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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Remble, Amber; Britz, Wolfgang; Keeney, Roman |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150442&r=env |
| By: | Liu, Jing; Hertel, Thomas W.; Delgado, Michael |
| Keywords: | flooding damage, extreme weather, flooding risk measurements, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q54, Q56, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149622&r=env |
| By: | Akhundjanov, Sherzod; Munoz-Garcia, Felix |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150202&r=env |
| By: | Valcu, Adriana; Rabotyagov, Sergey S.; Kling, C.L. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150174&r=env |
| By: | Hussein, Zekarias; Hertel, Thomas; Golub, Alla |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150732&r=env |
| By: | Daigneault, Adam; Greenhalgh, Suzie; Samarasinghe, Oshadhi |
| Abstract: | Agricultural and forestry GHG emissions are a key feature of New Zealand’s 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 – the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. Coupled with climate policy development is the increasing scrutiny of agricultural impacts on water. This paper uses New Zealand Forest and Agriculture Regional Model (NZ-FARM) to assess the potential economic and environmental impacts of imposing both a climate and nutrient reduction policy on the agricultural and forestry industries in the Manawatu and Hurunui/Waiau catchments in New Zealand. We find that adding a scheme that reduces catchment-level nutrients by 20% on top of a national policy that puts a price of $25 per ton carbon dioxide equivalent on agricultural GHG emissions could result in greater environmental benefits at a relatively small cost, but the converse is not always true and could be significantly more costly for landowners. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture and forestry modeling, land use, climate policy, water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149729&r=env |
| By: | Pandit, Mahesh; Paudel, Krishna P. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150195&r=env |
| By: | Hendrik Ritter (University of Magdeburg); Mark Schopf (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with possible foreign reactions to domestic carbon demand reducing policies. It differentiates between demand side and supply side reactions as well as between intra- and intertemporal shifts of greenhouse gas emissions. In our model, we integrate a stock-dependent marginal physical cost of extracting fossil fuels into Eichner & Pethig's (2011) general equilibrium carbon leakage model. The results are as follows: Under similar but somewhat tighter conditions than those derived by Eichner & Pethig (2011), a weak green paradox arises. Furthermore, a strong green paradox can arise in our model under supplementary constraints. That means a "green" policy measure might not only lead to a harmful acceleration of fossil fuel extraction but to an increase in the cumulative climate damages at the same time. In some of these cases there is even a cumulative extraction expansion, which we consider disastrous. |
| Keywords: | Natural Resources, Carbon Leakage, Green Paradox |
| JEL: | Q31 Q32 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:62&r=env |
| By: | Mu, Jianhong E.; Antle, John; Abatzoglou, John |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150391&r=env |
| By: | Mark Schopf (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with possible foreign reactions to unilateral carbon supply reducing policies. It differentiates between demand side and supply side reactions as well as between intra- and intertemporal shifts of greenhouse gas emissions. Ritter & Schopf (2013) integrate stock-dependent marginal physical costs of extracting fossil fuels into Eichner & Pethig’s (2011) general equilibrium carbon leakage model. Using this model, we change the policy instrument from an emissions trading scheme to a deposit preserving system. Thereby, we distinguish between purchasing high-value and low-value reserves. The results are as follows: In case of eastern oil kept underground, the weak and the strong green paradox arise under similar conditions to those derived by Ritter & Schopf (2013). In case of offshore oil kept underground, there is intra- and there can be intertemporal carbon leakage, but neither the present emissions nor the cumulative climate damages increase. |
| Keywords: | Natural Resources, Carbon Leakage, Green Paradox |
| JEL: | Q31 Q32 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:63&r=env |
| By: | Latta, Gregory S.; Johansson, Robert; Lewandrowski, Jan; Birdsey, Richard |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150312&r=env |
| By: | Marshall, Elizabeth; Aillery, Marcel; Williams, Ryan; Malcolm, Scott; Heisey, Paul |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150356&r=env |
| By: | Cui, Jingbo |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2013–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150185&r=env |
| By: | Jones, Carol; Nickerson, Cynthia; Sperow, Mark |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150501&r=env |
| By: | Kabata, Tshepelayi |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150599&r=env |
| By: | Tian, Xiaohui; Sohngen, Brent; Sands, Ronald |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic forest sector in a Computable General Equilibrium model. There has been an increasing demand in using general equilibrium models to examine forests' role in climate change mitigation, global land competition and the energy sector. But modeling forestry sector in a general equilibrium context remains an extremely difficult task due to the complex dynamics in forestry management and timer markets. The innovation of this study lies in introducing a land-based and dynamic forest sector and incorporating rational expectations in all the sectors. |
| Keywords: | CGE, dynamic forest sector, carbon policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149990&r=env |
| By: | Ingmar Schumacher |
| Abstract: | We develop an overlapping generations model with environmental quality and endogenous environmental culture. Based upon empirical evidence, preferences over culturally-weighted consumption and environmental quality are assumed to follow a Leontieff function. We find that four different regimes may be possible, with interior or corner solutions in investments in environmental culture and maintenance. Depending on the parameter conditions, there exists one of two possible, asymptotically stable steady states, one with and one without investments in environmental culture. For low wealth levels, society is unable to free resources for environmental culture. In this case, society will only invest in environmental maintenance if environmental quality is sufficiently low. Once society has reached a certain level of economic development, then it may optimally invest a part of its wealth in developing an environmental culture. Environmental culture has not only a positive impact on environmental quality through lower levels of consumption, but it improves the environment through maintenance expenditure for wealth-environment combinations at which, in a restricted model without environmental culture, no maintenance would be undertaken. Environmental culture leads to a society with a higher indirect utility at steady state in comparison to the restricted model. Our model leads us to the conclusion that, by raising the importance of environmental quality for utility, environmental culture leads to lower steady state levels of consumption and wealth, but higher environmental quality. Thus, for societies trapped in a situation with low environmental quality, investments in culture may induce positive feedback loops, where more culture raises environmental quality which in turn raises environmental culture. We also discuss how environmental culture may lead to an Environmental Kuznets Curve. |
| Keywords: | environmental culture; overlapping generations model; environment; endogenous preferences. |
| JEL: | Q56 D90 |
| Date: | 2013–05–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:13&r=env |
| By: | Zhang, Hongliang |
| Abstract: | I developed a heterogeneous firm model to examine pollution haven effect within the industry. Environmental regulation reduces the number of domestic firms in the industry by forcing the least productive firms out, and shifts the domestic firms into the foreign country. Although there are resource allocations between firms, total welfare is decreasing due to the stringency of regulation. The impact of environmental regulation on the competitiveness is dependent on the relative size of abatement cost to marginal production cost and regulation regimes. |
| Keywords: | Heterogeneous firms, Pollution Haven Effect, Environmental regulation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150781&r=env |
| By: | McGettigan, Teri; Seavert, Clark F. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150592&r=env |
| By: | Joshi, Satish; Miller, Steven; Abdulkadri, Abdullahi; Batie, Sandra |
| Abstract: | This is a decision teaching case study, where the Program Manager, Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) is faced with the problem of determining the future direction of the MAEAP going forward from 2010. During the case discussion students should be able to: 1. Identify and model various motivations for participation in voluntary environmental programs. 2. Recognize motivational conflicts among various participants/stakeholders. 3. Appreciate the political economy of self-regulation. 4. Analyze design tradeoffs in VEPs. 5. Analyze implications of VEP evolution. 6. Analyze the role of VEPs in environmental labeling and green marketing strategies. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary environmental program, teaching case, environmental policy, environmental management, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, A22, A23, M31, Q58, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149699&r=env |
| By: | Valcu, Adriana; Rabotyagov, Sergey S.; Kling, C.L. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150450&r=env |
| By: | Nunez, hector; Onal, Hayri |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we simulate the Brazilian agriculture and transportation fuel sectors using a price endogenous mathematical programming model to analyze the impacts of recent changes in fuel policies and strong demand in world sugar markets on producers’ supply responses, consumers’ driving demand, fuel choice, and ethanol trade with the rest of the world. We also determine the land use change, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and economic surplus implications. The analysis considers various blending rates and taxation of different types of fuels. The model results show that when the ethanol blending rate is reduced in response to the increased sugar demand and resulting short supply of ethanol, the driving demand by conventional vehicles would be reduced significantly. When the tax rate is dropped by 7.5% and the blending rate remains at high levels, flex-fuel car users would switch from E100 to gasohol. Despite the reduction in driving demand, the total direct GHG emissions from Brazil would increase significantly due to the consumption of a more carbon intensive fuel blend. |
| Keywords: | Price endogenous, mathematical programming, fuel policy, Brazil, land use, greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C61, Q10, Q48, Q54, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149973&r=env |
| By: | Harald SCHOENBERGER (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); David STYLES (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Jose Luis GALVEZ MARTOS (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | Retailers have a large potential to reduce their environmental impacts and many are already implementing effective actions. This document describes what are the best practices implemented by frontrunner retailers in all aspects under their direct control or on which they have a considerable influence. They cover the energy performance of retailers, the sustainability of retail supply chains, transport and logistics, waste and other areas including engaging with consumers. The document also contains sector-specific environmental performance indicators and benchmarks of excellence. These can be used by retailers to monitor their environmental performance and to benchmark it against the performance of frontrunner retailers in each given specific area. Overall, this document aims at supporting all actors in the retail trade sector who intend to improve their environmental performance and seek for reliable and proven information on how best to do it. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable production and consumption, recycling, clean technologies, sustainable use of resources, resource efficiency, retailers, supply chain, energy efficiency, commercial refrigeration, waste prevention, environmental performance indicators, benchmarks of excellence |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc76036&r=env |
| By: | Antle, John; Mu, Jianhong E.; Abatzoglou, John |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150393&r=env |
| By: | Fu, Guanlong; Shah, Muna; Uchida, Emi; Deng, Xiangzheng; Huang, Jikun; Gibson, John; Rozelle, Scott; Xu, Jintao |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150594&r=env |
| By: | Rock, Michael T.; Toman, Michael; Cui, Yuanshang; Jiang, Kejun; Song, Yun; Wang, Yanjia |
| Abstract: | Since the onset of economic reforms in 1978, China has been remarkably successful in reducing the carbon dioxide intensities of gross domestic product and industrial production. Most analysts correctly attribute the rapid decline in the carbon dioxide intensity of industrial production to rising energy prices, increased openness to trade and investment, increased competition, and technological change. China's industrial and technology policies also have contributed to lower carbon dioxide intensities, by transforming industrial structure and improving enterprise level technological capabilities. Case studies of four energy intensive industries -- aluminum, cement, iron and steel, and paper -- show how the changes have put these industries on substantially lower carbon dioxide emissions trajectories. Although the changes have not led to absolute declines in carbon dioxide emissions, they have substantially weakened the link between industry growth and carbon dioxide emissions. |
| Keywords: | Energy Production and Transportation,Technology Industry,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Energy and Environment |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6492&r=env |
| By: | Weiwei, Wang; Khanna, Madhu; Dwivedi, Puneet |
| Abstract: | Increasing concerns about energy security and climate change mitigation have led to significant policy support for biofuels, particularly for cellulosic biofuels. This paper examines the short- and long-run effects of Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on the mix of biofuel feedstocks, food, fuel and wood markets and land use change by using an economic model that integrates the agriculture, forest and transportation fuel sectors. Our results show that RFS would lead to the production of about 1600 billion liters of corn ethanol over the 2010-2035 periods, which could constitute a maximum of two-thirds of the cumulative biofuel production; the remaining mandate is met by advanced biofuels. The logging and milling residues are the primary initial providers of biomass feedstocks. After year 2025, energy crops and crop residues will play the leading role in cellulosic feedstocks production. Producing these biofuels will not cause significant land use change between and within agricultural and forest sector as compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) case. While the RFS could significantly affect production, exports and prices of crop and livestock commodities relative to the BAU case, its impacts on the forest sector is found to be relatively small except for pulpwood related products in the long term. Overall, the RFS reduces cumulative social welfare over 2010-2035 periods by $78.8 Billion relative to the BAU case. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150736&r=env |
