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on Environmental Economics |
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Issue of 2020‒03‒02
fifty-four papers chosen by Francisco S. Ramos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
| By: | Heine,Dirk; Semmler,Willi; Mazzucato,Mariana; Braga,Joao Paulo; Flaherty,Michael; Gevorkyan,Arkady; Hayde,Erin Kate; Radpour,Siavash |
| Abstract: | To finance the transition to low-carbon economies required to mitigate climate change, countries are increasingly using a combination of carbon pricing and green bonds. This paper studies the reasoning behind such policy mixes and the economic interaction effects that result from these different policy instruments. The paper models these interactions using an inter-temporal model that proposes burden sharing between current and future generations. The issuance of green bonds helps to enable immediate investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the bonds would be repaid by future generations in such a way that those who benefit from reduced future environmental damage share in the burden of financing the mitigation efforts undertaken today. The paper examines the effects of combining green bonds and carbon pricing in a three-phase model and uses a numerical solution procedure that allows for finite-horizon solutions and phase changes. The paper shows that green bonds perform better when they are combined with carbon pricing. The proposed policy option appears to be politically more feasible than a green transition based only on carbon pricing, and it is more prudent for debt sustainability than a green transition that relies overly on green bonds. |
| Keywords: | Green Issues,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Science of Climate Change,Climate Change and Environment,Climate Change and Health |
| Date: | 2019–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8991&r=all |
| By: | Rana, Abdul Wajid |
| Abstract: | Global warming is unequivocal, and since 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere has warmed (0.85oC over the period 1883 to 2012). Glaciers have continued to shrink almost worldwide. The amounts of snow and ice have diminished. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass. The sea level has risen and on a global scale, the ocean warming is largest near the surface, and the upper 75 m warmed by 0.11°C per decade over the period 1971 to 2010. The increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, driven largely by economic and population growth, together with other anthropological drivers have caused changes in climate system. Continued emission of greenhouse gases is expected to cause further warming and changes in the climate system increasing the possibilities of severe and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystem. Surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century (0.3 to 1.7oC) and it is likely that heat waves will occur more frequently and last longer. The global ocean will continue to warm during the 21st century, with the strongest warming projected for the surface in tropical and Northern Hemisphere subtropical regions. The global glacier volume excluding glaciers on the periphery of Antarctica (and excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) is projected to decrease by 15 to 55%.1 Therefore, limiting climate change would need substantial and sustained reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through adaptation and mitigation strategies. These include innovation and investment in environmentally sound technologies and infrastructure, sustainable livelihoods and behavioural and lifestyles choices as well as effective institutions and governance. |
| Keywords: | PAKISTAN, SOUTH ASIA, ASIA, climate change, irrigation, agriculture, water, global warming, greenhouse gases, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pacerp:1&r=all |
| By: | Alaa Al Khourdajie (Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, UK); Michael Finus (University of Graz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | Actions on climate change which are not supported by all countries are not very effective. However, full participation in a global climate treaty with meaningful emission reductions is difficult to achieve. The non-excludability of the public good mitigation provides an incentive to abstain from global action. Moreover, carbon leakage renders it unattractive to join a treaty without full participation. We study whether and under which conditions border carbon adjustments (BCAs) can mitigate free-riding and reduce carbon leakage in a simple strategic trade model. We show that BCAs can lead to large stable climate agreements, including full participation, associated with large global welfare gains if treaties do not restrict membership (open membership), as this is typical for environmental agreements. We caution against restricting accession to treaties (exclusive membership), as this is typical for trade agreements, which may serve individual but not global interests. |
| Keywords: | self-enforcing international climate agreements; international trade; border carbon adjustments |
| JEL: | C71 D62 F18 H23 H41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2020-04&r=all |
| By: | Flores, Adrián; Peralta, Leda |
| Abstract: | The Caribbean region is prone to disasters due to its geographic location. The exposures and resulting impacts of these disasters are aggravated by persistent social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. Compounded with the region’s current dependence on imported fossil fuels and financial constraints, this study seeks to stimulate discussions around the complementarity of energy with every societal sector as well as its links with disaster risk management, and promote government-wide management that integrates energy policies, disaster management and climate change impacts. |
| Keywords: | CAMBIO CLIMATICO, DESASTRES NATURALES, DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE, POLITICA ENERGETICA, GESTION DE LOS RIESGOS, SERVICIOS ENERGETICOS, INNOVACIONES, RENDIMIENTO ENERGETICO, FUENTES DE ENERGIA RENOVABLES, ESTUDIOS DE CASOS, CLIMATE CHANGE, NATURAL DISASTERS, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ENERGY POLICY, RISK MANAGEMENT, ENERGY SERVICES, INNOVATIONS, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES, CASE STUDIES |
| Date: | 2020–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:45098&r=all |
| By: | Burgess, Matthew G.; Ritchie, Justin; Shapland, John; Pielke, Roger Jr |
| Abstract: | Scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are central to climate science and policy. A recent Nature commentary found observed trends and International Energy Agency (IEA) projections of global CO2 emissions substantially diverging from high-emission scenarios such as RCP8.5, which are often treated as equivalent to ‘business as usual’ in climate research and assessment. Here, we quantify the bases for this divergence by comparing “baseline” (or “no policy”) scenario projections of key fossil-fuel CO2 emission drivers to observations from 2005-2017, and also to projections through 2040 from world energy outlooks. We find most of the baseline scenarios used in the Fifth (AR5) and designed for the forthcoming Sixth (AR6) IPCC Assessment Reports have over-projected per-capita GDP growth—severely in most developing regions, and slightly in other regions—and have slightly over-projected carbon intensity (CO2 emissions/primary energy) in most regions. These baseline scenarios will likely continue to over-project carbon intensity through 2040 and beyond, in part due to unrealistic assumptions about fossil-fuel expansion. Long-term economic growth outlooks lack consensus among economists, but we argue that most of these baseline scenarios will likely continue over-projecting per-capita GDP to at least 2040 due to inertia. Our results inform the rapidly evolving discussion on uses of scenarios in climate science and policy. |
| Date: | 2020–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ahsxw&r=all |
| By: | Lucchese, Matteo; Pianta, Mario |
| Abstract: | Europe is facing the twin challenges of addressing climate change and reducing the centre-periphery divergence. The ‘European Green Deal’ of the EU Commission includes larger climate change objectives, but with the same amount of EU resources and no clear vision on how to achieve aims. The lack of action for greater cohesion and convergence in economic performances is contributing to wider disparities within Europe, in particular with the countries and regions of Southern Europe. These challenges could be jointly understood as a need for deep changes in Europe’s production systems, making them carbon-neutral and distributing more evenly economic activities in Europe’s territory. A Green Industrial Policy for Europe could be the appropriate frame for developing a combined set of policies addressing such challenges. |
| Keywords: | Europe, green industrial policy, economic convergence |
| JEL: | L52 O25 P48 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98705&r=all |
| By: | Kounetas, Konstantinos; Stergiou, Eirini |
