|
on Environmental Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒08‒09
thirty-two papers chosen by Francisco S. Ramos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
| By: | John C. V. Pezzey (Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University); Paul J. Burke (Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | We construct a hybrid, economic indicator of the sustainability of global well-being, which is more inclusive than existing indicators and incorporates an environmentally pessimistic, physical constraint on global warming. Our methodology extends the World BankÕs Adjusted Net Saving (ANS) indicator to include the cost of population growth, the benefit of technical progress, and a much higher, precautionary cost of current CO2 emissions. Future warming damage is so highly unknowable that valuing emissions directly is rather arbitrary, so we use a novel, inductive approach: we modify damage and climate parameters in the deterministic DICE climate-economy model so it becomes economically optimal to control emissions in a way likely to limit warming to an agreed target, here 2¡C. If future emissions are optimally controlled, our ANS then suggests that current global well-being is sustainable. But if emissions remain uncontrolled, our base-case ANS is negative now and our corresponding, modified DICE model has an unsustained development path, with well-being peaking in 2065. Current ANS on an uncontrolled path may thus be a useful heuristic indicator of future unsustainability. Our inductive method might allow ANS to include other very hard-to-value, environmental threats to global sustainability, like biodiversity loss and nitrogen pollution. |
| Keywords: | global sustainability, optimism and pessimism, precautionary valuation of CO2 emissions, unknowability and induction, population growth, technical progress |
| JEL: | Q56 Q01 Q57 Q51 Q54 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1410&r=all |
| By: | Carolyn Fischer (Resources for the Future, Washington DC, Gothenburg University and CESifo Research Network, München); Richard G. Newell (Duke University and National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge MA); Louis Preonas (Resources for the Future, Washington DC and University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | Myriad policy measures aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector, promote generation from renewable sources, and encourage energy conservation. To what extent do innovation and energy efficiency (EE) market failures justify additional interventions when a carbon price is in place? We extend the model of Fischer and Newell (2008) with advanced and conventional renewable energy technologies and short and long-run EE investments. We incorporate both knowledge spillovers and imperfections in the demand for energy efficiency. We conclude that some technology policies, particularly correcting R&D market failures, can be useful complements to emissions pricing, but ambitious renewable targets or subsidies seem unlikely to enhance welfare when placed alongside sufficient emissions pricing. The desirability of stringent EE policies is highly sensitive to the degree of undervaluation of EE by consumers, which also has implications for policies that tend to lower electricity prices Even with multiple market failures, emissions pricing remains the single most cost-effective option for reducing emissions |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Cap-and-Trade, Renewable Energy, Portfolio Standards, Subsidies, Spillovers, Energy Efficiency, Electricity |
| JEL: | Q42 Q52 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.67&r=all |
| By: | ZhongXiang Zhang (Distinguished University Professor and Chairman, School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China) |
| Abstract: | China has gradually recognized that the conventional path of encouraging economic growth at the expense of the environment cannot be sustained. It has to be changed. This article focuses on China’s efforts towards energy conservation and environmental quality. The article discusses a variety of programs, prices, market-based instruments, and other economic and industrial policies and measures targeted for energy saving and pollution cutting, and the associated implementation and reliability issues. The article ends with some concluding remarks and recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Energy Saving; Environmental Quality, Low-Carbon Development, Power Generation, Energy Prices, Market-Based Instruments, Economic Policies, Industrial Policies, Resource Taxes, Implementation and Reliability, China |
| JEL: | H23 H71 O13 O53 P28 Q43 Q48 Q52 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.60&r=all |
