Bag leakage: The effect of disposable carryout bag regulations on unregulated bags

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Leakage occurs when partial regulation of consumer products results in increased consumption of these products in unregulated domains. This article quantifies plastic leakage from the banning of plastic carryout bags. Using quasi-random policy variation in California, I find the elimination of 40 million pounds of plastic carryout bags is offset by a 12 million pound increase in trash bag purchases—with small, medium, and tall trash bag sales increasing by 120%, 64%, and 6%, respectively. The results further reveal 12–22% of plastic carryout bags were reused as trash bags pre-regulation and show bag bans shift consumers towards fewer but heavier bags. With a substantial proportion of carryout bags already reused in a way that avoided the manufacture and purchase of another plastic bag, policy evaluations that ignore leakage effects overstate the regulation's welfare gains.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)254-271
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
Volume93
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Consumer behavior
  • Environmental policy
  • Event study
  • Leakage
  • Partial regulation
  • Plastic
  • Subtractionality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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