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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Hongxiu Li (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo); Horatiu A. Rus (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of adaptation on a country's incentive to participate in emission-reducing International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) on climate change. We develop a framework where heterogeneity across countries is introduced with respect to the benefits and costs of both mitigation of emissions and adaptation to reduce the impact of climate change. The paper uses two coalition stability concepts and numerical simulations to look at stable coalitions. We also study the effect of an within-coalition increase in the efficiency of adaptation on emissions and on countries' incentives to cooperate. Our main findings are: first, investment in adaptation technology has a public good feature inside the coalition, compared to being strictly a private good in the non-cooperation case. Second, a large coalition cannot be achieved if countries differ much in terms of vulnerability. Third, cooperation incentives can be enhanced by a coalition which diffuses technological progress on climate change adaptation among its members. |
| JEL: | H41 Q54 Q59 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1408&r=env |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a holistic framework for analysing, assessment and improvement of environmental management in agriculture, and assesses the forms, factors and efficiency of agro-eco-management in Bulgaria during post-communist transition and EU integration. It incorporates an interdisciplinary approach, and suggests a modern framework for analysing and evaluating the system of environmental management in agriculture. After that is analysed evolution of diverse formal and informal management forms for environmental management in Bulgarian agriculture, and identifies and assesses the forms, factors, efficiency and perspectives of environmental management in “eco-active†farms of different type and location. |
| Keywords: | environmental management, agriculture, mechanisms and forms of governance, eco-managment indicators, Bulgaria, EU CAP implementation, market, private, public modes, farm managment |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q15 Q18 Q2 Q20 Q3 Q30 Q5 Q51 Q52 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59054&r=env |
| By: | Chu, Hsun; Lai, Ching-Chong; Liao, Chih-Hsing |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the growth effect of environmental taxes when the time preference is endogenously determined by the environmental quality. We find that if people become more patient due to a cleaner environment, raising the environmental tax may reduce pollution and stimulate growth. Moreover, the Pigouvian principle may be inefficient in the presence of an endogenous time preference. |
| Keywords: | endogenous time preference; endogenous growth; the Pigouvian tax |
| JEL: | O11 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59719&r=env |
| By: | Markus Groth (Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany); Jörg Cortekar (Climate Service Center 2.0, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The option of adapting to climate change is becoming more important in climate change policy. Hence, responding to climate change now involves both mitigation to address the cause and adaptation as a response to already ongoing or expected changes. These changes are also of relevance for the energy sector in Germany. An energy sector that in the course of the German “Energiewende”, also has to deal with a fundamental shift in energy supply from fossil fuel to renewable energies in the next decades. Based on a synthesis of the current knowledge regarding the possible influences of climate change on the German energy sector along its value-added chain, the paper points out, that the possible impacts of a changing climate should be taken into account in the upcoming infrastructure projects in the course of the Energiewende. The main question here is, whether adaptation options will be implemented voluntarily by companies or not. The paper argues that this has to be the case, when the measure is a private good. If, on the contrary, the measure is a public good, additional incentives are needed. For the German energy sector, the paper shows, that governmental intervention are for example justifiable regarding measures to adapt the grid infrastructure as a critical infrastructure that needs to be protected against current and future impacts of climate change. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, climate change, critical infrastructures, environmental policy instruments, energy sector, energy transition, market failures, mitigation, private goods, public goods |
| JEL: | A11 H20 H41 L94 Q40 Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:315&r=env |
| By: | Honami Sakaguchi (Student of Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University); Michiyuki Yagi (Interfaculty Initiative in the Social Sciences, Kobe University); Katsuhiko Kokubu (Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | Corporate disclosure of environmental information has played an important role in the avoidance of dangerous climate change. How firms choose to disclose environmental information about the business opportunities and risks associated with climate change is important to policy makers and investors. In the literature, there are two dominant theories of corporate disclosure: legitimacy theory and voluntary dis-closure theory. Under legitimacy theory, firms are more likely to disclose information in response to their risks; under voluntary disclosure theory, firms are more likely to disclose information in response to their opportunities. In certain industries, if firms disclose environmental information according to legitimacy theory (voluntary disclosure theory), society may be unaware of the true risks (opportunities) of climate change, and society, in these cases, we will need policies that mandate disclosure. Therefore, this study examines the power of legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory to explain corporate disclosure in three industry groupings: manufacturing, non-manufacturing, and energy & utilities. We use Bloomberg’s Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) dataset of 3,861 firm level observations from 2008-2012, and regress the corporate social disclosure score evaluated by Bloomberg on variables that indicate regulatory and physical risks and opportunities. We find that legitimacy theory does not explain corporate disclosure of regulatory risks in any of the industries and that of physical risk in the energy and utilities industry. In addition, vol-untary disclosure theory does not explain disclosure of regulatory opportunities in the energy & utilities industries. However, voluntary disclosure theory explains disclosure of opportunities in all of the industries. |
