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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Daigneault, Adam J.; Greenhalgh, Suzie; Samarasinghe, Oshadhi |
| Abstract: | Agricultural and forestry greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a key feature of New Zealandâs emissions profile, and New Zealand is the only country, to date, to have indicated that agricultural and forestry emissions will be covered under their domestic climate policy â the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS). Forestry entered the NZETS in 2008 while agricultural emissions are expected to enter in 2015. Coupled with climate policy development is the increasing scrutiny of agricultural impacts on water in New Zealand. Given the multiple forms of environmental regulation facing the agricultural and forestry industries we explore, at the catchment level, the impacts of climate policy on the agricultural and forestry industries, including those on farm returns, GHG emissions, carbon sequestration, water quality and induced land use change. We use the recently developed New Zealand Forest and Agriculture Regional Model (NZ-FARM) to assess potential economic and environmental impacts of a climate policy that imposes a series of carbon prices on GHG emissions of land-based production in the Manawatu and Hurunui/Waiau catchments in New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture and Forestry Modelling, Land Use, Climate Policy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Nutrient Loadings, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115352&r=env |
| By: | Daigneault, Adam J.; Sohngen, Brent |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115351&r=env |
| By: | Joseph E. Aldy; Robert N. Stavins |
| Abstract: | Emissions of greenhouse gases linked with global climate change are affected by diverse aspects of economic activity, including individual consumption, business investment, and government spending. An effective climate policy will have to modify the decision calculus for these activities in the direction of more efficient generation and use of energy, lower carbon intensity of energy, and – more broadly – a more carbon-lean economy. The only approach to doing this on a meaningful scale that would be technically feasible and cost-effective is carbon pricing, that is, market-based climate policies that place a shadow-price on carbon dioxide emissions. We examine alternative designs of three such instruments – carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, and clean energy standards. We note that the U.S. political response to possible market-based approaches to climate policy has been and will continue to be largely a function of issues and structural factors that transcend the scope of environmental and climate policy. |
| JEL: | Q40 Q48 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17488&r=env |
| By: | Gerard Alleng |
| Abstract: | This presentation discusses the cost of impacts of climate change on the Caribbean. The response of adaptation will need to be applied towards an integral strategy to build on disaster risk reduction best practices and climate risk management. The response of the IDB to the climate change needs of member countries will need to include the use of financial instruments, the development of knowledge products, and the mainstreaming of climate change into the operations of the Bank. |
| Keywords: | Environment & Natural Resources :: Climate Change, Energy & Mining :: Renewable Energy, Environment & Natural Resources :: Sustainable Tourism, climate change, sustainable tourism, disaster risk management, Caribbean, adaptation, mitigation technologies |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:39038&r=env |
| By: | Michael Greenstone; Rema Hanna |
| Abstract: | Using the most comprehensive data file ever compiled on air pollution, water pollution, environmental regulations, and infant mortality from a developing country, the paper examines the effectiveness of India’s environmental regulations. The air pollution regulations were effective at reducing ambient concentrations of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The most successful air pollution regulation is associated with a modest and statistically insignificant decline in infant mortality. However, the water pollution regulations had no observable effect. Overall, these results contradict the conventional wisdom that environmental quality is a deterministic function of income and underscore the role of institutions and politics. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1114&r=env |
| By: | Marion Allet |
| Abstract: | Environmental performance is becoming an increasing concern for all businesses. The microfinance sector is no exception. Today, a growing number of microfinance institutions are developing environmental management programs, and microfinance stakeholders are increasingly willing to monitor environmental improvement. However, no adapted methodology currently exists to do so. This article proposes a new tool to measure the environmental performance of microfinance institutions: the Microfinance Environmental Performance Index (MEPI). This tool is based on management performance indicators that have been adapted to the specificities of the microfinance sector. It measures MFIs’ environmental performance along five dimensions: environmental policy, ecological footprint, environmental risk assessment, green microcredit, and environmental non-financial services. MEPI can be a useful tool for research and serve as a basis for environmental strategy planning, progress monitoring, and communication in the microfinance industry. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance; Environmental Performance; Indicators; Green Microfinance |
| JEL: | G21 Q01 Q56 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/98806&r=env |
| By: | Coderoni, Silvia; Esposti, Roberto |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114426&r=env |
| By: | Liljenstolpe, Carolina |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114383&r=env |
| By: | Stephen Vosti; Siwa Msangi; Eirivelthon Lima; Ricardo Quiroga; Miroslav Batka; Chad Zanocco |
| Abstract: | The following handout is a summary of the IDB Discussion Paper "Agriculture Greenhouse Emissions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Food Security and Deforestation". |
| Keywords: | Agriculture & Food Security, Environment & Natural Resources :: Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources :: Forests & Forestry, Climate Change, Forestry, Agriculture |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35618&r=env |
| By: | Lennox, James A.; Turner, James A.; Daigneault, Adam J.; Jhunjhnuwala, K. |
| Abstract: | Adequately representing dynamic characteristics of land use change and forestry in computable general equilibrium models is challenging but essential if modellers are to provide credible assessments of policies that directly or indirectly influence these phenomena. In this paper, we show how a dynamic representation of planted or naturally regenerating forests may be integrated within a neoclassical, intertemporal general equilibrium model. We demonstrate the application of such a model to assess the impacts of including forestry within a hypothetical emissions trading scheme in the US, showing the resulting changes in land use and increases in the optimal rotation length. |
| Keywords: | Intertemporal general equilibrium, optimal forest management, forest carbon credits, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115409&r=env |
| By: | Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); Javier Aguilera-Caracuel (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); José Manuel de la Torre-Ruíz (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business); Vera Ferrón-Vílchez (Universidad de Granada. Department of Business) |
| Abstract: | Environmental regulatory uncertainty has attracted extraordinary attention among scholars, managers, policy-makers and other members of society. Despite this increasing attention, the impact of environmental regulatory uncertainty on the environmental approaches of firms is difficult to estimate in the business context. Considering that environmental regulations are not the only mechanism enabling firms to develop proactive environmental management practices, we show that the national institutional profile delineates a firm’s environmental progress. Specifically, we argue that the national level of innovation is an essential institutional condition that can encourage firms to develop advanced environmental approaches and even overcoming the effect of environmental regulatory uncertainty on corporate environmental performance. Using a sample of 1,912 firms from 19 countries, we developed different scenarios that combine the effects of environmental regulatory uncertainty and the national level of innovation. Knowledge of these different situations illustrates how managers cope with environmental regulatory uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Regulatory Uncertainty; National Level of Innovation; Corporate Environmental Performance |
| JEL: | M1 |
| Date: | 2011–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:fegper:05/11&r=env |
| By: | Bruno Lanz; Thomas F. Rutherford; John E. Tilton |
| Abstract: | Subglobal climate policies induce changes in international competitiveness and favor a relocation of carbon-emitting activities. We argue that many energy-intensive activities are also capital-intensive, so that carbon policies could affect rents rather than abatement or location. Taking copper as an example, we formulate a plant-level spatial equilibrium model of the industry, and we estimate a set of elasticities to calibrate the behavioral parameters of the model. Given 2007 market conditions, Monte Carlo simulations suggest that a $50/tCO2 tax in industrialized countries induces emissions reductions of less than one percent in the copper industry, with a mean emission leakage rate of 25%. Our results conform with empirical findings on the pollution haven effect but challenge projections from computable general equilibrium models. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1103&r=env |
| By: | Glebe, Thilo W. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114625&r=env |
| By: | Christopher R. Knittel; Ryan Sandle |
| Abstract: | Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the US have relied on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards and Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS). Economists often argue that these policies are inefficient relative to carbon pricing because they ignore existing vehicles and do not adequately reduce the incentive to drive. This paper presents evidence that the net social costs of carbon pricing are significantly less than previous thought. The bias arises from the fact that the demand elasticity for miles travelled varies systematically with vehicle emissions; dirtier vehicles are more responsive to changes in gasoline prices. This is true for all four emissions for which we have data—nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and greenhouse gases—as well as weight. This reduces the net social costs associated with carbon pricing through increasing the co-benefits. Accounting for this heterogeneity implies that the welfare losses from $1.00 gas tax, or a $110 per ton of CO2 tax, are negative over the period of 1998 to 2008 even when we ignore the climate change benefits from the tax. Co-benefits increase by over 60 percent relative to ignoring the heterogeneity that we document. In addition, accounting for this heterogeneity raises the optimal gas tax associated with local pollution, as calculated by Parry and Small (2005), by as much as 57 percent. While our empirical setting is California, we present evidence that the effects may be larger for the rest of the US. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1115&r=env |
| By: | Elofsson, Katarina |
| Abstract: | Within the EU, it is agreed that watershed-based management of water quality problems is likely to be more economically efficient compared to existing institutional arrangements. Watershed authorities, assigned under the European Water Framework Directive, do however lack financial resources for policy implementation. EU funding for agri-environmental measures is mainly channeled through CAP via national governments to the farmers. In this paper, a mechanism for allocating international funds to watershed authorities is investigated assuming that there is a risk of moral hazard on behalf of the regional authority. The assumed purpose of the funding is to reduce nitrogen loads to the Baltic Proper, and the implications of uncertainty about the risk of climate change are investigated. Results shows that the risk premium associated with the presence of moral hazard can be high if there is a high likelihood of climate change and marginal damage is increasing rapidly in loads. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114344&r=env |
| By: | Schader, Christian; Lampkin, Nic; Christie, Mike; Stolze, Matthias |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115991&r=env |
| By: | Granér, Staffan (Department of Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Rönnbäck, Klas (Department of Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Because of a growing population and industrialization, total pollution levels in many water-courses around the world have increased considerably for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In the last few decades, however, the trend of increasing water pollution has been turned in many industrialized countries, delinking economic growth from environmental pollution. This is in essence one aspect of what many environmental economists call an ‘environmental Kuznets curve’. The research question of this project is why there is such a pattern to water quality in many countries? Much previous literature on the topic studies only the positive impact of environmental legislation. This study, focusing upon the case of the river Göta in Sweden, undertakes a more thorough analysis, including other crucial factors as well such as industrial transformation and decline, as well as stakeholder associations. The project utilizes a very long series of data on the water quality in the river Göta, covering more than 100 years of data for crucial indicators, in order to establish what factors were contributing to reducing levels of pollution. Analyzing the driving factors of this ‘Environmental Kuznets Curve’ can give us crucial insights into how a sustainable development might be achieved in the future.<p> |
| Keywords: | Economic History; Environmental history; Environmental pollution; Water quality; Environmental Kuznets curve; Sweden; Göta älv |
| JEL: | N53 N54 N73 N74 Q25 Q28 Q57 |
| Date: | 2011–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0015&r=env |
| By: | Vollenweider, Xavier; Falco, Salvatore Di; O'Donoghue, Cathal |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115552&r=env |
| By: | McDonald, Hugh; Kerr, Suzi |
| Abstract: | The question of how to effectively address agricultural greenhouse gas emissions is of critical importance for New Zealand and the world. Ensuring that our responses are effective requires us to first consider what we aim to achieve: why do we care about agricultural emissions? This paper responds to this fundamental inquiry, and argues that New Zealandersâ diverse individual motivations can be grouped under three headings: one, concern about the direct impacts of climate change on New Zealand and the world; two, pressure from others based on their concern about climate change; three, complementary goals. This framework is useful in setting out how our underlying motivations should shape our responses, and highlights the importance of choosing responses that will be robust to future uncertainties. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115507&r=env |
| By: | Timar, Levente |
| Abstract: | The impacts of including the agricultural sector in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) depend on how farmers change their behaviour in response to the increased cost of emissions. Yet most analyses of the ETS do not allow for a behavioural response. This paper partially addresses the gap in the literature: it allows for farmers to change their land use to reflect the reduced returns from pastoral agriculture as well as the potential to earn carbon credits for sequestration performed by plantation forestry and scrub. Simulations performed in the Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model allow us to answer questions about the likely spatial and temporal distribution of the socio-economic impacts of the ETS. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115509&r=env |
