|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Katri Kosonen (European Commission); Gaetan Nicodeme (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | Environmental protection is one of Europe's key values. The EU has set clear policy objectives to achieve its environmental goals. The EU has favoured market-based instruments, among which fiscal instruments to tackle the climate change problem. This paper takes a policy-making perspective and provides an overview of key issues on the role of fiscal instruments in energy and environmental policies. It describes fiscal instruments as cost-effective means to promote environmental goals and highlights in which cases taxes and other types of fiscal instruments can usefully complement each other to achieve environmental target. |
| Keywords: | Taxation, environmental policy, VAT, fiscal incentives |
| JEL: | H23 Q38 Q48 Q58 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tax:taxpap:0019&r=env |
| By: | Natacha Raffin (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This article aims at investigating the interplay between environmental quality, health and development. We consider an OLG model, where human capital dynamics depend on the current environment, through its impact on children's school attendance. In turn, environmental quality dynamics depend on human capital, through maintenance and pollution. This two-way causality generates a co-evolution of human capital and environmental quality and may induce the emergence of an environmental poverty trap characterized by a low level of human capital and deteriorated environmental quality. Our results are consistent with empirical observation about the existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve. Finally, the model allows for the assessment of an environmental policy that would allow to escape the trap. |
| Keywords: | Education, environmental quality, growth, health. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00384500_v1&r=env |
| By: | Sandra Saïd; Sophie Thoyer |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:09-08&r=env |
| By: | Figueres, Christiana; Streck, Charlotte |
| Abstract: | Despite the many calls to reform the CDM, its conceptual underpinnings are strong and it will most likely survive in the post-2012 climate regime. Some modifications may be considered in the short term to strengthen the effectiveness and transparency of the mechanism without modifying the Marrakesh Accords. In the medium term substantially increased mitigation efforts in developing countries may require a combination of three possible financial mechanisms: the current activity-based CDM albeit improved, a second market mechanism that would seek to improve the long term emission trends of developing countries by promoting broad based emission reduction programs primarily in the private sector, and a third financial mechanism outside of the market which would be an incentive for the adoption of policy changes leading to a low carbon path, but where emission reductions would not be used as international offsets. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Carbon Policy and Trading,Montreal Protocol,Energy and Environment,Environment and Energy Efficiency |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5008&r=env |
| By: | Katrin Millock (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Angels Xabadia (Department of Economics - University of Girona); David Zilberman (Department of Agricultural and Ressource Economics - University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | With the development of modern information technologies, relying on nanotechnologies and remote sensing, a number of systems can be envisaged that allow for monitoring of the negative externalities generated by producers, consumers or travelers - road pricing schemes or individual emission meters for automobiles are two examples. In the paper, we analyze a dynamic model of stock pollution when the regulator has incomplete information on emissions generated by heterogeneous agent. The paper's contribution is to explicitly study a decentralized policy for adoption of monitoring equipment over time. Each agent has to choose between paying a fixed fee or installing monitoring technology and paying a tax on actual emissions. We determine the second-best tax rates, the pattern of monitoring technology adoption, and identify conditions for the voluntary diffusion of monitoring technologies over time. |
| Keywords: | Externalities ; environmental taxation ; monitoring technology adoption ; diffusion ; nanotechnologies |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00367888_v1&r=env |
| By: | Finus, Michael; Dellink, Rob |
| Abstract: | Uncertainty and learning play an important role in addressing the problem of climate change. In stylized game-theoretic models of international environmental treaty formation, which capture the strategic interactions between nations, it has been shown that learning usually has a negative impact on the success of cooperation. This paper asks the question whether this negative conclusion carries over to an applied multiregional climate model. This model captures the large heterogeneity between different world regions and considers not only uncertainty about the benefits but also about the costs from climate mitigation. By exploiting differences in costs and benefits between regions and allowing transfers to mitigate free-rider incentives, we derive much more positive conclusions about the role of learning. |
| Keywords: | cost-benefit analysis; game theory; learning; uncertainty; international climate agreements |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2009-15&r=env |
| By: | Javier Capó Parrilla (Centre de Recerca Econòmica (UIB · Sa Nostra)) |