| Keywords: | Legitimacy theory, Voluntary disclosure theory, disclosure score, climate change, CDP |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kbb:dpaper:2014-31&r=env |
| By: | Alexandros Dimitropoulos (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We examine the influence of drivers’ environmental concerns on their preferences for different types of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Our empirical approach is built around the results of a large-scale survey among Dutch drivers, where preferences for electric vehicles are elicited through a choice experiment and environmental concerns are reflected in individual responses to Likert-type questions. On this basis, we develop advanced latent class models to study preference heterogeneity and its link to drivers’ socio-demographic background and environmental concerns. We find that environmental concerns are an important predictor of class membership and that highly concerned drivers tend to cluster in classes with a positive stand towards PEVs. High environmental concerns are positively associated with driver’s age and education, while negatively related to d river’s household income. |
| Keywords: | Latent class, Latent variable, Environmental concern, Electric vehicle, Plug-in hybrid |
| JEL: | D12 O33 Q58 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140128&r=env |
| By: | Gregmar Galinato; Hayley Chouinard (School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University) |
| Abstract: | We provide a model of environmental regulation to control transboundary pollution while considering the role of neighboring country regulations and measures of the quality of own and neighboring country government institutions. We apply a Spatial Durbin model to identify the determinants of the environmental regulations of several OECD countries. We do not find evidence of strategic interaction as the regulations of a neighbor do not significantly impact the own country regulations. However, the higher the quality of government institutions in a country, the more stringent the implementation of regulations. Additionally, government institutional quality significantly positively impacts the stringency of regulations in neighboring countries indirectly, possibly through technology choices. |
| Keywords: | Environmental regulations, institutions, spatial model, strategic interaction, spillovers |
| JEL: | H2 Q5 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsu:wpaper:galinato-12&r=env |
| By: | Liddle, Brantley; Messinis, George |
| Abstract: | This paper tests for a sulfur Kuznets curve by examining the sulfur emissions per capita-GDP per capita relationship individually, for 25 OECD countries over 1950-2005 using a reduced-form, linear model that allows for multiple endogenously determined breaks. This approach addresses several important econometric and modeling issues, e.g., (i) it is highly flexible and can approximate complicated nonlinear relationships without presuming a priori any particular relationship; (ii) it avoids the nonlinear transformations of potentially nonstationary income. The predominant post-1950 income-sulfur emissions relationship—the case for 24 of the 25 countries studied—was either (i) inverted-Vs, where the emissions-income relationship became negative, or (ii) decoupling, where income no longer affected emissions in a long-run, statistically significant way. Seventeen of the 21 transitional breaks uncovered occurred over 1965-1978; hence, in concert with previous work, we conclude that shared timing among countries is important in income-environment transitions. |
| Keywords: | Sulfur emissions; Environmental Kuznets curve; OECD countries; nonlinear flexible form; multiple endogenous breaks; income-emission relationships |
| JEL: | C22 C50 O44 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59565&r=env |
| By: | Jaime de Melo (Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International (FERDI)); Mariana Vijil (DG Treasury, French Ministry for the Economy and Finance and FERDI) |
| Abstract: | At the Davos forum of January 2014, a group of 14 countries pledged to launch negotiations on liberalising trade in ‘green goods’ (also known as `environmental goods’(EGs)), focussing on the elimination of tariffs for an ‘APEC list’ of 54 products. The paper shows that the ‘Davos group’, with an average tariff of 1.8%, has little to offer as countries have avoided submitting products with tariffs peaks for tariff reductions. Even if the list were extended to the 411 products on the ‘WTO list’, taking into account tariff dispersion, their tariff structure on EGs would be equivalent to a uniform tariff of 3.4%, about half the uniform tariff-equivalent for non EGs products. Enlarging the number of participants to low-income countries might be possible as, on average, their imports would not increase by more than 8 percent. However, because of the strong complementarities between trade in Environmental Goods and trade in Environmental Services, these should also be brought to the negotiation table even though difficulties in reaching agreement on their scope are likely to be great |
| Keywords: | Environmental Goods, Environmental Services, Doha Round, APEC, Davos Initiative, Tariff Reductions |
| JEL: | F18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.70&r=env |
| By: | Yana Rubashkina (Catholic University of Milan); Marzio Galeotti (University of Milan and IEFE-Bocconi); Elena Verdolini (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and CMCC) |
