Sustainable Development: Comparative Analytics of Law and Economics: Brazil Vis-a-Vis India
FOURTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABILITY, RAJIV GANDHI INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, SHILLONG, INDIA, 11-13 MARCH 2015
25 Pages Posted: 30 May 2015
Date Written: March 11, 2015
Abstract
On 17 July 2014 the Indian Prime Minister and South African President jointly announced about the upcoming summit of IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa). The third member Brazil did not get any attention here. The task of the Indian academic fraternity here is to bring to the notice of the policy makers the issues and the connections between India and Brazil in light of welfare economics.
Almost 70 percent of India's surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated in absence of strong water pollution regulation thanks to the Supreme Court for active implementation and enforcement of air pollution regulation. In Brazil deforestation, acid rain, endangered species, air pollution and waste disposal are the issues of concern. Against this backdrop this study analyzed from the view point of welfare economics the impact of the environmental issues of deforestation in Brazil and water pollution in India on the national productive activities. The changes in the welfares of polluters and pollutees under alternative legal regimes with respect to taxes and subsidies are analyzed here.
This study sheds light on the fusion of legal and economic elements with regard to deforestation in Brazil and water pollution in India. The utility maximization framework is applied here (i) to both of polluter and pollutee in the context water pollution and to both of beneficiaries and antagonists of deforestation. In terms of findings, this study explored, among others, (i) the factor, that may motivate the victim of water pollution not to spend a single paise on filtration for setting up an effluent treatment plant under the generous legal regime which likes to pay subsidy equal to damage and (ii) the nature of preference of the victim of pollution for tax vis-à-vis compensation.
Keywords: Externality, Pigovian Tax, Subsidy, Deforestation, Water Pollution, Social Cost
JEL Classification: K32
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