| By: | Harris, Leah M.; Baylis, Kathy |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150573&r=env |
| By: | Géraldine Ang; Virginie Marchal |
| Abstract: | Transport infrastructure is a pillar of economic development and a key contributor to climate change. Globally, transport-related greenhouse gas emissions are expected to double by 2050 in the absence of new policies. There is an urgent need to scale-up and shift transport infrastructure investments towards lowcarbon, climate-resilient transport options and help achieving the environmental, social and economic benefits associated with sustainable transport infrastructure. Given the extent of investment required to meet escalating global transportation infrastructure needs, and the growing strains on public finances, mobilising private investment at pace and at scale will be necessary to facilitate the transition to a greener growth. Investment barriers, however, often limit private investment in sustainable transport infrastructure projects, due to the relatively less attractive risk-return profile of such projects compared to fossil fuelbased alternatives. In part, this can be attributed to market failures and government policies that fall short of accounting for the full costs of carbon-intensive road transport and the benefits of sustainable transport modes. |
| Keywords: | development, transport, infrastructure, climate change, urban planning, transport policies, private investment, climate finance |
| JEL: | G18 L92 O18 Q01 Q50 R40 |
| Date: | 2013–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:56-en&r=env |
| By: | Cropper, Maureen; Gamkhar, Shama; Malik, Kabir; Limonov, Alex; Partridge, Ian |
| Abstract: | To help inform pollution control policies in the Indian electricity sector we estimate the health damages associated with particulate matter, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from individual coal-fired power plants. We calculate the damages per ton of pollutant for each of 89 plants and compute total damages in 2008, by pollutant, for 63 plants. We estimate health damages by combining data on power plant emissions of particulate matter, SO2 and NOx with reduced-form intake fraction models that link emissions to changes in population-weighted ambient concentrations of fine particles. Concentration-response functions for fine particles from Pope et al. (2002) are used to estimate premature cardiopulmonary deaths associated with air emissions for persons 30 and older. Our results suggest that 75 percent of premature deaths are associated with fine particles that result from SO2 emissions. After characterizing the distribution of premature mortality across plants we calculate the health benefits and cost-per-life saved of the flue-gas desulfurization unit installed at the Dahanu power plant in Maharashtra and the health benefits of coal washing at the Rihand power plant in Uttar Pradesh. |
| Keywords: | coal-fired power plants, particulate matter, electricity, health damages, pollution control, concentration-response function, India, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q01, Q51, A53, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150290&r=env |
| By: | Ortiz-‐Bobea, Ariel |
| Abstract: | Growing econometric and statistical evidence points to high temperature as the main driver of large negative effects of climate change on US agriculture. This literature also suggests a limited role for precipitation in overall impacts. This paper shows this finding stems from the widespread use of calendar precipitation variables, which poorly represent water availability for rainfed crops. I rely on a state-of-the art dataset with very high spatial (14km) and temporal (1h) resolution to develop a statistical model and unpack the effects of temperature and drought stress and analyze their interactions. Using a 31-year panel of corn yields covering 70% of US production, I account for nonlinear effects of soil moisture with varying effects throughout the growing season, in addition to nonlinear temperature effects. I show that yield is highly sensitive to soil moisture toward the middle of the season around flowering time. Results show that omission of soil moisture leads to overestimation of the detrimental effects of temperature by 30%. Because climate change affects intra-seasonal soil moisture and temperature patterns differently, this omission also leads to very different impacts on US corn yields, with a much greater role for water resources in overall impacts. Under the medium warming scenario (RCP6), models omitting soil moisture overestimate yield impacts by almost 100%. The approach shows a more complete understanding that climate change impacts on agriculture are likely to be driven by both heat and drought stresses, and that their relative role can vary depending on the climate change scenario and farmer ability to adapt. |
| Keywords: | climate change, agriculture, impacts, adaptation, drought, temperature stress, nonlinear effects, omitted variable bias, spatial error panel model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q54, Q15, Q51, R15, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150435&r=env |
| By: | Panzone, Luca; Wossink, Ada |
| Abstract: | Behavioural change by households is increasingly anticipated to make an important contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gasses and other emissions. Global studies have shown that housing, mobility, food, and, with increasing income, manufactured products are important sectors to target from a consumption perspective (Hertwich and Peters, 2009). As a result, monitoring of the environmental impacts of consumption at the household level is necessary to evaluate current performance and to support the understanding of how initiatives for change can be implemented. In Europe food is at the core of the discussion of sustainable consumption being responsible for 20-30% of the overall environmental externalities of household consumption (Tukker et al., 2010). Existing sustainability assessment tools vary in scope and methodological approach but are commonly characterised by a production orientation (Ness et al., 2007; Singh et al., 2009). Well established examples are life cycle assessment, material flow analysis and environmentally extended input-output models. In contrast, consumption-based emission accounting is a recent development with the objective to juxtapose consumption and production emissions in order to demonstrate the effects of emissions associated with international trade, especially for GHG (e.g., Kerkhof et al., 2009; Kastner et al., 2011). Thus the environmental literature has yet to propose a tool to measure environmentally sustainable food and non-food consumption at the household level, surprising as this may appear at the first instance. Against this background we develop an indicator of sustainable household food consumption the Environmentally Sensitive Shopper Index (ESSI). Our index is based on revealed consumer preferences and uses supermarket data. The main concept behind the construction of the indicator is that food consumption spans over many different individual products but that its environmental impact is limited to a number of key “dirty” categories (Kramer et al., 1999; Kim and Neff, 2009). Hence, there is no need for an exhaustive view of total food consumption as long as we observe expenditures for these key items. Yet, our index does not impose an upper limit on the number of categories included and ideally would include all products in the supermarket. A second concept is that sustainable consumption is an ethical practice of consuming differently to reduce environmental impact (Evans, 2011). To formalize these concepts in micro economic terms, imagine a retailer with J food categories including C clean categories, and D dirty categories (C+D ≤ J). We define a category as “dirty” if its consumption is relatively carbon intensive, and “clean” otherwise. In each category, this consumer makes two consecutive choices: whether to purchase a product within a specific food category jÎ J and the amount to spend on food in category j. Next, food consumption has to be related to environmental damage. We explore two approaches. First, we assume that sustainability is linear with expenditures by category: consuming more of a “dirty” good means more environmental damage; while consuming more of a “clean” good means less environmental impact. Our second approach allows for non-proportionality between sustainability and food consumption: a consumer is considered more sustainable whenever her levels of consumption are above a threshold for “clean” categories, or below a threshold for “dirty” categories. These thresholds are defined as consuming more than the mode of the observed expenditure shares for the “clean” categories and less than the mode for “dirty” foods. Consequently, the thresholds define sustainability in relative terms as determined by the most frequently observed consumption behaviour (the mode) in the data. We compare different options for the aggregation of the food categories for both the linear and the binary environmental damage approach: averages, arithmetic mean and geometric means. We illustrate the ESSI with a pilot application for food purchases in the UK focusing on carbon emissions. The selection of “clean” and “dirty” food product categories was based on Defra’s (2010) ‘Food 2030’ and Sustain’s (2007) ‘Eat Well and Save the Planet’ reports, which include a set of consumer-oriented guidelines on more sustainable food consumption. While these reports differ in details the consensus is that more sustainable consumption means: eating less meat, particularly red meat, and more F&V; selecting local and seasonal products; drink tap rather than bottled water; and reduce car travel for the purpose of food shopping. The pilot application uses supermarket scanner data for food purchases in Tesco supermarkets. The pilot is based on the weekly expenditures of Tesco’s 16.5 millions UK cardholders over the period June 2009-May 2011. The application is illustrated with examples of how the ESSI can be used to identify environmentally critical periods during the calendar year. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable consumption, Sustainability index, Revealed preferences, Food., Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, C43, Q56, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149628&r=env |
| By: | Vidovic, Martina; Khanna, Neha; Delgado, Michael |
| Keywords: | self-regulation, certification, difference-in-difference, semi-parametric model, heterogeneity, American Chemistry Council, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q53, Q58, L60, |
| Date: | 2013–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150706&r=env |
| By: | Weitzel, Matthias; Peterson, Sonja |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkpb:55&r=env |
| By: | Howard, Peter H.; Sterner, Thomas |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150424&r=env |
| By: | Zhang, Wei |
| Abstract: | This research estimates the costs of the mitigation measures adopted in the San Joaquin Valley in California to reduce Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions from dairies. Using farm-level data, I estimated the effects of the mitigation measures on feed, labor, and other operating costs. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150709&r=env |
| By: | Lim, Youngah |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150597&r=env |
| By: | Kessler, Anna; Goddard, Ellen; Parkins, John |
| Abstract: | Given the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from beef production and rising concerns with climate change, genomics have been introduced to facilitate selective breeding for increased feed efficiency in beef cattle as one area of emissions reductions. Public perception is an important consideration in this endeavour. In this study data collected from a survey of 1803 participants from across Canada is analysed and the influence of attitudes and knowledge pertaining to the environment and biotechnologies on the degree of acceptance and relative perceived benefit to human health of this use of genetic technology is examined. Upon grouping respondents into categories of those who oppose, doubt, and support this use of genomics, multinomial logistic regressions are used to determine the factors influencing an opposing or supporting position, relative to doubt, the relatively neutral position. Results suggest that distinct characteristics influence the likelihood of supporting or opposing this use of technology with respect to two different measures of acceptability of the technology - degree of acceptance and relative perceived benefits to human health. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150419&r=env |
| By: | Maher, Joe |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150569&r=env |
| By: | Patton, Douglas; Bergstrom, John; Moore, Rebecca; Covich, Alan |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150559&r=env |
| By: | Fooks, Jacob; Messer, Kent; Duke, Josh; Johnson, Janet; Parsons, George |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150401&r=env |
| By: | Elodie Letort Author-X-Name- First: Elodie Author-X-Name- Last: Letort; Chalachew Temesgen |
| Abstract: | [Paper in French] The Bretagne region is an agricultural area located in the north-west of France. In addition to urban pressure, the competition for farmland is enhanced by strong environmental regulations and incentives. The objective of this paper is to study the determinants of farmland prices and especially the effects of environmental regulations to explain the spatial disparities observed in Bretagne. This paper mainly focuses on environmental policies which are intended to reduce the agricultural pollution of water with nitrates. Several environmental regulations have been implemented in the Bretagne region, which resulted in a complex zoning system with specific measures. To account for this local characteristic, we use the hedonic pricing model and take into account the potential spatial dependencies between farmland prices. For empirical application, we use a dataset of individual transactions in Bretagne from 2007 to 2010. The estimation results show an increase or a decrease in farmland prices in environmentally sensitive areas depending on the types of regulations applied in these areas. The results also emphasize the importance of spatial interaction in the farmland market. |
| Keywords: | environmental policies, hedonic price function, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | Q51 Q11 C21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201306&r=env |
| By: | Gemechu, Eskinder D.; Butnar, Isabela; Llop Llop, Maria; Sangwong, S.; Castells i Piqué, Francesc |
