|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | B. Sudhakara Reddy (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); Gaudenz B. Assenza (Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | For over two decades, scientific and political communities have debated whether and how to act on climate change. The present paper revisits these debates and synthesizes the longstanding arguments. Firstly, it provides an overview of the development of international climate policy and discusses clashing positions represented by sceptics and supporters of action on climate change. Secondly, it discusses the market-based measures as a means to increase the win-win opportunities and to attract profit-minded investors to invest in climate change mitigation. Finally, the paper examines whether climate protection policies can yield benefits both for the environment and the economy. The paper suggests the possibility of building environmental and climate policies around development priorities that are vitally important for developing countries and stresses the need for using sustainable development as a framework for climate change policies. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Sceptic, Supporter, Developing country |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2008-008&r=env |
| By: | Chakravorty, Ujjayant (University of Alberta, Department of Economics); Leach, Andrew (University of Alberta, School of Business); Moreaux, Michel (Laboratory of Natural Resource Economics, Toulouse School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study how environmental regulation in the form of a cap on aggregate emissions from a fossil fuel (e.g., coal) affects the arrival of a clean substitute (e.g., solar energy). The cost of the substitute decreases with cumulative use because of learning-by-doing. We show that energy prices may initially increase but then decline upon attaining the targeted level of pollution, followed by another cycle of rising and falling prices. The surprising result is that with pollution and learning, the Hotelling model predicts the cyclical behavior of energy prices in the long run. The alternating trends in upward or downward price movements we show may at least partially explain recent empirical findings by Lee, List and Strazicich (2006) that long run resource prices are stationary around deterministic trends with structural breaks in intercept and trend slope. The main implication of our results is that testing for secular price trends as predicted by the textbook Hotelling model may lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the predictive power of the theory of nonrenewable resource economics. |
| Keywords: | dynamic models; energy markets; environmental externalities; global warming; technological change |
| JEL: | Q12 Q32 Q41 |
| Date: | 2009–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:2009_010&r=env |
| By: | Cathrine Hagem and Bjart Holtsmark (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The developed countries can meet part of their Kyoto commitments by investing in emission-reducing projects in developing countries (the Clean Development Mechanism, CDM). Since the developing countries have so far not been willing to accept binding emission commitments, the CDM has been the only mechanism available for ensuring emission-abatement measures in developing countries. We argue that the CDM is not an efficient tool for achieving deep cuts in global emissions and conclude that maintaining the CDM as an option for developing countries may in itself be a serious obstacle to more binding participation by these countries. |
| Keywords: | Clean development mechanism; climate agreement; emissions trading; emissions reductions. |
| JEL: | Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:577&r=env |
| By: | John Whalley; Yuezhou Cai; Raymond Riezman |
| Abstract: | Country incentives to participate in cooperative arrangements which either fully or partially internalize climate change externalities from carbon emissions involve critical asymmetries. Small countries trade off own country costs of carbon mitigation actions against their own benefits from global improvements in climate which benefit all. Small countries thus have limited incentive to participate as their actions, while costly to them, have a significant impact on global temperature change which mainly benefits others. Here we build on the work of Shapley and Shubik (1969) which suggests that the core of a global warming game without transferable utility may be empty and use numerical simulation methods to analyse country incentives to participate in carbon emission limitation negotiations using a micro global warming structure related to that used by Uzawa(2003).We discuss how the presence of international trade in goods affects the willingness of countries to join international negotiations on climate change. We calibrate our simulation structure to business as usual scenarios for the period 2006-2036. We go significantly beyond the PAGE model relied on in the Stern (2006) report in capturing multi-country interactive effects on the benefit side of climate change mitigation. We show how the perceived severity of global climate change damage influences participation decisions, and importantly how international trade makes participation more likely. |
| JEL: | F13 Q54 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14711&r=env |