| By: | Lange, Mareike |
| Abstract: | The contribution of biofuels to the saving of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has recently been questioned because of emissions resulting from land use change (LUC) for bioenergy feedstock production. We investigate how the inclusion of the carbon effect of LUC into the carbon accounting framework, as scheduled by the European Commission, impacts on land use choices for an expanding biofuel feedstock production. We first illustrate the change in the carbon balances of various biofuels, using methodology and data from the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. It becomes apparent that the conversion of natural land, apart from grassy savannahs, impedes meeting the EUâs 35% minimum emissions reduction target for biofuels. We show that the current accounting method mainly promotes biofuel feedstock production on former cropland, thus increasing the competition between food and fuel production on the currently available cropland area. We further discuss whether it is profitable to use degraded land for commercial bioenergy production as requested by the European Commission to avoid undesirable LUC and conclude that the current regulation provides little incentive to use such land. The exclusive consideration of LUC for bioenergy production minimizes direct LUC at the expense of increasing indirect LUC. |
| Keywords: | land use change emissions, bioenergy, European policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114406&r=env |
| By: | Jenkins, Bryan |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115407&r=env |
| By: | Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) |
| Abstract: | This document (Cancún COP-16) represents a coordinated effort among several institutions and organizations in the Latin America and the Caribbean region to present the results of a joint reflection on the issue of water-based adaptation to climate change as part of a Regional Policy Dialog process. The main purpose of this Dialog is to communicate to politicians and decision makers -both within the water community and from other public policy areas relevant to the topic- and other actors involved, a series of key messages and recommendations that enable them to define, in an informed manner, public policies and corresponding actions on climate change adaptation. The results of this dialog to date are reflected in this version of the document to be presented on December 3rd as part of the Dialogs for Water and Climate Change (D4WCC), an event associated with the COP16 to be held in Cancun, Mexico. |
| Keywords: | Environment & Natural Resources :: Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources :: Environmental Policy, Energy & Mining :: Renewable Energy, Infrastructure & Transport :: Water Supply & Sanitation, Cancún COP-16, climate change, water supply and sanitation, LAC, RPD, regional policy dialogue, impact of climate change on water resources, water-based adaption, water resources infrastructure |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:39058&r=env |
| By: | Diederich, Johannes; Goeschl, Timo |
| Abstract: | In the climate policy debate, a rhetoric has evolved that attributes a high potential to "voluntary climate action". We turn to the population of Germany, the fourth largest cumulative GHG emitter, to obtain an Internet-)representative estimate of the individual willingness to abate one ton of CO2, the equivalent of 10 percent of annual per-capita CO2 emissions. The estimate derives from a large-scale (n=2,440) framed field experiment in which subjects choose between a guaranteed reduction of one ton of EU CO2 emissions and a randomly drawn cash award between €2 and €100. At €6.30, estimated mean WTP is considerably lower than prior hypothetical or non-representative estimates. Median WTP is non-positive. The almost bimodal nature of WTP in the population has important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | climate change mitigation; field experiment; voluntary climate action; willingness to pay |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0517&r=env |
| By: | Moeller, Thordis; Grethe, Harald; Waha, Katharina; Muller, Christoph |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114635&r=env |
| By: | Ahmed, Mirza Nomman; Schmitz, P. Michael |
| Abstract: | This study uses the Ricardian valuation technique to estimate the effect of climate change on the crop farming sector in Pakistan. As a main contribution this paper uses a large household level dataset comprising 3336 farming entities to analyze long-term climate impacts on farm net crop revenues. In particular temperature increases in key growing seasons can be harmful. Annual losses for crop farming ranging from 100-200US$ can be expected. Given an average crop net income of 450US$ per hectare, these impacts can be devastating for farmers. The climate impacts will vary across geographic regions. Temperature is found to be the detrimental factor for farming in Pakistan. Precipitation changes seem to have a rather negligible effect. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114217&r=env |
| By: | Arovuori, Kyosti |
| Abstract: | In general, farmers are often found to be resistant to environmentally targeted agricultural policies. On the other hand, a part of farmers are clearly self-motivated to undertake farm practices that are beneficial to the environment and resource conservation. What motivates these farmers to participate? How much of this participation can be explained with attitudes, and where these attitudes arise from? In this paper, we analyze the effect of farmersâ attitudes towards environmental policies and related issues on their farm level policy choice. The policy response analyzed is farmersâ choice to implement voluntary contract-based special measures in the current agri-environmental support scheme. Our results show that farmers fall into different groups in terms of their environmental attitudes. In addition, farmers falling into same group have similar behavior in making their policy choices. The paper will be further improved with more detailed analysis on the farm level and geographical factors behind the farmersâ attitudes. That second stage of our analysis will reveal, whether those farmers operating under more vulnerable environmental conditions and thus, higher environmental risks, are more willing to implement voluntary and more demanding policy measures. |
| Keywords: | farmers, agri-environmental policies, policy choice, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114216&r=env |
| By: | Ford, Stuart |
| Abstract: | This is a summary of two projects that were designed to investigate the cost effectiveness associated with adoption of farm management practices designed to reduce discharges to water and greenhouse gas emissions. The first report had the purpose of expressing the results as the financial cost to the case study farm per kg of nutrient discharge reduction achieved, or per mm of water use saved (per year) i.e., the cost-effectiveness of the measures. This second extension of that work had the objectives to both; further scope the research context and parameters and refine and expand the modeling capability. The full range of 11 mitigation options were modeled over the 5 Dairy, 13 Sheep and Beef and 2 Deer Monitoring Models. The results in terms of Nitrogen discharges (kg N) were then incorporated into farm financial models to determine the impact of adoption of the management changes on farm financial performance. The results are reported as mitigation cost effectiveness of each option on each farm and as a reduction in the carbon cost to the farm. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115510&r=env |
| By: | Murray Simpson; Daniel Scott; Ulric Trotz |
| Abstract: | In this technical note, the authors present the effects of climate change on tourism development in the Caribbean, focusing on sea level rise and approaches to sustainability managing climate change impacts. For government and business decision makers in the tourism sector, climate change is a new strategic reality. Increasingly, institutional investors, banks, and insurance companies seek information on the material risks associated with climate change - driven by regulations at national and international levels, physical impacts on business, and the indirect consequences of regulation on business trends, such as changes in the demands for goods and services. |
| Keywords: | Environment & Natural Resources :: Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources :: Sustainable Tourism, IDB-TN-238 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35758&r=env |
| By: | Gonzalo Castro |
| Abstract: | The emergence of the new South-South axis in commerce provides extraordinary opportunities for poverty alleviation, investment in clean technologies, and strong movement toward sustainable development in both regions. Yet there is also the possibility of major impacts on the environment. This paper examines the environmental and social implications for Latin America and the Caribbean of economic growth in Asia and presents ideas as to how the region can take full advantage of change. |
| Keywords: | Environment & Natural Resources :: Environmental Policy, Integration & Trade :: Trade Agreements, IDB-TN-236, globalization, integration & trade, LAC, southeast Asia, South-South axis, environmental change, commodities |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:37799&r=env |
| By: | Lankoski, Jussi; Ollikainen, Markku |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114404&r=env |
| By: | de Gorter, Harry; Drabik, Dusan; Just, David R. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes carbon leakage due to reduced emissions from deforestation (RED). We find that leakage with RED is good because the policy induces afforestation that contributes to a further carbon sequestration. By ignoring the domestic component of carbon leakage, the literature can either overestimate or underestimate leakage, depending on the magnitudes of the numerator and the denominator of the leakage formulas. Unlike the literature, we include the land and agricultural markets in the analysis of carbon leakage with forestation policies. In this model, carbon leakage depends on: (1) supply and demand elasticities of timber production and consumption, respectively in the country introducing a RED policy (Home country) and in the rest of the world; (2) Home countryâs production and consumption share in the world timber production and consumption, respectively; (3) prices of land and crop products in the Home country and the rest of the world; (4) initial allocation of land between forestry and agriculture; (5) share of total forest area set aside under RED; and (6) relative carbon sequestration potential of the forest planted on an afforested land and of the forest withdrawn from timber harvest. These potentials depend heavily on the forest species as well as on timing of the policy, and on the discount rate and time path of increasing carbon prices. |
| Keywords: | carbon leakage, forestry, reduced emissions from deforestation, afforestation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q23, Q24, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114450&r=env |
| By: | Stephen Vosti; Siwa Msangi; Eirivelthon Lima; Ricardo Quiroga; Miroslav Batka; Chad Zanocco |
| Abstract: | This study employs the IFPRI IMPACT model to examine the effects of a hypothetical ban on the clearing of native vegetation for agriculture in tropical areas within LAC on GHG emissions, food production, food prices, and child malnutrition at several spatial scales. Results suggest that a complete ban on land clearing for agriculture would significantly reduce GHG emissions associated with the clearing of forests and other forms of natural vegetation vis-à-vis what would have occurred in the absence of the ban. The ban would also reduce agricultural production within tropical areas in LAC, however, the economic losses are not distributed uniformly across the three sub-regions within tropical LAC- the northern South American rim around the Amazon suffers approximately 45% of all losses in gross value of agricultural output attributable to the ban. The report also finds that at global level, the overall effects on commodity prices of the simulated ban on area expansion on LAC are not large and (hence) the effects on childhood malnutrition are small. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture & Food Security :: Agricultural Policy, Environment & Natural Resources :: Biodiversity & Natural Resources Management, Environment & Natural Resources :: Climate Change, Environment & Natural Resources :: Forests & Forestry, Climate Change, Forestry, Agriculture |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35598&r=env |
| By: | Laura Bianchini (University of Torino); Federico Revelli (University of Torino) |
| Abstract: | Ascertaining whether local election results are driven by incumbents’ performance while in office or mechanically reflect constituencies’ ideological affiliation and macroeconomic conditions is crucial for evaluating the alleged accountability-enhancing property of decentralization. Based on a unique score of urban environmental performance and the results of all elections held in the major Italian cities over a decade, we investigate the role of local (fiscal and environmental) versus national issues in municipal elections. While the empirical evidence points to a strong ideological attachment and a somewhat weaker fiscal conservatism, it reveals that media reported environmental ranking has a considerable impact on the popularity of city governments. |
| Keywords: | Local elections, vote function, environmental performance, property tax |
| JEL: | D72 H71 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/9/doc2011-18&r=env |
| By: | Urutyan, Vardan E.; Thalmann, Christian |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114820&r=env |
| By: | Fradj, Nosra Ben; Bourgeois, Cyril; Clodic, Melissa; Jayet, Pierre-Alain |
| Abstract: | This paper is devoted to assessment of policy mix impacts regarding nitrogen pollutants. The analysed policy combines a tax on the nitrogen input and incentives promoting perennial crops assumed to be low input ones. We show that perennial crop subsidy increases significantly the tax efficiency, compatible with the balanced budget of the Regulatory Agency in charge of the environment. Based on a MILP agricultural supply model, quantitative analysis provides assessment of impacts regarding land use, farmers income, and N losses at the North France level. |
| Keywords: | Bio-economic model, mathematical linear programming, environmental policy mix, N-fertilizer tax, bio-energy support, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114267&r=env |
| By: | Asproudis, Elias; Weyman-Jones, Tom |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the behaviour, influence and role of third parties in tradable permits markets. Following the literature, it focuses on a framework in order to understand how society and third parties react against the firms' emissions due to their participation in the tradable permits' market. Therefore the paper reveals the tradable permits mechanism as a new way for public direct action and highlights the possible benefits for the regulator. An important part of the third parties consists of the very active participation of the Environmental Non Governmental Organisations. Therefore, this paper argues that the third party's participation and specifically the environmental groups' participation in tradable permits' market could drive the market to the optimum equilibrium. In order to examine this "proposition" we use some data from the first phase of the permits' market in European Union and some available data for the environmental groups' income. We conclude that the environmental groups could purchase the exceeded, overallocated permits and could drive the market in the equilibrium point. Finally, for the regulator the environmental groups' participation could be desirable given that they could improve the efficiency of the tradable permits market. |
| Keywords: | emissions; permits; overallocation; third parties; environmental groups; equilibrium |
| JEL: | Q50 Q53 L31 |
| Date: | 2011–08–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28766&r=env |
