|
on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Andreas Lange (University of Hamburg); Andreas Ziegler (University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the voluntary provision of public goods that is partially driven by a desire to offset for individual polluting activities. We first extend existing theory and show that offsets allow a reduction in effective environmental pollution levels while not necessarily extending the consumption of a polluting good. We further show a nonmonotonic income-pollution relationship and derive comparative static results for the impact of an increasing environmental preference on purchases of offsets and mitigation activities. Several theoretical results are then econometrically tested using a novel data set on activities to reduce CO2 emissions for the case of vehicle purchases in the U.S. and Germany. We show that an increased environmental preference triggers the use of CO2 offsetting and mitigation channels in both countries. However, we find strong country differences for the purchase of CO2 offsets. While such activities are already triggered by a high general awareness of the climate change problem in the U.S., driver’s license holders in Germany need to additionally perceive road traffic as being responsible for CO2 emissions to a large extent. |
| Keywords: | public good, voluntary provision, climate change, CO2 offsetting, vehicle purchase, discrete choice models |
| JEL: | C25 C35 H41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201218&r=env |
| By: | Qwanruedee (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Chotichanathawewong; Natapol Thongplew |
| Abstract: | In Thailand climate change has been integrated into the formulation of several national plans and policies. Even though Thailand is not obligated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it voluntarily takes numerous actions to mitigate emissions. Both the public and private sector have been actively involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a series of measures and actions implemented in each sector. The development of renewable energy and the promotion of energy conservation and efficiency are the primary means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in Thailand. With the establishment of the Energy Conservation Program in 1995, a viable movement for energy conservation and efficiency and renewable energy had begun. Over the years, progress in renewable energy and energy efficiency has been made. Recently, the 15-Year Renewable Energy Development Plan and the 20-Year Energy Conservation Plan comprised several innovative measures and incentive mechanisms to further advance the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Regardless of government policies and measures, the private sector has also taken part in greenhouse gas emissions mitigation by implementing a number of activities to reduce carbon sources (e.g., improved production processes and resource efficiency) and to create carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation and mangrove plantations). Thailand has made significant progresses toward green and low-carbon development; however, there is a need to further address the issue. The country has to focus on the implementation of no-regret policies to ensure the decoupling of economic growth, while starting to look further at implementing least-cost policies. There should be short-term policies to immediately address a rapid increase of greenhouse gas emissions and long-term policies to address fundamental changes towards a green and low-carbon society. |
| Keywords: | emissions, Thailand, Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation plan, low-carbon |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:energy:23295&r=env |
| By: | Qwanruedee (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Chotichanathawewong; Natapol Thongplew |
| Abstract: | In Thailand climate change has been integrated into the formulation of several national plans and policies. Even though Thailand is not obligated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it voluntarily takes numerous actions to mitigate emissions. Both the public and private sector have been actively involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a series of measures and actions implemented in each sector. The development of renewable energy and the promotion of energy conservation and efficiency are the primary means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in Thailand. With the establishment of the Energy Conservation Program in 1995, a viable movement for energy conservation and efficiency and renewable energy had begun. Over the years, progress in renewable energy and energy efficiency has been made. Recently, the 15-Year Renewable Energy Development Plan and the 20-Year Energy Conservation Plan comprised several innovative measures and incentive mechanisms to further advance the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Regardless of government policies and measures, the private sector has also taken part in greenhouse gas emissions mitigation by implementing a number of activities to reduce carbon sources (e.g., improved production processes and resource efficiency) and to create carbon sinks (e.g., reforestation and mangrove plantations). Thailand has made significant progresses toward green and low-carbon development; however, there is a need to further address the issue. The country has to focus on the implementation of no-regret policies to ensure the decoupling of economic growth, while starting to look further at implementing least-cost policies. There should be short-term policies to immediately address a rapid increase of greenhouse gas emissions and long-term policies to address fundamental changes towards a green and low-carbon society. |
