Environmental and Resource Economics最新文献

In October 2003 four contiguous prefectures in Greater Tokyo introduced Low Emission Zones (LEZs) from which diesel trucks and buses without particulate filters have been banned from entering. This paper analyzes the effects of this large-scale intervention on air quality, new vehicle registrations, and birthweights. We use a matching approach to construct a control group comparable to the designated areas in terms of propensity scores based on municipality characteristics during the pre-intervention period and apply a difference-in-differences design. We find evidence that the intervention led to reductions in hourly particulate matter concentrations and the incidence of low birthweights in the Greater Tokyo LEZ relative to the control group. We also find that the LEZs led to increases in registrations of new trucks and buses. This is not the case for passenger cars, which were exempt from the regulations. Our paper provides the first evidence of a significant link between LEZs and reduced incidence of low birthweights.

Between 2002 and 2017, concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) decreased 37% in the United States. Environmental economic theory generally assumes that environmental improvement is associated with a decrease in the marginal damage of emissions. In this case, the marginal damages of PM_2.5 precursor emissions (NH₃, NO_X, primary PM_2.5, and SO₂) increased substantially. I calculate the change in the marginal damages of emissions between 2002 and 2017, finding increases, on average, of 30% for NH₃, 46% for NO_X, 61% for primary PM_2.5, and 36% for SO₂. The increase in marginal damages is especially large in the southeastern United States, with values more than double over this time period. The key factors that influence this change in marginal damages are the shape of the concentration-response (C-R) function that was adopted for these calculations between PM_2.5 exposure and mortality (positive effect), the increase in the real value of a statistical life (positive effect), the increased population (positive effect), the aging of the population (positive effect), the decreased age-specific mortality rates (negative effect), and the geographic distribution of emissions (mixed effect). Between 32 and 65% of the increase in marginal damages is attributable to the shape of the C-R function and the decreased concentration of PM_2.5. The C-R function adopted here indicates that the marginal effect of concentration reductions is higher at lower concentrations. Thus, at the lower PM_2.5 concentrations resulting from improvements over 15 years, there would be a larger reduction in mortality from each additional unit of pollution reduction.

Fresh surface water is increasingly becoming scarcer worldwide, leading to significant groundwater over-extraction. However, groundwater over-extraction could result in many environmental externalities including various land subsidence (LS) effects. LS causes the gradual reduction of the voids and the subsequent ground surface sinking. The loss of aquifer system storage capacity, owing to LS, is one such negative externality that is seldom discussed in the economic literature. In this paper, we investigate the indirect loss of the aquifer system storage capacity due to LS along with other direct LS negative externalities. We develop a dynamic economic optimization model for groundwater utilization and evaluate various policy instruments (quota systems, taxes on land sinking and aquifer storage loss, and packaging and sequencing of taxes and quotas) to prevent overexploitation externalities. The model is calibrated to South African data. We found that taxes on land sinking and aquifer system storage capacity reduction have a significant effect on withdrawals and water table levels. Taxes provide larger social welfare. In addition, under certain circumstances, quotas are preferable when it comes to supporting groundwater conservation practices. Packaging and sequencing provide the second largest social benefits.

This study uses a bioeconomic regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the economic and welfare effects on a sub-national region of transitioning from regulated open access to rationalization for a mackerel fishery in a region (Busan), Korea. Results from the baseline simulation demonstrate that the resource rent from the fishery increases, but that the aggregate and per capita welfares in the region can deteriorate due to an out-migration of the factors of production. However, sensitivity analyses reveal that the sign and size of the aggregate and per capita welfare changes depend on, among other things, (i) regional factor mobility, (ii) the ratio of the initial level of biomass to the carrying capacity, and (iii) the magnitude of the rationalization-induced enhancement in the fishing efficiency.