|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | J. Aznar-Márquez; J. R. Ruiz-Tamarit |
| Abstract: | The competitive equilibrium in an endogenous growth model is not Pareto-optimal nor environmentally sustainable in presence of pollution externalities, even if costly abatement activities are allowed to be endogenously decided. In this paper we introduce the possibility of an ecological catastrophe by imposing an upper-limit to the pollutants stock. We characterize the socially optimal solution and study sustainability of the long-run balanced growth path. We find that the rate of growth depends negatively on the weight of environmental cares in utility and positively on the population growth rate. The latter effect is stronger as higher is the weight of environment in the utility function. We also identify some policies the central planner could undertake looking to guarantee sustainability. An EKC is derived in the long term using the implications of the demographic transition for the rate of population growth, and the accompanying variation in the willingness to pay for environmental quality as the economy develops. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2004-15&r=env |
| By: | Aronsson, Thomas (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Persson, Lars (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Sjögren, Tomas (Department of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | This paper characterizes income and commodity taxation as the outcome of a noncooperative Nash game in a two-country economy where one of the countries produces an environmentally clean good, while the other produces a dirty good. Among the results, it is shown that the commodity tax on the dirty good implemented by each country does not contain any term that directly serves to correct for the external effect. Instead, the country producing the dirty good internalizes part of the domestic external effect by choosing a relatively high marginal income tax rate. |
| Keywords: | Trade and Environment; Optimal Taxation; Externalities. |
| JEL: | F18 H21 H23 |
| Date: | 2005–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0653&r=env |
| By: | Kurkalova, Lyubov |
| Abstract: | The study presents a conceptual model of an aggregator who selectively pays farmers for altering farming practices in exchange for carbon offsets that the change in practices generates. Under the assumption that the offsets are stochastic and that the aggregator maximizes the sum of the offsets from the purchase that he/she can rightfully claim with a specified level of confidence subject to a budget constraint, we investigate the optimal discounting of expected carbon offsets. We use the model to estimate empirically the optimal discounting levels and costs for a hypothetical carbon purchasing project in the Upper Iowa River Basin. |
| Date: | 2005–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12262&r=env |
| By: | Andrew Sharpe; Jeremy Smith |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this report is to conduct a survey and assessment of various indicators used by organizations, both in Canada and abroad, to measure attributes and the well-being of society at the economic, health, environmental, social, and cultural levels. The compilation includes a combination of quantitative and qualitative and objective and subjective indicators or measures. The report is divided into five major parts. The first part provides a brief overview of Canada’s research effort. The second part, by far the longest section, surveys a large number of sets of indicators and composite measures that have been developed to quantify well-being in Canada, in the United States, in OECD countries, and at the international level. The third section develops a preliminary framework for measuring the impact of research on well-being. The fourth section discusses briefly the role of indicators in public policy initiatives to improve the well-being of Canadians. The fifth and final section outlines directions for further work. The report concludes that it is entirely feasible to assess the impact of research investments in Canada on various dimensions of well-being. But it is important to specify what particular research investments and what dimensions of well-being are of interest given the many types of research investments and well-being dimensions as well as the complex interrelationships between research and well-being. |
| Keywords: | Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Indicators, Indexes, Indices, Methodology, Economic Well-being, Economic, Social, Societal, Labour Market, Environmental, Research, R&D, Research and Development |
| JEL: | C82 C81 I31 I32 Z13 O30 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:0502&r=env |
| By: | Timothy L. Fort; Cindy A. Schipani |
| Abstract: | Research reported by Thomas Homer-Dixon characterizes five social effects that can significantly increase the likelihood of violence in the emerging world, effects that are far deeper than can be controlled by security forces: (1) constrained agricultural production, often in ecologically marginal regions; (2) constrained economic productivity, mainly affecting people who are highly dependent on environmental resources and who are ecologically and economically marginal; (3) migration of these affected people in search of better lives; (4) greater segmentation of society, usually along existing ethnic cleavages; and (5) disruption of institutions, especially the state.1 These kinds of social effects create tensions that can erupt in violent expression. It is difficult to envision how additional security forces will solve the embedded social problems that link violence with economic, social, ethnic, and even religious frustrations. This manuscript seeks to address these concerns. Part I elaborates ways in which these issues of violence manifest themselves in a globalized economy. Part II discusses the business implications of these tensions and suggests a way in which business can be a mediating actor to lessen these tensions. Part III concludes with a suggestion for a recharacterization of the corporation in a way to sensitize it to the ecological-mindedness necessary to address the potential issues of violence in societies. We propose sustainable peace as an aim to which businesses should orient their actions both for reasons of the good of avoiding the activities that contribute to the spilling of blood as well as for the good of sustainable economic enterprises, which are fostered by stable, peaceful relationships. Thus, business must do what it does best and address economic development, even in terms of the extraction of natural resources. But it must also be attentive to the rights of others, to the development of community and meaning, and to stop violence when it is likely. Given the dangers ecological stresses pose for the planet, it is hard to think of a more compelling reason to reorient business behavior. |
| Keywords: | environmental law; peace; social responsibility; corporate governance |
| JEL: | K22 K23 M14 |
| Date: | 2004–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2004-698&r=env |
