman
Don Fullerton
This paper employs individual household data to estimate the effect of per-unit pricing on the weight of garbage, the number of containers, the weight per can, and the amount of recycling. We also provide two indirect measures of illegal dumping. The data are based on a natural experiment that provides a unique opportunity to study human behavior in response to a change in price. On July 1, 1992, the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, implemented a program to charge $0.80 per 32-gallon bag or can of residential garbage collected at the curb. Before and after the implementation of this program, we …
Garbage, Recycling, And Illicit Burning Or Dumping, Don Fullerton, Thomas C. Kinnaman
Garbage, Recycling, And Illicit Burning Or Dumping, Don Fullerton, Thomas C. Kinnaman
Don Fullerton
With garbage and recycling as the only two disposal options, we confirm prior results that the optimal curbside fee for garbage collection equals the direct resource cost plus external environmental cost. When illicit burning or dumping is a third disposal option that cannot be taxed directly, the optimal curbside tax on garbage changes sign. The optimal fee structure is a deposit-refund system: a tax on all output plus a rebate on proper disposal through either recycling or garbage collection. The output tax helps achieve the first-best allocation even though it affects the choice between consumption and untaxed leisure.