| By: | Baptiste Perrissin Fabert (Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement (CIRED)); Etienne Espagne (CIRED); Antonin Pottier (CIRED); Patrice Dumas (Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at providing a consistent framework to appraise alternative modeling choices that have driven the so-called “when flexibility" controversy since the early 1990s dealing with the optimal timing of mitigation efforts and the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC). The literature has emphasized the critical impact of modeling structures on the optimal climate policy. But, to our knowledge, there has been no contribution trying to estimate the comparative impact of modeling structures within a unified framework. In this paper, we use the Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) RESPONSE to bridge this gap and investigate the structural modeling drivers of differences in climate policy recommendations. RESPONSE is both sufficiently compact to be easily tractable and detailed enough to capture a wide array of modeling choices. Here, we restrict the analysis to the following emblematic modeling choices: the forms of the damage function (quadratic vs. sigmoid) and the abatement cost (with or without inertia), the treatment of uncertainty, and the decision framework (one-shot vs. sequential). We define an original methodology based on an equivalence criterion to carry out a sensitivity analysis over modeling structures in order to estimate their relative impact on two output variables: the optimal SCC and abatement trajectories. This allows us to exhibit three key findings: (i) IAMs with a quadratic damage function are insensitive to changes of other features of the modeling structure, (ii) IAMs involving a non-convex damage function entail contrasting climate strategies, (iii) Precautionary behaviours can only come up in IAMs with non-convexities in damages. |
| Keywords: | Integrated Assessment Models, Mitigation |
| JEL: | Q5 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.58&r=all |
| By: | Berhanu, Wassie; Beyene, Fekadu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants and implied economic impacts of climate change adaptation strategies in the context of traditional pastoralism. It is based on a household level survey in southern Ethiopian rangelands. Pastoralists. perception of clim |
| Keywords: | climate change, pastoralism, adaptation strategies, Borana, Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-028&r=all |
| By: | Marianna O'Gorman (Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University); Frank Jotzo (Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Australia's carbon price has been in operation for two years. The electricity sector accounts for the majority of emissions covered under the scheme. This paper examines the impact of the carbon price on the electricity sector between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2014, focusing on the National Electricity Market (NEM). Over this period, electricity demand in the NEM declined by 3.8 per cent, the emissions intensity of electricity supply by 4.6 per cent, and overall emissions by 8.2 per cent, compared to the two-year period before the carbon price. We detail observable changes in power demand and supply mix, and estimate the quantitative effect of the effect of the carbon price. We estimate that the carbon price led to an average 10 per cent increase in nominal retail household electricity prices, an average 15 per cent increase in industrial electricity prices and a 59 per cent increase in wholesale (spot) electricity prices. It is likely that in response, households, businesses and the industrial sector reduced their electricity use. We estimate the demand reduction attributable to the carbon price at 2.5 to 4.2 TWh per year, about 1.3 to 2.3 per cent of total electricity demand in the NEM. The carbon price markedly changed relative costs between different types of power plants. Emissions-intensive brown coal and black coal generators reduced output and 4GW of emissions-intensive generation capacity was taken offline. We estimate that these shifts in the supply mix resulted in a 16 to 28kg CO2/MWh reduction in the emissions intensity of power supply in the NEM, a reduction between 1.8 and 3.3 per cent. The combined impact attributable to the carbon price is estimated as a reduction of between 5 and 8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions (3.2 to 5 per cent) in 2012/13 and between 6 and 9 million tonnes (3.5 to 5.6 per cent) in 2013/14, and between 11 and 17 million tonnes cumulatively. There are fundamental difficulties in attributing observed changes in demand and supply to specific causes, especially over the short term, and in this light we use conservative parameters in the estimation of the effect of the carbon price. We conclude that the carbon price has worked as expected in terms of its short-term impacts. However, its effect on investment in power generation assets has probably been limited, because of policy uncertainty about the continuation of the carbon pricing mechanism. For emissions pricing to have its full effect, a stable, long-term policy framework is needed. |
| Keywords: | emissions pricing, Australia, electricity supply and demand, ex-post evaluation |
| JEL: | Q58 Q48 Q41 Q28 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1411&r=all |
| By: | Stefan Boeters |
| Abstract: | Economic thought on climate policy as an instance of environmental regulation is strongly influenced by the principle of a uniform carbon price. Economists acknowledge that this principle breaks down in a “second-best†world with other distortions, such as taxes and market power in domestic and international markets. However, systematic analysis of this point in the economic climate policy literature is scarce. In the present paper, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) set-up is chosen in order to examine what pattern of differentiated carbon prices emerges as optimal in a second-best world. The CGE model WorldScan, which is considered to be representative of the class of models routinely used for numerical climate policy analysis, produces three main results: First, the optimal pattern of carbon prices is highly differentiated, ranging from almost prohibitive taxes to high subsidies (with a range of more than 1700 euros per ton of CO2). Second, the welfare gain from switching from a uniform price to optimally differentiated prices is enormous, equivalent to a 27 % emission reduction for free. Third, the most important drivers of carbon price differentiation are market power in export markets as well as taxes on consumption, intermediate inputs and domestic output. This shows that carbon price differentiation cannot be dismissed as a policy option lightly. However, before translating these findings into concrete policy advice, the relevant features of modelling pre-existing distortions in CGE models need close revision. |
