|
on Environmental Economics |
|
Issue of 2015‒10‒04
forty-five papers chosen by Francisco S. Ramos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
| By: | Ömer T. AÇIKGÖZ; Hassan BENCHEKROUN |
| Abstract: | Consider a two-period transboundary stock pollution game in which countries anticipate an international environmental agreement (IEA) to be in effect in the future (i.e., in period 2). What will be the impact of the future IEA on current emissions (i.e., in period 1)? We show that the answer to this question is ambiguous. We examine a fi rst type of IEA where countries anticipate that the level of emissions in period 2 will be set at an agreed upon target. Assuming that the countries can commit to this policy, we show that when this target is set close to the business-as-usual (BAU) level of emissions, the equilibrium level of emissions in period 1 falls below its BAU level. However, the emission level in period 1 is a decreasing function of the target that will prevail in period 2, hence, the impact of this policy on period 1 emissions may be ambiguous, and in general depend on the targeted emission level. We also examine other types of IEAs where countries cannot commit to an emission level but rather commit to an emission policy rule that depends on the level of pollution stock. |
| Keywords: | international environmental agreements, climate agreement, future agreements, transboundary pollution, dynamic games |
| JEL: | Q53 Q54 Q58 Q59 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:07-2015&r=all |
| By: | Baran Doda; Caterina Gennaioli; Andy Gouldson; David Grover; Rory Sullivan |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first large scale, quantitative study of the impact of corporate carbon management practices on corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Using data for 2009 and 2010 from the Carbon Disclosure Project survey, we find little compelling evidence that commonly adopted management practices are reducing emissions. This finding is unexpected and we propose three possible explanations for it. First, it may be because corporate carbon data and management practice information have not been reported in a standardized way. Second, there may be a delay between the application of corporate carbon management practices and their impact on emissions performance. Third, carbon management practices are not sufficiently impact-oriented, meaning there is no relationship to observe. Our findings are important for policymakers designing corporate GHG reporting standards, for the multiple stakeholders trying to understand the drivers of corporate carbon performance, and for the corporate managers responsible for measuring, reporting and mitigating emissions. |
| Keywords: | corporations; greenhouse emissions; carbon management |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60816&r=all |
| By: | L.F.M. Groot; J. Swart |
| Abstract: | To reach an international agreement on the cost of abatement of climate change, one needs to specify a fair burden sharing rule. This paper evaluates different burden sharing rules in terms of their redistributive impact and by the extent to which they realize the aim of optimal abatement. It is shown that for all regions and almost all countries, the Lindahl solution, where the burden sharing rule of carbon abatement is determined by each country’s willingness to pay, is to be preferred above the noncooperative Nash outcome. Poor countries and regions however would prefer the social planner outcome with a global permit market, because then the burden sharing rule is given a secondary role of income redistribution from rich to poor, on top of its primary role of assigning abatement burdens. |
| Keywords: | Nash, Lindahl, tradable permits, equity, efficiency, burden sharing rule |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1501&r=all |
| By: | Ian Gough |
| Abstract: | This short article, based on a presentation at the London School of Economics, criticizes the common opinion that “green growth” offers a relatively painless – some even say pain-free – transition path for capitalist economies. After a brief summary of the daunting arithmetic entailed in combining fast decarbonization with continuing growth, the article advances 3 propositions. First, market-based carbon mitigation programs, such as carbon trading, cannot be sufficient and must be coupled with other policy pillars that foster transformative investment and widespread regulation. Second, a political economy of climate policy needs to draw on the lessons of comparative social policy research, which emphasizes the role of international pressures, interests, institutions, and ideas. Taking these into account gives a more realistic perspective on climate policy making in today’s neoliberal world. Third, more radical policies on both consumption and production are called for, to ensure that carbon mitigation is not pursued at the expense of equity and social welfare. These include policies to restrain high-carbon luxury consumption and a transition toward shorter paid working time. The conclusion is that a realistic program of green growth will be immensely difficult and entail radical political change. |
| Keywords: | climate change; green growth; social policy; political economy |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:63781&r=all |
| By: | Germà Bel (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Stephan Joseph (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We examine the number of patent applications for climate change mitigation technologies (CCMT) filed at the European Patent Office and seek to relate it to the oversupply of emission allowances under the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS). We use a panel count data approach to show that firms covered by the policy take the oversupply into account when determining their level of innovative activity. We also indirectly demonstrate that the “weak” version of the Porter hypothesis holds for the EU ETS, given the sizable oversupply of allowances in the market. Our results suggest that in order to set the European economy firmly on the low-carbon technology pathway, and to ensure that the ambitious EU climate targets are met, serious policy changes must be undertaken. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Policy; Emission Trading System; Certificate Oversupply; Technological Change; Patent Count Data JEL classification: Q55; Q58; O33; O38 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201520&r=all |
| By: | Kenneth Gillingham (School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University); William D. Nordhaus (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); David Anthoff (University of California, Berkeley); Geoffrey Blanford (Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)); Valentina Bosetti (Bocconi University); Peter Christensen (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign); Haewan McJeon (Joint Global Change Research Institute, University of Maryland); John Reilly (Sloan School, MIT); Paul Sztorc (Dept. of Economics, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | The economics of climate change involves a vast array of uncertainties, complicating both the analysis and development of climate policy. This study presents the results of the first comprehensive study of uncertainty in climate change using multiple integrated assessment models. The study looks at model and parametric uncertainties for population, total factor productivity, and climate sensitivity. It estimates the pdfs of key output variables, including CO2 concentrations, temperature, damages, and the social cost of carbon (SCC). One key finding is that parametric uncertainty is more important than uncertainty in model structure. Our resulting pdfs also provide insights on tail events. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Modeling, Uncertainty, Statistics, Integrated assessment models |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 C6 H4 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2022&r=all |
| By: | Jean-Denis GARON; Charles SÉGUIN |