| Abstract: | Eco-efficiency has intensified the attention of policymakers in the last decades as the ability to create more goods and services with less impact on the environment consists an instrument towards sustainability. In this paper we utilize data of 14 industries from 27 European countries from 1995 to 2011 to estimate distinct objectives of economic and ecological performance by utilizing directional distance functions under a metafrontier framework. Our results reveal that the existence of a unified technology set causes large differences in the industrial eco-efficiency levels while energy intensive industries can be characterized as the most eco-inefficient .Although the speed of eco-efficiency convergence increases throughout the years, the case of CO2 emissions presents an erratic behavior compared to the other pollutants. Thus, a decomposition of industrial CO2 emissions can be considered as a further subject of research in our study in order to identify the drivers of this change through time. |
| Keywords: | Eco-efficiency, Metafrontier, Spillovers, Catch-up, Kaya Identity, European Industries. |
| JEL: | D24 Q5 Q53 Q57 |
| Date: | 2020–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98583&r=all |
| By: | Valeria Bejarano-Salcedo (Banco de la República de Colombia); Edgar Caicedo-García (Banco de la República de Colombia); Nilson Felipe Lizarazo-Bonilla (Banco de la República de Colombia); Juan Manuel Julio-Román (Banco de la República de Colombia); Julián Alonso Cárdenas-Cárdenas (Banco de la República de Colombia) |
| Abstract: | En este documento se presenta una caracterización de los fenómenos meteorológicos de El Niño y La Niña, y una descripción de sus principales efectos sobre la inflación en Colombia. Estos episodios climáticos se vienen presentando desde hace siglos en el territorio nacional, generando cambios en el nivel de temperaturas y precipitaciones en la mayor parte del territorio colombiano, sin que hayan tenido históricamente un patrón regular de ocurrencia y de intensidad. Durante la ocurrencia de El Niño se destaca el efecto negativo sobre el sector agropecuario, que impacta fuertemente los precios de la canasta de alimentos y en menor medida la inflación anual al consumidor. A pesar de la no sistematicidad en la ocurrencia de estos eventos climáticos, la inflación de alimentos, la inflación al consumidor y el precio relativo de los alimentos muestran comportamientos alcistas durante la ocurrencia de El Niño. Durante La Niña se presenta una disminución de los precios al consumidor. El precio relativo de los alimentos muestra disminuciones al concluir cualquiera de los dos fenómenos. **** RESUMEN: This document presents a characterization of the meteorological phenomena of El Niño and La Niña, and a description of their main effects on pollution in Colombia. These climatic episodes have been presented for centuries in the national territory, generating changes in the level of temperatures and rainfall in most of the Colombian territory, without having historically had a regular pattern of occurrence and intensity. During the occurrence of El Niño, the negative effect on the agricultural sector is highlighted, which strongly impacts the prices of the food basket and, to a lesser extent, annual inflation to the consumer. Despite the non-systematic occurrence of these climatic events, food inflation, consumer inflation and the relative price of food that lead bullish behavior during the occurrence of El Niño. During La Niña there is a loss of consumer prices. The relative price of food shows reductions at the conclusion of either phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | El Niño Phenomenon, Climate, Socio-economic effects, agricultural yields, Consumer Price Index, Forecasts, Fenómeno El Niño, clima, efectos socio-económicos, rendimientos, agrícolas, inflación al consumidor, pronósticos. |
| JEL: | E31 Q11 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1105&r=all |
| By: | Bluffstone,Randall; LaFave,Daniel; Mekonnen,Alemu; Dissanayake,Sahan; Beyene,Abebe Damte; Gebreegziabher,Zenebe; Toman,Michael A. |
| Abstract: | Improved biomass cookstoves have been promoted as important intermediate technologies to reduce fuelwood consumption and possibly cut household air pollution in low-income countries. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to examine household air pollution reductions from an improved biomass cookstove promoted in rural Ethiopia, the Mirt improved cookstove. This stove is used to bake injera, which is very energy intensive and has a very particular cooking profile. In the overall sample, the Mirt improved cookstove leads to only minor reductions in mean household air pollution (10 percent on average). However, for those who bake injera in their main living areas, the Mirt improved cookstove reduces average mean household air pollution by 64 percent and median household air pollution by 78 percent -- although the resulting household air pollution levels are still many times greater than the World Health Organization's guideline. These large percentage reductions may reflect decreased emissions due to less use of fuelwood, given Mirt's energy-efficient design, and the likelihood that higher-emissions three-stone cooking is moved outside the main living area once a Mirt improved cookstove is installed. Households in the subsample who experience a greater decline in household air pollution tend to be less wealthy and more remotely located and burn less-preferred biomass fuels, like agricultural waste and animal dung, than households that cook in a separate area. |
| Keywords: | Health Care Services Industry,Energy Demand,Energy and Mining,Energy and Environment,Pollution Management&Control,Air Quality&Clean Air,Brown Issues and Health,Global Environment,Disease Control&Prevention |
| Date: | 2019–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8930&r=all |
| By: | Ivan Faiella (Banca d'Italia); Danila Malvolti (Ministry of Economy and Finance) |
| Abstract: | The increasing attention paid to the possible consequences of climate change for the financial sector has strengthened international cooperation on green finance, with initiatives from both the industry and the institutions. International surveys show that so far there has been no adequate growth in awareness of the risks linked to climate change and the opportunities linked to the transition towards a low carbon economy. Evidence acquired on Climate-Related Financial Risk (CRFR) disclosure in Italy has confirmed the same conclusions. We have therefore identified three steps with the aim of encouraging financial institutions to take CRFR into account in their corporate risk management strategies: 1) create a information hub to gather the information required for assessing the CRFR; 2) compile a list of the information not yet available; 3) define standard methodologies that allow the climate scenarios to be part of the decision-making processes of financial institutions. |
| Keywords: | climate change, financial risk, Italy |
| JEL: | G21 P48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_545_20&r=all |
| By: | Chen, Ying |
| Abstract: | Air quality is an important amenity that affects the labor supply to a local economy while regulations aiming at improving it can be costly and consequently reduce the local labor demand. This article studies how air quality and its regulation respectively and jointly affect the local economy through these two channels by exploiting China's first national air pollution regulation and migration reform as natural experiments. I propose an instrumental variable for local pollution levels by applying rich remote-sensing data to the engineering considerations of power plant construction. The estimation results suggest that heavy air pollution has driven out high-skilled workers when migration costs fall, while the regulation to curb pollution has led to a reduction in manufacturing employment in targeted locations and sectors. Additional results show relatively slower firm and wage growth in more regulated prefectures and sectors, and a modest local employment reallocation from heavy-to light-polluting industries. |
| Keywords: | Environmental regulations, Air pollution, Local economic growth |
| JEL: | J61 Q52 Q53 R11 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98535&r=all |
| By: | Shiba Suzuki (Seikei University); Hiroaki Yamagami (Seikei University) |
| Abstract: | This study explores how investors' optimism about the likelihood of pollution-driven disaster occurrence affects asset prices. Environmental pollution resulting from economic activities raises the probability of disaster occurrence. However, the relationship between economic activities, pollution, and disaster occurrence is difficult to ascertain. Thus, investors make decisions based on subjective expectation; specifically, they subjectively evaluate the probability of disaster occurrence to be lower than its objective probability. As demonstrated in this study, the equity premiums under conditions of objective expectation are significantly higher than those under subjective expectation conditions only if a representative agent has high Intertemporal Elasticity of Substitution (IES). This discrepancy in asset returns is related to the propensity of individuals to discount events occurring in the "distant future" as described in existing literature. |
| Keywords: | Expectations, Disasters, Equity Premium Puzzles, Discount Rate, Climate Change |
| JEL: | G12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2020.06&r=all |