| JEL: | Q42 Q54 H21 H23 D58 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:283&r=all |
| By: | Solomon M. Hsiang; Amir S. Jina |
| Abstract: | Does the environment have a causal effect on economic development? Using meteorological data, we reconstruct every country's exposure to the universe of tropical cyclones during 1950-2008. We exploit random within-country year-to-year variation in cyclone strikes to identify the causal effect of environmental disasters on long-run growth. We compare each country's growth rate to itself in the years immediately before and after exposure, accounting for the distribution of cyclones in preceding years. The data reject hypotheses that disasters stimulate growth or that short-run losses disappear following migrations or transfers of wealth. Instead, we find robust evidence that national incomes decline, relative to their pre-disaster trend, and do not recover within twenty years. Both rich and poor countries exhibit this response, with losses magnified in countries with less historical cyclone experience. Income losses arise from a small but persistent suppression of annual growth rates spread across the fifteen years following disaster, generating large and significant cumulative effects: a 90th percentile event reduces per capita incomes by 7.4% two decades later, effectively undoing 3.7 years of average development. The gradual nature of these losses render them inconspicuous to a casual observer, however simulations indicate that they have dramatic influence over the long-run development of countries that are endowed with regular or continuous exposure to disaster. Linking these results to projections of future cyclone activity, we estimate that under conservative discounting assumptions the present discounted cost of "business as usual" climate change is roughly $9.7 trillion larger than previously thought. |
| JEL: | H87 O11 O44 Q51 Q54 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20352&r=all |
| By: | Jessica F. Green (Case Western Reserve University, USA); Thomas Sterner (Environmental Defense Fund and University of Gothenburg, Sweden); Gernot Wagner (Environmental Defense Fund and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, USA) |
| Abstract: | After twenty years of global negotiations, the world is still far from a comprehensive climate agreement. The ‘top-down’ approach embodied by the Kyoto Protocol has all but stalled, chiefly due to disagreements over levels of ambition and objections to financial transfers. To avoid those problems, many have shifted their focus on bottom-up ‘linkage’ of regional, national, and sub-national cap-and-trade systems. Decentralized architecture has its appeals, but we argue that linkage among carbon markets ultimately faces the same obstacles that are at the heart of global climate negotiations. Linkage can potentially reduce overall costs of tackling climate change by leveraging the differences in the marginal costs of emissions reductions across nations. However, as incomes, ideologies and other conditions diverge—and, thus, potential economic gains from linkage increase—political obstacles to linkage grow. We identify four obstacles to successful linkage: potential for gaming of targets; objections to financial transfers; the difficulty of close regulatory coordination; and incompatibility with other domestic policy objectives. Linkage, thus, may be an important political instrument and learning process but it provides no end run around international “global warming gridlock” (Victor 2011). A functioning global climate policy architecture still requires close international coordination with a balance of ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ elements. Only with this realization—and by employing a gradual process toward full linkage—can early carbon market linkages help facilitate a path towards a successful global climate architecture. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Global Warming, Cap and Trade, Carbon Tax, Linkage, Climate Finance, Political Economy, Kyoto, Copenhagen, Paris |
| JEL: | Q5 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.64&r=all |
| By: | Trela, Karl |
