[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25031-25032]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12035]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-6010-1]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Postponing Consumption: An Examination of Individual
and Household Preferences
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB): Postponing Consumption: An Examination
of Individual and Household Preferences.
Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is
soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information
collection as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 6, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Melonie Williams (2172) Office of Policy, Planning and
Evaluation, US EPA, 401 M St. SW, Washington, DC 20460. Interested
persons may obtain a copy of the ICR without charge by calling Melonie
Williams at 202-260-7978 or via e-mail at
williams.melonie@epamail.epa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melonie Williams at 202-260-7978 or
via e-mail at williams.melonie@epamail.epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are
(i) those individuals who are contacted and asked to participate in the
study and (ii) those who voluntarily agree to participate in the study.
Residents in the Atlanta, GA area will be contacted by telephone
(random-digit dialing), students at an as-yet-undetermined university
will be contacted by e-mail (via group mailing lists) and posted
announcements.
Title: Postponing Consumption: An Examination of Individual and
Household Preferences.
Abstract: This information collection exercise is a pilot study
designed to examine individual and household discount rates and
individual preferences over intergenerational distributions of wealth.
Currently, market interest rates are used as proxies for individual
and social discount rates in economic analyses of EPA programs.
Considerable evidence indicates, however, that these discount rates may
bear no relationship to market rates. Instead, individual discount
rates appear to vary with respect to time horizon, socio-demographic
characteristics, and the nature of the good being traded across time.
This study will use the experimental laboratory to examine
individual and household discount rates. Experiment participants will
be asked to make intertemporal trade-offs and discount rates will be
inferred from their choices. Participants will also be asked to provide
information on their socio-demographic characteristics and financial
market activities. Ultimately, these data will be used to (i) generate
individual and household discount rates for use in economic models
involving intertemporal components and (ii) examine the appropriateness
of using market interest rates as social discount rates in economic
analyses of public programs.
Moreover, the choice of a particular discount rate to be used in
economic analyses of EPA programs is likely to have consequences for
the intergenerational distribution of wealth. Thus, equity issues may
influence individual preferences over the discount rate used to
evaluate EPA programs.
This study will use the experimental laboratory to examine
individual preferences over income distributions. Laboratory incentives
will be designed to create alternative social decision mechanisms under
which subjects choose among different income distributions that
determine subject payments. The characteristics defining these
alternative social decision mechanisms correspond to equity issues
similar to those arising from EPA policies. By observing individual
preferences over income distributions under alternative decision rules,
we can provide EPA policymakers with evidence on public preferences
over intergenerational distributions of wealth.
Laboratory incentives will involve real (as opposed to
hypothetical) economic commitments. Participation in these experiments
will be informed and voluntary. Participants will be able to terminate
participation at any time without penalty. Well-established procedures
will be in place to ensure the participants' anonymity and the
confidentiality of their responses. An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part
9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15.
The EPA would like to solicit comments to:
(i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and
(iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
Burden Statement: 330 subjects will participate in those
experiments examining discount rates. Subjects will convene in groups
at an Atlanta conference center. Each subject will participate in one
experimental session and each experimental session will last
approximately 1.5 hours inclusive of time to sign informed-consent
forms, answer questionnaires, read experimental instructions and record
decisions. Subjects will incur an estimated average of 45 minutes
travel time. Assuming a 75% show-up rate, Haigler-Bailly, who is likely
to conduct the experiments, has estimated that 440 subjects should be
recruited to obtain a final sample size of 330. Recruiting is by
telephone and Haigler-Bailly estimates that 2000 completed contacts are
necessary to obtain 440 recruits. The phone calls will last from 2
minutes (for those who refuse to participate) to 4 minutes (for those
who agree to participate). Hence, the estimated burden for these
experiments is 824 hours.
260 subjects will participate in those experiments examining
preferences over income distributions. Subjects will convene in groups
on a university campus. Each subject will participate in
[[Page 25032]]
one experimental session and each experimental session will last
approximately 1.25 hours inclusive of time to sign informed-consent
forms, answer questionnaires, read experimental instructions and record
decisions. Since subjects are located at the site, travel time will be
negligible. Moreover, the recruitment burden will be negligible, so no
separate burden estimate is calculated. Hence, the estimated burden for
these experiments is 325 hours. Total burden for the pilot study is
thus 1149 hours. Labor costs were estimated based on the Bureau of
Labor Statistics April 18, 1997 release of weekly earnings of wage and
salary workers. Using median earnings ($504/wk), the total burden cost
is estimated at $14,477.
Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time
needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and
disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to
comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements;
train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information;
search data sources; complete and review the collection of information;
and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
Dated: April 30, 1998.
Melonie B. Williams,
Economist.
[FR Doc. 98-12035 Filed 5-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U
