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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒04‒17
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Travaglini, Giuseppe; Saltari, Enrico |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the effects of introducing explicitly abatement capital in a welfare function which depends on waste stock and consumption. Consumption is assumed to produce an undesiderable residue. Society can control waste accumulation using abatement capital. We focus on two issues: the intertemporal relationship between abatement investment and waste emission, and the effects of permanent and temporary environmental policies on the long-run equilibrium of the economic-ecological system. We get three main results. First, for a society the problems of waste control and abatement investment are very interrelated. Any change in investment affects waste emission and consumption, but not always in a predictable manner. Second, we show that the adoption of either temporary subsidies or taxes do not change the long-run properties of the economy. It is not just current subsidies or taxes, but their entire path over time that affects accumulation of waste and capital. Third, we get that environmental policies may have ambiguous effects: in response to subsidies or taxes a society might accumulate less abatement capital than desidered, allowing the stock of waste to rise in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Abatement investment; waste accumulation; dynamic optimization; environmental policy |
| JEL: | L51 E22 H23 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36522&r=res |
| By: | Phil Wild (Department of Economics, University of Queensland); William Paul Bell (Department of Economics, University of Queensland); John Foster (Department of Economics, University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | There has been significant debate about the potential role that supply side and demand side policy initiatives might exert upon key participants within the National Electricity Market (NEM) in attempts to curb growth in carbon emissions. From the perspective of supply side policy initiatives, most debate and analysis has been focused upon assessing the impact that a ‘Cap-&-Trade’ carbon trading scheme, and more recently, a carbon tax scheme, might have on changing marginal cost relativities in order to promote increased dispatch and investment in less carbon emissions intensive types of generation technologies including gas-fired generation and renewable generation technologies. However, with any forthcoming move towards a carbon constrained economy, there are many uncertainties over policy settings that are required to achieve the environmental goal of reduced greenhouse gas emissions and about the resulting impact on the National Electricity Industry more generally. A complete understanding of the impacts on the electricity industry of carbon abatement policies requires that new renewable technology proposals be incorporated in a model containing many of the salient features of the national wholesale electricity market. These features include intra-regional and inter-state trade, realistic transmission network pathways, competitive dispatch of all generation technologies with price determination based upon marginal cost and branch congestion characteristics. It is only under such circumstances that the link between carbon emission reductions and generator based fuel switching can be fully explored and the consequences for carbon emission reductions and changes in wholesale and retail electricity prices can be determined. |
| JEL: | Q40 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uqeemg:4-2012&r=res |
| By: | Laukkanen, Marita; Nauges, Céline |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:toulou:http://neeo.univ-tlse1.fr/3089/&r=res |
| By: | Wadho, Waqar Ahmed |
| Abstract: | Empirical evidence suggests that natural resources breed corruption and reduce educational attainments, dampening economic growth. The theoretical literature has treated these two channels separately, with natural resources affecting growth either through human capital or corruption. In this paper, we argue that education and corruption are jointly determined and depend on the endowment of natural resources. Natural resources affect the incentives to invest in education and rent seeking that in turn affect growth. Whether natural resources stimulate growth or induce a poverty-trap crucially depends on inequality in access to education and political participation, as well as on the cost of political participation. For lower inequality and higher cost of political participation, a high-growth and a poverty-trap equilibrium co-exist even with abundant natural resources. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources; Resource curse; Growth; Human capital; Rent-seeking; Corruption |
| JEL: | O11 O41 O13 J24 D72 |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:37831&r=res |
| By: | Murat Arik |
| Abstract: | The term green jobs has been widely used to describe jobs in businesses that are particularly related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, or environmental sustainability. The Business and Economic Research Center has partnered with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development to estimate the economic impact of six ground-breaking green investments in Tennessee: Hemlock Semiconductor, Wacker Chemie AG, Volkswagen, Nissan Leaf and Storage Battery Manufacturing, Tennessee Solar Institute and West Tennessee Solar Farm, and eTec Battery Charging Stations. The purpose of this study is to estimate the economic impact of the investments on Tennessee's economy. This study addresses the following major research questions: Where can the six major green investments be classified within the national and local green activity frameworks? How many green jobs will be created with these investments? What are the major occupations associated with these green investments? |
| Keywords: | green jobs, investment, Tennessee, economic impact, workforce, job creation, Hemlock Semiconductor, Wacker Chemie AG, Nissan Leaf manufacturing, Nissan Leaf storage battery manufacturing, Tennessee Solar Institute, West Tennessee Solar Farm, eTec Battery charging stations, Volkswagen |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:studys:201101&r=res |
| By: | Katrin Erdlenbruch; Mabel Tidball; Georges Zaccour |