| By: | Markus Groth (Institute of Economics, University of Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | Managed grasslands contribute in a number of ways to the biodiversity of European agricultural landscapes and provide a wide range of ecosystem services that are also of socio-economic value. Against the background of a rapid biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes, increasing attention is being paid to farming practices that enhance ecosystem services. Therefore developing cost-effective conservation payment schemes is the main challenge facing present European agri-environmental policy. This paper deals with the transferability of a payment scheme that combines a payment-by-results approach with the use of discriminatory-price conservation procurement auctions in order to improve the cost-effectiveness of conservation schemes for grassland plant biodiversity. Hence the design, implementation and results of the adapted case-study payment scheme in the county Steinburg in the northernmost federal state of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) will be focussed. Results concerning the ecological-effectiveness of the payment-by-results approach as well bid-prices and potential cost-effectiveness gains by the use of conservation procurement auctions point out that it was possible to transfer the payment scheme successfully to another region, whereby the adapted case-study even outperforms the original case-study. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental policy, discriminatory-price auction, ecological services, experimental economics, multi-unit auction, payment-by-results, plant biodiversity, rural development. |
| JEL: | C93 D44 H41 Q24 Q28 Q57 R52 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:119&r=env |
| By: | Satoshi Nakano; Asako Okamura; Norihisa Sakurai; Masayuki Suzuki; Yoshiaki Tojo; Norihiko Yamano |
| Abstract: | Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which are linked to the global climate system such as the Kyoto Protocol might fail, if emission-restricted states relocate their carbon-intensive production activities to non-restricted countries where the primary production factors depend on more GHG-intensive sources. Such a relocation process and increased ‘carbon trade’ appear to be contrary to the GHG reductions envisioned in international agreements. This study addresses the issue of carbon embodiments in trade using internationally-comparable OECD data sources (Input-Output, Bilateral Goods Trade and CO2 emissions) for 41 countries/regions by 17 industries. Simulation results under base case scenarios for the mid-1990s and the early 2000s suggest that “trade deficits” of CO2 emissions are observed in 21 OECD countries in the early 2000s and that for 16 countries, the magnitude of the trade deficit increased in the late 1990s. While a third (860 Mt CO2) of the global increase in production-based emissions took place within the non-OECD economies in the late 1990s, more than half of the consumption-based emission (1550 Mt CO2) is still attributable to OECD consumption. The sensitivity simulations imply that an increase in global trade intensity has an increasing impact on embodied emissions while technology transfers from carbon-intensive countries to high carbon-intensive countries reduce global emissions and carbon trade gaps.<BR>Les efforts visant à réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) liées au système climatique mondial, notamment dans le cadre du Protocole de Kyoto, risquent d’échouer si les États où s’appliquent des limitations des émissions délocalisent leurs activités de production à forte intensité de carbone vers des pays où ces restrictions ne sont pas imposées et où les facteurs de production primaire sont tributaires de sources qui émettent plus de GES. Ce processus de délocalisation et l’augmentation des ‘échanges de carbone’ vont à l’encontre des réductions des GES envisagées dans les accords internationaux. Cette étude aborde la question des quantités de carbone incorporées dans les échanges en utilisant des sources de données de l’OCDE comparables au plan international (entrées-sorties, commerce bilatéral et émissions de CO2) concernant 41 pays/régions et 17 branches d’activité. Dans les résultats des simulations effectuées avec des scénarios de référence couvrant le milieu des années 1990 et le début des années 2000, on observe des “déficits des échanges” d’émissions de CO2 dans 21 pays de l’OCDE au début des années 2000 et, s’agissant de 16 pays, un accroissement du solde négatif de ces échanges à la fin des années 1990. Si un tiers (860 Mt de CO2) de l’augmentation mondiale des émissions dues à la production a été produit dans des économies non membres de l’OCDE à la fin des années 1990, plus de la moitié des émissions associées à la consommation (1550 Mt de CO2) sont encore imputables à la consommation de la zone OCDE. Les simulations des sensibilités laissent supposer qu’un accroissement de l’intensité des échanges mondiaux a un effet à la hausse sur les émissions incorporées, tandis que les transferts de technologie des pays moins émetteurs de carbone vers les pays gros émetteurs réduisent les émissions mondiales et les soldes négatifs des échanges de carbone. |
| Date: | 2009–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2009/3-en&r=env |