| By: | Wendy A. Stock (Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Montana State University); John J. Siegfried (Vanderbilt University and American Economic Association) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the characteristics and labor market experiences of new agricultural and natural resource (ANR) economics Ph.D.s, based on surveys of graduates in 1996-97 and 2001-02. An average of 185 new Ph.D.s in ANR economics were awarded in each of these years. Among these, an average of 27 percent were earned by women, and 36 percent were earned by U.S. citizens. The median graduate took 5.2 years to earn the Ph.D. Ninety-five percent of the graduates were employed. About half of the jobs were in academe, with the remainder divided roughly equally among government, international or research organizations, and business, industry, and consulting. The median salary of new ANR economics Ph.D.s holding full-time jobs in the U.S. was $62,500 in 2002, up from $47,500 five years earlier. Ninety-one percent of the respondents reported that they like their job fairly well. Those who do less research and more service are more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs. Overall, 85 percent of the new ANR economics Ph.D.s reported that had they known at matriculation what they know after graduation, they still would have pursued a Ph.D. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and natural resource economists, market for agricultural economists, salaries of agricultural economists |
| JEL: | A11 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:0504&r=env |
| By: | Katherine Kiel (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Michael Williams (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | It seems an established empirical fact that Superfund sites lower local property values. Two recent literature reviews (Farber, 1998, Boyle and Kiel, 2001) report that published academic papers on the topic verify that point. The EPA’s approach assumes that all sites negatively impact property values, and that the impact is similar for all sites. This paper examines 74 National Priorities List (NPL) sites in 13 U.S. counties in order to test these two implicit assumptions. Following the hedonic approach of Kiel (1995) and Kiel and McClain (1995), we find that some sites have the expected negative impact, while other sites have either no impact or a positive impact on local property values. We also consider the possibility of ‘stigma’ from sites by looking at those sites that have been cleaned during our sample period and find that some sites do appear to suffer from stigma, while others do not. We then use a meta-analysis approach to examine what factors affect the likelihood and extent of a decrease in property values near the sites. We find that larger sites in areas with fewer blue-collar workers are more likely to have the expected negative impact on local house prices. |
| Keywords: | Environment, Superfund, Hedonic regressions, meta-analysis, property values |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 Q58 R21 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0505&r=env |
| By: | Julia Hertin (SPRU, University of Sussex); Frans Berkhout (SPRU, University of Sussex); Marcus Wagner (2Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Luneberg); Daniel Tyteca (Universite Catholique de Louvain, Institut d'Administration et de Gestion) |
| Abstract: | Based on the analysis of a large dataset on the environmental performance of European companies in selected industrial sectors, the paper examines the question of whether the presence of an environmental management system (EMS) has a positive impact on the ecoefficiency of companies. It begins with a review of current evidence about the link between EMS and environmental performance, finding that despite much research into EMS there is still very little quantitative research on their actual environmental outcome. The second part of the paper uses three different statistical methods to assess whether companies and production sites with EMS perform better than those without and whether performance improves after an EMS has been introduced. Identifying only a weak link between EMS and eco-efficiency, the authors propose a number of possible explanations and warn against an overly-positive view of EMS as an autonomous driver of environmental performance. |
| Keywords: | environmental management systems, environmental performance, eco-efficiency |
| JEL: | Q5 |
| Date: | 2004–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:124&r=env |
| By: | Shimon Awerbuch (SPRU, University of Sussex); Raphael Sauter (SPRU, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | The empirical evidence from a growing body of academic literature clearly suggests that oil price increases and volatility dampen macroeconomic growth by raising inflation and unemployment and by depressing the value of financial and other assets. Surprisingly, this issue seems to have received little attention from energy policy makers. In percentage terms, the Oil-GDP effect is relatively small, producing losses in the order of 0.5% of GDP for a 10% oil price increase. In absolute terms however, even a 10% oil price rise. and oil has risen at least 50% in the last year alone. produces GDP losses that, could they have been averted, would significantly offset the cost of increased RE deployment. While we focus on renewables, the GDP offset applies equally to energy efficiency, DSM and nuclear and other non-fossil technologies. This paper draws on the empirical Oil-GDP literature, which we summarize, to show that by displacing gas and oil, renewable energy investments can help nations avoid costly macroeconomic losses produced by the Oil-GDP effect. We show that a 10% increase in RE share avoids GDP losses in the range of $29.$53 billion in the US and the EU ($49.$90 billion for OECD). These avoided losses offset one-fifth of the RE investment needs projected by the EREC and half the OECD investment projected by a G-8 Task Force. For the US, the figures further suggest that each additional kW of renewables, on average, avoids $250.$450 in GDP losses, a figure that varies across technologies as a function of annual capacity factors. We approximate that the offset is worth $200/kW for wind and solar and $800/kW for geothermal and biomass (and probably nuclear). The societal valuation of non-fossil alternatives needs to reflect the avoided GDP losses, whose benefit is not fully captured by private investors. This said, we fully recognize that wealth created in this manner does not directly form a pool of public funds that is easily earmarked for renewables support. Finally, the Oil-GDP relationship has important implications for correctly estimating direct electricity generating cost for conventional and renewable alternatives and for developing more useful energy security and diversity concepts. We also address these issues. |
| Keywords: | Oil price shocks, oil price volatility, Oil-GDP effects, renewable energy, RES-E targets, financial beta risk, funding renewables |
| JEL: | Q4 E2 |
| Date: | 2005–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:129&r=env |