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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Psarras, Peter C. (Colorado School of Mines); Comello, Stephen (Stanford University); Bains, Praveen (Stanford University); Charoensawadpong, Panunya (Stanford University); Reichelstein, Stefan J. (Stanford University); Wilcox, Jennifer (Colorado School of Mines) |
| Abstract: | The fabrication and manufacturing of industrial commodities such as iron, glass and cement is carbon-intensive. A major reason capture of carbon dioxide from flue gases of industrial processes has not been widely adopted as a climate mitigation strategy is due to the lack of economic incentives for capturing CO2 on a scale that will impact climate. Yet, abatement opportunities do exist for the industrial sector, provided the scale of such processes is aligned well with CO2 utilization. This is important given that this sector accounts for 23% of total global emissions. This work develops a model that examines the full cost of separating, compressing and transporting CO2 of various industrial processes (sources), and pairing them with appropriate utilization opportunities (sinks). We find that--given the relatively higher concentrations of CO2 in flue gases from industrial processes--the full cost of abatement is lower than that of the power sector. Further, we find truck transportation is generally the low-cost alternative compared to pipeline transport for small volumes indicative of this kind of capture activity (100 kt CO2/a). We apply this methodology to a regional case study, which shows steel and cement manufacturing as having the lowest levelized cost of abatement. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:repec:ecl:stabus:3493&r=env |
| By: | Timothy Neal (UNSW School of Economics); Michael Keane (UNSW School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of climate change on U.S. agricultural productivity using county-level yield and weather data from 1950 to 2015. We present two new methods of modelling how producers adapt agricultural techniques to harsh temperatures, including a new panel data estimator that allows for two-dimensional fixed-effects in slopes. We find evidence of adaptation to geographic and temporal variation in climate, but it has stalled since 1989. We show that adaptation implies fixed-effects slope heterogeneity in the relationship between crop yield and temperature, and ignoring this leads to biased estimates of temperature sensitivity. We use our estimates to project corn yields to 2100 using a variety of climate models and emission scenarios, and find that unmitigated climate change will have severe effects on yields. Our models indicate that adaptation techniques can mitigate 10 to 45% of the damage, but significant emissions reductions can mitigate far more (i.e., 42 to 91%). |
| JEL: | C23 C54 D24 Q15 Q51 Q54 Q55 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2018-08&r=env |
| By: | Julie Rozenberg; Adrien Vogt-Schilb; Stephane Hallegatte |
| Abstract: | To mitigate climate change, some governments opt for instruments focused on investment, like performance standards or feebates, instead of carbon prices. We compare these policies in a Ramsey model with clean and polluting capital, irreversible investment and a climate constraint. Alternative instruments imply different transitions to the same balanced growth path. The optimal carbon price minimizes the discounted social cost of the transition to clean capital, but imposes immediate private costs that disproportionately affect the current owners of polluting capital, in particular in the form of stranded assets. A phased-in carbon price can avoid stranded assets but still result in a drop of income for the owners of polluting capital when it is implemented. Second-best standards or feebates on new investment lead to higher total costs but avoid stranded assets, preserve the revenues of vested interests, and smooth abatement costs over individuals and time. These results suggest a trade-off between political feasibility and cost-effectiveness of environmental policies. |
| Keywords: | Stranded Assets, Energy efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Power plants, Coal, Environmental taxes, Environmental Policy, Climate change mitigation, clean capital, BIDcambioclima, stranded assets |
| JEL: | L50 O33 O44 Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:8205&r=env |
| By: | Sarah E. Anderson; Terry L. Anderson; Alice C. Hill; Matthew E. Kahn; Howard Kunreuther; Gary D. Libecap; Hari Mantripragada; Pierre Mérel; Andrew Plantinga; V. Kerry Smith |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes and synthesizes the role of markets in facilitating climate change adaptation. It explains how market signals encourage adaptation through land markets. It also identifies impediments to critical market signals, provides related policy recommendations, and points to promising new technologies. Urban, coastal, and agricultural land markets provide effective signals of the emerging costs of climate change. These signals encourage adjustments by both private owners and by policy officials in taking preemptive action to reduce costs. In agriculture, they promote consideration of new cropping and tillage practices, seed types, timing, and location of production. They also stimulate use of new irrigation technologies. In urban areas, they motivate new housing construction, elevation, and location away from harm. They channel more efficient use of water and its application to parks and other green areas to make urban settings more desirable with higher temperatures. To be effective, however, land markets must reflect multiple traders and prices must be free to adjust. Where these conditions are not met, land market signals will be inhibited and market-driven adaptation will be reduced. Because public policy is driven by constituent demands, it may not be a remedy. The evidence of the National Flood Insurance Program and federal wildfire response illustrates how politically difficult it may be to adjust programs to be more adaptive. |
| JEL: | Q1 Q15 Q21 Q22 Q24 Q25 Q28 Q51 Q54 R14 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24645&r=env |
