In many arid and semi-arid regions whether or not to desalinate seawater has long been a non-issue and policy debates are focused on the timing and extent of the desalination activities. We analyze how water scarcity and demand structure, on the one hand, and cost reduction via R&D programs, on the other hand, affect the desirable development of desalination technologies and the time profiles o...

Within the framework of a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model this paper analyses the impact of trade restrictions on regional rates of return on capital, marginal costs of abatement and optimal climate policy. It will be shown that regional differences both in marginal costs of abatement and in the marginal productivity of capital are driven by market imperfection. With restrictions o...

The purpose of this paper is to confront economic models of climate change with the reality that limited information exists with which to form expectations about the evolution of the climate. A key element in the tension between those who believe we should impose aggressive climate change mitigation policies and those who do not is the question of if we are merely in a long period of shock-indu...

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change allocates tradable quotas to developed countries, but let them free to choose the means to respect their quota. There are good reasons for a country not to control its firms through internationally tradable permits. We thus compare a tax and purely domestic tradable permits, for the European Union, the U.S and Japan. Information on abatement costs and intern...

This paper uses a nearest neighbor matching estimator to examine the effects of an emissions trading program. An important perceived advantage of “cap-and-trade” programs over more traditional, more prescriptive forms of regulation is that enhanced compliance flexibility and cost effectiveness can make more stringent emissions reductions politically feasible. A potential disadvantage is that a ...

Gisser and Sánchez (1980a) state the conditions under which welfare gains from policy intervention are negligible in aquifer management, when compared with non-regulation or “free market” outcomes. This is the so-called Gisser-Sánchez effect (GSE), which has been supported by the ensuing literature during recent decades. The GSE requires a number of assumptions, among which is the disregard for...

The economic effects of environmental taxes depend on the market structure. Under imperfect competition with free entry and exit, environmental taxes have an impact on economies of scale by changing the number and size of firms. Whether economies of scale rise or fall in a particular industry depends on induced changes in the price elasticity of demand. Because export demand is more price elast...