Environmentally Harmful Subsidies

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies PDF Author:
Publisher: OECD
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Subsidies are pervasive throughout OECD countries and worldwide. Every year, OECD countries transfer at least USD 400 billion to different economic sectors. Much of this support is potentially environmentally harmful. Reforming environmentally harmful subsidies is a significant policy challenge facing OECD countries. However, untangling and assessing the effects of subsidies on the environment is a complex task. A systematic approach is required to ensure that appropriate policies are developed and the benefits of reform fully realised. This report presents sectoral analyses on agriculture, fisheries, water, energy and transport. It proposes a checklist approach to identifying and assessing environmentally harmful subsidies. It also identifies the key tensions and conflicts that are likely to influence subsidy policy making. Can the political and economic impediments to subsidy reform be overcome? This book concludes with a discussion of politically feasible subsidy reform strategies. FURTHER READING Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Policy Issues and Challenges (OECD, 2003)

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies PDF Author:
Publisher: OECD
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Get Book Here

Book Description
Subsidies are pervasive throughout OECD countries and worldwide. Every year, OECD countries transfer at least USD 400 billion to different economic sectors. Much of this support is potentially environmentally harmful. Reforming environmentally harmful subsidies is a significant policy challenge facing OECD countries. However, untangling and assessing the effects of subsidies on the environment is a complex task. A systematic approach is required to ensure that appropriate policies are developed and the benefits of reform fully realised. This report presents sectoral analyses on agriculture, fisheries, water, energy and transport. It proposes a checklist approach to identifying and assessing environmentally harmful subsidies. It also identifies the key tensions and conflicts that are likely to influence subsidy policy making. Can the political and economic impediments to subsidy reform be overcome? This book concludes with a discussion of politically feasible subsidy reform strategies. FURTHER READING Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Policy Issues and Challenges (OECD, 2003)

Perverse Subsidies

Perverse Subsidies PDF Author: Norman Myers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Much of the global economy depends on large scale government intervention in the form of subsidies, many of which are perverse in that they damage economies and environments. This study offers a view of subsidies world-wide with focus on the extent, causes and consequences of perverse subsidies.

The New Consumers

The New Consumers PDF Author: Norman Myers
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1597267864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
While overconsumption by the developed world's roughly one billion inhabitants is an abiding problem, another one billion increasingly affluent "new consumers" in developing countries will place additional strains on the earth's resources, argue authors Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent in this important new book. The New Consumers examines the environmental impacts of this increased consumption, with particular focus on two commodities -- cars and meat -- that stand to have the most far-reaching effects. It analyzes consumption patterns in a number of different countries, with special emphasis on China and India (whose surging economies, as well as their large populations, are likely to account for exceptional growth in humanity's ecological footprint), and surveys big-picture issues such as the globalization of economies, consumer goods, and lifestyles. Ultimately, according to the orman Myers and Jennifer Kent, the challenge will be for all of humanity to transition to sustainable levels of consumption, for it is unrealistic to expect "new" consumers not to aspire to be like the "old" ones. Cogent in its analysis, The New Consumers issues a timely warning of a major and developing environmental trend, and suggests valuable strategies for ameliorating its effects.

Incentives for Environmental Protection

Incentives for Environmental Protection PDF Author: Thomas C. Schelling
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Prices as regulatory instruments; The regulation of aircraft noise; The problem of aicraft noise; Federal noise-control strategies; Noise- control strategies for individual airports; An evaluation of incentive-based strategies; The regulation of airborne benzene.

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies

Environmentally Harmful Subsidies PDF Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Publisher: OECD
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
This publications contains four papers presented at an OECD workshop, held in November 2002, to discuss the identification, measurement and analysis of environmentally harmful subsidies, together with a summary of key conclusions reached. Issues considered include: the impact of subsidies on sustainable development and developing countries; the current state of knowledge regarding measuring and classifying subsides across sectors; and developing a methodology for ranking subsidies according to their potential environmental impact.

