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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmental economics > General
Managing for sustainable development has become increasingly accepted worldwide by corporate, public, and non-profit organizations as vital to the continued existence and development of both these organizations and their natural and social environments. This collection of original papers provides various perspectives on sustainable management practices, particularly as practiced by large corporations. The ten studies in this volume represent the latest theoretical and empirical research in the field of organizations and the natural environment. The contributors present a range of unique perspectives on issues including the impact of globalization on sustainability, cross-cultural comparisons of the impact of institutional contexts on environmental practices of Japanese and Chinese firms, comparisons of voluntary environmental initiatives undertaken by public and private sector organizations, processes of organizational change in response to stakeholder pressures, the transfer of environmental capabilities during mergers and acquisitions, why some companies keep the environmentally friendly features of their products secret, and the influence of emissions and health-impacts information on attitudes toward the environment. This volume opens and closes with two essays that comprehensively review the state of research in organizations and the natural environment and suggest directions for future researchers. This insightful book presents studies from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives: Human Resources Management, Strategy, Operations Management, Accounting, International Business, Marketing, and Development. It represents the latest state of knowledge in organizations and the natural environment and provides interesting perspectives for academics, environmental consultants as well as environmental managers from business, the public sector, NGOs, international development institutions, and government.
Interest in biofuels began with oil shocks in the 1970's, but the more rapid development and consumption of biofuel industry in recent years has been primarily driven by mandates, subsidies, climate change concerns, emissions targets and energy security. From 2004 to 2006, fuel ethanol grew by 26% and biodiesel grew by 172%. As biofuel production continues to expand, investments in capacity expansion and research and development have been made. The 2008 food crisis emphasized the need to re-examine biofuel consequences. Biofuels remain an important renewable energy resource to substitute for fossil fuels, particularly in the transportation sector, yet biofuels' success is still uncertain. The future of biofuels in the energy supply mix relies on mitigating potential and improving the environmental gains. This book brings together leading authorities on biofuel from the World Bank to examine all of the impacts of biofuel (economic, social, environmental) within a unified framework and in a global perspective, making it of interest to academics in agricultural and environmental economics as well as industry and policy-makers.
The main aim of this book is to develop and implement an innovative tool: exchange-entitlement mapping, or E-mapping for short. This tool enables us to look at the economic and social opportunities to develop human capabilities for different groups of individuals, depending on their group identity such as age, ethnicity or gender. In the context of this book, however, an entitlement approach is used to explain the channels through which macroeconomic shocks affect individual well-being, depending on the individual's identity and related social norms attached to this identity. In other words, by including capabilities into the existing E-mapping theory, this book shows how capabilities are socially shaped according to individual entitlements, and related entitlement failure, to a specific economic and social environment. In effect, the last part of the manuscript illustrates the E-mapping theory with the case study of the maquiladora identity in Mexico by combining an original survey of maquiladora households with an advanced time series analysis of the gender wage gap in the maquiladora industry in the post-NAFTA period.
In their pursuit of policies to combat global warming, countries will find that they may also receive additional benefits which are not directly associated with the primary aim. These ancillary benefits are likely to include, for example, a reduction in pollution as a result of carbon containment policies. International Climate Policy to Combat Global Warming is one of the first books which analyses climate policy, taking account of ancillary as well as primary benefits. The author integrates ancillary benefits into the theory and explores the implications for international policy measures. Because of the private character of ancillary benefits, the author is able to treat climate policy as an impure public good which in turn has an impact on the efficient climate protection level. He highlights the general failures of the standard approach to climate policy design and goes on to propose a new approach to international negotiations on climate change. He suggests a flexible matching scheme which would help overcome free-rider incentives and which would have considerable advantages over traditional co-operative designs. By proposing a novel framework for the analysis of, and solution to, the problem of global warming, this book will be welcomed by environmental and ecological economists, policymakers and researchers of political science.
The third and final in a series, this text bridges the conceptual foundations of capacity development and the difficulties and practical realities in the field. It demystifies the process of capacity development to make it more "user-friendly".;The book has two parts. The first shows how long-standing development dilemmas can be turned into opportunities for capacity development and societal transformation. It proposes a set of principles to guide the search for context-specific approaches as the norm, and based on these default principles the authors explore relevant issues in comprehensible stages through a capacity lens.;The second part is a compilation of experiences and lessons from around the world, to showcase promising initiatives and innovative solutions. It forms a casebook of insights and good (rather than best) practices on how development stakeholders can turn development dilemmas into opportunities tailored to the needs of their societies.
