Journal of Environmental Economics and Management最新文献

{"title":"Climate change and economic prosperity: Evidence from a flexible damage function","authors":"Rodolphe Desbordes ,&nbsp;Markus Eberhardt","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102974","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102974","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The damage function used to assess the economic impact of secular changes in temperature is one of the most speculative components of integrated assessment models of climate change. Existing work informing this debate is based on pooled empirical models incorporating limited non-linearity and giving little regard to dynamics. We use aggregate and agricultural data for 151 countries over the past six decades to estimate dynamic heterogeneous models which (a) allow the weather-output nexus to differ freely across countries, (b) help distinguish short-run from long-run effects, and (c) account for unobserved time-varying heterogeneity. Overall, we find that, in low-income or high-temperature countries, a permanent 1 °C rise in temperature is associated with a fall in income per capita of about 1.3% in the short-run and 8.5% in the long run. These long-run effects are substantially larger than those commonly suggested in the literature.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102974"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140272340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The economics of carbon leakage mitigation policies","authors":"Stefan Ambec ,&nbsp;Federico Esposito ,&nbsp;Antonia Pacelli","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102973","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In a trade model with endogenous emissions abatement, we investigate the impact of three policy instruments aimed at mitigating carbon leakage: free emission allowances, a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and a CBAM with export rebates. We show that providing free allowances does not alter the incentives to abate carbon emissions, but, instead fosters the entry of more carbon intensive producers. This “levels the playing field” both domestically and internationally, and may even reverse carbon leakage. In contrast, a CBAM only levels the playing field domestically, and may lead to an autarky equilibrium. To reverse carbon leakage, a CBAM must be complemented with export rebates. We further show that a CBAM and export rebates improve welfare for any carbon price, and we identify the optimal share of free allowances with or without a CBAM. Finally, we perform a calibration exercise on cement and steel sectors to simulate the effects of the CBAM recently adopted by the European Union. Our model predicts a scenario with reverse carbon leakage and significant welfare gains for both sectors.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102973"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000470/pdfft?md5=bf34f1c371dbcca0ebae7b73cac15ac2&pid=1-s2.0-S0095069624000470-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140187287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact evaluation with nonrepeatable outcomes: The case of forest conservation","authors":"Alberto Garcia ,&nbsp;Robert Heilmayr","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102971","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102971","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The application of quasiexperimental impact evaluation to remotely sensed measures of deforestation has yielded important evidence detailing the effectiveness of conservation policies. However, researchers have paid insufficient attention to the binary and nonrepeatable structure of most deforestation datasets. Using analytical proofs and simulations, we demonstrate that many commonly employed econometric approaches are biased when applied to binary and nonrepeatable outcomes. The significance, magnitude and even direction of estimated effects from many studies are likely incorrect, threatening to undermine the evidence base that underpins conservation policy adoption and design. To address these concerns, we provide guidance and new strategies for the design of panel econometric models that yield more reliable estimates of the impacts of forest conservation policies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102971"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000457/pdfft?md5=580b6d3ba34ce166162aa3eb5191a8c8&pid=1-s2.0-S0095069624000457-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140203895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Asset pricing and the carbon beta of externalities","authors":"Ottmar Edenhofer ,&nbsp;Kai Lessmann ,&nbsp;Ibrahim Tahri","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102969","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102969","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate policy needs to set incentives for investors who face imperfect, distorted markets and large uncertainties about the costs and benefits of abatement. These investors decide on uncertain investments according to their expected return and risk (carbon beta). We study carbon pricing and financial incentives in a consumption-based asset pricing model distorted by technology spillovers and time-inconsistency. We find that both distortions reduce the equilibrium asset return and delay investment in abatement. However, their effect on the carbon beta and the risk premium for abatement can be decreasing (when innovation spillovers are not anticipated) or increasing (when climate policy is not credible). We show that the distortions can be overcome by modified carbon pricing by a regulator, or by financial incentives, implemented in our model by a long-term investment fund. The fund pays a subsidy to reduce technology costs or offers financial contracts to boost investment returns to complement the carbon price. The investment fund can thus pave the way for carbon pricing in later periods by preventing a capital misallocation that would be too expensive to correct, thus improving the feasibility of ambitious carbon pricing.