| Abstract: | This paper represents an empirical investigation of the “weak” and “strong” Porter Hypothesis (PH) focusing on the manufacturing sectors of European countries between 1997 and 2009. By and large, the literature has analyzed the impact of environmental regulation on innovation and on productivity generally in separate analyses and mostly focusing on the USA. The few existing studies focusing on Europe investigate the effect of environmental regulation either on green innovation or on performance indicators such as exports. We instead look at overall innovation and productivity impact that are the most relevant indicators for the “strong” PH. This approach allows us to account for potential opportunity costs of induced innovations. As a proxy of environmental policy stringency we use pollution abatement and control expenditures (PACE), which represent one of the few indicators available at the sectoral level. We remedy upon its main drawback, that of potential endogeneity of PACE, by adopting an instrumental variable estimation approach. We find evidence of a positive impact of environmental regulation on the output of innovation activity, as proxied by patents, thus providing support in favor of the “weak” PH in line with most of the literature. On the other front, we find no evidence in favor or against the “strong” PH, as productivity appears to be unaffected by the degree of pollution control and abatement efforts. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Regulation, Innovation, Productivity, Competitiveness, Porter Hypothesis |
| JEL: | Q50 Q52 Q55 Q58 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.80&r=env |
| By: | Yana Rubashkina; Marzio Galeotti; Elena Verdolini |
| Abstract: | This paper represents an empirical investigation of the “weak” and “strong” Porter Hypothesis (PH) focusing on the manufacturing sectors of European countries between 1997 and 2009. By and large, the literature has analyzed the impact of environmental regulation on innovation and on productivity generally in separate analyses and mostly focusing on the USA. The few existing studies focusing on Europe investigate the effect of environmental regulation either on green innovation or on performance indicators such as exports. We instead look at overall innovation and productivity impact that are the most relevant indicators for the “strong” PH. This approach allows us to account for potential opportunity costs of induced innovations. As a proxy of environmental policy stringency we use pollution abatement and control expenditures (PACE), which represent one of the few indicators available at the sectoral level. We remedy upon its main drawback, that of potential endogeneity of PACE, by adopting an instrumental variable estimation approach. We find evidence of a positive impact of environmental regulation on the output of innovation activity, as proxied by patents, thus providing support in favor of the “weak” PH in line with most of the literature. On the other front, we find no evidence in favor or against the “strong” PH, as productivity appears to be unaffected by the degree of pollution control and abatement efforts. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Regulation, Innovation, Productivity, Competitiveness, Porter Hypothesis |
| JEL: | Q50 Q52 Q55 Q58 O31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp69&r=env |
| By: | Yildiz, Özgür |
| Abstract: | Environmental policies generally address questions of coping with negative externalities or strategies for the use of limited resources. Conventional policies for this purpose often rely on explicit incentives to promote desired or to sanction undesirable actions. However, practice shows repeatedly that these approaches fail or are accompanied by unwanted side effects. In this regard, the study of decision-making processes and motifs of actors involved in the context of environmental policy provides a broader foundation for the design of policy measures between the conflicting priorities of social, ecological, and economic dimensions. This paper ties at this task by reviewing key findings in the field of behavioral economics, applying these insights to problems in the context of environmental policy, and finally deriv-ing therefrom recommendations for the design of policy measures. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Policy; Behavioral Economics; Incentives; Fairness; |
| JEL: | B4 H2 H3 Q58 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59360&r=env |
| By: | Ian Cochran; Romain Hubert; Virginie Marchal; Robert Youngman |
| Abstract: | Public financial institutions (PFIs) are well-positioned to act as a key leverage point for governments’ efforts to mobilise private investment in low-carbon projects and infrastructure. The study identifies the tools, instruments and approaches used by five PFIs to directly support and scale-up domestic private sector investment in sustainable transport, energy-efficiency and renewable energy in OECD countries. Between 2010-2012, these five institutions – Group Caisse des Dépôts in France, KfW Bankengruppe in Germany, the UK Green Investment Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – have provided over 100 billion euros of equity investment and financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable transport projects. They use both traditional and innovative approaches to link low-carbon projects with finance through enhancing access to capital; facilitating risk reduction and sharing; improving the capacity of market actors; and shaping broader market practices and conditions. Les institutions financières publiques (IFP) sont particulièrement bien placées pour compléter les efforts des pouvoirs publics visant à mobiliser les investissements privés dans des projets et des infrastructures sobres en carbone. Cette étude identifie les outils, instruments et méthodes dont se servent cinq IFP pour financer et / ou accroître les investissements du secteur privé au niveau national dans les transports durables, l’efficacité énergétique et l’énergie renouvelable dans des pays membres de l’OCDE. De 2010 à 2012, ces cinq institutions – le Groupe Caisse des Dépôts en France, la KfW Bankengruppe en Allemagne, l’UK Green Investment Bank, la Banque européenne d’investissement, et la Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement – ont apporté un total de plus de 100 milliards EUR d’investissements en fonds propres et de financement en faveur de projets d’efficacité énergétique, d’énergies renouvelables et de transports durables. Elles font appel à des méthodes à la fois traditionnelles et nouvelles pour lier des projets aux moyens de financement, en améliorant l’accès aux capitaux ; en facilitant la réduction et le partage des risques ; en renforçant les capacités des acteurs de marché et, dans un cadre plus large, en mettant en place des pratiques et des conditions de marché. |
