Harrington paradox is a notion in the environmental and ecological economics describing the compliance of firms to the environmental regulations. The paradox was first described in Winston Harrington's paper in 1988 and was based on the research over monitoring, realization and compliance to ecological standards in the USA from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s. According to the paradox, the firms in general comply with ecological standards in spite of the fact that: Frequency of ecological monitoring of firms is low In case of detection of violations, the violator-firm is rarely punished The expected fine is low in comparison to the cost of compliance Explanation Firms' compliance at such level is contrary to the rational crime theory of Gary Becker which describes the behavior of profit maximizing entities. The rational firms will comply to the standards only in case the expected fine is higher than the cost of compliance. In order to explain the paradox it was suggested that firms &  exhibit altruism or self-image concern .
Harrington paradox is a notion in the environmental and ecological economics describing the compliance of firms to the environmental regulations. The paradox was first described in Winston Harrington's paper in 1988 and was based on the research over monitoring, realization and compliance to environmental regulations in the USA from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s. According to the paradox, the firms in general comply with environmental regulations in spite of the fact that: Frequency of environmental monitoring of firms is low In case of detection of violations, the violator-firm is rarely punished The expected fine is low in comparison to the cost of compliance Explanation Firms' compliance at such level is contrary to the rational crime theory of Gary Becker which describes the behavior of profit maximizing entities. The rational firms will comply to the standards only in case the expected fine is higher than the cost of compliance. In order to explain the paradox several suggestions have been put forward. While Gary Becker's model assumes random monitoring of firms, actual monitoring strategies follow a targeted approach and more frequently inspect firms that are more likely to be in violation. Targeted monitoring and enforcement was put forward as an explanation of the Harrington paradox by Winston Harrington in his 1988 article. An alternative explanation of the paradox is allowing firms to report environmental violations voluntarily in order to be treated with leniency by the regulator Livernois, J.,& McKenna, C.J. (1999). Truth or consequences: Enforcing pollution standards with self-reporting. Journal of Public Economics, 71(3), 415-440.. Firms may exhibit altruism or self-image concern and voluntarily comply with environmental regulation
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ecological standards
environmental regulations
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ecological standards
environmental regulations
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ecological
environmental
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it was suggested that firms
several suggestions have been put forward.
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While Gary Becker's model assumes random monitoring of firms, actual monitoring strategies follow a targeted approach and more frequently inspect firms that are more likely to be in violation. Targeted monitoring and enforcement was put forward as an explanation of the Harrington paradox by Winston Harrington in his 1988 article. An alternative explanation of the paradox is allowing firms to report environmental violations voluntarily in order to be treated with leniency by the regulator Livernois, J.,
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McKenna, C.J. (1999). Truth or consequences: Enforcing pollution standards with self-reporting. Journal of Public Economics, 71(3), 415-440.. Firms may
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and voluntarily comply with environmental regulation