|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Hoel, Michael (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | If investors fear that future carbon taxes will be lower than currently announced by policy makers, long-run investments in greenhouse gas mitigation may be smaller than desirable. On the other hand, owners of a non-renewable carbon resource that underestimate future carbon taxes will postpone extraction compared with what they would have chosen had the policymakers been able to commit to the optimal tax path. If extraction costs rise rapidly as accumulated extraction rises, near-term emissions increase as a consequence of a downward bias in the expected future carbon taxes. Whether investments in greenhouse gas mitigation go up or down due to the expectation error depends on the time pro…le of the returns to the investment. |
| Keywords: | climate change; exhaustible resources; carbon tax |
| JEL: | H23 Q30 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2010–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2010_004&r=env |
| By: | Etienne BILLETTE de VILLEMEUR; Justin Leroux (IEA, HEC Montréal) |
| Abstract: | Due to meteorological factors, the distribution of the environmental damage due to climate change bears no relationship to that of global emissions. We argue in favor of offsetting this discrepancy, and propose a “global insurance scheme” to be financed according to countries’ responsibility for climate change. Because GHG decay very slowly, we argue that the actual burden of global warming should be shared on the basis of cumulated emissions, rather than sharing the expected costs of actual emissions as in a Pigovian taxation scheme. We characterize new versions of two well-known cost-sharing schemes by adapting the responsibility theory of Bossert and Fleurbaey (1996) to a context with externalities. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Cost Sharing, Responsibility, Compensation. |
| JEL: | D62 D63 Q54 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iea:carech:1004&r=env |
| By: | Golombek, Rolf (The Frisch Center for Economic Research); Greaker, Mads (Statistics Norway); Hoel, Michael (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | Climate mitigation policy should be imposed over a long period, and spur development of new technologies in order to make stabilization of green house gas concentrations economically feasible. The government may announce current and future policy packages that stimulate current R&D in climate-friendly technologies. However, once climate-friendly technologies have been developed, the government may have no incentive to implement the pre-announced future policies, that is, there may be a time inconsistency problem. We show that if the government can optimally subsidize R&D today, there is no time inconsistency problem. Thus, lack of commitment is not an argument for higher current R&D subsidies. If the o¤ered R&D subsidy is lower than the optimal subsidy, the current (sub-game perfect) climate tax should exceed the …rst-best climate tax. |
| Keywords: | Time consistency; carbon tax; climate policy; R&D; endogenous technological change |
| JEL: | H21 O30 Q28 Q42 |
| Date: | 2010–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2010_002&r=env |
| By: | Tisdell, Clem A. |
| Abstract: | Critically reviews the following core issues in the economics of biodiversity conservation: reliance on the stated preferences of individuals as a guide to biodiversity conservation, the relevance of the phylogenetic similarity principle (and other attributes of organisms) for the survival of species; the implications of the Noahâs ark problem for selecting features of biodiversity to be saved and the difficulties raised by criteria based on safe minimum populations of species or on minimum environmental standards; the extent to which the precautionary principle can be rationally used to support the conservation of biodiversity; the impact of market extensions and globalization, as well as market and other institutional failures, on biodiversity loss; the relationship between the rate of interest and biodiversity loss; and the implications of intergenerational equity for biodiversity conservation. The consequences of changes in biodiversity for sustainable development are given particular attention. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity conservation, economic valuation, intergenerational equity, phylogenetic similarity principle, precautionary principle, sustainable development., Environmental Economics and Policy, Q5, Q51, Q56, Q57, |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqseee:92772&r=env |
| By: | Franck Lecocq (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Sylvain Caurla (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Philippe Delacote (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Ahmed Barkaoui (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Alexandre Sauquet (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech) |
