Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface: The regulation of pesticides in Europe - past, present and future -- Moving towards a preventive approach -- The setting of quality objectives and standards for pesticides -- The zero tolerance approach for pesticides in drinking water -- What has been the outcome of the zero tolerance policy? -- Outputs: how should chemical accumulation in drinking water be regulated? -- References -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 Regulating chemical accumulation: an integrated approach -- The problem under consideration -- An overview of the volume: empirical studies -- The valuation of resource contamination -- Existing market and regulatory failures -- Optimal policies for accumulative chemicals. -- Conclusion -- References -- Part I The characteristics of accumulative chemicals -- 2 Chemical characteristics: the case of herbicides in Italy -- The risk of herbicides in groundwater -- Why herbicides? -- Herbicide mode of action and application patterns -- Soil-applied herbicides -- Herbicide applied on vegetation -- Weed control on maize crops -- Economic impact of weeds in maize crops -- Evolution of weed communities and weed control strategy in Italy -- Time and space distribution of atrazine bans in Italy -- Selection criteria for alternative chemicals -- Agronomic persistence -- Selectivity and action spectrum -- Reliability -- Toxicological class -- Application of the selection criteria to atrazine substitutes -- Price -- Persistence -- Action spectrum -- Reliability -- Toxicity -- Conclusions -- References -- 3 Valuing chemical characteristics: a hedonic approach -- Introduction -- A model -- Data -- Treatment price and characteristics -- Estimation of a hedonic price function -- A basic model -- Sensitivity analysis -- The supply side -- Discussion.

Notes -- References -- Part II Estimating the costs of chemical accumulation -- 4 Environmental toxicology: the background for risk assessment -- Introduction -- The assessment of effects -- Toxicology and ecotoxicology -- Toxicological and ecotoxicological testing -- Limits of safety for human beings and the ecosystem -- The setting of environmental quality objectives -- The setting of acceptable daily intake and maximum allowable concentration -- The assessment of exposure -- Factors regulating the biogeochemical cycle of xenobiotics -- The behaviour of a chemical in soil -- The prediction of exposure -- The role of molecular properties -- Leaching indexes and ranking systems -- Partition analysis and multicompartmental models -- The problem of persistence -- How to perform a risk assessment -- Risk assessment of atrazine -- Exposure assessment -- Toxicological assessment -- References -- 5 The value of changes in health risks: a review -- Introduction -- Some basic definitions -- Empirical methods -- Indirect estimation methods -- Direct estimation methods -- The value of a statistical life -- Groundwater contamination -- Appendix -- Notes -- References -- 6 On estimating the benefits of groundwater protection: a contingent valuation study in Milan -- Introduction -- Benefit estimation method -- Introduction -- Approaches to benefit estimation -- Observed behaviour -- Hypothetical behaviour -- Selection of benefit estimation method -- The contingent valuation approach -- Italian context for the CVM study -- The study location: Milan -- Municipal water supply in Milan -- Water consumption behaviour -- Study design -- Survey instrument -- Valuation issue -- Payment vehicle and WTP elicitation method -- Questionnaire development -- Execution of the survey -- Empirical methods and results -- Sample description -- Response rate.

Socioeconomic breakdown -- Sex -- Age -- Education -- Professional status -- Household typology -- Water consumption behaviour and attitudes -- Sensitivity and calibration of responses -- Familiarity with market decisions -- Awareness of current water tariffs -- General environmental concerns -- Consistency tests and correlations -- Benefit estimates -- Reactions to the payment vehicle -- The binary choice WTP question -- Open-ended WTP questions -- Comparison of mean WTP estimates: compliance bias and anchoring effects -- Sensitivity analysis, sample and aggregate WTP estimates -- Trimmed mean WTP -- Protests, non-responses, and sample and aggregate WTP estimates -- Estimation of a WTP function -- Selection of explanatory variables -- Findings from the WTP function -- Discussion -- Evaluation of benefit estimates -- Size of the benefit estimates -- Prediction of benefit estimates -- A comparison with costs -- Recommendations -- Appendix 1: Water supply in Milan -- Water quality -- Water consumption -- Institutional framework and tariff systems -- Appendix 2: Final Questionnaire (translation) -- European Science Foundation/Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Contingent Valuation Survey for the Economic Valuation of Water… -- Description of the research project -- Final questions for interviewer -- Notes -- References -- Part III The analysis of market and regulatory failure -- 7 Market failure -- Introduction -- Externalities -- Consumers' demand -- Manufacturers' profit maximisation problem -- Social planner's maximisation problem -- Imperfect competition -- Model basics -- The social optimum -- Firms' profit-maximising decisions -- Imperfect competition and externalities -- Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- 8 Regulatory failure -- Introduction -- Regulation under ignorance -- The first best -- The ignorant regulator.

The dynamics of environmental pollution -- Non-renewable resources -- The first best (FB) -- The ignorant regulator (IR) -- First best versus ignorant regulation -- Renewable resources -- The first best (FB) -- The ignorant regulator (IR) -- First best versus ignorant regulation -- Summary -- Strategic behaviour and the protection of future patent value -- The model -- The product market -- The natural resource -- Product innovation -- The effect of strategic behaviour -- Conclusions -- Case study: the Italian herbicide industry -- Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Part IV Policies for regulating chemical accumulation -- 9 Optimal policies for regulating persistent chemicals -- Introduction -- Agricultural chemical characteristics: their design and their measurement -- Policy relevant issues -- General persistence taxes -- Unregulated competitive firm -- Regulating the production of persistence -- Societal maximisation conditions -- Integrated accumulation taxes -- The choice of environmental affinity -- The integration of accumulation policy -- Local characteristics and accumulation taxes -- Local level regulatory instruments (user taxes and zoning) -- Further complications: dynamic and strategic considerations -- Regulating for strategic industrial responses -- Regulating the transition phase -- Conclusion: application of optimal policies within the European Union -- Appendix: Measures of chemical fate -- Decay rates -- Affinity quotients: -- References -- 10 An analysis of alternative legal instruments for the regulation of pesticides -- Introduction -- Some problems with the current regulatory approach -- The European Union Standard -- The Italian approach -- Regulating pesticides: goals and incentives -- Principles of standard-setting -- Setting the level of environmental protection -- Differentiation and optimal specificity.

The costs of differentiation -- Interest group aspects -- Choice of instruments for environmental protection -- Liability rules -- Economic instruments, the accumulation tax -- Command and control regulation -- Prohibition -- Zoning -- Quality or target standards -- Licensing -- Summary -- Standard-setting in a European context -- Regulation of the EU level -- Enforcement of EU legislation upon Member States -- Summary -- Proposal for pesticide regulation in a European-national context -- The European Union standards -- The national standards -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References.