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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Trommsdorff, Maximillian |
| Abstract: | [Introduction] The way we produce food and generate energy substantially matters for major challenges of this century. Agricultural practices affect biodiversity, human health and quality of water; fossil-fuel power stations drive Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions exacerbating global warming; and efficiency of both sectors co-determines how many people do have access to food and energy supply. Seen in this light, it seems plausible that both sectors are - at least in most industrial countries - widely regulated (see e.g. Sumner, Alston, and Glauber, 2010; Pearce, 2002). Indeed, externalities, public good characteristics, spillovers, and issues of just distribution are frequently cited to justify regulations. In such an environment and given rapid changes and developments of today’s energy and food branches, it is an indispensable task of efficient governance to constantly monitor and assess technological innovations, either with respect to their eligibility to get supported or with respect to needs of restriction or prohibition. Recent examples of such a process entered the public debate under the headings of genetically modified crops, promotion of Renewable Energies (RE) or hydraulic fracturing. [...] |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cenwps:032016&r=env |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Michael Peneder (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Christian Rammer (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Tobias Stucki (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | For a large sample of enterprises in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (the “DACH“ region) we study the impact of various policy instruments, such as energy related taxes, subsidies, regulations and standards or negotiated agreements on the firm’s ecological and economic performance. To identify the causal linkages, we build a system of twelve equations, tracking first the impacts of policy on the adoption of green energy technologies for distinct areas. In a second set of equations, we estimate the perceived impacts of adoption on the firm’s (i) energy efficiency, (ii) carbon emissions and (iii) competitiveness. The results confirm a differentiated pattern of channels for policy to affect the firm’s energy efficiency and carbon emissions, while having a neutral impact on its competitiveness. |
| Keywords: | Environmental policy, Energy policy, Technology adoption, Innovation, Porter hypothesis |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:16-420&r=env |
| By: | Katherine Simpson (University of Edinburgh); Frans P de Vries (Economics Division, University of Stirling); Paul Armsworth (Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Tennessee); Nick Hanley (School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | Biodiversity offset markets are one option for managing the trade-offs that exist between conservation targets and the increasing demand on land for urban development and agricultural expansion at local, regional and international scales. Drawing on lessons from the tradable pollution permit market literature, we review the key design parameters for biodiversity offset markets and consider how these have been applied in practice in the U.S., Australia, and the UK. We argue that offset markets should only be applied where the conservation target is a well-defined measure of biodiversity. Efficient offset markets require goods to be simple, measurable units that are fully exchangeable. This allows the market to operate under simple trading rules and engage with the widest number of participants, allowing gains from trade to be realised. We argue that a well-designed and managed offset scheme can be a more cost-effective way of meeting conservation targets than regulation. |
| Keywords: | Discrete biodiversity, offsets, tradeable pollution permits, transactions costs, conservation planning |
| JEL: | Q28 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sss:wpaper:2017-04&r=env |
| By: | Marzio Galeotti (Università degli studi di Milano, Centro Studi Luca D’Agliano, and IEFE-Bocconi); Silvia Salini (Università degli Studi di Milano); Elena Verdolini (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and CMCC) |
| Abstract: | Proponents of the green growth strategy worldwide hold that reductions of harmful greenhouse gas emissions through environmental policy can be pursued together with increased growth and can result in higher competitiveness. Solid tests of this theory are impaired by the lack of appropriate empirical proxies for the commitment to, and stringency of, environmental policy. We contribute to the literature by: (1) computing different indicators of environmental policy stringency, both previously used in the literature and novel, (2) testing to what extent they convey similar insights through a comparison exercise, and (3) showing the implications of using one or the other methodology in an empirical application testing whether countries with more stringent environmental and energy policy have indeed shown historically higher degree of energy efficiency. The application is cast in an Energy Kuznets Curve framework. The analysis quite naturally carries over to the role of, more generally, economic policy. |
| Keywords: | Energy policy, environmental policy, ranking, Energy Kuznets Curve |
| JEL: | Q58 O57 C33 |
| Date: | 2017–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:412&r=env |
| By: | Tara Caetano; Bruno Merven |
