|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Reeling, Carson J.; Gramig, Benjamin |
| Keywords: | greenhouse gas, conservation practices, nonpoint source pollution, genetic algorithm, optimization, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102552&r=env |
| By: | Key, Nigel; Sneeringer, Stacy E. |
| Abstract: | Methane digestersâbiogas recovery systems that use methane from manure to generate electricityâhave not been widely adopted in the United States because costs have exceeded benefi ts to operators. Burning methane in a digester reduces greenhouse gas emissions from manure management. A policy or program that pays producers for these emission reductionsâthrough a carbon offset market or directly with paymentsâcould increase the number of livestock producers who would profi t from adopting a methane digester. We developed an economic model that illustrates how dairy and hog operation size, location, and manure management methods, along with electricity and carbon prices, could influence methane digester profi ts. The model shows that a relatively moderate increase in the price of carbon could induce signifi cantly more dairy and hog operations, particularly large ones, to adopt a methane digester, thereby substantially lowering emissions of greenhouse gases. |
| Keywords: | methane, methane digesters, manure, livestock, climate change, greenhouse gases, carbon offset, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:102758&r=env |
| By: | Hoel, Michael (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Several recent articles have analyzed climate policy giving explicit attention to the nonrenewable character of carbon resources. In most of this literature the economy is treated as a single unit, which in the context of climate policy seems reasonable to interpret as the whole world. However, carbon taxes and other climate policies differ substantially across countries. With such heterogeneity, the effects on emission paths of changes in taxes, costs and subsidies may be very different from what one …finds for a hypothetical world of identical countries. |
| Keywords: | climate change; exhaustible resources; renewable energy; green paradox |
| JEL: | Q31 Q41 Q42 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2011_008&r=env |
| By: | Sheldon, Ian; McCorriston, Steve |
| Abstract: | In this paper, analysis is presented relating to the impact of border tax adjustments for climate policy on the international competitiveness of energy-intensive industries, and the related problem of carbon leakage. While many of the economic and legal issues are not particularly new, climate policy does present some possible twists to the analysis of border tax adjustments when vertically-related markets can be characterized as a successive oligopoly. Specifically, an appropriate border tax adjustment will depend on the incidence of a domestic carbon tax, the nature of competition in upstream and downstream sectors, as well as the basis for assessing the trade neutrality of any border tax adjustment. If trade neutrality is defined in terms of market volume, even though carbon leakage is reduced, domestic firm competitiveness cannot be maintained. This compares to defining trade neutrality in terms of market share, which results in domestic competitiveness being maintained and global carbon emissions being reduced. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, carbon leakage, border tax adjustments, imperfect competition, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, H87, Q38, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103207&r=env |
| By: | Chen, Xiaoguang; Huang, Haixiao; Khanna, Madhu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extensive and intensive margin changes in land use in the U.S. likely to be induced by biofuel policies and the implications of these policies for GHG emissions over the 2007-2022 period. The policies considered here include the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by itself as well as combined with current biofuel tax credits or a carbon price policy. We use a dynamic, spatial, multi-market equilibrium model, Biofuel and Environmental Policy Analysis Model (BEPAM), to endogenously determine the effects of these policies on cropland allocation, food and fuel prices, and the mix of first and second-generation biofuels. We find that the increase in crop prices under the RFS is likely to be less than 20% in most cases and this increase is much smaller when the RFS is accompanied by volumetric subsidies or a carbon price policy since these policies induce a switch away from corn ethanol to cellulosic biofuels. The impact of the RFS on GHG emissions reduction in the U.S. is fairly modest in size but increases when the RFS is accompanied by volumetric subsidies or a carbon price policy. However, domestic savings in GHG emissions achieved by the RFS can be severely eroded by the indirect land use changes and the rebound effect on global gasoline consumption. The net reductions in global GHG emissions are largest when the RFS is accompanied by a carbon price policy. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel Mandates, Land Use, GHG Emissions, Technology, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103216&r=env |
| By: | Kim, Man-Keun; Yu, Tun-Hsiang |
| Keywords: | Environmental Kuznets Curve, Energy Use, Vector Autoregression, Historical Decomposition, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q43, Q52, Q56, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103239&r=env |
