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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Aronsson, Thomas (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Backlund, Kenneth (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Sahlén, Linda (Department of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the potential welfare gains of introducing a technology transfer from Annex I to non-Annex I in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis is based on a numerical general equilibrium model for a world economy comprising two regions, North (Annex I) and South (non-Annex I). As our model allows for labor mobility between the formal and informal sectors in the South, we are also able to capture additional aspects of how the transfer influences the Southern economy. In a cooperative equilibrium, a technology transfer from the North to the South is clearly desirable from the perspective of a ‘global social planner’, since the welfare gain for the South outweighs the welfare loss for the North. However, if the regions do not cooperate, then the incentives to introduce the technology transfer appear to be relatively weak from the perspective of the North; at least if we allow for Southern abatement in the pre-transfer Nash equilibrium. Finally, by adding the emission reductions associated with the Kyoto agreement to an otherwise uncontrolled market economy, the technology transfer leads to higher welfare in both regions. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy; technology transfer; Kyoto protocol; general equilibrium; clean development mechanism |
| JEL: | D58 D62 Q52 |
| Date: | 2006–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0697&r=env |
| By: | Gary D. Libecap |
| Abstract: | In addressing environmental and natural resource problems, there is a move away from primary reliance upon centralized regulation toward assignment of property rights to mitigate the losses of open-access. I examine the assignment of private property rights during the 19th and early 20th centuries to five natural resources, mineral land, timberland, grazing and farm land, and water on federal government lands in the Far West. The region was richly endowed with natural resources, but assigning property rights to them required adaptation from established, eastern practices as defined by the federal land laws. The property rights that emerged and their long-term welfare effects provide a laboratory for examining current questions of institutional design to address over-fishing, excessive air pollution, and other natural resource and environmental problems. A major lesson is that property rights allocations based on local conditions, prior use, and unconstrained by outside government mandates were most effective in addressing not only the immediate threat of open-access, but in providing a longer-term basis for production, investment, and trade. Another lesson is how hard it is to repair initial faulty property allocations. Accordingly, path dependencies in property rules are real, and they have dominated the economic history of resource use in the West. |
| JEL: | K11 N21 N22 N5 Q15 Q2 Q28 Q3 Q32 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12598&r=env |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | The ways in which economists value natural resources has been, and continues to be, a constantly evolving process. At first, only transactions that took place in the marketplace were considered. However, it was not long until it was realised that this concept was an incomplete way to value natural resources and hence the concept of non-market valuation was introduced. These non-market valuation methodologies prevailed for about 50 or 60 years, but, at the present time, it is being realised that the current methodologies are incomplete and it is time for another new paradigm shift. The market and non-market valuation calculations currently used only include anthropocentric (human related) values and have omitted ecocentric ecosystem service values such as the pollination of crops that takes place by bees and flies. The question we are posed with now is how to calculate the true value for ecosystem services in given this new paradigm shift? |
| Keywords: | ecosystem services; non-market valuation; consumer surplus |
| JEL: | Q57 |
| Date: | 2006–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:06/10&r=env |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | The results of outdoor recreation consumer surplus studies for national parks, national forests, state parks and state forests in the United States from 1968 through 2003 are compared and analyzed across activity type, locational region, and park designation. The resulting data set includes 1,229 observations, spanning 36 years, 28 types of activities, and 106 locations. All consumer surplus data were converted to 2006 United States dollars per person per day for comparison purposes. It was discovered that activity and park type played a significant role in consumer surplus values. Activities such as mountain biking, windsurfing, and rock-climbing were among the highest valued activities while visiting environmental education centers was the lowest. When comparing park types, it was found that on average, activities at National Parks had higher values than national forests, state parks, or state forests. This meta-analysis is the most extensive literature review in the history of non-market consumer surplus values for outdoor recreation in the United States ever conducted and should prove beneficial to anyone seeking information on outdoor recreation studies as well as those wishing to conduct a benefit transfer analysis for their own land management area. |
