French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
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2024

WP 2024.09 /old/pub/WorkingPapers/Poinet_Mahieu_FAERE_WP2024.09.pdf">A local versus global descriptive social norm: A DCE applied to waste sorting behavior in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Lucie Point – Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu

Abstract

Previous literature has widely explored the influence of descriptive social norms on individuals’ pro-environmental behavior. However, despite a growing interest in the subject, the role of geographical proximity of the reference group remains unclear. Our study seeks to fill this gap by investigating the impact of a descriptive social norm at two scales: local (neighborhood), and global (city). In this aim, we incorporate descriptive norms as attributes in a discrete choice survey. Our findings reveal that only the local social norm exerts a significant influence on organic waste sorting behavior, while the global social norm does not show a significant effect at conventional statistical levels. These results highlight the importance of considering the geographical proximity of the reference group when studying descriptive social norms.

The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

WP 2024.08 /old/pub/WorkingPapers/Melindi-Ghidi_Seegmuller_FAERE_WP2024.08.pdf">The dynamics of fertility under environmental concerns

Paolo Melindi-Ghidi –Thomas Seegmuller

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature interested in the new factors that may determine fertility behaviors. Many studies underlay that environmental concerns have a direct effect on households’ fertility decisions. We present a dynamic model that explicitly examines this interplay, considering whether the number of children and environmental concerns may be complementary or substitutable. Interesting results occur when environmental concerns and the number of children are substitutable. At a stable steady state, a stronger effect of environmental concerns on household’s preferences reduces the number of children, as also stressed by a recent literature. The dynamics can be described by an inversely U-shaped relationship between fertility and environmental indicators reflecting the impact of economic production, such as the carbon intensity, as we illustrate using data on US States. The dynamics also explain that regions with lower carbon intensity are those with lower fertility.

 

WP 2024.07 /old/pub/WorkingPapers/Kirat_FAERE_WP2024.07.pdf">Revisiting the resource curse: Does volatility matter?

Yassine Kirat

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impacts of both natural-resource abundance and natural-resource volatility on economic growth. We apply the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) approach of Gonzales et al. (2005), which is more flexible than the standard fixed-effects model, to data on 87 countries over the 1989-2015 period. Our results suggest that: (i) greater natural-resource abundance significantly raises economic growth, contrary to the resource-curse paradox; (ii) the impact of natural-resource abundance, investment and human capital on GDP growth rate per capita is non-linear, and varies by the level of natural-resource abundance volatility; and (iii) the subsequent GDP growth loss may reach 17 percentage points per year for countries with the highest natural-resource abundance volatility, compared to those with the lowest natural-resource abundance volatility. Volatility in natural-resource revenues and poor governmental responses then seem to drive the resource-curse paradox, instead of natural-resource abundance as such.

WP 2024.06 /old/pub/WorkingPapers/Gate_Hilal_FAERE_WP2024.06.pdf">Les déterminants des distances domicile-travail : cas des aires urbaines françaises métropolitaines

Romain Gaté – Mohamed Hilal

Abstract

We estimate urban form effects on commuting distances within French urban areas using cross-sectional analysis (1999, 2007 and 2014). A stronger concentration of jobs relative to population within urban areas appears to significantly influence commuting distances. However, our estimates suggest relatively weak effects. Average distances between residence location and workplace would decrease by 10% whether jobs and population were equally distributed within urban areas. Our results show that commuting distances depend on many parameters that differ with spatial distribution of jobs within urban areas (density, demographics and public transport).

 

WP 2024.05 /old/pub/WorkingPapers/CombesMotel_Okoko_Schwartz_FAERE_WP2024.05.pdf">Does the the EU-ETS affect the firm’s capital structure? Evidence from French manufacturing firms

Pascale Combes Motel – Aimé Okoko – Sonia Schwartz

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) on the capital structure, namely the debt ratio, of French firms from 2007 to 2018. To do this, we construct an original database linking French firms subject to the ETS to their financial variables. Using a matching method, we show that firms participating in the ETS have a higher debt ratio than non-participating ones. To consider the effect of the initial allocation of allowances, we divide our sample of treated firms according to their initial allocation quartile. We find that firms with the lowest initial allowances have the highest debt ratio. Furthermore, the ETS’s effect on firms’ capital structure is observed during Phase 2 (2008-2012) as opposed to Phase 3 (2013-2020) and concerns firms operating on domestic markets. The effect also differs according to the sectors selected. Our results suggest that, faced with the ETS, firms anticipated the future tightening of environmental constraints. Firms that received the fewest free-of-charge allowances complied by investing in pollution-reduction technologies relying on debt financing. Environmental policy variables, therefore, have an impact on the financial structure of firms.

