A structural model of regional economic growth is estimated using data for 2243 rural U.S. counties. Five indices designed to capture specific amenity and quality of life characteristics are constructed using fifty-four separate indicators. Results suggest that amenity characteristics can be organized into consistent and meaningful empirical measures that move beyond ad hoc descriptions of amenities. In addition to insights into the influence of local characteristics ranging from tax burdens to income distribution on regional economic growth, results suggest that predictable relationships between amenities, quality of life, and local economic performance exist.

Waste recycling is a prominent indicator of environmental sustainability in the pursuit of sustainable development. Exploring the determinants of waste recycling is therefore of importance to policy makers. Current research in recycling has explored several important factors to assess household participation in recycling. The local community policy towards recycling is regarded as an important factor, as it can assist households in collecting recyclables as well as implementing innovative recycling programmes. In this paper we look again at the role of community in recycling by asking to what extent a region's degree of social coherence, measured as social capital, would influence its recycling rate. Using Taiwan as a case study we applied the fixed effect model in panel data analysis to estimate the impact of social capital on the regional recycling rate. The estimation shows that the elasticity of social capital to regional recycling rate is about 0.38-0.43 at the 5% significance level. This provides evidence that a region's social relations are highly correlated with its recycling performance; a region's degree of social capital appears to increase its recycling rate. This finding implies that a successful recycling programme requires interactions between society and the environment. Enhancing a region's degree of social capital can also be incorporated as a part of that region's recycling programme. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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Unit pricing is a program in solid waste management that integrates market instruments to encourage households to reduce waste generation and increase recycling. Many studies have shown that unit pricing is effective, especially when the evaluation is based on comparing outcomes before and after implementation. In this paper, we use the so-called difference-in-differences approach to evaluate unit pricing. This approach can provide a less-biased estimation, and can help to examine whether a unit pricing program generates less waste and higher recycling or results in illegal dumping in neighboring regions. Using the fee-per-bag program implemented in Taipei City, Taiwan, as a case study, we found that unit pricing does reduce the amount of garbage but its impact on recycling is not as significant as the current literature suggests. Moreover, the program causes a serious negative externality: more than 60% of the garbage reduction in the city is due to increased dumping of waste in neighboring regions. As the impact of unit-pricing on recycling is limited, policy-makers cannot rely solely on this program to enhance recycling in the management of municipal solid waste.