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381. What are the Welfare Costs of Shoreline Loss? Housing Market Evidence from a Discontinuity Matching Design

Author:
Matthew Ranson
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper uses housing market data to estimate the welfare costs of shoreline loss along coastal beaches in Florida. I develop a forward-looking structural model of a housing market in which a time-variant housing characteristic (beach width) follows a Markov process. I use this model to provide an exact welfare interpretation for the coefficients from three empirical research designs: (1) a repeat-sales panel regression of housing prices on beach width; (2) a differences-in-differences approach based on sharp changes in beach width caused by beach nourishment projects; and (3) a new “discontinuity matching” research design that exploits capitalized housing price differentials created by predictable changes in future beach width. Using a unique panel dataset on housing sales, beach width survey measurements, and the timing of 204 beach nourishment projects along 300 miles of Florida's coastline, I then use each of these research designs to estimate homeowners' willingness to pay for an extra foot of sand. In contrast to previous work, I find that changes in beach width have little impact on housing prices, except possibly at very eroded beaches. The results imply that the welfare costs of sea level rise may be low up to a threshold, and then increase sharply.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Environment
Political Geography:
United States and Florida

382. The Nature and Role of Regional Agreements in International Environmental Politics: Mapping Agreements, Outlining Future Research

Author:
Miriam Prys, Jörg Balsiger, and Niko Steinhoff
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Global agreements to mitigate climate change, conserve biodiversity or combat desertification typically take center stage in scholarly discussions about international environmental politics. Even though the United Nations Environment Programme reported ten years ago that regional agreements make up two‐thirds of all international treaties, regional cooperation has by comparison either received scant attention or been conceptually and empirically lumped together with global treaties. This lack of knowledge about the historical and current scope of regional governance is a serious obstacle to understanding the architecture of global environmental governance and to overcoming current bottlenecks in international environmental cooperation. In response, we report on the outcome of an analysis that complements the most comprehensive database on international environmental agreements (iea.uoregon.edu) with variables for analysis at the regional level. We introduce a multidimensional typology of regional agreements based on contiguous/noncontiguous agreement membership, contiguous/noncontiguous spatial ambit, and whether membership and ambit are adjoining and/or coextensive. We discuss the theoretical and empirical relevance of the different types of agreements and the nature and prevalence of special cases. Given the previous lack of research in this area, our primary purpose is to present a systematic account of regional environmental governance, leaving causal analysis to our own and others' future research. We identify a number of knowledge gaps and analytical directions in the conclusion.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and United Nations

383. Migration and Disaster-Induced Displacement: European Policy, Practice, and Perspective

Author:
Michael D. Cooper
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Over the last decade, a series of devastating natural disasters have killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions, and decimated the built environment across wide regions, shocking the public imagination and garnering unprecedented financial support for humanitarian relief efforts. Some suggest that disaster migration must be supported by the international community, first as an adaption strategy in response to climate-change, and second, as a matter of international protection.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, Humanitarian Aid, and Natural Disasters
Political Geography:
Europe

384. Socioeconomic and Ecological Consequences of Biofuel Development in India

Author:
M.S. Umesh Babu and Sunil Nautiyal
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview on biofuel production and its pros and cons in India and elsewhere. The paper also discusses the major issue of whether biofuels are an alternative to fossil fuels or are a competitive for food production. It examines benefits for the rural poor by providing additional income, employment, land value, etc., and the circumstances of the biofuels market and its inputs for GDP growth in India. However, of late, biofuels and their production have failed to address challenges like supply of water and food security, for the growing population in India as well as many other developing countries in the world. This paper highlighted these issues in detail particularly disadvantages of biofuel production.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Oil, Water, and Food
Political Geography:
India

