Empirical Modeling Of The Economy And The Environment

ZhongXiang Zhang (East-West Center, Honolulu) uses a global model based on marginal abatement cost curves for 12 world regions to estimate the contributions of the three flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, i. e. emissions trading, joint implementation, and the clean development mechanism. He shows how the reduction in compliance costs of industrialized regions depends on the extent to which the flexibility mechanisms will be available. Not surprisingly, the fewer the restrictions on the use of flexibility mechanisms will be, the greater the gains from their use. These gains are unevenly distributed, however, with industrialized regions that have the highest autarkic marginal abatement costs tending to benefit the most. Restrictions on the use of flexibility mechanisms not only reduce the potential of the industrialized regions' efficiency gains, but are also not beneficial to developing countries since they restrict the total financial flows to developing countries under the clean development mechanism. Christoph Bohringer (ZEW, Mannheim), Glenn W. Harrison (University of South Carolina, Columbia), and Thomas F. Rutherford (University of Colorado, Boulder) evaluate the welfare implications of alternative ways in which the EU could distribute its aggregate emission reduction commitment under the Kyoto Protocol across member states. Using a large-scale CGE model, they compare a uniform proportional cutback in emissions and the actual EU burden sharing agreement with an equitable allocation scheme derived from an endogenous burden sharing calculation. The latter equalizes the relative welfare cost across member states.

This book provides a systematic review of those economic approaches for valuing the environment and natural resources that use information on what people do, not what they say. The authors have worked on models of revealed preferences for valuing environmental and natural resources for several decades. The book provides a candid review of the major conceptual challenges and an exploration of neglected issues in the literature.

Is economic growth good for the environment? A number of economists have claimed that economic growth can benefit the environment, recruiting political support and finance for environmental policy measures. This view has received increasing support since the early 1990s from empirical evidence that has challenged the traditional environmentalist's belief that economic growth degrades the environment. This book reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on growth and the environment, giving an in-depth empirical treatment of the relationship between the two. Various hypotheses are formulated and tested for a number of indicators of environmental pressure. The test results indicate that alternative models and estimation methods should be used, altering previous conclusions about the effect of economic growth on the environment and offering an insight into the forces driving emission reduction in developed countries.

This monograph presents potential remedies for some of the current environmental issues in developed countries in a theoretical or empirical manner with the interdisciplinary approaches of economics, statistics, and engineering. The book illustrates effective economic and environmental policies for environmental challenges and factors where corrective policies to date may have failed. The importance of this essential book has is related to the transition in the major concerns of the people or governments in developed countries shifting from economic growth to the stability of life and environmental preservation as their economies have matured. The environmental issues dealt with here include forest environment tax introduced as part of local taxes, air pollution reduction policies for mobile emission sources, introduction of renewable energies and power fuel cell technology, the mechanism of city agglomeration and dispersion, and measurement of environmental sustainability. In analytical methods, some research employs theoretical approaches such as the mathematical economic model or nonlinear dynamic model. Other analyses are implemented with empirical or statistical tools such as the long-run general equilibrium model, the input–output model, and the dynamic optimization model, among others.

Lucid account of the process of constructing and evaluating an empirical model.

Economic theory and empirical models suggest that economic instruments should help us to meet environmental goals at lower cost. Practical experience, however, shows that the cost savings of emission trading are smaller than expected and charges usually have had small incentive impacts. This book gives the first comprehensive review of economic theory, simulation models, and practical experience with the use of economic instruments. The book focuses on air pollution control. Part I examines theoretical aspects and simulation modeling in a national context. Part II surveys the practical experience in a variety of countries. Part III explores international issues, such as joint implementation. Because of its unique blend of theoretical and empirical research, the book will prove interesting for both economists and those interested in environmental policy.

In these three essays, Professor Granger explains the process of constructing and evaluating an empirical model. Drawing on a wide range of cases and vignettes from economics, finance, politics and environment economics, as well as from art, literature, and the entertainment industry, Professor Granger combines rigor with intuition to provide a unique and entertaining insight into one of the most important subjects in modern economics. Chapter 1 deals with Specification. Chapter 2 considers Evaluation, and argues that insufficent evaluation is undertaken by economists, and that models should be evaluated in terms of the quality of their output. In Chapter 3, the question of how to evaluate forecasts is considered at several levels of increasing depth.

The connection between economic growth and the quality of the environment is a popular subject. Since the second half of the 1980s, there has been an increasingly frequent use of the term "sustainable development", to refer to the preoccupation that the production of goods and services may decrease standards of living. It is natural to analyze this question from the point of view of economic models, which may be helpful in at least identifying the main factors behind such preoccupations and perhaps in suggesting policy measures. Indeed, models are useful to discuss some relevant factors, like the structure of production of the economy, the type of preferences and goals pursued by agents, and the elements of uncertainty. This monograph will consider some of these themes: there will be a study of the analytical framework which can be used for the purpose of defining and analyzing sustainability, and some discussion of how to calibrate a restricted version of the model to empirical data. There will be also some analysis about which type of uncertainty should be incorporated into the model, and which objective functions may be useful for policy purposes. Also, there will be discussions about the key variables which should be included, and some description of a general framework.

There is widespread concern for long-term environmental issues in relation to economic processes and developments. Among the concerned scientists are economists, who have taken up the challenge to apply economic insights and tools for the study of long-term environment-economy interactions, and to give the concept of sustainable development 'economic hands and feet'. This book presents a pluralistic perspective on efforts, problems and successes in this area. This collection of papers was originally prepared for an international symposium titled Economic Modelling of Sustainable Development: Between Theory and Practice, which was hosted by the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, on December 20th 1996. The main motivation for this symposium was that the usefulness of the concept of sustainable development for theoretical and applied modelling is still being debated; growth theorists, resource economists, ecological economists, policy makers and many others are trying to deal with the concept in various, and sometimes conflicting, ways. The aim of the symposium was to bring together different theoretical and implementational perspectives on modelling for sustainable development. We hope that this volume will inform a wide audience about the perspectives and progress in this important area of research, as well as stimulate further research, notably on applied modelling and practical methods for the analysis of sustainable development at various (spatial) scales. The papers have, in due course, been revised several times based on comments made by discus sants, referees and the editors.

This monograph presents potential remedies for some of the current environmental issues in developed countries in a theoretical or empirical manner with the interdisciplinary approaches of economics, statistics, and engineering. The book illustrates effective economic and environmental policies for environmental challenges and factors where corrective policies to date may have failed. The importance of this essential book has is related to the transition in the major concerns of the people or governments in developed countries shifting from economic growth to the stability of life and environmental preservation as their economies have matured. The environmental issues dealt with here include forest environment tax introduced as part of local taxes, air pollution reduction policies for mobile emission sources, introduction of renewable energies and power fuel cell technology, the mechanism of city agglomeration and dispersion, and measurement of environmental sustainability. In analytical methods, some research employs theoretical approaches such as the mathematical economic model or nonlinear dynamic model. Other analyses are implemented with empirical or statistical tools such as the long-run general equilibrium model, the input-output model, and the dynamic optimization model, among others.