Technological Change for Sulfur Dioxide Scrubbers under Market-Based Regulation
研究了1990年《清洁空气法》修正案引入可交易许可证后，二氧化硫洗涤塔成本的变化，发现新法规下洗涤塔成本一次性下降而非持续降低。
<i>The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) introduced tradable permits for controlling sulfur dioxide (SO</i><i><sub>2</sub></i><i>) emissions from coal-burning power plants and forced scrubbers to compete with other SO</i><i><sub>2</sub></i><i>abatement options. While the flexibility of permits reduced overall compliance costs, a secondary benefit would exist if there were resulting advances in scrubber technology. A hedonic model is used to estimate the effect of changing regulatory regimes on scrubber costs. While scrubbers installed under the 1990 CAAA are cheaper to purchase and operate than older scrubbers, these cost reductions seem to be a one-time drop rather than a continual decline.</i>