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32. Moving Toward A Consensus on Climate Policy: The Essential Role of Global Public Disclosure
- Author:
- David Wheeler
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- Among climate scientists, there is no longer any serious debate about whether greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are altering the earth' s climate. There is also a broad consensus on two issues related to reducing emissions. First, developing countries must be full participants in global emissions control, because they will be most heavily impacted by global warming, and because they are rapidly approaching parity with developed countries in the scale of their emissions. Second, efficient emissions control will require carbon pricing via market-based instruments (charges or cap-and-trade). These points of consensus are sufficient to establish a clear way forward, despite continued disagreements over the choice of specific instrument and the appropriate carbon charge level. Since all market-based systems that regulate emissions sources require the same emissions information, the international community should immediately establish an institution mandated to collect, verify and publicly disclose information about emissions from all significant global carbon sources. Its mandate should extend to best-practice estimation and disclosure of emissions sources in countries that initially refuse to participate. This institution will serve four purposes. First, it will lay the necessary foundation for implementing any market-based system of emissions source regulation. Second, it will provide an excellent credibility test, since a country's acceptance of full disclosure will signal its true willingness to participate in globally-efficient emissions reduction. Third, global public disclosure will itself reduce carbon emissions, by focusing stakeholder pressure on major emitters and providing reputational reward s for clean producers. Fourth, disclosure will make it very hard to cheat once market-based instruments are implemented. This will be essential for preserving the credibility of an international agreement to reduce emissions.
- Topic:
- Environment, Industrial Policy, International Cooperation, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- Europe
33. Reviewing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: Priorities for Short-Term Implementation of the Second Round of Allocation (Part II)
- Author:
- Christian Egenhofer and Noriko Fujiwara
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This report constitutes Part II of the CEPS Task Force Report on Reviewing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Part I was presented to the UK Presidency on 7 July 2005, and subsequently published on the CEPS website. It focused on a number of short-term implementation issues linked to the second round of allocation, including transparency requirements of the National Allocation Plans (NAPs), the definition of installations, treatment of small installations, new entrants, closure and transfer rules, allocation methodologies, the possibility of opt-ins as well as monitoring, reporting and verification. Part II examines deepseated issues such as economic impact and effects on investment as well as the potential inclusion of aviation. These issues are expected to have a major influence on the second phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2008-12.
- Topic:
- Environment and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
34. European Chemical Policy and the United States: The Impacts of REACH
- Author:
- Rachel Massey, Frank Ackerman, and Liz Stanton
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
- Abstract:
- The European Union is moving toward adoption of its new Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) policy, an innovative system of chemicals regulation that will provide crucial information on the safety profile of chemicals used in industry. Chemicals produced elsewhere, such as in the United States, and exported to Europe will have to meet the same standards as chemicals produced within the European Union. What is at stake for the U.S. is substantial: we estimate that chemical exports to Europe that are subject to REACH amount to about $14 billion per year, and are directly and indirectly responsible for 54,000 jobs. Revenues and employment of this magnitude dwarf the costs of compliance with REACH, which will amount to no more than $14 million per year. Even if, as the U.S. chemicals industry has argued, REACH is a needless mistake, it will be far more profitable to pay the modest compliance costs than to lose access to the enormous European market.
- Topic:
- Government, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
35. Russia's Challenges as Chair of the G-8
- Author:
- Anders Åslund
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- On January 1, Russia became the chair of the Group of Eight (G-8), the exclusive group of the biggest industrial democracies. This chairmanship raises many eyebrows. Russia was originally included in the G-8 to help lock in its democratic reforms, 1 but Russia is no longer even semidemocratic. Last year, US senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman sponsored a resolution urging President Bush to work for the suspension of Russia's membership until the Russian government accepted and adhered to “the norms and standards of free, democratic societies as generally practiced by every other member nation of the Group of 8 nations.” Jeffrey Garten ( Financial Times , June 28, 2005) has called Russia's chairmanship “farcical,” saying, “Two trends are changing the world for the better—freer markets and democratization. . . . But, alone among the summit member Russia is moving in the opposite direction. . . . Moscow's leader - ship of the G-8 reduces the credibility and the relevance of the group to zero.”
