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on Environmental Economics |
|
Issue of 2014‒12‒08
sixty-two papers chosen by Francisco S. Ramos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
| By: | Kibonge Naik, Aziza |
| Keywords: | Productivity, precipitation, climate change, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:172348&r=env |
| By: | Guerrero, Santiago; Juárez, Miriam; López, Jesús |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Corn Production, Corn Prices, Corn Cultivated Area, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170694&r=env |
| By: | Chonabayashi, Shun |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Adaptation, Agriculture, Land Use, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170710&r=env |
| By: | Ian W.H. Parry; Chandara Veung; Dirk Heine |
| Abstract: | This paper calculates, for the top twenty emitting countries, how much pricing of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is in their own national interests due to domestic co-benefits (leaving aside the global climate benefits). On average, nationally efficient prices are substantial, $57.5 per ton of CO2 (for year 2010), reflecting primarily health co-benefits from reduced air pollution at coal plants and, in some cases, reductions in automobile externalities (net of fuel taxes/subsidies). Pricing co-benefits reduces CO2 emissions from the top twenty emitters by 13.5 percent (a 10.8 percent reduction in global emissions). However, co-benefits vary dramatically across countries (e.g., with population exposure to pollution) and differentiated pricing of CO2 emissions therefore yields higher net benefits (by 23 percent) than uniform pricing. Importantly, the efficiency case for pricing carbon’s co-benefits hinges critically on (i) weak prospects for internalizing other externalities through other pricing instruments and (ii) productive use of carbon pricing revenues. |
| Keywords: | Greenhouse gas emissions;Fossil fuels;Energy pricing policy;Energy taxes;Climate policy;carbon pricing; co-benefits; air pollution; fuel taxes; top twenty emitters |
| Date: | 2014–09–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:14/174&r=env |
| By: | Li, Xiaogu; Jensen, Kimberly L.; Clark, Christopher D.; Lambert, Dayton M. |
| Abstract: | Cattle production contributes about 2.2% of US greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of prescribed grazing (PG) could reduce these emissions. Grass-fed beef products command price premiums; whether beef produced with PG programs would do likewise is not known. This research estimates consumer willingness-to-pay for beef grown using the PG technology. |
| Keywords: | Beef Production, Prescribed Grazing, Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change, Contingent Valuation, Sample Selection, Willingness to Pay, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18, Q51, Q52, Q56, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:167716&r=env |
| By: | Valcu, Adriana |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2014–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170493&r=env |
| By: | Hadrich, Joleen; Manning, Dale |
| Abstract: | Current climate policy focuses disproportionately on carbon dioxide emissions but recent developments have begun to recognize the important role of other gases, including methane. As a result, anaerobic digesters (ADs) on dairy farms present an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We quantify the social and private costs and benefits of ADs that have been adopted in California and find that despite high initial costs, large reductions in GHG emissions bring significant social benefits and represent good social investments given a $36 per-ton carbon price. Subsidies that lower the initial private investment cost can help align socially and privately optimal adoption decisions. |
| Keywords: | anaerobic digesters, dairy, West, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170535&r=env |
| By: | Guenther, Meike; Saunders, Caroline; Tait, Peter |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar14:189051&r=env |
| By: | Sneeringer, Stacy; Key, Nigel D. |
| Keywords: | livestock, regulation, nutrients, Clean Water Act, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Q1, Q53, Q58, |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169660&r=env |
| By: | McFadden, Jonathan; Miranowski, John |
| Abstract: | How does current weather and climate change impact cropland use and allocation? Using 2010 ARMS data on several thousand central US farms, we estimate a two-step model that controls for expected relative prices, local soil characteristics, and self-selection into primary crop. We find that: (i). early-season and late-season temperatures and rainfall are most significant for selection into corn, while mid-season weather impacts soybean selection; (ii). sensitivity to nonlinear weather effects varies substantially within season and across crops; (iii). soil characteristics are important and should be accounted for in climate studies; and (iv). crop switching may occur under mild climate change. |
| Keywords: | Cropland use, climate change, selection, ARMS, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q54, Q15, Q12, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170512&r=env |
| By: | Zhao, Xueting; Burnett, J. Wesley; Lacombe, Donald J. |
| Abstract: | This study offers a unique contribution to the literature by investigating the convergence of province-level carbon dioxide emission intensity among a panel of 30 provinces in China over the period 1990-2010. We use a novel, spatial dynamic panel data model to evaluate an empirically testable hypothesis of convergence among provinces. Our results suggest that: (1) CO2 emission intensities are converging across provinces in China; (2) the rate of convergence is higher with the dynamic panel data model than the cross-sectional regression models; and, (3) province-level CO2 emission intensities are spatially correlated and the rate of convergence, when controlling for spatial autocorrelation, is higher than with the non-spatial models. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emission intensity, Convergence, Spatial dynamic panel data, China, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C40, Q4, Q54, Q56, R11, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169403&r=env |
| By: | Fleming, Patrick |
| Keywords: | Multiple Simultaneous Equation Models, Switching Regression Models, Water Quality, Land Use, Abatement, Environmental Subsidies, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C31, C34, Q53, Q58, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170373&r=env |
| By: | Yang, Tsung Yu |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170059&r=env |
| By: | Howard, Peter; Sterner, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Climate change will directly affect food availability and security. Because food production is fundamentally a biological process that is a function, in part, of temperature and moisture, the agricultural sector’s potential vulnerability is particularly large. While there is ongoing scientific debate over the magnitude of the effect of climate change on overall agricultural production, the welfare effects of increased food insecurity could be substantial. This is because food is a necessary good, such that climate change driven food shortages could significantly raise food costs relative to traditionally manufactured goods. However, U.S. policymakers rely on climate change models that do not reflect these fundamental differences between agriculture and other economic sectors. This paper modifies DICE-2010, an integrative assessment model, by disaggregating agricultural goods from the aggregate consumption good and updating the agricultural damage function. By more accurately measuring the cost of potential food shortages due to climate change and similar shortages in non-market goods, we find that the social cost of carbon increases by a magnitude of approximately one-third In preliminary results. |
| Keywords: | Integrated assessment model, climate change, social cost of carbon, agriculture, food security, DICE, relative prices, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2014–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170648&r=env |
| By: | Campbell, Brett; Adamowicz, Vic |
| Abstract: | Aggregate resources are deposits of sand, gravel and crushed stone that are used to construct everything from roads and sidewalks to hospitals and schools • Mining these resources is a source of negative environmental externalities (e.g. dust, noise, visual impacts) • Negative externalities generated from extraction should be considered when making locational and reclamation decisions |
| Keywords: | Gravel, Property Values, Hedonic Models, Reclamation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170187&r=env |
| By: | Huang, Jikun; Wang, Yangjie; Wang, Jinxia |
