|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Thomas Eichner; Rüdiger Pethig |
| Abstract: | Scientific expertise suggests that mitigating extreme world-wide climate change damages requires avoiding increases in the world mean temperature exceeding 2 degrees Celsius. To achieve the two degree target, the cumulated global emissions must not exceed some limit, the so-called global carbon budget. In a two-period two country general equilibrium model with a finite stock of fossil fuels we compare the cooperative cost-effective policy with the unilateral cost-effective policy of restricting emissions to the global carbon budget. In its simplest form, the cost-effective global policy is shown to consist of a joint emission trading scheme in the first period (only). In sharp contrast, subglobal cost-effective regulation may require the abating country to tax its first-period consumption and to tax or subsidize its emissions in the first and/or second period. |
| Keywords: | carbon emissions, carbon budget, cooperative, unilateral, cost-effective regulation |
| JEL: | H21 H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sie:siegen:143-10&r=env |
| By: | Mouez Fohda (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Thomas Seegmuller (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the consequences of environmental tax policy under public debt stabilization constraint. A public sector of pollution abatement is financed by a tax on pollutant emissions and/or by public debt. In the same time, households can also invest in private pollution abatement activities. We show that the economy may be characterized by an environmental-poverty trap if debt is too large or public abatement is not sufficiently efficient with respect to the private one. However, there exists a level of public abatement and debt for a stable steady state to be optimal. |
| Keywords: | Environmental taxation, public and private abatements, public debt, trap, optimality. |
| Date: | 2010–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00512789_v1&r=env |
| By: | Robert N. Stavins (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Resources for the Future and National Bureau of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The problem of the commons is more important to our lives and thus more central to economics than a century ago when Katharine Coman led off the first issue of the American Economic Review. As the U.S. and other economies have grown, the carrying-capacity of the planet - in regard to natural resources and environmental quality — has become a greater concern, particularly for common-property and open-access resources. The focus of this article is on some important, unsettled problems of the commons. Within the realm of natural resources, there are special challenges associated with renewable resources, which are frequently characterized by open access. An important example is the degradation of open-access fisheries. Critical commons problems are also associated with environmental quality. A key contribution of economics has been the development of market-based approaches to environmental protection. These instruments are key to addressing the ultimate commons problem of the twenty-first century - global climate change. |
| Keywords: | Common-Property Resource, Open-Access Resource, Fisheries, Global Climate Change |
| JEL: | Q22 Q28 Q50 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.131&r=env |
| By: | Bas Jacobs; Rick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | We analyse optimal carbon taxes, optimal redistribution within and between non-overlapping generations, and optimal spending levels on climate abatement and adaptation. A positive probability of unexpected large increases in CO2 emissions results in a lower discount rate for global warming damages. More prudent governments set higher carbon taxes and spend more on abatement and sacrifice intra-generational for inter-generational redistribution. As long as households spend a constant fraction of their income on polluting goods, the carbon tax is not used for redistribution and is set at the modified Pigouvian rate, which is higher than the Pigouvian rate if governments are prudent. However, the carbon tax is set below the modified Pigouvian rate if poor households spend relatively more on polluting goods than rich households (Stone-Geary preferences). Policy simulations give insights into the effects of changes in the probability of climate disaster, degrees of intra- and inter-generational inequality aversion, ease of substitution between clean and dirty goods, elasticity of labour supply, productivity of abatement and adaptation, population growth and economic growth on the rates of discount, inequality, global warming and social welfare. |
| Keywords: | global warming, intra-generational and inter-generational redistribution, equally-distributed-equivalent utility, social discount rate, prudence, carbon tax, income tax, CO2 abatement, climate adaptation, non-homothetic preferences. |
| JEL: | H21 H23 Q54 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:049&r=env |
| By: | Woodward, Richard T |
| Abstract: | There is an increasing tendency to use markets to induce the provision of environmental services. As such markets increase in scope, potential market participants might sell multiple environmental services. The question we consider here is whether participants in such markets should be allowed to sell credits in more than one market simultaneously. Some have argued in favor of such “double dipping,” because it would make the provision of environmental services more profitable. In practice, however, most programs do not allow doubledipping. We show that if the optimal level of pollution abatement is sought, then double-dipping maximizes societal net benefits. However, if pollution policies are set in a piecemeal fashion, then the caps for each market are unlikely to be optimal and, in this second-best setting, a policy prohibiting double dipping can lead to greater social net benefits. We explore conditions under which a singlemarket policy is preferred, or equivalently, where piecemeal policies are likely to yield particularly inefficient outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Environmental policy; tradable discharge permits; numerical methods; stacking |
