Consulta: creatorFacets:"Stavins,   Robert N."
Registros recuperados: 44
Data/hora: 03/06/2024 00:55:26

The Next Generation of Market-Based Environment Policies
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.; Whitehead,   Bradley W.
We examine what will be required if market-based environmental policy instruments are to become a major force in U.S. environmental policy. We define market-based instruments, and specify five categories: pollution charges; tradable permits; deposit refund systems; reducing market barriers; and eliminating government subsidies. We review major U.S. applications, including: EPA's emissions trading program; the leaded gasoline phasedown; water quality permit trading; CFC trading; SO2 allowance trading; and the RECLAIM program. We assess the U.S. experience in terms of the relatively limited use of these instruments and in terms of the mixed record of performance of implemented instruments. We ask how the next generation of market-based instruments can be...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28; Q48.
Ano: 1996
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10640

A Meaningful U.S. Cap-and-Trade System to Address Climate Change
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Cap-and-Trade System; Carbon Dioxide; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Global Climate Change; Carbon Taxes; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q540; Q280; Q380; Q480; Q580.
Ano: 2008
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/44469

Do Consumers React to the Shape of Supply? Water Demand under Heterogeneous Price Structures
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Olmstead,   Sheila M.; Hanemann,   W. Michael; Stavins,   Robert N.
Urban water pricing provides an opportunity to examine whether consumers react to the shape of supply functions. We carry out an empirical analysis of the influence of price and price structure on residential water demand, using the most price-diverse, detailed, household-level water demand data yet available for this purpose. We adapt the Hausman model of labor supply under progressive income taxation to estimate water demand under non-linear prices. Ours is the first analysis to address both the simultaneous determination of marginal price and water demand under block pricing and the possibility of endogenous price structures in the cross section. In order to examine the possibility that consumers facing block prices are more price-responsive, all else...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Non-linear pricing; Water demand; Price elasticity; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; D12; Q21; Q25; Q28; L95.
Ano: 2005
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10672

Environmental Economics
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
This article, prepared for the forthcoming second edition of the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, provides an overview of the economics of environmental policy. Included are the setting of goals and targets, notably the Kaldor-Hicks criterion, and the related method of assessment known as benefit-cost analysis. Also reviewed are the means of environmental policy, that is, the choice of specific policy instruments, featuring an examination of potential criteria for assessing alternative instruments, with focus on cost-effectiveness. The theoretical foundations and experiential highlights of individual instruments are reviewed, including conventional command-and-control mechanisms and market-based instruments.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental economics; Efficiency; Cost-effectiveness; Benefit-cost analysis; Market-based instruments; Tradeable permits; Pollution taxes; Environmental Economics and Policy; K320; Q280; Q380; Q480.
Ano: 2004
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10841

What Drives Land-Use Change in the United States? A National Analysis of Landowner Decisions
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Lubowski,   Ruben N.; Plantinga,   Andrew J.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Land-use changes involve important economic and environmental effects with implications for international trade, global climate change, wildlife, and other policy issues. We use an econometric model to identify factors driving land-use change in the United States between 1982 and 1997. We quantify the effects of net returns to alternative land uses on private landowners’ decisions to allocate land among six major uses, drawing on detailed micro-data on land use and land quality that are comprehensive of the contiguous U.S. This analysis provides the first evidence of the relative historical importance of markets and Federal farm policies affecting land-use changes nationally.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Land Use; Land-Use Change; Econometric Analysis; Simulations; Land Economics/Use; O51; Q15.
Ano: 2008
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/44534

