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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Beckman, Jayson; Sands, Ron; Riddle, Anne; Lee, Tani; Walloga, Jacob M. |
| Abstract: | Increasing global population and demand for food have led to rising agricultural production and demand for land; expanded agricultural land has often come from tropical deforestation. These forests support biodiverse ecosystems and further benefit the environment through carbon storage. This report analyzes patterns of deforestation in select countries to examine which commodities contribute most to “tropical” deforestation. ERS researchers use historical data on production and international trade patterns of four forest-risk commodities: palm oil, soybeans, beef, and forest products. Trade links for these commodities are quantified between the United States and six major exporting countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Deforestation in Argentina and Brazil is linked with production of beef and soybeans, while deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia is linked with production of palm oil and timber. A global economic model is used to assess two potential policies that could affect tropical forest loss. Results indicate that removing tariffs on these forest-risk products could increase deforestation, while prohibiting exports of illegally logged wood could reduce deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:262731&r=env |
| By: | Kragt, Marit E.; Gibsona, Fiona L.; Maseyk, Fleurk; Wilson, Kerrie A. |
| Abstract: | Governments worldwide have implemented climate change mitigation policies that aim to encourage abatement by changing agricultural practices. In Australia, farmers can gain carbon credits for sequestering carbon or reducing emissions. In addition to mitigation, these 'carbon farming' activities often generate ancillary (co-)benefits, such as creating native habitat or preventing erosion. This paper presents results of an Australia-wide choice experiment, conducted to estimate community values for climate change mitigation and the co-benefits of carbon farming. Values for carbon farming benefits are shown to depend on respondent’s opinions about climate change. Respondents who do not believe that climate change is happening have a lower willingness to pay for reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions than people who believe climate change is (at least partly) caused by human actions. On average, respondents’ were willing to pay $1.13/Mt of CO2-e reduction. Respondents were willing to pay around $19/ha increase in the area of native vegetation on farmland. Value estimates for reducing soil erosion were not significant. Our results demonstrate that the community benefits from carbon farming extend beyond their effects on climate change mitigation. Future policies should take these positive values for co- benefits into account. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:276116&r=env |
| By: | Beckman, Jayson; Sands, Ronald D.; Riddle, Anne A.; Lee, Tani; Walloga, Jacob M. |
| Abstract: | Increasing global population and demand for food have led to rising agricultural production and demand for land; expanded agricultural land has often come from tropical deforestation. These forests support biodiverse ecosystems and further benefit the environment through carbon storage. This report analyzes patterns of deforestation in select countries to examine which commodities contribute most to “tropical” deforestation. ERS researchers use historical data on production and international trade patterns of four forest-risk commodities: palm oil, soybeans, beef, and forest products. Trade links for these commodities are quantified between the United States and six major exporting countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Deforestation in Argentina and Brazil is linked with production of beef and soybeans, while deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia is linked with production of palm oil and timber. A global economic model is used to assess two potential policies that could affect tropical forest loss. Results indicate that removing tariffs on these forest-risk products could increase deforestation, while prohibiting exports of illegally logged wood could reduce deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:262185&r=env |
| By: | Flores Tenorio, Pedro |
| Abstract: | We focus our study in the opportunities that exist in investment for conservation of biodiversity in tropical countries. It allows a natural and multiple benefits of mitigation of climate change as well as addressing the global environment problem of biodiversity loss. We observe that the short implementation in Australia of the “carbon tax” during 2012 and 2013 that was dismantle in the Federal Elections of 2013 was inadequately informed to the general public. And, it was seen and criticised by them as being a one party unilateral initiative and the mitigation tools such as reduction of energy consumption using non-natural means, such as more products were rejected by the majority of the population. It was a contradictory relation of less climate change with more material production. We hypothesise that the support and understanding of the Australians will provide a support to develop policy design that include this component in a long term strategy for Australia, including the development of investment in biodiversity conservation in tropical forest countries as a better alternative than man-made carbon sequestration or strategies. A choice modelling experiment was designed with a sample of 100 University students from Melbourne and Sydney. It present a hypothetical scenario about a hypothetical investment program to maintain the resilience of the Amazon forest ecosystem. The results presented show the trade-offs of the attributes assigned to a public program of investment in biodiversity conservation in Peru. It will provide results that contribute to build sound policies in the framework of current consensus in the Paris 2015 agreement. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258666&r=env |
| By: | Ge Gao; Ke Wang; Chi Zhang; Yi-Ming Wei |
| Abstract: | It is crucial that the implementation of environmental regulations have a positive synergistic effect on carbon productivity growth (i.e., environmentally adjusted productivity growth with the consideration of carbon emissions) for China to realize its sustainable development goals because the country is currently under tripartite pressures of economic growth, carbon emissions control, and environmental pollution reduction. This paper investigates the impact of changes in environmental regulation stringency on industrial-level carbon productivity growth in China. Through utilizing the information entropy method, a new index of environmental regulation stringency is established by taking into account the effects of both pollution reduction consequences and pollution reduction measures. In addition, based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, a Malmquist carbon productivity index is proposed to estimate the industrial carbon productivity growth of 21 major industrial sectors in China¡¯s 30 provinces over 2004-2014. Finally, an econometric regression model is applied to test the synergistic effects of environmental regulations on carbon productivity in China's major industrial sectors. The results show that (i) a stringent environmental regulation is associated with an increase in overall industrial carbon productivity growth in China; (ii) there exist significant pass-through effects in China's major industrial sectors that technology can transmit effectively from leader to follower; (iii) there also exist obvious follow-up effects in China's major industrial sectors, i.e., the industrial sectors that have larger technological gaps with the leaders catch up faster than others; and (iv) the environmental regulations have different effects on industrial sectors with different polluting levels, i.e., there is a positive linear relationship between environmental regulation stringency and industrial-level carbon productivity growth in low-polluting industrial sectors, a parabolic nonlinear relationship between them in high-polluting industrial sectors, and an inverted U-shaped relationship between them in moderate-polluting industrial sectors. |
| Keywords: | China's industrial sector; environmental regulation; industrial heterogeneity; pollution intensity; total factor carbon productivity |
| JEL: | Q54 Q40 |
| Date: | 2018–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biw:wpaper:118&r=env |
| By: | Kaushal, Kevin Raj (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | The allowances in an emission trading system (ETS) are commonly allocated for free to the sector, e.g., in the form of output-based allocation (OBA). The reason is the risk of carbon leakage exposure such as relocation of emission-intensive and trade-exposed industries (EITE). A prime example of this is the EU ETS, where the policymakers have stated that they will continue this practice. However, lately a third approach, combining OBA with a consumption tax, has been proposed to mitigate carbon leakage, and it has been shown to have an unambiguously global welfare improving effect. This paper presents the potential outcome of climate policy, by examining the Nash equilibrium of a policy instrument game between regions who regulate their emissions separately. In particular, we investigate the case when a policymaker can choose to supplement her ETS with OBA and/or with a consumption tax, based on another policymaker’s optimal choice for her ETS. We show analytically the optimal rate of OBA and consumption tax in the presence of a climate polices in another region. Finally, we present the results from a numerical simulation in the context of the EU ETS and the Chinese ETS. |
| Keywords: | Emission price; Output-based allocation; Consumption tax; Carbon leakage; Emission trading system; Unilateral policy |
| JEL: | C70 D61 F18 H23 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsseb:2018_008&r=env |
| By: | Kireum, Mercy |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is a sector that is sensitive to climate variability and extreme weather conditions such as droughts and floods. The occurrence of these events is predicted to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change. These events have adverse effects on agriculture especially rain-fed agriculture which is significantly exposed to weather leading to food insecurity for millions of people. As a result, it is necessary to determine approaches that ensure better estimation and management of resources needed given the occurrence of these extreme weather events. This is important for better financial risk management and consequently enhancing sustainable growth of the agricultural sector. In this study, we explore the application of Value at Risk (VaR) method in estimating financial loss as a result of drought. Agricultural loss as a result of rainfall variability and drought is calculated. Extreme Value Theory (EVT) is used to model the distribution of the agricultural loss. The VaR method is used to determine the catastrophic risk. Future actions will be proposed with a view enhancing financial risk management in the agricultural sector. This has the potential to enhance resilience to disasters. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260800&r=env |
| By: | Grippo, Valeria; Vastola, Antonella |
| Abstract: | In Italy, farmland decrease constantly over the years. From 1990 to now, we have already lost the 20% of cultivable area and 126 thousand hectares of farmland is lost every year. In the cereal sector the land available for the production reduced of 16% from 1990 to 2013. The cereal production, as the other agricultural activities, has a huge impact on environment, contributing to produce negative externalities. Furthermore, it is wasteful increasing the pressure on the environment without any utility and reducing the economic performance of producers. In the last years, the lower price of foreign cereals, especially wheat, joint to the weather conditions affected by the global warming, caused a loss of opportunity for domestic producers forced to reduce their production with negative consequences for all the productive system. This negative consequences of price volatility and environmental pressure, is particularly evident in region, like Basilicata and Puglia, where the cereal production represent an important part of regional GDP. Redefine the cereal system is necessary to improve the efficiency and reduce the ecological footprint of the production. Waste reduction of the entire cereal production chain could represent an opportunity to improve the system’s efficiency helping, at the same time, farmers to improve their economic performance. Furthermore, finding new market opportunity for production output that have a value, is desirable to promote circularity reducing the ecological footprint of that system. In this research, we analyze the cereals chain, in order to promote zero emission and zero waste project through the application of the so-called Zero Emission Strategy, in order to maximize the value of goods coupled to zero or reducing environmental impacts. The milling process of wheat produces large amount of wheat bran and in the area of study, each year are around 3 million tons of bran, the majority of which are wasted. Waste reduction it’s not only a problem of inefficiency of the cereal system as a whole but it’s also a problem of food security and social justice. To find new market opportunity for bran, a production output with a value, is desirable to promote circularity of the cereal chain, reducing the ecological footprint of that system and improving efficiency with environmental and economic advantages. This study aims to evaluate three different alternatives for bran use (i.e. paper production, biodiesel and feed) using 5 criteria: technical, environmental, circularity, social and economic and 17 sub-criteria, chosen to define and explain better the criteria. The evaluation of bran use through a multi-criterial analysis (MCA) is the best way to promote the adoption of closing-the-loop production patterns achieving a better balance and harmony between economy, environment and society. This research, aim also to explore the use of multi-criteria analysis like instrument for local authorities to evaluate project in order to promote the circular economy. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea18:275646&r=env |