| JEL: | H41 Q0 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:26185&r=env |
| By: | Rick van der Ploeg; Cees Withagen |
| Abstract: | The Green Paradox states that, in the absence of a tax on CO2 emissions, subsidizing a renewable backstop such as solar or wind energy brings forward the date at which fossil fuels become exhausted and consequently global warming is aggravated. We shed light on this issue by solving a model of depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels followed by a switch to a renewable backstop, paying attention to timing of the switch and the amount of fossil fuels remaining unexploited. We show that the Green Paradox occurs for relatively expensive but clean backstops (such as solar or wind), but does not occur if the backstop is sufficiently cheap relative to marginal global warming damages (e.g., nuclear energy) as then it is attractive to leave fossil fuels unexploited and thus limit CO2 emissions. We show that, without a CO2 tax, subsidizing the backstop might enhance welfare. If the backstop is relatively dirty and cheap (e.g., coal), there might be a period with simultaneous use of the non-renewable and renewable fuels.If the backstop is very dirty compared to oil or gas (e.g., tar sands), there is no simultaneous use. The optimum policy requires an initially rising CO2 tax followed by a gradually declining CO2 tax once the dirty backstop has been introduced. We also discuss the potential for limit pricing when the non-renewable resource is owned by a monopolist. |
| Keywords: | Green Paradox, Hotelling rule, non-renewable resource, renewable backstop, global warming, carbon tax, limit pricing |
| JEL: | Q30 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:035&r=env |
| By: | Radoslaw Stefanski |
| Abstract: | Brock and Taylor (2010) argue that the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) - a hump shaped relationship between emissions and income per capita - is driven by falling GDP growth rates associated with Solow type convergence. I test the importance of their mechanism as a driver of emissions by performing a "pollution accounting" exercise that decomposes emissions data into pollution intensity and GDP growth eects. The "Green Solow" framework assumes that emission intensities decline at a constant rate and hence that all changes in emissions growth rates are driven by changes in GDP growth rates. Yet, in the data, emission intensities are hump shaped for a wide range of countries and pollutants, implying declining emission intensity growth rates. Furthermore, this decline in emission intensity growth rates is an order of magnitude larger than changes in GDP growth rates. The Green Solow model - which assigns all the weight to changing GDP growth and ig- nores changes in emission intensity growth in its explanation of emissions - cannot be the right way to think about emissions proles of countries. Models that aim to explain the EKC, must - first and foremost - explain the hump shape intensity curve and hence falling intensity growth rates. I suggest a simple model of structural transformation as one possible mechanism capable of generating both a hump shaped EKC curve and a hump shaped emission intensity curve. |
| Keywords: | The Green Solow Model, Environmental Kuznets Curve, EKC, Brock and Taylor. |
| JEL: | O14 O41 Q56 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:047&r=env |
| By: | James Roumasset (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Christopher Wada (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | With the specter of climate change, groundwater scarcity looms as an increasingly critical issue worldwide. Minimizing the adverse effects of scarcity requires optimal as well as sustainable patterns of groundwater management. We review the many sustainable paths for groundwater extraction from a coastal aquifer and show how to find the particular sustainable path that is optimal. In some cases the optimal path converges to the maximum sustainable yield. For sufficiently convex extraction costs, the extraction path converges to an internal steady state above the level of maximum sustainable yield. We describe the challenges facing groundwater managers faced with multiple aquifers, the prospect of using recycled water, and the interdependence with watershed management. The integrated water management thus described results in less water scarcity and higher total welfare gains from groundwater use. The framework also can be applied to climate- change specifications about the frequency, duration, and intensity of precipitation by comparing before and after optimal management. For the case of South Oahu in Hawaii, the prospect of climate change increases the gains of integrated groundwater management. |
| Keywords: | sustainability science, groundwater economics, dynamic optimization |
| JEL: | Q25 Q56 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-09&r=env |
| By: | Nickerson, Cynthia; Ribaudo, Marc; Higgins, Nathaniel |