| By: | Engel, Stefanie; Palmer, Charles; Taschini, Luca; Urech, Simon |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyse the implications of landownersâ option values in land allocation and derive policy recommendations for payments for Reduc- ing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). We examine the determinants of landowner participation in REDD implementation and consider par- ticularly the effect of alternative designs of REDD payment schemes on permanence of emission reductions. It is shown that the common practice of making either fixed payments per hectare or linking payments to carbon markets is not a cost-effective approach. A given level of permanence can be achieved at considerably lower cost to the REDD service buyer if REDD payments are linked to an agricultural commodity index that correlates with landownersâ opportunity costs. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114816&r=env |
| By: | Bamiere, Laure; David, Maia; Vermont, Bruno |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to compare different policy instruments for cost-effective habitat conservation on agricultural lands, when the desired spatial pattern of reserves is a random mosaic. We use a spatially explicit mathematical programming model which studies the farmers' behavior as profit maximizers under technical and administrative constraints. Facing different policy measures, each farmer chooses its land-use at the field level, which determines the landscape at the regional level. A spatial pattern index (Ripley L function) is then associated to the obtained landscape, indicating on the degree of dispersion of the reserve. We compare a subsidy per hectare of reserve with an auction scheme and an agglomeration malus. We find that the auction is superior to the uniform subsidy both for cost-efficiency and for the spatial pattern of the reserve. The agglomeration malus does better than the auction for the spatial pattern but is more costly. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental policies, biodiversity, mathematical programming, spatial optimization, reserve design, cost-eciency, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, H23, Q57, Q12, Q28, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114239&r=env |
| By: | William Nikolakis (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University); Aimee Nygaard (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University); Quentin Grafton (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | There are two aims of this work focused across northern Australia (north of the tropic of Capricorn). First is to identify adaptive strategies to deal with climate change in each jurisdiction. Second the work identifies issues for adaptation in water resource management across the region in light of potential impacts and local conditions. Over half of Australia‘s annual runoff occurs in the north Australian region from November to April. The region is relatively undeveloped and sparsely populated compared to southern Australia. Almost 30% of the land base is owned under Indigenous tenure. Drought and over-allocation of water resources in southern Australia has focused attention on the potential for expanding irrigated agriculture in the north. With an outlook for increased drought in southern Australia the pressure to look north is likely to increase. While rainfall projections in northern Australia are identified as stable to increasing, our research highlights that the outlook for water availability remains uncertain under climate change scenarios across the north. |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:10108&r=env |
| By: | Tait, Peter; Baskaran, Ramesh |
| Abstract: | The spatial distribution of agro-environmental policy benefits has important implications for the efficient allocation of management effort. The practical convenience of relying on sample mean values of individual benefits for aggregation can come at the cost of biased aggregate estimates. The main objective of this paper is to test spatial hypotheses regarding respondentsâ local water quality and quantity, and their willingness-to-pay for improvements in water quality attributes. This paper combines choice experiment and spatially related water quality data via a Geographical Information System (GIS) to develop a method that evaluates the influence of respondentsâ local water quality on willingness-to-pay for river and stream conservation programs in Canterbury, New Zealand. Results show that those respondents who live in the vicinity of low quality waterway are willing to pay more for improvements relative to those who live near to high quality waterways. |
| Keywords: | Water Quality, Choice Experiment, Geographical Information System, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q51, Q25, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:116074&r=env |
| By: | Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe; Schilizzi, Steven; Breustedt, Gunnar |
| Abstract: | This paper explores two ideas to enhance the performance of agri-environmental contracting schemes: linking contract payments to environmental outcomes and putting the contracts up for tender. This paper investigates whether there are any gains to be had by combining the benefits of both approaches. Controlled lab experiments were run in two countries, systematically varying the rate at which payments are linked to environmental outcomes. This paper clarifies the conditions under which the benefits from combining tenders with incentive payments outweigh the costs. |
| Keywords: | Conservation tenders, auctions, incentive contracts, agricultural policy, environmental policy, market-based instruments, experimental economics, Auktionen, Ausschreibungsverfahren, Agrar-Umweltverträge, Agrar-Umweltpolitik, Anreizverträge, experimentelle Ãkonomie, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Demand and Price Analysis, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi11:114523&r=env |
| By: | Salmon, Guy |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115415&r=env |
| By: | Nappo, Alessandra Francesca |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114631&r=env |
| By: | de Cara, Stephane; Fournier, Anne; Gaigne, Carl |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the impact of urbanization on the location of agricultural production and the GHG emissions related to transportation activities. We develop an economic geography model where the location of agricultural activities and urban population are endogenous. We show that increasing agricultural yields induce the spatial concentration of agricultural produc- tion in the least urbanized region if agricultural transport costs are relatively low and in the most urbanized region otherwise. In addition, interregional trade in agricultural commodities is desirable to reduce GHG emissions, except when urban population is equally split between cities. However, the market may induce too much agglomeration of agricultural production when yields are high and when collection costs are low. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, agriculture location, transport, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Q10, Q54, R12, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114350&r=env |
| By: | Romstad, Eirik; Alfnes, Frode |
| Abstract: | It is well known from the compliance literature that whenever it costly to monitor agents' compliance to contract terms, compliance is likely to be incomplete. This paper goes one step further by examining the implications of incomplete monitoring on agent's sales offers in auctions for environmental contracts. From a monitoring perspective we show allocation contracts to least cost also produces another gain â that less resources need to be spend on monitoring and enforcement. To get full use of this insight one needs to have auction procedures that provide incentives for truthful revelation of agents' private alternate incomes. Our second result is that the incentives for truthful revelation is lost when monitoring is incomplete unless the expected value of compliance exceeds the expected value of noncompliance. We demonstrate this result theoretically and through an economic experiment using an induced value reverse multi unit auction. |
| Keywords: | environmental contract auctions, monitoring and compliance, truthful revelation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115985&r=env |
| By: | Briner, Simon; Hartmann, Michael; Lehmann, Bernard |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially for methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Applying a bio-economic whole-farm model, we assessed five GHG mitigation options on their economic suitability to reduce emissions from grassland-based suckler cow farms. Among the assessed options, only compensation by agroforestry systems and the choice of an adequate production system showed the potential to significantly reduce emissions. If an adequate production system is chosen, GHG emissions per kilogram of meat can be reduced by up to 18% â from 21.9 to 18 kg CO2-eq./kg of meat â while total gross margin can be increased by up to 14%. Through the application of an agroforestry system, GHG emissions in all systems can be further reduced to 7.5 kg CO2-eq./kg meat â equating to a reduction of GHG emissions of 48% to 66% â at costs between 0.03 CHF/kg meat and 0.38 CHF/kg meat depending on the production system and the state of the system before the reduction. In contrast, the addition of lipids to the diet or a cover to the slurry tank has neither the potential to reduce GHG emissions significantly nor are they cost-effective enough to be implemented. Nitrification inhibitors can reduce GHG emissions up to 10%, but costs for this reduction are much higher than for agroforestry systems. The application of agroforestry systems to suckler farming in Switzerland therefore seems to be an adequate option to reduce GHG emission significantly for a relatively low price. |
| Keywords: | Greenhouse gas mitigation, whole-farm model, agroforestry, suckler farming, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114271&r=env |
| By: | Sipilainen, Timo; Huhtala, Anni |
| Abstract: | Targeted environmental policies for farmlands may improve the cost-efficiency of conservation programs if one can identify the farms that produce public goods, or environmental outputs, with the least cost. We derive shadow values of producing crop diversity on conventional and organic crop farms to examine their opportunity costs of conservation. Non-parametric distance functions are estimated by applying data envelopment analysis to a sample of Finnish crop farms for the period 1994 â 2002. Our results show that there is variation in the shadow values between farms and the technologies adopted. The extent of cost heterogeneity and farmsâ potential for specialization in the production of environmental outputs determine whether voluntary programs such as auctions for conservation payments are economically reasonable. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity, Shannon index, DEA, distance functions, shadow values, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, C21, D24, H41, Q12, Q24, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114527&r=env |
| By: | Mkwara, Lena; Marsh, Dan |
| Abstract: | Trout angling is one of the most popular water-based recreational activities in the Rotorua Lakes. Despite the high demand for trout angling and other recreational purposes, water quality in some of these lakes has been declining over the past decades and initiatives to try to restore the lakes are underway. To compliment these efforts, this study uses the travel cost random utility models to explore how changes in water quality would impact upon anglerâs choice of fishing destinations. The welfare impacts due to water quality changes and possible lake closures are also explored. These findings highlight the importance of discrete choice random utility models as a policy decision making tool for recreational-based natural resource managers in New Zealand. Additionally, this study represents one of the unique cases in travel cost random utility applications that accounts fully for unobserved site effects. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115514&r=env |
| By: | Larsen, Karen; Ollikainen, Markku |
| Abstract: | This research studies the use of auctions for reducing leaching of phosphorus and nitrogen into the Baltic Sea. Auctions are introduced as a tool for creating environmental contracts in agriculture for the first time in Finland. A controlled laboratory experiment is used to analyze the effect of introducing a bundle mechanism in the auction. Landholders submit sealed bids on multiple parcels in a one shot reverse auction. Each parcel is assigned an environmental quality and varies in size. In one treatment landholders can offer bids on environmental contracts for their parcels individually. In the other treatment landholders are given the opportunity to bundle parcels of land together when submitting bids as well as submitting bids for individual parcels. The results suggest that the bundle mechanism increase environmental efficiency of the auction compared to the individual parcel auction. In the treatment with individual parcel bids environmental value significantly affects over half of landholdersâ offers. The bundle treatment however shows sign of a cognitive bias where landholders use the hectare size to determine their offers. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114401&r=env |
| By: | Fernandez-Haddad, Zaira; Quiroga, Sonia |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we assess the output-oriented technical efficiency of agricultural production functions in order to compare, over time, economic and environmental production processes in the different regions of the Spanish Ebro basin, in a climate change context. The measurement of technical efficiency in agriculture can provide useful information about the competitiveness of farms and their potential to increase its productivity moreover can help in the crops adaptation to water pressure by improving the management of scarce resources. Here, we generate an agricultural water efficiency index to evaluate the adaptation of some Mediterranean crops to the water pressures in this area. We estimate frontier production functions and technical efficiency measures, using panel data models. This will allow us to observe changes in production due to individual specific effects and those that are time specific. To characterize our model, we use historical data, about crop yields, water requirements and climate as well as socio-economic and geographical aspects of the most representative crops in the provinces of the Ebro basin during 1976-2007. Then we generate a ranking of the most efficient crops across geographical areas, given their water use and other inputs, to evaluate policy scenarios with adjustments in water supply. |
| Keywords: | water efficiency index in agriculture, Ebro basin, climate change adaptation, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114358&r=env |
| By: | Bhatta, Arun; Bigsby, Hugh R.; Cullen, Ross |
| Abstract: | Due to the public goods characteristics of many ecosystem services and their vital importance to human welfare, various mechanisms have been put in place to motivate private landowners in the provision of ecosystem services. A common approach is to try to develop a comprehensive ecosystem services market where landowners can receive payments from beneficiaries of ecosystem services. Much research has been directed at developing methods for valuing the range of ecosystem services so that they can be incorporated into ecosystem services markets. However, valuation methods are difficult, expensive and time consuming. Other approaches to the provision of ecosystem services such as payments for ecosystem services usually focus on a single service like water or biodiversity. However, in the provision of a particular ecosystem service, there are spill-over effects of providing other ecosystem services, and thus studying those spill-over effects may provide a simple and cost-effective way of ensuring the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services. In New Zealand, there are a variety of forestry programs which provide incentives to landowners to plant trees on their lands to meet particular objectives, but which also produce other ES. This research aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the provision of a wide range of ES by these approaches, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, the East Coast Forestry Scheme, and the QEII National Trust. |
| Keywords: | ecosystem services market, spill-over effect, cost-effectiveness, New Zealand, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115350&r=env |
| By: | Leclere, David; Jayet, Pierre-Alain; Noblet-Ducoudre, Nathalie De |
