Publications

PUBLICATIONS

> Published Papers

> Book Chapters and Proceedings

> Working Papers

PUBLISHED PAPERS

Dowell, G., and Lyon, T. “Beliefs Matter: Local Climate Concerns and Industrial Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States,” Journal of Business Ethics, forthcoming.
Leffel, B, Lyon, T. and Newell, J. “Filling the Climate Governance Gap: Do Corporate Initiatives Matter as much as State and Local Government Policy?,” Energy Research and Social Science, March 2024.
- - Finalist, 2023 Haas Sustainable Business Research Prize.
"No End in Sight? A Greenwash Review and Research Agenda" (with A. Wren Montgomery and Julian Barg), Organization & Environment. (2023)
“Leadership Forum on Organizations and Sustainability: Taking Stock, Looking Forward.” (with Tobias Hahn, Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Mike Russo, and Judith Walls), Organization & Environment. 2021; 34(1): 3-17.
A. Wren Montgomery, Kim Wolske and Thomas P. Lyon (2020). “The Millennial `Meh’: Correlated Groups as Collective Agents in the Automobile Field,” Journal of Management Studies, in press.
Mireille Chiroleu‐Assouline and Thomas P. Lyon (2020). "Merchants of Doubt: Corporate political action when NGO credibility is uncertain." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2020, 29(2): 439-461.
Thomas P. Lyon (2019). "Introduction to the Special Issue on 'Social Movements and Private Environmental Governance'," Organization & Environment. 1-4.
Magali A. Delmas, Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2019). "Understanding the Role of the Corporation in Sustainability Transitions," Organization & Environment, 32(2): 87-97.
Carolyn Fischer and Thomas P. Lyon (2019). " A Theory of Multitier Ecolabel Competition," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics. 6(3): 461-501.
Thomas P. Lyon, Magali A. Delmas, John W. Maxwell, Pratima (Tima) Bansal, Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, Patricia Crifo, Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Pascal Gond, Andrew King, Michael Lenox, Michael Toffel, David Vogel, Frank (2018). "CSR Needs CPR: Corporate Sustainability and Politics," California Management Review. 60(4).

*Winner of the Best Article of 2019 in CMR*Video: Beyond CSR: Corporate Political Responsibility (CPR)