385. Assessing EU Leadership on Climate Change. The Limits of Diffusion in EU Relations with China and India

Author:
Diarmuid Torney
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
The EU has for a long time claimed the title of “leader” in the international politics of climate change. However, existing research has generally failed to specify whether the EU's purported leadership has induced the “followership” of other states. This working paper seeks to shed light on this somewhat neglected topic by examining the attempted diffusion of climate change norms, policies, and institutions by the EU to China and India. The paper makes two principal arguments. First, the development of Chinese and Indian climate change policy should be understood as primarily domestic developments. Nonetheless, there was limited evidence of diffusion from the EU, but there was significant variation between the Chinese and Indian responses to the EU's diffusion attempts. The Chinese response was one increasing accommodation; the Indian response was a more straightforward case of resistance. Second, domestic factors help to explain the variation in the Chinese and Indian responses to EU attempts at diffusion and, related, the observed pattern of diffusion from the EU to China and India. Particularly important is the degree to which new external ideas and concepts resonate with pre-existing domestic ideas and concepts. The paper thus paints a picture of limited EU leadership, but also suggests that the EU attempts to secure “followership” could be enhanced by paying greater attention to the domestic politics and preferences of third countries.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
China and India

386. Emissions Trading - A Transatlantic Journey for an Idea?

Author:
Katja Biedenkopf
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
This paper examines the ways in which the EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading system (ETS) affected the design of similar programs in North America. It investigates the conditions under which EU pioneering policy can play a role in extra-EU jurisdictions' policy-making. The empirical investigation finds that the EU's promotion of emissions trading was successful to some extent. The EU did not influence or trigger the inception of GHG emissions trading programs in North America. The EU ETS, however, played a role in the design process of the North American programs. Actors learned from elements of the EU system. Domestic North American factors were the triggers and drivers of the agenda-setting stage and dominated the policy adoption stage while the EU ETS significantly contributed to the policy formulation processes. The EU ETS played a role at the technical level rather than at the level of political deliberations and decision- making. The EU's policy promotion efforts depended on the demand in North America. The resonance and receptiveness in North America were decisive factors. The EU was not an importunate persuader. Learning from the ETS was to a significant part demand-driven.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, International Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
North America

387. Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security

Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
On 30–31 July 2012, a Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security was held at the Hotel Novotel Beijing Peace, China, with the aim of sharing the research findings of participating institutions. The Roundtable was organised by the Center for Regional Security Studies (CRSS), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS); the National Institute of International Strategy (NIIS), CASS; and the Center for Non-Traditional Security and Peaceful Development Studies (NTS-PD), Zhejiang University.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, Human Rights, Human Welfare, Political Economy, Natural Disasters, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, and Australia/Pacific

388. Delivering Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth: The Case of China

Author:
Junjie Zhang
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Asia Society
Abstract:
China has achieved miraculous economic growth over the past 30 years to become the world's second largest single-country economy. The economic boom is attributed to China's market-oriented reforms, which prioritize economic growth. However, growing the gross domestic product (GDP) at any cost has created a series of social and environmental problems. Consequently, China's economic losses due to pollution and environmental degradation accounted for 10.51 percent of gross national income in 2008, according to the World Bank.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Environment, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
China

389. Canada-US Arctic Marine Corridors and Resource Development

Author:
James Manicom, John Higginbotham, and Andrea Charron
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
The shrinking Arctic ice cap is creating unprecedented geophysical change in the circumpolar region, a trend that is very likely to continue. Together, this “great melt” and the delineation of extended national economic zones afford increased access to economic resources in the Arctic Ocean. Intense activities in commercial, investment, diplomatic, legal, scientific and academic sectors abound in the new Arctic, but the region's long-term significance is only gradually penetrating North American public consciousness. Media reports such as the recent, virtually ice-free trans-polar transit of a Chinese icebreaker through the Russian Northern Sea Route, or the transit of the Northwest Passage by a large cruise ship, are only the tip of the proverbial economic iceberg. In preparing for the commercialization of the Arctic Ocean, Canada and the United States, as major nations bordering the Arctic, face enormous opportunities in protecting economic and environmental interests; however, a number of challenges impede the fulfillment of this vision.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Environment, Oil, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, Canada, and North America

390. The Climate 'Fiscal Cliff': An evaluation of Fast Start Finance and lessons for the future

Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
After a year of extreme weather, developing countries face a climate 'fiscal cliff' at the end of 2012, as Fast Start Finance expires and the Green Climate Fund remains empty. New Oxfam analysis of Fast Start Finance reveals that much of it has been a false start. Governments have not delivered on commitments made in Copenhagen to ensure that the funding was new, additional, and balanced across adaptation and mitigation projects. Developed nations must scale up climate finance from 2013, consider innovative proposals to raise public climate finance, and make pledges to the Green Climate Fund which otherwise will remain an empty shell for the third year in a row.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Economics, Environment, Third World, and Financial Crisis