| Keywords: | adaptation, rice, China, extreme weather, yield, risk exposure, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:177177&r=env |
| By: | Cai, Ruohong |
| Abstract: | Future climate change will likely to increase the frequency and severity of droughts in many regions of the U.S., especially in the southwestern states, thus further will reduce the water supply in those states. On the water demand side, the population of the U.S. also moves to the southwestern states (both domestic and international migrants). Coupling the projections of water supply and demand, we generate the relative water stress index for the contiguous U.S. counties for the years 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050. We find a worsening water stress situation, especially in the western U.S. Meanwhile, we find that some metropolitan areas in the east may also have severe water stress despite good water supply. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, water supply and demand, human migration, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170383&r=env |
| By: | Khachatryan, Hayk; Zhou, Guzhen |
| Abstract: | Urban sprawl in the U.S. has substantially increased the area of maintained residential landscapes. While there are social and economic benefits associated with well-maintained residential lawns, improper landscaping practices, such as excessive irrigation and fertilization may result in adverse environmental effects such as fertilizer chemicals runoff into water resources. Previous studies investigated homeowners’ landscaping practices such as amount and frequency of irrigation or fertilizing. However, preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for eco-friendly fertilizer attributes, which would benefit marketers, educators, and local governments in fertilizers regulation related decision making, remains largely unexplored. This study utilized a discrete choice experiment to investigate whether and how the presence of ecofriendly attributes influence consumers’ preferences and WTP for lawn fertilizers. Results from the mixed logit model showed that homeowners were willing to pay price premiums for products featured with environmentally-sustainable attributes (i.e., controlled-release nitrogen, phosphorus-free, and natural and/or organic). It was also found that the experiment participants preferred lawn fertilizers that were labeled as pet-friendly and those that included pest control feature. Relevant policy and marketing implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | lawn care, eco-friendly, organic, controlled-release, nitrogen fertilizer, choice experiment, willingness to pay, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q53, Q56, D12, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170210&r=env |
| By: | Steiner, Christopher |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a complicated set of phase-ins and phase-outs of oxygenated motor fuel in the Northeast to determine whether E-10 ethanol-enhanced fuel contributes to acetaldehyde air pollution over the pre-ethanol methyl tertiary-buthyl ether (MTBE) fuel. Oil companies phased out MTBE because of groundwater pollution concerns, and now E-10 is the standard fuel in EPA reformulated gas areas. Using a difference-in-difference setup, I find a small level increase but a large percentage increase in acetaldehyde pollution with E-10. I also compute a cost of the pollution in the single-digit millions of dollars. The findings concur with many scientific papers estimating that the impact of E-10 fuel on acetaldehyde pollution is small but positive. |
| Keywords: | ethanol, air pollution, applied economics, environmental economics, acetaldehyde, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q3, Q5, |
| Date: | 2014–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169289&r=env |
| By: | Jensen, Kimberly L.; Zhang, Jun; Lambert, Dayton M.; Clark, Christopher D.; English, Burton C.; Larson, James A.; Yu, T. Edward; Hellwinckel, Chad; Claytor, Hannah |
| Abstract: | Beef cattle production is responsible for approximately 2.2% of total US GHG production. In some agroecosystems, afforestation has the potential to sequester more carbon than other pasture and rangeland management practices. This research examines the factors, including an incentive, influencing afforestation on beef cattle farms east of the 100th meridian. |
| Keywords: | Afforestation, Cattle Producers, Incentives, Willingness to Adopt, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q12, Q16, Q28, |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:167354&r=env |
| By: | Wineman, Ayala; Crawford, Eric W. |
| Abstract: | While climate change is widely regarded as a threat to food security in southern Africa, few studies attempt to link the science of climate change impacts on agriculture with the specificities of smallholder livelihoods. In this paper, we build a series of linear programming (LP) farm-household models in Zambia in order to assess the impact of climate change on rural households and likely changes in land use and crop management. The LP models represent three household types (smallholders, emergent farmers, and female-headed households) in three agro-ecological zones with divergent cropping patterns and climate trends. Model parameters are drawn from several nationally representative rural household surveys, local meteorological records, and downscaled climate predictions of the Hadley (HadCM3) and CCSM models for the year 2050. The calorie-maximizing LP models are calibrated to best reflect baseline crop distributions at each site. Statistical analyses of crop yields over nine years reveal that crops in Zambia exhibit varying levels of sensitivity to climate shocks, and under climate change scenarios, the LP models indicate that farmers will shift their choices of technologies and crops. Among smallholder farms, calorie production from field crops changes by -13.56 to +5.13% under the Hadley predictions and -10.61 to +9.79% under the CCSM predictions. Although farm-households are expected to meet their consumption requirements even under climate change scenarios, the probability of falling below a minimum threshold of calorie production increases in two of our three study sites, and this is particularly true for smallholder farmers who face binding land constraints. Given the current choice set, autonomous on-farm adaptation generally will not be enough to offset the negative yield effects of climate change. Zambia therefore needs larger-scale institutional developments and agricultural research to provide farmers with additional adaptation options. |
| Keywords: | climate change, mathematical programming, farm-households, Zambia, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, C61, O13, Q12, Q54, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170646&r=env |
| By: | Zhong, Hua; Hu, Wuyang |
| Abstract: | Copyright 2014 by Hua Zhong and Wuyang Hu. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non‐commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. |
| Keywords: | best management practices, contingent valuation method, water quality trading, two-step choices, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Q25 Q51 Q52, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169800&r=env |
| By: | Livy, Mitchell R.; Klaiber, H. Allen |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of spatial scale in residential location choice. While the current residential sorting literature has largely focused on a single spatial unit, we expect that homeowners face different tradeoffs across the spatial spectrum, and that these tradeoffs interact across space in different ways to shape observed outcomes. To investigate these phenomena, we implement a nested logit discrete choice model of residential household sorting. With this model, we examine residential location choice at the school attendance boundary and residential neighborhood levels, and we find that the influence of environmental amenities on the location choice of households is complex, often having different implications depending on spatial scale. |
| Keywords: | location choice, nested logit, environmental amenities, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q50, Q51, Q57, R14, R21, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169990&r=env |
| By: | Yang, Tsung Yu |
| Keywords: | Pollution Haven Hypothesis, FDI, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170054&r=env |
| By: | Pfaff, Alexander; Santiago-Avila, Francisco; Carnovale, Maria; Joppa, Lucas |
