How Liable should an Exporter be? The Case of Trade in Hazardous Goods

This paper analyzes liability issues in the context of internationally traded goods like hazardous waste. If waste disposers of a small open economy are judgement-proof, then the extension of liability to waste exporters distorts the factor allocation and may reduce disposal care. Hence the optimal extension is partial at most. However, extending liability increases incentives of the waste importing country to hold domestic disposers liable. Interaction through the price system and through contracts that condition payments for disposal services on the occurrence of an accident yield identical outcomes if disposers are judgement-proof.extended liability, hazardous waste trade, externalities, moral hazard

Subsidizing Technological Innovations in the Presence of R&D Spillovers

We analyze a situation where a principal wants to induce firms to produce an output, e.g. electricity from renewable energy sources. Firms can undertake non-contractible investments to reduce production costs of the output. Parts of these investments spills over and also reduce production costs of the other firm. Comparing the general price subsidy and an innovation tournament, we find that the principal's expected cost of implementing a given expected output are always higher under the tournament, even though this scheme may lead to more innovation.R&D spillovers, tournaments, subsidies, moral hazard

Output and Wages with Inequality Averse Agents

We analyze a two-task work environment with risk-neutral but inequality averse individuals. For the agent employed in task 2 effort is verifiable, while in task 1 it is not. Accordingly, agent 1 receives an incentive contract which, due to his wealth constraint, leads to a rent that the other agent resents. We show that inequality aversion affects the optimal contracts of both agents. Greater inequality aversion reduces the effort, wage and payoff of agent 1, while the effects on the wage and effort of agent 2 depend on whether effort levels across tasks are substitutes or complements in the firm's output function. However, more inequality aversion unambiguously decreases total output and therefore average labor productivity.Inequality aversion, wage compression, moral hazard, incentives

Fair Division with General Equilibrium Effects and International Climate Politics

This paper introduces a solution for the fair division of common property resources in production economies with multiple inputs and outputs. It is derived from complementing the Walrasian solution by welfare bounds, whose ethical justification rests on commonality of ownership. We then apply this solution to the question of burden sharing in the climate change regime, using an intertemporal computable general equilibrium model. For a wide range of initial allocations of CO2 emission rights, we find that developing countries should participate in emission reduction efforts in order to increase their global efficiency, but should also be fully compensated for their incremental abatement costs

Subsidizing Technological Innovations in the Presence of R&D Spillovers

We analyze a situation where a principal wants to induce firms to produce an output, e.g. electricity from renewable energy sources. Firms can undertake non-contractible investments to reduce production costs of the output. Parts of these investments spills over and also reduce production costs of the other firm. Comparing the general price subsidy and an innovation tournament, we find that the principal's expected cost of implementing a given expected output are always higher under the tournament, even though this scheme may lead to more innovation

Distributive justice in international environmental policy: theoretical foundation and exemplary formulation

"Proceeding on a limited number of general, widely accepted equity criteria, the authors develop a proposal for distributing common resources. In particular, the proposed fair division mechanism is individually rational, envyfree, Pareto-efficient and satisfies the stand alone test, which follows as a minimum requirement from the resource and population monotonicity criteria. Applied to international climate policy, the thrust of this proposal is that the South should initially be fully compensated by the North for the greenhouse gas abatement measures it is to undertake as a result of efficiency considerations. When the Kyoto Protocol is ratified, the proposal developed could become part of the distributive mechanism of a fair and effective climate policy." (author's abstract)"Aufbauend auf einer bestimmten Anzahl allgemeiner, weitgehend akzeptierter Kriterien von Verteilungsgerechtigkeit (distributive justice) werden in diesem Beitrag Vorschläge zur gerechten Verteilung grenzüberschreitender, gemeinsamer Ressourcen untersucht. Insbesondere geht es den Autoren um die Entwicklung eines fairen Verteilungsmechanismus, der den Kriterien der Neidfreiheit, der individuellen Rationalität, der Ressourcen- und Populationsmonotonität und des sogenannten Stand-alone-Nutzens entspricht. Angewandt auf die internationale Klimapolitik ergibt sich, daß der Süden (die Entwicklungsländer) für die Kosten der Reduzierung seiner Treibhausgase seitens des Nordens (der Industrieländer) voll kompensiert werden sollte - wenn es um die globale Umsetzung des Effizienzgedankens geht." (Autorenreferat

