Harrington paradox is a notion in the environmental and ecological economics describing the compliance of firms to the environmental regulations. The paradox was first described in Winston Harrington's paper in 1988 and was based on the research over monitoring, realization and compliance to ecological standards in the USA from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s. According to the paradox, the firms in general comply with ecological standards in spite of the fact that:
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Explanation
Firms' compliance at such level is contrary to the rational crime theory of Gary Becker which describes the behavior of profit maximizing entities. The rational firms will comply to the standards only in case the expected fine is higher than the cost of compliance. In order to explain the paradox it was suggested that firms exhibit altruism or self-image concern.
Observation
The empirical data observing the paradox is rare. In the research conducted by Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency in 2001 no serious violations were revealed, but in the majority of firms (80%) there were minor deviations from standards. The fact that in Norway there is low frequency of monitoring and the fine system for minor violations is light can not bring strong evidence to the paradox, as major violations imply very strict punishments which is conforming to the rational crime theory.