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Early papers found empirical support for a natural resource curse—the notion that exporting natural resources is detrimental to economic growth. Later papers, using reportedly improved econometric models and data, largely reversed these early findings by estimating that natural resources improve economic performance. However, this changing coefficient on natural resource dependence over time may not only be a function of model or data quality. Masked by this evolution in the economics literature is the possibility that the fundamental relationship between natural resources and economic performance has changed over the past several decades. This paper sheds a new perspective on the substantial resource curse literature by repeatedly estimating a single econometric model on data that evolve over time. The coefficient on natural resource dependence is estimated to steadily increases with the passage of time from a value that is negative and significant (for 1970, the basis for much of the early literature) to a positive and significant value a few decades later. Whatever natural resource estimated initially with data from 1970 seems to have evolved into a resource blessing over time.

The United States disposes roughly 60% of the municipal solid waste it generates each year in solid waste disposal facilities, commonly known as landfills. Hedonic pricing studies have estimated the external costs of landfills on neighboring housing markets, but the literature is silent on what happens to property values after the landfill closes. Original housing price data collected both before and after a landfill closure are used to estimate how a landfill closure affects neighboring property values. Results of both a hedonic pricing model and a repeat‐sales estimator are used in the analysis. (JEL H42, H72, Q51, Q53, R21)

Abstract
The disposal of municipal solid waste is believed to emit foul odor, threaten groundwater, and increase road congestion. As remote regional landfills have replaced local town dumps, these costs are no longer internalized by garbage-producing households or their municipalities. Instead, rural property owners located adjacent to large regional landfills and along the roadways accessing those landfills bear the external costs of garbage disposal. This paper uses a comprehensive nine-year panel data set of aggregated state data to empirically examine why 8,937 municipalities continue to operate costly recycling programs designed to reduce the external costs of garbage disposal.
Results suggest that local tastes for recycling drive municipal decisions. If household preferences for recycling are short lived, then we can expect a future decrease in the number of municipal recycling programs. Recent data indicate the number of recycling programs in operation in the U.S. has indeed fallen.

The implementation of thousands of municipal recycling programs in the United States has increased recycling's portion of solid waste from 10% to 30% over the past decade. But the lack of accurate data has spurred a debate over whether the growth in recycling can be attributed to market or nonmarket factors. To address this issue, this article conducts a benefit-cost analysis of a municipal recycling program. Results suggest recycling is costly. So why, then, does it remain popular? This article suggests that local governments could be responding to households that perceive a benefit from recycling services. These benefits are estimated with a contingent valuation survey.

The significant challenges associated with managing waste continues to attract international scholarly attention. This international handbook scrutinizes both developed and developing economies. It comprises original contributions from many of the most prominent scholars researching this topic. Consisting primarily of empirical research efforts – though theoretical underpinnings are also explored thoroughly – the handbook serves to further the understanding of the behaviors of waste generators and waste processors and the array of policies influencing these behaviors.

AbstractElectronic waste generated from the consumption of durable goods in developed countries is often exported to underdeveloped countries for reuse, recycling and disposal with unfortunate environmental consequences. The lack of efficient disposal policies within developing nations coupled with global free trade agreements make it difficult for consumers to internalize these costs. This paper develops a two-country model, one economically developed and the other underdeveloped, to solve for optimal tax policies necessary to achieve the efficient allocation of economic resources in an economy with a durable good available for global reuse without policy measures in the underdeveloped country. A tax in the developed country on purchases of the new durable good combined with a waste tax set below the domestic external cost of disposal is sufficient for global efficiency. The implication of allowing free global trade in electronic waste is also examined, where optimal policy resembles a global deposit-refund system.

"Cover" -- "Half Title" -- "Title Page" -- "Copyright Page" -- "Table of Contents" -- "Acknowledgements" -- "Series Preface" -- "Introduction" -- "Part I Theoretical Aspects of Policy Alternatives" -- "1 Vernon L. Smith (1972), 'Dynamics of Waste Accumulation: Disposal versus Recycling', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 86, pp. 600-16" -- "2 Allen K. Miedema (1983), 'Fundamental Economic Comparisons of Solid Waste Policy Options', Resources and Energy, 5, pp. 21-43" -- "3 Brian R. Copeland (1991), 'International Trade in Waste Products in the Presence of Illegal Disposal', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 20,pp. 143-62" -- "4 Terry M. Dinan (1993), 'Economic Efficiency Effects of Alternative Policies for Reducing Waste Disposal', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 25, pp. 242-56" -- "5 Don Fullerton and Thomas C. Kinnaman (1995), 'Garbage, Recycling, and Illicit Burning or Dumping', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 29, pp. 78-91" -- "6 Karen Palmer and Margaret Walls (1997), 'Optimal Policies for Solid Waste Disposal Taxes, Subsidies, and Standards', Journal of Public Economics, 65, pp. 193-205" -- "7 Don Fullerton and Wenbo Wu (1998), 'Policies for Green Design', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 36, pp. 131-48" -- "8 Paul Calcott and Margaret Walls (2000), 'Can Downstream Waste Disposal Policies Encourage Upstream "Design for Environment"?', AEA Papers and Proceedings, 90, pp. 233-37" -- "9 Eduardo Ley, Molly K. Macauley and Stephen W. Salant (2002), 'Spatially and Intertemporally Efficient Waste Management: The Costs of Interstate Trade Restrictions', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 43, pp. 188-218" -- "Part II Empirical Aspects of Policy Alternatives

The market for residential solid waste management and disposal has experienced dramatic changes over the past 20 years. This collection of outstanding published research examines these changes and thoroughly analyzes the strategies popularized by municipal governments over the past two decades. Kerbside recycling, unheard of in the 1970s, is currently available to 46% of Americans. Thousands of towns across the nation have also implemented user fees requiring households to pay a fee for every bag of garbage they generate. These policy shifts have attracted the attention of environmental economists interested in knowing the best strategy for managing solid waste. The editors, both long-time scholars of these trends, offer theoretical solutions for the optimal pricing of garbage and recycling collection. They provide original data collection and suggest appropriate econometric techniques that correct for statistical biases. A policy focus provides information relevant to municipal governments as well as researchers. This excellent volume will be useful for policymakers, students and scholars in environmental economics