| Abstract: | Developed as well as developing countries will have to increase their ambition relative to their stated Nationally Determined Contributions to limit global temperature increases to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. South Africa’s Nationally Determined Contribution, in line with national policy, is to follow a peak, plateau, and decline emissions trajectory to 2050, with the contribution post-2030 contingent on a fair contribution from other countries. Given the high levels of unemployment, poverty, and inequality in South Africa, there are concerns that a rapid transition to a low-carbon energy system would have severe socioeconomic consequences. This paper builds on initial work from the Deep Decarbonisation Pathways Project, and analyses the impacts on the energy system and the economy of an increase in ambition, in order to shed light on these concerns. The key policy recommendation from this analysis is that further investments in fossil fuel infrastructure in South Africa will have significant negative socioeconomic implications, and that further work should be done to reassess development pathways that could mitigate these negative impacts. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-39&r=env |
| By: | Bruno Merven; Channing Arndt; Harald Winkler |
| Abstract: | This paper presents some methodological improvements made to the linked SATIM–eSAGE energy-economy-environment modelling framework for analysing energy and climate policy in South Africa. The improvements include the linking of the households and the other economic sectors of the eSAGE economy-wide model to the SATIM energy model. Two scenarios are used to illustrate the benefits of having the new links, which include an energy efficiency scenario and an ambitious climate mitigation scenario. The results show that there are significant socio-economic benefits in having a more energy-efficient economy. The work presented in the paper provides some solid foundations for further work on the energy-economy-environment policy arena for South Africa. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-40&r=env |
| By: | Frederick van der Ploeg (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Rapacious fossil fuel extraction occurs if fossil fuel producers fear that there is a probability that their under-the-ground assets becomes worth less. They show that rapacious depletion of oil reserves occurs if there is a probability of a breakthrough renewable energy coming to the market or a probability of climate policy finally becoming seriously ambitious. These are examples of one-way regime switches leading to the so-called Green Paradox. Two-way regimes switches also lead to rapacious oil depletion. They occur if there is a chance of being removed from office in a partisan political context with perennial election cycles or if there are dynamic resource wars with the hazard of being removed from office dependent on fighting efforts. This rapacity effect is stronger in societies with bad institutions and lack of political cohesiveness. |
| Keywords: | D81, H20, Q31, Q38 |
| Date: | 2017–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:415&r=env |
| By: | Schmidt, Robert; Kovac, Eugen |
| Abstract: | A standard result from the game theoretic literature on international environmental agreements is that coalitions are either `broad but shallow' or `narrow but deep'. Hence, the stable coalition size is small when the potential welfare gains are large. We modify a standard climate coalition game by adding a - seemingly - small but realistic feature: we allow countries to delay climate negotiations until the next `round' if a coalition forms but decides to remain inactive. It turns out that results are surprisingly different under this modification. In particular, a large coalition with deep emissions cuts forms if countries are sufficiently patient. Our results also indicate that countries should try hard to overcome coordination problems in the formation of a coalition. A more cooperative outcome may then be reached, and it may be reached more quickly. |
| JEL: | D62 F53 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145481&r=env |
| By: | Simora, Michael; Frondel, Manuel; Sommer, Stephan |
| Abstract: | The perception of risks accruing from climate change is a key factor for individual adaptation and prevention behavior, as well as for the willingness to support climate policy measures. Using a generalized ordered logit approach and drawing on a large data set originating from two surveys among more than 6,000 German households, respectively, we analyze the determinants of the perception of the personal risk that is due to heat waves, storms, and floods. We focus on the role of (damage) experience and objective risk measures for these natural hazards, whose frequency is likely to be affected by climate change. In line with the received literature, our results suggest that the personal experience with adverse events, most notably experienced personal damage, is a strong determinant of individual risk perception. |
| JEL: | D81 H31 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145742&r=env |
| By: | Mitiku, Fikadu; Nyssen, Jan; Maertens, Miet |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether private sustainability standards can promote land-sharing between coffee cultivation and forest conservation in southwestern Ethiopia. We compare garden and forest coffee systems, including non-certified and Rainforest Alliance (RA) certified forest coffee, and evaluate yields, productivity and profits. We use original household- and plot-level survey data from 454 households and 758 coffee plots, and ordinary least squares and fixed effects regression models. We find that coffee intensification from semi-forest coffee to garden coffee does not yield any substantial economic benefits in terms of productivity or profit. We find that RA certification increases land and labor productivity and profits of semi-forest coffee production, mainly by guaranteeing farmers a better price and not by improving yields. These findings imply that in southwestern Ethiopia land-sharing between less intensive coffee production and conservation of forest tree species is a viable sustainability strategy from an economic point of view, and that coffee certification is a viable strategy to promote land-sharing and create the economic incentives for farmers to refrain from further coffee intensification. |
