|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Warwick J. McKibbin (Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University); Adele C. Morris (Brookings Institution); Peter J. Wilcoxen (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University) |
| Abstract: | The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun regulating existing stationary sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) using its authority under the Clean Air Act (the Act). The regulatory process under the Act is long and involved and raises the prospect that significant U.S. action might be delayed for years. This paper examines the economic implications of such a delay. We analyze four policy scenarios using an economic model of the U.S. economy embedded within a broader model of the world economy. The first scenario imposes an economy-wide carbon tax that starts immediately at $15 and rises annually at 4 percent over inflation. The second two scenarios impose different (and generally higher) carbon tax trajectories that achieve the same cumulative emissions reduction as the first scenario over a period of 24 years, but that start after an eight year delay. All three of these policies use the carbon tax revenue to reduce the federal budget deficit. The fourth policy imposes the same carbon tax as the first scenario but uses the revenue to reduce the tax rate on capital income. We find that by nearly every measure, the delayed policies produce worse economic outcomes than the more modest policy implemented now, while achieving no better environmental benefits. |
| JEL: | Q54 H2 E17 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1408&r=all |
| By: | Gunter Stephan; Georg Müller-Fürstenberger |
| Abstract: | Is it possible to combat global climate change through North-to-South technology transfer even without a global climate treaty? Or do carbon leakage and the rebound effect imply that it is possible to take advantage of technological improvements under the umbrella of a global arrangement only? For answering these questions two possible states of the world are discussed: one, where more energy efficient technologies are transferred unconditionally from the North to the South, and where regions do not cooperate in the solution of the global climate problem but unilaterally decide on climate policies and technology transfers; one, where the North-to-South technology transfer is tied to the requirement that the South in some way contributes to the solution of the global climate problem. Rebound and leakage effects hinder a sustainable and welfare improving solution of the climate problem. |
| Keywords: | global warming, climate change, technological change, technology transfer, trade in carbon energy, Post-Kyoto-policy regimes |
| JEL: | C68 D58 F18 Q56 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1397&r=all |
| By: | Paul J. Burke (Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | This article discusses the potential benefits of an enhanced use of externality pricing schemes in the Asia Pacific. Prices on emissions and congestion could ameliorate the negative effects of underpriced resource use, be pro-poor, and improve fiscal capacities. The main implementation challenges are political and institutional. Lessons are drawn from recent experiences in environmental taxation and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies. |
| Keywords: | pricing, taxation, externalities, green, Asia Pacific |
| JEL: | H23 Q53 Q56 Q58 R48 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1409&r=all |
| By: | Lorenzo Cerda Planas (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to provide an alternative explanation of why societies behave differently from an environmental point of view. To do so, I use a Kantian moral approach at a microeconomic level. Under this premise, I show that two identical societies (according to income and political system) might follow different paths with respect to their "green" behaviour. Additionally, I identify tipping points that could nudge a society from a polluting behaviour to a green one. I find that environmental perception as well as how governments are elected can be important factors in this shift. |
| Keywords: | Environmental motivation; Kantian morale; green behaviour; tipping points |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01018651&r=all |
| By: | Ben Jebli, Mehdi; Ben Youssef, Slim; Apergis, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, the number of tourist arrivals and trade in Central and South America spanning the period 1995-2010. We apply panel cointegration techniques and panel Granger causality tests to investigate the relationship across the variables both in the short- and in the long-run. The empirical findings reveal the presence of a long-run relationship across the variables under investigation. Furthermore, short-run dynamics show a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption to CO2 emissions and from renewable energy consumption to trade. In addition, there is a unidirectional short-run causal link without feedback effects from economic growth to trade and the number of tourist arrivals as well as a unidirectional causality running from the number of tourist arrivals to trade. In the long-run, there is evidence of bidirectional causality between emissions, renewable energy consumption and the number of tourist arrivals. Long-run estimates highlight that both the number of tourist arrivals and renewable energy consumption contribute to the reduction of emissions, while both real GDP and trade contribute to the increase of emissions. |