A re-conceptualisation of the widely-held concept of the 'resource curse', which contends that resource booms inevitably lead to numerous political, social and economic problems. This book counters that these problems are by no means inevitable, but are rather the direct result of specific policy choices made by actors within particular regimes.
This book is dedicated to furthering scientific understanding of drought assessment and management and the policy issues associated with drought preparedness worldwide. The authors invited to contribute to the volume are uniquely qualified to address their respective topics. The book is divided into two parts. Part One emphasizes theoretical aspects of drought assessment, management, and preparedness; it also includes a discussion of the concept of drought. These chapters are aimed at improving the reader's understanding and awareness of drought; appropriate technologies to monitor drought's onset, development and termination; emerging methodologies to estimate impacts; adjustment strategies to alleviate drought effects; and a methodology for countries to follow in the development of a national drought policy and plan. Part One concludes with an insightful examination of how changes in climate may alter climatic variability and the frequency and intensity of extreme events, particularly drought. The successes and failures of previous assessment and response efforts are highlighted in Part Two through case studies in Israel, India, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and China. Several of these case studies provide insight into the difficulties inherent in the provision of timely and effective drought assistance by government in both a developed and developing country setting. The lessons learned in these instances provide both an extraordinary opportunity and challenge to other drought-prone nations to learn from these experiences and avoid some of the mistakes of the past. Some of the case studies in Part Two illustrate remarkable progress in drought preparedness andare examples for other nations to follow.
This book draws together contributions from forest economists in the Research Triangle of North Carolina, with co-authors from institutions around the world. It represents our common belief that rigorous empirical analysis in an economic framework can inform forest policy. We intend the book as a guide to the empirical methods that we have found most useful for addressing both traditional and modem areas of concern in forest policy, including timber production and markets, multiple use forestry, and valuation of non-market benefits. 'The book editors and most chapter authors are affiliated with three institutions in the Research Triangle: the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service (K. Abt, Butry, Holmes, Mercer, Moulton, Prestemon, Wear), the Department of Forestry at North Carolina State University (R. Abt, Ahn, Cubbage, Sills), and the Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Program of Research Triangle Institute (Murray, Pattanayak). Two other Triangle institutions are also represented among the book authors: Duke University (Kramer) and the Forestland Group (Zinkhan). In addition to our primary affiliations, many of us are adjunct faculty and/or graduates of Triangle universities. Many of our co-authors also graduated from or were previously affiliated with Triangle institutions. Thus, the selection of topics, methods, and case studies reflects the work of this particular network of economists, and to some degree, our location in the southeastern United States. However, our work and the chapters encompass other regions of the United States and the world, including Latin America and Asia.
Consensus is growing internationally that traditional command-and-control approaches to environmental regulation have borne much of their low-hanging fruit. Yet it is far from clear what should complement or replace them. Regulatory agencies and policy-makers are struggling with a lack of information about regulatory reform, about what works and what doesn't, and about how best to harness the resources of both government and non-government stakeholders. Progress is being impeded unnecessarily by a lack of shared knowledge of how similar agencies elsewhere are meeting similar challenges and by a lack of data on the success or otherwise of existing initiatives. Despite recent and valuable attempts to deal with such problems in the European Union and North America, these remain islands of wisdom in a sea of ignorance. For example, when it comes to dealing with small and medium-sized enterprises, very little is known, and what is known is not effectively distilled and disseminated. Much the same could be said about the roles of third parties, commercial and non-commercial, as surrogate regulators, and more broadly of many current initiatives to reconfigure the regulatory state. Based on the authors' work for the OECD, Victorian Environmental Protection Authority and the Western Australian Department of Environment Protection, Leaders and Laggards addresses these problems by identifying innovative regulatory best practice internationally in a number of specific contexts, evaluating empirically the effectiveness of regulatory reform and providing policy prescriptions that would better enable agencies to fulfil their regulatory missions. Focusing primarily on the differing requirements for both corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises in North America and Europe, the book aims to complement existing initiatives and to expand knowledge of regulatory reform by showing: how existing experience can best be put to practical use "on the ground"; by drawing lessons from experiments in innovative regulation internationally; by reporting and extrapolating on original case studies; and by advancing understanding on which instruments and strategies are likely to be of most value and why. The authors argue that the development of theory has outstripped its application. In essence, Leaders and Laggards aims to ground a myriad of theory on the reinvention of environmental regulation into practice. The book will be essential reading for environmental policy-makers, regulatory and other government officials responsible for policy design and implementation, academics and postgraduate students in environmental management, environmental law and environmental policy, and a more general readership within environmental policy and management studies. It will also be of interest to those in industry, such as environmental managers and corporate strategists, who are considering the use of more innovative environmental and regulatory strategies, and to environmental NGOs.
