Garbage, Recycling, and Economic Incentives

生活垃圾的处理既有资源成本，也有环境成本，但在美国，大多数居民仍然不收取每袋垃圾的收集费用。全国各地的一些社区现在对每袋垃圾收费，但目前还不足以估计家庭对垃圾收集和回收的需求是价格、家庭收入和人口变量的函数。该项目的目的是收集必要的数据，统计估计家庭对垃圾收集和回收的需求。将从近200个城市收集为期三年的新数据集。这项研究将使市政官员能够更准确地预测由于每袋垃圾收集收费的变化而导致的处置服务需求的变化。

The disposal of household garbage entails both resource and environmental costs, but most residents in the United States still pay no fee per bag for garbage collection. A few communities around the country now charge a price per bag, but not enough is known to estimate household demand for the collection and recycling of garbage as function of price, household income, and demographic variable. The purpose of this project is to collect the necessary data to estimate statistically the household demand for garbage collection and recycling. A new data set will be assembled from almost 200 cities covering a three year period. This research will allow municipal officials to more accurately predict the change in demand for disposal services that would result from a change in the price per bag charged for garbage collection.