| Abstract: | Incentives for REDD − i.e., reductions in emissions from deforestation and degradation − motivate application of static economic modeling of land use to assess heterogeneity over space in the business-as-usual baselines for land use required for forest policy evaluations. That some forested locations face higher threats is now recognized as an important factor in the evaluation and targeting of policy. Given this point − now often included in impact evaluation via matching − further theory is required to explain variations in policy impact. We show this need by analyzing impacts of Mexican protected areas (PAs) on land cover. Applying static land-use economics improves the baselines for our impact estimation and we find, on average, a 2.5% lower rate of 2000-05 natural land cover loss within the PAs. Stricter PAs appear closer to cities and have greater impact (4.4%) than less strict (2.3%), yet static baselines do not explain why. Nor do they explain why impact gradients by type differ across countries, or why PA spillovers vary across states − as we show for Mexico. We suggest an initial political economy model of impacts by type of PA and also provide examples of the economic and political dynamics required to understand PAs' spillovers. |
| Keywords: | Mexico, tropical forest, biodiversity, deforestation, conservation, protected areas, siting, selection bias, impact evaluation, matching, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:177195&r=env |
| By: | Sijm, Jos; Lehmann, Paul; Chewpreecha, Unnada; Gawel, Erik; Mercure, Jean-Francois; Pollitt, Hector; Strunz, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | The European Council has proposed to stick to a more ambitious GHG target but to scrap a binding RES target for the post-2020 period. This is in line with many existing assessments which demonstrate that additional RES policies impair the cost-effectiveness of addressing a single CO2 externality, and should therefore be abolished. Our analysis explores to what extent this reasoning holds in a secondbest setting with multiple externalities related to fossil and nuclear power generation and policy constraints. In this context, an additional RES policy may help to address externalities for which firstbest policy responses are not available. We use a fully integrated combination of two separate models the top-down, global macro-economic model E3MG and the bottom-up, global electricity sector model FTT:Power - to test this hypothesis. Our quantitative analysis confirms that pursuing an ambitious RES target may mitigate nuclear risks and at least partly also negative non-carbon externalities associated with the production, import and use of fossil fuels. In addition, we demonstrate that an additional RES target does not necessarily impair GDP and other macro-economic measures if rigid assumptions of purely rational behaviour of market participants and perfect market clearing are relaxed. Overall, our analysis thus demonstrates that RES policies implemented in addition to GHG policies are not per se welfare decreasing. There are plausible settings in which an additional RES policy may outperform a single GHG/ETS strategy. Due to the fact, however, that i) policies may have a multiplicity of impacts, ii) the size of these impacts is subject to uncertainties and iii) their valuation is contingent on individual preferences, an unambiguous, "objective" economic assessment is impossible. Thus, the eventual decision on the optimal choice and design of climate and energy policies can only be taken politically. |
| Keywords: | climate policy,energy policy,EU,emissions trading scheme,policy mix,renewables |
| JEL: | C53 Q42 Q43 Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzdps:32014&r=env |
| By: | Canales, Elizabeth; Bergtold, Jason; Jeff, Williams; Jeff, Peterson |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170951&r=env |
| By: | Namasaka, Martin |
| Abstract: | Resource scarcity and environmental degradation due to population growth could be one of the reasons why poor societies, especially those that are dependent on resources, are failing to achieve high rates of growth and sustained economic growth . This debate has long been running, extending back to Thomas Robert Malthus gloomy prediction that, “more people would doom us to a gigantic inevitable famine,” however, there are conflicting views and examples of how human capacities have adapted to resource scarcity, sustaining their livelihoods, as well as reducing institutionalised poverty through innovation, technology and social organisation, hence the relationship between resource scarcity and environmental degradation especially in poorer societies. |
| Keywords: | Resource Scarcity, Environmental Degradation, Economic Growth |
| JEL: | O1 O19 O4 O43 O44 Q1 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59763&r=env |
| By: | Oh, Juhyun; Guan, Zhengfei; Toor, Gurpal S. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170523&r=env |
| By: | Jennifer Roberts (University of Sheffield); Gurleen Popli (University of Leicester); Rosemary J. Harris (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | In order to meet their ambitious climate change goals governments around the world will need to encourage behaviour change as well as technological progress; and in particular they need to weaken our attachment to the private car. A prerequisite to designing effective policy is a thorough understanding of the factors that drive behaviours and decisions. In an effort to better understand how the public’s environmental attitudes affect their behaviours we estimate a hybrid choice model (HCM) for commuting mode choice using a large household survey data set. HCMs combine traditional discrete choice models with a structural equation model to integrate latent variables, such as attitudes and other psychological constructs, into the choice process. To date HCMs have been estimated on small bespoke data sets, beset with problems of sample selection, focusing effects and limited generalizability. To overcome these problems we demonstrate the feasibility of using this valuable modelling approach with nationally representative data. Our estimates suggest that environmental attitudes and behaviours are separable constructs, and both have an important influence on commute mode choice. These psychological factors can be exploited by governments looking to add to their climate change policy toolbox in an effort to change travel behaviours. |
| Keywords: | hybrid choice model, structural equation modelling, environment |
| JEL: | C38 Q50 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2014019&r=env |
| By: | Gi-Eu, Lee; Scott, Loveridge; Julie, Winkler |
| Abstract: | While policies for responding climate change impacts need the support and cooperation from the public who may be affected by the policies, understanding the general public’s opinion is important and can help form feasible action plans. In this paper we take advantage of a temperature event that took place during primary data collection to explore how this affects public opinion about helping farmers adapt to climate change. We find that the public is surprisingly supportive of government involvement in farmer adaptation, and that the warm spell has a brief positive effect on support. For several years until 2011, there was a trend of declining belief in the existence and seriousness of climate change. In 2012, belief in climate change bounced back and meanwhile for several months in that year the monthly average temperatures were record highs. While it is reasonable to hypothesize that contemporaneous weather may influence the public’s attitudes about addressing climate change issues, it is unclear how temperature affects public attitudes. There are gaps in existing research about the determinants of public attitudes towards climate change. How public attitudes towards adaptation policy, especially with respect to a government’s intervention aimed at improving prospects for a particular industry sector, is influenced under unusual weather events, are rarely discussed. Until very recently, researchers have not explored how public opinion is influenced by climate change phenomenon per se, especially periods abnormally warm temperature. Prior articles discuss the effect of temperature with certain limitations, including perception of temperature rather than actual temperature, general temperature rather than deviations from normal status, and either short run or relatively long run average temperature to represent the temperature when the survey was taken rather than the temperature of the day when the respondent answered the survey. Another missing issue among climate change surveys is the public’s opinion on adaptation policies, although many have discussed ideas surrounding that of mitigation policies. As Palutikof, Agnew and Hoar indicated in their work, “…none of these studies addressed people’s responses and adaptations.” How the general public thinks about adaptation strategies and policies is seldom considered. Similar to studies about public opinion, we found little research regarding how willingness to pay (WTP) for adaptation policies or strategies is influenced by specific climate change phenomenon. None of the research considered the WTP for an adaptation policy in reference to a particular industry or addressed the effect