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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Thomas Coisnon (Granem - Groupe de Recherche ANgevin en Economie et Management - Agrocampus Ouest - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) : UMR49); Walid Oueslati (Granem - Groupe de Recherche ANgevin en Economie et Management - Agrocampus Ouest - Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) : UMR49); Julien Salanié (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure (ENS) - Lyon - PRES Université de Lyon - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Etienne - Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I) |
| Abstract: | Widespread public support exists for the provision of natural amenities, such as lakes, rivers or wetlands, and for efforts to preserve these from agricultural pollution. Agri-environmental policies contribute to these efforts by encouraging farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices within the vicinity of these ecosystems. A spatially targeted agri-environmental policy promotes natural amenities and may thereby affect household location decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of these impacts on the spatial urban structure. We extend a monocentric city model to include farmers' responses to an agri-environmental policy. Our main findings are that the implementation of a spatially targeted agrienvironmental policy may lead to some additional urban development, which could conflict with the aim of the policy. |
| Keywords: | Land development; Urban sprawl; Leapfrog; Land rent; Monocentric model; Farming; Agri-environmental policy; Spatial targeting; Agricultural pollution |
| Date: | 2014–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00944683&r=env |
| By: | Ghosal, Vivek (Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), European Business School (Wiesbaden), and CESifo (Munich).); Stephan , Andreas (CESIS Stockholm and Jönköping International Business School); Weiss, Jan (Jönköping International Business School) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique plant-level dataset we examine green productivity growth in Sweden’s heavily regulated pulp and paper industry, which has historically been a significant contributor to air and water pollution. Our exercise is interesting as Sweden has a unique regulatory structure where plants have to comply with national environmental regulatory standards and enforcement, along with decentralised plant-specific regulations. In our analysis, we use the sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index which accounts for air and water pollutants as undesirable outputs. Some of our key findings are: (1) regulation has stimulated technical change related to pollution control, and has induced plants to catch up with the best-practice technology frontier with regard to effluent abatement; (2) large plants are more heavily regulated than small plants; (3) plants in environmentally less sensitive areas or those with local importance as employer face relatively lenient regulatory constraints; (4) environmental regulations trigger localized knowledge spillovers between nearby plants, boosting their green TFP growth. |
| Keywords: | TFP; DEA; Sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index; pulp and paper industry; pollution; environmental regulations; enforcement; plant-specific regulation; productivity; Porter hypothesis |
| JEL: | D24 L51 L60 Q52 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0342&r=env |
| By: | Armon Rezai; Frederick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | Climate change must deal with two market failures, global warming and learning by doing in renewable use. The social optimum requires an aggressive renewables subsidy in the near term and a gradually rising carbon tax which falls in long run. As a result, more renewables are used relative to fossil fuel, there is an intermediate phase of simultaneous use, the carbonfree era is brought forward, more fossil fuel is locked up and global warming is lower. The optimal carbon tax is not a fixed proportion of world GDP. The climate externality is more severe than the learning by doing one. |
| Keywords: | climate change, integrated assessment, Ramsey growth, carbon tax, renewables subsidy, learning by doing, directed technical change, multiplicative damages, additive damages |
| JEL: | H21 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:123&r=env |
| By: | Akira Miyaoka (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This study considers a Cournot duopoly market in which a clean firm can transfer its less polluting technology to a dirty firm through a fixed-fee licensing contract. We analyze the impacts of emissions taxes on the incentives of firms to transfer technology as well as on the total pollution level, and examine the properties of the optimal emissions tax policy. We first show that higher emissions taxes weaken incentives for technology transfer and that this can lead to a perverse increase in the level of total pollution. We then compare the optimal emissions tax when technology licensing is possible with that when licensing is infeasible and show that the relationship between the optimal tax rate and the degree of the initial technology gap between firms when licensing is possible can be the opposite of that when licensing is infeasible. |
| Keywords: | Technology transfer; Cournot duopoly; Pollution; Emissions tax |
| JEL: | L13 L24 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1408&r=env |