| By: | Coisnon, Thomas; Rousselière, Damien; Rousselière, Samira |
| Abstract: | The identification of individual and institutional drivers regarding ecological transition of individual behaviors has been widely studied in the literature. However, few studies report the specific case of private gardening practices, even though it is particularly relevant when discussing lifestyle habits and ecological transition, due to the wide range of positive and negative environmental externalities private gardens may generate. Using a European database (Eurobarometer 83.4), we estimate individual and institutional drivers of sustainable gardening practices. Our econometric approach takes the specificities of our data into account, by using a two-step approach combining a generalized Heckman model and a meta-regression, and allows us to highlight the importance of the accessibility to biodiversity-related information in the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviors. Differentiated trends between European countries are tested using indicators on economic development, social capital and environmental performances. In conclusion, we provide some recommendations in terms of public policies. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inrasl:272611&r=env |
| By: | Daniele Malerba |
| Abstract: | Abstract How can countries eradicate poverty while also addressing climate change? Despite the necessity to deal with both issues simultaneously, no study has analysed the empirical relationship between the two aforementioned goals and the factors that drive these interlinkages. This paper addresses this gap in the literature, and the initial research question, by developing a framework to analyse this relationship and its drivers. It then econometrically tests the propositions derived from the framework, using data from 135 developed and developing countries. The paper’s findings show that the carbon intensity of poverty reduction (CIPR), defined as the ratio between proportional changes in emissions levels and the share of the population above the poverty line, is heterogeneous across countries. This heterogeneity is partly explained by economic growth, which is found to have a negative effect on the CIPR up to a certain income level, defined here as a ‘turning point’. Above that turning point, economic growth increases the CIPR. By contrast, inequality reduction is shown to have an unambiguous negative effect on the CIPR. The results are robust for different poverty lines and different model specifications. In addition, the research underlines the tension between policy perspectives at the national and global levels. Economic growth, despite the potential to reduce the national carbon intensity of poverty reduction for the numerous countries that lie below the estimated turning points, needs to confront global environmental boundaries. Given this tension, the paper concludes that, alongside developed countries drastically reducing their emissions, developing countries should follow alternative development paths. Among them, a stronger greening of economic growth or an increased use of cash transfers and inequality-reducing policies are discussed. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:322018&r=env |
| By: | Fagarazzi, C.; Fratini, R.; Montanino, M.; Riccioli, F. |
| Abstract: | The Tuscan Region spends about 12 million euro every year in the prevention and suppression of forest fires. In this context, this study aims to verify the economic and environmental benefits derived from the activities of the prevention and suppression of fires. Starting from a case study of a real fire event in Tuscany, we have simulated three hypothetical scenarios (with different fire durations) without fire extinction activities planned. These hypothetical scenarios have been obtained using the open source software FARSITE, and georeferred data concerning meteorological data, territory and forest characteristics were used to run the three simulations. A monetary approach to the quantification of avoided damage thanks to fire extinction activities has been applied. Quantification of the economic avoided damage has been calculated through the estimation of the total economic value of forest destroyed by fire. Total economic value is represented by the value of economic and environmental benefits provided by the forest (ecosystem services). Total economic values of forest surfaces burned by real event and simulated fire have been calculated: the difference between these values represent the avoided damages (from an environmental point of view) thanks to fire extinction activities. The completely avoided damage was calculated in a second phase by considering the real estate values of buildings that the extinction activities had protected and safeguarded. The results achieved confirm how forest fire services and forest management are important from both economic and environmental points of view. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea18:275658&r=env |
| By: | Mikémina, Pilo; Gerber, Nicolas; Wünscher, Tobias |
| Abstract: | West African farmers are among those most likely to suffer from climate change, partly due to the agro-climatic characteristics of the regional system and to their limited scope for coping with shocks. Climate change adaptation has thus been touted as a necessary path for rural poverty reduction and development in the region. Yet, do farm households who implemented climate change adaptation earn higher income compare to those who did not? We attempt to answer this question in the context of crop and livestock income in the Savana region of Togo. To that end, we build a bio-economic model based on farm household model theory. Using survey data collected from a representative sample of 450 savanna farm households of the agricultural year 2014/2015, we identify farm-household types through cluster analysis and apply them in the simulation model. From the simulation results, we conclude that at their current costs, soil and water conservation techniques and irrigation practives can on average provide higher income even under climate change, since they are able to mitigate at least 63 % of the impacts of climate change on crop and livestock income. By contrast, reducing the quantity of applied fertilizer, mentioned as an adaptation option by farmers, increases the farm households’ vulnerability to climate change. The policy message we draw from this study is to encourage Soil and Water Conservation techniques and sustainable irrigation as sound strategies for higher income under climate change in the region. These are “no regret options” with a positive impact on livelihoods while preserving the resource base. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:271152&r=env |
| By: | Feucht, Yvonne; Zander, Katrin |
| Abstract: | The purchase of products labelled with Carbon footprints is one option for consumers to act climate-friendly and consumers frequently state that they are interested in this kind of labels. But even though various carbon footprint labelling schemes exist throughout Europe, their market relevance is low. In this context, the present research investigates preferences for climate-friendly food and identifies barriers for climate friendly food choices in the European market. Using a mixed methods approach combining an online survey (choice experiments and a questionnaire) with qualitative face-to-face interviews, the preferences and willingness to pay for different carbon labels and a climate-friendly claim were explored in six European countries. While the online survey mainly aimed at eliciting consumer preferences for different ways of communicating climate-riendliness, the face-to-face interviews which were based on the results of the online survey, deepened and broadened the quantitative results. Thereby, consumers’ perceptions of climate-friendly food and their information needs with respect to climate-friendly food are elicited. Our results show that the presence of a carbon label on a product increases the purchase probability and that consumers are willing to pay a (small) price premium for a carbon label in all countries under investigation (France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Germany, UK). However, the contribution of a carbon label to a more climate-friendly consumption will be limited. Main reasons are the lack of knowledge of climate friendly actions, reluctance to change consumption habits (e.g. meat and dairy consumption), time preference and uncertainty regarding the relevance of climate change. Consumers appear to be frequently overstrained with respect to climate-friendly buying decisions. Policy makers and retailers are challenged to set appropriate structures to support climate-friendly consumption. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:266396&r=env |
| By: | Cipollaro, Maria; Sacchelli, Sandro |
| Abstract: | The projections for climate change in the coming decades highlight that European and Mediterranean forests will have to deal with negative biotic and abiotic impacts. Extreme meteorological events seem to be one of the main source of risk. Financial strategies can be a form of risk management. In this framework the work analyse the Willingness to Stipulate forest insurance schemes at national level by owners and managers of stands, based on owners characteristics, forest typology and localization as well as Willingness To Pay. Results are also defined at spatial level (macroregions for Italy: northern, central and southern regions) in order to be compared with premium. Preliminary results confirm how WTP is related with both statistical and perceived risk of damage. Moreover, forest owners appear more available to pay for insurance in case of high forest (in particular coniferous) in respect to coppices. Among motivations for not stipulating insurance, the main reason seems to be the preference for alternative form of risk management (e.g. post-event public compensation or silvicultural interventions). The paper stresses the difference between premium and WTP depicting the area where public subsidy could have a greater impact for insurance diffusion. Finally, discussion for future improvements and integration of the research are performed. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea18:275647&r=env |
| By: | Alfonso Echazarra (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Many (bad) things have happened to our planet since PISA asked students about the environment more than a decade ago. The global temperature increased, glaciers continued to melt, coral reefs became increasingly endangered, sea levels rose about 3 centimeters, garbage continued piling up in oceans and man-made disasters, such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, have added more strains on our fragile planet’s health. Through national and international initiatives, such as the Paris Climate Conference and agreement – also known as COP21 – governments are trying to co-ordinate efforts to protect the environment; but until society is fully aware of the consequences of inaction, the cost of action may appear too high. So, are students increasingly aware of environmental problems? Have 15-year-olds became more optimistic about the future of Earth? And who are the environmentally aware students? |
| Date: | 2018–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:87-en&r=env |
| By: | Olubode, Femi; Eivers, Rebecca; Pingram, Michael; Hamer, Mark; Dean, Hamish; Mueller, Hannah; Kessels, Gerry; Baillie, Brenda; Yao, Richard |
| Abstract: | In the Waikato Regional Policy Statement, objective 3.8 states that the council will take an ecosystem service approach to recognise and maintain or enhance fresh water ecosystem services to enable their ongoing contribution to regional wellbeing. Monitoring ecosystem services and socioeconomic and cultural values could enable better management of these resources and so increase the productivity and efficiency of resource use for community wellbeing. This is because the ecosystem service approach to natural resource management, in principle, considers all services to all sectors of a community. To facilitate this approach, tools such as maps and a database of ecosystem services are useful at the level of detail at which policy and management decisions are made. This study characterises the freshwater ecosystems in the region by assessing a sample of water bodies (streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands), their services with economic benefits they provide. The results are being presented in web-maps and the underlying database of the ecosystems, their services and values. The database system allows structured querying, searching and updating of the database as more information becomes available on these ecosystems. The ecological status and health of the ecosystems provide an indication of the services and values of these natural resources using the Millennium Ecosystem and Assessment (MEA) and the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) frameworks. This will help the regional council’s capacity in monitoring the effectiveness of its natural resource management and policies. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, Political Economy |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260804&r=env |
| By: | Lazzaro, B; N, Dal Ferro; Cocco, E; Berti, A; Morari, F |