The Induced Innovation Hypothesis and Energy-Saving Technological Change
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Newell,   Richard G.; Jaffe,   Adam B.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We develop a methodology for testing Hick's induced innovation hypothesis by estimating a product-characteristics model of energy-using consumer durables, augmenting the hypothesis to allow for the influence of government regulations. For the products we explored, the evidence suggests: (i) the rate of overall innovation was independent of energy prices and regulations, (ii) the direction of innovation was responsive to energy price changes for some products but not for others, (iii) energy price changes induced changes in the subset of technically feasible models that were offered for sale, (iv) this responsiveness increased substantially during the period after energy-efficiency product labeling was required, and (v) nonetheless, a sizeable portion of...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Induced innovation; Energy efficiency; Technological change; Economic incentives; Regulation; Standards; Climate change; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; L51; O31; O38; Q40; Q20; Q48.
Ano: 1998
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10521

Lessons Learned from SO2 Allowance Trading
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Tipo: Journal Article
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2005
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/93329

How Do Economists Really Think About the Environment?
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Fullerton,   Don; Stavins,   Robert N.
On a topic like the environment, communication among scholars from different disciplines in the natural and social sciences is both important and difficult, but such communication has been far from perfect. Economists themselves may have contributed to some rather fundamental misunderstandings about how economists think about the environment, perhaps through our enthusiasm for market solutions, perhaps by neglecting to make explicit all of the necessary qualifications, and perhaps simply by the use of jargon that has specific meaning only to other economists. In this brief essay, we seek to clarify some of these misunderstandings and thus to improve future interdisciplinary communication. We hope that natural scientists and other non-economists will take...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Market failure; Economic analysis; Efficiency; Equity; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q2; H4; L51.
Ano: 1998
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10910

Comparing Price and Non-price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Olmstead,   Sheila M.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Urban water conservation is typically achieved through prescriptive regulations, including the rationing of water for particular uses and requirements for the installation of particular technologies. A significant shift has occurred in pollution control regulations toward market-based policies in recent decades. We offer an analysis of the relative merits of market-based and prescriptive approaches to water conservation, where prices have rarely been used to allocate scarce supplies. The analysis emphasizes the emerging theoretical and empirical evidence that using prices to manage water demand is more cost-effective than implementing non-price conservation programs, similar to results for pollution control in earlier decades. Price-based approaches also...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Cost-effectiveness; Water Conservation; Market-based Approaches; Policy Instrument Choice; Water Price; Q25; Q28; Q58; L95.
Ano: 2008
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42919

The Positive Political Economy of Instrument Choice in Environmental Policy
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Keohane,   Nathaniel O.; Revesz,   Richard L.; Stavins,   Robert N.
In the realm of environmental policy instrument choice, there is great divergence between the recommendations of normative economic theory and positive political reality. Four gaps stand out. First, despite the advantages of market-based policy instruments, they have been used to a minor degree, compared with conventional, command-and-control instruments. Second, pollution-control standards have typically been much more stringent for new than for existing sources, despite the inefficiency of this approach. Third, in the few instances in which market-based instruments have been adopted, they have nearly always taken the form of grandfathered tradeable permits, rather than auctioned permits or pollution taxes, despite the advantages in some situations of...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy; L51; H11; P16; K32; Q28.
Ano: 1997
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10759

A Tale of Two Market Failures: Technology and Environmental Policy
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Jaffe,   Adam B.; Newell,   Richard G.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Market failures associated with environmental pollution interact with market failures associated with the innovation and diffusion of new technologies. These combined market failures provide a strong rationale for a portfolio of public policies that foster emissions reduction as well as the development and adoption of environmentally beneficial technology. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that the rate and direction of technological advance is influenced by market and regulatory incentives, and can be cost-effectively harnessed through the use of economicincentive based policy. In the presence of weak or nonexistent environmental policies, investments in the development and diffusion of new environmentally beneficial technologies are very likely...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Technology; Research and development; Environment; Externality; Policy; Environmental Economics and Policy; O38; Q28; H23.
Ano: 2004
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10815

