Getting cars off the road
Subtitle: the cost-effectiveness of an episodic pollution control program
By: Maureen L. Cropper, Yi Jiang, Anna Alberini, Patrick Baur
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15904; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15904.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Description: "Ground-level ozone remains a serious problem in the United States.  Because ozone non-attainment is a summer problem, episodic rather than continuous controls of ozone precursors are possible.  We evaluate the costs and effectiveness of an episodic scheme that requires people to buy permits to drive on high-ozone days.  We estimate the demand function for permits based on a survey of 1,300 households in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.  Assuming that all vehicle owners comply with the scheme, the permit program would reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 50 tons and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 42 tons per Code Red day at a permit price of $75.  Allowing for non-compliance by 15 percent of respondents reduces the effectiveness of the scheme to 39 tons of VOCs and 33 tons of NOx per day.  The cost per ozone season of achieving these reductions is approximately $9 million (2008 USD).  This compares favorably with permanent methods of reducing VOCs that cost $645 per ton per year"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 4/20/2010.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.