Assessing societal costs associated with environmental impacts

Abstract

A study of “harmless” odors was utilized as a platform for determining the cost impact of envi-ronmental effects resulting from management decisions. The cost to society of “harmless” odors eventually leads to internal costs for companies emitting the odors. It is easier to determine societal costs for “harmless” odors than to estimate the internal costs that eventually accrue to a company. However, larger societal costs will lead to larger company costs; larger societal costs prob-ably also lead to faster company internalization of costs.c 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.