Voluntary Approaches to Environmental Protection A Workshop Organized by Charles Kolstad and Matthew Kotchen With Laura Grant University of California, Santa Barbara April 24-25, 2009 Sponsors Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB Department of Economics, UCSB U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Voluntary approaches have become an increasingly important instrument of environmental policy. While international environmental agreements have always been based on voluntary participation, an increasing number of domestic policies are as well. The expansion of markets for environmentally friendly goods and services also exemplify voluntary action that can either complement or substitute more conventional approaches to environmental policy. Along with these trends has come a surge of academic interest in the study of voluntary approaches to environmental protection. The purpose of this workshop is to assemble leading scholars working in related areas in order to further the understanding of incentives for participation in voluntary programs and of the effectiveness of the approach for meeting policy objectives. Agenda All papers: presenter 35 mins, discussant 10 mins, general discussion 15 mins. Friday April 24 8:30 am Arrival at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management 9:00 am Credence Attributes, Voluntary Organizations, and Social Pressure David Baron (Stanford University) Discussant: Corbett Granger (UC Santa Barbara) 10:15 am Green Clubs Klaas van ‘t Veld* (University of Wyoming) and Matthew Kotchen (UC Santa Barbara) Discussant: Matthew Potoski (Iowa State University) 11:30 am Competing Environmental Labels Carolyn Fisher* (Resources for the Future) and Tom Lyon (University of Michigan) Discussant: Matthew Kahn (UC Los Angeles) 12:30 pm Lunch 2:00 pm Strategic Use of Environmental Information Geir Asheim* (University of Oslo) Discussant: Laura Grant (UC Santa Barbara) 3:15 pm I Don’t Want to Hear About It: Rational Ignorance Among Duty-Oriented Consumers Karine Nyborg (University of Oslo) Discussant: Grant Jacobson (UC Santa Barbara) 4:30 pm Ethics, Evolution, and Games Among Family and Neighbors Ted Bergstrom (UC Santa Barbara) Discussant: Richard Cornes (Australian National University) 5:30 pm Adjourn 6:30 pm Reception and Dinner Saturday April 25 8:30 am Arrival at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management 9:00 am Voluntary Cleanup Programs for Brownfield Sites: A Theoretical Analysis Tom Lyon* (University of Michigan), Haitao Yim (University of Michigan), Alan Blackman (Resources for the Future), and Kris Wernstedt (Virginia Tech) Discussant: Nick Burger (RAND Corporation) 10:15 am Days of Haze: Environmental Information Disclosure and Intertemporal Avoidance Behavior Joshua Graff Zivin* (UC San Diego) and Matthew Neidell (Columbia University) Discussant: Paulina Oliva (UC Berkeley and Santa Barbara) 11:30 am Aggregative Environmental Games Richard Cornes (Australian National University) Discussant: Matthew Kotchen (UC Santa Barbara) 12:30 pm Lunch 1:30 pm Stop!: The Polio Vaccination Cessation Game Scott Barrett (Johns Hopkins University) Discussant: Ross Mohr (UC Santa Barbara) 2:45 pm International Environmental Agreements with Uncertainty, Learning and Risk Aversion Michael Finus (University of Stirling), Pedro Pintassilgo (University of Algarve), and Alistair Ulph* (University of Manchester) Discussant: Charlie Kolstad (UC Santa Barbara) 4:00 pm Adjourn Updated March 30, 2009