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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Jobert, Thomas (Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Économie, Gestion); Karanfil, Fatih (Galatasaray University Economic Research Center); Tykhonenko, Anna (Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Économie, Gestion) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses solely on the energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and economic growth nexus applying the iterative Bayesian shrinkage procedure. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is tested using this method for the first time in this literature and the results obtained suggest that: first, the EKC hypothesis is rejected for 49 out of the 51 countries considered when heterogeneity in countries' energy efficiencies and cross-country differences in the CO2 emissions trajectories are accounted for; second, a classification of the results with respect to countries’ development levels reveals that an overall inverted U-shape curve is due to the fact that increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in the high-income countries decreases emissions, while in the low-income countries it increases emissions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Kuznets curve; Bayesian shrinkage estimator; Heterogeneity |
| JEL: | O13 O44 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:giamwp:2012_007&r=env |
| By: | Mads Greaker, Michael Hoel and Knut Einar Rosendahl (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Recent contributions have questioned whether biofuels policies actually lead to emissions reductions, and thus lower climate costs. In this paper we make two contributions to the literature. First, we study the market effects of a renewable fuel standard. Opposed to most previous studies we model the supply of fossil fuels taking into account that fossil fuels is a non-renewable resource. Second, we model emissions from land use change explicitly when we evaluate the climate effects of the renewable fuel standard. We find that extraction of fossil fuels most likely will decline initially as a consequence of the standard. Thus, if emissions from biofuels are sufficiently low, the standard will have beneficial climate effects. Furthermore, we find that the standard tends to reduce total fuel (i.e., oil plus biofuels) consumption initially. Hence, even if emissions from biofuels are substantial, climate costs may be reduced. Finally, if only a subset of countries introduce a renewable fuel standard, there will be carbon leakage to the rest of the world. However, climate costs may decline as global extraction of fossil fuels is postponed. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels; Non-renewable resources; Land-use changes; Climate costs |
| JEL: | H23 Q30 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:720&r=env |
| By: | Mohanty, Brahmanand (Asian Development Bank Institute); Scherfler, Martin (Asian Development Bank Institute); Devatha, Vikram (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | The Asia-Pacific region is witnessing rapid economic growth. Along with rising incomes, the lifestyles of the large middle class are moving quickly towards a buy-and-discard consumer model that involves carbon-intensive products and services. This paper attempts to identify lifestyle changes at the individual level, and behavioral changes at the community level that could offer high carbon abatement potential. It also provides some good practices of public policies and policy recommendations that can be pivotal in making a business case of low-carbon and eco-efficient lifestyles, strengthening collective awareness, and influencing public decision-making in developing countries in Asia. |
| Keywords: | local climate strategy; renewable resources; conservation; environmental management; environmental modeling |
| JEL: | F18 H23 Q20 Q21 Q28 |
| Date: | 2012–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0398&r=env |
| By: | E. Agliardi; L. Sereno |
| Abstract: | We develop a model on the optimal timing of switching from non-renewable to renewable energy sources with endogenous extraction choices under emission taxes and abatement costs. We assume that non-renewable resources are "dirty" inputs and create environmental degradation, while renewable resources are more environmentally friendly, although they may be more or less productive than the exhaustible resources. The value of the switching option from non-renewable to renewable resources is characterized. Numerical applications show that an increase in emission taxes, abatement costs or demand elasticity slows down the adoption of substitutable renewable resources, while an increase in the natural rate of resource regeneration, the stock of renewable resources or the relative productivity parameter speeds up the investment in the green technology. |
| JEL: | D81 H23 Q28 Q38 Q40 Q50 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp855&r=env |
| By: | Nadine Heitmann; Sonja Peterson |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze how much the shipping sector could contribute to global CO2 emission reductions from an efficiency point of view. To do this, a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) for the shipping sector is generated that can be combined with a MACC for conventional CO2 abatement in the production and consumption sectors around the world. These two MACCs are used to assess the following as regards the various global reduction targets: (a) what the maximum global cost savings would be that could be achieved by abating emissions in the shipping sector, (b) how much the shipping sector could contribute to abating emissions cost efficiently, and (c) what the potential additional costs of implementing a separate solution for the shipping sector would be. The focus is on the year 2020. We find that the shipping sector could always contribute to efficient global emission reductions and thus could always achieve global cost savings, but also that the size of the contribution and the size of cost savings depend heavily on the MACC case assumed, i.e., on how the existence of negative abatement costs is treated in a MACC, and on the reduction potentials and costs of measures assumed |
