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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Babette Never (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies) |
| Abstract: | The green power potential of a country is a central factor in the transformation to a green economy. This paper argues that green power will become a decisive factor for global change. Green power combines sustainability, innovation and power into one concept. By merging insights from political science, economics and innovation research, this paper develops a multidimensional, multilevel concept of green power that takes both resources and processes into account. A first empirical assessment of the current distribution of green power in global environmental governance shows that China and India, in particular, as well as Brazil and Costa Rica are catching up in clean technology and renewable energy. The European Union, Germany and the United States still dominate, but they are not fully maximizing their green power potential. In spite of their discursive power, the green power potential of the least developed countries is relatively small, making the jump toward a green economy unlikely. |
| Keywords: | climate change, power, global environmental governance, innovation, green economy. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:226&r=env |
| By: | Burtraw, Dallas (Resources for the Future); Woerman, Matt |
| Abstract: | The Clean Air Act provides the primary regulatory framework for climate policy in the United States. Tradable performance standards (averaging) emerge as the likely tool to achieve flexibility in the regulation of existing stationary sources. This paper examines the relationship between flexibility and stringency. The metric to compare the stringency of policies is ambiguous. The relevant section of the act is traditionally technology based, suggesting an emissions rate focus. However, a specific emissions rate improvement averaged over a larger set of generators reduces the actual emissions change. A marginal abatement cost criterion to compare policy designs suggests cost-effectiveness across sources. This criterion can quadruple the emissions reductions that are achieved, with net social benefits exceeding $25 billion in 2020, with a 1.3 percent electricity price increase. Under the act, multiple stringency criteria are relevant. EPA should evaluate state implementation plans according to a portfolio of attributes, including effectiveness and cost. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, efficiency, EPA, Clean Air Act, coal, compliance flexibility, regulation |
| JEL: | K32 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2013–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-13-24&r=env |
| By: | Joachim Betz (GIGA Institute of Asian Studies) |
| Abstract: | China’s shift in energy policies has been broader, deeper and more successful than that of most other emerging economies, although the economic costs of this transition are tremendous because China is an over-industrialized country whose production is highly energy-intense and it depends on emission-intensive coal as main energy source. Factors that have influenced energy reforms, which focus on saving and conserving energy, developing renewable sources and nuclear power, are – on the international level – the impact of climate change on India, the desire to be recognized as a responsible power in the international community, China’s dangerously growing dependence on energy imports, and the uncertain prospects of equity oil abroad for energy security. Domestic factors are the growing assertiveness of environmental NGOs, relatively effective sectorial governance, and the embedding of energy policies in a blueprint for industrial upgrading. |
| Keywords: | energy policy, climate change, energy institutions, international climate summits, political system, civil society |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:216&r=env |
| By: | Robert J. Barro |
| Abstract: | Extremely low discount rates play a central role in the Stern Review’s evaluation of environmental protection, and this assumption has been criticized by many economists. The Review also stresses that great uncertainty is a critical element for optimal environmental policies. An appropriate model for this policy analysis requires sufficient risk aversion and fattailed uncertainty to get into the ballpark of explaining the observed equity premium. A satisfactory framework, based on Epstein-Zin/Weil preferences, also separates the coefficient of relative risk aversion (important for results on environmental investment) from the intertemporal elasticity of substitution for consumption (which matters little). Calibrations based on existing models of rare macroeconomic disasters suggest that optimal environmental investment can be a significant share of GDP even with reasonable values for the rate of time preference and the expected rate of return on private capital. The key parameters, yet to be pinned down, are the proportionate effect of environmental investment on the probability of environmental disaster and the baseline probability of environmental disaster. |
| JEL: | E1 G12 Q5 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19258&r=env |
| By: | Marina Fischer-Kowalski; Dominik Wiedenhofer; Willi Haas; Irene Pallua; Daniel Hausknost |
