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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2012‒11‒11
ten papers chosen by |
| By: | Steven Poelhekke; Frederick van der Ploeg |
| Abstract: | We test for pollution haven effects in outward foreign direct investment (FDI) for different sectors using a comprehensive and exhaustive dataset for outward FDI from the Netherlands, one of the most environmentally stringent countries and a major source of global FDI. Our evidence suggests that in the sectors natural resources extraction and refining, construction, retail, food processing, beverages and tobacco, and utilities, a less stringent environmental policy in the host country significantly attracts FDI. What is important for these pollution haven effects is not only regulation but also enforcement of environmental policy. In contrast to earlier results, it is not only footloose industries that display pollution haven effects, but also the traditional pollution-intensive industries. But for the sectors machines, electronics and automotive and transportation and communication a more stringent and better enforced environmental policy attracts more FDI as this may help their reputation for sustainable management and CSR. These sectors display green haven effects. These findings have important implications for the sector distribution of FDI in destination countries. |
| Keywords: | pollution haven; green haven; FDI; environmental policy; regulation; enforcement; strategic effects; footloose industries; CSR |
| JEL: | F18 F23 F13 Q50 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:353&r=res |
| By: | David Popp |
| Abstract: | By reducing the costs of environmental protection, technological change is important for promoting green growth. This entails both the creation of new technologies and more widespread deployment of existing green technologies. This paper reviews the literature on environmentally friendly technological change, with a focus on lessons relevant to developing countries. I begin with a discussion of data available for measuring the various steps of technological change. I continue with a discussion of sources of environmental innovation. Given that most innovation is concentrated in a few rich countries, this leads to a discussion of the remaining role for lower-income countries, followed by a discussion of technology transfer. Because of the importance of market failures, I then discuss the role of both technology policy and environmental policy for promoting environmentally friendly technological change. The review concludes with a discussion of what environmental economists can learn from other fields. |
| JEL: | Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18506&r=res |
| By: | Gemechu, Eskinder D.; Butnar, Isabela; Llop Llop, Maria; Castells i Piqué, Francesc |
| Abstract: | CO2 emissions induced by human activities are the major cause of climate change; hence, strong environmental policy that limits the growing dependence on fossil fuel is indispensable. Tradable permits and environmental taxes are the usual tools used in CO2 reduction strategies. Such economic tools provide incentives to polluting industries to reduce their emissions through market signals. The aim of this work is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of an environmental tax on Spanish products and services. We apply an environmentally extended input-output (EIO) model to identify CO2 emission intensities of products and services and, accordingly, we estimate the tax proportional to these intensities. The short-term price effects are analyzed using an input-output price model. The effect of tax introduction on consumption prices and its influence on consumers’ welfare are determined. We also quantify the environmental impacts of such taxation in terms of the reduction in CO2 emissions. The results, based on the Spanish economy for the year 2007, show that sectors with relatively poor environmental profile are subjected to high environmental tax rates. And consequently, applying a CO2 tax on these sectors, increases production prices and induces a slight increase in consumer price index and a decrease in private welfare. The revenue from the tax could be used to counter balance the negative effects on social welfare and also to stimulate the increase of renewable energy shares in the most impacting sectors. Finally, our analysis highlights that the environmental and economic goals cannot be met at the same time with the environmental taxation and this shows the necessity of finding other (complementary or alternative) measures to ensure both the economic and ecological efficiencies. Keywords: CO2 emissions; environmental tax; input-output model, effects of environmental taxation. |
| Keywords: | Emissions atmosfèriques, Anhídrid carbònic, Medi ambient -- Impostos, Anàlisi d'entrada/sortida, 336 - Finances. Banca. Moneda. Borsa, 504 - Ciències del medi ambient, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/203166&r=res |
| By: | T., MAHESWARI |
| Abstract: | The world has changed greatly since the 1960s and 1970s, when there existed a virtual consensus among Western experts that rapid population growth in the developing world represented a serious global crisis. One of the primary causes of environmental degradation in a country could be attributed to rapid growth of population, which adversely affects the natural resources and environment. This study, in general, makes an endeavor to demonstrate how the population growth in Madurai district in Tamilnadu State of India has been conducive to the environmental degradation. In all the decades the decadal growth rate of population of Madurai district is higher than that of State except in the decade 1991-2001. It can be concluded from the present study that there is a pressure of population on the environment in Madurai district. Population is an important source of development, yet it is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems. Unless the relationship between the multiplying population and the life support system can be stabilized, development programs, howsoever, innovative are not likely to yield desired results. |
| Keywords: | Madurai; Population; Environment |
| JEL: | Q50 |
| Date: | 2012–10–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:42007&r=res |