| Abstract: | Die wirtschaftspolitischen Implikationen der Klimaanpassung sind entscheidend für die Ausgestaltung einer eigenständigen Klimaanpassungspolitik und geben gleichzeitig wichtige Anreize zu politischem Handeln. Dieses Papier diskutiert daher eine mögliche wirtschaftspolitische Ausrichtung der Klimaanpassungspolitik. Hierzu werden die ökonomisch legitimierten Eingriffsbereiche des Staates in der Klimaanpassungspolitik definiert. Diese liegen vor allem in der Beseitigung von Ineffizienzen bei privater und staatlicher Anpassung aufgrund verschiedener Marktversagen und Barrieren, aber auch die Gewährleistung von Verteilungsgerechtigkeit und Versorgungssicherheit legitimieren staatliche Eingriffe. Basierend auf der Einordnung von Klimaanpassung in die Systematik der Wirtschaftspolitiktheorie, werden zudem die wirtschaftspolitischen Ziele und Instrumente der Klimaanpassungspolitik ausgearbeitet. -- The economic implications of adaptation to climate change are crucial for the design of a distinctive adaptation policy and serve simultaneously as incentives for political action. This paper discusses a possible economic orientation of climate adaptation policy. First, the justified interventions of the public authorities are identified from the economic theory point of view. These public interventions include actions aimed at the elimination of private and public adaptation inefficiencies, induced by market failures and barriers, and the provision of distributive justice and security of supply. Finally, using a categorization from economic policy theory, the objectives and instruments of adaptation policy are derived. |
| Keywords: | Klimawandel,Anpassung,Wirtschaftspolitikfeld,Climate change,adaptation,economic policy field |
| JEL: | H44 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:leiwps:131&r=all |
| By: | Stuart McDonald (School of Economics, The Universty of Queensland); Joanna Poyago-Theotoky (School of Economics, La Trobe University Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA)) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of an optimal emissions tax on research and development of emission reducing green technology (E-R&D) in the presence of R&D spillovers. We show that the size and effectiveness of the optimal emissions tax depends on the type of the R&D spillover: input or output spillover. In the case of R&D input spillovers (where only knowledge spillovers are accounted for), the optimal emissions tax required to stimulate R&D is always higher than when there is an R&D output spillover (where abatement and knowledge spillovers exist simultaneously). We also find that optimal emissions taxation and cooperative R&D complement each other when R&D spillovers are small, leading to lower emissions. |
| Keywords: | Environmental R&D, Green Technology, R&D Spillover, Emissions Tax |
| JEL: | H23 L11 Q55 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.59&r=all |
| By: | Pollmann, Olaf; Podruzsik, Szilárd; Fehér, Orsolya |
| Abstract: | Current energy systems are in most instances not fully working sustainably. The provision and use of energy only consider limited resources, risk potential or financial constraints on a limited scale. Furthermore, the knowledge and benefits are only available for a minor group of the population or are outright neglected. The availability of different resources for energy purposes determines economic development, as well as the status of the society and the environment. The access to energy grids has an impact on socio-economic living standards of communities. This not fully developed system is causing climate change with all its related outcomes. This investigation takes into consideration different views on renewable energy systems — such as international discussions about biomass use for energy production, “fuel versus food”, biogas use — and attempts to compare major prospects of social acceptance of renewable energy in Europe and Africa. Can all obstacles to the use of renewable energy be so profound that the overall strategy of reducing anthropogenic causes of climate change be seriously affected? |
| Keywords: | renewable energy, energy production, future technology, society |
| JEL: | D71 O13 Q01 R11 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cvh:coecwp:2014/07&r=all |
| By: | Twerefou, Daniel Kwabena; Adjei-Mantey, Kwame; Strzepek, Niko Lazar |
| Abstract: | Climate change scenarios for many Sub-Saharan African countries including Ghana indicate that temperatures will increase while rainfall will either increase or decrease. The potential impact of climate change on economic systems is well-known. However, li |
| Keywords: | climate change, impacts assessment, road infrastructure, stressor response |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-032&r=all |
| By: | Alagidede, Paul; Adu, George; Frimpong, Prince Boakye |
| Abstract: | This paper is a contribution to the empirics of climate change and its effect on sustainable economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data on two climate variables, temperature and precipitation, and employing panel cointegration techniques, we estima |
| Keywords: | climate change, Sub-Saharan Africa, sustainable growth, panel cointegration |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-017&r=all |
| By: | Christopher Jeffords (Indiana University of Pennsylvania); Lanse Minkler (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | We use a novel data set within an instrumental variables framework to test whether the presence and legal strength of constitutional environmental rights are related to environmental outcomes. The outcome variables include Yale’s Environmental Performance Index and some of its components. The analysis accounts for the possibility that a country which takes steps to protect the environment might also be more likely to constitutionalize environmental rights. Controls include: (1) gross domestic product per capita (2) whether the country is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; (3) rule of law; (4) population density; and (5) exogenous geographic effects. The inclusion of income means that our study is directly related to the Environmental Kuznets Curve literature. We find that constitutions do indeed matter for positive environmental outcomes, which suggests that we should not only pay attention to the incentives confronting polluters and resource users, but also to the incentives and constraints confronting those policymakers who initiate, monitor, and enforce environmental policies. |