| By: | Francisco Rosas; Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)); Dermot J. Hayes (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | On average, U.S. farmers choose to apply nitrogen fertilizer at a rate that exceeds the ex post agronomically optimal rate. The technology underlying the yield response to nitrogen rewards producers who over apply in years when rainfall is excessive. The overapplication of nutrients has negative environmental consequences because the nitrogen that is not taken up by the plant will typically volatilize causing N2O emissions, or leach causing water pollution. We present a nonlinear offset program that induces farmers to reduce their nitrogen applications to the level that will be consumed by the plant in a typical year and, as a result, reduce N2O emissions from agriculture. The offset program is nonlinear because of the nonlinear relationship between N2O and nitrogen application rates. We assume that the farmer solves an expected utility maximization problem, choosing the optimal nitrogen application rate. The key contribution is a set of simulations that shows that modest offset payments will induce participation in the program and will have a significant impact on both expected and actual N2O emissions without having a significant impact on actual or expected yields. We also find that more risk-averse farmers will reduce emissions by a greater amount than less risk-averse farmers. Finally, we show the distribution of emission reductions induced by this nonlinear offset scheme. |
| Keywords: | carbon offsets, nitrogen fertilizer, nitrous oxide, pollution, uncertainty. JEL Codes: Q12, Q18, Q51, Q53, Q54, D8 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:11-wp521&r=env |
| By: | Francisco Rosas; Bruce A. Babcock (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)); Dermot J. Hayes (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | On average, U.S. farmers choose to apply nitrogen fertilizer at a rate that exceeds the ex post agronomically optimal rate. The technology underlying the yield response to nitrogen rewards producers who over apply in years when rainfall is excessive. The overapplication of nutrients has negative environmental consequences because the nitrogen that is not taken up by the plant will typically volatilize causing N2O emissions, or leach causing water pollution. We present a nonlinear offset program that induces farmers to reduce their nitrogen applications to the level that will be consumed by the plant in a typical year and, as a result, reduce N2O emissions from agriculture. The offset program is nonlinear because of the nonlinear relationship between N2O and nitrogen application rates. We assume that the farmer solves an expected utility maximization problem, choosing the optimal nitrogen application rate. The key contribution is a set of simulations that shows that modest offset payments will induce participation in the program and will have a significant impact on both expected and actual N2O emissions without having a significant impact on actual or expected yields. We also find that more risk-averse farmers will reduce emissions by a greater amount than less risk-averse farmers. Finally, we show the distribution of emission reductions induced by this nonlinear offset scheme. |
| Keywords: | carbon offsets, nitrogen fertilizer, nitrous oxide, pollution, uncertainty. JEL Codes: Q12, Q18, Q51, Q53, Q54, D8 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:11-wp521&r=env |
| By: | Kauffman, Nathan; Hayes, Dermot |
| Abstract: | Agricultural biofuels require the use of scarce land, and this land has opportunity cost. We explore the objective function of a social planner who includes a land constraint in the optimization decision to minimize environmental cost. The results show that emissions should be measured on a per acre basis. Conventional agricultural life cycle assessments for biofuels report carbon emissions on a per gallon basis, thereby ignoring the implications of land scarcity and implicitly assuming an infinite supply of the inputs needed for production. Switchgrass and corn are then modeled as competing alternatives to show how the inclusion of a land constraint can influence life cycle rankings and alter policy conclusions. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, biomass, energy policy, land use, life cycle analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q16, Q48, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103246&r=env |
| By: | Simpson, Tony; Druppel, Jennifer; Watson, Marissa; Benson, Ben; Mullen, Jeffrey |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103259&r=env |
| By: | Banerjee, Simanti; Shortle, James S; Kwasnica, Anthony M |
| Abstract: | Tackling the problem of ecosystem services degradation is an important policy challenge. Different types of economic instruments have been employed by conservation agencies to meet this challenge. Notable among them are Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes that pay private landowners to change land uses to pro-environmental ones on their properties. This paper focuses on a PES scheme â an auction for the cost-efficient disbursal of government funds for selection of spatially contiguous land management projects. The auction is structured as an iterative descending price auction where every bid is evaluated on the basis of a scoring metric â a benefit cost ratio. The ecological effectiveness and economic efficiency of the auction is tested with data generated from lab experiments. These experiments use the information available to the subjects about the spatial goal as the treatment variable. Analysis indicates that the information reduces the cost-efficiency of the auction. Experience with bidding also has a negative impact on auction efficiency. The study also provides an analysis of the behavior of winners and losers at the final auction outcome. Winners and losers are found to have significantly different behavior with winners bidding much higher than their costs than losers. |
| Keywords: | Ecosystem Services, economic experiments, auctions, spatial contiguity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103220&r=env |
| By: | Czap, Natalia V.; Czap, Hans J.; Khachaturyan, Marianna; Lynne, Gary D.; Burbach, Mark E. |