| Keywords: | climate change, renewable energy, energy efficiency, climate finance, low-carbon, investment, infrastructure, public financial institutions, institutions financières publiques, finance climat, bas carbone, efficacité énergétique, changement climatique, investissement, infrastructure, énergie renouvelable |
| JEL: | G11 G18 G23 G28 O44 Q01 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:72-en&r=env |
| By: | Katerina Sherstyuk (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Nori Tarui (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Majah-Leah V. Ravago (University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | Dynamic externalities are at the core of many long-term environmental problems, from species preservation to climate change mitigation. We use laboratory experiments to compare welfare outcomes and underlying behavior in games with dynamic externalities under two distinct settings: traditionally studied games with infinitely-lived decision makers, and more realistic intergenerational games. We show that if decision makers change across generations, resolving dynamic externalities becomes more challenging for two distinct reasons. First, decision makers' actions may be short-sighted due to their limited incentives to care about the future generations' welfare. Second, even when the incentives are perfectly aligned across generations, increased strategic uncertainty of an intergenerational setting may lead to an increased inconsistency of own actions and beliefs about the others, making own actions more myopic. Intergenerational learning through history and advice from previous generations may improve dynamic efficiency, but may also lead to persistent myopic bias. |
| Keywords: | economic experiments, dynamic externalities, intergenerational games, climate change |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2014-14&r=env |
| By: | Ben White (University of Western Australia); Nick Hanley (School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | Payments for ecosystem service outputs have become a popular policy prescription for a range of agri-environmental schemes. The focus of this paper is on the choice of sets of instruments in an ecosystem service principal-agent model that addresses adverse selection and moral-hazard. Results show that input-based and output-based contracts are equivalent where there is full information. With missing information, input-based contracts are more efficient at reducing the informational rent related to adverse selection than output-based contracts. There is an efficiency gain related to using mixed contracts especially where one input is not observable. These contracts allow the regulator to target variables that are costly-to-fake as opposed to those prone to moral hazard such as labour inputs. We then consider the implications of moral hazard and dynamic contracting. An overall finding is that in designing agri-environmental schemes, it is critical that the regulator has an understanding of the link between actions and ecosystem service outputs and, ideally, an estimate of their economic value. Without these in place, payment for ecosystem service schemes will be inefficient and poorly targeted. |
| Keywords: | payments for ecosystem services, principal-agent models, moral hazard, adverse selection, mechanism design |
| JEL: | D82 Q24 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sss:wpaper:201408&r=env |
| By: | Johannes Emmerling (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | Uncertainty is prevalent in the context of climate change impacts. Moreover, the distribution across the globe is not uniform. We analyze how climate risks could be reduced via an insurance scheme at the global scale across regions and quantify the potential welfare gains from such a scheme. Starting from the standard welfare analysis in Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), which assumes no risk sharing across region, we introduce global risk sharing via a market for state-dependent Arrow-Debreu securities. We show that this allows equalizing relative consumption differences between states of the world across regions. We estimate that such risk sharing scheme of climate risks could lead to welfare gains reducing the global costs of climate change by up to one third, while the amount of transfers required is substantial. This provides arguments for considering risk sharing in IAMs, but also for potentially welfare increasing negotiations about sharing risks of climate change at the global level. |
| Keywords: | Uncertainty, Risk Sharing, Insurance, Climate Change, Risk Aversion |
| JEL: | Q54 D81 D63 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.78&r=env |
| By: | Coniglio, Nicola D. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Pesce, Giovanni (University of Bari "Aldo Moro") |
| Abstract: | Is international migration an adaptation strategy to sudden or gradual climatic shocks? In this paper we investigate the direct and the indirect role of climatic shocks in developing countries as a determinant of out-migration flows toward rich OECD countries in the period 1990-2001. Contrarily to the bulk of existing studies we use a macro approach and explicitly consider the heterogeneity of climatic shocks (type, size, sign of shocks and seasonal effects). Our results show that the occurrence of adverse climatic events in origin countries has significative direct and indirect effects on out-migration from poor to rich countries. |
| Keywords: | Climate shocks; international migration. |
| JEL: | F22 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2014_031&r=env |