| By: | Frederick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | A classroom model of global warming, fossil fuel depletion and the optimal carbon tax is formulated and calibrated. It features iso-elastic fossil fuel demand, stock-dependent fossil fuel extraction costs, an exogenous interest rate and no decay of the atmospheric stock of carbon. The optimal carbon tax reduces emissions from burning fossil fuel, both in the short and medium run. Furthermore, it brings forward the date that renewables take over from fossil fuel and encourages the market to keep more fossil fuel locked up. A renewables subsidy induces faster fossil fuel extraction and thus accelerates global warming during the fossil fuel phase, but brings forward the carbon-free era, locks up more fossil fuel reserves and thus ultimately curbs cumulative carbon emissions and global warming. For relatively large subsidies social welfare is more likely to fall as the economic costs rises more than proportionally with the size of the subsidy. Our calibration suggests that such subsidies are not a good second-best climate policy. |
| Keywords: | global warming, social cost of carbon, optimal carbon tax, renewables |
| JEL: | D81 H20 Q31 Q38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:119&r=env |
| By: | Bernardo, Giovanni; D'Alessandro, Simone |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses different policies that may promote the transition towards a low-carbon economy. We present a dynamic simulation model where three different strategies are identified: improvements in energy efficiency, the development of the renewable energy sector, and carbon capture and storage. Our aim is to evaluate the dynamics that the implementation of these strategies may produce in the economy, looking at different performance indicators, such as the GDP growth rate, unemployment, labour share, carbon emissions, and renewable energy production. Scenario analysis shows that a number of tradeoffs between social, economic and environmental indicators emerge. Such tradeoffs undermine an `objective' definition of sustainability. |
| Keywords: | sustainability, energy transition, system dynamics, scenario analysis. |
| JEL: | C63 E2 Q01 Q43 |
| Date: | 2014–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53746&r=env |
| By: | Hwang, In Chang |
| Abstract: | One of the recent findings in the economics of climate change is that emissions control plays a significant role in the reduction of the tail-effect of fat-tailed uncertainty on welfare. The current paper gives another perspective: the learning-effect. The effect of emissions control on welfare is decomposed into the direct effect and the learning-effect. Although this has been known for thin-tailed uncertainty in the literature, this paper takes a different approach: the changes in temperature distributions under fat-tailed uncertainty and learning. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy; deep uncertainty; Dismal Theorem; tail-effect; learning-effect |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2014–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53671&r=env |
| By: | Schleich, Joachim; Dütschke, Elisabeth; Schwirplies, Claudia; Ziegler, Andreas |
| Abstract: | Relying on a recent survey of more than 3300 participants from China, Germany and the US, this paper empirically analyzes citizens' perceptions of climate change and climate policy, focusing on key guiding principles for sharing mitigation costs across countries. The ranking of the main principles for burden-sharing is identical in China, Germany and the US: accountability followed by capability, egalitarianism, and sovereignty. Thus, on a general level, citizens across these countries seem to have a common understanding of fairness. We therefore find no evidence that citizens' (stated) fairness preferences are detrimental to future burden-sharing agreements. While there is heterogeneity in citizens' perceptions of climate change and climate policy within and across countries, a substantial portion of citizens in all countries perceive a lack of transparency, fairness, and trust in international climate agreements. -- |
| Keywords: | climate policy,climate change,burden-sharing,equity,fairness,distributive justice,trust,public opinion |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s22014&r=env |
| By: | Hwang, In Chang; Reynes, Frederic; Tol, Richard |
| Abstract: | We construct an endogenous (Bayesian) learning model with fat-tailed uncertainty on the equilibrium climate sensitivity and solve the model with stochastic dynamic programming. In our model a decision maker updates her belief on the climate sensitivity through temperature observations each time period and takes a course of action (carbon reductions) based on her belief. We find that the uncertainty is partially resolved over time, although the rate of learning is relatively slow, and the decision maker with a possibility of learning lowers the efforts to reduce carbon emissions relative to the no-learning case. The larger the tail effect, the larger the counteracting learning effect. Learning at least partly offsets the tail-effect of deep uncertainty. This is intuitive in that the decision maker fully utilizes the information revealed to reduce uncertainty, and thus she can make a decision contingent on the updated information. In addition, with various scenarios, we find that learning enables the economic agent to have less regrets for her past actions after the true value of the uncertain variable turns out to be different from the initial best guess. Furthermore the optimal decisions in the learning case are less sensitive to the true value of the uncertain variable than the decisions in the uncertainty case. The reason is that learning lets uncertainty converge to the true value of the state in the sense that the variance approaches 0 as information accumulates. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy; deep uncertainty; Bayesian learning; integrated assessment; stochastic dynamic programming |
| JEL: | C61 H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53681&r=env |
