The authors explore the use of cross-sectional analysis to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture. The impact literature, using experiments on crops in laboratory settings combined with simulation models, suggests that agriculture will be strongly affected by climate change. The...

It is a common perception that primary commodity prices tend to move together. This perception is especially common among commodity traders who may justify an increase in the price of one commodity because the prices of other commodities have increased. This commodity price co-movement can be...

This paper develops a new methodology for calculating the"carbon footprint"of air travel whereby emissions from travel in premium (business and first) classes depend heavily on the average class-specific occupied floor space. Unlike methods currently used for the purpose, the approach properly...

In the early 1980s Chile reformed its electricity sector, introducing a regulatory framework that became influential worldwide. But in 1998 and 1999 La Ni?a brought one of the worst droughts on record, causing a price system collapse, random power outages, and three-hour rotating electricity...

Budgets for extension services have been reduced in many countries. One response to these reductions in public services in some countries has been to privatize extension services - with extension services provided for a fee, by either public agencies or private companies. Under the new approach,...

This paper reviews movements in raw materials consumption over the past 30 years. Included in this review are all base metals and steel, and important agricultural raw materials. These primary commodities share the common characteristic that they are used as inputs in manufacturing and...

This paper explores two different conceptions of how an emerging climate regime might evolve to strengthen incentives for more vigorous cooperation in mitigating global climate change. One is the paradigm that has figured most prominently in negotiations to this point: the establishment of...

Although private forest use in Brazil has been regulated at least since the Forest Code of 1965, cumulative deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached 653,000 km2 by 2003 (INPE 2004). Much of this deforestation is illegal. In 1999, the State Foundation of the Environment (FEMA) in Mato Grosso...

Collectively or individually, countries are likely to implement policies designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Experience from tradable quota schemes suggests that emissions trading could significantly reduce the costs of emission limits. The Kyoto Protocol provides the framework for a...

The authors start from the premise that governments act as agents of the public in regulating pollution, using the instruments at their disposal. But when formal regulatory mechanisms are absent or ineffective, communities will seek other means of translating their preferences into reality....