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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Tokgoz, Simla; Elobeid, Amani |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the impact of price shocks in three input and output markets critical to ethanol: gasoline, corn, and sugar. We investigate the impact of these shocks on ethanol and related agricultural markets in the United States and Brazil. We find that the composition of a country’s vehicle fleet determines the direction of the response of ethanol consumption to changes in the gasoline price. We also find that a change in feedstock costs affects the profitability of ethanol producers and the domestic ethanol price. In Brazil, where two commodities compete for sugarcane, changes in the sugar market affect the competing ethanol market. |
| Keywords: | agricultural markets, energy, ethanol, renewable fuels. |
| Date: | 2006–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12691&r=env |
| By: | Anders Skonhoft (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | A model analyzing the economics of sheep farming is formulated. The basic idea is simple. Sheep are capital and they are held by farmers as long as their capital value exceeds their slaughter, or meat, value. The farmers are therefore portfolio managers aiming to find the optimal combination of different categories of animals and the yields are compared with the yields from other assets. The model is formulated within a Northern Scandinavian economic and biological setting with a crucial distinction between the outdoors grazing season and the indoors season, and with adult sheep and lambs being different categories. In the first step, the management problem is analyzed with only the meat income of the farmers taken into account. In the next step, income from wool production is considered as well. The analysis provides several results that differ from standard harvesting theory. |
| Keywords: | natural resource modeling; sheep farming |
| Date: | 2006–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:7706&r=env |
| By: | Wagner, Martin (Department of Economics and Finance, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | In recent years many empirical studies of environmental Kuznets curves employing unit root and cointegration techniques have been conducted for both time series and panel data. When using such methods several issues arise: the effects of a short time dimension, in a panel context the effects of cross-sectional dependence, and the presence of nonlinear transformations of integrated variables. We discuss and illustrate how ignoring these problems and applying standard methods leads to questionable results. Using an estimation approach that addresses the second and third problem we find no evidence for an inverse U-shaped relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions. |
| Keywords: | Carbon Kuznets Curve, Panel data, Unit roots, Cointegration, Cross-sectional dependence, Nonlinear transformations of regressors |
| JEL: | C12 C13 Q20 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:197&r=env |
| By: | R. BRACKE; J. ALBRECHT; M. DE CLERCQ |
| Abstract: | The first negotiated environmental agreements that emerged in the policy arena were characterised as legally unbinding gentlemen’s agreements containing only vague targets, little provisions concerning monitoring and hardly any sanctions in case of non-compliance. This has brought about much criticism towards the effectiveness and legality of negotiated agreements as a policy instrument and has lead to the development of guidelines concerning the use of environmental agreements by policy makers. These guidelines stress the importance of signing binding agreements with stringent enforcement provisions. Whereas these guidelines were introduced with the aim to stimulate the use of this instrument, they seem to have resulted in the opposite. We introduce a two-stage model that examines the acceptance and the compliance decision to explain this observation. The intuition is that stringent enforcement provisions increase the expected non-compliance cost, and as such decline industries' willingness to accept an agreement in the first place. We conclude that due to reciprocity between the enforcement regime and the background legislative threat both should be considered jointly by policy makers. |
| Keywords: | Acceptance; compliance; enforcement; negotiated environmental agreements; regulatory threat |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:06/415&r=env |
| By: | M. VANHOUCKE |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present a meta-heuristic algorithm for the well-known resource-constrained project scheduling problem with discounted cash flows. This optimization procedure maximizes the net present value of project subject to the precedence and renewable resource constraints. The problem is known to be NP-hard. We investigate the use of a enhanced bi-directional generation scheme and a recursive forward/backward improvement method and embed them in a meta-heuristic scatter search framework. We generate a large dataset of project instances under a controlled design and report detailed computational results. The solutions and project instances can be downloaded from a website in order to facilitate comparison with future research attempts. |
| Keywords: | Resource-constrained project scheduling; Net present value; Scatter search |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:06/417&r=env |
| By: | Sterner, Thomas; Muller, Adrian |
| Abstract: | In permit trading systems, free initial allocation is common practice. A recent example is the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS). We investigate effects of different free allocation schemes on incentives and identify significant perverse effects on abatement and output employing a simple multi-period model. Firms have incentives for strategic action if allocation in one period depends on their actions in previous ones and thus can be influenced by them. These findings play a major role where trading schemes become increasingly popular as environmental or resource use policy instruments. This is of particular relevance in the EU-ETS, where the current period is a trial-period before the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol. Finally, this paper fills a gap in the literature by establishing a consistent terminology for initial allocation. |
| Date: | 2006–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-06-49&r=env |
| By: | Anderson, Lykke; Ledezma, Juan Carlos; Vargas, Martin |
| Abstract: | The corridor of conservation Amboró-Madidi is a global priority due to its discharge biodiversity. At the same time, the fiscal territories of this region are appreciated by migrants without land of the highlands. In this document we contrast the land necessity for agricultural activities with the conservation priorities, elaborating a map that it identifies the following three kind of areas: 1) Areas for agricultural use and human development, 2) Areas of tension between human development and conservation, and 3) Areas of conservation and protection that they do not require conservation actions. El corredor de conservación Amboró-Madidi es de prioridad global debido a su alta biodiversidad y endemismo. Al mismo tiempo, las tierras fiscales de la región son apreciadas por migrantes sin tierra del altiplano. En este documento contrastamos la necesidad de tierra para actividades agrícolas con las prioridades de conservación, elaborando un mapa que identifica los siguientes tres tipos de áreas: 1) Áreas para uso agrícola y desarrollo humano, 2) Áreas de tension entre desarrollo humano y conservación, y 3) Áreas de conservación y protección que no requieren acciones de conservación. |
| Keywords: | CONSERVACIÓN; DESARROLLO HUMANO |
| JEL: | Q34 O15 |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:524&r=env |
| By: | Feridun, Mete |
| Abstract: | This article aims at investigating the impact of trade openness on pollution and resource depletion in Nigeria. Results indicate that pollution is positively related to trade intensity and real GDP per square kilometer, while capital to labor ratio and GNP are negatively related to pollution. In addition, strong evidence suggests that trade intensity, real GDP per square kilometer and GNP are positively related to environmental degradation indicating that the technique, scale, and total effects of liberalization are detrimental to the environment. The composition effect of trade liberalization on natural resource utilization,on the other hand, is beneficial. A number of policy implications emerge from the study for Nigeria as well as other developing economies. |
| Keywords: | development; environmental degradation; environmental Kuznets Curve; trade liberalization |
| Date: | 2006–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:731&r=env |
| By: | Claude, Denis; Tidball, Mabel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the optimal environmental policy in a mixed oligopoly when pollution accumulates over time. Specifically, we assume quantity competition between several private firms and one partially privatized firm. The optimal emission tax is shown to be independent of the weight the privatized firm puts on social welfare. The optimal tax rule, the accumulated stock of pollution, firms' production paths and profit streams are identical irrespective of the public firm's ownership status. |
| Keywords: | Mixed Oligopoly; Pollution Control; Markovian Taxation. |
| JEL: | L51 Q58 L33 |
| Date: | 2006–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:776&r=env |