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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Achtnicht, Martin (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)) |
| Abstract: | Residential buildings strongly contribute to global CO2 emissions due to the high energy demand for electricity and heating, particularly in industrialised countries. Within the EU, decentralised heat generation is of particular relevance for future climate policy, as its emissions are not covered by the EU ETS. We conducted a choice experiment concerning energy retrofits for existing houses in Germany. In the experiment, the approximately 400 sampled house owners could either choose a modern heating system or an improved thermal insulation for their home. We used standard and mixed logit specifications to analyse the choice data. We found environmental benefits to have a significant impact on choices of heating systems. However, they played no role in terms of insulation choices. Based on the estimated mixed logit model, we further obtained WTP measures for CO2 savings. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment; CO2 emissions; Energy efficiency; Energy saving; Mixed logit; Residential buildings; Willingness to pay. |
| JEL: | C25 D12 Q40 Q51 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:fcnwpa:2010_027&r=env |
| By: | Christina Hood |
| Abstract: | Putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions is a cornerstone policy in climate change mitigation. To this end, many countries have implemented or are developing domestic emissions trading systems. This paper reviews key design features of mandatory emissions trading systems that had been established or were under consideration in 2010, with a particular focus on implications for the energy sector. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ieaaaa:2010/13-en&r=env |
| By: | Borghesi, Simone; Vercelli, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses to what extent the recent trends in energy consumption and production are compatible with the requirements of sustainable development. For this purpose, starting from a simple identity applied to the energy sector, we use the decomposition analysis to derive a few analytical requirements for the long-term sustainability of the energy system and examine whether they are satisfied on the basis of the currently available data. From the analysis conducted in the paper, it emerges that an Environmental Kuznets Curve in energy intensity and/or carbon intensity may be insufficient to satisfy the sustainability conditions identified in the paper. Moreover, using simple graphical analysis, we show that the decomposition approach and the EKC imply two different relationships between per capita income (y) and carbon intensity (gy) and discuss the relative implications. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development; energy; global warming; environmental Kuznets curve; decomposition analysis; Kaya identity |
| JEL: | Q32 Q56 O13 Q42 Q53 Q43 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27438&r=env |
| By: | Marshall, Liz; Kelly, Alexia |
| Abstract: | The question of whether there is any value to the temporary storage of carbon is fundamental to climate policy design across a number of arenas, including physical carbon discounting in greenhouse gas accounting, the relative value of temporary carbon offsets, and the value of other carbon mitigation efforts that are known to be impermanent, including deferred deforestation. Quantifying the value of temporary carbon storage depends on a number of assumptions about how the incremental impact (or social cost) of a given ton of carbon emissions is expected to change over time. In 2009, a U.S. government interagency working group was established and assigned the responsibility of calculating social cost of carbon estimates to be used in benefit/cost analysis of regulations impacting carbon dioxide emissions. Those estimates were released in March 2010. This working paper explores what those estimates imply about the value of temporary carbon storage, as well as the implications of those temporary storage values for several critical policy design questions relating to greenhouse gas accounting and biological offsets. This analysis suggests, for instance, that appropriate physical carbon discount rates for carbon accounting may be even lower than the social discount rates often used in intergenerational analyses. In the context of agricultural offsets, the social cost of carbon estimates are used to establish a definition of equivalence between permanent and temporary offsets; equivalence ratios are derived that vary between ~2 and 30, depending on the discount rate used and the length of the temporary offset contract period. |
| Keywords: | temporary carbon storage; time value of carbon; temporary offsets; physical carbon discount rate |
| JEL: | H43 D60 |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27326&r=env |
| By: | Kinda, Romuald |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at analysing the effect of democratic institutions on environmental quality (carbon dioxide per capita, sulfure dioxide per capita) and at identifying potential channel transmissions. We use panel data from 1960 to 2008 in 122 developing and developed countries and modern econometric methods. The results are as follows: Firstly, we show that democratic institutions have opposite effects on environment quality: a positive direct effect on environment quality and a negative indirect effect through investments and income inequality. Indeed, democratic institutions attract investments that hurt environment quality. Moreover, as democratic institutions reduce income inequality, they also damage environment. Secondly, we find that the direct negative effect of democratic institutions is higher for local pollutant (SO2) than for global pollutant (CO2). Thirdly, the nature of democratic institutions (presidential, parliamentary) is not conducive to environmental quality. Fourtly, results suggest that the direct positive effect of democratic institutions on environment quality is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. Thus, the democratic process in the first group of countries has increased their awareness for the environment protection. |