1 Einleitung.- 2 Methoden und Grenzen der modellgestutzten Analyse wirtschaftspolitischer Strategien.- 2.1 Methoden und Grenzen oekonomischer Modellanalysen.- 2.2 Gesamtwirtschaftliche Modelle.- 2.3 Mikrosimulationsmodelle.- 3 OEkologische Steuerreform und wirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen.- 3.1 Referenzszenario: Entwicklung der Rahmenbedingungen.- 3.1.1 Vorbemerkungen.- 3.1.2 Energiewirtschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen bei moderaten und bei hoeheren Rohoelpreisen und Wechselkursen.- 3.1.2.1 Rohoelpreise.- 3.1.2.2 Importpreise fur Steinkohle und Erdgas.- 3.1.2.3 Entwicklung der Importpreise fur Elektrizitat.- 3.1.2.4 Zusammenfassung der Annahmen fur die kunftige Preisentwicklung.- 3.1.2.5 Entwicklung der Stromerzeugung im Inland sowie der Importe.- 3.2 Steuerszenario: Die oekologische Steuerreform in Deutschland.- 3.2.1 Struktur und Steuersatze.- 3.2.2 Sonderregelungen und klimapolitisch flankierende Massnahmen..- 3.2.3 Effektive Be- und Entlastungen durch die oekologische Steuerreform im Produzierenden Gewerbe und in der Landwirtschaft.- 4 Simulationen: Modelle und Ergebnisse.- 4.1 Das umweltoekonometrische Modell PANTA RHEI III.- 4.1.1 Kurzbeschreibung von PANTA RHEI III.- 4.1.2 Das Referenzszenario des Modells PANTA RHEI.- 4.1.3 Simulationsergebnisse mit dem Modell PANTA RHEI.- 4.1.4 Alternatives Energiepreis- und Wechselkursszenario.- 4.1.5 Simulationsergebnisse mit dem Modell PANTA RHEI fur das Szenario hoeherer Energiepreise.- 4.2 Das umweltoekonomische Simulationsmodell LEAN.- 4.2.1 Kurzbeschreibung des Modells LEAN.- 4.2.2 Das Referenzszenario des Modells LEAN.- 4.2.3 Simulationsergebnisse mit dem Modell LEAN.- 4.2.3.1 Methodik.- 4.2.3.2 Gesamteffekt der oekologischen Steuerreform.- 4.2.3.3 Dekompositionsanalyse der Effekte der oekologischen Steuerreform.- 4.2.3.4 Alternatives Energiepreisszenario (Hochpreisszenario).- 4.3 Verteilungswirkungen im Potsdamer Steuer- und Transfer-Mikrosimulationsmodell.- 4.3.1 UEberblick.- 4.3.2 Das Modell.- 4.3.3 Abbildung des Steuer- und Transfersystems.- 4.3.4 Verteilungswirkungen in den Steuerszenarien.- 4.3.5 Zusammenfassung.- 5 Vergleich der Ergebnisse und Beurteilung der oekologischen Steuerreform.- 5.1 Modelltheoretische Voruberlegungen.- 5.2 Gesamtwirtschaftliche Effekte.- 5.3 Verteilungswirkungen.- 5.4 Energieverbrauch und Emissionen.- 5.5 Umweltpolitische Beurteilung.- 5.5.1 Theoretische und empirische Probleme der Internalisierung externer Effekte durch OEkosteuern.- 5.5.2 Sonderregelungen und komplementare Instrumente.- 5.5.2.1 Zur Notwendigkeit eines Instrumentenmix.- 5.5.2.2 Substitution fossiler Energietrager durch erneuerbare Energien.- 5.5.2.3 Effiziente Umwandlung durch Kraft-Warme-Kopplung sowie Gas-und Dampfkraftwerke.- 5.6 Langerfristige Effekte der oekologischen Steuerreform.- 5.6.1 Anreiz zu umweltentlastender Innovation.- 5.6.2 Induzierter Strukturwandel.- 6 Wirtschaftspolitische Schlussfolgerungen.- Verzeichnis der Abbildungen.- Verzeichnis der Tabellen.
