DEA Working Paper No. 33, March 2009

Public, private and nonprofit regulation for environmental quality


Lucie Bottega and Jenny De Freitas

 

Abstract 

This paper studies the welfare implications of different institutions certifying environmental quality supplied by a monopoly. The monopolist can voluntarily certify the quality of the product through an eco-label provided either by an NGO or a for-proft private certifier (PC). The NGO and the PC may use advertisement to promote the label. We compare the NGO and PC regimes with the regime where the regulator imposes a minimum quality standard. The presence of a private certifier in the market decreases the scope for public intervention. The availability of green advertisement reinforces the above result.

 

Keywords: Environmental quality, certification, green advertisement, NGO, self-regulation.

JEL codes: D62, L15, L31, L51, Q50.

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