| Abstract: | Efforts have been made in Europe to support the adoption of agri-environmental measures (AEMs), with the ambition to combine both high standards of crop productivity and environmental quality. However, benefits from AEMs have been poorly quantified at the spatial scale, despite the increasing demand for a spatial-targeting approach that link site- specific payments with AEMs performance. The aim of this work was to develop an integrated model-GIS platform that was used as decision support system to evaluate best AEMs in terms of agronomic performance and agro-ecosystem quality. The study site was the Veneto Region, where the AEMs were applied from 2007 to 2013 according to the Rural Development Programme. Results showed that in general the continuous soil cover yielded both agronomic benefits and the improvement of environmental quality, while a change from mineral to organic fertilizations was effective in the long-term and in the loose soils of southern and western Veneto, improving the soil-water balance and the nutrients availability to the crops. These estimates provide a good starting point for decision-makers aiming to implement a spatial targeting approach that effectively evaluate the ecological effectiveness of agri-environmental policies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea18:275649&r=env |
| By: | Carfì, David; Donato, Alessia; Schilirò, Daniele |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we face the problem of global feeding sustainability and related environmental issues, with a strong attention to possible public heath improvements. Specifically, we shall consider food producers and sellers of vegan (or vegetarian) and non-vegan (or non-vegetarian) food. We propose possible quantitative agreements among different food producers, in order to develop a sustainable healthier diet for future generations, by using a mathematical co-opetitive approach and game theory. The co-opetitive approach used by the authors provides a game theory model, which could help producers of vegan food an easier entry in global market and obtain a considerable free publicity. Meanwhile, the model could allow big producers/sellers of non-vegetarian food a smooth rapid transaction to more sustainable and healthier vegan or vegetarian production/supply. In particular, we propose an exemplary complex agreement setting among McDonald's and Muscle of Wheat, a small but strongly innovative Italian food producer. We think that, on one hand, Muscle of Wheat cannot enter a global market without the help of a large globalized food producer already present in the market, on the other hand, we think equally difficult that a large static and poorly innovative producer cannot follow credibly and rapidly enough the increasing and challenging issues of global food sustainability. We remark that our game model represents an asymmetric R&D alliance between McDonald's and Muscle of Wheat. The aim of our contribution is twofold. Firstly, we explain the advantages of a vegan diet for the human health, environmental issues, food sustainability, population sustainability; in fact, the model explain how global food producers could improve environmental, social and health conditions of world population. Secondly, we show how game theory normal-form and extensive-form games can be used in coopetition studies in order to increase health conditions of people, address climate change, address hunger in the world, improve welfare in a particular market. The results of the mathematical study prove that we can find win-win solutions for both firms, which are also good for world environment, human healthy, human population sustainability and climate change. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability of Food Production, Environmental Sustainability; Game Theory; Co-petitive Games; Green Economy |
| JEL: | C71 C72 C78 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88400&r=env |
| By: | Ivan Rudik (Cornell University); Derek Lemoine (University of Arizona); Maxwell Rosenthal (University of Arizona) |
| Abstract: | We integrate climate scientists into an economic model of climate change by calibrating a statistical model for updating beliefs about the climate's sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions to the actual history of scientific progress. We find that nonconjugate priors are critical for representing the observed dynamics of scientific knowledge. In order to investigate the implications for policy, we extend recursive dynamic programming methods to allow for nonconjugate learning about an uncertain parameter. We find that today's policymaker must set emission policy without the expectation that new information will enable timely revisions to policy. Improving scientific monitoring and climate modeling to enable faster learning would be worth up to \$XX dollars. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed018:369&r=env |
| By: | Gregor Semieniuk; Mariana Mazzucato (Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys the current state of financing green growth in the energy sector, based on the insight that there are different qualities of finance. In past transformational changes in other sectors, public monies played a key role across the innovation landscape. Public financing was central also in a number of past national energy transitions, as reviewed here for Iceland (from fossil to geothermal energy), Norway (from mainly non-electricity energy to hydroelectricity), France (from oil to nuclear) and the United States (from conventional to shale gas). In the current transition to low-carbon energy supplies, there is much public activity, most directed and concerted in China, but also reasons to doubt it is enough and applied in the right places to be able to finance the transition to a low carbon sector on time scales consistent with current climate change mitigation targets. A discussion of opportunities and challenges to a more central role for public financing concludes, drawing also on insights from the recent mission-oriented innovation literature. |
| Keywords: | energy intensity, labor productivity, decoupling, green growth, stylized fact |
| JEL: | O44 O47 Q43 E17 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:210&r=env |
| By: | Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the acceptance of green electricity among Polish residential consumers. Our focus was on the socio-economic and environmental attributes of consumers in terms of their willingness to adopt renewable energy sources (RES) and green electricity tariffs. In particular, this study explores the determinants of adoption by examining consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for green electricity, willingness to switch to green electricity tariffs, and willingness to install small-scale generators in the household. The hypotheses were tested empirically with data collected by means of a standardized telephone survey of 502 household electricity consumers in Poland. Most Polish people accept and support the development of RES, but they do not know how to contribute to this process. Their WTP increases with income, education, pro-environmental attitudes, and knowledge. They also care about social influence. To increase the adoption rate of RES among residential consumers, stable legal regulations, clear procedures, subsidies, social campaigns, and educational trainings are needed. We believe that the findings from this study may be valuable for those involved in marketing green electricity offers and for politicians responsible for the increase of the share of renewables in the Polish power system. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy sources; Green electricity tariffs; Consumer adoption; WTP; Prosumers; Social influence; Environmental attitudes; Questionnaire survey |
| JEL: | D12 D90 Q20 Q42 Q48 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wuu:wpaper:hsc1801&r=env |
| By: | Brooks, Karen |
| Abstract: | Reduction of food loss and waste has received increased attention in recent years. Several spikes in food prices since 2008 have highlighted the hardship that poor people, and especially poor children, face when food is priced out of their reach. With as many as 800 million people still undernourished, of whom about 160 million are stunted young children, the fact that as much as 30% of food is lost or wasted appears unconscionable. Surely the loss could be recovered and channelled towards the hungry! Much of the discussion of food loss and waste has been predicated on this assumption, with the related conclusion that better management and distribution of existing supplies could substitute for investment in increased productive capacity. The assumption is in part borne out by empirical evidence but, as is often the case, the full picture is more complex. Moreover, discussion of food loss and waste in terms of feeding the hungry misses the environmental benefits associated with better management of existing production. Food systems that lose and waste less will generate fewer greenhouse gases and contribute less to global warming. The economics of reduced loss and waste creates both winners and losers, but the environmental calculus has only winners. The policy and institutional arrangements of food systems that generate less loss and waste would look quite different from our present systems. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2016–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cfcp16:257219&r=env |
| By: | Li Gao; Wendong Zhang (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)); Yingdan Mei; Abdoul G Sam; Yu Song; Shuqin Jin |
| Abstract: | We examine how land tenure arrangements affect Chinese crop farmers’ adoption of straw retention, a key conservation practice promoted by the Chinese government in part to curb rising air pollution. Using data from a 2016 farmer household survey covering 1,659 crop plots in Henan Province in central China, we analyze whether farmers are less likely to adopt straw retention on rented plots compared to own-contracted plots. To address the potential endogeneity of the choice of renting from others, we use an instrument exploiting the role of remittance income from household members migrated to cities in a bivariate probit model and a control function approach, respectively. Our main results reveal that the Chinese crop farmers’ likelihood of adopting straw retention were almost cut in half on rented plots compared to their owned plots, assuming the assumptions for biprobit or control functions hold. This suggests greater attention is needed to examine the spillovers across agricultural and environmental policies as China pushes for both a nationwide land rental market and more sustainable agricultural practices. |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:18-wp584&r=env |
| By: | Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska; David Ramsey |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the willingness to pay (WTP) for green electricity among residential consumers in Poland. The current share of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy consumption is around 13.5% and is expected to increase. Data were collected through a telephone survey of a representative sample of Poles. The results obtained indicate that - above all - age, income, environmental attitudes, peer support, but also, education and knowledge about RES play the most important role in explaining consumers' WTP for green electricity. Statistical analyses indicate that the mean WTP of Polish consumers is currently very low (around 0.5 USD), which is due to the relatively low GDP per capita, the lack of knowledge about green energy and no past experience with green electricity tariffs. |
| Keywords: | Green energy; Green electricity tariffs; Willingness to pay; Telephone survey; Contingent valuation method (CVM); Logit regression |
| JEL: | D12 D90 Q20 Q42 Q48 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018–07–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wuu:wpaper:hsc1804&r=env |
| By: | Goodman, Joshua (Harvard U); Hurwitz, Michael (College Board); Park, Jisung (UCLA); Smith, Jonathan (GA State U) |
| Abstract: | We provide the first evidence that cumulative heat exposure inhibits cognitive skill development and that school air conditioning can mitigate this effect. Student fixed effects models using 10 million PSAT-takers show that hotter school days in the year prior to the test reduce learning, with extreme heat being particularly damaging and larger effects for low income and minority students. Weekend and summer heat has little impact and the effect is not explained by pollution or local economic shocks, suggesting heat directly reduces the productivity of learning inputs. New data providing the first measures of school level air conditioning penetration across the US suggest such infrastructure almost entirely offsets these effects. Without air conditioning, each 1*F increase in school year temperature reduces the amount learned that year by one percent. Our estimates imply that the benefits of school air conditioning likely outweigh the costs in most of the US, particularly given future predicted climate change. |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp18-014&r=env |
| By: | Belyaeva, Maria; Bokusheva, Raushan |
| Abstract: | We conduct an examination of the climate effect to analyze the historical dependence of grain production on temperatures and precipitation levels, and project this dependence to estimate the productivity of different grain types in the mid- and long-terms, given four greenhouse gas concentration pathways. We find that altering temperatures have an equivocal effect on agriculture. The most productive zones of the southern black soil belt is projected to face considerable declines in yields, due to insufficient precipitation levels and high probability of heat waves during the summer vegetation period. The northern part, on the contrary, can experience increases in productivity as a result of milder and drier winters and warmer springs. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iamodp:253788&r=env |
| By: | Wallander, Steven; Bowman, Maria; Beeson, Peter; Claassen, Roger |