| By: | Filippo Beltrami (University of Padua); Andrew Burlinson (University of East Anglia); Luigi Grossi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Monica Giulietti (Loughborough University); Paul Rowley (Loughborough University); Grant Wilson (University of Birmingham) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a novel contribution to the literature on marginal emission factors by proposing a robust empirical methodology for their estimation across both time and space. Our ARIMA model with time-effects not only outperforms the established models in the economics literature but it also proves more reliable than variations adopted in the field of engineering. Utilising half-hourly data on carbon emissions and generation in Great Britain, the results allow us to identify a more stable path of MEFs than obtained with existing methodologies. We also estimate marginal emission effects over subsequent time periods (intra-day), rather than focussing only on individual settlement periods (inter-day). This allows us to evaluate the annual cycle of emissions as a result of changes in the economic and social activity which drives demand. Moreover, the reliability of our approach is further confirmed upon exploring the cross-country context. Indeed, our methodology proves reliable when applied to the case of Italy, which is characterised by a different data generation process. Crucially, we provide a more robust basis for valuing actual carbon emission reductions, especially in electricity systems with high penetration of intermittent renewable technologies. |
| Keywords: | electricity generation, marginal emission factors, time series analysis, regulation |
| JEL: | C22 Q41 Q53 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:02/2020&r=all |
| By: | Thomas, Timothy S.; Dorosh, Paul A.; Robertson, Richard D. |
| Abstract: | We present results of model simulations of maize, wheat, and sorghum yields in Ethiopia through 2085. The analysis draws on climate outcomes from 32 global climate models and an agronomic crop model to estimate effects on the yields of these cereals of expected higher temperatures and, for most of Ethiopia, increased rainfall. The simulation results suggest that climate change will likely have only relatively small effects on average yields of maize, wheat, and sorghum in Ethiopia up to 2055, as agronomic conditions for cultivation of these crops may actually improve in large parts of the country. Nonetheless, yields will need to increase over time to enable cereal production to keep pace with expected demand growth due to increases in population and per capita incomes. Moreover, even if future changes in climate have only moderate impacts on average crop yields in Ethiopia, there is growing evidence that weather outcomes are likely to become more variable in the future, implying that severe droughts and floods may very well have a greater impact on cereal production in the future than in the past. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; climate change; yields; maize; wheat; sorghum; mathematical models |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:esspwp:130&r=all |
| By: | Daniel E. Ufua (CEPDeR, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria); Odunayo P. Salau (Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria); Joseph A. Dada (Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria); Mosunmola O. Adeyeye (Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | This research explores waste management activities and the strive to achieve a cleaner environment for man’s habitation. The work applies a case study approach andthe use of observation method was applied in the data collection along with a description of the case of waste dumping issue on Idiroko Road, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. This study suggests the application of systems approach to enhance a participatory waste management practice, that embraces the involvement and active consultation of the concerned stakeholders for effective and sustainable waste management practice. The research also highlights the need for further research to consider the application of other data collection tools such asinterview and workshop to have a broaderdata needed to further explore the research area. |
| Keywords: | Clean environment; Environmental pollution; Systems approach; Waste management |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:20/007&r=all |
| By: | Erman,Alvina Elisabeth; Tariverdi,Mersedeh; Obolensky,Marguerite Anne Beatrice; Chen,Xiaomeng; Vincent,Rose Camille; Malgioglio,Silvia; Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik; Hallegatte,Stephane; Yoshida,Nobuo |
| Abstract: | Dar es Salaam is frequently affected by severe flooding causing destruction and impeding daily life of its 4.5 million inhabitants. The focus of this paper is on the role of poverty in the impact of floods on households, focusing on both direct (damage to or loss of assets or property) and indirect (losses involving health, infrastructure, labor, and education) impacts using household survey data. Poorer households are more likely to be affected by floods; directly affected households are more likely female-headed and have more insecure tenure arrangements; and indirectly affected households tend to have access to poorer quality infrastructure. Focusing on the floods of April 2018, affected households suffered losses of 23 percent of annual income on average. Surprisingly, poorer households are not over-represented among the households that lost the most - even in relation to their income, possibly because 77 percent of total losses were due to asset losses, with richer households having more valuable assets. Although indirect losses were relatively small, they had significant well-being effects for the affected households. It is estimated that households? losses due to the April 2018 flood reached more than US$100 million, representing between 2-4 percent of the gross domestic product of Dar es Salaam. Furthermore, poorer households were less likely to recover from flood exposure. The report finds that access to finance play an important role in recovery for households. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters,Inequality,Hydrology,Climate Change and Agriculture,Water and Food Supply |
| Date: | 2019–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8976&r=all |
| By: | Akio Yamazaki (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how environmental taxes affect manufacturing productivity by examining British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax. I develop a new hypothesis, the “Productivity Dividend Hypothesis,†to show that environmental taxes can positively affect productivity by recycling tax revenues to reduce corporate income taxes. This revenue-recycling increases investment and could raise productivity more than environmental taxes lower productivity by diverting resources from production. I evaluate this hypothesis using detailed confidential plant-level data. I find that the carbon tax lowers productivity, although this is offset to some extent by the revenue-recycling. For some plants, the policy generates a net gain in productivity. |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:19-32&r=all |
| By: | Juárez-Luna, David |
| Abstract: | The objective of this article is to evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear energy. To do so, we calculate the efficient participation of nuclear energy in portfolios of three base loading technologies. In this way, the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear energy are obtained by comparing its efficient participation, with its participation in the current national portfolio. The analysis suggests that the participation of the nuclear power plant should increase in a range from 284% to 810%. Which implies a reduction of the Total Levelized Cost of Generation with Externalities (CTNGE, in Spanish) of the portfolio between $ 4.06 and $ 15.34; a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, and; a participation of Clean Energies in the Mexican national electricity generation that ranges from 35.39% to 58.01%. There are several limitations to the increase in the participation of the nuclear power plant, mainly technical, such as construction time of a nuclear power plant. |
| Keywords: | Nuclear energy, CO2 Emissions, Generation, Electricity, Efficient Portfolios. |
| JEL: | D81 G11 Q40 Q53 |
| Date: | 2020–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98790&r=all |
| By: | Nguyen Chau, Trinh; Scrimgeour, Frank |
| Abstract: | This analysis investigates economic impacts of climate changes on Vietnam agriculture. The Ricardian approach is applied to ten-year panel data using the Hsiao two-step method. Estimates of the Ricardian model suggest heterogeneous impacts of climate change. Rising temperature is especially harmful to the Northern Central and the Southern region. Shortage of rainfall in spring only causes losses to the Central Highlands and Northern region. Rising summer precipitation is extremely harmful. Increases in precipitation help to harness the benefit of rising autumn temperature. The simulation indicates net agricultural surpluses in the long-run, with the Central Highlands being an exception. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2019–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar19:302100&r=all |
| By: | Lee, Janice Ser Huay; Miteva, Daniela A.; Carlson, Kimberly M.; Heilmayr, Robert; Saif, Omar |
