An Economic Analysis of the Packaging Waste Recovery Note System in the UK

In order to cope with the increasing scarcity of final dump sites for household wastes, the UK recently introduced an environmental policy targeted at the firms that produce and sell products that generate packaging wastes. This policy requires such businesses to hold predetermined numbers of tradable credits called gPackaging waste Recovery Notesh (PRNs). This article provides insights into the economic implications of such a policy through a simple analytical model of a recyclable product and the PRN markets. Our analysis yield two particularly interesting results. First, an increase in the required recycling rate dampens the output and landfill waste levels, while the effect on the level of recycling activities is ambiguous. Second, an increase in the landfill tax always leads to an increase in the landfill waste. We also discuss how the socially optimal landfill tax in the presence of the PRN market should be chosen.PRNs, Recycling, Landfill Tax, Comparative Statics

Economic Instruments and Resource Use in a Recyclable Product Market

By constructing a static model of a recyclable product market where the product can be manufactured by using both a recycled material and a harvested natural resource, we examine how different types of economic policy instruments affect resource harvesting activities of individual producers. In particular, we show that an increase in a recycling subsidy for consumers and an increase in a waste disposal fee on consumers can respectively lead to an increase in the resource harvest level. We explore the conditions under which these economic instruments are likely to backfire in terms of natural resource conservation.

Economic Instruments and Resource Use in a Recyclable Product Market

By constructing a static model of a recyclable product market where the product can be manufactured by using both a recycled material and a harvested natural resource, we examine how different types of economic policy instruments affect resource harvesting activities of individual producers. In particular, we show that an increase in a recycling subsidy for consumers and an increase in a waste disposal fee on consumers can respectively lead to an increase in the resource harvest level. We explore the conditions under which these economic instruments are likely to backfire in terms of natural resource conservation.economic instruments, recycling, natural resource.

Evolution of population-resource dynamics models

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Brander and Taylor's (1998) model and its descendants from the following perspectives: population growth, substitutability, innovation, capital accumulation, property rights and institutional designs, and modeling approach. This survey aims to contribute to a better understanding of population and resource dynamics models in general and facilitate further application of the model framework to relevant circumstances. Although often treated as exogenous in optimal growth models, making population growth an endogenous function allows us to analyze broader effects of economic activities on population. The issues of substitutability, innovation and capital accumulation are intertwined; allowing a model to address the effect of an endogenous technological change on substitutability between natural and man-made capital facilitates our analyses of sustainability issues. To address internalizing inter-generational externalities in resource use, incorporating property right changes and institutional designs to this type of model is a useful exercise, but careful attention is needed for the consistency between such an arrangement and the mathematical representation of the depicted economy. Finally, although the common criticism regarding convenient mathematical assumptions applies to the existing BT-type models, the use of computer simulation can relax such assumptions, to better represent the intended relationships between the relevant variables

System Dynamics Implementation of a Model of Population and Resource Dynamics with Adaptation

We build and analyze a dynamic ecological economic model that incorporates endogenous innovation on input substitutability. The use of the system dynamics method allows us to depart from conventional equilibrium thinking and conduct an out-of-equilibrium (adaptation) analysis. Simulation results show that while improvement in input substitutability will expand an economy, this change alone may not improve sustainability measured by indicators such as utility-per-capita and natural resource stock. It could, however, be possible that in combination with other technological progress, improvement in input substitutability will contribute to sustainable development. Sensitivity analysis also indicates a possible complication with the use of exogenous consumer preference, which is often assumed in standard economics

Banking union in Europe: How much centralisation is needed?

We examine the efficiency of banking regulation in a federation with two tiers of government and highly integrated banking systems. We assume that policy makers have incomplete information about banks’ true health, and banking sector turmoil can generate cross-border spill-over effects. We show that, in such an environment, the decentralisation of policy responsibilities for the regulation of banks can achieve the first-best allocation and ensure financial stability. While national governments design banking regulations, the federal policy maker authorises inter-regional income redistribution payments throughout the federation. Our results suggest that strengthening national responsibilities in banking regulation and supervision in the course of the further development of the European banking union may be advisable

The potential impact of the new ‘Right to Repair’ rules on electrical and electronic equipment waste : a case study of the UK

Every year an estimated two million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are discarded by householders and companies in the United Kingdom (UK). While the UK has left the European Union (EU), its waste-related policies still mirror those of the EU, including the WEEE-related policies. Motivated by the recent introduction the so-called ‘Right to Repair’ policy for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) across the EU and UK, this paper aims to demonstrate that, depending on the commitment and behavioural changes by the consumers and the government, the future of the WEEE management of the UK will vary. To this end, focusing on landfilled WEEE reduction we develop a generic system dynamics model and apply it to eleven WEEE categories. They depict the flow of EEE and WEEE representing the interaction among the stakeholders (e.g., consumers and producers of EEE) and relevant government regulations of the UK. Our four scenario analyses find that longer use of EEE and better WEEE collection seem to be effective in reducing landfilled WEEE, while more reuse and more recycling and recovery have negligible impacts, despite excluding the additional generation of landfilled WEEE as a result of recycling and recovery. Comparing with the business-as-usual scenario, one year longer EEE use and 10% more of WEEE collection could at maximum reduce landfilled WEEE by 14.05% of monitoring and control instruments and 93.93% of display equipment respectively. Backcasting scenario analyses reveal that significant efforts are required to reduce the targeted amounts

Economic instruments and resource use in a recyclable product market

By constructing a static model of a recyclable product market where the product can be manufactured by using both a recycled material and a harvested natural resource, we examine how different types of economic policy instruments affect resource harvesting activities of individual producers. In particular, we show that an increase in a recycling subsidy for consumers and an increase in a waste disposal fee on consumers can respectively lead to an increase in the resource harvest level. We explore the conditions under which these economic instruments are likely to backfire in terms of natural resource conservation