| Abstract: | As a result of globalization and free trade agreements, international trade is enormously growing and inevitably putting more pressure on the environment over the last few decades. This has drawn the attention of both environmentalist and economist in response to the ever growing concerns of climate change and urgent need of international action for its mitigation. In this work we aim at analyzing the implication of international trade in terms of CO2 between Spain and its important partners using a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model. A fully integrated 13 regions MRIO model is constructed to examine the pollution responsibility of Spain both from production and consumption perspectives. The empirical results show that Spain is a net importer of CO2 emissions which is equivalent to 29% of its emission due to production. Even though the leading partner with regard to import values are countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain, the CO2 embodied due to trade with China takes the largest share. This is mainly due to the importation of energy intensive products from China coupled with Chinese poor energy mix which is dominated by coal-power plant. The largest portion (67%) of the global imported CO2 emissions is due to intermediate demand requirements by production sectors. Products such as Motor vehicles, chemicals, a variety of machineries and equipments, textile and leather products, construction materials are the key imports that drive the emissions due to their production in the respective exporting countries. Being at its peak in 2005, the Construction sector is the most responsible activity behind both domestic and imported emissions. |
| Keywords: | Comerç internacional, Medi ambient -- Anàlisi d'impacte, Emissions atmosfèriques -- Espanya, Anhídrid carbònic, 339 - Comerç. Relacions econòmiques internacionals. Economia mundial. Màrqueting, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/212195&r=env |
| By: | Vergamini, Daniele; Raggi, Meri; Viaggi, Davide |
| Abstract: | The European Agri-Environmental Measures (AEMs) have a relevant role in encouraging a sustainable resources use and developing environmentally-friendly farming practices. AEMs account for more than half of the rural development budget of the Common Agriculture Policy. However, despite their importance, several factors influence the effectiveness of the measures, within which the poor spatial target is still a major cause of low effectiveness. Therefore, improving the spatial targeting of these policy tools could improve their cost-effectiveness, increasing the efficiency of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) and support better policy design solutions. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimization model for the AEMs jointly aiming at optimal targeting and payment setting with a focus on resource and incentive compatibility differentiated by zone. Moreover the model investigates the integration of information coming from spatial analysis of participation to AEMs with mathematical programming at regional level. This is a rather new methodology which could be uses to model farmers’ characteristics and compliance cost in their spatial dimension. Given that both the costs and the compensation payments are subject to spatial variation, this study simulates also the potential contribution of spatially differentiated compensation payments to efficient targeting of measure 214.1 in Emilia Romagna (Italy). Results highlight that the differentiate payment scheme gives a significant cost saving over flat rate mechanism by reducing farmers’ rents and consequently the deadweight loss for cost effectiveness of the measures. The method used, which improves the acknowledgement of the spatial information, may have a potential for the design process of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) and support better policy design solution. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental policy, compensation payments, economic efficiency, spatial econometric, mathematical programming, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:150235&r=env |
| By: | Iho, Antti; Parker, Doug; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | Current day large animal facilities generate more manure than they need on their own feed production areas. Excessive nutrient applications deteriorate groundwater (nitrogen) and surface water quality (nitrogen and/or phosphorus). Due to differences in environmental and economic characteristics, adjacent regions may have differing objectives for nitrogen and phosphorus abatement. We postulate an analytical model of upstream agricultural and downstream recreational regions, and analyze optimal policies that consider both regions. We show that depending on the environmental and economic characteristics, tightening upstream regulation with respect to loading of one nutrient only might increase the downstream loading of the other. As the prevailing regulatory tool for livestock production is the Nutrient Management Plan based on nitrogen standard; and because livestock production is the main source of man-made nutrient loads to environment, the model is of high importance. Our model contributes to literature by i) differentiating (the impacts of) manure regulation between the livestock farm and the adjacent crop production farm ii) showing how this differentiation is carried over to relative and absolute amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus loading due to changes in nutrient application and uptake; and due to changes in application areas iii) allowing for regional differences in abatement objectives. |
| Keywords: | Manure, Transboundary Pollution, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Regulation, Externality, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Public Economics, Q18, Q53, R50, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149922&r=env |
| By: | Zhang, Wendong |
| Abstract: | Non-point source sediment and nutrient runoff from upstream agricultural production is known to impair downstream ecosystem functions and services. Despite adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) by some farmers, there are still many cropland parcels with a high need for additional conservation treatment to reduce soil erosions and runoffs. Despite the well documented environmental benefits of BMPs, significant uncertainty still remains regarding the effectiveness of policies that promote these practices. The realization of environmental benefits through improved BMPs is most constrained by our limited understanding of how farmers respond to policies and the differences in responses across different types of farmers. Previous studies of agricultural management decisions are either not spatial or omiting farmer characteristics. We will improve on these approaches by combining a model of farmer behavior with a spatial model of land management across all parcels in the watershed. In this research we develop a spatially explicit behavioral model of farmers’ BMP choices that accounts for both farmers’ socioeconomic characteristics and spatial variations of land parcels. We apply this model to the Maumee River Watershed and to three BMPs – crop rotations, conservation tillage and Conservation Reserve Program enrollment. With this model, we can simulate BMP outcomes for each parcel across the entire watershed under baseline and alternative policy scenarios. The spatial behavioral model is expected to outperform a historical trend model and allows us to evaluate a broader range of potential policies in terms of their simulated impacts on farmer behavior, BMP decisions, and downstream ecosystem conditions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150729&r=env |
| By: | Mooney, Daniel F.; Barham, Bradford L. |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the agricultural landowner’s decision to adopt a clean production technology, and the role that preferences for environmental quality play in this process. In particular, we hypothesize that the environmental benefits generated by the clean technology may serve as a driving factor among early innovators. We test this notion using ex ante mail survey data on bioenergy crop adoption in southwestern Wisconsin. The two-stage estimation procedure controls for short-run constraints that limit landowners’ ability to convert land uses and provides evidence that observed heterogeneity in landowners’ willingness-to-accept (WTA) (i.e., minimum reservation price) to grow these crops is partially explained by land stewardship beliefs. |
| Keywords: | bioenergy, contingent valuation, corn stover, linear characteristics, switchgrass, technology adoption and diffusion, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150557&r=env |
| By: | Cai, Yongxia; Birur, Dileep K.; Beach, Robert H.; Davis, Lauren M. |
| Abstract: | Global production of biofuels has been expanding with the enduring concerns on climate change and energy security. The U.S. Congress has established a renewable fuel standard 2 (RFS2) rule that mandates annual combined production of 36 billion gallons (bg) biofuels by 2022 (USEPA, 2010). Large scale production of biofuels results in far-reaching intended and unintended consequences on the economy and environment. In this study, a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) - Applied Dynamic Analysis of Global Economy -- ADAGE-Biofuel is developed to examine the global implications of the U.S. RFS2 policy. This model is built upon a dynamic version of ADAGE model (Ross, 2009) by introducing eight crop categories, one livestock and one forestry sectors, seven first generation biofuels, three second generation biofuels and five land categories and explicitly model land-use changes. We find out that despite of continued increase in land productivity and energy efficiency, increase in population and economic growth leads to a global-wide increase in agriculture production, rise in price of food, agriculture, biofuel and energy and land conversion from the other four land types to cropland from 2010 to 2025 when RFS2 is not implemented and biofuel consumption remain at the base year (2010) level in all the regions until 2025 (BAU scenario). The implementation of RFS2 policy would require 36.3 million ha (mha) of land for switchgrass production by 2025, where 34.8 mha from existing cropland, 0.9 mha from pasture, and 0.6 mha from managed forest land. Compared with the BAU scenario, price is projected to increase by around 5~7% for eight crops, 1.6% for livestock and 1.6% for forestry as a result of reducing production. Globally, due to reduction in agriculture exports from U.S. as a result of the RFS2 policy, all other regions would allocate slightly more land for crop and food production, leading to gentle loss of natural grassland and natural forestland, especially in Africa, which would lose 0.5 million ha of natural grassland for crop and livestock production. The RFS2 policy would bring environmental benefits too. The accumulated carbon saving from 2010 to 2025 would be arround 392 mmt c globally with 207 mmt c from fossile fuel and 185 mmt from land. Among it, U.S. alone would contribute 300 mmt c with 208 mmt c from fossile fuel and 92 mmt c from land. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, Computable General Equilibrium, Recursive Dynamic, ADAGE, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150766&r=env |
| By: | Richard S.J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex; Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Francisco Estrada (Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico) |
| Abstract: | Most functions of economic impact assume that climate change is smooth. We here propose impact functions that have stochastic climate change as an input. These functions are identical in shape and have similar parameters as do deterministic impact functions. The mean stochastic impacts are thus similar to deterministic impacts. Welfare effects are larger, and the stochasticity premium is larger than the risk premium. Stochasticity is more important for past impacts than for future impacts. |
| Keywords: | economic impact of climate change; stochasticity; risk premium |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:6113&r=env |
| By: | Song, Jingyu; Gramig, Benjamin M. |
| Abstract: | As environmental deterioration and global warming arouses more and more attention, identifying cleaner and more environmentally friendly energy sources is of interest to society. In addition to environmental concerns, both the high price of gasoline and the fact that the United States has heavy reliance on imports of energy have driven policymakers to find alternative energy sources. Producing biofuels from energy crops is one such alternative with relatively lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional energy sources. Cellulosic feedstocks such as corn stover, perennial grasses and fast growing trees are regarded as promising energy crops and are expected to help with the energy supply. This study takes a spatially explicit approach to examine fields within a watershed and explores the conditions under which the agricultural land in the watershed can meet the demand of a biorefinery. Costs of two dedicated energy crops, switchgrass and miscanthus, are compared with corn stover. A Matlab program is developed based on a genetic algorithm to minimize production cost subject to biomass production and pollution constraints in the Wildcat Creek Watershed in Indiana, USA. The process of using a genetic algorithm to solve high dimensionality mixed integer optimization problems is discussed. Results indicate that to achieve the required amount of biomass production for a minimum feasible scale thermochemical biorefinery within the watershed, miscanthus must be planted. Miscanthus also helps reduce pollutant levels (total sediment, N and P loadings) when compared to stover removal from continuous corn and corn-soybean rotations. Switchgrass is found to have similar environmental advantages, but is not economically competitive based on preliminary results that require further validation. Corn stover is the lowest cost feedstock considered, however, it results in relatively higher sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus loading than the perennial grasses considered. Relative to the baseline without stover removal, no-till in combination with stover removal results in decreased sediment loading, an increased loading of nitrogen under continuous corn and an increase in phosphorus (except at the 50% removal rate from continuous corn). There is clear tradeoff among cost, production and environmental improvement. |
| Keywords: | cellulosic biofuels, spatially explicit optimization, genetic algorithm, watershed, water pollution, SWAT, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150453&r=env |
| By: | Sinha, Elisabeth Newcomb |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150360&r=env |
| By: | Hao, Na; Seong, Byeongchan; Park, Cheolwoo; Colson, Gregory; Karali, Berna; Wetzstein, Michael |
| Keywords: | climate, cattle, corn, drought, ethanol, hog, livestock markets, poultry, soybean, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Political Economy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149957&r=env |
| By: | Duke, Esther; Hansen, Kristiana; Bond, Craig |
| Abstract: | Our team is establishing a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) market, whereby landowners (primarily engaged in cattle and hay production) implement best management practices that result in provision of ecosystem services (wildlife habitat and water resources/ riparian function), in exchange for payment from voluntary buyers (for example, energy companies in need of off-site mitigation credits). The PES market is called the Upper Green River Conservation Exchange and is currently conducting pilot transactions. How do we structure the market to ensure voluntary landowner (i.e., seller) participation? Issues include how to deal with grazing allotments on public lands, how to structure the risk of non-attainment of ecological target outcomes; and which ecosystem services/management practices and contract terms are of interest on a working landscape in this region. We present the results of a survey designed to inform analyses of factors affecting landowners’ stated willingness to participate in a PES market; and program design preferences: what ecosystem services (wildlife habitat and water resources/riparian function) and program features (management practice, contract length, payment level) are of interest to landowners (choice experiment analysis). |