| Abstract: | This paper further tests dual interest theory and the metaeconomics approach to environmental choice, recognizing a possible role for empathy-sympathy (the basis for an internalized, shared other-interest) in tempering and conditioning the more fundamental tendency to pursue self-interest. To test, we focus on rivers flowing through agricultural areas carrying sediments, chemicals, and fertilizers which are making their way into downstream rivers and lakes. We use data from a framed experiment. Farmers decide on the usage of conservation technology to lessen impacts on the water quality in downstream areas, which is more costly. The results confirm our hypotheses, demonstrating that upstream farmers who practice conservation are tempering profit maximization with empathy-based, environmentally conscious behavior that better serves the farmersâ own-interest, and thus also serves downstream users. Environmental economics models need to explicitly include empathy-sympathy and the moral-ethical context it produces, providing a more scientific basis for conservation policy and programs. |
| Keywords: | dual-interest model, metaeconomics, empathy, sympathy, selfism, environmental experiment, behavioral economics, water quality, conservation tillage, conservation policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, C9, D03, Q25, Q53, Q57., |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102866&r=env |
| By: | Joshua S. Graff Zivin; Matthew J. Neidell |
| Abstract: | Environmental protection is typically cast as a tax on the labor market and the economy in general. Since a large body of evidence links pollution with poor health, and health is an important part of human capital, efforts to reduce pollution could plausibly be viewed as an investment in human capital and thus a tool for promoting economic growth. While a handful of studies have documented the impacts of pollution on labor supply, this paper is the first to rigorously assess the less visible but likely more pervasive impacts on worker productivity. In particular, we exploit a novel panel dataset of daily farm worker output as recorded under piece rate contracts merged with data on environmental conditions to relate the plausibly exogenous daily variations in ozone with worker productivity. We find robust evidence that ozone levels well below federal air quality standards have a significant impact on productivity: a 10 ppb decrease in ozone concentrations increases worker productivity by 4.2 percent. |
| JEL: | I1 J3 Q5 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17004&r=env |
| By: | Solenn Leplay; Sophie Thoyer |
| Abstract: | Safeguarding tropical rainforests is one of the most important challenges for the future, particularly to mitigate climate change. The international community has actively sought international policy solutions to curb deforestation in tropical countries. Debt-for-nature swaps and certification of sustainable forest management have been implemented by NGOs. Some states are currently negotiating the implementation of the REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism, a North-South financial transfer to compensate countries for avoided deforestation. However, little is known about the efficiency of these instruments. We argue that they may have a double effect: an expected direct impact on deforestation linked to the conditionalities of instruments, and an indirect impact due to their feedback effects on macroeconomic variables, affecting in turn the drivers of deforestation. The second effect is often overlooked by policy makers [...]. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:11-01&r=env |
| By: | Drabik, Dusan; de Gorter, Harry; Just, David R. |
| Abstract: | We show how leakage differs, depending on the biofuel policy and market conditions. Carbon leakage is shown to have two components: a market leakage effect and an emissions savings effect. We also distinguish domestic and international leakage and show how omitting the former like the IPCC does can bias leakage estimates. International leakage is always positive, but domestic leakage can be negative. The magnitude of market leakage depends on the domestic and foreign gasoline supply and fuel demand elasticities, and on consumption and production shares of world oil markets for the country introducing the biofuel policy. Being a small country in world oil markets does not automatically imply that leakage is 100 percent or above that of a large country. We show leakage due to a tax credit is always greater than that of a mandate, while the combination of a mandate and subsidy generates greater leakage than a mandate alone. In general, one gallon of ethanol is found to replace only 0.35 gallons of gasoline â not one gallon as assumed by life-cycle accounting. For the United States, this translates into one (gasoline-equivalent) gallon of ethanol emitting 1.13 times more carbon than a gallon of gasoline if indirect land use change (iLUC) is not included in the estimated emissions savings effect and 1.43 times more when iLUC is included. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, market leakage, carbon leakage, emissions savings, domestic leakage, tax credit, mandate, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q27, Q41, Q42, Q54, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102689&r=env |
| By: | Czap, Hans; Czap, Natalia; Khachaturyan, Marianna; Burbach, Mark; Lynne, Gary |
| Abstract: | Common-pool resources and other shared resources frequently suffer from overextraction/overuse and associated negative externalities. In this paper we design a framed laboratory experiment on downstream water pollution to investigate (a) the importance of framing in determining the behavior of upstreamers regarding the negative externalities, and (b) the potential of downstreamers to influence the choices of upstreamers using non-monetary sanctions and rewards, alleviating the need for intervention by the local governments and regulatory institutions. Our results show that framing has a significant impact on the behavior of subjects. Subjects behaved more profit-oriented in the self-interest framing and more egalitarian in the empathy framing. In addition, we show that nudging subjects to âwalk in the shoes of othersâ significantly increased empathetic behavior. Lastly, negative emotional feedback is a powerful tool for changing behavior of subjects towards more environmentally friendly and empathetic behavior. Interestingly, positive emotional feedback is counterproductive in that it instead decreases environmentally friendly and empathetic behavior. In general our results indicate that explicit emotional feedback, even though not expressed by everyone, works similarly to the implicit appeal to emotions through framing. |