| Keywords: | Democratic institutions (043); Air pollution (Q53); Panel data (C23); Income inequality (D31); Investments (E22) |
| JEL: | O43 C5 Q53 |
| Date: | 2010–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27455&r=env |
| By: | South Asian Network for Development SANDEE |
| Abstract: | The Madras School of Economics (MSE), the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) organized a brain-storming workshop on the Economics of Climate Change Adaptation on the 12th and 13th February 2010 at the MSE, Chennai to identify policy gaps, research questions and capacity-building needs related to India’s need to adapt to climate change. This note provides a summary of the discussions at this workshop and draws some conclusions for future policy analyses. |
| Keywords: | developing countries, adaptation, agriculture, economic development, economics, climate change, India, policy challenges, chennai, MSE, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3304&r=env |
| By: | Sandeep Kapur (Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics, Birkbeck); Anthony Heyes (Royal Holloway, University of London) |
| Abstract: | The extent to which environmental regulatory institutions are either 'green' or 'brown' impacts not just the intensity of regulation at any moment, but also the incentives for the development of new pollution-control technologies. We set up a strategic model of R&D in which a polluter can deploy technologies developed in-house, or license technologies developed by specialist outsiders. Polluters exert R&D effort and may even develop redundant technologies to improve the terms on which they procure technology from outside. We find that, while regulatory bias has an ambiguous impact on the best-available technology, strategic delegation to systematically biased regulators can improve social welfare. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbk:bbkefp:1016&r=env |
| By: | Karanfil, Fatih (Galatasaray University Economic Research Center) |
| Abstract: | Unrecorded economic activities have an important weight, especially in developing countries where environmental regulations are gradually pursued. Both theoretical and empirical studies on the subject which do not take into account the existence of unrecorded economy may not provide a complete insight on the effects of both fiscal and environmental enforcement policies. After a brief review of the relevant literature, this paper develops an economic model to analyze the potential impacts of environmental regulatory policies on the size of unrecorded economy. Two dierent cases are considered: first, firms' emissions and productions are audited with exogenous probabilities which may be different from each other; second, a unique probability-to-audit function is determined to audit both emissions and productions of firms whether in recorded or unrecorded economy. The form of this function is specied using the cointegration technique. The results in this paper essentially show that environmental regulations may increase the size of unrecorded economy. The paper also attempts to give a precise limit value for the environmental tax rate exceeding which may induce a rise in the extent of unrecorded activities. |
| Keywords: | Environmental taxation; Unrecorded economy; Duopolistic competition |
| JEL: | D43 H32 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:giamwp:2010_002&r=env |
| By: | Finus, Michael (Exeter Business School); Pintassilgo, Pedro (CIEO - Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics) |
| Abstract: | Na and Shin (1998) showed that the veil of uncertainty can be conducive to the success of self-enforcing international environmental agreements. Later papers confirmed this result. In the light of intensified research efforts worldwide to reduce uncertainty about the environmental impact of emissions and the cost of reducing them, the result is intriguing. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we analyze whether the result carries over to a more general setting without restriction on the number of players and which considers not only no and full learning but also partial learning, that is, three different scenarios of uncertainty dissipation. Second, we test whether the result also holds if there is uncertainty about abatement costs instead of uncertainty about the benefits from global abatement. Third, we propose a transfer scheme that mitigates the possible negative effect of learning and which may even transform it into a positive effect. |
| Keywords: | transnational cooperation; self-enforcing international environmental agreements; uncertainty; learning |
| JEL: | C72 D62 D81 H41 Q20 |
| Date: | 2010–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:cieodp:2010_007&r=env |
| By: | Shahbaz, Muhammad; Jalil, Abdul; Dube, Smile |
| Abstract: | The paper provides empirical evidence of an EKC – a relationship between income and environmental degradation for Portugal by applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to times series data. In order to capture Portugal’s historical experience, demographic changes, and international trade on CO2 emissions, we assess the traditional income-emissions model with variables such as energy consumption, urbanization, and trade openness in time series framework. There is evidence of an EKC in both the short and long-run approaches. All variables carry the expected sign except trade openness which has the wrong sign and is statistically insignificant in both the short-run and long-run. Despite the success of Portugal in containing CO2 emissions so far, it is important to note that in recent years, emissions have risen. In order to comply with the 1992 Kyoto Protocol on CO2 emissions, there is need for policies that focus on the top five sectors responsible for about 55 percent of CO2 emissions are due to the extraction of crude petroleum, manufacturing of refined products, electricity distribution, construction, land transport and transport via pipeline services. |