| Abstract: | The 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts increased funding for conservation programs that provide financial assistance to farmers to implement conservation practices on working farmland. Along with seeking cost-effective environmental benefits, these programs have a goal of spreading conservation funding equitably across States. The 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts strengthened this allocative goal by setting a minimum threshold for conservation funding for each Stateâone that exceeds historical funding for some Statesâfor enrolling agricultural producers in specified conservation programs. This study uses conservation program data to examine evidence of the impacts of the Regional Equity provision of the 2002 Farm Act, and explores the tradeoffs that can occur among conservation program goals when legislation gives primacy to fund allocation. The study found that cross-State shifts in funding reduced the acres receiving conservation treatment for many resource problems, but increased the net economic benefits from treatments on some of them. Overall impacts on the types of producers enrolled were small. |
| Keywords: | onservation program outcomes, working-land, land protection programs, state funding levels, regional equity provision, cost & benefits, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:95452&r=env |
| By: | Lopez, Ramon E.; Palacios, Amparo |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umdrwp:94795&r=env |
| By: | Alessandro Tavoni (Advanced School of Economics at the University of Venice); Maja Schlüter (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries); Simon Levin (Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of pro-social behavior as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of cooperation in resource use under variable social and environmental conditions. By coupling resource stock dynamics with social dynamics concerning compliance to a social norm prescribing non-excessive resource extraction in a common pool resource (CPR), we show that when reputational considerations matter and a sufficient level of social stigma affects the violators of a norm, sustainable outcomes are achieved. We find large parameter regions where norm-observing and norm-violating types coexist, and analyze to what extent such coexistence depends on the environment. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation, Social Norm, Ostracism, Common Pool Resource, Evolutionary Game Theory, Replicator Equation, Agent-based Simulation, Coupled Socio-resource Dynamics |
| JEL: | C73 Q20 D70 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.127&r=env |
| By: | Zilberman, David D.; Hochman, Gal; Rajagopal, Deepak |
| Abstract: | Concern about the possible affects of biofuels on deforestation have led to assigning biofuel producers with the responsibility for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the indirect land use changes (ILUC) associated with their activities when assessing their compliance with biofuel policies. We show that the computation of the ILUC is shrouded with uncertainty; they vary frequently, and are strongly affected by policy choices. It seems that its overall impact on GHGs is relatively minor. Once the ILUCs are introduced other indirect effects of biofuel may need to be considered which will increase the cost of biofuel regulations. Concentrating on direct regulation of biofuel and on efforts to reduce deforestation, wherever it occurs, may be more effective than debating and refining the ILUC. |
| Keywords: | land use, biofuels, greenhouse gas emissions, regulations |
| Date: | 2010–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:agrebk:1618885&r=env |
| By: | Thomas Kaeo Duarte (Kamehameha Schools); Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin (Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Economics); James Roumasset (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Daniel Amato (University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Botany); Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization,) |
| Abstract: | We optimize groundwater management in the presence of marine consequences of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). Concern for marine biota increases the optimal steady-state head level of the aquifer. The model is discussed in general terms for any coastal groundwater resource where SGD has a positive impact on valuable near-shore resources. Our application focuses of the Kona Coast of Hawai’i, where SGD is being actively studied and where both near-shore ecology and groundwater resources are serious socio-political issues. To incorporate the consequences of water extraction on nearshore resources, we impose a safe minimum standard for the quantity of SGD. Efficient pumping rates fluctuate according to various growth requirements on the keystone marine algae and different assumptions regarding recharge rates. Desalination is required under average recharge conditions and a strict minimum standard, and under low recharge conditions regardless of minimum standards of growth. |
| Keywords: | groundwater management, marine ecology, dynamic optimization, safe minimum standard, sustainability science. |
| JEL: | Q25 Q28 Q57 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-08&r=env |
| By: | Tigran Melkonyan (Department of Resource Economics, University of Nevada, Reno); Michael Taylor (Department of Resource Economics, University of Nevada, Reno) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes regulatory design for agroecosystem management on public rangelands. We present an informational and institutional environment where three of the most prominent regulatory instruments on public rangelands – input regulation, cost-sharing/taxation, and performance regulation – can be defined and compared. The paper examines how the optimal regulation is shaped by the informational and institutional constraints faced by federal land management agencies (FLMAs) such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. These constraints include informational asymmetries between ranchers and FLMAs, limitations on FLMAs’ ability to monitor ranch-level ecological conditions, and constraints on FLMAs’ actions due to budget limitations and restrictions on the level of penalties they can assess. The theoretical model extends the previous work of Baker (1992), Prendergast (2002), and Hueth and Melkonyan (2009) by considering optimal regulation by a budget-constrained regulator in an environment of asymmetric information and moral hazard. |