WP 2024.04 Urban Foodprint and Mititgation Strategies: A Theoretical Analysis

Anne Fournier

Abstract
Feeding the expanding global population while reducing the environmental impact of farming and food supply is among the main challenges of the century. Cities, which host the large majority of the past decade demographic growth, are at the forefront. They are increasingly considering the relevance of developing policies to explicitly support less-intensive production and/or rebuild their foodshed so as to reduce their reliance on long-distance food transport. In this paper, we develop a spatial theoretical model to describe and discuss both economic and environmental implications of farming practices change and relocation strategies. We highlight that, compared to the market outcome, promoting less-intensive and local farming may improve the welfare provided that the marginal opportunity cost of urban land remains low enough. However, we also show that the conversion from conventional to alternative farming does not necessarily reduce GHG emissions and may, as a consequence, offset the positive effect on welfare. We finally conduct numerical simulations so as to illustrate the ambiguous impacts of food relocation.

WP 2024.03 Managing Municipal Solid Waste with low citizen involvement: the case of Hong Kongteurs ?

Julie Metta – Coline Metta-Versmessen – Valeria Alvarado

Abstract
While the waste sector has significant decarbonization potential, deploying this potential is difficult in the absence of citizen participation and involvement. In this paper the political management of the waste sector is studied for the case of Hong Kong. Using Weitzman’s theorem and extensions, both marginal abatement and damage curves are built to analyse which policy would be the most suitable. From our analysis, we first show that involving citizens in waste reduction and sorting is the main issue for waste management in Hong Kong. Second, we derive that the first best scenario to regulate waste in this context would be through a quantity-based control system. We then detail how this Waste Permit Trading System should be developed to regulate the waste amount in this region. We characterize a system consisting of both landfill permits and recycling credits. We determine the optimal number of permits and credits for the different agents as well as a potential market design that allows for a future linking with the Chinese National Emission Trading System.

WP 2024.02 Tax-subsidy schemes for recycling when quantity and quality of waste matter

Karima Afif – Bocar Samba BA – Eugénie Joltreau

Abstract
This paper seeks to theoretically understand the impact of a tax-subsidy system (as implemented in Extended Producer Responsibility) on packaging source reduction, waste generation, and recycling in the presence of economies of scale and quality concerns in the recycling industry. We use a static equilibrium and a non-homothetic technology function to study asymmetric substitution between the virgin and the recycled material. The model displays a trade-off between recycled content and material productivity, and between waste generation and the recycling industry’s profitability. A tax-subsidy scheme in the form of an excise charge and a dual subsidy restores the social optimum, providing that the recycler reaches a positive profit. We find that the excise tax favors virgin material and packaging refinement, all else equal. At the same time, it decreases the use of recycled material, sales, and total waste generation. The subsidy granted to the producer has the opposite effect. The subsidy granted to the recycler increases its profit and the recycling rate.

WP 2024.01 Local label and sustainable labels: a source of consumer confusion? An applied study on the sud region

Charles Bee-Leroux – Dorothée Brécard – Frédéric Aprahamian

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of introducing a local label on consumers’ preferences for sustainable labels. The recent literature shows the interest of firms and consumers for labeling schemes. This success is a proof of the increasing sensitivity of consumers to the sustainable market. The other side of the coin is the proliferation of labels which generates confusion in consumers’ choices and leads to mistrust, reducing the visibility of the quality that labels have to guarantee. Labeling has to be like a milestone that guide consumers’ in their choices, but the multiplication of labels erases this role. Nevertheless, labeling remains one of the main policy tools for sustainable development, especially in the agri-food sector, so it is necessary to remain cautious with new labeling project. Using data from a survey of more than 900 seafood consumers in the Region Sud, we analyze their preferences between a local label, a health label, an eco-label, and a fair-trade label, using a ranking method. The aim is to understand how the new regional seafood certificate created by the Region Sud might exacerbate consumers’ difficulties in correctly distinguishing between the different labels. Using a rank-ordered model, we show that the “health” label, which remains the preferred label for a large proportion of consumers, is clearly distinguishable from the other three labels. On the other hand, the presence of a local label creates some confusion among consumers with respect to the eco-label and the fair trade label, which it tends to replace. We conclude that the introduction of this new label promoting regional fishing will create more confusion.

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Working Papers

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