| Keywords: | Forest coffee, Land-sharing, Rainforest Alliance, Coffee intensification, Sustainability Standards, Ethiopia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:kucawp:253567&r=env |
| By: | Anna Alberini (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews and discusses the existing methods for placing a value on the effects of chemicals on human health and the environment. It surveys both methods and non-market methods, discussing their advantage and limitations. For example, when valuing non-fatal illnesses, the cost-of-illness approaches captures labour income lost to illness and medical expenditures undertaken to mitigate the illness, but fails to account for the value of the disutility of the illnesses. The paper also discusses mortality risk valuation, and the widely used metric termed the Value of a Statistical Life, the difficulties associated with estimating it, and the appropriateness of any adjustments for futurity, age, and the nature of the risk itself. Finally, the paper takes up the issue whether the source of the health risks (e.g., chemicals versus other forms of pollution versus others) affects how much the public values reducing those risks. |
| Keywords: | economic valuation, monetised benefits, non-market valuation, regulation of chemicals, toxics |
| JEL: | D61 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:116-en&r=env |
| By: | Solieva, Mastura |
| Abstract: | Existing studies explore the hypothesis that nations IQs explain cross-national differences in economic development. However, the conclusions of these findings are also rather limited as GDP per capita, a proxy for economic development, does not account social and external costs associated with economic activities and fails to capture the environmental degradation or resource depletion. In this study, we offer novel evidence on the effect of intelligence on genuine income that addresses the shortcomings of GDP per capita as a better proxy for inclusive development. Moreover, we also provide compelling evidence that intelligence is causal to genuine development processes. |
| Keywords: | IQ; intelligence; genuine income; Cold winters; Savanna IQ hypothesis. |
| JEL: | F0 F00 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77055&r=env |
| By: | Jonathan Eyer; Matthew E. Kahn |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the share of U.S electricity generated by coal has fallen from nearly 50% to 33%. The costs of this transition are spatially concentrated, and mining states have already lost income due to the reduced demand for coal. Coal states have enacted policies to encourage local power plants to purchase from within state mines. We document that power plants in states and counties with substantial mining activity are more likely to be coal fired and to purchase more within political boundary coal. These results are robust to including flexible controls for the distance from power plants to mines. While coal states benefits from local protectionism, these efforts impose social costs because coal mining and coal burning creates significant environmental consequences. We quantify these effects and find that a one-percentage point increase in the proportion of coal plants in a NERC region with an in-state coal mine results in approximately 2.3 million additional annual tons of CO2 emissions. |
| JEL: | Q35 Q54 R11 R3 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23190&r=env |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Michael Peneder (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Christian Rammer (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Tobias Stucki (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | We contribute to the existing research about policy?induced technology adoption in several ways. First, we suggest a new survey design to measure the energy?related policy environment. Second, we simultaneously estimate the policy effects for the adoption propensity and the adoption intensity simultaneously and, third, we conduct an international comparison of the policy effects. Based on a representative sample of firms for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland we find that policies in all three countries essentially promote the adoption of technologies and they are practically ineffective for the intensity, which poses a great challenge to future policy designs. Voluntary agreements or demand related factors are among the most important drivers for the adoption propensity of green energy technologies. Given the current institutional framework in the surveyed countries, subsidies are more effective in Austria, taxes are more effective in Germany, and demand related factors are relatively more effective in Switzerland. |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:16-411&r=env |
| By: | Carriazo, Fernando; Gomez, John Alexander |
| Abstract: | Using a (second stage) hedonic housing model, this paper identifies an inverse demand function for air quality in Bogota, the fourth most polluted city in Latin America (annual average of PM10 52 mg/m3). We use precipitation and distance to monitoring stations as instruments for pollution. We found that the monthly benefits of compliance with the U.S Environmental Pollution Agency standard (50 mg/m3 – annual average), and the far more stringent World Health Organization standard (20 mg/m3 – annual average) are U$7.12 and U$72.91per household respectively. Accordingly, these values represent about 1% and 8% of the average household income. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, hedonic models, housing markets, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q51 Q53 R31, |
