French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
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2024

2024

2024.09 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.

2024.08 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.

 

2024.07 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.

2024.06 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).

 

2024.05 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.

2024.04 Urban Foodprint and Mitigation 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.

2024.03 Waste Trading System: managing waste with high population density and low sorting rate

Julie Metta – Coline Metta-Versmessen -Valeria Alvarado

Abstract 

Landfilling notoriously has environmental impacts, adversely affecting air, soil and water. It therefore represents a waste management strategy of last resort, and reducing the landfilling rate is essential to mitigating these externalities. Nevertheless, deploying
this potential is difficult in the absence of citizen participation in sorting. To correct for these negative externalities and market failure, contemporary policy discussions so far mainly focus on taxation and thus largely overlook market-based solutions. In this
study, we first discuss the conditions favouring the effectiveness of a C&T approach for MSW management. We identify five elements characterizing a C&T system for waste: cap definition, allocation of pollution permits, liquidity and market power, price volatility, and participant compliance; that we further investigate for the implementation of a WTS in large and populated urban areas. We subsequently applied our analysis to the specific case of Hong Kong. We determine the agents concerned, the optimal social cost
of waste, the number of permits for the total period as well as its allocation method, together with the potential market design scenario with regard to the particularities of Hong Kong and its climate regulation in the broad sense.

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 sourcereduction, 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.

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 labelling 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. Labelling has to be like a milestone that guide consumers in their choices, but the multiplication of labels erases this role. Nevertheless, labelling 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 labelling project. Using data from a survey of more than 900 seafood consumers in the Region Sud of France, 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.

Working Papers

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