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nep-env New Economics Papers
on Environmental Economics
Issue of 2014‒06‒22
24 papers chosen by
Francisco S.Ramos
Federal University of Pernambuco

  1. Cournot duopoly and environmental R&D under regulator’s precommitment to an emissions tax By Yasunori Ouchida; Daisaku Goto
  2. Correcting agglomeration economies: How air pollution matters By Marion Drut; Aurélie MAHIEUX
  3. Sharing R&D Investments in Cleaner Technologies to Mitigate Climate Change By Abeer El-Sayed; Santiago J. Rubio
  4. What drives changes in carbon emissions? An index decomposition approach for 40 countries By Schymura, Michael; Voigt, Sebastian
  5. Unilateral Climate Policy and Foreign Direct Investment with Firm and Country Heterogeneity By Francesca Sanna-Randaccio; Roberta Sestini; Ornella Tarola
  6. An Economic Assessment of Policy Options To Reduce Agricultural Pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay By Ribaudo, Marc; Savage, Jeffrey; Aillery, Marcel
  7. From Expert Elicitations to Integrated Assessment: Future Prospects of Carbon Capture Technologies By Elena Claire Ricci; Valentina Bosetti; Erin Baker
  8. Greenhouse gas intensity of three main crops and implications for low-carbon agriculture in China By Wen Wang; Yuebin Lin; Liping Guo; Yingchun Li; Man Su; Christian de Perthuis; Xiaotang Ju; Erda Lin; Dominic Moran
  9. Are Regional Systems Greening the Economy? the Role of Environmental Innovations and Agglomeration Forces By Davide Antonioli; Simone Borghesi; Massimiliano Mazzanti
  10. Climate change, conflict, and cooperation : global analysis of the resilience of international river treaties to increased water variability By Dinar, Shlomi; Katz, David; De Stefano, Lucia; Blankespoor, Brian
  11. Why has energy efficiency not scaled-up in the industrial and commercial sectors in Ukraine ? an empirical analysis By Hochman, Gal; Timilsina, Govinda R.
  12. Farmers’ preferences for climate-smart agriculture an assessment in the Indo-Gangetic plain: By Taneja, Garima; Pal, Barun Deb; Joshi, Pramod Kumar; Aggarwal, Pramod; Tyagi, N.K.
  13. How does climate change alter agricultural strategies to support food security?: By Thornton, Philip K.; Lipper, Leslie
  14. What Drives Deforestation and What Stops It? A Meta-Analysis of Spatially Explicit Econometric Studies - Working Paper 361 By Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon and Jonah Busch
  15. Do Philippine Households Lead a Carbon Intensive Lifestyle? By Moises Neil V. Seriño
  16. The Effects of Environmental Risk on Consumption: an Empirical Analysis on the Mediterranean Countries By Donatella Baiardi; Matteo Manera; Mario Menegatti
  17. On the effect of social norms to reduce pollution By A. Mantovani; O. Tarola; C. Vergari
  18. Industrial Policy for a Sustainable Growth Path By Karl Aiginger
  19. Public sector agricultural research priorities for sustainable food security: Perspectives from plausible scenarios: By Nelson, Gerald C.; van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique
  20. Pollution effects on labor supply and growth By Stefano Bosi; David Desmarchelier; Lionel Ragot
  21. Climate Events and Insurance Demand - The effect of potentially catastrophic events on insurance demand in Italy By Alessandro Chieppa; Andrea Ricca; Gianluca Rosso
  22. Attitude towards Risk and Production Decision: An Empirical analysis on French private forest owners By Marielle Brunette; Jérôme Foncel; Eric Nazindigouba Kéré
  23. Dirty and perverse: regulation-induced pollution substitution By Gibson, Matthew
  24. Using a multi-criteria decision aid methodology to implement sustainable development principles within an Organization By Myriam Merad; Nicolas Dechy; Lisa Serir; Michel Grabisch; Frédéric Marcel

  1. By: Yasunori Ouchida (Department of Economics, Hiroshima University); Daisaku Goto (Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University)
    Abstract: This paper presents examination of environmental R&D of Cournot duopolists with end-of-pipe technology under a regulator’s precommitment to an emissions tax. Results show that, in the presence of technological spillover effect, the government invariably prefers environmental R&D cartelization to environmental R&D competition. In addition, this paper, in stark contrast to those presenting earlier studies, reveals that consumer surplus is not necessarily maximized by environmental research joint venture (ERJV) cartelization, although there invariably exist private incentives to firms for ERJV cartelization as well as social incentives for it.
