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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Tariq Banuri; Hans Opschoor |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that in the future the primary focus of policy research and global agreements should be the de-carbonization of economic development. Consequently, instead of treating climate stabilization and economic development as separate and equal, the strategy should be to re-integrate the two global policy goals, in part by separating responsibility (and funding) from action. This will require an approach that goes beyond Kyoto. The paper invokes the example of the Manhattan Project to argue for a massive, globally funded public investment program for the deployment of renewable energy technologies in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | carbon emissions, climate change, sustainable development, international cooperation, mitigation, adaptation |
| JEL: | Q51 Q54 Q56 F59 H23 H87 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:wpaper:56&r=env |
| By: | Emilio Padilla Rosa (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Emissions distribution is a focus variable for the design of future international agreements to tackle global warming. This paper specifically analyses the future path of emissions distribution and its determinants in different scenarios. Whereas our analysis is driven by tools which are typically applied in the income distribution literature and which have recently been applied to the analysis of CO2 emissions distribution, a new methodological approach is that our study is driven by simulations run with a popular regionalised optimal growth climate change model over the 1995-2105 period. We find that the architecture of environmental policies, the implementation of flexible mechanisms and income concentration are key determinants of emissions distribution over time. In particular we find a robust positive relationship between measures of inequalities |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea0705&r=env |
| By: | Giuseppe Di Vita (University of Catania) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we build up the analysis of La Porta et al. (1998), to investigate the importance of legal families in explaining the variations in pollution emissions in different countries. The main intuition behind our analysis is that the nations in which the rights of shareholders are more protected, promote real and financial investment; this increases the speed at which the per-capita income corresponding to the declining branch of the Environmental Kutznets Curve (EKC) is achieved. In econometrics different regression analyses were performed using as dependent variables three different kinds of pollutants (CO2, fine suspended particulates and waste), including as an explanation some financial variables never before considered in this kind of study. |
| Keywords: | Dummy Variables, Environmental Kutznets Curve, Legal Families, Panel Data, Pollution Emissions |
| JEL: | K4 Q0 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.78&r=env |
| By: | Marc S. Paoletta (University of Zurich and Swiss Finance Institute); Luca Taschini (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | World power and gas markets have a natural relationship with global tradable carbon permits markets, including the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the latter officially launched in January 2005. Electric utilities operate their power plants based in part on the price of the power and the relative cost of coal and natural gas. As both carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide are by-products of the coal burning process, the new factors of SO2 and CO2 emissions allowances come into play in a carbon constrained economy. Now that a price has been put on such allowances, the differences in carbon intensity for coal and gas could potentially change the way companies run their power plants. Moreover, knowledge of the statistical distribution of emission trading allowances, and its forecastability, becomes crucial in constructing optimal hedging and purchasing strategies in the carbon market. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of available data addressing the unconditional tail behavior and the inherent heteroskedastic dynamics in the returns on the emissions allowances. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Finance, GARCH, Greenhouse Gases, Mixture Models, Tail Estimation |
| JEL: | C16 C32 C51 C52 C53 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp0626&r=env |
| By: | Beard, Rodney; Mallawaarachchi, Thilak; Salerno, Gillian |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a two stage game of political lobbying for policies designed to enhance environmental quality. Unlike previous work which has tended to assume perfect monitoring of environmental quality in lobbying games we allow for imperfect monitoring of environmental quality. We characterize perfect public (politico-economic) equilibria in the game for the case of both perfect and imperfect monitoring of environmental quality and compare these with imperfect private monitoring of environmental quality. Results are discussed with respect to farmer behaviour in the context of non-point source pollution and implications for the political consequences of farm extension programmes highlighted. |
| Keywords: | Game theory; public choice; imperfect public monitoring; imperfect private monitoring; non-point source pollution; agricultural extension and public education |
| JEL: | Q5 Q1 C73 |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5346&r=env |
