Do environmental regulations reduce greenhouse gas emissions? A study on Canadian industries

This paper uses the Canadian industrial macro-level data from CANSIM to investigate the effect of formal and informal regulations on pollution intensity. Proxies for formal and informal regulation variables are defined as in Cole et al., 2005. The econometrics model is a panel with 23 manufacturing industries over 10 years, from 1994 to 2003. Manufacturing industries are chosen because they are the most pollutant industries. It is found that formal and informal regulations have significant effects on decreasing the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions in Canadian industries. Provinces with younger populations have stricter informal regulation on pollution density, because younger populations care more about the future quality of the environment. Also, provinces with a higher rate of unemployment have less formal regulation on pollution density; for those provinces, providing employment for citizens is more important than providing a healthy environment. Wealthier provinces with a low employment rate face less pressure from society and can spend more money on the environment; therefore, they have lower pollution density. Furthermore, industries with large average firm size can decrease emissions more than other industries. The cost of controlling the emissions decreases with firm size because of economies of scale.Keywords: Canadian manufacturing industries; Air pollution; Environmental regulations

Alaska-Canada Rail Link Economic Benefits

Construction of the 1,740 km Alaska-Canada Rail Link (ACRL) between Fort Nelson, BC and Delta Junction, Alaska to join the North American rail system to the Alaska Railroad will result in tremendous economic benefits for Canada and the US. The ACRL will provide valuable additional east-west rail capacity and tidewater access to the Pacific, hugely benefitting not only the Yukon and Eastern Alaska regions, into which it will introduce rail transport for the first time, but throughout both countries. The economic benefits of ACRL construction are consistent with Canadian government’s desire to promote Northern development and comparable in significance to those of Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880’s and the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950’s. Construction of the ACRL alone will bring unprecedented economic stimulus to the region in terms of job creation, wages and income tax revenue over multiple years. Table 7-1 below summarizes the benefits from ACRL construction for the Yukon, BC and Canada as a whole. However, these estimates are conservative as they exclude benefits associated with pre-construction activities, railway operation post-construction, sales taxes and corporate taxes as well as all such benefits that will accrue to Alaska and the US

A Three Factor Agricultural Production Function: The Case of Canada

This paper estimates a constant returns to scale agricultural production function of the three basic factors of production. Such a function is a useful tool for macroeconomic, growth, and development studies. It uses the shares approach that Solow used in 1957 and very disaggregated Canadian data. The main results of this paper are that first, in Canada, agriculture is less labour intensive than both services and industry, but capital intensity is similar in the three sectors. Second, the share of land in value added is estimated to be 16%. Third, total factor productivity growth in Canada has been roughly the same--0.3%--in agriculture and manufactures over the period 1971-91.agricultural economics, agriculture production function, macroeconomics

Demand for Wildlife Hunting in British Columbia

We present estimates of the demand for hunting licenses by residents and non residents in British Columbia for the period 1971–2000. We obtain estimates of both short-run and long-run price elasticities and discuss their revenue implications for future fee increases. We further find the demand by non residents to be strongly correlated with U.S. income variation over the business cycle; however, we find no such role for cyclical income variation for resident hunters. Finally, we demonstrate that hunters respond differently to conservation surcharges on hunting licenses relative to direct licensing charges, which has implications for policy makers introducing environmental surcharges in various contexts.recreation demand, environmental surcharges, resource revenues and rent capture

Canadian Money Demand Functions Cointegration¨CRank Stability

This paper applies conventional tests (Johansen, 1995) and new tests (Chao and Phillips, 1999) for cointegration to long¨Crun money demand functions using historical Canadian data back to 1872. If cointegration is found, recently proposed tests by Quintos (1998a) for stability of the cointegration rank are carried out. The paper focuses on two spans of data: one span starting in 1872, the other in 1957 or 1968. Annual data are used for the former span, and annual and quarterly data for the latter. The preferred money demand specification involves M1.Vector error-correction; unknown change points; long spans of monetary data

Where Has the Money Gone: The State of Canadian Household Debt in a Stumbling Economy

Increasing debt of Canadian households has been a subject of intense discussion for a good number of years. In the current economic situation, thought, the topic of household indebtedness is rapidly becoming a more critical area. This paper seeks to understand the extent to which the 2008 economic and financial crisis worsened financial positions of Canadian households. To that end, the paper imparts the key findings of the public opinion survey commissioned in 2008, considers changes in the main indicators of household indebtedness, and discusses the implications of the economic shocks on indebted households. The analysis shows that the measures of financial wellbeing of the household sector have deteriorated significantly over 2007 and particularly in 2008. Stagnant or even declining income, slow and lengthy process of rebuilding financial wealth and increasing real debt-service burden make the prospects of improving households’ financial situation in the near future low.household debt, household finances, savings, wealth, household spending, income shock, assets price shock