| Date: | 2015–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:212855&r=env |
| By: | Samuel Carrara (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC)); Thomas Longden (University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Health Economics and Research Evaluation (CHERE)) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes changes to the modelling of the transport sector in the WITCH (World Induced Technical Change Hybrid) model to incorporate road freight and account for the intensity of freight with respect to GDP. Modelling freight demand based on the intensity of freight with respect to GDP allows for a focus on the importance of road freight with respect to the cost-effective achievement of climate policy targets. These climate policy targets are explored using different GDP pathways between 2005 and 2100, which are sourced from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) database. Our modelling shows that the decarbonisation of the freight sector tends to occur in the second part of the century and the sector decarbonises by a lower extent than the rest of the economy. Decarbonising road freight on a global scale remains a challenge even when notable progress in biofuels and electric vehicles has been accounted for. |
| Keywords: | Road Freight, Transport, Climate Mitigation, Integrated Assessment Models |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 R41 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2017.08&r=env |
| By: | Sylvain Weber (University of Neuchâtel); Reyer Gerlagh (Tilburg University); Nicole A. Mathys (Federal Office for Spatial Development and University of Neuchâtel); Daniel Moran (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | The amount of CO2 embedded in trade has substantially increased since 1990. We study the trends and some drivers over the period 1995-2009. We find that traded goods tend to have higher emission-intensities compared to average final demand. The second finding is that independently of sector structure, dirty countries tend to specialize in emissionintensive sectors. This finding suggests a comparative advantage mechanism for CO2 and lends support to the hypothesis that trade liberalization tends to increase global emissions. The third finding is that, on average, emission-intensive countries have shifted from trade deficits to surpluses, so a larger share of goods is now produced in emission-intensive countries, consequently increasing global emissions. Finally, our analysis points to coal abundance as an important driver for high levels of both domestic emissions per value added and Sector specialization into emission-intensive sectors. Hence coal abundance is an important driver of net CO2 exports. |
| Keywords: | CO2 embedded in trade, fossil fuel |
| Date: | 2017–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:413&r=env |
| By: | Elmira Aliakbari (Fraser Institute, Vancouver BC, Canada); Ross McKitrick (Department of Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph ON Canada) |
| Abstract: | Two forms of uncertainty in climate policy are the wide range of estimated marginal costs and uncertainty over credibility of rival information sources. We show how a recently-proposed solution to the first problem also addresses the second. The policy is an emissions tax tied to average temperatures, coupled with permits that exempt the emitter from paying the tax in a future year. It has been shown that the resulting tax path will be correlated with future marginal damages. It has been conjectured that the permit prices will yield unbiased forecasts of the climate, which, if true, would address the second uncertainty. We confirm the conjecture by showing a trading mechanism that converges on unbiased forecasts if traders are risk-neutral. Risk aversion slows down but does not prevent convergence. We also show that the forecasts are more likely to be sufficient statistics the stronger the consensus on climate science. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, uncertainty, carbon tax, tradable permits, state-contingent pricing, prediction markets |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 H23 G13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2017-02&r=env |
| By: | Nadia S. Ouedraogo |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a scenario-based model to identify and provide an array of electricity demand in Africa, and to derive them from the African power system of development. A system-based approach is performed by applying the scenario methodology developed by Schwartz in the context of the energy-economic modeling platform ‘Long-range Energy Alternative Planning’. Four scenarios are investigated. The Business as Usual scenario replicates the regional and national master plans. The renewable promotion scenario increases the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix. The demand- and supply-side efficiency scenarios investigate the impact of energy efficiency measures on the power system. The results show an increase in electricity demand by 4 per cent by 2040, supply shortages, and high emissions of greenhouse gases. Contrary to expectations, the renewable energy scenario did not emerge as the best solution to a sustainable electrification of the region. The energy efficiency scenarios have allowed us to draw a sustainable pathway for electrification. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-23&r=env |
| By: | Nora Lustig (Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Economics, Tulane University, Commitment to Equity Institute (CEQI).) |