Paläobiogeographie des Korallenooliths (Mittleres Oxfordium - Unteres Kimmeridgium): Tethyale Faunen- und Florenelement auf höherer Paläobreite

An overview is given here on the palaeobiogeography of the Korallenoolith Formation (middle Oxfordian to early Kimmeridgian) in NW Germany (Lower Saxony Basin). Based on microfacies observations, abundant faunal and floral elements of the tropical tethyan realm are recognized in shallow-marine calcareous sediments of the Korallenoolith Formation. Foraminiferal fauna is both highly diverse and abundant and mostly of mediterranean character. Also, there is a small flora recorded, which includes heavily calcified red algae, aragonitic green algae, and cayeuxiid algae. They display restricted diversity when compared to those of shallow-marine tropical tethyan seas. Chaetetids and diceratids are locally abundant. Lithocodium aggregatum and Bacinella irregularis have been observed in Late Jurassic palaeolatitudes north of the Tethys for the first time. Corals are present in numerous genera and species. Their occurrence is restricted to a few horizons of the Korallenoolith Formation where they build patch reefs, coral biostroms and coral meadows. The overall character of the coral-thrombolite-reefs (florigemma-Bank Member) is very similar to those of the Tethys. The presence of these marine tethyan taxa assigned the position of the Lower Saxony Basin during middle Oxfordian to early Kimmeridgian palaeobiogeographically into the submediterranean province and reflects northward migration of tropical tethyan fauna and flora which reach in the Lower Saxony Basin their northern limit. These biota seem to be biogeo-graphically transitional between communities present in England and the Tethys.Der derzeitige Kenntnisstand zur Paläobiogeographie des Mitteloxfordium- bis Unterkimmeridgium-zeitlichen Korallenooliths (Niedersächsisches Becken, NW-Deutschland) wird zusammengefaßt. Bis vor wenigen Jahren zeichneten sich noch enge Beziehung zu dem borealen englischen Oberjura ab, da tethyale bzw. mediterrane Faunen- und Florenelemente entweder zu fehlen oder nur artenarm aufzutreten schienen. Vor allem mit Hilfe mikrofazielle Arbeitsansätze konnten erstmals zahlreiche „Tethys-Zeiger“ - insbesondere komplex-gebaute Sandschaler und Milioliden, Grünalgen, Lithocodium aggregatum, Bacinella irregularis und Chaetetiden - erstmals für das Niedersächsichen Becken in der Korallenoolith- Fazies nachgewiesen werden. Insgesamt zeigen Fauna und untergeordnet auch Flora (Kalkalgen) des Korallenooliths signifikante Ähnlichkeiten mit einer solchen aus Schelfplattformbereichen der Tethys. Die postulierte sukzessive Verarmung von tethyalen Vertretern (z.B. Riffkorallen oder Nerineen) in Richtung Norden und ihre Verbreitungsgrenzen werden kritisch diskutiert. Ihre angebliche Seltenheit oder das früher vermutete Fehlen läßt sich rückblickend am besten mit dem kursorischen Bearbeitungsstand des Korallenooliths erklären. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für eine enge Bindung des Niedersächsischen Beckens während der Sedimentation des Korallenooliths an den mediterranen Raum, die durch Vorstöße tethyaler Faunen- und Florenelemente belegt sind. Tethyale Elemente rücken somit auch in Ablagerungsräume auf höherer Paläobreite vor, wenn günstige fazielle Gegebenheiten vorliegen