| Keywords: | climate change, shipping sector, CO2 emissions, marginal abatement cost curve |
| JEL: | Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1813&r=env |
| By: | Pascal Gastineau (IFSTTAR); Emmanuelle Taugourdeau (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines a situation where a decision-maker determines the appropriate compensation that should be implemented for a given ecological damage. The compensation can be either or both in monetary and environmental units to meet three goals : i) no aggregate welfare loss, ii) minimization of the cost associated with the compensation, iii) minimal environmental compensation requirement. The findings suggest that - in some cases - providing both monetary and environmental compensation can be the best option. We also emphasize the impact of implementing a minimal environmental compensation constraint especially in terms of equity and cost efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Environmental damage, compensation, welfare, inequity. |
| JEL: | H43 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12080&r=env |
| By: | Ivan Haščič |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the recent experience of Germany in encouraging innovation to reduce negative environmental impacts of economic activity. The essence of the German approach to policy-induced environmental innovation is discussed in the context of changing policy objectives, and illustrated with selected examples from waste management, renewable energy and transportation. The paper covers environmental and general innovation policies and the cross-cutting issue of policy co-ordination. Particular attention is paid to analysis of policies to promote renewable energy, including feed-in tariffs, and policies to promote advanced transportation.<BR>Ce document analyse le bilan de l’action menée dans un passé récent en Allemagne pour encourager une innovation tournée vers la réduction des effets négatifs de l’activité économique sur l’environnement. La nature profonde de l’approche de l’Allemagne, qui mise sur le développement d’innovations environnementales sous l’impulsion des politiques publiques, est examinée dans le contexte de l’évolution des objectifs de l’action publique, et illustrée par plusieurs exemples portant sur la gestion des déchets, les énergies renouvelables et les transports. Ce document aborde les politiques en faveur de l’innovation environnementale et de l’innovation en général, de même que la question transversale de la coordination des politiques. Une attention particulière est portée à l’analyse des mesures visant à promouvoir les énergies renouvelables – dont les tarifs de rachat – et des mesures visant à promouvoir les technologies avancées de transport. |
| Keywords: | environmental policy, innovation, technology, eco-innovation, policy coordination, politique environnementale, innovation, technologie, éco-innovation, coordination des politiques |
| JEL: | H23 O31 O33 O38 O52 Q42 Q48 Q53 Q54 Q55 Q58 R48 |
| Date: | 2012–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:53-en&r=env |
| By: | Richard S. J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands); In Chang Hwanga (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands); Frédéric Reynèsa (OFCE Sciences Po’s Economic Research Centre, Paris, France; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands; TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Delft, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | The effect of learning on climate policy is not straightforward when climate policy is concerned. It depends not only on the ways that climate feedbacks, preferences, and economic impacts are considered, but also on the ways that uncertainty and learning are introduced. Deep (or fat-tailed) uncertainty does matter for the optimal climate policy in that it requires more stringent efforts to reduce carbon emissions. However, learning may reveal thin-tailed uncertainty, weakening the case for emission abatement: learning reduces the stringency of the optimal abatement efforts relative to the no learning case even when we account for deep uncertainty. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we construct an endogenous (Bayesian) learning model with fat-tailed uncertainty on climate change and solve the model with stochastic dynamic programming. In our model a decision maker updates her belief on the total feedback factors through temperature observations each period and takes a course of action (carbon reductions) based on her belief. With various scenarios, we find that the uncertainty is partially resolved over time, although the rate of learning is relatively slow, and this materially affects the optimal decision: the decision maker with a possibility of learning lowers the effort to reduce carbon emissions relative to the no learning case. This is because the decision maker fully utilizes the information revealed to reduce uncertainty, and thus she can make a decision contingent on the updated information. In addition, with incorrect belief scenarios, we find 2 that learning enables the economic agent to have less regrets (in economic terms, sunk benefits or sunk costs) for her past decisions after the true value of the uncertain variable is revealed to be different from the initial belief. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy; deep uncertainty; fat-tails; Bayesian learning; integrated assessment; stochastic modeling; dynamic programming |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:5312&r=env |
| By: | Anita Wölfl; Patrizio Sicari |