| Abstract: | Assessing climate change impact on agriculture is a complex task involving a wide range of economical and physical processes, leading to significant uncertainties. At European scale, climate change impacts on agricultural supply have been appraised to be of relatively less important driver by the end of century compared to other global drivers. However these diagnoses are incomplete due to a limited representation of both spatial heterogeneity in important determinants of agricultural supply (soil, management practices and producer typology) and fine scale processes such as farm scale autonomous adaptation. We propose a complementary approach based on a modeling framework including a spatially explicit representation of productivity and producer behavior with regard to heterogeneity in soil, climate, and producer socio-economic context to appraise climate change impacts including autonomous farm-scale adaptations of EU15 agricultural supply to climate change. Our results suggest that without accounting for autonomous adaptation European agricultural supply may have interesting resilience properties at an aggregated scale despite significant heterogeneity at smaller resolution. Accounting for autonomous adaptations result in significant yield gains, and may lead to (i) a significant increase in the relative profitability of crops compared to other land-covers, thus possibly increasing its agricultural land-use share over other land covers, and (ii) an increase in total European production which may have impacts on agricultural goods markets, thus highlighting the need for integrating fine scale processes such as autonomous adaptation. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114391&r=env |
| By: | Reza Farrahi Moghaddam; Fereydoun Farrahi Moghaddam; Mohamed Cheriet |
| Abstract: | In a global economy, fair and universal management of worldwide markets with a guarantee of sustainability of life on this planet is a key element. In this work, a universal measure of emissions to be applied at the international level is proposed, based on a modification of the Greenhouse Gas Intensity (GHG-INT) measure. It is hoped that the generality and low administrative cost of this measure, which we call the Modified Greenhouse Gas Intensity measure (MGHG-INT), will eliminate any need to classify nations, and provide a uniform approach to penalizing emissions. The core of the MGHG-INT is what we call the Modified Gross Domestic Product (MGDP), based on the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). The MGDP enables us to normalize the status of all nations on a common scale, making it possible for us to propose universal measures, such as MGHG-INT. We also propose a carbon border tax, either as a direct tax or a tax adjustment, applicable at national borders, based on MGHG-INT and MGDP. This carbon tax is supported by a proposed global Emissions Trading System (ETS) applied at the international level. It is assumed that each country will implement its own equivalent carbon tax system to preserve the competitiveness of the marketplace; however, consideration of this aspect of our concept is beyond the scope of our work here. The proposed carbon tax is analyzed in a short-term scenario with interesting outcomes, such as the simultaneous lowering of emissions levels and the maintenance of reasonable growth in MGDP. The proposed carbon tax and ETS can also be implemented at the national level in a country, in provincial or corporate slices. In addition to annual GHG emissions, cumulative GHG emissions over a decade are considered for the big players in the world economy with almost the same results. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1110.1567&r=env |
| By: | Roeder, Norbert; Osterburg, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | Roughly 6.5% of the German utilized agricultural area is located on organic soils (fens and bogs). Nevertheless, the drainage of these areas in order to allow their agricultural utilization causes roughly a third of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of the German agricultural sector, being equivalent to 4% of the total German GHG emissions. Obviously, German policies trying to reduce the GHG emissions successfully must tackle this issue. The abandonment of the cultivation of organic soils would be an effective policy to reduce the GHG emissions however the question remains whether it is an efficient measure compared with the other options? In the paper we assess the mitigation costs on the basis of the standard gross margin and tenure of the agriculturally used peatlands and with the results obtained from sector model RAUMIS. Without engineering and transaction costs the mitigation costs are in the magnitude of 10 to 45 ⬠per to of CO2eq. This makes rewetting of peatlands at least in the medium and long run a fairly efficient options for reducing GHG emissions, especially as the implications on the sector due to reallocation affects are fairly small. |
| Keywords: | GHG-Mitigation, Landuse, peatland, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115983&r=env |
| By: | Hansen, Kristiana; de Frahan, Bruno Henry |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the production and income effects from the adoption of one popular agro-environmental measure, which concerns buffer strips along field edges, on a representative sample of crop farms in Belgium taken from the Farm Accountancy Data Network database. We represent the economic behaviour of each crop farm with a profit-maximisation programming model that embeds an estimated ex-ante flexible cost function. We calibrate the simulation model using the Positive Mathematical Programming approach. Accounting for farm and regional heterogeneity, simulation results show how crop farms may respond differently to incentives for the agroenvironmental measure. Results demonstrate that economic incentives can be an effective mechanism for encouraging uptake of agro-environmental measures and that impacts of agro-environmental measures can vary by farm and region, depending on agronomic conditions and the environmental potential for agro-environmental measure activity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114577&r=env |
| By: | Ervola, Asta; Lankoski, Jussi; Ollikainen, Markku |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114339&r=env |
| By: | Mort Webster; Nidhi Santen; Panos Parpas |
| Abstract: | Analyses of global climate policy as a sequential decision under uncertainty have been severely restricted by dimensionality and computational burdens. Therefore, they have limited the number of decision stages, discrete actions, or number and type of uncertainties considered. In particular, other formulations have difficulty modeling endogenous or decision-dependent uncertainties, in which the shock at time t+1 depends on the decision made at time t. In this paper, we present a stochastic dynamic programming formulation of the Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy (DICE), and the application of approximate dynamic programming techniques to numerically solve for the optimal policy under uncertain and decision-dependent technological change. We compare numerical results using two alternative value function approximation approaches, one parametric and one non-parametric. Using the framework of dynamic programming, we show that an additional benefit to near-term emissions reductions comes from a probabilistic lowering of the costs of emissions reductions in future stages, which increases the optimal level of near-term actions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1118&r=env |
| By: | Wunscher, Tobias; Engel, Stefanie; Wunder, Sven |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies have shown the merits of targeting the costs of conservation besides environmental benefits and aligning payments for ecosystem services with incurred costs. However, cost-effective and precise estimation of site specific opportunity costs is a major challenge. In this paper we test two approaches to estimate opportunity costs of conservation: One approach derives opportunity costs from annual land rents, and the other models regresses opportunity costs on easily obtainable and difficult to manipulate spatial and socio-economic independent variables such as soil quality. None of these approaches appeared to estimate opportunity costs sufficiently well. But since this judgment is based on how well the estimates compare to the reference opportunity costs, which were computed from farm budgets, we also considered potential flaws in the reference data and tested their plausibility. The tests confirmed the plausibility of data. Based on the results presented in this paper none of the two cost estimation approaches can be recommended for practical application in conservation programs. Yet, further research is necessary to confirm these findings giving special attention to the techniques that are applied to deliver reference point data on opportunity costs. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115774&r=env |
| By: | Cunha, Barbara; Mani, Muthukumara |
| Abstract: | The Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States aims to create a free trade zone for economic development. The Agreement is expected to intensify commerce and investment among the participating countries. This paper analyzes the changes in the production and trading patterns in 2-digit manufacturing sectors with the goal of understanding the short-term environmental implications of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement. More specifically, the paper addresses the questions: Did pollution increase in the period after the Agreement negotiations? Did trade and production shift toward pollution intensive factors? The results suggest an increase in pollution emissions in the post-negotiations period. The increase in emissions is mainly attributable to scale effects. Composition effects are small and in some cases (including Nicaragua and Honduras) favoring cleaner industries and partially compensating the pollution gains from output and export growth. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Brown Issues and Health |
| Date: | 2011–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5826&r=env |
| By: | Memon, Ali; Duncan, Ronlyn; Spicer, Anne; Kirk, Nick |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115411&r=env |
| By: | Drabik, Dusan; de Gorter, Harry; Just, David R. |
| Abstract: | We show carbon leakage depends on the type of biofuel policy (tax credit versus mandate), the domestic and foreign gasoline supply and fuel demand elasticities, and on consumption and production shares of world oil markets for the country introducing the biofuel policy. The components of carbon leakage â market leakage and emissions savings â are counteracting: carbon leakage increases with market leakage but decreases with emissions savings. We also distinguish domestic and international leakage where the latter is always positive, but domestic leakage can be negative with a mandate. The IPCC definition of leakage omits domestic leakage, resulting in biased estimates. Leakage with a tax credit always exceeds that of a mandate, while the combination of a mandate and tax credit generates lower leakage than a tax credit alone. In general, a gallon of ethanol (energy equivalent) is found to replace 35 percent of a gallon of gasoline â not 100 percent as assumed by life-cycle accounting. This means ethanol emits 13 percent more carbon than a gallon of gasoline if indirect land use change (iLUC) is not included in the estimated emissions savings effect and 43 percent more when iLUC is included. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, tax credit, mandate, market leakage, carbon leakage, emissions savings, domestic leakage, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q27, Q41, Q42, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114432&r=env |
| By: | Frank Jotzo (Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, and ANU Climate Change Institute, Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Following the Copenhagen climate Accord, developed and developing countries have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, emissions intensity or emissions relative to baseline. This analysis puts the targets for the major countries on a common footing, and compares them across different metrics. Targeted changes in absolute emissions differ markedly between countries, with continued strong increases in some developing countries but significant decreases in others including Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, provided reasonable baseline projections are used. Differences are smaller when emissions are expressed in per capita terms. Reductions in emissions intensity of economies implicit in the targets are remarkably similar across developed and developing countries, with China‟s emissions intensity target spanning almost the same range as the implicit intensity reductions in the United States, EU, Japan, Australia and Canada. Targeted deviations from business-as-usual are also remarkably similar across countries, and the majority of total global reductions relative to baselines may originate from China and other developing countries. The findings suggest that targets for most major countries are broadly compatible in important metrics, and that while the overall global ambition falls short of a two degree trajectory, the targets by key developing countries including China can be considered commensurate in the context of what developed countries have pledged. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1078&r=env |
| By: | Kerr, G.N.; Latham, N. |
| Abstract: | The relative values of New Zealand commercial and recreational marine fishing are unknown. Value transfer is applied to assess the likely value of inshore marine recreational fishing. The few relevant studies available report widely differing estimates of value. However, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that the value of recreational fishing is of the same order of magnitude as commercial fishing. |
| Keywords: | Value transfer, recreational fishing, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115408&r=env |
| By: | Phillips, Yvonne |
| Abstract: | A choice experiment was undertaken at Buffalo beach, Whitianga, in order to investigate beach visitorsâ preferences for various coastal erosion management options. Constructing rock seawalls is a common response to coastal erosion but seawalls can negatively affect visual amenity, biodiversity and recreational values. The choice experiment results from this study show that the average visitor would be willing to pay $20 per year to remove an existing rock wall at either end of Buffalo beach. Visitors place high value on useable sandy beaches and reserve areas behind the beach. A latent class analysis reveals there are distinct sub-groups with varying preferences for beach characteristics. This paper presents a model with separate classes for residents and visitors and the compensating variation estimates to calculate the overall welfare effect for three coastal management scenarios. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115414&r=env |
| By: | Michael Greenstone; Elizabeth Kopits; Ann Wolverton |
| Abstract: | The United States Government recently concluded a year-long process to develop a range of values representing the monetized damages associated with an incremental increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, commonly referred to as the social cost of carbon (SCC). These values are currently used in benefit-cost analyses to assess potential federal regulations. For 2010, the central value of the SCC is $21 per ton of CO2 emissions and sensitivity analyses are to be conducted at $5, $35, and $65 (2007$). This paper summarizes the methodology and process used to develop the SCC values, complemented with our own commentary about how the SCC can be used to inform regulatory decisions and areas where further research would be particularly useful. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1106&r=env |
| By: | Leo Dobes (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | A factor common to all adaptation measures is the uncertainty that is the hallmark of climate change. The timing, intensity and location of climate change impacts is not known to any degree of precision. Because most deterministic analyses and policy prescriptions ignore this uncertainty, their recommendations are likely to waste community resources. Except by chance, adaptation measures will either be over-engineered, or they will be inadequate and result in harm. Applying real options thinking allows an incremental and flexible approach. Adaptation measures are implemented only as better knowledge becomes available over time. Several examples are given of real options in the Mekong Delta, with a comparison of net present values of two housing alternatives. It is essential to undertake net present value calculations when comparing different projects to ensure that the value of any options is weighed against other costs and benefits. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1075&r=env |
