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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Mani, Muthukumara; Markandya, Anil; Sagar, Aarsi; Strukova, Elena |
| Abstract: | This study provides estimates of social and financial costs of environmental damage in India from three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution; (ii) inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; and (iii) indoor air pollution. It also provides estimates based on three natural resource damage categories: (i) agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and soil erosion; (ii) rangeland degradation; and (iii) deforestation. The estimates are based on a combination of Indian data from secondary sources and on the transfer of unit costs of pollution from a range of national and international studies. The study estimates the total cost of environmental degradation in India at about 3.75 trillion rupees (US$80 billion) annually, equivalent to 5.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, which is the reference year for most of the damage estimates. Of this total, outdoor air pollution accounts for 1.1 trillion rupees, followed by the cost of indoor air pollution at 0.9 trillion rupees, croplands degradation cost at 0.7 trillion rupees, inadequate water supply and sanitation cost at around at 0.5 trillion rupees, pasture degradation cost at 0.4 trillion rupees, and forest degradation cost at 0.1 trillion rupees. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Population Policies,Brown Issues and Health,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases |
| Date: | 2012–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6219&r=env |
| By: | Boisvert, Richard N.; Blandford, David |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc12:135515&r=env |
| By: | Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Tim Schloendorn (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich); Astrid Zabel (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich); Stefanie Engel (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an important topic in the debate on policies to mitigate climate change. This is the first study to test and compare the environmental impact of different REDD+ payment schemes in the field, and provide some insights on the effectiveness of different policies with respect to the permanence of forest-based emission reductions. This study implements a stated preference experiment of time allocation in the unique setting of the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya, where charcoaling is a major source of forest degradation. The impact on time allocation is analyzed under the presumption that a hypothetical agricultural policy or an eco-charcoaling policy was introduced. We find that a policy that indexes eco-charcoal payments to charcoalers’ opportunity costs is the most effective policy in providing permanence in REDD+: it lowers the amount of labor allocated to charcoaling even at high charcoal prices. |
| Keywords: | REDD, permanence, deforestation, time allocation, Kenya |
| JEL: | I38 J22 O13 Q18 Q23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:15/2012&r=env |
| By: | Cui, Jingbo; Lapan, Harvey; Moschini, GianCarlo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the firm-level relationship between decision to export and environmental performance. To guide the empirical work, we introduce environmental pollution and technology choice into a trade model with heterogeneous firms. The model predicts that a productive firm is more likely to adopt emission-saving technology and to export. Using facility-level criteria air emission data in the U.S. manufacturing industry, for a variety of pollutants, empirical tests are supportive of our two primary theoretical predictions. First, facility productivity is negatively correlated with emission intensity, measured by emissions per value of sales. Second, conditional on the estimated facility productivity and the facility’s exposure to environmental regulation, exporters have lower emission per value of sales than non-exporters within the same industry. |
| Keywords: | Clean Air Act; export; Facility-Level Pollution; Heterogeneous Firms. |
| JEL: | F18 Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:35549&r=env |
| By: | Caroline Klein |
| Abstract: | Germany reduced greenhouse gas emissions substantially but remains an important emitter. Ambitious targets for climate change mitigation have been fixed and a broad range of environmental measures are being implemented. The efficiency of these measures, as well as their coordination, should be improved though, as reaching the targets risks being costly. In particular, the early phase-out of nuclear power and the development of renewable energy sources will require high levels of investment and public financial support. Establishing a clear carbon price in all sectors of the economy and phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies would contribute to reducing the CO2 abatement cost. The generosity of feed-in tariffs also needs to be carefully monitored and adjusted tightly in line with market developments to avoid deadweight losses and excessive increases in electricity prices. In addition, in order to maintain the German leadership in green sectors and preserve future sources of growth, competition in the energy sectors should be increased and eco-innovation further developed. