The Political Economy of Environmental Policy PDF Download

Author: Bouwe R. Dijkstra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
This work asks why market instruments have not been used to their full potential in environmental policy. It uses a public choice perspective to analyse the political economy of environmental policy, emphasising the role of interest groups which have blocked the introduction of market instruments.

Author: A. Denny Ellerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521660831
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The book analyzes the behavior and performance of the market for emissions permits, called allowances in the Acid Rain Program, and quantifies emission reductions, compliance costs, and cost savings associated with the trading program."--BOOK JACKET.

Author: Robert N. Stavins
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
This new authoritative collection comprises previously published 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 degrees of government activity; (2) the form of government activity; and (3) the level of government that has responsibility. The first three parts of the book deal respectively with these three fundamental dimensions of inquiry. The fourth part of the book examines the use of economic analysis in contemporary environmental policy. The Political Economy of Environmental Regulation will be of significant interest to environmental scholars, students and policy makers alike. 22 articles, dating from 1975 to 2003

Author: Timothy Cadman
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 178347484X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Since the Rio ‘Earth’ Summit of 1992, sustainable development has become the major policy response to tackling global environmental degradation, from climate change to loss of biodiversity and deforestation. Market instruments such as emissions trading, payments for ecosystem services and timber certification have become the main mechanisms for financing the sustainable management of the earth’s natural resources. Yet how effective are they – and do they help the planet and developing countries, or merely uphold the economic status quo? This book investigates these important questions. Providing a comprehensive analysis and the latest research on sustainable development, the authors compare the divergent approaches to emissions trading. Included is a detailed investigation into illegal logging and the effectiveness of policy responses, with an evaluation of different forest certification schemes. Biodiversity offsets and environmental payments are also explored. Integral to the book are interviews and opinions of the key stakeholders in the political economy of sustainable development. This uniquely comprehensive analysis of the governance quality of different sustainable development mechanisms, unprecedented in its panorama of comparative case studies, is essential reading for all those in the policy, academic and non-governmental communities.

Author: Paul L. Joskow
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 77

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Book Description
The U.S. acid rain program created by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments is a pioneering application of the tradable permits approach to controlling pollution. We examine the historical evolution of federal clean air legislation that led up to the 1990 acid rain law and then focus on the political process that governed the allocation of the initial endowments of tradable sulfur dioxide emissions permits-- called "allowances"--Among electric utilities. In the relatively simple allocation of allowances to the dirtiest generating units during Phase I (1995-1999), a few high-emissions states received disproportionate shares of allowances, while high-sulfur coal-mining interests benefited from incentives to clean emissions rather than to switch to low-sulfur coal. The more complex and economically significant Phase II allocation, covering all generating units beginning in 2000, reveals rent-seeking on several levels. Hypothetical Senate and House votes on alternative Phase II allocation suggest that the actual allocation would have prevailed against plausible alternatives, though it probably did not minimize aggregate abatement cost in the presence of barriers to interstate trading. Statistical analysis of differences between actual and benchmark allocations in Phase II confirms the complexity of the political process involved and fails to support any simple model of distributive politics. control of key Senate and House leadership and committee positions did not systematically increase allowance allocations. There is some evidence that states with competitive races for Senator, Governor, or the President received more allowances, consistent with partisan theories of distributive politics, although the effects are weak. Most surprisingly, the well organized coalition of states that produced and burned high-sulfur coal which heavily influenced the inefficient results of the SO2 controls in the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments, did poorly in 1990, both because their decade-long effort to block acid rain legislation failed and because they received relatively fewer Phase II allowances than states with more diffuse interests. There is evidence, however, that some high-emissions states traded additional allowances in Phase I for fewer allowances in Phase II and that major high-sulfur coal-producing states focused their attention on obtaining incentives to install scrubbers to allow them to continue burning high-sulfur coal and benefits for miners.

Author: James K. Boyce
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1843766973
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Professor Boyce s work is an excellent example of how ecological economics can be done in an objective, evidence-based approach that can put issues on the agenda in a manner where they will be taken seriously by other scholars. . . This is a well-written and provocative book that should encourage further research on all these important issues. David I. Stern, International Journal of Social Economics This succinct and sometimes provocative book sets out to document, quantify and explain the ways in which inequalities of wealth and power create an uneven apportionment of environmental costs across the world. It offers a combination of theoretical analysis and empirical evidence to support the author s central contention that greater democratisation and changes in society s relationship with nature are paramount for achieving the dual goals of environmental protection and sustainable development. . . This book is immensely well written. . . makes for a fascinating read. Ian Bailey, European Spatial Research and Policy Economic activities that degrade the environment do not simply pit humans against nature. They also pit some humans against others. Some benefit from these activities; others bear net costs from pollution and resource depletion. In a provocative and original analysis, James K. Boyce examines the dynamics of environmental degradation in terms of the balances of power between the winners and the losers. He provides evidence that inequalities of power and wealth affect not only the distribution of environmental costs, but also their overall magnitude: greater inequalities result in more environmental degradation. Democratization movement toward a more equitable distribution of power therefore is not only a worthwhile objective in its own right, but also an important means toward the social goals of environmental protection and sustainable development. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical evidence from around the world, James K. Boyce demonstrates that changes in our relationship with nature ultimately require changes in our relationships with each other. He maintains that a more democratic and environmentally sustainable future is possible, but warns that it is not inevitable. This book will appeal to students, scholars, policymakers and other readers interested in the environment, economics and public policy.

Author: E. Woerdman
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080473067
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
The objective of this book is to analyze the institutional barriers to implementing market-based climate policy, as well as to provide some opportunities to overcome them. The approach is that of institutional economics, with special emphasis on political transaction costs and path dependence. Instead of rejecting the neoclassical approach, this book uses it where fruitful and shows when and why it is necessary to employ a new or neo-institutionalist approach. The result is that equity is considered next to efficiency, that the evolution and possible lock-in of both formal and informal climate institutions are studied, and that attention is paid to the politics and law of economic instruments for climate policy, including some new empirical analyses. The research topics of this book include the set-up costs of a permit trading system, the risk that credit trading becomes locked-in, the potential legal problem of grandfathering in terms of actional subsidies under WTO law or state aid under EC law, and the changing attitudes of various European officials towards restricting the use of the Kyoto Mechanisms.

Author: Janelle Kallie Knox
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198718454
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. Countries around the globe are developing emissions markets as a response to it. This book examines the cultures of these markets, arguing policy makers must include more flexibility in climate policy to allow emissions markets to be translated and transferred across regions.

Author: Friedrich Schneider
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262029243
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Economists have long argued that market-based instruments such as, environmental taxes, and emission trading systems, are the superior way to offset the negative externalities of any kind of economic activities. Yet, whether the effects of using these instruments are sufficient, whether they are actually used efficiently, and especially which factors influence their effectiveness is subject to a lively debate. It is the ultimate task of research to identify existing barriers among economic agents so as to gain valuable insight into how to overcome them. There still is much work to be done when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of policy instruments with regard to the achievement of environmental targets. This work examines this topic.

Author: Bruce Yandle
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847696253
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
What does free market environmentalism have to say about Love Canal, Cleveland's burning Cuyahogo River, golf course pollution, EPA's Toxic Release Inventory Requirement, nonpoint source pollution and river basin associations? In this revealing book Bruce Yandle has compiled eleven essays that address these concerns and provide the reader with an in-depth, market-based analysis of evolving environmental institutions and regulations. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of environmental economics, politics, and law.