| Keywords: | Agri-Environmental Policy, Asymmetric Information, Budget-Constrained Regulation |
| JEL: | D86 Q18 Q20 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unr:wpaper:10-007&r=env |
| By: | Manuel Pacheco Coelho |
| Abstract: | Recently, the Pew Environment Group released a study that finds that E. U. fisheries have failed to reduce fleet capacity thus exerting fishing pressure on stocks at two/three time sustainable levels. The members evaluated in this study accounted for more than 90% of European fisheries subsidies. Overcapacity and overcapitalisation of the sector was identified as the principal failure of the Common Fisheries Policy. The study also highlights that member-states failed to take environmental and social concerns into consideration when allocating public funding. This conclusion may be well important in the CFP reform (2012) and put again the discussion about the tools that can be used to get sustainable management and better cohesion. The idea of creating markets for fishing rights as a means of internalising the externalities derived from the common property nature of fisheries have received considerable attention by the founding fathers of Law and Economics and Fisheries Economics such as Coase, Scott and Christy. The idea is to create a market of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) and confide in the self-regulation of such a system to conduct the fisheries to the economic efficiency and to promote inter-temporal sustainable use of resources. Rights Based Management schemes have already been experimented in some specific fisheries and localizations. These experiences have a lot of teaching results about good practices of sustainable fisheries management and also about the limitations/ risks of these tools. These conclusions are fundamental to explore the feasibility of these tools as instruments of conservation in the CFP. The purpose of our Communication is to enter this debate and evaluate the Portuguese experience with rights based management. |
| Keywords: | Fisheries, Rights Based Management, Individual Transferable Quotas. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp182010&r=env |
| By: | Carolina Castaldi; Jan Faber; Maikel Kishna |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the ability of knowledge intensive business firms (KIBS) to engage in co-innovation with client firms. Co-innovation relates to KIBS competitive advantage as knowledge creators and sources of innovation. We propose a resource-based model where knowledge-related resources and capabilities explain why certain KIBS firms are able to co-innovate. We explore the model on a sample of Dutch environmental investigation firms. Our exploratory results confirm the expected dominant role played by the learning capabilities of KIBS firms in explaining their ability to co-innovate. |
| Keywords: | KIBS, co-innovation, resource-based, knowledge |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:tuecis:wpaper:1005&r=env |
| By: | Rick van der Ploeg; Dominic Rohner |
| Abstract: | Although the relationship between natural resources and civil war has received much attention, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Controversies and contradictions in the stylized facts persist because resource extraction is treated as exogenous while in reality fighting affects extraction. We study endogenous fighting, armament, and extraction method, speed and investment. Rapacious resource exploitation has economic costs, but can nevertheless be preferred to balanced depletion due to lowered incentives for future rebel attacks. With private exploitation, rebels fight more than the government if they can renege on the contract with the mining company, and hence government turnover is larger in this case. Incentive-compatible license fees paid by private companies and mining investment are lower in unstable countries, and increase with the quality of the government army and office rents. This implies that privatised resource exploitation is more attractive for governments who have incentives to fight hard, i.e., in the presence of large office rents and a strong army. With endogenous weapon investments, the government invests more under balanced than under rapacious or private extraction. If the government can commit before mining licenses are auctioned, it will invest more in weapons under private extraction than under balanced and rapacious nationalized extraction. |
| Keywords: | conflict, natural resources, private resource exploitation, mining investment, license fee |
| JEL: | D45 D74 L71 Q34 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:042&r=env |
| By: | Angelo Antoci (University of Sassari); Paolo Russu (University of Sassari); Elisa Ticci (European University Institute) |
| Abstract: | In the current age of trade and financial openness, local economies in developing countries are becoming increasingly exposed to external investments. The objective of the proposed two-sector model with environmental externalities is to provide an insight into the interaction between external investors and local communities with a focus upon the different strategies and income sources available to each category. In this context, analysis suggests that environmental regulations and incentives offered in order to attract external capital investment (whether foreign or national) may have an un-uniform impact on the two typologies of actors. |