The WTO has laid the foundations for a new era of trade relations, and increased trade liberalization has improved global efficiency in production and consumption. The strengthening of trade rules, however, has increased the scope for disputes over interpretations of more extensive and complicated agreements, and has spilt over into environmental and scientific matters. One of the unforeseen consequences of the WTO agreements has been controversy over risk. This volume explores aspects of risk with special reference to the WTO, where national instruments to reduce risk may conflict with international trade rules. The book is divided into sections dealing with: * accounting for risk in trade agreements * risk and the WTO * managing risk in policy making * negotiating experience with risk * national risks and quarantine standards * managing biotechnology. The chapters offer many perspectives on risk assessment and benefit from a rich diversity of approaches as befits contributions from authors with backgrounds in law, economics, political science and environmental and natural science as well as policy making. Globalization and the Environment is a fascinating book that will draw its readership from these fields.
Voluntary environmental agreements (VEAs) - generally agreements between government and business - have been regarded by many as a key new instrument for meeting environmental objectives in a flexible manner. Their performance to date has, however, also led to considerable criticism, with several parties arguing that they are methods for avoiding real action that goes beyond "business-as-usual". Is either of these positions justified? The aim of this book is to highlight and learn the lessons from existing experience, looking not just at results but also at specific elements of agreements and also at the process of the agreement itself. Lessons are drawn from experience from across the world, covering the full range of environmental challenges, and from the perspective of key stakeholder groups. Importantly, the book also presents tools for assessing and improving existing agreements and includes recommendations and guidelines for future agreements in key areas such as climate change. It also deals at length with the problem of how such agreements might be used in developing and transitional economies. The overall view of the book is that there is a real potential for the future use of VEAs as part of the policy mix and as a tool for sharing the responsibility for meeting environmental objectives. For the agreements to play this role, however, significant steps are needed to ensure that they are effective, efficient, equitable and appropriately linked to a portfolio of other instruments. The book is divided into four sections. First, existing agreements, their development and efficacy are considered; second, the prospects for voluntary agreements in developing and transitional economies are discussed; third, a range of authors examine the role of VEAs as part of the policy mix to combat climate change; and, finally, the book concludes with an examination of how new tools for evaluating and improving VEAs could be utilized in the future. Voluntary Environmental Agreements will be of interest not only to academics, governments and businesses wishing to understand this specific instrument, but also to those already implementing or considering applying VEAs to meet their environmental objectives.
In the latter part of the 20th century, humans are doing a particularly poor job of managing natural resources in a sustainable way over the long term.
This monograph presents and analyzes the optimization, game-theoretic and simulation models of control mechanisms for ecological-economic systems. It is devoted to integrated assessment mechanisms for total risks and losses, penalty mechanisms, risk payment mechanisms, financing and costs compensation mechanisms for risk level reduction, sales mechanisms for risk level quotas, audit mechanisms, mechanisms for expected losses reduction, economic motivation mechanisms, optimization mechanisms for regional environmental (risk level reduction) programs, and mechanisms for authorities' interests coordination. The book is aiming at undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as at experts in mathematical modeling and control of ecological economic, socioeconomic and organizational systems.
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.
This book introduces innovative approaches to pursue climate change adaptation and to support the long-term implementation of climate change policies. Offering new case studies and data, as well as projects and initiatives implemented across the globe, the contributors present new tools, approaches and methods to pursue and facilitate innovation in climate change adaptation.
Contemporary Environmental Accounting: Issues, Concepts and Practice has been written in order to provide an up-to-date textbook in the rapidly developing field of environmental accounting. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers, professional accountants, and corporate and organizational managers. Although no prior knowledge of environmental accounting is necessary to understand the critical issues at stake, academic accountants should also find that the book provides a useful introduction to the topic.
The world's environmental future will be determined in significant part by what happens in the rapidly industrializing and urban economies of Asia. The sheer scale of urban population and industrial growth in Asia from Indonesia to China and the energy- and materials-intensive character of the development process, constitutes a dark shadow over the region's, and indeed the world's, environment. And yet this challenge is also an opportunity. Precisely because so much of the urban-industrial investment within developing Asia has yet to take place, the opportunity exists to shape a different development future one that is far less energy-, materials- and waste-intensive. "Asia's Clean Revolution" examines the prospects for and pathways to such a new trajectory. The book lays out a path-breaking vision of how developing economies might go beyond environmental regulation and put in place an array of policies and institutions that could integrate environmental, industrial and technological goals. These findings provide important input for negotiators considering climate change on a global scale. The book approaches the challenge of growth and environment in Asia in a novel way, by identifying six major transformational dynamics under way in the world today, and assessing whether these can be harnessed to the goal of improved environmental performance of industry. With a set of specially commissioned chapters from the leading authorities in North America and Asia, this ground-breaking book is the first to present concrete policy solutions to the looming crisis driven by large-scale urban-industrial growth in developing Asia."
