Search

In the past few decades, economists have defended the use of market-based instruments (MBI) in environmental and climate policy. There have been many papers which have compared the costs of attaining environmental objectives with MBIs and with command and control instruments. However very few have compared different MBIs in examining these costs. This paper seeks to analyse various MBIs for CO2 mitigation from the viewpoint of cost-effectiveness, using an AGE (applied general equilibrium) model for the case of Spain. A distinction is drawn between (1) quantity instruments, which represent different extents of a market for emission permits; and (2) price instruments, which represent different types of tax. Each instrument can affect different segments of the emission sources and therefore can have very different effects on the economy as a whole. We show how MBI can help to minimise mitigation costs, but also how taxes and tradable emission permits that are limited or constrained by many exemptions and distortions can raise costs considerably. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an indicator of the human domination of ecosystems that measures to which extent human activities alter the amount of biomass available each year in ecosystems. This paper analyses the development of aboveground HANPP (aHANPP) in Spain for the period from 1955 to 2003. During this period, Spain's agriculture underwent a transition from a largely pre-industrial to a highly intensified production system. Changes in land use patterns include a reduction of cropland area and an expansion of forest area. Results show that aHANPP declined from 67% of potential aNPP in 1955 to 61% in 2003. Biomass harvest strongly increased from 68 million tons dry matter biomass per year (Mt/yr) to 106 Mt/yr, with nearly all of this increase occurring on cropland. Productivity losses due to human-induced land conversions dropped significantly from 112 Mt/yr to 63 Mt/yr, mainly as a result of the surge in cropland productivity and the increase in forest area. Despite its decrease during the last decades, aHANPP in Spain is still at a remarkably high level in comparison with the global average or other industrialized countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Economic valuation assumes preference stability which is not confirmed by evidence. • We show that this is also the case for long-term water quality improvements. • Preference instability might reflect policy failures and not breach economic theory. • Policy inefficacy might increase protest behavior and decrease willingness to pay. • Economic valuation should consider potential biases from management performance. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes that Programme of Measures (PoMs) to manage aquatic ecosystems have to be assessed to determine whether the benefits obtained from the good ecological status outweigh the costs. Stated preference methods have been widely applied to estimate non-market benefits of improved ecological status, assuming that respondents declare their true preferences that are stable over time. However, evidence on preference stability is mixed in the literature. The objective of this paper is to study preference stability towards water bodies improvement. As the WFD implementation has been delayed and have proven to be a greater challenge than expected, we focus on the effects of policy implementation failures on preference stability. We analyse two contingent valuation surveys to assess environmental values for the case of the Mar Menor (SE Spain) in years 2010 and 2017. We find higher protest response rate, changing indirect utility functions towards good ecological status and decreased WTPs in 2017. It indicates that public valuation might fail to adhere to rational economic premises when public authorities fail to reach environmental objectives and/or PoMs are not correctly implemented. Decision making based on stated preferences should carefully consider potential biases emerging from management performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]