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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2019‒08‒26
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Massimo Filippini (Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; Institute of Economics (IdEP), Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland); Giuliano Masiero (Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering, University of Bergamo, Italy; Institute of Economics (IdEP), Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland); Sandro Steinbach (Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Ambient air pollution is the environmental factor with the most significant impact on human health. Several epidemiological studies provide evidence for an association between ambient air pollution and human health. However, the recent economic literature has challenged the identification strategy used in these studies. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion by investigating the association between ambient air pollution and morbidity using hospital admission data from Switzerland. Our identification strategy rests on the construction of geographically explicit pollution measures derived from a dispersion model that replicates atmospheric conditions and accounts for several emission sources. The reduced form estimates account for location and time fixed effects and show that ambient air pollution has a substantial impact on hospital admissions. In particular, we show that SO2 and NO2 are positively associated with admission rates for coronary artery and cerebrovascular diseases while we find no similar correlation for PM10 and O3. Our robustness checks support these findings and suggest that dispersion models can help in reducing the measurement error inherent to pollution exposure measures based on station-level pollution data. Therefore, our results may contribute to a more accurate evaluation of future environmental policies aiming at a reduction of ambient air pollution exposure. |
| Keywords: | Ambient air pollution, dispersion model, hospital admissions, count panel data |
| JEL: | I10 Q51 Q53 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpidep:1903&r=all |
| By: | Matilde Giaccherini; David H. Herberich; David Jimenez-Gomez; John A. List; Giovanni Ponti; Michael K. Price |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a field experiment to estimate behavioral parameters from a structural model of residential adoption of technology. As our model includes both economic and psychological factors, we are able to identify the role of prices, social norms, social pressure, and curiosity on the adoption decision. We find that prices and social norms influence the adoption decision along different margins, opening up the opportunity for economics and psychology to be strong complements in the diffusion process. In addition, welfare estimates from our structural model point to important household heterogeneities: whereas some consumers welcome the opportunity to purchase and learn about the new technology, for others the inconvenience and social pressure of the ask results in negative welfare. As a whole, our findings highlight that the design of optimal technological diffusion policies will require multiple instruments and a recognition of individual household heterogeneities. |
| JEL: | D9 D91 |
| Date: | 2019–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26173&r=all |
| By: | Vinish Shrestha (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | Deaths from motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of unintentional deaths in the United States. This paper investigates the effect of increases in cigarette taxes and prices following the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) on non-alcohol and alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities among youths. I find that increases in cigarette taxes and prices are associated with a reduction in non-alcohol related accidents between 1998 and 2006 among 16-to-20 year olds. |
| Keywords: | Cigarette Taxes and Prices, Driving Fatalities, Externalities. |
| JEL: | I10 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2019–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2019-02&r=all |
| By: | Udo Kreickemeier; Philipp M. Richter |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyse the effects of a unilateral change in an emissions tax in a model of international trade with heterogeneous firms. We find a positive effect of tighter environmental policy on average productivity in the reforming country through reallocation of labour towards exporting firms. Domestic aggregate emissions fall, due to both a scale and a technique effect, but we show that the reduction in emissions following the tax increase is smaller than in autarky. Moreover, general equilibrium effects through changes in the foreign wage rate lead to a reduction in foreign emissions and, hence, to negative emissions leakage in case of transboundary pollution. |
| Keywords: | trade and environment, heterogeneous firms, unilateral environmental policy, emissions leakage |
| JEL: | F18 F12 F15 Q58 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7725&r=all |