| Abstract: | Switzerland has low greenhouse gas emissions per capita as compared to other countries, which reflects the strong reliance on energy sources emitting few greenhouse gas emissions, especially in electricity generation, and little heavy industry. Greenhouse gas emissions have remained almost the same since 1990, as emission reductions in the residential and industrial sector were offset by increases from the transport sector. It is estimated that, in aggregate, marginal abatement costs are relatively high in Switzerland and meeting the 2020 target of a 20% emission reduction below the 1990 level will necessitate more cost effective policies. In particular, more needs to be done in the road transport sector, the domestic sector with the largest potential for emission reductions at relatively low cost. The incentive for energy saving renovations in rented dwellings could be raised by a better design of existing policies. And the policies in the industrial sector could be made more effective with the transition towards linking the Swiss and the EU emission trading systems.<P>Réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre pour un coût raisonnable en Suisse<BR>Comparée à d’autres pays, la Suisse émet peu de gaz à effet de serre par habitant, car elle recourt en grande partie à des sources d’énergie qui n’en produisent pas beaucoup, notamment dans le secteur de l’électricité, et son industrie lourde est modeste. Ces émissions sont à peu près stables depuis 1990, leur diminution dans les secteurs résidentiel et industriel ayant été compensée par une hausse dans celui des transports. D’après les estimations, les coûts marginaux de la réduction des émissions sont dans l’ensemble relativement élevés en Suisse et des mesures plus efficaces par rapport à leur coût seront nécessaires pour atteindre l’objectif fixé d’ici 2020, à savoir un retour à 20 % en dessous du niveau de 1990. Il faut en particulier accentuer l’effort dans le secteur des transports routiers, lequel présente le potentiel le plus élevé de réduction des émissions à un coût relativement bas. L’incitation en faveur des travaux d’économie d’énergie dans les logements en location pourrait être renforcée moyennant une meilleure conception des mesures existantes. L’action menée dans le secteur industriel pourrait gagner en efficacité moyennant le couplage progressif des systèmes suisse et communautaire d’échanges de crédits d’émission. |
| Keywords: | Switzerland, agriculture, industry, carbon tax, greenhouse gas emissions, emissions trading system, congestion, CO2, residential sector, Suisse, agriculture, industrie, émissions de gaz à effet de serre, congestion, secteur résidentiel, CO2, système d'échanges de crédits d'émission |
| JEL: | H23 Q18 Q54 Q56 Q58 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2012–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1002-en&r=env |
| By: | K., Narayanan; Sahu, Santosh Kumar |
| Abstract: | Industrial energy efficiency has emerged as one of the key issues in India. The increasing demand for energy that leads to growing challenge of climate change has resulted major issues. It is obvious that high-energy intensity leads to high carbon intensity of the economy. This paper is an attempt to estimate the firm level CO2 emissions for the metals and metal based industries in Indian manufacturing. Calculation of firm level emissions is carried out following IPCC reference approach methodology of Carbon Dioxide emission from fuel combustion. We tried to find out the inter-firm differences of CO2 emission in the metals and metal based industries. In finding out the determinants of CO2 emission at firm level we have examined whether the firm heterogeneity matters for the differences in emission at firm level. Data for this study is collated from the CMIE PROWESS online database from 2000-2008, IEA energy statistics and IPCC conversion factors for each of the fuel types. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emission; Firm heterogeneity; Panel data econometrics; Metals and Metal based industries |
| JEL: | B23 Q4 |
| Date: | 2012–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38061&r=env |
| By: | Paul A. David (Stanford University); Adriaan van Zon (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the requirements for a social welfare-optimized transition path toward a carbon-free economy, focusing particularly on the role of R&D and other technological measures to achieve timely supply-side transformations in the global production regime that will avert catastrophic climate instability. We construct a heuristic integrated model of macroeconomic growth constrained by geophysical system with climate feedbacks, including extreme weather damages from global warming driven by greenhouse gas emissions, and ‘tipping point’ for catastrophic runaway warming. A variety of options for technology development and implementation, and the dynamic relationships among them will be examined: interactions among the, each having a distinctive primary functionality CO2 emissions control. The specifications recognize (i) the endogeneity and embodiment of technical innovations, and (ii) the irreversibility and long gestation periods of required intangible (R&D) and tangible capital formation. Efficient exercise of these options is shown to involve sequencing different investment and production activities in separate temporal “phases” that together form a transition path to a carbon free economy. To study the requirements of a timely (catastropheaverting) transition, we formulate a sequence of optimal control sub-problems linked together by transversality conditions, the solution of which determines the optimum allocation of resources and sequencing of the several phases implied by the options under consideration. Ours is “planning-model” approach, which departs from conventional IAM exercises by eschewing assumptions about the behaviors of economic and political actors in response to market incentives and specific public policy measures. Solutions for each of several multi-phase models yields the optimal phase durations and rates of investment and production that characterize the transition path. Sensitivity experiments with parameters of economic and geophysical sub-systems provide insights into the robustness of the requirements analysis under variations in the technical and geophysical system parameters. |
| Keywords: | global warming, tipping points, catastrophic climate instability, technology fix options, R&D investments, capital-embodied innovations, optimal sequencing, IAM and DIRAM policy design approaches, multi-phase optimal control, sustainable endogenous growth |