    Keywords: R&D coordination; Environmental R&D; End-of-pipe technology; Precommit- ment ability; Emission tax
    JEL: O32 L13 Q55 Q58
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hir:idecdp:4-3&r=all
  2. By: Marion Drut (EQUIPPE - ECONOMIE QUANTITATIVE, INTEGRATION, POLITIQUES PUBLIQUES ET ECONOMETRIE - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies - Université Lille II - Droit et santé - Université Lille III - Sciences humaines et sociales - PRES Université Lille Nord de France); Aurélie MAHIEUX (IFSTTAR/AME/DEST - Dynamiques Economiques et Sociales des Transports - IFSTTAR - PRES Université Paris-Est)
    Abstract: The aim of the paper is to correct standard measures of agglomeration economies in order to account for air pollution generated by commuting. This paper examines the impact of nitrogen oxide (NOX) on worker productivity. NOX emissions are primarily released by the transportation sector. Literature on agglomeration economies is abundant and highlights the positive role of density on productivity. Nevertheless, this literature does not take into account the environmental impact generated by a better accessibility, namely commuting. We rst develop a general framework to estimate the agglomeration economies for the 304 French employment areas. In line with the literature, we nd an estimate of 0.05 for the elasticity coe cient of productivity with respect to density. Then, we introduce NOX emissions. The estimates suggest that emissions reduce the positive e ect of density on productivity by more 13%. The model con rms that air pollution matters. Agglomeration economies should be corrected by the environmental impacts associated with the enhancement of accessibility such as the implementation of a new transport infrastructure or policy.
    Keywords: agglomeration economies ; accessibility ; atmospheric pollution ; transport policies
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01007019&r=all
  3. By: Abeer El-Sayed (Department of Economic Analysis and ERICES, University of Valencia, Spain); Santiago J. Rubio (Department of Economic Analysis and ERICES, University of Valencia, Spain)
    Abstract: This paper examines international cooperation on technological development as an alternative to international cooperation on GHG emission reductions. It is assumed that when countries cooperate they coordinate their investments so as to minimize the agreement costs of controlling emissions and that they also pool their R&D efforts so as to fully internalize the spillover effects of their investments in R&D. In order to analyze the scope of cooperation, an agreement formation game is solved in three stages. First, countries decide whether or not to sign the agreement. Then, in the second stage, signatories (playing together) and non-signatories (playing individually) select their investment in R&D. Finally, in the third stage, each country decides its level of emissions non-cooperatively. For linear environmental damages and quadratic investment costs, our findings show that the maximum participation in a R&D agreement consists of six countries and that participation decreases as the coalition information exchange decreases until a minimum participation consisting of three countries is reached. We also find that the grand coalition is stable if the countries sign an international research joint venture but in this case the effectiveness of the agreement is very low.