Cost Heterogeneity and the Potential Savings from Market-Based Policies
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Newell,   Richard G.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Policy makers and policy analysts are frequently faced with situations where it is unclear whether market-based instruments hold real promise of reducing costs, relative to conventional command-and-control approaches. We develop rules-of-thumb that can be employed with minimal amounts of information to estimate the potential cost savings associated with marketbased policies, with an application to the environmental policy realm. Our hope is that these simple formulae can aid policy analysts and policy makers in the early stages of exploring alternative policy instruments by helping them identify approaches that merit greater attention and more detailed analysis. We illustrate the use of the rules-of-thumb with an application to nitrogen oxides control in...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environment; Policy instruments; Cost-effective; Market-based; Tradable permits; Uniform standards; Industrial Organization; Q28; Q38.
Ano: 2000
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10577

The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled after 100 Years
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
The problem of the commons is more important to our lives and thus more central to economics than a century ago when Katharine Coman led off the first issue of the American Economic Review. As the U.S. and other economies have grown, the carrying-capacity of the planet - in regard to natural resources and environmental quality — has become a greater concern, particularly for common-property and open-access resources. The focus of this article is on some important, unsettled problems of the commons. Within the realm of natural resources, there are special challenges associated with renewable resources, which are frequently characterized by open access. An important example is the degradation of open-access fisheries. Critical commons problems are also...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Common-Property Resource; Open-Access Resource; Fisheries; Global Climate Change; Land Economics/Use; Q220; Q280; Q500; Q540; Q580.
Ano: 2010
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/98048

Experience with Market-Based Environmental Policy Instruments
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Environmental policies typically combine the identification of a goal with some means to achieve that goal. This chapter for the forthcoming Handbook of Environmental Economics focuses exclusively on the second component, the means - the "instruments" - of environmental policy, and considers, in particular, experience around the world with the relatively new breed of economic-incentive or market-based policy instruments. I define these instruments broadly, and consider them within four categories: charge systems; tradable permits; market friction reductions; and government subsidy reductions. Within charge systems, I consider: effluent charges, deposit-refund systems, user charges, insurance premium taxes, sales taxes, administrative charges, and tax...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Market-based policy; Economic incentives; Tradable permits; Emission taxes; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28.
Ano: 2001
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10909

Interpreting Sustainability in Economic Terms: Dynamic Efficiency Plus Intergenerational Equity
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.; Wagner,   Alexander F.; Wagner,   Gernot.
Economists have expended considerable effort to develop economically meaningful definitions of the somewhat elusive concept of "sustainability." We relate such a definition of sustainability to well known concepts from neoclassical economics, in particular, potential Pareto improvements (in the Kaldor-Hicks sense) and interpersonal compensation. In the inter-temporal realm, we find that dynamic efficiency is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a notion of sustainability that has normative standing as a goal for public policy. We define sustainability as dynamic efficiency plus intergenerational equity. Further, we argue that it is not unreasonable for economists to focus on the efficiency element, leaving equity considerations to the political...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2002
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10810

Land-Use Change and Carbon Sinks: Econometric Estimation of the Carbon Sequestration Supply Function
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Lubowski,   Ruben N.; Plantinga,   Andrew J.; Stavins,   Robert N.
When and if the United States chooses to implement a greenhouse gas reduction program, it will be necessary to decide whether carbon sequestration policies - such as those that promote forestation and discourage deforestation - should be part of the domestic portfolio of compliance activities. We investigate the cost of forest-based carbon sequestration. In contrast with previous approaches, we econometrically examine micro-data on revealed landowner preferences, modeling six major private land uses in a comprehensive analysis of the contiguous United States. The econometric estimates are used to simulate landowner responses to sequestration policies. Key commodity prices are treated as endogenous and a carbon sink model is used to predict changes in...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Abatement; Carbon; Climate change; Costs; Forestry; Greenhouse gases; Land use; Land-use change; Sequestration; Land Economics/Use; Q540; Q230; Q240; Q150.
Ano: 2005
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10561