| Abstract: | A number of government programs, including USDA conservation programs, provide financial incentives to entice changes in behavior. An important question for these programs is whether temporary payments can lead to persistent behavioral changes. Over the past 20 years, the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) has provided more than $250 million to farmers adopting no-till crop production. In contrast to conventional tillage, which turns over the soil prior to planting, no-till can produce a number of environmental goods such as soil carbon sequestration, especially if farmers adopt no-till continuously for a long time period. This study examines whether temporary no-till payments result in persistent adoption of no-till beyond the term of conservation contracts. In the first part of our analysis, we examine field-level survey data, model no-till adoption as a second-order Markov process, and establish that in general there is considerable persistence in farmers’ tillage decisions. In the second part of our analysis, we examine a unique dataset of satellite-based estimates of field-level residue estimates in the Northern High Plains and examine changes in residue before, during, and after enrollment in EQIP. We conclude by discussing the potential implications of persistence for program outcomes as well as the challenges in identifying the mechanisms driving persistence. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa18:266307&r=env |
| By: | UNDP Africa |
| Abstract: | The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) offers major improvements on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The SDGs take a holistic and balanced view of development by addressing the three dimensions of sustainable development (Economic, Social and Environment), significantly raising the level of ambition to achieve the goals and address key systemic barriers to sustainable development - such as inequalities and exclusions, unsustainable production and consumption patterns, weak institutional capacities, and climate change and environmental degradation – that the MDG agenda did not consider adequately. The 17 goals and 169 targets demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal agenda. The relevance of each goal, however, will vary by country (and region), depending on priority focus areas and the development issues faced. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the AfDB’s Hi5s provide the regional context for the SDGs. The Agenda 2063, Africa’s own development Agenda, contains a compelling narrative for Africa’s development. To Africa’s advantage, the articulation of the Common African Position (CAP) on the post- 2015 development agenda coincided with the formulation of the Agenda 2063. This ensured close alignment with regional priorities, on one hand, and the global development framework on the other. The 2063 Agenda proposes a considerable transformation across all three dimensions of sustainability including the governance, peace and security pillar as an important and enabling dimension articulated in the continental framework’s seven aspirations. The first aspiration, for “a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development,” constitutes the overarching objective for structural transformation. Reviewing the goals and targets, Agenda 2063 captures both systemic and structural barriers to – and the drivers of – change, emphasizing inclusive growth, infrastructure development, technological advancement, environmental sustainability, peace and security, and a politically united Africa. Its first 10-year implementation plan consists of 20 goals and at least 171 targets. The level of congruence between Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda is as high as 90 .0 percent. To a large extent, this congruence underpins a harmonized monitoring framework for the two agendas in Africa. The only goals that are not reflected in the global agenda are Goals 8 and 16 of Agenda 2063, which address priorities related to, first, a united Africa and cultural values and, second, establishing key continental and financial institutions, respectively. On the other hand, the Agenda 2063 environmental sustainability pillar is not as strong that found in the 2030 Agenda. To ensure effective implementation of the global and continental agendas, the African Union Commission, AfDB, UNDP, and ECA are already working together closely to articulate continental programmes and monitoring frameworks that will support the implementation of these agendas. The AfDB supports the implementation of both Agendas through its Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022), which has the overarching, twin objectives of achieving inclusive growth and transitioning to green growth. Operationally, these two objectives will be met through the following five operational priorities: infrastructure development; regional economic integration; private sector development; governance and accountability; and skills and technology. The Ten-Year Strategy also has three areas of special emphasis - gender, fragile states, agriculture and food security - which will be implemented through five priority areas, otherwise known as the High Fives (Hi5s). These priority areas are Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The Hi5s central to the Bank’s 10-year implementation plan and are also closely linked to the SDGs and the continental framework, Agenda 2063. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| Date: | 2017–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:undpar:267618&r=env |
| By: | Davidson, Rachael |
| Abstract: | The global dairy market has been adversely affected by increased milk supply in Europe, the US and the Southern hemisphere. This, amidst a reduction in demand for imported dairy commodities by China and Russia, has seen a global downturn in milk prices. New Zealand dairy farmers have been faced with depressed milk price in the last few seasons, and in response to the financial pressures, have been forced to consider farm system changes to minimise the impact. Many of the system adjustments being implemented to manage the current downturn have led to improved efficiency and are similar to those that will help farmers meet existing and proposed environmental limits being enforced by regional councils. Could the adjustments being made have lasting environmental benefits for farmers and the industry? This study aims to identify the changes in farm systems and their management as a consequence of lower milk prices, and whether these changes have improved environmental outcomes. It also aims to identify whether these outcomes are likely to last once milk price recovers, thus determining whether the current period of low milk price has a silver lining. The key adjustments made to dairy farm systems in response to low milk price were reductions in cow numbers, fertiliser use and supplementary feed use. The methodology used to determine the environmental impacts of these adjustments involved creating typical regional farms and modelling the changes experienced from a drop in milk price in Farmax and Overseer. These adjustments had subsequent impacts on milk production. The changes observed had slight implications for environmental outputs, including nitrogen leaching and greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258664&r=env |
| By: | Tipper, Adam; Harkness, Jane |
| Abstract: | Environmental accounting aims to understand the interactions between the environment and the economy. Environmental protection expenditure and taxes are two key environmental accounts that shed light on society’s economic response to environmental change. This paper discusses the role of environmental protection expenditure and taxes in the economy and presents the findings from Statistics New Zealand’s environmental-economic accounts on the extent to which these are used in New Zealand. Preliminary analysis of the relationship between environmental taxes and expenditure, using OECD data, shows a positive and significant empirical association between these two fiscal instruments. |
| Keywords: | Environmental accounting, Economy, New Zealand, Environmental taxation, Expenditure, |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwcpf:7627&r=env |
| By: | Kiet, Nguyen Tuan |
| Abstract: | Shrimp farming in many parts of the world causes pollution to the environment. Upstream shrimp farmers dump untreated waste water that typically contains unconsumed feed, chemicals and even diseases into river system, polluting surrounding areas as well as downstream areas. We study experimentally solutions to the wastewater pollution problem of shrimp farming with upstream and downstream externality. The results show that an external monitoring and certification agency does not help while communication helps greatly laboratory shrimp farmers in solving the pollution problems. Once the problem is solved, the farmers manage to sustain self-governance. This suggests the possibility of community-based solutions in the field |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260799&r=env |
| By: | Klaus Desmet; Robert E. Kopp; Scott A. Kulp; Dávid Krisztián Nagy; Michael Oppenheimer; Esteban Rossi-Hansberg; Benjamin H. Strauss |
| Abstract: | Sea-level rise and ensuing permanent coastal inundation will cause spatial shifts in population and economic activity over the next 200 years. Using a highly spatially disaggregated, dynamic model of the world economy that accounts for the dynamics of migration, trade, and innovation, this paper estimates the consequences of probabilistic projections of local sea-level changes under different emissions scenarios. Under an intermediate greenhouse gas concentration trajectory, permanent flooding is projected to reduce global real GDP by an average of 0.19% in present value terms, with welfare declining by 0.24% as people move to places with less attractive amenities. By the year 2200 a projected 1.46% of world population will be displaced. Losses in many coastal localities are more than an order of magnitude larger, with some low-lying urban areas particularly hard hit. When ignoring the dynamic economic adaptation of investment and migration to flooding, the loss in real GDP in 2200 increases from 0.11% to 4.5%. This shows the importance of including dynamic adaptation in future loss models. |
| JEL: | F18 F22 F43 Q51 Q54 Q56 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24918&r=env |
| By: | Schimmelpfenning, Sonja; Anter, Jano; Heidecke, Claudia; Lange, Stefan; Röttcher, Klaus; Bittner, Florian (eds.) |
| Abstract: | On September 11 and 12, 2017, a symposium on "Irrigation in agriculture", jointly organized by the Thünen Institute, the Julius-Kühn Institute and the University of Applied Sciences Ostfalia took place at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Campus Suderburg. For this purpose, experts from the field of irrigation were invited to give current assessments on the development of irrigation needs and the irrigation-worthiness of different crops at different locations in Ger-many as well as on the development of irrigation technology. The irrigation of crops in outdoor vegetables or special crops has long been a common practice. The profitability of irrigating agri-cultural crops in Germany has so far been limited to a few, dry locations. As a result of climate change, an increasing average annual temperature and changed precipitation patterns (in partic-ular lower rainfall at the beginning of the vegetation period in spring) have been observed in Germany for some years now. For the future, according to the results of climate models, a fur-ther increase in temperatures and further changes in the precipitation distribution such as a de-crease in the summer precipitation and an increase in winter precipitation are to be expected. The conference proceedings provide an overview of the latest research findings from the field of drought stress and discuss possible alternative sources for meeting the additional water require-ments of agricultural crops. Aspects of the landscape water balance and hydrological correlations in the agricultural landscape are addressed and solutions presented. Insights into possible con-flicts of water use and practical experience with the development of solutions are accompanied by the presentation of the legal framework for water use. The contributions are supplemented by reports of long-term irrigation field trials conducted by the LWK Lower Saxony. On the one hand, the experiments have shown that irrigation can increase the nutrient efficiency of crops and the quality of crops. On the other hand, the present state of the art of irrigation will be explained and limits and possibilities for increasing efficiency in the future will be presented. In order to in-crease the efficiency of irrigation, irrigation control is of great importance; its current status is presented and the trends for the future are shown. The profitability of investments in irrigation technology is presented in two contributions. Here, both the different techniques and their prof-itability in different crops are assessed economically. Possible developments of regional irrigation needs are exemplarily shown for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The conference proceedings conclude with a chapter on the overview of previous projects in the field of water management and on irrigation of agricultural land in view of future climate change in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:266737&r=env |
| By: | Upton, S T |