| Keywords: | Cointegration; Causality; Environmental Kuznets Curve |
| JEL: | C22 E21 P28 |
| Date: | 2010–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27443&r=env |
| By: | Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses how corporate environmentalism can be a means of differentiation and of green-washing. Since consumers can seldom directly observe a firm's environmental quality (a problem not easily solved through eco-labeling), published environmental reports and advertising can mislead them. As a result, the role of the NGO becomes both crucial and ambiguous. On the one hand, by helping to increase consumer awareness, NGOs enlarge the market share of green differentiated firms. On the other hand, the risk that consumers will punish a firm perceived to be supplying inaccurate environmental information may bring about the paradoxical result of discouraging differentiation efforts. |
| Keywords: | Differentiation, environmental concern, imperfect competition, quality, advertising, NGO. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00544715_v1&r=env |
| By: | José Luis Ferreira; Álvaro Escribano |
| Abstract: | Public aids towards renewable energy sources in Spain have had the consequence of a great increase in their use. This is particularly true for the case of wind generation. For the year 2007, we show that the savings in social costs due to carbon emissions account for a figure between 25% and 78% of total aids. Since some of the public aids are just a money transfer with no effect on total social welfare the justification of the net costs of the aids is higher. For the particular case of wind generation, we find that in the worst case scenario 45% of the social cost implied by the public aids is justified by the reduction in carbon emissions, and that the benefits of CO2 reductions are 135% higher than the costs in the best case scenario. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1037&r=env |
| By: | Dapi N., Léonie; Rocklov, Joacim; Nguefack-Tsague, Georges; Tetanye, Ekoe; Kjellstrom, Tord |
| Abstract: | Background: Health impacts related to climate change are potentially an increasing problem in Cameroon, especially during hot seasons when there are no means for protective and adaptive actions. Objective: To describe environmental conditions in schools and to evaluate the impact of heat on schoolchildren’s health during school days in the Cameroon cities of Yaounde´ and Douala. Methods: Schoolchildren (N285) aged 1216 years from public secondary schools completed a questionnaire about their background, general symptoms, and hot feelings in a cross-sectional study. In Yaounde´, 50 schoolchildren were individually interviewed during school days about hourly symptoms (fatigue, headache, and feeling very hot) and performance. Lascar dataloggers were used to measure indoor classroom temperatures and humidity. Results: There was a significant correlation between daily indoor temperature and the percentages of schoolchildren who felt very hot, had fatigue, and headaches in Yaounde´. A high proportion of schoolchildren felt very hot (48%), had fatigue (76%), and headaches (38%) in Yaounde´. Prevalences (%) were higher among girls than boys for headaches (58 vs 39), feeling ‘very hot overall’ (37 vs 21), and ‘very hot in head’ (21 vs 18). Up to 62% were absentminded and 45% had slow writing speed. High indoor temperatures of 32.58C in Yaounde´ and 36.68C in Douala were observed in school. Conclusions: Headache, fatigue, and feeling very hot associated with high indoor air temperature were observed among schoolchildren in the present study. Longitudinal data in schools are needed to confirm these results. School environmental conditions should be improved in order to enhance learning. |
| Keywords: | heat; fatigue; headache; very hot; indoor temperature; Cameroon; schoolchildren |
| JEL: | I18 I10 |
| Date: | 2010–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27335&r=env |
| By: | Luc LAUWERS |
| Abstract: | Global environmental issues - like biodiversity conservation or climate change - are in reality long term issues that are not properly taken into account with traditional models that incorporate the impatience axiom manifested in fixed discount factors and in the use of present discounted utility criteria. When both the short and the very long run are important, one can appeal to overtaking criteria and Chichilnisky criteria. Unfortunately, overtaking criteria are highly incomplete. In order to decrease this incompleteness, stronger anonymity (or equity) axioms were developed. I show that a maximal anonymity axiom compatible with Pareto is a non-constructible object; its existence relies on the Axiom of Choice. The Chichilnisky criterion is based upon two axioms: non dictatorship of the present and non dictatorship of the future. Here, the very long run is captured by a finitely additive measure. Such a measure is a non-constructible object and has therefore no explicit description. |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces10.22&r=env |
| By: | María M. Aguilera Díaz |