| Keywords: | Constitutional Law, Environment, Environmental Kuznets Curve, Environmental Rights |
| JEL: | K10 K32 O13 Q50 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2014-16&r=all |
| By: | Achim Voß (University of Münster, Germany); Jörg Lingens (University of Münster, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Many environmental-policy problems are characterized by complexity and uncertainty. Government’s choice concerning these policies commonly relies on information provided by a bureaucracy. Environmental bureaucrats often have a political motivation of their own, so they might be tempted to misreport environmental effects in order to influence policy. This transforms a problem of uncertainty into one of asymmetric information. We analyze the ensuing principal-agent relationship and derive the government’s optimal contract, which conditions policy and rewards on reported environmental effects. We find that agents who are more environmentalist than the government are rewarded for admitting that the environmental impact is low (and vice versa). With higher uncertainty, the bureaucrat has a stronger influence on policy. For some values of the environmental impact, the bureau is permitted to set its own preferred policy (optimal delegation). |
| Keywords: | Environmental Policy, Political Economy, Delegation, Bureaucracy, Regulatory Agency, Mechanism Design, Type-dependent Participation Constraint, Pure State Constraints in Optimal Control |
| JEL: | D73 D82 C61 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.66&r=all |
| By: | Carlos Dionisio Pérez Blanco (University of Alcalá de Henares and Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Water Technologies (IMDEA-Water)); Carlos Mario Gómez Gómez (University of Alcalá de Henares and Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Water Technologies (IMDEA-Water)) |
| Abstract: | Water is a key input in the production of many goods and services and under certain conditions can become a critical limiting factor with significant impacts on regional development. This is the case of many agricultural European Mediterranean basins, where water deficit during drought events is partially covered by illegal abstractions, mostly from aquifers, which are tolerated by the authorities. Groundwater overexploitation for irrigation has created in these areas an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that threatens ecosystems sustainability, urban water supply and the current model of development. Market-based drought insurance systems have the potential to introduce the necessary incentives to reduce overexploitation during drought events and remove the high costs of the drought indemnity paid by the government. This paper develops a methodology to obtain the optimum risk premium based on concatenated stochastic models. The methodology is applied to the agricultural district of Campo de Cartagena (Segura River Basin, Spain). Results show that the prices in a hypothetic competitive private drought insurance market would be reasonable and the expected environmental outcomes significant. |
| Keywords: | Drought Insurance, Stochastic Models, Groundwater, Agriculture, Drought Contingency Plan |
| JEL: | Q5 Q25 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.62&r=all |
| By: | Brigitte Hoogendoorn; Peter van der Zwan; Daniela Guerra |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how and why small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in environmental practices. Two types of environmental practices are distinguished: practices related to production processes (greening processes) and practices related to products and services (greening product and service offerings). Despite a growing literature on socially responsible behavior of large firms, the role of SMEs remains underexposed. This neglect of SMEs is not justified because of the substantial impact of SMEs on the economy and the natural environment. By using unique data for almost 9,000 SMEs across 12 sectors in 38 countries, we study the influences of firm, sector and country characteristics on SMEs’ environmental behavior. Our results suggest that different characteristics have dissimilar influences on both types of environmental practices such as the type of customers served and the stringency of environmental legislation at the country level. Moreover, the dominant idea that small firms are reluctant to invest in environmental practices is clearly more nuanced: size indeed matters however only when greening processes are concerned. |
| Date: | 2014–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eim:papers:h201405&r=all |
| By: | Ngaido, Tidiane |
| Abstract: | The paper reviews the dynamics of the financing baseed its analysis on the rich dataset of AidData ranging over 1993-2010, with around 9,077 observations on projects funded in Senegal by various multilateral as well as bilateral donors. The study started |
| Keywords: | aid, biodiversity, climate change, environment, financing |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-005&r=all |
| By: | Vipin Arora; Yiyong Cai |