| Keywords: | Foreign Direct Investments, Environmental Negative Externalities, Structural Changes, Poverty Alleviation |
| JEL: | F21 F43 D62 O11 O13 O15 O41 Q20 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.135&r=env |
| By: | Marjolein C.J. Caniëls; Henny Romijn |
| Abstract: | Biofuel production has recently attracted a great deal of attention. Some anticipate substantial social and environmental benefits, while at the same time expecting sound profitability for investors. Others are more doubtful, envisaging large trade-offs between the pursuit of social, environmental and economic objectives, particularly in poor countries in the tropics. The paper explores these issues in Tanzania, which is a forerunner in Africa in the cultivation of a bio-oil shrub called Jatropha curcas L. We trace how isolated Jatropha biofuel experiments developed since their inception in early 2005 towards a fully fledged sectoral production and innovation system; and investigate to what extent that system has been capable of developing ànd maintaining sustainable practices and producing sustainable outcomes. The application of evolutionary economic theory allows us to view the development processes in the sector as a result of evolutionary variation and selection on the one hand, and revolutionary contestation between different coalitions of stakeholders on the other. Both these processes constitute significant engines of change in the sector. While variation and selection is driven predominantly by localised learning, the conflict-driven dynamics are highly globalised. The sector is found to have moved some way towards a full sectoral innovation and production system, but it is impossible to predict whether a viable sector with a strong “triple bottom line” orientation will ultimate emerge, since many issues surrounding the social, environmental and financial sustainability still remain unresolved. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, evolutionary theory, innovation systems, sustainability, stakeholder conflict, learning, Tanzania. |
| JEL: | O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:tuecis:wpaper:1004&r=env |
| By: | Anthony J Venables |
| Abstract: | Countries with substantial revenues from renewable resources face a complex range of revenue management issues. What is the optimal time profile of consumption from the revenue, and how much should be saved? Should saving be invested in foreign funds or in the domestic economy? How does government policy influence the private sector, where sustainable growth in the domestic economy must ultimately be generated? This paper develops the issues in a simple two-period model, and argues that analysis must go well beyond the simple permanent income approach sometimes recommended. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources, revenue management, resource curse, permanent income |
| JEL: | Q32 O11 E2 H0 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:044&r=env |
| By: | Edwyna Harris |
| Abstract: | The adoption of a hybrid approach to water rights known as the California doctrine in some western states of the United States (US) and Australia creates some doubt as to what factors drive scarcity and the evolution of property rights to water. In previous studies commentators have argued that climate is the only variable that drives water scarcity. This can explain why private rights (prior appropriation) were adopted in western states of the US during the nineteenth century. However, it cannot explain why the hybrid approach where common and private rights co-existed in nine of seventeen arid US states and two Australian colonies persisted. This paper shows that in addition to climate, the dominant type of asset investment impacts water scarcity via the mobility constraint. Asset investment can be deployable or non-deployable. When deployable assets dominate the mobility constraint is close to zero and not binding thereby reducing water scarcity because alternative production locations are available. Conversely when non-deployable assets dominate the mobility constraint is close to one and binding so that assets are unable to be moved to alternative production locations. We present a framework that combines climate and asset type in order to determine the net effects on water scarcity in order to predict when and where common and/or private water rights will evolve. Empirical evidence from several countries is used to verify the frameworks predicative capacity. The findings show the combination of these two variables is better able to explain the emergence and persistence of the hybrid California doctrine as well as the adoption of ‘pure’ private rights (the Colorado doctrine) in eight of seventeen US states than if we rely on climate alone. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2010-45&r=env |