| Abstract: | Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will require fiscal resources to deliver the floors in social protection, social services and infrastructure embedded in them. A significant portion of these resources is expected to come from tax collection in developing countries. Raising additional revenues domestically, however, may leave a significant portion of the poor with less cash to buy food and other essential goods. The demand for additional resources must be balanced against the competing need to protect poor households from becoming poorer as a result of taxes. |
| Keywords: | fiscal incidence, social spending, inequality, poverty, Sustainable Development Goals |
| JEL: | D31 H22 H50 I38 Q01 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:ceqwps:61&r=env |
| By: | Claudio Morana (Università di Milano Bicocca, CeRP-Collegio Carlo Alberto and Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis); Giacomo Sbrana (NEOMA Business School) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the linkages between temperature anomalies, radiative forcing and ENSO. By means of a new flexible trend modeling approach, we uncover a nonlinear linkage between radiative forcing and global temperature anomalies. The nonlinear trend closely tracks the low frequency evolution in temperature anomalies, also accounting for the mid-end 1990s level switch, the 1998-2013 "warming hiatus" and the current steepening in trend temperatures. Radiative forcing is also found to account for trend dynamics in the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), therefore providing support for the view that global warming might affect natural variability oscillations such as ENSO, and therefore enhance their disruptive effects. We also document the feature of time-varying volatility of temperature anomalies and SOI, which is well described by an IGARCH process. By means of a new dynamic conditional correlation model (SP-DCC), we finally document the presence of time-varying conditional correlations relating temperature anomalies across various zones and SOI. The correlation pattern is found to be consistent with the effects of ENSO events in the Tropics and their teleconnections. |
| Keywords: | Temperature Anomaly, Global Warming, Warming Hiatus, Radiative Forcing, ENSO, El Niño, Conditional Heteroskedasticity, Semiparametric Dynamic Conditional Correlation Model |
| JEL: | C32 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2017.09&r=env |
| By: | Olila, Dennis O.; Wasonga, Vivian Oliver |
| Abstract: | Invited Paper Presented at the Fifth African Higher Education Week and Ruforum Biennial Conference, 17 – 21 October, 2016, Cape Town, South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Time series, Autoregressive modelling, rainfall, temperature, Kenya, Food Security and Poverty, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miscpa:253440&r=env |
| By: | Pangan, Melboy; Mulder, Machiel (Groningen University) |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gro:rugsom:16017-eef&r=env |
| By: | Kathryn Tomlinson |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of social and environmental management practices in the oil and gas industry. It outlines the evolution of international oil companies’ approaches over the last 20 years, reviews what social and environmental management amongst such companies means in practice, and highlights some of the unresolved issues emerging today. While most companies now model their approach to social and environmental management on international norms, they face a variety of drivers of their practices. These range from complying with international standards in order to gain access to finance, to complying with new host country legislation and regulation, and gaining and maintaining a good reputation and a ‘social licence to operate’. This paper argues that the complexity of these drivers problematizes the portrayal of the industry’s social and environmental management as ‘voluntary’ corporate social responsibility, and somewhat renders the latter term misleading. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-22&r=env |
| By: | Stör, Lorenz |
| Abstract: | The predominantly positivist approach in economics towards the object of study is not able to grasp power and domination in its complex interaction of agency and structure. Also in ecological economics and its critique to economic growth, there is a lack of conceptualizations that are sensible to questions of power. The work reveals such deficits and offers a comprehensive theory overview. This overview is then contextualized along the political-economic facets of climate change. The introductory chapter discusses fundamental aspects of power in the context of structure and agency. The common positivist approach in economics is complemented by a post-positivist approach in the following chapter. Critical realism serves as a philosophy of science to acknowledge and integrate structure and agency as forms of power. The third chapter provides an historical overview of selected theories of power. It depicts how the strategic and the episodic understanding of power by Machiavelli and Hobbes respectively, informed later power theories. Theorists such as Dahl, Bachrach & Baratz, Lukes, Gramsci, Laclau & Mouffe, Giddens, Foucault and Clegg are discussed. The aim is to highlight the relevance for a multiplicity of power concepts in economic research. The following chapter puts in context their respective positions on human agency and social structures as the source of power. The fifth chapter initiates an outlook for potential power research on future global challenges. The powers that play a role in the quest for solutions on the issue of climate change are systematically separated in the multiple levels of agency, mechanisms and structure. This serves as an exemplary case to depict the complexity but relevance of power on objects of research in ecological economics. |