| By: | Erin T. Mansur |
| Abstract: | Electricity restructuring has created the opportunity for producers to exercise market power. Oligopolists increase price by distorting output decisions, causing cross-firm production inefficiencies. This study estimates the environmental implications of production inefficiencies attributed to market power in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland electricity market. Air pollution fell substantially during 1999, the year in which both electricity restructuring and new environmental regulation took effect. I find that strategic firms reduced their emissions by approximately 20% relative to other firms and their own historic emissions. Next, I compare observed behavior with estimates of production, and therefore emissions, in a competitive market. According to a model of competitive behavior, changing costs explain approximately two-thirds of the observed pollution reductions. The remaining third can be attributed to firms exercising market power. |
| JEL: | H23 L13 L33 L94 Q53 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13511&r=env |
| By: | Erin T. Mansur |
| Abstract: | In a market subject to environmental regulation, a firm's strategic behavior affects the production and emissions decisions of all firms. If firms are regulated by a Pigouvian tax, changing emissions will not affect the marginal cost of polluting. However, under a tradable permits system, the polluters' decisions affect the permit price. This paper shows that this feedback effect may increase a strategic firm's output. Relative to a tax, tradable permits improve welfare in a market with imperfect competition. As an application, I model strategic and competitive behavior of wholesalers in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland electricity market. Simulations suggest that exercising market power decreased local pollution by approximately nine percent, and therefore, substantially reduced the price of the region's pollution permits. Furthermore, I find that had regulators opted to use a tax instead of permits, the deadweight loss from imperfect competition would have been approximately seven percent greater. |
| JEL: | L13 L94 Q53 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13510&r=env |
| By: | Paul Sarfo-Mensah (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science); W. Oduro (Wildlife and Range Management) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the importance of traditional natural resources management practices in Ghana. It highlights the roles of traditional beliefs, taboos and rituals in the management and conservation of key natural resources in the country. The paper is based on desk studies undertaken as part of anthropological studies conducted in the forest-savanna transitional agroecological zone of Ghana to study the spirituality of forests and conservation. Among the major conclusions of the paper is that although the potential of traditional natural resources management for biodiversity conservation in Ghana is enormous, the sustainability of these practices is seriously threatened. This stems from the rapid changes in the belief systems. Both biophysical and socio-economic factors were found to underlie these changes. The breakdown of traditional beliefs and associated taboos which underpin traditional natural resources management practices were found to be the greatest threat to the sustainability of these practices. The paper recommends that more anthropological research should investigate local perceptions of forest space and landscape, biodiversity conservation and traditional beliefs, and their significance for natural resources management. Such studies would provide valuable insights into the changing values of local people in relation to protected areas such as sacred groves and forest reserves and the management of other natural resources. |
| Keywords: | Forest –Savanna Transition, Sacred Groves, Traditional Beliefs, Biodiversity Conservation, Change and Sustainability |
| JEL: | Q2 Q57 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.90&r=env |
| By: | Lorenzo Pellegrini (Institute of Social Studies (ISS)) |
| Abstract: | Corruption in the forest sector of Swat, Pakistan is impairing the sustainable management of forest. We analyze corruption in a case study setting against the backdrop of the reform options that are most often cited as possible solutions. As we highlight in this study, the ‘crime and punishment’ approach is not feasibly implemented if the overall institutional environment is weak. Since countrywide overhaul of corruption through sweeping reform programs, the other reform approach, is a difficult and lengthy task, there is a need for an alternative kind of reform. In the case of a corruption-ridden centralised forest management regime, institutional reform should move away from enforcement of existing institutions and promote communal management of natural resources by locals. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, Forest Management, Environmental Policy, Institutional Reform |
| JEL: | D73 Q24 Q57 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.91&r=env |
| By: | Tol, Richard S.J. |
| Abstract: | 211 estimates of the social cost of carbon are included in a meta-analysis. The results confirm that a lower discount rate implies a higher estimate; and that higher estimates are found in the gray literature. It is also found that there is a downward trend in the economic impact estimates of the climate; that the Stern Review’s estimates of the social cost of carbon is an outlier; and that the right tail of the distribution is fat. There is a fair chance that the annual climate liability exceeds the annual income of many people. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, social cost of carbon |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:6171&r=env |
