10.2190/UM03-5CWX-GMDC-MBXC UM035CWXGMDCMBXC 1 The Time Dimension in Environmental Legislation 103 114 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 UM035CWXGMDCMBXC.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=UM035CWXGMDCMBXC 2 Kan Chen John W. Lathrop Electrical and Computer Engineering Systems Engineering Laboratory, University of Michigan <p>Many of the current environmental legislations include specific deadlines for meeting environmental standards. It has been argued that some of the deadlines are unreasonable, as they evidence little regard for economic and social costs. There have already been a couple of occasions where such deadlines have been suspended or postponed, after lively debate. It is possible that there will be more such debate in the near future regarding the further postponement of these deadlines and the suspension of other deadlines.</p><p>What are the environmental costs of postponing deadlines? What are the economic and social costs of imposing early deadlines? How do we balance these costs as we consider setting deadlines in environmental legislation? These are the kind of questions to which this paper will be addressed. Specifically, the paper will attempt to illuminate the time dimension issue in its environmental context, to review the past research related to the issue, to discuss the significance of the problem, and to suggest policy-oriented research in this area.</p> K. Chen, A Macrosystem Analysis of the Human Environment, <i>Journal of Environmental Systems, 1</i>:2, 1971. R. Millward, <i>Public Expenditure Economics</i>, McGraw-Hill, Chapter 5, 1971. A. V. Kneese, Rationalizing Decisions in the Quality Management of Water Supply in Urban-Industrial Areas, <i>The Public Economy of Urban Communities</i>, J. Margolis, (ed.), Johns Hopkins Press, 1964. R. Turvey, Side Effects of Resource Use, <i>Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy</i>, H. Jarrett, (ed.), Johns Hopkins Press, 1966. W. D. Ruckelshaus, Decision of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Regarding Suspension of the 1975 Auto Emission Standards, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution of the Senate Committee on Public Works, Serial No. 93-49, U. S. G. P. O., 1973. S. A. Marglin, The Social Rate of Discount and the Optimal Rate of Investment, <i>Quarterly Journal of Economics, 77</i>, pp. 95-112, February, 1963. W. J. Baumol, On the Discount Rate for Public Projects, <i>Public Expenditure and Policy Analysis</i>, Haveman and Margolis, (eds.), Markham, 1970. C. W. Clark, The Economics of Overexploitation, <i>Science, 181</i>, August 17, 1973. R. L. Keeney and H. Raiffa, <i>Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Tradeoffs</i>, Wiley, 1976. K. Chen and G. Zissis, Philosophical and Methodological Approaches to Technology Assessment, <i>Journal of the International Society for Technology Assessment, 1</i>:1, 1975.