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 Economic Survey of Germany, www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/germany.<P>Politiques en matière de changement climatique en Allemagne : tirer profit d´objectifs ambitieux<BR>L’Allemagne a sensiblement réduit ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre, mais elle reste un émetteur important. Ses objectifs d’atténuation du changement climatique sont ambitieux, et elle met actuellement en oeuvre un large éventail de mesures de protection de l’environnement. Il faudrait toutefois améliorer l’efficacité de ces mesures, ainsi que leur coordination, car atteindre les objectifs visés risque d’être coûteux. En particulier, l’abandon anticipé de l’énergie nucléaire et le développement des sources d’énergie renouvelables nécessiteront des volumes considérables d’investissement et de soutien financier public. Un prix du carbone clairement défini dans tous les secteurs de l’économie et l’élimination progressive des subventions dommageables pour l’environnement contribueraient à réduire le coût de la réduction des émissions de CO2. Le système de tarifs de rachat doit également être strictement contrôlé et adapté aux évolutions du marché, pour éviter les pertes d’efficience et des hausses excessives des prix de l’électricité. De plus, afin que l’Allemagne reste à l’avant-garde dans les secteurs verts et préserve ses futures sources de croissance, il importe d’intensifier la concurrence dans le secteur de l’énergie et de développer davantage l’éco-innovation. Ce document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE sur l’Allemagne 2012 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/allemagne). |
| Keywords: | Germany, innovation, climate change, green growth, Allemagne, innovation, changement climatique, croissance verte |
| JEL: | H23 O44 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:982-en&r=env |
| By: | Blandford, David; Hodge, Ian D. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc12:135517&r=env |
| By: | Schaible, Glenn D.; Aillery, Marcel P. |
| Abstract: | This report relies on fi ndings from several national surveys and current literature to assess water resource use and conservation measures within the U.S. irrigated crop sector. U.S. agriculture accounts for 80-90 percent of the Nation’s consumptive water use (water lost to the environment by evaporation, crop transpiration, or incorporation into products. Expanding water demands to support population and economic growth, environmental flows (water within wetlands, rivers, and groundwater systems needed to maintain natural ecosystems), and energy-sector growth, combined with Native American water-right claims and supply/demand shifts expected with climate change, will present new challenges for agricultural water use and conservation, particularly for the 17 Western States that account for nearly three-quarters of U.S. irrigated agriculture. Despite technological innovations, at least half of U.S. irrigated cropland acreage is still irrigated with less effi-cient, traditional irrigation application systems. Sustainability of irrigated agriculture will depend partly on whether producers adopt more effi cient irrigation production systems that integrate improved onfarm water management practices with effi-cient irrigation application systems. |
| Keywords: | agricultural water conservation, irrigated agriculture, irrigation effi ciency, water supply and demand, irrigation technologies, water management practices, water conservation policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2012–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:134692&r=env |
| By: | Daubanes, Julien; Grimaud, André; Rougé, Luc |
| Abstract: | The "green paradox" literature points out that environmental policies which are anticipated to become gradually more stringent over time may induce a more rapid extraction of fossil fuels, thus having a detrimental effect to the environment. The manifestation of such phenomena has been extensively studied in the case of taxes directly applied to the extraction of a polluting non-renewable resource and of subsidies applied to its non-polluting substitutes. This paper examines the effects of subsidies to "clean" R&D activities, aimed to improve the productivity of non-polluting substitutes. We borrow standard assumptions from the directed-technical-change literature to take a full account of the private incentives to perform R&D and of the patterns of complementarity/substitutability between dirty resource and clean non-resource sectors. We show that a gradual increase in relative subsidies to clean R&D activities does not have the adverse green paradox effect, which contradicts an earlier made conjecture. Instead, the presence of several R&D sectors implies arbitrages which give rise to other quite paradoxical results. However substitutable or complementary sectors are, and whatever the induced technological bias is, clean-R&D-support policies always enhance the long-run productivity of the resource and thus result in a less rapid extraction. |
| Keywords: | Non-renewable resources; Directed technical change; Environmental policy; Green paradox; R&D subsidies |