| Abstract: | Forests can contribute to climate mitigation by sequestrating carbon in forest biomass andby replacing fossil-fuel with fuelwood, with potentially conflicting implications for forest management.The present paper assesses the mitigation and the economic impacts of a "stock" policy(payment for sequestration in situ), a "substitution" policy (subsidy to fuelwood consumption),and a combination thereof on the French forest sector. The policies are consistent in that theyare based on the same social cost of carbon. To do so, we use the French Forest Sector Model(FFSM), which combines a dynamic model of French timber resource, and a dynamic partial equilibriummodel of the French forest sector. Simulations show that over the 2010-2020 period,the stock policy is the only one that performs better than Business As Usual (BAU) in terms ofcarbon. Over this period of time, the cumulative substitution benefits of the substitution policyare not sufficient to offset the loss of carbon in standing forests. However, the stock policy hasalso negative impacts on consumers welfare, and increasingly high costs as carbon in excess ofBAU is accumulated in forests. Combining both policies brings intermediate results and is thusless effective than focusing on a single policy. |
| Keywords: | carbon storage, biomass energy, forest sector modeling |
| JEL: | L52 Q23 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lef:wpaper:2010-02&r=env |
| By: | Taylor, Richard D.; Koo, Won W. |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to evaluate the changes in U.S. sugar production and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from the sugar industry if the United States regulates GHG emissions from domestic sugar processing facilities. A spatial equilibrium model is developed to optimize sugar production in the United States under a base scenario and three different levels of CO2e taxes or prices of carbon offsets. This research focuses on U.S. sugar production, both beet and cane sugar. In the model the United States is divided into 6 beet growing regions and 4 cane growing regions. The model also includes Mexico as a domestic sugar growing region as Mexico has the ability to export unlimited amount of sugar into the United States under NAFTA. A rest of the world region is included because the United States imports sugar from about 40 different nations. The results indicate that sugar production by the U.S. beet sugar industry will decrease substantially if carbon emissions are taxed in the United States. Production in the U.S. cane industry will also decrease, but only slightly. Sugar imports from Mexico will increase but the majority of the imported sugar will come from other countries as Mexicoâs ability to increase sugar production is limited. GHG emissions will decrease, but only slightly, because the GHG emissions that are reduced in the United States are replaced by GHG emission in other nations as U.S. sugar production is shipped overseas. However the impacts on the U.S. sugar industry would be substantial with GHG emission regulations. |
| Keywords: | GHG emissions, CO2e, Sugar, spatial equilibrium model, carbon tax, cap and trade, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddaae:93027&r=env |
| By: | Taylor, Richard D.; Koo, Won W. |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to evaluate the changes in U.S. sugar production and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from the sugar industry if the United States regulates GHG emissions from domestic sugar processing facilities. A spatial equilibrium model is developed to optimize sugar production in the United States under a base scenario and three different levels of CO2e taxes or prices of carbon offsets. This research focuses on U.S. sugar production, both beet and cane sugar. In the model the United States is divided into 6 beet growing regions and 4 cane growing regions. The model also includes Mexico as a domestic sugar growing region as Mexico has the ability to export unlimited amount of sugar into the United States under NAFTA. A rest of the world region is included because the United States imports sugar from about 40 different nations. The results indicate that sugar production by the U.S. beet sugar industry will decrease substantially if carbon emissions are taxed in the United States. Production in the U.S. cane industry will also decrease, but only slightly. Sugar imports from Mexico will increase but the majority of the imported sugar will come from other countries as Mexicoâs ability to increase sugar production is limited. GHG emissions will decrease, but only slightly, because the GHG emissions that are reduced in the United States are replaced by GHG emission in other nations as U.S. sugar production is shipped overseas. However the impacts on the U.S. sugar industry would be substantial with GHG emission regulations. |
| Keywords: | GHG emissions, CO2e, Sugar, spatial equilibrium model, carbon tax, cap and trade, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nddaae:93025&r=env |
| By: | Louis Kaplow |
| Abstract: | This essay revisits the question of instrument choice for the regulation of externalities in the context of climate change. The central point is that the Pigouvian prescription to equate marginal control costs with the expected marginal benefits of damage reduction should guide the design of both carbon taxes and permit schemes. Because expected marginal damage rises nonlinearly, a corresponding nonlinear tax – or an equivalent price implemented through a quantity-adjusted permit scheme – is second best. Also considered are political factors, distinctive features of regulating a stock pollutant, and ex ante distortions due to the anticipation of transition relief (such as by receiving more free permits for greater emissions). Finally, distributive concerns are examined, with emphasis on the conceptual and practical benefits of addressing distributive issues with the tax and transfer system rather through adjustments to regulatory schemes that usually render them less effective. |
