Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2015, 63(6), 2027-2033 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201563062027

Bounds and Bunching: Distributions of Air Pollutants Produced by New Automobiles

Josef Montag, Marek Litzman
Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemìdìlská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

Euro norms set limits on per-kilometer emissions of air pollutants produced by new cars. Satisfying these limits is always costly, the existing models generally assume that cars are produced as to just satisfy the norms. This theory predicts bunching of measured emissions below the limits. We find this not to be consistent with the data. In fact, medians of measured emissions are often at around one half or less of the respective limit and are supported by wide distributions. Implications for optimum tax policies are briefly discussed.

Keywords: Euro norms, air pollutants, bunching, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, diesel, petrol
Grants and funding:

This research was funded by the Education for Competitiveness Operational Programme project No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0031, co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic.

Prepublished online: December 26, 2015; Published: January 1, 2016  Show citation

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Montag, J., & Litzman, M. (2015). Bounds and Bunching: Distributions of Air Pollutants Produced by New Automobiles. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 63(6), 2027-2033. doi: 10.11118/actaun201563062027
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