Thomas P. Lyon (2018). "Review of 'Can Business Save the Earth?: Innovating our Way to Sustainability' By Michael Lemox and Aaron Chatterji," Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(4): 1-3.
Thomas P. Lyon (2018). "Nonmarket Strategy and Social Movements Research: What Are the Gains from Trade?," Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 56.
Thomas P. Lyon, A. Wren Montgomery and Dan Zhao (2018). "Not a Drop to Drink?: Drinking Water Quality, System Ownership, and Stakeholder Attention," Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 56.
Allen Blackman, Thomas P. Lyon, Kris Wernstedt and Haitao Yin (2018). "V oluntary Cleanup Programs for Brownfield Sites: A Theoretical Analysis," Environmental and Resource Economics, 70:297-322.
Anthony Heyes, Thomas P. Lyon and Steve Martin (2018).“Salience games: Private politics when public attention is limited” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 88: 396-410.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2016).“Self-Regulation and Regulatory Flexibility:Why Firms May be Reluctant to Signal Green” Advances in Strategic Management, 34: 301-329.
Thomas P. Lyon, (2016).“The Drivers and Impacts of Renewable Portfolio Standards,” Annual Review of Resource Economics, 8: 141-155.
Thomas P. Lyon, Rylie E.O. Pelton, Mo Li and Timothy M. Smith (2016). “Optimizing Eco-Efficiency Across the Procurement Portfolio,” Environmental Science & Technology, 50: 5908-5918.
Thomas P. Lyon (2015). "Front Groups Play a Growing and Dangerous Role in Energy Policy," US Association for Energy Economics Dialogue, 23(3).
Thomas P. Lyon and A. Wren Montgomery (2015). “The Means and End of Greenwash,” Organization and Environment, 28(2): 223–249.
Brianne Kelly, Bonnie Keeler, Gary Helm, Gail Krantzberg, Thomas P. Lyon and Warren Mabee (2015). "Energy as a Driver of Change in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin,” Journal of Great Lakes Research, Supplement 1, 41: 59-68.
Thomas P. Lyon and Jay P. Shimshack (2015). "Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Newsweek's Green Companies Rankings," Business & Society, 54(5): 632-675.
Eun-Hee Kim and Thomas P. Lyon (2014). “Greenwash vs. Brownwash: Exaggeration and Undue Modesty in Corporate Sustainability Disclosure," Organization Science, 26(3): 705-723.
Dietrich Earnhart, Madhu Khanna and Thomas P. Lyon (2014). “Corporate Environmental Strategies in Emerging Economies,” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 8: 164-185.
Carolyn Fischer and Thomas P. Lyon (2014). "Competing Environmental Labels," Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 23(3): 692-716.
Thomas P. Lyon and A, Wren Montgomery (2013). "Tweetjacked: The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Greenwash," Journal of Business Ethics, 118(4): 747-757.
Thomas P. Lyon, Yao Lu, Xinzheng Shi, and Qie Yin (2013). "How Do Investors Respond to Green Company Awards in China?" Ecological Economics, 94: 1-8.
Allen Blackman, Eduardo Uribe, Bart van Hoof and Thomas P. Lyon (2013). “Voluntary Environmental Agreements in Developing Countries: The Colombian Experience,” Policy Sciences, 46: 335–385.
Bart van Hoof and Thomas P. Lyon (2013). “Cleaner Production in Small Firms Taking Part in Mexico ́s Sustainable Supplier Program,” Journal of Cleaner Production, 41: 270-282.
Kris Wernstedt, Allen Blackman, Thomas P. Lyon and Kelly Novak (2013). “Revitalizing Underperforming and Contaminated Land through Voluntary Action: Perspectives from U.S. Voluntary Cleanup Programs,” Land Use Policy, 31: 545-556.
Jia-Hai Yuan and Thomas P. Lyon (2012). “Promoting Global CCS RDD&D by Stronger U.S.–China Collaboration,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16: 6746-6769.
Thomas P. Lyon and Nathan Wilson (2012). "Capture or Contract? The Early Years of Electric Utility Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, 40: 225-241.
Andrew R. Bell, Rick L. Riolo, Jacqueline M. Doremus, Daniel G. Brown, Thomas P. Lyon, John Vandermeer, and Arun Agrawal (2012). "Fragmenting Forests: The Double Edge of Effective Forest Monitoring," Environmental Science & Policy, 16: 20-30.
Xiaoli Zhao, Thomas P. Lyon, and Cui Song (2012). "Lurching Towards Markets for Power: China's Electricity Policy 1985-2007," Applied Energy, 94: 148-155.
Thomas P. Lyon, Mark Michelin, Arie Jongejan, and Thomas Leahy (2012). "Is 'Smart Charging' Policy for Electric Vehicles Worthwhile?" Energy Policy, 41: 259-268.
Thomas P. Lyon and Russell Baruffi (2011). "Creating a Plug-In Electric Vehicle Cluster in Michigan: Prospects and Policy Options," Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, 18: 303-347.
Eun-Hee Kim and Thomas P. Lyon (2011). "When Does Institutional Investor Activism Increase Shareholder Value?: The Carbon Disclosure Project," The BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 11(1) Article 50.
Nicholas Powers, Allen Blackman, Thomas P. Lyon and Urvashi Narain (2011)."Does Disclosure Reduce Pollution? Evidence from India's Green Rating Project," Environmental and Resource Economics, 50(1): 131-155.
Eun-Hee Kim and Thomas P. Lyon (2011). "Strategic Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from the DOE's Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Registry," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 61: 311-326.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell, (2011). "Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit." Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 20(1): 3-41.
Allen Blackman, Sarah Darley, Thomas P. Lyon and Kris Wernstedt (2010). "What Drives Participation in State Voluntary Cleanup Programs? Evidence from Oregon," Land Economics, 86(4): 785-799.
Thomas P. Lyon and Haitao Yin (2010). "Why Do States Adopt Renewable Portfolio Standards?: An Empirical Investigation," The Energy Journal, 31(3): 131-155.
Thomas P. Lyon (2009). "Introduction to the Special Issue on Management Strategy and the Environment," Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 18(1): 1-6.
Thomas P. Lyon (2009). "China is Key to Global Climate Solution," Barron's, 89(9).
Thomas P. Lyon (2008). "A U.S.-China Partnership to Protect Our Climate," Michigan Law Review First Impressions, 107(16).
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2008). "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment: A Theoretical Perspective," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 1(0): 1-22.