of abnormal warm temperature. Since agriculture is likely to be one of the most affected industries under climate change, with potentially serious global food availability issues if climate change outpaces the rate of adaptation, understanding public support for government involvement in adaptation and the public’s WTP to fund such efforts can inform policy dialogue about these critical questions. Therefore, we focus on adaptation in agriculture to explore public opinion toward government involvement in helping the sector adapt as well as the WTP for an adaptation policy. We use the data based on a random sample general population poll in Michigan, secondary sources, and an unseasonal fruit-crop damaging warm spell that occurred during the survey period to assess the effects of this short-term phenomenon on public attitudes and the WTP. Temperatures during the two-week warm spell went as high as 40° F above normal Considered as a natural experiment, this unexpected warm spell provided variation of daily temperature deviation and variation of the exposure of this abnormal temperature when respondents were surveyed. Thus, in addition to the daily temperature deviation, as well as its accumulation for a short period (3 days, a week, etc.), several time period index variables are used to explore how the level of the respondents’ exposure to the warm spell would affect the attitudes and WTP. The basic set up is before-within-after warm spell, and we test several variations of time modeling approaches to explore the duration of the effect. Demographic variables and political ideology are used to control selection bias. While it is unable to control in our data set, we consider the effect due to media coverage of the warm spell as an indirect effect and part of the priming mechanism. We constructed four questions to understand how attitudes about government adaptation assistance vary across levels of government (state or national) and crop types (corn-soybeans or fruits-vegetables) since climate change is an issue which has national and worldwide impacts but agricultural production techniques are more localized. In addition to the questions about government assistance, the instrument also included single-bounded dichotomous choice questions to evaluate the WTP for government-sponsored adaptation programs. Given the contentious nature of climate change, it was surprising to find that around two thirds of the respondents showed a tendency to support the idea of the governments’ role helping farmers of either corn/soybeans or fruit/vegetables adjust their cropping systems. This could be due to the warm spell or the fact that we focus on agriculture, where the public may more easily connect changes in weather with the need to adapt than might be the case with other sectors. Results from the basic models confirm several of our hypotheses. Abnormally warm temperature deviation does affect the public attitude toward government’s role on adaptation significantly. So does the variables of sub-periods or exposure of warm spell. However, the WTP is only affected significantly by these time period index variables while the temperature deviation is not significant. In other words, there appears to be a kind of tipping point beyond which further increases in deviation do not make much difference. From the preliminary results, we found that, the public attitudes about whether government should be involved in the adaptation are quite sensitive to short run temperature anomalies. The warm spell effect boosted the support, but it did not last long and quickly dropped back to the pre-event level or lower level merely on the second week of the warm spell. In addition, temperature anomalies may lead to more polarized public attitudes. We also found that the support is higher while the question specified the agriculture industry than in the general question without mentioning specific industry. The importance of local agriculture production had certain but more muted influence than our a priori expectations. Our research focuses on the agriculture industry, adaptation policies, as well as the WTP. The three key dimensions distinguish this paper from prior work. Our research further identifies the effect of the unusual warm spell event by various means. This paper shows how the warm spell event influenced the public attitudes toward climate change adaptation policy regarding two government levels and two crop types and the WTP for government-sponsored adaptation programs. The effects of daily or cumulated temperature deviation as well as the level of exposure to the warm spell will be discussed. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Agricultural Adaptation Policy, Public Attitudes, Temperature, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, Q18, Q58, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170161&r=env |
| By: | Savage, Jeffrey; Ribaudo, Marc |
| Abstract: | A concern for any program that offers payment for environmental services is that those services be additional. Non-additional services are those that would have been provided without the payment. One source of non-additionality is farmer misrepresentation of their pre-program management. Farm management practices are often difficult to observe, particularly those that do not involve structural changes, such as nutrient management. If practices are difficult to observe, management oversight lax, and enforcement weak, the farmer has an incentive to provide biased information that increases the likelihood that he will receive a more favorable baseline for calculating services created, and a larger payment. This is a moral hazard problem. The presence of non-additional credits in a water quality trading program can result in the degradation of water quality. Point source discharges above permitted levels are replaced by equivalent reductions from unregulated nonpoint sources. If the abatement that point sources purchase from nonpoint sources is non-additional, discharges will be higher than if the abatement was truly additional. Preventing non-additional credits from entering a water quality trading market is one of the goals of program design. In this paper we assess how program eligibility baseline choice affects the incentive to misrepresent baseline nutrient management practices using data from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. |
| Keywords: | additionality, point-nonpoint water quality trading, baseline, nutrient management, moral hazard, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170426&r=env |
| By: | Boutin, Delphine (CERDI, University of Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | This article clarifies and quantifies the causal impact of climate change vulnerability on child labour incidence and intensity. For this purpose, we create an index of vulnerability to climate change, composed of biophysical vulnerability and communities' resilience. Both, participation to economic activities and to household chores have been taken into account. We find that climate vulnerability negatively affects child labour incidence and intensity, while has no significant impact on household chores. We conclude that child labour is an adjustment variable to local labour market conditions, not correlated with communities' resilience. |
| Keywords: | vulnerability, climate change, Malawi, child labour |
| JEL: | J22 J43 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8567&r=env |
| By: | Claudio Vitari (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)) |
| Abstract: | Ecological sustainability and social equity are among the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals - but, unfortunately, as the years pass, they are still far from being reached. But concern about these issues has made its way to industry and the IS community. IS play a central role in companies as they are cross-functional and have a strategic role in our current information society. We argue that it is our responsibility, as IS scholars, to dedicate some of our research efforts toward environmental sustainability and to social equity, and that our teaching, our journals and our associations should also address these two objectives. This article proposes a new framework to facilitate the inclusion of both ecological sustainability and social equity concerns within the IS discipline. |
| Keywords: | Social Equity, Ecological Sustainability, IS community |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00969189&r=env |