| Abstract: | Chapter 1 of this report reviews a number of approaches to conceptualize and operationalize biophysical constraints for economic performance. The starting point is a scoping study by Cambridge Econometrics and Sustainable Europe Research Institute (SERI) that reviews a large number of macroeconomic models investigating their ability to provide information on the interlinkages between the economy and the environment required from a sustainability viewpoint. This scoping study yields two key recommendations for macroeconomic modelling: to incorporate resource use in the explanation of economic development, and to allow for non-linear relationships, thresholds and limits (Serice 2010). The report then turns to another useful approach from OECD that makes an effort to conceptualize causal pathways linking global environmental change (originally: climate change) to economic development via policy regulations, direct biophysical impacts and price effects on global markets (OECD/Martinez-Fernandez et al. 2010). The three types of effects are discussed. In a next section, insights from a report from the FP7-NEUjobs project are presented. In this project, a wide array of (mainly) natural science literature had been screened to identify “global megatrends” that would impact European economies and policy-making. Given far-reaching uncertainties and complex interrelations, the megatrends identified (i.e. energy transitions, rising challenges to resource security and increasing climate change impacts) are grouped to envision two future world contexts for Europe, a “tough” and a more “friendly” world. For the year 2025, the features of these worlds are sketched on the basis of a literature review (NEUjobs 2012). The chapter concludes that indeed the availability and use of natural resources provides a key link between economies and the environment, but that it is advisable to deal with them not one by one, but in a systemic fashion that takes into account their strong interrelationships on the one hand, and the high uncertainty of constraints of particular resources on the other. It concludes that the future of European resource supply may be expected to be fairly different from the past, and should be expected to change to the worse, both for environmental reasons and for reasons of strongly increasing international demand and competition. Chapter 2 is devoted to a descriptive analysis of the changes in global and European resource use in the past and emphasises the non-linearities that can be observed. It focuses on long-term structural changes in the energetic base of socio-economic systems, leading to fundamental transformations in the scale and quality of society-nature interactions. Similar fundamental transformations should be expected for the (inevitable) transition from fossil to renewable energy sources. Based on a set of case studies of industrial countries for which long term data series for resource use (material and energy use) are available, it discusses the transition from the agrarian to the industrial metabolic regime and seeks to identify structural breaks in the development of energy use in the second half of the 20th century. The main finding is that a stabilization of per capita energy and resource use in most high-income countries was reached in the early 1970ies that is still lasting, after a period of accelerated growth of resource use since the end of World War II. During this time the so-called „decoupling? of energy and materials use from economic growth became much more pronounced, a phenomenon we describe as the “1970s syndrome”. An explanation of this common and marked turn in the upward trend of energy and materials consumption needs more research and will be further pursued in work package 201. Finally, Chapter 3 suggests four scenarios for European resource use up to the year 2050, aligning with the global resource use scenarios developed by UNEP?s International Resource Panel (2011). A “trend scenario” prolonging Europe?s resource use into the future proves to be very close to the “freezing” scenario proposed by UNEP for high income industrial countries, and leads to an average per-capita resource use in Europe on the same level as in the early 2000s. A “best practice scenario” generalizes the past success of some European countries in downsizing their resource use to all European countries up to 2050. The fourth scenario, the 2 “radical transformation scenario”, follows UNEP?s “moderate contraction and convergence” scenario in halving the per capita annual resource use of European countries, leading to what is commonly called “absolute decoupling”. The last part of the chapter is devoted to the feasibility of such a scenario, on the one hand, and the consequences this might have for the European economies. The concluding remarks emphasize that a successful scenario exercise requires an intimate collaboration between macroeconomic modellers and scientists contributing from the environmental and socio-ecological angle. There will be place for such collaboration in the further course of the WWWforEurope project. |
| Keywords: | Biophysical constraints, CGE models, economic growth path, economic strategy, industrial innovation, industrial policy, innovation policy, socio-ecological transition |
| JEL: | Q3 Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2013:m:7:d:0:i:25&r=env |
| By: | Mark Meyer (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Martin Distelkamp (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Gerd Ahlert (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Prof. Dr. Bernd Meyer (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research) |