| Keywords: | emissions, Thailand, Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation plan, low-carbon |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:23295&r=env |
| By: | Giulio Cainelli; Massimiliano Mazzanti |
| Abstract: | We investigate the factors behind the almost unexplored realm of environmental innovation adoption in services, using an Italian dataset derived from CIS2008. It has been suggested the environmental innovations in services does not necessarily lead to greater sustainability. If services are examined through the lens of manufacturing-services integration and push and pull effects, the picture of sustainability in relation to services is somewhat gloomier. We test whether this integration is relevant for environmental innovations and whether, taking account of differences in innovation in different services industries, environmental policies for manufacturing may transmit ‘induced innovation’ effects to services. We show that the ‘drivers’ of environmental innovation in carbon abatement and energy efficiency vary across services industries, and that cooperation, training, EMS and public funding play a key role. The integration of services and manufacturing through push and pull effects, and the environmental policy transmission effect from manufacturing to services generally do not seem to have a major influence on the diffusion of environmental innovations. Where an effect is significant, it would seem to result in more negative than positive effects on eco-innovations. It seems likely that the structural EI deficits in manufacturing firms are transmitted to services through manufacturing-services integration. This is a crucial consideration for management and policy. |
| Keywords: | environmental innovation; services; push and pull effects; EU emission trading |
| JEL: | C21 L60 O13 O30 Q20 Q58 F23 |
| Date: | 2012–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udf:wpaper:201208&r=env |
| By: | Ruth Delzeit , Wolfgang Britz |
| Abstract: | Abstract: The Renewable Energy Source Act (EEG) promotes German biogas production in order to substitute fossil fuels, protect the environment, and prevent climate change. As a consequence, green maize production has increased significantly over the last years, causing negative environmental effects on soil, water and biodiversity. In this paper we quantitatively analyse the EEG-reform in 2012 by applying the simulation tool ReSI-M (Regionalised Location Information System – Maize). Comparing the EEG 2012 with a former version of the legislation, results imply that the reform contributes to an expansion of biogas electricity generation compared to former versions, and thus to substitution of fossil fuels. Furthermore, given a restriction in the share of green maize input, its production is reduced and the crop-mix is diversified. However, since maize provides the highest energy output per area, total land requirement for biogas production increases. An alternative analysis shows that an EEG with tariffs independent from plant-types would provide the highest subsidy-efficiency, but slightly lower land efficiency compared to the EEG 2012 |
| Keywords: | bioenergy, biogas, land use, policy analysis, simulation model |
| JEL: | C61 Q16 Q42 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1767&r=env |
| By: | Thierry Bréchet (CORE et Louvain School of Management); Carmen Camacho (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Vladimir M. Veliov (ORCOS - Institute of Mathematical Methods in Economics) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to extend the use of integrated assessment models by defining rational policies based on predictive control and adaptive behavior. The paper begins with an review of the main IAMs and their use. Then the concept of Model Predictive Nash Equilibrium (MPNE) is introduced within a general model involving heterogeneous economic agents operating in (and interfering with) a common environment. This concept captures the fact that agents do not have a perfect foresight for several ingredients of the model, including that of the environment. A version of the canonical IAM (DICE) is developed as a benchmark case. The concept of MPNE is then enhanced with adaptive learning about the environmental dynamics and the damages caused by global warming. The approach is illustrated by some numerical experiments in a two-region setting for several scenarios. |
| Keywords: | Integrated assessment, adaptive behavior, learning, climate change. |
| JEL: | C61 O13 E61 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:12029&r=env |