    Keywords: International Environmental Agreements, R&D Investment, Technology Spillovers, Coalition Information Exchange, Research Joint Ventures
    JEL: D74 F53 H41 Q54 Q55
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.41&r=all
  4. By: Schymura, Michael; Voigt, Sebastian
    Abstract: This study analyzes carbon emission trends and drivers in 40 major economies using the WIOD database, a harmonized and consistent dataset of input-output table time series accompanied by environmental satellite data. We use logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition to (1) study trends in global carbon emissions between 1995 and 2009, (2) attribute changes in carbon emissions to either influences of economic activity, changes in technology, changes in the structure of the economy, alterations of the fuel mix, or changes in carbon intensities of specific fuel types, and (3) highlight sectoral and regional differences. We first find that heterogeneity in each country is higher than heterogeneity in sectors. This finding might lead to the conclusion that, in order to abate CO2, structural conditions in sectors prevail over regional circumstances. Regarding our results of the decomposition analysis, the drivers of changes in carbon emissions are very heterogeneous. Among the world's top ten emitters, in only three countries - China, Germany and Canada - the main driver of an improved emissions performance was technological change. Conversely, in Japan and Australia structural change of the economy contributed to less severe increases of emissions. The deployment of cleaner energy sources had a positive in some, mainly developed, economies. Moreover, our results for the global level suggest a general move towards more efficient means of production. --
    Keywords: Carbon emissions,Logarithmic mean Divisia index decomposition,WIOD database
    JEL: Q43 C43
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14038&r=all
  5. By: Francesca Sanna-Randaccio (Department of Computer, Control & Management Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome); Roberta Sestini (Sapienza University of Rome. Department of Computer, Control & Management Engineering); Ornella Tarola (Sapienza University of Rome, DISSE)
    Abstract: We contribute to the debate on the impact of unilateral climate policy with a two-country two-firm international oligopoly model accounting for endogenous plant location and heterogeneity in both country size and firm’s emissions technology. Our results suggest that, if the carbon price differential is moderate as compared to unit transport costs and the relative size of the highly regulated country is big enough, a no relocation equilibrium may prevail also in the long run. A large market asymmetry coupled with a small technology gap emerges as the only configuration in which unilateral climate policy leads to a fall in world emissions irrespective of the optimal location choice. Thus for being effective and not leading to production relocation, unilateral climate policy should be moderate, implemented by a sufficiently large area and complemented by mechanisms for promoting the international transfer of clean technologies. Welfare implications are also discussed.
    Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment. Carbon leakage. Climate Policy, Emissions Technologies
    JEL: F12 F23 Q58
    Date: 2014–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.55&r=all
  6. By: Ribaudo, Marc; Savage, Jeffrey; Aillery, Marcel
    Abstract: In 2010, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) was established for the Chesapeake Bay, defining the limits on emissions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment necessary to reverse declines in the Bay’s quality and associated biological resources. Agriculture is the largest single source of nutrients and sediment in the watershed. We use data on crop and animal agriculture in the watershed to assess the relative effectiveness of alternative policy approaches for achieving the nutrient and sediment reduction goals of the TMDL, ranging from voluntary financial incentives to regulations. The cost of achieving water quality goals depends heavily on which policy choices are selected and how they are implemented. We found that policies that provide incentives for water quality improvements are the most efficient, assuming necessary information on pollutant delivery is available for each field. Policies that directly encourage adoption of management systems that protect water quality (referred to as design-based) are the most practical, given the limited information that is generally available to farmers and resource agencies. Information on field characteristics can be used to target design-based policies to improve efficiency.
    Keywords: Chesapeake Bay, sediment, manure, water quality, economic incentives, conservation policy, regulation, phosphorus, nitrogen, TMDL, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:171880&r=all
  7. By: Elena Claire Ricci (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) and Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy); Valentina Bosetti (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and IEFE, Bocconi University, Italy); Erin Baker (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA)
    Abstract: This paper analyzes the future prospects of carbon capture technologies. The first part of the analysis presents and discusses the results of an expert elicitation survey on a broad range of carbon capture options. The survey collected probabilistic estimates on the future values of energy penalty under three different scenarios of R&D investments and climate policies from twelve leading European experts from both academia and industry. In the second part of the analysis, the elicitation results are used as input to an integrated assessment model. This allows us to evaluate the potentials of success of this technology within a broad mitigation portfolio of options and under different policy assumptions, in an intertemporal optimizing setting. Both parts of the work provide results that are of interest to policy-makers, integrated-assessment and energy modelers.