| Abstract: | New Zealand’s goal to double agricultural exports as well as meet Kyoto protocol commitments is a challenge. New Zealand sheep and beef farmers have been advised that applying more nitrogen fertiliser is the cheapest way to boost productivity. However, an increase in nitrogen fertiliser application results in greenhouse gas emissions increasing. This study analysed the implications of increased nitrogen fertiliser application on productivity and greenhouse gas emissions for New Zealand sheep and beef farms. Three scenarios were modelled to use the additional pasture production achieved from the different rates of nitrogen fertiliser and compared with a base model sheep and beef farm. These scenarios were (1) better feeding livestock to increase end live weight, (2) increasing stocking rate and (3) better feeding livestock to reduce the number of grazing days. The model farm was based on weighted average of all sheep and beef farms in New Zealand (Class 9). Simulations were then run with the different rates of nitrogen fertiliser ranging from 20 to 100kgN/ha/yr through each scenario. Consistent with the hypotheses, the efficiency of utilisation of extra grass production is an important determinant of the ratio of product output to GHG emissions. For scenario 1 and 2, productivity increased with the ratio of profit to kg of GHG emissions increasing. In scenario 1, the profit per kg of GHG emissions increased 27% in simulation 1 from the base model farm. This occurred when nitrogen fertiliser was increased to 20 kg/N/ha/yr from 5.6 kg/N/ha/yr. The ratio increased 0.6% for scenario 2 for the same change in nitrogen fertiliser. In scenario 3, the ratio of profit to kg of GHG emissions decreased 9% for the same change in nitrogen fertiliser. In all scenarios, GHG emissions increased. When N fertiliser is increased, productivity increased, greenhouse gas emissions could not be reduced and the proposed emissions trading scheme will have little impact on profitability. Strategic use of N could improve hill-country resilience. With an increase in strategic N fertiliser application, livestock can be better fed; thus, increased live weight and reducing the number of grazing days. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2016–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260809&r=env |
| By: | Simon, Cedric; Preston, Nigel; Chalmers, Andrew |
| Abstract: | Every year 20–30 million metric tonnes of fish, one-third of the global fish catch, is used to produce aquafeeds. This practice is unsustainable and a critical threat to the viability of the global aquafeed industry. Efforts to find alternatives that totally match or improve the cost-effectiveness and nutritional performance of wild fish products, while reducing the burden on the natural environment, have failed, until recently. Now, an innovation using natural marine microbial processes has achieved this goal – a world-first success, improving the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of aquafeeds. The technology uses natural marine microbial processes to bio-convert plant wastes, such as bagasse or rice straw, into a bioactive product (Novacq™) that improves the growth and health of farmed prawns and eliminates the need for any wild harvest fishmeal in prawn feeds. The technology is patented and in full-scale commercial production by several licensees in a number of countries. The development of Novacq™ (an abbreviation of ‘novel aquafeed’ ingredient) is an example of why we need to rethink the way we produce aquafeeds. We need to continue to learn from nature how to produce sustainable aquafeeds and industrialise these processes in costeffective ways. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2016–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cfcp16:257231&r=env |
| By: | Sonja Schimmelpfennig; Claudia Heidecke; Holger Beer; Florian Bittner; Susanne Klages; Sandra Krengel; Stefan Lange (eds.) |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper summarizes the results of a survey and a workshop, which were compiled and discussed by scientists of the research institutes Thünen-Institut, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) and Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) in autumn 2016. The aim of the workshop and the survey was to analyze the state of knowledge on climate change adaptation in BMEL departmental research and the future challenges of adaptation to climate change in German agriculture and forestry. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2018–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:268143&r=env |
| By: | Batston, Chris; Moores, Jonathan; Newton, Mark; Yalden, Sharleen |
| Abstract: | The acronym WESWI represents Waterbody Ecosystem Services Wellbeing Index. WESWI is designed to assist urban collaborative process decision makers weigh the trade-offs between the wellbeing associated with employment, housing and industry contribution to regional value added income, and that associated with the ecosystem services delivered by freshwater and coastal waterbodies impacted by urban development. We examine the use of WESWI in an urban development case study located on the urban fringe of Auckland City. We show how WESWI can used to understand the effects of contrasting urban stormwater management scenarios on the wellbeing associated with ecosystem service provision by an urban stream. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260793&r=env |
| By: | Sara Hughes (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | City governments around the world are pledging to make significant reductions to their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a goal that requires significant changes to urban institutions, infrastructure, and behaviour patterns. Such changes are not easily made, and often fall outside the formal jurisdiction of city governments. However, city governments are taking up this challenge because of the threat of climate change and the opportunity to reap local benefits from GHG emissions reductions. This paper draws on the experiences of three large cities in North America: Toronto, New York City, and Los Angeles. Each city government has set ambitious GHG reduction targets, and developed programs and policies to reach these targets. While the responses are unique to each city, their experiences demonstrate that if city governments are to successfully meet their GHG emissions reductions targets, they must “steer†their cities: leveraging both their formal and informal authorities as well as a range of interventions and partnerships. Three steering strategies have proven effective in all three cities: Building and maintaining coalitions; Aligning incentives with capacity; and Combining institutionalization and innovation. The experiences of these three cities demonstrate that formal powers and political economic context are not good predictors of cities’ success in reducing GHG emissions. Rather, as city governments confront the complex and longterm challenge of reducing GHG emissions, steering strategies that combine the multiple sources of authority and influence held by city governments will generate the outcomes needed to address climate change. |
| Keywords: | climate change; municipal governance; Los Angeles; Toronto; New York |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mfg:perspe:16&r=env |
| By: | Wei Zheng (School of Economics and Development, Wuhan University, China; School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland); Patrick Paul Walsh (School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | During the past 30 years, China has experienced high growth, and its economic expansion has been one of the strongest in world history. The rapid economic growth has accompanied by rapid increases in energy consumption, which has led to considerable air pollution and significantly affected mortality rate. In this study, Grossman Health Function was applied together with satellite-retrieved PM2.5 pollution data to estimate mortality rate caused by PM2.5 from 2001 to 2012. The results show some new evidence of the impact of sociological, economic and environmental factors on mortality rate of the population of China using the fixed effect (FE) and system generalized method of moments (GMM-sys) estimation methods. The PM2.5 has long-term positive significant effects on mortality. China is now experiencing a substantial mortality burden associated with current air pollution. Health care system and people’s education level are important in lowering mortality. |
| Keywords: | PM2.5, Mortality rate, Temperature |
| Date: | 2018–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201819&r=env |
| By: | Mihai, Florin-Constantin; Minea, Ionut; Grozavu, Adrian |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the exposure of mountain creeks towards illegal waste disposal practices related to the lack of waste collection services in rural areas of Romania prior to EU accession and the low waste collection efficiency following the closure of rural wild dumps in 2009-2010. The paper estimates the amounts of household waste uncollected and disposed in selected small Carpathian rivers in the North-East development region. The expansion of built-up areas along the water courses leads to waste dumping practices across mountain villages in the context of poor waste management facilities. Particular morphology of villages and hydrological characteristics of the creeks may influence the magnitude of such bad practices. The paper points out the role of flash floods in cleaning upstream catchments from debris, thus, polluting the downstream rivers and human settlements. An efficient waste collection system in mountain areas has a crucial role to play in mitigating and ultimately preventing the waste dumping practices in water bodies. |
| Keywords: | waste dumping, water pollution, waste collection, mountain area, floods |
| JEL: | I18 K32 O44 Q25 Q53 Q56 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87958&r=env |
| By: | Issanchou, Alice; Daniel, Karine; Dupraz, Pierre; Ropars-Collet, Carole |
| Abstract: | There is a growing public concern for soils and the maintenance or enhancement of soil quality. Actually, soil resource plays a central role in issues regarding food security and climate change mitigation. Through their practices, farmers impact the physical, biological and chemical quality of their soils. However, in a strained economic environment, farmers face a trade-off between short term objectives of production and profitability, and a long term objective of soil resource conservation. In this article, we investigate the conditions under which farmers have a private interest to preserve the quality of their soil. We also characterize the optimal management strategies of soil quality dynamics. We use a simplified theoretical soil quality investment model, where farmers maximise their revenues under a soil quality dynamics constraint. In our production function, soil quality and productive inputs are cooperating production factors. In addition, productive inputs have a detrimental impact on soil quality dynamics. It appears that in some cases, farmers have a private and financial interest in preserving the quality of their soil at a certain level, since it is an endogenous production factor cooperating with productive inputs. However, situations can occur wherein the cooperative production benefits of soil quality and productive inputs are smaller than the marginal deterioration of soil quality due to productive inputs. In this case, one cannot draw conclusions about the existence of an equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inrasl:273053&r=env |
| By: | Glavas, Dejan; Bancel, Franck |
| Abstract: | We investigate underlying reasons of green bond issuance using agency theory and stakeholder theory as frameworks. Current literature on green bonds mainly focuses on measuring secondary market premia for this type of securities. In our study, determinants are analyzed ex-ante and focus on issuing firm characteristics which was not done in previous literature to our knowledge. We perform panel data conditional logit and fixed effects regressions on a set of matched green bond issuers and non-issuers in 27 countries for the 2013 to 2017 period. Our findings suggest that the agency motive and state-driven stakeholder motive provide key determinants of green bond issuance. |
| Keywords: | green bonds, climate finance, stakeholder, agency, information asymmetry, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, corporate finance |
| JEL: | G1 G10 G3 G30 Q5 Q50 |
| Date: | 2018–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88377&r=env |
| By: | Claassen, Roger; Bowman, Maria; Breneman, Vince; Wade, Tara; Williams, Ryan; Fooks, Jacob; Hansen, LeRoy; Iovanna, Rich; Loesch, Chuck |
| Abstract: | Conservation Compliance ties eligibility for most Federal farm program benefits to soil and wetland conservation. To be eligible for farm program benefits, farmers must apply an approved soil conservation system on highly erodible cropland (Highly Erodible Land Conservation, or HELC) and refrain from draining wetlands (Wetland Conservation, or WC). Conservation Compliance is effective when the incentive—the farm program benefits that could be lost due to noncompliance—exceeds the cost of meeting soil and wetland conservation requirements. HELC significantly reduced soil erosion on highly erodible cropland and may have also encouraged erosion reduction on land not subject to HELC. Compliance incentives (farm program benefits) under the Agricultural Act of 2014 are found to (1) vary widely across farms with cropland in HEL (highly erodible land) fields, (2)approximate the overall level of incentive that would have been provided under an extension of the 2008 Farm Act (although incentives changed significantly on many farms), and (3) be significantly lower on many farms if crop insurance premium subsidies were not subject to Conservation Compliance. Compliance incentives for WC, although measured only in the Prairie Pothole region of the Northern Plains, are clearly larger than Compliance costs for an estimated 75 percent of wetlands that are already cropped or have characteristics (e.g., productivity, topography) that are favorable to crop production. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:261814&r=env |
| By: | Latruffe, Laure; Dakpo, K Hervé; Desjeux, Yann; Justinia Hanitravelo, Giffona |
| Abstract: | With a sample of farms in the European Union (EU) and Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data completed by additional data, we illustrate how the effect of farm subsidies on technical efficiency changes when environmental (good or bad) outputs are incorporated in the calculation of technical efficiency. Results indicate that the effect of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) operational subsidies on farm technical efficiency changes when environmental outputs (in this study: greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen balance and ecological focus areas) are taken into account in the efficiency calculation: some effects change significance, and more importantly, some effects change sign. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2017–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inrasl:266259&r=env |
