This paper examines empirically whether nonlinearities play a significant role in the modeling of the carbon price. We highlight the limits of previous carbon markets analyses based essentially on a linear econometric framework. Instead, we propose to revisit the main results on carbon pricing and the inter-relationships with energy markets and CERs based on nonlinear techniques (threshold vect...

Convergence in cross country per capita carbon emission rates is an important concept in the climate change debate. This paper provides an empirical analysis of emissions per capita convergence. This analysis is crucial to the assessment of projection models that generate convergence in emission per capita rates and to the assessment of policy proposals that advocate imposing convergence in emi...

This paper builds a two-country (North, South), two-sector (polluting, nonpolluting) trade model with directed technical change, examining whether unilateral environmental policies can ensure sustainable growth. The polluting good is produced with a clean and a dirty input. A temporary Northern policy combining clean research subsidies and a trade tax can ensure sustainable growth but Northern ...

Does charitable giving respond to new demands, and if so, does the response come at the expense of other charitable causes? To answer these questions we exploit exogenous variation in need arising from the random event of a nearby tornado. We use location fixed effects estimators and examine changes in charitable donations claimed for tax deductions in IRS data on individual income taxes by geo...

Recent! research! in!both! the! social! and!natural! sciences!has!been!devoted! to! increasing!our! ability!to!predict!disasters,!prepare!for!them!and!mitigate!their!costs.!Curiously,!we!appear!to! know!very!little!about!the!fiscal!consequences!of!disasters.!The!likely!fiscal!impact!of!a!natural! disaster! has! not! been! examined! before! in! any! comparable! or! comparative! framework.! We! e...

This paper builds a two-country, two-sector (polluting, nonpolluting) trade model with directed technical change, examining whether unilateral environmental policies can ensure sustainable growth. The polluting good generates more or less emissions depending on its relative use of a clean and a dirty input. I show that a unilateral policy combining clean research subsidies and a trade tax can e...

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions not only lowers expected damages from climate change but also reduces the risk of catastrophic impacts. However, estimates of the social cost of carbon, which measures the marginal value of carbon dioxide abatement, often do not capture this risk reduction benefit. Risk-averse individuals are willing to pay a risk premium, an additional amount beyond the differ...

Should long-term assets such as infrastructure, education, and the environment earn the same return as productive capital? If yes, we can say that investments in such assets pass the cost-benefit test. But time-inconsistent decision-makers prefer to violate the test: long-term assets provide commitment to current preferences, leading to investment biases. We formulate the cost-benefit requireme...

We consider information from many sciences bearing on the causes and consequences of climate change, focusing on lessons from past mass extinctions of life on Earth. The increasing atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gases are now established, as is their source in human activity. Worldwide temperatures are rising on a high variance stochastic trend. Evidence from the past 500 million yea...

Mitigation and adaptation are the most important strategies in combating global climate change. It is expected that in a post Kyoto world industrialized countries have to engage in greenhouse gas abatement, and to support developing countries in adapting to climate change. Within the framework of a non-cooperative Nash game we analyze, whether funding adaptation is incentive compatible in the s...