Environmental Economics Review

Flashcards for True/False Questions to prepare for the exam.

Performance standards (e.g., vehicle fuel economy) vs. Pigouvian tax/tradable emission permit schemes

Performance standards are less cost-effective than a Pigouvian tax or tradable emission permit scheme.

Coasian solution in Vittel's contracting with farmers

Real-world frictions prevented a clean Coasian solution despite seemingly favorable conditions.

Inferring environmental goods value using private commodities

Changes in consumption of private commodities can provide lower bounds on willingness-to-pay, but cannot accurately infer full value of environmental goods due to heterogeneity, information frictions, and unobserved avoidance channels. Accurate valuation requires experimental or quasi-experimental variation

Air conditioning and mortality impact of temperature extremes in the USA after 1960

Air conditioning was responsible for the sharp decline in the mortality impact of temperature extremes in the USA after 1960.

Impact of Diclofenac use and livestock levels on public health

The public health impact of increased Diclofenac use is dependent on the level of livestock in a location.

Using weather shocks vs. climate change data for mortality impact estimations

The same source of temperature variation in the data cannot be used to estimate the impact of weather shocks on mortality and climate change on mortality.

General equilibrium effects of environmental regulation

Even if regulation is firm-specific, spreading information can have general equilibrium effects within the regulator's jurisdiction.

Government commitment to electricity transmission lines and renewable energy investment

Government commitment to build electricity transmission lines connecting areas with high renewable capacity to population centers can increase investment in solar parks.

Final allocation of permitted emissions under cap and trade and initial allocation of permits

The final allocation of permitted emissions across firms under a cap and trade system does not depend on the initial allocation of permits

Per-mile externalities and optimal gasoline taxes

Per-mile externalities such as congestion are important in considering optimal gasoline taxes.

Market participant expectations for forecasting marginal abatement costs

Expectations of market participants can provide a means of forecasting the marginal abatement costs associated with proposed environmental policies.

Role of trade in reducing emissions from US manufacturing (1990s-2000s)

Trade played an important role in reducing emissions from US manufacturing in the 1990s and 2000s.

Citizen participation in environmental governance and regulatory enforcement

Citizen participation in environmental governance does lead to significant improvements in regulatory enforcement.

Import tariffs and weak domestic environmental regulation

Import tariffs can be effective substitutes for weak domestic environmental regulation.

Decline of pollution emissions from US manufacturing causes

The decline of pollution emissions from US manufacturing over the years can largely be attributed to factors such as reduction in trade costs and productivity improvements rather than increases in the stringency of environmental regulation.

Clean Air Act's effectiveness distribution

The Clean Air Act’s effectiveness in reducing PM2.5 levels was not uniformly distributed across all communities, regardless of their initial pollution levels or racial composition.

Agricultural technologies protect from economic consequences of climate change.

Agricultural technologies may not help populations in low-income countries (that are most affected by climate change) protect their citizens from the economic consequences of climate change, without technology diffusion and complementary inputs.

Social media in improving global environmental quality.

Social media can play a role in improving global environmental quality.

Labor market activities can help withstand climate shocks.

If the world’s poor change the labor market activities they are engaged in, they will not necessarily be able to better withstand climate shocks in the future without broader development and health investments.

Ambient exposure to air pollution between African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in the U.S.

The gap in ambient exposure to air pollution between African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in the U.S. has not closed over time because the White population has moved to urban (more polluted) areas disproportionately, instead, convergence is driven by slower minority income growth and firm siting/sorting dynamics

The international community does not have policy tools to improve land conservation in tropical areas

The international community does have policy tools to improve land conservation in tropical areas.

To assess the impact of fishing regulation comparing US Fish Stocks…

To assess the impact of fishing regulation in the US, researchers compare stocks subject to rebuilding plans with biologically similar stocks that never crossed the threshold, not with mis-assessed stocks.

The increase in the stringency of environmental regulation over time has played a relatively small role in the decline of pollution emissions from US manufacturing compared to other factors

The increase in the stringency of environmental regulation over time has played a large role in the decline of pollution emissions from US manufacturing compared to other factors such as productivity improvements or the outsourcing of pollution.

Pollution (e.g. water or air), would matter for the effectiveness of environmental regulation…

The type of pollution (e.g. water or air), does matter for the effectiveness of environmental regulation.

Production subsidies in markets…

Production subsidies are not costly and inefficient, they do not only allow the unproductive firms to remain in the market without leading to productivity gains, instead they stimulate gains.

A conventional two-way fixed effects strategy would capture the true causal effect of the expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure on the diffusion of renewable energy technologies

A conventional two-way fixed effects strategy would fail to capture the true causal effect of the expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure on the diffusion of renewable energy technologies.