| By: | Yannis Dafermos (UWE Bristol); Maria Nikolaidi; Giorgos Galanis |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a stock-flow-fund ecological macroeconomic model that combines the stock-flow consistent approach of Godley and Lavoie with the flow-fund model of Georgescu-Roegen. The model has the following key features. First, monetary and physical stocks and flows are explicitly formalised taking into account the accounting principles and the laws of thermodynamics. Second, Georgescu-Roegen’s distinction between stock-flow and fund-service resources is adopted. Third, output is demand-determined but supply constraints might arise either due to environmental damages or due to the exhaustion of natural resources. Fourth, climate change influences directly the components of aggregate demand. Fifth, finance affects macroeconomic activity and the materialisation of investment plans that determine ecological efficiency. The model is calibrated using global data. Simulations are conducted to investigate the trajectories of key environmental, macroeconomic and financial variables under (i) different assumptions about the sensitivity of economic activity to the leverage ratio of firms and (ii) different types of green finance policies. |
| Keywords: | ecological macroeconomics, stock-flow consistent modelling, laws of thermodynamics, climate change, finance |
| JEL: | E12 E44 Q54 Q57 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:1612&r=env |
| By: | Yannis Dafermos; Maria Nikolaidi (University of Greenwich); Giorgos Galanis |
| Abstract: | Using a stock-flow-fund ecological macroeconomic model, we analyse (i) the effects of climate change on financial stability and (ii) the financial and global warming implications of a green QE programme. Emphasis is placed on the impact of climate change damages on the price of financial assets and the financial position of firms and banks. The model is estimated and calibrated using global data and simulations are conducted for the period 2015-2115. Four key results arise. First, by destroying the capital of firms and reducing their profitability, climate change is likely to gradually deteriorate the liquidity of firms, leading to a higher rate of default that could harm both the financial and the non-financial corporate sector. Second, climate change damages can lead to a portfolio reallocation that can cause a gradual decline in the price of corporate bonds. Third, financial instability might adversely affect credit expansion and the investment in green capital, with adverse feedback effects on climate change. Fourth, the implementation of a green QE programme can reduce climate-induced financial instability and restrict global warming. The effectiveness of this programme depends positively on the responsiveness of green investment to changes in bond yields. |
| Keywords: | ecological macroeconomics, stock-flow consistent modelling, climate change, financial stability, green quantitative easing |
| JEL: | E12 E44 E52 Q54 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:1712&r=env |
| By: | Fanti, Luciano; Buccella, Domenico |
| Abstract: | In this paper the authors investigate whether and how, in a network industry, the intensity of network effects affect the total pollution under the presence of a union interested to "local" environmental damages (e.g. polluting production processes damaging workers' health and the local environment where workers live). Under monopoly, it is shown that network effects tend to increase, on the one hand, the investments in the cleaning technology but, on the other hand, the polluting output, so that their effects on the total pollution are theoretically ambiguous. In particular, the authors find that total pollution is reduced (resp. increased) with increasing network effects intensity if the market is sufficiently large (resp. small). Moreover the pollution-reducing result of the increasing network effect is more likely when the existing network effects, the union's environmental concerns and the technological efficiency are sufficiently large. These findings are qualitatively confirmed also under different union's preferences, Government's environmental standard and Cournot duopoly, and thus offer interesting empirical as well as policy implications. |
| Keywords: | network goods,cleaning technology,pollution production,green unions,monopoly,Cournot duopoly |
| JEL: | J51 L12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201840&r=env |
| By: | Charles Kenny (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the role for policy integration to speed progress towards delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is required because the goals set very ambitious targets for progress across a range of interlinked areas, encompassing both synergies and tradeoffs. Lessons of policy integration at the national level suggest that it is usually at best partially successful, requiring significant commitment from the highest levels of government. Policy integration regarding foreign affairs has proven even more challenging. This paper suggests a mechanism for prioritizing coordination and the use of coordination tools including regulation, safeguards, taxes, and subsidies. It also suggests re-orienting ministerial responsibilities where possible from input control to achievement of outcomes as well as tools to promote innovation by subnational governments and the private sector. |
| Keywords: | SDGs, sustainable development, policy coordination |
| Date: | 2018–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:484&r=env |
| By: | Șurcă, Elena |
| Abstract: | Renewable energy production is an alternative to traditional energy resources that are being depleted, these new resources will gradually replace the exhausting energies by combining the three main features of the present century, so that sustainable development, energy security and environmental protection become defining elements in terms of renewable energy production. The energy sector communicates and is closely linked to the economic sector, the defining resource with a major influence on the economy being oil, where its exhaustion and other natural energy resources would lead to economic and political instability, which is why it is necessary to highlight the possibility of substitution exhaustible resources through different sources of renewable energies: solar, wind, microhydro, geothermal and biomass. In view of the above, we will highlight Romania's potential in the production of renewable energy from biomass, the materials provided by the agricultural sector and the forestry sector, but also the energy consumption in agriculture and forestry, as well as the type of biofuel used (liquid or solid), which draws a parallel between the two categories of biofuels obtained from the same resource. We will also highlight Romania's position in the European Union in this field, highlighting the national and European objectives on this issue. |
