Recycling under a material balance constraint

In this paper we analyze the dynamic implications of recycling for resource use, the level of economic activity and the long-run development of the economy. In contrast to former approaches, we take explicit account of the circulation of matter in the economy. We consider virgin resources and recycled wastes as essential inputs to production. These material inputs either end up as waste after consumption or are bound in the capital stock—depending on the utilization of the produced output. As accumulating wastes can be recycled and again be employed in production, the waste stock serves as a source of valuable inputs in our model. We focus on the implications of recycling-related market failures and the integration of material balances on the dynamics of the economy. It is shown that a market for waste and subsidies to resource extractors and recycling firms can restore optimality in the decentralized economy.     

Financing a competitive recycling initiative in Switzerland

The purpose of the paper is to enhance the understanding of different pricing systems within the real world of solid waste management: first the effect on recycling behaviour of citizens, and second the effect on the budget goals, and third the operational logic of different economic measures will be analyzed. Hence it helps practitioners understand and cope with the challenge of meeting the zero profit budget goal in public solid waste management while inducing behaviour change in the regional solid waste system. The question “How can robust recycling strategies be financed?” is addressed.The analysis draws on a system dynamics model for solid waste management that is based on a model framework on human behaviour and public policy that embraces an evolutionary feedback perspective. The model structure was deduced from an ex-post analysis of observed phenomena in solid waste management such as recurring budget deficits at the local level in Switzerland. The paper illustrates how the model was used as a policy lab in which various pricing and incentive strategies were tested that allowed addressing “what-if-questions” under controlled conditions. The various policy-experiments illustrated crucial trade offs between zero profit budget goals at the local level and the administration of a successful recycling initiative. Different scenario-experiments show that under worst-case conditions economic instrument are not sufficient in order to yield a robust policy outcome.     

Resource and Waste Taxation in the Theory of the Firm with Recycling Activities

The management of solid waste has become an urgent problem in nations with a great population density. Accordingly, waste reduction through source reduction and recycling has become increasingly important. Our purpose is to show how prevention, recycling and disposal of waste could be part of a theory of the firm. We first derive efficient production functions from production processes with waste as a by-product. Waste obtained as new scrap can partially be recycled by using additional inputs in order to cut back the purchase of virgin material. Waste not completely recyclable will leave the firm as disposal which also entails cost to the firm. We use the dual cost function approach to develop a theory of the firm under solid residual management.Since the producer does not bear the full cost of disposal, there will be a bias toward virgin materials and away from recycling. The goal of the government is to stimulate the firms to recycle with respect to the preservation of exhaustible resources. An incentive to recycle is a tax on resources or on waste. In order to determine the tax levels the government maximizes welfare subject to the dynamic constraint for decumulation of land fill for waste deposits. This gives the user cost and its time profile for taxing waste disposal or virgin material.In a comparative statics analysis we compare the effect of taxes on waste vs. virgin material on effort to produce in a resource saving manner, on the quantity of recycled material, on output, and on the reduction of waste. Since the impact of environmental regulation on employment is important, our model detects seven effects on labor demand as part of resource conservation policy. We finally carry out a comparative statics analysis of waste intensive firms operating in different market structures. Of interest is the impact of a resource or waste taxation on market volume, on the number of firms, on resource saving effort, and on profit.     

Economic Incentives and Residential Waste Management in Taiwan: An Empirical Investigation

This paper presents an empirical study of how three waste management policies have affected residential waste generation and recycling behavior in Taiwan over the past decade. The three policies are unit-pricing of garbage in Taipei, a mandatory recycling program in Kaohsiung, and a nationwide policy of charging for plastic bags. We estimate policy effects on total waste, total recycling, and recycling of four specific materials, all measured by weight per capita. Unlike prior work, we find that unit-pricing and mandatory recycling policies lead to significant increases in recycling of most materials, as well as increased levels of total recycling and garbage reduction. The “plastic bag” policy is generally found to lower material-specific and total recycling rates, as well as total garbage volumes.     

A Comparison of Household Recycling Behaviors in Norway and the United States

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of household recycling in Norway and compares the results with a similar, recently published, study of households in the United States. The comparison focuses on the relative importance of user fees on waste disposal, community recycling programs, and socioeconomic factors. Both data sources are nationwide, material-specific, and at the household level. One major finding is that a disposal fee provides a significant economic incentive to Norwegian households, whereas its effectiveness in the United States is still up for debate. Providing households with convenient recycling options, such as curbside and drop-off recycling, appears generally effective, but less so in Norway than in the United States. Socioeconomic characteristics are less important predictors of behavior in Norway than in the United States. Qualifications on the comparison are provided throughout and two extensions for future research are suggested at the end.     