| Abstract: | El archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, ubicado en el sur occidente del Mar Caribe, posee un ecosistema de gran riqueza ambiental por la biodiversidad de organismos marinos y terrestres que lo habitan. La economía gira alrededor de las actividades relacionadas con el turismo, el comercio y la pesca. Hay un gran potencial, sin embargo, los problemas ecológicos, la alta densidad de población y el aumento de la pobreza hacen que las actividades económicas productivas solo garanticen una limitada oferta pesquera, algunos productos agrícolas para autoconsumo y un turismo basado en la oferta de su medio ecosistémico y etnocultural que no ha sido explotado en su totalidad, pero bien manejados pueden ser fuente de mayor bienestar para sus habitantes. The archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, located in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, is an ecosystem rich in environmental biodiversity of marine and terrestrial organisms. Its economy is centered on the activities related to tourism, trade, and fishing. The archipelago has great potential; however, environmental problems, high population density and increasing poverty make it difficult to expand productive economic activities. This is why today there is only a limited supply of fisheries, some agricultural products for consumption and tourism activities based on its factor endowment, which has not been fully exploited, |
| Date: | 2010–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000102:007774&r=env |
| By: | Anita Talberg (Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, Canberra, Australia); Stephen Howes (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates Australian federal politiciansÕ expertise in and attitudes towards climate change. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 26 Members of Parliament (MPs). Results of the survey, undertaken in late 2009, suggest that climate change expertise is low to moderate among MPs, and that there is no correlation between expertise in and concern about climate change. The survey reveals important differences in attitudes to climate change by party. About 40 per cent of Coalition (Liberal and National) MPs are climate change ÔdeniersÕ, but no Labor Party (ALP) MPs are. ALP MPs rate climate change as the most important (with water management) out of four long-term challenges, but Coalition MPs rate it as the least important (after not only water, but also aging and defence). All ALP MPs think climate change demands urgent action, and that Australia should play a leadership role globally, but only about one-fifth of Coalition MPs does. Even those Coalition MPs who are climate change ÔbelieversÕ tend to give lower importance to climate change than ALP MPs. |
| JEL: | Q54 D72 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:0810&r=env |
| By: | Mitesh Kataria (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group, Jena) |
| Abstract: | The Porter hypothesis suggests that environmental regulations, such as restricting firms to reduce pollution, stimulates innovations and create a win-win situation for the environment and for firms. It has received a great deal of attention from academics as well as bureaucrats who disagree about the applicability of the Porter hypothesis. This study tests if part of such disagreement can be explained by a preference-expectation relationship and if people more likely to believe in a scientific hypothesis that appeals to their preferences. The results show that individuals' who care more about the environment are more likely to believe in the Porter hypothesis. Males are also found to believe more in the Porter hypothesis while females are more uncertain. Education is found to be insignificant in explaining beliefs about the Porter hypothesis. Based on our results we also discuss if and how scientific and economic methodology can mitigate a preference-expectation bias. |
| Keywords: | Porter Hypothesis, Subjective Beliefs, Economic Methodology |
| JEL: | B4 Q00 Q5 |
| Date: | 2010–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-088&r=env |
| By: | TAKATSUKA Hajime; NAKAMURA Ryohei |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how regional inequalities are affected by emission controls via credit trading and availability of absorption sources. We assume that homogeneous goods are costly traded without emission controls and that the rural areas have an advantage in terms of the availability of absorption sources. We especially focus on the long-term effects of firm relocation. Our two key findings are as follows. First, in the case where an emission control scheme is implemented without allowing for offsetting emissions with carbon absorption sources (carbon sinks), strengthening the emission controls drives firms to relocate from rural areas to urban areas, in the case that wage levels remain unchanged in both areas. As a result, regional inequalities in terms of both the number of firms and relative public welfare are enlarged by emission controls. Our second finding shows that in the case in which the emission control scheme allows for emissions-absorption offsetting, strengthening emission controls has mixed effects on the relative welfare of rural areas. Numerical simulations show that when the costs associated with transporting differentiated goods are relatively low, the introduction of emission controls with an offsetting system results in greater inequality across regions compared with introducing emission controls without such offsetting. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:10062&r=env |