| By: | Bonilla, Jorge (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Coria, Jessica (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Mohlin, Kristina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Sterner, Thomas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how different NOx abatement technologies have diffused under the Swedish system of refunded emissions charges and analyzes the determinants of the time to adoption. The policy, under which the charge revenues are refunded back to the regulated firms in proportion to energy output, was explicitly designed to affect investment in NOx-reducing technologies. The results indicate that a higher net NOx charge liability, i.e. a reduction in tax liabilities net of the refund due to the new technology, increases the likelihood of adoption, but only for end-of-pipe post-combustion technologies. We also find some indication that market power considerations in the heat and power industry reduce the incentives to abate emissions through investment in postcombustion technologies. Adoption of post-combustion technologies and the efficiency improving technology of flue gas condensation are also more likely in the heat and power and waste incineration sectors, which is possibly explained by a large degree of public ownership in these sectors. |
| Keywords: | technology diffusion; NOx; abatement technologies; environmental regulations; refunded emission charge |
| JEL: | H23 O33 O38 Q52 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0585&r=env |
| By: | Shawkat Hammoudeh; Duc Khuong Nguyen; Ricardo M. Sousa |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the short-term dynamics of the prices of CO2 emissions, using the vector autoregression (VAR) and the vector error-correction Models (VECM). The data are monthly for the prices of oil, coal, natural gas, electricity and carbon emission allowances. The results show that: (i) a positive shock to the crude oil prices has a negative effect on the CO2 prices; (ii) an unexpected increase in the natural gas prices raises the price of CO2 emissions; (iii) a positive shock to the prices of the fuel of choice, coal, has virtually no significant impact on the CO2 prices; (iv) there is a clear positive effect of the coal prices on the CO2 prices when the electricity prices are excluded from the VAR system; and (v) a positive shock to the electricity prices reduces the price of the CO2 allowances. We also find that the energy price shocks have a persistent impact on the CO2 prices, with the largest effect occurring 6 months after the shock. The effect is particularly strong in the case of the natural gas price shocks. Additionally, we estimate that it takes between 7.3 and 9.6 months to halve the gap between the actual and the equilibrium prices of the CO2 allowances, i.e., to erase any price over- or under-valuations after a shock strikes. Finally, the empirical findings suggest an important degree of substitution between the three primary sources of energy (i.e., crude oil, natural gas and coal), particularly, when electricity prices are excluded from the VAR system. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions prices, crude oil, natural gas, coal, electricity |
| JEL: | Q47 |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-081&r=env |
| By: | Frederick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | Optimal climate policy should act in a precautionary fashion to deal with tipping points that occur at some future random moment. The optimal carbon tax should include an additional component on top of the conventional present discounted value of marginal global warming damages. This component increases with the sensitivity of the hazard to temperature or the stock of atmospheric carbon. If the hazard of a catastrophe is constant, no correction is needed of the usual Pigouvian tax. The results are applied to a tipping point resulting from an abrupt and irreversible release of greenhouse gases from the ocean floors and surface of the earth, which set in motion a positive feedback loop. Convex enough hazard functions cause overshooting of the carbon tax, but a linear hazard function gives rise to undershooting. A more convex hazard function and a high discount rate speed up adjustment. |
| Keywords: | social cost of carbon, tipping point, positive feedback, climate |
| JEL: | D81 H20 Q31 Q38 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:122&r=env |
| By: | Sahbi Farhani; Anissa Chaibi; Christophe Rault |
| Abstract: | This article contributes to the literature by investigating the dynamic relationship between Carbone dioxide (CO2) emissions, output (GDP), energy consumption, and trade using the bounds testing approach to cointegration and the ARDL methodology for Tunisia over the period 1971-2008. The empirical results reveal the existence of two causal long-run relationships between the variables. In the short-run, there are three unidirectional Granger causality relationships, which run from GDP, squared GDP and energy consumption to CO2 emissions. To check the stability in the parameter of the selected model, CUSUM and CUSUMSQ were used. The results also provide important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions, Energy consumption, ARDL bounds testing approach |
| JEL: | Q56 Q43 C51 |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-056&r=env |
| By: | Shawkat Hammoudeh; Amine Lahiani; Duc Khuong Nguyen; Ricardo M. Sousa |
| Abstract: | We use the recently developed nonlinear autoregressive distributed lags (NARDL) model to examine the pass-through of changes in crude oil prices, natural gas prices, coal prices and electricity prices to the CO2 emission allowance prices. This approach allows one to simultaneously test the short- and long-run nonlinearities through the positive and negative partial sum decompositions of the predetermined explanatory variables. It also offers the possibility to quantify the respective responses of the CO2 emission prices to positive and negative shocks to the prices of their determinants from the asymmetric dynamic multipliers. We find that: (i) the crude oil prices have a long-run negative and asymmetric effect on the CO2 allowance prices; (ii) the falls in the coal prices have a stronger impact on the carbon prices in the short-run than the increases; (iii) the natural gas prices and electricity prices have a symmetric effect on the carbon prices, but this effect is negative for the former and positive for the latter. Policy implications are provided. |