| Keywords: | payment for Ecosystem Services, environmental markets, choice experiment, landowner survey, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150674&r=env |
| By: | Cerruti, Davide |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the impact of a vehicle pollution charge (Ecopass), enforced at peak time, on nitrogen oxides concentration in Milan. Using hourly data on pollution concentration and a vector autoregressive model, I estimate the short and long run eects of the policy, the eects outside the Ecopass area and during o-peak time. Results suggest that Ecopass reduced pollution in the short run, but had no eect in the long run. The eect on zones outside Ecopass area is not homogeneous, suggesting substitution eects in some areas of the city. There is no systematic evidence of increased pollution levels during o-peak time due to Ecopass. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150575&r=env |
| By: | Ubilava, David; Villoria, Nelson |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150516&r=env |
| By: | Mann, John; Adam, Brian; Arthur, Frank |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150631&r=env |
| By: | Han, Peter; Foltz, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | The global child mortality rate has dropped significantly in the last two decades with Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing the fastest decline. However, Mali seems to be an exception, with a barely noticeable annual reduction rate of 1.8% between 1990 and 2011. We hypothesize that an increase in the number of climate shocks are partially responsible for the slow decline of child mortality in Mali. Using unique household survey panel data between 1994 and 2010 and daily climate measures from National Climate Data Center, we analyze the impact of climate shocks on child mortality in Sikasso, Mali. Applying survival analysis, we find significant effects of rain shocks on child mortality. Furthermore, higher numbers of women in the household and proximity to health facilities have a positive effect on child survival. When faced with an increased number of climate shocks, better infrastructure and healthcare facilities in the most affected regions may be able to mitigate the risk of child death in the future. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150395&r=env |
| By: | Latta, Gregory S.; Baker, Justin S.; Beach, Robert H.; Rose, Steven K.; McCarl, Bruce A. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150293&r=env |
| By: | Lee, Sangjun; Zhao, Jinhua; Thornsbury, Suzanne |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a land use switching model as a measure of adaptation to climate change in tart cherry industry in Michigan. In order to capture the effects of extreme events, we employ a real options land conversion model where an underlying stochastic process allows a Poisson-type jump component. We compare land use decisions under the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events as well as well-known gradual climate change. We find that when decision makers are allowed to optimize dynamically and to learn, gradual changes and extreme events can lead to different likelihoods of adaptation occurring as well as different adaptation incentives even when traditional net present value (NPV) calculations are equal. We suggest that although gradual change imposes higher incentive to switch than the extreme events, the realized action may be dominated by the extreme events, especially extreme magnitude change. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, extreme events, adaptation, real options, Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150568&r=env |
| By: | Yiridoe, Emmanuel K.; Amon-Armah, Frederick; Hebb, Dale; Jamieson, Rob |
| Abstract: | The eco-efficiency index (EEI) framework has been used to determine economically and environmentally optimal nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rates for some pollutants (such as greenhouse gas emissions) for selected agricultural production systems. However, previous EEI applications have not examined N application rates linked to nitrate-N loss from crop production. The research gap is surprising given the importance of nutrient N in crop production and concerns with nitrate-N in groundwater systems. Eco-efficiency of crop production systems are increased for farm management practices which generate higher economic returns and lower negative environmental impacts and, therefore are considered more eco-efficient. Data for the analysis were generated using the SWAT biophysical simulation modeling. The cropping systems evaluated in this study included: i) corn-based cropping systems involving corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa-alfalfa (CCAAA), and CCCAA rotations; ii) potato-based cropping systems involving potato-corn-barley-potato-corn (PCBPC) and PBWPC; and iii) vegetable-horticulture cropping system involving potato-winter wheat-potato-carrot-corn (PWRC) all managed under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) systems. Estimated eco-efficient N fertilizer rates were substantially lower than current NMP-recommended rates (NMP N rates) and the maximum economic rate nitrogen fertilization (MERN). However, the actual amounts depended on the crop and rotation system. CCAAA-CT was the most eco-efficient rotation choice among the corn-based cropping systems considered. Similarly, PCBPC-CT was the most eco-efficient choice among the potato-based production systems. In addition, when the NMP-recommended N rate was replaced by the EE N rate for the vegetable horticulture cropping system, the eco-efficient cropping system shifted from a rotation involving CT to a NT system. Eco-efficient N fertilization rates that explicitly simultaneously considers economic and environmental dimensions of cropping system performance will require substantial trade-offs between farm returns and reduction in nitrate pollution. |
| Keywords: | Eco-efficiency, agricultural sustainability, nitrogen fertilizer, nitrate-N pollution, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q57, Q12, Q14, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150357&r=env |
| By: | Davlasheridze, Meri; Fisher-Vanden, Karen; Klaiber, Allen H. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150196&r=env |
| By: | Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R. |
| Abstract: | The question of increasing biofuels production and the development of different biofuels production technologies has become controversial. On the one hand, production of corn-based biofuels creates a ‘food/feed vs. fuel’ tradeoff condition, along with subsequent uncertainties for both consumers and producers (farmers). On the other, advanced biofuels (from, e.g., switchgrass, miscanthus, algae), although acknowledged as environmentally friendly, are not available yet on a large commercial scale. In addition, the resource availability for the production of biofuels feedstocks and the question of a sustainable biofuels production are major issues impacting decision making. By using a multi-objective optimization model and fuzzy logic, the paper presents an approach of modeling sustainable biofuels production from conventional and advanced biofuels feedstocks, under the condition of limited resources and uncertainty resulting from incomplete information or missing knowledge about resource availability for biofuels production. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, multi-criteria decision-making, linear programming (LP), fuzzy set theory, uncertainty, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150219&r=env |
| By: | Margarida R. Alves (DEGEI and GOVCOPP, University of Aveiro); Victor Moutinho (DEGEI, University of Aveiro) |
| Abstract: | Is this paper, we used the 'complete decomposition' technique to examine CO2 emissions intensity and its components considering 16 industrial sectors over 1996-2009 period. In addition, we have implemented the forecast error variance decomposition applied to the factors in which emissions intensity was decomposed. It is shown that CO2 emissions intensity diminished significantly in the considered period. Energy intensity of economic sectors is the most important effect in the determination of the CO2 emissions intensity. The technologies used are more efficient and less polluting, for the same amount of fuel used. Moreover, there was a substitution between fossil fuels in favour of less polluting fuels, but the technologies related to fossil fuels may still have a significant role. The industry (in particular 5 industrial sectors) is contributing largely to the effects of variation of CO2 emissions intensity. There is bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions intensity and the share of fossil fuels in total energy consumption. Emissions intensity reacts more significantly to shocks in the weight of fossil fuels in total energy consumption compared to shocks in other variables. |
| Keywords: | Decomposition analysis; Variance decomposition; CO2 emissions intensity; Manufacturing industry; Portugal. |
| JEL: | Q49 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2013_10&r=env |
| By: | Cook, Aaron M.; Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob E.; Sesmero, Juan P. |
| Abstract: | We use three waves of national representative household level panel data from Malawi to employ a structural model to estimate how households make land and labor allocation decisions in response to climate change. We first model the allocation of land to improved maize varieties as a function of precipitation history, input and output prices, household characteristics and extension advice and then estimate the welfare benefits associated with this decision in a household net income equation. This second stage also reveals the extent to which the household shift labor off-farm as total growing season precipitation fluctuates. We find that a 1% increase in intra-seasonal precipitation variability reduces household income by 1.5%. This effect falls to 1.3% after we account for the expected adjustment in improved maize adoption. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150507&r=env |
| By: | Eryilmaz, Derya; Homans, Frances |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impacts of uncertainties in the US renewable energy policy on the investment decisions of renewable electricity producers. We develop a dynamic optimization model to understand how investment in wind energy depends on market and policy uncertainties in renewable energy markets. These uncertainties include the stochastic prices in the market for Renewable Electricity Credits (RECs) and the federal government's uncertain decision about continuation of Production Tax Credit (PTC) program. Results contribute to our understanding of the impact of the REC market and policy decisions on the profitability threshold required for investors to commit to renewable energy investments. Uncertainty about the renewable energy policy raises the threshold to invest in renewable energy. This paper also examines the relationship between two important renewable energy policies and their impacts on these investments. This paper has the potential to significantly contribute to the existing renewable energy development debate because the RECs prices are introduced explicitly as a random factor in a model of investment in renewable energy. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150018&r=env |
| By: | Chen, Shuai; Chen, Xiaoguang; Xu, Jintao |
| Abstract: | Using a unique county-level panel on crop yields and daily weather dataset over the past decade, we estimate the impact of climate change on corn and soybean yields in China. Our results suggest the existence of nonlinear and asymmetric relationships between corn and soybean yields and climate variables. We find that extreme high temperatures are always harmful for crop growth. Moreover, the rapid expansion of corn and soybean acreages at both intensive- and extensive margins had detrimental effects on corn and soybean yields. Using estimated coefficients, we estimate changing climate conditions over the study period has led to an economic loss of $220 million in 2009 alone in China’s corn and soybean sectors. Corn yields in China are predicted to decrease by 2-5% under the slowest warming scenario and by 5-15% under the fastest warming scenario by the end of the century. The reductions in soybean yields are found to be more pronounced, about 5-10% and 8-22%, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Corn and soybean yields, China, Crop Production/Industries, Q54, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149739&r=env |
| By: | Keil, Alwin; Saint-Macary, Camille; Zeller, Manfred |
| Abstract: | Markets for high-value agricultural commodities are growing and can contribute to reducing rural poverty. However, the poor may be unable to participate in such markets, and adverse environmental impacts may counterbalance short-term benefits. Hence, policies are needed that help reducing poverty while protecting the environment. We address this challenge using the case of commercial maize production for animal feed purposes in a marginal upland area of Vietnam. We identify determinants of farmers’ degree of participation in maize production using regression analysis and assess farmers’ awareness of soil erosion and their conservation practices. The poorest are particularly specialized in maize but depend on disadvantageous input supply and marketing arrangements to offset infrastructural and institutional deficiencies. High awareness of soil erosion is contrasted by lacking conservation practices due to high opportunity costs. Policies should foster the integration of livestock in the maize-based farming system and promote soil conservation technologies that produce feed. |
| Keywords: | Commercial agriculture; rural poverty; land degradation; tobit regression; Vietnam; |
| JEL: | O13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/11399&r=env |
| By: | Alló, Maria; Igleasias, Eva; Loureiro, Maria L. |
| Abstract: | The steady decline of birds living in steppes is a worrying situation that the European Commission is attempting to remediate through the application of agri-environmental schemes (AES). The aim of this study is to assess farmers’ preferences towards these AES, which call for a number of harvesting restrictions in order to protect birds. We conducted a face-to-face survey in farming communities in Aragon (Spain) and through the estimation of a Rank Ordered Logit model, we found that farmers have strong preferences in favor of these AES. They generally request relative small amounts of monetary compensations to comply with the contractual requirements established by the proposed AES. Our results also show the importance of social trust and expectation of compliance by other neighbors that encourage farmers to cooperate with AES. These and other results may be used to design more effective AES and remediate this important biodiversity problem. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental schemes, birds, farmers’ preferences, rank ordered logit, social capital, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150620&r=env |
| By: | Zhanga, Hongliang; Antle, John |
