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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒05‒15
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Germani, Anna Rita; Morone, Piergiuseppe; Testa, Giuseppina |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an environmental justice empirical analysis on the relationship between income, demographic characteristics and concentrations of air industrial pollutants within the Italian provinces. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the empirical results. First, the estimates obtained are consistent with an inverse U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve: air pollution releases increase with income up to a turning point, where the relation reverts. Second, there is evidence that air releases tend to be higher in provinces with high concentration of females as households’ head and with high concentration of children. Since our findings do not point to environmental discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, this suggests that environmental justice issues in Italy are not likely to manifest themselves along racial and ethnic terms but instead in terms of social categories and gender composition. We also find that judicial inefficiency (a measure of the inefficiency of law enforcement) is associated with higher levels of pollution. In terms of policy implications, this result suggests the need to strengthen, all through the territory, the local enforcement of environmental laws in order to possibly reduce the negative effects on ambient air pollution. |
| Keywords: | Environmental justice; social inequalities; air pollution emissions |
| JEL: | K32 Q50 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38656&r=res |
| By: | Phoebe Koundouri (Dept. of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business); Marva Stithou (University of Stirling, UK); Eva Kougea (Athens University of Economics and Business); Pertti Ala-Aho (University of Oulu, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, P.O.Box 4300, 90014); Riku Eskelinen (University of Oulu, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, P.O.Box 4300, 90014); Timo Karjalainen (Thule Institute, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 7300, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland); Bjorn Klove (University of Oulu, Finland); Manuel Pulido-Velazquez (Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Polit.cnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain); Kalle Reinikainen (Poyry Finland Oy, Tutkijantie 2 A-D, 90590 Oulu, Finland); Pekka Rossi (University of Oulu, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, P.O.Box 4300, 90014) |
| Abstract: | Rokua in Northern Finland is a groundwater dependent ecosystem very sensitive to climate change and natural variability. As such, the water level of most of the lakes is a function of the level of the groundwater table of the esker which is naturally recharged. This chapter presents results from an application of a choice experiment and contingent valuation method regarding ground water quantity. General public�s elicited values highlight the importance of water management policy which contributes to the sustainability of groundwater dependent ecosystems. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, Contingent valuation, Climate change, Water quantity, Groundwater dependent ecosystems. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1213&r=res |
| By: | Alain Ayong Le Kama (Université Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Chaire Economie du Climat) |
| Abstract: | We extend the Beltratti, Chichilnisky and Heal’s (1993) and (1998) continuoustime stochastic dynamic framework to analyze the optimal depletion of an environmental asset whose consumption is irreversible, in the face of an exogenous uncertainty about future preferences. We introduce an endogenous uncertainty about future preferences. The idea is that the ability of the future generations to change their preferences will depend on the state of the asset. More precisely, we assume that future generations may have a probability to change their preferences all the higher since the stock of the resource becomes low. We describe within this model more clearly the behavior of the central planner facing this type of uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | preservation of natural resources, uncertainty, preferences |
| JEL: | O4 Q2 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1204&r=res |
| By: | Xavier Labandeira (Rede (Universidade de Vigo) and Economics for Energy); José M. Labeaga (Instituto de Estudios Fiscales and UNED); Xiral López-Otero (Rede (Universidade de Vigo) and Economics for Energy) |
| Abstract: | Household energy consumption, mostly due to residential heating, is a large component of energy demand in developed countries and thus a target for public policies aimed at reducing negative environmental effects and energy dependence. This paper uses detailed Spanish household micro data to model the related decisions on the type of heating energy source and on the amount of energy used for heating. This way, the article provides accurate estimates that may be used to assess the short and long term effects of public policies in this field. In particular, the relative prices of the three main energy sources for heating influence the discrete decision on the type of energy source in a sort of medium/long term effect. Moreover, the short-term demand reactions to energy price changes are found to be limited but variable across the different energy sources for heating in Spain. |
| Keywords: | Environment, energy, security, discrete, continuous, choice, taxes, prices |
| JEL: | C13 C14 C23 Q41 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:efe:wpaper:06-2011&r=res |
| By: | Honda, Keiichiro |
| Abstract: | In 2003 the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) was established in the EU, which limited the trade of machinery, electrical and electronic equipment that have at least one of the substances considered hazardous under RoHS directive. Since countries trading with the EU must comply with this new regulation, it is expected a decrease in value of imports to the EU. In this paper, it is followed the procedures used in Heckman (1979), as well as the extended procedure suggested by Helpman, Melitz, and Rubinstein (2008) to ascertain the effects on the persistence of trade and values of trade. |
| Keywords: | Europe, Trade problem, International trade, Environmental protection, The RoHS directive, Harmonized standards, Gravity model, Intensive and extensive margin, Sample selection and firm heterogeneity |
| JEL: | F13 F18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper341&r=res |
| By: | Peroni, Chiara |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the link between environmental and productive efficiency in a group of EU member states and the US using data from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Its main indicator, carbon intensity, is defined as the ratio of total greenhouse gases emissions to output. A non-parametric frontier approach enables modelling a multiple output technology in which greenhouse gas emissions are an undesirable outcome of a production process. A DEA method is used to compute environmental efficiency indices, which grade countries according to their ability to increase production while reducing pollutants, under minimal assumptions. The only assumptions are that bad outputs are costly to dispose of and that returns to scale are variable. The study shows that productive efficiency is considerably lowered when environmental degradation are taken into account. Only two (Luxembourg and Sweden) out of 16 countries are environmentally efficient. Malmquist indices, however, show that environmental performances improved over the period considered in nearly all countries. A decomposition of carbon intensity, which links emission performance to technical progress, is also presented; this highlights the positive contribution of labour productivity on the reduction in carbon intensity. Finally, no evidence of a DEA-based environmental Kuznet curve is found. |
| Keywords: | Carbon intensity; data envelopment analysis; Malmquist index; decomposition; Kuznet curve |
| JEL: | Q50 C44 Q56 O40 |
| Date: | 2012–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38671&r=res |
| By: | Helming, John F.M.; Peerlings, Jack H.M. |
| Abstract: | The objective of this research is to give insights into the production, income and environmental effects of the introduction of an EU flat rate for Dutch agriculture. For this purpose, a detailed agri-environmental programming model for Dutch agriculture is used. Results of the EU flat rate scenario are compared to a reference scenario that describes agricultural production in the Netherlands in 2020. Results show that total gross margin in Dutch agriculture decreases because of the EU flat rate with 7%. The supply of starch potatoes and cow milk decreases most. Production of seed and consumption potatoes, vegetables and intensive livestock products increases slightly. This is largely due to a shift of farm payments from milk and starch potatoes production to arable crops and vegetable production. It was found that including risk aversion of income volatility amplifies these effects. The flat rate decreases the total emissions of nutrients to the environment from agricultural production. |
| Keywords: | EU flat rate, mathematical programming, income volatility, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q1, D8, |
| Date: | 2012–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa123:122481&r=res |