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By Jane S. Shaw and Lynn Scarlett
A Summary
A new paper challenges conventional wisdom about the role of business in environmental issues. Written primarily for business executives, it offers new ideas for addressing environmental challenges while keeping a principled commitment to market competition, consumer choice, and innovation.
"Environmental Progress: What Every Executive Should Know," by Lynn Scarlett of the Reason Foundation and Jane S. Shaw of PERC, makes such points as:
- The search for profits leads to conservation and reduction of pollution.
- Business is not the central cause of environmental problems.
- Environmental harm can be traced to two major problems: Open access to unowned resources and the inability of people to defend their common-law rights against harm from pollution.
- Rhetoric about "polluter pays," "the precautionary principle," and "market-based" environmentalism is often shallow.
- In many cases, decentralization and performance standards would improve regulation.
Reason Foundation, which also supported the paper, is a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that is committed to public policies that reflect the rule of law and personal responsibility.
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Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
PERC’s publications, each designed to resonate with specific groups, move ideas generated at PERC to broader audiences.
Research is at the heart of PERC's work, with a focus on the question: What is the link between economic growth and environmental quality?
The goal of PERC’s programs is to fully realize the vision of establishing “PERC University,” where scholars, students, policy makers, and others convene to expand the applications of free market environmentalism.
PERC's fellowships share a common goal of exposing new scholars, students, journalists, and policy makers to free market environmentalism, as well as enable scholars already familiar with FME to explore new applications.
PERC continues to publish and present a broad range of research and discussion through podcasts, videos, and other multimedia channels.