Framing Rules: Breaking the Information Bottleneck

Abstract:     
This article attempts to develop "framing rules" for environmental problem-identification and problem-solving by inducing the production and disclosure of information that otherwise would be unavailable or difficult to obtain, or by altering the parties' incentives to act cooperatively in environmental problem-solving, rather than strategically attempting to thwart it. It argues that environmental programs should be structured to create incentives, both positive and negative, for private parties to continuously produce and disclose data that is relevant to solving environmental problems. In addition, policies should promote decentralized experimentation that can lead to the development of environmentally better technologies and production processes. Governments should provide centralized collection and analysis of locally produced data and create mechanisms for its efficient dissemination. In addition to centralized data and information collection, governments should identify categories of information that are best produced centrally and assign responsibility to centralized agencies to conduct or oversee that research.

Accepted Paper Series