| By: | Xie, Yang; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | This paper builds a model determining optimal capacities of diversion dams or water transfer projects. The model incorporates stochastic inflows to the dams and the role of the dam capacity in reducing overflows, and gives a closed-form expression of the marginal benefit of capacities. Comparative static analysis suggests that larger water projects could be required by 1) improvements in water management efficiency, 2) upward shifts in the marginal overflow-caused loss, or 3) more abundant inflows. The result provides important policy implications about the impact of integrated water reforms, rising concern about food security, and climate change on optimal water project capacities. The model is also applied to analyze the relation between water project capacities and conservation technologies, showing 1) that too large or too small water projects could discourage adopting conservation technologies, 2) that the impact of conservation technologies on optimal capacities is ambiguous, and 3) that if designers of water projects take water users' potential adoption of conservation technologies into account, the first-order condition of the capacity determination model could have multiple solutions. |
| Keywords: | dam capacity, technology adoption, water management efficiency, food security, climate change, water reform, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25, Q15, Q54, Q28, Q01, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169820&r=env |
| By: | Tajibaeva, Liaila; Haight, Robert; Stephen, Polasky |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the optimal spatial pattern of open space and residential development in an urban model that includes provision of both local and global public goods. In our model, households choose where to live based on land prices, proximity to employment, and amenity values that include access to open space (local public good). Open space also provides habitat for biodiversity (global public good). We applied the model in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and include endogenous land prices, land taxes that finance the purchase of open space, heterogeneous land quality, multiple employment locations, and pre-existing spatial features, such as institutional and environmental amenities. Based on this application we develop an efficiency frontier that shows tradeoffs between maximum welfare of households, which includes provision of local public goods, and provision of habitat for biodiversity, which is assumed to not affect household welfare. We show there is the potential for a large increase in biodiversity conservation with only modest reductions in welfare when starting from a spatial pattern of development that maximizes household welfare. Biodiversity conservation can be improved by changing the spatial configuration of open space towards higher quality habitat and aggregating protected areas to increase contiguity. |
| Keywords: | open space, residential development, environmental amenities, urban economics, biodiversity conservation, spatial configuration, land use, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q50, Q57, R21, R52, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170602&r=env |
| By: | Ingrid Dallmann (Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales (ADIS) - Université Paris-Sud); Katrin Millock (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | We match migration data from the Indian census with climate data to test the hypothesis of climate variability as a push factor for internal migration. The main contribution of the analysis is to introduce relevant meteorological indicators of climate variability, based on the standardized precipitation index. Gravity-type estimations derived from a utility maximization approach cannot reject the null hypothesis that the frequency of drought acts as a push factor on inter-state migration in India. The effect is significant for both male and female migration rates. Drought duration and magnitude as well as flood events are never statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; India; internal migration; PPML, SPI |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00825807&r=env |
| By: | Wang, Tong; Seong, Park; Teague, W. Richard; Bevers, Stan |
| Keywords: | biomass condition and sustainability, continuous grazing, multi-paddock grazing, stocking rate., Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170406&r=env |
| By: | Guenther-Lübbers, Welf; Arens, Ludwig; Theuvsen, Ludwig |
| Abstract: | Due to global climate change and its impact on local weather conditions, decision support systems are becoming more important in agriculture. Such systems allow farmers to adapt more effectively to the complex changes affecting their farms. Marginal production sites must apply new tillage strategies adapted to new climatic conditions. Information about proper strategy adjustments is often disseminated through agricultural extension services and journals. A new internet information platform, KlimaBob, which focuses on climate-flexible tillage, was established under the auspices of the Innovation Network of Climate Change Adaptation Brandenburg Berlin. Successful and permanent introduction of such a system requires analysis and verification of its acceptance among individual farmers. This study addresses this need by applying the established task-technology fit approach. A survey was conducted among farmers in the Brandenburg region. The resulting data provided the basis for a structural equation model that explains and evaluates the task-technology fit of the KlimaBob platform. The results indicate that the performance spectrum of the system exerts a strong influence on the task-technology fit when assessed by both the name characteristics of KlimaBob and the individual characteristics of users (for example, time management, technology affinity and risk attitude). |
| Keywords: | Decision support systems, task-technology fit, climate change, arable farming, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi13:164769&r=env |
| By: | Yun, Seong Do; Gramig, Benjamin M. |
| Abstract: | This study develops and solves a stochastic, multi-year, discrete space-time model that allows the comparative analysis between non-spatial and spatially explicit models. The solution to this model implies the Stochastic Space-Time Natural Enemy-adjusted Economic Threshold (SST-NEET) to guide the choice of the optimal level of a pest that warrants management intervention. Using numerical simulation experiments over a generated synthetic geography, we derive three major conclusions. First, a unified framework for optimal control of a biological invasion must consider the simultaneous complexities of stochasticity, space, time and spatial spillovers. Second, the suggested SST-NEET is the most generalized version of the spatially explicit NEET model that can be simply reduced to a spatially homogenous or non-spatial model by giving conditions of each model assumed. Finally, accounting for spatial environmental heterogeneity and spatial spillovers are important factors to consider when making pest control decisions. Considering the fact that the initial distributions of pests and natural enemies are determined by the distribution of their habitat, conservation policies that increase spatial heterogeneity and spatial spillovers can be an effective way to use pest control ecosystem services to manage a biological invasion. An application to biological control of the soybean aphid using the natural enemy ladybird beetles is developed using field measurements in Newton County, Indiana, USA. After empirical parameterization of the equations of motion in a predator-prey system, the optimal economic threshold (aphids/plant) for using pesticides to control aphids is derived under three different forms of spatial heterogeneity. For a given set of input and output prices, the optimal economic threshold is derived numerically for three different forms of spatial heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Economic threshold, Stochastic Space-Time optimization, Natural Enemy, Ecosystem Services, Biological Invasion, Conservation Practices, Soybean Aphid, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q56, C61, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170450&r=env |
| By: | Parlow, Anton; Hövelmann, Dennis |
| Abstract: | Using data on 57 German industries we find that industries participating in voluntary agreements reduce their CO2-emissions up to 30% compared to industries not participating in voluntary agreements for the period 1995 to 2010. The success of these agreements can be explained by a credible threat of the regulatory agency to impose taxes. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary Agreements, CO2-Emissions, Industries |
| JEL: | Q50 |
| Date: | 2014–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59972&r=env |
| By: | Goodenberger, James S.; Klaiber, H. Allen; Gopalakrishnan, Sathya |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of heterogeneous intensity in the optimal control of invasive species. By simulating a spatial dynamic optimal control model with eradication and suppression decision variables we find that the intensity of an invasion, as well as the carrying capacity of the landscape, are both important factors that should be taken into account when control decisions are being made. |