| JEL: | O32 O41 Q32 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:26215&r=env |
| By: | Daubanes, Julien; Grimaud, André; Rougé, Luc |
| Abstract: | The "green paradox" literature points out that environmental policies which are anticipated to become gradually more stringent over time may induce a more rapid extraction of fossil fuels, thus having a detrimental effect to the environment. The manifestation of such phenomena has been extensively studied in the case of taxes directly applied to the extraction of a polluting non-renewable resource and of subsidies applied to its non-polluting substitutes. This paper examines the effects of subsidies to "clean" R&D activities, aimed to improve the productivity of non-polluting substitutes. We borrow standard assumptions from the directed-technical-change literature to take a full account of the private incentives to perform R&D and of the patterns of complementarity/substitutability between dirty resource and clean non-resource sectors. We show that a gradual increase in relative subsidies to clean R&D activities does not have the adverse green paradox effect, which contradicts an earlier made conjecture. Instead, the presence of several R&D sectors implies arbitrages which give rise to other quite paradoxical results. However substitutable or complementary sectors are, and whatever the induced technological bias is, clean-R&D-support policies always enhance the long-run productivity of the resource and thus result in a less rapid extraction. |
| Keywords: | Non-renewable resources; Directed technical change; Environmental policy; Green paradox; R&D subsidies |
| JEL: | O32 O41 Q32 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:26272&r=env |
| By: | Salvatore Di Falco (London School of Economics and Political Science); Marcella Veronesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | We analyse and compare the impact of different adaptation strategies on crop net revenues in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. We implement a counterfactual analysis, and estimate a multinomial endogenous switching regression model of climate change adaptation and crop net revenues. We combine data from 1,000 farm households with spatial climate data at the farm household level in Ethiopia. We find that adaptation to climate change based upon a combination of strategies -opposed to strategies adopted in isolation- increases farm net revenues. In particular, the combinations of changing crops with water or soil conservation strategies deliver the highest pay off. |
| Keywords: | adaptation, climate change, endogenous switching, Ethiopia, net revenues |
| JEL: | Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:14/2012&r=env |
| By: | Kapaun, Ute; Quaas, Martin F. |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of environmental uncertainties on optimal fishery management in a bio-economic fishery model. Unlike most of the literature on resource economics, but in line with ecological models, we allow the different biological processes of survival and recruitment to be affected differently by environmental uncertainties. We show that the overall effect of uncertainty on the optimal size of a fish stock is ambiguous, depending on the prudence of the value function. For the case of a risk-neutral fishery manager, the overall effect depends on the relative magnitude of two opposing effects, the 'convex-cost effect' and the 'gambling effect'. We apply the analysis to the Baltic cod and the North Sea herring fisheries, concluding that for risk neutral agents the net effect of environmental uncertainties on the optimal size of these fish stocks is negative, albeit small in absolute value. Under risk aversion, the effect on optimal stock size is positive for sufficiently high coefficients of constant relative risk aversion. -- |
| Keywords: | fishery economics,environmental uncertainty,constant escapement,risk aversion,prudence |
| JEL: | Q22 Q57 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cauewp:201209&r=env |
| By: | Secretariat of the Committee for Development Policy |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the role of climate change vulnerability in identifying least developed countries (LDCs). Taking a sustainable development perspective, it argues that climate change should be seen as an aggravating factor of existing handicaps and many indicators used to identify LDCs already capture relevant structural vulnerabilities to climate change. However, the paper proposes some refinements in the LDC criteria to better capture vulnerabilities from natural disasters and in coastal areas. These refinements affected the vulnerability ranking in the recent triennial review, but had no impact the eligibility of countries for inclusion in and graduation from the LDC category. |
| Keywords: | economic vulnerability, least developed countries, climate change |
| JEL: | F5 O1 O19 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:cpaper:015&r=env |
| By: | Nkuiya, Bruno |
