Environmental Regulation in a Federal system Framing Environmental Policy in the European Union

About this book

In this text Jeppesen investigates environmental regulation in a federal system and addresses the underlying question of whether regulation should be decided centrally, by EU institutions, or de-centrally, by individual member states. Whilst simple economic reasoning presumes that transboundary externalities require central solutions and local externalities need local solutions, the author finds that the real answer is much more complicated. He extends the basic theoretical issues to investigate the challenging problems which arise in the actual determination of policy measures in the context of the EU. This study of both the conceptual and practical dimensions of environmental regulation in a federal system should be useful to economists, political scientists, policymakers and students.

Contents

Part 1 Introduction: background; purpose; overview. Part 2 Framing environmental policy in the EU: from Rome to Amsterdam; community vs. member state competences - a taxonomy; free movement of goods and environmental protection; the environmental guarantee; "residual competence" and environmental federalism; conclusion. Part 3 Subsidiarity and EU environmental policy: what is subsidiarity?; the annual reports; changes in community legislation; conclusion. Part 4 Centralized or decentralized European environmental policy?: the economics of centralization and decentalization; subsidiarity meddle in; effects on EU water policy; preferences for European environmental policy; conclusion. Part 5 Coordination of local pollution control in a federal system: theoretical approaches to environmental policy in a federal system; the model; the optimal mix of central and local information; conclusion. Part 6 Impacts of pollution control on international trade and capital movements: the general theoretical framework; impacts of environmental policy - theoretical approaches; empirical studies; conclusion. Part 7 Strategic environmental policy: environmental capital flight; ecological dumping as a response to environmental capital flight; ecological dumping and international trade; conclusion. Part 8 Commitment and fairness in environmental games: Barrett's model; commitment; fairness in environmental politics; incorporating fairness into Barrett's model; conclusion; appendix. Part 9 Conclusion.

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