| Abstract: | Environmental and social problems triggered by the rapid palm oil expansion in the tropics have spurred the proliferation of sustainability certification standards, which are market-based initiatives intended to ensure commodity production is carried out in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. One such certification scheme, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), aims to mitigate the impact of oil palm production on local communities and ecosystems. While previous work has focused on the environmental impact of RSPO, little is known about its impact on village development and potential trade-offs with environmental goals. To address this gap, we evaluate the impact of RSPO on promoting village development and protecting ecosystems in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia, the top global oil palm producer. Using observations from 11,000 villages over a period of 11 years, we apply rigorous quasi-experimental methods to quantify impacts along environmental and village development outcomes. We find that relative to noncertified concessions, RSPO resulted in small, often heterogeneous and geographically limited environmental and village infrastructure impacts relative to traditional oil palm concessions. Between environmental and development goals, we identify trade-offs on both islands. While in Kalimantan the impact on population was statistically insignificant, in Sumatra the trade-offs are correlated with a statistically significant decrease in the number of people in the treated villages. By illustrating the heterogeneity of the RSPO impacts, our results have important implications for understanding the mechanisms behind RSPO’s impacts and improving its design. |
| Date: | 2020–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:zrwpd&r=all |
| By: | Jama, Osman M; Liu, Guijian; Diriye, Abdishakur W.; Yousaf, Balal; Basiru, Ibrahim; Abdi, Abdulhakim M |
| Abstract: | The question of the degree to which participation by civil society contributes to environmental decisions in post-conflict societies has received little attention. This study sheds light on the extent to which degrees of participation contribute to environmental decision-making in the Puntland State of Somalia using questionnaire surveys. We found that active participation has the highest contribution to environmental decisions. Our findings also indicated that the most pressing forms of environmental degradation in Puntland, as perceived by the respondents, are land degradation, drought related to the scarcity of rainfall, and deforestation. This study recommends “environmental cooperation” built into the peace-building process as a clear-cut concept to tackle both environmental degradation and conflicts. At the core of this concept is active participation and collaboration between civil society and the government as a means of mitigating environmental degradation in post-conflict Somalia. This will result in favorable environmental conditions and sustainable peace. |
| Date: | 2020–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:eqn32&r=all |
| By: | Francisco Cabo (Universitad de Valladolid); Mabel Tidball (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - FRE2010 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | We analyze a dynamic environmental agreement between two regions. We assume that the agreement is jointly protable, because the eort associated with emission reductions is overcompensated by a cleaner environment in the future The two regions are asymmetric in two respects: their value of a cleaner environment is dierent, and they are responsible for the initial environmental problem in dierent ways. Because the benets of a cleaner environment cannot be transferred, we propose a mechanism on how to share the eorts of lowering current emissions, satisfying two main properties. The rst property is a benets pay principle: the greater one region's relative benet from cooperation, the greater must be its relative contribution. The second property is, a polluter pay principle: a region's relative contribution increases with its responsibility. Moreover, the sharing scheme must be time consistent. At any intermediate time, no country can do better by deviating from cooperation. * |
| Keywords: | Cooperative dierential game,Distribution procedure,Time consistency,Polluter pay principle,Benets pay principle |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02462071&r=all |
| By: | Pourzand, Farnaz; Noy, Ilan Noy; Kendon, Bell |
| Abstract: | We quantify the impacts climate change on New Zealand’s agriculture. We implement the Ricardian approach of land climate-pricing using QV data. We explore the nonlinear relationship between climate variables and farmland values while controlling for socio-economic and topographical-geographical features. Furthermore, we measure the persistence of drought using autoregressive (AR) model. We simulate future farmland values under climate change. Preliminary results show the heterogeneity in which rural land values are affected by climate depending on the land use category. The rural land value decreases with summer temperature among all land uses, while it increases with spring temperature. The cumulative impacts of soil moisture deficit in summer reduce farmland values. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2019–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar19:302099&r=all |
| By: | Richard S.J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, Falmer, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | Nordhaus’ seminal dice model assesses first-best climate policy, a useful but unrealistic yardstick. I propose a measure of policy inefficacy if carbon prices are heterogeneous and use observed prices to recalibrate the dice model. I introduce a model of climate policy with selfish bureaucrats, and calibrate it to carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union and the policy models used by the IPCC. This model also implies a measure of policy inefficacy that I use to recalibrate dice. The global mean temperature is 1? perhaps 2? higher in the recalibrated than in the original dice model. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, price heterogeneity, selfish bureaucrats |
| JEL: | D73 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:0220&r=all |
| By: | Bushnell, James PhD; Mazzone, Daniel; Smith, Aaron; Witcover, Julie |
| Abstract: | California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) specifies that the state’s transportation fuel supply achieve a 20% reduction in carbon intensity (CI) below 2011 levels by 2030. Reaching the standard will require substantive changes in the fuel mix, but the specifics and the cost of these changes are uncertain. We assess if and how California is likely to achieve the standard, and the likely impact of infrastructure credits on this compliance outlook. We begin by projecting a distribution of fuel and vehicle miles demand under business-as-usual economic and policy variation and transform those projections into a distribution of LCFS net deficits for the entire period from 2019 through 2030. We then construct a variety of scenarios characterizing LCFS credit supply that consider different assumptions regarding input markets, technological adoption over the compliance period, and the efficacy of complementary policies. In our baseline scenario for credit generation, LCFS compliance would require that between 60% and 80% of the diesel pool be produced from biomass. Our baseline projections have the number of electric vehicles reaching 1.3 million by 2030, but if the number of electric vehicles reaches Governor Jerry Brown’s goal of 5 million by 2030, then LCFS compliance would require substantially less biomass-based diesel. Outside of rapid zero emission vehicle penetration, compliance in 2030 with the $200 credit price may be much more difficult. New mechanisms to allow firms to generate credits by building electric vehicle charging stations or hydrogen fueling stations have minor implications for overall compliance because the total quantity of infrastructure credits is restricted to be relatively small. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Biomass fuels, hydrogen fuels, energy resources, renewable energy sources, greenhouse gases, carbon taxes, incentives, zero emission vehicles, low carbon fuel standards |
| Date: | 2020–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt7sk9628s&r=all |
| By: | Adjognon,Guigonan Serge; van Soest,Daan; Guthoff,Jonas Christoph |
| Abstract: | Does financial compensation for providing environmental conservation, improve the food security of the rural poor in the drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa? This paper explores this question using data from a randomized controlled trial of a large scale reforestation implemented by the Government of Burkina Faso. Members of communities located around selected protected forests were invited to plant indigenous tree species on degraded areas, and to take care of their maintenance. The financial compensation they would receive depended on the number of trees still alive a year later. The vast majority of the community members participating in the project were farmers, and the timing of the payments coincided with the lean season, when most farmers were at risk of food insecurity. Compared with the control group, the project's participants'households reported 12 percent higher food consumption expenditures, and a reduction in moderate and severe food insecurity by 35 percent to 60 percent. The transfers received were spent mostly on cereals, meat, and pulses, with no evidence of increased consumption of temptation goods. |
| Date: | 2019–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8974&r=all |
| By: | Mikkel Bennedsen (Aarhus University and CREATES) |
