By means of a two-jurisdictional model, this paper analyses the optimal division of environmental policymaking functions among the different government levels, identifying the most appropriate level of decentralization in each case. The paper focuses on water resources policies, with an...

This paper investigates the existing Italian regulation regarding the so-called "administration by agreements" and the possibility to adapt the existing legal system to voluntary agreements in the environmental field in the light of the European guidelines on this issue. The research consists of...

Agriculture and forestry play an important role in emitting and storing greenhouse gases. For an efficient and cost-effective climate policy it is therefore important to explicitly include land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) in economyclimate models. This paper gives an overview and...

Contracts providing payments for not developing natural areas, or for removing cropland from production, generally require long-term commitments. Landowners, however, can decide to prematurely terminate the contract when the opportunity cost of complying with conservation requirements increases....

This paper studies the effects of environmental policy on the farmer's soil optimal management. We consider a dynamic economic model of soil erosion where the intensity use of inputs allows the farmer to control soil losses. Therefore, inputs use induces a pollution which is accentuated by the...

We distinguish between local problems of biodiversity loss and global ones, where international cooperation is required. Global biodiversity regulation involves choosing the optimal stopping rule regarding global land conversions, in order to ensure that some areas of unconverted natural...

Hungary is home to a great diversity of plant and animal species, whose preservation is of global value. This paper focuses on the institutional aspects of the research project on on-farm conservation of crop genetic resources in three Environmentally Sensitive Areas of Hungary (Dévaványa,...

This paper uses a transaction cost approach in order to classify the different policy options that are currently discussed in relation to the Kyoto protocol. It analyses the market as only one of the possible collective decision making processes, which are available to operationalize the concept...

Within this paper, we analyse the fulfilment of the Kyoto-emissions reduction com-mitment exemplary in Germany and its implication on long-term paths of all macro-variables. Germany, like all other industrial or Annex B coun-tries, has to reduce its emissions by 2010 and after what we call a...

This paper discusses the merits and limits of the recent European energy policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions, devoting particular attention to the European Trading System of carbon permits and to the measures that the European Union has adopted to promote renewable energy sources. From the...