| By: | Rickels, Wilfried; Quaas, Martin F.; Ricke, Kate; Quaas, Johannes; Moreno Cruz, Juan; Smulders, Sjak |
| Abstract: | Engineering the climate via Solar Radiation Management (SRM) is increasingly considered as a component of future climate policies. We study the strategic incentives for countries to choose the level of SRM at different times in the future, accounting for the regionally uneven effect of SRM on climate variables, heterogeneous preferences of countries for the state of the global climate, and climate change adjusted GDP growth rates. We find that even though some countries would have significant gains from realizing their individually preferred level of SRM, the economic incentives for many countries are not sufficient to consider unilateral SRM implementation to be beneficial. In contrast, several countries have strong incentives to join coalitions to prevent that too much SRM is applied. The likely scenario is that a coalition will set a level of SRM close to the global efficient level. |
| Keywords: | Climate Engineering,Solar Radiation Management,Governance,Climate Change Winners and Loser,Free-Driving Externality,Coalition Games with Externalities |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2110&r=env |
| By: | Letort, Elodie; Dupraz, Pierre; Piet, Laurent |
| Abstract: | Nitrate pollution remains a major problem in some parts of France, especially in the Brittany region, which is characterized by intensive livestock production systems. Although farmers must not exceed a regulatory limit of nitrogen contained in manure per hectare, many farmers in this region exceed this limit. Therefore, they must treat the excess of manure that they produce or export it to be spread in neighbouring farms and/or areas, inducing fierce competition in the land market. Another adaptation strategy consists of modifying production practices or the production system as a whole, i.e., changing the structure of the farm. In this paper, a spatial agent-based model (ABM) has been developed to assess policy options in the regulation of manure management practices. The objective is to highlight the potential effects of these policies on the farmland market and the structural changes that they induce. Our results show that the different policies, which result in similar environmental benefits, induce different changes in the land market and in agricultural structures. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:inrasl:253784&r=env |
| By: | Wreford, Anita; Dittrich, Ruth |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2016–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260810&r=env |
| By: | Dietz, Thomas; Börner, Jan; Förster, Jan Janosch; von Braun, Joachim |
| Abstract: | More than forty states worldwide currently pursue explicit political strategies to expand and promote their bioeconomies. This paper assesses these strategies in the context of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our theoretical framework differentiates between four pathways of bioeconomic developments. The extent, to which bioeconomic developments along these pathways lead to increased sustainability, depends on the creation of effective governance mechanisms. We distinguish between enabling governance and constraining governance as the two fundamental political challenges in setting up an effective governance framework for a sustainable bioeconomy. Further, we lay out a taxonomy of political support measures (enabling governance) and regulatory tools (constraining governance) that states can use to confront these two political challenges. Guided by this theoretical framework, we conduct a qualitative content analysis of 41 national bioeconomy strategies to provide systematic answers to the question of how well designed the individual national bioeconomy strategies are to ensure the rise of a sustainable bioeconomy. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:275071&r=env |
| By: | Bigelow, Daniel; Borchers, Allison |
| Abstract: | The United States has a total land area of about 2.3 billion acres. In 2012, the major land uses were grassland pasture and rangeland at 655 million acres (29 percent of U.S. total); forest-use land at 632 million (28 percent); cropland at 392 million acres (17 percent); special uses (primarily parks and wildlife areas) at 316 million acres (14 percent); miscellaneous uses (such as wetlands, tundra, and unproductive woodlands) at 196 million acres (9 percent); and urban land at 70 million acres (3 percent). This study presents findings from the most recent (2012) inventory of U.S. major land uses, drawing on data from USDA, the U.S. Census Bureau, public land management and conservation agencies, and other sources. The data are collected for each State to estimate the use of several broad classes and subclasses of agricultural and nonagricultural land over time. National and regional trends in land use are compared with earlier major land-use estimates. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–08–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:263079&r=env |
| By: | Li, Zhi; Liu, Pengfei; Swallow, Stephen K. |
| Abstract: | The free riding incentive that exists in public good provision has been a major obstacle to establishing markets or payment incentives for ecosystem services. The use of monetary incentives to induce private provision of public goods has gained increasing support, including from the USDA Office of Environmental Markets, to help to market ecosystem services provided by alternative farmland management practices. Using a series of lab experiments and a pilot field experiment, we explore new ways to raise money from individuals to pay farmers for alternative management practices. In our proposed mechanisms, individuals receive an assurance contract that offers qualified contributors an assurance payment as compensation in the event that total contributions fail to achieve the threshold needed to fund the public good. Contributors qualify by contracting to support provision with a minimum contribution. Our public good involves delaying the harvest of a ten-acre hayfield to allow grassland birds to nest successfully. Evidence from lab experiments shows that the provision probability, consumer surplus, and social welfare significantly increase when the assurance contract is present, while the producer surplus suffers from a slight decrease. Consistent with the lab experiment, our pilot field experiment shows that a higher assurance payment may reduce individual contribution amounts. Our proximate motivation is to support bird habitat provided by farmland, but our approach contributes to the private provision of ecosystem services and other types of public goods in general. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa18:266300&r=env |
| By: | Khataza, Robertson R.B.; Hailu, Atakelty; Kragt, Marit E.; Doole, Graeme |
| Abstract: | Determining the value of legumes as soil-fertility amendments can be challenging, yet this information is required to guide public policy and to incentivise prescribed land-management practices such as conservation agriculture. We apply a directional distance function to data from Malawi, to estimate shadow prices for symbiotic nitrogen and the technical efficiency for mixed maize-legume production systems. The shadow prices reflect the trade-off between fertiliser-nitrogen and symbiotic-nitrogen required to achieve a given quantity of output. Our results reveal considerable technical inefficiency in the production system. The estimated shadow prices vary across farms and are, on average, higher than the reference price for commercial nitrogen. Our results suggest that it would be beneficial to redesign the current price-support programs that subsidise chemical fertilisers and indirectly crowd-out organic soil amendments such as legumes. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258672&r=env |
| By: | MacNamara, Marin; Old, Kevin; Trafford, Suzanne; Bicknell, Katie |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2016–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260801&r=env |
| By: | Bos, Jaap (Finance); Li, Runliang (Finance); Sanders, Mark (utrecht university; uu; uu universiteit utrecht) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how banks adjust their asset structure in response to changes in loan demand after natural disasters. We show how banks help clients smoothen consumption and support local recovery through their asset diversification strategy. In the empirical part, using a difference-in-difference method, we find that U.S. commercial banks increase real estate lending after disasters and sell government bonds to finance such a disaster-driven demand surge. In the theoretical part of this paper we present a novel multiple-asset dynamic credit rationing model that explains these empirical findings. Using simulations of our model we can then predict and quantify the possible impact of climate change on the asset structure and profitability of banks for different scenarios. |
| Keywords: | banks, disasters , diversification, climate change |
| JEL: | G21 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2018021&r=env |
| By: | Addo, Nana Sakyibea; Wachenheim, Cheryl Joy; Roberts, David C.; Devney, John; Lesch, William C. |
| Abstract: | Wetlands play an important role in the ecosystem and are a link between the land and water. This study investigates a voluntary working wetlands pilot program (WWP) in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota focusing on small, temporary and seasonal wetlands within croplands. The program compensates farmers for maintaining wetlands on their land. Program-participant farmer preferences for program attributes and their perceptions and attitudes towards this and other conservation programs and practices were elicited. Respondents were apt to agree that producer participation in the wetland program development process is very important, promotion of healthy ecosystems is part of their responsibility as a steward of the land, the terms of the WWP are a good fit for their land in the long run, and conservation programs are effective. They strongly agreed that farmers should be compensated when their land use choices benefit the environment, including for maintenance of wetlands, and that land use decisions are their right as a land owner. Respondents disagreed that the conversion of wetlands must be stopped, wetland conservation should limit agricultural activities on private lands, there should be regulations to control the conservation of naturally-occurring wetlands to agricultural lands, and small wetlands benefit their operation. A choice experiment designed to consider hypothetical program attributes showed an increase in payment and absence of additional conservation production requirements in surrounding cropland increases the probability of enrollment. The parameter estimate for the length of contract attribute was negative indicating a preference for shorter contracts. Payment rate had an important influence in the expected direction. Ranchers were more responsive to increases in payment rate than were farmers without cows. Production requirements of no-till, planting of cover crops, and planting of winter cereals each had a relatively large negative impact on likelihood to enroll in a hypothetical version of the WWP. The negative effect of the no-till requirement was moderated for those who already used no-till at least to some extent in their operation; the same was true for cover crops, as the negative effect of a cover crops production requirement was moderated for those who already planted cover crops. However, among farmers already planning no-till, the negative effect of a cover crops or winter cereals requirement was even greater. Farmers living on their farm and those with small and large farms and those using no-till in some part of their operation were more likely to enroll in the program. Farmers who one might define as more conservation-minded with regards to wetlands as defined as more strongly agreeing that small wetlands benefit their operation and that it is important to protect wetlands and those who would drain none of their wetlands or less than 25% if allowed to do so without penalty were less likely to enroll in the program. As expected, those that consider more important the effect of a program on water quality, those that identified the WWP program as a good fit for their operation in the long run, and those who were satisfied with the maintenance requirements of the WWP program were more likely to enroll. The importance placed on water quality had a moderating effect on the positive influence of payment on likelihood to enroll and on the negative influence of each of the three production requirements (no-till, cover crops, and winter cereals). Recommendations include: (1) Work to understand the decision-maker and his decision-making process; (2) New policy development should focus on policy options with a targeted approach; one where high payoff acres are targeted with effective conservation measures for those acres and where the employment of conservation practices are less likely. Addition of production requirements under a working lands program should be carefully considered because they may substantially reduce farmer interest; (3) Continue to educate farmers about conservation and the conservation options available to them; Find means to iv engage ‘productivist farmers’, those who are less inclined to adopt conservation practices if the benefits are not economically most efficient and benefits are largely off-farm; and (5) Consider a community approach to identifying and implementing conservation solutions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2017–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddaae:256035&r=env |