    Keywords: Carbon Capture, Expert Elicitation, Integrated Assessment Modeling
    JEL: Q5 Q55
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.44&r=all
  8. By: Wen Wang; Yuebin Lin; Liping Guo; Yingchun Li; Man Su; Christian de Perthuis; Xiaotang Ju; Erda Lin; Dominic Moran
    Abstract: China faces significant challenges in reconciling food security goals with the objective of becoming a low-carbon economy. Agriculture accounts for approximately 11% of China's national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with cereal production representing a large proportion (about 32%) of agricultural emissions. Minimizing emissions per unit of product is a policy objective and we estimated the GHG intensities (GHGI) of rice, wheat and maize production in China from 1985 to 2010. Results show significant variations of GHGIs among Chinese provinces and regions. Relative to wheat and maize, GHGI of rice production is much higher owing to CH4 emissions, and is more closely related to yield levels. In general, the south and central has been the most carbon intensive region in rice production while the GHGI of wheat production is highest in north and northwest provinces. The southwest has been characterized by the highest maize GHGI but the lowest rice GHGI. Compared to the baseline scenario, a 2% annual reduction in N inputs, combined with improved water management in rice paddies, will mitigate 17% of total GHG emissions from cereal production in 2020 while sustaining the required yield increase to ensure food security. Better management practices will entail additional gains in soil organic carbon further decreasing GHGI. To realize the full mitigation potential while maximizing agriculture development, the design of appropriate policies should accommodate local conditions.
    Keywords: food security, low-carbon agriculture, greenhouse gas intensity, China
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cec:wpaper:1409&r=all
  9. By: Davide Antonioli (University of Ferrara); Simone Borghesi (University of Siena); Massimiliano Mazzanti (University of Ferrara)
    Abstract: The adoption and diffusion of environmental innovations (EIs) is crucial to greening the economy and achieving win-win environmental – economic gains. A large and increasing literature has focused on the levers underlying EIs that are external to the firm, such as stakeholders’ pressure and policy pressure. Little attention, however, has been devoted so far to the possible role of local spatial spillovers which are one of the factors affecting sector/geographical specialisations. We analyse a rich dataset that covers the innovative activities and economic performances of firms in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, an area rich of manufacturing districts. We analyse EIs drivers and effects on firms’ performances through a two-step procedure. First, we look at the relevance of spatial levers, namely whether the agglomeration of EIs induces EIs in a given firm. Second, we test whether EIs are significantly related to firms’ economic performances. As to the importance of spatial levers, the role of agglomeration turns out to be fairly local in nature: we find that spillovers are significantly inducing innovation within municipal boundaries. Regarding economic performances, firms' productivity is positively related to EI adoption; in particular, firms that jointly adopt EIs and organizational changes show a better economic performance.
    Keywords: Environmental Innovations, Firm Economic Performances, Local Spillovers, Manufacturing, Agglomeration.
    JEL: Q5 Q55
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.42&r=all
  10. By: Dinar, Shlomi; Katz, David; De Stefano, Lucia; Blankespoor, Brian
    Abstract: Although water variability has already been observed across river basins, climate change is predicted to increase variability. Such environmental changes may aggravate political tensions, especially in regions that are not equipped with an appropriate institutional apparatus. Increased variability is also likely to challenge regions with existing institutional capacity. This paper argues that the best attempts to assess the ability of states to deal with variability in the future rest with considering how agreements have fared in the past. The paper investigates to what extent particular mechanisms and institutional designs help mitigate inter-country tensions over shared water. The analysis specifically focuses on identifying which water allocation mechanisms and institutional features provide better opportunities for mitigating conflict given that water allocation issues tend to be most salient among riparians. Water-related events from the Basins at Risk events database are used as the dependent variable to test hypotheses regarding the viability, or resilience, of treaties over time. Climatic, geographic, political, and economic variables are used as controls. The analysis is conducted for the years 1948-2001 with the country dyad as the level of observation. Findings pertaining to the primary explanatory variables suggest that country dyads governed by treaties with water allocation mechanisms exhibiting both flexibility and specificity evince more cooperative behavior. Country dyads governed by treaties with a larger sum of institutional mechanisms likewise evince a higher level of cooperation, although certain institutional mechanisms are more important than others.
