Klum@Gtap: Introducing Biophysical Aspects of Land-Use Decisions Into a General Equilibrium Model A Coupling Experiment

In this paper the global agricultural land use model KLUM is coupled to an extended version of the computable general equilibrium model (CGE) GTAP in order to consistently assess the integrated impacts of climate change on global cropland allocation and its implication for economic development. The methodology is innovative as it introduces dynamic economic land-use decisions based also on the biophysical aspects of land into a state-of-the-art CGE; it further allows the projection of resulting changes in cropland patterns on a spatially more explicit level. A convergence test and illustrative future simulations underpin the robustness and potentials of the coupled system. Reference simulations with the uncoupled models emphasize the impact and relevance of the coupling; the results of coupled and uncoupled simulations can differ by several hundred percent.Land-Use Change, Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, Integrated Assessment, Climate Change

Introducing willingness-to-pay for noise changes into transport appraisal: an application of benefit transfer.

Numerous research studies have elicited willingness-to-pay values for transport-related noise, however, in many industrialised countries including the UK, noise costs and benefits are still not incorporated into appraisals for most transport projects and policy changes (Odgaard et al, 2005; Grant-Muller et al, 2001). This paper describes the actions recently taken in the UK to address this issue, comprising: primary research based on the city of Birmingham; an international review of willingness-to-pay evidence; development of values using benefit transfers over time and locations; and integration with appraisal methods. Amongst the main findings are: that the willingness-to-pay estimates derived for the UK are broadly comparable with those used in appraisal elsewhere in Europe; that there is a case for a lower threshold at 1 45dB(A)Leq,18hr1 rather than the more conventional 55dB(A); and that values per dB(A) increase with the noise level above this threshold. There are significant issues over the valuation of rail versus road noise, the neglect of non-residential noise and the valuation of high noise levels in different countries. Conclusions are drawn regarding the feasibility of noise valuation based on benefit transfers in the UK and elsewhere, and future research needs in this field are discussed

Forestry in the MAGNET model

Forestry data have been included in the global general equilibrium MAGNET model at LEI Wageningen UR. This provides the opportunity to analyse substitution between forestry, natural forests and agriculture with the model, which is essential to analyse biodiversity and greenhouse gas effects of different policies options with respect to feed, food and fuel. The report discusses the background of the GTAP land use database used for the implementation, the way it has been implemented and some first simulation results. The report investigates the weaknesses of the implementation determining a research agenda for further improvements of modeling forestry into the MAGNET model

Directed Technical Change and Climate Policy

This paper studies the cost effectiveness of climate policy if there are technology externalities. For this purpose, we develop a forward-looking CGE model that captures empirical links between CO2 emissions associated with energy use, directed technical change and the economy. We find the cost-effective climate policy to include a combination of R&D subsidies and CO2 emission constraints, although R&D subsidies raise the shadow value of the CO2 constraint (i.e. CO2 price) because of a strong rebound effect from stimulating innovation. Furthermore, we find that CO2 constraints differentiated toward CO2-intensive sectors are more cost effective than constraints that generate uniform CO2 prices among sectors. Differentiated CO2 prices, through technical change and concomitant technology externalities, encourage growth in the non-CO2 intensive sectors and discourage growth in CO2-intensive sectors. Thus, it is cost effective to let the latter bear relatively more of the abatement burden. This result is robust to whether emission constraints, R&D subsidies or combinations of both are used to reduce CO2 emissions.Directed Technical Change, Climate Policy, Computable General Equilibrium Model, R&D

