Pollution control in a transition economy: do firms face economies and/or diseconomies of scale?

0342777 - NHU-C 2011 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Earnhart, D. - Lízal, Lubomír
Pollution control in a transition economy: do firms face economies and/or diseconomies of scale?
CERGE-EI Working Paper Series. -, č. 405 (2010), s. 1-42. ISSN 1211-3298
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LC542
Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846
Keywords : Czech Republic * environmental protection * pollution * production
Subject RIV: AH - Economics
http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp405.pdf

We empirically assess whether firms face economies and/or diseconomies of scale with respect to air pollution control by evaluating the effects of production on firmlevel air emission levels using a panel of Czech firms during the country’s transitional period of 1993 to 1998. By estimating a separate set of production-related coefficients for each individual sector, the analysis permits economies/diseconomies of scale to differ across sectors. More important, the analysis allows these scale effects to vary over time, which seems critical in the context of a transition economy, as the Czech government was tightening air protection polices by imposing more stringent emission limits and escalating emission charge rates. To assess whether these tighter policies expanded economies of scale, the analysis controls for heterogeneity across individual firms by examining intrafirm variation in emissions and production.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0185411