| By: | Oberlack, Christoph; Neumärker, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | Adaptation to the consequences of climate change has attracted increasing interest as a necessary complement to greenhouse gas mitigation. Economic approaches to climate adaptation are rarely articulated and discussed explicitly despite many benefits of such a framework-level discourse. Therefore, this article investigates how climate adaptation is framed and approached in economics and attempts to contribute to the development of economic frameworks of climate adaptation. First, the paper identifies and critically reviews four major strands of current adaptation economics: estimation of adaptation benefits and costs, strategies for adaptation, the role of markets and governments, and policy instruments for adaptation. While having their merits, serious methodical difficulties prevail. Moreover, the applied neoclassical framing seems too narrow to capture the plethora of governance challenges and normative criteria revealed in adaptation policy discourses and in the multidisciplinary adaptation literature. The second part of this article outlines an institutional economics approach to climate adaptation that addresses caveats in the current state-of-the-art and offers additional concepts to study climate adaptation. Moreover, promising methods and strategies for adaptation research are presented and future research directions suggested. Finally, the paper assesses the normative foundations of climate adaptation economics and their implications for positive adaptation research. -- |
| Keywords: | Economics of Climate Change Adaptation,Institutional Economics,Governance of Climate Adaptation,Adaptive Capacity,Barriers,Normative Economics |
| JEL: | B52 D02 D63 D78 Q54 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cenwps:042011&r=env |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Today's students are growing up in a precarious natural environment. Climate change and the loss of biodiversity threaten the ecosystems that support life; a lack of clean water and sanitation imperils the health of hundreds of millions of people every day. While trained geoscientists, biologists and environmental scientists lead the way in shaping policies to reduce the impact of human activity on the global environment -and to have more equitable access to natural resources for all - informed citizens play an important role, too. Since individual actions have an impact on the environment, understanding scientific theories and being able to evaluate evidence can help people to make informed decisions about such daily choices as whether or not to leave the television on standby, what temperature to set the heat, and what kind of car to buy (or not). Learning about the environment early in a student's schooling can help to shape the way that person will interact with the environment as an adult. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:15-en&r=env |
| By: | Mercedes Beltr‡n-Esteve (Universidad de Valencia); JosŽ A. G—mez-Lim—n (Universidad de C—rdoba); AndrŽs J. Picazo-Tadeo (Universidad de Valencia); Ernest Reig-Mart’nez (Universidad de Valencia) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses directional distance functions to extend the non-parametric metafrontier approach to efficiency measurement proposed by OÕDonnell et al. (2008) to the assessment of technological differences in eco-efficiency between groups of producers. Furthermore, eco-efficiency is assessed at the level of specific environmental pressures management. This methodology is applied to a sample of Spanish olive producers that belong to both traditional mountain and traditional plain growing systems. We find great potential for both olive growing systems to reduce environmental pressures. In terms of pressures on natural resources, the most eco-efficient technology corresponds to the traditional plain system, while the traditional mountain system is the most eco-efficient when considering pressures on biodiversity. These results might help policymakers design strategies aimed at improving the performance of olive growing and meeting the demands of society regarding the economic and ecological functions of this farming activity. |
| Keywords: | Economic-ecological efficiency; metafrontier; directional distance functions; Data Envelopment Analysis; agro environmental policy; Spain |
| JEL: | C61 Q12 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1206&r=env |
| By: | Phoebe Koundouri (Dept. of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business); Babalos Vasilis (University of Piraeus); Marva Stithou (University of Stirling, UK); Anastasiou Ioannis (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | The present study attempts to estimate the shadow price of unextracted groundwater in the Vozvozi aquifer. In the context of this study, we model the production function of vertically integrated agricultural firms in terms of an input-oriented distance function with multiple inputs. Duality theory is employed in order to extract information regarding the in situ shadow price of groundwater. This shadow price is of vital importance to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and EU groundwater Directive, because it allows per farm estimation of the value of groundwater. It also allows the investigation of the level of cost recovery when resource�s environmental and resource costs are also considered. In this context, groundwater dependent ecosystems are of great relevance. In our case study, groundwater level decline induces recharge from Vosvozis River and Ismarida Lake, diminishing thus an important source for the life of the wetland ecosystem. Another threat due to groundwater level decline is the intrusion of seawater in the wetland area, causing thus a serious alteration in the initial character of this protected ecosystem. This study offers the opportunity to reveal individual farmer�s valuation of the marginal unit of groundwater in the aquifer and provide policy recommendations for water pricing that provides adequate incentives for users to use groundwater resource efficiently considering groundwater dependent ecosystems. |
| Date: | 2012–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1212&r=env |
