SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Austin, David H.; MacAuley, Molly K..

This paper describes a model for estimating, in a probabilistic framework, expected future consumer surplus from planned new product innovations. The model has been applied to estimations of taxpayer benefits from NASA's New Millenium Program (NMP), which develops new technologies for space science, and to the digital data storage technologies being supported by the Department of Commerce's Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The model uses cost index methods based on consumers' estimated marginal valuation for quality improvements in the technology. Probabilistic values for performance increases are taken from the innovators' own expectations. The analysis reveals the sensitivity of welfare increases to these values, which are assumed to be biased upward....

Accidents Waiting to Happen: Liability Policy and Toxic Pollution Releases

Palavras-chave: Quality-adjusted cost index; Consumer surplus; Innovation; Environmental Economics and Policy; O32; H43; D60.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10655

Proponents of environmental policies based on liability assert that strict liability imposed on the polluter will induce firms to handle hazardous wastes properly and to avoid disposing them into the environment. Economic theory and a few well-publicized cases, however, suggest that a number of factors may dilute the incentives posed by strict liability. In this paper, we run regressions relating unintended releases of pollution into the environment (aggregated at the state level, and followed over nine years from 1987 to 1995) to the imposition of strict liability on the polluter, exploiting variation across states in the liability provisions of their mini-Superfund laws, and in the years these were adopted. We experiment with instrumental variable...

Accidents Waiting to Happen: Liability Policy and Toxic Pollution Releases

Palavras-chave: Strict liability; Toxic spills; Policy endogeneity; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28; C33; K32.

Ano: 1999

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10450

Proponents of environmental policies based on liability assert that strict liability imposed on polluters induces firms to handle hazardous wastes properly. We run regressions relating unintended pollution releases to strict liability imposed on polluters, exploiting variation across states and over time in the liability provisions of state mini-Superfund laws. Strict liability reduces the frequency and severity of pollution releases, provided it is modeled endogenously with the latter. Its effects vary with firm size. Partially sheltered from liability, small firms may have specialized in riskier production processes, but their number has not necessarily grown in response to the states' liability policy.

Efficiency and Political Economy of Pollution Control with Ancillary Benefits: An Application to NOx Control in the Chesapeake Bay Airshed

Palavras-chave: Strict liability; Negligence; Hazardous waste; State environmental policy; Endogenous policy adoption; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q28; D72; K13.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10518

Austin, David H.; Krupnick, Alan J.; McConnell, Virginia D..

This paper examines implications for cost-effective allocation of pollution controls when preferences of coalitions organized along regional lines, or according to preferences for air vs. water quality improvements, are accounted for. Results are compared to a base case in which NOx emissions reductions must satisfy only a water quality standard, and total costs are minimized over emissions sources. Relative to base-case result that marginal control costs must be equal across sources, stronger relative preferences for air imply shifting of control toward sources that produce greater ancillary benefits to air quality. Regional differences may require side payments to induce cooperation where benefits are low, but this will not affect how controls themselves...

Estimating Future Consumer Welfare Gains from Innovation: The Case of Digital Data Storage

Palavras-chave: Environmental Economics and Policy.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10553

Austin, David H.; MacAuley, Molly K..

We develop a quality-adjusted cost index to estimate expected returns to investments in new technologies. The index addresses the problem of measuring social benefits from innovations in service sector inputs, where real output is not directly observable. We forecast welfare gains from two U.S. Advanced Technology Program innovations equaling 25%-50% of expected price, and aggregate consumer benefits of $1-$2 billion, relative to trends in existing technologies. Our model's probabilistic parameters reflect uncertainty about prospective outcomes and in our hedonic estimates of shadow values for selected product attributes. The index can be readily adopted by research and development (R&D) managers in industry and government.

How Will Tobacco Farmers Respond to the Quota Buyout? Findings from a Survey of North Carolina Tobacco Farmers

Palavras-chave: Quality-adjusted cost index; Consumer surplus; Innovation; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O32; H43; D60.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10814

Beach, Robert H.; Richmond, David; Austin, David H.; Jones, Alison Snow.

The tobacco quota buyout is expected to have significant impacts on U.S. tobacco markets, farmers, tobacco-dependent communities, and public health. Using data from four surveys of a panel of North Carolina tobacco farmers conducted between 1997 and 2004, we investigate changing farmer attitudes towards and intentions following a quota buyout.

Tipo: Conference Paper or Presentation

Palavras-chave: Crop Production/Industries.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/35411

Measuring the Contribution to the Economy of Investments in Renewable Energy: Estimates of Future Consumer Gains

MacAuley, Molly K.; Shih, Jhih-Shyang; Aronow, Emily; Austin, David H.; Bath, Tom; Darmstadter, Joel.

In this paper we develop a cost index-based measure of the expected consumer welfare gains from innovation in electricity generation technologies. To illustrate our approach, we estimate how much better off consumers would be from 2000 to 2020 as renewable energy technologies continue to be improved and gradually adopted, compared with a counterfactual scenario that allows for continual improvement of conventional technology. We proceed from the position that the role and prospects of renewable energy are best assessed within a market setting that considers competing energy technologies and sources. We evaluate five renewable energy technologies used to generate electricity: solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, geothermal, wind, and biomass. For each, we...