| Abstract: | GINFORS (Global INterindustry FORecasting System) represents a state–of–the–art tool for integrated quantitative policy assessments of long run economic developments and associated pressures on the environment. Its empirical modelling framework rests on national input–output accounts which are bilaterally interconnected by international trade at the industry level. Assuming bounded rationality of agents and imperfect markets, an iterative solution algorithm facilitates ex ante simulation studies of the non-equilibrium features of globalizing economies. From a methodological point of view, GINFORS might thus be categorised as a dynamic econometric model. However, its powerful simulation capabilities also provide extensive insights into the broader economy–energy–environment nexus (see, i.a., http://cecilia2050.eu/ or www.topdad.eu/ for ongoing FP7 research work with references to climate change and the transformation to a low carbon economy as well as to climate change adaptation policy issues). The GINFORS approach relies heavily on the availability of harmonised international Input–Output datasets (preferably as annual time series). As the May 2012 release of the publicly available World Input Output Database (WIOD, see also http://www.wiod.org/) represents outstanding advancements in this regard, we decided to incorporate the WIOD datasets into the GINFORS database. This paper highlights selected issues of these most recent empirical maintenance works. Given our personal experience we intend to illustrate the significance of the WIOD database but also to stimulate a discussion of its linkages to the underlying United Nations data set on the sequence of accounts and balancing items, the second core data set within the System of National Accounts (SNA), from the viewpoint of applied economic research. |
| Keywords: | environmental policy, multi-region Input-Output analysis, world trade model, embodied environmental impacts |
| JEL: | C54 C63 C67 Q01 Q56 F17 F18 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gws:dpaper:13-5&r=env |
| By: | Rogge, Karoline S.; Reichardt, Kristin |
| Abstract: | Reaching a better understanding of the politics and policies of transitions presents a main agenda item in the emerging field of sustainability transitions. One important requirement for these transitions, such as the move towards a decarbonized energy system, is the redirection and acceleration of technological change, for which policies play a key role. Several studies of policies supporting environmental technological change have argued for the need to combine different policy instruments in so-called policy mixes. However, existing policy mix studies often fall short of reflecting the complexity and dynamics of actual policy mixes, and they lack a common terminology. In this paper we take a first step towards a more comprehensive policy mix concept for environmental technological change based on a review of the bodies of literature on innovation studies, environmental economics and policy analysis. The concept we develop consists of the three building blocks elements, processes and dimensions and introduces a clear terminology, which is particularly important for the characteristics of such a policy mix, including the consistency of its elements and the coherence of its processes. Throughout the paper, we illustrate the concept using the example of the policy mix for fostering the transition of the German energy system to renewable power generation technologies. We argue that the proposed concept provides an interdisciplinary analytical framework for empirical studies analyzing the impact of the policy mix on environmental technological change and may thereby contribute to reaching a better understanding of the politics and policies of sustainability transitions. Finally, we derive policy implications and suggest avenues for future research. -- |
| Keywords: | policy mix,policy strategy,instrument mix,policy making and implementation,consistency,coherence |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s32013&r=env |
| By: | Esther Duflo; Michael Greenstone; Rohini Pande; Nicholas Ryan |
| Abstract: | In many regulated markets, private, third-party auditors are chosen and paid by the firms that they audit, potentially creating a conflict of interest. This paper reports on a two-year field experiment in the Indian state of Gujarat that sought to curb such a conflict by altering the market structure for environmental audits of industrial plants to incentivize accurate reporting. There are three main results. First, the status quo system was largely corrupted, with auditors systematically reporting plant emissions just below the standard, although true emissions were typically higher. Second, the treatment caused auditors to report more truthfully and very significantly lowered the fraction of plants that were falsely reported as compliant with pollution standards. Third, treatment plants, in turn, reduced their pollution emissions. The results suggest reformed incentives for third-party auditors can improve their reporting and make regulation more effective. |
| JEL: | L51 M42 O13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19259&r=env |
| By: | Traeger, Chirstian (University of California, Berkeley. Dept of agricultural and resource economics) |
| Abstract: | Global warming, alterations of ecosystems, and sunk investments all imply irreversible changes with uncertain future costs and benefits. Two concepts measure how this combination of uncertainty and irreversibility changes the value of preserving an ecosystem or postponing an investment. First, the environmental and resource economics literature developed the Arrow-Fisher-Hanemann-Henry quasi-option value. Second, the real options literature developed the Dixit-Pindyck option value. This paper clarifies the precise differences between the two approaches in a simple two period model. We explain that the quasi-option value captures the value of learning conditional on preservation, while the Dixit-Pindyck option value captures the net value of preservation under learning. We show how either of the two concepts alters the common net present value decision rule. We illustrate similarities, differences, and the decision rules in two instructive examples. |