| Abstract: | One of the most important groundwater problems in Oregon, Washington and Idaho is the long-term decline of the groundwater surface level, which has been intensified by wells through discharging water from aquifers. Groundwater contamination from agriculture aggravates the depletion problem in irrigated regions since quality has a decisive role in ways of water use. We developed a spatial agricultural groundwater extraction model by coupling a hydrological model and a contamination migration model. We find that the optimal groundwater extraction is reduced if spatial interactions are incorporated, and that spatial heterogeneities such as crop varieties and soil types affect individual extraction. The socially optimal paths of shadow prices of groundwater quantity and quality depend on time preference, stock effect and dilution effect. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater, Dynamic, Spatial, Groundwater quantity, Groundwater Quality, Agricultural Water Use, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150752&r=env |
| By: | Luitel, Kishor; Tewari, Rachna; Mitchell, Donna; Benson, Aaron; Johnson, Phillip |
| Abstract: | This study evaluated the possibility of implementing a proposed cap and trade policy on water use in the Texas Southern High Plains. The results suggested that the decision of producers to enroll in a cap and trade policy introduced under a restricted 50/50 management plan, will be impacted by water levels in the aquifer and subsequently the viability of pumping irrigation water in the future. It is to be realized that while polices like these will have a definitive impact on the crop-mix and farm income of the region, they could still serve as useful tools to promote long term conservation of groundwater resources in the region. |
| Keywords: | Cap-and-Trade model, Ogallala Aquifer, Texas Southern High Plains, water use restriction, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149993&r=env |
| By: | Brent, Daniel A.; Cook, Joseph H.; Olsen, Skylar |
| Abstract: | Utilizing social norms is gaining momentum as a cost-eective mechanism to pro- mote sustainable behavior. We analyze household water data from multiple pilot programs for a company that provides information campaigns containing social comparisons of water use and per- sonalized conservation recommendations in order to reduce household water consumption. We nd signicant treatment eect heterogeneity across the distribution of consumption and environmental attitudes. In the two pilots with a full year of data one utility achieves savings of 6.5%; while the other in aggregate achieved limited conservation gains. Heterogeneity based on the distribution of consumption is more important in the utility with signicant savings, with the highest users saving the most water. In contrast ideology appears to be more important in the utility with an insignif- icant average treatment eect with dis-savings for those with very low environmental preferences and strong savings for the most environmentally-conscious. Inter-regional ideology may play an critical role since the utility with signicant savings is in a much "greener" community, whereas intra-utility ideology is in uential in conservative areas. We caution interpretation of the results, particularly for Utility B, as the data are still incomplete. |
| Keywords: | Water demand, Social norms, Behavioral economics, Water conservation, Consumer/Household Economics, Public Economics, Q21, Q25, Q54, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149697&r=env |
| By: | Song, Yanqin; Berrah, Noureddine |
| Abstract: | With rapid development of wind power in China, the following three issues have become barriers for further scale-up: 1) concentration of wind farms in the Three-North region, which became significantly underutilized because of a limited capability of local power grids to off-take and consume wind-generated electricity and because of a lack of coordinated development of long-distance transmission lines to deliver electricity to load centers in the South and East regions; 2) increasing subsidies and, thus, a burden on final consumers; and 3) resistance of local authorities to develop new projects because the new value added tax policy reform. How to deal with these issues will have significant impact on the future development of wind in China. This note proposes a methodology to enhance a comprehensive approach by taking both generation and transmission into account in crafting the development plan and formulating the incentive policies, which may be useful in addressing these issues. |
| Keywords: | Energy Production and Transportation,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Carbon Policy and Trading,Windpower,Science of Climate Change |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6486&r=env |
| By: | Musumba, Mark; Zhang, Yuquan; DeRosa, Kyle |
| Abstract: | This study employs mathematical programming to examine the trade-off between improving biophysical attributes and preserving ecosystem services, using Southern Tanzania as a case study. This study used data primarily collected via household surveys. This study tries to provide insights into “best practices” of farming and how to minimize the environmental cost of intensification. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150126&r=env |
| By: | Cultice, Alyssa K.; Bosch, Darrell J.; Pease, James W.; Boyle, Kevin J. |
| Abstract: | In response to economic and environmental concerns, Water-Recycling Technologies (WRT) have been developed to reduce water consumption and surface run-off in horticultural operations. Water recirculation provides the potential for water conservation and may also reduce grower costs in the long run. However, WRT comes with increased risk of disease from water-borne pathogens such as Pythium and Phytophthora, which can cause devastating plant losses. In addition, WRT entail infrastructure investment costs to capture, treat, and recirculate water. These cost and disease concerns dissuade some growers from adopting WRT. More information is needed about producers’ irrigation and disease management practices and their attitudes toward containment and recirculation of irrigation runoff. A mail survey was administered in February 2013 to horticultural nursery growers in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Information was gathered about the firm and respondents’ demographic characteristics, plus production, irrigation, and disease management practices. The survey incorporates a choice experiment analyzing willingness to accept water recycling based upon hypothetical disease outbreak and water shortage probabilities and associated percentage cost increases. This information is related to the respondent’s recycling choices using a conditional logit model to evaluate the effects of disease probability, drought probability, and water recirculation cost on producers’ willingness to adopt waterrecycling technologies. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150409&r=env |
| By: | Dasgupta, Susmita; Hammer, Dan; Kraft, Robin; Wheeler, David |
| Abstract: | Habitat conservation is critical to the survival of endangered tigers. This paper develops a resource-allocation model for the protection of tiger habitats, using information on threats to particular tiger subspecies, the quality of remaining habitat areas, the observed effectiveness of habitat protection by country, and the potential costs of protection projects in74 habitats in Asia. This model will be implemented in two stages. The first stage involves using user-specified weights to combine numerous sub-indices into composite indices, covering threats to species, habitat quality, potential project costs and the effectiveness of protections. At the second stage, additional user-specified weights are used to combine the composite indices into priority scores and potential project budget shares for all 74 habitat areas. Results suggest that changes in user-specified weights can have very a significant impact on habitat priority scores. Illustrative scenarios indicate that the model can make a useful contribution by identifying priority orderings that are consistent with different sets of preferences. It will also provide feedback to decision makers regarding the implicit preferences associated with their resource allocation decisions. |
| Keywords: | Wildlife Resources,Biodiversity,Ecosystems and Natural Habitats,Environmental Management,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6495&r=env |
| By: | Trautman, Dawn E.; Jeffrey, Scott R.; Unterschultz, James R. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of Canadian agricultural business risk management (BRM) programs on farm financial performance. Monte Carlo simulation is used to model stochastic prices and production for a representative Alberta cropping operation. Net present value (NPV) analysis is used to evaluate BRM program participation. Participation is modeled for AgriInvest, AgriStability, and AgriInsurance. Adoption of select BMPs is also modeled to examine the impact of BRM programs on incentives to adopt environmental stewardship practices. Results indicate that BRM program participation significantly improves farm financial performance with a corresponding reduction in risk. Much of the benefit from participation comes from subsidization associated with the programs. While recent changes to BRM programs result in reduced support, the impact on representative farm performance is small. BRM program participation reinforces incentives to adopt BMPs that already have positive net benefits (e.g., crop rotation BMPs) and increases the magnitude of disincentives (i.e., net costs) associated with adoption of land use BMPs such as wetland restoration or buffer strips. The results from this analysis raise questions related to both risk management and environmental policy in terms of policy effectiveness, efficiency and compatibility. |
| Keywords: | risk management, Monte Carlo simulation, environmental stewardship, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, C15, Q12, Q15, Q18, Q28, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149881&r=env |
| By: | Menapace, Luisa; Raffaelli, Roberta |
| Abstract: | We conducted a natural field experiment in an artisanal sit-down ice-cream shop in Italy to investigate whether consumer choices are affected by information regarding locally grown products. Two aspects of locally grown products are investigated: (i) quality due to terroir (i.e., quality with a link to the territory) and (ii) reduced carbon emissions due to short transportation distance. Contrary to the evidence emerging from the majority of the statedpreference literature, our results suggest that consumer behavior is not significantly affected by information regarding quality due to terroir. We also find that consumers positively respond to information concerning reduced carbon emissions, although the estimated average WTP is small (10 Euro cents). Finally, we offer a contribution to the literature on sustainable food consumption by documenting a gender gap and a cohort effect and by providing evidence that social pressure, as proxied by the size of the party and the presence of kids at the table, fosters environmentally friendly consumption. |
| Keywords: | natural field experiment, menu labeling, sustainable consumption, local products, carbon emissions, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150282&r=env |
| By: | Müller, Marc; Sanfo, Safietou; Laube, Wolfram |
| Abstract: | Rainy-season farming is a major source of income for the rural population in the Guinea Savannah zone of West Africa. Farming systems in the region are dominated by rain-fed production of cereals, but include also leguminous crops and oilseeds. A recent World Bank study has identified high potentials for competitive agricultural production and agriculture-led growth in the Guinea Savannah zones of Sub-Saharan Africa. This optimistic outlook is conditional on appropriate investment strategies, policy reforms, and institutional changes. Furthermore, the World Bank warns that global climate change could pose a potential constraint for agricultural growth due to likely reductions in rainfall levels and significant increases in rainfall variability. This could lead to serious dry spells and a drop of crop yields. The study regions are the département Atakora in Benin, the région Sud-Ouest in Burkina Faso, and the Upper East Region in Ghana. Climate projections and trend estimates for these regions show very heterogeneous results for level and variability of monthly rainfall patterns. Therefore, we want to investigate which potential future developments pose the greater threat for agricultural production in the study regions. We develop a set of regional agricultural supply models, each representing 10-12 cropping activities and roughly 150.000 ha of agricultural area. We distinguish two stages of crop production: The planting stage from April to June and the yield formation stage between June and November. Preliminary results suggest that drought events during the planting stage have a more severe impact on the output of individual crops than drought events during the second stage. In contrast, the impact on total farm revenues appears to be more prominent during the second stage, when farmers have a limited capability to adjust their production plan. A clear if not surprising result is the larger vulnerability of crops with growth cycles ranging from the very beginning to the very end of the rainy season. The observed diversity of cropping activities serves the purpose to reduce the vulnerability to adverse rainfall events within a certain range. However, some extreme events are associated with very poor harvests of specific cash crops, thus severely affecting the income of the farming sector. A comprehensive picture will be obtained once the climate change scenarios are completed and the model results are tested and validated for various settings. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, West Africa, agricultural production, stochastic production frontier, highest posterior density estimation, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150412&r=env |
| By: | Cristina Martinez-Fernandez; Samantha Sharpe; Hans Bruyninckx; Ariane König |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the results of a study of measuring green growth in the Benelux countries (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg). The study paid particular attention to the challenges of measuring the transition to a low-carbon economy in cross-border areas as they have additional levels of complexity when it comes to measuring and monitoring their low-carbon transition. In cross- regions data collection hardly ever coincide with any single data gathering ‘institution’. Moreover, Belgium (Flanders, Brussels, Wallonia), the Netherlands, and Luxembourg have different indicator systems at the national level, and even more so at the more decentralised level which creates problems of data availability, data (in)consistency, and hence comparability. Progress is already noticeable in the two crossborder areas analysed in the study. In Ghent-Terneuzen the bio-base economy is contributing to the value of turnover and growth in employment in the environmental goods and services (EGS) sectors. In Alzette-Belval the construction industry is engaging in resource-efficient building design and certification. In other aspects there is evidence of progress, but this evidence is anecdotal, or patchy in its collection, and not able to be included in the dashboard metrics developed during the study and discussed in the paper. |
| Date: | 2013–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2013/9-en&r=env |
| By: | Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca; Brockerhoff, Eckehard; Kean, John; Turner, James |