外资政策、国民利益与经济发展

本文通过建立经济模型对吸引外商直接投资政策的经济效应进行了分析。研究表明 :无论是限制外商直接投资还是对外商直接投资采取过多的优惠政策均不能使短期内国民利益达到最大 ;但从动态考虑 ,外资优惠政策能否提高国内居民的福利水平取决于外资企业对内资企业技术水平的影响。     

政府公共资本投资的长期经济增长效应

本文首先建立一个包含政府公共资本投资的两部门内生增长模型,并把公共资本投资分为政府物质资本投资和人力资本投资,从而对公共资本投资的长期经济增长效应进行理论分析。结论是,两种形式的公共资本投资对长期经济增长都可能具有正效应也可能具有负效应,取决于民间经济主体消费跨时替代弹性大小。其次,我们利用向量自回归分析框架,对我国1978—2004年间公共资本投资对长期经济增长的影响作实证分析。结论是,我国两种形式的公共资本投资与经济增长之间存在着长期均衡关系,其中政府公共物质资本投资对长期经济增长的正影响更为显著,而政府公共人力资本投资对长期经济增长的正影响较小,且在短期内不利于经济增长。这一结论对我国今后科学制定财政政策和选择公共投资领域都具有重要意义。     

Toward a combined merchant-regulatory mechanism for electricity transmission expansion

Electricity transmission pricing and transmission grid expansion have received increasing attention in recent years. There are two disparate approaches to transmission investment: one employs the theory based on long-run financial rights (LTFTR) to transmission (merchant approach), while the other is based on the incentive-regulation hypothesis (regulatory approach). In this paper we consider the elements that could combine the merchant and regulatory approaches in a setting with price-taking electricity generators and loads. The monopoly transmission firm (Transco) is regulated through benchmark or price regulation to provide long-term investment incentives. The two-part tariff approach used can be analyzed analytically only for well-behaved cost and demand functions. We explore a series of simplified transmission grids to argue that in a variety of circumstances those functions could have reasonable economic properties. The results suggest directions for further research to explore the properties of the cost functions and implications for design of practical incentive mechanisms and the integration with merchant investment in organized markets with LTFTRs.     

Wasting Time? Recycling Incentives in Urban Taiwan and Japan

What makes recycling work? We study the factors driving household waste disposal and recycling in 18 cities in Taiwan and Japan in order to understand the impact of alternative waste management incentives. We show that this depends on the effect of distinct policies on the relative costs of the main alternative disposal methods: recycling, disposal to landfill and illegal dumping. The willingness both to recycle and to dispose to landfill depends on the relative costs of the waste collection regime, and these are dominated by the time cost of alternative disposal methods. The higher the frequency of waste collection, the less recycling and the more disposal to landfill there will be. This is because frequent collection reduces the marginal time-cost of disposal to landfill. Curbside collection of recyclable material, and the frequency of that collection, has a similar effect on the recycling rate. Although direct incentives, such as unit pricing are important in the waste disposal decision, recycling depends primarily on management of the time-costs it involves.     

垃圾按量收费政策的理论与实践进展——环境经济政策的前沿领域

垃圾按量收费是管制垃圾的最直接的环境经济政策。理论分析和经验证据表明，垃圾按量收费对减少垃圾排放和增加垃圾回收有显著效果。当然，垃圾按量收费也可能存在潜在问题，应用不当也会产生不利的效果。主要探讨垃圾按量收费政策的理论基础、实践效应、实施条件和配套措施，以期为垃圾按量收费在中国的应用提供借鉴。     

SWEEA—Swedish environmental and economic accounts

As part of the Swedish effort at integrating economic and environmental issues, Statistics Sweden has developed a system of physical environmental accounts. The system is based on the concept of satellite accounts which supplement the traditional national accounts. Here, Statistics Sweden focuses on the chain linking natural resources to economic activities and emissions. Current projects include the use of energy and the emission of pollutants, statistics on waste generation and recycling, and accounts for phosphorus and nitrogen flows. Attention is also paid to improvements of data on expenditures on environmental protection.     

An empirical investigation of long-run growth in the UK

In this paper the long-run growth of the UK economy is analysed over the period 1855–1997, using a Markov-switching cointegration approach. We find that long-run economic growth can be explained by two permanent shocks, namely a technological shock and a labour supply shock. While technological progress seems to have a positive impact on the wage share and on income equality, the labour supply shock has the opposite effect, contributing to income inequality. Both shocks have a positive impact on aggregate output, but the bulk of long-run output growth variability is explained by the labour supply shock, suggesting that inequality is not harmful to growth.     

Relation between growth and unemployment in a model with labor-force participation and adverse labor institutions

Based on labor search models with an exogenous labor force, existing papers have found a negative relation between long-run economic growth and unemployment. Motivated by the fact that the labor force participation has changed substantially across OECD countries, this paper revisits the long-run relation by taking account of endogenous labor-force participation. We find that, via the effects on employment, changes in labor market institutions may increase or decrease long-run economic growth. Moreover, depending upon the effects on the labor force and employment, these labor market institutions may increase or decrease unemployment rates in the long run. Thus, changes in labor market institutions lead to a non-monotone relation between long-run economic growth and unemployment that is consistent with the data.     