| Keywords: | irreversibility, option, quasi-option value, benefit cost analysis, uncertainty |
| JEL: | D81 Q51 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:are:cudare:1132&r=env |
| By: | Walsh, Darragh; O'Sullivan, K.; Lee, W. T.; Devine, M. |
| Abstract: | We present a model for determining analytically the critical threshold for investment in carbon capture and storage technology in a region where carbon costs are volatile and assuming the cost of investment decreases. We first study a deterministic model with quite general dependence on carbon price and then analyse the effect of carbon price volatility on the optimal investment decision by solving a Bellman equation with an infinite planning horizon. We find that increasing the expected carbon price volatility increases the critical investment threshold and that adoption of this technology is not optimal at current prices, in agreement with other works. However, reducing carbon price volatility by switching from carbon permits to taxes or by introducing a carbon floor as in Great Britain would accelerate the optimal adoption of this technology. Our deterministic model provides a good description of this decision problem. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp461&r=env |
| By: | Calista Cheung |
| Abstract: | As its workforce ages and major economies shift towards producing higher value-added goods and services, New Zealand will face increasing challenges to remain globally competitive and maintain high living standards. Future growth will need to come increasingly from productivity gains, and resources will have to shift towards activities that rely more on skills, technology and intangible assets. Strengthening international linkages will be crucial to overcoming geographic disadvantages and will require improvements in the information and communications technology infrastructure, together with innovation leveraged off the country’s strong primary industry knowledge base. Continuing to raise skill levels and the pensionable age will also help counter the effects of ageing. Lifting national saving, partly by targeting a higher public saving rate, will reduce the persistently high relative real interest rates and the sustained overvaluation of the real exchange rate, which potentially harm economic activity. To improve the sustainability of growth, revenues from non-renewable resource extraction need to be invested for the benefit of future generations and greater efforts devoted to mitigate the damage to natural capital from economic activity, particularly with respect to water quality. This Working Paper relates to the 2013 OECD Economic Review of New Zealand (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/New Zealand).<P>Des politiques en faveur d'une croissance viable à long terme en Nouvelle-Zélande<BR>Tandis que sa population active vieillit et que les grandes économies s’orientent vers la production de biens et services apportant une plus grande valeur ajoutée, il va devenir de plus en plus difficile pour la Nouvelle-Zélande de rester compétitive sur la scène mondiale et de maintenir un niveau de vie élevé. À l’avenir, la croissance devra s’appuyer de plus en plus sur les gains de productivité, et les ressources devront être consacrées à des activités qui font davantage appel aux qualifications, aux technologies et aux actifs incorporels. Le renforcement des liaisons internationales, déterminant pour surmonter l’éloignement géographique, nécessitera une amélioration de l’infrastructure des technologies de l’information et de la communication, ainsi qu’une innovation tirant parti de la solide base de connaissances du pays dans le secteur primaire de l’économie. S’il continue à relever les niveaux de qualification ainsi que l’âge du départ à la retraite, le pays pourra compenser les effets du vieillissement de la population et, en visant un taux d’épargne publique plus élevée, il réduira les effets potentiellement néfastes de la lourde dette extérieure pour l’activité économique. Pour rendre la croissance plus durable, il devra investir les recettes de l’extraction des ressources non renouvelables au bénéfice des générations futures, et consacrer davantage d’efforts à l’atténuation des dommages qu’entraîne l’activité économique pour le capital naturel, et notamment la qualité de l’eau. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Nouvelle-Zélande 2013 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/Nouvelle-Zéland e). |
| Keywords: | growth, human capital, globalisation, product market regulation, trade, migration, ageing, innovation, climate change, labour force participation, distance, comparative advantage, emissions trading scheme, green growth, macroeconomic imbalances, royalties, sustainable growth, net foreign assets, natural capital, croissance, capital humain, innovation, vieillissement, réglementation des marchés de produits, commerce, changement climatique, mondialisation, distance, avantage comparatif, migration, croissance verte, système d’échange de quotas d’émissions, déséquilibres macroéconomiques, croissance durable, capital naturel, redevances; |
| JEL: | E24 E27 E61 E62 F10 J11 J18 J24 J26 O43 O47 Q38 Q51 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2013–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1076-en&r=env |