| Keywords: | CO2 allowance price, energy prices, NARDL model, asymmetric passthrough |
| JEL: | Q47 |
| Date: | 2014–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-082&r=env |
| By: | Karlygash Kuralbayeva |
| Abstract: | I build an equilibrium search and matching model of an economy with an informal sector and rural-urban migration to analyze the effects of budget-neutral green tax policy (raising pollution taxes, while cutting payroll taxes) on the labor market. The key results of the paper suggest that when general public spending varies endogenously in response to tax reform and higher energy taxes can reduce the income from self-employed work in the informal sector, green tax policy can produce a triple dividend: a cleaner environment, lower unemployment rate and higher after-tax income of the private sector. This is due to the ability of the government, by employing public spending as an additional policy instrument, to reduce the overall tax burden when an increase in energy tax rates does not exceed some threshold level. Thus governments should employ several instruments if they are concerned with labor market implicatoins of green tax policies. |
| Keywords: | informal sector, matching frictions, pollution taxes, double dividend subsidy, learning by doing, directed technical change, multiplicative damages, additive damages |
| JEL: | H20 H23 H30 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:125&r=env |
| By: | Bontems, Philippe; Gozlan, Estelle |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we address two questions: (i) how should a government pursuing both environmental and redistributive objectives design domestic taxes when redistribution is costly, and (ii) how does trade liberalization affect this optimal tax system, and modify the economy's levels of pollution and inequalities ? Using a general equilibrium model under asymmetric information with two goods, two factors (skilled and unskilled labor) and pollution, we fully characterize the optimal mixed tax system (nonlinear income tax and linear commodity and production taxes/subsidies). We provide simulations highlighting the linkages between pollution, labor income redistribution and increasing globalization with our endogenous fiscal system. In the redistributive case (i.e. in favor of the unskilled workers) and when the dirty sector is intensive in unskilled labor, we show that (i) trade liberalization involves a clear trade-off between the reduction of inequalities and the control of pollution when the source of externality is mainly production ; this is not necessarily true with a consumption externality; (ii) under openness to trade, the source of the externality matters for redistribution, while it is not the case in autarky. Finally we discuss the impact of an increasing willingness to redistribute income and of a technological shock affecting emissions intensity. |
| Keywords: | quality signalling, vertical relationship, information disclosure. |
| JEL: | F13 F18 H21 H23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:27907&r=env |
| By: | Mohamed Akli Achabou; Sihem Dekhili; Linda Prince |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this research is to study the determinants of the environmental commitment in France. 25 companies responded to a survey. The results show that the regulation constitutes a relevant vector of the environmental commitment of companies but it comes in a second order after the customer satisfaction. The search for legitimacy with the customers seems to be fundamental for the enterprises’ survival. |
| Keywords: | Environmental commitment, Financial performance, Customer satisfaction, Corporate social responsibility (CSR). |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-075&r=env |
| By: | Rabah Arezki; Kaddour Hadri; Prakash Loungani; Yao Rao |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we re-examine two important aspects of the dynamics of relative primary commodity prices, namely the secular trend and the short run volatility. To do so, we employ 25 series, some of them starting as far back as 1650 and powerful panel data stationarity tests that allow for endogenous multiple structural breaks. Results show that all the series are stationary after allowing for endogeneous multiple breaks. Test results on the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis, which states that relative commodity prices follow a downward secular trend, are mixed but with a majority of series showing negative trends. We also make a rst attempt at identifying the potential drivers of the structural breaks. We end by investigating the dynamics of the volatility of the 25 relative primary commodity prices also allowing for endogenous multiple breaks. We describe the often time-varying volatility in commodity prices and show that it has increased in recent years. |
| Keywords: | climate change, integrated assessment, Ramsey growth, carbon tax, renewables subsidy, learning by doing, directed technical change, multiplicative damages, additive damages |
| JEL: | H21 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:124&r=env |
| By: | José Serrano Álvarez |
