Since 2006, China has experienced an unprecedented expansion of its wind and solar power generation capacity and associated manufacturing industries. This rapid growth was supported by large subsidies that resulted in a significant and increasing government subsidy debt to renewable investors as well as a high curtailment rate for renewable electricity. This article reviews China’s renewable electricity development and policies between 2006 and 2020. First, we examine how China’s fixed feed-in tariff subsidies for wind and solar power generation under its planned electricity system distorted investment incentives and led to both the high subsidy debt and the high rates of curtailment. Then we discuss how and why the government shifted its renewable subsidy policy from fixed feed-in tariffs to auctions. We conclude with a discussion of additional policy reforms to support the continued development of renewable electricity in China.
{"title":"Renewable Electricity Development in China: Policies, Performance, and Challenges","authors":"M. Auffhammer, Min Wang, Lunyu Xie, Jintao Xu","doi":"10.1086/715624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/715624","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2006, China has experienced an unprecedented expansion of its wind and solar power generation capacity and associated manufacturing industries. This rapid growth was supported by large subsidies that resulted in a significant and increasing government subsidy debt to renewable investors as well as a high curtailment rate for renewable electricity. This article reviews China’s renewable electricity development and policies between 2006 and 2020. First, we examine how China’s fixed feed-in tariff subsidies for wind and solar power generation under its planned electricity system distorted investment incentives and led to both the high subsidy debt and the high rates of curtailment. Then we discuss how and why the government shifted its renewable subsidy policy from fixed feed-in tariffs to auctions. We conclude with a discussion of additional policy reforms to support the continued development of renewable electricity in China.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"323 - 339"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/715624","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48863117","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}
The decade from 2010 to 2019 marked a significant turning point in China’s approach to environmental regulation and pollution. This article describes the recent trends in air and water quality, with a focus on the 5 years following the Chinese government’s announcement of its “war on pollution” in 2014. We review the emerging literature that has taken advantage of recent improvements in data availability and accuracy to understand the social, economic, and health impacts of environmental pollution in China.
{"title":"China’s War on Pollution: Evidence from the First 5 Years","authors":"M. Greenstone, Guojun He, Shanjun Li, E. Zou","doi":"10.1086/715550","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/715550","url":null,"abstract":"The decade from 2010 to 2019 marked a significant turning point in China’s approach to environmental regulation and pollution. This article describes the recent trends in air and water quality, with a focus on the 5 years following the Chinese government’s announcement of its “war on pollution” in 2014. We review the emerging literature that has taken advantage of recent improvements in data availability and accuracy to understand the social, economic, and health impacts of environmental pollution in China.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"281 - 299"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/715550","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45372154","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}
F. Carlsson, Christina Gravert, O. Johansson-Stenman, Verena Kurz
This article discusses the use of green nudges—behavioral interventions aimed at reducing negative externalities—as an environmental policy instrument. We present a new framework for classifying nudges according to how they affect behavior. Pure nudges change the choice environment to guide behavior unobtrusively. Moral nudges trigger a psychological reaction to encourage behavior change. Our review of empirical studies reveals that green nudges, pure or moral, can have a significant impact on behavior and the environment but that the effects are highly context dependent. On the basis of both our review and basic welfare economics models, we discuss key factors for policy makers to consider when choosing between implementing a green nudge and implementing conventional policy instruments.
{"title":"The Use of Green Nudges as an Environmental Policy Instrument","authors":"F. Carlsson, Christina Gravert, O. Johansson-Stenman, Verena Kurz","doi":"10.1086/715524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/715524","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the use of green nudges—behavioral interventions aimed at reducing negative externalities—as an environmental policy instrument. We present a new framework for classifying nudges according to how they affect behavior. Pure nudges change the choice environment to guide behavior unobtrusively. Moral nudges trigger a psychological reaction to encourage behavior change. Our review of empirical studies reveals that green nudges, pure or moral, can have a significant impact on behavior and the environment but that the effects are highly context dependent. On the basis of both our review and basic welfare economics models, we discuss key factors for policy makers to consider when choosing between implementing a green nudge and implementing conventional policy instruments.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"216 - 237"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/715524","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44220339","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}
Christopher B. Barrett, Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Trinh Pham
This paper reviews the feedback between structural transformation and agriculture, on the one hand, and climate and the natural environment, on the other. The long-standing, dominant economic development narrative largely ignores nature’s influence on factor productivity and stocks, even as it increasingly illustrates how agricultural technological change and economic growth affect nature. We articulate some of the missing linkages and pose key policy research questions concerning structural transformation and the complex feedback among agriculture, nature, and economic growth processes, especially in low-income agrarian economies.