Models of regional growth: past, present and future

This paper presents an overview of various models of regional growth that have appeared in the literature in the last 40 years. It considers the past, and therefore supply-side models, such as the standard neoclassical, juxtaposed against essentially demand-side approaches such as the export-base and cumulative causation models (as integrated into the Kaldorian approach); before moving on to the present and more recent versions of the neoclassical model involving spatial weights and "convergence clubs", as well as New Economic Geography core-periphery models, and the "innovation systems" approach. A key feature of the more recent literature is an attempt to explicitly include spatial factors into the model, and thus there is a renewed emphasis on agglomeration economies and spillovers. Discussing "present" and "future" approaches to regional growth overlaps with the current emphasis in the literature on the importance of more intangible factors such as the role of "knowledge" and its influence on growth. Lastly, there is a discussion of the greater emphasis that needs to be placed at the "micro-level" when considering what drives growth, and thus factors such as inter alia firm heterogeneity, entrepreneurship, and absorptive capacity

Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions

This paper analyses the importance of different technological inputs (R&D and human capital) and different spillovers in explaining the differences in patenting among Spanish regions in the period 1986-2003. The analysis is based on the estimation of a knowledge production function. A region’s own R&D activities and human capital are observed to have a positive significant effect on innovation output, measured by the number of patents. R&D spillovers weighted by the distance and the volume of trade flows between regions cause positive effects on a region’s patents. However, distance matters more than the intensity of trade flows and the R&D spillover effects between regions are bounded: spillovers from closer regions perform better than spillovers from distant regions. On the opposite side, human capital spillovers do not cause any effect outside the region itself.patents, R&D, human capital, spillovers

Reconsidering The Impact of Environment on Long-Run Growth When Pollution Influences Health and Agents Have Finite-Lifetime

Using an overlapping generation model à la Blanchard (1985) with human capital accumulation, this article demonstrates that the influence of environment on optimal growth in the long-run may be explained by the detrimental effect of pollution on life expectancy. It also shows that, in such a case, greener preferences are growth- and welfare-improving even if the ability of the agents to learn is independent to pollution and utility is additively separable. Finally, it establishes that it is possible to implement a win-win environmental policy.Growth, Environment, Overlapping Generations, Human Capital, Health

The Role of Regional Knowledge Sources for Innovation: An Empirical Assessment

We investigate the contribution of different inputs, particularly different knowledge sources, on regional patenting output in the framework of a knowledge production function. The knowledge sources included are R&D employment, size of public research institutions by field of research (budget), amount of university external research funds from private firms, public departments, German Science Foundation (DFG), and from other sources. The contribution of these knowledge sources is tested systematically on the level of German districts (Kreise) by including the respective information for the particular region and for adjacent regions. One main finding is that the quality of the university research makes some contribution to regional innovation while the mere size of the universities is unimportant. Differences in the effect on innovative output can be found according to academic disciplines and type of university. -- Wir untersuchen die Bedeutung verschiedener Inputs, insbesondere verschiedener Wissensquellen, für den regionalen Output an Erfindungen (Patente) mithilfe einer Wissensproduktionsfunktion. Als Wissensquellen werden die FuE-Beschäftigte im Privatsektor, die Größe der Universitäten und Fachhochschulen sowie das Volumen der von ihnen aus verschiedenen Quellen eingeworbenen Drittmittel berücksichtigt. Die Bedeutung dieser Wissensquellen wurde systematisch auf der Ebene der westdeutschen Kreise getestet, wobei Informationen sowohl über den jeweiligen Kreis als auch über die Nachbarkreise einbezogen wurden. Es stellt sich heraus, dass von der Qualität der in den Universitäten und Fachhochschulen betriebenen Forschung ein signifikanter Einfluss auf die regionale Innovationstätigkeit ausgeht. Die reine Größe der Universitäten und Fachhochschulen in der Region hat hingegen keinen Einfluss. Darüber hinaus ermitteln wir Unterschiede nach Herkunft von Drittmitteln sowie Unterschiede in der Bedeutung verschiedener Fachdisziplinen für regionale Innovationsaktivitäten. Wissensspillover sind im Wesentlichen auf die angrenzenden Kreise begrenzt.Wissen,Innovation,Spillover,Patente,regionale Analyse,Knowledge,innovation,spillovers,patents,regional analysis