| By: | Stephen P. Holland; Erin T. Mansur |
| Abstract: | Real-time pricing (RTP) of electricity would improve allocative efficiency and limit wholesalers' market power. Conventional wisdom claims that RTP provides additional environmental benefits. This paper argues that RTP will reduce the variance, both within- and across-days, in the quantity of electricity demanded. We estimate the short-run impacts of this reduction on SO2, NOx, and CO2 emissions. Reducing variance decreases emissions in regions where peak demand is met more by oil-fired capacity than by hydropower, such as the Mid-Atlantic. However, reducing variance increases emissions in more US regions, namely those with more hydropower like the West. The effects are relatively small. |
| JEL: | L51 L94 Q53 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13508&r=env |
| By: | Beard, Rodney |
| Abstract: | In this paper an interest group model of rent seeking behaviour between sugarcane farmers and environmental protectionists is developed. The motivation for this scenario comes from the debate over fertilizer run-off and its possible impact on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. The paper takes Gordon Tullock’s rent-seeking model and applies it to the bargaining process over controls on fertilizer application in an effort to learn something about the likely political outcomes of this debate. |
| Keywords: | Public choice; Environmental economics; Agricultural policy |
| JEL: | Q18 Q58 Q53 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5351&r=env |
| By: | de Melo, Jaime; Grether, Jean-Marie; Mathys, Nicole Andréa |
| Abstract: | Combining unique data bases on emissions with sectoral output and employment data, we study the sources of the fall in world-wide SO2 emissions and estimate the impact of trade on emissions. Contrarily to concerns raised by environmentalists, an emission-decomposition exercise shows that scale effects are dominated by technique effects working towards a reduction in emissions. A second exercise comparing the actual trade situation with an autarky benchmark estimates that trade, by allowing clean countries to become net importers of emissions, leads to a 10% increase in world emissions with respect to autarky in 1990, a figure that shrinks to 3.5% in 2000. Additionally, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that emissions related to transport are of smaller magnitude, roughly 3% in both periods. In a third exercise, we use linear programming to simulate extreme situations where world emissions are either maximal or minimal. It turns out that effective emissions correspond to a 90% reduction with respect to the worst case, but that another 80% reduction could be reached if emissions were minimal. |
| Keywords: | decomposition; embodied emissions in trade; Environment; Growth; Trade; transport |
| JEL: | F11 Q56 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6522&r=env |
| By: | Martin Weitzman |
| Abstract: | Using climate change as a prototype motivating example, this paper analyzes the implications of structural uncertainty for the economics of low-probability high-impact catastrophes. The paper shows that having an uncertain multiplicative parameter, which scales or amplifies exogenous shocks and is updated by Bayesian learning, induces a critical "tail fattening" of posterior-predictive distributions. These fattened tails can have strong implications for situations (like climate change) where a catastrophe is theoretically possible because prior knowledge cannot place sufficiently narrow bounds on overall damages. The essence of the problem is the difficulty of learning extreme-impact tail behavior from finite data alone. At least potentially, the influence on cost-benefit analysis of fat-tailed uncertainty about the scale of damages -- coupled with a high value of statistical life -- can outweigh the influence of discounting or anything else. |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13490&r=env |
| By: | Sandra Saïd; Sophie Thoyer |
| Abstract: | Auctions are increasingly used in agri-environmental contracting. However, the issue of synergy effect between agri-environmental measures has been consistently overlooked, both by decision-makers and by the theoretical literature on conservation auction. Based on laboratory experiments, the objective of this paper is to compare the performance of different procurement auction designs (simultaneous, sequential and combinatorial) in the case of multiple heterogeneous units where bidders may potentially want to sell more than one unit and where their supply cost structure displays positive synergies. The comparison is made by using two performance criteria: budget efficiency and allocative efficiency. We also test if performance results are affected by information feedback to bidders after each auction period. Finally we explain performance results by the analysis of bidding behaviour in the three mechanisms. |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:02&r=env |