| Abstract: | During the last decades, the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality has generated a strong controversy among environmental academicians. The main debate is focused on responding a specific and direct question: will the economic development intensify seriously the environmental damage? In the last two decades, some studies suggest that some pollutants follow an inverse-U-shaped pattern relative to countries income. This relationship has been called Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The EKC can be easily described in the following way. Initially, income growth leads to an increase of the environmental degradation but, beyond some threshold level, additional increments of income will allow an environmental improvement. This paper lays out a simple model of the air pollution-income relationship for a panel of 23 European countries over the period 1992-2003. The results show a strong evidence of an EKC. The remainder of this article is organized as follows. After an introduction, the next section provides a brief overview of previous studies. Section 3 presents the EKC estimation with the econometric method used in the study. Also, the data are analysed and the obtained results are presented. Finally, in section 4, we present the summary and conclusions of this study. |
| Keywords: | growth, pollution, Kuznets |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdm:wpaper:2009/3&r=env |
| By: | Rüdiger Pethig; Christian Wittlich |
| Abstract: | We study the incidence of carbon-reduction and green-energy promotion policies in a general equilibrium small open economy that depends on imports of fossil fuels. The focus is on mixed policies that are either price based (emissions taxes and producer price subsidies for green energy) or quantity based (schemes of trading emissions and green certificates). Policy instruments directed head-on toward promoting green energy are shown to also reduce carbon emissions and vice versa but the direct effects are stronger than the side effects, the more so, the greater is the elasticity of substitution in consumption between energy and consumption goods. We calculate the effects of variations in individual policy parameters on all endogenous variables, among them the energy price and the welfare costs. We also determine the impact of exogenous fossil-fuel price shocks on the economy. |
| Keywords: | carbon reduction, green energy promotion, policy mix, interaction of policies |
| JEL: | Q42 Q43 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sie:siegen:131-09&r=env |
| By: | Valentina Bosetti (Princeton University, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and CMCC); Carlo Carraro (University of Venice, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, CEPR, CESifo and CMCC); Massimo Tavoni (Princeton University, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and CMCC) |
| Abstract: | This paper builds on the assumption that OECD countries are (or will soon be) taking actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These actions, however, will not be sufficient to control global warming, unless developing countries also get involved in the cooperative effort to reduce GHG emissions. This paper investigates the best short-term strategies that emerging economies can adopt in reacting to OECD countries’ mitigation effort, given the common long-term goal to prevent excessive warming without hampering economic growth. Results indicate that developing countries would incur substantial economic losses by following a myopic strategy that disregards climate in the short-run, and that their optimal investment behaviour is to anticipate the implementation of a climate policy by roughly 10 years. Investing in innovation ahead of time is also found to be advantageous. The degree of policy anticipation is shown to be important in determining the financial transfers of an international carbon market meant to provide incentives for the participation of developing countries. This is especially relevant for China, whose recent and foreseeable trends of investments in innovation are consistent with the adoption of domestic emission reduction obligations in 2030. |
| Keywords: | Energy-economy modeling, Climate Policy, Developing Countries |
| JEL: | Q54 Q55 Q43 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2009_13&r=env |
| By: | Blankespoor, Brian; Pandey, Kiran Dev; Wheeler, David |
| Abstract: | This paper describes an approach to forecasting future climate at the local level using historical weather station and satellite data and future projections of climate data from global climate models (GCMs) that is easily understandable by policymakers and planners. It describes an approach to synthesize the myriad climate projections, often with conflicting messages, into an easily-interpreted set of graphical displays that summarizes the basic implications of the ensemble of available climate models. The method described in the paper can be applied to publicly-available data for any country and for any number of climate models. It does not depend on geographic scale and can be applied at the subnational, national, or regional level. The paper illustrates the results for future climate for Ethiopia using future climate scenarios projects by 8 global climate models. The graphical displays of nine possible future climate regimes (average temperature, precipitation and their seasonal distribution) for each grid-cell about 50km X 50 km). It also provides the probability associated with each of the nine-climate regimes. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change,Global Environment Facility,Water Conservation,Information Security&Privacy,Water Resources Assessment |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5004&r=env |
| By: | Antoine D'Autume (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); John M. Hartwick (Queen's University - Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario); Katheline Schubert (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Following Stollery [1998], we extend the Solow, Dasgupta-Heal model to analyze the effects of global warning. The rise of temperature is caused by the use of fossil resources so that the temperature level can be linked to the remaining stock of these resources. The rise of temperature affects both productivity and utility. We characterize optimal solutions for the maximin and zero-discounting cases and present closed form solutions for the case where the production function and utility function are Cobb-Douglas, and the temperature level is an exponential function of the remaining stock of resources. We show that a greater weight of temperature in the preferences or a larger intertemporal elasticity of substitution both lead to postpone resource use. |