Determinants of Land-Use Change In the United States 1982-1997
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Lubowski,   Ruben N.; Plantinga,   Andrew J.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Changes in the use of land in the United States produce significant economic and environmental effects with important implications for a wide variety of policy issues, including protection of wildlife habitat, management of urban growth, and mitigation of global climate change. In contrast to previous descriptive and qualitative analyses of the trends in national land use, this paper uses an econometric approach to isolate the importance of historical changes in land-use profits and key government policies in determining national land-use changes from 1982 to 1997. The policies we examine are the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and total government payments to crop producers. We estimate a national-level discrete choice model of changes among the major...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Land use; Econometric model; Counterfactual simulation; Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); Land Economics/Use; C53; Q1; Q24; R14; R15.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10714

Environmental Protection and Economic Well-Being: How Does (and How Should) Government Balance These Two Important Values?
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
The organizers of an Aspen Institute conference have identified what they characterize as "the critical conundrum" - how business, government, and communications media balance the competing values of economic growth and a healthy environment. In this paper, prepared for discussion at the conference, I focus on government policy, and ask how government integrates economic concerns into its development of environmental policies. In addition, I ask whether and how government should carry out such integration of economic and environmental concerns. I consider two dimensions of environmental policy, which are closely interrelated but conceptually distinct: (1) what is the appropriate (and actual) degree of government activity; and (2) what form should (and...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10565

What Has Kyoto Wrought? The Real Architecture of International Tradable Permit Markets
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Hahn,   Robert W.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We investigate a central issue in the climate change debate associated with the Kyoto Protocol: the likely performance of international greenhouse gas trading mechanisms. Virtually all design studies and many projections of the costs of meeting the Kyoto targets have assumed that an international trading program can be established that minimizes the costs of meeting overall goals. This conclusion rests on several simplifying assumptions. We focus on one important issue that has received little, if any, attention: the interaction between an international trading regime and a heterogeneous set of domestic greenhouse policy instruments. This is an important issue because the Protocol explicitly provides for domestic sovereignty regarding instrument choice,...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Climate change; Tradable permits; International policy; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28; Q25.
Ano: 1999
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10747

Introduction to the Political Economy of Environmental Regulations
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
This paper introduces a volume of collected papers on the political economy of environmental regulation: economic analyses of the processes through which political decisions regarding environmental regulation are made, principally in the institutional context found in the United States. Despite this geographic focus, many of the papers contain analytical models that are methodologically of interest and/or have lessons that are relevant in other parts of the world. In the environmental realm, questions of political economy emerge along three fundamental dimensions, which are closely interrelated but conceptually distinct: (1) the degree of government activity; (2) the form of government activity; and (3) the level of government that has responsibility. The...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2004
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10876

Policy Instruments for Climate Change: How Can National Governments Address a Global Problem?
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
There continues to be great debate about the desirability of taking actions to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions, but it is important to consider policy instruments that can be employed to meet targets that may eventually be forthcoming. The theoretical advantages of market-based instruments, such as carbon taxes and systems of tradable carbon rights, are striking. In the U.S. domestic context, grandfathered tradable permits will probably be the preferred approach (if any) in the short run, although revenueneutral carbon taxes will hold greater promise in the long run. In the international context, a system of international tradable permits could provide important advantages over alternative approaches, but it is difficult to...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Global climate change; Policy instruments; Political and institutional barriers; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q25; Q28; Q4.
Ano: 1997
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10757

Can an Effective Global Climate Treaty Be Based on Sound Science, Rational Economics, and Pragmatic Politics
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
The Kyoto Protocol (1997) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) may come into force without U.S. participation, but its effects on climate change will be trivial. At the same time, the economic and scientific consensus points to the need for a credible international approach. A reasonable starting point is the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), which was signed by 161 nations and ratified by 50, including the United States, and entered into force in 1994. In this paper, I remain agnostic on the question of the Kyoto Protocol's viability. Some analysts see the agreement as deeply flawed, while others see it as an acceptable or even excellent first step. But virtually everyone agrees that the Protocol is not...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Global climate change; Global warming; Policy architecture; Kyoto Protocol; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q54; Q58; Q48; Q39.
Ano: 2004
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10720