| By: | Roberto Gómez-Calvet (Business Department, European University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain); David Conesa (Statistics and Operational Research Department, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain); Ana Rosa Gómez-Calvet (Business Finance Department, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain); Emili Tortosa-Ausina (IVIE, Valencia and Department of Economics, Universidad Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This article evaluates the evolution of environmental performance in the context of the European Union (EU), over the period 1993–2010. The context is particularly relevant, due to the traditionally high concerns of the EU about these issues, which has triggered off several initiatives and regulations on environmental protection. In this setting, we conduct a two-stage analysis which develops environmental performance indicators in the first stage for each pair country-year, and evaluates its evolution in the second. More specifically, in the first stage we estimate specific efficiencies for three air-pollutants (CO2e, SO2, NOx), along with an eco-efficiency indicator, for which we use the slack-free directional distance functions in the Data Envelopment Analysis framework (as opposed to the more extended intensity ratios), whereas in the second stage we propose using a model of explicit distribution dynamics which takes into account how the entire distributions of these indicators evolve. Our results indicate that the dynamics underlying the evolution of the indicators analyzed are indeed remarkable. Although the eco-efficiency indicator has improved over the last two decades, it has been during the last decade when performance has shown a more convergent path. However, in the case of the more traditional indicators (CO2e, SO2, NOx) the abatement opportunities are still remarkable, especially in the case of SO2e. |
| Keywords: | distribution dynamics, efficiency, energy, environmental performance, European Union |
| JEL: | Q4 Q43 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2014/20&r=env |
| By: | Luisa Gagliardi; Giovanni Marin; Caterina Miriello |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between environment related innovation and job creation at firm level. Employing Italian data on 4,507 manufacturing firms, matched with patent records for the period 2001-2008, we test whether “green” innovation, measured using the number of environment related patents, has a positive effect on long run employment growth that is specific with respect to non environmental innovation. Results show a strong positive impact of “green” innovation on long run job creation, substantially bigger than the effect of other innovations. Our findings are robust to a number of additional tests including controls for cost differential between generic and “green” innovation and endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Technological Change, Eco-Innovation, Employment |
| JEL: | O33 Q55 J21 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp60&r=env |
| By: | Frédéric Branger (AgroParistech ENGREF and CIRED (France)); Philippe Quirion (CIRED and CNRS (France)) |
| Abstract: | We develop a stochastic model to rank different policies (tax, fixed cap and relative cap) according to their expected total social costs. Three types of uncertainties are taken into account: uncertainty about abatement costs, business-as-usual (BAU) emissions and future economic output (the two latter being correlated). Two parameters: the ratio of slopes of marginal benefits and marginal costs, and the above-mentioned correlation, are crucial to determine which instrument is preferred. When marginal benefits are relatively flatter than marginal costs, prices are preferred over fixed caps (Weitzman’s result). When the former correlation is higher than a parameter- dependent threshold, relative caps are preferred to fixed caps. An intermediate condition is found to compare the tax instrument and the relative cap. The model is then empirically tested for seven different regions (China, the United States, Europe, India, Russia, Brazil and Japan). We find that tax is preferred to caps (absolute or relative) in all cases, and that relative caps are preferred to fixed caps in the US and emerging countries (except Brazil where it is ambiguous), whereas fixed cap are preferred to relative cap in Europe and Japan. |
| Keywords: | Instrument, Price, Quantity, Intensity Target, Regulation, post-Kyoto, Uncertainty, Climate Policy |
| JEL: | Q5 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.85&r=env |
| By: | Salvador del Saz-Salazar; Leandro García-Menéndez; Olaf Merk |
| Abstract: | In times of increasing environmental awareness, the port-city relationship has gained a new meaning since ports have been seen as the origin of both negative and positive externalities affecting the public wellbeing. While the former are the result of port expansion, the latter are the result of transforming obsolete port areas into recreational facilities. Therefore, in order to support effective policy-making, in this research is emphasized the need of measuring these environmental externalities. Considering their non-market nature, the contingent valuation method is introduced as an economic tool capable of overcoming this obstacle. Thus, the cases of two ports in Spain, namely Valencia and Castellón, are reviewed. The policy implications of this are discussed with the aim to improve the understanding of the changing relationship between ports and cities. |
| Keywords: | port-city relationship, port expansion, waterfront redevelopment, contingent valuation, economic appraisal, environmental externalities |
| JEL: | H41 Q51 Q58 R14 |
| Date: | 2013–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2013/24-en&r=env |
| By: | Marzio Galeotti; Yana Rubashkina; Silvia Salini; Elena Verdolini |