| Keywords: | renewable energy, biomass, energy security |
| JEL: | Q23 Q42 |
| Date: | 2017–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:85206&r=env |
| By: | Newbery, D.; Reiner, D.; Ritz, R. |
| Abstract: | The EU carbon price lies well below estimates of the social cost of carbon and “target-consistent” carbon prices needed to deliver ambitious targets such as the 40% reduction target for 2030. In light of this, the UK introduced a carbon price floor (CPF) for its electricity sector in 2013 and the new Dutch Government has recently made a similar commitment, while successive French Governments have called for an EU-wide CPF. This paper analyzes the impacts and design of a power-sector CPF, both at the EU and national level, using a political-economy approach. We find a good case for introducing such a price-based instrument into the EU ETS. We suggest that a CPF should be designed to “top up” the EUA price to €25–30/tCO2, rising annually at 3–5% above inflation, at least until 2030. We argue that the new EU Market Stability Reserve enhances the value of a CPF in terms of delivering climate benefits, and discuss the potential for a regional CPF in North-West Europe. We also review international experience with price floors (and ceilings). |
| Keywords: | Carbon pricing, electricity markets, market failure, policy failure, political economy, price floor, price corridor |
| JEL: | H23 L94 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1833&r=env |
| By: | Emiliano Huet-Vaughn; Nicholas Muller; Yen-Chia Hsu |
| Abstract: | Most environmental policy assumes the form of standards and enforcement. Scarce public budgets motivate the use of disclosure laws. This study explores a new form of pollution disclosure: real-time visual evidence of emissions provided on a free, public website. The paper tests whether the disclosure of visual evidence of emissions affects the nature and frequency of phone calls to the local air quality regulator. First, we test whether the presence of the camera affects the frequency of calls to the local air quality regulator about the facility monitored by the camera. Second, we test the relationship between the camera being active and the number of complaints about facilities other than the plant recorded by the camera. Our empirical results suggest that the camera did not affect the frequency of calls to the regulator about the monitored facility. However, the count of complaints pertaining to another prominent industrial polluter in the area, steel manufacturing plants, is positively associated with the camera being active. We propose two behavioral reasons for this finding: the prior knowledge hypothesis and affect heuristics. This study argues that visual evidence is a feasible approach to environmental oversight even during periods with diminished regulatory capacity. |
| JEL: | D62 D91 Q52 Q53 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24664&r=env |
| By: | Christoph Hambel; Holger Kraft; Eduardo S. Schwartz |
| Abstract: | Climate change is considered as one of the major global challenges. Although countries past and future contributions to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are different, all countries are affected, but not necessarily in the same way (e.g. rising sea levels). This is the reason why it is so hard to reach global agreements on this matter. We study this issue in a dynamic game-theoretical model (stochastic differential game) with multiple countries that are open economies, i.e. we allow for international trade between the countries. Our framework involves stochastic dynamics for CO2-emissions and economic output of the countries. Each country is represented by a recursive-preference functional. Despite its complexity, the model is tractable and we can quantify each country's decision on consumption, investment, carbon abatement and the social cost of carbon, explicitly. One key finding is that both the country-specific and global social cost of carbon are increasing in the trade volume. This result is robust to adding capital transfers between countries. Our numerical examples suggest that disregarding trade might lead to a significant underestimation of the SCC. |
| JEL: | D81 Q5 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24604&r=env |
| By: | Asjad Naqvi; Engelbert Stockhammer |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a post-Keynesian ecological macro model that combines three strands of literature: the directed technological change mechanism developed in mainstream endogenous growth theory models, the ecological economic literature which highlights the role of green innovation and material flows, and the post-Keynesian school which provides a framework to deal with the demand side of the economy, financial flows, and inter- and intra-sectoral behavioral interactions. The model is stock-flow consistent and introduces research and development (R&D) as a component of GDP funded by private firm investment and public expenditure. The economy uses three complimentary inputs – Labor, Capital, and (non-renewable) Resources. Input productivities depend on R&D expenditures, which are determined by relative changes in their respective prices. Two policy experiments are tested; a Resource tax increase, and an increase in the share of public R&D on Resources. Model results show that policy instruments that are continually increased over a long-time horizon have better chances of achieving a "green" transition than one-off climate policy shocks to the system, that primarily have a short-run effect. |
| Keywords: | directed technological change, research and development, green transition, ecological economics, post-Keynesian economics, stock-flow consistency |
| JEL: | E12 O33 Q57 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:1714&r=env |
| By: | Carfì, David; Donato, Alessia; Schilirò, Daniele |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a model representing a global economy which aims to become environmentally sustainable. The model looks both at the production side and the consumption side of the economy. Regarding the production side, the suggested model considers investment and innovation in climate technologies, whereas on the side of the consumption it takes into account economic and policy instruments to change the patterns of consumption of the households. The model follows a game theory approach and applies a theoretical framework à la Cournot. The results of the paper are the following: the model provides win-win solutions, namely strategic situations in which each country takes advantages by cooperating and competing at the same time within the global economy, and where each country gets a positive return. In fact, the model shows the convenience for each country to cooperate and suggests the implementation of policies in order to satisfy the basic requirements of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in terms of production, consumption and climate change. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Model à la Cournot; Coopetitive Games; Green Economy |