Environmental Law and Public Policy
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Revesz,   Richard L.; Stavins,   Robert N.
This chapter provides an economic perspective of environmental law and policy with regard to both normative and positive dimensions. It begins with an examination of the central problem in environmental regulation: the tendency of pollution generators in an unconstrained market economy to externalize some of the costs of their production, leading to an inefficiently large amount of pollution. We examine the ends of environmental policy, that is, the setting of goals and targets, beginning with normative issues, notably the Kaldor-Hicks criterion and the related method of assessment known as benefit-cost analysis. We examine this analytical method in detail, including its theoretical foundations and empirical methods of estimation of compliance costs and...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental economics; Environmental law; Efficiency; Cost-effectiveness; Benefit-cost analysis; Environmental federalism; Environmental Economics and Policy; K320; Q280; Q380; Q480.
Ano: 2004
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10742

Linkage of Tradable Permit Systems in International Climate Policy Architecture
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Jaffe,   Judson; Stavins,   Robert N.
Cap-and-trade systems have emerged as the preferred national and regional instrument for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the industrialized world, and the Clean Development Mechanism — an international emission-reduction-credit system — has developed a substantial constituency, despite some concerns about its performance. Because linkage between tradable permit systems can reduce compliance costs and improve market liquidity, there is great interest in linking cap-and-trade systems to each other, as well as to the CDM and other credit systems. We examine the benefits and concerns associated with various types of linkages, and analyze the near-term and long-term role that linkage may play in a future international climate policy...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Linkage; Cap-and-Trade; Tradable Permits; Global Climate Change; Environmental Economics and Policy; F500; Q200; Q400; Q500.
Ano: 2008
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/46624

The Effects of Vintage-Differentiated Environmental Regulation
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Vintage-differentiated regulations (VDRs) are standards that are fixed with respect to the date of entry of regulated units, with later vintages facing more stringent standards. VDRs play prominent roles under major Federal, state, and local environmental laws. This paper synthesizes what is known about the effects of environmental VDRs, and develops lessons for public policy and for research. Economic theory suggests that such age-discriminatory regulations retard turnover of the capital stock, drive up the cost of environmental protection, and can increase pollution levels. Empirical studies validate theoretical predictions that VDRs delay replacement of durable goods, and thereby increase aggregate pollution abatement costs. In some cases, empirical...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Vintage-differentiated regulation; New source review; Cost-effective environmental regulation; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q580; Q550; Q520; Q530; L510.
Ano: 2005
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10796

Technological Change and the Environment
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Jaffe,   Adam B.; Newell,   Richard G.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Environmental policy discussions increasingly focus on issues related to technological change. This is partly because the environmental consequences of social activity are frequently affected by the rate and direction of technological change, and partly because environmental policy interventions can themselves create constraints and incentives that have significant effects on the path of technological progress. This paper, prepared as a chapter draft for the forthcoming Handbook of Environmental Economics (North-Holland/Elsevier Science), summarizes current thinking on technological change in the broader economics literature, surveys the growing economic literature on the interaction between technology and the environment, and explores the normative...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Technological change; Induced innovation; Environment; Policy; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O30; Q00.
Ano: 2001
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10566

Addressing Climate Change with a Comprehensive U.S. Cap-and-Trade System
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
There is growing impetus for a domestic U.S. climate policy that can provide meaningful reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. I describe and analyze an up- stream, economy-wide CO2 cap-and-trade system which implements a gradual trajectory of emissions reductions (with inclusion over time of non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and includes mechanisms to reduce cost uncertainty. Initially, half of the allowances are allocated through auction and half through free distribution, with the share being auctioned gradually increasing to 100 percent over 25 years. The system provides for linkage with emission reduction credit projects in other countries, harmonization over time with effective cap-and-trade systems in other countries and regions, and...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Cap-and-Trade System; Carbon Dioxide; Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Global Climate Change; Carbon Taxes; Q540; Q280; Q380; Q480; Q580.
Ano: 2008
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/42920