| Abstract: | We illustrate the importance of disaggregating electricity generation when considering responses to environmental policies. We begin by reviewing various approaches to electric sector modelling in Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, and then clarify and expand upon the structure and calibration of the “technology bundle” approach. We also simulate the proposed U.S. Clear Power Plan and show how a disaggregate electricity sector can change results. Our simulations indicate that both the ability to switch between generation technologies and the manner of aggregation in electricity production are important for quantifying the economic costs of the plan. |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2014-54&r=all |
| By: | Sandra Tarte |
| Abstract: | Institutional developments in Pacific Islands regionalism have been dramatic in recent years. These include the changing role of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, a grouping of eight ‘tuna-rich’ Pacific Island states that is transforming the dynamics of regional fisheries; the emergence of a more activist Melanesian Spearhead Group, which comprises the four largest economies of the Pacific Islands and is leading the process of regional economic integration; and the establishment of the Pacific Islands Development Forum, which promises a more inclusive ‘regionalism through partnerships’ approach in addressing climate change and sustainable development issues. This new dynamism is driven by the discontent of a growing number of island states with the established regional order, defined by prevailing institutions, power and ideas, and by a desire to assert greater control over their own futures. Against the backdrop of an increasingly dynamic geopolitical and geo-economic landscape, Pacific Island states are using alternative regional frameworks to develop new approaches to the challenges facing them. |
| Keywords: | regionalism; regional order; Pacific Islands; tuna fisheries; Melanesia |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:appswp:5.27&r=all |
| By: | Carlos M. Gómez (University of Alcalá and Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Water Technologies (IMDEA-Water), Spain); C. Dionisio Pérez-Blanco (University of Alcalá and Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Water Technologies (IMDEA-Water), Spain); Ramon J. Batalla (University of Lleida, Forest Science Centre of Catalonia and Catalan Institute for Water Research, Girona, Spain) |
| Abstract: | Although the effectiveness of flushing floods in restoring basic environmental functions in highly engineered rivers has been extensively tested, the opportunity cost is still considered to represent an important limitation to putting these actions into practice. In this paper, we present a two-stage method for the assessment of the opportunity cost of the periodical release of flushing flows in the lower reaches of rivers with regimes that are basically controlled by series of dams equipped with hydropower generation facilities. The methodology is applied to the Lower Ebro River in Spain. The results show that the cost of the reduced power generation resulting from the implementation of flushing floods is lower than the observed willingness to pay for river restoration programmes. |
| Keywords: | River Restoration, Flushing Flows, Opportunity Costs, Hydropower, Ebro River |
| JEL: | Q2 Q25 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.68&r=all |
| By: | Akpalu, Wisdom; Dasmani, Isaac; Normanyo, Ametefee K. |
| Abstract: | In most coastal developing countries, the artisanal fisheries sector is managed as a common pool resource. As a result, such fisheries are overcapitalized and overfished. In Ghana, in addition to anthropogenic factors, there is evidence of rising coastal |
| Keywords: | climate variability, optimal tax, generalized maximum entropy, Ghana |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-009&r=all |
| By: | Tomomi Miyazaki (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of Japanese fiscal policy after the 2008 global financial crisis so called Lehmanfs fall. A mixed vector autoregression (VAR)/event study approach is used for this purpose. We especially focus on the effects of stimulus packages related to environmental-related policy. The empirical results show that the program of eco-car tax break and eco-car subsidy was useful to stimulate the production of automobile industries. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1416&r=all |
| By: | Juhász, Mattias; Tamás Mátrai; Gergely Gál |
| Abstract: | In the last three decades the level of motorization has increased a lot in Budapest, so the well-known urban congestion effect became relevant in the capital of Hungary (ca. 30 years after western European cities). Since 2007, which was a peak in terms of traffic volumes the idea of the congestion charging scheme has become more and more popular among transport professionals and general public. The purpose of a possible measure could be quite complex: a combination of revenue generation, influence travel behaviour and environmental goals. As there were different legal, territorial and fiscal alternatives to achieve the goals, a widespread, detailed feasibility analysis needed in order to assess the expected effects and to choose the most efficient version. Therefore the research question was that is it suggested to introduce a congestion charging scheme in Budapest and if yes, than how the system should work? The research methodology was a conventional feasibility assessment with a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of the theoretical alternatives, transport modeling, cost-benefit and cost-efficiency analyses. The aim of this paper is to present the results of these assessments. Through the analysis of expected transport, environmental, economic and social effects a few proposed alternatives have been selected. This case-study presents how complex a decision-making process can be which involve so many conflicting interests. It provides an insight to the main challenges and it shows through the results that what lessons can be learnt and adopted to other cities with similar issues. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sit:wpaper:14_02&r=all |