| By: | Anthoff, David (ESRI); Tol, Richard S. J. (ESRI); Yohe, Gary W.(Wesleyan University, CT, USA) (ESRI) |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that the discount rate is crucially important for estimating the social cost of carbon, a standard indicator for the seriousness of climate change and desirable level of climate policy. The Ramsey equation for the discount rate has three components: the pure rate of time preference, a measure of relative risk aversion, and the rate of growth of per capita consumption. Much of the attention on the appropriate discount rate for long-term environmental problems has focussed on the role played by the pure rate of time preference in this formulation. We show that the other two elements are numerically just as important in considerations of anthropogenic climate change. The elasticity of the marginal utility with respect to consumption is particularly important because it assumes three roles: consumption smoothing over time, risk aversion, and inequity aversion. Given the large uncertainties about climate change and widely asymmetric impacts, the assumed rates of risk and inequity aversion can be expected to play significant roles. The consumption growth rate plays four roles. It is one of the determinants of the discount rate, and one of the drivers of emissions and hence climate change. We find that the impacts of climate change grow slower than income, so that the effective discount rate is higher than the real discount rate. The differential growth rate between rich and poor countries determines the time evolution of the size of the equity weights. As there are a number of crucial but uncertain parameters, it is no surprise that one can obtain almost any estimate of the social cost of carbon. We even show that, for a low pure rate of time preference, the estimate of the social cost of carbon is indeed arbitrary ? as one can exclude neither large positive nor large negative impacts in the very long run. However, if we probabilistically constrain the parameters to values that are implied by observed behaviour, we find that the social cost of carbon, corrected for uncertainty and inequity, is 61 US dollar per metric tonne of carbon. |
| Keywords: | Climate change/income elasticity/inequity aversion/pure time preference/risk aversion/Social cost of carbon/time horizon/uncertainty/policy/growth |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp276&r=env |
| By: | John E. Parsons; A. Denny Ellerman; Stephan Feilhauer |
| Abstract: | This is a speech given to the National Press Club, September 26, 2008 outlining the need for comprehensive reform of the electric power sector in the U.S. It outlines the centrality of the electricity sector to the economy and to any national energy and climate policies. The U.S. electric power sector is the last energy sector in the U.S. to be brought into the 21st century with organization and regulatory governance institutions that are compatible with modern technology, future technological opportunities, reliability and environmental goals. The speech details the elements needed in a comprehensive national policy for the electric power sector. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:0901&r=env |
| By: | Artur Tamazian; B. Bhaskara Rao |
| Abstract: | Several studies have examined the relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth. However, most of them did not take into account financial developments and institutional quality. Moreover, Stern (2004) noted that there are important econometric weaknesses in the earlier studies, such as endogeneity, heteroscedasticity, omitted variables, etc. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap in the literature by investigating the linkage between not only economic development and environmental quality but also financial development and institutional quality. We employ the standard reduced-form modelling approach to control for country-specific unobserved heterogeneity and GMM estimation to control for endogeneity. Our study considers 24 transition economies and panel data for 1993-2004. Our results support the EKC hypothesis while confirming the importance of both institutional quality and financial development for environmental performance. We also found that financial liberalization may be harmful for environmental quality if it is not accomplished in a strong institutional framework. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Degradation, Economic Development, Financial Development, Institutional Quality, EKC. |
| JEL: | O13 P28 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2009_02&r=env |
| By: | Claudia Kemfert; Hans Kremers |
| Abstract: | This paper applies the concept of damage coefficients introduced in Houba and Kremers (2008) to provide an estimate of the cost of climate change - in particular the cost of changes in mean regional temperature and precipitation - to the fruit vegetation sector. We concentrate on the production of apples in the German 'Alte Land' region. The estimated cost of climate change on apple-growing in the 'Alte Land' is dependent on the assumptions regarding developments in the rentability of land not related to climate change in the fruit sector. |
| Keywords: | fruit vegetation, Alte Land, climate change, land productivity, land rentability, cost of climate change |
| JEL: | D01 D21 D24 D61 D62 Q12 Q24 Q51 Q54 R32 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp857&r=env |