| By: | Joan Pasqual Rocabert (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); Emilio Padilla Rosa (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | It is usually assumed that the appraisal of the impacts experienced by present generations does not entail any difficulty. However, this is not true. Moreover, there is not a widely accepted methodology for taking these impacts into account. Some of the controversial issues are: the appropriate value for the discount rate, the choice of the units for expressing the impacts, physical or monetary units —income, consumption or investment— and the valuation of tangible and intangible goods. When approaching the problem of very long term impacts, there is also the problem of valuing the impacts experienced by future generations, through e.g., the use of an intergenerational discount rate. However, if this were the case, the present generation perspective would prevail, as if all the property rights on the resources were owned by them. Therefore, the sustainability requirement should also be incorporated into the analysis. We will analyze these problems in this article and show some possible solutions. |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea0704&r=env |
| By: | Nathaniel Keohane; Erin T. Mansur; Andrey Voynov |
| Abstract: | This paper explores firms' response to regulatory enforcement. New Source Review, a provision of the Clean Air Act, imposes stringent emissions limitations on significantly modified older power plants. In 1999, the EPA sued owners of 46 plants for NSR violations. We study how electricity companies respond to both the perceived threat of future action, and the action itself. A discrete choice model estimates plants likelihood of being named in lawsuits increases with large historic emissions and investments. On the eve of the lawsuits, emissions at plants with a one standard deviation greater probability of being sued fell approximately ten percent. |
| JEL: | L51 L94 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13512&r=env |
| By: | David Tomberlin (National Marine Fisheries Service); Garth Holloway (University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | In 2003, an industry-financed, government-administered buyback of trawl fishing permits and vessels took place on the US West Coast, resulting in the retirement of about one-third of the limited-entry trawl fleet. The lack of cost data in this fishery precludes an analysis of how the buyback has affected profitability, but changes in technical efficiency can provide some insight into the program’s effects. This paper, the first of a planned series of analyses of the buyback’s effect on technical efficiency in the trawl fleet, applies stochastic frontier analysis to assess whether technical efficiency changed perceptibly after 2003. We adopt a hierarchical modeling approach estimated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, and present results from both Cobb-Douglas and translog specifications. The analysis is limited to 13 boats active in Oregon’s deepwater ‘DTS’ fishery, which targets dover sole, thornyheads, and sablefish. The results suggest that the buyback has had little impact on trip-level technical efficiency in the study fishery. However, departures from the frontier are markedly bi-modal, indicating that a mixed-density approach to estimation may be more appropriate. |
| Keywords: | Fishery Buyback, Technical Efficiency, Stochastic Production Frontier, Bayesian Inference, Markov Chain Monte Carlo |
| JEL: | Q2 L5 C1 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.86&r=env |
| By: | Andreeva, Anastasiya; Bazhanov, Andrei |
| Abstract: | The rates of oil depletion are increasing during the last ten years in Russia and the Russian Energy Program, approved by the government, implies further growth of oil production by 2020. We used the transition curves analysis in aggregate model to examine the long-run consumption along different possible paths of oil extraction. We conclude that the long-run consumption along the paths associated with the Energy Program is about twice as less as the consumption along the paths switching to sustainable extraction in the short run. |
| Keywords: | Nonrenewable resource; Sustainable development; Transition curve analysis |
| JEL: | Q38 Q32 |
| Date: | 2007–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5343&r=env |
| By: | Y. Hossein Farzin (University of California) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes sustainability to be a matter of intergenerational welfare equality and examines whether an optimal development path can also be sustainable. It argues that the general “zero-net-aggregate-investment” condition for an optimal development path to be sustainable in the sense of the maximin criterion of intergenerational justice is too demanding to be practical, especially in the context of developing countries. The maximin criterion of sustainability may be more appealing to the rich advanced industrial countries, but is too costly and ethically unreasonable for developing nations as it would act as an intergenerational “poverty equalizer”. The paper suggests that a compromise development policy that follows the optimal growth approach but adopts certain measures to mitigate the intergenerational and intragenerational welfare inequalities may better serve these countries. Some of the principal elements of such a policy are highlighted. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability, Intergenerational Equity, Optimality, Discounting, Development Policy |
| JEL: | Q01 Q56 O21 O13 D62 D63 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.89&r=env |
| By: | Nadine Levratto (EconomiX - [CNRS : UMR7166] - [Université de Paris X - Nanterre]); Nader Abbes (EconomiX - [CNRS : UMR7166] - [Université de Paris X - Nanterre]) |