| Keywords: | Power,Structure,Agency,Climate Change,Hegemony,Structuration theory,Machiavelli,Hobbes,Dahl,Lukes,Gramsci,Giddens,Foucault,Hay,Jessop,Macht,Struktur,Handlung,Klimawandel,Hegemonie,Strukturationstheorie |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:voodps:52017&r=env |
| By: | Halkos, George; Bampatsou, Christina |
| Abstract: | This study deals with the nonparametric frontier analysis in the case of the EU 28 countries for a period spanning from 1993 to 2012. It provides statistical inference about the radial output based measure of technical efficiency under the assumption of Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) and it performs scale analysis that allows determining the nature of scale inefficiency of each data point. Furthermore, an order-α approach is developed for determining partial frontiers. Both traditional Malmquist-Luenberger and bootstrapped Malmquist productivity indexes between 1993 and 2012 are constructed. Analysis of productivity change by decomposing the Total Factor Productivity Index into Efficiency Change and Technical Change is performed showing respectively whether productivity gains derive mainly from improvements in efficiency or are mostly the result of technological progress. |
| Keywords: | Data envelopment analysis; Environmental Economics; Carbon emissions; Eco-Efficiency; Total factor productivity index. |
| JEL: | O11 O57 Q01 Q4 Q40 Q43 Q48 Q50 Q58 R15 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77176&r=env |
| By: | Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Michael Peneder (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Christian Rammer (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Tobias Stucki (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Martin Wörter (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Based on representative firm-level survey data for the three countries Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, we investigate the effects of regulation, energy taxes, voluntary agreements, and subsidies, on the creation of green product innovations. Our data set allows us to distinguish between the supply-side effects (cost effects) and the demand-side effects of policy measures, which improves our understanding of the frequently observed positive net effect of policies. Controlling for the demand effect, taxes and regulations are negatively related with product innovations. Hence, if taxes and regulation do not trigger additional demand, they decrease the propensity to innovate. These effects are ameliorated for technologically very advanced firms and for firms with a high level of financial awareness. Subsidies and (partly) voluntary agreements are positively related with product innovations. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Policy, Demand |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:16-417&r=env |
| By: | Hussain, Asghar; Baker, Tracy |
| Keywords: | Administration, Infrastructure, Geography, Land use, Land cover, Living standards, River basin management, Watersheds, Guidelines, Software, Imagery, GIS, Mapping, Meteorological stations, Temperature, Soils, Irrigation, Farming systems, Water power, Dams, Population density, Demography, Natural resources, Environmental effects, Urban areas, Rangelands, Water resources, Kenya, Tana River Basin, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iwmirp:246418&r=env |
| By: | Luswata, Charles, Kiiza; Mbowa, Swaibu |
| Abstract: | This paper highlights the quality concerns of inorganic fertilizers on the Ugandan market. The findings reported are based on 170 samples (in 50 kg bags and small 1-2 kg packs) of the commonly used fertilizers on the Ugandan market i.e. Urea, NPK, DAP, MOP and CAN purchased and subjected to a laboratory analysis. Procedures followed in the purchasing of fertilizer samples mimicked a farmer purchasing fertilizers randomly from any input dealer country wide. Analytical results from the fertilizer samples revealed low quality fertilizers with moisture content above acceptable limits of 0.5- 1.5 percent; and untruthfulness in both weight and nutrient content. In some instances, the nutrient content quoted on the labels did not match with the analytical content. This has serious consequences because fertilizer recommendations are based on the nutrient content. If the nutrients are not of the right quality, then the end-user (a farmer) will not attain the intended crop response to fertilizer application. The study reveals that re-packaging fertiliser into small quantities is justifiable to meet the requirements of smallholder farmers, but leads to loss of nutrients (especially nitrogen); and also aggravates the high moisture content problem. Results reveal gaps in the current regulatory system; therefore there is an urgent need for government to approve and operationalize the fertilizer policy, regulations and strategy. |
| Keywords: | Urea, NPK, DAP, MOP, CAN, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eprcrr:253561&r=env |
| By: | Catherine Macdonald |
| Abstract: | A major challenge for almost all extractives activity is that benefits accrue predominantly at the national level while disruptions are invariably highly localized close to the resource. Recently, extractives companies have intensified efforts to correct this imbalance. The aim of this paper is to identify the optimal approach for companies to encouraging sustainable local development among host communities. The role that government and civil society actors can play in supporting this process is also addressed. Community participation is central to the discussion, which makes reference to case studies, particularly that of the community development programmes of a gold mine in Tanzania over a period of 15 years. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-28&r=env |