nep-res New Economics Papers
on Resource Economics
Issue of 2024‒10‒14
three papers chosen by
Maximo Rossi, Universidad de la RepÃúºblica


  1. High Temperatures and Workplace Injuries By Picchio, Matteo; van Ours, Jan C.
  2. Revealing the Link Between Air Pollution and Internal Migration: Evidence from Italy By Giovanni Bernardo; Pasquale Commendatore; Giovanni Fosco
  3. Transition to green technology along the supply chain By Philippe Aghion; Lint Barrage; David Hémous; Ernest Liu

  1. By: Picchio, Matteo (Marche Polytechnic University); van Ours, Jan C. (Erasmus School of Economics)
    Abstract: High temperatures can have a negative effect on workplace safety for a variety of reasons. Discomfort and reduced concentration caused by heat can lead to workers making mistakes and injuring themselves. Discomfort can also be an incentive for workers to report an injury that they would not have reported in the absence of heat. We investigate how temperature affects injuries of professional tennis players in outdoor singles matches. We find that for men injury rates increase with ambient temperatures. For women, there is no effect of high temperatures on injuries. Among male tennis players, there is some heterogeneity in the temperature effects, which seem to be influenced by incentives. Specifically, when a male player is losing at the beginning of a crucial (second) fourth set in (best-of-three) best-of-five matches, the temperature effect is much larger than when he is winning. In best-offive matches, which are more exhausting, this effect is age-dependent and stronger for older players.
    Keywords: climate change, temperatures, tennis, injuries, health
    JEL: J24 J81 Q51 Q54
    Date: 2024–09
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17272
  2. By: Giovanni Bernardo; Pasquale Commendatore; Giovanni Fosco
    Abstract: People move for various reasons, including economic, social, political, demographic, and environmental factors. Environmental quality, in particular, plays a crucial role in migration decisions. This study examines the relationship between air pollution (measured as the maximum number of days in which at least one monitoring station detects an excess of 50 µg/m3 of PM10 above the established limit) and internal migration in Italy. Employing a difference-in-differences (diff-in-diff) strategy, our analysis reveals a negative relationship between air pollution and internal migration. We exploit two major legislative interventions in environmental regulation — LD 152/2006 and LD 155/2010 — as exogenous shocks affecting air pollution. We find that these environmental regulations significantly reduced the number of pollution exceeding days in municipal areas, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of those areas more committed to reducing urban emissions. Specifically, the combined effect of the two decrees led to an increase of approximately three new citizens per 1, 000 inhabitants in the more committed areas, highlighting the importance of proactive environmental policies in influencing migration patterns and improving urban livability.
    Keywords: Air pollution, Migration, Environmental policy
    JEL: O15 Q53 Q56 J24
    Date: 2024–09–01
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2024/312
  3. By: Philippe Aghion; Lint Barrage; David Hémous; Ernest Liu
    Abstract: We analyze a model of green technological transition along a supply chain. In each layer, a good is produced with a dirty technology, or, if the required “electrification” innovation has occurred, with a clean technology which uses the immediate upstream good. We show that the economy is characterized by a single equilibrium but multiple steady-states, and that even in the presence of Pigouvian environmental taxation, a targeted industrial policy is generally necessary to implement the social optimum. We also show that: (i) small, targeted, industrial policy may bring large welfare gains; (ii) a government which is constrained to focus its subsidies to electrification on one particular sector, should primarily target downstream sectors; (iii) when extending the model so as to allow for supply chains also for the dirty technology, overinvesting in electrication in the wrong upstream branch may derail the overall transition towards electrication downstream. Finally, we illustrate our model with a calibration to decarbonization of global iron and steel production via hydrogen direct reduction, and show that, absent industrial policy, the economy can get stuck in a “wrong” steady-state with CO2 emissions vastly above the social optimum even with a carbon price in place.
    Date: 2024–09
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:450

This nep-res issue is ©2024 by Maximo Rossi. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at https://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.