| Abstract: | Following the Paris Agreement, most countries have agreed to reduce their CO2 emissions according to individually set Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). However, national CO2 emissions are reported by individual countries, and cannot be directly measured or verified by third parties. This engenders a potential misreporting problem, where nations that are not living up to their Paris commitments could, by underreporting emissions, nevertheless appear to be fulfilling their NDC targets. This paper uses the theory of sequential testing to design a statistical CO2 monitoring procedure that can detect systematic misreportings of CO2 emissions. The data series that we monitor is the so-called carbon budget imbalance, which is a time series derived from reported CO2 emissions and independently measured Earth system data. We show that, when emissions are truthfully reported, the budget imbalance constitutes a stationary process, while, if emissions become systematically misreported, a structural break occurs. Our proposed procedure monitors the budget imbalance data and sequentially tests the null that the budget imbalance is stationary, rejection of the null provides evidence for systematic misreportings of CO2 emissions. By constructing the procedure appropriately, detection time can be made sufficiently fast to help inform the 5 yearly global “stocktake” of the Paris Agreement. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions, Paris agreement, Global Carbon Budget, sequential testing |
| JEL: | Q54 C12 |
| Date: | 2020–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:create:2020-01&r=all |
| By: | Eliezeri Sungusia (College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture); Jens Friis Lund (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Christian Pilegaard Hansen (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Numan Amanzi (College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture; Tanzania Forestry Research Institute); Yonika M. Ngaga (College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture); Gimbage Mbeyale (College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Sokoine University of Agriculture); Thorsten Treue (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen); Henrik Meilby (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | Around 20 years ago, Tanzania adopted the policy of participatory forest management (PFM) to create incentives for increasing villagers’ participation in forest management. The timing is thus fitting to reflect on the achievements and challenges of the PFM process so far. There have certainly been successes. Nonetheless, challenges remain. Notably, there is a mismatch between participation ideals and the way the process has been framed, or structured, as well as outcomes on the ground in terms of actual participation and forest management practices. This working paper presents experiences with PFM from a handful of sites across the country, relying on existing published literature as well as our own research experiences. Having been involved in a number of major PFM research projects in Tanzania, we, the authors, have a combined experience of more than 20 years of conducting research in this field. We summarize important findings that explain the observed chasm between participation ideals and local realities and offer some recommendations. While some of our diagnoses and recommendations may contradict conventional wisdom in forestry, we believe that this report contributes valuable insights to the continued efforts to further sustainable forestry in Tanzania. We begin by outlining the global ideals of participatory forestry. We then present an overview of the realities of PFM as they appear in existing research. We do not attempt an exhaustive survey of literature or our own research. Rather, we emphasize issues concerning the framing of PFM as a bureaucratic and scientific project, and how that shapes it in practice. We then present case studies illustrating some of the core problems with PFM before concluding with some general recommendations for improving participatory forestry policy and guidelines. |
| Keywords: | Forestry, Planning, Participation, Inventory, Tenure, CBFM, PFM, Africa, Tanzania |
| JEL: | Q15 Q23 O13 O21 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2020_02&r=all |
| By: | Rana, Abdul Wajid; Pakistan Agricultural Capacity Enhancement Program (PACE); International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) |
| Abstract: | Pakistan is vulnerable to climate change impacts. Like many developing countries, it is also facing the challenge of dealing with governance of climate change and restructuring associated institutions. It is estimated that the future cost of climate impact would be around $6 billion to $14 billion annually over the next 40 years. Ministry of Climate Change is now focusing in creating necessary infrastructure and platforms for policy decisions and implementation. |
| Keywords: | PAKISTAN, SOUTH ASIA, ASIA, climate change, resilience, agriculture, decision making, water, mitigation, political economy, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pacern:1&r=all |
| By: | Mounu Prem (School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario); Santiago Saavedra (School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario); Juan F. Vargas (School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario) |
| Abstract: | Armed conflict can endanger natural resources through several channels such as direct predation from fighting groups, but it may also help preserve ecosystems by dissuading extractive economic activities through the fear of extortion. The effect of conflict on deforestation is thus an empirical question. This paper studies the effect on forest cover of Colombia’s recent peace negotiation between the central government and the FARC insurgency. Using yearly deforestation data from satellite images and a difference-in-differences identification strategy, we show that areas controlled by FARC prior to the declaration of a permanent ceasefire that ultimately led to a peace agreement experienced a differential increase in deforestation after the start of the ceasefire. The deforestation effect of peace is attenuated in municipalities with higher state capacity, and is exacerbated by land intensive economic activities. Our results highlight the importance of complementing peacemaking milestones with state building efforts to avoid environmental damage. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Conflict, Peace building, Colombia JEL Classification: D74, Q34 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:288&r=all |
| By: | Rick van der Ploeg; Armon Rezai |
| Abstract: | Assets in the fossil fuel industries are at risk of losing market value due to anticipated breakthroughs in renewable technology and governments stepping up climate policies in the light of the Paris commitments to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. Stranded assets arise due to uncertainty about the future timing of these two types of events and substantial intertemporal and intersectoral investment adjustment costs. Stranding of assets mostly affects the 20 biggest oil, gas and coal companies who have been responsible for at least a third of global warming since 1965, but also carbon-intensive industries such as steel, aluminium, cement, plastics and greenhouse horticulture. A disorderly transition to the carbon-free economy will lead to stranded assets and legal claims. Institutional investors should be aware of these financial risks. A broader definition of stranded assets also includes countries reliant on fossil fuel exports and workers with technology-specific skills. |
| Keywords: | de-carbonisation, policy tipping, technology, stranded assets |
| JEL: | E62 F41 G11 O33 Q33 Q34 Q35 Q40 Q54 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8025&r=all |
| By: | Amenta, Nina; Sanguinetti, Angela |
| Abstract: | This study explores the potential to promote lower-emissions air travel by providing consumers with information about the carbon emissions of alternative flight choices in the context of online flight search and booking. Researchers surveyed over 450 UC Davis faculty, researchers, and staff, asking them to choose among hypothetical flight options for university-related business trips. Emissions estimates for flight alternatives were prominently displayed alongside cost, layovers and airport, and the lowest-emissions flight was labeled “Greenest Flight”. The researchers found an impressive rate of willingness to pay for lower-emissions flights: around $200/ton of CO2E saved, a magnitude higher than that seen in carbon offsets programs. They also found that displaying carbon information encouraged Davis employees to choose nonstop (lower-emissions) flights, when available, from a more distant airport over indirect flights from their preferred airport for medium-distance flights. In a second step of analysis, they estimated the carbon and cost impacts for UC Davis business travel if the university were to adopt a flight-search interface that prioritizes carbon emissions information and displays alternatives from multiple regional airports in their employee travel-booking portal. Based on the choice models from the survey data, a year’s worth of actual employee air travel data, and data collected on flight alternatives with respect to the flights chosen by employees, they estimated potential annual savings of more than 79 tons of CO2E, and a more impressive $56,000 reduction in airfare costs, due to an increased willingness of travelers to take advantage of cheaper (often nonstop) flight options out of SFO. Broader university policies encouraging lower-emissions flights and enhanced public transportation within the multi-airport mega-region would likely support much greater carbon savings. Institutionalizing this “nudge” within organizations with large travel budgets, like the UC system, could have an industry-wide impact in aviation. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Carbon emissions, air travel, flight search, online travel booking, eco-feedback |
| Date: | 2020–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt5n53672m&r=all |