| By: | Chalak, Morteza; Pannell, David; Polyakov, Maksym |
| Abstract: | Invasive species are significant threats to biodiversity, natural ecosystems and agriculture leading to large worldwide economic and environmental damage. Spread and control of invasive species are stochastic processes with important spatial dimensions. Most economic studies of invasive species control ignore spatial and stochastic aspects. This paper covers this gap in the previous studies by analysing a spatially explicit dynamic process of controlling invasive species in a stochastic setting. We show how stochasticity, spatial location of infestation and control can influence the spread, control efficiency and optimal control strategies. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between economic parameters and stochastic spatial characteristics of infestation and control. In the model used, there are two ways to control infestation: border control, under which the spread of invasive species from any of its infested neighbouring cell is prevented, and cell control, which removes the infestation from the existing cell. An integer optimisation model is applied to find the optimal strategies to deal with invasive species. Results show that it is optimal to eradicate or contain for a larger range of border control and cell control costs when the invasion is in the corner or on the edge as compared to the case where the initial infestation is in the middle of the landscape. Decrease in the probability of successful border control makes containment an unfavourable control option even for low border control costs. We show that decrease in the rate of spread can result in switching optimal strategies from containment to abandonment of control, or from eradication to containment. We also showed when the probability of successful cell control decreases, a lower eradication cost is required for eradication to remain the optimal strategy. In summary, this paper shows that in order to avoid providing misleading recommendations to environmental managers, it is important to include uncertainty in the spatial dynamic analysis of invasive species control. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115513&r=env |
| By: | Batstone, Chris; Moores, Jonathon; Semadeni-Davies, Annette; Green, Malcolm; Gadd, Jennifer; Harper, Sharleen |
| Abstract: | There is mounting evidence that urban development in New Zealand has contributed to poor water quality and ecological degradation of coastal and fresh water receiving waters. As a consequence, local governments have identified the need for improved methods to guide decision making to achieve improved outcomes for those receiving waters. This paper reports progress on a research programme to develop a catchmentscale spatial decision-support system (SDSS) that will aid evaluation of the impacts of urban development on attributes such as water and sediment quality; ecosystem health; and economic, social and cultural values. The SDSS aims to express indicators of impacts on these values within a sustainability indexing system in order to allow local governments to consider them holistically over planning timeframes of several decades. The SDSS will use a combination of deterministic and probabilistic methods to, firstly, estimate changes to environmental stressors such as contaminant loads from different land use and stormwater management scenarios and, secondly, use these results and information from a range of other sources to generate indicator values. This paper describes the projectâs approach to the derivation of indicators of economic and social well being associated with the effects of urban storm water run-off on freshwater and estuarine receiving waters. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115349&r=env |
| By: | Hughey, Ken |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115505&r=env |
| By: | Bektasoglu, Beyhan; Urban, Kirsten; Brockmeier, Martina |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi11:114721&r=env |
| By: | Farrell, Katharine N. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a theoretical discussion concerning possibilities for designing environmental value articulation procedures that respect the basic non-economic character of ecological phenomena. The question of how to estimate the economic value of ecosystem services contributions is a particularly important issue for agricultural economics because of the dependence of agricultural production on the life cycles and biological viability of ecosystems (sic Georgescu-Roegen, 1966). Distinguishing between two basic types of ecosystem services values â demand vs supply based â this paper aims to describe a theoretical context within which it may be possible to develop recommendations regarding procedures and associated institutional structures that can support the expression of economically relevant measures of the economic worth of a given ecological phenomena that are also ecologically sound. Finally it is proposed that there are strong synergies between the problem structure of this issue and the theoretical contributions of Herbert Simon, concerning bounded rationality and further work on the details of these links is recommended. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114362&r=env |
| By: | Falco, Salvatore Di; Veronesi, Marcella |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of climate change adaptation on farm householdsâ downside risk exposure (e.g., risk of crop failure) in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. The analysis relies on a momentbased specification of the stochastic production function. We estimate a simultaneous equations model with endogenous switching to account for the heterogeneity in the decision to adapt or not, and for unobservable characteristics of farmers and their farm. We find that (i) climate change adaptation reduces downside risk exposure, i.e., farm households that implemented climate change adaptation strategies get benefits in terms of a decrease in the risk of crop failure; (ii) farm households that did not adapt would benefit the most in terms of reduction in downside risk exposure from adaptation; and (iii) there are significant differences in downside risk exposure between farm households that did and those that did not adapt to climate change. The analysis also shows that the quasi-option value, that is the value of waiting to gather more information, plays a significant role in farm householdsâ decision to adapt to climate change. Farmers that are better informed may value less the option to wait to adapt, and so are more likely to adapt than other farmers. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, climate change, endogenous switching, Ethiopia, risk exposure, stochastic production function, skewness, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, D80, Q18, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115549&r=env |
| By: | Tertius Greyling (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University); Jeff Bennett (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | The Booroolong frog project in the Namoi Catchment represents an environmental investment to protect the species and around 10.7 kilometres of its habitat in the catchment. The project’s benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 8.6 indicates that the benefits outweigh the costs by a significant margin. The measures introduced by landholders, at relatively low cost, should therefore result in a significant return on investment upon project completion in 10 years time. The benefits are estimated using a choice modelling study which was recently developed for the valuation of investment in natural resource management in the Namoi Catchment. As this is a largely ex ante cost-benefit analysis, the BCR is subject to uncertainty associated with assumptions which had to be made for some variables. However, sensitivity analysis indicates that the project benefits outweigh the costs by a significant margin even under conservative conditions |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:10101&r=env |
| By: | Lankia, Tuija; Huhtala, Anni |
| Abstract: | Although spending time in a summer home is a popular leisure activity in many developed countries, little is known about the welfare impacts of such recreation in monetary terms. We use data from Finland to provide first estimates of the extent of the recreation benefits obtained from visits to second homes. Special emphasis is placed on how environmental attributes of second homes, such as the presence of algae, the availability of a beach, and electricity, influence the recreation value of visits. The impacts are valued through revealed preferences using the travel cost method. We estimate the recreation value to be about EUR 170 â 205 per trip if a summer home is electrified, if a beach is available and if algae do not prevent aquatic recreation. The aggregate nonmarket benefits of the use of the current summer home stock are considerable â about EUR 500 million per annum. The presence of algae that prevent aquatic recreation decreases the value per trip by 40 percent, and the lack of a beach reduces it by 45 percent; electrification increases the value by 3â5 percent. These impacts should be balanced against the social costs of second homes when designing environmental policies on leisure-time housing. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114405&r=env |
| By: | Niemeyer, Insa; Garrido, Alberto |
| Abstract: | International agricultural trade has been growing significantly during the last decade. Many countries rely on imports to ensure adequate food supplies to the people. A few are becoming food baskets of the world. This process raises issues about the food security in depending countries and potentially unsustainable land and water use in exporting countries. In this paper, we analyse the impacts of amplified farm trade on natural resources, especially water. Farm exports and imports of five Latin America countries (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Chile) are examined carefully. A preliminary analysis indicates that virtual water imports can save valuable water resources in water-short countries, such as Mexico and Chile. Major exporting countries, including Brazil and Argentina, have become big exporters due to abundant natural resource endowments. The opportunity costs of agricultural production in those countries are identified as being low, because of the predominant green water use. It is concluded that virtual water trade can be a powerful tool to alleviate water stress in semi-arid countries. However, for exporting nations a sustainable water use can only be guaranteed if environmental production costs are fully reflected in the commodity prices. There is no basis for erecting environmental trade tariffs on exporters though. Setting up legal foundations for them in full compliance with WTOs processes would be a daunting task. |
| Keywords: | farm trade, water, blue water, green water, global sustainability, food production, global food demand, water pricing, </dc:subject><dc:subject>WTO, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114615&r=env |
| By: | Weber, Anja Michaela |
| Abstract: | Agri-environmental schemes provide payments for farmers in return for environmental services. Implementation induces transaction costs (TCs). Borne by farmers (private TCs), their amount may inhibit participation. Research shows substantial variances in private TCs within single schemes, which are largely unexplained to date. Furthermore, no distinction has yet been made in research whether farmers spent TCs due to scheme-prescribed tasks, or voluntarily to achieve âtransaction gains.â This might be an important factor in farmersâ perceptions of TCs. The overall aim of this analysis is to explain within-scheme TC variances. TCs are defined functionally as âcosts of participation.â The variance in TC spending is assumed to represent a different willingness to participate due to underlying motives. This is tested by ANOVAs and Pearsonâs correlations with the example of a German AES. Results show that all assumed motives are significant but differ along the implementation process and imply that different functions have TCs. Thus, general public reimbursement of private TCs, as allowed in current EU regulations, might therefore be inappropriate. |
| Keywords: | Agri-environmental Schemes, Transaction Costs, Hesse, Germany, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115738&r=env |
| By: | Stephen P. Holland; Jonathan E. Hughes; Christopher R. Knittel; Nathan C. Parker |
| Abstract: | Instead of efficiently pricing greenhouse gases, policy makers have favored measures that implicitly or explicitly subsidize low carbon fuels. We simulate a transportation-sector cap & trade program (CAT) and three policies currently in use: ethanol subsidies, a renewable fuel standard (RFS), and a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). Our simulations confirm that the alternatives to CAT are quite costly—2.5 to 4 times more expensive. We provide evidence that the persistence of these alternatives in spite of their higher costs lies in the political economy of carbon policy. The alternatives to CAT exhibit a feature that make them amenable to adoption|a right skewed distribution of gains and losses where many counties have small losses, but a smaller share of counties gain considerably—as much as $6,800 per capita, per year. We correlate our estimates of gains from CAT and the RFS with Congressional voting on the Waxman-Markey cap & trade bill, H.R. 2454. Because Waxman-Markey (WM) would weaken the RFS, House members likely viewed the two policies as competitors. Conditional on a district's CAT gains, increases in a district's RFS gains are associated with decreases in the likelihood of voting for WM. Furthermore, we show that campaign contributions are correlated with a district's gains under each policy and that these contributions are correlated with a Member's vote on WM. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1116&r=env |
| By: | Barry, Luke; Paragahawewa, Upananda Herath; Yao, Richard T.; Turner, James A. |
| Abstract: | The population in New Zealand is expected to increase to over five million by the mid 2020âs from the current level of 4.3 million (Statistics New Zealand, 2009). An increasing demand for primary produce as a result may put pressure on marginal land to be farmed. Understanding the economic value of avoided erosion in New Zealand is therefore an important factor in policy making to optimise the soil related activities in the economy. Establishing a methodology for estimating the economic value of avoided soil erosion is the first step in assessing the problem. This study uses the future forest scenarios developed by Scion to identify potential afforestation areas and thereby compare the current erosion/sedimentation status under current land-use (non woody vegetation) with potential future afforestation. The study aims to quantify the incremental public and private net benefits from the change in scenario. The notion has come under different headings in the literature, such as on-site and off-site erosion effects or sediment and soil erosion effects, all of which recognize the importance of separation of effects to avoid double-counting. The separation into public and private benefits and costs in this case, while avoiding double-counting, will also help identify appropriate policy instruments to avoid soil erosion damage using the private and public net benefit framework (Pannell, 2008). |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115512&r=env |
| By: | Ambrey, Christopher L.; Fleming, Christopher M. |
| Abstract: | The life satisfaction approach has recently emerged as a new technique in the suite of options available to non-market valuation practitioners. This paper examines the influence of ecosystem diversity on the life satisfaction of residents of South East Queensland, Australia. It is found that, on average, a respondent is willing-to-pay approximately AUD$20,000 in household income per annum to obtain a one-unit improvement in ecosystem diversity. This result indicates that the life satisfaction effects of improvements in ecosystem diversity are substantial, and greater than the welfare effects implied by studies using more conventional non-market valuation techniques. |
| Keywords: | Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), Life Satisfaction, Non-market Valuation, Biodiversity, Ecosystem Diversity, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115347&r=env |