| Keywords: | Invasive Species, Optimal Control, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170204&r=env |
| By: | John K. Stranlund (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); James J. Murphy (Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage; Institue of State Economy, Nankai University); John M. Spraggon (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst) |
| Abstract: | We present results from laboratory emissions markets designed to investigate the effects of price controls and permit banking on limiting permit price risk. While both instruments reduce between-period price volatility and within-period price dispersion, combining price controls and permit banking yields important benefits. Banking alone produces high permit prices in earlier periods that fall over time, but the combined policy produces lower initial prices and lower volatility. However, banking, price controls, and the combination all produce higher between-period emissions volatility. Hence, for emissions markets that seek to control flow pollutants with strictly convex damages, efforts to limit permit price risk can result in higher expected damage. |
| Keywords: | experimental economics, Emissions trading, Cap and trade, Laboratory experiments, Permit markets, Permit banking, Price controls, Price collars |
| JEL: | C91 L51 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ala:wpaper:2014-01&r=env |
| By: | Kerr, Geoffrey N; Abell, Walter |
| Abstract: | The introduction of the New Zealand Game Animal Council in 2014 heralds a new era for New Zealand big game management. Now that management of game animals to enhance benefits from sustained use is possible, it is important to understand who values game resources and the attributes that enhance benefits from their use. Choice experiments using a pivot design around actual travel distance identified salience of hunt-related attributes for recreational hunters of Himalayan tahr (Jemlahicus Hemitragus) and sika deer (Cervus Nippon). The choice experiments successfully used travel distance as the numeraire of value to overcome resistance to the commodification of hunting. Results show the high value of recreational hunting, and identify disparate preferences both within and between species. Understanding heterogeneity offers important insights into managing hunting experiences to enhance their value for recreational hunters. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, sika deer, Himalayan tahr, recreation, hunting, management, heterogeneity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar14:187501&r=env |
| By: | Marshall Burke; Solomon M. Hsiang; Edward Miguel |
| Abstract: | Until recently, neither climate nor conflict have been core areas of inquiry within economics, but there has been an explosion of research on both topics in the past decade, with a particularly large body of research emerging at their intersection. In this review, we survey this literature on the interlinkages between climate and conflict, by necessity drawing from both economics and other disciplines given the inherent interdisciplinarity of research in this field. We consider many types of human conflict in the review, including both interpersonal conflict -- such as domestic violence, road rage, assault, murder, and rape -- and intergroup conflict -- including riots, ethnic violence, land invasions, gang violence, civil war and other forms of political instability, such as coups. We discuss the key methodological issues in estimating causal relationships in this area, and largely focus on "natural experiments" that exploit variation in climate variables over time, helping to address omitted variable bias concerns. After harmonizing statistical specifications and standardizing estimated effect sizes within each conflict category, we carry out a hierarchical meta-analysis that allows us to estimate the mean effect of climate variation on conflict outcomes as well as to quantify the degree of variability in this effect size across studies. Looking across 55 studies, we find that deviations from moderate temperatures and precipitation patterns systematically increase the risk of conflict, often substantially, with average effects that are highly statistically significant. We find that contemporaneous temperature has the largest average effect by far, with each 1σ increase toward warmer temperatures increasing the frequency of contemporaneous interpersonal conflict by 2.4% and of intergroup conflict by 11.3%, but that the 2-period cumulative effect of rainfall on intergroup conflict is also substantial (3.5%/σ). We also quantify heterogeneity in these effect estimates across settings that is likely important. We conclude by highlighting remaining challenges in this field and the approaches we expect will be most effective at solving them, including identifying mechanisms that link climate to conflict, measuring the ability of societies to adapt to climate changes, and understanding the likely impacts of future global warming. |
| JEL: | I3 O1 P48 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20598&r=env |
| By: | Kotsiri, Sofia; Zering, Kelly; Mayer, Michelle |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to develop a model that calculates the probability distribution of camelina expected yields dependent on location-related variables such as precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation, as well as nitrogen rate and others. Camelina is an oilseed crop grown in cool climate with low input requirements including little water. The application to camelina addresses challenges in analysis of potential adoption of crops with limited field data. Our data include trials and crop yields in the United States from 2005 to 2012. They have been assembled from various published reports covering a range of locations, seasons, and production methods. We begin by fitting a least squares (LS) regression model to camelina yields. As a robustness check we also apply a stochastic frontier framework under Cobb-Douglas technology. Preliminary results indicate that the average maximum precipitation for the period of interest positively affected the mean camelina yields, whereas it has no impact on yield variability. An increase in average maximum precipitation will more likely decrease the technical inefficiency. Both higher nitrogen rates and higher average maximum growing degree days will more likely increase the average yields. A taller camelina plant positively affects the mean yields and the yield variability. In contrast, total solar radiation is negatively correlated with mean yields and variation. There is still much to be learned about the crop and its best management practices as production expands. The analysis of the interaction of managed input variables and environmental factors will help us assess varietal performance and provide location conditional predictions. |
| Keywords: | camelina, stochastic frontier, weather, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170232&r=env |
| By: | Narjes, Manuel; Lippert, Christian |
| Abstract: | This article is an attempt to estimate the economic value of policies aimed at conserving native bees (and their pollination services) in Northern Thailand, by means of a discrete choice experiment. The preferences of 198 longan (Dimocarpus longan) farmers for three conservation strategies in particular, namely “bee-friendly pest management”, “improving native bee habitats within agro-forest ecosystems” and “fostering the husbandry of native bee species”, were analyzed. Thereby, the part-worth utilities of these strategies and of their potential effects on the population of native bees were estimated with conditional logit and random parameter logit models. Furthermore, the contribution of a “cost” attribute to the explanation of the utility associated with the choice alternatives allowed the calculation of willingness to pay estimates for the individual conservation strategies and for changes in the population of native bees. As a result, a positive contribution of the proposed conservation measures to the utility derived from the choice alternatives containing them could be established. Similarly, positive changes in the population of native bees also increased the chances of related conservation policy profiles being chosen. It can be concluded that the population of longan farmers is generally willing to pay for the conservation of native bees in their region, although explaining their preference heterogeneity for the proposed conservation measures will require further analyses. |
| Keywords: | Native Bee Conservation, Crop Pollination, Northern Thailand, Discrete Choice Experiment, Conditional Logit, Random Parameter Logit., Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi14:187427&r=env |
| By: | Senz, Anja (Ed.); Reinhardt, Dieter (Ed.) |
