Policy instruments

When environmental problems are first identified, it is often thought that we must first understand the natural mechanism through which damage occurs and then find technical solutions. However, we maintain that we must first and foremost understand the societal mechanisms underlying the problem and then also find what social or economic mechanisms can be used to solve it.

Climate change Policy design Advancing the diagnostic analysis of environmental problems Social-ecological systems exhibit patterns across multiple levels along spatial, temporal, and functional scales. The outcomes that are produced in these systems result from complex, non-additive interactions between different types of social and biophysical components, some of which are common to many systems, and some of which are relatively unique to a particular system. These properties, along with the mostly non-experimental nature of the analysis, make it difficult to construct theories regarding the sustainability of social-ecological systems. This paper builds on previous work that has initiated a diagnostic approach to the analysis of these systems. Michael Cox, Advancing the diagnostic analysis of environmental problems, 2011, International Journal of the Commons, Vol. 5, no 2 August 2011, pp. 346–363

central america | Behavior ec. Climate change Policy design Paul J. Ferraro to EfD-Central America Center at CATIE, Costa Rica Ferraro is a Fulbright Scholar (2011-2012) and will be working at EfD-CA as guest researcher from January until June, 2012.

eeu sweden | Climate change Policy design Taxes, permits and costly policy response to technological change In this paper, we analyze the effects of the choice of price (taxes) versus quantity (tradable permits) instruments on the policy response to technological change. We show that if policy responses incur transactional and political adjustment costs, environmental targets are less likely to be adjusted under tradable permits than under emission taxes. This implies that the total level of abatement over time might remain unchanged under tradable permits while it will increase under emission taxes. Coria, J. and M. Hennlock. 2012. Taxes, permits and costly policy response to technological change, Environmental Economics and Policy Studies 14:(1):35-60.

eeu sweden | Policy design Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management This book by Thomas Sterner and Jessica Coria is an attempt to encourage more widespread and careful use of economic policy instruments. The book compares the accumulated experiences of the use of economic policy instruments in the U.S. and Europe, as well as in rich and poor countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ambitious in scope, it discusses the design of instruments that can be employed in any country in a wide range of contexts, including transportation, industrial pollution, water pricing, waste, fisheries, forests, and agriculture. Sterner, Thomas, Jessica Coria, Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management(2011). Routledge. Published by RFF Press.

central america | Climate change Policy design The role safety nets as part of adaptation strategies to climate change in Central America Studying collective responses to extreme climatic events is fundamental in the design of adaptation strategies in developing countries

china | Climate change Policy design Getting their voices heard: Three cases of public participation in environmental protection in China By comparing three cases of environmental activism in China, our paper answers the following three questions about public participation in environment protection in China: (1) what are the drivers for public participation, (2) who are the agents leading the participation, and (3) do existing laws facilitate public participation? Wanxin Li, Jieyan Liu, and Duoduo Li. 2012. Getting their voices heard: Three cases of organizing for environmental protection. Journal of Environmental Management (doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.12.019).

kenya | Policy design Environmental goods collection and children’s schooling: evidence from Kenya This paper presents an empirical study of schooling attendance and collection of environmental resources using cross-sectional data from Kiambu District of Kenya. Ndiritu Simon Wagura and Wilfred Nyangena, 2011, "Environmental goods collection and children's schooling: evidence from Kenya" Regional Environmental Change, 2011, vol. 11, No. 3, pp 531-42.

ethiopia | Agriculture Policy design Assessing the Functioning of Land Rental Markets in Ethiopia Although a large theoretical literature discusses the possible inefficiency of sharecropping contracts, empirical evidence on this phenomenon has been ambiguous at best. Household‐level fixed‐effect estimates from about 8,500 plots operated by households that own and sharecrop land in the Ethiopian highlands provide support for the hypothesis of Marshallian inefficiency. Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali and Tekie Alemu, 2008, "Assessing the Functioning of Land Rental Markets in Ethiopia", Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 57(1), pp. 67-100.

ethiopia | Agriculture Forestry Policy design Private Trees as Household Assets and Determinants of Tree-Growing Behavior in Rural Ethiopia This study looked into tree-growing behavior of rural households in Ethiopia. With data collected at household and parcel levels from the four major regions of Ethiopia, we analyzed the decision to grow trees and the number of trees grown, using such econometric strategies as a zero-inflated negative binomial model, Heckman’s two-step procedure, and panel data techniques. Mekonnen Alemu and Damte Abebe, 2011, “Private Trees as Household Assets and Determinants of Tree-Growing Behavior in Rural Ethiopia”. Environment for Development Discussion Paper Series, EfD DP 11-14.

eeu sweden | Behavior ec. Policy design What Do Respondents Bring to Contingent Valuation? A Comparison of Monetary and Labor Payment Vehicles With contingent valuation, both the goods being valued and the payment vehicles used to value them are mostly hypothetical. However, although numerous studies have examined the impact of experience with the good on willingness to pay, less attention has been given to experience with payment vehicles. Vondolia Godwin Kofi, Eggert Håkan, Nåvrud Stale, and Stage Jesper, 2011, “What Do Respondents Bring to Contingent Valuation? A Comparison of Monetary and Labor Payment Vehicles”. Environment for Development Discussion Paper Series, EfD DP 11-13.

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Policy instruments

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