| Keywords: | empathy framing, self-interest framing, emotions, water pollution, environmental experiment, reward and punishment., Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, C9, D03, Q25, Q53, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102696&r=env |
| By: | Don Fullerton; Daniel Karney; Kathy Baylis |
| Abstract: | We build a simple analytical general equilibrium model and linearize it, to find a closed-from expression for the effect of a small change in carbon tax on leakage – the increase in emissions elsewhere. The model has two goods produced in two sectors or regions. Many identical consumers buy both goods using income from a fixed stock of capital that is mobile between sectors. An increase in one sector’s carbon tax raises the price of its output, so consumption shifts to the other good, causing positive carbon leakage. However, the taxed sector substitutes away from carbon into capital. It thus absorbs capital, which shrinks the other sector, causing negative leakage. This latter effect could swamp the former, reducing carbon emissions in both sectors. |
| JEL: | H2 H23 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17001&r=env |
| By: | Anna Creti; Pierre-Andre Jouvet; Valerie Mignon |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the carbon price during the two phases of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). More specifically, relying on daily EU allowance futures contracts, we test whether the carbon price drivers identified for Phase I still hold for Phase II and evolve toward a long-run relationship. Using cointegration techniques and accounting for the 2006 structural break on the carbon market, we show that while a cointegrating relationship exists for both phases of the EU ETS, the nature of this equilibrium relationship is different across the two subperiods, with an increasing role of fundamentals in Phase II. Deriving equilibrium values, we show that the carbon price tends to be undervalued since the end of 2009. |
| Keywords: | EU ETS; carbon price; energy prices; cointegration |
| JEL: | Q4 C22 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2011-09&r=env |
| By: | Motamed, Mesbah; McPhail, Lihong |
| Abstract: | We explicitly measure corn acreage response to the biofuels boom from 2006 to 2010. Specifically, we use newly available micro-scale planting data over time to test whether corn cultivation intensifies in proportion to the proximity of ethanol processors. We control for the endogeneity of plant location to corn acreage by using transportation network data for instruments. Our results show that reducing the distance between a farm and an ethanol plant by one percent increases acreage in corn by 0.64% and reveal a price elasticity of supply of 0.47%. To our knowledge, this is the first study that measures changes in location and intensity of corn planting in response to incentives posed by the recent biofuels boom. The results can serve as a springboard for researchers and policy-makers concerned with crop diversity, environmental sustainability, and greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Keywords: | corn acreage, ethanol, panel data analysis, instrumental variables, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, Q1, Q28, C33, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103270&r=env |
| By: | Wallander, Steven; Hand, Michael S. |
| Abstract: | Since the passage of the 1996 Farm Act, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) has provided over $10 billion in technology adoption subsidies. One of the national conservation priorities in EQIP is water conservation, but it is not known how participation in EQIP by irrigators affects water application rates and decisions to expand or reduce a farmâs irrigated acreage. Using a farm-level panel data set drawn from three national samples of irrigators taken in 1998, 2003, and 2008, this study provides the first national scale econometric estimates of the changes in water application rates and irrigated acreage that result when a farm receives EQIP payments. Due to a five-fold increase in EQIP funding following the 2002 farm bill, the change in EQIP participation between 2008 and earlier years is largely the result of an exogenous policy shock. A difference-in-differences estimator that exploits this change in EQIP funding and also controls for unobserved farm-specific variables, suggests that for the average farm participating in EQIP between 2004 and 2008, the EQIP payments may have reduced water application rates but also may have increased total water use and led to an expansion in irrigated acreage. However, since EQIP participation is voluntary, there may still be a need to correct for bias due to sample selection. A nearest neighbor matching estimator finds no evidence of any statistically significant effect of EQIP participation on technology adoption rates, water use, water application rates or acreages, which suggests that there is a high degree of self-selection into the program. |
| Keywords: | EQIP, irrigation efficiency, water conservation, difference-in-differences, matching estimator, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103269&r=env |
| By: | Siqi Zheng; Jing Cao; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | With the decline of the traditional hukou system, migrants in China have a broad set of cities to choose from. Within an open system of cities, compensating differentials theory predicts that local real estate prices will reflect the marginal valuation of non-market local public goods. More polluted cities will feature lower real estate prices. But, local pollution may be caused by booming local industries. To address such endogeneity concerns, we estimate hedonic regressions using an instrumental variable strategy based on “imports” of pollution from nearby sources. By documenting the importance of spatial emissions patterns, our study highlights how real estate prices in one city are affected by Pigouvian externalities originating in another location. On average, a 10% decrease in imported neighbor pollution is associated with a 1.8% increase in local home prices. |