| Abstract: | The border regions between Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Southwest China are characterized by close historical, intra-ethnic relations and a developing civil society sector as well as violent conflicts and disputes about hydropower and resource extraction projects. What is more, this region will be affected by climate change. The articles reflect expanding regional economic relations, resource extraction projects, climate change challenges, minority issues and the potential for further involvement of the civil society. |
| Abstract: | Die Grenzregionen zwischen Nordostindien, Myanmar und Südwestchina sind geprägt von engen historischen, intra-ethnischen Beziehungen, von einer sich entwickelnden Zivilgesellschaft sowie von Gewaltkonflikten und Konflikten über Wasserkraft- und Ressourcengewinnungsprojekte. Diese Region wird zudem vom Klimawandel betroffen sein. Die Aufsätze behandeln die wachsenden regionalen Wirtschaftsverbindungen, Ressourcenerschließungsprojekte, Herausforderungen des Klimaschutzes, Minderheitenfragen sowie Möglichkeiten des zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements. |
| Keywords: | India,Northeast India,Myanmar,Yunnan,China,ethnic minorities,economic development,hydropower,resources,climate change |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:udedao:972014&r=env |
| By: | Bak, Nahyeon; Coggins, Jay S. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of the new unit-based pricing system (UPS) for food waste on the volume of solid waste collected, accounting for the effect of cross price elasticity and environmental activism. Based on causal inference using a natural experiment with a difference-in-differences model for Korea for 2003-2010, this paper shows that adopting UPS for food waste has a significant negative effect on the volume of solid waste. A key contribution relative to the broader literature is that this paper initially examines the impact of adopting a UPS for food waste on the volume of solid waste by using a natural experiment. Furthermore, this research suggests a way to implement UPS that needs to be considered according to the characteristics of each type of waste. For solid waste, the effects of own price elasticity and income elasticity are clear and significant. However, for food waste, the effect of own price elasticity exists but, the effect of income elasticity is insignificant. Increasing the price of bags for food waste may send residents a signal regarding the cost of waste disposal and thereby motivates residents to reduce their total waste. |
| Keywords: | Unit-based pricing, Environmental activism, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, D12, H31, Q38, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170145&r=env |
| By: | Wood, Dallas |
| Abstract: | The emergence of glyphosate-resistant weed populations threatens the economic viability of genetically modified, glyphosate-resistant crop varieties. This could not only have serious consequences for the welfare of U.S. farmers, but also for environmental quality as farmers turn to more toxic herbicides. The purpose of this paper is to better understand what economic factors have contributed to the rise of resistant weeds. Specifically, I investigate whether externalities associated with weed mobility have led farmers to apply more glyphosate than they would otherwise. To do this I develop a game theoretic model of how farmers choose the amount of glyphosate they apply to their fields and use this model to derive testable hypotheses for how these choices might change when spatial externalities are present. Next, I use state-level data to test these hypotheses. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2014–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170716&r=env |
| By: | Marisa Beck, Nicholas Rivers, Randall Wigle, Hidemichi Yonezawa (Wilfrid Laurier University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the distributional implications of the revenue-neutral carbon tax policy in British Columbia. We use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Canadian economy and disaggregate households into deciles by annual income using data from a large household expenditure survey. Using the model, we find that the existing BC carbon tax is highly progressive even prior to consideration of the revenue recycling scheme, such that the negative impact of the carbon tax on households with below-median income are smaller than that on households with above-median income. We show that our finding is a result of welfare effects of a carbon tax being determined primarily by the source of a households' income rather than by the destination of its expenditures. Finally, we show that the existing revenue recycling scheme is also progressive. Overall, the tax appears to be highly progressive. |
| Keywords: | carbon taxes, distributional effects, British Columbia, computable general equilibrium analysis |
| JEL: | Q48 Q54 D63 |
| Date: | 2014–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wlu:lcerpa:0080&r=env |
| By: | Murray, Anthony G; Mills, Bradford F |
| Abstract: | Aggregate African agricultural production is expected to fall due to changes in temperature and rainfall under current economic models, but 65 percent of the African labor force is employed in agriculture activity. Therefore, climatic changes have the potential to significantly impact all African citizens, especially farmers. Agricultural producers must adapt to these climatic changes and the risk filled environment that rural households operate, especially small-holder farmers, which makes them particularly vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity without successful adaptation. The limited success of improving agricultural technology in Zambia makes it important to understand the determinants of changes in farm yield for major staple crops, including maize, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, and cassava. This paper generates an empirical model of the determinants of changes in farm yields using a three wave panel dataset for three agricultural seasons. Results indicate that over households have made minimal changes in crop choice and little impact has been observed due to changes in climate for Zambian farmers. Increases in yearly average rainfall and temperature positively affect maize yields. As temperatures continue to rise in the future, this relationship may not hold as the climate becomes unsuitable for large scale maize production. Changes in rainfall negatively affect household groundnut and sweet potato production which might result from switching between crops as weather changes. Finally, increased temperatures negatively affect cassava production. |
| Keywords: | Resiliency, Zambia, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, O13, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170234&r=env |
| By: | Jin, Jing; Wailes, Eric; Dixon, Bruce; Nayga, Rodolfo M. Jr.; Zheng, Zhihao |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade public perception of GM food in China has become increasingly contentious. Concerns have emerged with regard to public health, environmental safety, and economic impacts. This paper utilizes a survey conducted in 2013 to evaluate China’s urban consumers’ acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for genetically modified rice. The survey was conducted in thirteen of the main rice consuming provinces of China. Responses from 994 consumers are used to estimate WTP for GM rice relative to non-GM rice. A double bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method is used to estimate consumers’ WTP for GM rice products. The effect of socio-demographic characteristics of consumers on acceptance and WTP is also reported. The survey design includes different information treatments for GM rice: no specific rice trait information, environmental/producer trait information (Bt rice), consumer health trait information (Golden rice) and stacked environmental/producer plus consumer health traits information. For the three specific rice trait information treatments, the risks and benefits information were reordered for the half of the respondents. The main result of the study is that a majority of Chinese urban consumers require a large discount to be willing to pay for GM rice regardless of rice trait and information treatment. Compared to previous studies, Chinese consumers’ WTP and attitudes on GM rice have become more negative. |
| Keywords: | GM rice, China urban consumers, willingness to pay, double bounded dichotomous choice model, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, D12, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170503&r=env |
| By: | Pizer, William A.; Yates, Andrew J. |