| Abstract: | Ce texte s’intéresse aux conséquences de la multiplication des contrats d’électricité dite verte sur l’objectif global de pollution à atteindre et sur l’organisation du marché de la fourniture d’électricité. En établissant des liens entre les différents textes qui organisent ce marché, en tirant les enseignements des expériences de labellisation des produits réalisées dans d’autres secteurs et en rendant compte de l’évolution des instruments des politiques environnementales, nous montrons que les contrats verts, forme d’approche volontaire adoptée par les fournisseurs d’électricité, est moins efficace que d’autres dispositifs, tarif d’achat réglementé en tête, pour augmenter le recours aux énergies renouvelables. Ils ont en revanche des effets réels sur l’organisation et la segmentation du marché. |
| Keywords: | approches volontaire, marché de l’électricité, énergies renouvelables, responsabilité environnementale |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00178661_v1&r=env |
| By: | Erin T. Mansur; Sheila M. Olmstead |
| Abstract: | Rather than allowing water prices to reflect scarcity rents during periods of drought-induced excess demand, policy makers have mandated command-and-control approaches, like the curtailment of certain uses, primarily outdoor watering. Using unique panel data on residential end-uses of water, we examine the welfare implications of typical drought policies. Using price variation across and within markets, we identify end-use specific price elasticities. Our results suggest that current policies target water uses that households, themselves, are most willing to forgo. Nevertheless, we find that use restrictions have costly welfare implications, primarily due to household heterogeneity in willingness-to-pay for scarce water. |
| JEL: | L51 L95 Q25 Q28 Q58 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13513&r=env |
| By: | José António Filipe; Manuel Alberto M. Ferreira; Manuel Coelho |
| Abstract: | The operation and management of common property resources (“the commons”) have been exhaustively examined in economics and political science, both in formal analysis and in practical applications. “Tragedy of the Commons” metaphor helps to explain why people overuse shared resources. On the other side, Anti-Commons Theory is a recent theory presented by scientists to explain several situations about new Property Rights concerns. An “anti-commons” problem arises when there are multiple rights to exclude. Little attention has been given to the setting where more than one person is assigned with exclusion rights, which may be exercised. We analyze the “anti-commons” problem in which resources are inefficiently underutilized rather than over-utilized as in the familiar commons setting. In fact, these two problems are symmetrical in several aspects. |
| Keywords: | Anti-Commons Theory; Property Rights |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp162007&r=env |
| By: | D. BOUCKENOOGHE; G. DEVOS |
| Abstract: | Purpose: The aim of this inquiry was to explore the relationships between four psychological change climate dimensions (trust in top management, history of change, participation in decision making, and quality of change communication) and readiness for change.<br><br>Design/methodology/approach: By means of a large scale survey administered in 56 Flemish public and private sector organizations, we collected in total 1,559 responses. These data were used to test the hypotheses about the role of context (i.e. trust in top management and history of change) and process factors of change (i.e. participation in decision making and quality of change communication) in engendering readiness for change.<br><br>Findings: In general the results of the hierarchical regression analyses supported the four hypotheses. This implies that trust in top management, a positively perceived change history, participation in decision making and excellent change communication, have positive correlations with readiness for change. Furthermore, different patterns are observed with respect to the relative contribution of process and context factors in explaining the overall readiness for change and the three sub dimensions (i.e. emotion, cognition and intention). Despite these differences, a major conclusion is that the perceived change process and change context are salient antecedents of people’s attitude towards change.<br><br>Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by looking at the combined effects and relative contributions of change communication, participation in decision making, trust in top management and history of change on readiness for change. In addition, readiness for change is measured as a multidimensional construct comprised of an emotional, cognitive and intentional component, whereas previous inquiries considered it as a one-dimensional construct. |
| Keywords: | Readiness for change, Psychological Change Climate, Context Factors of Change, Process Factors of Change, Dominance Analysis |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:07/483&r=env |
| By: | Fengxia Dong (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | Biofuels production is expanding rapidly all over the world, driven by rising crude oil prices, the desire of countries to be energy independent, and concerns about climate change. As developed countries, especially the United States, are expanding biofuels production, developing countries are expanding their biofuels industries as well, to power their growing economies. However, developing countries must address the food security issue when they develop biofuels. As China is a developing country with rapid economic growth, population growth, significant demand for fuels, and food security concerns, it serves as a good example for studying the opportunities and challenges faced by developing countries under current conditions. This study analyzes the background, history, and current situation of biofuels development in China. Some implications for developing countries are also provided. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, food security, China. |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:07-bp52&r=env |
