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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2013‒04‒27
eight papers chosen by |
| By: | Bennet, Jeffrey W. |
| Abstract: | The performance of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI’s) research program that focuses on water resource issues is reviewed for the period 1994–2010 around the three themes that constitute the program: global modeling, river basin modeling, and institutions. |
| Keywords: | Impact assessment; Water resources; Environmental impacts; resource management; Natural resource management; Water policies;, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:impass:35&r=res |
| By: | Frederick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | The Green Paradox states thata gradually more ambitious climate policy such as a renewables subsidy or an anticipated carbon tax induces fossil fuel owners to extract more rapidly and accelerate global warming However, if extraction becomes more costly as reserves are depleted, such policies also shorten the fossil fuel era, induce more fossil fuel to be left in the earth and thus curb cumulative carbon emissions. This is relevant as global warming depends primarily on cumulative emissions. There is no Green Paradox for a specific carbon tax that rises at less than the market rate of interest. Since this is the case for the growth of the optimal carbon tax, the Green Paradox is a temporary second-best phenomenon. There is also a Green paradox if there is a chance of a breakthrough in renewables technology occurring at some random future date. However, there will also be less investment in opening up fossil fuel deposits and thus cumulative carbon emission will be curbed. |
| Keywords: | global warming, Green Paradox, carbon tax, renewables subsidy, second best, technological breakthrough |
| JEL: | D81 H20 Q31 Q38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:110&r=res |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests a holistic framework for assessment and improvement of management strategies for conservation of natural resources in agriculture. First, it incorporates an interdisciplinary approach (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Ecology, Technology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) and presents a modern framework for assessing environmental management and strategies in agriculture including: specification of specific “managerial needs” and spectrum of feasible governance modes (institutional environment; private, collective, market, and public modes) of natural resources conservation at different level of decision-making (individual, farm, eco-system, local, regional, national, transnational, and global); specification of critical socio-economic, natural, technological, behavioral etc. factors of managerial choice, and feasible spectrum of (private, collective, public, international) managerial strategies; assessment of efficiency of diverse management strategies in terms of their potential to protect diverse eco-rights and investments, assure socially desirable level of environmental protection and improvement, minimize overall (implementing, third-party, transaction etc.) costs, coordinate and stimulate eco-activities, meet preferences and reconcile conflicts of individuals etc. Second, it presents evolution and assesses the efficiency of diverse management forms and strategies for conservation of natural resources in Bulgarian agriculture during post-communist transformation and EU integration (institutional, market, private, and public), and evaluates the impacts of EU CAP on environmental sustainability of farms of different juridical type, size, specialization and location. Finally, it suggests recommendations for improvement of public policies, strategies and modes of intervention, and private and collective strategies and actions for effective environmental protection. |
| Keywords: | environmental and natural resources; governance and strategies; institutions; market; private; public and hybrid modes; agriculture |
| JEL: | O13 O17 O18 Q12 Q13 Q15 Q18 Q24 Q25 Q28 Q38 Q5 Q50 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46368&r=res |
| By: | YAMAGAMI, Hiroaki |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the importance of induced technological change in considering the efficiency costs of environmental policy. In particular, in modeling an endogenous formation of energy-saving technology through a variety of intermediates, the paper studies the welfare effects of environmental tax reform in a general equilibrium model. Using this model, the paper shows that environmental tax reform induces an expansion of the variety of intermediates by increasing rents from innovating new intermediates and, thereby, brings technological change. Then, the induced variety expansion by environmental tax reform achieves positive externalities and plays an important role both to decrease the efficiency costs and to improve the environmental quality. |
| Keywords: | Double dividend, Energy saving, Environmental tax reform, Induced technological change, Tax-interaction effect |
| JEL: | D62 H23 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:46516&r=res |
| By: | Geoffrey Heal; Antony Millner |
| Abstract: | Uncertainty is intrinsic to climate change: we know that the climate is changing, but not precisely how fast or in what ways. Nor do we understand fully the social and economic consequences of these changes, or the options that will be available for reducing climate change. Furthermore the uncertainty about these issues is not readily quantified and expressed in probabilistic terms: we are facing deep uncertainty or ambiguity rather than risk in the classical sense, rendering the classical expected utility framework of limited value. We review the sources of uncertainty about all aspects of climate change and resolve these into various components, commenting on their relative importance. Then we review decision-making frameworks that are appropriate in the absence of quantitative probabilistic information, including non-probabilistic approaches and those based on multiple priors, and discuss their application in climate change economics. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp108&r=res |
| By: | John P. Weche Geluebcke (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany); Isabella Wedl (Institute for Environmental Communication, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Only recently have the aspects of pollution and environmental protection entered into the empirical literature about international firm activities. The present paper is the first firm-level study on the link between foreign ownership and environmental protection in Germany. We find that, ceteris paribus, foreign owned firms in Germany are more likely to invest in environmental protection. They also invest on a larger scale in terms of add-on measures as well as integrated measures. These results are robust against different measures, different time periods, different control groups, and selection issues arising from fractional response data. Once we control for productivity levels, the differences become less straightforward. However, the higher probability of foreign firms' making general as well as integrated environmental protection investments and the tilt of their composition towards integrated measures remain. We cannot find any support for differences among foreign firms by country of origin. This can be interpreted as support for the new institutionalist hypothesis of international convergence of management practices in the field of environmental management due to normative pressure and de facto standards at the global level. |
| Keywords: | Environmental protection; foreign ownership; country of origin; multinational enterprises; manufacturing; Germany |
| JEL: | F21 Q52 Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:267&r=res |
| By: | Albouy, David (University of Michigan); Graf, Walter (University of California, Berkeley); Kellogg, Ryan (University of Michigan); Wolff, Hendrik (University of Washington) |
| Abstract: | We present a hedonic framework to estimate U.S. households' preferences over local climates, using detailed weather and 2000 Census data. We find that Americans favor an average daily temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, will pay more on the margin to avoid excess heat than cold, and are not substantially more averse to extremes than to temperatures that are merely uncomfortable. These preferences vary by location due to sorting or adaptation. Changes in climate amenities under business-as-usual predictions imply annual welfare losses of 1 to 3 percent of income by 2100, holding technology and preferences constant. |
| Keywords: | climate amenities, climate change, quality of life, temperature profiles, heterogeneous preferences |
| JEL: | H49 I39 Q54 R10 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7339&r=res |
| By: | Forslid, Rikard (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University); Okubo, Toshihiro (Keio University); Sanctuary, Mark (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a monopolistic competitive framework with many sectors to study the impact of trade liberalization on local and global emissions. We focus on the interplay of the pollution haven effect and the home market effect and show how a large-market advantage can counterbalance a high emission tax, implying that trade liberalization leads to lower global emissions. Generally, our results suggest that relative market size, the level of trade costs, the ease of abatement, and the degree of product differentiation at the sector level are relevant variables for empirical studies on trade and pollution. |
| Keywords: | market size; emission tax; trade liberalization |
| JEL: | D21 F12 F15 |
| Date: | 2013–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2013_0008&r=res |