| JEL: | D61 D62 H21 H23 K32 Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16268&r=env |
| By: | . Vidhi; Parul Sharma |
| Abstract: | Climate change has become one of the most important global issues of our time, with far- reaching natural, socio- economic, and political impacts. In order to equip the community to deal with the effects of climate changes, various adaptation interventions have been furthered. However, efficacy of these interventions varies in terms of their ability to address specific climate change vulnerabilities of human populations and the natural and economic systems. To understand the efficacy of the interventions towards envisaged climate change results, rigorous monitoring and evaluation of these interventions becomes imperative both for ensuring efficiency, results, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the interventions. With these considerations, programme logic model can be an appropriate overarching Monitoring & Evaluation Framework. This paper takes programme logic model as the starting point and describes key principles that need to be factored in developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for climate change adaptation projects. The projects draws upon good practices of various adaptation interventions across the globe to propose established guiding principles. [Discussion Paper No.5] |
| Keywords: | global issue, natural, socio-economic, political impacts, climatic changes, efficacy, monitoring and evaluation |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2766&r=env |
| By: | Masako Ikefuji; Jan R. Magnus; Hiroaki Sakamoto |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interplay between climate, health, and the economy in a stylized world with four heterogeneous regions, labeled 'West' (cold and rich), 'China' (cold and poor), 'India' (warm and poor), and 'Africa' (warm and very poor). We introduce health impacts into a simple integrated assessment model where both the local cooling effect of aerosols as well as the global warming effect of CO2 are endogenous, and investigate how those factors affect the equilibrium path. We show how some of the important aspects of the equilibrium, including emission abatement rates, health costs, and economic growth, depend on the economic and geographical characteristics of each region. |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0785&r=env |
| By: | Tisdell, Clem A. |
| Abstract: | Analyses the economics of alternative land-use allocations for a forested area that ensure a targeted viable population of a forest-dependent species, such as the orangutan. The alternative of setting aside a sufficient fully protected portion of the forested area allowing the rest to be used for intensive forestry (or another intensive land use) in which the focal species is unable to survive is compared with that of fully protecting none of the forested area but allowing a sufficient portion of it to be lightly logged to ensure the survival of the targeted population of the focal species with the remainder of the land area (if any) being available for intensive use. The conditions for determining the least cost option (the one that minimizes profit forgone) are identified. It is not possible to say a priori which land use is the least cost option. The matter should not be prejudged as some conservationists tend to do. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity conservation, conservation of forest-dependent species, forestry, heavy versus light logging, intensive versus extensive land use and conservation, logging and conservation, opportunity cost and species conservation, orangutan conservation., Environmental Economics and Policy, Q23, Q51, Q57, |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqseee:92773&r=env |
| By: | Kaufman, James; Thompson, Wyatt; Meyer, Seth |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umcowp:92627&r=env |
| By: | Kalirajan, Kaliappa (Asian Development Bank Institute); Anbumozhi, Venkatachalam (Asian Development Bank Institute); Singh, Kanhaiya (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | <p>It is an empirical fact that it is very difficult to balance economic growth, poverty reduction, and environment protection, particularly for developing and transitional economies. While the economic environment of a country is influenced by conditions within the country, it is also influenced by external shocks such as the recent global financial crisis depending on how integrated the country is with the rest of the world. Thus, it poses a continuing challenge for policy makers in developing and transitional countries to readjust the economic environment in a way that leads to better and more effective targeting of the chronic issue of poverty reduction without causing damage to the natural environment. It is in this context that this paper attempts to measure the environmental impact of changing trade patterns on the poor. <p>The recent financial crisis has discouraged United States (US) private consumption, which in turn has significantly reduced exports from Asia. However, Asia’s private consumption is at a very low level even when compared with the current reduced US private consumption. Therefore, it is possible for Asian countries to focus more on improving regional trade and domestic consumption to compensate for the revenue losses that resulted from the reduction in global demand. This paper argues that energy-efficient production methods and service-led growth, particularly trade in environmental goods and services, provide good opportunities for Asian countries to enjoy “inclusive growth” without damaging the natural environment. |