| By: | Dixit M.R.; Sharma Sunil; Karna Amit |
| Abstract: | It is now an incontrovertible fact that capabilities are the source of competitive advantage. However, the process through which firms build capabilities over a period of time is only partially understood. Concepts like learning, resource combination, and co-evolution can be categorized as enablers as they support capability formation. On the other hand, concepts like inertia and path dependence can be categorized as restrictors as they constrain the process of capability formation. Combined together, while these concepts hint in the right direction, there is a need to have concepts that explain the process of capability formation holistically. An endeavour towards this objective would require taking into account the role of internal and external events. This paper builds concepts of ‘corporate persistence’ and ‘environmental support’ to explain their role in building breakthrough capability by examining major events in the evolution of two mega high technology business belonging to the Samsung group. |
| Keywords: | Capability Building, Corporate Persistence, Environmental Support, Breakthrough. |
| Date: | 2007–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-10-04&r=env |
| By: | Yaakov Kareev; Judith Avrahami |
| Date: | 2007–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cla:levrem:122247000000001610&r=env |
| By: | Juan Antonio Duro Moreno (Departament d'Economia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Emilio Padilla Rosa (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | La medida de la polarización está ligada a la inestabilidad potencial —la aparición de grupos con intereses opuestos— generada por una situación de distribución específica. Esta investigación analiza la distribución internacional de las emisiones de CO2 per cápita a través de la adaptación del concepto y las medidas de polarización. La descripción agrupada más interesante que se deriva del análisis de polarización es la de dos grupos. Estos grupos coinciden ampliamente con los países del Anexo B del Protocolo de Kyoto y los que no lo son, lo que podría indicar la capacidad del análisis de polarización para explicar la generación de grupos en el mundo real. El análisis muestra una reducción significativa en la polarización internacional de las emisiones de CO2 per cápita entre 1971 y 2001. Esto se explica en gran parte por el aumento en las emisiones experimentado por China e India. Una reducción en la polarización puede implicar una reducción en la dificultad de alcanzar acuerdos. No obstante, la polarización no ha cambiado mucho desde 1995 o 1997 (año en que tuvieron lugar las negociaciones de Kyoto), lo que podría indicar que la polarización de la distribución de emisiones entre países es aún uno de los factores importantes llevando a la dificultad en alcanzar nuevos acuerdos respecto a las políticas globales de |
| Keywords: | acuerdos internacionales; distribución internacional de CO2; emisiones de CO2; formación de grupos de países; polarización |
| JEL: | D39 Q43 Q56 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea0706&r=env |
| By: | Kari Kristinsson; Rekha Rao |
| Abstract: | This paper uses sectoral systems of innovation framework to examine the relationship between technology policy and industrial development by comparing the emergence of the wind energy sector in Denmark and India. Since the late 1970s Denmark has led the development of a global wind energy industry and in 2004 wind energy supplied 18,8% percent of Denmark’s electricity consumption. India was however a late entrant that managed in a few years to establish itself as the fifth largest producer of wind energy in the world. We suggest that India’s unique policy of ‘interactive learning’ with international and especially Danish actors, instead of imitation of foreign technology policies and institutions, was a substantial contributor to India’s success in developing their wind energy industry. |
| Keywords: | Wind energy industry; Denmark; India; sectoral systems of innovation |
| JEL: | O38 Q48 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-18&r=env |
| By: | Boone Ch.; Wezel F.C.; Van Witteloostuijn A. |
| Abstract: | The question as to the evolution of population-level organizational diversity is at the heart of macro-level organizational sociology. However, the number of studies that direct this question explicitly is very limited, particularly in the empirical arena. We suggest a diversity-dependence theory that maps the macro-level evolution of organizational diversity with the micro-level events of entry and exit. We develop hypotheses as to the decision where to locate in product space by new entrants, as well as the likelihood of exit by incumbent firms given their location in product space. The key argument is that the micro-level entrants’ location decision and incumbents’ exit likelihood are both conditional upon macro-level organizational diversity, and that these events affect the evolution of population-level organizational diversity. Our hypotheses are tested in the British motorcycle industry in the 1895-1993 period, where we find support for our theory. |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2007003&r=env |