| Keywords: | Maximin ; zero discounting ; global warming |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00367917_v1&r=env |
| By: | Djamel Kirat (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Ibrahim Ahamada (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | In order to comply with their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, France and Germany participate to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which concerns predominantly electricity generation sectors. In this paper we seek to know if the EU ETS gives appropriate economic incentives for an efficient and strong system in line with Kyoto commitments. Because if so electricity producers in these countries should include the price of carbon in their costs functions. After identifying the different sub periods of the EU ETS during its pilot phase (2005-2007), we model the prices of various electricity contracts and look at their volatilities around their fundamentals while evaluating the correlation between the electricity prices in the two countries. We find that electricity producers in both countries were constrained to include the carbon price in their cost functions during the first two years of operation of the EU ETS. During this period, German electricity producers were more constrained than their French conterparts and the inclusion of the carbon price in the cost function of electricity generation has been so much more stable in Germany than in France. Furthermore, the European market for emission allowances has increased the market power of the historical French electricity producer and has greatly contributed to the partial alignment of the wholesale price of electricity in France with those of Germany. |
| Keywords: | Carbon Emission Trading, multivariate GARCH models, structural break, non parametric approach, energy prices. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00384496_v1&r=env |
| By: | David C. Cook; Rob W. Fraser; Jeffrey K. Waage; Matthew B. Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper is motivated by the observation that there is a difference between the time paths of damage valuations for invasions which affect agricultural compared with environmental systems. In particular, unlike agricultural systems, studies have shown that the social valuation of an environmental system is likely to be exponentially positively related to the extent of its deterioration. This paper explores the implications of this difference in determining biosecurity investment priorities. It is concluded that because of this difference an environmental system will often not be prioritised for such protection over an agricultural system even though its ultimate social value exceeds that of the agricultural system. |
| Keywords: | Biosecurity; invasive species |
| JEL: | Q51 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0908&r=env |
| By: | Antoine D'Autume (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Katheline Schubert (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the undiscounted utilitarian optimal paths of the canonical Dasgupta-Heal-Solow model when the stock of natural capital is a direct argument of well-being, besides consumption. We use a Keynes-Ramsey rule wich yields a generalization of Hartwick's rule : if society has a zero discount rate but is ready to accept intertemporal substitution, net investment should not be zero as in the maximin case but should be positive, its level depending on the distance between the current and the long run bliss level of utility. We characterize solutions in the Cobb-Douglas utility and production case, and analyse the influence of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution on the time profile of the optimal paths. We show that, in the Cobb-Douglas case, the ratio of the values of the resource and capital stocks remains constant along the optimal path, and is independent of initial conditions. |
| Keywords: | Exhaustible resources ; Hartwick's rule ; intertemporal substitution |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00367910_v1&r=env |
| By: | Marius-Cristian Frunza (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, Sagacarbon - Sagacarbon SA); Dominique Guegan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this work is to bring an econometric approach upon the CO2 market. We identify the specificities of this market, and regarding the carbon as a commodity. We investigate the econometric particularities of CO2 prices behavior and their result of the calibration. We apprehend and explain the reasons of the non-Gaussian behavior of this market focusing mainly upon jump diffusion and generalized hyperbolic distributions. We test these results for the risk modeling of a structured product specific to the carbon market, the swap between two carbon instruments : The European Union Allowances and the Certiified Emission Reductions. We estimate the counterparty risk for this kind of transaction and evaluate the impact of different models upon the risk measure and the allocated capital. |
| Keywords: | Carbon, Normal Inverse Gaussian, CER, EUA, swap. |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00390676_v1&r=env |
| By: | Irwin, Timothy |
| Abstract: | The problem of climate change seems to be a tragedy of the commons: despite the global benefits of reducing green-house gas emissions, no individual has any incentive to reduce his or her own emissions. Yet many people are making efforts to reduce emissions and putting pressure on businesses and governments to do the same. Although the size of these efforts is unclear, their very existence might seem puzzling. The efforts are consistent, however, with some theoretical and empirical evidence about the extent of cooperation in other social dilemmas. This evidence does not imply that greenhouse-gas emissions will be reduced to desirable levels, but it does suggest that the potential for voluntary cooperation should not be ignored. It also suggests that cooperation can be promoted by (i) allowing cooperators to punish defectors without withdrawing their own cooperation; (ii) publicly emphasizing the social benefits and extent of cooperation and the social norms that require it; and (iii) improving the quantity and timeliness of public information about cooperation and defection. |