| Abstract: | We study the welfare effects of a revenue-neutral green tax reform in a federation. The reform consists of increasing a tax on a polluting input and reducing that on labor income. Households are fully mobile within the federation. Regions are unequally endowed with a nonrenewable natural resource. Resource rents are owned by regions and are redistributed to citizens on a residence basis, which generates a motive for inefficiently relocating to the resource-rich jurisdiction. Since the resource-poor region has a higher marginal product of labor than does the resource-rich region, the tax reform mitigates the scope of inefficient migration. This positive welfare effect may significantly reduce abatement costs of pollution and calls for higher environmental tax, as compared with a model where migration is assumed away. |
| Keywords: | federalism, environment, taxation, equalization, mobility, externalities |
| JEL: | D62 H21 H23 H77 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:05-2015&r=all |
| By: | Iñaki Arto (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Kurt Kratena (WIFO); Antonio F. Amores (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Umed Temurshoev (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Gerhard Streicher (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | This document explores the potential for the use of a market-based instrument to contribute to reducing the emissions of particulate matter of less than 10 micrometres from household heating appliances in the framework of the review of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution. The study is focused on the assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of possible scrappage policies for promoting the accelerated replacement of existing heating appliances with cleaner ones. Under these policy programmes, households replacing an old appliance with a cleaner one would receive a subsidy from the government. This subsidy would compensate households for the residual value of the scrapped appliance and the opportunity costs of the early investment in a new one. Two different scenarios are analysed: The scrappage and replacement of all the different types of conventional appliances that do not incorporate any emission control technology ('non-controlled'), and the scrappage and replacement of only 'non-controlled' firewood- and hard-coal-fired manual single house boilers. It is assumed that the scrappage programme is in force between 2018 and 2020. For each scenario, the study focuses on the effects of different levels of replacement of the 'non-controlled' appliances and the size of subsidies relative to the investment costs. |
| Keywords: | Market-based Instruments, Emissions reduction, Particles Emissions, Scrappage, Economic Impact |
| JEL: | Q52 C54 D58 D62 H23 H41 I18 D1 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85940&r=all |
| By: | Roberta De Santis (ISTAT); Cecilia Jona Lasinio (ISTAT) |
| Abstract: | In a globalized framework, environmental regulations can have a decisive role in influencing countries’ comparative advantages. The conventional perception about environmental protection is that it imposes additional costs on firms, which may reduce their global competitiveness with negative effects on growth and employment. However, some economists, in particular Porter and Van der Linde (1995), argue that pollution is often associated with a waste of resources and that more stringent environmental policies can stimulate innovations that may over-compensate for the costs of complying with these policies. This is known as the Porter hypothesis and suggests the existence of a “double dividend”, for both economic and environmental aspects, related to environmental regulation. In this paper, we adopt a macroeconomic approach to investigate the impact of different environmental instruments on the economy as a whole. We investigate the environmental policy impacts on a sample of European economies in 1995-2008. Our findings suggest that the “narrow” Porter Hypothesis cannot be rejected and that the choice of the policy instruments is not neutral. In particular, market based environmental stringency measures look as the most effective to stimulate innovations and productivity. |
| Keywords: | environmental regulation, productivity, innovation, Porter hypothesis. |
| JEL: | D24 Q50 Q55 O47 O31 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:lleewp:15122&r=all |
| By: | Venkatachalam ANBUMOZHI (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)); Ponciano S. INTAL, Jr. (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)) |
| Abstract: | ASEAN member states (AMS) are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth and regional stability. This paper considers four major environmental challenges that policymakers across ASEAN will need to address towards 2030: water management, deforestation and land degradation, air pollution, and climate change. We argue that these challenges, each unique in its own way, exhibit the characteristics of wicked problems. As developed in the planning literature, and now applied much more broadly, wicked problems are dynamic and complex, encompass many issues and stakeholders, and evade straightforward, lasting solutions. Detailed case studies are presented to illustrate the complexity and significance of these environmental challenges, as well as their nature as wicked problems. The most important implication of this finding is that there will be no easy or universal solutions to environmental problems across ASEAN, as Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) illustrate. This is a caution against over-optimism for formulating sector-specific solutions. It is not, however, a counsel for despair. We suggest general principles which may be useful across the board to tackle the issues and accelerate green growth. These are: a focus on cobenefits; an emphasis on stakeholder participation; a commitment to scientific and technological research; an emphasis on long-term planning; pricing reform; tackling governance issues, in addition to generally bolstering institutional capacity with regard to environmental regulation; and a strengthening of regionally coordinated approaches and international support. |
| Keywords: | green growth, environmental performance indicators, regional cooperation, sustainability |
| JEL: | Q32 Q34 Q37 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2015-66&r=all |
| By: | Garth Heutel; Juan Moreno Cruz; Soheil Shayegh |
| Abstract: | We study optimal climate policy when climate tipping points and solar geoengineering are present. Solar geoengineering reduces temperatures without reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate tipping points are irreversible and uncertain events that cause large damages. We analyze three different rules related to the availability of solar geoengineering: a ban, using solar geoengineering as insurance against the risk of tipping points, or using solar geoengineering only as remediation in the aftermath of a tipping point. We model three distinct types of tipping points: two that alter the climate system and one that yields a direct economic cost. Using an analytic model, we find that an optimal policy, which minimizes expected losses from the tipping point, includes both emissions reductions and solar geoengineering from the onset. Using a numerical simulation model, we quantify optimal policy and various outcomes under the alternative scenarios. The presence of tipping points leads to more mitigation and more solar geoengineering use and lower temperatures. |
| JEL: | C61 H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21589&r=all |
| By: | Pizer, William; Aldy, Joseph Edgar |
| Abstract: | The availability of practical mechanisms for comparing domestic efforts aimed at mitigating global climate change are important for the stability, equity, and efficiency of international climate agreements. We examine a variety of metrics that could be used to compare countries’ climate change mitigation efforts and illustrate their potential application to large developed and developing countries. Because there is no single comprehensive, measurable metric that could be applied to all countries, we suggest using a set of indicators to characterize and compare mitigation effort, akin to using a set of economic statistics to indicate the health of the macroeconomy. Given the iterative pledge and review approach that is emerging in the current climate change negotiations, participation, commitment, and compliance could be enhanced if this set of indicators is able to show that all parties are doing their “fair share,†both prospectively and retrospectively. The latter, in particular, highlights the need for a well-functioning policy surveillance regime. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrv:hksfac:22808338&r=all |
