Carbon markets, like other commodity markets, are volatile. They react to stochastic “disequilibrium” spot prices, which may be affected by inadequate policies, speculations and bubbles. The market-based emission trading, therefore, does not necessarily minimize abatement costs and achieve...

This paper describes a spatial-dynamic,stochastic optimization model that takes account ofthe complexities and dependencies of catastrophicrisks. Following a description of the general model,the paper briefly discusses a case study of earthquakerisk in the Irkutsk region of Russia. For this...

Traditional discounting dramatically affects the outcome of catastrophic risk management and spatio-temporal vulnerability modeling. The misperception of discount rates produces inadequate evaluations of risk management strategies, which may provoke catastrophes and significantly contribute to...

This paper discusses trade mechanisms in pollutionpermit markets. Proofs are given, that sequential,bilateral trade in tradeable emissions permitsconverges to a market equilibrium with minimal totalcosts of pollution control. If ambient or depositionpermits are traded, the convergence of...

Climate change studies for West Africa tend to predict a reduced potential for farming that will affect the food security situation of an already impoverished population. However, these studies largely ignore farmers’ adaptations and market adjustments that mitigate predicted negative effects....

Current agriculture in Sub-Sahara Africa is undeveloped and the Green Revolution has left the continent largely untouched. Poor performance is often related to a number of socio-economic factors. In this paper we argue that there are also some specifities of natural resources, namely local...

The main goal of this paper is to develop a flood management model that takes into account the specifics of catastrophic risk management: highly mutually dependent losses, the lack of information, the need for long-term perspectives and explicit analyses of spatial and temporal heterogeneities...