{"title":"Structural Transformation, Agriculture, Climate, and the Environment","authors":"Christopher B. Barrett, Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Trinh Pham","doi":"10.1086/725319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/725319","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reviews the feedback between structural transformation and agriculture, on the one hand, and climate and the natural environment, on the other. The long-standing, dominant economic development narrative largely ignores nature’s influence on factor productivity and stocks, even as it increasingly illustrates how agricultural technological change and economic growth affect nature. We articulate some of the missing linkages and pose key policy research questions concerning structural transformation and the complex feedback among agriculture, nature, and economic growth processes, especially in low-income agrarian economies.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"17 1","pages":"195 - 216"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44788180","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}
Biofuel production in the United States, primarily from corn, has more than doubled since 2007, leading to concerns about its unintended consequences for agricultural and fuel markets. To examine the validity of these concerns and inform the debate about biofuels and their impacts, we review ex ante projections and ex post evidence of the effects of biofuels on land use, food and fuel prices, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We find that biofuels expansion contributed to an initial significant increase in agricultural commodity prices, but these impacts have dissipated over time as crop productivity has increased and cropping patterns have changed. Simulated estimates of indirect land use change and the related GHG emissions intensity of biofuels have also declined sharply from their early levels, which is consistent with ex post evidence. Additionally, growth in biofuel production caused a very modest reduction in fossil fuel prices, implying a small fuel rebound effect. Overall, estimates imply that first-generation biofuels from corn have a lower carbon intensity than gasoline. Finally, learning by doing, economies of scale, and technological improvements have made biofuels from corn increasingly competitive, reducing the need for subsidies and import tariffs. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned from the US biofuels experience.
{"title":"Lessons Learned from US Experience with Biofuels: Comparing the Hype with the Evidence","authors":"M. Khanna, D. Rajagopal, D. Zilberman","doi":"10.1086/713026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713026","url":null,"abstract":"Biofuel production in the United States, primarily from corn, has more than doubled since 2007, leading to concerns about its unintended consequences for agricultural and fuel markets. To examine the validity of these concerns and inform the debate about biofuels and their impacts, we review ex ante projections and ex post evidence of the effects of biofuels on land use, food and fuel prices, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We find that biofuels expansion contributed to an initial significant increase in agricultural commodity prices, but these impacts have dissipated over time as crop productivity has increased and cropping patterns have changed. Simulated estimates of indirect land use change and the related GHG emissions intensity of biofuels have also declined sharply from their early levels, which is consistent with ex post evidence. Additionally, growth in biofuel production caused a very modest reduction in fossil fuel prices, implying a small fuel rebound effect. Overall, estimates imply that first-generation biofuels from corn have a lower carbon intensity than gasoline. Finally, learning by doing, economies of scale, and technological improvements have made biofuels from corn increasingly competitive, reducing the need for subsidies and import tariffs. We conclude with a discussion of the lessons learned from the US biofuels experience.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"67 - 86"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46452715","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}
In this article, we review evidence on the relationship between land as a productive asset and living standards in developing countries. We begin by presenting evidence concerning three key trends in agricultural land use and degradation across developing countries. First, since 1970, agricultural land area in developing countries has continued to expand and shows little signs of abating. Second, there is evidence that the concentration of relatively poor rural populations on remote and less favored land with poor agricultural productivity is continuing. Finally, global assessments indicate that the problem of land degradation is worsening in some developing regions and that a significant share of rural populations in these regions live on degrading agricultural land. Our review of the evidence suggests that these trends in agricultural land use and degradation may have considerable implications for the living standards of millions of rural households in the developing world and possibly for poverty alleviation overall. To further explore these possible relationships, we examine empirical evidence on the relationship between soil quality and the living standards of households based on a survey of 17 low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions.