| By: | Mark Stoughton; Anbumozhi Venkatachalam (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or “rebalancing” with an emphasis on service-sector development should be—and is becoming—one long-term response to the crisis by Asia’s emerging economies. In the long run, sustainable economic development will depend in part on achieving a “green” trajectory of service sector development, in which services help green the “product economy.” In the short run, however, can services help address short- and medium-term challenges of emergence and recovery from the crisis—particularly those of at least resuming historic rates of poverty alleviation and inclusive growth? Meeting these challenges will require that export sectors deal successfully with challenging market conditions. There is a class of closely related business-to-business services which act to green the product economy, and which would improve the competitiveness of export sectors and husband scarce public resources by optimizing the efficiency of infrastructure utilization. These are functional procurement/efficiency services, which transform procurement of environmentally problematic goods and services—such as waste disposal, energy, chemicals, and transport—into performance-based services in which service providers profit by increasing the customer’s eco-efficiency. Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) are the best-known of these service models. These services appear to have strong potential among the larger, more sophisticated institutions and commercial and industrial enterprises in developing Asian states, particularly in Asia’s more advanced developing economies. |
| Keywords: | global economic slowdown, export-led development models, sustainable economic development, Energy Service Companies, Asia |
| JEL: | L80 L88 O14 O19 O25 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:energy:2320&r=env |
| By: | Nir Kshetri (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA); Ralf Bebenroth (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University); Nicholas C. Williamson (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA) |
| Abstract: | The global e-retail industry is growing rapidly. Economies worldwide, however, differ greatly in the development of the e-retail industry. Using data from forty-seven economies, this paper empirically examines how technological, economic, and institutional factors explain international heterogeneity in e-retail spending. The results indicated that broadband penetration was the strongest predictor of e-retail spending. We found that externalities mechanisms generated by the development of the conventional retail industry drives the growth of the e-retailing industry. Our findings also indicated that the degree of concentration of traditional retail sites is negatively related to the development of the e-retailing industry. |
| Keywords: | E-retailing externality mechanisms, time series cross sectional models, economic freedom, broadband penetration |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2010-29&r=env |
| By: | J Rodrigo Fuentes |
| Abstract: | Countries abundant in natural resources face the dilemma of how to manage this source of revenues. The recent boom in commodity prices put this issue at the top of the agenda in natural resource rich economies. Chile, for instance, is the largest copper producer in the world, supplying 43% of world copper exports. In 2007, the state-owned corporation, CODELCO, produced one third of total Chilean copper output and the revenues from its copper exports accounted for 16% of total fiscal revenues. In the past few years, the government has been under political pressure to distribute more of these revenues across different groups. |
| Keywords: | Chile, natural resources revenue, resource rich economies, CODELCO, copper |
| JEL: | Q32 O41 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:040&r=env |
| By: | Lucas Bretschger |
| Abstract: | The paper considers an economy which is constrained by natural resource use and driven by knowledge accumulation. Resources are essential inputs in all the sectors. It is shown that population growth and poor input substitution are not detrimental but, on the contrary, even necessary for obtaining a sustainable consumption level. We find a new type of Hartwick rule defining the conditions for a constant innovation rate. The rule does not apply to capital but to labour growth, the crucial input in research. Furthermore, it relates to the sectoral structure of the economy and to demographic transition. The results continue to hold with a backstop technology and are extended for the case of minimum resource constraints. |
| Keywords: | Population growthm non-renewable resources, poor input substitution, technical change, sustainability |
| JEL: | Q32 Q55 Q56 O41 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:037&r=env |
| By: | Megan Chock (Mayo Medical School); Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization,); Donna Lee (DJL Economic Consulting) |
| Abstract: | Biocontrol, the introduction of organisms to control an unwanted species, has been cited as a powerful method to manage the invasive species Miconia calvescens in Hawaii. In addition to ecological advantages, biocontrol is often regarded as less costly than traditional methods despite the large initial investment. Currently, miconia in Hawaii is treated through aerial and manual operations, which cost over $1 million annually. Biocontrol for miconia in Hawaii began in 1997 and the search for more agents continues today. Although biocontrol for miconia has already begun, prior to this study no assessment of its economic justifiability had been done. This research evaluates the present value of net benefits of miconia biocontrol in Hawaii. Cost data were gathered from scientists in charge of biocontrol programs. Benefits were defined as the cost-savings of current control methods. Two different biocontrol programs were modeled: control achieved by a single agent, and control achieved by a suite of agents. In addition, different dispersal rates and efficacies of biocontrol and two release dates were modeled. Because most costs of biocontrol are incurred before the release of a successful agent and the benefits are only realized post-release, each scenario was evaluated over a 50-year time horizon. The results indicate a positive present value of net benefits in all scenarios, ranging from $12.8 million to $36.1 million. Thus, biocontrol for miconia in Hawaii appears to be economically justifiable. This research should enable scientists, economists and policy makers to make informed decisions about the optimal management of Miconia calvescens in Hawaii. |