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102969"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000433/pdfft?md5=01ddb86b4f17412551bc6edf69d82425&pid=1-s2.0-S0095069624000433-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140149219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The value of weather forecasts: Evidence from labor responses to accurate versus inaccurate temperature forecasts in China","authors":"Yuqi Song","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102970","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Short-term weather forecasts, a common and popular public good in the modern world, affect labor decisions regarding time allocations. This study uses a novel dataset of city-level day-ahead weather forecasts in China, collected through video transcriptions of the country’s popular TV program spanning over 2000 days since 2010. I estimate the number of hours laborers worked in a day as flexible functions of the daily maximum temperature forecast under different historical levels of forecast accuracy (represented by half-year rolling daily maximum temperature forecast root-mean-squared-error, <span><math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>M</mi><mi>S</mi><mi>E</mi></mrow></math></span>). The results suggest large-magnitude (up to 4.5 and 1.2 h per day) labor decreases under uncomfortable temperature forecasts (extreme heat above <span><math><mrow><mn>30</mn><msup><mrow><mspace></mspace></mrow><mrow><mo>∘</mo></mrow></msup><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span> and medium cold <span><math><mrow><mn>15</mn><msup><mrow><mspace></mspace></mrow><mrow><mo>∘</mo></mrow></msup><mi>C</mi><mtext>–</mtext><mn>25</mn><msup><mrow><mspace></mspace></mrow><mrow><mo>∘</mo></mrow></msup><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span>), but only when forecasts are accurate (<span><math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>M</mi><mi>S</mi><mi>E</mi><mo>≈</mo><mn>1</mn><msup><mrow><mspace></mspace></mrow><mrow><mo>∘</mo></mrow></msup><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span>). The economic value of accurate weather forecasts is assessed by modeling this labor adaptation to forecasts. Specifically, 930 Yuan (148 USD, in 2015 currency) is gained per worker per year, with each <span><math><mrow><mn>1</mn><msup><mrow><mspace></mspace></mrow><mrow><mo>∘</mo></mrow></msup><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span> decrease in the city forecast <span><math><mrow><mi>R</mi><mi>M</mi><mi>S</mi><mi>E</mi></mrow></math></span>. For the entire country, an average 3.9% increase in city-level forecast accuracy for 2011–2015 generates a considerable social benefit of 25.3 billion Yuan (4.03 billion USD) annually from the labor sector alone, nearly covering the annual cost of the national weather forecasting system.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102970"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140134881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nature’s decline and recovery — Structural change, regulatory costs, and the onset of resource use regulation","authors":"Marie-Catherine Riekhof ,&nbsp;Frederik Noack","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102947","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102947","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Many renewable natural resources have been extracted beyond sustainable levels. While some resource stocks have recovered, others are still over-extracted, causing substantial economic losses. This paper develops a model motivated by empirical facts about resource use and regulation to understand these patterns. The model is a dynamic model of a dual economy with technological progress, structural change, and costly resource regulation. Based on this model, we show that technological progress explains the initial increase in resource use. Technological progress also induces structural change and a decline in resource users. While the declining number of resource users does not directly lead to resource recovery, it does reduce regulatory costs, paving the way for resource regulation and recovery. Our results show that although technological progress can contribute to resource degradation, it also helps resource recovery through reduced regulatory costs. Our results suggest further that a temporal use beyond sustainable levels can be socially optimal until regulatory costs fall below the benefits of regulation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102947"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000214/pdfft?md5=58157f76d93652d039cb0a68fbc08878&pid=1-s2.0-S0095069624000214-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140148884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Implicit carbon prices","authors":"Elisa Belfiori ,&nbsp;Armon Rezai","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102950","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Climate and fiscal policy interact closely. The former imposes explicit prices for carbon emissions, while the latter affects emissions implicitly. We study the correspondence between explicit and implicit carbon pricing of a Ramsey-optimal fiscal policy in a neoclassical growth model of climate change. Our central result is that any arbitrary sequence of explicit carbon prices can be achieved implicitly through a blend of conventional taxes (e.g., consumption, energy, and income taxes), when lump-sum transfers are available. In a Ramsey setting, policy balances these taxes’ traditional revenue-raising role with