From Kyoto to Copenhagen: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge

In spite of some superficial success in achieving its overall global target, there has been much disillusionment with the progress on climate change since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997. The key problems in addressing GHG emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have been the incomplete coverage across countries and lack of credibility. While significantly more onerous reduction commitments should be expected and required of developed countries in the name of economic fairness, GHG emissions must also be capped effectively in developing countries.Clean Development Mechanism, Copenhagen Accord, greenhouse gas emissions, Kyoto Protocol, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy,

From Kyoto to Copenhagen: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge

In spite of some superficial success in achieving its overall global target, there has been much disillusionment with the progress on climate change since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997. The key problems in addressing GHG emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have been the incomplete coverage across countries and lack of credibility. While significantly more onerous reduction commitments should be expected and required of developed countries in the name of economic fairness, GHG emissions must also be capped effectively in developing countries.Clean Development Mechanism, Copenhagen Accord, greenhouse gas emissions, Kyoto Protocol, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy,

Will the Kyoto Protocol Be Good for the Environment? Implications for Agriculture

Global warming or, more accurately, climate change remains a hotly debated issue in scientific, government and public circles. While the extent of the human contribution to climate change through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains highly controversial, the scientific evidence of significant changes in climate per se appears to be mounting (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Since changes in climate typically will include greater variability in temperatures, more extreme weather events and changes in precipitation patterns as well as a general warming trend, there are significant risks for agriculture.(2) If human activity does turn out to have a significant causal effect on climate change, the Kyoto Protocol and other related multilateral environmental agreements appear to have the potential to reduce these risks. The Kyoto Protocol, however, leaves possible channels for increases in emissions or so-called carbon leakage.Environmental Economics and Policy,

From Kyoto to Copenhagen: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge

In spite of some superficial success in achieving its overall global target, there has been much disillusionment with the progress on climate change since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997. The key problems in addressing GHG emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have been the incomplete coverage across countries and lack of credibility. While significantly more onerous reduction commitments should be expected and required of developed countries in the name of economic fairness, GHG emissions must also be capped effectively in developing countries

Agricultural Biotechnology and the FTAA: Issues and Opportunities

This article examines trade and intellectual property rights questions associated with agricultural biotechnology in the Western Hemisphere and goes on to chart a potential course through which they could be addressed by an agreement on a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Issues pertaining to import approvals, labelling, exports to sensitive markets, intellectual property piracy and regulatory cooperation are considered

From Kyoto to Copenhagen: Meeting the Climate Change Challenge

In spite of some superficial success in achieving its overall global target, there has been much disillusionment with the progress on climate change since the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997. The key problems in addressing GHG emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have been the incomplete coverage across countries and lack of credibility. While significantly more onerous reduction commitments should be expected and required of developed countries in the name of economic fairness, GHG emissions must also be capped effectively in developing countries

Asymmetric Effects of Endowment Changes on Foreign Investment

This paper explores the asymmetric impact of factor endowment changes on foreign investment source and host countries using a Ricardo-Wilson (multifactor, continuum-of-goods) model where there is a technological basis for trade even if the countries are equivalent in all respects except for capital endowments. It is discovered that host-country capital growth must be immiserizing in the source country provided that the two countries are initially alike in all respects except for capital endowments. While a stringent single-good MacDougall-Kemp restriction suffices to guarantee that source-country labor growth is immiserizing in the host country, initial equivalence between countries is insufficient.

Will the Kyoto Protocol Be Good for the Environment? Implications for Agriculture

Global warming or, more accurately, climate change remains a hotly debated issue in scientific, government and public circles. While the extent of the human contribution to climate change through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains highly controversial, the scientific evidence of significant changes in climate per se appears to be mounting (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Since changes in climate typically will include greater variability in temperatures, more extreme weather events and changes in precipitation patterns as well as a general warming trend, there are significant risks for agriculture.(2) If human activity does turn out to have a significant causal effect on climate change, the Kyoto Protocol and other related multilateral environmental agreements appear to have the potential to reduce these risks. The Kyoto Protocol, however, leaves possible channels for increases in emissions or so-called carbon leakage

Limiting Biotechnology? Information Problems and Policy Responses

The revolution in biotechnology poses pervasive, although not entirely unprecedented, asymmetric information problems. Especially in Europe, but even in North America, there is mounting evidence that consumers do not treat genetically modified foods (GMFs) and their non-modified counterparts as perfect substitutes. If other things such as prices are equal, many consumers would prefer to consume non-GMFs; they perceive GMFs as lower-quality products. While farm-level producers are fully informed on the genetic qualities of their product, final consumers will often be unable to distinguish between the two types of products. Thus, the information structure will only sustain a pooling equilibrium, in which both GMFs and non-GMFs are sold together, or pooled, in a single market. Such hidden-type or adverse-selection problems tend to generate markets that are dominated by an inefficient proportion of low-quality products or “lemons” (Akerlof, 1970). The asymmetric information problem potentially could be addressed by an identity preservation system (IPS) that involves product certification and labelling. A fully effective IPS would lead to a separating equilibrium, or separate markets for GMFs and non-GMFs. This paper provides a systematic investigation of the asymmetric information problem posed by biotechnological innovations and then assesses possible IPSs

Foreign Aid, Innovation, and Technology Transfer in a North-South Model with Learning-by-Doing

The paper examines foreign aid in the context of a dynamic Ricardian model of trade and development that highlights the role of learning in both the initial adoption of new technologies and products and their eventual transfer from developed to developing countries. When aid is paid as a pure unilateral transfer, the conventional short-run terms-of-trade improvement that results from a home bias in consumption causes harmful delays in the transfer of technology that can lead to mutual immiserization. Conversely, aid that directly or indirectly expedites technology transfer and learning in developing countries can be mutually beneficial. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.