| JEL: | Q54 Q55 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sip:dpaper:12-006&r=env |
| By: | Amigues, Jean-Pierre; Lafforgue, Gilles; Moreaux, Michel |
| Abstract: | We determine the optimal exploitation time-paths of three types of perfect substitute energy resources: The first one is depletable and carbon-emitting (dirty coal), the second one is also depletable but carbon-free thanks to a carbon capture and storage (CCS) process (clean coal) and the last one is renewable and clean (solar energy). We assume that the atmospheric carbon stock cannot exceed some given ceiling. These optimal paths are considered along with alternative structures of the CCS cost function depending on whether the marginal sequestration cost depends on the flow of clean coal consumption or on its cumulated stock. In the later case, the marginal cost function can be either increasing in the stock thus revealing a scarcity effect on the storage capacity of carbon emissions, or decreasing in order to take into account some learning process. We show among others the following results: Under a stockdependent CCS cost function, the clean coal exploitation must begin at the earliest when the carbon cap is reached while it must begin before under a flow-dependent cost function. Under stock-dependent cost function with a dominant learning effect, the energy price path can evolve non-monotonically over time. When the solar cost is low enough, this last case can give rise to an unusual sequence of energy consumption along which the solar energy consumption is interrupted for some time and replaced by the clean coal exploitation. Last, the scarcity effect implies a carbon tax trajectory which is also unusual in this kind of ceiling models, its increasing part been extended for some time during the period at the ceiling. |
| Keywords: | Carbon capture and storage; Energy substitution; Learning effect; Scarcity effect; Carbon stabilization cap. |
| JEL: | Q32 Q42 Q54 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ler:wpaper:25948&r=env |
| By: | Linda Kleemann |
| Abstract: | The development of the agricultural sector and the improvement of the food security situation are seen as essential components to sustainable development in Africa. However, continuing population growth, impacts of climate change and environmental degradation add to an unprecedented combination of pressures that threaten existing efforts and solutions. This article discusses the challenges of meeting the food security needs in a sustainable way. Due to its involvement of all three dimensions of sustainable development, economic, social and ecological, we argue that organic farming could be one possible approach to create a more sustainable agricultural system |
| Keywords: | sustainability, organic agriculture, food security |
| JEL: | O13 Q01 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1812&r=env |
| By: | Hassler, John; Sinn, Hans-Werner |
| Abstract: | We build a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model with one-sided substitutability between fossil carbon and biocarbon. One shock only, the discovery of the technology to use fossil fuels, leads to a transition from an inital pre-industrial phase to three following phases: a pure fossil carbon phase, a mixed fossil and biocarbon phase and an absorbing biocarbon phase. The increased competition for biocarbon during phase 3 and 4 leads to increasing food prices. We provide closed form expressions for this price increase. Our calibration leads to a price increase of 40% if capital and labor are allowed to move to the biocarbon sector. Otherwise, the price increase is much higher. We also use the model to analyze the consequences of restrictions on using biocarbon as fuel. We show that such restrictions can lead to a substantially slower global warming due to an endogenous slowdown of fossil fuel extraction. |
| Keywords: | biocarbon; climate change; fossil fuel |
| JEL: | O41 Q32 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9256&r=env |
| By: | Annegrete Bruvoll, Hanne Marit Dalen and Bodil M.Larsen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Standard economic theory provides clear guidance on the design of cost-efficient policy in the presence of imperfect markets and externalities. However, observed policies reveal extensive discrepancies between principles and practise. Based on interviews with core politicians from the Norwegian parliament, we investigate causes for the lack of cost efficiency in climate and energy policy. We find that politicians agree with the notion of cost efficiency in principle, but rather than ascribing efficient instruments directed at specific policy goals, they include concerns for industrial and regional development, income distribution and employment in the environmental policy design. Lacking insight in the functioning of economic instruments and perceptions of a non-binding budget constraint also violate the requirements for efficient policy decisions. The findings point to the role of economists and social scientists to communicate the functioning of complex instruments. Improved compensation procedures could help reduce the politicians’ incentives to undermine efficiency in order to avoid unwanted distributional effects. |
| Keywords: | policy instruments; policy formulation; political processes; climate policy frameworks; energy policy |
| JEL: | Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:721&r=env |
| By: | Blackman, Allen (Resources for the Future); Naranjo, María Angélica; Robalino, Juan; Alpízar, Francisco; Rivera, Jorge |
