Acid Rain Legislation and the Clean Air Act: Time to Raise the Bridge or Lower the River?

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-136
Author(s):  
Larry B. Parker ◽  
John E. Blodgett
Keyword(s):  
Acid Rain ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Clean Air

scholarly journals What Can We Learn from the Grand Policy Experiment? Lessons from SO2 Allowance Trading

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N Stavins
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide ◽  
Acid Rain ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Allowance Trading ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Policy Experiment ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Trading Program

The most ambitious application ever attempted of a market-based approach to environmental protection has been for the control of acid rain under the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, which established a sulfur dioxide allowance trading program. This essay identifies lessons that can be learned from this grand experiment in economically oriented environmental policy. The author examines positive political economy lessons, asking why this system was adopted from acid-rain control in 1990, and he considers normative lessons that can be learned from the program's structure and performance, focusing on lessons for the design and implementation of future systems.

Policy Windows and Two-Level Games: Explaining the Passage of Acid-Rain Legislation in the Clean Air Act of 1990

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
M V Simon ◽  
L R Alm
Keyword(s):  
Acid Rain ◽  
Dynamic Game ◽  
Clean Air Act ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Policy Windows ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Using Data

Because of the transboundary nature of most environmental problems, environmental policy often lies at the intersection of domestic and international forces. Yet, because domestic and international issues are usually examined with different sets of theories and models, we tend to explain the policy process and outcome by emphasizing only one arena. Analysis of domestic policy is often dominated by process models, whereas scholars of international relations tend to apply rational models to explain state behavior. We apply Kingdon's ‘policy windows’ model of agenda setting and Brams's dynamic game theory framework to the development of acid-rain legislation enacted by the USA in the Clean Air Act of 1990. We compare the explanations of these theories with the work of other analysts, as well as with perceptions of policymakers by using data from interviews of policymaking elites in Canadian and US government, industry, and interest groups. It is demonstrated that process models and models of strategic interaction can complement each other, providing improved explanations of policy outcomes.

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