| Abstract: | In the 19th Century the Spanish State privatised large areas of common lands and took over management of common wastelands and woodlands, thus stripping the peasants of all the control they had over them. Just as in many other parts of Spain, State intervention in wastelands and woodlands in León was a controversial issue because it was a symptom of conflicting visions or interests: between the State that promoted forestry uses and the peasants whose livelihood, based on agriculture and cattle, depended on common lands. The aim of this paper is to study the motivation behind peasant resistances to State intervention in Northwest Spain in the period 1870-1936. Although the conflicts have been explained from different perspectives (as resistance to market penetration, as "weapons of the poor", or as environmental conflicts), here we argue that the tensions and disputes over the common lands represent the peasants' defence of their livelihoods as well as the struggle for the "opportunities" the market offered. |
| Keywords: | Northwest Spain, Common lands, Peasant resistances, Forest crime |
| JEL: | D70 L73 N54 P32 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:1402&r=env |
| By: | Klein, Michael; Kaur, Sumeet |
| Abstract: | Social impact investors, philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed"doing good."This essay classifies the various types of measures that currently exist to capture social and environmental impact in a simple scheme. It argues that there is a basic"staircase of results measurement."A first level of measures captures some aspect of"organizational readiness."The next level describes some form of"result"that may or may not be attributable to the organization trying to do good. The third level gets at"impact"that can be attributed to an intervention. Beyond this, there are measures that assess the costs and benefits of interventions, allow aggregation of results from different interventions and comparison among them or across time. Finally, the essay discusses how measures are tied to incentives. It argues that the various approaches can produce more or less helpful measures but cannot be expected to yield anything approaching a true"double"or"triple"bottom line. A true"bottom line"involves aggregation and comparability of costs and benefits and provides incentives to perform. The multitude of social and environmental measurement schemes will by necessity remain a patchwork that can be thought of as describing the"product characteristics"of a company's output. Accounting profit remains the only measure that effectively aggregates costs and benefits and provides incentives. Profit itself is not just a necessity for organizational survival. It measures whether organizations meet client needs. It is thus an important measure of social impact in its own right. This may be unsurprising, but it sets expectations straight compared with currently widespread unrealistic hopes for the measurement of social and environmental impact and redirects attention to paying attention to profitability as part of impact measurement. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Debt Markets,E-Business |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6773&r=env |
| By: | Bonzanigo, Laura; Kalra, Nidhi |
| Abstract: | Governments invest billions of dollars annually in long-term projects. Yet deep uncertainties pose formidable challenges to making near-term decisions that make long-term sense. Methods that identify robust decisions have been recommended for investment lending but are not widely used. This paper seeks to help bridge this gap and, with a demonstration, motivate and equip analysts better to manage uncertainty in investment decisions. The paper first reviews the economic analysis of ten World Bank projects. It finds that analysts seek to manage uncertainty but use traditional approaches that do not evaluate options over the full range of possible futures. Second, the paper applies a different approach, Robust Decision Making, to the economic analysis of a 2006 World Bank project, the Electricity Generation Rehabilitation and Restructuring Project, which sought to improve Turkey's energy security. The analysis shows that Robust Decision Making can help decision makers answer specific and useful questions: How do options perform across a wide range of potential future conditions? Under what specific conditions does the leading option fail to meet decision makers'goals? Are those conditions sufficiently likely that decision makers should choose a different option? Such knowledge informs rather than replaces decision makers'deliberations. It can help them systematically, rigorously, and transparently compare their options and select one that is robust. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that analysts can use the same data and models for Robust Decision Making as are typically used in economic analyses. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges in applying such methods and how they can be overcome. |
| Keywords: | Energy Production and Transportation,Climate Change Economics,Debt Markets,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6765&r=env |
| By: | Kakorina, Ekaterina |
| Abstract: | In the 90th the Kyoto Protocol was signed and a market for emissions emerged. This market has one problem: it is too difficult to measure how much the company is polluting. The USA solved this problem by creating a similar market, namely the RIN (Renewable Identification Number) market. Unlike emissions, presently RINs are traded without the exchange. The importance of the RIN trading is likely to increase in the future and the goal of this paper is to research the RIN price behavior and to forecast the prices using ARMA-t-GARCH models. This paper shows that it is not important how to estimate these series (separately or together), because the estimation of parameters are very similar and the forecasted gaps are similar too. Also the common estimation using DCC-GARCH model made it possible to ascertain that these series have positive correlation in each pair. |
