NIMBY AND THE HAZARDOUS AND TOXIC-WASTE SITING DILEMMA - THE NEED FORCONCEPT CLARIFICATION

Finding ways to appropriately dispose of the various wastes that we ge nerate has become one of our most urgent and difficult public policy p roblems. Researchers and policymakers alike have increasingly attribut ed much of the blame for policy siting failures to local not-in-my-bac kyard (NIMBY) responses. However, this concept, as currently used in t he literature, has limited utility because of the absence of conceptua l and operational clarity. We discuss major problems with the concept, including indiscriminate use, incentives problems, equity issues, and the assumed irrational base of NIMBYism. important research issues ar e identified that must be addressed if the concept is to retain scient ific and policymaking utility.