Natural Resource Management: A Network Perspective

Scientific Conference (2017, September)

Electric vs. Conventional Vehicles: Environmental Externalities and Urban Spatial Policies

Scientific Conference (2017)

Environmental Policy and the Size Distribution of Firms

E-print/Working paper (2015)

In this paper we analyze the e¤ects of environmental policies on the size distribution of firms. We model a stationary industry where the observed size distribution is a solution to the profit ... [more ▼]

In this paper we analyze the e¤ects of environmental policies on the size distribution of firms. We model a stationary industry where the observed size distribution is a solution to the profit maximization problem of heterogeneous firms that di¤er in terms of their energy e¢ ciency. We compare the equilibrium size distribution under emission taxes, uniform emission standards, and performance standards. Our results indicate that, unlike emission taxes and performance standards, emission standards introduce regulatory asymmetries favoring small firms. These asymmetries cause significant detrimental e¤ects on total output and total welfare, yet lead to reduced emissions and might help preserve small businesses. [less ▲]

Three necessary conditions for establishing effective Sustainable Development Goals in the Anthropocene

in Ecology and Society (2014), 19(3),

The purpose of the United Nations-guided process to establish Sustainable Development Goals is to galvanize governments and civil society to rise to the interlinked environmental, societal, and economic ... [more ▼]

The purpose of the United Nations-guided process to establish Sustainable Development Goals is to galvanize governments and civil society to rise to the interlinked environmental, societal, and economic challenges we face in the Anthropocene. We argue that the process of setting Sustainable Development Goals should take three key aspects into consideration. First, it should embrace an integrated social-ecological system perspective and acknowledge the key dynamics that such systems entail, including the role of ecosystems in sustaining human wellbeing, multiple cross-scale interactions, and uncertain thresholds. Second, the process needs to address trade-offs between the ambition of goals and the feasibility in reaching them, recognizing biophysical, social, and political constraints. Third, the goal-setting exercise and the management of goal implementation need to be guided by existing knowledge about the principles, dynamics, and constraints of social change processes at all scales, from the individual to the global. Combining these three aspects will increase the chances of establishing and achieving effective Sustainable Development Goals. [less ▲]

Environmental Policy, First Nature Advantage and the Emergence of Economic Clusters

in Regional Science and Urban Economics (2013), 19(3),

We explain the spatial concentration of economic activity when the cost of environmental policy – which is increasing in the concentration of pollution – acts as a centrifugal force, while positive ... [more ▼]

We explain the spatial concentration of economic activity when the cost of environmental policy – which is increasing in the concentration of pollution – acts as a centrifugal force, while positive knowledge spillovers and a site with natural cost advantage act as centripetal forces. We study the agglomeration effects caused by trade-offs between centripetal and centrifugal forces which eventually determine the distribution of economic activity across space. The equilibrium solution with spatially myopic environmental policy results either in a monocentric or in a polycentric city with the major cluster at the natural advantage site. The regulator's optimum results in a bicentric city, which suggests that when environmental policy is spatially optimal, the natural advantage sites do not act as attractors of economic activity. In general, our results suggest that sites with inherent advantages can lose their comparative advantage when social costs at these spatial points are taken into account. [less ▲]

Spatial Location Decisions under Environmental Policy and Housing Externalities

in Environmental Economics and Policy Studies (2011), 13(3), 195-217

We study the internal structure of a city, in a model of economic geography, where industry and housing compete for scarce land to locate. We analyze a spatial model of a city in which a single good is ... [more ▼]

We study the internal structure of a city, in a model of economic geography, where industry and housing compete for scarce land to locate. We analyze a spatial model of a city in which a single good is produced using land, labor, machinery and emissions of a pollutant, and in which people consume goods, invest in housing services and dislike pollution. The agglomeration effects, caused by tradeoffs between centripetal and centrifugal forces, in the form of housing spillovers, stringency of environmental policy, transportation and commuting costs, determine the emergence of industrial and residential clusters across space. [less ▲]