{"title":"Rural Populations, Land Degradation, and Living Standards in Developing Countries","authors":"E. Barbier, Salvatore Di Falco","doi":"10.1086/713152","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713152","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we review evidence on the relationship between land as a productive asset and living standards in developing countries. We begin by presenting evidence concerning three key trends in agricultural land use and degradation across developing countries. First, since 1970, agricultural land area in developing countries has continued to expand and shows little signs of abating. Second, there is evidence that the concentration of relatively poor rural populations on remote and less favored land with poor agricultural productivity is continuing. Finally, global assessments indicate that the problem of land degradation is worsening in some developing regions and that a significant share of rural populations in these regions live on degrading agricultural land. Our review of the evidence suggests that these trends in agricultural land use and degradation may have considerable implications for the living standards of millions of rural households in the developing world and possibly for poverty alleviation overall. To further explore these possible relationships, we examine empirical evidence on the relationship between soil quality and the living standards of households based on a survey of 17 low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s poorest regions.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"115 - 133"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713152","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49221684","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}
In the past two decades, there has been a rapid expansion in research that examines the linkages between natural capital and human health. These nature–human health connections range from mangroves mitigating mortality from coastal storms to a walk in nature temporarily lowering blood pressure. While the evidence base for research on natural capital and human health is growing and study designs are becoming more advanced, we find that very few studies use an economic approach. A review of the literature reveals that few studies evaluate the costs of delivering nature’s benefits to human health, even fewer studies use benefit–cost analysis or a cost-effectiveness approach to compare alternative policy interventions, and no study evaluates the net benefits of natural capital for human health. In this article, we discuss why an economic approach is critical to advancing research on the connections between nature and human health and present a conceptual model for conducting more practice- and policy-relevant research.
{"title":"Integrating Economics into Research on Natural Capital and Human Health","authors":"B. Fisher, Luz A. Wit, T. Ricketts","doi":"10.1086/713024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713024","url":null,"abstract":"In the past two decades, there has been a rapid expansion in research that examines the linkages between natural capital and human health. These nature–human health connections range from mangroves mitigating mortality from coastal storms to a walk in nature temporarily lowering blood pressure. While the evidence base for research on natural capital and human health is growing and study designs are becoming more advanced, we find that very few studies use an economic approach. A review of the literature reveals that few studies evaluate the costs of delivering nature’s benefits to human health, even fewer studies use benefit–cost analysis or a cost-effectiveness approach to compare alternative policy interventions, and no study evaluates the net benefits of natural capital for human health. In this article, we discuss why an economic approach is critical to advancing research on the connections between nature and human health and present a conceptual model for conducting more practice- and policy-relevant research.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"95 - 114"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713024","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43693487","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}
R. Epanchin‐Niell, C. McAusland, Andrew M. Liebhold, P. Mwebaze, M. Springborn
International trade is a key pathway for the global spread of nonnative species. Historical and emerging trade flows interact with ecological dynamics to shape nonnative species risk and determine how that risk can be mitigated. This article discusses these underlying processes, emerging trade trends, and the role of past and future economics research in understanding and managing nonnative species risks from trade. We identify four priorities for future economics research. These include expanding economic analysis to consider interventions across the biosecurity continuum more comprehensively, leveraging new data systems for real-time prediction and effective allocation of inspection effort, applying economic analysis to anticipate and respond to emerging trade trends, and improving understanding of exporter and consumer behavioral responses to policy interventions in order to encourage intended (and ameliorate unintended) reactions.
