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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Singh, Rajesh; Weninger, Quinn |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the problem of multiple-species fishery management when targeting individual species is costly and at-sea discards of fish by fishermen are unobserved by the regulator. A dynamic model is developed to balance the ecological interdependencies among multiple fish species, and the technological interdependence which captures costly targeting. Stock conditions, ecosystem interaction, technological specification, and relative prices under which at sea discards are acute are identified. Three regulatory regimes, species-specific harvest quotas, landing taxes, and revenue quotas, are contrasted against a hypothetical sole owner problem. An optimal plan under any of these regimes precludes discarding. For both very low and very high degrees of technological interdependence, first best welfare is close to that achieved through regulation. In general, landing taxes welfare dominate species-specific quota regulation; a revenue quota fares the worst. |
| Keywords: | scope economies, multiple species fishery management, costly targeting |
| JEL: | Q2 |
| Date: | 2007–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12839&r=env |
| By: | Richard S.J. Tol (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | 211 estimates of the social cost of carbon are included in a meta-analysis. The results confirm that a lower discount rate implies a higher estimate; and that higher estimates are found in the gray literature. It is also found that there is a downward trend in the economic impact estimates of the climate; that the Stern Review’s estimates of the social cost of carbon is an outlier; and that the right tail of the distribution is fat. There is a fair chance that the annual climate liability exceeds the annual income of many people. |
| Keywords: | climate change, social cost of carbon |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sgc:wpaper:144&r=env |
| By: | Levinson, Arik (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Total pollution emitted by U.S. manufacturers declined over the past 30 years, even though manufacturing output increased. This improvement must result from one of two trends: (1) changes in production or abatement processes (“technology”); or (2) changes in the mix of goods manufactured in the United States, which itself may result from increased net imports of pollution-intensive goods (“international trade”). In this paper, I first show that most of the decline in pollution from U.S. manufacturing has been the result of changing technology instead of changes in the mix of goods produced, although the pace of that technology change has slowed over time. Second, I present evidence that increases in net imports of pollution-intensive goods are too small to explain more than about half of the pollution reductions from the changing mix of goods produced in the United States. Together, these two findings demonstrate that shifting polluting industries overseas has played at most a minor role in the cleanup of the U.S. manufacturing sector. |
| Keywords: | pollution havens, trade and environment, pollution intensity |
| JEL: | F18 D57 Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2007–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-07-40&r=env |
| By: | Felix Schlaepfer (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Quality of life factors continue to gain importance in residential location decisions as well as location decisions of firms. One such factor is an attractive local landscape. The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of the empirical literature on the role of landscape amenities in local economic change. Following common amenity definitions, we define landscape amenities as landscape features that are location-specific, latent non-market input goods that directly enter residents’ utility functions. Using this definition we identify thirty-nine relevant studies that use either migration or regional economic models or hedonic pricing techniques. One result from the analysis of migration and regional economic studies is that intra-country migrants were attracted by amenities about as frequently as by a low tax burden. Effects of amenities on employment and income are less well established. However, many of these studies used rather limited amenity variables. The results from hedonic studies show that a wide variety of local amenity attributes are partly capitalized in housing prices and that studies on a larger geographic scale are more likely to identify a significant a role of amenities. Newly available land cover datasets and spatial analysis tools have the potential to overcome important data limitations of many earlier studies. Future research may thus contribute to a better understanding of the role of landscape amenities in economic change and to a better coordination of regional and environmental policies. |
| Keywords: | landscape amenities, migration, local development, hedonic models, environmental valuation, regional economic modeling, land use |
| JEL: | Q26 Q51 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soz:wpaper:0710&r=env |
| By: | Glenn Jenkins (Queen's University, Canada); Chun-Yan Kuo (Queen's University, Canada); Aygul Ozbafli (Queen's University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | The Canadian Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide: Regulatory Proposals, sets out the general methodology and analytical steps to perform a cost-benefit analysis of proposed regulatory changes. To make the Guide operational, this case study has been prepared following the analytical approach recommended by the Guide. In 1994 the sulphur content of Canadian gasoline was found to be high and varied widely across the country. Scientists and health experts have found evidence that emissions of pollutants from vehicles cause considerable harm to the health of Canadians and to the environment. In order to derive the net economic benefits, we integrate the economic benefits with the economic costs for each of the alternative scenarios. In the cost-benefit analysis, all private costs must be measured in terms of their economic opportunity costs. The results indicate that reducing the sulphur in gasoline for any scenario under consideration would generate substantial net health benefits or well-being for Canadians as a whole. Estimates of the net present value (at an eight percent discount rate) range from $1,809 million to $2,663 million. |
| Keywords: | Gasoline, Sulphur, Cost-Benefit, Environment |
| JEL: | D61 Q52 Q53 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1134&r=env |