| By: | Haroldo da Gama Torres |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the environmental and social implications of peri-urban growth in small to medium sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean and proposes approaches to address this challenge. Key recommendations include cities should stimulate strategies for compact growth and efforts to regularize existing irregular settlements should be strongly supported, among other recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Environment & Natural Resources, Rural & Urban Development :: Urban Development, IDB-TN-237 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35819&r=env |
| By: | Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawai‘I Economic Research Organization (UHERO)); Lee Endress (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii); Majah-Leah Ravago (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii); James Roumasset (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii); Christopher Wada (University of Hawai‘I Economic Research Organization (UHERO)) |
| Abstract: | We review the economics perspective on sustainable resource use and sustainable development. Under standard conditions, dynamic efficiency leads to sustainability of renewable resources but not the other way around. For the economic-ecological system as a whole, dynamic efficiency and intergenerational equity similarly lead to sustainability, but ad hoc rules of sustainability may well lead to sacrifices in human welfare. We then address the challenges of extending economic sustainability to space as well as time and discuss the factors leading to optimal islands of preservation regarding renewable resources. Exogenous mandates based on moral imperatives such as self-sufficiency and strong sustainability may result in missed win-win opportunities that could improve both the economy and the environment, as well as increase social welfare across generations. |
| Keywords: | Islands of sustainability, sustainable development, sustainability science, fisheries, forests |
| JEL: | Q01 Q23 Q22 |
| Date: | 2011–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201112&r=env |
| By: | Wakeyo, Mekonnen B.; Gardebroek, Cornelis |
| Abstract: | Rain-fall shortage constrains production in small-holder agriculture in developing countries and with ongoing climate change these shortages may increase. Rain-water harvesting are interesting technologies that decrease this risk. Therefore, one would expect an increasing use of these technologies in drought-prone areas. However, data collected in Ethiopia shows that the share of irrigated land in total landholding declines with farm size. This study investigates why the share declines with farm size using panel data collected in 2005 and in 2010. A random-effect tobit model is estimated for the share of irrigated land as a function of variables affecting returns, market prices, source of finance and expectation formation. The findings show farm-specific factors such as credit per hectare, distance to market, ease of selling output, landholding, regional differences, aridity and distance of plots from natural water sources significantly affect the share. Thus, encouraging investment has to consider farm-size, and also geographical, environmental and regional diversity. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115735&r=env |
| By: | Anastasiadis, Simon; Nauleau, Marie-Laure; Kerr, Suzi; Cox, Tim; Rutherford, Kit |
| Abstract: | The life satisfaction approach has recently emerged as a new technique in the suite of options available to non-market valuation practitioners. This paper examines the influence of ecosystem diversity on the life satisfaction of residents of South East Queensland, Australia. It is found that, on average, a respondent is willing-to-pay approximately AUD$20,000 in household income per annum to obtain a one-unit improvement in ecosystem diversity. This result indicates that the life satisfaction effects of improvements in ecosystem diversity are substantial, and greater than the welfare effects implied by studies using more conventional non-market valuation techniques. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115348&r=env |
| By: | Reetz, Sunny W. H.; Brummer, Bernhard |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114794&r=env |
| By: | Ziolkowska, Jadwiga; Simon, Leo; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | Current research evaluating biofuels policies focuses primarily on market-economic criteria. While it is widely acknowledged that both the economic and environmental, and social aspects of biofuels policy must all be balanced with each other in the process of developing a viable biofuels policy, little progress has been made to date on evaluating these uncertain non-market relationships. In this paper, we develop a fuzzy theory holistic approach evaluating the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation biofuels feedstocks in meeting multiple economic, environmental and social criteria of the biofuels policies and capturing the uncertainties of evaluation processes. We use a multi-criteria approach PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations) and fuzzy set theory to show how missing information, fuzziness, and ambiguity in decision making processes can be considered for a sustainable biofuels policy evaluation. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, uncertainties, multi-criteria decision support, PROMETHE, fuzzy set theory, decision making, policy evaluation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115980&r=env |
| By: | Olivier Durand-Lasserve; Axel Pierru; Yves Smeers |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact that uncertainty over economic growth may have on global energy transition and CO2 prices. We use a general-equilibrium model derived from MERGE, and define several stochastic scenarios for economic growth. Each scenario is characterized by the likelihood of a rapid global economic recovery. More precisely, during each decade, global economy may - with a given probability - shift from the EIA's (2010) low-economic-growth path to the EIA's (2010) high-economic-growth path. The climate policy considered corresponds in the medium term to the commitments announced after the Copenhagen conference, and in the long term to a reduction of 25% in global energy-related CO2 emissions (with respect to 2005). For the prices of CO2 and electricity, as well as for the implementation of CCS, the branches of the resulting stochastic trajectories appear to be heavily influenced by agents’ initial expectations of future economic growth and by the economic growth actually realized. Thus, in 2040, the global price of CO2 may range from $21 (when an initially-anticipated economic recovery never occurs) to $128 (in case of non-anticipated rapid economic recovery). In addition, we show that within each region, the model internalizes the constraints limiting the expansion of each power-generation technology through the price paid by the power utility for the acquisition of new production capacity. As a result, in China, the curves of endogenous investment costs for onshore and offshore wind are all bubble-shaped centered on 2025, a date which corresponds to the establishment of a global CO2 cap-and-trade market in the model. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1105&r=env |
| By: | Christopher R. Knittel; Douglas L. Miller; Nicholas J. Sanders |
| Abstract: | Since the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), atmospheric concentration of local pollutants has fallen drastically. A natural question is whether further reductions will yield additional health benefits. We further this research by addressing two related research questions: (1) what is the impact of automobile driving (and especially congestion) on ambient air pollution levels, and (2) what is the impact of modern air pollution levels on infant health? Our setting is California (with a focus on the Central Valley and Southern California) in the years 2002-2007. Using an instrumental variables approach that exploits the relationship between traffic, ambient weather conditions, and various pollutants, our findings suggest that ambient pollution levels, specifically particulate matter, still have large impacts on weekly infant mortality rates. Our results also illustrate the importance of weather controls in measuring pollution’s impact on infant mortality. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1113&r=env |
| By: | Blanco-Gutierrez, Irene; Varela-Ortega, Consuelo; Purkey, David R. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114253&r=env |
| By: | Perrea, Toula; Grunert, Klaus G.; Krystallis, Athanasios; Zhou, Yanfeng |
| Abstract: | Green food is perceived by Chinese consumers as environmentally friendly and safe to consume. Through a hierarchical values-attitudes model, the paper examines the degree to which attitudes towards green food is determined by consumersâ values and their general attitudes towards environment and nature and technological progress. The link between collectivism, attitudes towards environment and nature, and attitudes towards green food is the strongest link of the hierarchical model. However, collectivism also influences attitudes towards technological progress, which in turn influence attitudes towards green food. This finding, coupled with the lack of significant relationship between individualism and attitudes towards technological progress point towards the conclusion that the belief of Chinese people that technology is a positive determinant of food safety and environmental friendliness in food production steams from altruistic predispositions, which in turn influence (positively) Chinese consumersâ attitudes towards technology. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114765&r=env |
| By: | Dono, Gabriele; Cortignani, Raffaele; Doro, Luca; Ledda, Luigi; Roggero, PierPaolo; Giraldo, Luca; Severini, Simone |
| Abstract: | In the agricultural sector, climate change (CC) affects multiple weather variables at different stages of crop cycles. CC may influence the mean level or affect the distribution of events (e.g., rainfall, temperature). This work evaluates the economic impact of CC-related changes in multiple climatic components, and the resulting uncertainty. For this purpose, a three-stage discrete stochastic programming model is used to represents farm sector of an irrigated area of Italy and to examine the influence of CC on rainfall and on maximum temperature. These variables affect the availability of water for agriculture and the water requirements of irrigated crops. The states of nature, and their change, are defined more broadly than in previous analyses; this allows examining the changes of more climatic variables and crops cultivation. The effect of CC is obtained by comparing the results of scenarios that represent the climatic conditions in the current situation and in the future. The results show that the agricultural sector would seek to lower costs by modifying patterns of land use, farming practices and increasing the use groundwater. The overall economic impact of these changes is small and due primarily to the reduced availability of water in the future. The temperature increase is, in fact, largely offset by the effects of the increase in CO2 levels, which boosts the yield of main crops of the irrigated zone. Therefore, availability and water management becomes a crucial factor to offset the increase of evapotranspiration and of water stress resulting from the increase of temperature. However, the costs of CC are very high for some types of farming, which suffer a large reduction in income. |
| Keywords: | discrete stochastic programming model, climate change, water availability, irrigation requirements, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114436&r=env |
| By: | Thiel, Andreas; Schleyer, Christian; Plieninger, Tobias |
| Abstract: | Work on common pool resources has paid scant attention to the role of properties of natural resources for the way their provision is governed. This paper scrutinizes determinants of institutions that regulate the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Two cases of maintaining ecosystem services are compared (protection of wolves and management of scattered fruit tree meadows). Distinct characteristics of resources (mobility) and differences in the overarching European regulatory framework explain their different institutional embeddedness. Cost-effectiveness considerations seem to be paramount in the design of institutions. In the case of wolf protection, the state uses its power to modify property rights in order to increase acceptance of wolf management. This is essential for political reasons as well as to prevent EU sanctions. On the other hand, scattered fruit tree maintenance is subject to voluntary, long-term agreements, justified by medium-term irreversibility and asset specific investments. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Governance, Wolf Management, Scattered fruit trees, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:116082&r=env |
| By: | Richard Schmalensee |
| Abstract: | Focusing on the U.S. and the E.U., this essay seeks to advance four main propositions. First, the incidence of the short-run costs of programs to subsidize the generation of electricity from renewable sources varies with the organization of the electric power industry, and this variation is may be a significant contributor to their political attractiveness in U.S. states. Second, despite the greater popularity of feed-in-tariff schemes worldwide, renewable portfolio standard (RPS) programs may involve less long-run social risk under plausible conditions. Third, in contrast to the E.U.’s approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, its renewables program is almost certain not to minimize the cost of achieving its goals. Fourth, the array of state RPS programs in the U.S. are also almost certain to cost more than necessary, even though most employ market mechanisms. To support this last point I provide a fairly detailed description of actual markets for renewable energy credits (RECs) and their shortcomings. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1108&r=env |
| By: | Corato, Luca Di |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the optimal forest conservation policy by a hyperbolically discounting society. Society comprises a series of non-overlapping imperfectly altruistic generations each represented by its own government. Under uncertainty about future pay-offs we determine, as solution of an intergenerational dynamic game, the optimal timing of irreversible harvest. Earlier harvest occurs and the option value attached to the forest clearing decision is eroded under both the assumptions of naïve and sophisticated belief about future time-preferences. This results in a bias toward the current generation gratification which affects the intergenerational allocation of benefits and costs from harvesting and conserving a natural forest. |
| Keywords: | Imperfect altruism, Real Options, Hyperbolic Discounting, Time Inconsistency, Natural Resources Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D81, C70, Q23, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114440&r=env |
| By: | Gren, Ing-Marie; Carlsson, Mattias |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114596&r=env |
| By: | Abbie Rogers (School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia); Jonelle Cleland (School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This study uses choice modelling to investigate public and expert preference divergence through a valuation of the Kimberley’s tropical waterways and wetlands in Western Australia. A sample of Australian tropical river scientists participated in an identical survey to the West Australian public. Within the public sample, a split survey design is utilised to examine the effects of information on preferences – a low information version provided sufficient information for respondents to participate in the survey, while a high information version provided a more thorough and detailed description of the attributes. Divergent preferences are apparent between the public and scientist samples. This is illustrated through two key results: first, an attempt to merge the data for each of the samples is rejected; and second, there are differences in conservation preferences. The scientists had stronger preferences to protect system based attributes and threatened species, and were generally not willing to pay to protect iconic attributes. The public, on the other hand, held positive and more evenly spread values for all attributes. Information had an impact on public preferences, particularly through the rejection of a combined low/high information model, but also with respect to the iconic species attribute, where there is a pattern of decreasing willingness to pay as information level increases. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1080&r=env |