| By: | Nagl, Stephan (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, many countries have implemented policies to incentivize renewable power generation. In this paper, we analyze the variance in profits of renewable-based electricity producers due to weather uncertainty under a `feed-in tariff' policy, a `fixed bonus' incentive and a `renewable quota' obligation. In a first step, we discuss the price effects of fluctuations in the feed-in from renewables and their impact on the risk for green electricity producers. In a second step, we numerically solve the problem by applying a spatial stochastic equilibrium model to the European electricity market. The simulation results allow us to discuss the variance in profits under the different renewable support mechanisms and how different technologies are affected by weather uncertainty. The analysis suggests that wind producers benefit from market integration, whereas producers from biomass and solar plants face a larger variance in profits. Furthermore, the simulation indicates that highly volatile green certificate prices occur when introducing a renewable quota obligation without the option of banking and borrowing. Thus, all renewable producers face a higher variance in profits, as the price effect of weather uncertainty on green certificates overcompensates the negatively correlated fluctuations in production and prices. |
| Keywords: | RES-E policy; financial risk; mixed complementarity problem |
| JEL: | C61 L50 Q40 |
| Date: | 2013–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2013_015&r=env |
| By: | Petri, Peter (Brandeis University); Thomas, Vinod (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Evidence-based economic policies—pragmatic policies that work—played a major role in Asia’s success in raising its living standards in the last half century. However, growth prospects are now threatened by rising income inequality and environmental degradation if Asia continues on its established growth path. Evidence strongly argues for Asia to broaden its development priorities into a triple bottom line: that is, a focus on growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The paper focuses on how Asia can manage this ambitious goal. Possible resistance from vested interests is to be anticipated, but pursuing this path could bring large overall gains. The paper looks at how Asian governments and their development partners can make a difference in promoting the three policy objectives. Innovations in governance for better accountability, transparency, and feedback will be necessary for achieving these priorities. Societies in Asia and the international community will also need rigorous evidence and analysis to establish the benefits of this strategy and to make informed policy choices. International financial institutions and the donor community can provide financial lubricants for cooperation, as well as knowledge to help governments counter vested interests and champion regional perspectives on transborder issues. Reversing the negative social and environmental trends has to become a real development priority rather than a mere aspiration. Progress is possible on the three bottom-line goals, but it will require focusing Asia’s vaunted methods of learning and innovation to meet the new challenges. |
| Keywords: | videnced-based policy; governance; institutions; inclusive growth; Kuznets curve; sustainability |
| JEL: | D62 E02 O19 O44 |
| Date: | 2013–07–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0360&r=env |
| By: | Diego Comin; Johannes Rode |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of the diffusion of photovoltaic (PV) systems on the fraction of votes obtained by the German Green Party. The logistic diffusion of PV systems offers a new identification strategy. We take first differences and instrument adoption rates (i.e. the first difference in the diffusion level) by lagged diffusion levels. The existing rationales for non-linearities in diffusion, and ubiquity of logistic curves ensure that our instrument is orthogonal to variables that directly affect voting patterns. We find that the diffusion of domestic PV systems caused 25 percent of the increment in green votes between 1998 and 2009. |
| Date: | 2013–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:rnotes:30&r=env |
| By: | Llorenç Bagur; Jordi Perramon; Oriol Amat |
| Abstract: | Few studies have examined the combined effect of implementing quality and environmental management within the service sector. This void is more evident if we focus on segments in which small businesses predominate and even more so if we look for highly competitive sectors that are very variable and that have high business mortality. After analysing 198 surveys of Spanish travel agency managers using structural equations, it can be concluded that practices of quality management have a significant direct impact on business competitiveness but not on this business's financial results, at least directly. However, there is a significant relationship between environmental management practices and economic benefits. This article suggests that commitment to quality and the environment can allow small businesses in the service sector to have a competitive advantage that will separate surviving and ceased operations, particularly in sectors that are rapidly evolving and highly competitive. |
| Keywords: | Quality management, Environmental management, Firm performance and Travel agencies. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1376&r=env |