| JEL: | C71 C72 C78 Q40 Q48 Q50 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86718&r=env |
| By: | Pilon, André Francisco |
| Abstract: | In view of the overwhelming pressures on the global environment and the need to disrupt the systems that drive them, an ecosystemic theoretical and practical framework is posited for the evaluation and planning of public policies, research and teaching programmes, encompassing four dimensions of being-in-the-world (intimate, interactive, social and biophysical), as they combine, as donors and recipients, to induce the events (deficits/assets), cope with consequences (desired/undesired) and contribute for change (potential outputs). The focus should not be on the “bubbles” of the surface (consequences, fragmented issues), but on the configurations deep inside the boiling pot where the problems emerge. New paradigms of development, growth, power, wealth, work and freedom, embedded at institutional level, include heterogeneous attributes, behaviours and interactions and the dynamics of the systems (institutions, populations, political, economic, cultural and ecological background). Instead of dealing with the bubbles (segmented, reduced issues) and trying to solve isolated and localized problems without addressing the general phenomenon, the proposal emphasizes the definition of the problems deep inside the “boiling pot”, where the problems emerge, encompassing the current “world-system” with its boundaries, structures, techno-economic paradigms, support groups, rules of legitimation, and coherence. In the socio-cultural learning niches, heuristic-hermeneutic experiences generate awareness, interpretation and understanding beyond established stereotypes, from a thematic (“what”), an epistemic(“how”) and a strategic (policies) point of view. The proposal relates to how taken for granted worldviews, values and perceptions affect environmental problems and quality of life. |
| Keywords: | education, culture, politics, economics, ethics, environment, ecosystems |
| JEL: | I00 I25 I28 I29 O21 O31 Q2 Q28 Q5 Q51 Q56 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2016–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86681&r=env |
| By: | Joshua Goodman; Michael Hurwitz; Jisung Park; Jonathan Smith |
| Abstract: | We provide the first evidence that cumulative heat exposure inhibits cognitive skill development and that school air conditioning can mitigate this effect. Student fixed effects models using 10 million PSAT-takers show that hotter school days in the year prior to the test reduce learning, with extreme heat being particularly damaging and larger effects for low income and minority students. Weekend and summer heat has little impact and the effect is not explained by pollution or local economic shocks, suggesting heat directly reduces the productivity of learning inputs. New data providing the first measures of school-level air conditioning penetration across the US suggest such infrastructure almost entirely offsets these effects. Without air conditioning, each 1°F increase in school year temperature reduces the amount learned that year by one percent. Our estimates imply that the benefits of school air conditioning likely outweigh the costs in most of the US, particularly given future predicted climate change. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 Q5 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24639&r=env |
| By: | Lee, Soohyung (Sogang University); Yoo, Heesun (Vanderbilt University); Nam, Minhyuk (Sogang University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extent to which the 2005 Clean Air Act introduced in South Korea affected air pollution and infant health. To identify the causal effect, we exploit the time and geographical variations in the adoption of the Act between 2003 and 2006. During this period, the Clean Air Act indeed significantly reduced air pollutants. For example, the PM10 level was reduced by 9 percent. However, the Act's impact on infant mortality was not statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, infant mortality, PM10 |
| JEL: | I18 K32 Q52 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11542&r=env |
| By: | Carattini, Stefano; Baranzini, Andrea; Lalive, Rafael |
| Abstract: | Environmental taxes are often underexploited. This paper analyses the effectiveness of a garbage tax, assessing its effects on multiple outcomes as well as its acceptability. We study how a Supreme Court decision, mandating the Swiss Canton of Vaud to implement a tax on garbage, affects garbage production and beliefs about the tax. We adopt a difference-in-differences approach exploiting that parts of Vaud already implemented a garbage tax before the mandate. Pricing garbage by the bag (PGB) is highly effective, reducing unsorted garbage by 40%, increasing recycling of aluminium and organic waste, without causing negative spillovers on adjacent regions. The effects of PGB seem very persistent over time. Our assessment of PGB looks very favourable. It may surprise that PGB is not implemented more often. Hence, we look at people's perceptions. We find that people are very concerned with PGB ex ante. Public opposition seems to be the main obstacle to PGB. However, implementing PGB reduces concerns with effectiveness and fairness substantially. After implementing PGB, people accept 70% higher garbage taxes compared to before PGB. We argue that environmental taxes could be much more diffused, if people had the chance to experience their functioning and correct their beliefs. |
| Keywords: | unit pricing; recycling; effectiveness; difference-in-differences; acceptability; social perceptions |
| JEL: | D62 D78 H23 Q53 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88337&r=env |
| By: | Lesly Cassin |