| By: | LaFave,Daniel; Beyene,Abebe Damte; Bluffstone,Randall; Dissanayake,Sahan T. M.; Gebreegziabher,Zenebe; Mekonnen,Alemu; Toman,Michael A. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the three-year impacts of an improved biomass cookstove on child and adult health in rural Ethiopia. After near complete stove adoption during an initial one-year randomized controlled trial, 60 percent of treatment households continued to use the improved stoves three-years on and experienced reductions in hazardous airborne particulate matter. The study finds that treatment status is associated with a precisely estimated 0.3-0.4 standard deviation improvement in height-for-age of young children exposed during their first years of life, compared with a control group of households that never used the improved stove. This is a substantial effect with implications for greater health and well-being throughout the life course. However, the study finds no changes in the respiratory symptoms or physical functioning of older children and adult cooks in treated households relative to control households. The results advance understanding of the health impacts of hazardous air pollution while also refining the design and implementation options for interventions geared toward improving well-being in similar environments. |
| Keywords: | Health Care Services Industry,Pollution Management&Control,Air Quality&Clean Air,Brown Issues and Health,Educational Sciences,Gender and Development,Global Environment |
| Date: | 2019–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8929&r=all |
| By: | Harkat, Tahar |
| Abstract: | Existing literature that assesses the nexus between economic development, primary energy consumption, and CO2 emissions has been a point of interest for many scholars. Yet, there is no such existing literature that targets assessing such relationship for the case of Morocco. The following contribution determines the long run relationship between these variables using an autoregressive distributive lag model (ARDL) bound test that is developed by Pesaran et al. (2001). Findings indicate that there is a significant co-integration between the variables of interest, meaning that the long run relationship between them exists. Findings also show that energy consumption has direct positive effect on economic growth but it may have larger negative effect on economic growth indirectly through higher carbon dioxide emissions. |
| Keywords: | GDP, Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, Long run relationship, ARDL Bound test, Co-integration, Morocco |
| JEL: | O13 P28 P48 Q43 |
| Date: | 2020–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98476&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Schinko (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria); Birgit Bednar-Friedl (University of Graz, Austria); Barbara Truger (University of Graz, Austria); Rafael Bramreiter (University of Graz, Austria); Nadejda Komendantova (University of Graz, Austria); Michael Hartner (Energy Economics Group, TU Wien, Austria) |
| Abstract: | To achieve a low-carbon transition in the electricity sector, countries combine national-scale policies with regional renewable electricity (RES-E) initiatives. Taking Austria as an example, we investigate the economy-wide effects of implementing national-level feed-in tariffs alongside local-level ‘climate and energy model (CEM) regions’, taking account of policy externalities across the two governance levels. We distinguish three types of CEM regions by means of a cluster analysis and apply a sub-national Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to investigate two RES-E scenarios. We find that whether the net economic effects are positive or negative depends on three factors: (i) RES-E potentials, differentiated by technology and cluster region; (ii) economic competitiveness of RES-E technologies relative to each other and to the current generation mix; and (iii) support schemes in place which translate into policy costs. We conclude that the focus should mainly be on economically competitive technologies, such as PV and wind, to avoid unintended macroeconomic side-effects. To achieve that, national support policies for RES-E have to be aligned with regional energy initiatives. |
| Keywords: | energy transition; computable general equilibrium (CGE); national support policies; regional energy initiatives; policy externality |
| JEL: | Q42 R13 C68 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2020-05&r=all |
| By: | McLean, Sheldon; Tokuda, Hidenobu; Skerrette, Nyasha; Pantin, Machel |
| Abstract: | In light of the high debt burden impacting Caribbean economies ECLAC has been pursuing an initiative designed to reduce the debt burden and advance sustainable development. The strategy has evolved over time and there is now agreement on an approach designed to bring financial resources to the Caribbean for resilience building while still emphasizing the importance of debt reduction. To address resilience and development financing, ECLAC proposes the establishment of a Caribbean Resilience Facility to be housed at a reputable financial institution. Such a facility would be capitalised by donors, including the GCF, wishing to assist in financing climate projects and other forms of resilience-building activities within the Caribbean. |
| Date: | 2020–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:45108&r=all |
| By: | Luiz Carlos Ribeiro (Federal University of Sergipe); Kenia Barreiro de Souza (Federal University of Parana); Edson Paulo Domingues (Federal University of Minas Gerais); Aline Souza Magalhães (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The international literature is in consensus about the negative impacts that oil spills have on the economy and environment. Since late August 2019, crude oil stains have appeared on the beaches of the Brazilian Northeast. Five months on, this could be considered the most severe environmental disaster of this type, with a scope of more than 3,000 km; 1,013 locations across 130 municipalities were directly affected by the accident. However, the economic impacts are still unknown. Here, we show that the coastal areas of Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará were the worst affected in terms of gross domestic product and employment, assuming tourism and fishing to be directly affected economic activities. Simultaneously, we found that interior counterparts of the country were marginally affected, because they accommodated part of the affected areas’ demand loss. Our results can help plan better measures to mitigate the negative impacts of this kind of disaster and identify the most vulnerable areas for government and private assistance. We anticipate our article will provide the first economic estimations of the recent oil spill in Brazil. Furthermore, our economic simulation model can be adapted to assess oil spill economic impacts in any country in the world. |
| Keywords: | oil spill; environmental disaster, Brazilian Northeast, Computable general equilibrium |
| JEL: | Q25 Q51 C68 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td619&r=all |
| By: | Aleksandar Zaklan |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical test of the Coase Theorem. I analyze whether emissions are independent from allowance allocations in the electricity sector as regulated under the EU's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Exogenous variation in levels of free allocation for power producing installations enables a difference-in-differences strategy. I find that the change in allocations generally does not affect installations' emissions, although temporary effects may exist for some small emitters. The analysis suggests that policy makers may use free allocation in the political bargaining process without compromising cost- effectiveness of the cap-and-trade program. |
| Keywords: | Coase theorem, independence property, cap-and-trade, EU ETS, greenhouse gas emissions |
| JEL: | Q58 Q54 Q52 L94 H23 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1850&r=all |
| By: | Nitsch, Volker; Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M.; Wendland, Nicolai |
| Abstract: | For a complete cost‐benefit analysis of durable infrastructures, it is important to understand how the value of non‐market goods such as transit time and environmental quality changes as incomes rise in the long‐run. We use difference‐in‐differences and spatial differencing to estimate the land price capitalization effects of metro rail in Berlin, Germany today and a century ago. Over this period, the negative implicit hedonic price of rail noise tripled. Our results imply income elasticities of the value of noise reduction and transport access of 2.2 and 1.4, substantially exceeding cross‐sectional contingent valuation estimates. |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:117314&r=all |
| By: | Jules Sadefo Kamdem (MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie - UM - Université de Montpellier, UG - Université de Guyane); David Akame (MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the work of Pindyck by taking into consideration a large class family of different utility functions of economic agents. As in Pindyck, instead of consideringa social utility function that is characterized by constant relative risk aversion (C.R.R.A), we use the expo-power utility function of Saha. In fact, depending on the choice of the expo-power utility function parameters, we cover a diverse range1of utility functions and besides covering the other utility functions that a C.R.R.A omits, Expo-power function permits usto discern if under the other behaviors of economic agents, the willingness to pay remainsmore affected by uncertain outcomes than certain outcomes, when we vary the expectationand standard deviation of the temperature distribution probability. Our paper has maintained the small-tailed gamma distributions of temperature and economic impact of Pindyck, notonly because they hinder infinite future welfare losses (for an exponential utility function), but because it is easy to change some moments of the distribution (jointly or holding the othersfixed) while studying how uncertainty influences the willingness to pay as explained in Pindyck. |
