| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 應用經濟學系所 === 98 === Generally speaking, economic development and environmental protection is not easy to find a balance. With the ongoing economic development, the government enacts policies relating to environmental protection to limit water pollution emissions caused by overdevelopment. Manufacturing industry plays an important role in Taiwan’s economic development. However, day after day, a large number of cases reveal the fact that manufacturing plants are one of the major causes of water pollution. Recently, Taiwanese Water Pollution Control Act has been amended for several times. However, water pollution environmental regulations usually have a direct impact on the producer. These regulations may change the level of investment and input combinations. Many companies are also fined for this reason. In addition, companies complying with them may bear additional cost for the installation of pollution abatement facilities.
As a result, by estimating the cost function and using econometric methods such as fixed-effect method or random-effect method, this thesis is trying to examine the impact of Taiwanese Water Pollution Control Act on total factor productivity of manufacturers. Data are collected through secondary data from Taiwan Economic Journal Data Bank, National Statistics Data Bank, and Central Bank of the Republic of China. The data includes 12 manufacturing industries from 1991 to 2008. Research industries consist of food manufacturing, plastic manufacturing, textile mills, machinery manufacturing, electrical manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, paper manufacturing, basic metal industry, rubber industry, electronics manufacturing, automotive industry, petroleum and coal products manufacturing, and other manufacturing. We look forward to the results, and hope they will be useful for policy-makers when amending the law.
The empirical results indicate that the impact of Taiwanese Water Pollution Control Act effluent standards had a negative effect on manufacturers in 1991, 1987, 2000 and 2003. The Act in 1991, 1987, 2000 and 2003 caused manufacturers’ total cost increased and total factor productivity decreased. It also indicates that the impact of Taiwanese Water Pollution Control Act effluent standards had a positive effect on manufacturers in 2007. The Act in 2007 lead to manufacturers’ total cost declined and total factor productivity increased.
The empirical results of different industries in Taiwan shows Taiwanese Water Pollution Control Act may affect the total factor productivity of all firms truly. The Act caused food manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, paper manufacturing, rubber industry, basic metal industry, electronics manufacturing, and Petroleum and coal products manufacturing’s total cost increased and total factor productivity decrease; The Act caused plastic manufacturing, textile mills, machinery manufacturing, electrical manufacturing, paper manufacturing, rubber industry, basic metal industry, electronics manufacturing, automotive industry and petroleum and coal products manufacturing’s total cost declined and total factor productivity risen.
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