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1. An integrated bioeconomic local economy-wide assessment of the environmental impacts of poverty programs

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1816093116  

   Gilliland, Ted E. ; Sanchirico, James N. ; Taylor, J. Edward ( April 2019 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   A new generation of poverty programs around the globe provides cash payments to poor and vulnerable households. Studies show that these social cash transfer programs create income and welfare benefits for poor households and the local economies where they live. However, this may come at the cost of damaging local environments if cash payments stimulate food production that conflicts with natural resource conservation. Evaluations of the economic impacts of poverty programs do not account for the welfare consequences of environmental impacts, which are potentially large for poor communities closely tied to natural resources. We use an ex-ante policy simulation tool, a bioeconomic local computable general equilibrium model parameterized with microsurvey data, to analyze the expected welfare consequences of environmental degradation caused by a cash transfer program. For a Philippine fishing community that is a net importer of fish, we show that a government cash transfer program initially increases real incomes for all households. However, increased demand for fish leads to a decline in the local fish stock that reduces program benefits. Household groups experience declines in real income benefits of 2–63%, with fishing households suffering the largest declines. Impacts on local fish stocks depend on the extent to which marketsmore »link fishing communities to outside regions through trade. Greater market integration can mitigate the fish stock decline, but this reduces the local income benefits of cash transfers.« less
2. Monitoring Sustainability and Targeting Interventions: Indicators, Planetary Boundaries, Benefits and Costs

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063181  

   Randall, Alan ( March 2021 , Sustainability)

   This article shows how sustainability indicators (SIs) which have proliferated, and downscaled planetary boundaries (DPBs) which have recently emerged, can be used to target remedial interventions. I offer an integrative analysis drawing upon the existing literature, challenging, clarifying, and amending it in some ways, and extending it with new insights. The exposition is couched in the example of pollution control, but the analysis also applies to resource management with only modest amendments. Key conclusions are summarized. (i) In a default case where damage is indifferent to location within the problem shed and transactions costs are trivial, minimizing abatement costs requires that all units face the same marginal price of emissions and can be implemented by price setting at the jurisdictional level or cap and trade in pollution reduction credits. Larger geographic scale tends to reduce the average cost of abatement, an argument for coordination at the problem-shed level. Deviations from the default policy may be appropriate for addressing large point sources and local hot spots where damage is concentrated. (ii) A framework winnowing the proliferation of SIs includes the following principles: for quantitative target setting, SIs should address sustainability in its long-term context; SIs should be measured in ratio scale,more »whereas ordinal-scale SIs are common; and SIs should be selected for their usefulness in mapping the relationships among emissions, ambient concentrations, and damage. (iii) Target setting requires science-based empirical relationships and social values to assess trade-offs between abatement and its opportunity costs and suggest upper limits on tolerable damage. (iv) PBs that address global public goods can usefully be downscaled to set abatement targets. The PBs are science based and, in their original form, propose replacing social values with imperatives: violating the PB will doom the planet, which is unacceptable given any plausible value system. Given that PB = ∑DPB over all jurisdictions, global trading of credits would minimize costs of honoring the PB. Trade among a willing subset of jurisdictions could minimize the costs of meeting its aggregate DPB. (v) In contrast to most SI approaches, a cost–benefit (CB) approach can deal with substitutability and complementarity among sustainability objectives and evaluate multi-component policies. Net benefits are maximized when the marginal cost of abatement equals the marginal benefit for all units in the problem shed. This can be attained by price setting at the jurisdictional level or trade in credits. (vi) A major advantage of the CB approach is its well-defined relationship to weak sustainability. However, its value measures over-weight the preferences of the well-off. Equity considerations suggest relief from strict CB criteria in the case of essentials such as human health and nutrition, and subsidization by rich countries of sustainability projects in low-income countries.« less
3. Measuring Ex Ante Welfare in Insurance Markets

   https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaa015  

   Hendren, Nathaniel ( June 2020 , The Review of Economic Studies)