On and Off the Liability Bandwagon: Explaining State Adoptions of Strict Liability in Hazardous Waste Programs

Palavras-chave: Energy economics; Technical change; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; Q4; O3.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10588

We analyze factors in states' decisions to switch their approaches to hazardous waste liability policy from negligence standards to policies based on strict liability. Many, but not all, states have switched in recent years. We explain differences in the timing of states' adoption of strict liability into their "mini-superfund" programs using data on states' industrial activities, environmental programs, wealth and education, and political orientation. We test implications of a theoretical model in which states adopt the liability regime (strict versus negligence-based liability) that they see as having greater net benefits. We test this model by estimating a profit equation of the presence or absence of strict liability in a state hazardous waste cleanup...

Patents, Spillovers, and Competition in Biotechnology

Palavras-chave: Strict liability; Toxic spills; Liability policy; Hazardous materials; Environmental Economics and Policy; D78; H73; I18.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10680

Austin, David H..

I perform an event study on 600+ patents awarded primarily to 20 leading biotechnology firms and find significant changes in market values at the time of the awards. Adjusting for partial anticipation of events, I estimate that core technology patents in highly contested research areas are expected to generate between $13 and $21 million of economic value. They also generate spillover benefits for the patentee's rivals-presumably including knowledge transfers-valued at $3 to $6 million per firm. Awardees may appropriate only half of private benefits, although I observe negative spillovers for some high-profile awards. Most patents have no significant market impact.

Strict Liability as a Deterrent in Toxic Waste Management: Empirical Evidence from Accident and Spill Data

Palavras-chave: Innovation; Patent value; Spillover; Competition; Event study; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; G14; O31; O34; L65.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10808

This paper explores the issue of whether strict liability imposed on polluters has served to reduce uncontrolled releases of toxics into the environment. Strict liability should create additional incentives for firms to handle hazardous substances more carefully, thus reducing the future likelihood of uncontrolled releases of toxics. However, the size of these incentives may vary according to the size of a firm's assets, since asset size is the ultimate limit on a firm's liability. We are therefore interested to see whether imposing strict liability for the cost of remediation at hazardous waste sites has encouraged firms to handle toxic materials more carefully and has uniformly reduced the incidence of toxic spills, or whether the effect is dependent on...

The Benefits of Air Pollutant Emissions Reductions in Maryland: Results from the Maryland Externalities Screening and Valuation Model

Palavras-chave: Strict liability; Hazardous substances; Accident risk; Environmental Economics and Policy; L51; K32; D21.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10597

Austin, David H.; Krupnick, Alan J.; Burtraw, Dallas; Stoessell, Terrell.

This paper reports the results of policy simulations of environmental and human health externalities arising from the production of electricity. The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate the Maryland Externalities Screening and Valuation Model, developed for the State of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. A secondary purpose is to estimate likely Maryland benefits from Title IV emissions reductions at electric power generation facilities. Sources and scope of benefits, and the potential of policy to achieve specific environmental and human health goals, are suggested by the results. We find that expected health benefits from reductions in power plant emissions dominate the estimated benefits of improved recreational visibility and...

The Chesapeake Bay and the Control of NOx Emissions: A Policy Analysis

Palavras-chave: Integrated assessment; Health and environmental benefits; Valuation; Uncertainty; Environmental Economics and Policy; I81; Q24; Q25; Q26; Q49.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10825

Krupnick, Alan J.; McConnell, Virginia D.; Austin, David H.; Cannon, Matthew; Stoessell, Terrell; Morton, Brian.

Nitrogen oxide emissions not only affect air quality but have recently been found to be an important source of nitrate pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. This analysis examines the costs, emissions, source specific and location-specific allocations of NOx emissions reductions and the ancillary ozone related health benefits under a range of policy scenarios. The paper includes analysis of three separate policies. The first is a detailed analysis of the effect on nitrate loadings to the Bay of command and control policies specified in the Clean Air Act and as part of the OTAG process. The second is a comparison of alternative scenarios for reducing NOx emissions that meet nitrate loading goals, with or without concern for reducing ozone concentrations and the...

The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Acid Rain

Palavras-chave: Chesapeake Bay; Cost effectiveness; Air pollution; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q20; Q25; Q28.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10576

Burtraw, Dallas; Krupnick, Alan J.; Mansur, Erin T.; Austin, David H.; Farrell, Deirdre.

Title IV of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments initiated a dramatic reduction in emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by electric power plants. This paper presents the results of an integrated assessment of the benefits and costs of the program, using the Tracking and Analysis Framework (TAF) developed for the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). Although dramatic uncertainties characterize our estimates especially with respect to the benefits of the program, many of which we have modeled explicitly, we find that the benefits can be expected to substantially outweigh the costs of the emission reductions. The lion's share of benefits result from reduced risk of premature mortality, especially through reduced exposure to...