| Abstract: | This paper considers a trade situation where the production activities of potentially heterogeneous countries generate pollution which can cross borders and harm the well-being of all the countries involved. In each of those countries the policy market levies pollution taxes on the polluting firms and a tariff on imports in order to correct that distortion. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effect of a reduction in the tariff on equilibrium pollution taxes and welfare. The existing literature has investigated this problem for trade between two identical countries. This paper analyzes the problem in the more realistic context where countries are not necessarily identical and trade can be multilateral. It becomes possible to show what bias is introduced when those two realities are neglected. I find that a tariff reduction can actually lower output; it can also lower welfare even if pollution is purely local. |
| Keywords: | Trade Liberalization, Pollution taxes, Transboundary pollution, Heterogeneous countries, Imperfect markets, Environmental Economics and Policy, D43, F18, H23, Q58, |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulavwp:135987&r=env |
| By: | Joshua S. Graff Zivin; Matthew Kotchen; Erin T. Mansur |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a methodology for estimating marginal emissions of electricity demand that vary by location and time of day across the United States. The approach takes account of the generation mix within interconnected electricity markets and shifting load profiles throughout the day. Using data available for 2007 through 2009, with a focus on carbon dioxide (CO2), we find substantial variation among locations and times of day. Marginal emission rates are more than three times as large in the upper Midwest compared to the western United States, and within regions, rates for some hours of the day are more than twice those for others. We apply our results to an evaluation of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The CO2 emissions per mile from driving PEVs are less than those from driving a hybrid car in the western United States and Texas. In the upper Midwest, however, charging during the recommended hours at night implies that PEVs generate more emissions per mile than the average car currently on the road. Underlying many of our results is a fundamental tension between electricity load management and environmental goals: the hours when electricity is the least expensive to produce tend to be the hours with the greatest emissions. In addition to PEVs, we show how our estimates are useful for evaluating the heterogeneous effects of other policies and initiatives, such as distributed solar, energy efficiency, and real-time pricing. |
| JEL: | H23 L94 Q5 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18462&r=env |
| By: | Moschini, GianCarlo; Cui, Jingbo; Lapan, Harvey |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of the economics of biofuels. It starts by describing the remarkable growth of the biofuel industry over the last decade, with emphasis on developments in the United States, Brazil and the European Union, and it identifies the driving role played by some critical policies. After a brief discussion of the motivations that are commonly argued in favor of biofuels and biofuel policies, the paper presents an assessment of the impacts of biofuels from the economics perspective. In particular, the paper explains the basic analytics of biofuel mandates, reviews several existing studies that have estimated the economic impacts of biofuels, presents some insights from a specific model, and outlines an appraisal of biofuel policies and the environmental impacts of biofuels. The paper concludes with an examination of several open issues and the future prospects of biofuels. |
| Keywords: | biodiesel; Biofuel policies; ethanol; Greenhouse gas emissions; mandates. |
| JEL: | F1 H2 Q2 |
| Date: | 2012–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:35548&r=env |
| By: | Miriam Juarez-Torres; Leonardo Sanchez-Aragon |
| Abstract: | Ongoing climate change will increase competition for water. Diversified demand for water—in contrast with the rigid design of water systems, institutions and infrastructure—could hinder the implementation of adaptation policies in water management for Latin American countries. In this context, weather derivatives are proposed as a complementary mechanism for the successful adoption of more efficient water allocations in irrigation districts. Weather derivatives spread risks and incorporate a better understanding of climate system behavior, strengthening irrigation districts’ ability to deal with water availability and demand. The model uses a dynamic water resource allocation model, historical precipitation and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios to find optimal water allocation strategies for the baseline scenario and in the presence of climate change. This analysis is applied to two irrigation districts in Latin America: one in Mexico and the other in Peru, with their corresponding particularities and results. |
| JEL: | G13 O13 O54 Q15 Q25 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4793&r=env |
| By: | Florec, Veronique; Pannell, David J.; Burton, Michael P.; Kelso, Joel; Mellor, Drew; Milne, George |
