The author analyzes the optimal investment in environmental protection in a model of an infinite series of non-overlapping hyperbolically discounting agents. He shows that without a commitment mechanism society is eventually stuck in a situation where all agents prefer further investment in the...

In this paper, we extend the well known result that hyperbolically discounting agents tend to postpone costs into the future. In a simple model we show that, without commitment to the ex ante optimal plan, no investment in environmental protection is undertaken over the whole time horizon, no...

Dieser Beitrag formuliert aus der wirtschaftsethischen Perspektive des ordonomischen Forschungsprogramms einige Denkanstöße, die dazu beitragen sollen, ein differenzierte(re)s Moralurteil über 'Kapitalismus' zu entwickeln: Kapitalismus setzt Wettbewerbsanreize ein, um Produktionseffizienz und...

Die umweltpolitische Debatte leidet unter einem verbreiteten Diskursversagen. Zugrunde liegt eine Moralkonfusion. Sie verstellt der demokratischen Öffentlichkeit den Blick auf die ordnungspolitische Option, das moralische Anliegen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung - inklusive Klimaschutz - durch...

The paper examines the determinants that influence the environmental innovation behaviour of companies in Germany in a multivariate context by using data from the Mannheimer Innovations Panel 1993, which was part of the Community Innovation Survey. The objective is to analyse the general...

The Rural Development Regulation (RDR) within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as an exemplary manifestation of the New Rural Development Paradigm, has achieved significant results. Nevertheless, it has increasingly become liable to institutional complexity and central control in an...

Much of the political economy analysis of reform focuses on the conflict of interest between groups that stand to gain or lose from the competing policy proposals. In reality, there is also a lot of disagreement about the working of the policy: in addition to conflicting interests, conflicting...

This paper analyses two aspects of environmental regulations triggered by ecoinnovations. First, whether there are long term effects of regulation on innovation. Second, whether the impact of different types of regulation differ by type of the environmental benefit of the innovations. To answer...

We empirically investigate the responsiveness of international trade to the stringency of environmental regulation. Stringent environmental regulation may impair the export competitiveness of ‘dirty’ domestic industries, and as a result, ‘pollution havens’ emerge in countries where...