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on Central and South America |
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Issue of 2024‒05‒27
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Uribe, Adolfo (Universidad de Talca); Chávez, Carlos (Universidad de Talca); Gómez, Walter (Universidad de la Frontera); Jaime, Marcela (School of Management and Business, Universidad de Concepción); Bluffstone, Randy (Portland State University and EfD Initia) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the key private benefits from a program to improve ambient air quality during winter in central Chile by replacing inefficient wood-fired home heating stoves with more efficient pellet stoves. We are interested in the private benefits to households because they represent the additional value of the program and likely drive private adoption. Combining electronic stove surface temperature and air pollution monitoring with household surveys, we estimate the effects of adoption on household fuel expenditures, indoor temperatures, and indoor air pollution concentrations (PM2.5). We also explore heterogeneous effects of the program by income group and energy poverty status. Our results suggest that, after controlling for observable characteristics of individuals and dwellings, users of pellet stoves on average enjoy 14% lower indoor PM2.5 concentrations compared with those who have traditional stoves. Lower-income and energy-poor households receive much greater than average improvements in indoor air pollution than those with higher-incomes, driving the overall sample estimate and indicating that the program is progressive in this dimension. While those who use more efficient pellet stoves have more stable indoor temperatures than those using traditional stoves, we find no differences in mean temperatures. The improved heating stove has significantly higher operating costs, and we find that these costs are most salient for low-income and energy-poor households. |
| Keywords: | Air pollution; energy transition; environmental policies; household behavior; heating; stoves |
| JEL: | C21 Q48 Q52 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2022–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunefd:2022_018&r=lam |
| By: | Villalobos, Laura (Department of Economics and Finance, and Department of Environmental Studies, Salisbury University); Gomez, Julian D. (Universidad de Los Andes); Garcia, Jorge H. (Universidad de Los Andes) |
| Abstract: | High temperatures hinder learning. An e ective solution is to control the environment. However, technologies such as air conditioning are seldom adopted in developing countries. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are more widely available and could o er an alternative solution by increasing the amount of instruction, allowing the re-allocation of activities, boosting productivity, or improving the quality of instruction. Using data from Colombia, we con rm that heat a ects test scores, and we show that ICTs compensate up to 15 percent of this e ect when used by teachers to teach and for pedagogic purposes. |
| Keywords: | Weather and learning; Adaptation; Climate Change; Economics of Education; Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); Developing Country; Computer Programs |
| JEL: | H54 J24 O15 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2023–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunefd:2023_006&r=lam |
| By: | Chávez, Carlos (Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile); Dresdner, Jorge (Department of Economics, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile); González, Nuria (Research Nucleus on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Environment for Development (EfD), Concepción, Chile); Leiva, Mauricio (Research Nucleus on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, EfD) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the Aquaculture Performance Indicators (APIs) methodology by applying it to three aquaculture production systems in Chile. Our analysis considers the production of mussels, algae, and northern scallops. Our basic analysis model is a production function framework where the performance outcomes result from the available inputs. We measured all API categories (outcomes and input metrics) and then grouped the metrics into different dimensions suitable for analysis. We obtained the value of each metric from various sources using expert evaluation and secondary information to calculate aggregated measures for each production system. We compared the results for each production system and tested the equality of matched pairs of observations. Then, we evaluate the performance of the three production systems using the frame of a separable multiproduct production function. We found statistically significant differences in the aggregated performance and inputs between mussels and algae and mussels and northern scallops. However, we did not find statistical differences in the outputs. The results suggest that mussel production has a higher (average) level of sustainable inputs than the other production systems. This difference in inputs, however, is not fully reflected in output differences. We discuss possible explanations for our findings. |
| Keywords: | Aquaculture Performance Indicators; production systems; triple bottom line; sustainable aquaculture. |
| JEL: | Q22 |
| Date: | 2023–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunefd:2023_014&r=lam |