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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2009‒11‒14
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Robert A. Ritz |
| Abstract: | Carbon leakage is a major concern for policymakers involved with environmental initiatives such as the European Union’s emissions trading scheme and similar cap-and-trade proposals in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere. This paper provides a framework for understanding the drives underlying carbon leakage at the level of an individual sector in which only a subset of firms is covered by such regulation. It provides simple formulae to estimate leakage rates using information on industry characteristics that is typically available to the analyst. Illustrative estimates for the steel industry in the EU ETS suggest carbon leakage of 25-30% or (much) higher - unless environmental-efficiency improvements by regulated firms are substantial. |
| Keywords: | Abatement, Cap-and-trade, carbon tax, Cost pass-through, Emissions trading, Free allocation, Market structure |
| JEL: | D43 H23 Q58 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:461&r=res |
| By: | Minh Ha-Duong (CIRED - Centre international de recherche sur l'environnement et le développement - CIRAD : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et Forêts); Ana Sofia Campos (CIRED - Centre international de recherche sur l'environnement et le développement - CIRAD : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et Forêts); Alain Nadai (CIRED - Centre international de recherche sur l'environnement et le développement - CIRAD : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et Forêts) |
| Abstract: | An awareness and opinion survey on Carbon Capture and Storage was conducted on a representative sample of French aged 15 years and above. About 6\% of respondents were able to provide a satisfying definition of the technology. The key question about `approval of or opposition to' the use of CCS in France was asked twice, first after presenting the technology, then after exposing the potential adverse consequences. Approval rates, 59\% and 38\%, show that there is no a priori rejection of the technology. The sample was split in two to test for a semantic effect: questioning one half about `Stockage' (English: storage), the other about `Sequestration'. Manipulating the vocabulary had no statistically significant effect on approval rates. Stockage is more meaningful, but does not convey the idea of permanent monitoring. |
| Keywords: | Carbon capture and storage; public opinion |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00200894_v3&r=res |
| By: | Fabio Iraldo (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and IEFE – Institute for Environmental and Energy Policy and Economics, Bocconi University); Francesco Testa (IEFE – Institute for Environmental and Energy Policy and Economics, Bocconi University); Vlasis Oikonomou (Joint Implementation Network Laan Corpus den Hoorn); Michela Melis (IEFE – Institute for Environmental and Energy Policy and Economics, Bocconi University); Marco Frey (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies and IEFE – Institute for Environmental and Energy Policy and Economics, Bocconi University); Eise Spijker (Joint Implementation Network Laan Corpus den Hoorn) |
| Abstract: | The effects of environmental regulation on competitiveness is always a topic under debate for policymakers and practitioners. The article describes the different ways of defining and measuring the effects of environmental regulation on competition and market forces and synthesizes the most updated findings on the relationship between these dimensions. It also proposes an in depth analysis of the most recent empirical studies, with a particular focus on the buildings and construction (B&C) sector, which often is a substantial contributor to the most important countries’ economic indicators. We find that two variables have proved to be both (i) key in defining to what extent and under what conditions environmental regulation exerts adverse or positive effects on competitiveness and (ii) difficult to nail down: forms of regulation and responses by business. |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sse:wpaper:200904&r=res |
| By: | Fredrik Carlsson (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg); Mitesh Kataria (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group); Elina Lampi (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | Using a choice experiment, this paper investigates how Swedish citizens value three environmental quality objectives. In addition, a follow-up question is used to investigate whether respondents ignored any attributes when responding. The resulting information is used in the model estimation by restricting the individual parameters for the ignored attributes to zero. When taking the shares of respondents who considered both the environmental and the cost attributes (52-69 percent of the respondents) into account, then the WTPs for each attribute change if the respondents who ignored the attributes have a zero WTP. At the same time, we find evidence that not all respondents who claimed to have ignored an attribute really did. However, the most commonly ignored non-monetary attributes always have the lowest rankings in terms of WTP across all three environmental objectives. Thus, our results show that instead of ignoring, respondents seem to put less weight on the attributes they claimed to have ignored. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, environmental quality objectives, follow-up question, |
| JEL: | D61 Q50 Q51 |
| Date: | 2009–11–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2009-089&r=res |
| By: | Robert Pollin; Heidi Garrett-Peltier |
| Abstract: | <p>In this study of Ontario’s green economy, Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier present an approach to realistically estimate the employment effects of green investments in Ontario. They focus on two alternative investment scenarios for the province: a baseline program of $18.6 billion invested in conservation and demand management; hydroelectric power; on-shore wind power; bioenergy; waste energy recycling; and solar power over 10 years, and a more ambitious $47.1 billion 10-year investment program, also investing in off-shore wind power and a smart grid electrical transmission system. They describe the jobs created by these strategies, and recommend ways for the province to maximize the quantity and quality of those jobs.</p> |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uma:perips:green_economy_of_ontario&r=res |
| By: | Gustavo Bittencourt (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Nicolás Reig Lorenzi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the present situation of the biofuels industry in Uruguay and its possible perspectives. The development of this type of industry is a feasible option for the long run, in order to decrease the deep concentration of the energetic matrix and the high dependency from imported energetic sources. Nowadays, these activities are in the initial stages in the fields of production, regulation and promotion. Therefore, the medium and long run perspectives show certain degree of uncertainty, with positive factors but also limitations. Among the good aspects are the existence of natural comparative advantages and the legal framework. The more noticeable limitations are the problems in the availability of raw materials and the lack of development of the technological and logistic activities related with the production and trading processes. Besides this, other important issues are the institutional organization of the market and its operation, the configuration of precise and permanent rules of the game, and the deep exploration of possible regional complementarities, specially with Brazil. The idea is to benefit from the improvements in the scale and technology of these agroindustrial chains. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, energy matrix, biodiesel, ethanol, biomass, MERCOSUR. |
| JEL: | Q42 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1109&r=res |