| Abstract: | We propose the use of a two level random intercept model to measure the degree of environmental policy performance of different countries and to study its determinants. Inspired by the literature on multilevel latent models and Item Response Theory (IRT), this framework treats policy commitment as a latent variable which is estimated conditional on the difficulty of the policy portfolio implemented by each country. We contribute to the study and scoring of environmental and energy policies in three main ways. First, the model results in a ranking of countries which is conditional on the complexity of their chosen policy portfolio. Second, we provide a unified framework in which to construct a policy indicator and to study its determinants through a latent regression approach. The resulting country ranking can thus be cleaned from the effect of economic and institutional observables which affect policy design and implementation. Third, the model estimates parameters which can be used to describe and compare policy portfolios across countries. We apply this methodology to the case of energy efficiency policies in the industrial sectors of 29 EU countries between 2004 and 2011. We conclude by highlighting the future possible applications of this approach, which are not confined to the realm of environmental and energy policy. |
| Keywords: | Energy policy, environmental policy, ranking, policy portfolios |
| JEL: | Q58 O57 C33 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcu:iefewp:iefewp71&r=env |
| By: | Zeppini, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We propose a discrete choice model of sustainable transitions from dirty to clean technologies. Agents can adopt one technology or the other, under the influence of social interactions and network externalities. Sustainable transitions are addressed as a multiple equilibria problem. A pollution tax can trigger a sudden transition as a bifurcation event, at the expenses of large policy efforts. Alternatively, periodic dynamics can arise. Technological progress introduced in the form of endogenous learning curves stands as a fundamental factor of sustainable transitions. For this to work, the positive feedback of network externalities and social interaction should be reduced initially, for instance by promoting niche markets of clean technologies and making technological standards and infrastructure more open. Traditional policy channels such as pollution tax and feed-in-tariffs have an auxiliary - yet important - role in our model. Compared to feed-in-tariffs, a pollution tax promotes smoother and faster transitions. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eid:wpaper:41579&r=env |
| By: | Koji Kotani (School of Management, Kochi University of Technology); Kenta Tanaka (Mushashi University); Shunsuke Managi (Tohoku University) |
| Abstract: | A marketable permit system (MPS) has been suggested as solutions to environmental problems. Whereas properties of MPSs in non-trader settings are well-documented, little is explored about how MPSs perform in trader settings. We instituted two auctions of trader settings in MPS experiments: double auction (DA) and uniform price auction (UPA), and obtain the following results: UPAs are more efficient and generate more stable prices than DAs; UPAs induce subjects to more truthfully reveal information about abatement costs for emissions; and a considerable proportion of trades in DAs consist of speculation. Thus, UPAs work better than DAs in trader settings. |
| Keywords: | Marketable permits, economic experiments, double auction, uniform price auction, trader settings |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2014-2&r=env |
| By: | Can Liu Hao; Katrina Mullan; Qingjiao Rong; Wenqing Zhu |
| Abstract: | We use a large unique household panel data set spanning 16 years to estimate the impacts of three major Chinese forest conservation and reforestation programs on household incomes. The programs are the most significant of China’s Key Priority Forestry Programs, namely the Sloping Land Conversion Program (the SLCP), the Natural Forest Protection Program (the NFPP), and the Desertification Combating Program around Beijing and Tianjin (the DCBT). Cluster effects with county and environment factors have been estimated by using year dummy variables. Fixed model with cluster effects has been used. In addition to estimating the total impacts of the programs, individually and in combination, we disaggregate the effects by income source, stage of policy implementation, and duration of participation. We find minimal effects on total incomes from the programs overall, which are quiet different with other research empirical results, .but the more detailed results show that the initial stages of the programs, and the early years of participation had negative or neutral effects on land-based incomes, while in more recent years, impacts have improved, and in some cases become positive. |
| Keywords: | Priority Forest Programs, rural household income, rural development, forest economics, ecological restoration. |
| JEL: | Q23 I38 R14 R29 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:piercr:2013-08&r=env |
| By: | Mu, Quan; Zhang, Junjie |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2014–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt1bz8c9ms&r=env |
| By: | Matthieu BOUSSICHAS (Ferdi); Vincent NOSSEK (Ferdi) |
| Abstract: | Ce document propose une comparaison statistique des objectifs du développement durable (ODD) et de leurs principales cibles dans les PMA, les autres pays vulnérables et les autres pays en développement. Il se base sur les ODD proposés le 19 juillet 2014 par le Groupe de travail ouvert de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies sur les objectifs de développement durable. Alors que le nouvel agenda post-2015 sera universel, la grande hétérogénéité des pays pose la question de la différenciation de l’agenda en fonction des spécificités, notamment celles des pays vulnérables. Un élément de réponse tient dans l’identification de ces spécificités pour les objectifs et cibles proposés. Ce document compare ainsi les Pays les Moins Avancés (PMA), les Pays en Développement Sans Littoral (PDSL) et les Petits Etats Insulaires en Développement (PEID) aux pays en développement hors-PMA ou aux pays à revenu intermédiaires (PRI) selon la disponibilité des données. Ce travail s’inscrit dans la continuité du document de travail P77 de la Ferdi (Boussichas, Coudert, & Gillot, 2013) qui établit un bilan factuel par OMD (objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement) pour les pays vulnérables et compare les résultats obtenus par chaque catégorie à ceux des pays en développement hors-PMA. A l’instar de ce que le bilan des OMD permet d’observer, il apparaît que, globalement, les pays vulnérables et en particulier les PMA se distinguent par