| By: | Valentina Bosetti; Carlo Carraro; Romain Duval; Alessandra Sgobbi; Massimo Tavoni |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the WITCH model, a computable general equilibrium model with endogenous technological change, to explore the impact of various climate policies on energy technology choices and the costs of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations. Current and future expected carbon prices appear to have powerful effects on R&D spending and clean technology diffusion. Their impact on stabilisation costs depends on the nature of R&D: R&D targeted at incremental energy efficiency improvements has only limited effects, but R&D focused on the emergence of major new low-carbon technologies could lower costs drastically if successful – especially in the non-electricity sector, where such low-carbon options are scarce today. With emissions coming from multiple sources, keeping a wide range of options available matters more for stabilisation costs than improving specific technologies. Due to international knowledge spillovers, stabilisation costs could be further reduced through a complementary, global R&D policy. However, a strong price signal is always required.<P>Le rôle de la R&D and de la diffusion des technologies dans l’atténuation du changementclimatique : nouvelles perspectives à l’aide du modèle WITCH<BR>Cet article utilise le modèle WITCH, un modèle d’équilibre général calculable à progrès technique endogène, afin d’explorer l’impact de diverses politiques climatiques sur les choix de technologies énergétiques et les coûts de stabilisation des concentrations de gaz à effet de serre. Il apparaît que les prix courants et anticipés du carbone ont des effets puissants sur la dépense en R&D et la diffusion des technologies propres. Leur impact sur les coûts de stabilisation dépend de la nature de la R&D : une R&D améliorant l’efficacité énergétique de façon incrémentale a des effets limités, mais une R&D visant à l’émergence de nouvelles technologies sobres en carbone pourrait drastiquement réduire les coûts en cas de succès – notamment dans le secteur non-électrique, où de telles options sobres en carbone sont aujourd’hui rares. Les émissions provenant de sources multiples, garder un éventail d’options aussi large que possible influence davantage les coûts de stabilisation qu’améliorer certaines technologies spécifiques. Du fait des externalités internationales liées à la R&D, les coûts de stabilisation peuvent être encore réduits par une politique complémentaire de R&D mondiale. Cependant, un signal de prix fort est toujours nécessaire. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, energy R&D, politique climatique, R&D énergétique, fund, fonds, stabilisation costs, coûts de stabilisation |
| JEL: | H0 H2 H3 H4 O3 Q32 Q43 Q54 |
| Date: | 2009–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:664-en&r=env |
| By: | Anthoff, David (ESRI) |
| Abstract: | A necessary condition of an efficient global climate change mitigation policy is to equate marginal abatement costs across world regions to ensure use of the cheapest abatement options available. The welfare economic justification for such an approach rests on lump sum transfers between regions to compensate for any unwanted distributional consequences of such a policy. I contrast this efficient solution with a second best situation in which lump sum transfers between regions are impossible. I derive that in a dynamic setting optimal taxes are different in such a case for regions with different per capita consumption. I estimate the optimal tax rates with the integrated assessment model FUND and find that optimal mitigation is less stringent when equity is explicitly considered for widely used parameter choices of a utilitarian social welfare function. |
| Keywords: | Climate change |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp278&r=env |
| By: | Elsa Martin (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - CNRS : UMR6579); Hubert Stahn (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | The point of departure of this work is the lack of coordination of European environmental internalizing policies. At the national level, while the water authority generally has to internalize the negative externalities of water extraction, the agricultural one aims at encouraging environmentally friendly one. More locally, considering an aquifer as being the only vector of environmental effects, we show that the externalities occurring can compensate themselves in such a way that the open-loop Nash game played by the two distinct authorities in charge of these policies is inefficient. In this special case, we propose to implement a coordinated policy based on a double fiscal scheme also showed budget balanced. |
| Keywords: | water policy; agricultural policy; externalities |
| Date: | 2009–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00360993_v1&r=env |
| By: | Meghan McGuinness; A. Denny Ellerman |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical assessment of CO2 emissions abatement in the UK power sector during the trial period of the EU ETS. Using an econometrically estimated model of fuel switching, it separates the impacts of changes in relative fuel prices and changes in the EUA price on the utilization and emissions of coal and natural gas-fired generating units. We find clear statistical evidence that the CO2 price did impact dispatch decisions, resulting in natural gas utilization that was from 19% to 24% higher and coal utilization that was 16% to 18% lower than would have otherwise occurred in 2005 and 2006. Abatement as a result of fuel switching in the power sector is estimated to have been between 13 million and 21 million tons of CO2 in 2005 and 14 and 21 million tons in 2006. |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:0810&r=env |
| By: | A. Denny Ellerman; Stephan Feilhauer |