| Keywords: | Carbon dioxide emissions; renewable energy consumption; tourist arrivals; trade |
| JEL: | C33 F18 O44 Q42 |
| Date: | 2014–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57261&r=all |
| By: | Efthymia Kyriakopoulou; Anastasios Xepapadeas |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal and equilibrium distribution of industrial and residential land in a given region. The trade-off between the agglomeration and dispersion forces, in the form of pollution from stationary forces, production externalities, and commuting costs, determines the emergence of industrial and residential clusters across space. In this context, we define two kinds of spatial policies that can be used in order to close the gap between optimal and market allocations. More specifically, we show that the joint implementation of a site-specific environmental tax and a site-specific labor subsidy can reproduce the optimum as an equilibrium outcome. The methodological approach followed in this paper allows for endogenous determination of land use patterns and is shown to provide more precise results compared to previous studies. |
| Keywords: | Spatial policies, agglomeration, land use, atmospheric pollution, environmental tax, labor subsidy. |
| JEL: | R14 R38 H23 |
| Date: | 2014–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1407&r=all |
| By: | Saraly Andrade de Sa (GREThA); Julien Daubanes (ETH-Zürich) |
| Abstract: | This paper questions the ability of a carbon tax to reduce oil extraction. Demand for oil is very price inelastic. Facing such demand, an extractive cartel induces the highest price that does not destroy its demand: it tolerates ”non-drastic” substitutes but deters substitution possibilities that have the potential to drastically deteriorate its demand. Limit-pricing equilibria of non-renewable resource markets sharply differ from conventional Hotelling outcomes. Oil taxes become neutral. Policies only reduce current oil extraction when they support existing non-drastic substitutes. Since the carbon tax applies to oil and to its current carbon substitutes, it induces higher oil current production. |
| Keywords: | Carbon tax, Limit pricing, Non-renewable resource, Monopoly, Demand elasticity |
| JEL: | Q30 L12 H21 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2014.07&r=all |
| By: | M. Iqbal Irfany (Georg-August-University Göttingen) |
| Abstract: | The objectives of this study are to analyze the household carbon footprint pattern in Indonesia and to analyze the determinants of the growing carbon footprint in this emerging economy. To measure the household emissions, we combine national input-output, emission database to generate sectoral CO2 emission intensities and matched these intensities with two waves of national expenditure surveys from 2005 and 2009. We then use this household CO2 emission for investigating the drivers of the rise in emissions from the micro perspective. Comparing CO2 intensities, the results show that transportation, fuel-light, are the two most intensive emitting sectors in Indonesia. We also found a significant difference of household carbon emission comparing between per capita expenditure level, region, and education. Regression analysis suggests that expenditure is the main determinant of household emission. Although other household characteristics determine the variation of emission, it is shown that varying affluent level differs significantly in term of carbon footprint. The decomposition analysis confirms that changes in emission are dominantly contributed by the rise of expenditure comparing between household level and over the two periods. Expenditure elasticities analysis suggest that the rise of household emission is mainly caused by general volume increase in overall household consumption, and not by shifting the share of expenditure amongst consumption basket. |
| Keywords: | carbon footprint; household; Indonesia |
| JEL: | O12 O13 Q54 Q56 Q41 |
| Date: | 2014–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:161&r=all |
| By: | Lucas Bretschger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Lin Zhang (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | There is widespread concern that an international agreement on stringent climate policies will not be reached because it would imply too high costs for fast growing economies like China. To quantify these costs we develop a general equilibrium model with fully endogenous growth. The framework includes disaggregated industrial and energy sectors, endogenous innovation, and sector-specific investments. We find that the implementation of Chinese government carbon policies until 2020 causes a welfare reduction of 0.3 percent. For the long run up to 2050 we show that welfare costs of internationally coordinated emission reduction targets lie between 3 and 8 percent. Assuming faster energy technology development, stronger induced innovation, and rising energy prices in the reference case reduces welfare losses significantly. We argue that increased urbanization raises the costs of carbon policies due to altered consumption patterns. |