| By: | Henrik Pålsson; Karl-Johan Lundquist; Lars-Olof Olander; Fredrik Eng Larsson; Lena Hiselius |
| Abstract: | The transportation sector is responsible for about 23% of all CO2 emissions globally and 30% in OECD countries with road being the dominating sector for transport emissions (ITF, 2010). National emissions data are rarely disaggregated by freight vs. passenger transport, but an estimate is that goods transportation accounts for 30-40% of the total road sector emissions in most countries (ITF, 2010). In addition, the trend for CO2 emissions from the transportation of goods is on the rise, while the increase in emissions from passenger transport has levelled off and emissions from other sectors have decreased. Internationally, based on traditional projections, transportation of goods is expected to continue increasing in step with the GDP, thus doubling by 2050. This trend contrasts sharply with the climate targets set by the EU, which require dramatic reductions in emissions; by 2050, the EU should cut its emissions to 80% below 1990 levels through domestic reductions alone (EU, 2011). The expected effects of on-going or planned measures will not be sufficient to achieve the EU target. On the contrary, CO2 levels are expected to increase. This is the problem that is the focus of the analysis and discussion in this paper. |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2014/14-en&r=all |
| By: | Jihad C. Elnaboulsi (CRESE, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an analysis of environmental policy in imperfectly competitive markets. We investigate how environmental taxes should be optimally levied in a precommitment policy game and their e¤ects on social welfare. The paper also examines the potential impacts of the regulator?s environmental conscience on policy setting. We start the analysis with a benchmark model where all players are environmentally dirty in the marketplace. We then extend the model to the case in which the market is composed of a mix of dirty and clean strategic players. We show that, in both cases, the regulator must necessarily trade o¤ between regulation of environmental quality and the industry production ine¢ ciency problems. Furthermore, the results show how higher levels of concern for environmental issues outweigh the under taxation problem that arises in order to avoid further reductions in welfare. Finally, we show that the existence of clean players produces positive social externalities. Under an ex ant environmental policy game, higher social welfare outcomes are possible. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Policy, Emissions Tax, Environmental Conscience, Social Welfare, Strategic Behavior, Oligopoly Competition. |
| JEL: | D60 D82 L13 Q28 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crb:wpaper:2015-11&r=all |
| By: | Fergusson, Leopoldo; Romero, Dario; Vargas, Juan Fernando |
| Abstract: | Despite a growing body of literature on how environmental degradation can fuel civil war, the reverse effect, namely that of conflict on environmental outcomes, is relatively understudied. From a theoretical point of view this effect is ambiguous, with some forces pointing to pressures for environmental degradation and some pointing in the opposite direction. Hence, the overall effect of conflict on the environment is an empirical question. We study this relationship in the case of Colombia. We combine a detailed satellite-based longitudinal dataset on forest cover across municipalities over the period 1990-2010 with a comprehensive panel of conflict-related violent actions by paramilitary militias. We first provide evidence that paramilitary activity significantly reduces the share of forest cover in a panel specification that includes municipal and time fixed effects. Then we confirm these findings by taking advantage of a quasi-experiment that provides us with an exogenous source of variation for the expansion of the paramilitary. Using the distance to the region of Urabá, the epicenter of such expansion, we instrument paramilitary activity in each cross-section for which data on forest cover is available. As a falsification exercise, we show that the instrument ceases to be relevant after the paramilitaries largely demobilized following peace negotiations with the government. Further, after the demobilization the deforestation effect of the paramilitaries disappears. We explore a number of potential mechanisms that may explain the conflict-driven deforestation, and show evidence suggesting that paramilitary violence generates large outflows of people in order to secure areas for growing illegal crops, exploit mineral resources, and engage in extensive agriculture. In turn, these activities are associated with deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Conflict, Instrumental Variables, Colombia, Labor and Human Capital, Production Economics, D74, Q2, |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209328&r=all |
| By: | Germà Bel (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Maximilian Holst (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Mexico City’s bus rapid transit (BRT) network, Metrobus, was introduced in an attempt to reduce congestion, increase city transport efficiency and cut air polluting emissions. In June 2005, the first BRT line in the metropolitan area began service. We use differences-in-differences and quantile regression techniques in undertaking the first quantitative policy impact assessment of the BRT system on air polluting emissions. The air pollutants considered are carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter of less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), particulate matter of less than 10 µm (PM10), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The ex-post analysis uses real field data from air quality monitoring stations for periods before and after BRT implementation. Results show that BRT constitutes an effective environmental policy, reducing emissions of CO, NOX, PM2.5 and PM10. |
| Keywords: | Bus Rapid Transit, Differences-in-Differences, Environmental Policy Evaluation, Public Transport, Urban Air Pollution JEL classification: Q51, Q58, R41, R48 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201519&r=all |
| By: | Lamara Qoqiauri (Doctor of Economy. True Member of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Georgia and Scientific Academy of New York. Director of nongovernmental organization: Foundation of the Financial-Investment Strategy and Policy) |
| Abstract: | Each foreign investor today considers Georgia with its investment environment to be one of the most attractive countries. This is not a casual issue. Our country, with effective economical policy of the government, makes maximal attempts for avoiding multiple obstacles of forming favorable investment climate giving impulses to its actualization.My present work is dedicated to the problematic issues of forming investment climate favorable and attractive to the foreign investors, primary ranges of the industrial system – enterprises and organizations; I tried to represent the factors influencing upon formation of attractive investment environment and to give their new grouping and analyzing. In the preseneted work the following issues are researched: Investment climate and investment attractiveness from theoretical perspective, content and characteristic of principle factors of forming investment climate of the country: Economical factors and their role in creation of investment climate; Influence of administrative-legislative factors upon formation of the investment climate; Influence of social-economical factors upon investment climate; Influence of resources and technical capabilities upon investment climate, within possible bounds,I included practical materials selected for strengthening my theoretical postulates. Consideration of theoretical aspects forming investment climate discussed in the work as well as generalization of four blocks concerning investment climate and the outhors’s recommenations: •to abstain from adoption of laws setting unjustified restrictions to local and foreign investors and delay their development;•avoidance of regulations, restricting competition at the particular markets and promoting separate companies;•Harmonization of Georgian legislation with EU legislation and regulations of international legislative institutions;•Special attention to the environmental issues; share of investments in the basic stock its increase for environmental protection and rational utilization of natural resources;•revision of legislative and regulatory framework of environmental and sanitary-epidemiology monitoring. •solvation and arrangement of rights related to land use, settlement policy and competences of local residents as well as issues related to compensation, will help local and fereign investors to implement investment projects, create attractive investment climate in Georgia and activate investment processes. |