Water, Electricity, and the Poor

Water, Electricity, and the Poor PDF Author: Kristin Komives
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821363423
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This book reviews the prevalence and variants of consumer subsidies found in the developing world and the effectiveness of these subsidies for the poor. It places consumer subsidies in a broader social protection framework and compares them with poverty-focused programmes in other sectors using a common metric. It concludes that the most common subsidy instruments perform poorly in comparison with most other transfer mechanisms. Alternative consumption and connection subsidy mechanisms show more promise, especially when combined with complementary non-price approaches to making utility services accessible and affordable to poor households. The many factors contributing to those outcomes are dissected, identifying those that can be controlled and used to improve performance.

Energy Subsidy Reform

Energy Subsidy Reform PDF Author: Mr.Benedict J. Clements
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484339169
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Energy subsidies are aimed at protecting consumers, however, subsidies aggravate fiscal imbalances, crowd out priority public spending, and depress private investment, including in the energy sector. This book provides the most comprehensive estimates of energy subsidies currently available for 176 countries and an analysis of “how to do” energy subsidy reform, drawing on insights from 22 country case studies undertaken by the IMF staff and analyses carried out by other institutions.

In the Dark

In the Dark PDF Author: Fan Zhang
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812896
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Electricity shortages are among the biggest barriers to South Asia’sdevelopment. Some 255 million people—more than a quarter of the world’soff-grid population—live in South Asia, and millions of households and firmsthat are connected experience frequent and long hours of blackouts.Inefficiencies originating in every link of the electricity supply chain contributesignificantly to the power deficit. Three types of distortions lead to most of theinefficiencies: institutional distortions caused by state ownership and weakgovernance; regulatory distortions resulting from price regulation, subsidies,and cross-subsidies; and social distortions (externalities) causing excessiveenvironmental and health damages from energy use.Using a common analytical framework and covering all stages of power supply,In the Dark identifies and estimates how policy-induced distortions haveaffected South Asian economies. The book introduces two innovations. First, itgoes beyond fiscal costs, evaluating the impact of distortions from a welfareperspective by measuring the impact on consumer wellbeing, producer surplus,and environmental costs. And second, the book adopts a broader definition of thesector that covers the entire power supply chain, including upstream fuel supplyand downstream access and reliability.The book finds that the full cost of distortions in the power sector is far greaterthan previously estimated based on fiscal cost alone: The estimated totaleconomic cost is 4–7 percent of the gross domestic product in Bangladesh, India,and Pakistan. Some of the largest costs are upstream and downstream.Few other reforms could quickly yield the huge economic gains that powersector reform would produce. By expanding access to electricity and improvingthe quality of supply, power sector reform would also directly benefit poorhouseholds. The highest payoffs are likely to come from institutional reforms,expansion of reliable access, and the appropriate pricing of carbon and local airpollution emissions.

Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa PDF Author: Mr.Carlo A Sdralevich
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498350437
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries price subsidies are common, especially on food and fuels. However, these are neither well targeted nor cost effective as a social protection tool, often benefiting mainly the better off instead of the poor and vulnerable. This paper explores the challenges of replacing generalized price subsidies with more equitable social safety net instruments, including the short-term inflationary effects, and describes the features of successful subsidy reforms.

Environmental Subsidies to Consumers

Environmental Subsidies to Consumers PDF Author: Shigeru Matsumoto
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317424905
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A typical consumer underestimates the benefits of future energy savings and underinvests in energy efficiency, relative to a description of the socially optimal level of energy efficiency. To alleviate this energy-efficiency gap problem, various programs have been implemented. In recent years, many governments have started providing consumers with subsidies on the purchases of eco-friendly products such as hybrid cars and energy efficient appliances. This book conducts a comprehensive analysis of the environmental subsidy programs conducted in Japan and examines their impacts on consumer product selection, consumer product use, and environmental outcome. The book also proposes recommendations for future environmental and industrial policies. The book's empirical findings will be of interest to those who are researching on and policymakers of environmental and industrial policies.