| Keywords: | asia economic growth; asia trade and environment; asia poverty reduction |
| JEL: | E20 Q43 Q56 |
| Date: | 2010–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0239&r=env |
| By: | Sommer, Rolf; Djanibekov, Nodir; Salaev, Omonbek |
| Abstract: | Land use and crop production in the Khorezm region in western Uzbekistan, exemplarily for the irrigated low-lands of Central Asia, is adversely affected by the excessive, non-sustainable use of irrigation water on one hand, repeated droughts on the other hand, and by soil degradation by secondary salinization. One of the research objectives of the German-Uzbek Khorezm project, funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and led by ZEF, is to better understand options for land use and choice of technology at the farm level in order to evaluate and propose technological alternatives and policy options for sustainable land use in Khorezm. To address the latter, the integrated so-called Farm-Level Economic-Ecological Optimization Model (FLEOM) was developed. FLEOM optimizes farm-level land and resource use while at the same time assessing the respective economic and environmental impacts. The model captures the basic features of the regional agriculture and the interrelations of production activities most prevalent to the local farmers. FLEOM builds on an economic farm-household linear-programming (LP) optimization routine and a comprehensive agronomic data base established with the cropping system simulation model, CropSyst. A graphical user-interface programmed in Java provides for easy usability, by which settings and results of FLEOM are visualized in tables and figures or as maps via a GIS-environment. The present discussion paper provides a technical introduction to FLEOM and discusses first application results. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability of agro-ecosystems, Integrated biophysical-economic modeling, Cropping system, Land use planning, Policy assessment, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, O13, O21, Q18, |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:92546&r=env |
| By: | Tisdell, Clem |
| Abstract: | General factors are outlined that may influence the support of members of the public for the conservation of different species of reptiles. Survey results are then summarised of the variations in the likeability of different species of reptiles as well as whether or not their survival is supported by those surveyed. The relationship between these two factors is outlined and its consequences for the survival of reptile species compared to birds and mammals is specified, assuming a decision situation like that depicted by the Noahâs Ark problem. Furthermore, the extent to which the results support the similarity principle are considered. A substantial dichotomy in the likeability of different reptile species is observed: turtle species tend to be liked much more than species of crocodiles and snakes. This requires some modification to the similarity principle. This disparity is reflected in a dichotomy in public policies for the conservation of reptiles. Evidence in favour of this hypothesis is outlined and the hypothesis is illustrated by Australian policies for the consideration of reptiles. Some attention is also given to the changes in attitudes towards the conservation of reptiles that can occur as a result of knowledge provision and ecotourism. |
| Keywords: | Attitudes to survival of species, biodiversity conservation, conservation policies, crocodiles, dichotomy in the likeability of reptiles, ecotourism, Phylogenetic similarity principle, reptiles, snakes, turtles., Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Q2, Q57, |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqseee:92771&r=env |
| By: | Stefan Ambec; Mark A. Cohen; Stewart Elgie; Paul Lanoie |
| Abstract: | Twenty years ago, Harvard Business School economist and strategy professor Michael Porter stood conventional wisdom about the impact of environmental regulation on business on its head by declaring that well designed regulation could actually enhance competitiveness. The traditional view of environmental regulation held by virtually all economists until that time was that requiring firms to reduce an externality like pollution necessarily restricted their options and thus by definition reduced their profits. After all, if there are profitable opportunities to reduce pollution, profit maximizing firms would already be taking advantage of those opportunities. Over the past 20 years, much has been written about what has since become known simply as the Porter Hypothesis (“PH”). Yet, even today, there is conflicting evidence, alternative theories that might explain the PH, and oftentimes a misunderstanding of what the PH does and does not say. This paper provides an overview of the key theoretical and empirical insights on the PH to date, draw policy implications from these insights, and sketches out major research themes going forward. <P>Il y a bientôt vingt ans, Michael Porter, économiste et professeur de stratégie de la Harvard Business School, a remis en question le paradigme généralement accepté quant à l’impact des réglementations environnementales sur la performance d’affaires, en affirmant que des politiques environnementales bien conçues pouvaient en fait améliorer la compétitivité des entreprises. Jusqu’alors, le point de vue dominant, accepté par la