Focusing on the practical aspects of using economic incentives to achieve environmental goals, this book analyzes the design and implementation of market based programs and identifies critical issues for creating successful programs in the future. This book examines the conditions in which market incentives are most useful and probes the important new roles of both government and the private sector. It highlights the administrative, institutional, organizational, and informational requirements for successful operation of the programs, and it especially stresses the importance of program evaluation. This analysis is based on case studies of four programs at different levels of government - local, state, federal, and overseas - that use different tools - credit trading, direct taxes, variable fee structures, and refunds: the air credit trading program in the Los Angeles metropolitan area; the national pollution charge system of Russia; the recycling initiative of King County, Washington; and, the deposit refund system of Michigan. It is distributed for the National Academy of Public Administration.