| By: | Brown, Ian |
| Abstract: | The Environment Canterbury Act with the CWMS embed in âlawâ a hierarchy of collaborative and more formal institutional arrangements in the form of regional and zone committees. Through these committees we increasingly see a fine tuning of the specificity of the targets around land use and water quality which lead to the maxim â âthe devil is in the detailâ. Under the zones sit an array of audited and non audited self management groups, containing a membership often worried about this âdevilâ, because it will cost. What does this mean for land managers working at the coal face and the agency personnel they then have to interact with? The audited self management (ASM) concept provides significant opportunities for land managers and the management agencies, such as Environment Canterbury. However, with the opportunities there are challenges particularly at the farm level. This paper explores some of these opportunities and challenges and lessons learnt using experiences from the North Otago Irrigation (NOIC), and Morven Glenavy Ikawai irrigation (MGI) schemes as examples of how the schemes, individual land managers and councilâs can work together to achieve agreed outcome targets. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115506&r=env |
| By: | Phillia Restiani (The School of Economics and Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets at UNSW); Regina Betz (Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM), School of Economics, Australian School of Business, University of NSW) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the behavioural implications of penalty designs on market performance using an experimental method. Three penalty types and two penalty levels are enforced in a laboratory permit market with auctioning, including the Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposed design of tying the penalty rate to the auction price. Compliance strategies are limited to undertaking irreversible abatement investment decisions or buying permits. We aim to assess how penalty design under the presence of subjects‟ risk preferences might affect compliance incentives, permit price discovery, and efficiency. In contrast to theory, we find that penalty levels serve as a focal point that indicates compliance costs and affects compliance strategies. The make-good provision penalty provides stronger compliance incentives than the other penalty types. However, the theory holds with regard to permit price discovery, as we find no evidence of the effect of penalty design on auction price. Interestingly, risk preference does not directly affect compliance decision, but it does influence price discovery, which evidently is a significant factor in compliance decisions as well as efficiency. Most importantly, a trade-off between investment incentives and efficiency is observed. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1087&r=env |
| By: | Tilahun, Mesfin; Mathijs, Erik; Muys, Bart; Vranken, Liesbet; Deckers, Jozef; Gebregziabher, Kidanemariam; Gebrehiwot, Kindeya; Bauer, Hans |
| Abstract: | Frankincense from Boswellia papyrifera forest (BPF) is a traded non timber forest product (NTFP) used in pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and chemical industries. However, the resource in northeastern Africa is under continuous degradation and requires conservation measures. Data from a discrete choice contingent valuation study are used to assess the factors influencing rural householdsâ willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to contribute labor (WTCL) for BPF conservation in Ethiopia. The standard probit, bivariate probit and interval data models were used for modeling respondentsâ WTP and WTCL. We found household income as the most important factor affecting WTP whereas number of household labor is the most important factor affecting WTCL. Mean lower bound annual WTP of US$ 4.68 and WTCL of 7.03 days per household were estimated. This study indicated that despite Ethiopia is a low income country, people are willing to contribute for conservation of the resource. |
| Keywords: | Willingness to pay, Boswellia papyrifera, Conservation, Contingent valuation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:116085&r=env |
| By: | Robert Gillespie (Gillespie Economics, a resource and environmental economics consultancy practice); Jeff Bennett (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Australian governments are committed to the expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Australian waters and have already established over 200 MPAs. However, this policy direction has a range of costs and benefits for the community which have largely remained unquantified. One of the main benefits of establishing MPAs are the non use values that the community for the protection of marine biodiversity. This study uses a dichotomous choice contingent valuation format with follow-up open-ended willingness to pay question to estimate these non use values for the establishment of MPAs in South-west Marine Region of Australia. It was found that on average Australian households would be WTP $104 for the establishment of MPAs that cover 10% of the South-west Marine Region. Aggregating this mean WTP estimate to 50% of the population of Australian households gives an aggregate WTP of $400M. However, whether the establishment of MPAs in the South-west Marine Region is economically efficient requires a consideration of all the potential costs and benefits. Other relevant costs and benefits for inclusion in a benefit cost analysis would include those associated with displacement of commercial and non-commercial uses, additional planning, compliance and monitoring costs as well as any predicted increases in commercial and non-commercial use values.If the net costs of establishing MPA over 10% of the South-west Marine Region are less than $400M, then the non-use benefits of establishing MPAs would exceed the other net costs and it would be considered to be economically efficient and desirable from a community welfare perspective. Given the difficulties of estimating precise WTP values from dichotomous choice data, any BCA of MPAs in the South-west Marine Region, incorporating the results of this study, should undertake sensitivity testing that includes the range of values reported including dichotomous choice and openended means to determine the robustness of BCA results to variations in the welfare estimate. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:10103&r=env |
| By: | Gabriela Scheufele (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University); Jeff Bennett (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | The concept of ecosystem resilience is being increasingly discussed as a driver of biodiversity values. It implies that marginal deteriorations in ecosystem conditions can abruptly result in non-marginal and irreversible changes in ecosystem functioning and the economic values that the ecosystem generates. This challenges the traditional approach to the valuation of biodiversity, which has focused on quantifying values attached to individual species or other elements of ecosystems. As yet, little is known about the value society attaches to changes in ecosystem resilience. This paper investigates this value. A discrete choice experiment is used to estimate implicit prices for attributes used to describe ecosystem resilience using the Border Ranges rainforests in Australia as an example. We find evidence that implicit prices for the attributes describing ecosystem resilience are positive and statistically significantly different from zero. |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1098&r=env |
| By: | Targetti, Stefano; Viaggi, Davide; Cuming, David |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:116077&r=env |
| By: | Zabel, Astrid; Bostedt, Goran; Egel, Stefanie |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a first empirical assessment of carnivore conservation under a performance payment scheme. The Swedish government issues payments to reindeer herder villages based on the number of carnivore offspring certified on their pastures. The villages decide on the internal use and distribution of the payments. It is generally assumed that benefit distribution rules are exogenously given. We develop a model to investigate such rules as endogenous decision. The empirical data reveals that villagesâ group size has a direct negative effect on conservation outcomes. However, there is also an indirect positive effect which impacts conservation outcomes through the benefit distribution rule. This result revises the general collective action hypothesis on purely negative effects of group size. The paper concludes that if limited hunting is legal, conservation success strongly depends on villagesâ potential for collective action and the benefit distribution rule they choose. |
| Keywords: | Conservation performance payments, Wildlife conservation, Collective action, Empirical policy assessment, Sweden, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115973&r=env |
| By: | Lescot, Jean-Marie; Rousset, Sylvain; Souville, Genevieve |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a mathematical programming model for assessing the impact of Environmental Policy instruments on French winegrowing farmâs adoption of pesticidessaving technologies. We model choices with regards to investment in precision farming and plant protection practices, in a multi-periodic framework with sequential decision, integrating uncertainty on fungal disease pressure and imperfect information on equipment performance. We focus on recursive models maximizing a Utility function. These models are applied on a representative sample of 534 winegrowers from the French Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN). As expected, both ecotaxes and green subsidies make precision farming equipment more profitable, but the investment rate remains however low and concentrated on basic systems. One explanation is growerâs financial constraint in a context of market crisis and farm indebtedness. Shortcomings and further development of the models are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Discrete Stochastic Programming, Precision Farming, Viticulture, Pesticides, Environmental Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114387&r=env |
| By: | Pauline Lacour (CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II : EA4625); Catherine Figuière (CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II : EA4625) |
| Abstract: | Cette contribution cherche à déterminer les transferts de technologies vertes inhérents aux importations chinoises en provenance du Japon. Toutefois, la quantification de ce type de transferts se heurte à un vide méthodologique et requiert l'établissement d'une liste de biens dont le commerce serait bénéfique à la qualité de l'environnement. De ce fait, sont considérés les échanges des biens listés par l'OCDE (2001) comme "environnementaux", comprenant d'une part des biens et technologies résolvant un problème environnemental précis (traitement des eaux usées, gestion des déchets solides, contrôle de la pollution de l'air...) et d'autre part, des biens dont la production, l'utilisation finale ou le processus de recyclage engendrent de moindre dégradations environnementales en comparaison des biens similaires. Afin d'analyser cette dynamique de transferts de technologies vertes, il est nécessaire dans un premier temps de préciser la relation entre commerce et diffusion technologique, puis entre commerce international et qualité de l'environnement à partir de la littérature (I). Le commerce international serait alors bénéfique pour la qualité de l'environnement, engendrant un effet technique lequel conduit à une modification des techniques de production vers des méthodes plus respectueuses de l'environnement. Dans un second temps, l'analyse empirique se scinde en deux étapes : d'une part, l'étude des échanges de biens environnementaux entre la Chine, le Japon et le reste du monde permet de déterminer des premières tendances de l'acquisition de technologies incorporées dans les biens importés. D'autre part, la mise en évidence d'une corrélation entre le déclin de l'intensité énergétique du produit intérieur brut (PIB) chinois et ses importations de biens environnementaux ainsi que sa participation au commerce international permet de valider cette notion de transferts de technologies vertes portés par les flux commerciaux internationaux (II). |
| Keywords: | commerce international ; transfert de technologie ; gaz ; effet de serre ; technologie verte ; Japon ; Chine |
| Date: | 2011–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00628832&r=env |
| By: | Robert Gillespie (Gillespie Economics, a resource and environmental economics consultancy practice); Jeff Bennett (Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Kerbside recycling in Australia has focused on paper, cardboard, plastics and bottles and in some areas green waste. Another area for potential kerbside recycling is organic waste. This study uses a dichotomous choice contingent valuation format with follow-up open-ended willingness to pay question to estimate the household willingness to pay for the introduction of a kerbside recycling scheme for kitchen waste. Two provision rules were used. The first sample split contained a majority decision rule while the second sample split contained a provision rule where participation is voluntary. Households across the Brisbane statistical sub-division currently pay in the order of $250 per annum for their kerbside waste collection scheme. This study indicates that on average Brisbane households would be WTP an additional $32 to $35 per year for a general waste bin where food waste is split from general waste. There was no significant difference in results between sample splits with majority or voluntary provision rules. Whether the provision of a food waste recycling scheme is economically efficient requires a consideration of all the potential costs and benefits. Other relevant costs and benefits for inclusion in a benefit cost analysis would include those associated with bin replacement, any additional collection and transport costs, composting costs, revenues from compost sales and avoided landfill costs. If a compulsory food waste recycling scheme could be provided to all households for less than $32 to $35 per household per annum then the benefits of the scheme would exceed the costs and would be considered to be economically efficient and desirable from a community welfare perspective. Given the difficulties of estimating precise WTP values from dichotomous choice data, any BCA of a compulsory scheme incorporating the results of this study should undertake sensitivity testing that includes the range of values reported including dichotomous choice and open-ended means to determine the robustness of BCA results to variations in the welfare estimate. Notwithstanding, the results of any BCA, decision-makers also need to be cognisant of the high proportion of respondents who did not support a kerbside food waste recycling scheme. The data from the study could also be used to undertake a BCA of a voluntary scheme. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1096&r=env |
| By: | Lippert, Christian; Chatzopoulos, Thomas; Schmidtner, Eva; Aurbacher, Joachim |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the current climate-dependent spatial distribution of corn and corn-cob-mix in Baden-Württemberg using 2007 data at the county and community level. We use OLS and spatial econometric models to estimate the effects of different climate and non-climate variables on the share of grain maize in UAA. Whereas the temperature effect is missed by means of OLS regression, the adequate spatial error model at the county level yields a highly significant positive effect of mean annual temperature. Additionally, it displays a temperature cut-off point after which corn share is less likely to rise due to temperature increase. These effects are supported by a non-spatial multinomial logit model at the community level. The latter further indicates that soil quality also plays a role. The positive effect of annual precipitation remains ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | Spatial distribution of corn, spatial econometrics, multinomial logit, climate change, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi11:114504&r=env |
| By: | Ziegelback, Martin; Kastner, Gregor |
| Abstract: | For European operators of biofuels plants there are not many hedge vehicles available to hedge operational margins. Cross hedges for rapeoil (with the rapeseed futures contract) and RME (with the NYMEX diesel futures contract) could be useful instruments. We use recent developments on threshold cointegration approaches to investigate if asymmetric dynamic adjusting processes exist among rapeseed and diesel prices. The results suggest that a threeregime threshold cointegration model suitably explains the dynamics of the data. |