quasi-totalité des économistes, stipulait que d’imposer aux entreprises de réduire une externalité comme la pollution réduisait nécessairement les options à leur disposition et, par définition, leurs profits. Après tout, s’il y a des opportunités profitables de réduire la pollution, les firmes qui maximisent leurs profits auraient dû les identifier par elles-mêmes. Depuis 20 ans, beaucoup de choses ont été écrites sur ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler l’Hypothèse de Porter. Aujourd’hui, il y a diverses théories pour expliquer l’Hypothèse de Porter. Les résultats empiriques ne sont pas concluants et il subsiste une certaine confusion sur ce que dit et ne dit pas l’Hypothèse de Porter. Ce texte présente un survol des grands enjeux théoriques et empiriques entourant l’Hypothèse de Porter, en tire les grandes implications en termes de politiques publiques et propose des avenues de recherche pour le futur. |
| Keywords: | Porter Hypothesis, environmental policy, innovation, performance , Hypothèse de Porter, politiques environnementales, innovation, performance |
| Date: | 2010–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2010s-29&r=env |
| By: | Tony Irawan (Department of Economics,Faculty of Economics and Management, Bogor Agricultural University;InterCAFE-LPPM, IPB); Djoni Hartono (Graduate Program in Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia); Noer Azam Achsani (Department of Economics,Faculty of Economics and Management, Bogor Agricultural University;InterCAFE-LPPM, IPB) |
| Abstract: | Many countries utilize their resources at optimal capacity in fostering countries’ economic growth without any concern on environmental impact. Even though the importance of environmental issue as one of the important aspects in sustainable development is fully understood, the economic growth still remained as the priority target. In Indonesia, industry is one of the important sectors both in term of its contribution to national output and national energy consumption. Based on Indonesian Statistic Bureau, industry is always at the top list of contributor of national energy consumption since 2000. This paper employs the decomposition analysis to calculate what factors contribute to the change in energy intensity. We also conduct a panel data analysis to investigate the determinants of energy intensity using firm level data. The result suggests that, even though the industrial sector’s energy intensity is higher than national level, it varied across sub sectors within the industry. Meanwhile, the econometric analysis suggests that wage, age, capital intensity and share of capital owned by private sector have positive impact on energy intensity, whereas size of firms, labor productivity and technology intensity has negative impact on energy intensity. |
| Keywords: | energy intensity, industry, firm, decomposition, panel data |
| JEL: | Q40 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:201007&r=env |
| By: | Growitsch, Christian (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln); Jamasb, Tooraj (Faculty of Economics University of Cambridge); Wetzel, Heike (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln) |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable (unobserved heterogeneity) on measured cost and quality performance of firms. This paper analyses the effect of geographic and weather factors and unobserved heterogeneity on a set of 128 Norwegian electricity distribution utilities for the 2001-2004 period. <p> We utilize data on almost 100 geographic and weather variables to identify real economic inefficiency while controlling for observable and unobserved heterogeneity. We use the factor analysis technique to reduce the number of environmental factors into few composite variables and to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. We then estimate the established stochastic frontier models of Battese and Coelli (1992; 1995) and the recent true fixed effects models of Greene (2004; 2005) without and with environmental variables. <p> In the former models some composite environmental variables have a significant effect on the performance of utilities. These effects vanish in the true fixed effects models. However, the latter models capture the entire unobserved heterogeneity and therefore show significantly higher average efficiency scores. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency; Quality of service; Input distance function; Stochastic frontier analysis |
| JEL: | L15 L51 L94 |
| Date: | 2010–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2010_003&r=env |
| By: | James, Harvey S. Jr.; Hendrickson, Mary K. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we consider the question of whether middle-scale farmers, which we define as producers generating between $100,000 and$250,000 in sales annually, are better agricultural stewards than small and large-scale producers. Our study is motivated by the argument of some commentators that farmers of this class ought to be protected in part because of the unique attitudes and values they possess regarding what constitutes a âgood farmerâ. We present results of a survey of Missouri farmers designed to assess farmer attitudes and values regarding a variety of indicators of farmer stewardship, such as the most important issues in agriculture, environment and treatment of farm animals, perspectives on the past and future of agriculture, and ethical behavior. We find no evidence that farmers-of-the-middle are particularly noteworthy in these regards. We do find evidence, however, that middle-scale farmers are more pessimistic and anxious about their role in the future of agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Farmers of the middle, good farmer, agrarianism, farmer attitudes and values, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2009–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umcowp:92623&r=env |