    Keywords: Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water and Industry,Common Property Resource Development,Water Supply and Systems,Town Water Supply and Sanitation
    Date: 2014–06–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6916&r=all
  11. By: Hochman, Gal; Timilsina, Govinda R.
    Abstract: Improvement of energy efficiency is one of the main options to reduce energy demand and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine. However, large-scale deployment of energy efficient technologies has been constrained by several financial, technical, information, behavioral, and institutional barriers. This study assesses these barriers through a survey of 500 industrial and commercial firms throughout Ukraine. The results from the survey were used in a cumulative multi-logit model to understand the importance of the barriers. The analysis shows that financial barriers caused by high upfront costs of energy efficient technologies, higher costs of finance, and higher opportunity costs of energy efficiency investment are key barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures in Ukraine. Institutional barriers particularly lack government policies, which also contributes to the slow adoption of energy efficient technologies in the country. The results suggest targeted policy and credit enhancements could help trigger adoption of energy efficient measures. The empirical analysis shows strong inter-linkages among the barriers and finds heterogeneity between industrial and commercial sectors on the realization of the barriers.
    Keywords: Climate Change Economics,Energy Production and Transportation,Environment and Energy Efficiency,Energy and Environment,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases
    Date: 2014–06–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6920&r=all
  12. By: Taneja, Garima; Pal, Barun Deb; Joshi, Pramod Kumar; Aggarwal, Pramod; Tyagi, N.K.
    Abstract: This study was undertaken to assess farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various climate-smart interventions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The research outputs will be helpful in integrating farmers’ choices with government programs in the selected regions. The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) was selected because it is highly vulnerable to climate change, which may adversely affect the sustainability of the rice-wheat production system and the food security of the region. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and improve the efficiency of the rice-wheat-based production system. CSA requires a complete package of practices to achieve the desired objectives, but adoption is largely dependent on farmers’ preferences and their capacity and WTP.
    Keywords: Climate change, food security, Agricultural technology, Willingness to pay, Climate-smart agriculture, scoring method, bidding method,
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1337&r=all
  13. By: Thornton, Philip K.; Lipper, Leslie
    Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to identify how climate change affects how we should approach the process of transforming agricultural systems (including crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry) to support global food security and poverty reduction in a sustainable way. We also identify implications for FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and CGIAR priorities.
    Keywords: Climate change, evaluation, food security, Poverty, Nutrition, economic growth, Agricultural development, Agricultural policies, Climate-smart agriculture, Adaptation, Mitigation, agricultural transformation, monitoring,
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1340&r=all
  14. By: Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon and Jonah Busch
    Abstract: We have constructed a comprehensive database of 117 spatially explicit econometric studies of deforestation published in peer-reviewed academic journals from 1996-2013. We present a meta-analysis of what drives deforestation and what stops it, based on the signs and significance of 5909 coefficients in 554 multivariate analyses. We find that forests are more likely to be cleared where economic returns to agriculture and pasture are higher, either due to more favorable climatological and topographic conditions, or due to lower costs of clearing forest and transporting products to market. Timber activity, land tenure security, and community demographics do not show a consistent association with either higher or lower deforestation. Population is consistently associated with greater deforestation, and poverty is consistently associated with lower deforestation, but in both cases endogeneity makes a causal link difficult to infer. Promising approaches for stopping deforestation include reducing the intrusion of road networks into remote forested areas; targeting protected areas to regions where forests face higher threat; tying rural income support to the maintenance of forest resources through payments for ecosystem services; and insulating the forest frontier from the price effects of demand for agricultural commodities.
    Keywords: agriculture, climate change, drivers of deforestation, land-use change, land tenure, payment for ecosystem services, protected areas, REDD+, timber, von Thunen.
    JEL: Q15 Q23 Q24
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:361&r=all
  15. By: Moises Neil V. Seriño (Georg-August-University Göttingen)
    Abstract: This paper estimates carbon emission from household consumption and investigates its determinants. We derive total household carbon emission by using the mechanism of input-output analysis combine with household expenditure for 2005 and 2006. Our estimation shows that fuel and light followed by transportation are the most carbon intensive goods while nondurable goods are the least carbon intensive. After controlling for household characteristics, the analyses reveal that income has a significant nonlinear relationship with carbon emission depicting an inverted U-shaped. However, when using asset index as proxy for households’ economic status, no turning point is observed and emission increases as households accumulate more assets. Quintile estimates show that there is a huge disparity in emission between households from the poorest quintile and richest quintile. With this, an option for low-carbon consumption is deemed necessary; else it is imminent that households tend to lead a carbon intensive lifestyle as they get more affluent.