| Abstract: | Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face specific social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. This paper provides a simple overlapping generations model with migration and intergenerational transfers in an economy where production generates pollution. This pollution hampers the cognitive skills of the children and thus the efficiency of human capital accumulation in the economy. Therefore the model developped in this work introduces kea features of Caribbean SIDS in order to exacerbate the dynamics between demography – i.e. migration and human capital accumulation – and pollution. Results reveal that the usual gain from migration in terms of human capital was no longer possible because of the environmental externality. Indeed, in most of the cases, in presence of the environmental externality, per capita variables (utility, production and capital) are decreased by migration, while the aggregated production can be enhanced thanks to the demographic growth that occurs with migration. Moreover, it has been shown that the conditions to have a profitable environmental tax depend on the pollution intensity of the economy. Finally, the interactions between the emigration rate and the form of intergenerational transfers – i.e. solidarity from the domestic area and/or from the diaspora – have an impact on the scale of the reduction of human capital due to migration. Thus, in this model a gain from an increase in the rate of emigration is still possible but only if migration is already very high. |
| Keywords: | Pollution, Demographics, Economic Development, Migration, Caribbean, Small Island Developing States |
| JEL: | Q01 Q56 F24 J24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2018-30&r=env |
| By: | William D. Nordhaus |
| Abstract: | Concerns about the impact on large-scale earth systems have taken center stage in the scientific and economic analysis of climate change. The present study analyzes the economic impact of a potential disintegration of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS). The method is to combine a small geophysical model of the GIS with the DICE integrated assessment model. The result shows that the GIS is likely to disappear over the next millennium or so without climate policy, but an active climate policy may prevent the GIS from crossing the threshold of irreversibility. Additionally, the study estimates the impact of the GIS on the social cost of carbon (SCC) and finds that adding GIS dynamics would add less than 5% to the SCC under alternative discount rates and estimates of the GIS dynamics. Simulations of geo-engineering options indicate that the dynamics of disintegration and rebuilding are extremely asymmetric, implying that GIS disintegration should be treated as irreversible. |
| JEL: | H4 Q5 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24640&r=env |
| By: | X. Galiègue (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - UO - Université d'Orléans - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); A. Laude (REGARDS - Recherches en Économie Gestion AgroRessources Durabilité Santé- EA - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - SFR Condorcet - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Combining geothermal energy and CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is a technological solution that uses the same aquifer to provide heat and to store CO2, after dissolving it into the brine, leading to a close loop, as proposed in the CO2-DISSOLVED concept. This technology is more relevant for small-scale emitters-such as biorefineries-than CCS with postcombustion and storage at a supercritical state, which requires larger scale effects i.e., most power generation plants using fossil fuels. Based on a techno-economic analysis, we provide insights on the role of CO2-DISSOLVED in the sustainable transition. Contrary to conventional CCS on fossil fuels, CO2-DISSOLVED appears as a bridge towards renewable energies, and acts as a complementary technology, enlarging the potential of CCS for small or medium industrial emitters. This innovation enriches the portfolio of CCS combinations with renewable energies, like BECCS (BioEnergies and CCS). It helps then to overcome the current debates CCS versus renewable energies, showing a large gradient of situations. According to the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) of sustainable transition, CO2-DISSOLVED could contribute to the transformation of the existing socio-technical system, and to its reconfiguration towards renewable sources of energy. As other competing technologies, it could play a rising role in the modification of the energy system. Then, focusing only on CCS implemented on large-scale emitters constitutes a narrow vision of CCS potential in the sustainable transition. |
| Keywords: | partial capture,Geothermal energy,Carbon Capture and Storage,CO2-DISSOLVED,Multi-Level Perspective |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:insu-01797599&r=env |
| By: | Sima, Elena |
| Abstract: | The sustainable rural development of the Dobrudgean rural area requires reaching a balance between the need to preserve the rural economic, ecological and cultural space and the tendency to modernize the rural economic activity and life. The pleading for the promotion of tourism activities in the Dobrudgean rural area starts from the need for rural economical diversification. In general, no rural development program can be conceived in the absence of an essential role played by agriculture. The rural economy is more developed and more dynamic if it has a more diverse structure, and if the share of non-agricultural economy is higher. In this context, the paper presents the tourism potential of the rural localities from Dobrudgea and the development of a viable network of private small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector. The volume of information in this paper resulted from the investigation of relationships that exist between the environmental and social factors at local level, making it possible to define the necessary mechanisms for the sustainable development of tourism activities. |
| Keywords: | rural development; rural tourism; tourism activities; tourism infrastructure; Dobrudgea. |
| JEL: | L83 Q01 R58 |
| Date: | 2017–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:85102&r=env |
