Resumen

REYES GIL, Rosa E.; GALVAN RICO, Luis E  y  AGUIAR SERRA, Mauricio. El precio de la contaminación como herramienta económica e instrumento de política ambiental . INCI [online]. 2005, vol.30, n.7, pp.436-441. ISSN 0378-1844.

Global environmental problems such as those generated by pollution can be considered as an economic issue and, thus, they must be addressed in economical terms. From the point of view of economics, pollution is considered a negative externality generated as a consequence of production and consumption processes. The purpose of this work is a) to conceptualize pollution from an economic standpoint, b) to determine its optimal level for both the different economic agents involved as for society at large, and c) to present some methods in order to achieve such a level. Pollution implies costs, whenever the economic agent undergoing it is compensated by the agent who generates it. The socially optimal level of pollution is determined by the intersection of the curves of marginal costs for the agent who undergoes the pollution and marginal benefits for the economic agent who generates it. The optimal level of pollution can be estimated by several methods, such as the tax method described by Pigou and through free negotiation between parts, as described by Coase. Other environmental policies used to reach the optimal pollution level are: a) the fixation of environmental standards, establishing a maximal amount of polluting agent; b) the establishment of subsidies to reduce pollution, stimulating the polluting agent to invest in clean technologies; and c) the emission of contamination permissions.

Palabras clave : Contaminación; Economía Ambiental; Externalidad ; Nivel Óptimo de Contaminación ; Política Ambiental .