| By: | John Feddersen; Robert Metcalfe; Mark Wooden |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of short-term weather and long-term climate on self-reported life satisfaction using panel data. We find robust evidence that day-to-day weather variation impacts life satisfaction by a similar magnitude to acquiring a mild disability. Utilizing two sources of variation in the cognitive complexity of satisfaction questions, we present evidence that weather bias arises because of the cognitive challenge of reporting life satisfaction. Consistent with past studies, we detect a relationship between long-term climate and life satisfaction without individual fixed effects. This relationship is not robust to individual fixed effects, suggesting climate does not directly influence life satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Life satisfaction, Subjective well-being, Climate change, Weather |
| JEL: | Q51 C23 C81 C83 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:627&r=res |
| By: | Dubois, Maarten (KU Leuven, HUBrussel) |
| Abstract: | Although intra-European trade of combustible waste has grown strongly in the last decade, incineration and landfill taxes remain heterogeneous within Europe. A review of taxation schemes in North Western Europe shows that current heterogeneity does not constitute a level playing field for waste processing industries in different regions. The paper proposes a more coherent taxation strategy for Europe that is based on the principle of Pigovian taxation. The strategy aims to create a level playing field between European regions while reinforcing incentives for sustainable management of combustible waste. Three important policy recommendations emerge. First, integrating waste incineration into the European carbon Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) reduces the risk of tax competition between regions. Second, because taxation of every single air pollutant from waste incineration is cumbersome, a differentiated waste incineration tax based on NOx emissions can serve as a second-best instrument. Finally, in order to strengthen incentives for ash treatment, a landfill tax should apply for landfilled incineration residues. An example illustrates the coherence of the policy recommendations for incineration technologies with diverse environmental effects. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hub:wpecon:201236&r=res |
| By: | Pandelis Mitsis |
| Abstract: | The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is a relationship across countries between the level of environmental pollution and per capita GDP. This paper investigates the strength of empirical evidence in favour of the existence for an EKC in carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for the model uncertainty created by the numerous candidate regressors proposed in the literature. Using model averaging methods, I find strong evidence in favour of the existence of EKC in carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, evidence in favour of the significance of many of the additional regressors disappears once model uncertainty is accounted for and robustness is examined. The conclusion reached is that social policy may influence environmental degradation, for which an eventual deterioration is signalled. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Kuznets Curve; Model uncertainty; Income inequality |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:16-2012&r=res |
| By: | Dieckhoener, Caroline (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln); Hecking, Harald (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a microeconomic approach to deduce greenhouse gas abatement cost curves of the residential heating sector. By accounting for household behavior, we find that welfare-based abatement costs are generally higher than pure technical equipment costs. Our results are based on a microsimulation of private households' investment decision for heating systems until 2030. The households' investment behavior in the simulation is derived from a discrete choice estimation which allows investigating the welfare costs of different abatement policies in terms of the compensating variation and the excess burden. We simulate greenhouse gas abatements and welfare costs of carbon taxes and subsidies on heating system investments until 2030 to deduce abatement curves. Given utility maximizing households, our results suggest a carbon tax to be the welfare efficient policy. Assuming behavioral misperceptions instead, a subsidy on investments might have lower marginal greenhouse gas abatement costs than a carbon tax. |
| Keywords: | Household behavior; discrete choice; Pigou; greenhouse gas abatement costs |
| JEL: | C35 C61 Q47 Q53 R21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2012_016&r=res |
| By: | Richard Jensen (Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame) |
| Abstract: | Maximizing the production of ecosystem services is a necessity for resource management particularly when increasing the provision of one service decreases the provision of another. In these instances, it is important to estimate the value of ecosystem services to efficiently distribute resources. We estimate two major ecosystem services provided by the Kafue River, Zambia -hydroelectricity and fisheries- and discuss management implications of the relationship between hydropower controlled water regime and fisheries production. |
| Keywords: | Environmental flows, Multivariate state-space, Fisheries management, ecosystem services, canonical correlation |
| JEL: | D L |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nod:wpaper:010&r=res |
| By: | Patrick Withey; G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Abstract: | We extend an earlier bioeconomic model of optimal duck harvest and wetland retention in the Prairie Pothole Region of Western Canada to include cropping decisions. Instead of a single state equation, the model has two state equations representing the population dynamics of ducks and the amount of wetlands. We use the model to estimate the impact of climate change on wetlands and waterfowl, including direct climate effects as well as land use change due to biofuel policies aimed at mitigating climate change. The model predicts that climate change will reduce wetlands by 47-56 percent from historic levels. Land use change is expected to reduce wetlands by 45 percent from historic levels, whereas direct climate effects will range from a reduction of 2-11 percent, depending on the future climate scenario. This result indicates that models that neglect the effect of land use change underestimate the effect of climate change on wetlands. Further, wetlands loss is geographically heterogeneous, with losses being the largest in Saskatchewan. |
| Keywords: | bioeconomic modeling; wetland protection; wildlife management; climate change; biofuels |
| JEL: | Q57 C61 Q25 Q54 C13 Q10 Q16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2011-06&r=res |