| Abstract: | Wildfires can cause significant damage to ecosystems, life and property, and wildfire events that do not involve people and property are becoming rare. With the expansion of the rural–urban interface in Western Australia and elsewhere, objectives of life and property protection become more difficult to achieve. We applied the cost plus net value change (C+NVC) model to a synthetic landscape, representative of the northern jarrah forest of the south west of Western Australia. The most economically efficient level of prescribed burning corresponds to a strategy where 5% of the simulated landscape is prescribed-burned per year. Our results are sensitive to changes in the average cost per hectare of prescribed burning, the probabilities of fire occurrence, urban area values (in average dollars per hectare) and suppression costs. |
| Keywords: | wildfire, fire management, economic analysis, cost plus net value change., Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q0, |
| Date: | 2012–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:135305&r=env |
| By: | Matthews, Alan |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the debate on the proposal to introduce a green payment in Pillar 1 of the CAP since the publication of the Commission’s legislative proposals for the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy post-2013 in October 2011 to June 2012. Both arms of the legislative authority have begun to formulate their positions in response to stakeholder reactions. Many relevant details of how the proposals will be implemented remain unclear, but an attempt is made to examine their potential contribution to environmental improvement. Increasing the ambition of agri-environment measures in rural development programmes in Pillar 2, combined with strengthened cross-compliance standards, could offer more effective environmental protection at a lower cost in terms of foregone food production. The legislative process to date indicates that the final outcome will be based on the Commission’s original ideas but there is still scope to improve the environmental impact of CAP spending in the next MFF period. |
| Keywords: | Greening, agri-environment measures, direct payments, Common Agricultural Policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q27, |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa126:135483&r=env |
| By: | Jean-François FAGNART (Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis , CEREC et UCLouvain, IRES); Marc GERMAIN (Université de Lille 3, EQUIPPE et UCLouvain, IRES) |
| Abstract: | Nous introduisons le concept d'empreinte carbone dans un modèle offre globale et demande globale avec formation imparfaitement concurrentielle des prix et salaires et en examinons les propriétés de l'équilibre en présence d'une politique climatique. Nous étudions deux instruments possibles de cette politique, une taxe carbone ou un quota de permis de pollution. Nous montrons qu'à court terme la politique climatique (ou son durcissement) constitue à la fois un choc d'offre globale négatif et un choc de demande globale positif. Elle provoque donc des effets inflationnistes mais a un impact ambigu sur l'activité économique, l'emploi et le chômage. Ce n'est que dans une économie avec des rigidités nominales de salaire suffisantes que la politique climatique stimulera - sous certaines conditions - l'activité à court terme. Dans tous les cas de figure, elle pèsera négativement sur les salaires réels. Nous étudions encore les interactions entre la politique climatique et les politiques macroéconomiques traditionnelles de demande (stimulus budgétaire ou monétaire) et d'offre (baisse des cotisations sociales). Les effets multiplicateurs de ces politiques sont influencés par l'existence d'une politique climatique et diffèrent selon l'instrument choisi (taxe ou permis). Nous montrons les conditions sous lesquelles une réforme combinant durcissement de la politique climatique et baisse des cotisations sociales sur le travail peut engendrer un double dividende (réduction de l'empreinte carbone, baisse du chômage), sans pénaliser les salaires réels des travailleurs. Une telle politique a toutefois des effets incertains sur le solde des finances publiques. |
| Keywords: | offre et demande globales, politique climatique, taxe carbone, permis de pollution aggregate demand and supply, climate policy, carbon tax, pollution permits |
| JEL: | E10 E60 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2012021&r=env |
| By: | Bruno Nkuiya |
| Abstract: | This paper considers a trade situation where the production activities of potentially heterogeneous countries generate pollution which can cross borders and harm the well-being of all the countries involved. In each of those countries the policy market levies pollution taxes on the polluting firms and a tariff on imports in order to correct that distortion. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effect of a reduction in the tariff on equilibrium pollution taxes and welfare. The existing literature has investigated this problem for trade between two identical countries. This paper analyzes the problem in the more realistic context where countries are not necessarily identical and trade can be multilateral. It becomes possible to show what bias is introduced when those two realities are neglected. I find that a tariff reduction can actually lower output; it can also lower welfare even if pollution is purely local. |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalization, Pollution taxes, Transboundary pollution, Heterogeneous countries, Imperfect markets |