| Keywords: | consumer surplus values; non-market valuation; Outdoor recreation; benefit transfer |
| JEL: | Q26 |
| Date: | 2006–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:06/11&r=env |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Fencing remnant native vegetation has become a widespread activity throughout New Zealand to increase native biodiversity. However, there have not been many studies to show if this is an effective approach when feral goats (Capra hircus) are present. The present study investigated the short-term effects on dominant trees and shrubs of fencing on a private property in Waingaro, New Zealand. Two permanent plots were analyzed, one in a fenced covenanted area with feral goats present and one in an unfenced area with cows, sheep, and feral goats present. Both plots were dominated by a canopy of kanuka (Kunzea ericoides), a midstory of silver tree fern (Cyathea dealbata) and an understory of divaricating coprosma's (Coprosma rhamnoides and Coprosma spathulata). |
| Keywords: | native bush regeneration; fencing; grazing exclusion; rehabilitation |
| JEL: | Q34 |
| Date: | 2006–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:06/12&r=env |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato); John Loomis (Colorado State University); Andrew Seidl (Colorado State University) |
| Abstract: | During the summer of 2001, survey data were collected from Colorado residents living near public lands (i.e., the wildland urban interface). Data were collected by telephone after mailing respondents a survey. These data include detailed information of respondents’ views towards wildfire management and willingness-to-pay (WTP) values for prescribed burning. Results indicate that Colorado residents living near public lands are aware that fire is a natural process in their area and are in favor of using prescribed burning for fire risk reduction. They also are willing-to-pay an annual tax for prescribed fire undertaken on the public lands near their homes. Respondents’ support for adopting a fire risk mitigation policy based on prescribed fire depended on perceived fire frequency intervals. The substantial WTP values for prescribed burning indicate that the public living in the wildland urban interface could potentially pay an annual tax, so the burden of wildfire management need no longer predominantly lie in the hands of the general taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | prescribed burning; controlled burning; wildfire management; contingent valuation; public involvement |
| JEL: | Q23 Q34 |
| Date: | 2006–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:06/13&r=env |
| By: | Pamela Kaval (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | In this study, the well-being evaluation method, a technique for measuring individual utility, was used to study how people in the wildland urban interface of Colorado (USA) felt about their lives before and after two hypothetical wildfire scenarios. Variables such as age, family size, fire frequency, and property value were found to affect initial well-being levels. However, if a wildfire were to occur, many variables that initially affected well-being were no longer significant. It was found that after wildfire, the frequency of wildfire occurrence became the most important influence on well-being. These results have several implications for wildfire managers. First, the well-being of Colorado wildland urban interface residents would be enhanced by a reduction in the frequency of high-intensity wildfires. Secondly, an extremely high percentage of respondents were in favor of prescribed burning. Therefore, the reduction of high-intensity fires could not only be accomplished by conducting a rotation of prescribed fires, but that prescribed burning would be accepted by the public living in the wildland urban interface. |
| Keywords: | well-being evaluation method; Colorado; happiness; wildland urban interface; wildfire intensity |
| JEL: | I39 Q51 |
| Date: | 2006–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:06/14&r=env |
| By: | Grether, Jean-Marie; Mathys, Nicole A.; de Melo, Jaime |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the debate on the existence of pollution haven effects by systematically measuring the pollution content of trade (measured by the pollution content of imports, PCI) and decomposing it into three components-a " deep " component (unrelated to the environmental debate but including variables traditionally present in the gravity model) and two components (factor endowments and environmental policies) that occupy center stage in the debate on trade and the environment. The decomposition is carried out for 1986-88 for an extensive data set covering 10 pollutants, 48 countries, and 79 ISIC 4-digit sectors. Illustrative decompositions presented for three of the 10 pollutants in the data set indicate a significant pollution haven effect which increases the PCI of the North because of stricter environmental regulations in the North. At the same time, the factor endowment effect decreases the PCI of the North as the North is relatively well-endowed in capital and pollution-intensive activities are also capital-intensive. On a global scale, because the bulk of trade is intraregional with a high North-North share, these effects are small relative to the " deep " determinants of the worldwide pollution content of trade. In sum, although the impact has been stronger on vertical (North-South) trade flows, differences in factor endowments and environmental policies have only marginally affected the pollution content of world trade during the 1986-88 period. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics & Policies,Water and Industry,Brown Issues and Health,Transport Economics Policy & Planning,Water Resources Assessment |
