Using U.S. state-level data for the period 1973–1994, this study models the relationship between emissions, output and pollution abatement by defining an emissions function, in a manner that is consistent with the residual (emissions) generation mechanism and firms' optimizing behavior. It thus accounts for factors that were previously unaccounted for or addressed only individually. Applications using this comprehensive setting can offer more informed insights for policy-making, something that is particularly useful for developing countries that face the environmental degradation that comes together with the benefits of economic growth. Using nonparametric econometric techniques as well as threshold regression, the empirical results show that there is a positive nonlinear relationship between emissions and output, rejecting an inverted-U type of relationship between the two (the Environmental Kuznets Curve, or EKC). In the absence of abatement the relationship turns around, verifying the arguments in the literature that abatement is one of the driving forces for an EKC to emerge.

This paper analyzes the behavior of cross-country growth rates with respect to resource abundance and dependence. We reject the linear model that is commonly used in growth regressions in favor of a multiple-regime alternative. Using a formal sample-splitting method, we find that countries exhibit different behaviors with respect to natural resources depending on their initial level of development. In high-income countries, natural resources play only a minor role in explaining the differences in national growth rates. On the contrary, in low-income countries, abundance seems to be a blessing but dependence restricts growth.

To guide investments in ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in developing countries, numerous stated preference valuation studies have been implemented to assess the value of ecosystem services. These studies increasingly use time payments as an alternative to money. There is limited knowledge, however, about how to convert time to money and how the type of payment affects willingness to pay (WTP). In this study, the results of choice experiments using time and money payments are compared in the context of EbA measures in Vietnam. Six, of which five individual-specific, conversion rates are applied. WTP estimates are found to be higher for time payments. Moreover, the type of payment vehicle as well as the conversion rate has substantial effect on mean WTP and WTP distributions. We discuss implications of these results for the conversion of time to money and the use of resulting WTP estimates in cost benefit analyses in developing countries.

Many developing countries lack universal sanitation services for residents. Years of inappropriate disposal of solid waste and wastewater have increased the potential for devastating environmental and health issues. An economic valuation of sanitation services may help in planning investment projects by demonstrating the benefits that households derive from having access to improved sanitation. We examine Guatemala as a case study and employ a series of hedonic models to estimate the value that households in Guatemala assign to the sanitation services of solid waste collection and connections to sewer infrastructure. Findings indicate that residents are willing to pay higher rents for both wastewater and solid waste removal. Policy implications are discussed.

With the aid of a lab experiment, we explored how imperfect monitoring and punishment networks impacted appropriation, punishment and beliefs in a common pool resource appropriation dilemma. We studied the differences between the complete network (with perfect monitoring and punishment, in which everyone can observe and punish everyone else) and two ‘imperfect’ networks (that systematically reduce the number of subjects who could monitor and punish others): the directed and undirected circle networks. We found that free riders were punished in all treatments, but the network topology impacted the type of punishment: the undirected circle induced more severe punishment and prosocial punishment compared to the other two networks. Both imperfect networks were more efficient because the larger punishment capacity available in the complete network elicited higher punishment amount.

The local effects of mining might simply come and go with mine production. In this paper we revisit Aragón and Rud's (2013) study of the Yanacocha mine, frequently cited to account for local economic effects and backward linkages, but we offer a more nuanced interpretation: first, effects fade with the mine exhaustion; and second, impacts are the result of consumption boom-and-bust dynamics. While we find it more conceptually accurate to reserve the concept of backward linkages for effects of a productive nature, our evidence reveals that unskilled services is the one sector that benefits, in contrast to manufactures and skilled services. We stress that impact evaluations of mines are contingent to time and place, and contend that exploring the extent to which multipliers generate spillovers is central. The short-run effects of a mine might in fact give little indication of how to tell or make a blessing from a curse.

As countries develop, they are likely to face challenges in meeting growing energy demand and in ensuring energy security. Given this, and the problem of climate change, improving demand-side energy efficiency is pivotal to ensuring sustainable development. However, agents often underinvest in energy-efficient technologies due to behavioral failures such as low levels of energy-related financial literacy, defined as the combination of energy knowledge and cognitive abilities needed to evaluate the lifetime costs of durables. Using novel data, we analyze the levels and determinants of energy-related financial literacy of households in urban areas in the eastern lowlands of Nepal, and whether it is correlated with their attitudes towards replacement of energy-inefficient appliances. We find that respondents have low levels of energy-related financial literacy, and higher levels of literacy are associated with more rational attitudes towards appliance replacement. The findings of this study are relevant to addressing the energy-efficiency gap in developing countries.

Reliance of modern economic activities on the use of energy, most of which still comes from non-renewable sources, provokes concerns regarding the most efficient utilization of energy inputs in production. While most theory expects directed technological change to be biased towards the non-renewable input, there is rare macro-level evidence that technological change is actually biased towards energy rather than other main inputs. To fill this gap, we apply stochastic frontier analysis to country data regarding output produced with capital, labor and energy, and estimate a set of indicators for technological change. Findings show that technological change is biased the most towards energy in general. In particular, although different groups of countries exhibit various patterns, there is strong evidence that technological change favors energy more than labor. This is in line with the theoretical expectation that technological change ought to be biased towards the non-renewable input rather than the renewable ones.

We examine relations between strategic environmental policy, international R&D cartels and research joint ventures (RJVs), using a third-country model with Cournot duopoly. We indicate that forming an R&D/RJV cartel reduces governments' incentives to extract rent from consumers in the third country. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that social welfare under R&D cartels with full information sharing, i.e., RJV cartels, cannot surpass that under R&D/RJV competition, whereas forming an R&D/RJV cartel works well for environmental investment. Among the policy implications, we show that governments can maximize global welfare by collectively determining whether to allow R&D/RJV cartels.

We examine the environmental impacts of a cash transfer program in rural Zambia and investigate whether variation in market access is associated with heterogeneous impacts on natural resource use. We consider households’ use of firewood, charcoal, bushmeat and land for farming, as well as their ownership of non-farm businesses. We find that cash transfers increase the likelihood of charcoal consumption as well as the amount consumed for those living close to paved roads. The transfers also enable households to increase the size of their farms and establish non-farm businesses. These impacts are most pronounced for those living far from paved roads. While remoteness is associated with farm expansion in response to the cash transfer, more education causes those receiving the transfer to decrease the size of their farms. This impact heterogeneity has important implications for sustainable development.

Rare earth element extraction induces environmental damages and the balance problem. In this article, we show that recycling can challenge both problems in a two-period framework. We also find other results depending on the amount of scrap that can be recycled. If the recycling activity is not limited by available scrap, it does not change extraction in the first period. Environmental taxes on extracted quantities reduce extraction and favor recycling. But if the recycling is limited, the extractor reduces extraction in period one, adopting a foreclosure strategy, and environmental taxes can decrease recycling. In all cases, environmental taxes are never equal to the marginal damage from pollution, in order to take into account the recycling effect.

This work examines the interaction between demographic features and environmental constraints in Caribbean small island developing states. Specifically, it aims to clarify human capital dynamics when migration and environmental quality matter. To do so, two main ingredients are introduced in an overlapping generations model: countries may benefit from migration through a brain gain or remittances, and production emits pollution that hinders the accumulation of human capital. Two cases emerge from the analysis. In the first case, an environmental policy is sufficient to correct the externality, and migration should stay at a relatively low level. In the second case, if pollution emissions are high relative to the effectiveness of environmental policy, migration leads to an increase in per capita output and human capital. This only happens if the emigration rate is already high, because it leads to a reduction in demographic pressure on the environment.