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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒09‒22
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Timothy Simcoe; Michael W. Toffel |
| Abstract: | We measure the impact of municipal policies requiring governments to construct green buildings on private-sector adoption of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard. Using matching methods, panel data, and instrumental variables, we find that government procurement rules produce spillover effects that stimulate both private-sector adoption of the LEED standard and supplier investments in green building expertise. Our findings suggest that government procurement policies can accelerate the diffusion of new environmental standards that require coordinated complementary investments by various types of private adopter. |
| JEL: | L15 O33 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18385&r=res |
| By: | Abay Mulatu; Ada Wossink |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:1215&r=res |
| By: | Greasley, David; Hanley, Nicholas; Kunnas, Jan; McLaughlin, Eoin; Oxley, Les; Warde, Paul |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine means to incorporate the environmental effects of fossil fuel use into national accounts and genuine savings estimates. The main focus is on the rationales for the inclusion of carbon dioxide, and its appropriate price tag. We do this in the context of the pricing of historic carbon emissions in United Kingdom over the long run (from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present). Furthermore, we examine the reasonableness of taking into account other greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. The global effects of carbon dioxide are compared to the local detrimental effects of the production and consumption of coal in the UK. |
| Keywords: | Britain; Economic History; Global Warming; Carbon Dioxide; Fossil Fuels; National accounts; Genuine Savings |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2012-16&r=res |
| By: | Burtraw, Dallas (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | Economic approaches are expected to achieve environmental goals at less cost than traditional regulations, but they have yet to find widespread application. One reason is the way these tools interact with existing institutions. The federalist nature of governmental authority assigns to subnational governments much of the implementation of environmental policy and primary authority for planning the infrastructure that affects environmental outcomes. The federalist structure also interacts with the choice of economic instruments; a national emissions cap erodes the additionality of actions by subnational governments. Even the flagship application of sulfur dioxide emissions trading has been outperformed by the venerable Clean Air Act, and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are on course to be less than they would have been if Congress had frozen emissions with a cap in 2009. The widespread application of economic tools requires a stronger political theory of how they interact with governing institutions. |
| Keywords: | environmental federalism, additionality, emissions cap, Clean Air Act, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide |
| JEL: | Q50 Q58 H77 |
| Date: | 2012–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-12-41&r=res |
| By: | Michael Greenstone; John A. List; Chad Syverson |
| Abstract: | The economic costs of environmental regulations have been widely debated since the U.S. began to restrict pollution emissions more than four decades ago. Using detailed production data from nearly 1.2 million plant observations drawn from the 1972-1993 Annual Survey of Manufactures, we estimate the effects of air quality regulations on manufacturing plants’ total factor productivity (TFP) levels. We find that among surviving polluting plants, stricter air quality regulations are associated with a roughly 2.6 percent decline in TFP. The regulations governing ozone have particularly large negative effects on productivity, though effects are also evident among particulates and sulfur dioxide emitters. Carbon monoxide regulations, on the other hand, appear to increase measured TFP, especially among refineries. The application of corrections for the confounding of price increases and output declines and sample selection on survival produce a 4.8 percent estimated decline in TFP for polluting plants in regulated areas. This corresponds to an annual economic cost from the regulation of manufacturing plants of roughly $21 billion, about 8.8 percent of manufacturing sector profits in this period. |
| JEL: | D2 K3 L5 L6 Q5 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18392&r=res |
| By: | Fischer, Carolyn (Resources for the Future); Fox, Alan K. |
| Abstract: | Climate policymaking faces twin challenges of carbon leakage and public sector revenue requirements. A large literature advocates the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) pricing and recycling the revenues to lower distorting taxes as a way to minimize costs. In this paper, we explore the implications of labor tax interactions for the cost-effectiveness of border adjustments and other measures to cope with leakage. We find that, for plausible values of labor supply elasticities, the cost savings from revenue recycling are significant—from 15 to 25 percent. The cost savings from anti-leakage measures are generally smaller, but also significant, particularly for small coalitions or more binding reduction targets. Tax interactions further enhance the cost savings from border adjustments, but make other measures like rebates or exemptions less attractive. |
| Keywords: | climate policy, carbon leakage, tax interactions, border adjustments |
| JEL: | Q5 H21 |
| Date: | 2012–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-12-19&r=res |