The voluntary provision of a pure public good: The case of reduced CFC emissions and the Montreal Protocol

This paper applies the theory of the voluntary provision of a pure public good to the behavior of nations to curb chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions during the late 1980s. By devising an empirical test, we determine that these cutbacks in emissions are consistent with Nash behavior. When taste parameters are controlled, the relationship between emission cutbacks and national income is nearly linear as implied by the theory. If the sample is purged of potential outliers, then the linear relationship results. A significant taste parameter is the extent of political and civil freedoms, while a marginally significant parameter is geophysical position in terms of latitude.