un retard significatif sur la majorité des nouveaux objectifs et cibles de l’agenda post-2015. La crainte qu’un élargissement de l’agenda du développement au développement durable ne dilue à l’avenir la priorité donnée jusqu’à maintenant à ces pays ne peut être alimentée par les statistiques tant les besoins des pays vulnérables en matière de développement durable apparaissent globalement plus importants que ceux des autres catégories de pays. Afin de prendre en compte les niveaux initiaux des pays dans l’évaluation des progrès, ce travail introduit, lorsque cela est possible et pertinent, une évaluation non linéaire des progrès constatés depuis 2000 sur les possibles futurs objectifs. Ainsi, bien que leurs niveaux d’éducation et de santé restent plus faibles, la performance des PMA dans ces deux secteurs s’avère relativement meilleure que celle des autres PED. Le même constat peut être fait pour l’utilisation d’énergies alternatives et renouvelables. En revanche, les progrès des PMA sont décevants en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et la malnutrition au regard de ce qu’a été la performance des autres PED. Ces résultats montrent deux choses : 1/ L’approche OMD a probablement permis aux PMA de rattraper en partie (mais en partie seulement) leur retard en matière de capital humain. Ce constat encourageant milite pour une différenciation renouvelée à leur égard, notamment dans les efforts spécifiques de la communauté internationale dont ils bénéficient ; 2/ Les PMA se distinguant cependant par une mauvaise performance en matière de pauvreté et de malnutrition, il est important de considérer spécifiquement ces pays sur l’ensemble des facteurs concourant à cette mauvaise performance. Nombre de ces facteurs sont précisément parmi ceux nouvellement pris en compte dans l’agenda post-2015. Or, les PMA accusent un retard significatif pour la plupart de ces facteurs. Afin de rééditer pour les autres facteurs du développement la relative bonne performance des PMA en matière de capital humain, les pays vulnérables doivent continuer à bénéficier d’un support particulier de la communauté internationale. |
| JEL: | F35 I32 I38 O11 E61 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fdi:wpaper:1832&r=env |
| By: | Julien Daubanes; Pierre Lasserre |
| Abstract: | There exists no formal treatment of non-renewable resource (NRR) supply, systematically deriving quantity as function of price. We establish instantaneous restricted (fixed reserves) and unrestricted NRR supply functions. The supply of a NRR at any date and location not only depends on the local contemporary price of the resource but also on prices at all other dates and locations. Besides the usual law of supply, which characterizes the own-price effect, cross-price effects have their own law. They can be decomposed into a substitution effect and a stock compensation effect. We show that the substitution effect always dominates: a price increase at some point in space and time causes NRR supply to decrease at all other points. This new but orthodox supply setting extends to NRRs the partial equilibrium analysis of demand and supply policies. The properties of restricted and unrestricted supply functions are characterized for Hotelling (homogenous) as well as Ricardian (non homogenous) reserves, for a single deposit as well as for several deposits that endogenously come into production or cease to be active. |
| Keywords: | Allocating inventories, allocating reserves, supply theory, price effect, substitution effect, stock compensation effect; green paradox; spatial leakage, |
| JEL: | Q38 D21 H22 |
| Date: | 2014–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2014s-42&r=env |
| By: | Bell, William Paul; Wild, Phillip; Foster, John |
| Abstract: | This report primarily aims to provide both dispatch and wholesale spot price forecasts for the proposed hybrid gas-solar thermal plant at Collinsville, Queensland, Australia for its lifetime 2017-47. These forecasts are to facilitate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) negotiations and to evaluate the proposed dispatch profile in Table 3. The report’s wider appeal is the techniques and methods used to model the Australian National Electricity Market's (NEM) demand and wholesale spot prices for the lifetime of the proposed plant. The solar thermal component of the plant uses Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) technology. To facilitate the PPA negotiations, this report produces the half-hourly dispatch of the plant’s gas component and the associated half-hourly wholesale spot prices for the plant’s node on the NEM given the yield from the plant’s solar thermal component and a fixed total dispatch profile shown in Table 3. The total dispatch profile incorporates both gas and solar outputs and differs between weekdays and weekends. Table 3: Proposed plant's total dispatch profile by hour of week _____Time_________________Dispatch (MW)_____________________ Weekdays (8am-10pm) ______ 30 Weekdays (7am-8am) _______ ramp from 0 to 30 Weekends _________________ entire yield of the solar thermal component The half-hourly yield profile for the solar thermal component of the plant is determined in our previous report (Bell, Wild & Foster 2014b). Three profiles are utilised to help to negotiate a PPA: solar thermal yield, gas dispatch and wholesale market spot price. |
| Keywords: | Australian National Electricity Market, NEM, Climate change, Collinsville, electricity demand, Demand management, dispatch forecasting, Electricity, Energy Consumption, Energy economics, Future proofing, LFR, Linear Fresnel Reflector, mitigation, Australian national electricity market, NEM, power purchase agreements, PPA, Queensland, Australia, Renewable energy, solar energy, solar thermal |
| JEL: | O3 Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2014–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59648&r=env |
| By: | Ana Balsa; Juanita Bloomfield; Marcelo Caffera |