| JEL: | Q53 R31 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16992&r=env |
| By: | Tan, Teck Hong |
| Abstract: | This paper determine the responsiveness of the willingness to pay to changes in structural, locational, and neighborhood attributes of housing that incorporate sustainability objectives. In this study, 299 households from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor in Malaysia were interviewed. Results show that housing developers should build the neighborhood that promotes sustainability as house buyers generally are willing to pay more to live in a sustainable neighborhood. In order to build a progressive low carbon economy, the government should create the vision and give policy directions and guidelines that describe all aspects necessary of a sustainable neighborhood. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable Neighborhood; Sustainability; Willingness to Pay; Malaysia |
| JEL: | Q56 C42 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30446&r=env |
| By: | Ward, Patrick S.; Shively, Gerald E. |
| Abstract: | We examine the extent to which economic development reduces both a country's disaster risk and its social vulnerability to climate-related disasters. Global climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and various types of storms. Moreover, the effects of these extreme weather events are expected to be borne disproportionately in areas of the world already challenged by underdevelopment. We find that the ability of economic development to reduce disaster risk depends on a country's income level; additional income becomes less effective in reducing disaster risk as countries become wealthier. We find that, conditional on a disaster occurring, higher incomes generally reduce a country's social vulnerability to such disasters. We additionally find that underlying political structures have an important influence over the human costs of disasters, with outcomes more favorable in democratic societies. |
| Keywords: | Natural disasters, climate change, economic development, vulnerability, International Development, Political Economy, I3, Q5, O2, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102984&r=env |
| By: | Gaoussou Diarra (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Sébastien Marchand (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically the relationships between the corruption climate and the demand for good governance by focusing on firms' behaviors in developing countries. The concept of demand for good governance is conceived in terms of a firm's willingness to comply with regulatory norms measured through the firm's perception of the level of public accountability as well as the firm's behavior in terms of corruption practices. While there is a growing theoretical literature on the importance of externality mechanisms of corruption phenomena, little empirical evidences has been highlighted. This paper contributes to fill this gap by using firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. We show that when corruption is found to be a very important constraint for a firm's business, its willingness to comply decreases and the probability of the firm's corrupting officials increases. These results support arguments according to which the demand for good governance is likely to be influenced by the perception of the existence of pervasive corruption. Moreover, the results are conditioned on countries' institutional features and the type of regulation. Some evidence is also found for firms' environmental overcompliance. |
| Keywords: | Corruption; Compliance; Regulation; Firms |
| Date: | 2011–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00588191&r=env |
| By: | Abebe Damte (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Steven F. Koch (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | The heavy dependence and inefficient utilization of biomass resources for energy have resulted in high depletion of the forest resources in Ethiopia, while the use of traditional cooking technology, one source of inefficient biomass resource use, has been linked to indoor air pollution and poor health. In response, the government and other institutions have pushed for the adoption of new cooking technologies. This research examines the speed of adoption of some of these technologies – Mirt and Lakech cook stoves – in urban Ethiopia. The duration analysis suggests that adoption rates have been increasing over time, that income and wealth are important contributors to adoption, and that substitute technologies tend to hinder adoption. However, it was not possible to consider prices or perceptions related to either the technologies or biomass availability in the duration models, and, therefore, further research is needed in order to further inform policy with respect to household technology adoption decisions. |
| Keywords: | Improved stoves, Duration, Adoption, Urban Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201109&r=env |
| By: | Pierre Courtois; Tarik Tazdaït |
| Abstract: | Assuming that a North-South transfer is the key to climate cooperation, we ask when and how much the North should o¤er to the South in return for a commitment to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. In light of the risk of irreversible damage over time, we examine a negotiation with a deadline. We assess the conditions for an agreement to be immediate or delayed, and discuss situations likely to result in negotiation failure. Despite the risk of irreversible damage over time, we show that cooperation is likely to be delayed and characterize situations where North and South fail to agree within the deadline. Although Pareto-improving, cooperation may collapse because of inefficiencies related to incomplete information. We show that in negotiations with a deadline, uncertainty about the benefi ts deriving from cooperation and the irreversibility of the damage that will be caused if cooperation is delayed, are the two key components affecting choice. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:11-07&r=env |