| Abstract: | Wood borers and bark beetles are among the most serious forest pests worldwide. Many such species have become successful invaders, often causing substantial, costly damages to forests. Here we design and evaluate the cost-efficiency of a trap-based surveillance program for early detection of wood borers and bark beetles at risk of establishing in New Zealand. Though costly, a surveillance program could lead to earlier detection of newly established forest pests, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful eradication and reducing control costs and damages from future invasions. We develop a mechanistic bioeconomic model that relates surveillance intensity (i.e., trap density) and invasion size to probabilities of detection and control; it captures the dynamics of invasive species establishment, spread, and damages to urban and plantation forests. We employ the model to design surveillance programs that provide the greatest net present benefits. Our findings suggest that implementing a surveillance trapping program for invasive wood borers and bark beetles would provide positive net benefits under all scenarios considered. The economically optimal trapping strategy calls for a very high investment in surveillance: about 10,000 traps in each year of the 30-year surveillance program, at a present value cost of US$54 million. This strategy provides a 39% reduction in costs compared with no surveillance, corresponding to an expected net present benefit of approximately US$300 million. Although surveillance may provide the greatest net benefits when implemented at relatively high levels, our findings also show that even low levels of surveillance are worthwhile: the economic benefits from surveillance more than offset the rising costs associated with increasing trapping density. Our results also show that the cost-efficiency of surveillance varies across target regions because of differences in pest introduction and damage accumulation rates across locales, with greater surveillance warranted in areas closer to at-risk high-value resources and in areas that receive more imported goods that serve as an invasion pathway. |
| Keywords: | Biological invasions, cost-efficient, detection, eradication, monitoring, pest management, risk management, optimal, search, bioeconomic model, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q57, Q27, Q23, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150011&r=env |
| By: | Tack, Jesse |
| Abstract: | Likely climate change impacts in the U.S. include damages to agricultural production resulting from increased exposure to extreme heat. However, considerable uncertainty remains regarding impacts on the performance of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. Here we utilized a large panel of corn yield data to predict the effect of a 1oC uniform increase in temperature on premium rates and subsidies for the Group Risk Plan. We found a statistically significant increase in rates, which is primarily driven by increased exposure to extreme heat. These increases induce large increases in subsidy payments, the incidence of which is spread disproportionately across regions. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Crop Insurance, Moments, Entropy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149817&r=env |
| By: | Qiu, Yueming; Colson, Gregory; Grebitus, Carola |
| Abstract: | Please do not cite without the authors' permission. |
| Keywords: | Time and risk preferences, experiment, energy efficiency, household, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q2, Q3, Q4, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149681&r=env |
| By: | Bertram, Christine; Heitmann, Nadine; Narita, Daiju; Schwedeler, Markus |
| Abstract: | CO2 storage opportunities and the location of coal-fired power plants are located far apart throughout Europe, suggesting the need for a region-wide CO2 pipeline network or at least a considerable number of cross-border transport pipelines. Regionally coherent policy would be needed to embed a CCS infrastructure into an evolving European electricity system. However, the current EU's CCS Directive leaves the decision to allow carbon storage on their territory to individual MSs and makes no provision for limiting local bans on CCS. Such EU policy should be reconsidered, as it could distort optimal pipeline infrastructure development and make pipeline construction more expensive. Germany, for example, is the largest emitter of CO2 in Europe, has the second largest storage capacities, and is located in the middle of Europe. A German ban on onshore storage of CO2 could not only unnecessarily increase the size of a transport network in Europe, but also the costs of building CCS infrastructure. It is worth stressing that the issue of building CCS infrastructure is a policy question that requires deliberation starting today, even if building most of the projects were likely to commence at least a decade later. Although CCS is not yet a fully established technology, steps should be taken now to set up a policy framework given the long time horizon that investment decisions in CCS infrastructure and power generation facilities would require. Moreover, the current uncertainty about the future of CCS also discourages private investment in CCS research and could thus hinder an even more efficient and effective use of this technology. As the present situation indicates, the implementation of CCS runs the risk of being deployed only in isolated cases, which would influence future energy mixes and might hamper the realization of stringent climate goals. Even if the use of renewable sources to produce energy increases in the future, coal will likely remain an important energy source for the next 20 years, particularly in Germany where nuclear power is to be phased out. In this context, CCS is a powerful option to reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Impeding the use of and research on CCS by not establishing appropriate regulations or even by prohibiting CO2 storage at this early stage, therefore, would pose the risk of losing one potentially important tool to combat climate change. -- |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkpb:43&r=env |
| By: | Fleming, David A.; Measham, Thomas G. |
| Abstract: | Why are some economies likely to grow more slowly when facing natural resource windfalls? What are the causes and consequences of the so-called natural resource curse? These are commonly asked questions in the economics literature, where different studies have address them using different empirical methods, samples and case studies. In a detailed survey, van der Ploeg (2011) reviews 10 different hypotheses commonly used to explain the resource curse at national level. In this article we complement van der Ploeg’s survey by categorizing the 10 resource curse hypotheses into market and political factors in order to better understand the potential consequences of resource windfalls in regions or countries. We then focus on conceptualizing the resource curse at regional level, which in contrast to cross-country evaluations, has received much less attention from academics. Abstracting from environmental and land tenure issues, we develop our conceptual framework by analysing the causality trees that emerge from the two main direct economic shocks produced by resource booms in local areas: labor demand shock and income generation. These causality trees schematize the potential socioeconomic impacts that originate from these effects in a sequence of three hierarchical levels of consequences: First, migration and crowding-out of local firms’ labor, characterized mainly by the inflow of temporary and new resident workers (who also bring new income to local towns) and the movement of labor from local manufacturing and agriculture to the mining sector. Second, the migration patterns and new levels of income will increase the demand for local goods such as housing, services and others, increasing their price in the community. Third, higher demand (and prices) for local goods will produce new jobs in sectors such as construction and services, in contrast to the decline in employment likely to happen in crowded-out local manufacturing. Additional discussion is provided for the indirect socioeconomic outcomes likely to emerge from different points across these three levels of consequences. We also expand on the different factors likely to affect the RC occurrence and magnitude of effects across space. We finish by discussing some policy implications |
| Keywords: | Natural resources curse, regional development, economic growth, mining, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150526&r=env |
| By: | Amon-Armah, Frederick; Yiridoe, Emmanuel; Hebb, Dale; Jamieson, Rob |
| Abstract: | There is a need for cost-effective methods to reduce nitrogen pollution from agriculture. Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves for nitrate-nitrogen pollution in an agricultural watershed are evaluated using estimated crop yield and nitrate pollution production functions for alternative cropping systems. The cropping systems considered in this study included i) two grain corn-based cropping systems; ii) two potato-based cropping systems; and iii) a vegetable-horticulture system, managed under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT). The cost-effective potato-based cropping system which met the Health Canada maximum contaminant limit (MCL) for nitrate-N, with the highest gross margin ($6973 ha-1) and lowest abatement cost ($395 ha-1) was a potato-barley-winter wheat-potato-corn rotation under no-till (PBWPC-NT). Similarly, among the vegetable-horticulture cropping systems, potato-winter wheat-carrot-corn rotation under CT (PWRC-CT) generated the highest gross margin and lowest on-farm abatement cost ($680 ha-1). As the Health Canada allowable limit on nitrate-N pollution was relaxed (i.e., less stringent), the cost-effective corn-based cropping system shifted from a rotation involving corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa-alfalfa under CT to corn-corn-corn-alfalfa-alfalfa under NT. |
| Keywords: | Nitrogen abatement cost, mathematical programming, agricultural watershed, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149915&r=env |
| By: | Hungerford, Ashley; Ghosh, Sujit; Barry, Goodwin |
| Keywords: | Flood, Spatial Econometrics, Insurance, Bayesian, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149917&r=env |
| By: | Xu, Ying; Busby, Gwenlyn M. |
| Abstract: | There is rich literature in reserve site selection for wildlife conservation, but little has investigated the spatial correlation of risks presented by hazards. This paper contributes to the literature by applying the modeling framework developed in Busby et al. (2011), which incorporates spatially correlated risk into the reserve site selection problem, to a Virginia landscape where fine-scale species data is available. In this context, we consider both homogeneous and heterogeneous on-site land development risks. Finally, we apply a budget constraint to our maximal covering species problem to investigate how land cost impacts optimal reserve design and the level of species protection. Using fine-scale species data in the analysis, we identify the types of settings where incorporating spatially correlated risk into conservation reserve design can lead to significant improvements in species protection. |
| Keywords: | reserve site selection, spatially correlated risk, maximal covering species problem, Virginia, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150299&r=env |
| By: | Hansen, LeRoy; Hellerstein, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Historically, long-term agreements offer an upfront payment as opposed to a series of annual payments. Past research suggests that public preferences for upfront payments are greater than the present-value sum of a series of annual payments. If this condition holds, then program costs can be lowered by offering upfront payments. The driving force behind this condition is that individuals’ have personal rates of discount (PRD) that exceed market discount rates. The objective of this analysis is to use behavior data to test whether landowners’ have PRDs that exceed market. We use contract data from three USDA wetland conservation strategies. Two of the strategies offer annual payments and one offers an upfront payment. This variation allows us to directly test the hypothesis that there is no difference between prds and the market rate. Our results lead us to reject this hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | conservation program costs, personal rate of discount, rental payments, long-term contradct costs, reducing program costs, Environmental Economics and Policy, Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, H10, Q15, Q24, Q28, Q58, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149976&r=env |
| By: | Howard, Gregory; Roe, Brian E |
| Abstract: | Governments in Ohio have attempted to limit nutrient runoff in the Maumee watershed from agriculture through the establishment of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs, in which farmers are paid to implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as grass filter strips. This paper seeks to understand which farmers are likely to opt into these PES programs and how farmer preferences for these programs are influenced by program attributes and farmer perceptions towards BMPs. We examine these questions using responses from a survey of Ohio farmers, where farmers choose between two PES programs and a status quo (no program) option. We allow for farmer heterogeneity using latent class analysis and find two classes of farmers. One class, denoted the “Environmental Steward” class, has a strong preference for opting into filter strip programs. Furthermore, increasing perceptions of filter strip effectiveness has no significant impact on program choice for this class. The second class, denoted the “Other” class, has a strong status quo preference. Increasing perceptions of filter strip effectiveness has a significant positive effect on members of this class. Both classes prefer programs with larger payments, smaller filter strips, and less paperwork, while program length is not significant. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149821&r=env |
| By: | Mitchell, Donna; Johnson, Phillip |
| Abstract: | As droughts become more severe and frequent with changing climate, farmers of the Southern High Plains (SHP) of Texas may be forced to adopt new agricultural practices which will enable them to adapt to severe climate conditions. During 2011, scorching temperatures coupled with record low precipitation resulted in catastrophic drought conditions in the SHP. An analysis of the impact of the 2011 drought on producers in the TAWC demonstration sites has shown that producers made in-season crop management decisions to mitigate the effects of drought, which also impacted their 2012 crop mixes. |
| Keywords: | TAWC, drought, crop management, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149625&r=env |
| By: | Mika Kortelainen; Jibonayan Raychaudhuri; Beatrice Roussillon |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1309&r=env |
| By: | Du, Xiaoxue; Lu, Liang; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | Both the goal of energy independence and the desire to lower greenhouse gas emission have triggered the search for alternate energy sources. For second generation biofuel production, a key question is which form of industrial organization should be adopted in order to stimulate stable feedstock production. Using a two-stage optimal control framework, we analyze the optimal form of industrial organization should be adopted where technology innovation is endogenous and biorefinery faces credit constraint. Our results show that, under certain assumptions, it is optimal to adopt vertical integration in the beginning and move to contract farming later. Moreover, the tighter credit constraint that a biorefinery faces, the sooner the biorefinery would adopt contract farming. |