| By: | Armel Ngami (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, AMSE); Thomas Seegmuller (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, AMSE) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of a pay-as-you-go pension system on the evolution of capital and pollution, and on the efficiency of an environmental versus health policy. In an overlapping generations model (OLG), we introduce endogenous longevity that depends on pollution and health expenditures. Global dynamics may display multiple balanced growth paths (BGP). We show that by discouraging savings, a policy that promotes the pension system enlarges the environmental poverty trap. More surprisingly, the environmental policy has contrasted effects according to the significance of the pension system. If it has a low size, a raise of the environmental policy enlarges the environmental poverty trap and leads to a rise in capital over pollution at the highest stationary equilibrium. In contrast, in economies where intergenerational solidarity is well developed, capital over pollution decreases at the highest BGP. In such a case, the environmental policy does not necessarily lead to a better longevity and growth. |
| Keywords: | longevity, environment, Health, pension system, growth, Pollution |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1815&r=env |
| By: | Karen Clay; Margarita Portnykh; Edson Severnini |
| Abstract: | Using U.S county level data on lead in air for 1978-1988 and lead in topsoil in the 2000s, this paper examines the impact of lead exposure on a critical human function with societal implications – fertility. To provide causal estimates of the effect of lead on fertility, we use two sets of instruments: i) the interaction of the timing of implementation of Clean Air Act regulations and the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the panel data and ii) the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the cross sectional data. We find that reductions in airborne lead between 1978 and 1988 increased fertility rates and that higher lead in topsoil decreased fertility rates in the 2000s. The latter finding is particularly concerning, because it suggests that lead may continue to impair fertility today, both in the United States and in other countries that have significant amounts of lead in topsoil. |
| JEL: | I18 J13 Q52 Q53 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24607&r=env |
| By: | Quentin Perrier (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Philippe Quirion (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Employment has been a key issue in the public debate on the energy transition in France. In this paper, we develop a methodology based on input-output analysis to compare the employment content of each economic sector to the national average. The differences are broken down into five components: the import rates of final goods, the import rates of intermediate goods, taxes and subsidies, salary levels and the share of labor in value added. We then estimate the employment content and the greenhouse gases (GHG) content of all French economic sectors in 2010, in order to study intersectoral substitutions stemming from an energy transition. We find that employment content variations are explained, in order of importance, by salary levels, the share of labor in value added, the import rates of final goods, the import rates of intermediate goods, and finally taxes and subsidies. In addition, our results show that the EU ETS covers sectors with high GHG content and low employ- ment content, but not sectors with high GHG content and high employment content. Concerns about employment impacts might be part of the explanation for this. Finally, we identify intersectoral substitutions that would encourage sectors with lower GHG content and higher employment content. |
| Abstract: | Dans le débat public sur la transition énergétique en France, l’emploi occupe une place prépondérante. Nous développons une méthode basée sur l’analyse entrées-sorties pour décomposer le contenu en emploi d’une branche et le comparer à la moyenne nationale selon cinq critères : le taux d’importations finales, le taux d’importations intermédiaires, les taxes et subventions, la part du travail dans la valeur ajoutée et le niveau de salaire. Nous évaluons ensuite le contenu en emploi et en émissions de gaz à effet de serre de toutes les branches économiques françaises en 2010, pour étudier les substitutions interbranches d’une transition énergétique. Nos résultats indiquent que les variations de contenu en emploi entre branches s’expliquent, dans l’ordre, par le niveau de salaire, la part du travail dans la valeur ajoutée, le taux d’importations finales, le taux d’importations intermédiaires, et en dernier par les taxes et subventions. Par ailleurs, nous montrons que l’EU ETS couvre les branches intensives en émissions et peu intensives en emploi, mais pas les branches intensives en émissions et en emploi. L’emploi pourrait donc expliquer en partie le choix des branches soumises à l’EU ETS. Enfin, nous identifions des substitutions qui favoriseraient des branches moins intensives en émissions et plus intensives en emploi. |
| Keywords: | Index decomposition analysis,Input-Output Analysis,Energy transition,Employment |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01679766&r=env |
| By: | Clay, Karen (Carnegie Mellon University); Portnykh, Margarita (Carnegie Mellon University); Severnini, Edson R. (Carnegie Mellon University) |
| Abstract: | Using U.S county level data on lead in air for 1978-1988 and lead in topsoil in the 2000s, this paper examines the impact of lead exposure on a critical human function with societal implications – fertility. To provide causal estimates of the effect of lead on fertility, we use two sets of instruments: i) the interaction of the timing of implementation of Clean Air Act regulations and the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the panel data and ii) the 1944 Interstate Highway System Plan for the cross sectional data. We find that reductions in airborne lead between 1978 and 1988 increased fertility rates and that higher lead in topsoil decreased fertility rates in the 2000s. The latter finding is particularly concerning, because it suggests that lead may continue to impair fertility today, both in the United States and in other countries that have significant amounts of lead in topsoil. |
| Keywords: | lead in air, lead in gasoline, lead in topsoil, fertility, Clean Air Act |
| JEL: | Q53 J13 N52 N92 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11541&r=env |
| By: | Adam Bogiatzis (OECD); Hidekatsu Asada (OECD); Mohamed Rizwan Habeeb Rahuman (OECD) |