| Abstract: | This paper uses top-down trend analysis and a bottom-up power sector model to define upper and lower boundaries on abatement in Germany in the first phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (2005-2007). Long-term trend analysis reveals the decoupling of economic activity and carbon emissions in Germany that has occurred since 1996 and has accelerated since 2005, in response to rising commodities prices, the introduction of a carbon trading, and other measures undertaken in Germany. Differing emission intensity trends and emissions counterfactuals are constructed using emissions, power generation, and macroeconomic data. Resulting top-down estimates set the upper bound of abatement in Phase I at 121.9 mn tons for all EU-ETS sectors and 56.7 mn tons for the power sector only. Using the tuned version of the model “E-simulate” a lower boundary of Phase I abatement is established at 13.2 million tons, based only on fuel switching in the power sector, which constitutes 61% of German ETS sector emissions. The paper characterizes abatement, critically discusses the underlying assumptions of the outcomes, and examines the impact of two main factors on power sector abatement, namely price and load. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:0817&r=env |
| By: | A. Denny Ellerman |
| Abstract: | The European Union's Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the world's first multinational cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases. As an agreement between sovereign nations with diverse historical, institutional, and economic circumstances, it can be seen as a prototype for an eventual global climate regime. Interestingly, the problems that are often seen as dooming a global trading system — international financial flows and institutional readiness — haven't appeared in the EU ETS, at least not yet. The more serious problems that emerge from the brief experience of the EU ETS are those of (1) developing a central coordinating organization, (2) devising side benefits to encourage participation, and (3) dealing with the interrelated issues of harmonization, differentiation, and stringency. The pre-existing organizational structure and membership benefits of the European Union provided convenient and almost accidental solutions to the need for a central institution and side benefits, but these solutions will not work on a global scale and there are no obvious substitutes. Furthermore, the EU ETS is only beginning to test the practicality of harmonizing allocations within the trading system, differentiating responsibilities among participants, and increasing the stringency of emissions caps. The trial period of the EU ETS punted on these problems, as was appropriate for a trial period, but they are now being addressed seriously. From a global perspective, the answers that are being worked out in Europe will say a great deal about what will be feasible on a broader, global scale. |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:0813&r=env |
| By: | Andrei V. Bazhanov |
| Abstract: | The question of formulation of a social planner criterion for an imperfect economy is examined using an example of a polluting economy negatively affected by growing temperature. Imperfection of the economy is expressed here in deviations from the optimal initial state. It is shown that a criterion not linked to a specific initial state almost always implies either unsustainable or inefficient paths in the economy. In this paper, I link the constant-utility criterion to the initial amount of the resource reserve. This criterion implies efficient resource use and the paths of utility asymptotically approaching some constants, which depend on the parameters of the temperature function. The criterion can be formulated for the cases when the reserve estimate changes over time and when the high level of temperature can cause extinction. |
| Keywords: | Essential nonrenewable resource, imperfect polluting economy, economy-linked criterion, semisustainable development, semiefficient extraction. |
| JEL: | O13 Q32 Q38 |
| Date: | 2009–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2009_03&r=env |
| By: | Mehdi Abbas (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Économie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - CNRS : UMR5252 - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II) |
| Abstract: | L'article pose l'enjeu d'une régulation de l’échange international climat-compatible. Une mesure d’ajustement aux frontières ne constituerait qu’un instrument au sein d’un dispositif global visant à articuler le régime commercial de l’OMC au régime de lutte contre le changement climatique tel que défini par la Convention-cadre des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC) et le protocole de Kyoto. L’instauration d’une politique environnementale de protection, à laquelle renvoie le projet d’une taxe CO2, ne représente pas la solution unique et suffisante. Au contraire, il convient de la concevoir dans le cadre d’une architecture globale de la gouvernance climatique.Après un rappel des enjeux des mesures d’ajustement aux frontières, puis une analyse des difficultés considérables à la mise en œuvre de solutions fiscales, nous identifierons quatre stratégies alternatives pour l’Union. La première est celle d’une offre de libéralisation commerciale comme incitation à la lutte contre le changement climatique. La deuxième s’appuierait sur la rénovation de certaines dispositions des accords commerciaux multilatéraux. La troisième serait l’option d’une dérogation à la norme multilatérale. Enfin, la dernière solution consisterait à élargir la perspective en vue de l’élaboration d’un système de gouvernance combinée OMC-CCNUCC. |