| Abstract: | Tourism associated with beaches, protected areas, and other natural resources often has serious environmental impacts. The problem is especially acute in developing countries, where nature-based tourism is increasingly important and environmental regulation is typically weak. Eco-certification programs—voluntary initiatives certifying that tourism operators meet defined environmental standards—promise to help address this problem by creating a private-sector system of inducements, monitoring, and enforcement. But to do that, they must provide incentives for tourism operators to participate, such as price premiums and more customers. Rigorous evidence on such benefits is virtually nonexistent. To help fill this gap, we use detailed panel data to analyze the effects of the Blue Flag Program, a leading international eco-certification program, in Costa Rica, where nature-based tourism has caused significant environmental damage. We use new hotel investment to proxy for private benefits, and fixed effects and propensity score matching to control for self-selection bias. We find that past Blue Flag certification has a statistically and economically significant effect on new hotel investment, particularly in luxury hotels. Our results suggest that certification has spurred the construction of 12 to 19 additional hotels per year in our regression samples. These findings provide some of the first evidence that eco-certification can generate private benefits for tourism operators in developing countries and therefore has the potential to improve their environmental performance. |
| Keywords: | Costa Rica, eco-certification, propensity score matching, tourism |
| JEL: | Q13 Q20 Q26 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-12-50&r=env |
| By: | Knut Einar Rosendahl and Jon Strand (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | We study interactions between a “policy bloc’s” emissions quota market and an offset market where emissions offsets can be purchased from a non-policy “fringe” of countries (such as for the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol). Policy-bloc firms are assumed to benefit from free quota allocations that are updated according to either past emissions or past outputs. We show that both overall abatement, and the allocation of given abatement between the policy bloc and the fringe, tend to be inefficient. When the policy-bloc quota market and offset markets are fully integrated (and firms buy offsets directly from the fringe), and all quotas and offsets must be traded at a single price, it is optimal for the policy bloc to either not constrain the offset market whatsoever, or to ban offsets completely. The former (latter) case occurs when free allocation of quotas is not too generous (very generous), and the offset market can profitably deliver large (only a small) quota amounts. Governments of policy countries would however instead prefer to buy offsets directly from the fringe at a price below the policy-bloc quota price. The offset price will then be below the marginal damage cost of emissions, and the quota price in the policy bloc above marginal damage cost. This solution is also inefficient as the policy bloc (acting as a monopsonist) purchases too few offsets from the fringe. |
| Keywords: | Emissions quotas; Offset market; Quota allocation |
| JEL: | H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:719&r=env |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Export restrictions can be problematic if trading partners question either their conformity with international obligations or their possibly unintended negative impacts on others. Regulatory transparency can help. This paper examines how three multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) incorporate transparency into their regulatory regimes: CITES (endangered species, especially tropical timber), the Basel Convention (hazardous e-waste), and the Kimberley Process (conflict diamonds). All three require producing countries to control exports of sensitive commodities, while allowing (Basel) or requiring consuming countries to control imports. Export and import restrictions are usually intended to affect relative prices, but in these three MEAs the ultimate objective is to limit the negative consequences, whether economic, environmental or societal, associated with improper exploitation of the covered commodities. In each case all trade in the target commodities ought to be covered, no export permits should be issued that do not meet the standards established by the MEA, and no imports should take place without the appropriate documentation. In order to have a consistent comparative basis for assessing the contribution of regulatory transparency to the success of these regimes, we use an analytic framework based on three major transparency principles: publication of the rules (the “right to know”); peer review by governments (monitoring and surveillance); and public engagement (reporting on results, and a role for non-governmental organisations, NGOs). The paper concludes with some observations about characteristics that appear to make transparency more or less effective. |
| JEL: | D7 F1 F5 L6 L7 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q53 |
| Date: | 2012–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:traaab:141-en&r=env |
| By: | Jason Shogren |
| Abstract: | This review aims to improve our understanding of the implications of the insights from behavioural economics for environmental policy design. The review focuses on the question of incentive design in two broad areas — risk, conflict and cooperation; and mechanism design. A number of lessons for policy design emerge from the literature and are highlighted in the paper.<BR>Cet examen vise à améliorer notre compréhension des implications des perspectives de l'économie comportementale pour la conception de la politique environnementale. L'examen porte sur la question de la conception d'incitation dans deux grandes zones: (A) le risque, les conflits et la coopération et (B) la conception du mécanisme. Des leçons émergent de la littérature pour la conception des politiques et sont mis en évidence dans le document. |
| Keywords: | institutions, environmental policy, behavioural economics, mechanism design, institutions, politique environnementale, économie comportementale, conception du mécanisme |
| JEL: | D70 H30 H41 Q28 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:49-en&r=env |
| By: | James Fenske; Namrata Kala |