| JEL: | D43 F18 H23 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:creacr:2012-8&r=env |
| By: | Peter Michaelis (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics); Thomas Ziesemer (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We incorporate the process of policy diffusion (i.e. the uncoordinated dissemination of policies among countries) into a probabilistic two-country-model of strategic environmental policy. Contrary to the usual setting with simultaneous decision making we consider the impact of sequential decision making: In the first step the domestic government introduces an emission tax, in the second step policy diffusion occurs with a certain probability and in the third step the firms decide on output quantities. Within this framework we analyze how the prospect of policy diffusion, motivated by a higher damage parameter in the domestic country, influences the optimal domestic emission tax. We show that if the damage parameter in the foreign country is sufficiently high policy diffusion will occur which leads to higher tax rates and higher welfare compared to the equilibrium resulting from simultaneous decision making. Moreover, we show that an increase in the domestic tax rate also increases the probability that the foreign country adopts the tax policy. |
| Keywords: | strategic environmental policy, emission tax, policy diffusion, sequential decision-making |
| JEL: | F18 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aug:augsbe:0318&r=env |
| By: | Heinz Welsch (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics); Jan Kühling (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We develop and test a model of social comparison in which individuals gain status through pro-social behavior (competitive altruism) and in which they endogenously choose the reference group and associated reference standard involved in signaling status (reference group selection). In our framework of private provision of environmental public goods, the optimal reference standard involves a balance between the magnitude of the status signal (implying a low reference standard) and the higher value of the signal in a greener social environment. By using a unique set of survey data we find evidence of (a) respondents behaving in a competitively altruistic fashion and (b) reference persons’ intensity of pro-environmental behavior depending on relevant attitudes of the respondents, consistent with predictions from our framework of reference group selection. |
| Keywords: | competitive altruism; reference groups; endogenous reference standard; pro-environmental behavior; private public good provision |
| JEL: | D64 H31 H41 Q00 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:350&r=env |
| By: | Martimort, David; Sand-Zantman, Wilfried (Toulouse School of Economics (GREMAQ and IDEI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the feasibility and performances of simple mechanisms to implement international environmental agreements in the multilateral externalities context of global warming. Asymmetric information and voluntary participation by sovereign and heterogenous countries are key constraints on the design of those agreements. Mechanisms must prevent two sorts of free-riding problems - free riding in effort provision and free riding in participation. As markets might fail to solve simultaneously those two problems, we construct instead a simple menu of options that trades off the provision of incentives for participating countries and the provision of incentives to participate.With such mechanism, all countries voluntary contribute to a fund, although at different intensities, but only the most efficient ones effectively reduce their pollution below its “business as usual” level. |
| Keywords: | Free-riding, environmental agreements, asymmetric information, mechanism design. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:26340&r=env |
| By: | Martimort, David; Sand-Zantman, Wilfried (Toulouse School of Economics (GREMAQ and IDEI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the feasibility and performances of simple mechanisms to implement international environmental agreements in the multilateral externalities context of global warming. Asymmetric information and voluntary participation by sovereign and heterogenous countries are key constraints on the design of those agreements. Mechanisms must prevent two sorts of free-riding problems - free riding in effort provision and free riding in participation. As markets might fail to solve simultaneously those two problems, we construct instead a simple menu of options that trades off the provision of incentives for participating countries and the provision of incentives to participate.With such mechanism, all countries voluntary contribute to a fund, although at different intensities, but only the most efficient ones effectively reduce their pollution below its “business as usual” level. |
| Keywords: | Free-riding, environmental agreements, asymmetric information, mechanism design. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:26339&r=env |
| By: | Qiang Chen (School of Economics, Shandong University) |
