Environmental Policy
Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Environmental Policy examines the development, implementation, and impacts of policies designed to address environmental issues at local, national, and global levels. The course explores the roles of governments, international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector in shaping environmental regulations and initiatives. Students analyze key environmental challenges such as climate change, air and water quality, natural resource management, and biodiversity conservation, considering the economic, social, and scientific factors that influence policy decisions. Through case studies and critical discussions, the course equips students with the tools to evaluate policy effectiveness and to propose informed solutions to complex environmental problems.
Recommended Textbook
Environmental Economics and Management Theory Policy and Applications 6th Edition by Scott
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21 Chapters
884 Verified Questions
884 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Role of Economics in Environmental Management
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify and briefly explain two economic incentives that would encourage firms to research and implement "design for recycling" programs.
Answer: Answers may include subsidies for researching such issues as identifying recyclable materials or devising better methods for sorting plastics, or federal grants for appropriate capital investment in recycling or sorting equipment, or tax deductions for designated expenditures on dismantling, recovery, recycling, or sorting.
Q2) According to proponents of an environmentally-adjusted measure of a nation's macroeconomic performance
A) GDP fails to properly capture the effects of environmental pollution
B) GDP appropriately accounts for natural resource depletion
C) the international community does not support environmental accounting
D) the guidelines outlined in the SEEA of 2003 are meaningless
Answer: A
Q3) Nature's capacity to convert matter and energy is limitless.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Modeling the Market Process: a Review of the Basics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Assume that in the market for bottled water, the market supply is Q<sub>S</sub> = 14 + 20P and the market demand is Q<sub>D</sub> = 74 - 10P. This means that the equilibrium quantity is
A) 2
B) 54
C) 6
D) none of the above
Answer: B
Q2) Assume that the marginal revenue associated with the 12<sup>th</sup> unit of output is $25 and the marginal cost is $14. As a result, the firm should produce more, because the marginal profit at that output level is greater than zero.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Producers' decisions are modeled through the demand function, and consumers' decisions are captured by the supply function.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Modeling Market Failure
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Sample Questions
Q1) If recreational users of a natural resource hold the property rights to that resource, their bargaining stance with the producer of an externality-generating good who wants to use that resource is that they will accept a payment as long as < (MSC - MSB).
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Describe the bargaining process between the refineries and the recreational water users, assuming the refineries have the right to pollute.
Answer: 4. If the refiners have the right to pollute, they will produce Q<sub>C</sub>. At this point, recreational users have an incentive to pay the refinery not to pollute as long as the payment is less than the MEC they incur at the competitive equilibrium. Refiners have an incentive to accept the payment as long as it is greater than their M\(\pi\) at Q<sub>C</sub>. Both conditions hold all the way up to the efficient equilibrium, Q<sub>E</sub><sub> </sub>= 128, where the MEC = M\(\pi\), and negotiations cease.
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Conventional Solutions to Environmental
Problems: Command-And-Control Approach
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the cost-effectiveness criterion, all polluting sources would abate pollution to the point where their individual marginal abatement cost (MAC) levels were equal.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If the MACs for firm 1 and 2 are: MAC<sub>1</sub> = 0.4A<sub>1</sub> and MAC<sub>2</sub> = 0.8A<sub>2</sub>, respectively, and the combined abatement standard is 15 units, then the cost-effective abatement levels are 10 units for firm 1 and 5 units for firm 2.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The sum of all polluters' MACs equals the marginal social cost (MSC) of abatement.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The marginal social benefit (MSB) of abatement represents
A) the additional gains to society from reducing pollution
B) the reduction in damages from abatement
C) society's demand for abatement or environmental quality
D) all of the above
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Chapter 5: Economic Solutions to Environmental Problems: the Market Approach
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose that for some abatement equipment market, the MSB = 525 - 1.2Q and MPB = 325 - 0.8Q, then the Pigouvian subsidy for that market must equal 200 - 0.4Q at Q<sub>E</sub> to achieve an efficient outcome.
A)True B)False
Q2) Major categories of market-based instruments include
A) pollution charges
B) subsidies
C) deposit/refund systems
D) pollution permit trading systems
E) all of the above
Q3) An emission charge
A) takes advantage of firms' natural profit incentive
B) cannot achieve a least-cost solution
C) offers no revenue stream to governments
D) has no effect on product pricing
Q4) A payment or tax concession aimed at lowering the cost of abating is called a pollution charge.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 6: Environmental Risk Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) Both hazard and exposure define environmental risk, but each can independently affect the outcome.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Risk assessment refers to only the quantitative evaluation of risk.
A)True
B)False
Q3) According to the textbook application, radon
A) is a naturally occurring hazard
B) is an involuntary risk
C) poses no adverse health threat outdoors
D) all of the above
E) (a) and (b) only
Q4) The EPA's database of identified environmental hazards is known by the acronym
A) IRIS
B) ISIS
C) RISK
D) IPCC
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Assessing Benefits for Environmental Decision Making
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Sample Questions
Q1) The averting expenditures method
A) uses spending changes on goods that act as substitutes for environmental quality
B) defines personal environmental quality as the relevant market
C) has the disadvantage of jointness of production, which biases the benefit estimate D) all of the above
Q2) There is some debate about whether secondary benefits should be considered when assessing public policy proposals. Identify two reasons why secondary benefits might be excluded from a benefit-cost analysis of proposed environmental policy.
