Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe

Concerns for environmental quality and its impact on people's welfare are fundamental arguments for the adoption of environmental legislation in most countries. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between air quality and subjective well-being in Europe. We use a unique dataset that merges three waves of the European Social Survey with a new dataset on environmental quality including SO₂ concentrations and climate in Europe at the regional level. We find a robust negative impact of SO₂ concentrations on self-reported life satisfaction.     

Distance and government resource allocation: from the perspective of environmental information disclosure policy change

This article investigates the relationship between environmental information and government resources and focuses on the moderate effect of distance. The results show that (1) the promulgation and implementation of the Measures for the Disclosure of Environmental Information (MDEI) can improve the level and quality of environmental information and then increase resource allocation and (2), after the MDEI are issued, distance has a significant negative moderate effect on the positive impact of MDEI, and the negative moderate effect of distance is more significant in low GDP and marketization regions, high-polluting industries and firms audited by the non-Big 4 accounting firms.     

Effects of political institutions on air quality

We empirically test existing theories on the provision of public goods, in particular air quality, using data on sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations from the Global Environment Monitoring Projects for 107 cities in 42 countries from 1971 to 1996. The results are as follows: First, we provide additional support for the claim that the degree of democracy has an independent positive effect on air quality. Second, we find that among democracies, presidential systems are more conducive to air quality than parliamentary ones. Third, in testing competing claims about the effect of interest groups on public goods provision in democracies we establish that labor union strength contributes to lower environmental quality, whereas the strength of green parties has the opposite effect.     

Local environmental quality and life-satisfaction in Germany

Hitherto the task of valuing differences in environmental quality arising from air pollution and noise nuisance has been carried out mainly by using the hedonic price technique. This paper proposes a different approach to derive information on individual preferences for local environmental quality. It analyses data drawn from the German socio-economic panel in an attempt to explain differences in self-reported levels of well-being in terms of environmental quality. Mindful of existing research a large number of other explanatory variables are included to control for socio-demographic differences, economic circumstances as well as neighbourhood characteristics. Differences in local air quality and noise levels are measured by how much an individual feels affected by air pollution or noise exposure in their residential area. The evidence suggests that even when controlling for a range of other factors higher local air pollution and noise levels significantly diminish subjective well-being. But interestingly differences in perceived air and noise pollution are not capitalised into differences in house prices.     

A comparative study of environmental amenity valuations

The paper reports on a comparative study of direct and indirect approaches to valuing environmental amenities (i.e., public goods), specifically, air quality in terms of its human health effects. The application of three indirect valuation methods (via market goods) is reported here: the health production method, a consumer preferences (for nonmarket goods) model, and the cost of illness method. The first and second methods are (economic) behavior-based approaches where willingness to pay for an environmental good is derived by exploiting relationships in consumption between the public good and market good(s). The third method is based on a physical relationship—a dose-response function—between the environmental good and health. The direct valuation approach encompassed three contingent valuation elicitation formats: open-ended, modified iterative bidding game, and referenda-style binary choice. The application of all four methods was based on data from a survey of a large, stratified sample of households from the Haifa metropolitan area in northern Israel. The estimates of welfare change derived by the various methods are discussed and compared.     

Environmental Valuation with Imperfect Information The Case of the Random Utility Model

This paper considers welfare analysis with therandom utility model (RUM) when perceptions ofenvironmental quality differ from objectivemeasures of environmental quality. Environmental quality is assumed to be anexperience good, so that while perceptions ofquality determine choices, ex postutility is determined by objective quality. Given this assumption, I derive a measure ofthe welfare impact of changes in environmentalquality, and I show how this new welfaremeasure differs from the traditional welfaremeasure developed by Hanemann (1982). This newwelfare measure provides an approach tomeasuring the value of information aboutenvironmental quality within the framework ofthe random utility model.     

Strategic Use of Environmental Information

Strategic use of environmental information may have as consequence that a benevolent environmental agency will choose not to disclose information leading to reduced moral motivation. Thus, decision makers will not have access to such information, implying that they will not be able to adjust their decisions to available information on the state of the environment. In contrast, if the benevolent environmental agency instead bases its regulation on standard economic instruments, these instruments will incorporate all available information.     

Children’s environmental health,education, and economic development

Abstract This article aims at investigating the interplay between environmental quality, health, and economic development in a unified OLG framework. Human capital accumulation depends on the environment through its impact on children’s health and workers’ productivity. In turn, environmental quality dynamics rely upon human capital that determines maintenance efforts. This two‐way relationship generates a co‐evolution of human capital and environmental quality in the long run. Along the transition path, the dynamic interactions between economic and environmental spheres allow for replicating two different trajectories: some economies experiment an Environmental Kuznets Curve while some others are caught into the environmental poverty trap.     

