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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2021‒07‒12
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Clay, Karen (Carnegie Mellon University); Jha, Akshaya (Carnegie Mellon University); Lewis, Joshua (University of Montreal); Severnini, Edson R. (Carnegie Mellon University) |
| Abstract: | The passage of landmark government regulation is often the culmination of evolving social pressure and incremental policy change. During this process, firms may preemptively adjust behavior in anticipation of impending regulation, making it difficult to quantify the overall economic impact of the legislation. This study leverages newly digitized data on the operation of virtually every fossil-fuel power plant in the United States from 1938-1994 to examine the economic impacts of the 1970 Clean Air Act (CAA) on the power sector. This unique long panel provides us an extended pre-regulation benchmark, allowing us to account for both anticipatory behavior by electric utilities in the years leading up to the Act's passage and reallocative effects of the CAA across plant vintages. We find that the CAA led to large and persistent decreases in output and productivity, but only for plants that opened before 1963. The timing aligns with the passage of the original 1963 CAA, which provided the federal government with the authority to "control" air pollution, sending a strong signal to firms of impending federal regulation. We provide historical evidence of anticipatory responses by utilities in the design and siting of plants that opened after 1963. We also find that the aggregate productivity losses of the CAA borne by the power sector were substantially mitigated by the reallocation of output from older less efficient power plants to newer plants. |
| Keywords: | power plants, electricity generation, total factor productivity, clean air act, air quality regulations, NAAQS |
| JEL: | K32 N52 Q52 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14494&r= |
| By: | Roberto Roson (Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari; Loyola Andalusia University; GREEN Bocconi University Milan); Camille Van der Vorst (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a simulation exercise undertaken with a newly available regional general equilibrium model for the Spanish region of Andalusia. The exercise is intended to assess the structural adjustment processes and impacts on the Andalusian economy directly induced by the dramatic fall in tourism expenditure which occurred in the year 2020, due to the prevention measures implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also undertake a preliminary evaluation of the impact on some environmental indicators, such as greenhouse gases emissions and air pollutants. The key insight emerging from our analysis is that the COVID crumbling of tourism demand generates very relevant distributional consequences. |
| Keywords: | Tourism, Andalusia, regional economics, CGE models, COVID-19, economic impact, environmental impact |
| JEL: | C68 D58 Q51 R13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2021:18&r= |
| By: | Andre, Peter (University of Bonn); Boneva, Teodora (University of Bonn); Chopra, Felix (University of Bonn); Falk, Armin (briq, University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | We document individual willingness to fight climate change and its behavioral determinants in a large representative sample of US adults. Willingness to fight climate change – as measured through an incentivized donation decision – is highly heterogeneous across the population. Individual beliefs about social norms, economic preferences such as patience and altruism, as well as universal moral values positively predict climate preferences. Moreover, we document systematic misperceptions of prevalent social norms. Respondents vastly underestimate the prevalence of climate-friendly behaviors and norms among their fellow citizens. Providing respondents with correct information causally raises individual willingness to fight climate change as well as individual support for climate policies. The effects are strongest for individuals who are skeptical about the existence and threat of global warming. |
| Keywords: | climate change, climate behavior, climate policies, social norms, economic preferences, moral values, beliefs, survey experiments |
| JEL: | D64 D83 D91 Q51 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14518&r= |