| Keywords: | Economical growth, Investment climate, investment attractiveness, macro-economy stability, legislative base, business, partner fund. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3105379&r=all |
| By: | Sillmann, Jana; Lenton, Timothy M.; Levermann, Anders; Ott, Konrad; Hulme, Mike; Benduhn, Francois; Horton, Joshua |
| Abstract: | Current climate engineering proposals do not come close to addressing the complex and contested nature of conceivable ‘climate emergencies’ resulting from unabated greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrv:hksfac:22532507&r=all |
| By: | Jesús Rodríguez-López (U. Pablo de Olavide); Gustavo A. Marrero (U. La Laguna and CAERP); Rosa Marina González-Marrero (U. La Laguna and CAERP) |
| Abstract: | The stock of diesel motor cars has been growing during the last decades in Europe and nowadays accounts for nearly 40% of automobile fleet. Two issues helps explain this process. Firstly, fuel efficiency (liters/km) of diesel cars is about 20% higher than that of gasoline cars on average; secondly European governments have implemented tax policies lenient with diesel fuel, thus generating an extra stimulus to use diesel motor cars. We build on an dynamic general equilibrium model that makes distinction of diesel motor and gasoline motor vehicles, and calibrate it for main European countries. The model reproduces the vehicle fleet dieselization, the rebound effects in kilometers driven, the demand for fuel, and CO2 emissions dynamics. From a normative view, the model recommends a tax discrimination according to the carbon content of each fuel, and not according to the fuel efficiency of the engine. Given that such a content is 15% higher for diesel relative to gasoline, tax rates should reflect this point: 1.40 cents of Euro per liter of diesel, and 1.22 cents per liter of gasoline. This is equivalent to imposing a tax of 19 Euros per ton of carbon. Yet Pigouvian sale taxes on new cars are useless to internalize the costs of externalities. Both recommendations are radically different to the existing fuel tax design in most OECD countries, except in Australia, Switzerland, UK and the US. |
| Keywords: | Energy efficiency, Rebound effect, CO2 emissions, Pigouvian taxation. |
| JEL: | E13 H22 Q43 Q54 R40 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:15.11&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Jobert (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG CNRS); Fatih Karanfil (University of Paris Ouest, France; EconomiX - CNRS); Anna Tykhonenko (University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Despite the growing body of work devoted to the impacts of development and international trade flows on the environment, the current state of empirical research is still controversial. In this line of analysis, the empirical studies using panel data face two simultaneous challenges. One is associated with the potential presence of unobserved cross-country heterogeneity in the panel, and the other with the use of aggregate data on international trade. In this paper, we apply both the dynamic fixed effects and empirical iterative Bayes estimators to a global panel of annual data on 55 countries spanning the period 1970-2013, to show that when country heterogeneity is accurately accounted for in the estimation, it is possible to obtain significant impacts of trade variables on the environment, even with aggregate data. Based on the estimation results and further information on the stringency of environmental regulations in both developed and developing countries involved in the analysis, we identify different country groups having similar features with respect to the trade-environment relationship. Future multilateral actions and agreements on climate change should account for differences in countries' trade structures and development levels that determine their capabilities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. |
| Keywords: | FDI; trade openness, CO2 emissions, regulatory stringency, Bayesian shrinkage estimator |
| JEL: | C33 F18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2015-31&r=all |
| By: | Bénédicte Meurisse |
| Abstract: | The significant weight of CO2 emissions resulting from car use in the total of CO2 emissions is enough of a signal to set up policy tools aiming at reducing such emissions. This paper investigates the effects of setting a penalty on the purchase of high emitting cars (i.e. a Malus). With static comparative analyses of a basic model of consumer’s behaviour facing two alternatives: a clean and a dirty vehicles, we essentially find that a rebound effect does not necessarily accompany the reduction in the average fuel consumption per kilometre resulting from the implementation of a differentiated car purchase tax such as a Malus scheme. This is because the improvement of the fuel-efficiency is observed at the aggregate scale and not at the individual level. Thereby, it happens that we observe a rebound effect only under certain conditions pertaining to the characteristics of the vehicles that make up the fleet. We also show that, from the moment that a rebound effect occurs, the higher the amount of Malus, the higher the rebound effect. It implicitly means that because of the rebound effect, the higher the pricing scheme, the less efficient the purchase tax. |
| Keywords: | car purchase decision, car use, CO2 emissions, rebound effect, penalty on car purchase. |
| JEL: | D11 H31 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2015-24&r=all |
| By: | Kim, Jinwon |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that a city where both a congestion externality and an externality from greenhouse gas emissions are corrected by efficient policies is more compact than the laissez-faire equilibrium city. Motivated by recent empirical studies showing a positive relationship between population density and vehicle fuel-efficiency, the consumer is assumed to choose vehicle fuel-efficiency jointly with housing consumption and residential location. By incorporating the consumer's vehicle choice into the urban spatial model, we can represent the total amount of vehicle emissions released by the city residents. We first establish the well-known result that the congestion externality as a source of market failure is associated with excessive urban sprawl. We then show that vehicle emissions are an additional source of market failure, which also leads to excessive urban sprawl. The source of excessive sprawl arising from the emission externality is the use of larger and less-fuel efficient vehicles in more sprawled cities, which is different from that of the congestion externality. We also analyze the effect of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards on urban spatial structure and its efficacy as a second-best tool for correcting the emission externality. |
| Keywords: | urban sprawl; vehicle fuel-efficiency; emission externality; congestion |
| JEL: | Q53 R14 R41 |
| Date: | 2015–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66922&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake, and a national icon. Its pristine waters attract visitors from round the world for a multitude of water-based recreation and sight-seeing activities. It is also important to New Zealand’s indigenous peoples. In the late 1990s, scientific investigations by Environment Waikato (now the Waikato Regional Council), the regional authority responsible for environmental management in the Lake Taupo catchment, revealed that water quality in Lake Taupo was gradually declining. The research identified that nitrogen emissions were entering the lake from both natural processes and human activities, such as pastoral farming, urban runoff and wastewater (see Table 1). The total amount of nitrogen entering the lake was estimated at 1 360 tonnes annually. Of the 556 tonnes of manageable (i.e. human-induced) emissions, 510 tonnes were from pastoral farming. Lake Taupo is contained within a collapsed caldera formed from one of the world’s largest eruptions, which took place 26 000 years ago. The now dormant volcano has left a legacy of ejected pumice and ash over much of New Zealand’s North Island and in particular in the catchment of the lake. This underlying layer of pumice makes the soil structure in the lake’s catchment extremely permeable and allows the unrestricted movement of both water and contaminants into the water tables draining into the lake. Reducing contaminant inflows into the lake therefore needs to address the challenging issue of diffuse groundwater movements, which are largely unseen, and difficult to measure and predict. In some parts of the catchment, it can take more than 100 years for run-off nitrogen to reach the lake (Vant, 2008). |