| Abstract: | We consider a problem of groundwater management in which a group of farmers over- exploits a groundwater stock and causes excessive pollution. A Water Agency wishes to regulate the farmer's activity, in order to reach a minimum quantity and quality level but it is subject to a budget constraint and cannot credibly commit to time-dependent optimal policies. We construct a Stackelberg game to determine a set of constant policies that brings the groundwater resource back to the desired state. We define a set of conditions for which constant policies exist and compute the amount of these instruments in an example. |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:12-09&r=res |
| By: | Joachim Betz (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies) |
| Abstract: | India has long been regarded as a deal-breaker in international climate negotiations; it was at the summit in Copenhagen that India first abandoned its old strategic line and made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions voluntarily. This shift was accompanied by a proliferation of domestic initiatives to save energy, to develop regenerative energies, etc. Traditional IR approaches remain insufficient to explain this policy shift – which is the aim of this paper – insofar as they fail to adequately take into account the fact that climate policies have to confront two audiences: a domestic and an international one, each presenting different tactical necessities for official reaction. On the international front, we argue that globally, India intended to be perceived as a responsible actor, one deserving of a greater say in global governance matters. On the domestic level, shrinking national energy reserves and mounting import dependence made the co-benefit of energy saving in reducing greenhouse gas emissions evident. The shift was made easier because important business associations aligned with a more eco-friendly development perspective and because the reduction commitments made by the Indian government on an international stage did not demand very stringent domestic emission reductions. |
| Keywords: | India, climate policies, greenhouse gas emissions, international climate summits, strategy shift, energy saving |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:190&r=res |
| By: | Jérôme Silva; Femke de Keulenaer; Nick Johnstone |
| Abstract: | Environmental conditions are likely to have an effect on people’s sense of life satisfaction, both directly and indirectly. In recent years there has been a burgeoning literature assessing the relationship between measures of environmental quality and subjective well-being. This type of studies can be a useful input into the setting of policy priorities. In this paper, the effects of individual and contextual factors on satisfaction with environmental quality and life satisfaction are assessed, using micro-data from a broad cross-section of OECD and non-OECD countries collected in the framework of the Gallup World Poll. In the analysis it is found that actual and perceived environmental quality has a significant effect on life satisfaction, with the magnitude being approximately half that of self-reported health status.<BR>Les conditions environnementales peuvent affecter, directement et indirectement, la satisfaction individuelle. Durant les dernières années s’est développée une littérature économique explorant les relations entre mesures de la qualité de l’environnement et mesures du bien-être subjectif des populations. Les travaux de ce type peuvent être utiles dans l’élaboration des priorités politiques. Nous explorons dans cet article les effets des facteurs individuels et contextuels sur la satisfaction par rapport à la qualité de l’environnement et au bien être subjectif, en utilisant des données individuelles collectées par Gallup au sein d’un large panel de pays membres et non-membres de l’OCDE. L’analyse montre que la qualité de l’environnement a un effet significatif sur la satisfaction individuelle, dont la magnitude est d’environ la moitié de celle de l’effet de la santé subjective. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, air pollution, local environmental quality, life satisfaction, bien-être subjectif, pollution de l’air, qualité de l’environnement, satisfaction individuelle |
| JEL: | D60 Q51 Q53 |
| Date: | 2012–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:44-en&r=res |
| By: | Peter Gunther; Kathryn Parr; Marcello Graziano; Fred Carstensen |
| Abstract: | This CCEA project for the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protectin (DEEP) details how outdoor activities on state lands have an economic impact of more than $1 billion a year, from expenditures by residents and visitors on a variety of outdoor activities including camping, boating, fishing and hunting. The study highlights that for every dollar the state spends on the state park system, it receives an estimated $38 in economic activity. This study was released to the public by DEEP in December 2011. |
| JEL: | Q2 Q5 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:cceast:2011-dec-01&r=res |
| By: | Phil Wild (Department of Economics, University of Queensland); William Paul Bell (Department of Economics, University of Queensland); John Foster (Department of Economics, University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact that the introduction of a carbon price signal will have on wholesale electricity prices, carbon-pass-through rates and retail electricity rates in the states making up the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). In order to assess this, we employ an agent based model of the NEM called the ANEM model which contains many of the salient features of the NEM: intra-state and inter-state transmission branches, regional location of generators and load centres and accommodation of unit commitment features. A DC OPF algorithm is used to determine optimal dispatch of generation plant and wholesale prices within the ANEM model. We utilise ANEM model scenario runs to examine the impact of carbon prices on wholesale prices and carbon passthrough rates. This information is then used to assess the impact on retail electricity tariff rates and shares of cost components making up residential retail tariff rate structures for different states in the NEM. |
| Keywords: | Electricity Markets, Carbon Trading |
| JEL: | Q40 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uqeemg:5-2012&r=res |