| Keywords: | Hedging, Rapeseed, Heating Oil, Threshold cointegration analysis, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi11:114741&r=env |
| By: | Murray, Catherine |
| Abstract: | Regional Councils are primarily responsible for environmental management, as specified in the Resource Management Act (RMA), 1991. The Local Government Act 2002 has an integrative component, requiring consideration of social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities. These two Acts are interesting, as their combination is shaping new governance structures within New Zealand. Different types of policy instruments are available to Regional Councils while carrying out their functions: regulatory, economic and voluntary. The 1990s are characterized by âfirst generation Plansâ of the RMA, which were highly rule focused. In the 2000s a marked shift occurred, mainstreaming âcommunityâ and participative approaches to policy. This increased levels of trust between communities and the Regional Councils, and can be seen as building blocks in the formation of social capital. Where rules were not achieving particular policy objectives, interesting new hybrid forms of governance emerged. This paper looks at these newly-formed partnership approaches in New Zealand. The paper traces the emergence of partnerships as a collective form of action, and analyses them from an economic governance perspective. In so doing, the fundamental role of social capital is explained, as a rational economic concept. Regional Councils are centrally placed to anchor partnerships and strengthen their formation, hence strengthening social networks within the regions. The issue of riparian management is explored as a case study to inform how this could occur. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:nzar11:115412&r=env |
| By: | Schleyer, Christian; Plieninger, Tobias |
| Abstract: | An important determinant of ecosystem services provision from European farmland is the amount and spatial arrangement of trees, shrubs, and woodlands that are integrated into the respective land use systems. Farm trees are considered âkeystone structuresâ of agroecosystems because of their disproportionally large ecological value (relative to their low abundance), but are threatened by agricultural intensification, land abandonment, and urbanization. While the preservation of farm trees is a component of several command-andcontrol approaches and while numerous payment schemes for ecosystem services (PES schemes) provided through agricultural practices do in general exist, there are few incentivebased policies that specifically target the conservation of farm trees. This paper uses an institutional economics framework for the analysis of PES schemes that enhance the establishment, protection, and management of farm trees. Using the German state of Saxony as a case, it elaborates on the reasons for the very reluctant participation of farmers in these schemes. The obstacles identified include high production and opportunity costs, contractual uncertainties, and land tenure implications. Further, since scheme adoption has been low compared with the total area covered by the respective farm tree types, the PES schemes alone cannot explain the substantial increase in number and size of some farm-tree types. Options to improve participation comprise regionalised premiums, result-oriented remuneration, and cooperative approaches. The example of PES schemes for farm trees highlights one of the major challenges for the protection and preservation of cultural landscapes: they are man-made and thus need to be preserved, managed, and maintained continuously. |
| Keywords: | Payments for ecosystem services (PES), agroecosystems, trees outside forests, institutional economics, East Germany, Saxony, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115992&r=env |
| By: | Schmitz, Christoph; Lotze-Campen, Hermann |
| Abstract: | Like agricultural trade, deforestation has increased tremendously throughout the past five decades. We analyse the linkage between both factors by applying trade and forest policy scenarios to the global land-use model MAgPIE ("Model of Agricultural Production and its Impact on the Environment"). The model predicts global landuse patterns in a spatially explicit way and uses endogenously derived technological change and land expansion rates. Our study is the first which combines global trade analysis with a spatially explicit mapping of deforestation. By implementing self-sufficiency rates in the regional demand and supply equations, we are able to simulate different trade settings. Our baseline scenario fixes current trade patterns until the year 2045. The three liberalisation scenarios assume a path of increasing trade liberalisation which ends with no trade barriers in 2045 and they differ by applying different forest protection policies. Regions with comparative advantages like Latin America for oilcrops and China for cereals will export more. Whereas, Latin America will buy this competitiveness by converting large parts of its Amazonian rainforest into cropland, China will benefit most due to its decreasing food demand after 2025. In contrast, regions like the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia face the highest increases of imports. Forest protection policies lead to higher technological change rates. In absence of such policies, investments in agricultural Research & Development are the most effective way for protecting the forest. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115993&r=env |
| By: | Phillia Restiani (The School of Economics and Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets at UNSW); Regina Betz (Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM), School of Economics, Australian School of Business, University of NSW) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a theoretical model to examine compliance incentives and market efficiency under three penalty types: the fixed penalty rate, which uses a constant marginal financial penalty; the make-good provision (quantity penalty), where each missing permit in the current period is to be offset with a ratio (restoration rate) in the following period; and a mixed penalty, which combines the two penalty types. Using a simple two-period model of firm‟s profit maximisation, we analyse compliance decisions and the efficient penalty level under each penalty type. Firms‟ compliance strategies are modelled as an irreversible investment in abatement measures and permit buying in the market. Our findings indicate that the penalty type does not affect compliance decisions provided that the efficient penalty level is applied. Market efficiency is retained regardless of penalty types. Nevertheless, the mixed penalty design provides the strongest compliance incentives. Hence this finding supports the practice in which this penalty design is widely used in the existing and the proposed trading schemes. Furthermore, we discuss the policy implications of the findings with regard to permit price discovery process and the Australian proposal of tying the penalty level to the permit price. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:eenhrr:1086&r=env |
| By: | Grundmann, Philipp; Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich; Uckert, Gotz |
| Abstract: | Agricultural bioenergy production faces dynamics such as yield fluctuations, volatile prices, resource competition, new regulation and policy, innovation and climate change. To what extent is bioenergy production able to adapt to changing environments and to overcome critical events? We investigate in detail how the agricultural bioenergy sector in the German State of Brandenburg adapted to diverse past events. The analysis rests on the adaptive-cycle concept of HOLLING and GUNDERSON (2002a), which has been widely applied in socialecological systems research. Brandenburgâs bioenergy production displays properties of a system in the exploitation phase, including a low potential and a high resilience of the system and a low connectedness within the system. There are risks and opportunities for bioenergy production. Sustainable bioenergy production requires a transition from the exploitation to the conservation phase. But Brandenburgâs bioenergy sector has limited adaptive capacity and there are certain barriers for the agricultural bioenergy sector to overcome potentially critical states. Policy needs to be tailored accordingly. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive cycle, agricultural bioenergy, potential, resilience, connectedness, critical states, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi11:114726&r=env |
| By: | Wunscher, Tobias; Engel, Stefanie; Wunder, Sven |
| Abstract: | Landholders are generally assumed to be willing to participate in payments for ecosystem service (PES) schemes if the offered payment exceeds the opportunity cost of participation. The calculation of opportunity costs is often based on historic financial data such as net returns of the formerly practiced land use. Reliable estimates of opportunity costs are required especially in flexible, cost-aligned payment schemes with differentiated payments at the farm scale. We question whether opportunity cost estimates that do not consider personal landholder characteristics such as risk considerations, information access and non-monetary personal preferences (e.g. for traditional land use practices) are sufficient to explain a landholderâs decision to enrol land in PES. To test these assumptions, a PES adoption model was developed for hypothetical adoption decisions by 178 landholders in Costa Rica. The model explained up to 73.5% (Nagelkerkes pseudo R2) of adoption variance. The results confirm that adoption is not determined by financial costs alone. Trust in state institutions, for example, was highly significant. The results call for more integrated methods of opportunity cost estimation such as inverse auctions. Their strength lies, among others, in that all adoption determinants are potentially expressed in the landholderâs bid. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:115779&r=env |
| By: | Van der Straeten, Bart; Buysse, Jeroen; Nolte, Stephan; Lauwers, Ludwig H.; Claeys, Dakerlia; Van Huylenbroeck, Guido |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114832&r=env |
| By: | John E. Parsons; Luca Taschini |
| Abstract: | We construct two simple examples that help to clarify the role of a key assumption in the analysis of price or quantity controls of greenhouse gases in the presence of uncertain costs. Traditionally much has been made of the fact that greenhouse gases are a stock pollutant, and that therefore the marginal benefit curve must be relatively flat. This fact is said to establish the preference of a price control over a quantity control. The stock pollutant argument is considered dispositive, so that the preference for price controls is categorical. We show that this argument can only be true if the uncertainty about cost is a special form: all shocks are transitory. We show that in the case of permanent shocks, the traditional comparison of marginal benefits vs. marginal costs is mis-measured. The choice between quantity and price controls becomes ambiguous again and depends upon a more difficult measurement of marginal costs and benefits. The simplicity of the examples and the solutions is a major element of the contribution here. The examples are readily accessible and the comparison of results under the alternative assumptions of transitory and permanent shocks is stark. We construct two simple examples that help to clarify the role of a key assumption in the analysis of price or quantity controls of greenhouse gases in the presence of uncertain costs. Traditionally much has been made of the fact that greenhouse gases are a stock pollutant, and that therefore the marginal benefit curve must be relatively flat. This fact is said to establish the preference of a price control over a quantity control. The stock pollutant argument is considered dispositive, so that the preference for price controls is categorical. We show that this argument can only be true if the uncertainty about cost is a special form: all shocks are transitory. We show that in the case of permanent shocks, the traditional comparison of marginal benefits vs. marginal costs is mis-measured. The choice between quantity and price controls becomes ambiguous again and depends upon a more difficult measurement of marginal costs and benefits. The simplicity of the examples and the solutions is a major element of the contribution here. The examples are readily accessible and the comparison of results under the alternative assumptions of transitory and permanent shocks is stark. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mee:wpaper:1102&r=env |
| By: | Cornie Huizenga; Stefan Bakker |
| Abstract: | En la comunidad internacional que se ocupa del cambio climático y el desarrollo se están debatiendo los instrumentos climáticos existentes y futuros. El estudio Instrumentos Climáticos para el Sector Transporte (CITS), comisionado por el Banco Asiático de Desarrollo (ADB) y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), evalúa la situación actual con relación al impacto del Mecanismo de Desarrollo Limpio (MDL), el Fondo para el Medio Ambiente Mundial (GEF) y el Fondo de Tecnología Limpia (CTF) para el sector transporte en países en vías de desarrollo. Con base en análisis y estudios de caso en ciudades asiáticas y latinoamericanas, este estudio también ofrece recomendaciones para lograr la replicación a mayor escala del financiamiento climático y el desarrollo de la capacidad institucional en el sector transporte, particularmente mediante el uso de acciones de mitigación apropiadas a nivel nacional (las NAMA), un nuevo mecanismo de financiación que está siendo desarrollado bajo la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (CMNUCC). |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo rural y urbano :: Servicios públicos, Infraestructura y transporte, Medio ambiente y recursos naturales :: Cambio climático, Medio ambiente y recursos naturales :: Polución, transporte sustentable, transporte sostenible, contaminación urbana |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:37278&r=env |
| By: | Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm; Enrique Aguilar; Juan Antonio Arrese Luco; Víctor Arroyo; Isabel Badillo Ibarra; Maureen Ballestero Vargas; Eugenio Barrios Ordoñez; Irene Burgues; Adán Carro de la Fuente; Marie-Violaine Chabrel; Sergio Lozano Torres; Rocío Córdoba; Víctor Díaz; Mario Cordero Vejar; Estrellita Mireya Fuentes Nava; Roberto Galan; María Concepción García Gómez; José Luis Genta; Guillermo Gutiérrez Gómez; Josué Isaac Hernández Díaz; José María Hinojosa Aguirre; Carlos Alberto Hurtado Aguilar; Matthias Krause; Rosalva Landa; Flavia Loures; Mario López Pérez; Víctor Magaña; Mario Manzano Camarillo; Julia Martínez; José Luis Martínez Ruiz; Carlos Maturano Rodríguez; Grisell Medina Laguna; Jorge Meza; Jorge Mora Portuguez; Erick Mota; Daniel Murillo Licea; Bruno Pagnoccheschi; Claudia Rendón; Luis Rendón Pimentel; Patricia Resendiz; Jorge Alberto Reyes Gaytán; Andrés Rodríguez; Katia Karina Rodríguez Ramos; Diana Rojas; Pamela Alejandra Rojas Hernández; Eddie Rosazza Asin; Juan Carlos Sánchez; Claudia Olivia Sánchez Pérez; Yerania Sánchez Ramos; Nathalie Seguin; Diana Siller; Denise Soares; Sergio Soto; Marco Antonio Velázquez Holguín; Simone Vendruscolo; Ricardo Alaín Villón Bracamonte; Javier Zuleta |
| Abstract: | El presente documento representa un esfuerzo coordinado entre varias instituciones y organizaciones de la región de América Latina y el Caribe por plasmar los resultados de una reflexión conjunta sobre el tema de la adaptación al cambio climático en la comunidad hídrica y en el marco de un Diálogo Regional de Política. El propósito principal de este Diálogo es el de dar a conocer una serie de mensajes claves y recomendaciones que permitan definir de manera informada las políticas públicas pertinentes y sus acciones correspondientes al cambio climático. Los resultados del Diálogo hasta el día de hoy se han plasmado en la presente versión del documento, que se presentará en el marco de los Diálogos por el Agua y el Cambio Climático, un evento asociado a la COP16 en Cancún, México. |
| Keywords: | Medio ambiente y recursos naturales :: Cambio climático, Medio ambiente y recursos naturales :: Gestión de recursos hídricos, Sector público :: Administración pública y definición de políticas, cambio climático, COP-16, agua |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:42618&r=env |