Potential Environmental Impacts of Increased Reliance on Corn-Based Bioenergy

This paper integrates economic and physical models to assess: a) how increases in agricultural commodity prices, driven by ethanol production and other factors, affect land use and cropping systems in the US Midwest, and b) how the changes in land use and cropping systems in turn affect environmental quality in the region. The empirical framework includes a set of econometric models that predict land conversion, crop choices, and crop rotations at the parcel level based on commodity prices, land quality, climate conditions, and other physical characteristics at the sites. The predictions are then combined with site-specific environmental production functions to determine the effect of rising commodity prices on nitrate runoff and leaching, soil water and wind erosion, and carbon sequestration. Results suggest that increasing commodity prices will result in widespread conversions of non-cropland to cropland. Fifty percent of the region’s pasture and range land will be converted to cropland with 6 corn. Rising commodity prices will also result in dramatic changes in crop mix and rotation systems in the Midwest. With6 corn. Rising commodity prices will also result in dramatic changes in crop mix and rotation systems in the Midwest. With 6 corn, the total acreage of corn will increase by 23% and 40% in the Corn Belt and Lake States, respectively; the acreage of continuous corn will increase considerably in both regions as well. These changes in land use and crop mix will have a large impact on agricultural pollution. Approaches to mitigating the environmental impacts are discussed.     

Technological change and environmental quality: A preliminary survey of environmental indicators in medium metropolitan areas

The basic objective of this paper is to develop a systematic model by which a series of environmental indicators can be constructed to reflect variations in the environmental quality of life among the United States medium metropolitan areas. Statistical data which are logically representative of the indicators were collected for the 83 medium size metropolitan areas with population between 200,000 to 500,000 in 1970. About 20 variables were evaluated under two critical environmental components: Individual and Institutional Environment and Natural Environmental Conditions. The standardized Z score method was employed to compute, based on the 1970 data, the index for each of the social QOL indicators. The 83 SMSA's were then rated by the indexes. These indexes will help decision-makers to identify their regional weaknesses and strengths in comparison to others so that appropriate actions can be taken towards the improvement of environmental quality in those areas experiencing rapid technological change and greater industrial growth.     

Analyzing the innovation process for environmental performance improvement

This paper elaborates the concept of demand articulation in product innovation to analyze innovation for environmental improvement. A conceptual framework has been developed that allows analysis of social demand articulation, the process that stimulates firms toward environmental innovation. Knowledge and information flows that raise the technological capability and awareness level of firms and consumers for environmental improvement are discerned. Their indicators have been developed based on the number of research papers and newspaper articles on environmental issues, respectively. Statistically significant results have been obtained on the role of knowledge and information flows on environmental innovations. Use of the framework on case studies revealed knowledge and information flows on local air quality and global warming led to the development of high-efficiency, low-emission automobiles. In conclusion, social demand articulation is an effective process by which knowledge and information flows mobilize the requisites needed for a successful environmental innovation.     

THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TAXES An empirical study of water and solid waste levies in Flanders*

ABSTRACT ** ** Résumé en fin d'article; Zusammenfassung am Ende des Artikels; resúmen al fin del artículo.
: Environmental problems are considered by the majority of economic agents as important factors in making public policy. As a result, economic and market-integrated instruments are increasingly being used as alternatives to traditional environmental policy instruments. This article aims to determine the actual effect of environmental taxes on pollution levels. In particular, a case study of Flemish environmental taxes on water and solid waste pollution is reported. A quantitative model for testing the actual effectiveness of environmental taxes is developed, based on similar studies that analysed Dutch environmental policy. The conclusions of this analysis are extended with a qualitative analysis of information provided by in-depth interviews. Data-driven empirical research of the Flemish situation does not confirm the expected direct relationship between an increase in taxation and a decrease in pollution. In general, industrial firms do not consider the present taxation system a legitimate one for changing their polluting activities. As a result, the greening’of management is limited and environmental taxes are considered by the majority of firms as a mere business taxation rather than a system to create a switch from polluting to non-polluting behaviour.     