| By: | Schlomann, Barbara; Reuter, Matthias; Lapillonne, Bruno; Pollier, Karine; Rosenow, Jan |
| Abstract: | The increasing number of energy and climate targets both at national and international level induces a rising demand for regular monitoring. In this paper, we analyse the possibilities and limits of using energy efficiency indicators as a tool for monitoring these targets. We refer to the energy efficiency targets of the German Energiewende and calculate and discuss several energy efficiency indicators for Germany both at the level of the overall economy and the main energy consumption sectors. We make use of the energy efficiency indicator toolbox that we have developed within the ODYSSEE database in recent years and find that there is still a considerable gap to close to achieve the overall energy efficiency targets in Germany by 2020. We also show that progress in energy efficiency slowed down between 2008 and 2012, i.e. compared to the base year of most of the German energy efficiency targets and find that energy efficiency progress in the industrial sector during the last decade has been especially slow. We conclude that improvements in energy efficiency have to speed up considerably in order to achieve the targets for 2020. Although the use of energy efficiency indicators is limited by data constraints and some methodological problems, these indicators give a deep insight into the factors determining energy consumption and can therefore complement the official monitoring process of the German Energiewende which only relies on highly aggregated indicators for energy efficiency. -- |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency targets,target monitoring,energy efficiency indicators,decomposition analysis,German "Energiewende" |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s102014&r=all |
| By: | Nkegbe, Paul Kwame; Kuunibe, Naasegnibe |
| Abstract: | Climate variability poses a major risk to agricultural incomes in Africa. In Ghana, most of the country.s poor people live in the north and households find it difficult to hold back their productive assets during the lean season. This study investigates t |
| Keywords: | climate variability, panel data, welfare, individual heterogeneity, Ghana |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2014-027&r=all |
| By: | Anita Castledine; Klaus Moeltner; Michael Price; Shawn Stoddard |
| Abstract: | Many water utilities use outdoor watering restrictions based on assigned weekly watering days to promote conservation and delay costly capacity expansions. We find that such policies can lead to unintended consequences - customers who adhere to the prescribed schedule use more water than those following a more flexible irrigation pattern. For our application to residential watering in a high-desert environment, this "rigidity penalty" is robust to an exogenous policy change that allowed an additional watering day per week. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on leakage effects of regulatory policies. In our case inefficiencies arise as policies limit the extent to which agents can temporally re-allocate actions. |
| JEL: | C11 C30 Q2 Q25 Q58 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20362&r=all |
| By: | Tim Jackson; Ben Drake; Peter Victor; Kurt Kratena; Mark Sommer |
| Abstract: | This milestone provides a broad overview of model development under Work Package 205 of the WWWforEurope project. It describes briefly the challenge of modelling combined economic, ecological and financial systems and sets out a series of objectives for modelling the socio-economic transition towards sustainability. It highlights modelling needs in relation to full employment, financial stability, and social equity under conditions of constrained resource consumption and ecological limits. The paper also provides a broad overview of the literatures relevant to the task in hand. It then describes two separate modelling approaches, developed by two different teams within WWWforEurope. One of these approaches, led by WIFO, uses a Dynamic New Keynesian (DYNK) model to explore the implications of different long-run equilibrium paths for energy consumption. The other approach, led by Surrey in collaboration with York University, is motivated primarily by the desire to integrate a comprehensive model of the financial economy into a model of a (resource and emission-constrained) real economy. This paper sets out the overarching structure of each of these approaches. It discusses the similarities and differences between the two approaches and makes some proposals for the management of subsequent milestones in relation to WP 205. |