| Keywords: | Contract Farming, Vertical Integration, Biofuel Feedstock, Technology In- novation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q16, Q42, |
| Date: | 2013–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150629&r=env |
| By: | Oliver, Anthony; Khanna, Madhu |
| Abstract: | Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) have been enacted in 29 states in the US, in part to encourage an increase in the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources. Biomass can be utilized in a dedicated bio-power plant to generate electricity, co-fired with coal at an existing power plant, or used to produce cellulosic ethanol that also yields co-product electricity. Considering these options along with a detailed national model of agricultural biomass production allows for the simulation of the effect of existing policies on electricity based biomass demand. Using a multi-period, multi-market, price endogenous model of the U.S. agricultural, electricity, and transportation sectors, the effect of existing state-level RPS is evaluated along with the implications for the agriculture sector. It is found that RPSs increase generation from both biomass and wind-based electricity generation, while decreasing the amount of generation from natural gas, and coal. Due to the co-product electricity generation a greater amount of electricity is generated from biomass under the RFS & RPS scenario than the RPS scenario even though biomass prices are higher. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150406&r=env |
| By: | Roy, Chandan Roy |
| Abstract: | Indian Leather industry is recognized as the most promising foreign exchange earning sector since early ‘70s of the previous century. In terms of percentage share, leather export earnings accounted for 8% of the total foreign exchange earning sector, even in 1998-99, when the first environmental ban1 was imposed by its major export absorbing country, Germany. However, even after ten years (CLE, 2008-09) with annual earnings of 7 billion USD, the Industry has reached such a stupendous height of success, which made it the 6th largest foreign exchange earning country in the world. On one side, the export generating potential to boost the growth rate of the economy and on the other side the pollution intensive nature of the industry – has made this sector distinct. The Indian Leather Industry has been hit by several environmental bans and regulations since’90s. The ways of compliance adopted by Indian Leather sector has helped the industry in restructuring its technology and consequentially an apparent growth in exports sector has been experienced. The export earning of the Indian Leather and Leather Manufacture has almost quadrupled from 1987-88 to 2010-11. From 964.4million US$, the export earning reached to 3789million US$ during this period. This stupendous performance challenged many so called hypotheses which show a trade-off between environmental compliance and export competitiveness (Chakraborty, 2011). This paper will make an expository analysis on how that environmental compliance affected Indian Leather Industry. |
| Keywords: | Leather Exports, Environmental Regulations, Compliance, BOD, CETP, ETP. |
| JEL: | L67 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47685&r=env |
| By: | Kafle, Achyut; Swallow, Stephen K. |
| Abstract: | Investigating incentives, through valuation context and questions, that motivate respondents to reveal their true values for environmental good under consideration has been a long-standing area of research in stated preference literature. A large number of previous non-market valuation studies have focused on various dimensions of valuation questions and context and have investigated how these dimensions a↵ect the incentives to answer truthfully. An importnat, but relatively less-explored, area is the incusion of a provision rule, by which environmental good under investigation will be provided, and how this a↵ects participants’ incentives to tell the true values. Provision rules, that are made explicit to survey respondents, provide a connection between survey choices and actual outcomes. Advancements in Mechanism Design Theory have recently attracted researchers’ attention on examining alternative provision rules using discrete choice experiments (DCE) and comparing preferences and tradeo↵s across provision rules. Only very few studies,mostly in laboratory experiments, have attempted to examine the influence of the inclusion of a provision rule in elicited preferences and tradeo↵s. Employing a split-sample approach, this study compares a single decision-maker’s choice and a plurality vote provision rules in in-person choice experiments using real cash for actual implementation of ecosystem restoration project on the ground. A very preliminary conditional logit model results suggest that both rules produce statistically similar preference functions in terms of marginal values and tradeo↵s between restoration attributes. Further analysis is yet to be conducted to ensure these preliminary results hold consistently using a Latent Class Model to incorporate preference heterogeneity for ecosystem restoration. |
| Keywords: | provision rules, real-money choice experiments, ecosystem restoration, decision-support tool, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150405&r=env |
| By: | Nujin Suphaphiphat; Pietro F. Peretto; Simone Valente |
| Abstract: | We analyze the general-equilibrium effects of alternative regimes of access rights over renewable natural resources – namely, open access versus full property rights on the pace of development when economic growth is endogenously driven by both horizontal and vertical innovations. Resource exhaustion may occur under both regimes but is more likely to arise under open access. Under full property rights, positive resource rents increase expenditures and temporarily accelerate productivity growth, but also yield a higher resource price at least in the short-to-medium run. We characterize analytically the welfare effect of a regime switch induced by a failure in property rights enforcement: switching to open access is welfare reducing if the utility gain generated by the initial drop in the resource price is more than offset by the static and dynamic losses induced by reduced expenditure. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth, Innovation, Renewable Resources, Sustainable Development, Property Rights |
| JEL: | O11 O31 Q21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:duk:dukeec:13-11&r=env |
| By: | Bauner, Christoph; Crago, Christine |
| Abstract: | Many incentives at the state and federal level exist for household adoption of re- newable energy like solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Although incentives make solar panels an attractive investment from a net present value perspective, the adoption rate is low, suggesting that households are either irrational or apply an abnormally high discount rate. Alternatively, households could be recognizing the benet (option value) of waiting to reduce uncertainty in net benets associated with investing in solar PV. We use the option value framework to examine the decision by households to invest in solar PV and quantify the option value multiplier and adoption rate over time for solar PV investments. We nd that the option value multiplier is 1.8, which implies that the net present value of benets from solar PV needs to be almost double the investment cost for investment to occur. Simulated adoption rates show that the adoption rate under the option value decision rule is signi cantly lower than that following a decision rule based on NPV, and is more consistent with the observed adoption rate of solar PV. Current policies that support the solar PV market are crucial to households' adoption decision. Our simulations show that without tax credits and rebates, the median time to adoption increases by 110% compared to the baseline. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150641&r=env |
| By: | Maher, Joe |
| Abstract: | The energy savings from tree shade coincide with peak electricity demand during summer months, creating an opportunity for utilities to use tree protection policies as demand side management tools. We apply a quasi-experimental research design to identify the change in residential energy caused by tree removals using three unique micro-level datasets from Gainesville, Florida. These datasets include (i) a twelve year panel of monthly household electricity billing data for 30,000 homes serviced by Gainesville Regional Utility, (ii) city permit data that identify the timing and location of tree removals, and (iii) property appraisal data detailing structural building characteristics for each home. Results of a difference-in-difference model suggest that removing mature trees in urban setting significantly increases residential energy use. After a tree removal, households experience a 3 percent increase in average monthly utility consumption across the year. The treatment effect is largest during summer months, with an average electricity increase of 4 to 5 percent following a tree removal. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150567&r=env |
| By: | Niu, Li; Adam, Brian D.; Arthur, Frank; Campbell, James |
| Abstract: | Methyl bromide is a commonly used fumigant for controlling insects in food processing facilities. However, it has been designated as an ozone depleter and is becoming less available and more costly. Integrated pest management (IPM) is an alternative, and may additionally reduce insecticide resistance, improve worker safety, and reduce environmental concerns and consumer concerns about pesticide residuals. However, little is known about the costs and efficacy of IPM in food processing facilities. Here, we consider several IPM approaches and measure both the treatment costs as well as the costs of failing to control insects for each approach. The results will provide managers economic information to choose a better insect control method in their goal of producing wholesome, pest-free and profitable products. |
| Keywords: | insect control, integrated pest management, rice processing facilities, conventional fumigation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150456&r=env |
| By: | Klemick, Heather; Wolverton, Ann; Condon, Nicole |
| Abstract: | The literature on the impacts of biofuels on food prices is characterized by contradictory findings and a wide range of estimates. To bring more clarity to this issue, we review studies on U.S. corn ethanol expansion released between 2008 and 2013. Normalizing corn price impacts by the increase in corn ethanol volume, we find that each billion gallon expansion in ethanol production yields a 2-3 percent increase in corn prices on average across studies. We also conduct a meta-analysis to identify the factors that drive the remaining variation in crop price impacts across studies. We find that the modeling framework, projection year, inclusion of ethanol co-products, international biofuel production, and baseline and policy ethanol volumes explain much of the differences in price effects across studies and scenarios. Our study also distinguishes between analyses that estimate long-run equilibrium impacts of biofuels and short-run studies that consider the effects of unexpected policy or weather shocks, which can lead to temporary price spikes. We find higher impacts on corn prices per billion gallons of corn ethanol production in studies using a short-run framework; each additional billion gallons of ethanol causes a 5-10 percent increase in corn prices. Last, we examine a small number of studies that consider the implications of biofuel policies for food security worldwide. The literature suggests that biofuels expansion will raise the number of people at risk of hunger or in poverty in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | ethanol, biofuels, Renewable Fuel Standard, food prices, food security, meta-analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C54, Q16, Q18, Q42, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149940&r=env |
| By: | Belasco, Eric J. |
| Abstract: | Recent droughts have demonstrated the sensitivity of cattle inventories to adverse weather. Statelevel first-differenced panel regressions are used to estimate the impact of drought conditions on rancher decisions regarding herd size. Results provide insights into the recovery time associated with and degree of rebuilding cattle herds following a drought. Regional cattle inventory responses to weather are shown to be asymmetric as drought conditions have substantial short-run impacts on inventory which are difficult to rebuild. |
| Keywords: | cattle, drought, inventory, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150350&r=env |
| By: | Alexandre Gohin Author-X-Name- First: Alexandre Author-X-Name- Last: Gohin |
| Abstract: | [Paper in French] The European public policy in favor of the biodiesel consumption is highly debated. Available estimates of the induced land use changes conclude that this policy is inefficient to reduce emissions of GreenHouse Gas. We show that the crop yield evolutions in these estimates are significantly lower than the observed and expected evolutions. This difference is directly related to biased calibration choice of behavioral parameters. We show using the GTAP-BIO framework that a consistent calibration of these parameters leads to a strong reduction (by around 80% in the long run) of the land use changes and induced emissions. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel, Europe, Land use changes |
| JEL: | Q11 Q15 Q48 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rae:wpaper:201307&r=env |
| By: | Treesilvattanakul, Krissana; Taheripour, Farzad; Tyner, Wallace E. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150712&r=env |
| By: | Goodenberger, James; Klaiber, H. Allen |
| Abstract: | Eurasian water-milfoil is an aquatic invasive plant that has moved rapidly through lakes across the United States. Along with being a hazard to local ecosystems, water-milfoil is a nuisance to those who use lakes for recreation, and its presence even lowers the value of lakefront properties. Though its effects can cause great disutility to lake users, no empirical studies have emerged that investigate the impacts that Eurasian water-milfoil, or any other invasive species, have on human behavior. This study investigates the effects of Eurasian water-milfoil on the probability that undeveloped lakefront properties are developed into single-family housing units. Using a comprehensive dataset from the Twin Cities, Minnesota region, a proportional hazards duration model of land conversion is estimated with a number of covariates. It is found that undeveloped parcels of land on lakes invaded by Eurasian water-milfoil are 28% less likely to be developed than their counterparts on non-invaded lakes. These results are just the beginning of a new line of research aimed at the interaction of invasive species and human behavior. |
| Keywords: | Invasive Species, Housing supply, Hazard model, Milfoil, Lakes, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150309&r=env |