| Keywords: | invasive species, biocontrol, bioeconomic modeling, management cost, research cost |
| JEL: | Q23 Q57 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-07&r=env |
| By: | Facundo Alvaredo; Anthony B Atkinson |
| Abstract: | There have been important studies of overall income inequality and of poverty in South Africa. In this paper, we approach the subject from a different direction: the extent and evolution of top incomes. We present estimates of the shares in total income of groups such as the top 1 per cent and the top 0.1 per cent, covering, with gaps, more than a hundred years. In order to explain the observed dynamics, here we consider —in a preliminary way— three factors: the transfer of political authority, racial discrimination, and the rich mineral resources. The estimates of top income shares for recent years bear out the picture of South Africa as a highly unequal country.. |
| Keywords: | Natural Resources, Colonial Rule, Apartheid, South Africa, top incomes. |
| JEL: | C72 D74 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:046&r=env |
| By: | Christopher Adam; Anthony Simpasa |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the macroeconomic management of Zambia’s natural resource endowment over the past century. We describe how the state has adopted different strategies to secure a share of the rents from copper mining, how these strategies have affected incentives for exploration and production and how the associated macroeconomic policy regimes have shaped the value and distribution of the natural resource rents. We focus principally on the shift from public back to private ownership and control of the sector that took place at the end of the 1990s and on how the terms of the privatization affected the impact of the commodity price boom of 2003-08 on the domestic economy. We suggest that while the state and people of Zambia captured a nugatory share of the rents accruing from this boom, high levels of investment in the sector, combined with recent reforms to the mining taxation regime and in the conduct of macroeconomic policy have left Zambia better-placed to benefit from future growth in the copper sector. |
| Keywords: | Zambia, macroeconomic management, copper mining, rents, natural resources, private ownership, commodity price |
| JEL: | Q30 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:036&r=env |
| By: | Elodie Brahic |
| Abstract: | In general, neither the social norms nor market dynamics stimulate spontaneously activities and practices conducive to biodiversity. The nature of public good of biodiversity leads to its rapid erosion. Even if it can respond positively to social expectations and improve welfare in the long term2, taking into account biodiversity often leads to changes in the way we produce or how to exercise its property right. The consideration of biodiversity may determine production losses and income decreases.[...] |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:estudy:10-02&r=env |
| By: | Rick van der Ploeg; Steven Poelhekke |
| Abstract: | Brunnschweiler and Bulte (2008) provide cross-country evidence that the resource curse is a “red herring” once one corrects for endogeneity of resource exports and allows resource abundance affect growth. Their results show that resource exports are no longer significant while the value of subsoil assets has a significant positive effect on growth. But the World Bank measure of subsoil assets is proportional to current rents, and thus is also endogenous. Furthermore, their results suffer from an unfortunate data mishap, omitted variables bias, weakness of the instruments, violation of exclusion restrictions and misspecification error. Correcting for these issues and instrumenting resource exports with values of proven reserves at the beginning of the sample period, there is no evidence for the resource curse either and subsoil assets are no longer significant. However, the same evidence suggests that resource exports or rents boost growth in stable countries, but also make especially already volatile countries more volatile and thus indirectly worsen growth prospects. Ignoring the volatility channel may lead one to erroneously conclude that there is no effect of resources on growth. |
| Keywords: | resource curse, resource exports, resource rents, natural capital, subsoil assets, reserves, instrumental variables, volatility |
| JEL: | C12 C21 C82 F43 O11 O41 Q32 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:033&r=env |
| By: | Karen Pittel; Lucas Bretschger |
| Abstract: | We analyze an economy in which sectors are heterogeneous with respect to the intensity of natural resource use. Long-term dynamics are driven by resource prices, sectoral composition, and directed technical change. We study the balanced growth path and determine stability conditions. Technical change is found to be biased towards the resource-intensive sector. Resource taxes have no impact on dynamics except when the tax rate varies over time. Constant research subsidies raise the growth rate while increasing subsidies have the opposite effect. We also find that supporting sectors by providing them with productivity enhancing public goods can raise the growth rate of the economy and additionally provide an effective tool for structural policy. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development, sectoral heterogeneity, directed technical change |
| JEL: | O4 Q01 Q3 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:039&r=env |