Vincent G. Munley

Municipal wastewater treatment cost

Abstract The cost of control for conventional pollutants at municipal wastewater treatment plants is examined. Empirical estimates of the effect of performance measures as well as the flow size of the waste stream are obtained for both the capital and the operation and maintenance components of total facility cost. These estimates are used to calculate the marginal cost per pound of pollution control over the range of effluent concentration beyond secondary treatment. The implications of the results for current environmental policy issues are outlined.

Fiscal illusion, the nature of public goods and equation specification

In a recent article Richard Wagner (1976) has developed the hypothesis that the structure with which governments raise revenues can affect the level of public expenditures. In addition to providing the theoretical basis for this argument, Wagner empirically tested his hypothesis. The results of this test were supportive. The purpose of this note is to re-examine the empirical test employed by Wagner in light of a criticism of his original econometric specification. The first section briefly reviews Wagners discussion. The second section presents additional empirical evidence. The final section presents some concluding remarks.

The relative performance of various estimators of recreation participation equations.

ABSTRACTThis paper evaluates the predictive performance of four estimators (ordinary least squares, generalized least squares, logit, and probit) for recreation participation equations using subsam...

Electricity demand in multi-family, renter-occupied residences

This paper focuses on multi-family, renter-occupied housing where the landlord provides major appliances, a large residential sector that has not received widespread attention in the literature. Experimental data are used from a test where one group of households was billed directly for the electricity they consumed, while a control group had unlimited electric service included as part of the monthly rent. The empirical analysis yields short-run demand estimates that satisfy to a remarkable extent the ceteris paribus assumptions of demand analysis. This is the case for two reasons: (1) the households did not individually execute the appliance choice decision at various (unknown) times in the past, and (2) the stock of appliances upon which the derived short-run demand is conditional is identical for all households in the sample. A second important feature is emphasis on functional form. Examined in some detail is the question of the appropriate functional form for residential electricity demand. Finally, empirical results of the analysis are used to investigate the cost-effectiveness and welfare effects of installing submeters in existing multi-family residences.

An alternate test of the Tiebout hypothesis

Concluding remarksThis paper has presented an indirect test of the Tiebout hypothesis that does not require explicit consideration of the interaction between the markets for housing and local public services. The results suggest that, at least in the case of elementary and secondary education, when allowed to choose from a selection of jurisdictions, individuals locate so as to minimize the allocative inefficiency that results from collective provision of local services.The results obtained here may offer some insight toward understanding why the median voter model performed so well in at least one recent empirical examination. In addition to Holcombes positive findings, Inman (1978) has provided evidence that the median voter is decisive in budgetary politics. The later test was based on data for 58 Long Island school districts. The analysis presented here suggests that with so plentiful a selection of districts in one suburban area, the frequency distribution of voter demand should be quite narrowly dispersed in each district. It is not surprising, therefore, that the actual level of expenditure conforms closely to that demanded by the voter with the median income.

Perceptions of the Ability to Export Nonresidential Property Tax Burdens

This article reexamines the question of the perceived burdens from taxes on residential property within the context of a single median voter model. It provides a means of testing whether the estimated fraction of nonresidential property perceived to be exported is different from either zero or unity and focuses on testing the correct functional form of the demand relationship. Given the functional form implied as preferred by Box-Cox transformations, it finds no statistically significant evidence that less than 100% of nonresidential taxes are perceived as exported.

Economic objectives within a bureaucratic decision process: Setting pollution control requirements under the clean water act

Abstract This paper examines the role of economic criteria in establishing the Best Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT) water pollution control regulations. By modeling the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) development of industry-specific effluent limits as a stochastic decision process, it focuses on cost-effectiveness as one of the several criteria that EPA considered. The results suggest that the role that cost-effectiveness played in individual effluent limit determinations diminished in importance over time. The evidence also reveals that a strict adherence to a cost-effective decision rule could have substantially improved the efficiency of the BAT program. This failure suggests the difficulty of achieving an efficient outcome through a bureaucratic regulatory process subject to a variety of statury criteria.

A note on learning-by-doing and willingness-to-travel

This paper develops an empirical test of the effects of learning-by-doing for one outdoor recreational activity—sport fishing. Using a household production framework learning-by-doing is modeled as the development of skills through the previous experience of the individual recreationist. A survey of opening day participants in spin and fly fishing in Pennsylvania is used to evaluate the model. The empirical results lend strong support to the underlying framework.

The Impact of Debt Limitations and Referenda Requirements on the Cost of School District Bond Issues.

One distinction between the markets for corporate and municipal bonds involves institutional constraints that apply to some municipal bond issues. This research focuses on how public finance institutions, in particular explicit debt limits and referenda requirements, affect the borrowing cost of individual school district bond issues. The empirical model specifies as the dependent variable the true interest cost of issuing debt. The results suggest that the presence of referenda requirements for the approval of annual school district budgets imposes an additional cost for borrowing funds.