the Pigouvian role of fixing the climate externality. We characterize the Ramsey and Pigouvian components of optimal tax rates. We show that explicit carbon pricing is implicitly implementable through a mix of conventional taxes also in this framework. We extend these findings to scenarios compatible with net-zero emissions, adding carbon capture technologies and a cap on cumulative emissions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102950"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009506962400024X/pdfft?md5=25e5cf4ce607fbff15ff17b902507cfd&pid=1-s2.0-S009506962400024X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140113181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gender composition of children and sanitation behavior in India","authors":"Deepak Saraswat","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102962","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Open defecation has been linked to various environmental and public health issues and has gained significant policy attention. Investing in better sanitation has also been advocated to provide women with privacy and protection from harassment. Nonetheless, previous research has shown that because of son-biased preferences, households in India underinvest in outcomes for their female children. Linking the gender composition of children to the sanitation behavior in Indian households, I find that households increase toilet ownership in the presence of female children by 5% in urban and 2.5% in rural areas, respectively. These results are robust to various empirical specifications, falsification tests, and bounding analysis to test for omitted-variable bias. Various heterogeneity analyses suggest that the decline in open defecation in response to having a female child is driven by households living in regions with a higher prevalence gender-based harassment and weaker law and order. These findings provide new evidence that differences in the gender composition of households create differential incentives to adopt toilets, which can be harnessed to reduce open defecation in India.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102962"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140290733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ocean salinity, early-life health, and adaptation","authors":"Amanda Guimbeau ,&nbsp;Xinde James Ji ,&nbsp;Zi Long ,&nbsp;Nidhiya Menon","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102954","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102954","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study the effects of <em>in utero</em> exposure to climate change induced high ocean salinity levels on children's anthropometric outcomes. Leveraging six geo-referenced waves of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys merged with gridded data on ocean salinity, ocean chemistry and weather indicators (temperature, rainfall and humidity) from 1993 to 2018, we find that a one standard deviation increase in <em>in utero</em> salinity exposure leads to a 0.11 standard deviation decline in height-for-age. Effects on weight-for-height and weight-for-age for a similar magnitude increase in salinity are 0.13 and 0.15 standard deviations, respectively. Analyses of parental investments and health-seeking behaviors demonstrate that compensating actions along these dimensions to attenuate the detrimental effects of salinity are few and restricted to poorer households. Using satellite-sourced datasets on agriculture and land-use, we find that increasing salinity constrains farmers' land use choices, restricting cultivation in the more profitable seasons which leads to lower agricultural potential. In particular, the effects of salinity on child health originate in areas with lower agricultural intensity caused by the progressive salinization of productive lands. These results highlight the climate change related costs of environmental insults on early-life health outcomes in vulnerable populations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102954"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000287/pdfft?md5=e3f3463b9b701987d003d4523d5fab55&pid=1-s2.0-S0095069624000287-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the perils of environmentally friendly alternatives","authors":"Francisco Alpizar ,&nbsp;Fredrik Carlsson ,&nbsp;Gracia Lanza","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102967","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102967","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Environmentally friendly alternatives (EFA) are touted as a key component of a transition towards lowering the impact of human activity on the environment. Still, the environmental costs of these technologies are seldom null; they are simply less environmentally damaging than existing options. In this paper, we investigate consumer behavior when an EFA is introduced. Using a carefully constructed field experimental design, we look at plastic bags vis-a-vis biodegradable (bio) bags, when the latter are offered for free versus at a price. Moreover, we explore offering costly biodegradable bags as part of the default choice. We find that giving away the bio bags for free results in a large behavioral rebound effect, resulting in a substantial increase in the total number of bags. Setting a small, rather symbolic price offsets this rebound effect completely. Interestingly, when the bio bag is offered as a default, the behavioral rebound remains. Our results lead us to conclude against providing these EFA for free and to caution against the use of subsidies to promote their uptake.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 102967"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009506962400041X/pdfft?md5=ed9cbde1afae65b65dc8e51bbb8c32a2&pid=1-s2.0-S009506962400041X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}