The provision of flood insurance is a patchwork, with countries showing varying degrees of penetration, coverage types, demand levels, and design structures. This article explores the current understanding of flood insurance with a specific focus on the ability of flood insurance to contribute to direct risk reduction. The starting point is a consideration of the existing provision of flood insurance, both in established insurance markets and in developing countries. A review of efforts to analyse and explain the use and design of flood insurance highlights how the understanding of supply and demand determinants is steadily growing, while clear gaps also emerge. Particularly the question of utilizing flood insurance in the context of climate change and as a lever for physical risk reduction would benefit from further empirical and theoretical analysis. The article concludes with a reflection on current efforts to reform and design flood insurance and offers some pointers for future research.
{"title":"The Role of Insurance in Reducing Direct Risk - The Case of Flood Insurance","authors":"S. Surminski","doi":"10.1561/101.00000062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000062","url":null,"abstract":"The provision of flood insurance is a patchwork, with countries showing varying degrees of penetration, coverage types, demand levels, and design structures. This article explores the current understanding of flood insurance with a specific focus on the ability of flood insurance to contribute to direct risk reduction. The starting point is a consideration of the existing provision of flood insurance, both in established insurance markets and in developing countries. A review of efforts to analyse and explain the use and design of flood insurance highlights how the understanding of supply and demand determinants is steadily growing, while clear gaps also emerge. Particularly the question of utilizing flood insurance in the context of climate change and as a lever for physical risk reduction would benefit from further empirical and theoretical analysis. The article concludes with a reflection on current efforts to reform and design flood insurance and offers some pointers for future research.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"241-278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000062","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Payment for Ecosystem Service schemes have become widely discussed in the academic literature and in policy circles over the past 10 years, and indeed an increasing number of schemes have been put in place across the world. This paper has four objectives. First, to explain the idea of a Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme to those not working in this area. Second, to set out a formal model which shows the effects of incomplete information in terms of deviations from a first-best outcome, and which allows the relative merits of outcome- and actionsbased schemes to be compared. Third, to explain why measuring the actual performance of any Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme is difficult. Finally, to set out what we see as the main research needs to inform policy development in the near future.
{"title":"Incentivizing the Provision of Ecosystem Services","authors":"N. Hanley, B. White","doi":"10.1561/101.00000064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000064","url":null,"abstract":"Payment for Ecosystem Service schemes have become widely discussed in the academic literature and in policy circles over the past 10 years, and indeed an increasing number of schemes have been put in place across the world. This paper has four objectives. First, to explain the idea of a Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme to those not working in this area. Second, to set out a formal model which shows the effects of incomplete information in terms of deviations from a first-best outcome, and which allows the relative merits of outcome- and actionsbased schemes to be compared. Third, to explain why measuring the actual performance of any Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme is difficult. Finally, to set out what we see as the main research needs to inform policy development in the near future.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"299-331"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000064","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper surveys the economic literature on Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). It first defines and illustrates what CER is, and what it is not (namely green washing). It then examines various rationales for firms to implement CER programs: to respond to social pressure, pre-empt regulations, strategically differentiate from competitors, raise entry barriers, retain and motivate employees, lower the cost of capital, promote discipline and good governance, and foster innovation. Whether implementing CER enhances economic welfare is considered next. The paper ends by sketching what appear at this point to be some worthwhile research directions.
{"title":"The Economics of Corporate Environmental Responsibility","authors":"Patricia Crifo, S. Bernard","doi":"10.1561/101.00000063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000063","url":null,"abstract":"This paper surveys the economic literature on Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). It first defines and illustrates what CER is, and what it is not (namely green washing). It then examines various rationales for firms to implement CER programs: to respond to social pressure, pre-empt regulations, strategically differentiate from competitors, raise entry barriers, retain and motivate employees, lower the cost of capital, promote discipline and good governance, and foster innovation. Whether implementing CER enhances economic welfare is considered next. The paper ends by sketching what appear at this point to be some worthwhile research directions.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"279-297"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000063","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fredrik Pettersson, D. Maddison, S. Acar, Patrik Söderholm
The objective of this paper is to review previous research on convergence of carbon dioxide emissions among countries. We discuss the key findings in this work, how the choices of model, data, statistical tests, etc. influence the results, and highlight some policy implications. The empirical research on convergence in per capita carbon dioxide emissions shows some evidence of convergence between developed (OECD) countries, while at the global level there appear to be relatively persistent gaps or divergence. These results are however sensitive to the choice of econometric approach and data set (e.g., the length of the time series). Still, the empirical basis for an egalitarian rule of equal per capita emissions in the design of global climate policy is not solid; it ignores the specific structural characteristics of countries such as climate, natural resource endowments, etc. The analysis therefore points to a need for more in-depth analyses of the structural determinants of carbon intensity (productivity) at the country level, as well as to additional research on the economic consequences of different types of equity principles (including combinations of such principles).