| By: | Wang, Chenguang |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Policies such as Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) which aim to assist farmers with biomass production may act as a double-edged sword. On one hand, they lure farmers to adopt biomass production in the short term. On the other hand, they canât be irresponsible for farmersâ abandonment of biomass production in the long run. The paper sharpens this idea in a principal-agent setting and argues that by offering a timely loyalty premium the agentsâ take-and-run behavior can be mitigated. Moreover, the model shows that effort and investment in human capital are increasing in loyalty premium when agents decide to continue providing biomass after testing-water contract expires. |
| Keywords: | BCAP, contract duration, incentives, Environmental Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103164&r=env |
| By: | Pavel, Ciaian; Sergio, Gomez y Paloma |
| Abstract: | The present paper provides a meta-analysis of agricultural landscape valuation studies and through the estimated benefit transfer function it projects the value of EU landscape. The analyses are based on information from more than thirty European and Non-European studies which use stated preference approach to uncover the society's willingness to pay (WTP) for landscape. Our calculations show that, the per hectare WTP in EU varies between 89 and 169 â¬/ha with an average value of 142 â¬/ha in 2009. Further the calculations indicate that the total value of EU landscape in 2009 is estimated to be in the range of â¬16.1 â 30.8 billion per year, with an average of â¬25.8 billion, representing around 7.5 percent of the total value of EU agricultural production and roughly half of the CAP expenditures. |
| Keywords: | landscape, benefit transfer, WTP, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Q51, Q41, |
| Date: | 2011–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:102727&r=env |
| By: | Halkos, George |
| Abstract: | In this paper we claim that the disadvantage in the pollution control is not primarily the accumulated stock of pollutants, which is an accomplished fact, but the use of the available inputs in production in conjunction with the available equipment are the sources of pollutants accumulation. In most cases pollution is an irreversible fact and consequently, the main concern of a social planer should be the discovery of effective ways to reduce the sources (inputs and equipment) that generate pollutants. Using both optimal control and differential game approaches, we study the intertemporal strategic interactions between polluters and the social planer. We find that the establishment of cyclical strategies in a polluter’s optimal control problem requires that the polluter’s discount rate must be greater than the marginal resources’ growth. For the saddle point stability, the marginal resources growth has to be equal or less than zero. Assuming constant elasticity for the polluters’ resources reduction function and linearity for the rest of the functions, we find that the pollution game yields constant optimal Nash strategies. Finally, we provide analytical expressions of these strategies as well as the steady state value of the resources’ stock. |
| Keywords: | Pollution control; optimal control; differential games; Nash equilibrium |
| JEL: | H21 C61 D43 C62 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30466&r=env |
| By: | Abebe Damte (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Steven F. Koch (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between property rights, defined by land tenure security, the strength of local-level institutions, and household demand for fuel wood, as measured by the source from which fuel wood is collected. A multinomial regression model is applied to survey data collected in rural Ethiopia. Results from the discrete choice model indicate that active local-level institutions reduce the dependency on community forests, but, otherwise, increase household dependency on open access forests. However, property rights do not increase demand for fuel wood collected from private forests. The results suggest that there is a need to bring more open access forests under the management of the community and increase the quality of community forestry management in order to realize improvements in forest conservation. |
| Keywords: | Property rights, institutions, fuel wood rural, Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201110&r=env |
| By: | Solenn Leplay; Jonah Busch; Philippe Delacote; Sophie Thoyer |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an analytical model of a REDD+ mechanism with an international payment tier and a national payment tier, and calibrate land users' opportunity cost curves based on data from Sumatra. We compare the avoided deforestation and cost-eciency of government purchases across the two types of contracts fixed price and opportunity cost, and across two government types "benevolent" and "budget maximizing". Our paper shows that a fixed-price scheme is likely to be more efficient than an opportunity-cost compensation scheme at low international carbon prices, when the government is "benevolent" or when variation in opportunity cost within land users is high relative to variation in opportunity cost across land users. Thus, a PES program which pays local communities or land users based on the value of the service provided by avoided deforestation may not only distribute REDD revenue more equitably than an opportunity cost-based payment system, but may be more cost-efficient as well. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:11-02&r=env |
| By: | Stéphanie Aulong; Robert Kast |
