EPA's toxic release inventory: stimulus and response

This article focuses on the TRI as a pollution control instrument. The research we report addresses two sets of questions: First, what is the history of TRI? Where did the list come from? How has industry responded? Then, what are the determinants of TRI emissions across the 50 states? Is industry response shaped by regulatory action or by public stimulus? The next section of the article addresses the first set of questions. That discussion is followed by a theoretical and empirical section that addresses the second set. Having reported and discussed our empirical findings, a short final section concludes the article.