| Keywords: | Beyond GDP, Ecological innovation, Economic strategy, Full employment growth path, Green jobs, Labour markets, Macroeconomic disequilibria, Market economy with adjectives, New technologies, Policy options, Social innovation, Socio-ecological transition, Sustainable growth, Wealth |
| JEL: | C D E O P Q |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2014:m:8:d:0:i:65&r=all |
| By: | Rocío del Pilar Moreno-Sánchez; Jorge H. Maldonado; Camilo Andrés Gutiérrez; Melissa Rubio |
| Abstract: | La valoración económica tradicional (VE) se ha constituido en una herramienta fundamental para apoyar el establecimiento de áreas marinas protegidas como la estrategia preferida para la conservación de los ecosistemas marinos y costeros y de los servicios que éstos proveen. Sin embargo, generalmente, estos ejercicios estiman los beneficios que la conservación genera a actores situados fuera de las mismas, quienes no hacen uso extractivo de los recursos como su principal fuente de alimento e ingresos, y han ignorado los valores que las comunidades locales otorgan a los ecosistemas que las rodean, o los costos de oportunidad que las comunidades locales, usuarias de recursos, asumen cuando deben enfrentar las restricciones que imponen las AMPs en el acceso a los recursos. Adicionalmente, se ha cuestionado la pertinencia de realizar VE en contextos locales porque su implementación aún enfrenta desafíos prácticos, metodológicos, éticos y políticos. Siguiendo las recomendaciones de The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), este estudio propone una metodología de valoración económica que es innovadora, porque combina herramientas cualitativas de valoración que permiten capturar la importancia relativa que los usuarios locales otorgan a los ecosistemas, y a los diversos servicios que proveen, con herramientas cuantitativas estándares de la VE, experimentos de elección, que permiten capturar la disponibilidad a aceptar restricciones en el uso de recursos impuestas por el establecimiento de AMPs. La metodología propuesta incorpora enfoques de valoración colectiva y deliberación grupal, en donde la construcción participativa de los escenarios de base y de cambio permite un mejor entendimiento, por parte de los usuarios de recursos, de la situación hipotética a valorar. |
| Keywords: | Valoración participativa, comunidades locales, experimentos de elección, métodos de asignación de puntajes, Colombia |
| JEL: | C25 C81 Q01 Q22 Q51 Q56 |
| Date: | 2013–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:011936&r=all |
| By: | Jorge H. Maldonado; Rocío del Pilar Moreno-Sánchez; Tatiana G. Zárate; Camila Andrea Barrera |
| Abstract: | En el marco del diseño e implementación del subsistema de Áreas Marinas Protegidas (SAMP) en Colombia, se realiza una valoración económica (VE) comprehensiva que utiliza variados métodos e incluye diferentes agentes que van desde comunidades locales hasta compradores de créditos de carbono, pasando por turistas especializados (buzos), pesquerías y hogares en 15 ciudades del país. Los resultados de esta VE muestran los beneficios asociados a los servicios ecosistémicos provistos por el SAMP en tres escenarios: el de mínima protección (4.4% en área y 60% en representatividad de los objetos de conservación –OdC-), donde se protegerían únicamente los sitios considerados de muy alta prioridad; el de cumplimiento de la meta de biodiversidad (10% de la superficie y cerca del 81% en representatividad de OdC) y el de protección ampliada (20% de la superficie y 92% de representatividad de OdC). Además de la magnitud de los beneficios encontrados para los diferentes servicios, se resalta la importancia que las comunidades locales otorgan a las Unidades Socio-ecológicas del Paisaje que rodean sus territorios y su disponibilidad a aceptar restricciones en el acceso y uso de los recursos, como resultado de la implementación de áreas marinas protegidas (AMPs), si éstas van acompañadas de alternativas de generación de ingreso que cubran a la mayoría de hogares en la comunidad y garanticen mejoras en la provisión de servicios de abastecimiento en el mediano plazo. Palabras clave Valoración de servicios ecosistémicos, valoración participativa, disponibilidad a pagar, disponibilidad a aceptar, áreas marinas protegidas. |
| Keywords: | Valoración de servicios ecosistémicos, valoración participativa, disponibilidad a pagar, disponibilidad a aceptar, áreas marinas protegidas |
| JEL: | Q20 Q22 Q25 Q26 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2013–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:011933&r=all |
| By: | Céline Grislain-Letrémy (INSEE, CREST, Université Paris-Dauphine); Arthur Katossky |
| Abstract: | The willingness of households to pay for prevention against industrial risks can be revealed by real estate markets. By using very rich microdata, we study housing prices in the vicinity of hazardous industries near three important French cities. We show that the impact of hazardous plants on the housing values strongly differs among these three areas, even if the areas all surround chemical and petrochemical industries. We compare the results from both standard parametric and more flexible, semiparametric models of hedonic property. We show that the parametric model might structurally lead to important biases in the estimated value of the impact of hazardous plants on housing values and in the variations of this impact with respect to the distance from the plants |
| Keywords: | hedonic analysis, locally weighted regression, urban housing markets, industrial risk |
| JEL: | C21 Q51 R52 R21 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2014-13&r=all |