| By: | Sathyapalan, Jyothis |
| Abstract: | This study of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 in the Western Ghats of Kerala identifies the main constraints to the working of the legislation. Community rights and conservation provisions seem to be ignored. The paper also highlights the importance of integrating the implementation of the fra with the participatory forest management programmes for providing community rights to the use of forests products. It also recommends a need for sensitising communities to various provisions of the legislation. |
| Keywords: | Forest Rights India |
| JEL: | A13 O17 A12 |
| Date: | 2010–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:24398&r=env |
| By: | Huffman, Wallace E. |
| Abstract: | New experimental economic methods are described and used to assess consumers' willingness to pay for food products that might be made from new transgenic and intragenic genetically modified (GM) traits. Participants in auctions are randomly chosen adult consumers in major US metropolitan areas and not college students. Food labels are kept simple and focus on key attributes of experimental goods. Diverse private information from the agricultural biotech industry (largely Monsanto and Syngenta), environmental groups (largely Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) and independent third-party information is used to construct the information treatments. Food labels and information treatments are randomized, which is a deviation from traditional lab methods. Auctions are best described as sealed bid random n-th price and not the standard Vickery 2nd price auctions. I show that participants in these experiments respond to both food labels and information treatments, but no single type of information is dominant |
| Date: | 2010–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:31835&r=env |
| By: | Färnstrand Damsgaard, Erika (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | How should the world economy adapt to the increased demand for exhaustible resources from countries like China and India? To address that issue, this paper presents a dynamic model of the world economy with two technologies for production; a resource technology which uses an exhaustible resource as an input and an alternative technology, which does not. I find that both the time path of resource extraction and the adoption of the alternative technology depend on the optimal allocation of capital across the technologies, and the size of the capital stock in relation to the resource stock. In particular, if the capital stock is small, only the resource technology is used initally, and the alternative technology is adopted with a delay. Next, the model is calibrated to analyze the e¤ects of industrialization of developing countries on the extraction of oil and technology choice for energy production. As a result of industrialization, resource extraction increases and the alternative technology is adopted earlier. |
| Keywords: | Exhaustible resources; Technological change |
| JEL: | Q30 Q40 |
| Date: | 2010–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0844&r=env |
| By: | Fritz-Morgenthal, Sebastian G.; Hach, Sebastian T.; Schalast, Christoph |
| Abstract: | Several top deals already closed, a still highly fragmented industry and strong pressure for further consolidation following the financial crisis - renewable energy certainly has become a red-hot topic in M&A. Surveying 220 companies in the solar photovoltaic, utility and financial sector as well as major technology corporations, which are identified as the key industries in the sector-specific takeover market, this working paper proves the common knowledge for the example of photovoltaics. With more than 93% of the respondents, a vast majority expects the M&A environment to further ameliorate and deals to increase. As for the fundamental market drivers, the survey suggests a shift from factors linked to the financial crises towards an increasing impact of general industry-related influences. In contrast, neither the industry sector nor other corporate characteristics are of significant importance. With respect to prevailing takeover strategies, the survey reveals a strong influence of general acquisition motives. However, an empirically significant connection can be determined between the industry sector of potential buyers and the most relevant motivation factors, which allows for the assumption of business-affected takeover strategies that are elaborated on more closely within the working paper. Examining an acquisition focus in terms of the targets' position in the photovoltaic value chain, no statistically valid connection can be observed with either the acquisition motivation or the industry sector of the potential buyer, leaving room for further research. -- |
| Keywords: | Erneuerbare Energien,Renewable Energy,Solarenergie,Photovoltaik,M&A,Merger,Acquisition,Konsolidierung,Akquisitionsstrategie,Finanzkrise,EEG,Solarförderung,Energiewirtschaft,Versorgungssicherheit,Energieabhängigkeit,Nachhaltigkeit,Sustainability |
| JEL: | K12 K19 K22 K29 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fsfmwp:144&r=env |