| Abstract: | The objectives of the paper are (1) to apply Füssels (2007) conceptual framework of vulnerability to a concrete ongoing research and (2) to discuss on the resulting choice of an adequate vulnerability approach. The research aims at assessing the vulnerability of South Indian farmers to global change at two periods of time: medium term (2030-2040) to account for rapid global economic changes, and long term (2045-2065) to account for climate change and variability. The term vulnerability is dened in so many ways that its use has become controversial. Fussel proposed an original conceptual framework of vulnerability based on a common and transversal terminology understandable whatever the scientic domain of concern. This conceptual framework relies on the description of six dimensions of the vulnerability concept. The rst four dimensions describes the vulnerable situation and the last two dimensions explain the factors of vulnerability. Füssel argues that with this set of dimensions, it is possible to class any conceptual approach of vulnerability found in the literature. After the six dimensions were adapted to South Indian farmers vulnerability, the use of a cross-scale integrated approach of vulnerability appears clearly as the most appropriate.[...] |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:11-03&r=env |
| By: | Annegret Mähler; Miriam Shabafrouz; Georg Strüver |
| Abstract: | Natural resources are often held responsible for intrastate conflicts. As a consequence, both national and international measures to avoid the detrimental impact of resource endowments have increasingly been discussed and implemented in resource-rich countries. These measures include stabilization funds, subregional development programs, revenue-sharing regimes, and transparency initiatives. However, comparative empirical studies of the actual impact of these measures, particularly regarding their contribution to conflict prevention, are scarce. This paper contributes to the filling of this gap: combining a medium-N sample of oildependent countries and three in-depth case studies (Algeria, Nigeria, and Venezuela), we evaluate different instruments of resource management and their effects on conflict risk factors. On the one hand, the findings do not show any systematic connection between the countermeasures and a reduction in resource-related risks; on the other, the paper highlights common causal factors for the lack of implementation of resource-related countermeasures. |
| Keywords: | Oil, violent conflicts, political stability, resource management |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:158&r=env |
| By: | Howard, Gregory E. |
| Abstract: | I consider a variation of Coasian bargaining as a policy instrument for internalizing intergenerational externalities. The variation involves appointing a contemporary party to represent the interests of the affected parties who are currently unable to represent themselves, either because they are too young or have not yet been born. Potential criticisms of such a policy are considered and addressed, and precedents to such a policy are put forth. A two period model is formulated to test the effectiveness of bargaining compared to a tax and subsidy regime and is found to be comparable and robust to parameter and model adjustments. |
| Keywords: | Bargaining, intergenerational externalities, welfare analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103227&r=env |
| By: | Tomàs Peris-Albentosa |
| Abstract: | In places like the Valencian Region, where the climate is arid, the flow rate of the rivers is irregular, and irrigation is essential if agrarian returns are to increase, the way water was distributed among irrigators often gave rise to clashes between them. This paper begins with an analysis of the mechanisms that were used in the irrigated areas of Valencia, during the feudal era, to prevent these kinds of conflicts from getting out of hand. It then focuses on the disputes that arose between farmers and millers. Contrary to what is usually claimed, there is no decisive evidence to show that the millers were a permanent cause of such troubles, which only reached a dangerous level of intensity in certain places at certain times |
| Keywords: | Mills, Water, Irrigation, Valencia, Spain. |
| JEL: | L79 N53 Q15 Q25 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:1104&r=env |
| By: | Albert de-Paz; Jesus Marin-Solano; Jorge Navas (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | In the analysis of equilibrium policies in a dierential game, if agents have different time preference rates, the cooperative (Pareto optimum) solution obtained by applying the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle becomes time inconsistent. In this work we derive a set of dynamic programming equations (in discrete and continuous time) whose solutions are time consistent equilibrium rules for N-player cooperative dierential games in which agents dier in their instantaneous utility functions and also in their discount rates of time preference. The results are applied to the study of a cake-eating problem describing the management of a common property exhaustible natural resource. The extension of the results to a simple common property renewable natural resource model in innite horizon is also discussed. |
| Keywords: | cooperative solutions, dierential games, asymmetric players, resource games, time-inconsistency, heterogeneous discount rates |
| JEL: | C71 Q20 C73 Q30 C61 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2011253&r=env |
| By: | Plankl, Reiner; Pitsch, Marion; Gasmi, Samy |
