We analyse the energy flexibility and technological change in the pulp and paper industry by applying a multioutput production function. The pulp and paper industry mostly consists of heterogeneous firms. They produce a wide range of different goods with different technologies. We take the...

How much is a wildflower worth? Inspired by “The worth of a songbird” by Funtowicz and Ravetz (1994) we use the value of a wildflower as symbol of the complexity of evaluating environmental qualities and risks. We critically discuss the application of cost-benefit analysis in evaluating...

The environmental risk associated with genetically modified organisms (GMO) implies that new approaches to risk assessment, risk management and risk communication are needed. In this paper we discuss the role of the precautionary principle in policy responses to GMO risk. We first discuss...

Abstract: Motivated by the climate problem, this paper examines some effects of international cap & trade when national quotas result from strategic choice. In contrast to the fairly optimistic tone of closely related literature, the tenor of our results is pessimistic. We find that though an...

Our point of departure is that a group of developed countries invest in the development of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement technologies both at home and in developing countries. Such investments reduce the cost of future GHG abatement, and influence the future GHG abatement choices of both...

The European Union (EU) identified some positive and negative externalities related to energy production and consumption when adopting its Renewable Energy and Climate Change Package. Given these externalities, we derive the optimal combination of policy instruments. Thereafter, we explore the...

In most applied cost-benefit analyses, individual willingness to pay is aggregated without using explicit welfare weights. This can be justified by postulating a utilitarian social welfare function, along with the assumption of equal marginal utility of income for all individuals. However, since...

The transition from more traditional to modern modes of production has large implications for time allocation, accumulation of social capital, market and non-market production, consumption, as well as for the environmental externalities of production and consumption. In this paper we explicitly...

In addition to his role as a consumer pursuing his own interests, an individual may also regard himself as an ethical observer, judging matters from society's point of view. It is not clear which of these possibly conflicting roles respondents in contingent valuation studies take on. This leads...

A recent study of the welfare state in Sweden, Rosen (1995, 1996, 1997), concludes that child care subsidies may lead to substantial deadweight losses that may impede economic growth and the future of the welfare state. In this article we show that the deadweight losses are highly sensitive to...