| Keywords: | Willingness to Pay,Climate Change,Expo-Power Utility,I.A.R.A,D.A.R.A,I.R.R.A,IA |
| Date: | 2020–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02465195&r=all |
| By: | Coville,Aidan; Orozco Olvera,Victor Hugo; Reichert,Arndt Rudiger |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an explanation for why many information campaigns fail to affect decision-making. The authors experimentally show that a large information intervention about a profitable and climate-friendly household investment had limited effects if it only provided generic data. In contrast, it caused households to make new investments when it followed a campaign strategy designed to minimize information processing costs. This finding is consistent with a model of selective attention, where individuals prioritize information believed to be valuable after accounting for the costs of attending to the data that arise due to limited mental energy and time. The paper studies a range of possible mechanisms and finds corroborative evidence of selective attention as an inhibitor to learning. |
| Date: | 2019–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9009&r=all |
| By: | Ceren Baysan (Harvard University); Marshall Burke (Stanford University); Felipe GonzaÌ lez (Pontificia Universidad CatoÌ lica de Chile); Solomon Hsiang (University of California Berkeley); Edward Miguel (University of California Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | Organized intergroup violence is almost universally modeled as a calculated act motivated by economic factors. In contrast, it is generally assumed that non-economic factors, such as an individual’s emotional state, play a role in many types of inter- personal violence, such as “crimes of passion.†We ask whether economic or non- economic factors better explain the well-established relationship between temperature and violence in a unique context where intergroup killings by drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) and “normal†interpersonal homicides are separately documented. A constellation of evidence, including the limited influence of a cash transfer program as well as comparison with both other DTO crime and suicides, indicate that economic factors only partially explain the observed relationship between temperature and violence. We argue that noneconomic psychological and physiological factors that are affected by temperature, modeled here as a “taste for violence,†likely play an important role in causing both interpersonal and intergroup violence. |
| Keywords: | violence, climate, income, psychology, suicide JEL Classification: O1, Q51, Q54 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:292&r=all |
| By: | Astrid Martínez; José Arcos; Juan Benavides; Henry Garay; Ricardo Lloreda; Juan Mauricio Ramírez; David Riaño; Eduardo Uribe |
| Abstract: | En este informe se resumen los informes previos del estudio de FEDESARROLLO para la UPME cuyo objeto es la formulación de una política integral de precios de los energéticos orientada al compromiso de los compromisos ambientales del país y un análisis de los efectos de su adopción desde las perspectivas económicas, fiscales y de acceso a estos energéticos por parte de las empresas y los hogares. |
| Keywords: | Precios de los Energéticos, Precios de los Combustibles, Precios del Diésel, Precios de la Gasolina, Precios del GLP, Precios Jet (Gasolina de Aviación), Precios de Gas Natural, Precios de Energía Eléctrica, Precios de los Biocombustibles, Precios del Carbón, Política Integral de Precios, Sistema Energético Moderno, Colombia |
| JEL: | O13 Q41 Q42 Q43 |
| Date: | 2019–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000124:017839&r=all |
| By: | Ermgassen, Erasmus Klaus Helge Justus zu; Godar, Javier; Lathuillière, Michael J; Löfgren, Pernilla; Vasconcelos, André; Gardner, Toby; Meyfroidt, Patrick |
| Abstract: | Though the international trade in agricultural commodities is worth more than 1.6 trillion USD per year, we still have a poor understanding of the supply chains connecting places of production and consumption and the socio-economic and environmental impacts of this trade. In this study, we provide the first wall-to-wall subnational map of the origin and supply chain of Brazilian meat, offal, and live cattle exports from 2015 to 2017, a trade worth more than 5.4 billion USD/year. Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, exporting approximately one-fifth of its production, and the sector has a notable environmental footprint, linked to one-fifth of all commodity-driven deforestation across the tropics. By combining official per-shipment trade records, slaughterhouse export licenses, subnational agricultural statistics, and data on the origin of cattle per slaughterhouse, we mapped the flow of cattle from more than 2,900 municipalities where cattle were raised to 152 exporting slaughterhouses where they were slaughtered, via the 202 exporting and 2,630 importing companies handling that trade, and finally to 151 importing countries. We find stark differences in the subnational origin of the sourcing of different actors and link this supply chain mapping to spatially explicit data on cattle-associated deforestation, to estimate the ‘deforestation risk’ (in hectares/year) of each supply chain actor over time. Our results provide an unprecedented insight into the global trade of a deforestation-risk commodity. |
| Date: | 2020–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:agrixi:efg6v&r=all |
| By: | Stefan Bach; Niklas Isaak; Lea Kampfmann; Claudia Kemfert; Nicole Wägner |
| Abstract: | Im Dezember 2019 haben Bund und Länder nach anhaltender Kritik das im September beschlossene Klimapaket nachgebessert: Die CO2-Preise wurden erhöht und die EEG-Umlage stärker gesenkt. Doch trotz dieser Anpassungen werden der vorgeschlagene CO2-Preispfad und der anschließende Emissionshandel mit festgelegter Preisobergrenze als alleinige Instrumente immer noch nicht ausreichen, um die Klimaziele 2030 in den Sektoren Verkehr und Gebäude zu erreichen, wie aktuelle Berechnungen ergeben. Zudem kommt es weiterhin zu sozialen Schieflagen durch Mehrbelastungen niedriger Einkommen, auch wenn sich dieser Effekt durch die Senkung der Strompreise verringert. Um die Verteilungswirkungen der Reform insgesamt progressiv zu gestalten, wären verschiedene Optionen denkbar: ein vom individuellen Steuersatz unabhängiges Mobilitätsgeld statt der Pendlerpauschale und vor allem eine einheitliche Pro-Kopf-Klimaprämie, die Geringverdienende im Durchschnitt stärker entlasten würde, als sie der CO2-Preis belastet. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwakt:27de&r=all |
| By: | Walsh,Brian James; Hallegatte,Stephane |
| Abstract: | Traditional risk assessments use asset losses as the main metric to measure the severity of a disaster. This paper proposes an expanded risk assessment based on a framework that adds socioeconomic resilience and uses wellbeing losses as the main measure of disaster severity. Using an agent-based model that represents explicitly the recovery and reconstruction process at the household level, this risk assessment provides new insights into disaster risks in Sri Lanka. The analysis indicates that regular flooding events can move tens of thousands of Sri Lankans into transient poverty at once, hindering the country's recent progress on poverty eradication and shared prosperity. As metrics of disaster impacts, poverty incidence and well-being losses facilitate quantification of the benefits of interventions like rapid post-disaster support and adaptive social protection systems. Such investments efficiently reduce wellbeing losses by making exposed and vulnerable populations more resilient. Nationally and on average, the bottom income quintile suffers only 7 percent of the total asset losses but 32 percent of the total wellbeing losses. Average annual wellbeing losses due to fluvial flooding in Sri Lanka are estimated at US$119 million per year, more than double the asset losses of US$78 million. Asset losses are reported to be highly concentrated in Colombo district, and wellbeing losses are more widely distributed throughout the country. Finally, the paper applies the socioeconomic resilience framework to a cost-benefit analysis of prospective adaptive social protection systems, based on enrollment in Samurdhi, the main social support system in Sri Lanka. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Social Protections&Assistance,Disaster Management,Hazard Risk Management,Social Risk Management,Disability,Services&Transfers to Poor,Access of Poor to Social Services,Economic Assistance,Natural Disasters |
| Date: | 2019–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9015&r=all |