Market Access in Western Canadian and Northwestern United States Table Potato Markets

This report examines market opportunities in British Columbia for Alberta produced table potatoes. The report also seeks (1) to assess the cost competitiveness of the Alberta table potato sector, compared with costs of potato production in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States (US); (2) to provide a preliminary understanding of potential trade flows and trading volumes based on relative cost competitiveness; and (3) to assess the importance of particular potato attributes to table potato buyers in British Columbia. The study also undertakes a description of the environment in which trade takes place between Alberta and British Columbia. This is done to document conditions under which inter-province trade takes place, and to attempt to assess whether trade regulations affect Alberta shippers differently than shippers located in British Columbia. No overt barriers to trade were found. However, some rules do appear to impose different trade practices on potatoes moving across provincial boundaries compared to potatoes that are grown and sold within British Columbia. The study finds that, based on available cost estimates, Alberta producers are strongly cost-competitive in the British Columbia table potato market. However, potato production in the Pacific Northwest is also cost-competitive in the British Columbia table potato market. While Pacific Northwest production dwarfs that of Alberta, application of similar supply functions in the two regions suggests that there is a market for both Alberta and the Pacific Northwest in the British Columbia table potato market. This estimate is made in the context of new, and in our view better than recent past, estimates of the size of the British Columbia table potato market for 1996. These estimates suggest that British Columbia-based producers face serious cost constraints to expanding potato output and that the table potato market in British Columbia represents an opportunity for 51,500 metric tonne to be supplied by competing regions. Finally, the study reports on an assessment of table potato attributes considered important to potato buyers in the British Columbia market. British Columbia buyers appear willing to pay the highest prices for potatoes that are white, medium size, and of British Columbia origin. Potatoes from Alberta and the Pacific Northwest become equally attractive compared to British Columbia potatoes when prices are slightly below those received by sellers of equivalent British Columbia grown potatoes. Study estimates suggest that table potatoes grown in Alberta are valued equally by British Columbia buyers when potatoes grown in Alberta are priced $7.70 per tonne below those of local potatoes, and Pacific Northwest potatoes are valued equally to those grown locally when Pacific Northwest potatoes are priced about$13.90 per tonne below local prices. These estimates should be viewed with caution since (a) they are "best" ones given the levels of confidence of the study results, and (b) they represent a current perception about the desirability of non British Columbia grown table potatoes. Such perceptions may be long-term or fleeting, and may be subject to change as perceptions of BC buyers change with time or with new information.Marketing, International Relations/Trade,

Tracking the Trends 2013: 12th Edition

This report contains current and historical demographic and socio-economic data from the Edmonton region. Areas of focus in this report include statistics on education and employment, the cost of living and housing, wages and incomes, poverty, government income supports, social wellbeing, and the demographics of Edmonton

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPILLOVERS WITHIN THE CANOLA BIOTECH INDUSTRY

The study uses firm-specific data in the biotech canola industry to empirically examine research spillovers among public and private firms at the level of research output, research sales revenue, and research social revenue. The non-pecuniary spillovers that are examined include basic research, human capital/ knowledge (as measured through other-firm expenditures) and genetics (as measured through yields of other-firms). The results provide strong empirical evidence of several research spillovers in the biotech crop research industry such as: basic and applied public research creates a positive spillover for private firms at all levels; applied expenditure within-group reduces other-firm revenue while between-group expenditure increases revenue; genetic spillovers within-group have a positive impact on yield but tend to have a negative impact on firm revenue.Agribusiness,

Demand for Wildlife Hunting in British Columbia

We present estimates of the demand for hunting licenses by residents and non residents in British Columbia for the period 1971–2000. We obtain estimates of both short-run and long- run price elasticities and discuss their revenue implications for future fee increases. We find the demand by non residents to be strongly correlated with U.S. income variation over the business cycle, but find no such role for cyclical income variation for resident hunters. The ability of the government to increase revenues from resident hunters turns out to be limited, particularly in the long run, while greater opportunities exist to raise revenues from U.S. hunters as short- and long-run price elasticities of demand are quite inelastic. We argue that conservation surcharges on foreign hunters are one way to capture more of the resource rent.recreation demand, resource revenues and rent capture, conservation surcharges