| Keywords: | Carbon policy; China; Endogenous growth; Induced innova- tion; Urbanization. |
| JEL: | Q54 O41 O53 C68 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eth:wpswif:14-201&r=all |
| By: | Asian Development Bank (ADB); (Regional and Sustainable Development Department, ADB); ; |
| Abstract: | Since the inception of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has participated in the preparation of 15 investment plans covering the two main CIF funds, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF). The SCF comprises three separate programs—the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program (SREP), and the Forest Investment Program (FIP). This study, which is part of a wider review of CIF experiences in ADB, uses a case study approach to examine how stakeholder engagement was carried out in the preparation of investment plans in Cambodia, Nepal, and the Philippines, with reference to the guidance provided by ADB and CIF in stakeholder participation. |
| Keywords: | adb, asian development bank, asdb, asia, pacific, poverty asia, climate investment funds, low-carbon, climate-resilient development, stakeholder participation, engagement, cambodia, indonesia, nepal, philippines, public consultation, consultation, adaptation, climate change, public opinion, CIF, steering group |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asd:wpaper:rpt135712-3&r=all |
| By: | F. Delbono; L. Lambertini |
| Abstract: | We charaterise the socially optimal mix of firms in an oligopoly with both profit-seeking and labour-managed firms. The policy maker faces a twofold externality: (i) production entails the exploitation of a common pool natural resource and (ii) production/consumption pollutes the environment. We study the relationship between firms' mix and social welfare in the Cournot-Nash equilibrium of the industry and the resulting policy implications. |
| JEL: | L13 H23 P13 Q50 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp955&r=all |
| By: | Laure Bamière |
| Abstract: | Within an overall project to assess the competitiveness and environmental impacts of the production of bioenergy from lignocellulosic biomass, we set out in this article to investigate facility location, land allocation, biomass supply costs, and some environmental impacts in relation to the demand for lignocellulosic feedstock at the regional (Nuts 2) level. For that purpose we developed a spatially-explicit regional supply model with a county sub-level to deal with the case of agricultural and forest ligno-cellulosic biomass. It accounts for land-use competition, transportation costs and the optimal location of bioenergy facilities as well as the competition between biomass sources and between their potential uses. As an illustration, the model is applied to the case of the French Champagne-Ardenne region. We generated the first lignocellulosic biomass supply curves for France and performed a sensitivity analysis to the food crops price context. We show that dedicated crop cultivation can increase environmental pressure on the local level, due to direct and indirect land-use substitution. Our results also show that three well-accepted claims about the production and supply of lingo-cellulosic biomass in France do not hold true countrywide. First, Miscanthus is not the most profitable dedicated crop, although it is the most frequent in France today. Second, perennial lignocellulosic crops are at first grown on the most fertile and profitable lands and not on marginal land, therefore coming into competition with food crops. Finally, we show that forest remnants are not the providential biomass source they are expected to be and that energy and non-energy uses compete for wood that is already harvested. |
| Keywords: | lignocellulosic biomass, bioenergy, supply curves, spatial modelling, mathematical programming, facility location |
| JEL: | Q12 Q15 Q16 Q42 |
| Date: | 2014–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apu:wpaper:2014/01&r=all |
| By: | Patrice Bougette (University Nice Sophia Antipolis and GREDEG/CNRS); Christophe Charlier (University Nice Sophia Antipolis and GREDEG/CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Faced with the energy transition imperative, governments have to decide about public policy to promote renewable electrical energy production and to protect domestic power generation equipment industries. For example, the Canada – Renewable energy dispute is over Feed-in tariff (FIT) programs in Ontario that have a local content requirement (LCR). The EU and Japan claimed that FIT programs constitute subsidies that go against the SCM Agreement, and that the LCR is incompatible with the non-discrimination principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This paper investigates this issue using an international quality differentiated duopoly model in which power generation equipment producers compete on price. FIT programs including those with a LCR are compared for their impacts on trade, profits, amount of renewable electricity produced, and welfare. When `quantities’ are taken into account, the results confirm discrimination. However, introducing a difference in the quality of the power generation equipment produced on both sides of the border provides more mitigated results. Finally, the results enable discussion of the question of whether environmental protection can be put forward as a reason for subsidizing renewable energy producers in light of the SCM Agreement. |