*Reprinted in Abigail McWilliam (ed.) (2014), The Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility, Edgar Elgar Press.

Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2007). "Environmental Public Voluntary Programs Reconsidered," The Policy Studies Journal, 35(4): 723-750.

*Reprinted in Peter de Leon and Jorge Rivera (eds.) (2009), Voluntary Environmental Programs: A Policy Perspective, Lanham MD: Lexington Books.

Thomas P. Lyon (2007). “Why Rate-of-Return Adders are Unlikely to Increase Transmission Investment,” The Electricity Journal, 20(5): 48-55.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2007). "Greenwash," Administrative and Regulatory Law News, 32(4).
Allen Blackman, Thomas P. Lyon and Nicholas Sisto (2006). "Voluntary Environmental Agreements when Regulatory Capacity is Weak," Comparative Economics Studies, 48: 682-702.
Thomas P. Lyon (2006). "Does Dual Sourcing Lower Procurement Costs?" The Journal of Industrial Economics, 54(2): 223-252.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Mayo (2005). "Regulatory Opportunism and Investment Behavior: Evidence from the U.S. Electric Utility Industry." RAND Journal of Economics, 36(3): 628-644.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2004). "Astroturf: Interest Group Lobbying and Corporate Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 13(4): 561-597.
Neslihan Aydogan and Thomas P. Lyon (2004). "Spatial Proximity and Complementarities in the Trading of Tacit Knowledge," International Journal of Industrial Organization, 22: 1115-1135.
Thomas P. Lyon and Eric Rasmusen (2004). "Buyer-Option Contracts Restored: Renegotiation, Inefficient Threats, and the Hold-Up Problem," The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 20(1): 148-169.
Thomas P. Lyon (2003). "Voluntary versus Mandatory Approaches to Climate Change Mitigation," Resources, 150: 6-7.
Thomas P. Lyon (2003). "Voluntary versus Mandatory Approaches to Climate Change Mitigation," Resources for the Future, Brief 03-01.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2003). "Self-regulation, Taxation and Public Voluntary Environmental Agreements," Journal of Public Economics, 87: 1453-1486.
Thomas P. Lyon (2003). "Green Firms Bearing Gifts," Regulation, 26(3): 36-40.
Thomas P. Lyon and Haizhou Huang (2002), "Legal Remedies for Breach of the Regulatory "Contract"," Journal of Regulatory Economics, 22(2): 107-132.
John W. Maxwell, Thomas P. Lyon and Steven C. Hackett (2000). "Self-Regulation and Social Welfare: The Political Economy of Corporate Environmentalism," Journal of Law & Economics, 43(2): 583-618.

*Reprinted in Abagail McWilliam (ed.) (2014), The Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility, Edward Elgar Press.*Reprinted in Thomas P. Lyons, Daniel Diermeier and Glen Dowell (eds.) (2014), Corporate Sustainability, Sage Major Works Series.*Reprinted in Thomas P. Lyon (ed.) (2007), The Political Economy of Regulation, Edward Elgar Press.