- Topic:
- International Relations, Democratization, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
36. Vladimir Putin and Russia's Oil Policy
- Author:
- Martha Brill Olcott
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- The honeymoon between the Western oil industry and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended in mid-2003 when the Russian procurator's office began arresting Yukos executives. The Kremlin's seemingly sudden attack on private industry surprised the international business community that was expecting investment-friendly behavior from the Russian leadership. After assuming power in late 1999, Putin quickly signaled interest in developing a strong energy partnership with the United States, including increased opportunities for Western firms to invest in Russia's oil and gas industry.
- Topic:
- Development, Energy Policy, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia
37. Impact of Public R Financing on Private R Does Financial Constraint Matter?
- Author:
- Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This study analyses how public R financing impacts companies. Our main goal is to study whether public and private R financing are substitutes or complements, and whether this impact differs between financially constrained and unconstrained companies. Our company-level panel data cover the period from 1996 to 2002. The statistical method employed in the research takes into account the possibility that receiving public support may be an endogenous factor. Our results suggest that public R financing does not crowd out privately financed R Instead, receiving a positive decision to obtain public R funds increases privately financed R Furthermore, our results suggest that this additionality effect is bigger in large firms than in small firms.
- Topic:
- Emerging Markets and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
38. The German ICT industry: Spatial Employment and Innovation Patterns
- Author:
- Björn Frank and Per Botolf Maurseth
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This paper documents recent developments in German ICT industries. In particular we report results on spatial patterns in innovation and employment in these industries. The paper is motivated by previous studies that have found that ICT industries seem to cluster geographically and having spatially clustered growth rates. In this study, we discriminate between production of ICT devices and production of ICT services. In Germany, production of ICT devices is concentrated in clusters of innovating regions (in terms of patents). ICT service production, on the other hand, is concentrated in larger urban areas. Growth rates in ICT-related employment show different spatial patterns. The data show that negative spatial effects are present for several sectors, which might give support for the so-called backwash effect described by Gunnar Myrdal (1957). For other sectors, positive spatial spillover effects may be present. For overall economic development (in terms of gross regional product per habitant) we find weak positive growth effects ICT, but these growth effects stem more from innovation than from production or use of ICT.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, and Industrial Policy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany
39. Strategic Unionism in Eastern Europe: The Case of Romania
- Author:
- Aurora Trif and Karl Koch
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
- Abstract:
- The shift from centrally planned economies to market-oriented economic models presented trade unions in Eastern European countries with crucial choices in relation to their roles as industrial relations actors. This paper investigates whether (and why) unions have chosen adversarial and/or co-operative relationships with the employers, based on a strategic choice conceptual framework. It focuses on trade union relations with employers at national, sectoral and company levels in Romania. It is argued that adversarial and co-operative relations between unions and employers developed simultaneously after 1989, but co-operation was the prevalent approach. Evidence suggests that ideological legacies, former institutions and the initial decision to participate in the macroeconomic transformation played a key role in shaping unions' choices towards co-operation with employers. Although this paper confirms the widespread view that labour is rather weak in Eastern Europe, it indicates that unions can be proactive and shape their own future if they have the capacity to mobilise their members and union leaders have the skills and willingness to use both conflict and co-operation in their relationships with employers. The comparison of evidence from Romania with other Eastern European countries reflects on the stage of Romanian transformation and also illustrates a wider possible applicability of the theoretical framework employed for the study.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Romania
40. Economic Reform and the Political Economy of the German Welfare State
- Author:
- Wolfgang Streeck and Christine Trampusch
- Publication Date:
- 02-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
- Abstract:
- The key to economic reform in Germany is a significant reduction in the high costs of labour.The main factor driving up German labour costs is the funding of the extensive German welfare state through social insurance contributions that in effect operate like payroll taxes on employment. The paper discusses the political causes of the rise in non-wage labour costs since the 1970s. It then proceeds to show how a variety of opportunities for political blockade in the German political economy dim the prospect for effective reform in the foreseeable future.
- Topic:
- Economics, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Germany