Premium
The Role of Education in Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Policy
Author(s) -
Ribaudo Marc O.,
Horan Richard D.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
applied economic perspectives and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.4
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 2040-5804
pISSN - 2040-5790
DOI - 10.2307/1349883
Subject(s) - nonpoint source pollution , profitability index , control (management) , environmental economics , quality (philosophy) , business , pollution , win win game , natural resource economics , altruism (biology) , economics , industrial organization , public economics , microeconomics , finance , psychology , ecology , social psychology , philosophy , management , epistemology , biology
Education is often used to provide producers with information on how to operate more efficiently with current technologies or on profitable new technologies that generate less pollution. While such “win‐win” solutions to water quality problems are attractive, we use a simple economic framework to show that education cannot be considered a strong tool for water quality protection. Its success depends on a number of factors related to profitability and altruism, and “win‐win” solutions are not always guaranteed, even when they appear to exist. Evidence suggests that net returns are the chief concern of producers when they adopt alternative management practices.