| Abstract: | This study explores the impact of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes. The study focuses on the effect of breathable particulate matter with diameter of 10 micrometers or less (PM10) on the likelihood of premature birth and low birth weight (LBW). The study exploits the fact that in 2011 the ashes and dust resulting from the eruption of the Puyehue volcano in Chile substantially increased exposure to PM10 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Using prenatal and birth data from the Perinatal Information System for 2010-2012, it is found that increases in quarterly averages of PM10 concentrations beyond 50 µg/m3 decrease birth weight and increase the likelihood of LBW and prematurity at increasing rates. The results also suggest that the effect of PM10 on birth weight works mainly through a higher likelihood of prematurity, rather than through intrauterine growth retardation. The effects increase with each trimester of pregnancy: exposure during the third trimester is the most dangerous. |
| Keywords: | Youth & Children, Human health, Pollution, Particulate matter, Pollution, Low birth weight, Pre-term birth |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:86893&r=env |
| By: | Sahu, Santosh Kumar; Krishnan, Narayanan |
| Abstract: | Obtaining ISO certification has become a status symbol for adopting environmentally benign practices for the corporate sector in emerging economies. Such certification can help improve the global visibility of firms and is mandated in international trade. This paper attempts to examine the impact of such certifications on technical efficiency of firms belonging to the manufacturing sector in India. In analysing the impact of ISO Certification on technical efficiency, this paper uses data from the CMIE Prowess for the period 2007-2012. In the first step, the paper estimates technical efficiency for the sample firms and then examines the determinants of inter-firm differences in technical efficiency using firm specific characteristics. The results of this study conclude that there are substantial inter-firm differences in technical efficiency and they are systematically different based on firm age, firm size, debt capital, MNE affiliation, and ISO certification. ISO certification, especially maintaining the standards associated with it, turned out to be an important factor in making the firms achieve higher technical efficiency. In addition, the results of this study also confirms that firms that are ISO certified and doing R&D are better off in technical efficiency as compared to the others. |
| Keywords: | ISO certification, R&D, Efficiency, Manufacturing Firms, India |
| JEL: | L11 L22 Q57 |
| Date: | 2014–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59451&r=env |
| By: | NU. CEPAL. Subsede de México |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col094:37032&r=env |
| By: | Carlos Andrés Vergara Tamayo; Andrés Felipe González Quesada; Carlos Andrés González Coronado |
| Abstract: | Resumen: Este artículo tiene como objeto realizar una primera aproximación a la valoración económica delos costos ambientales del proyecto minero La Colosa en el municipio de Cajamarca – Tolima, mediante la aplicación de un estudio piloto (primera etapa) del Método de Valoración Contingente (MVC). A partir de la evaluación de impactos ambientales, de la cual los componentes de mayor relevancia, según su afectación, son el hídrico y el biótico (cobertura vegetal) se fundamenta el planteamiento del escenario hipotético. La encuesta para indagar sobre las preferencias de la población objetivo se realizó a una muestra piloto. Así, la primera etapa del MVC se desarrolla por medio de los modelos de regresión Probit y Logit, en donde la variable dependiente “Disposición a Aceptar el Pago (DAA)” se explica en los modelos ajustados a través de las variables independientes (pers_vivienda, bosq20 y ríos_mina). Para la muestra, el valor medio de DAA anual por hogar a pesos del año 2012 es de $5’577.464 durante la operación de la mina. |
| Keywords: | Escenario hipotético; Evaluación ambiental; Estudio previo; Valoración económica; Valoración contingente. |
| JEL: | Q01 Q32 Q51 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:012241&r=env |
| By: | Bartolini, Stefano; Sarracino, Francesco; Theis, Laurent |
| Abstract: | While the various streams of environmentalism agree in claiming that the current patterns of economic activity are unsustainable for natural resources, they disagree in answering the following question: who is the responsible? Two different answers have been provided: the people or the socio-economic system. The first answer claims that people are inter-temporally greedy. Unsustainable economic patterns simply reflect the little importance that current generations attribute to the living standard of future generations. According to the second answer instead, people would prefer a more sustainable path of the economy but some failure of the socio-economic system prevent this outcome. We provide a test of the basic hypothesis on which these two views diverge: the degree of people’s concern for the conditions of life of future generations. We derive this information by estimating the relationship between people’s current subjective well-being and their expectations about the living standard of future generations, i.e. a future far enough to concern only future generations. According to the first view, people’s expectations about the future should have weak or null influence on people’s current well-being. On the contrary, the second view implies that such influence should be positive and remarkable. We use various international and national survey data to estimate a standard happiness regression augmented with people’s expectation about the future. Results suggest that current well-being is sharply and negatively associated to a negative expectation of the future. Where possible, we use 2SLS to account for possible endogeneity between the expectations about the future and current well-being. We find that expecting the worst (the best) for future generations has a very large negative (positive) impact on subjective well-being. This conclusion supports the view that current problems of sustainability are due to some failure of the socio-economic organization and not to the inter-temporal greed of human beings. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability, well-being, life satisfaction, Endogenous Growth, economic growth, discount rate, happiness, intergenerational equity, time preference. |
| JEL: | D62 D64 D91 I31 |
| Date: | 2014–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58400&r=env |