| By: | Roberta De Santis (ISTAT); Cecilia Jona Lasinio (ISTAT); Piero Esposito (LUISS) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically analyse the environmental regulation-productivity nexus for 14 OECD countries in the period 1990-2013. Our findings support the hypothesis that environmental policies have a productivity growth enhancing effect through innovation as suggested by Porter and Van Der Linde (1995). We provide evidence that both market and non-marked based policies foster labour and multifactor productivity growth and that the positive association is better captured by environmental adjusted productivity indicators. Moreover, we find that productivity increases resulting from changes in the environmental regulation pass through a stimulus to capital accumulation and this effect is concentrated in high ICT intensive countries. Overall, the need to speed up the transition towards a “green economy” for environmental protection purposes can be seen also as an opportunity to improve competitiveness generating a virtuous circle between innovation and environmental friendly production techniques. |
| Keywords: | Inenvironmental regulation, productivity, innovation, Porter hypothesis, |
| JEL: | D24 Q50 Q55 O47 O31 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:lleewp:20153&r=all |
| By: | Dubrie, Artie; Bello, Omar; Phillips, Willard; Thorne, Elizabeth; Alleyne, Dillon |
| Abstract: | The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) agenda for sustainable development has as its foundation the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA 1994), the Mauritius Strategy for Further Implementation of the BPoA (MSI 2005) and more recently the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway 2014). These agreements representing 25 years of continual focus are the SIDS sustainable development blue prints. With the objectives of positioning and maintaining a strategic SIDS focus across sustainable development agendas, this paper re-examines the Regional Coordinating Mechanism of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation (CDCC- RCM)1 in its historical context and analyses recommendations put forth during recent meetings of the CDCC. In doing so, the paper makes the case that a revitalized CDCCRCM could serve as a uniquely Caribbean Mechanism to promote sustained implementation of the SIDS sustainable development agenda in this subregion and provide preparatory support for the annual meeting of the Forum of Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development. |
| Date: | 2020–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:45109&r=all |
| By: | Klotz, Richard (Department of Economics, Colgate University); Sharma, Rishi (Department of Economics, Colgate University) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of existing worldwide tariffs and several tariff reform schemes on global CO2 emissions using a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium model with detailed input-output linkages. Our analysis reveals the importance of a simple mechanism relating trade policy to global emissions that has not been previously highlighted in the literature: reducing existing tariffs tends to increase emissions primarily by increasing the global output of intermediate inputs relative to final goods. Greater use of intermediates implies, all things equal, more fossil fuel usage and therefore more emissions per unit of global final output. This effect ultimately results from the fact that tariffs are to some extent a tax on material but not on labor. This channel accounts for the majority of the emissions increase from moving to complete liberalization, exceeding even the mechanical effect of increased GDP and overwhelming effects from reallocation of activity across countries and sectors. We find that global partial liberalization schemes that temper this channel -- especially by reducing tariff escalation -- could achieve substantial global GDP increases with small increases in CO2 or even emissions reductions. |
| Keywords: | tariffs; trade liberalization; CO2 emissions |
| JEL: | F13 F18 Q54 Q56 Q58 H23 H87 |
| Date: | 2020–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgt:wpaper:61&r=all |
| By: | Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M.; Nitsch, Volker; Wendland, Nicolai |
| Date: | 2019–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:119276&r=all |
| By: | Dorothée Charlier (Université Savoie Mont-Blanc IREGE); Florian Fizaine (Université Savoie Mont-Blanc IREGE) |
| Abstract: | During the last three decades, many industrializing countries have experienced economic growth, which concurred with a substantial increase in the use of materials. This fact questions the relationship between the use of biomass, fossil fuels and minerals and economic growth. Using a Material Kuznets Curve framework, this study investigates whether material use spontaneously reaches a maximum for a given level of development and declines thereafter. Using a new indicator, the material footprint (that quantifies all materials extracted to produce a country's final demand, including materials embodied in imports), we investigate this nexus confronting for the first-time different methodologies in a same empirical study. More especially, we measure the evolution of material footprint (per capita) elasticity to gdp (per capita) in four different ways. As main results, all models lead to a same nature and seem to indicate a strong and permanent link between economic growth/ economic development and raw material consumption. There is no sign of strong decoupling. Improving development and adoption of technologies becomes an emergency. |
| Keywords: | Decoupling, EKC MKC, Material footprint, Sustainability, Leapfrogging |
| JEL: | O13 Q32 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2020.05&r=all |
| By: | Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline (Paris School of Economics, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonn); Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky (Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study the problem faced by activists who want to maximize firms' compliance with high environmental standards. Our focus is on radical activism which relies on non-violent civil disobedience. Disruptive actions and the threat thereof are used to force firms to concede i.e., to engage in self-regulation. We address the optimal use of scarce activist resources in face of incomplete information by looking at a general mechanism, directly adapted from Myerson's (1981) optimal auction theory. The characterization informs that the least vulnerable and most polluting firms should be targeted with disruptive actions while the others are granted a guarantee not to be targeted in exchange for a concession. This characterization allows studying the determinants of the activist's strength and how it is affected by repression, a central feature for civil disobedience. We find that optimal radical activism is relatively resilient to repression. In an extension that accounts for asymmetry between firms'abatement cost, we find that the mechanism optimizes the allocation of abatment efforts and creates incentives for innovation. We discuss some other welfare properties of optimal activism. |
| Keywords: | Activism, Self-regulation, Mechanism design, Repression |
| JEL: | D44 D73 D82 F21 G22 H23 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2020.07&r=all |
| By: | Sen, Sugata; Sengupta, Soumya |
| Abstract: | UNDP Rio +20 summit in 2012 evolved a set of indicators to realise the targets of SDGs within a deadline. Measurement of the performances under these goals has followed the methodology as developed by UNDP which is nothing but the simple average of performances of the indicators under different domains. This work concludes that this methodology to measure the goal-wise as well as the composite performances is suffering from major shortcomings and proposes an alternative using the ideas of artificial intelligence. Here it is accepted that the indicators under different goals are inter-related and hence constructing index through simple average is misleading. Moreover the methodologies under the existing indices have failed to assign weights to different indicators. This work is based on secondary data and the goal-wise indices have been determined through normalised sigmoid functions. These goal-wise indices are plotted on a radar and the area of the radar is treated as measure under composite SDG performance. The whole work is presented through an artificial neural network. Observed that the goal-wise index as developed and tested here has shown that the UNDP as well as NITI Aayog index has delivered exaggerated values of goal-wise as well as composite performances. |
| Keywords: | SDG Index, Sigmoidal Activation Function, Artificial Neural Network |
| JEL: | C63 O15 |
| Date: | 2020–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:98534&r=all |
| By: | Iimi,Atsushi |
| Abstract: | The paper revisits the traditional transport-agricultural growth nexus. Connectivity is particularly challenging for small island developing states, such as the Comoros, where domestic markets are limited and transport and transaction costs tend to be high. Using household survey data from Comoros, the paper shows that significant untapped economic potential exists in the domestic market. The analysis shows that better transport connectivity increases crop production and market sales. Accessibility to Moroni, the primary market in the country, and inter-island connectivity are of particular importance. Not only transport infrastructure, but also services are important. Access to intermediary services, such as cooperatives and collectors, is also found to have a positive impact on crop production and market sales. |
| Keywords: | Transport Services,Crops and Crop Management Systems,Climate Change and Agriculture,Food Security,Inequality |
| Date: | 2019–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8960&r=all |