| Abstract: | The Partnerships pillar of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development cuts across all the goals focusing on the mobilisation of resources needed to implement the agenda. Thailand’s “sufficiency economy philosophy” encourages the prioritisation of long-term sustainability over short-term benefits. As such, Thailand has a long history of fiscal prudence that has served the country well in times of economic and political instability. However, relying on current fiscal buffers to finance foreseeable expenditure pressures is not sufficient or sustainable. A rapidly ageing population and shrinking workforce will weigh on future public finances and on the ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. To ensure that Thailand is well placed over the medium term to meet growing social, environmental and infrastructure requirements, the government should: (i) increase tax revenues by broadening the tax base and enhancing collection efficiency; (ii) facilitate greater private sector investment in productive infrastructure; and (iii) reform the healthcare and pension systems to increase their efficiency and effectiveness. This Working Paper relates to the Initial Assessment report of the Multi-dimensional Country Review of Thailand. (http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/multi-d imensional-review-thailand.htm) |
| Keywords: | Fiscal consolidation, healthcare, inclusive growth, pension, public-private partnerships, regional development, social protection, tax, transfer |
| JEL: | E62 H21 H30 H51 H54 H55 H61 H62 H63 H68 H70 |
| Date: | 2018–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1471-en&r=env |
| By: | Persichina, Marco |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects generated by myopic and present-biased preferences in the context of resource harvesting, specifically on the impact that the present bias has on the agent’s welfare when the agent is engaged in an intertemporal harvesting activity from a stock of renewable resources. The harvesting activity, in this context, poses a conflict between the long-run benefit of the agent and the short-run desire. The paper assumes there is evidence of the existence of a dual system of response to short and long-term stimuli. Thus, the study shows and argues that in the decision-making that involves intertemporal choices in renewable resources management, the naive behavior, strongly influenced by the emotional-affective system, leads to a reduction in the lifetime utility enjoyed by the individual because of the present bias. |
| Keywords: | Present bias, naive agent, intertemporal resource management, dual system discounting, agent’s welfare, instant utility. |
| JEL: | D03 D90 Q20 |
| Date: | 2016–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86697&r=env |
| By: | Caleb Stair (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University); Randall W. Jackson (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | This report summarizes the economic impacts of the MSEEL project for both the state of West Virginia and the Morgantown metropolitan area. It uses two types of data; the first is project data provided by NNE and processed using a Cost Estimation Tool developed by the authors, and second is worker survey data collected during the drilling phase. |
| Keywords: | Shale Gas, Economic Development, Environmental Economics |
| JEL: | Q33 Q38 Q40 Q53 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:2018rd02&r=env |
| By: | Serge Simen (ESP - UCAD - École Supérieure Polytechnique - Université Cheikh Anta DIOP de Dakar - UCAD - Université Cheikh Anta Diop) |
| Abstract: | La présente communication cherche à comprendre comment les propriétaires-dirigeants des Très Petites Entreprises (TPE) comprennent le concept de « Responsabilité Sociale de l'Entreprise » (RSE) et la perception qu'ils en ont. Nous nous positionnons sur l'opinion du propriétaire-dirigeant et tentons de montrer que la façon de percevoir la RSE peut revêtir des avis différents du fait de la confusion entretenue par les informations reçues de différents acteurs (chercheurs, praticiens, société civile) sur ce qu'est la RSE. Nous avons adopté une perspective cognitive en mettant en lumière les variables explicatives des perceptions de la RSE par les propriétaires-dirigeants des TPE étudiées. Nous nous sommes inspirés des travaux de Bazu et Pallasso (2008) et ceux de Cramer et al. (2006) pour qui le concept de « sense-making » appliqué à la RSE rend possible l'explication des particularités que l'on retrouve chez les propriétaires-dirigeants des TPE. Nos résultats ont permis de dire que malgré les contradictions théoriques qu'impliquent le concept « RSE », les propriétaires-dirigeants des TPE sont à la marge, mais conscients de toutes les discussions soulevées autour du concept. De manière pragmatique, ils forment et développent leurs propres modèles cognitifs, souvent indépendamment de la recherche académique. Cette étude souligne également une certaine déconnexion entre les universitaires et les praticiens de la RSE. L'étude a également confirmé l'importance, dans les TPE, des dimensions sociales et culturelles où les logiques non économiques sont considérées comme garantes d’une juste relation avec les différents acteurs. Ce qui inscrit la TPE dans des logiques durables et étaye l’opinion de la littérature scientifique selon laquelle il existe un lien étroit entre la RSE et la durabilité de l’entreprise. |
| Date: | 2018–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01782034&r=env |
| By: | Bistline, John E. (Stanford University); Comello, Stephen D. (Stanford University); Sahoo, Anshuman (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | Many irreversible long-run capital investments entail opportunities for managers to respond flexibly to changes in the economic environment. However, common levelized cost measures used to guide decision-making, such as the levelized cost of electricity, implicitly assume that the values of random economic variables are known with certainty when investment decisions are made. This assumption implies, often incorrectly, that managerial flexibility carries zero value. This paper improves levelized cost measures by deriving an expansion that accounts for both uncertainties in relevant variables and the value of managerial flexibility in responding to them. This method is applied to quantify the value of flexibility in two example decision problems. In one, an operator of a natural gas electricity generation facility evaluates whether to invest in carbon capture capabilities. Another considers retirement decisions for U.S. nuclear plants. These examples illustrate that simplified cost metrics can inaccurately guide decision-making by inflating cost estimates relative to the proposed levelized cost measure that accounts for uncertainty and flexibility. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:repec:ecl:stabus:3494&r=env |
