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on Resource Economics |
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Issue of 2023‒11‒06
six papers chosen by |
| By: | Matteo Picchio (Marche Polytechnic University); Jan van Ours (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | High temperatures can have a negative effect on work-related activities. Labor productivity may go down because mental health or physical health is worse when it is too warm. Workers may experience difficulties concentrating or they have to reduce effort in order to cope with heat. We investigate how temperature affects performance of male professional tennis players. We use data about outdoor singles matches from 2003 until 2021. Our identification strategy relies on the plausible exogeneity of short-term daily temperature variations in a given tournament from the average temperature over the same tournament. We find that performance significantly decreases with ambient temperature. The magnitude of the temperature effect is age-specific and skill specific. Older and less-skilled players suffer more from high temperatures than younger and more skilled players do. The effect of temperature on performance is smaller when there is more at stake. Our findings also suggest that there is adaptation to high temperatures: the effects are smaller if the heat lasts for several days. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, temperatures, tennis, performance, productivity |
| JEL: | J24 J81 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2023–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230052&r=res |
| By: | Giovanni Maccarrone (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome); Marco A. Marini (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome); Ornella Tarola (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | In an economy where consumers are heterogeneous in their preferences over the hedonic and environmental attributes of goods on sale, we explore the effects of anti-consumerism and environ- mentalism. We show that when the environmental attributes of products come at the expense of the hedonic attributes, a higher supply of anti-consumerism and environmentalism yields the ex- pected positive effect on the environment. In contrast, when hedonic and environmental attributes are jointly met by a good, higher levels of anti-consumerism and environmentalism negatively affect the society's environmental footprint. Moreover, the impact of anti-consumerism and environmen- talism on social welfare is far from being obvious, giving rise to unexpected redistributive effects between firms and consumers. |
| Keywords: | environmentalism, hedonism, anti-consumerism, hedonic and environmental product attributes, vertical product differentiation. |
| JEL: | D11 L13 Q50 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:2/23&r=res |
| By: | Jan Rouwendal (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Lynn Bouwknegt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of urban trees on house prices in Amsterdam by utilizing a detailed data set of trees that were cut-down near the house. By using exogenous reasons the tree was cut-down such as disease or storm, unobserved heterogeneity can be dealt with, and a causal effect established. We use a staggered difference-in-difference approach to hedonic pricing analysis. We find an effect of 1.19 percent decrease in house prices when a tree is cut-down within 75 meters of the house. The effect is largest when trees within that area are scarce. This provides further evidence that urban trees are a valued aesthetic amenity for home owners and should be treated accordingly. |
| JEL: | D62 Q51 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230059&r=res |
| By: | Joseph S. Shapiro |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes that strong financial, judicial, and labor market institutions provide comparative advantage in clean industries, and thereby improve a country's environmental quality. Five complementary tests support this hypothesis. First, industries that depend on institutions are disproportionately clean. Second, strong institutions increase relative exports in clean industries, even conditional on environmental regulation and factor endowments. Third, an industry's complexity helps explain the link between institutions and clean goods. Fourth, a quantitative general equilibrium model indicates that strengthening a country's institutions decreases its pollution through relocating dirty industries abroad, though increases pollution in other countries. Fifth, cross-country differences in the composition of output between clean and dirty industries explain more of the global distribution of emissions than differences in the techniques used for production do. The comparative advantage that strong institutions provide in clean industries gives one under-explored reason why developing countries have relatively high pollution levels. |
| JEL: | F18 F55 F6 F64 H23 O4 O44 P48 Q50 Q56 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31768&r=res |
| By: | Jalile, Ileana Raquel; Moncarz, Pedro E. |
| Abstract: | Two databases are constructed on GHG emissions associated with Argentina's international trade between 2000 and 2017, emissions derived from the production of exported goods and those associated with the international transport of exports and imports. Food, beverages, and tobacco, and agriculture, hunting, and related activities, followed by manufactures of metal and chemical products, are the main sectors that explain GHG emissions linked to exports. Petroleum, gas, and mining became less significant. The same sectors explain most of the CO2 emissions linked to the international transportation of exports. For emissions linked to the transportation of imports used in the production of exports, the main contributing sectors are those relating to industrial manufacturing. A decomposition exercise reveals that for emissions linked to the production of exports, the scale effect contributed more significantly in 2000-2011 than in 2012-2017, although in both cases its effect was positive. The composition effect was much less significant. For the emissions associated with international transportation, the main drivers were the scale, sector, and partner effects. Changes in the sector structure of exports appear to have caused more emissions between 2000 to 2011, but the opposite was observed between 2011 and 2017. In the case of emissions from international transportation, changes in the sector structure increased pollution in the case of the transportation of exports, while the opposite was the case for the transportation of imports. |
| Keywords: | exports |
| JEL: | F10 F18 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12153&r=res |
| By: | Kahn, Matthew E. (University of Southern California); Matsusaka, John G. (University of Southern California); Shu, Chong (University of Utah) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether green investors can influence corporate greenhouse gas emissions through capital markets, either by divesting their stock and limiting polluters' access to capital, or holding polluters' stock and engaging with management. We focus on public pension funds, classifying them as green or non-green based on which political party controlled the fund. To isolate the causal effects of green ownership, we use exogenous variation caused by state-level politics that shifted control of the funds and portfolio rebalancing in response to returns on non-equity investment. Our main finding is that companies reduced their greenhouse gas emissions when stock ownership by green funds increased and did not alter their emissions when ownership by non-green funds changed. We find evidence that ownership and constructive engagement was more effective than confrontational tactics such as voting or shareholder proposals. We do not find that companies with green investors were more likely to sell off their polluting facilities (greenwashing). Overall, our findings suggest that (a) corporate managers respond to the environmental preferences of their investors; (b) divestment in polluting companies may be counterproductive, leading to greater emissions; and (c) private markets may be able to address environmental challenges without explicit government regulation. |
| Keywords: | corporate decarbonization, divestment, engagement, investors |
| JEL: | G11 Q54 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16518&r=res |