   Abstract The willingness to pay for insurance captures the value of insurance against only the risk that remains when choices are observed. This article develops tools to measure the ex ante expected utility impact of insurance subsidies and mandates when choices are observed after some insurable information is revealed. The approach retains the transparency of using reduced-form willingness to pay and cost curves, but it adds one additional sufficient statistic: the percentage difference in marginal utilities between insured and uninsured. I provide an approach to estimate this additional statistic that uses only the reduced-form willingness to pay curve, combined with a measure of risk aversion. I compare the approach to structural approaches that require fully specifying the choice environment and information sets of individuals. I apply the approach using existing willingness to pay and cost curve estimates from the low-income health insurance exchange in Massachusetts. Ex ante optimal insurance prices are roughly 30% lower than prices that maximize observed market surplus. While mandates reduce market surplus, the results suggest they would actually increase ex ante expected utility.
4. Wildfire, Smoke Exposure, Human Health, and Environmental Justice Need to be Integrated into Forest Restoration and Management

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-022-00355-7  

   D’Evelyn, Savannah M. ; Jung, Jihoon ; Alvarado, Ernesto ; Baumgartner, Jill ; Caligiuri, Pete ; Hagmann, R. Keala ; Henderson, Sarah B. ; Hessburg, Paul F. ; Hopkins, Sean ; Kasner, Edward J. ; et al ( September 2022 , Current Environmental Health Reports)

   Abstract Purpose of Review Increasing wildfire size and severity across the western United States has created an environmental and social crisis that must be approached from a transdisciplinary perspective. Climate change and more than a century of fire exclusion and wildfire suppression have led to contemporary wildfires with more severe environmental impacts and human smoke exposure. Wildfires increase smoke exposure for broad swaths of the US population, though outdoor workers and socially disadvantaged groups with limited adaptive capacity can be disproportionally exposed. Exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with a range of health impacts in children and adults, including exacerbation of existing respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, worse birth outcomes, and cardiovascular events. Seasonally dry forests in Washington, Oregon, and California can benefit from ecological restoration as a way to adapt forests to climate change and reduce smoke impacts on affected communities. Recent Findings Each wildfire season, large smoke events, and their adverse impacts on human health receive considerable attention from both the public and policymakers. The severity of recent wildfire seasons has state and federal governments outlining budgets and prioritizing policies to combat the worsening crisis. This surging attention provides an opportunity to outlinemore »the actions needed now to advance research and practice on conservation, economic, environmental justice, and public health interests, as well as the trade-offs that must be considered. Summary Scientists, planners, foresters and fire managers, fire safety, air quality, and public health practitioners must collaboratively work together. This article is the result of a series of transdisciplinary conversations to find common ground and subsequently provide a holistic view of how forest and fire management intersect with human health through the impacts of smoke and articulate the need for an integrated approach to both planning and practice.« less
5. The global climate value of offshore wind energy

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7667  

   Cranmer, Alexana ; Baker, Erin ( April 2020 , Environmental Research Letters)

   We estimate the climate value of offshore wind energy with a highly flexible, forward-looking method that estimates the value in a consistent manner under a range of policies, including carbon caps and taxes. Backward looking methods measure the damages avoided due to emissions reductions attributed to renewable energy under an existing policy structure. Under a carbon cap, however, the climate value of offshore wind energy comes entirely from reducing the cost of meeting the cap. Our method for estimating the prospective climate value compares bothclimate damagesandabatement costsin cases with and without offshore wind energy. This climate value can be compared to the costs of reducing barriers to new technologies, such as streamlining approval processes. The climate value depends on the cost of offshore wind technology, the climate policy under consideration, the severity of damages from climate change, and the discount rate. In the absence of a binding climate policy, the climate value of offshore wind energy ranges from $246 billion to $2.5 trillion under central assumptions about damages and discount rate, and can reach over $30 trillion under certain assumptions (low discount rate, high damages, low technology costs). The value of technical change—of moving from the highest cost tomore »lowest cost assumptions about the technology—is estimated to be $300 billion even under the most unfavorable assumptions, dwarfing worldwide R&D investment inallwind energy technology. Using this method, we find that new low carbon technologies can provide a hedge against uncertainty and error in climate policies.

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