| By: | Erik O. Kimbrough (Simon Fraser University); Alexander Vostroknutov (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | We study a novel, repeated common pool resource game in which current resource stocks depend on resource extraction in previous periods. Our model shows that for a sufficiently high regrowth rate, there is no commons dilemma: the resource will be preserved indefinitely in equilibrium. Lower growth rates lead to depletion. Laboratory tests of the model indicate that favorable ecological characteristics are necessary but insufficient to encourage effective CPR governance. However, using a method developed in Kimbrough and Vostroknutov (2013), we identify behavioral types ex ante by observing individual willingness to follow a costly rule, and we show that assortative matching on type facilitates CPR management. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, common pool resource game, rule-following, experimental economics. |
| JEL: | C9 C7 D7 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp13-06&r=env |
| By: | Birte Pohl (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies); Peter Mulder (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the diffusion of non-hydro renewable energy (NHRE) technologies for electricity generation across 108 developing countries between 1980 and 2010. We use two-stage estimation methods to identify the determinants behind the choice of whether or not to adopt NHRE as well as about the amount of electricity to produce from renewable energy sources. We find that NHRE diffusion accelerates with the implementation of economic and regulatory instruments, higher per capita income and schooling levels, and stable, democratic regimes. In contrast, increasing openness and aid, institutional and strategic policy support programs, growth of electricity consumption, and high fossil fuel production appear to delay NHRE diffusion. Furthermore, we find that a diverse energy mix increases the probability of NHRE adoption. Finally, we find weak support for a positive influence of the Kyoto Protocol on NHRE diffusion and no evidence for any influence resulting from financial sector development. |
| Keywords: | renewable energy technologies, developing countries, electricity, technology diffusion, sample selection |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:217&r=env |
| By: | Luca Marchiori; Jean-Francois Maystadt; Ingmar Schumacher |
| Abstract: | It was recently suggested that the role of environmentally-induced income variability as a determinant of migration has been studied little to none. We provide a theoretical discussion and an overview of the empirical literature on this. We also extend a previous empirical study of ours by including income variability. Our findings lead us to acknowledge that income variability is a negligible driver of migration decisions at the macroeconomic level. |
| Keywords: | Income variability, international migration, rural-urban migration, weather anomalies, sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F22 Q54 R13 |
| Date: | 2013–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:17&r=env |
| By: | Adrien Labaeye; Thomas Sauer |
| Abstract: | Area 5 focuses on the regional and local dimensions of the new European path to socio-ecological transition. Its central assumption is that any strategy developed to enhance a socio-ecological transition is unlikely to yield strong results unless the resources of regional and local actors are mobilised and the complex interactions between central policy initiatives and their regional or local implementation are taken into account. In order to better understand how cities and regions initiate processes of change in relation to sustainability, this milestone focuses on networks of cities, regions and their communities around the issue of sustainable development. Indeed, those networks have often been described in the literature as a crucial element in implementing sustainable development at subnational and local levels and across borders. This milestone takes the form of a short review of the relevant literature that introduces an inventory of the various sustainability networks involving cities and regions across Europe mapping them against a set of established criteria. Findings of the inventory's analysis are presented, some new avenues for research and policy-making being suggested. |
| Keywords: | Academic research, biophysical constraints, ecological excellence, ecological innovation, entrepreneurship, European governance, gender, good governance, green jobs, holistic and interdisciplinary approach, institutional reforms, labour markets, multi-level governance, research, social capital as growth driver, social innovation, socio-ecological transition, sustainable growth, sustainable cities, sustainable urban transition |
| JEL: | B4 O18 O52 O57 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2013:m:7:d:0:i:27&r=env |
| By: | Lkhagva Gerelmaa (International University of University); Koji Kotani (International University of University) |
| Abstract: | One of the surprising findings in the economic development literature is that natural resource-rich countries tend to have slower economic growth than resource-poor countries, i.e., the natural resource curse and Dutch disease. In this paper, we revisit these issues by applying quantile regression and using the most updated data. The results demonstrate that resource-intensive countries in 1970 suffered from slower economic growth than resource-poor countries over the next 20 years, consistent with Sachs and Warner (1995, 1997, 2001). However, contrary to initial expectation, we find that natural resource abundance in 1990 had positive impacts on economic growth between 1990 and 2010. We further test the Dutch disease theory, and the result contradicts the hypothesis. Overall, our analysis suggests that in the period from 1970 to 1990, the hypotheses of a resource curse and Dutch disease hold. However, in the period from 1990 to 2010, these hypotheses no longer hold because manufacturing sectors have grown suffciently even in resource-rich countries. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources, economic growth, resource curse, Dutch disease |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2013_07&r=env |
