The rise of a transitions discourse in Dutch environmental policy is analysed. This new approach to environmental policy seeks radically more sustainable socio-technical systems. As such, its agenda constitutes the latest twist in attempts at ecological modernisation, aiming to decouple economic growth from harmful environmental degradation. The coalescence and influence of a transitions discou...

Using a micro-founded model and a likelihood based inference method, we address three questions in this paper. First, what monetary and scal policy regimes characterized post-war U.S. data? Second, was equilibrium indeterminacy a feature of the economy before Paul Volcker's chairmanship at the Federal Reserve? Third, what were the effects of shifts in monetary and scal policy on the aggregate e...

Workshop on ethics and communication in Copenhagen 11–13.3.2007 The European Environment and Health Strategy adopted by the European Commission in 2003 presented a new vision on how to address environment and health in an integrated way by putting health in the centre of environmental policy. Based upon the Strategy the Commission adopted in 2004 a Communication on the Environment and Health Ac...

When scrutinizing the literature on EU environmental policy, it becomes apparent that there has been a comprehensive transition in regulatory ideas during the last two decades. At the core of these changes is the abolition of traditional patterns of interventionist command-and-control regulation in favor of economic and "contextoriented" instruments. In view of these developments, this article ...

OBJECTIVES Theoretically inspired by discursive institutionalism and multi-level governance, this paper assesses the extent to which 'environmental health' has emerged as a new discourse at European level, the effects it has had on national public health governance in two European countries, and what mechanisms have triggered or hindered these effects. STUDY DESIGN Comparison of the dynamics ...

This paper studies how simultaneously liberalizing trade and tightening environmental policy affect welfare in a second-best world. We consider a three-good two-factor small open economy. We allow for non-tradables and for market power in the export market. The government is constrained to balance its budget at all times through distortionary taxes: a given income transfer has to be financed ou...

In the last decade environmental policies, particularly ecological resettlement, have changed China’s pastoral areas. This paper explores the diffi culty in conserving rangeland through ecological resettlement. The paper focuses on how ecological resettlement policy has been translated into practice, and how the affected people responded with migration decisions. Empirical fi ndings in a pastor...

We study a general equilibrium model in which trade is driven by institutional di erences (di erences in environmental distortions) and di ering factor endowments (di erences in production-related environmental stocks). The endogenous evolution of environmental stocks depends on the trade regime and on the extent of environmental distortions in the two countries. The economy can have multiple s...

This paper examines attempts to integrate environmental sustainability goals into the design and implementation of projects funded by the EU Structural Funds programmes in the U.K. between 2000 and 2006. It does so by comparing how the two ―horizontal priorities‖ (environmental sustainability and gender equality) fared in terms of understanding and acceptance by project applicants. It places th...

The Porter hypothesis suggests a win]win situation in the sense that environmental policy improves both environment and competitiveness. The suggestion received strong criticism from economists driven by the idea that if opportunities exist, firms do not have to be triggered by an extra cost. In this paper a model is developed which confirms this point but which also draws attention to some gen...