| By: | Francesco Nicolli (University of Ferrara); Francesco Vona (Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques, Skema Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes different methods to aggregate heterogeneous policies for renewable energy. We compare time-varying indicators built using principal component analysis with average-based indicators. The main goal of the paper is to account for the evolution of both types of policy indicators with a set of common variables. Our empirical results are consistent with predictions of politicaleconomy models of environmental policies as lobbying, income and, to a less extent, inequality have expected effects on policy. The brown lobbying power, proxied by entry barriers in the energy sector, has negative influence on the policy indicators even when taking into account endogeneity in its effect. The results are also robust to dynamic panel specifications and to the exclusion of groups of countries. Interestingly, too, corruption has only an indirect effect on policy mediated by entry barriers, while the negative effect of inequality is much stronger for the richer countries. Keywords :Renewable Energy Policy, Political Economy, Product Market Regulation, Lobbying,Policy Indicators Classification-JEL :Q42, Q48,D72,Q38 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1213&r=env |
| By: | Aurélia L. Durand; Bernard Sinclair-Desgagné |
| Abstract: | Over the past decades, polluting firms and government bodies have come to rely increasingly on specialized suppliers for the necessary goods, technologies and services that would alleviate their environmental footprint. These suppliers now form a large and growing industry, the so-called ‘eco-industry’, which currently matches the aerospace and pharmaceutical sectors in size. So far, the interface between cleantech sellers and buyers has been mostly overlooked in the academic literature. As a result, its underlying dynamics and potential for value-creation – and a better environmental performance – are still poorly understood. This conceptual paper first offers an overview of the eco-industry’s history and outlines its scope, recent development and growth potential. It then builds upon current knowledge in innovation economics and relationship marketing to analyze the evolving interactions between polluters and their cleantech suppliers towards value co-creation. Current barriers to this trend are next highlighted, the implications for public policy and business strategy are discussed, and some future research avenues are finally outlined. <P>Au cours des dernières décennies, nombre de firmes polluantes et d'agences gouvernementales se sont mises à avoir recours à des fournisseurs spécialisés pour obtenir les produits et services nécessaires à la réduction de leur empreinte écologique. Ces fournisseurs constituent maintenant une industrie vaste et en pleine croissance, dont la taille est actuellement comparable à celle des secteurs aéronautique ou pharmaceutique. Jusqu'à présent, toutefois, l'interface entre vendeurs et acheteurs de technologies propres a été largement ignorée dans la littérature académique. On comprend donc encore mal la dynamique sous-jacente de cette interaction, par conséquent son potentiel à créer de valeur tout en améliorant l'utilisation des ressources environnementales. Cet article propose d'abord un bref aperçu de l'histoire de l'éco-industrie, de son périmètre, de son développement récent et de ses perspectives de croissance. A la lumière de certains faits stylisés et des connaissances actuelles en économie de l'innovation et en marketing relationnel, nous analysons ensuite comment l'interaction entre les entreprises polluantes et leurs fournisseurs de technologies propres pourrait les amener à co-créer de la valeur. Nous mettons en évidence certains obstacles à cet état de chose, présentons leurs implications pour la politique publique et la stratégie d'entreprise, et esquissons finalement quelques avenues de recherche qui nous apparaissent prioritaires. |
| Keywords: | Environmental goods and services industry, Smithian innovation, relational exchange, service logic, value co-creation, Technologies propres, innovation smithienne, échange relationnel, logique de service, co-création de valeur |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2012s-07&r=env |
| By: | Birner, Regina; Gupta, Surupa; Sharma, Neeru |
| Abstract: | Agricultural policy reform is one of the major challenges facing India today. Such reform is required in order to reduce poverty through faster agricultural growth and to promote more sustainable use of natural resources while ensuring food security. Subsidy policies that promote the use of fertilizer and of electricity for groundwater irrigation are in particular need of reform. While subsidies for these two inputs played a crucial role in achieving India's Green Revolution, they have been criticized during the past decade for benefiting large-scale farmers more than smallholders, placing a fiscal burden on the state, and having negative environmental effects. By analyzing the evolution of these input subsidy policies and examining the political processes involved in efforts to reform them, this study throws new light on the factors that have so far prevented a move toward more pro-poor and environmentally sustainable agricultural input policies in India. The authors show that electoral politics, institutional factors, and policy paradigms or belief systems all play an important role in blocking reform. They identify several policy reform options, as well as political strategies that can overcome past obstacles to reform. Community-based policy solutions, new coalitions for policy reform, fresh approaches to the policy debate, innovative and consensus-oriented forms of deliberation, and effective use of research-based knowledge can all make positive contributions to Indian policy reform. The analyses and proposals presented in this study will be a valuable resource for policymakers and stakeholders concerned with the politics of agricultural development. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:reginabirner&r=env |
