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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒11‒17
eight papers chosen by |
| 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=res |
| 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=res |
| 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=res |
| 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=res |
| 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=res |
| By: | Gerard van der Meijden (VU University Amsterdam); Sjak Smulders (Tilburg University, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | The energy transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources has important consequences for technological change and resource extraction. We examine these consequences by incorporating a non-renewable resource and an alternative energy source in a market economy model of endogenous growth through expanding varieties. During the energy transition, technological progress is non-monotonic over time: it declines initially, starts increasing when the economy approaches the regime shift, and jumps down once the resource stock is exhausted. A moment of peak-oil does no longer necessarily occur, and simultaneous use of the resource and the alternative energy source will take place if the return to innovation becomes too low. |
| Keywords: | Alternative energy sources, endogenous growth, energy transition, non-renewable resources, technological change |
| JEL: | O30 Q32 Q42 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140108&r=res |
| 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=res |
| 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=res |