| By: | Barrows, Geoffrey; Sexton, Steven; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | Increased demand for agricultural produce for food, fiber, feed, and energy generates a tradeoff between high prices and environmentally costly land conversion. Genetically engineered (GE) seeds can potentially increase supply without recruiting new lands to production. We develop a simple adoption model to show how first-generation GE increases yield per hectare. We identify yield increases from cross country time series variation in GE adoption share within the main GE crops- cotton, corn, and soybeans. We find that GE increased yields 34% for cotton, 32% for corn, but only 2% for soybeans. The model also predicts that GE extends the range of lands that can be farmed profitably. If the output on these lands are attributed to GE technology, then overall supply effects are larger than previously understood. Considering this extensive margin effect, the supply effect of GE increases from 10% to 16% for corn, 15% to 20% for cotton, and 2% to 39% for soybeans, generating significant downward pressure on prices. Finally, we compute \saved" lands and greenhouse gasses as the difference between observed hectarage per crop and counterfactual hectarage needed to generate the same output without the yield boost from GE. We find that all together, GE saved 21million Ha of land from conversion to agriculture in 2010, or 0.41 Gt ofCO2emissions (using a constantCO2/land conversion factor). These averted emissions are equivalent to roughly 1/3 the annual emissions from driving in the US. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, genetic engineering, ge seeds, co2 emissions |
| Date: | 2013–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:agrebk:qt3rg0c0fz&r=env |
| By: | Carnovale, Maria; Gibson, Matthew |
| Abstract: | We evaluate whether driving restrictions improve air quality. While Milan's restriction decreases overall air pollution, there is a significant behavioral response that attenuates the effect. Our study expoits the natural experiment created by an unanticipated court injunction suspending Milan's restriction. Drivers respond to the restriction with: 1) intertemporal substituion toward the unpriced period; 2) substitution toward exempt vehicles; and 3) spatial substitution toward unpriced roads. Importantly, the net effect on traffic varies with public transit availability. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, spatial substitution, air pollution, air quality |
| Date: | 2013–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt0v8813qm&r=env |
| By: | Fidel Perez-Sebastian; Ohad Raveh |
| Abstract: | Natural resource abundance is a blessing for some countries, but a curse for othes. We show that differences across countries in the degree of fiscal decentralisation can contribute to this divergent outcome. First, the paper presents a unified theory that combines political and market mechanisms to illustrate why natural resource booms can create negative effects in fiscally decentralized nations. Thereafter, we employ Sachs and Warner's cross-sectional data, and also construct a new panel-data sample to test the hypothesis. Results support the joint effect of the two variables. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources, economic growth, fiscal decentralization, agglomeration economies, tax competition |
| JEL: | O13 O18 O40 Q32 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:112&r=env |
| By: | Walls, Margaret (Resources for the Future); Palmer, Karen (Resources for the Future); Gerarden, Todd |
| Abstract: | We look for evidence of capitalization of energy efficiency features in home prices using data from real estate multiple listing services (MLS) in three metropolitan areas: the Research Triangle region of North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Portland, Oregon. These home listings include information on Energy Star certification and, in Portland and Austin, local green certifications. Our results suggest that Energy Star certification increases the sales prices of homes built between 1995 and 2006 but has no statistically significant effect on sales prices for newer homes. The local certifications appear to have larger effects on sales prices, and that effect holds for both newer and older homes. The estimated home price premiums from certification imply annual energy cost savings that are sizeable fractions of estimated annual energy costs for homes in our sample, in some cases even above 100 percent. This suggests that the certifications either embody other attributes beyond energy efficiency that are of value to homebuyers or that buyers are overpaying for the energy savings. Further research is needed to better understand how consumers interpret home certifications and how they value the combination of “green” characteristics that many of those certifications embody. |
| Keywords: | Energy Star homes, energy efficiency, green certifications, hedonic model |
| JEL: | L94 L95 Q40 |
| Date: | 2013–07–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-13-18&r=env |