The Effects of Potential Land Development on Agricultural Land Prices
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Plantinga,   Andrew J.; Lubowski,   Ruben N.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We conduct a national-scale study of the determinants of agricultural land values to better understand how current farmland prices are influenced by the potential for future land development. The theoretical basis for the empirical analysis is a spatial city model with stochastic returns to future land development. From the theoretical model, we derive an expression for the current price of agricultural land in terms of annual returns to agricultural production, the price of recently developed land parcels, and expressions involving model parameters that are represented in the empirical model by nonlinear functions of observed variables and parameters to be estimated. We estimate the model of agricultural land values with a cross-section on approximately...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Land Economics/Use.
Ano: 2002
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10852

13 + 1: A Comparison of Global Climate Change Policy Architectures
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Aldy,   Joseph E.; Barrett,   Scott; Stavins,   Robert N.
We critically review the Kyoto Protocol and thirteen alternative policy architectures for addressing the threat of global climate change. We employ six criteria to evaluate the policy proposals: environmental outcome, dynamic efficiency, cost effectiveness, equity, flexibility in the presence of new information, and incentives for participation and compliance. The Kyoto Protocol does not fare well on a number of criteria, but none of the alternative proposals fare well along all six dimensions. We identify several major themes among the alternative proposals: Kyoto is "too little, too fast"; developing countries should play a more substantial role and receive incentives to participate; implementation should focus on market-based approaches, especially...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Policy architecture; Kyoto Protocol; Efficiency; Cost effectiveness; Equity; Participation; Compliance; Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10541

National Environmental Policy During the Clinton Years
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Cavanagh,   Sheila M.; Hahn,   Robert W.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We review major developments in national environmental policy during the Clinton Administration, defining environmental policy to include not only the statutes, regulations, and policies associated with reducing pollution, but also major issues of public lands management and species preservation. We adopt economic criteria for policy assessment - principally efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and distributional equity. While the paper is primarily descriptive, we highlight a set of five themes that emerge in the economics of national environmental policy over the past decade. First, over the course of the decade, national environmental targets were made more stringent, and environmental quality improved. Most important among the new targets were the National...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Air Quality Standards; Benefit-cost analysis; Voluntary programs; Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2001
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10703

Lessons From the American Experiment With Market-Based Environmental Policies
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2001
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10589

Using the Market to Address Climate Change:  Insights from Theory and Experience
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Aldy,   Joseph E.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Emissions of greenhouse gases linked with global climate change are affected by diverse aspects of economic activity, including individual consumption, business investment, and government spending.  An effective climate policy will have to modify the decision calculus for these activities in the direction of more efficient generation and use of energy, lower carbon-intensity of energy, and – more broadly – a more carbon-lean economy.  The only approach to doing this on a meaningful scale that would be technically feasible and cost-effective is carbon pricing, that is, market-based climate policies that place a shadow-price on carbon dioxide emissions.  We examine alternative designs of three such instruments – carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, and clean energy...
Tipo: Working Paper
Palavras-chave: Global Climate Change; Market-Based Instruments; Carbon Pricing; Carbon Taxes; Cap-And-Trade; Clean Energy Standards; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q540; Q580; Q400; Q480.
Ano: 2011
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/119095

Private Options to Use Public Goods: Exploiting Revealed Preferences to Estimate Environmental Benefits
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Snyder,   Lori D.; Stavins,   Robert N.; Wagner,   Alexander F.
We develop and apply a new method for estimating the economic benefits of an environmental amenity. The method fits within the household production framework (Becker 1965), and is based upon the notion of estimating the derived demand for a privately traded option to utilize a freely-available public good. In particular, the demand for state fishing licenses is used to infer the benefits of recreational fishing. Using panel data on state fishing license sales and prices for the continental United States over a fifteen-year period, combined with data on substitute prices and demographic variables, a license demand function is estimated with instrumental variable procedures to allow for the potential endogeneity of administered prices. The econometric...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy; Q26; Q21; Q22; H41.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10908