{"title":"Convergence of carbon dioxide emissions : a review of the literature","authors":"Fredrik Pettersson, D. Maddison, S. Acar, Patrik Söderholm","doi":"10.1561/101.00000059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000059","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this paper is to review previous research on convergence of carbon dioxide emissions among countries. We discuss the key findings in this work, how the choices of model, data, statistical tests, etc. influence the results, and highlight some policy implications. The empirical research on convergence in per capita carbon dioxide emissions shows some evidence of convergence between developed (OECD) countries, while at the global level there appear to be relatively persistent gaps or divergence. These results are however sensitive to the choice of econometric approach and data set (e.g., the length of the time series). Still, the empirical basis for an egalitarian rule of equal per capita emissions in the design of global climate policy is not solid; it ignores the specific structural characteristics of countries such as climate, natural resource endowments, etc. The analysis therefore points to a need for more in-depth analyses of the structural determinants of carbon intensity (productivity) at the country level, as well as to additional research on the economic consequences of different types of equity principles (including combinations of such principles).","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"141-178"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000059","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the pattern of sustainable economic growth in both open and closed economies in the presence of an optimal pollution emission tax. This paper shows that in a small open economy, the optimal pollution tax remains constant even in a growing economy as the domestic production of dirty output is replaced by an ever growing volume of imports. The total amount of pollution decreases due only to structural change or output composition effect. The structural change effect reduces incentives to develop and adopt environmentallysaving technology. In a closed economy, however, the optimal pollution tax increases over time triggering relative price changes and inducing a powerful technique effect to substitute dirty production technology with clean technology. Sustainable growth is possible if the consumption elasticity of substitution is sufficiently large to induce an output composition effect that will offset the scale in a growing economy.
{"title":"\"Sustainable\" Economic Growth: The Ominous Potency of Structural Change","authors":"Ramón López, S. Yoon","doi":"10.1561/101.00000060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000060","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the pattern of sustainable economic growth in both open and closed economies in the presence of an optimal pollution emission tax. This paper shows that in a small open economy, the optimal pollution tax remains constant even in a growing economy as the domestic production of dirty output is replaced by an ever growing volume of imports. The total amount of pollution decreases due only to structural change or output composition effect. The structural change effect reduces incentives to develop and adopt environmentallysaving technology. In a closed economy, however, the optimal pollution tax increases over time triggering relative price changes and inducing a powerful technique effect to substitute dirty production technology with clean technology. Sustainable growth is possible if the consumption elasticity of substitution is sufficiently large to induce an output composition effect that will offset the scale in a growing economy.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"179-203"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000060","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Structural uncertainty arises when key features of the behavior of a system are not well understood. Observational uncertainty arises when key variables in a system are not directly observed. Both types of uncertainty lead to problems for standard dynamic optimization approaches. The replacement of uncertainties by belief distributions over those uncertainties is one approach to addressing the problem. The use of this and other approaches are reviewed, with an emphasis on applications to environmental and resource management problems.
{"title":"Structural and Observational Uncertainty in Environmental and Natural Resource Management","authors":"P. Fackler","doi":"10.1561/101.00000058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000058","url":null,"abstract":"Structural uncertainty arises when key features of the behavior of a system are not well understood. Observational uncertainty arises when key variables in a system are not directly observed. Both types of uncertainty lead to problems for standard dynamic optimization approaches. The replacement of uncertainties by belief distributions over those uncertainties is one approach to addressing the problem. The use of this and other approaches are reviewed, with an emphasis on applications to environmental and resource management problems.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"109-139"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000058","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fisheries economics stand on the cusp of potentially sizeable changes in orientation and policy focus, leading in turn to comparable changes in modeling and general analysis. Notably, fisheries are increasingly framed as part of the overall marine environment rather than considered as solely or largely a commercial fishing issue. Other changes further challenge this traditional conceptual foundation, including technological change, multiple externalities, asymmetric information, marine planning and strategic interactions among players that are especially pronounced in international settings. This paper contends there is a potential for re-development of fishery economic models related to fishery and marine economics in several directions also related to the economic foundation.
