An Experiment in Voluntary Environmental Regulation: Participation in EPA′s 33/50 Program

The U.S. EPA has initiated the 33/50 program to encourage firms to voluntarily reduce releases and transfers of 17 toxic chemicals. This paper evaluates the factors leading to participation in this program to assess its potential to augment more traditional command and control regulation. The results show that large firms with substantial toxic releases in unconcentrated industries are the most likely participants. The results also indicate that public information and awareness plays an important role and that EPA and other regulators can improve environmental performance by encouraging competition in environmental quality.