| Abstract: | Nomadic conquests have helped to shape world history, yet we know little about why they occurred. Using climate and dynastic data from historical China since 221 BCE, this study finds that the likelihood of nomadic conquest increased with less rainfall proxied by drought disasters, which drove pastoral nomads to attack agrarian Chinese for survival. Moreover, consistent with the dynastic cycle hypothesis, the likelihood of China being conquered increased when a Chinese dynasty was established earlier (and hence was weaker, on average) than a rival nomadic regime. These results survive a variety of robustness checks, including using the latitude of the Sino-nomadic border as an alternative dependent variable. The dynastic cycle effect also persists in an extension to world history. The effects of other climate shocks, such as snow, frost, and temperature anomaly, are not robust. |
| Keywords: | Nomadic conquests; climate shocks; dynastic cycles |
| JEL: | N4 O1 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shn:wpaper:2012-01&r=env |
| By: | Oswald, Andrew J. (University of Warwick and CAGE UK and IZA Germany) |
| Abstract: | Many environmentalists have not yet discovered and understood the value to them of a new research literature. That literature is the economics of happiness. It offers a potentially important tool for future policy debate. In particular, this literature offers a defensible way to calculate the costs and benefits of the true happiness value of ‘green’ variables – and to weigh those against the happiness value to people of extra income and consumption. Some of the latest research findings turn out to accord well with environmentalists’ intuitions : green variables seem to have large direct effects on human well-being; society would arguably be better to concentrate more on environmental aims and less on monetary or materialistic ones; greater consumption of things in Western society cannot be expected to make us much happier |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:997&r=env |
| By: | N. Yaduma; M. Kortelainen; A. Wossink |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1223&r=env |
| By: | Da Rocha, José María; Cerviño, Santiago; Gutiérrez Huerta, María José |
| Abstract: | Single-species management objectives may not be consistent within mixed fisheries. They may lead species to unsafe situations, promote discarding of over-quota and/or misreporting of catches. We provide an algorithm for characterising bio-economic reference points for a mixed fishery as the steady-state solution of a dynamic optimal management problem. The optimisation problem takes into account: i) that species are fishing simultaneously in unselective fishing operations and ii)intertemporal discounting and fleet costs to relate reference points to discounted economic profits along optimal trajectories. We illustrate how the algorithm can be implemented by applying it to the European Northern Stock of Hake (Merluccius merluccius), where fleets also capture Northern megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis) and Northern anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and Lophius budegassa). We find that optimal mixed management leads to a target reference point that is quite similar to the 2/3 of the Fmsy single-species (hake) target. Mixed management is superior to singlespecies management because it leads the fishery to higher discounted profits with higher long-term SSB for all species. We calculate that the losses due to the use of the Fmsy single-species (hake) target in this mixed fishery account for 11.4% of total discounted profits. |
| Keywords: | optimisation in age-structured models, bio-economic reference points, mixed fisheries |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:dfaeii:8769&r=env |
| By: | A. Ruijs; M. Kortelainen; A. Wossink; C.J.E. Schulp; R. Alkemade; Paul Madden |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1222&r=env |
| By: | Omar Chisari; Javier Maquieyra; Sebastian Miller |
| Abstract: | Un MEGC dinámico recursivo para evaluar shocks de Cambio Climático para seis economÃas latinoamericanas (Argentina, Brasil, Chile, El Salvador, Jamaica y Perú) se presenta a continuación. Es un modelo de tamaño intermedio que toma en cuenta el funcionamiento de los precios relativos y de los cambios en la estructura de la economÃa, asà como del impacto de shocks y polÃticas sobre el bienestar de los niveles de ingreso. PolÃticas y reglas condicionales activadas automáticamente por la frecuencia o el tamaño de los shocks son también consideradas. Los resultados muestran la importancia de tener en cuenta no sólo el efecto escala (nivel de actividad) sino también el efecto composición (cambios en la estructura) para poder entender el impacto final de las polÃticas, que incluyen ganancias eficiencia energética, impuestos ambientales, como asà también polÃticas condicionales internacionales (sanciones al contenido de carbono de las exportaciones), y shocks de productividad sobre el trabajo y de disponibilidad de tierra arable. El manual es auto contenido. Describe exhaustivamente el proceso de construcción de la matriz de contabilidad social, la representación del modelo en la interfaz GAMS/MPSGE, la lectura de resultados en indicadores macroeconómicos, distribucionales y ambientales, y presenta una serie de ejemplos de aplicación. |
| JEL: | C53 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4802&r=env |