| Date: | 2015–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaac:4-en&r=all |
| By: | Semih Tumen; Deren Unalmis; Ibrahim Unalmis; D. Filiz Unsal |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the mechanisms through which environmental taxes on fossil fuel usage can affect the main macroeconomic variables in the short-run. We concentrate on a particular mechanism : speculative storage. The existence of forward-looking speculators in the model improves the effectiveness of tax policies in reducing fossil fuel usage. Improved policy effectiveness, however, is costly : it drives inflation and interest rates up, while impeding output. Based on this tradeoff, we seek an answer to the question how monetary policy should interact with environmental tax policies in our DSGE model of fossil fuel storage. |
| Keywords: | Fossil fuel, Environmental taxes, Speculative storage, DSGE |
| JEL: | E31 E52 H23 O44 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1502&r=all |
| By: | Rose, Julia; Wilke, Christina Benita |
| Abstract: | The vulnerability index presented in this paper is a tool to measure the vulnerability of different city areas related to flooding. The index is applied to the boroughs of the City of Hamburg. The city faces three different kinds of flood risks: storm surges, inland flooding and heavy rainfall. The presented index provides a basis for decision making about where to support or initiate appropriate adaptation measures. It is based on data from official statistics. Thus, it can easily be transferred to other regions and additional information can easily be added. |
| Keywords: | storm surges,inland flooding,heavy rain,social vulnerability,economic vulnerability |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:167&r=all |
| By: | Strand,Jon; Siddiqui,Sauleh |
| Abstract: | What is the utility from obtaining more precise values of natural resource objects (rainforests), through surveys or other similar information gathering? In the value of information problems studied here, a principal who wishes to preserve a resource sets a price to offer to a seller without knowing precisely the protection value or opportunity value, to the seller. The value of information related to more precise information about the protection value for the principal is a key issue in environmental and natural resource valuation, but it is in most cases implicit and not analyzed. More precise resource values reduce the frequency of two types of mistakes (saving the resource when it should not be saved, and not saving the resource when it should be saved), and increases the principal?s ex ante expected utility value. This paper applies the model to Amazon rainforest protection and considers the hypothetical value of perfect information. The analysis finds that the value of perfect information can easily exceed realistic information costs, thus perhaps justifying significant expenditures for valuation studies, given that all available information is used efficiently for conservation decision purposes. The value of perfect information also depends on the nature of buyer-seller interactions, and is higher in the altruistic case, where the principal has full concern for the outcome for the seller. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Information and Communication Technologies,Environmental Economics&Policies |
| Date: | 2015–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7423&r=all |
| By: | A. Mantovani; O. Tarola; C. Vergari |
| Abstract: | We analyse how strategic competition between a green firm and a brown competitor develops when their products are differentiated along two dimensions: hedonic quality and environmental quality. The former dimension refers to the pure (intrinsic) performance of the good, whereas the latter dimension has a positional content: buying green goods satisfies the consumers’ desire to be socially worthy citizens. Product variants thus comply at different levels with "green" social norms. Consumer preferences depend on a combination of hedonic quality and compliance with social norms. Assuming that the high hedonic quality variant complies less with these norms than the low hedonic quality variant, we characterize different equilibrium configurations which appear as a result of both the intensity of such norms and the willingness to pay for the hedonic quality. Afterwards, we discuss the policy implications of our analysis. |
| JEL: | D62 L13 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1029&r=all |
| By: | Luisa Bosetti (University of Brescia) |
| Abstract: | Facebook has deeply modified the way people communicate and interact. From a business perspective, Facebook has enormous potential as a means of communication and stakeholder engagement. It enables companies to share contents rapidly and efficiently with a large number of stakeholders worldwide. People can personalise their Facebook profile to receive updates from selected companies. Moreover, people can reply to such posts or simply manifest their approval by liking or sharing the posts. In this way, people also propagate corporate information among their own friends.The dramatic diffusion of Facebook should encourage companies to virtually interact with a network of stakeholders 2.0, using Facebook as a stakeholder engagement tool.The evolution to Web 2.0 goes with a general change in the social and business environment. In today’s world, both policy makers and the public expect that companies work in a sustainable way and consult their stakeholders about corporate strategies, operations and performance. The discussion should concern social and ecological cares as well as economic issues. In this sense, the engagement of the Facebook community could considerable enlarge and improve the dialogue.This paper offers a theoretical and empirical analysis to answer the following research question: do sustainability-oriented companies use Facebook as an effective means of stakeholder engagement? The paper contains an investigation based on UN Global Compact LEAD members, characterised by strong commitment and cooperation with governments, civil society, labour and the UN in order to promote sustainable practices. To evaluate the contribution of Facebook to the dialogue on sustainability, the investigation considered the types of contents published by the LEAD companies on their Facebook pages in 30 days. According to the subject, seven categories of posts emerged from the analysis: human rights and social citizenship; labour; environment; anti-corruption; strategy, business activity and economic performance; news on products and services; other.To evaluate the use of Facebook for stakeholder engagement 2.0, the investigation verified how many “likes”, comments and “shares” each post received and how often the company replied.The analysis showed that some LEAD members did not have a Facebook profile, which is unacceptable nowadays. Moreover, the companies with an official page rarely covered all three perspectives of sustainability (social, environmental, and economic issues). Furthermore, companies rarely replied to stakeholders’ comments. Based on the empirical evidence, most LEAD participants should modify the way they used Facebook. Therefore, the results of this research may help them improve stakeholder engagement 2.0. |
| Keywords: | Web 2.0; Facebook; stakeholder 2.0; communication; stakeholder engagement; sustainability; Global Compact LEAD |
| JEL: | M14 D83 Q56 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3005158&r=all |
| By: | Horton, Joshua; Blackstock, Jason; Craik, Neil; Doughty, Jack |