| By: | Hulshof, Daan; Jepma, Catrinus; Mulder, Machiel (Groningen University) |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gro:rugsom:2018005&r=env |
| By: | Bowen, Alex; Kuralbayeva, Karlygash; Tipoe, Eileen L. |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the share of jobs in the US that would benefit from a transition to the green economy, and presents different measures for the ease with which workers are likely to be able to move from non-green to green jobs. Using the US O*NET database and its definition of green jobs, 19.4% of US workers could currently be part of the green economy in a broad sense, although a large proportion of green employment would be ‘indirectly’ green, comprising existing jobs that are expected to be in high demand due to greening, but do not require significant changes in tasks, skills, or knowledge. Analysis of task content also shows that green jobs vary in ‘greenness', with very few jobs only consisting of green tasks, suggesting that the term ‘green’ should be considered a continuum rather than a binary characteristic. While it is easier to transition to indirectly green rather than directly green jobs, greening is likely to involve transitions on a similar scale and scope of existing job transitions. Non-green jobs generally appear to differ from their green counterparts in only a few skill-specific aspects, suggesting that most re-training can happen on-the-job. Network analysis shows that the green economy offers a large potential for short-run growth if job transitions are strategically managed. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2018–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88283&r=env |
| By: | Damien Bricard (IRDES Institut de recherche et documentation en économie de la santé); Zeynep Or (IRDES Institut de recherche et documentation en économie de la santé); Anne Penneau (IRDES Institut de recherche et documentation en économie de la santé) |
| Abstract: | L’expérimentation sur les Parcours santé des aînés (Paerpa), lancée en 2014 dans neuf territoires pilotes, avec l’objectif d’améliorer la prise en charge et la qualité de vie des personnes âgées de 75 ans et plus, est un exemple d'expérimentation complexe. Elle combine une série de dispositifs nationaux implémentés de façon hétérogène d’un territoire à l’autre. L’évaluation d’expérimentations territoriales comme Paerpa renvoie à des enjeux méthodologiques importants car le traitement de ces expérimentations est hétérogène et l'effet de ce traitement peut varier selon les contextes territoriaux. Dans cet article, nous présentons la méthode du contrôle synthétique (CS) comme une méthode pertinente pour l’évaluation d’impact des politiques territoriales et nous testons sa robustesse comparativement aux méthodes alternatives plus classiques. L’évaluation s’appuie principalement sur les données du Système national des données de santé (SNDS) de 12 régions françaises de 2010 à 2016. Les contextes socio-économiques et l’offre sanitaire et médico-sociale des territoires sont appréhendés à partir de nombreuses sources de données, à un niveau communal ou départemental. Les analyses exploratoires mettent en évidence un biais de sélection pour certains territoires et suggèrent que les méthodes de régressions classiques peuvent être inappropriées. La méthode du CS permet de faire varier la composition des témoins selon le territoire et l’indicateur de résultat, et d’établir l’impact des dispositifs de façon robuste. Elle fournit un moyen systématique pour identifier les unités de contrôle, donne la possibilité d’explorer de façon approfondie les résultats par territoire et d’être totalement objectifs dans le choix des territoires témoins en les sélectionnant selon des critères statistiques. Complétée par des analyses qualitatives, la méthode offre des clés de compréhension utiles pour l’interprétation des résultats. |
| Keywords: | Méthode d’évaluation, coordination des soins, hétérogénéité de traitement. |
| JEL: | I18 C54 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irh:wpaper:dt74&r=env |
| By: | Michael Wolosin (Forest Climate Analytics); Michele de Nevers (Center for Global Development); Kenneth Lay (Priority Transactions Group LLC); Patricia Bliss-Guest (Priority Transactions Group LLC) |
| Abstract: | The Tropical Forest Finance Facility is a proposal to establish a pay-for-performance mechanism to finance reduced deforestation of tropical forests. The proposal would maximize the efficient use of public credit and builds on major technology breakthroughs for measuring results. This paper proposes a logical framework for understanding the current landscape of international forest finance to explore options for the potential role of the TFFF, and recommends pursuing it as a tropical forest public goods facility to support both development objectives and global public goods objectives. It explains proposed options for assessing performance and allocating returns to the TFFF to achieve these objectives. |
| Date: | 2018–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:486&r=env |
| By: | Fletcher, Jason M. (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores gene-environmental interactions between family environments and children's genetic scores in determining educational attainment. The central question is whether poor childhood family environments reduce the ability for children to leverage their genetic gifts to achieve high levels of educational attainments. The multigenerational information and genetic data contained in the Health and Retirement Study is used to separate two mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status – genetic endowments and family environments. Using parental in utero exposure to the 1918/1919 influenza pandemic as a source of quasi-experimental variation to family environments (but not affecting children's genetic endowments), this paper estimates interactions between parental investments and children's genetic potential. The main finding suggests that girls with high genetic potential whose fathers were exposed to influenza face reduced educational attainments – a gene-environment interaction – but there is no similar effect for boys. |
| Keywords: | in utero exposure, gene-environment interactions, polygenic score, intergenerational effects |
| JEL: | J62 J1 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11544&r=env |
| By: | Jibonayan Raychaudhuri; Ada Wossink |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1807&r=env |