An economic analysis of the Packaging waste Recovery Note System in the UK

In order to cope with the increasing scarcity of final dump sites for household wastes, the UK recently introduced an environmental policy targeted at the firms that produce and sell products that generate packaging wastes. This policy requires such businesses to hold predetermined numbers of tradable credits called “Packaging waste Recovery Notes” (PRNs). This article provides insights into the economic implications of such a policy through a simple analytical model of a recyclable product and the PRN markets. Our analysis yields two particularly interesting results. First, an increase in the required recycling rate dampens the output and landfill waste levels, while the effect on the level of recycling activities is ambiguous. Second, an increase in the landfill tax always leads to an increase in the landfill waste. We also discuss how the socially optimal landfill tax in the presence of the PRN market should be chosen.     

Determinants of Taiwan's outward investment in Southeast Asia: Economic factors and institutional issues

This paper investigates the economic and institutional determinants of Taiwan's outward direct investment in six Southeast Asian countries from 1998 to 2017, applying the panel ARDL–Pooled Mean Group estimation. We specially examine the effects of institutional quality with five dimensions inclusively, using the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The results show the locational economic factors are the primary determinants in the long run. The tight and historic trading relation with Southeast Asia has a long-run positive effect. On the contrary, the institutional quality of the host countries has strong positive effects in both the long run and short run. Further, the paper displays the dynamics of this investment in the last 20 years. These results are important for Taiwan and Southeast Asia policy-makers in setting up the short-run and long-run policies to sustain their diversified economic growth.     

The energy consumption-real GDP nexus revisited: Empirical evidence from 93 countries

In this paper, we analyse the long-run relationship between energy consumption and real GDP for 93 countries. We find mixed results on the impact of energy consumption on real GDP, with greater evidence at the country level supporting energy consumption having a negative causal effect on real GDP. For the G6 panel of countries, we find significant evidence that energy consumption negatively Granger causes real GDP. This means that for countries where energy consumption has a negative long-run causal effect on real GDP, energy conversation policies should not retard economic growth. We identify these countries and regional panels. We argue that these countries/regions should play a greater role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.     

Impact of economic uncertainty in a small open economy: the case of Chile

We construct the first news-based economic uncertainty index for Chile, which allowed us to rebuild 23 years of the history of economic uncertainty in the country and quantify its impact on the economy. We find that an increase in economic uncertainty conveys a fall in GDP, investment, and employment, even after accounting for the small open economy nature of Chile. In contrast to previous studies for big and developed economies, we do not find evidence of an overshooting effect when uncertainty dissipates; therefore, increases in economic uncertainty have negative effects on the economy, even in the long-run. Our estimates suggest that these impacts range from 10% to 20% for aggregate investment, 2.5% to 5% for GDP, and 1.3% to 4.2% for employment. Extensions suggest that economic uncertainty affects both mining and non-mining investment, with the former showing a more pronounced decline. We also find that the bulk of effect of economic uncertainty on aggregate investment is via private investment, with some short-run impacts on public investment. Moreover, compared to the GDP response, aggregate consumption responds in almost the same way to an economic uncertainty shock.     

Multivariate filter estimation and ARDL model analysis of China’s potential output

In this article, we apply a new multivariate filter approach to estimate China’s potential output. Furthermore, we build an ARDL model to analyse the influence on potential growth caused by important factors that contribute to estimation and China’s development. Our results show that the current economic slowdown is not a cyclical phenomenon and China’s potential growth has declined since 2010. We also show that fixed asset investment and trade, which have a long-run relationship with potential output, exert negative long-run effect on potential growth justifying the implementation of China’s recent supply-side reforms.     

Does income inequality hinder economic growth? New evidence using Australian taxation statistics

Using taxation statistics, we first derive consistently defined Gini coefficients for the period 1942–2013 for Australia as a whole as well as its eight states and territories. While income inequality exhibited a downward trend until 1979, it has since been on the rise not only over time, but also across states and territories. We then proceed to examine the effect of inequality on economic growth after controlling for changes arising from investment in physical and human capital using available panel data across all states and territories (1986–2013). We find that inequality adversely affects economic growth with a couple of years delay, an outcome consistent with similar studies undertaken in the United States and Europe. Our findings suggest that policymakers can address rising income inequality by implementing measures that support, and enhance, human capital accumulation given its long-run economic and social benefits.     

论我国电子废弃物资源化障碍的产生及其原因

我国电子废弃物资源化产业目前还比较薄弱,而电子废弃物的产生高峰已到来。目前我国电子废弃物的总体情况是数量庞大,由于政治、经济、文化等原因,使我国的电子废弃物回收率很低,无法实现电子废弃物回收的产业化、规模化。其中,我国的传统管理体制、粗放型经济增长方式以及大众的传统消费观念、消费意识等都是制约我国实现电子废弃物资源化的重要原因。整体而言,目前我国电子废弃物资源化的状况并不理想,需要更进一步完善。