| Abstract: | The unexpected ocean fertilization experiment off the west coast of Canada in 2012 highlights the reality that non-governmental actors can already initiate small- to medium-scale environmental experiments and solar radiation management (SRM) field experiments with no government funding or approval. Without careful consideration and development of a governance framework for these types of experimentation, governments could be caught out having to respond ad hoc to situations driven by non-governmental actors. This two-day workshop considered and evaluated governance mechanisms that may be useful for managing proposed SRM field experiments. Two specific procedural mechanisms were under consideration: environmental impact assessments and research registries. To ensure discussions were as realistic as possible, participants used a set of recently published SRM field experiment proposals as hypothetical examples when considering and evaluating both mechanisms. The workshop operated under the Chatham House Rule, and no attempts were made to forge consensus positions or to generate policy recommendations. Rather, this workshop was exploratory in nature, with discussions ranging widely along with personal opinions on some topics. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrv:hksfac:22824036&r=all |
| By: | Kirsi Hyytinen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Sampsa Ruutu (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Mika Nieminen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland); Faïz Gallouj (CLERSE - CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - CNRS - Université Lille 1 - Sciences et technologies); Marja Toivonen (VTT Information technology - Technical Research Centre of Finland) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to study the challenge of evaluation in the context of systemic innovations in which services are a core element. The paper argues that the traditional evaluation methods and measures are not able to capture neither the diversity of innovations in services and systems nor the multifaceted dimensions of performance resulting from these innovations. In order to contribute to a more purposeful evaluation practices and methods, a new combinatory approach is suggested based on multi-criteria and system dynamic perspectives. This approach is illustrated in the context of environmental services, using an environmental data platform as a case example. |
| Keywords: | environmental data platform, system dynamic, service innovation, systemic innovation, environmental services,multi-criteria evaluation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01203646&r=all |
| By: | Costanza, Robert; Howarth, Richard B.; Kubiszewski, Ida; Liu, Shuang; Ma, Chunbo; Plumecocq, Gaël; Stern, David I. |
| Abstract: | We revisit the analysis of Costanza et al. (2004, Ecological Economics) of influential publications in ecological economics to discover what has changed a decade on. We examine which sources have been influential on the field of ecological economics in the past decade, which articles in the journal Ecological Economics have had the most influence on the field and on the rest of science, and on which areas of science the journal is having the most influence. We find that the field has matured over this period, with articles published in the journal having a greater influence than before, an increase in citation links to environmental studies journals and a reduction in citation links to mainstream economics journals, and possibly a shift in themes to a more applied and empirical direction. |
| Keywords: | Bibliometrics, ecological economics |
| JEL: | A12 A14 Q57 |
| Date: | 2015–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66933&r=all |
| By: | Carl-Johan Dalgaard (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen and CEPR); Casper Worm Hansen (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen; Kraka) |
| Abstract: | The present study examines the link between temperature and long-run productivity for a balanced panel of 21 countries, covering the period 1000?1800 CE. Collectively the countries examined accounted for about 2/3 of the global population by 1700. Each epoch in the analysis is a century long, which thus allows time for human adaptation after a temperature shock has occurred. Our principal ?nding is that lower temperatures worked to reduce productivity growth during the period in focus, consistent with contributions to the literature in economic history that argue the Little Ice Age was as a contractionary shock. |
| Keywords: | Climate shocks; Little Ice Age; Productivity growth |
| JEL: | O47 O57 N10 |
| Date: | 2015–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuiedp:1515&r=all |
| By: | Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy (Italy)); Giovanni Marin (IRCrES-CNR, Milano (Italy); SEEDS, Ferrara, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the productivity effects of eco-innovations at the firm level using a modified version of the CDM model (Crepon et al., 1998). The peculiar nature of environmental innovations, especially as regards the need of government intervention to create market opportunities, is likely to affect the way they are pursued and their effect on productivity. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, productivity, patents, eco-patents. |
| JEL: | L60 Q55 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1715&r=all |
| By: | Zárate, Tatiana; Maldona, Jorge Higinio |
| Abstract: | El Subsistema de Áreas Marinas Protegidas que se está implementando en Colombia apunta a la conservación de ecosistemas marinos y costeros claves para la provisión de diversos servicios ambientales, que son la base del desarrollo de distintas actividades económicas en el país. El objetivo de este documento es valorar los servicios asociados a captura y almacenamiento de carbono oceánico –Blue Carbon- provistos por el Subsistema. A través de la construcción de una función de beneficios y la estimación de posibles escenarios futuros del precio del carbono se busca aproximar el valor monetario asociado a este servicio. Los resultados indican que el valor anual de los beneficios esperados asociados a la captura y almacenamiento de carbono, provistos por ecosistemas como manglares y pastos marinos, son significativos aunque altamente dependientes de las expectativas frente a las negociaciones sobre la extensión del Protocolo de Kyoto y las dinámicas entre oferta y demanda de los permisos de emisión; además, se encuentra que la tasa natural de pérdida de carbono de estos ecosistemas no parece tener mayor efecto sobre el valor anual de los beneficios. |
| Keywords: | Valoración económica, servicios ecosistémicos, Mercados de emisiones, Captura y almacenamiento de carbono, secuestro de carbono, carbono azul, carbono oceánico, Cambio Climático., Land Economics/Use, Q54, Q56, |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209365&r=all |
| By: | Jonas Ngouhouo Poufoun (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech; University of Lorraine; Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) - Central Africa Regional Office); Jens Abildtrup (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Dénis Sonwa (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) - Central Africa Regional Office); Philippe Delacote (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech; Climate Economic Chair) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to determine and characterize the social and cultural preferences for endangered forest elephants’ conservation in the Congo Basin’s Tridom landscape. The paper uses data from a 2014 representative face-to-face survey with a stratified random sample of 1035, in 108 villages in the Cameroonian and the Gabonese part of the landscape. To assess the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for elephant conservation, the questionnaire included two contingent valuation (CV) elicitation formats: Double Bounded Dichotomous choice (DBDC) and Open-Ended (OP). Combining both elicitation formats is expected to lead to an estimate that is closer to the true WTP. We find on average that local households are willing to pay monthly CFA 1139.4 (€1.74) to avoid forest elephants extinction. That’s CFA 62.8 million (€95,778) for the overall population per month or annually CFA 753.9 million ( €1.15 million). Indigenousness has a positive and significant higher WTP for elephant conservation. This is due to the loss of the spiritual enrichment, the cultural identity as well as the lifestyle of the indigenous Baka Pygmies with an extinction of the elephant. Applying spatial data, we find that local communities prefer elephant far from their crops. The estimates show that the existence of Human-Elephant Conflict does not influence their preferences for elephant conservation. Yet, this result is important, as the hypothetical scenario proposed to the households included the prevention of Forest-Elephant Conflict. Therefore, our study suggests that local communities can be willing to engage in biodiversity preservation, when the public benefit from conservation comes along with private benefits related to the avoidance of Human-Elephant Conflict. |