| Abstract: | African societies exported more slaves in colder years. Lower temperatures reduced mortality and raised agricultural yields, lowering slave supply costs. Our results help explain African participation in the slave trade, which predicts adverse outcomes today. We use an annual panel of African temperatures and port-level slave exports to show that exports declined when local temperatures were warmer than normal. This result is strongest where African ecosystems are least resilient to climate change. Cold weather shocks at the peak of the slave trade predict lower economic activity today. We support our interpretation using the histories of Whydah, Benguela, and Mozambique. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2012-23&r=env |
| By: | Görke, Uwe-Jens; Kolditz, Olaf; Park, Chan-Hee; Taron, Joshua; Wang, Wenqing; Watanabe, Norihiro; Zehner, Björn |
| Abstract: | Neben anderen Konzepten zählt das Verfahren des Abscheidens, Transports und der geologischen Speicherung von CO2 (Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage - CCS) zu den weltweit diskutierten Optionen, im Sinne einer Übergangstechnologie zur Verringerung des Eintrags schädlicher Treibhausgase in die Atmosphäre beizutragen. Das Verfahren ist nicht nur für die Energiewirtschaft mit ihrem hohen Anteil fossiler Energieträger von Interesse, sondern auch für andere CO2-intensive Wirtschaftszweige, wie beispielsweise der Zementindustrie. Im Jahr 2005 veröffentlichte der Zwischenstaatliche Klimawandelausschuss (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC) einen Sonderbericht, in dem Stand, Perspektiven und Wissenslücken von Verfahren der geologischen Langzeitspeicherung von CO2 aufgezeigt werden (IPCC, 2005). Der Modellierung und Simulation von Injektion und Ausbreitung des CO2 im geologischen Untergrund kommt dabei eine entscheidende Bedeutung für das Verständnis der dabei auf unterschiedlichen Zeit- und Längenskalen ablaufenden physikalischen und chemischen Prozesse sowie für die Beurteilung von Effizienz und Sicherheit der ausgewählten Speicher zu. Von den potenziell möglichen geologischen Speicherformationen stehen in Deutschland tiefe, saline Grundwassersysteme sowie (nahezu) ausgebeutete Erdgaslagerstätten mit zweckmäßig nutzbaren Kapazitäten zur Verfügung. Die Arbeiten des hier präsentierten Berichts wurden im Teilprojekt M1b 'Numerische Simulation geomechanischer Prozesse bei der Verpressung von CO2' des Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhabens (F&E-Vorhaben) CO2-MoPa ausgeführt. Sie wurden unter dem Förderkennzeichen 03G0686D vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) im Zeitraum vom 01.04.2008 bis 31.12.2011 gefördert und vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Department Umweltinformatik realisiert. Integrierende Hauptaufgabe des F&E-Vorhabens CO2-MoPa war die Analyse, Bewertung und Quantifizierung von Speichermechanismen bei der Verpressung von CO2 in tiefe, saline Grundwasserformationen (Aquifere). Am Beispiel virtueller Standorte sollten Prozeduren für Dimensionierungs- und Risikoanalysen entwickelt werden, die wesentlich auf experimentell untersetzten Modellierungsansätzen beruhen und Hinweise auf die optimale Gestaltung von Erkundungs-, Nutzungs- und Monitoringstrategien für potenzielle CO2-Reservoire beinhalten. -- |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzrep:072012&r=env |
| By: | Richard S. J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands); Sharon Walsh (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | We estimate grid level tourist numbers to Arctic Circle countries under a number of climate change scenarios. At present, the highest tourism volumes are found in Canada and most of the Scandinavian countries. In general, it appears that tourists are attracted to regions with better infrastructure and nicer cities. Under each climate change scenario, Russia sees a significant increase in tourist numbers because Russia is big, its climate is expected to show some improvement and it is relatively close to the growing markets of South and East Asia. A growth in tourist numbers is also projected for Canada and Alaska. While our simulations do not show a re-distribution of tourists within the Arctic under climate change, the volume is likely to increase. |
| Keywords: | Climate climate change; tourism; destination choice; arctic |
| JEL: | Q54 L83 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:5212&r=env |
| By: | Luca Di Corato (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Natalia Montinari (Strategic Interaction Group, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use stochastic dynamic programming to model the choice of a municipality which has to design an optimal waste management program under uncertainty about the price of recyclables in the secondary market. The municipality can, by undertaking an irreversible investment, adopt a flexible program which integrates the existing landfill strategy with recycling, keeping the option to switch back to landfilling, if profitable. We determine the optimal share of waste to be recycled and the optimal timing for the investment in such a flexible program. We find that adopting a flexible program rather than a non-flexible one, the municipality: i) invests in recycling capacity under circumstances where it would not do so otherwise; ii) invests earlier, and iii) benefits from a higher expected net present value. |
| Keywords: | Real Options, Flexibility, Municipal Waste, Recycling |
| JEL: | C61 Q53 |
| Date: | 2012–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-066&r=env |
| By: | Hammitt, James; Roman, Henry; Stieb, David; Walsh, Tyra |
| Abstract: | The monetized value of avoided premature mortality typically dominates the calculated benefits of air pollution regulations; therefore, characterization of the uncertainty surrounding these estimates is key to good policymaking. Formal expert judgment elicitation methods are one means of characterizing this uncertainty. They have been applied to characterize uncertainty in the mortality concentration-response function, but have yet to be used to characterize uncertainty in the economic values placed on avoided mortality. We report the findings of a pilot expert judgment study for Health Canada designed to elicit quantitative probabilistic judgments of uncertainties in Value-per-Statistical-Life (VSL) estimates for use in an air pollution context. The two-stage elicitation addressed uncertainties in both a base case VSL for a reduction in mortality risk from traumatic accidents and in benefits transferrelated adjustments to the base case for an air quality application (e.g., adjustments for age, income, and health status). Results for each expert were integrated to develop example quantitative probabilistic uncertainty distributions for VSL that could be incorporated into air quality models. |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ler:wpaper:25748&r=env |
