Lowering the cost of pollution control versus controlling pollution: A comment

Dwight Lee (1999) shows that the collectivity may be better, not worse off, when a technically "inefficient" pollution abatement technology is adopted. The purpose of this note is twofold. First, to show that once rent-seeking is incorporated into the analysis, Lee's qualified support for a technically inefficient pollution abatement technology is at best problematic, and at worst flawed. Second, to demonstrate that it is possible to make a less problematic normative case in favour of the adoption of the technically inefficient abatement policy.