| Keywords: | Common Property Resource Development,Access to Finance,Transport and Environment,Climate Change,Health Systems Development&Reform |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5006&r=env |
| By: | Nikhil Agarwal; Chanont Banternghansa; Linda T.M. Bui |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of toxic exposure on U.S. infant and fetal mortality rates between 1989 and 2002 from toxic pollution released by facilities reporting to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Unlike previous studies, we control for toxic pollution from mobile sources and from non-TRI reporting facilities. We find significant adverse effects of TRI exposure on infant mortality. There is evidence that health effects vary across media: air and water having a larger impact than land pollution. And, within air, we find that releases of carcinogens are particularly problematic for infant health outcomes. We estimate that the average county-level decreases in TRI concentrations between 1988 and 2002 saved in excess of 13,800 infant lives. |
| Keywords: | Newborn infants - Mortality ; Public welfare |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2009-016&r=env |
| By: | Markus Groth (Sustainability Economics Group, Department of Sustainability Sciences, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Der langjährige Einsatz und die große Bedeutung des Conservation Reserve Program begründen seine Sonderstellung als marktorientierten Ansatz zur Honorierung von Umweltleistungen. Mit diesem Beitrag wird herausgearbeitet, welche Lehren aus dem Conservation Reserve Program für die Weiterentwicklung der europäischen Agrarumweltpolitik gezogen werden können. Aufbauend auf Grundlagen des Einsatzes von Ausschreibungen für Umweltleistungen werden zunächst das Conservation Reserve Program und der Environmental Benefits Index erläutert. Im Rahmen der sich anschließenden Bewertung wird deutlich, dass mit dem Conservation Reserve Program ein erfolgreiches Verfahren zur Berücksichtigung ökologischer und ökonomischer Aspekte bei der Auswahl zu honorierender Flächen Einzug in die Agrarumweltpolitik der USA gefunden hat. Als zentrale Erfolge wird hierbei sowohl auf die Einführung des Environmental Benefits Index als auch auf die sukzessive Weiterentwicklung des Ausschreibungsdesigns eingegangen. Um Ausschreibungen zu einem wirkungsvollen Instrument der europäischen Agrarumweltpolitik – insbesondere angepasst an die Ziele des weiter an Bedeutung gewinnenden Biodiversitätsschutzes – zu entwickeln, wird abschließend aktueller Forschungsbedarf für zukünftige Modellprojekte aufgezeigt, wobei sowohl grundlegende Erfahrungen aus dem Conservation Reserve Program als auch weitergehende Aspekte Berücksichtigung finden. |
| Keywords: | Agrarumweltprogramme, Ausschreibungen, Biodiversitätsschutz, Environmental Benefits Index, Erosionsschutz, Informationsasymmetrien, Ökosystemdienstleistungen, Vertragsdifferenzierung |
| JEL: | D44 Q24 Q28 Q57 R52 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:133&r=env |
| By: | Shahidul Islam |
| Abstract: | An analysis of the Asian Development Bank-funded Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project by the Bangladeshi NGO Uttaran. |
| Keywords: | Bangladesh, ADB, asian development ban, drainage, rehabilitation, Khulna Jessore, NGO, destruction, coastal, river, water management, biodiversity, communities, ecological knowledge |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2138&r=env |
| By: | Julien CHEVALLIER; Yannick LE PEN; Benoît SEVI |
| Abstract: | To improve risk management in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the European Climate Exchange (ECX) has introduced option instruments in October 2006 after regulatory authorization. The central question we address is: can we identify a potential destabilizing effect of the introduction of options on the underlying market (EU ETS futures)? Indeed, the literature on commodities futures suggest that the introduction of derivatives may either decrease (due to more market depth) or increase (due to more speculation) volatility. As the identification of these effects ultimately remains an empirical question, we use daily data from April 2005 to April 2008 to document volatility behavior in the EU ETS. By instrumenting various GARCH models, endogenous break tests, and rolling window estimations, our results overall suggest that the introduction of the option market had no effect on the volatility in the EU ETS. These findings are robust to other likely influences linked to energy and commodity markets. |
| Keywords: | EU ETS, Option prices, volatility, GARCH, rolling estimation, endogenous structural break detection |
| JEL: | Q48 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mop:credwp:09.07.85&r=env |
| By: | Cappelen, Adne; Mjoset, Lars |
| Abstract: | During the 1950-70s Norway had relatively low GDP per capita compared to the OECD average and even more so compared to Denmark and Sweden. During the 1970s there was a significant catch-up in incomes and from the early 1990s a .take-off. in relative income. Norway is currently ranked among the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world and is at the top according to UNDP.s human development indicator. We argue that this development is related to the growth of the Norwegian petroleum sector, although many studies of economic growth conclude that countries abundant in natural resources are not blessed but cursed by gifts of nature. How has Norway avoided so many of the possible problems that follow in the wake of a natural resource-based development? Nowadays the standard answer to this question is .good institutions. and .clever policies.. In this paper we detail the institutions and policies that may explain the peculiar development success of Norway. There are lessons here that can contribute to policy learning, but only on the provision that the specificities of the .learning. country are understood. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2009-23&r=env |