{"title":"Recent Developments in Fisheries Economics Research","authors":"L. Kronbak, D. Squires, N. Vestergaard","doi":"10.1561/101.00000057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000057","url":null,"abstract":"Fisheries economics stand on the cusp of potentially sizeable changes in orientation and policy focus, leading in turn to comparable changes in modeling and general analysis. Notably, fisheries are increasingly framed as part of the overall marine environment rather than considered as solely or largely a commercial fishing issue. Other changes further challenge this traditional conceptual foundation, including technological change, multiple externalities, asymmetric information, marine planning and strategic interactions among players that are especially pronounced in international settings. This paper contends there is a potential for re-development of fishery economic models related to fishery and marine economics in several directions also related to the economic foundation.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"13 1","pages":"67-108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000057","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In ecology, the term seascape is used to describe a complex dynamic patchwork of interconnected marine and near-shore habitats (e.g., coral reef, sea grass, open water, mangrove, sandy beaches). This monograph examines this novel way of viewing the marine environment and discusses how economics can contribute to this approach to provide new analytical, management, and policy insights. A simple model of a twohabitat marine system (coral reefs and mangroves) is developed. The model is used to illustrate that, even if the focus is on whether or not to develop only the coastal habitat (i.e., mangroves), taking into account its connectivity with the rest of the seascape (i.e., coral reef) can affect the decision as to how much and which part of the coastal should be developed. The impact of seascape connectivity is examined for three marine ecosystem services: storm protection, habitat-fishery linkages, and water pollution and sediment control.
{"title":"Economics of the Marine Seascape","authors":"E. Barbier, Katherine D. Lee","doi":"10.1561/101.00000056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000056","url":null,"abstract":"In ecology, the term seascape is used to describe a complex dynamic patchwork of interconnected marine and near-shore habitats (e.g., coral reef, sea grass, open water, mangrove, sandy beaches). This monograph examines this novel way of viewing the marine environment and discusses how economics can contribute to this approach to provide new analytical, management, and policy insights. A simple model of a twohabitat marine system (coral reefs and mangroves) is developed. The model is used to illustrate that, even if the focus is on whether or not to develop only the coastal habitat (i.e., mangroves), taking into account its connectivity with the rest of the seascape (i.e., coral reef) can affect the decision as to how much and which part of the coastal should be developed. The impact of seascape connectivity is examined for three marine ecosystem services: storm protection, habitat-fishery linkages, and water pollution and sediment control.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"7 1","pages":"35-65"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2014-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000056","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article provides a survey of dynamic models of international environmental agreements (IEAs). The focus is on environmental problems that are caused by a stock pollutant as are the cases of the acid rain and climate change. For this reason, the survey only reviews the literature that utilizes dynamic state-space games to analyze the formation of international agreements to control pollution. The survey considers both the cooperative approach and the noncooperative approach. In the case of the latter, the survey distinguishes between the models that assume binding agreements and those that assume the contrary. An evaluation of the state of the art is presented in the conclusions along with suggestions for future research.
{"title":"Dynamic Models of International Environmental Agreements: A Differential Game Approach","authors":"E. Calvo, S. Rubio","doi":"10.1561/101.00000053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000053","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a survey of dynamic models of international environmental agreements (IEAs). The focus is on environmental problems that are caused by a stock pollutant as are the cases of the acid rain and climate change. For this reason, the survey only reviews the literature that utilizes dynamic state-space games to analyze the formation of international agreements to control pollution. The survey considers both the cooperative approach and the noncooperative approach. In the case of the latter, the survey distinguishes between the models that assume binding agreements and those that assume the contrary. An evaluation of the state of the art is presented in the conclusions along with suggestions for future research.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"6 1","pages":"289-339"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2013-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000053","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Over the past several years, environmental economists have been increasingly attracted to the use of information as an alternative to traditional methods for regulating externalities. An example of this approach is "eco-labeling," where a third party certifies firms' products; this approach is particularly popular in practice, having been adopted in a variety of countries. With this widespread adoption of eco-labeling, a literature has developed in environmental economics. In this paper, I survey the equilibria that may occur with eco-labeling, and discuss the resultant welfare effects.
{"title":"The Economics of Eco-Labeling: Theory and Empirical Implications","authors":"C. Mason","doi":"10.1561/101.00000054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1561/101.00000054","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past several years, environmental economists have been increasingly attracted to the use of information as an alternative to traditional methods for regulating externalities. An example of this approach is \"eco-labeling,\" where a third party certifies firms' products; this approach is particularly popular in practice, having been adopted in a variety of countries. With this widespread adoption of eco-labeling, a literature has developed in environmental economics. In this paper, I survey the equilibria that may occur with eco-labeling, and discuss the resultant welfare effects.","PeriodicalId":45355,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics","volume":"6 1","pages":"341-372"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2013-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1561/101.00000054","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67073385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}