| By: | Martin Weitzman |
| Abstract: | Climate change is a global "free rider" problem because significant abatement of greenhouse gases is an expensive public good requiring international cooperation to apportion compliance among states. But it is also a global "free driver" problem because geoengineering the stratosphere with reflective particles to block incoming solar radiation is so cheap that it could essentially be undertaken unilaterally by one state perceiving itself to be in peril. This paper develops the main features of a "free driver" externality in a simple model based on the asymmetric consequences of type-I and type-II errors. I propose a social-choice decision architecture based on the solution concept of a supermajority voting rule and derive its basic properties. In the model this supermajority voting rule attains the socially optimal cooperative solution, which is a new theoretical result around which the paper is built. |
| JEL: | Q5 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18622&r=env |
| By: | D. Dragone; L. Lambertini; A. Palestini; A. Tampieri |
| Abstract: | We revisit the debate on the optimal number of firms in the commons in a differential oligopoly game in which firms are either quantity- or price-setting agents. Production exploits a natural resource and involves a negative externality. We calculate the number of firms maximising industry profits, finding that it is larger in the Cournot case. While industry structure is always inefficient under Bertrand behaviour, it may or may not be so under Cournot behaviour, depending on parameter values. The comparison of private industry optima reveals that the Cournot steady state welfare level exceeds the corresponding Bertrand magnitude if the weight of the stock of pollution is large enough. |
| JEL: | C73 L13 Q20 Q51 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp856&r=env |
| By: | Krautheim, Sebastian; Verdier, Thierry |
| Abstract: | The process of globalization is characterized by an impressive growth in global value chains, as well as the proliferation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) interacting with production and sourcing decisions of multinational firms. In this paper, we present a simple North-South model of international trade allowing for the joint emergence of firm offshoring to South and NGO activism financed by donations from the civil society. In our model northern consumers care about unobservable “credence” characteristics of goods such as the environmental and social impact of production. The analysis highlights a complementarity between the growth of global value chains and the emergence of NGOs: for a range of trade costs potential NGO emergence allows firms to capture gains from globalization, which would otherwise be unattainable. We show that, somewhat paradoxically, when offshoring triggers NGO emergence, this can be at the expense of the consumers, who for a range of trade costs, would be better-off in a world without NGOs. In an extension we show that NGOs may also crowd out investment in regulatory capacities in low cost countries, as consumers in North have a willingness to fund NGOs providing a substitute for regulation in South. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; Multinationals; NGOs; Regulation |
| JEL: | F23 L31 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9232&r=env |
| By: | James Fenske |
| Abstract: | The conventional view is that an increase in the value of a natural resource can lead to private property over it. Many Igbo groups in Nigeria, however, curtailed private rights over palm trees in response to the palm produce trade of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I present a simple game between a resource owner and a thief. An increase in the resource price leads the owner to prefer a communal harvesting arrangement that simplifies monitoring, leaving the thief no worse off. I use this model along with colonial court records to explain property disputes in interwar Igboland. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2012-19&r=env |
| By: | Petros G. Sekeris (Center for Research in the Economics of Development, University of Namur) |
| Abstract: | Earlier research has shown that the tragedy of the commons may be resolved by Folk theorems for dynamic games. In this article we graft on a standard natural-resource exploitation game the possibility to appropriate the resource through violent means. Because conflict emerges endogenously as resources get depleted, the threat supporting the cooperative outcome is no longer subgame perfect, and thus credible. The unique equilibrium is such that players exploit non-cooperatively the resource when it is abundant and they revert to conflict when it becomes scarce. The players' utility is shown to be lower even if conflict wastes no resources. |
| Keywords: | Tragedy of the Commons, Conflict, Dynamic Game |
| JEL: | C73 D74 Q2 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:wpaper:1213&r=env |
| By: | Anders H. Siren; Juan-Camilo Cardenas; Peter Hamback; Kalle Parvinen |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies of tropical forest hunting have shown the existence of marked spatial gradients of hunting effort, game harvest, and animal abundance, as hunters mostly hunt near villages, roads, and rivers. The mechanisms underlying these patterns have, however, hitherto been poorly known. This article presents a spatial bioeconomic model based on the concept of distance friction, i.e. an increasing marginal cost of distance. The model is validated by comparison with an economic field experiment with Amazonian hunters and with previous empirical data on hunting. |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:010317&r=env |