On the surface the new president seems to inherit an empty house," Hugh Heclo, a recognized expert on American democratic institutions, has noted. "In fact, he enters an office already shaped and crowded by other people's desires." Empowering the White House examines how Richard Nixon entered that crowded Oval Office in 1969 yet managed to change it in a way that augmented the power of the presidency and continues to influence into the twenty-first century how his successors have governed. Nixon's White House is perhaps best remembered for the growth in the size of the staff, which operated under the supposed iron fist of H. R. Haldeman. But more important than size and management style to the character of the Nixon White House were the assigned tasks, complexity, and dynamics of the burgeoning staff. Faced with hostile majorities in Congress and executive branch careerists assumed to be committed to a Democratic agenda, Nixon sought to control his political fate by engaging more actively than earlier presidents in public relations and the mobilization of support. At the command and under the control of the Oval Office, the staff carried out assignments designed to fulfill Nixon's aims. This theoretically informed and well-researched study explains how Nixon changed and expanded the institutionalized presidency and how that affected the Ford and Carter administrations. Nixon ushered in a new stage in the modern presidency by organizing and using his increasingly complex staff in new ways that have persisted beyond the 1970s to this day. To a greater degree than any predecessor, Nixon systematized outreach, legal advice, and policy formulation. His White House staffing, then, has come to be regarded as a "standard model" that influences incoming presidents regardless of party affiliation. Leavening this organizational study are revealing accounts of how the Nixon, Ford, and Carter staffs operated behind the scenes in the West Wing. Anyone needing to know how the White House worked during those presidencies--or how it has worked since--will find this book invaluable.
Hardbound. Environmental regulation requires that substantial productive resources be diverted to efforts to improve environmental quality. Economic theory says that, all else being equal, regulation will consequently cause costs to rise with resulting losses in competitive advantage and a general weakening of economic performance as measured by indicators such as national or regional income. Empirical tests of this theory generally fail to find such consequences, however. This book sets out the reasons why empirical research and theory are at odds, suggests alternative formulations of the relationship between environmental regulation and economic performance, and presents related original research using Southern California as a case study of economic performance in the context of increasingly stringent and effective environmental controls promulgated over more than 30 years.
The idea of ecological modernisation originated in Western Europe in the 1980s, gaining attention around the world by the late 1990s. At the core of this social scientific and policy-oriented approach is the view that contemporary societies have the capability of dealing with their environmental crises. Experiences in some countries demonstrate that modern institutions can incorporate environmental interests into their daily routines. Elsewhere, economic and political interests dominate development trajectories and environmental deterioration continues, challenging the premises of ecological modernisation. This volume brings together research on ecological modernisation practices around the world. Studies on Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, the USA, and Southeast Asia examine the applicability of this approach to advanced industrial countries, transitional economies and developing countries respectively. Authors critically examine the premises of ecological modernisation theory, assess its value for understanding past and present environmental transformations, and outline paths for designing future sustainable development. Taken together, the studies in collected this volume offer significant refinements, extensions and critiques of ecological modernisation theory and suggest important directions for future research on social and policy dimensions of environmental change.
The research projects at Fondazione Mattei have for some time now been dealing with the international dimension of environmental policy. Indeed, most environ mental phenomena have international implications, which stem from a number of factors: physical ones, such as the transnational or global consequences of pollution and resource conservation; technological factors, such as technological cooperation and diffusion; and economic factors, such as trad, plant localiza tion and migrations. Even in the absence of transnational pollution, therefore, the environmental issues involve substantial interdependence among countries. This volume, edited by Carlo Carraro, presents some of the research which we carried out in international environmental policy, focusing on the relationship between trade, innovation and the environment. The papers in part one discuss the impact of international trade and institu tions on environmental resources. Those in part two deal with the importance of innovation when attempting to solve the major environmental problems. The papers in part three, finally, focus on specific policy issues stressing the impor tance of institutions and property rights. The whole set of contributions can be seen as progress in environmental economics. The different chapters highlight the close relationship between envi ronmental issues and economic development and they merge the literature on the environment with the literature on innovation, economic growth, trade, plant localization, institutions, etc." |
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