| By: | Christian Reimsbach-Kounatze |
| Abstract: | This survey analyses 92 government programmes and business initiatives across 22 OECD countries plus the European Commission. Fifty of these have been introduced by governments and the remaining 42 have been developed by business associations, mostly international. Over two-thirds of these focus on improving performance in the ICT industry. Only one third focus on using ICTs across the economy and society in areas where there is major potential to dramatically improve performance, for example in “smart” urban, transport and power distribution systems, despite the fact that this is where ICT have the greatest potential to improve environmental performance. |
| Date: | 2009–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:155-en&r=env |
| By: | Carlsson, Fredrik (University of Gothenburg); Martinsson, Peter (University of Gothenburg); Akay, Alpaslan (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using an open-ended contingent valuation survey, we analyze how (i) experience of a power outage due to one of the worst storms ever to hit Sweden and (ii) a cheap talk script affect respondents' WTP to avoid power outages. Experience significantly increases and a cheap talk script decreases the proportion of respondents with zero WTP. There is no significant effect in either case on stated WTP conditional on a positive WTP. The paper concludes with a discussion on the use of valuation studies shortly after the occurrence of an undesirable event. |
| Keywords: | contingent valuation, cheap talk, experience, power outages |
| JEL: | C25 D12 Q41 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4307&r=env |
| By: | Stefan Baumgärtner (Sustainability Economics Group, Department of Sustainability Sciences, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany); Sebastian Strunz (Sustainability Economics Group, Department of Sustainability Sciences, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Ecosystem resilience, i.e. an ecosystem’s ability to maintain its basic functions and controls under disturbances, is often interpreted as insurance: by decreasing the probability of future drops in the provision of ecosystem services, resilience insures risk-averse ecosystem users against potential welfare losses. Using a general and stringent definition of “insurance” and a simple ecological-economic model, we derive the economic insurance value of ecosystem resilience and study how it depends on ecosystem properties, economic context, and the ecosystem user’s risk preferences. We show that (i) the insurance value of resilience is negative (positive) for low (high) levels of resilience, (ii) it increases with the level of resilience, and (iii) it is one additive component of the total economic value of resilience. |
| Keywords: | ecosystem, economic value, insurance, resilience, risk, risk preferences |
| JEL: | Q57 Q56 D81 G22 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:132&r=env |
| By: | Anna J. Wieczorek; Marko P. Hekkert; Ruud E.H.M. Smits |
| Abstract: | In this paper we review major theoretical (neoclassical economics, evolutionary, systemic and knowledge-based) insights about innovation and we analyse their implications for the characteristics of contemporary innovation policy and instruments. We show that the perspectives complement each other but altogether reveal the need to redefine the current general philosophy as well as the modes of operationalisation of contemporary innovation policy. We argue that systemic instruments ensuring proper organisation of innovation systems give a promise of increased rates and desired (more sustainable) direction of innovation. |
| Keywords: | systemic instruments, innovation policy, innovation theory, policy mix, innovation system, sustainability |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uis:wpaper:0912&r=env |
| By: | Maurus Rischatsch (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) designed to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) values are very popular in health economics. With increased computation power and advanced simulation techniques, random-coefficient models have gained an increasing importance in applied work as they allow for taste heterogeneity. This paper discusses the parametrical derivation of WTP values from estimated random-coefficient models and shows how these values can be simulated in cases where they do not have a known distribution. |
| Keywords: | willingness-to-pay, discrete choice, simulation, random-coe±cient models |
| JEL: | C15 C25 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soz:wpaper:0912&r=env |
| By: | Muhammad Zikri (International and Development Economics Program Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to develop an econometric model of deforestation in Indonesia using time series analysis based on the annual data from 1961 to 2000. From the model, we should be able: (i) To examine the forces of agricultural and timber sectors to forest decline; (ii) To distinguish the sources, direct and underlying causes of deforestation; and (iii) To identify macro-level economic factors that give pressures on deforestation. In order to achieve these purposes, a two-stage methods for the recursive system is chosen. The robustness of the estimation is checked to ensure there are no serial correlation and heteroskedasticity in all our equations. The main findings of model estimation show that, the forest product exports and the change in cereal cropland are the main sources of deforestation in Indonesia. Therefore, the factors determining the two sources become important to be taken into consideration. However, further examination on the underlying factors of deforestation in Indonesia are adversely affected by poor estimators given by the model. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, econometric model, Indonesian forest |
| JEL: | Q23 C32 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:200903&r=env |