| By: | Werner, Peter (General Economics 1 (Micro)); Riedl, Arno (General Economics 1 (Micro)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we review selected evidence to demonstrate the value of experiments for policy design with a focus on environmental policy and tax policy. Experiments can substantially improve ex-ante predictions about the outcomes of policy interventions, for example, by serving as “testbeds” to compare alternative market rules and mechanisms under tightly controlled conditions. Experiments also yield important insights into systematic deviations from strict rationality and into the heterogeneity of preferences among decision-makers that can form the basis for the (re-) design of policies. Besides describing various experimental approaches applied in the areas of environmental policy and tax policy, we also discuss further directions for successful collaborations between experimental economists and political decision-makers. |
| Keywords: | experiments, policy design, policy evaluation, behavioral regularities, non-standard preferences, environmental policy, tax policy |
| Date: | 2018–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2018022&r=env |
| By: | Grafström, Jonas (The Ratio Institute); Hvalgren, Niclas (The Ratio Institute); Korpi, Martin (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | Syftet med denna översiktsrapport är att ge en nulägesbild av möjligheterna till storskalig reducering av koldioxidutsläpp och atmosfäriska koldioxidkoncentrationer genom olika former av NET (Negative Emission Technologies). Enligt 2014 års basscenario från IPCC för maximalt 2°C uppvärming måste de globala koldioxidutsläppen börja minska kraftigt i närtid samt att olika former av NET tas i bruk senast under åren 2030–2045. NETs kritiska roll för måluppfyllnad kan ses i IPCCs scenariodatabas. Utav de 113 scenarier associerade med utfall under 2°C förutsätter 107 av dessa en framgångsrik implementering och storskaligt upptagande av koldioxid både ur själva atmosfären och direkt från olika typer av utsläppskällor. Vår övergripande slutsats är att utifrån nuläget på den tekniska utvecklingen kommer 2 graders målet svårligen uppnås. För att nå måluppfyllnad behövs en kontinuerlig minskning av absoluta utsläpp, att en marknad skapas för koldioxid och en betydligt snabbare utevcklingstakt vad gäller NET, exempelvis genom ökat statligt R&D. |
| Keywords: | Carbon capture; BECCS; CCS; DAC; Negativa utsläpp; klimatförändringar |
| JEL: | O13 O33 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0309&r=env |
| By: | Duanmu, Jing-Lin; Bu, Maoliang; Pittman, Russell |
| Abstract: | Departing from the extant literature which assumes that firms pursue strong environmental performance as a differentiation strategy, we analyse the general relationship between firms’ competitive strategy and their response to heightened market competition. We find that, using a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms between 2000 and 2005, intensified market competition has an overall negative impact on firms’ environmental performance. The negative impact is exacerbated in firms adopting a cost-leadership strategy, but attenuated in those adopting a differentiation strategy. The results emphasize the importance of including an examination of the particular competitive strategies chosen by firms in seeking to understand the impact of intensified market competition. |
| Keywords: | Market competition, environmental performance, China, corporate social responsibility, cost leadership, differentiation, market concentration |
| JEL: | L11 L13 L21 L25 M14 M31 Q52 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88378&r=env |
| By: | Breimyer, Harold F. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umcowp:256547&r=env |
| By: | Selzer, Anne Mira |
| Abstract: | Nature conservation contracts or payments for nature conservation measures are de facto sporadically implemented in forests. Focusing this background the joint research project “Nature conservation contracts in forests (WaVerNa project)” aims to analyze the actual implementation status as well as opportunities and constraints of nature conservation contracts in the field of forest ecology, economics, and legislation. In the field of economics the joint research project deals with aspects of demand and supply. In the process of analyzing the demand side, public and private institutions for an efficient implementation of nature conservations contracts or payments for nature conservation are focused. In the present working paper results from the survey of the status quo for the implementation of those payments on the public demand are represented. The survey is based on literature research, analysis of legal texts, interviewing experts and a written consultation of the highest federal state authorities for forestry and nature conservation. Due to stagnating development of payments for nature conservation in forests, aspects of institutional economics as well as of legislation were taken in to account for the survey. Therefore the survey is determined by the following questions: 1. What are the financing systems for instruments of public demand? 2. What kind of objectives and purposes are pursued with the applied instruments? 3. Which measurements are demanded with the applied instruments? 4. What restrictions and exclusions are determined by the applied instruments? 5. What are the earmarking periods for measurements? 6. What are the types and modalities of donations? 7. How and where are competences for the public demand allocated? 8. Are elements of cooperation intended by the applied instruments? As the results of the survey show, the implementation of payments for nature conservation in forests is characterized by four variations of financing: Three of the four variations are based on a co-funding mechanism. Within these three co-funding mechanisms the funding structure varies to the extent as EU- and/or federal-funding is involved. Due to higher administrative expenses as well as a lack of continuity, most of the analyzed instruments are not based on EU-co-funding and some of the instruments are even decoupled from federal co-funding. As demonstrated by the results of the analysis, the pursued objectives of the administrative regulations are determined by the conservation of biodiversity for its own sake. Being focused on the conservations of biodiversity for its own sake, in general pertinent administrative regulations are not aiming to enforce the interests of forestry operations. The “Hessian Model” is the only instrument that takes into account all conflicting and contradicting interests. Albeit the institutional arrangements are varying among the instruments, those variations are not influencing practical applications of nature conservation in a severe way. The main differences in practical application are related to the mode of payment. Measurements that are sponsored by investments can be mainly defined as active and target-oriented. Those measurements that are payed for within fixed rates can mainly be characterized as being of passive nature and status-oriented as well as target-oriented. As another result the survey shows, that most of the conventional nature conservation measurements in forestry are bounded to areas of special interest for nature conservation. These are in general areas of the Natura 2000-network. Being contextualized to the conflict of the Natura 2000-regime is one major barrier for implementing conservation contracts in forests. There are only very few regulations that are vaguely promoting cooperation and therefore intending to overcome the conflict. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics |
| Date: | 2018–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:271871&r=env |
| By: | de Brouwer, Gordon |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258665&r=env |
| By: | Hellerstein,Daniel; Hitaj, Claudia; Smith, David; Davis, Amélie |
| Abstract: | About 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on pollinators, including managed honey bees, to reproduce. However, pollinators face a number of stressors, such as parasites, poor nutrition, pesticides, and diseases. A literature review indicates that pollinators may benefit from landscapes richer in high-quality forage (pollen and nectar sources) and highlights the different needs of managed honey bees and native (unmanaged)pollinators. This study uses 30 years of data on U.S. land uses to calculate a pollinator forage suitability index. When averaged across the Nation, the forage suitability index increased from 1982 to 2002 and declined slightly from 2002 to 2012—though in important honey bee regions (such as Central North and South Dakota), the decline from 2002 to 2012 is more pronounced. The study also analyzes the economics of providing better pollinator forage, such as assigning property rights for colony placement and voluntary government conservation programs to increase pollinator forage. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:263074&r=env |
| By: | Higgins, Nathaniel; Hellerstein, Daniel; Wallander, Steven; Lynch, Lori |
| Abstract: | Economic experiments can help inform the design and implementation of government policies, especially newly conceived or novel policies. This report reviews experimental methods, with a focus on when and how they can be effectively used to inform agricultural program decisions. To illustrate the capabilities of experimental methods, five case studies are presented. First, a laboratory study examines whether it is possible to improve the cost-effectiveness of auctions similar to those used in voluntary land retirement programs. A second laboratory study, with both students and farmers, illustrates how a combination of targeting and bonuses may be able to improve environmental outcomes by encouraging coordination among conservation program enrollees. The third study, conducted in the field to more closely mimic real-world conditions, measures how farmers trade off current income against future income and finds farmers will accept less money if paid today rather than in the future. The fourth and fifth studies are randomized controlled trials testing the marketing of USDA programs; these show how outreach letters can increase participation in the Conservation Reserve Program and in county committee elections. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2017–08–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:262456&r=env |
| By: | Carolyn Chisadza (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa); Matthew Clance (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | One of the Sustainable Development Goals is to significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. The economic development literature widely concurs that conflicts have adverse economic consequences that contribute to poverty, disinvestment, and lower human capital leading to widespread inequality and lower economic growth. As such, understanding the nature of conflict has been an important focus for political leaders, policymakers and researchers alike. However, the existing literature does not typically distinguish between the types of conflict, and empirical evidence relies on the assumption that effects are similar across the world. Using panel data analysis and a comprehensive disaggregated georeferenced conflict dataset from 1997 to 2016, we find significant evidence of heterogeneity in the predictors' effects on different types of conflicts in Africa. |
| Keywords: | conflict, regional heterogeneity, panel data |
| JEL: | C33 H56 O10 O43 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201852&r=env |
| By: | Zhang, Jing; Brown, Colin; Waldron, Scott |
| Abstract: | The paper extends on the literature assessing China’s current “policy-oriented” agricultural insurance crop system to understand and to investigate the factors influencing the relative merits and potential demand for weather index crop insurance as a means for individual farmers in rural China to cope with weather-related production risks. Using the case of Huojia County in Henan Province, an empirical analysis is conducted of information collected from households’ survey and interviews with local village leaders. The key finding is that there is a significant potential demand for weather index crop insurance product as households seek time-efficient risk management strategies although this demand is influenced by generally poor awareness of insurance, small areas, and relatively low profitability of crop production. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258683&r=env |
| By: | Buchholz, Matthias; Musshoff, Oliver |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc017:256326&r=env |
| By: | Miao, Ruiqing |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc017:256314&r=env |
| By: | Taylor, Robert C.; McGaughey, Bernalyn |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:scc017:256334&r=env |
| By: | Gustavo Adolfo HERNANDEZ DIAZ |
| Abstract: | El incremento de la temperatura en los últimos cincuenta años ha tenido serios efectos sobre la economía, por lo cual es necesario tomar medidas de mitigación y/o adaptación para atenuar sus efectos. En el presente trabajo se realiza un cálculo de multiplicadores de las emisiones, usando la técnica de insumo producto, que sirve como otro instrumento más para la evaluación y análisis de las diferentes alternativas de políticas de mitigación. Los multiplicadores estimados permiten, además de observar cuales son los sectores con mayor efecto sobre las emisiones de GEI, realizar una caracterización de las políticas más eficientes sobre cada uno de los sectores. |
| Keywords: | Matriz Insumo Producto, Encadenamientos, Emisiones de gases efecto invernadero |
| JEL: | C67 Q50 Y Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000118:016511&r=env |
| By: | Bharadwaj, Prashant (University of California San Diego); Fenske, James (University of Warwick); Ali Mirza, Rinchan (University of Namur); Kala, Namrata (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | We use a difference in differences approach to show that the adoption of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) reduced infant mortality in India. This holds even comparing children of the same mother. Children of mothers whose characteristics predict higher child mortality, rural children, boys, and low-caste children benefit more from HYV adoption. We find no obvious evidence that parental investments respond to HYV adoption. We find little evidence of selection into child bearing in response to HYV adoption. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:385&r=env |