    Keywords: carbon emission; household consumption; income quintiles; input-output
    JEL: Q56 R15 R20 D12
    Date: 2014–06–18
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:158&r=all
  16. By: Donatella Baiardi (Department of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy); Matteo Manera (Department of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Milano-Bicocca and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Italy); Mario Menegatti (Department of Economics, University of Parma, Italy)
    Abstract: This paper empirically estimates a micro-founded model which studies the macroeconomic impact of environmental and financial risks on consumption choices in the Mediterranean Region. The analysis is carried out using time series aggregate data for fourteen Mediterranean countries over the period 1965-2008. Our results indicate that both risks and their interaction significantly influence consumption dynamics. Our estimates of the indexes of relative risk aversion and relative prudence, as well as the relative preference for the quality of environment suggest marked cross-country heterogeneity.
    Keywords: Consumption, Environmental Risk, Financial Risk, Prudence, Relative Risk Aversion, Relative Preference for the Quality of Environment
    JEL: Q50 D81 E21
    Date: 2014–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.43&r=all
  17. By: A. Mantovani; O. Tarola; C. Vergari
    Abstract: We analyse how market competition in a vertically differentiated polluting industry is affected by product variants that comply at different levels with "green" social norms. A green consumption behaviour is considered as a byword of good citizenship. Consumer preferences depend on a combination of hedonic quality and compliance with the norms. Assuming that the high hedonic quality variant complies less with the norms than the low hedonic quality one, we characterize the different equilibrium configurations, depending on the perceived intensity of such norms. Then, we focus on the role that institutions may have in using these norms to reduce pollution emissions.
    JEL: D62 L13
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp950&r=all
  18. By: Karl Aiginger (WIFO)
    Abstract: Industrial policy is back on the agenda and the consensus is that it must be different "this time" from the past. We redefine industrial policy for industrialised countries as a strategy to promote "high-road competitiveness", understood as the ability of an economy to achieve "Beyond-GDP"' Goals. High-road strategies are based on advanced skills, innovation, supporting institutions, ecological ambition and an activating social policy. This "new industrial policy" is systemic, working in alignment with other policy strands and supporting social and environmental goals; it affects the structure of the economy as the whole not only the manufacturing sector. Short-term actions, such as protecting employment in unviable companies, low prices for fossil fuels, or reducing wages in high-income economies are counterproductive. To pursue an industrial policy that targets society''s ultimate goals without public micromanagement will be challenging. It could be achieved 1. by setting incentives, particularly those impacting on technical progress (e.g., to make it less labour-saving and more energy-saving), 2. by the use of the important role governments play in the education and research sectors, 3. by greater public awareness and 4. if consumer preferences will call for socio-ecological transition.
    Keywords: New industrial policy, climate change, competitiveness, innovation strategy
    Date: 2014–06–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2014:i:469&r=all
  19. By: Nelson, Gerald C.; van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique
    Abstract: There is widespread agreement that our ability to deliver sustainable food security for all will be challenged in three dimensions—population growth, constrained natural resources, and climate change. Investments in agricultural productivity are essential to dealing with these challenges. This suggests that cooperation across these two sets of institutions (FAO and the CGIAR) to take advantage of their expertise could result in better understanding for all. At the same time, neither of these institutions has some of the expertise badly needed to assess the coming food security challenges, so cooperation should extend to a range of research organizations. The paper highlights three types of joint activities—cooperative quantitative modeling, cooperative use of institutional and outside substantive expertise, and sustained cooperation with model intercomparison efforts.
    Keywords: Climate change, Agricultural research, Public sector, Sustainability, food security, Population growth, productivity, Agricultural growth, scenario analysis, priorities,
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1339&r=all
  20. By: Stefano Bosi; David Desmarchelier; Lionel Ragot
    Abstract: Some recent empirical contributions have pointed out a significant negative impact of pollution on labor supply. These impacts have been largely ignored in the theoretical literature, which, instead, focused on the case of pollution effects on consumption demand. In this paper, we study the short and long-run effects of pollution in a Ramsey model where pollution and labor supply are nonseparable arguments in households’ preferences. We determine sufficient conditions for existence and uniqueness of a longterm equilibrium and we show how large (negative) effects of pollution on labor supply may promotes macroeconomic volatility (deterministic cycles near the steady state) through a flip bifurcation.