| Keywords: | CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE ; REGIME COMMERCIAL ; REGIME CLIMATIQUE ; OMC ; COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00358859_v1&r=env |
| By: | Antonio Cabrales; Esther Hauk |
| Abstract: | We propose a theoretical model to explain empirical regularities related to the curse of natural resources. This is an explicitly political model which emphasizes the behavior and incentives of politicians. We extend the standard voting model to give voters political control beyond the elections. This gives rise to a new restriction into our political economy model: policies should not give rise to a revolution. Our model clarifies when resource discoveries might lead to revolutions, namely, in countries with weak institutions. Natural resources may be bad for democracy by harming political turnover. Our model also suggests a non-linear dependence of human capital on natural resources. For low levels of democracy human capital depends negatively on natural resources, while for high levels of democracy the dependence is reversed. This theoretical finding is corroborated in cross section regressions. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2009-07&r=env |
| By: | Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); B. Sudhakara Reddy (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | There was a boom in the development of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) after notion of sustainability became popular through Bruntland Commission's report. Since then numerous efforts have been made worldwide in constructing SDIs at global, national and local scales, but in India not a single city has registered any initiative for indicator development . Motivated by this dearth of studies added to the prevailing sustainability risks in million plus cities in India, a research is being undertaken at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, India, to develop a set of sustainable indicators to study the resource dynamics of the city of Mumbai. As a first step in the process, the ground for development of SDIs is prepared through the development of a framework. A multi-view black box (MVBB) framework has been constructed by eliminating the system component from the extended urban metabolism model (EUMM) and introducing three-dimensional views of economic efficiency (EE), social wellbeing (SW), and ecological acceptability (EA). Domain-based classification was adopted to facilitate a scientifically credible set of indicators. The important domain areas are identified and applying MVBB framework, a model has been developed for each domain. |
| Keywords: | Urban metabolism, Resources transformation, Economic efficiency, Society, Ecology, Monitoring and evaluation, City development, Black box, Productization of process |
| JEL: | Q01 Q56 O18 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2008-003&r=env |
| By: | Emilio Cerdá; Sonia Quiroga Gómez |
| Abstract: | Extreme meteorological events have increased over the last decades and it is widely accepted that it is due to climate change (IPCC, 2007; Beniston et al., 2007). Some of these extremes, like drought or frost episodes largely affect agricultural outputs and risk management becomes crucial. The goal of this paper it is to analyze farmers’ decisions about risk management, taking into account climatological and meteorological information. We consider a situation in which the farmer, as part of crop management, has available a technology to protect the harvest from weather effects. This approach has been used by Murphy et al. (1985), Katz and Murphy (1990 and 1997) and others in the case that the farmer maximizes the expected returns. In our model we introduce the attitude towards risk. Thus we can evaluate how the optimal decision is affected by the absolute risk aversion coefficient of Arrow-Pratt, and compute the economic value of the information in this context, while proposing a measure to estimate the amount of money that the farmer is willing to pay for this information in terms of the certainty equivalent. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2009-04&r=env |
| By: | Neri, Marcelo; Soares, Wagner |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the social impacts of the project PRODETUR in Porto Seguro and Bahia. Among the analyzed channels, we have focused on the impact on variables related to sewering (access to piped water, sewer and garbage collection), besides some socio-economic ones (occupation, contribution to social security, income and poverty). In addition, we analyzed the impact on the distribution of costs and benefits between the immigrant and native population. Using the methodology of differences-in-differences to compare areas affected and non–affected by the program, we measured the “true†impact of the program using the 1991 and 2000 Census. The results suggest a relative advance in Porto Seguro in what concerns employment, formality, income and poverty reduction, with this benefits being uniformly distributed between immigrant and native population. On the other hand, we have observed a relative worsening in the sanitary situation, what will lead to future problems whose cost will be beard mainly by the natives, among which we observe a relative worse access to water, sewer and garbage collection. Therefore, we conclude that, in order to provide tourism in a sustainable way, the municipality of Porto Seguro requires a better preservation of its natural capital |
| Date: | 2008–12–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:epgewp:688&r=env |