| Abstract: | Links between emission trading programs are not immutable, as highlighted by New Jersey's exit from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This raises the question of what to do with existing permits that are banked for future use--choices that have consequences for market behavior in advance of, or upon speculation about, delinking. We consider two delinking policies. One differentiates banked permits by origin, the other treats banked permits the same. We describe the price behavior and relative cost-effectiveness of each policy. Treating permits differently generally leads to higher costs, and may lead to price divergence, even with only speculation about delinking. |
| Date: | 2014–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-14-28&r=env |
| By: | Khanal, Aditya R.; Mishra, Ashok K.; Bhattarai, Madhusan |
| Abstract: | Climatic conditions and weather play an important role in production agriculture. Using district level panels for 42 years from India and dynamic panel estimation procedure we estimate the impact of weather risk on cropping intensity. Our non-stationary and dynamic panel model results suggest that the impact of weather risk on cropping intensity, in rural India, is negative on short run, while it is positive on long run. Additionally, we found a negative effect of education on cropping intensity. Finally, in the long run, our results indicate positive effects of high yielding variety production and share of irrigated land on cropping intensity. |
| Keywords: | weather risk, panel, non-stationary, adaptation, land use, cropping intensity, rainfall variability, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2014–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170603&r=env |
| By: | Cropper, Maureen (Resources for the Future); Khanna, Shefali |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the approach currently used by the World Bank to measure exposure to outdoor air pollution and associated economic costs, as reported in the World Development Indicators database. We recommend that current exposure estimates, based on an econometric model, be replaced by estimates used in computing the Global Burden of Disease (GBD). The GBD combines satellite data with chemical transport models to provide global estimates of fine particle exposure. We recommend that the World Bank also use estimates of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to outdoor air pollution produced by the GBD. DALYs should continue to be monetized using the value of a statistical life year, which is currently transferred from a US value of a statistical life (VSL) using an income elasticity of one. Going forward, it would be desirable to allow the income elasticity of the VSL to vary with income and to revisit the choice of baseline VSL. |
| Keywords: | air pollution exposure, valuing DALYs, Global Burden of Disease |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-14-30&r=env |
| By: | McDonald, Tia M.; Florax, Raymond; Marshal, Maria I. |
| Abstract: | The following article examines the impact of Hurricane Katrina on small business success and adaptation. Small business success is characterized as increased revenues when compared to pre-disaster levels. Adaptation is characterized as post-Katrina changes to business infrastructure. A multivariate probit with sample selection allows the empirical analysis to account for the simultaneity of changes in revenue and adaptation and also sample selection bias introduced through business demise. The results suggest the importance of pre-disaster mitigation and adaptation activities as well as the effectiveness of formal financial resources in supporting adaptation. Informal financial resources are found to be largely ineffective. |
| Keywords: | Resilience, adaptation, mitigation, small business, multivariate probit with selection, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, D12, Q540, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170332&r=env |
| By: | Olmstead, Sheila M. (Resources for the Future); Sigman, Hilary (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether countries consider the welfare of other nations when they make water development decisions. We estimate econometric models of the location of major dams around the world as a function of the degree of international sharing of rivers. We find that dams are more prevalent in areas of river basins upstream of foreign countries, supporting the view that countries free ride in exploiting water resources. We find weak evidence that international water management institutions reduce the extent of such free-riding. |
| Keywords: | common pool, free-riding, dams, water impoundment, international rivers, treaties |
| JEL: | Q25 Q28 Q20 |
| Date: | 2014–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-14-23&r=env |
| By: | de Melo, Gioia; Piaggio, Matías |
| Abstract: | We provide experimental evidence on the effects of non-monetary punishment by peers among communities of Uruguayan fishers exploiting a common pool resource (CPR). We combined this treatment with an in-group (groups from a single community) / mixed group (groups composed of fishers from different communities) treatment. Our aim is to compare the effects of non-monetary sanctions in a context in which individuals exploiting a CPR belong to different communities relative to the case in which only individuals from the same community are allowed to exploit the resource. We find that mixed groups—unlike in-groups—reduce their exploitation of the resource in response to the threat of punishment. We do not find any differences in behavior between in-groups and mixed groups when the possibility of being punished is not available. The effectiveness of non-monetary punishment is reduced because cooperation was not perceived as the unique social norm. In such cases there is substantial antisocial punishment, which leads to increased extraction of the CPR by those who are unfairly punished. These findings indicate that effective peer punishment requires coordination to prevent antisocial targeting and to clarify the social signal conveyed by punishment. |
| Keywords: | non-monetary punishment, in-group bias, framed field experimen, social preferences, commmon pool resource, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, D03, O12, C93, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170571&r=env |
| By: | Sesmero, Juan; McCarty, Tanner |
| Abstract: | Over the past few years cellulosic biofuel production has continually fell short of the mandates set by the Renewable fuel standard. This has continued to happen despite positive predictions in the net present value of a cellulosic biofuel plants and government subsidy/assistance programs. The present study evaluates the impact of alternative policy instruments on the price that firms require to enter the market. Some policies aim at increasing the mean returns on investment without affecting uncertainty (annual subsidy and establishment cost subsidy), others are designed to reduce uncertainty without affecting the mean (long-term production contracts), and finally some instruments affect both (blending mandates and price supports). Results from a parameterized real options model analyzing and comparing the cost effectiveness of different policies show, on a per dollar basis, that not all policies are created equal when it comes to lowering the price premium required for entry into the industry. Our analysis finds that a biofuel price support constitute the most cost-effective policy option. |
| Keywords: | biofuel policy, cost effectiveness, entry, real options, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170598&r=env |
| By: | Debnath, Deepayan; Binfield, Julian; Whistance, Jarrett |
| Abstract: | Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed biofuel requirements for 2014 that suggest the use of ethanol would probably be lower than the volume previously envisioned in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. The impact of waiving down the mandate in the U.S., and shrinking the “advanced gap” will mean that both the U.S. and Brazil will export more to other countries. Given the flexibility the EPA has for setting policy, we analyze the impact of two alternative scenarios for mandate waivers on the U.S. domestic biofuel market and its implications for the world ethanol and biodiesel market: (1) overall mandate is waived down to a level which preserves the “advanced gap” at the levels envisioned in the RFS2; (2) overall mandate is achieved by expanding the biodiesel mandate is expanded from 1.28 billion gallons to 1.8 billion gallons. Increasing the advanced gap leads to both an increase in imports, but also an increase in exports of ethanol for the U.S., driven by the fact that the U.S. discriminates on the basis of feedstock where Brazil does not. |
| Keywords: | Global biofuels model, U.S. biofuels mandates, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q42, Q48, |
| Date: | 2014–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:173301&r=env |
| By: | Yamaura, Koichi; Fewell, Jason; Garay, Pedro |
| Keywords: | Competition, Market Power, Palm Oil, RDE, sustainable energy, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:169899&r=env |