| Keywords: | Feed-in tariffs, Subsidies, Local content requirement, Industrial policy, Canada – Renewable energy dispute, Trade policy. |
| JEL: | F18 L52 Q42 Q48 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2014.08&r=all |
| By: | Cécile Couharde; Rémi Generoso |
| Abstract: | We investigate the consequences of remittances inflows on macroeconomic performance of West African countries over the 1985 - 2007 period. We take into account the exposition of those countries to climate variability by estimating a PCHVAR model which allows heterogeneity between countries’ responses to rainfall shocks. Our results show that the impact of remittances on macroeconomic performances is highly sensitive to those shocks. In particular, when drought conditions prevail, remittances do not longer exert any short-term spillover effects on growth and may increase a situation of economic dependence, by spurring agricultural imports. |
| Keywords: | Climate variability; Remittances; PCHVAR model; West Africa. |
| JEL: | C33 F24 O11 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2014-37&r=all |
| By: | Kevin Haninger; Lala Ma; Christopher Timmins |
| Abstract: | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Program awards grants to redevelop contaminated lands known as brownfields. This paper estimates cleanup benefits based on a nationally representative sample of brownfields using a variety of quasi-experimental techniques. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that combines non-public EPA administrative records with high-resolution, high-frequency housing data to estimate the effects of brownfield cleanup across the entire federal Brownfields Program. We find increases in property values accompanying cleanup, ranging from 4.9% to 11.1%; for a welfare interpretation that does not rely on the intertemporal stability of the hedonic price function, a double-difference matching estimator finds even larger effects of up to 32.2%. Our various specifications lead to the common conclusion that Brownfields Program cleanups yield a positive, statistically significant, but highly-localized effect on housing prices. |
| JEL: | Q51 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20296&r=all |
| By: | Anthony Bebbington |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses institutional and political relationships that govern the interactions between natural resource extraction, economy and society with a focus on the mining and hydrocarbon sectors. These relationships help define the implications of resource extraction for democracy and the qualities of growth. On that basis it explores the conditions under which these relationships are likely to be reproduced or changed, and the ways in which they might mediate the interactions between extraction and inclusion. The paper grounds this framework in two perspectives. The first perspective draws on a more general literature dealing with political settlements, contentious politics and the politics of ideas, placing particular emphasis on the role of social mobilization and political coalitions in processes of institutional change. The second perspective engages with the specific relationships of scale, space and time that characterize the natural resource sector and give it its specificity. These questions of space and time are especially important in influencing how the growth of an extractive economy influences the relationships between growth, redistribution and the politics of recognition. The implication is that any effort to understand the governance of extraction and of its relationships to development must be spatially and historically explicit. In light of these arguments the paper closes with a discussion of the conditions that might favour the emergence of institutional arrangements under which resource extraction is more likely to foster inclusive development. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:esid-021-13&r=all |
| By: | Juan Camilo Cárdenas; César Mantilla; Rajiv Sethi |
| Abstract: | This paper reconsiders evidence from experimental common pool resource games from the perspective of a dynamic model of sampling. Despite being parameter-free, the model is able to replicate some striking features of the data: monotonic frequency distributions, the persistent use of strictly dominated actions, and stable heterogeneity in choices. We argue that these patterns cannot be fully accounted for by existing theories based on other-regarding preferences and norms, and that the dynamics of sampling provide a useful complementary explanation for behavior in social dilemmas. |
| Keywords: | Common Pool Resources; Experiments; Sampling Equilibrium |
| JEL: | C73 C91 D03 H41 Q20 |
| Date: | 2013–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:011892&r=all |