| Abstract: | Zusammenfassung: Die Fallstudie âWestharzâ bildet die letzte einer Reihe von fünf Studien, die im Rahmen der Evaluierung der Ausgleichszulage für benachteiligte Gebiete entstanden sind. Ziel der Fallstudien war es, die Wirkung der Ausgleichszulage auf verschiedene Bereiche der Landwirtschaft und des ländlichen Raumes in einem für die Gesamtuntersuchung als âtypischâ charakterisierten benachteiligten Gebiet vertieft zu untersuchen. Die ausgewählte Region âWestharzâ steht dabei stellvertretend für eine Mittelgebirgsregion mit der Besonderheit, dass das Land Niedersachsen von 1996 bis 2009 die Ausgleichszulagenzahlung ausgesetzt hat. Entsprechend lag ein Fokus der Studie auf der Entwicklung der Landwirtschaft nach dem Wegfall der Ausgleichszulage. Dazu wurden vorhandene Statistiken, relevante Literatur und die Daten des BMELV-Testbetriebsnetzes ausgewertet sowie Befragungen mit Landwirten und Experten durchgeführt. Es zeigte sich, dass die Untersuchungsregion sehr inhomogen ist. Während die Landbewirtschaftung im Harz-Kerngebiet aufgrund klimatischer und struktureller Erschwernisse vor einer unklaren Zukunft steht und das Abdecken von âNischenâ für die dortigen Landwirte zunehmend wichtig wird, weist das westliche Harzvorland zwar klare natürliche Benachteiligungen auf, die Landbewirtschaftung an sich erscheint dagegen kaum gefährdet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: The case study âWestharzâ (Western Harz Mountains) is the last of a series of five studies, conducted in relation to the evaluation of the compensatory allowance in less favoured areas. The aim of the case studies was to further analyse the impact of the compensatory allowance on different fields of agriculture and rural development in "typical" less favoured areas. The region âWestharzâ represents a low mountain region in which no compensatory allowances were paid from 1996 to 2009. The focus of the study was therefore to analyse the development of agriculture after the compensatory allowances were no longer paid. Available statistics, relevant literature and data obtained from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) were analysed, and interviews held with farmers and experts. It became obvious that the region in focus is very inhomogeneous. As agriculture in the upper Harz is difficult with an uncertain future due to climatic and structural complications, the coverage of niches becomes increasingly essential. In contrast, the lower Harz Mountains show clear signs of natural disadvantages, but agriculture by no means appears to be in danger. |
| Keywords: | Benachteiligte Gebiete, Ausgleichszulage, Fallstudie, Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik, 2. Säule, Less Favoured Areas, compensatory allowance, case study, common agricultural policy, pillar II, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q 18, |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:103255&r=env |
| By: | N. K Patil |
| Abstract: | The Karnataka High Court, while hearing a public interest litigation on the state of lakes and waterbodies in and around Bangalore, constituted a ten-member commitee under the chair of the high court legal services committee to look into the matter and draw up an action plan for the preservation of water bodies. This report makes detailed recommendations on lakes in the city and in the surrounding areas that are increasingly becoming a part of the expanding city. Submitted to the High Court, the report became the basis for a judgement directing the state and city authorities to declare these water bodies as protected. |
| Keywords: | lakes, water bodies, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, encroachment, water supply, birds, environment, urban evironment |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3697&r=env |
| By: | Strohm, Kathrin |
| Abstract: | Dieser Arbeitsbericht analysiert die Stoffströme des deutschen Biokraftstoffsektors für das Jahr 2007. Zahlreiche Statistiken wurden ausgewertet, um prozentuale Aussagen treffen zu können wie viel Rohstoffe in die Biokraftstoffproduktion und weitere energetische Verwendungen floss im Vergleich zu den Bereichen Ernährung und Futter. AuÃerdem wird aufgezeigt welche Nebenprodukte entstehen und falls möglich deren Mengen quantifiziert. Mittels Handelsstatistiken wurden die importierten Rohstoffmengen ermittelt. Wegen Lücken in der Datenverfügbarkeit wurden die gehandelten Biokraftstoffmengen nur als netto Importe (Verbrauch minus inländische Produktion) aufgezeigt, was zu Abweichungen im Hinblick auf die tatsächlich importierten und exportierten Biokraftstoffmengen führen kann. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- This working paper analyses the material flows in the German biofuel sector for the year 2007. Several statistics were evaluated to indicate which percentage of raw materials went into biofuel production and further energetic uses versus the sectors food and feed. Further the report mentions which by-products are generated and if possible these are quantified. By the use of trade statistics the quantities of imported raw materials were identified. Trade statistics for biofuels are hard to obtain; therefore only net imports of biofuels (consumption minus national production) were calculated which can lead to discrepancies regarding the actual imported and exported biofuel quantities. |
| Keywords: | Biokraftstoff, Biodiesel, Bioethanol, Rohstoffe, Verbrauch, Deutschland, 2007, biofuels, biodiesel, bioethanol, raw materials, consumption, Germany, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q16, |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:102646&r=env |
| By: | Evers, Hans-Dieter; Anis, Yusuf; Shamsul, A.B. |
| Abstract: | Biology and Anthropology/Sociology have dealt with issues of diversity for a long time,developing different concepts, theories and methods. In recent years there has been, if not a convergence, but at least a recognition that problems in nature and in society are interrelated. This paper attempts to use methods of biodiversity research and test their applicability for a study of ethnic relations. It is noted that the preservation of biodiversity ranks high on the agenda of researchers and politicians, whereas ethnic diversity is often associated with unrest, conflict and economic decline. We try to reverse this tendency by emphasizing social cohesion and the social and economic value of ethnic diversity. An “ethnic diversity index” is developed and proposed for further analysis of Malaysia’s plural society. This index is based on Simpson’s diversity index, commonly used in biodiversity research. Furthermore research on the interrelation of bio- and ethnic diversity is advocated. |
| Keywords: | Malaysia; ethnic diversity;bio-diversity;economic value of diversity; economic development |
| JEL: | O11 Z1 O2 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30383&r=env |