| Keywords: | Forest Elephant Extinction; indigenous people; Contingent Valuation; WTP; Interval Regression Model; Double-Hurdle Model. |
| JEL: | Q57 Q29 C24 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lef:wpaper:2015-10&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Stoerk |
| Abstract: | This research documents changes in likely misreporting in official air quality data from Beijing for the years 2008 to 2013. It is shown that, consistent with prior research, the official Chinese data report suspiciously few observations that exceed the politically important Blue Sky Day threshold and an excess of observations just below that threshold. Similar data, measured by the US Embassy in Beijing, do not show this irregularity. To document likely misreporting, this analysis compares the air quality measurements to Benford’s Law, a statistical regularity known to fit air pollution data. I find that the Chinese data fit Benford’s Law poorly until a change in air quality measurements at the end of 2012. From 2013 onwards, the Chinese data fit Benford’s Law closely. The US Embassy data, by contrast, exhibit no variation over time in the fit with Benford’s Law, implying that the underlying pollution processes remain unchanged. These findings suggest that misreporting of air quality data for Beijing has likely ended in 2012. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp194&r=all |
| By: | Ernesto M. Pernia (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman); Maria Janela M. Generoso (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | Time was when solar energy was facilely dismissed as impractical, inefficient, and pricey. In recent years, however, innovations in technology, regulation, and financing have resulted in remarkable efficiency improvements and price reductions, thereby reversing the skepticism about this renewable energy (RE) source. In this paper, we explore how this has happened, to what extent photovoltaic solar technology has been accepted around the world, and what might be its potential for inclusive green growth. We find that adoption of both on-grid and off-grid solar systems has been widespread and rapidly increasing. Particularly noteworthy is the utilization of small- scale individual or distributed off-grid solar home systems (SHS) in remote and underserved areas in the developing world, including East Africa and South Asia. It appears that the Philippines has been a relative latecomer. Data show that solar power's "installed" capacity remains a tiny fraction of all RE sources (that also include hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass, and ocean). Moreover, such capacity is for ongrid only; there seems none as yet installed for off-grid SHS. We conclude with the paper's main points and possible implications for policy and research. |
| Keywords: | Renewable energy, Inclusive green growth, Rural electrification, Economic development |
| JEL: | O10 O14 Q20 Q28 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201508&r=all |
| By: | Skander BEN ABDALLAH; Pierre LASSERRE |
| Abstract: | We solve Faustmanns problem when two tree species are available for planting. The analysis also applies to optimal forest exploitation before an endogenous switch to some alternative land use such as agriculture, housing, or preservation, and vice versa. Each species has its own deterministic growth function and commands a timber price that grows exponentially at a constant rate. Therefore, it may be optimal to first exploit the species whose price is high but grows slowly, and then switch to the alternative species once its price has sufficiently increased relative to the price of the first one. When the land is bare, there exists a threshold of the relative price at which the investor is indifferent between planting either species. When the relative price lies below this switching threshold, it is optimal to plant and harvest the high-price low-rate species repeatedly until the value of the other species warrants its introduction; it is then repeatedly harvested and replanted inde nitely according to the standard Faustmann rule; the rotation does not depend on timber price. Before the switch, the optimal harvest age depends on the relative price; it defi nes a replanting boundary for relative prices below the switching threshold and a switching boundary for relative prices above the switching threshold. We show that the replanting boundary is a sequence of continuous segments giving the harvest age as function of the relative price; these segments differ depending on the number of harvests of the initial species that remain before the switch. Each segment is fi rst decreasing, then increasing, and crosses Faustmanns rotation twice. On an optimal sequence of harvests, successive rotations are increasingly higher or decreasingly lower than Faustmanns rotation; they may also be constant and equal to Fausmanns rotation. |
| Keywords: | forestry, land use, alternative use, faustmann, alternative species, rotation |
| JEL: | C61 D81 G11 G13 Q23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:06-2015&r=all |
| By: | Raja Rajendra Timilsina (Kochi University of Technology); Koji Kotani (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | A marketable permits system (MPS) has been deemed effective in laboratory experiments, however, little is known about how the MPS works in the field. We evaluate the MPS efficiency for forest conservation by framed field experiments in Nepal. Forestland demands are elicited from farmers, with which the experiments are carried out. The novelty lies in instituting a uniform price auction (UPA) under trader settings and in identifying the efficiency in the field of developing nations. The results suggest that farmers with limited education understand UPA rules, reveal their forestland valuations and that the MPS is effective with 80% of efficiency. |
| Keywords: | uniform price auction, marketable permits system, framed field experiment, forest management |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2015-22&r=all |
| By: | Julien DAUBANES; Pierre LASSERRE |
| Abstract: | Optimum commodity taxation theory asks how to raise a given amount of tax revenue while minimizing distortions. We reexamine Ramsey's inverse elasticity rule in presence of Hotelling-type non-renewable natural resources. Under standard assumptions borrowed from the non-renewable-resource-extraction and from the optimum-commodity-taxation literatures, a non-renewable resource should be taxed in priority whatever its demand elasticity and whatever the demand elasticity of regular commodities. It should also be taxed at a higher rate than other commodities having the same demand elasticity and, while the tax on regular commodities should be constant, the resource tax should vary over time. When the generation of reserves by exploration is determined by the net-of-tax rents derived during the extraction phase, reserves become a conventional form of capital and royalties tax its income; our results contradict Chamley's conclusion that capital should not be taxed at all in the very long run. In an autarkic economy, absent any subsidy to reserve discoveries, the optimal tax rate on extraction obeys an inverse elasticity rule almost identical to that of a commodity whose supply is perfectly elastic. As a matter of fact, there is a continuum of optimal combinations of reserve subsidies and extraction taxes, irrespective of whether taxes are applied on consumption or on production. When the government cannot commit, extraction rents are completely expropriated and subsidies are maximum. In general the optimum Ramsey tax not only causes a distortion of the extraction path, as happens when reserves are given, but also distorts the level of reserves developed for extraction. When that distortion is the sole effect of the tax, it is determined by a rule reminiscent of the inverse elasticity rule applying to elastically-supplied commodities. In an open economy, Ramsey taxes further acquire an optimum-tariff dimension, capturing foreign resource rents. For countries that import the resource, the result that domestic resource consumption is to be taxed at a higher rate than conventional commodities having the same demand elasticity emerges reinforced. |