COMMUNITY HOMOGENEITY AND REVEALED PREFERENCES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS

This paper examines the links between community homogeneity and the demand for environmental quality. Using data from California, this paper shows that communities that are more homogeneous in terms of race and educational attainment are more likely to support the public provision of environmental goods, after controlling for political ideology, voter turnout, and the distribution of benefits and costs across communities. The models also reveal nonmonotonic relationships between racial and social groups and support for the public provision of environmental amenities. Support for environmental initiatives in a community typically increases at an increasing rate the greater the concentration of Whites. On the other hand, support generally increases at a decreasing rate the greater the share of African Americans and Asians in the population. Results for a proposal that would have imposed a tax on oil extraction to fund alternative energy projects suggest a different pattern of nonlinear associations. (JEL D72, H42, Q51, Q58)     

EQUIVALENT OPTION PRICE WITH SUPPLY UNCERTAINTY

This paper compares two ex ante measures of the benefits of a project with supply uncertainty: compensating option price, the willingness to pay for a project, and equivalent option price, the willingness to accept to forego a project. The paper shows that compensating option price does not generally rank three or more projects correctly, even when the projects only impose a change in a single good. Equivalent option price, like equivalent variation with certain outcomes, always ranks three or more projects correctly. This paper also presents a method to empirically estimate equivalent option price using estimates of the benefits of certain changes. This approach is practically important so that the same study results can be used to estimate equivalent option price even as new projects are developed or as changes occur in the scientific information regarding the probabilities of various project outcomes. An application of the empirical method estimates the benefits of a policy to improve air and water quality when there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of the policy.     

ESTIMATING THE IMPACT OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAMES ON LOCAL AIR POLLUTION

Professional sporting events attract millions of fans to urban areas each year as they cheer on their favorite teams. While benefits, such as increased tax revenues and economic development, are often cited as reasons to host a professional sports franchise, the public and private costs receive much less attention. This paper uses air quality readings from the Environmental Protection Agency and Major League Baseball schedules to estimate the impact of Major League Baseball games on local air pollution. The results suggest that attendance at a Major League Baseball game has a statistically significant but negligible impact on local air pollution. (JEL Q53, R11)     

Information Disclosure Policies: When Do They Bring Environmental Improvements?

There has been a growing interest among policy makers on the use of information disclosure policies for pollution control. This paper theoretically assesses the consequences of information disclosure policies and identifies the conditions under which such policies are likely to bring environmental improvements. Based on a dynamic game framework, the paper shows that both eco-labeling and more general full information disclosure policies may not always result in pollution reduction. Full information disclosure policies are likely to be effective if the product is not heavily polluting and if the minimum quality standard is set quite low. The paper also identifies the conditions under which all consumers are strictly better off with information disclosure policies.

Ill-behaviour of transformation-frontiers with environmental quality versus pollution

If one looks at environmental quality N as a renewable natural resource (with its own natural dynamics) which is changed by emissions Z, then one gets a better understanding of the shape of the damage function. In the case of a logistic growth dynamics one obtains a well-shaped transformation frontier N(Z), even in a two-species natural dynamics. For a more general natural interaction in the framework of a prey-predator model one obtains the possibilities of a cusp catastrophe which makes the transformation frontier N(Z) ill-shaped for the standard arguments of economists and their most favoured environmental policy instruments.     

Dealing with Ignored Attributes in Choice Experiments on Valuation of Sweden’s Environmental Quality Objectives

Using a choice experiment, this paper investigates how Swedish citizens value three environmental quality objectives. In addition, a follow-up question is used to investigate whether respondents ignored any attributes when responding. The resulting information is used in model estimation by restricting the individual parameters for the ignored attributes to zero. When taking the shares of respondents who took both the environmental and the cost attributes (52–69% of the respondents) into account, then the WTP for each attribute changes if the respondents who ignored the attributes have a zero WTP. At the same time, we find evidence that not all respondents who claimed to have ignored an attribute really did. However, the most commonly ignored non-monetary attributes always have the lowest rankings in terms of WTP across all three environmental objectives. Thus, our results show that instead of ignoring attributes completely, respondents seem to put less weight on the attributes they claimed to have ignored.     

Firm location,political geography and environmental information disclosure

As the subjective and objective factors that influence corporate behaviours, political region and firm location are of great importance to environmental information disclosure (EID). With spatial and political geography as a research perspective, this article makes a study by using the samples of manufacturing listed companies from 2009 to 2011. As a result, we determine that regulatory distance and political geography had negative effects on EID, while political geography weakens regulatory distance’s function. After considering an enterprise’s administrative rank, we determined that when the rank is higher, regulatory distance has negative effects on EID; when the rank is lower, the effects are the opposite. Regarding political geography, it always weakened the regulatory distance’s function. Moreover, the effects are significant only when the enterprises had low governmental regulation. The study shows the effects that firm location and political geography have made on EID. At the same time, this study also gives theoretical and empirical evidence to the necessity of raising governmental regulatory effectiveness.