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on Resource Economics |
| By: | Rennert, Kevin (Resources for the Future); Ho, Mun (Resources for the Future); Nehrkorn, Katarina (Resources for the Future); Elkerbout, Milan (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | The Clean Competition Act (CCA) of 2025, updated and introduced to the 119th Congress by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), would establish a domestic performance standard and a symmetric carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for certain energy-intensive, trade-exposed goods. US manufacturers of goods covered by the legislation would pay a fee for carbon emissions above a benchmark specified for those goods. Imported, covered goods would face an analogous tariff based on how much more carbon-intensive that good was compared to the benchmark. The benchmark for each good would initially be set at the average level of emissions for its manufacture in the United States, becoming more stringent over time. The carbon emissions fee and tariff rates would also increase over time, providing an ongoing set of symmetric incentives to reduce the emissions intensity of both US manufacturing and imported goods.Here, we use the Global Economic Model (GEM) to assess the effects of a CBAM stylized after the CCA.We find that the CCA would have the following effects:Shift US imports toward countries with less carbon-intensive manufacturing: Imports for covered products are reduced from countries facing the carbon tariffs (e.g., China, Mexico, and India) and increased from countries exempt from the tariffs (e.g., the European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan) due to their lower carbon intensity of manufacturing for those products.Reduce emissions globally, led by the United States: Emissions are projected to decrease globally by 81 million metric tonnes (MMt) in the first year of the policy, with US emissions reductions of 63 MMt leading all other countries. The increasing fee and tightening standards lead to greater reductions over time, with 140 MMT of global and 119 MMt of US emission reductions in the tenth year after enactment. US emissions reductions result from decreased energy and emissions intensity of manufacturing driven by the CCA’s domestic performance standard, as well as reductions in overall demand for energy intensive goods.Raise revenue: Annual revenues from the policy are projected to be $7.2 billion (in 2024 US$) for the covered refining and manufacturing sectors in the first year and total $101 billion over the first ten years of the policy. Roughly 75 percent of the revenues derive from the domestic performance standard.Reduce US outputs in covered sectors and downstream industries: The tariffs have a protective effect for US manufacturers, whilst the performance standard increases costs for higher-intensity producers. The balance of effects is slightly negative for US production of covered products: cement (–0.02 percent), aluminum (–1.9 percent), iron and steel (–0.6 percent), and pulp and paper (–0.3 percent). Output in industries such as construction and transportation equipment manufacturing falls slightly (0.04–0.5 percent) in response to higher prices for covered inputs. |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:report:rp-25-19 |
| By: | Agata Gałkiewicz (University of Potsdam, IAB, CEPA) |
| Abstract: | Random disturbances such as air pollution may affect cognitive performance, which, particularly in high-stakes settings, may have severe consequences for an individual’s productivity and well-being. This paper examines the short-term effects of air pollution on school leaving exam results in Poland. I exploit random variation in air pollution between the days on which exams are held across three consecutive school years. I aim to capture this random variation by including school and time fixed effects. The school-level panel data is drawn from a governmental program where air pollution is continuously measured in the schoolyard. This localized hourly air pollution measure is a unique feature of my study, which increases the precision of the estimated effects. In addition, using distant and aggregated air pollution measures allows me for the comparison of the estimates in space and time. The findings suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the concentration of particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10 decreases students’ exam scores by around 0.07–0.08 standard deviations. The magnitude and significance of these results depend on the location and timing of the air pollution readings, indicating the importance of the localized air pollution measure and the distinction between contemporaneous and lingering effects. Further, air pollution effects gradually increase in line with the quantiles of the exam score distribution, suggesting that high-ability students are more affected by the random disturbances caused by air pollution. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, particulate matter, education, cognitive performance, test scores, Poland |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 Q53 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:96 |
| By: | Alberto Fiorese (Venice School of Management, Caoscari University of Venice) |
| Abstract: | The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most economically valuable pollinator worldwide. In this research note, we review current knowledge on honey bee biology, ecology, and the main drivers of colony decline. Furthermore, given the key role of management strategies in maintaining colony health, we analysed differences in performance between nomadic vs stationary hives using a six-year dataset (2019-2024) that included internal hive temperature, relative humidity and weight. As a generalist and polylectic species, the honey bee contributes to the pollination of a wide variety of wild flowering plants, and agricultural crops. In addition to their role in pollination, honeybee colonies produce valuable natural products such as honey, propolis, and wax. Beekeeping also represents a cornerstone of rural economies, supporting food production and preserving beekeeping traditions passed down through generations. The global decline of honey bee results from the synergistic interplay of several factors, including land use change and associated habitat loss, climate change, pesticide exposure, the spread of invasive alien species and pathogens, and the intensification of beekeeping. The success and resilience of beekeeping are strongly influenced by management practices, that affect both productivity and colony health. Among these, migratory or nomadic beekeeping, the seasonal relocation of colonies to follow successive flowering periods, represents one of the oldest and most adaptive strategies in apicultural history. According to our dataset, an average of 45% of colonies recorded more than one geographic coordinate per year and were therefore classified as nomadic. With the sole exception of maximum hive weight in 2024, likely due to the smaller sample size that year, significant differences were consistently observed between nomadic and stationary hives. Specifically, the number of temperature and relative humidity anomalies was consistently lower in nomadic hives, whereas both maximum and minimum hive weights were higher compared with stationary colonies. Our findings indicate that nomadic hives experience reduced environmental stress, supporting the idea that nomadism is a traditional yet effective management strategy for addressing the challenges of changing landscapes and climate in modern beekeeping. Nonetheless, the frequent movement of colonies may increase exposure to stress factors and facilitate the spread of diseases and parasites among apiaries; therefore, its implementation should be guided by careful monitoring and sound planning. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:233 |