{"title":"Biological Invasions and International Trade: Managing a Moving Target","authors":"R. Epanchin‐Niell, C. McAusland, Andrew M. Liebhold, P. Mwebaze, M. Springborn","doi":"10.1086/713025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713025","url":null,"abstract":"International trade is a key pathway for the global spread of nonnative species. Historical and emerging trade flows interact with ecological dynamics to shape nonnative species risk and determine how that risk can be mitigated. This article discusses these underlying processes, emerging trade trends, and the role of past and future economics research in understanding and managing nonnative species risks from trade. We identify four priorities for future economics research. These include expanding economic analysis to consider interventions across the biosecurity continuum more comprehensively, leveraging new data systems for real-time prediction and effective allocation of inspection effort, applying economic analysis to anticipate and respond to emerging trade trends, and improving understanding of exporter and consumer behavioral responses to policy interventions in order to encourage intended (and ameliorate unintended) reactions.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"180 - 190"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46268073","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}
Water security involves multiple interrelated policy challenges that economists often analyze separately. This article examines the issue of water security from an economic perspective, identifying economic causes and consequences of infrastructure financing deficits, water misallocation, and water risks. To help address these challenges, we review trends in defining and measuring water security and present an economic framework for assessing the costs and benefits of policies aimed at enhancing water security. We show that policies aimed at increasing water security to meet basic water needs, ensure more equitable water distribution, or reduce water risks rarely align with conventional measures of economic efficiency. We argue that water security requires strengthening and coordinating institutions to address multiple objectives and that these institutional arrangements are polycentric in nature, balancing decentralized decision-making with coordination across sectors and political borders. The issue of water security underscores why economists need to take institutions more seriously if they are to provide credible analyses of policy responses to water management challenges.
{"title":"An Economic Perspective on Water Security","authors":"D. Garrick, R. Hahn","doi":"10.1086/713102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713102","url":null,"abstract":"Water security involves multiple interrelated policy challenges that economists often analyze separately. This article examines the issue of water security from an economic perspective, identifying economic causes and consequences of infrastructure financing deficits, water misallocation, and water risks. To help address these challenges, we review trends in defining and measuring water security and present an economic framework for assessing the costs and benefits of policies aimed at enhancing water security. We show that policies aimed at increasing water security to meet basic water needs, ensure more equitable water distribution, or reduce water risks rarely align with conventional measures of economic efficiency. We argue that water security requires strengthening and coordinating institutions to address multiple objectives and that these institutional arrangements are polycentric in nature, balancing decentralized decision-making with coordination across sectors and political borders. The issue of water security underscores why economists need to take institutions more seriously if they are to provide credible analyses of policy responses to water management challenges.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"45 - 66"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713102","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44952916","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}
C. Brandon, K. Brandon, Alison J. Fairbrass, Rachel A. Neugarten
Economists and ecologists have worked for decades on measuring sustainability by supplementing or adjusting traditional economic indicators such as GDP. Given the threats to humanity from climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss, it is vital to incorporate values of natural capital into national economic decision-making. This review focuses on how natural capital applications, historically applied from local to global scales, address national-scale concerns. However, natural capital data and accounts have been only partially developed in most countries, given a lack of common metrics and monetary values. Existing accounts are often incomplete in both the types of natural capital and ecosystems they include (e.g., water, land, different ecosystem types) and the values they measure (e.g., market vs. nonmarket values). While it is important to continue work to embed natural capital into national economic accounts, the need for practical tools to analyze environmental problems is more urgent. We review alternative options for incorporating natural capital into national-scale decision-making and make recommendations for countries where the data, capacity, and political will to conduct formal natural capital accounting are lacking.
{"title":"Integrating Natural Capital into National Accounts: Three Decades of Promise and Challenge","authors":"C. Brandon, K. Brandon, Alison J. Fairbrass, Rachel A. Neugarten","doi":"10.1086/713075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/713075","url":null,"abstract":"Economists and ecologists have worked for decades on measuring sustainability by supplementing or adjusting traditional economic indicators such as GDP. Given the threats to humanity from climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss, it is vital to incorporate values of natural capital into national economic decision-making. This review focuses on how natural capital applications, historically applied from local to global scales, address national-scale concerns. However, natural capital data and accounts have been only partially developed in most countries, given a lack of common metrics and monetary values. Existing accounts are often incomplete in both the types of natural capital and ecosystems they include (e.g., water, land, different ecosystem types) and the values they measure (e.g., market vs. nonmarket values). While it is important to continue work to embed natural capital into national economic accounts, the need for practical tools to analyze environmental problems is more urgent. We review alternative options for incorporating natural capital into national-scale decision-making and make recommendations for countries where the data, capacity, and political will to conduct formal natural capital accounting are lacking.","PeriodicalId":47676,"journal":{"name":"Review of Environmental Economics and Policy","volume":"15 1","pages":"134 - 153"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1086/713075","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49376057","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}
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