Voluntary environmental agreements have been popular with government agencies in several countries. However, many questions remain about their efficiency as a regulatory tool. Recent analyses suggest that they are more effective than classical regulatory or economic approaches when dealing with...

We analyze a dynamic multi-pollutant problem where abatement costs of several pollutants are not separable. The pollutants can be either technological substitutes or complements. Environmental damage is induced by the stock of accumulated pollution. We find that optimal emission paths are...

In the context of climate protection policy it has been suggested that global CO2 emissions should be reduced significantly (contraction) and that per capita emissions should gradually be equalized across countries (convergence). This paper uses a dynamic multi-region computable general...

The Kyoto Protocol marks a break-through in global warming mitigation policies as it sets legally binding emissions targets for major emitting regions. However, realisation of the Protocol depends on the clarification of several issues one of which is the permissible scope of international...

The allocation of emissions entitlements across countries is the single most controversial issue in international climate policy. Extreme positions within the policy debate range from entitlement based on current emission patterns (CEP) to equal-per-capita (EPC) allocations.Convergence (COV)...

This paper offers a unified framework linking two important debates: First, the debate about the respective roles of geography and institutions on economic development; Second, the literature on the role of technological change and economic development on agricultural intensification and land...

In this paper, we analyze how to utilize discount rates in intergenerational projects. Firstly, neoclassical decision-making is depicted in Ramsey and overlapping-generations models (OLG-models). Afterwards we investigate the utilization of time preference rates and opportunity cost rates in an...

The paper sketches out a theoretical framework for analysing the interplaybetween eco-efficiency, cognition and institutions. It derives from analyticalshortfalls of the prevailing literature, which features strongly engineering andbusiness economics, by using insights from New Institutional...

In the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the bases for a world sustainable development were set. Ten years later it took place in Johannesburg the World Summit on Sustainable Development, where it was discussed about the fulfilled advances and it...