| Keywords: | Energy, RIN market, RIN, Renewable Identification Number, ecology, security, DCC-GARCH, ARMA-t-GARCH, price behavior, price forecast |
| JEL: | G00 Q20 Q40 |
| Date: | 2014–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53715&r=env |
| By: | Klapper, Leora; Love, Inessa; Randall, Douglas |
| Abstract: | This paper uses new panel data on the number of new firm registrations in 109 countries during 2002-2012 to study the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth. The data show strong evidence of a pro-cyclical pattern in entrepreneurship. An examination of heterogeneous relationships between new firm registration and the business cycle finds that higher levels of financial development and better business environments are associated with stronger pro-cyclicality of entrepreneurship both across countries and within countries over time. The results are robust to various measures of business regulation, such as the cost and time of starting a new firm and closing an insolvent firm. These findings suggest that fostering an efficient regulatory environment for the financial and private sector is important for encouraging a speedier recovery in the formation of new firms during economic expansions and aiding the efficient wind-down of insolvent firms during economic slowdowns. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Business in Development,Business Environment,Competitiveness and Competition Policy,E-Business |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6775&r=env |
| By: | Votsis, Athanasios |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence for the spatial effects of ecosystems on value formation and differentiation in the urban residential property market. An amenity-based location theory is used in conjunction with hedonic function estimations from the Finnish cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Pori to distinguish between two different ways that ecosystems influence market value: a citywide spatial equilibrium and an additional layer of micro-scale fragmentation. The effect across spatial scales is complemented by two forms of distance decay: a logarithmic decay and a linear dependence on distance to the city centre. Lastly, the estimated marginal values exhibit noticeable temporal variation, even after using de-trended prices. The results highlight the structural role of the ecosystem in the housing market and suggest that the effect of ecosystem services is clearly conditional on the spatiotemporal context, with a visible degree of selectivity to specific services. It is also evident that a realistic understanding of the role of the ecosystem on property value must assess its effects as spatial bundles of services rather than singular flows of one service at a time. |
| Keywords: | urban ecosystems; spatial effects; residential property value |
| JEL: | C31 Q51 Q57 R31 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53742&r=env |
| By: | Odile Blanchard (PACTE - Politiques publiques, ACtion politique, TErritoires - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Grenoble - CNRS : UMR5194 - Université Pierre-Mendès-France - Grenoble II - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble I); Arnaud Buchs (Institut de géographie et durabilité - Université de Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | The article aims at assessing the effectiveness of a role-play in addressing two concerns: clarifying the concept of sustainable development and teaching sustainable development issues. The effectiveness is gauged by surveying students to reveal how the game matches a set of "significant learning" criteria defined by Fink (2003). Firstly, our article brings a short overview of how the concept of sustainable development has emerged and spread over time. Secondly, in order to assess the learning potential of our role-play, we examine how it addresses the six components of Fink's taxonomy of "significant learning": (i) foundational knowledge, (ii) application, (iii) integration, (iv) human dimensions, (v) caring and, (vi) learning how to learn. This taxonomy is analysed through a rigorous assessment methodology. The assessment shows that our role-play is highly praised by the players as it not only brings them foundational knowledge, but also allows them to enhance many skills. Thus, the framework of this role-play contributes to educating about sustainable development as well as educating for sustainable development. |
| Keywords: | education ; role-play ; significant learning; sustainable development |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00946227&r=env |
| By: | Ali, Daniel Ayalew; Deininger, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Whether the negative relationship between farm size and productivity that is confirmed in a large global literature holds in Africa is of considerable policy relevance. This paper revisits this issue and examines potential causes of the inverse productivity relationship in Rwanda, where policy makers consider land fragmentation and small farm sizes to be key bottlenecks for the growth of the agricultural sector. Nationwide plot-level data from Rwanda point toward a constant returns to scale crop production function and a strong negative relationship between farm size and output per hectare as well as intensity of labor use that is robust across specifications. The inverse relationship continues to hold if profits with family labor valued at shadow wages are used, but disappears if family labor is rather valued at village-level market wage rates. These findings imply that, in Rwanda, labor market imperfections, rather than other unobserved factors, seem to be a key reason for the inverse farm-size productivity relationship. |
| Keywords: | Wetlands,Labor Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Climate Change and Agriculture,Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6770&r=env |