FINALS

Question 1

decisions require information, and although the availability of good
information doesn’t automatically mean that decisions also will be good, its
unavailability will almost always contribute to bad decisions.

Answer 1

Policy

Question 2

is a very general word, meaning the effects of any actual or proposed
policy.

Answer 2

Impact

Question 3

is essentially an identification and
study of all significant environmental repercussions stemming from a course
of action.

Answer 3

Environmental Impact Analysis

Question 4

would estimate the costs of these different alternatives

with the aim of showing how they compared in terms of, say, the costs per
million gallons of delivered water into the town system.

Answer 4

cost-
effectiveness analysis

Question 5

the objective

of which is to estimate the value of the damages to an injured resource so that
these amounts can be recovered from those held liable by the courts.

Answer 5

damage assessment, the

Question 6

is based on the idea of making reasonable com-
prehensive adjustments to standard GDP measures to adjust for changes in the

value of the natural resources and services produced from them.

Answer 6

Green GDP

Question 7

is for the public sector what a profit-and-loss analysis is
for a business firm or a budget is for a household.

Answer 7

Benefit–Cost Analysis

Question 8

that involve direct public production: public waste treat-
ment plants, beach restoration projects, hazardous-waste incinerators, habitat

improvement projects, land purchase for preservation, and so on.

Answer 8

Physical projects

Question 9

that are aimed at enforcing environmental laws and
regulations, such as pollution-control standards, technological choices,
waste-disposal practices, restrictions on land development, and so on.

Answer 9

Regulatory programs

Question 10

The study of where risk comes from and how people nor-
mally respond to it.

Answer 10

Risk assessment:

Question 11

The study of what values, in terms of concepts such as will-
ingness to pay, people place on risk reduction.

Answer 11

Risk valuation:

Question 12

The study of how different policies affect levels of envi-
ronmental risk to which people are exposed.

Answer 12

Risk management:

Question 13

Engineers, hydrologists, and others must determine the
likelihood that the chemical will migrate to the aquifer, and how much the
citizens of the community will be exposed to it if it does. It could be that
other pathways of exposure also might have to be considered.

Answer 13

Exposure analysis:

Question 14

Scientists must determine the relationship
between exposure levels to the chemical and impacts such as incidences
of cancer. Relationships like this are sought by laboratory scientists and by
epidemiologists.

Answer 14

Dose–response analysis:

Question 15

Combining steps (1) and (2) makes it possible to esti-
mate the specific risks faced by members of the community in terms of, for

example, the number of premature deaths they could expect.

Answer 15

Risk characterization:

Question 16

of environmental quality im-
provements stem from the reduced damages this would produce.

Answer 16

benefits

Question 17

the estimation of

what future cost levels could be expected to be in the absence of the regula-
tion.

Answer 17

baseline analysis,

Question 18

left to itself, is likely to malfunction when matters of environmental pollution are involved.

Answer 18

The market system

Question 19

The essence of the model consists of a simple situation that characterizes all pollution-control activities.

Answer 19

trade-off

Question 20

The essence of the model consists of a simple trade-off situation that characterizes all pollution-control activities.
Reducing emissions reduces the damages that people suffer from environmental pollution
But reducing emissions takes resources that could have been used in some other way.

Answer 20

Suggests that optimal level of pollution is not zero.

Question 21

To describe the relationship between pollution and damage, we will use the idea of a

Answer 21

damage function.

Question 22

we mean all the negative impacts that users of the environment experience as a result of the degradation of that environment

Answer 22

damages

Question 23

are the costs of reducing the quantity of residuals being emitted into the environment, or of lowering ambient concentrations.

Answer 23

Abatement costs

Question 24

normally will differ from one source to another, depending on a variety of factors.

Answer 24

Abatement costs

Question 25

To get the minimum aggregate marginal abatement cost curve, the aggregate level of emissions must be distributed among the different sources in such a way that they all have the same marginal abatement costs. In effect what we have done here is to invoke the important

Answer 25

equimarginal principle.

Question 26

Emission reductions do not happen unless resources are devoted to enforcement.
To include all sources of cost we need to add ——————– to the analysis.

Answer 26

enforcement costs

Question 27

The model is very general and risks giving an —————— impression of pollution problems in the real world.

Answer 27

overly simplistic

Question 28

Measurement issues makes it useful to employ —————— as a primary policy criterion.

Answer 28

cost-effectiveness

Question 29

requires energy and resources.

Answer 29

Enforcement

Question 30

A widespread practice is for agencies to require ————— of emissions by firms.

Answer 30

self-reporting

Question 31

refers to measuring the performance in comparison to whatever requirements are set out in the relevant law.

Answer 31

Monitoring

Question 32

refers to the task of bringing to justice those whom monitoring has shown to be in violation of the law.

Answer 32

Sanctioning

Question 33

means that it cannot simply be assumed that each and every attempt at public environmental policy will make the situation better.

Answer 33

Government failure

Question 34

policies we mean policies that essentially allow the individuals involved in a case of enviro

Answer 34

“decentralized”

Question 35

systems rely on court proceedings in which plaintiffs and defendants meet to make claims and counterclaims, and in which juries often are called on to decide questions of fact and amounts of compensation.

Answer 35

Common-law

Question 36

approach mandates the behavior in law, then uses whatever enforcement machinery—courts, police, fines, and so on—are necessary to get people to obey the law.

Answer 36

command-and-control

Question 37

In the case of environmental policy, the command-and-control approach consists of relying on ——————-of various types to bring about improvements in environmental quality.

Answer 37

standards

Question 38

These total abatement costs are the ———————- of meeting the standard.

Answer 38

compliance costs

Question 39

are normally expressed in terms of average concentration levels over some period of time.

Answer 39

Ambient Standards

Question 40

The basic point of differentiation is that a performance standard, such as an emission standard, sets a constraint on some performance criterion and

Answer 40

then allows people to choose the best means of achieving it.

Question 41

A basic problem is that standards are all-or- nothing—either they are being met or they are not.
If they are being met

Answer 41

there is no incentive to do better

Question 42

Crossing the MAC function is a

Answer 42

marginal penalty function.

Question 43

Suppose authorities had instituted a ————————- cutback.

Answer 43

proportionate

Question 44

Emission charges lead to

Answer 44

tax revenues.

Question 45

A government might reduce employment taxes and increase emission taxes in such a way as to keep its total tax revenue the same.
This action has come to be known as the

Answer 45

double-dividend hypothesis.

Question 46

would pay a polluter a certain amount per ton of emissions for every ton it reduced, starting from some benchmark level.

Answer 46

emission subsidy