| Keywords: | optimum commodity taxation, inverse elasticity rule, non-renewable resources, hotelling resource, supply elasticity, demand elasticity, capital income taxation |
| JEL: | Q31 Q38 H21 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:03-2015&r=all |
| By: | Francisco Isaias Ruiz Ceseña (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Perla Yamely González Núñez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Judith Juárez Mancilla (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Plácido Roberto Cruz Chávez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur); Gustavo Rodolfo Cruz Chávez (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur) |
| Abstract: | This work originated with previous studies in the work of the Project "productive options to sustainable use of water for rural communities of the 5 sudcalifornianos Municipalities main points oasis". This paper focuses on the analysis of 8 oasis in Baja California Sur, México. For the case study here are the specific oasis: Oasis of San Ignacio, Oasis Mulege, Oasis San Javier, Oasis La Purisima, Oasis San Isidro, Oasis of San Jose and San Miguel de Comondú, and Oasis El Chorro. For analysis of settled villages around these Oasis have split the work in one way, in relation to the analysis of natural endogenous variables of the same thus determining its potential, using the information through a similar tool Model WEF will determine which of these sites have features that make them potential in the development of ecotourism businesses are concerned. |
| Keywords: | Ecotourism, Competitiveness, Potential, Business, Oasis. |
| JEL: | O18 L83 M21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3005449&r=all |
| By: | Cuervo, Rafael; Maldonado, Jorge Higinio; Rueda, Mario E. |
| Abstract: | Las áreas marinas protegidas son reconocidas en la actualidad como una alternativa de conservación de los ecosistemas marinos. Aunque la figura de protección reduce el área disponible para la actividad pesquera, se ha documentado que la misma puede convertirse en una fuente de recursos para la actividad en las zonas aledañas, a través del efecto de rebosamiento. El objetivo de este estudio es valorar los cambios sobre la provisión de recursos pesqueros, resultado del aumento en las áreas marinas protegidas en las costas colombianas, a través de un modelo dinámico bioeconómico para las pesquerías del camarón blanco (Litopenaeus occidentalis), pelada (Cynoscion phoxocephalus), pargo rojo, (Lutjanus purpureus) y jurel (Caranx hippos), cuatro especies importantes en términos sociales y económicos, en las costas del Pacífico y del Caribe. El modelo incluye un área protegida –con disponibilidad de hábitats esenciales- y un área no protegida, así como la posibilidad de migración entre ellas. Se analizan los cambios en los niveles de biomasa, captura, esfuerzo y los beneficios económicos de la actividad pesquera a través del tiempo, ante diferentes escenarios de protección. Se concluye que a pesar de la reducción del área disponible para la pesca, las áreas protegidas generan –en el mediano plazo- un aumento en los niveles de biomasa y en los beneficios de la actividad pesquera a través del efecto de rebosamiento, lo que permite afirmar que las áreas marinas protegidas constituyen una alternativa de conservación válida, con el potencial de generar beneficios económicos. |
| Keywords: | parques naturales marinos, pesquerías, modelación dinámica, modelos bio-económicos, biodiversidad, efecto de rebosamiento., Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, C61, Q22, Q51, Q57, |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209364&r=all |
| By: | F.C. Stam |
| Abstract: | Regional policies for entrepreneurship are currently going through a transition from increasing the quantity of entrepreneurship to the quality of entrepreneurship. The next step will be the transition from entrepreneurship policy towards policy for an entrepreneurial economy. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach has been heralded as a new framework accommodating these transitions. This approach starts with the entrepreneurial actor, but emphasizes the context of productive entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is not only the output of the system, entrepreneurs are important players themselves in creating the ecosystem and keeping it healthy. This research briefing reviews the entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, its shortcomings, and provides a novel synthesis. The entrepreneurial ecosystem approach speaks directly to practitioners, but its causal depth and evidence base is rather limited. This article provides a novel synthesis including a causal scheme of how the framework and systemic conditions of the ecosystem lead to particular entrepreneurial activities as output of the ecosystem and new value creation as outcome of the ecosystem. In addition it provides a framework for analyzing the interactions between the elements within the ecosystem. This offers a much more rigorous and relevant starting point for subsequent studies into entrepreneurial ecosystems and the regional policy implications of these. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurship, regional policy, economic policy |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1507&r=all |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (University of Rome Tor Vergata); Vittorio Pelligra (University of Cagliari, CRENoS); Francesco Salustri (DEDI, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | We use the Vote-with-the-Wallet game (VWG) to model socially or environmentally responsible consumption, an increasingly relevant but still under-researched phenomenon. Based on a theoretical model outlining game equilibria and the parametric interval of the related multiplayer prisoners’ dilemma (PD) we evaluate with a controlled lab experiment players’ behavior in the game and test the effects of an ex post redistribution mechanism between defectors and cooperators. Our findings document that the redistribution mechanism interrupts cooperation decay and stabilizes the share of cooperators at a level significantly higher, even though inferior to the Nash equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | vote with the wallet, prisoner’s dilemma, lab experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C73 C91 M14 |
| Date: | 2015–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:354&r=all |
| By: | Montañez, Ana María; Maldonado, Jorge Higinio |
| Abstract: | El establecimiento de Áreas Marinas Protegidas se ha definido como la principal herramienta para la protección y conservación de los ecosistemas marinos y costeros. Dentro de los beneficios que ofrece el establecimiento de estas áreas se encuentran aumentos en la biodiversidad de especies, en las posibilidades turísticas y en la abundancia de especies destinadas a la pesca, entre otras. Este estudio tiene como objetivo estimar el valor que los hogares atribuyen a un incremento del subsistema de Áreas Marinas Protegidas en Colombia. Para cumplir con este objetivo, se emplea la metodología de experimentos de elección (choice experiments), en la cual se valoran los atributos de protección de ecosistemas, destinos turísticos y condiciones de las comunidades locales de pescadores. Los resultados muestran que aunque el conocimiento generalizado de los hogares sobre áreas marinas protegidas es bajo, ellos están dispuestos a pagar por la ampliación de estas áreas. Asociado a valores de opción y de existencia, la mayoría de los hogares colombianos desea que estas áreas marinas perduren para futuras generaciones. Los resultados muestran que el tener niveles bajos de ingreso, vivir en una ciudad costera y el hecho de no conocer el mar, generan que la disponibilidad a pagar como proporción del ingreso sea mayor. Finalmente, el estudio muestra que las autoridades ambientales contarían con una alta aceptabilidad por parte de los hogares para la ampliación del subsistema de áreas marinas protegidas si se garantizan las condiciones de las comunidades locales. |
| Keywords: | Experimentos de elección, Valoración Económica Total, Preferencias Declaradas, Valor de No Uso., Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q20, Q22, Q25, Q26, Q51, Q57, |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ulaedd:209384&r=all |