| By: | Souvik Datta (Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE), Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Sumeet Gulati (Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Canada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate the increase in the market share of ENERGY STAR-qualified appliances that can be attributed to targetted cash rebates offered by utility companies. To estimate the impact of these incentives we use the variation in timing and size of the utility rebates across the US states. We then use these estimates along with information on the average energy saved by using an ENERGY STAR appliance relative to a non-ENERGY STAR appliance to provide an estimate on the cost per tonne of carbon saved by the rebate program. Our results show that a dollar increase in the rebate leads to a 0.3% increase in the share of ENERGY STAR-qualified clothes washers while the effect of rebates is not significant for dishwashers and refrigerators. Assuming a redemption rate of 40%, we calculate the cost of saving a tonne of carbon through the clothes washer rebate program to be around $158. The corresponding cost of a megawatt hour saved (about $32), is lower than the estimated cost of building and operating an additional power plant and the average on-peak spot price. We conclude that the ENERGY STAR clothes washers rebate programs are a cost-effective way for utilities to reduce energy demand. |
| Keywords: | Eco-labelling, energy efficiency, appliances, utility rebates, carbon saving, energy saving |
| JEL: | C13 C33 L68 L94 Q4 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cee:wpcepe:11-81&r=env |
| By: | Julie Ing (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France) |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal contracts (payment and extraction path) implemented by a regulator unable to commit to long term contracts that delegates the extraction of a nonrenewable resource to a firm. The regulator wishes to maximize the tax revenue and does not know the firm’s efficiency which is private information. As the regulator is unable to commit, the ratchet effect appears. We show that the contracts implemented depend on which types of firms exhaust the stock. If both types exhaust the stock, the contracts are fully separating and similar to those implemented under full commitment. The efficient firm produces the first best and gets an informational rent whereas the inefficient one produces lower quantity. If the stock is not exhausted, the contracts are semi separating and the inefficient firm produces higher quantity than under full commitment and the tax revenue is lower. However, those contracts may not be incentive compatible if the discount factor and the second period price are high and thus the regulator may be forced to implement a pooling contract. |
| Keywords: | Nonrenewable resources, commitment, asymmetric information |
| JEL: | Q38 D82 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1205&r=env |
| By: | Macours, Karen; Premand, Patrick; Vakis, Renos |
| Abstract: | While climate change is likely to increase weather risks in many developing countries, there is little evidence on effective policies to facilitate adaptation. This paper presents experimental evidence on a program in rural Nicaragua aimed at improving households'risk-management through income diversification. The intervention targeted agricultural households exposed to weather shocks related to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns. It combined a conditional cash transfer with vocational training or a productive investment grant. The authors identify the relative impact of each complementary package based on randomized assignment, and analyze how impacts vary by exposure to exogenous drought shocks. The results show that both complementary interventions provide full protection against drought shocks two years after the end of the intervention. Households that received the productive investment grant also had higher average consumption levels. The complementary interventions led to diversification of economic activities and better protection from shocks compared to beneficiaries of the basic conditional cash transfer and control households. These results show that combining safety nets with productive interventions can help households manage future weather risks and promote longer-term program impacts. |
| Keywords: | Safety Nets and Transfers,Regional Economic Development,Rural Poverty Reduction,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6053&r=env |
| By: | Olivier Godard (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X) |