Q3) The travel cost method estimates benefits based on the substitutability of a natural resource and its recreational value.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Increased fish populations linked to water pollution policy would be a type of secondary environmental benefit.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Assessing Costs for Environmental Decision Making
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Sample Questions
Q1) Newly proposed controls on GHG emissions from motor vehicles are expected to elevate automobile prices.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Marginal social cost (MSC) of some abatement level, A<sub>1</sub>, can be determined as the area under the total social cost (TSC) function up to A<sub>1</sub>.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Suppose the marginal social cost (MSC) of abatement for particulate matter (PM) is MSC = 8 + 0.5A, where A is percent of PM removed, and MSC is in millions of dollars. Find the change in total social costs (TSC) of abatement if the abatement level increases from 12 percent to 20 percent as a result of new policy.
Q4) Along the TSC curve, the incremental cost associated with increasing abatement from A<sub>1</sub> to A<sub>2</sub> is found as the vertical distance between the TSC at A<sub>1</sub> and TSC at A<sub>2</sub>.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Benefit-Cost Analysis in Environmental Decision Making
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Sample Questions
Q1) The future value (FV) of a dollar is its present value (PV) plus the opportunity cost of not using that dollar in the present period.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All of the following are true EXCEPT
A) President Reagan was the first U.S. president to call for the use of economic criteria when evaluating policy
B) President Reagan's Executive Order 12291 required the use of a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) when major regulations were being considered
C) During his presidency, Clinton did not issue any executive order to continue Reagan's commitment to using economic criteria in policy evaluation
D) President Obama issued an executive order to support and expand upon President Clinton's executive order requiring benefits to justify the costs of a significant regulation
Q3) Deflating refers to the process of converting a real value into its nominal value.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Defining Air Quality: the Standard-Setting Process
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Sample Questions
Q1) Environmental justice is an equity criterion that has increased in importance over time in U.S. policy decisions.
A)True B)False
Q2) In the United States, the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) are set to reach the maximum reduction of each toxic achievable, which is known as the maximum achievable control technology (MACT).
A)True
B)False
Q3) In the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments,
A) Title IV uses a strict command-and-control approach to regulate sulfur dioxide
B) market-based approaches are integrated in certain of the titled sections
C) market-based policies predominate over command-and-control initiatives
D) there were no provisions to control ozone depletion
Q4) Air quality in the United States is monitored either by estimating emissions levels or by measuring pollutant concentrations.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Improving Air Quality: Controlling Mobile
Sources
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Sample Questions
Q1) Plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles are examples of partial zero-emission vehicles (PZEVs).
A)True
B)False
Q2) A benefit-based standard is one that
A) considers the benefits balanced with the costs of that standard B) maximizes the marginal external benefit (MEB) of the standard C) is set to the point at which MEB is zero
D) none of the above
Q3) In the United States, the Air Quality Index (AQI)
A) measures the concentration of hazardous air pollutants through monitoring stations B) is used only within the scientific community
C) uses numerical values and colors to communicate urban air quality
D) includes concentration data for all six criteria pollutants
Q4) The Air Quality Index (AQI) is formed from concentration data collected from a monitoring network that measures hazardous air pollutants.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 12: Improving Air Quality: Controlling Stationary
Sources
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Sample Questions
Q1) Because NO<sub>X</sub> readily moves across state borders, a series of interstate collaborations formed over time to address the problem, but none established a trading program.
A)True
B)False
Q2) PSD areas
A) were defined recently by an Executive Order issued by President Obama
B) are those areas defined as 'polluting source designated'
C) face more lenient emissions standards than nonattainment regions
D) are no longer recognized in U.S. policy
E) none of the above
Q3) Overall, empirical studies fail to support the claim that command-and-control policy is more costly to implement than more flexible approaches.
A)True
B)False
Q4) RECLAIM is a California trading program that used trading credits in a regional market for sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Global Air Quality: Policies for Ozone Depletion and Climate Change
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Sample Questions
Q1) 1.Algebraically solve for the efficient equilibrium price and quantity, P<sub>E</sub> and Q<sub>E</sub>.
2. Find the dollar value of a per unit gasoline tax that would achieve the efficient solution, and calculate the resulting tax revenues generated to government.
Q2) Currently, which of the following countries have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol?
A) United States
B) China
C) Russia
D) all of the above
E) (a) and (b) only
Q3) According to the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) of the phaseout plan for ozone-depleting substances, the associated costs exceed the expected benefits.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Kyoto Protocol banned the use of CFCs.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Defining Water Quality: the Standard-Setting Process
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose that the benefits and costs of water quality policy have been estimated as follows:
MSB = 40 - 0.8A MSC = 10 + 0.2A TSB = 40A - 0.4A<sup>2</sup> TSC = 10A + 0.1A<sup>2</sup>, where A is the percentage of pollution abatement and the benefits and costs are measured in thousands of dollars.
a. Determine the range of abatement within which policy achieves positive net benefits. b. Find the efficient level of abatement.
