Universidad de Talca (Chile). Facultad de Economía y Negocios
Abstract
179 p.This dissertation considers three empirical essays: two covering the nexus
between energy and environmental economics and one addressing economic
aspects regarding environmental monitoring, enforcement, and compliance. The
first essay explores the consequences of different energy poverty definitions and
measures for identifying the energy poor. A Perception-based Multidimensional
Energy Poverty Index (PMEPI) is proposed and compares the identification
outcomes with the monetary index applying the ten percent rule index (TPRI) for
the case of Chile. Coincidentally, both classify 15.5% of the population as energy
poor. However, they select different energy-poor households while producing
diverging energy-poverty rankings across the territory. Moreover, the TPRI
neglects supply-side constraints captured by the PMEPI. These results suggest
that both types of measures should not be used as substitutes but rather as
complements in the energy policy debate and implementation of energy poverty
alleviation actions. The second essay estimates the key private benefits of a
program to improve ambient air quality during winter in central Chile by replacing
inefficient wood-fired home heating stoves with more efficient pellet stoves. By
combining electronic stove surface temperature and air pollution monitoring with
household surveys, this work shows that pellet stoves users enjoy 14% lower
indoor air pollution concentrations and more stable indoor temperatures than
traditional wood-burning stoves users. In addition, lower-income and energy-poor
households receive much greater improvements in indoor air pollution than those
with higher incomes, indicating that the program is progressive in this dimension.
However, these have significantly higher operating costs, and we found that these
costs are most salient for low-income and energy-poor households. The results of
this work represent an additional value for driving the energy transition. The third
essay empirically analyzes the complete sequence of enforcement and compliance
in Chile, including inspections, compliance, submission of compliance programs,
size of fines, payment of fines, and delay of payment of fines. These analyses are
conducted for the case of facilities that belong to different economic sectors and
are regulated by the Chilean Superintendency of Environment. This work
demonstrates that monitoring efforts are relatively low, inspections are conducted
differently across different sectors and are related to some specific facilities’
characteristics. Compliance is also conducted differently across sectors, and it is
positively related to the enforcement activities carried out by the regulators. This
work also displays that fines increase the probability of compliance, and that is
transmitted as a spillover effect to facilities sharing the same firm owner and in
facilities that belong to the same sector located in the same commune. Furthermore, this work shows that presenting a compliance program is less likely on the small size facilities, the severity of the violation correlates positively with the size of the fine, and finally, the fine’s payment positively correlates with the size of the facility
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