    Keywords: pollution, endogenous labor supply, Ramsey model.
    JEL: E32 O44
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2014-34&r=all
  21. By: Alessandro Chieppa; Andrea Ricca; Gianluca Rosso
    Abstract: Climate extreme events are constantly increasing. What is the effect of these potentially catastrophic events on insurance demand in Italy, with particular reference to the economic activities? Extreme precipitation events over most of the midlatitude land masses and over wet tropical regions will very likely become more intense and more frequent by the end of this century, as global mean surface temperature increases. If we look to Italy, examination of the precipitation time series shows a sensitive and highly significant decrease in the total number of precipitation events in Italy, with a trend of events intense dissimilar as regards to low and high intensity, with a decline of firsts and an increase of seconds. The risk related to hydrological natural disasters is in Italy one of the most important problem for both damage and number of victims. How evolves the ability to pay for damages, with a view to safeguarding work and economic activities, and employment protection?
    Date: 2014–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1406.4114&r=all
  22. By: Marielle Brunette (INRA - INRA Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière - INRA); Jérôme Foncel (Université Lille 3 - Université Lille 3 - université Lille 3); Eric Nazindigouba Kéré (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I)
    Abstract: This paper deals with the forest owner's attitude towards risk and the harvesting decision in several ways. First, we propose to characterize and quantify the forest owner's attitude towards risk. Second, we analyze the determinants of the forest owner's risk attitude. Finally, we determine the impact of the forest owner's risk attitude on the harvesting decision. The French forest owner's risk attitude is tackled by implementing a questionnaire, including a context-free measure borrowed from experimental economics. The determinants of the forest owner's risk attitude and harvesting decision are estimated through a recursive bivariate ordered probit model. We show that French forest owners are characterized by a relative risk aversion coefficient close to 1. In addition, we found that the forest owner's risk aversion is influenced positively and significantly by gender (female), age, and willingness to protect the environment, while the percentage of forest income in the total patrimony of the forest owner has a negative effect. Finally, we obtain that the forest owner's risk aversion positively and significantly impacts the harvesting decision.
    Keywords: Forest owner's risk attitude; Risk aversion; Harvesting decision.
    Date: 2014–06–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01005200&r=all
  23. By: Gibson, Matthew
    Keywords: Social and Behavioral Sciences
    Date: 2014–06–17
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt6tn7t0wv&r=all
  24. By: Myriam Merad (INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques - INERIS); Nicolas Dechy (INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques - INERIS); Lisa Serir (FEMTO-ST - Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies - CNRS : UMR6174 - Université de Franche-Comté - Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques); Michel Grabisch (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Frédéric Marcel (INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques - INERIS)
    Abstract: The implementation of Sustainable Development (SD) within an Organization is a difficult task. This is due to the fact that it is difficult to deal with conflicting and incommensurable aspects such as environmental, economic and social dimensions. In this paper we have used a Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) methodology to cope with these difficulties. MCDA methodology offers the opportunity to avoid monetary valuation of the different dimensions of the SD. These dimensions are not substitutable for one another and all have a role to play. There is an abundance of possible aggregation procedures in MCDA methodology. In this paper we have proposed an innovative method to choose a suitable aggregation procedure for SD problems. Real life case studies of the implementation of an outranking approach (i.e., ELECTRE) and of a mono-criterion synthesis approach (i.e., MAUT approaches based on the Choquet integral) were done to respectively rank 22 SD strategic actions within an expertise Institute and rank 20 practical operational actions to control energy consumption of the Institute's buildings.
    Keywords: Sustainable Development indicators; Sustainable Development action plan; Multi-Criteria Decision Aid; ELECTRE; Choquet Integral
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseose:halshs-00752736&r=all

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