Q2) State-established receiving water quality standards have two components: use designation and water quality criteria.
A)True B)False
Q3) There are three classifications of water pollutants: toxic, conventional and nonconventional.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Improving Water Quality: Controlling Point and Nonpoint Sources
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to available data, most water bodies in the United States have met the zero discharge goal.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The federal grant program may have created an incentive for over-building of POTWs and a disincentive for cost-minimization.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Under U.S. law, the technology-based effluent limitations are
A) not aligned with the nation's water quality objectives
B) used to control discharges from point sources through permits
C) applied uniformly within any designated group
D) all of the above
Q4) According to U.S. water quality control policy, tradeable effluent permits
A) can be used to control both point and nonpoint polluting sources
B) can achieve cost savings as long as polluters' MACs are unequal
C) are generally sold by low-cost abaters
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
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Chapter 16: Protecting Safe Drinking Water
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Sample Questions
Q1) A flat fee pricing scheme for water usage is a pricing structure that is independent of water use.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Among the criteria used for identifying priority contaminants is that
A) the pollutant must occur in a private water system
B) the contaminant might have a negative effect on the ecology
C) the pollutant must be a microorganism
D) the contaminant may have an adverse effect on human health
E) none of the above
Q3) Under U.S. law, National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) have been announced for hundreds of chemicals, microorganisms, and radionuclides.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Each National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) includes a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG), a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), and Best Available Technology (BAT).
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Managing Hazardous Solid Waste and Waste Sites
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Sample Questions
Q1) The first federal legislation passed in the United States that dealt with waste control was the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Use marginal analysis (i.e., marginal social benefit (MSB) and marginal social cost (MSC)) to graphically illustrate a Superfund site abatement decision that is solely risk-based relative to one that is based on the efficiency criterion. What do you observe?
b. Repeat the exercise using total analysis (i.e., total social benefits (TSB) and total social costs (TSC)).
Q3) The series of events that begins with waste generation and continues through transport, storage, treatment, and disposal is known as
A) the "cradle to grave" management system
B) the waste manifest system
C) the waste stream
D) the Superfund cleanup process
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Chapter 18: Managing Municipal Solid Waste
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Sample Questions
Q1) A back-end charge is implemented as a price per household.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If there is a negative externality associated with consumption of a product, the MSB of that product is below the MPB.
A)True
B)False
Q3) If MSW services are priced in a way that is independent of the quantity of waste generated, that pricing system is called fixed fee or flat fee.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program, the price per unit of MSW services can be based on either the weight or the volume of waste generated.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The highest proportion of products in the MSW stream is consumer electronics.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 19: Controlling Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a risk-benefit analysis of pesticide use,
A) benefits are the gains from eliminating or reducing pesticide use
B) benefits can be measured as the change in producer and consumer surpluses linked to increasing supply due to enhanced crop yields
C) the data needed to estimate benefits are readily obtainable
D) secondary benefits, such as improved worker productivity, are not relevant
Q2) Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
A) a registration procedure is used to control the introduction of new chemical substances
B) manufacturers are required to notify the government of a new chemical by the day it is introduced into commerce
C) producers must notify the government 90 days before they plan to produce a new chemical
D) the EPA has one year to evaluate the risks and respond to a manufacturer's premanufacture notice (PMN) of a new chemical
Q3) Risk perception of chemical exposure does not always align with actual risk. A)True B)False
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Chapter 20: Sustainable Development: International Environmental Agreements
and International Trade
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Sample Questions
Q1) The shape of the Environmental Kuznets Curve reflects the theory that advanced levels of industrial development are linked to higher levels of pollution.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement represents the efforts of the two nations to combat climate change.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The benefits of international trade include
A) more choice for consumers
B) efficiency gains from specialization
C) more competition
D) all of the above
E) (a) and (c) only
Q4) The Border 2012 Program involving the United States and Mexico has a broad agenda, including improving air and water quality, tracking hazardous waste, and promoting pollution prevention.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 21: Sustainable Approaches: Industrial Ecology and
Pollution Prevention
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Sample Questions
Q1) The allocatively efficient amount of pollution prevention would occur when
A) the total social benefits of pollution prevention equals the total social costs of pollution prevention
B) the total social costs of pollution prevention are minimized
C) the marginal social benefits of pollution prevention equals the marginal social costs of pollution prevention
D) none of the above
Q2) The "cradle to cradle" approach to materials and waste management
A) involves a linear flow of materials and wastes
B) involves a cyclical flow of materials and wastes
C) acknowledges design for recycling in the waste management process
D) none of the above
E) (b) and (c) only
Q3) A linear flow of materials assumes that materials move in a single direction, entering as inputs and leaving as residuals.
A)True
B)False
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