| By: | M. Alejandro Cardenete (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla); P. Fuentes-Saguar (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla); C. Polo (Department of Economics, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the energy sector in Andalusia, a Spanish region, and its importance from the viewpoint of final energy consumption, trying to determine which demands are the most costly to satisfy in terms of emissions of pollutants to the atmosphere. To do this, we apply an additive multiplier decomposition methodology to the Andalusian Social Accounting Matrix for the year 1995. The method implemented allow us disaggregate the Andalusian energy sector’s revenue-generating process into different effects depending on the source of the demand. To gain a better understanding of the behaviours of the different branches of the economy, we divide Andalusian productive activities into two groups, which we call subsystems (energy subsystem and complementary subsystem). We then apply the multiplier decomposition methodology to each one separately. This way, we can identify the influence that the final demand of each of these groups has on income generation and energy sector emissions in the Andalusian economy. The information obtained from this exercise allow know which sectors are the final main responsible of the emissions, and confirm that Construction and some branches of the services sector are the most costly in terms of CO2 emissions. |
| Keywords: | Social Accounting Matrices, Regional Accounts, Input-Output Tables, Energy SAM Multipliers, CO2 emissions. |
| JEL: | C67 D58 Q43 Q51 R13 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:10.14&r=env |
| By: | Aleksandra Novikova |
| Keywords: | Buildings, energy efficiency potential, greenhouse gas mitigation, policy assessment, energy policy impact evaluation, sectoral efficiency targets |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1086&r=env |
| By: | Duque, José (Huelva University); Panagopoulos, Thomas (vice-president of the CIEO) |
| Abstract: | The cities of today present some requirements that are not similar to the past. There are cities that the industrial and service sectors are in decline; others begin their journey into the technological and industrial sector. In general, politically and socially are restructured in terms of its economy, which results in an entirely different shape to their primitive structures. As people begin to understand the dynamic nature of landscapes, they will change the way they see the landscape as a static scene. Sustainable cities must be simultaneously economically viable, socially just, politically well managed and ecologically sustainable to maximize human comfort. The present research suggests a multi-disciplinary approach for a holistic understanding of urban environmental quality and human well-being in sustainable urban development. |
| Keywords: | Well-being; Urban planning; Liveable city; Environmental quality |
| JEL: | Q01 R10 |
| Date: | 2010–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:cieodp:2010_005&r=env |
| By: | Katheline Schubert (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Antoine D'Autume (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); John Hartwick (Department of Economics - Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | Following Stollery (1998), we extend the Solow-- Dasgupta--Heal model to analyze the effects of global warming The rise of temperature is caused by the use of fossil resources so that the temperature level can be linked to the remaining stock of these resources. The rise of temperature affects both productivity and utility. We characterize optimal solutions for the maximin and zero-discounting cases and present closed form solutions for the case where the production and utility functions are Cobb-Douglas, and the temperature level is an exponential function of the remaining stock of resources. We show that a greater weight of temperature in intratemporal preferences or a larger intertemporal elasticity of substitution both lead to postpone resource use. |
| Keywords: | Global warming; Zero discounting; maximin |
| Date: | 2010–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00547282_v1&r=env |
| By: | Borges, Teresa (Centre of Marine Sciences of Algarve (CCMAR)); O’Dor, Ronald (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada) |
| Abstract: | Biodiversity is now one of the main concerns worldwide. With the increase of people on Earth and activities dangerous to the environment, like habitat destruction and overexploitation, species extinction rates rapidly increased, raising serious concerns for future biological diversity. Fishing is one of the oldest human food sources, catching a great number of species with a variety of techniques and fishing gears. Undoubtedly, the bottom trawl is the fishing gear that raises most concerns due to its negative impact on the habitat, overexploitation of commercial species and collateral effects on non-commercial species. The southern coast of Portugal (Algarve) is one of the most important fishing areas of the country. Recent studies show that of all species captured by the most important fishing gears fishing in the area – bottom trawl, purse seine and trammel nets – around 70% are always discarded, and the main reasons are low or lack of commercial importance, low gear selectivity and fishing legislation. Direct observations revealed a heavily trawled bottom, with strong parallel marks caused by the doors of the trawl nets, indicating a high disturbance on the habitat, and consequently on the biological communities. |
| Keywords: | Fisheries; Biodiversity; By-catch and Discards; Ghost-fishing |
| JEL: | Q22 |
| Date: | 2010–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:cieodp:2010_006&r=env |
| By: | Gerd KUPPER |
| Abstract: | This paper studies strategic incentives to invest in electricity generation capacity using a local fuel like renewables or coal. It shows that investing in this capacity, even if not used, improves the bargaining position of a power producing firm that also imports another fuel such as gas. When several importers are considered, the paper finds that investment has a positive strategic effect on all other importers’ bargaining position. A government energy policy that forces utilities to invest in capacity based on particular fuels can be justified not only for environmental but also for strategic reasons. |
| JEL: | C78 Q40 Q48 Q50 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces10.04&r=env |