| By: | Samson Mukanjari, Edwin Muchapondwa, Precious Zikhali and Birgit Bednar-Friedl |
| Abstract: | Presently, the mountain gorilla in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo is endangered mainly by poaching and habitat loss. This paper sets out to investigate the possible resolution of poaching involving the local community by using benefit sharing schemes with local communities. Using a bioeconomic model, the paper demonstrates that the current revenue sharing scheme yields suboptimal conservation outcomes. It is however shown that a performance-linked benefit sharing scheme in which the Park Agency makes payment to the local community based on the growth of the gorilla stock can achieve socially optimal conservation. This scheme renders poaching effort by the local community, and therefore poaching fines and anti-poaching enforcement towards the local community unnecessary. Given the huge financial outlay requirements for the ideal benefit sharing scheme, the Park Agencies in central Africa could reap more financial benefits for use in conservation if they employ an oligopolistic pricing strategy for gorilla tourism. |
| Keywords: | Benefit sharing, bioeconomic model, conservation, mountain gorilla, performance payment |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:321&r=env |
| By: | Elise S. Brezis (Bar-Ilan University); Thierry Verdier |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of geography on the transition process in authoritarian political regimes, and to investigate the nature of the links between political change, economic reforms and geographic location. A simple model of transition and democratization is presented wherein we show that the effectiveness of repression by the incumbent elite is a negative function of the distance to the “free world”. In consequence, there are conflicting effects of geography on political power shifting. The paper provides a rationale for the counterintuitive fact that the first authoritarian country to start a transition process towards democratization is not necessarily the one nearest to the free world. |
| Keywords: | conflicts; democratization; elites; geography; repression; transition process. |
| JEL: | D74 P26 P36 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biu:wpaper:2012-10&r=env |
| By: | Immervoll, Herwig (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Policies that support the unemployed, while reducing employment barriers and benefit dependency, are of particular interest in the current economic climate. This paper examines alternative policy approaches for combining adequate income support for the jobless with incentives to keep out-of-work spells short. After summarising the main parameters of existing income support measures for the unemployed in EU and OECD countries, I review evidence on the economic relevance of work incentives and discuss their significance when labour markets are weak during and after an economic downturn. Based on the available evidence, I propose a set of policy priorities to strengthen both the "protection" and the "promotion" functions of unemployment support. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefits, income support, work incentives, activation |
| JEL: | H31 H53 J08 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp50&r=env |
| By: | Coulibaly, Souleymane |
| Abstract: | Eurasian cities, unique in the global spatial landscape, were part of the world's largest experiment in urban development. The challenges they now face because of their history offer valuable lessons to urban planners and policymakers across the world from places that are still urbanizing to those already urbanized. Today, Eurasian cities must respond to three big changes: the breakup of the Soviet Union, the return of the market as the driving force of society, and the emergence of regional powers such as the European Union, China, and India that are competing with the Russian Federation for markets and influence in its former satellites. Several methods of analysis indicate an imbalance across Eurasia, implying a need to readjust Eurasia's urban structure. National policies in Eurasia are still preoccupied with spatial equity. But the concentration of economic activity in large cities is fundamental to national competitive advantage: they foster innovation through their diversity of industries -- and reduce production costs through their economies of scale. This paper suggests some ideas on how policymakers can harness the economic power of cities to drive national economic development, by focusing on four themes: planning, connecting, greening, and financing cities. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Environmental Economics&Policies,City Development Strategies,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2012–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6292&r=env |
| By: | Amigues, Jean-Pierre; Moreaux, Michel |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ler:wpaper:25520&r=env |
| By: | Erik O. Kimbrough (Simon Fraser Unviersity); Bart J. Wilson (Chapman University) |
| Abstract: | The history of the world is strewn with the remains of societies whose institutions failed to adapt to ecological change, but the determinants of institutional fragility are difficult to identify in the historical record. We report a laboratory experiment that explores the impact of an exogenous ecological shock on the informal rules of property and exchange. We find that geographically induced tribal sentiments, which are unobservable in the historical record, impede adaptation post-shock and that inequality declines as wealth and sociableness increase. Quantitative measures of individual and group sociality account for some of the di?erences in successful or failed adaptation. |
| Keywords: | Experimental Economics, Rules, Ecological Shocks |
| JEL: | C9 D02 D7 Q2 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp12-20&r=env |