Vintage-Differentiated Environmental Regulation
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2005
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10896

The SO2 Allowance Trading System and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990: Reflections on Twenty Years of Policy Innovation
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Chan,   Gabriel; Stavins,   Robert N.; Stowe,   Robert; Sweeney,   Richard.
The introduction of the U.S. SO2 allowance-trading program to address the threat of acid rain as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 is a landmark event in the history of environmental regulation. The program was a great success by almost all measures. This paper, which draws upon a research workshop and a policy roundtable held at Harvard in May 2011, investigates critically the design, enactment, implementation, performance, and implications of this path-breaking application of economic thinking to environmental regulation. Ironically, cap and trade seems especially well suited to addressing the problem of climate change, in that emitted greenhouse gases are evenly distributed throughout the world’s atmosphere. Recent hostility toward cap and...
Tipo: Working Paper
Palavras-chave: Cap-and-Trade; Market-Based Environmental Policy; Acid Rain; Sulfur Dioxide; Clean Air Act Amendments; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q520; Q550; Q580.
Ano: 2012
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/121722

The Effect of Allowance Allocations on Cap-and-Trade System Performance
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Hahn,   Robert W.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We examine an implication of the “Coase Theorem” which has had an important impact both on environmental economics and on public policy in the environmental domain. Under certain conditions, the market equilibrium in a cap-and-trade system will be cost-effective and independent of the initial allocation of tradable rights. That is, the overall cost of achieving a given aggregate emission reduction will be minimized, and the final allocation of permits will be independent of the initial allocation. We call this the independence property. This property is very important because it allows equity and efficiency concerns to be separated in a relatively straightforward manner. In particular, the property means that the government can establish the overall...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Cap-and-Trade System; Tradable Permits; Coase Theorem; Allowance Allocation; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q580; H110; L510.
Ano: 2010
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/92707

Market-Based Environmental Policies
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Some eighty years ago, economists first proposed the use of corrective taxes to internalize environmental and other externalities. Fifty years later, the portfolio of potential economic-incentive instruments was expanded to include quantity-based mechanisms--tradable permits. Thus, economic-incentive approaches to environmental protection are clearly not a new policy idea, and over the past two decades, they have held varying degrees of prominence in environmental policy discussions. This paper summarizes U.S. experiences with such market-based policy instruments, including: pollution charges; deposit-refund systems; tradable permits; market barrier reductions; and government subsidy reductions. No particular form of government intervention, no individual...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Market-based instruments; Pigovian taxes; Tradable permits; Deposit-refund systems; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28.
Ano: 1998
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10506

Climate Change and Forest Sinks: Factors Affecting the Costs of Carbon Sequestration
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Newell,   Richard G.; Stavins,   Robert N.
The possibility of encouraging the growth of forests as a means of sequestering carbon dioxide has received considerable attention because of concerns about the threat of global climate change due to the greenhouse effect. In fact, this approach is an explicit element of both U.S. and international climate policies, partly because of evidence that growing trees to sequester carbon can be a relatively inexpensive means of combating climate change. But how sensitive are such estimates to specific conditions? We examine the sensitivity of carbon sequestration costs to changes in critical factors, including the nature of the management and deforestation regimes, silvicultural species, agricultural prices, and discount rates. We find, somewhat...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 1999
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10559

Interactions between State and Federal Climate Change Policies
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Goulder,   Lawrence H.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Federal action addressing climate change is likely to emerge either through new legislation or via the U.S. EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act.  The prospect of federal action raises important questions regarding the interconnections between federal efforts and state-level climate policy developments.  In the presence of federal policies, to what extent will state efforts be cost-effective?  How does the co-existence of state- and federal-level policies affect the ability of state efforts to achieve emissions reductions? This paper addresses these questions.  We find that state-level policy in the presence of a federal policy can be beneficial or problematic, depending on the nature of the overlap between the two systems, the relative stringency of...
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Global Climate Change; Federalism; Cap-And-Trade; Carbon Tax; Regulation; Environmental Economics and Policy; H110; H770; K320; L510; Q480; Q540.
Ano: 2010
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/93413