| By: | Henning, Christian H.C.A.; Zarnekow, Nana; Petri, Svetlana; Albrecht, Ernst; Hedtrich, Johannes |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the ability of the political process to design public policies implying an eective and ecient provision of global and local environmental public goods. While it is commonly accepted that the market is unable to guarantee an ecient provision of public goods, such as environmental protection or food security, the question is if or under which condition political processes are ecient mechanisms of public good provision. Beyond policy failure due special interest politics policy failure also results from the fact that economic processes are often rather complex and hence laymen use simple mental models (political beliefs) to understand policy impacts. If political beliefs are biased political decisionmaking based on public opinion leads to rather inecient policies establishing the paradox of populist democracy policy failure. We use own choice experiment data on sustainable land use policy in Germany to estimate econometrically the WTP for relevant global and local environmental public goods as well as voters' political willingness-to-vote for specic land use policies. Based on these estimations we derive underlying political belief. Further, we assess to what extend a populist democracy policy failure results, i.e. to what extend policy choices driven by political beliefs imply inecient land use policies when compared to the counterfactual evidence-based policy choices driven by model-based technological relations. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150494&r=env |
| By: | Kaplan, Scott; Zilberman, David; Kim, Eunice; Waterfield, Gina |
| Keywords: | Biotechnology, Labeling, Proposition 37, GMO, Voting, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149851&r=env |
| By: | Yun, Seong Do; Gramig, Benjamin M. |
| Abstract: | Grass conservation plantings (CP) are regularly installed as filter strips to supply water quality benefits and provide wildlife habitat, but these CPs also provide other agroecosystem services, including pest control which may reduce the need for insecticide spraying. This research extends previous work (Zhang and Swinton, 2009), by developing a multi-year space-time optimization problem as a dynamic bioeconomic model. The suggested model is applied to the problem of controlling Soybean Aphids in Newton County, Indiana. The previous literature is expanded in four major ways: the objective function is formulated as the social planner’s problem to reflect externalities, stochastic arrival of Soybean Aphids and appearance of natural enemies over space, spatially-explicit composition of the natural habitat network, and spatial heterogeneity of land cover properties. The empirical results show that natural enemies can provide suppression of Soybean Aphid and this reduces spraying frequencies. Installation of CPs increases the flow of ecosystems services across the landscape by providing habitat for beneficial natural enemies that prey upon the soybean aphid and other crop pests. |
| Keywords: | Space-Time Optimization, Ecosystem Services, Conservation Planting, Soybean Aphid, Biocontrol, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q57, C61, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150744&r=env |
| By: | Khatri-Chhetri, Arun; Collins, Alan R |
| Abstract: | The Greenbrier River watershed in West Virginia suffers from severe algal bloom problems. A combination of hydrological and economic models is used to assess the physical and economic feasibility of generating total phosphorus (TP) credits to offset a proposed TP standard of 0.5mg/l for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The results reveal that most cropland and only a proportion pasture and grassland would need base management practices to TP runoff from agricultural land in order to fulfill WWTP’s TP load reductions. All four TP credit market scenarios resulted in a cost savings compared to no market, with potential cost savings of up to $1.2 million/year over WWTP upgrades to meet the TP standard. |
| Keywords: | Nutrient trading, phosphorus credits, point sources, nonpoint sources, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149686&r=env |
| By: | Choi, Suk-Won; Ohrel, Sara; Sohngen, Brent |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150496&r=env |
| By: | Rajnish Mehra |
| Abstract: | This paper illustrates that evaluating alternate abatement polices that affect the growth path of an economy on the basis of their effects on asset valuation may not be welfare enhancing. We show that the class of abatement polices considered in the integrated assessment literature are robust with respect to the choice of a discount factor if lifetime consumption equivalents are used as a metric. We argue against a global welfare function in the presence of significant global household heterogeneity. While economic analysis is a useful tool for evaluating different policies for a homogenous class of households, inter household comparisons are an ethical issue. |
| JEL: | E44 E6 G00 G12 G31 H00 O1 Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19146&r=env |
| By: | Wamisho, Kassu |
| Abstract: | This study investigated the extent to which statistical heterogeneity among results of multiple studies on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration rate in response to conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) can be related to one or more characteristics of the studies. The analysis employed a random effect meta-regression technique using the data obtained from recently published experimental trials under continuous corn (CC) and corn soybean (CS) rotation system from selected Corn Belt states. Regarding the difference in the rate of SOC sequestration between NT and CT, our results shows that the percentage of heterogeneity in the true treatment effect that is attributable to between-study variability is 49%, whereas 51 % is attributable to within-study sampling variability. We find that 26% of the between-study variance is explained by the explanatory variables considered, and the remaining between-study variance appears almost zero. The regression results support the argument that the difference between NT and CT decreases as measurement depth increases. The results also show that the higher the initial SOC the higher the NT SOC sequestration rate relative to the CT sequestration rate. A test for publication biases in the analysis indicated no evidence for the presence of small-study effects. |
| Keywords: | SOC sequestration rate, no-till, conventional tillage, Meta regression, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013–08–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149741&r=env |
| By: | Martin, Elsa |
| Abstract: | Pesticides efficiency decreases with their global application rate by farmers. Within a strategic dynamic framework, this results in a classic intertemporal production externality. We analyze tax and subsidy schemes that can be used in order to internalize this externality. We show that they are able to restore efficiency at a given period of time but that final time of pesticide application differs. With these schemes, farmers have a tendency to switch to alternative technologies later than is optimal. The switch is later with a tax than with a susbsidy. A lump-sum transfer is shown to be necessary to obtain a switching time close, but not equal for the tax case, to the efficient one. Furthermore, the socially optimal time of switch can be later than the one obtained under a situation without control. |
| Keywords: | stock externality, differential game, switching time, pesticide, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, H23, C73, Q3, Q10, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149689&r=env |
| By: | Kamau, Mercy; Smale, Melinda; Mutua, Mercy |
| Abstract: | Use of soil amendments, including organic materials and mineral fertilizers, is highly recommended for the replenishment of soil nutrients, improved soil structure and more efficient fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa, where the fertility status of most soils cannot adequately support crop production without a combination of practices. Along with other constraints, underdeveloped markets are often cited as a reason for limited uptake of these practices. Recognizing the potential interrelationship among practices, we estimate seemingly-unrelated, multivariate probit models to identify the determinants of farmers’ choices, based on plot-level household data collected in 2008/9 from 1001 households in eight districts of Western and Central Kenya. We then estimate demand for most common soil nutrients (N and P) with Tobit models. Results suggest that while farmers are price-responsive, imperfect markets affect access to mineral fertilizers, also confirming that farm household decisions on use of soil fertility management practices are correlated. |
| Keywords: | soil management, fertility, multivariate probit, demand, plot-level, Kenya, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150722&r=env |
| By: | De Rosa, Donato; Iootty, Mariana; Pirlea, Ana Florina |
| Abstract: | Inappropriate regulation can influence productivity performance by affecting incentives to invest and adopt new technologies, as well as by directly curbing competitive pressures. Results of a labor productivity growth model for European countries suggest that improving the regulatory environment -- proxied by the Worldwide Governance Indicators regulatory quality indicator -- and boosting effective exposure to competition through increasing trade integration -- expressed as the ratio of exports plus imports to gross domestic product -- have positive effects on productivity growth. In Romania a 10 percent increase in openness to global trade over 1995-2010 would have boosted productivity growth by 9.7 percent per year. A 10 percent increase in openness to European Union trade, in particular, would have led to an annual increase in productivity of 7 percent. Realizing the benefits from trade integration depends to some extent on regulation. In this regard, the effects of regulation on productivity growth are found to be positive, regardless of the indicator used to measure regulation, and both through direct and indirect channels (by increasing the speed at which a country catches up with productivity leaders). Simulation results also show how countries with different levels of regulatory quality would benefit from a regulatory improvement: had Romania improved its regulatory environment to the same level as Denmark in 2010, its annual productivity growth would have been 14 percent higher over 1995-2010. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,E-Business,Labor Policies,Transport Economics Policy&Planning |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6493&r=env |
| By: | Khachatryan, Hayk; Joireman, Jeff; Casavant, Ken |
| Abstract: | The relationship between the consideration of future and immediate consequences (CFC) and consumer preference for gasoline, cellulose-based and corn-based ethanol fuels was investigated using data from a representative panel of U.S. consumers. A panel of U.S. consumers completed the consideration of future consequences-14 scale, and made a series of choices in fueling scenarios. Results showed that the CFC score was positively associated with the choice for alternative transportation fuels. As the CFC score increases from its minimum to maximum, the predicted probability of choosing cellulose- and corn-based ethanol fuels increases from 14% to 61%, and 22% to 30%, respectively, and the probability of choosing gasoline drops from 64% to below 10%. Additional analyses showed that the CFC-Future and CFC-Immediate subscales were unique predictors of preference for biofuels. Implications for marketing of biofuels are discussed. |
| Keywords: | consideration of future and immediate consequences, choice of biofuels, environmental behavior, discrete choice model, Consumer/Household Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150334&r=env |
| By: | Melstrom, Richard T.; Lupi, Frank |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes using a control function to correct for endogeneity in recreation demand models. The control function approach is contrasted with the method of alternative specific constants (ASCs), which has been promoted in prior research. As an application, we consider the case of travel cost endogeneity in the demand for Great Lakes recreational fishing. Using data on Michigan anglers, we employ a random utility model of site choice. We show that either ASCs or the control function will correct for travel cost endogeneity, although we find that the model with ASCs produces significantly weaker results. Overall, compared with traditional approaches control functions may offer a more flexible means to eliminate endogeneity in recreation demand models. |
| Keywords: | Recreation demand, random utility model, travel cost method, travel cost endogeneity, control function, alternative specific constants, recreational fishing, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149732&r=env |
| By: | Sesmero, Juan; Schoengold, Karina |
| Abstract: | In Mexico, farmers only pay the cost of electricity used to pump groundwater from wells for groundwater consumption and also receive electricity subsidy from government. It causes the fact that farmers consume groundwater under the situation that private marginal cost is lower than social marginal cost. Furthermore, in Mexico, different wells function under different institutional arrangements. Some wells are privately owned while others are shared by multiple farmers. In some shared wells, farmers pay for their own electricity consumption but in other shared wells farmers distribute total electricity cost based on a pre-specified rule. Both the jointly ownership and pre-specified payment rule may cause further distortion of groundwater pumping cost. By estimating the frontier demand function and technical efficiency of groundwater, we calculate the own-price elasticity of groundwater and test the effect of joint ownership and pre-specified electricity payment rule on the groundwater use efficiency. It is found that the groundwater has a negative and large (-0.5) own-price elasticity and that the number of farmers owning one well and the pre-specified payment rules do not affect the efficiency level significantly. The elimination of electricity subsidy may be the most effective policy to alleviate groundwater depletion in Mexico. |
| Keywords: | groundwater, elasticity, specific input technical efficiency, ownership externality, payment externality, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150285&r=env |
| By: | Wollni, Meike; Andersson, Camilla |
| Abstract: | In low potential agricultural areas like the Honduran hillsides characterized by soil degradation and erosion, organic agriculture can provide a means to break the downward spiral of resource degradation and poverty. We use original survey data to analyze the factors influencing the decision to convert to organic agriculture. Previous studies have emphasized the role of spatial patterns in the diffusion and adoption of agricultural technologies in general and organic agriculture in particular. These spatial patterns can result from a variety of underlying factors. In this article we test various potential explanations, including the availability of information in the farmer's neighborhood, social conformity concerns and perceived positive external effects of the adoption decision, in a spatially explicit adoption model. We find that farmers who believe to act in accordance with their neighbors' expectations and with greater availability of information in their neighborhood network are more likely to adopt organic agriculture. Furthermore, perceived positive productivity spillovers to neighboring plots decrease the probability of adoption. We discuss the implications of our findings for the dissemination of sustainable agricultural technologies in low-potential agricultural areas in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | neighborhood effects, social conformity, spatial autoregressive probit model, organic agriculture, technology adoption, Central America, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, O13, O33, Q12, Q16, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149911&r=env |