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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2015‒04‒02
seven papers chosen by |
| By: | Proost, Stef (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven); van Dender, Kurt (OECD); Eliasson, Jonas (KTH) |
| Abstract: | In many economies, motor fuel taxes have long been the main instruments for generating tax revenues from the transport sector. Nowadays they are also rationalized on the grounds of reducing congestion, carbon emissions, local air pollution, energy dependency, and sometimes accident costs. However, for several reasons, there is now much debate about reforming or partially replacing these taxes. This debate raises several kinds of research questions, including efficient design of such tax instruments and what factors affect their design in reality, CTS organised an international symposium where recent research regarding these issues was presented. This report summarises some findings from the symposium. |
| Keywords: | Fuel tax; Vehicle tax; Transport pricing |
| JEL: | R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2015–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2015_008&r=res |
| By: | José María Durán Cabré (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Mikael Skou Andersen (Aarhus University); Xosé C. Álvarez (Universidade de Vigo); Alberto Gago (Universidade de Vigo); Xavier Labandeira (Universidade de Vigo) |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:report:ieb_report_2_2014&r=res |
| By: | Karoline S. Rogge (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI), Karlsruhe, Germany; SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK); Kristin Reichardt (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Reaching a better understanding of the policies and politics of transitions presents a main agenda item in the emerging field of sustainability transitions. One important require- ment for these transitions, such as the move towards a decarbonized energy system, is the redirection and acceleration of technological change, for which policies play a key role. Several studies of policies supporting environmental technological change have ar- gued for the need to combine different policy instruments in so-called policy mixes. However, existing policy mix studies often fall short of reflecting the complexity and dy- namics of actual policy mixes and the underlying politics of (re)designing them. In this paper we take a first step towards a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary policy mix concept for environmental technological change based on a review of the bodies of lit- erature on innovation studies, environmental economics and policy analysis. The concept introduces a clear terminology and consists of the three building blocks elements, proc- esses and characteristics, which can be delineated by several dimensions. Throughout the paper, we illustrate the concept using the example of the policy mix for fostering the transition of the German energy system to renewable power generation technologies. We argue that the proposed concept provides an integrating analytical framework for empirical studies analyzing the impact of the policy mix on environmental technological change and sustainability transitions more broadly. Finally, we derive policy implications and suggest avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | Policy mix; policy strategy; instrument mix; policy making and implementation; consistency; coherence; credibility; comprehensiveness; environmental technological change; eco-innovation; sustainability transitions |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2015-12&r=res |
| By: | Mercedes Beltrán Esteve (Department of Applied Economics II, Universitat de València); Ernest Reig Martínez (Department of Applied Economics II, Universitat de València); Vicent Estruch Guitart (Universitat Politècnica de València) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the eco‐efficiency of citrus farms operating under two different conventional and organic technological systems is analyzed. The methodology combines Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), to estimate the environmental impacts associated with the production process, and Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) to estimate the position of each holding in relation to a frontier formed by the best farming practices. The use of the directional distance function concept allows us to calculate farms’eco‐efficiency scoring with respect to specific environmental impacts, and not only for the whole of them. The metafrontier concept is also used in order to compare the relative eco‐efficiency of each of the two cultivation technologies used. Our results show a wide superiority of the organic farming system in relation to the conventional. An eco‐efficient('green') organic technology represents, in relation to an eco‐efficient use of conventional citrus cultivation techniques, a potential reduction of environmental impacts by 80% without worsening economic performance. In contrast, when the performance of organic and conventional citrus farms is only analyzed in relation to best practices within each system, average eco-efficiency scores are similar for both types of farms. |
| Keywords: | TFP, business cycle 1501 |
| JEL: | C61 Q12 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1501&r=res |
| By: | Christopher Boyce (Management School, University of Stirling); Mikołaj Czajkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Nick Hanley (Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews); Charles Noussair (Department of Economics, Tilburg University); Michael Townsend (National Institute for Water and Atmosphere Ltd); Steve Tucker (School of Management, University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether changes in “incidental emotions” lead to changes in economic choices. Incidental emotions are experienced at the time of an economic decision but are not part of the payoff from a particular choice. As such, the standard economic model predicts that incidental emotions should not affect behavior, yet many papers in the behavioral science and psychology literatures find evidence of such effects. In this paper, we used a standard procedure to induce different incidental emotional states in respondents, and then carried out a choice experiment on changes to an environmental good (beach quality). We estimated preferences for this environmental good and willingness to pay for changes in this good, and tested whether these were dependent on the particular emotional state induced. We also tested whether choices became more or less random when emotional states were induced, based on the notion of randomness in a standard random utility model. Contrary to our a-priori hypothesis we found no significant evidence of treatment effects, implying that economists need not worry about the effects of variations in incidental emotions on preferences and the randomness of choice, even when there is measured (induced) variation in these emotions. |
| Keywords: | choice experiments, behavioral economics, ecosystem services, emotions, rationality |
| JEL: | Q51 Q57 D03 D87 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2015-13&r=res |
| By: | Giannis Vardas; Anastasios Xepapadeas |
| Abstract: | Renewable resource modelling is usually characterized by different time scales where some state variables such as biomass may evolve relatively faster than other state variables such as carrying capacity. Ignoring this time scale separation means that a slowly changing variable is treated as constant over time. Management rules that ignore time scale separation do not account for a time scale externality and this may induce inefficiencies in resource management. In the current work, we study multispecies resource management under time scale separation by adopting the framework of singular perturbation reduction methods. By extending recent work by Vardas and Xepapadeas (2015) to interacting populations, we study regulation with full internalization of the time scale externality. We further study regulation and noncooperative outcomes when the time scale separation is ignored, and identify deviations in harvesting and biomass paths among these cases. Deviations indicate the inefficiencies associated with ignoring time scale separation. |
| Keywords: | interacting populations, resource harvesting, fast slow dynamics, singular perturbation, regulation, open loop Nash equilibrium |
| JEL: | D81 Q20 |
| Date: | 2015–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1510&r=res |
| By: | H. Allen Klaiber; Joshua Abbott; V. Kerry Smith |
| Abstract: | The Urban Heat Island (UHI) provides direct evidence of how human activities contribute to a feedback loop that can result in multiple changes in ecosystem services by creating localized warming as well as differences in vegetated landscapes in areas surrounding the urban core. This paper develops a new spatial-temporal panel estimator to recover consistent estimates of household valuation of coupled landscape and temperature ecosystem services. Using data from Phoenix, AZ, we estimate a hedonic price function using an extension of the Hausman-Taylor model. The framework adapts the earlier Abbott Klaiber [2011] proposal to overcome challenges associated with the varying spatial scales of capitalization of landscape and temperature variables and the likelihood of spatially and temporally varying omitted variables. We find a positive and economically significant marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for measures of green landscaping at multiple spatial scales and a separate, MWTP for a one degree (F) reduction in outdoor temperatures of $56 monthly. |
| JEL: | H23 H44 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21051&r=res |