The Promise and Problems of Pricing Carbon: Theory and Experience
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Aldy,   Joseph E.; Stavins,   Robert N.
Because of the global commons nature of climate change, international cooperation among nations will likely be necessary for meaningful action at the global level.  At the same time, it will inevitably be up to the actions of sovereign nations to put in place policies that bring about meaningful reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases.  Due to the ubiquity and diversity of emissions of greenhouse gases in most economies, as well as the variation in abatement costs among individual sources, conventional environmental policy approaches, such as uniform technology and performance standards, are unlikely to be sufficient to the task.  Therefore, attention has increasingly turned to market-based instruments in the form of carbon-pricing mechanisms.  We...
Tipo: Working Paper
Palavras-chave: Global Climate Change; Market-Based Instruments; Carbon Pricing; Carbon Taxes; Cap-and-Trade; Emission Reduction Credits; Energy Subsidies; Clean Energy Standards; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q540; Q580; Q400; Q480.
Ano: 2011
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/119105

Market-Based Environmental Policies: What Can We Learn from U.S. Experience (and Related Research)?
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Stavins,   Robert N.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10726

The Effects of Environmental Regulation On Technology Diffusion: The Case of Chlorine Manufacturing
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Snyder,   Lori D.; Miller,   Nolan; Stavins,   Robert N.
We use a hazard model to estimate the effect of environmental regulation on the diffusion of membrane cell production technology in the chlorine manufacturing industry. We estimate the effect of regulation on both the adoption of the membrane technology at existing plants and on the exit of existing plants using older technologies. We find that environmental regulation did affect the diffusion of the cleaner technology in the chlorine industry. However, it did so not by encouraging the adoption of membrane cells by existing facilities, but by reducing the demand for chlorine and hence encouraging the shutdown of facilities using the environmentally inferior options.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Regulation; Technological change; Environment; Hazard model; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q20; Q28; L50; L65.
Ano: 2003
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10554

Three Key Elements of Post-2012 International Climate Policy Architecture
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Olmstead,   Sheila M.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We describe three essential elements of an effective post-2012 international global climate policy architecture: a means to ensure that key industrialized and developing nations are involved in differentiated but meaningful ways; an emphasis on an extended time path of targets; and inclusion of flexible market-based policy instruments to keep costs down and facilitate international equity. This architecture is consistent with fundamental aspects of the science, economics, and politics of global climate change; addresses specific shortcomings of the Kyoto Protocol; and builds upon the foundation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Global Climate Change; Global Warming; Policy Architecture; Kyoto Protocol; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q54; Q58; Q48; Q39.
Ano: 2010
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/93412

The Value of Terroir: Hedonic Estimation of Vineyard Sale Prices
Provedor de dados: 31
Autores: Cross,   Robin M.; Plantinga,   Andrew J.; Stavins,   Robert N.
We examine the value of terroir, which refers to the special characteristics of a place that impart unique qualities to the wine produced. We do this by conducting a hedonic analysis of vineyard sales in the Willamette Valley of Oregon to ascertain whether site attributes, such as slope, aspect, elevation, and soil types, or designated appellations are more important determinants of price. We find that prices are strongly determined by sub-AVA appellation designations, but not by specific site attributes. These results indicate that the concept of terroir matters economically, although the reality of terroir – as proxied for by locational  attributes – is not significant.
Tipo: Working or Discussion Paper
Palavras-chave: Wine; Vineyard; Hedonic Price Analysis; Agricultural and Food Policy; C2; Q11.
Ano: 2011
URL: http://purl.umn.edu/101289