| By: | Betsy Donald; Mia Gray; Centre for Business Research |
| Abstract: | We are now facing Sayer’s 'diabolical double crisis' - which encompasses both a deep financial crisis and an environmental one. The scale, scope and nature of this double-crisis is downplayed in the regional studies literature, much of which still focuses on innovative growth models often divorced from broader social and ecological contexts. To help solve both crises we call for regional studies to explore new models that allow us to focus on the most important issues of our time. We illustrate this by focusing on the contradictions in the waste produced by contemporary regional economies - waste of abundance, labour, and resources. |
| Keywords: | inequality, climate change, precarious labour, waste, wealth, redistribution |
| JEL: | D63 E21 E24 O44 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp507&r=env |
| By: | Bendoma, Marius; Ondobo Nkusa, Evrard Aurèle |
| Abstract: | Local communities nowadays play an important role in the implementation of development project. This study gives room for an assessment of the societal impact of an ongoing project in the energy sector in Cameroon. It is of keen interest to international financial institutions sponsoring the project to a great extent. However, it comes out that CSR in its contribution to sustainable development goes beyond the implementation of a project. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), Sustainable Development, Local Development, Lom Pangar. |
| JEL: | L14 L33 L53 L98 |
| Date: | 2018–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88491&r=env |
| By: | Hargita, Yvonne; Hinkes, Cordula; Bick, Ulrich Bick; Peter, Günter |
| Abstract: | The production of soy is an important driver for the deforestation of primary forests, especially in Brazil. The European Union, and in particular Germany, is a relevant importer of soy and thereby indirectly contributes to the ongoing deforestation. With the Amsterdam Declaration in 2015, the German government together with other European countries declared their willingness to support the private sector’s goal to eliminate deforestation from agricultural supply chains by 2020. Usually companies use certification schemes to ensure deforestation-free sourcing and in general the compliance with social or ecological requirements. Our analysis of those soy certification schemes that are compliant with the Soy Sourcing Guidelines of the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation has shown that requirements between the schemes are quite different. The evaluation of standards related to the conservation of natural ecosystems, good agricultural practice, social criteria, auditing and traceability systems, identified ISCC PLUS and ISCC EU as the schemes with the highest overall scores. ProTerra and RTRS have high requirements in place, as well. These certification schemes are in line with the political goals of the Amsterdam Declaration, but also with the voluntary commitments of relevant private sector organizations and business networks, such as the Consumer Goods Forum. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:273371&r=env |
| By: | Janusch, Nicholas; Palm-Forster, Leah H.; Messer, Kent D.; Ferraro, Paul J. |
| Abstract: | Insights from other behavioral sciences (e.g., psychology, neuroscience) have slowly been infiltrating mainstream economic thought and are now routinely informing the design of programs and policies in multiple domains. The same insights hold promise for designing more effective agri-environmental programs and policies. Motivated by the MINDSPACE categorization of behavioral insights introduced by Dolan et al. (2012), we develop the Ag-E MINDSPACE framework (where “Ag-E” stands for agri-environmental) to organize a review of the experimental literature on behavioral insights within the agri-environmental domain. The mnemonic MINDSPACE categorizes the behavioral impacts of messengers, incentives, norms, defaults, salience, priming, affect, commitments, and ego. Our Ag-E MINDSPACE framework further categorizes these insights as they apply to relevant agri-environmental issues, which are affected by the decisions of producers and consumers. Designed as a practical guide for researchers and an aid to practitioners in deciding which behavioral interventions to embed in their programs, this review summarizes the estimated effect sizes of behavioral interventions that are relevant for agri-environmental applications. We find that, unlike other policy domains, in which one can find dozens of relevant behavioral studies, the agri-environmental domain is characterized by a paucity of behavioral studies that can guide practitioners. Practitioners are thus forced to either (i) assume that results from other domains, which are largely focused on consumer decision-making in contexts such as healthcare, anti-poverty, education, and finance, can be applied to the agri-environmental programs and policies, or (ii) collaborate with researchers to replicate and extend the insights from other domains to important agri-environmental contexts. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa18:266299&r=env |
| By: | Nordblom, Tom; Penfold, Chris; Weckert, Melanie; Norton, Mark |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258678&r=env |
| By: | Canning, Patrick; Rehkamp, Sarah; Waters, Arnold; Etemadnia, Hamideh |
| Abstract: | The food system accounts for a large share of fossil fuel consumption in the United States, and energy accounts for a substantial and highly variable share of food costs. This intersection between food and energy markets suggests that public and private decisions affecting one market will have spillover effects in the other. For example, would increasing the share of population having diets that align with Federal dietary guidance reduce fossil fuel use in the U.S. food system? Would a carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) tax improve diet quality? To address these issues, we use the most recent data available to integrate the material-flows accounting framework adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission into the existing food-system accounting structure of the ERS Food Dollar accounts. Then, we use mathematical optimization to model healthy diets. Our research indicates that U.S. agri-food industries are more sensitive to energy price changes than nonfood industries. We find that in 2007, fossil fuels linked to U.S. food consumption produced 13.6 percent of all fossil fuel CO 2 emissions economywide. Our study of alternative diets shows there are many ways to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. If Americans made a minimal dietary shift to eat healthy, we find food-system energy use would decrease by 3 percent. By making greater changes from current consumption, we find food- system energy use could be reduced by as much as 74 percent. A tax on CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels would increase the cost of a typical meal by an average of 1.7 percent, with estimates ranging between 0.2 and 5.4 percent. ----- Errata: On March 8, 2017, ERS corrected a few errors made in the calculation of data reported in Figure 14 (p. 32) and in the calories columns in Table 5 (p. 34). References to these data were updated in the text on pages 31- 33 and p. 42. Also, a superscript on q on p. 89 was changed from a 1 to 0. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:262187&r=env |
| By: | Schröer-Merker1, Eva; Bowie, Natalie; Hammond,Hamish |
| Abstract: | The pace of technological development is vast, and increasing. Research suggests that this will have an increasing impact on agriculture. The demand for formal control has increased greatly. This was promoted, in part, by an increased awareness about impacts on the environment and subsequent government legislation. The Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management is a project managed by Agri One, a joint venture between Lincoln and Massey Universities. Our research into decision making and information management has shown that formalisation and the use of software solutions / apps is largely driven by compliance requirements and the perceived value add. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2016–08–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar16:260806&r=env |
| By: | Kunze, Sven |
| Abstract: | This paper unravels the contemporaneous, lagged, and indirect effects of tropical cyclones on annual sectoral growth worldwide. The main explanatory variable is an area weighted measure for local tropical cyclone intensity based on meteorological data, which is included in a panel analysis for a maximum of 213 countries over the 1971-2015 period. I find a significantly negative influence of tropical cyclones on three sector aggregates including agriculture, infrastructure, as well as trade and tourism. In subsequent years, tropical cyclones negatively affect nearly all sectors. However, the Input-Output analysis shows that production processes are sticky and indirect economic costs are low. |
| Keywords: | tropical cyclones; sectoral economic growth; environment and growth; natural disasters; input-output analysis |
| Date: | 2018–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0653&r=env |
| By: | Kerr, Geoffrey N. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2017–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare17:258671&r=env |
| By: | Bruckner, Martin; Giljum, Stefan; Fischer, Günther; Tramberend, Sylvia; Börner, Jan |
| Abstract: | A rapidly growing share of global agricultural areas is devoted to the production of biomass for non-food purposes. The derived products include, for example, biofuels, textiles, detergents or cosmetics. Given the far-reaching global implications of an expanding non-food bioeconomy, an assessment of the bioeconomy’s resource use from a footprint perspective is urgently needed. We determine the global cropland footprint of non-food products with a hybrid land flow accounting model combining data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the multi-regional input-output model EXIOBASE. The globally interlinked model covers all cropland areas used for the production of crop- and animal-based non-food commodities for the years from 1995 to 2010. We analyse global patterns of raw material producers, processers and consumers of bio-based non-food products, with a particular focus on the European Union. Results illustrate that the EU is a major processer and the number one consumer region of non-food cropland, despite being only the fifth largest producing region. Two thirds of the cropland required to satisfy EU non-food consumption are located in other world regions, giving rise to a significant dependency on imported products and to potential impacts on distant ecosystems. With almost 29% in 2010, oilseed production, used to produce, for example, biofuels, detergents and polymers, represents the dominant share in the EU’s non-food cropland footprint. There is also a significant contribution of more traditional non-food biomass uses such as fibre crops (for textiles) and animal hides and skins (for leather products). Our study emphasises the importance of comprehensively assessing the implications of the non-food bioeconomy expansion as envisaged in various policy strategies, such as the Bioeconomy Strategy of the European Commission. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:271062&r=env |
| By: | Heidecke, Claudia; Offermann, Frank; Hauschild, Marlen |
| Abstract: | Kurzfassung Der folgende Bericht untersucht die ökonomischen Auswirkungen von Hochwasser auf die Landwirtschaft in Deutschland anhand von Hochwasserrisikogebieten sowie die Auswirkungen von extremen Dürre und Frostereignissen auf landwirtschaftliche Erträge von Weizen, Roggen, Gerste, Raps, Kartoffeln, Mais und Zuckerrüben. Damit baut der Bericht auf das Projekt „Agrarrelevante Extremwetterlagen und Möglichkeiten von Risikomanagementsystemen“ auf, welches vom Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) beauftragt und gefördert wurde und 2015 abgeschlossen wurde (Gömann et al. 2015). Der Literaturüberblick über die zukünftige Entwicklung von Hochwasserereignissen zeigt überwiegend eine steigende Tendenz von Hochwasserereignissen in der Zukunft, wobei das Ausmaß des Anstiegs regional und zwischen den Studien unterschiedlich ist. Insgesamt konnte in den Analysen ein maximaler Erlösverlust von 394 Mio. € beim Ackerland (davon 189 Mio. € auf Getreideflächen) ermittelt werden, wenn im Jahr 2010 100 Prozent der HQ100-Fläche in Deutschland betroffen gewesen wären. Für die Abschätzung der monetären Schäden von weiteren Extremwetterereignissen wurde der in Gömann et al. (2015) verwendete Schätzansatz geringfügig weiterentwickelt. Bei Winterweizen stellen die Verluste aufgrund von Kahlfrostextremereignissen mit ca. 30 Mio. €/Jahr den wichtigsten der untersuchten Schäden dar. Auch Trockenheit/Dürre zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten des Vegetationsverlaufes sowie extreme Hitze in der Blütezeit führen zu deutlichen Schäden auf sektoraler Ebene. In der Summe lagen die berechneten Schäden aufgrund von Trockenheit/Dürre/Hitze bei ca. 40 Mio. €/Jahr. Alle untersuchten Extremereignisse zusammen summieren sich auf 78 Mio. €/Jahr auf. Die Situation bei Wintergerste stellt sich insgesamt recht ähnlich dar und die Kosten summieren sich zusammen auf 36 Mio. €/Jahr auf. Für Winterraps summieren sich alle untersuchten Extremereignisse auf 47 Mio. €/Jahr, für Körnermais auf ca. 12 Mio. €/Jahr auf. Bei Kartoffeln haben Schäden aufgrund von extremer Sommertrockenheit die größte Bedeutung für Betriebe ohne Bewässerung, gefolgt von Ertragsverlusten aufgrund von Spätfrösten und Staunässe. Für Zuckerrüben konnten Schäden nur das Ereignis ‚Extreme Sommertrockenheit‘ bestimmt werden. Diese belaufen sich auf ca. 7 Mio. €/Jahr. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2017–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:262856&r=env |