| Abstract: | Les instruments de politique publique engagent plus qu'eux-mêmes. Ils ont à passer par un processus politique de conception et d'adoption qui en façonne les propriétés, souvent loin des attentes projetées sur ces instruments par l'analyse économique. L'étude de la coordination internationale autour de l'enjeu climatique révèle ainsi que le choix d'un instrument peut décider de la qualification de la situation et déterminer les repères de justification pertinents, mais aussi qu'il reconfigure alors les problèmes de justice distributive à résoudre. Toute approche séquentielle linéaire de la construction d'un régime instrumental voulu " juste et efficace " est alors vaine. En parallèle l'échec de la contribution carbone en France montre comment une logique " civique " peut se saisir d'un instrument qui lui est étranger, car d'abord conçu en fonction de stricts repères " industrialo-marchands ", au point d'en provoquer l'avortement. La logique économique centrée sur l'efficacité ne voyait pas de différences là où la logique fiscale en voyait d'essentielles et d'injustifiables au nom de ses fondements civiques. Des suggestions sont formulées quant à la manière d'aborder cette imbrication. |
| Keywords: | Instruments de politique, changement climatique, marché de permis, taxe carbone, justification, ordre civique |
| Date: | 2012–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00689762&r=env |
| By: | Partridge, Mark; Betz, Mike; Lobao, Linda |
| Abstract: | The Appalachian mountain region has long been characterized by deep poverty which led to the formation of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) in 1965. The ARC region covers West Virginia and parts of 12 other states, running from New York to Mississippi (Ziliak 2012). The ARC region had an average county poverty rate of over 40 percent in 1960, about double the national average (Deaton and Niman 2012; Ziliak 2012). While the poverty gap between the ARC region and the rest of the nation closed significantly by 1990, it remained nearly twice as large in Central Appalachia. There are many reasons for higher poverty in Appalachia in general and Central Appalachia in particular. Possible causes include a low-paying industry structure, below average education, low household mobility, and remoteness from to cities (Weber et al. 2005; Partridge and Rickman 2005; Lobao 2004). A key distinction between Central Appalachia and the rest of the ARC region is its historic dependence on coal mining. There is long literature arguing that the area’s dependence on coal mining has contributed to its deep poverty through weaker local governance, entrepreneurship, and educational attainment, as well as degrading the environment, poor health outcomes, and limitations on other economic opportunities (Deaton and Niman 2012; James and Aadland 2011). These factors are broadly associated with the natural resources curse in the international development literature. More recently, the process of mountain top mining (MTM) has expanded coal mining’s environmental footprint in the region, possibly increasing health risks and further reducing the chances for long-term amenity-led growth that can alleviate poverty (Deller 2010; Woods and Gordon 2011). This study reinvestigates the causes of county poverty rates in Appalachia with a special focus on coal mining’s role. Using data over the 1990-2010 period we assess whether coal mining continues to have a positive association with poverty rates, even as the industry’s relative size has declined. We also appraise whether MTM is associated with higher poverty. We do this by comparing the ARC region to the rest of the U.S. and by using more disaggregated employment data that allows us to differentiate the effects of coal mining from other mining (versus aggregating all mining together as in past research). The results suggest that any potential adverse effects of coal mining on poverty have declined over time. Below, we first develop an empirical model followed by the empirical results. The final section provides our concluding thoughts. |
| Keywords: | natural resource curse; poverty; Appalachia |
| JEL: | O18 O13 I32 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38290&r=env |
| By: | Baldwin, John R.<br/> Macdonald, Ryan |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the growth of the Canadian resource economy and the contribution of trading gains arising from increasing terms of trade to real income growth from 1870 to 2010. It combines a historical account of the growth of a succession of natural resources--examining both the production and price history of agriculture, forestry, mining, and oil and gas--with an overview of the impact of these developments on Canadian well-being. It uses estimates of the difference between real income and real output growth, based on measurement theory from the System of National Accounts, to measure trading gains that arose from increasing terms of trade over the period. |
| Keywords: | International trade, Economic accounts, |
| Date: | 2012–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp5e:2012079e&r=env |
| By: | Anja Shortland |
| Abstract: | Naval counter-piracy measures off Somalia have failed to change the incentives for pirates, raising calls for land-based approaches that may involve replacing piracy as a source of income. This paper evaluates the effects of piracy on the Somali economy to establish which (domestic) groups benefit from ransom monies. Given the paucity of data on Somalia, we evaluate province-level market data, nightlight emissions and high resolution satellite imagery. We show that significant amounts of ransome monies are spent within Somalia. The impacts appear to be spread widely, benefiting the working poor and pastoralists and offsetting the food price shock of 2008 in the pirate provinces. Pirates appear to invest their money principally in the main cities of Garowe and Bosasso rather than in the backward coastal communities. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edb:cedidp:11-07&r=env |