Reassessment of the Impact of the EPA's Voluntary 33/50 Program on Toxic Releases

This paper reevaluates the effectiveness of the EPA's voluntary 33/50 program in reducing the releases of 17 high-priority toxic chemicals for the 1988-1995 period. Contrary to previous studies that use program participation information at the firm level and find mixed evidence on the effectiveness of the program, our analysis uses participation status at the facility level and shows the importance of undertaking analysis at a disaggregated scale. We find the rate of reduction in releases was significantly higher for program participants than nonparticipants, but the effect is attenuated when estimated using firm-level participation data. (JEL Q51, Q52)