Stefan Lutz, Thomas P. Lyon, and John W. Maxwell (2000). "Quality Leadership when Regulatory Standards are Forthcoming," The Journal of Industrial Economics, 48(3): 331-348.
Thomas P. Lyon (1999). "Quality, Insurance, and Consumer Choice in Health Care Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 8(4): 545-580.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (1999). “Corporate Environmental Strategies as Tools to Influence Regulation," Business Strategy and the Environment, 8(3): 189-196.
Thomas P. Lyon and Haizhou Huang (1996). “Innovation and Imitation in an Asymmetrically-Regulated Industry,” International Journal of Industrial Organization, 15(1): 29-50.
Thomas P. Lyon (1996). "A Model of Sliding-Scale Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, 9(3): 227-247.
Thomas P. Lyon (1996). "Evaluating the Performance of Non-Bayesian Regulatory Mechanisms," Journal of Regulatory Economics, 9(1): 41-60.
Thomas P. Lyon and Haihzou Huang (1995). “Asymmetric Regulation and Incentives for Innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, 4(4): 769-776.
Thomas P. Lyon (1995). “Regulatory Hindsight Review and Innovation by Electric Utilities,” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 7(3): 233-254.
Keith J. Crocker and Thomas P. Lyon (1994). "What Do 'Facilitating Practices' Facilitate? An Empirical Investigation of Most-Favored-Nation Clauses in Natural Gas Contracts," Journal of Law and Economics, 37(2): 297-322.
Thomas P. Lyon and Steven C. Hackett (1993). "Bottlenecks and Governance Structures: Open Access and Long-Term Contracting in Natural Gas," Journal of Law, Economics, & Organizations, 9(2): 380-398.
Thomas P. Lyon and David Besanko (1993). "Equilibrium Incentive for Most-Favored Customer Clauses in an Oligopolistic Industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, 11: 347-367.
Thomas P. Lyon (1992). "Regulation with '20-20 Hindsight': Least-Cost Rules and Variable Costs," The Journal of Industrial Economics, 40(3): 277-289.
Thomas P. Lyon (1991). "Regulation with '20-20 Hindsight: Heads I Win, Tails you Lose?" The RAND Journal of Economics, 22(4): 581-595.
Thomas P. Lyon and Michael A. Toman (1991). “Designing Price Caps for Gas Distribution Systems,” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 3 (2): 175-192.

*Reprinted after independent review (1992) in California Public Utilities Commission Working Paper Series, 3: 19-40.

Thomas P. Lyon (1990). “Spot and Forward Markets for Natural Gas: The Effects of State Regulation,” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 2(3): 299-316.
Thomas P. Lyon (1990). “Natural Gas Policy: The Unresolved Issues,” The Energy Journal, 11(2): 23-50.
Thomas P. Lyon and Benjamin Schlesinger (1988). “Gas Utility Supply Planning: Risk Management and Regulatory Oversight," The Energy Journal, 9(3): 153-160.
Thomas P. Lyon and Benjamin Schlesinger (1987). "Direct Gas Markets: What They Mean for Distributor Supply Planning," Public Utilities Fortnightly 119(2): 18-23.