| Date: | 2006–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4047&r=env |
| By: | Jeremy Clark (University of Canterbury); Lana Friesen |
| Abstract: | CV researchers have found that the hypothetical values respondents place on a nested sequence of environmental goods are sensitive to the order in which the goods are presented. Typically, the smallest bundle of goods is valued more highly if presented first than if following more comprehensive bundles. Such effects appear even when each bundle is valued from an "exclusive" list, or as an alternative to any other, so that income and substitution effects are controlled. Order of presentation has also affected the degree to which values are sensitive to scope. We conduct lab experiments where participants are asked to value sequences of nested goods for actual purchase from an exclusive list using the incentive compatible BDM mechanism. We test whether order effects occur in valuation for a) induced value goods, b) actual private goods, and c) identical private goods that are to be donated to charities. We find significant order effects when the goods are valued for own use, but not when they are valued for donation. |
| Keywords: | Order effects; exclusive list; warm glow; contingent valuation |
| Date: | 2006–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:06/06&r=env |
| By: | Kenneth Lyon |
| Abstract: | There is general agreement that global warming is occurring and that the main contributor to this probably is the buildup of green house gasses, GHG, in the atmosphere. Two main contributors are the utilization of fossil fuels and the deforestation of many regions of the world. This paper examines a number of current issues related to mitigating the global warming problem through forestry. We use discrete time optimal control to model a simplified carbon cycle. The burning of fossil fuels increases atmospheric carbon while the burning of fuel-wood along with its forest source maintain an atmospheric carbon level. The standing timber in the forests is a carbon sink, as are wood buildings and structures, and fossil fuel in the ground. Through time the buildings and structures decay and release carbon to the atmosphere. We also present a numerical example to help illustrate the characteristics of the model. The conclusions are that the forest sector can have a significant impact. |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usu:wpaper:2004-19&r=env |
| By: | Keith Criddle; Mike Herrmann |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usu:wpaper:2004-20&r=env |
| By: | Landon Jensen; Joe Koebbe; Keith Criddle |
| Abstract: | The North Pacific Ocean is highly productive, hosting many of the world’s largest groundfish populations and supporting a thriving fishing industry. Numerous regulations have been implemented to control the incidental take of non-target bycatch. Individual and Pooled Bycatch Quotas have recently been proposed as instruments that could further encourage the avoidance of such bycatch and increase enforceability of bycatch caps at less -than-entire-fishery levels of operation. The recent advent of fishing cooperatives such as the Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative and the Pollock Conservation Cooperatives create an additional impetus for examining the characteristics of pool and vessel specific bycatch quotas. We have constructed an object-oriented, hierarchical simulation that allows us to aggregate hauls of individual fish, up to single vessels, vessel pools, fleets (pools of vessel pools), and the entire fishery. This simulator is written in the object-oriented programming language, Java. It provides the flexibility to examine various sampling techniques and strategies and allows us to follow the precision of incidental catch estimates at various levels of operation. In particular, we examine the tradeoffs between the precision of bycatch estimates and consider management costs as observer coverage and pool size are varied. |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usu:wpaper:2004-21&r=env |
| By: | W Shaw; Mary Riddell; Paul Jakus (Department of Economics, Utah State University) |
| Abstract: | The theory of ex-ante welfare measures is well establlished and has been addressed extensively in papers relating to the valuation of environmental resources when environmental variables have a random component. However, there have been many new developments in incorporating risks and uncertainty into economic models, and perhaps more importantly, there seems to be remaining confusion as to how to empirically implement such models. To date, a variety of estimation techniques have been utilized, with varying degrees of success in deriving an ex-ante welfare measure under risk. This manuscript assesses the state of the art by discussing the sources of risk, uncertainty, and error in utility models that incorporate risk. We are most interested in how to incorporate these ideas into empirical models and we examine how econometric estimation methods can best be used to obtain ex-ante welfare measures. We also present the current thinking on endogenous versus exogenous risks as well as subjective versus “expert” risk measures, and discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages likely to be encountered when using subjective-based risk estimates in empirical applications based on alternatives to the expected utility models. |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usu:wpaper:2005-02&r=env |