BOOK CHAPTERS AND PROCEEDINGS

Magali Delmas, Thomas P. Lyon, and Sean Jackson (2020). “Non-profits and the Environment: Using Market Forces for Social Good,” in Walter W. Powell and Patricia Bromley, editors, The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, Stanford University Press, 2020.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2016). “Self-Regulation and Regulatory Flexibility: Why Firms May be Reluctant to Signal Green,” in John M. De Figueiredo , Michael Lenox , Felix Oberholzer-Gee , Richard G. Vanden Bergh (ed.), Strategy Beyond Markets (Advances in Strategic Management, Volume 34) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016, 34: 301 – 329.
Thomas P. Lyon (2016). "Astroturf Groups," in Stephen L. Schechter (ed.), American Governance, Detroit: Macmillan.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2013). "On the Profitability of Corporate Environmentalism," in Christopher Thomas, Jr. and William F. Shughart II (eds.), the Oxford Handbook of Managerial Economics, Oxford University Press.
Thomas P. Lyon (2012). "Toward Sustainability: The Roles and Limitations of Certification," in the Steering Committee of the State-of-Knowledge Assessment of Standards and Certification, RESOLVE, Inc.
David P. Baron and Thomas P. Lyon (2012). "Environmental Governance," in Patima Bansal and Andrew J. Hoffman (eds.), The Oxford Handbook on Business and the Natural Environment, Oxford University Press.
Thomas P. Lyon and Eun-Hee Kim (2011). "The Carbon Disclosure Project," in the Handbook of Transnational Governance: New Institutions and Inovations, Cambridge: Polity, pp. 213-218.
Thomas P. Lyon (2009). “Environmental Governance: An Economic Perspective,” in Magali Delmas and Oran Young (eds.), Governance for the Environment: New Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomas P. Lyon (2007). “Capitale sociale e crescita economica in Italia (1970-1995)," (Making Capitalism Work; Social Capital and Economic Growth in Italy, 1970-1995), in C. Carboni e M. Moroni (eds.), Lo sviluppo locale: Storia, economia e sociologia, Turin, Italy:Il Mulino.
Thomas P. Lyon and Neslihan Aydogan (2008). "Reciprocity, Proximity and Performance of Research Consortia,” in Neslihan Aydogan and Vincent Chen (eds.), Social Capital and Business Development in High-Technology Clusters: An Analysis of Contemporary U.S. Agglomerations, New York: Springer Press.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2003). "Mandatory and Voluntary Approaches to Mitigating Climate Change," in Andrea Baranzini and Phillippe Thalmann (eds.), Voluntary Approaches in Climate Policies, Edward Elgar Press.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2002). "Voluntary Approaches to Environmental Regulation: A Survey," in Maurizio Franzini and Antonio Nicita (eds.), Economic Institutions and Environmental Policy: Post Present and Future, Aldershot, Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Thomas P. Lyon (2000). "Preventing Exclusion at the Bottleneck: Structural and Behavioral Approaches," in Michael A. Crew (ed.), Expanding Competition in Regulated Industries, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Thomas P. Lyon and John W. Maxwell (2000). "An Institutional Analysis of Voluntary Environmental Agreements,” in Eric Orts and Kurt Deketelaere (eds.), Environmental Contracts: Comparative Approaches to Regulatory Innovation in Europe and the United States, Boston: Kulwer Academic Publishers.
Thomas P. Lyon (1998). "Most-Favored Customer Clauses,” in Peter Newman (ed.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law, London: Macmillan.
Thomas P. Lyon (1994). "Incentive Regulation in Theory and Practice,” in Michael A. Crew (ed.), Incentive Regulation for Public Utilities, Boston: Kulwer Academic Publishers.
Thomas P. Lyon and Michael A. Toman (1991). "Incentive Regulation for Gas Distribution Systems,” in Energy Disruptions: Lessons, Opportunities, Prospects, Washington DC: Proceedings from the International Association for Energy Economics, 13: 316-327.
Thomas P. Lyon and Steven C. Hackett (1990). "Gas Inventory Charges and Peak-Load Reliability,” in Energy Supply/Demand Balances: Options and Costs, Washington DC: Proceedings from the International Association for Energy Economics, 12: 173-183.
Thomas P. Lyon (1989). "The Structure and Regulation of the Natural Gas Industry,” in North American Natural Gas Markets: Energy Modeling Forum, Chapter 5; 9(2): 99-113.
Thomas P. Lyon (1989). "Spot Prices, Contracts and Policy Options in the Natural Gas Industry,” in Energy Markets in the 1990s and Beyond, Washington DC: Proceedings from the International Association for Energy Economics, 11: 192-201.
Thomas P. Lyon, B.M. Miller and S.T. Minihan (1984). "Modeling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: Public/Private Inventory Inter-actions and Price Controls," Proceedings of the Second IMACS Symposium on Energy Modeling and Simulation.

WORKING PAPERS

“Credence Goods and Fraud with Collective Reputation: A Laboratory Experiment,” (with Erin Krupka and Arnab Mitra), mimeo, University of Michigan.
“Grand Challenges and Local Beliefs: Facility-Level Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Local Socio-Political Factors in the United States,” (with Glen S. Dowell and Rebecca Pickens), mimeo, University of Michigan.
Thomas P. Lyon and Stephen Salant. "Linking Public and Private Politics: Activist Strategies for Industry Transformation," Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.