Economics Of International Environmental Agreements

This title was first published in 2000: Conflicts between developed and developing countries over global environmental problems, and the fact that the co-operation required to solve environmental collective action problems is typically elusive in the world of international relations, suggests a research agenda regarding how one might hop to bring about co-operation in an inherently non-co-operative international setting. In particular, what can economic theory tell us about the design of international environmental agreements (IEAs) that will protect the world's fragile environmental resources? This book collects work on IEAs which demonstrates the value of rigorous microeconomic and econometric modelling in comprehending the many and varied facets of the design and implementation in IEAs.

International environmental agreements provide a basis for countries to address ecological problems on a global scale. However, countries are heterogeneous with respect to their economic structures and to the problems relating to the environment that they encounter. Therefore, economic externalities and global environmental conflicts are common and can cause problems in implementation and compliance with international agreements. Economics of International Environmental Agreements illuminates those issues and factors that might cause some countries or firms to take different positions on common problems. This book explores why international environmental agreements deal with some problems successfully but fail with others. The chapters address issues that are global in nature, such as: transboundary pollution, provision of global public goods, individual preferences of inequality- aversion, global cooperation, self-enforcing international environmental agreements, emission standards, abatement costs, environmental quota, technology agreement and adoption and international institutions. They examine the necessary conditions for the improved performance of international environmental agreements, how cooperation among countries can be improved and the incentives that can be created for voluntary compliance with international environmental agreements. This text is of great importance to academics, students and policy makers who are interested in environmental economics, policy and politics, as well as environmental law.

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The volume contains papers presented at a conference "On the International Dimension of Environmental Policy". It deals with two issues: *international environmental agreements; *environmental policies in open economies. Both issues are hot topics. The debate on how to cope with global climate change has become increasingly heated and controversial, and the relationship between trade and the environment is on the WTO agenda. The book contains review papers in which leading scholars in the field summarise the state of the art and original research extending the state of the art. Most of the papers are theoretically oriented, but some papers also present empirical results, using new econometric methods and new data. The book contains material for those students of economics and researchers who wish to deepen their knowledge in the area of International Environmental Economics, but also for those who endeavour to break new ground in this important field of research.

This volume provides an up-to-the-minute review of the open economy approach to analyzing environmental problems and policies, which has produced a wealth of research over the past decade. It contains non-technical, issue-oriented, and comprehensive surveys written by specialists in international and environmental economics. The volume will appeal to scholars and students of economics and political science.

Environmental problems like global climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion can only be remedied if states cooperate with one another. But sovereign states usually care only about their own interests. So states must somehow restructure the incentives to make cooperation pay. This is what treaties are meant to do. A few treaties, such as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, succeed. Most, however, fail to alter the state behaviour appreciably. This book develops a theory that explains both the successes and the failures. In particular, the book explains when treaties are needed, why some work better than others, and how treaty design can be improved. The best treaties strategically manipulate the incentives states have to exploit the environment, and the theory developed in this book shows how treaties can do this. The theory integrates a number of disciplines, including economics, political science, international law, negotiation analysis, and game theory. It also offers a coherent and consistent approach. The essential assumption is that treaties be self-enforcing-that is, individually rational, collectively rational, and fair. The book applies the theory to a number of environmental problems. It provides information on more than three hundred treaties, and analyses a number of case studies in detail. These include depletion of the ozone layer, whaling, pollution of the Rhine, acid rain, over-fishing, pollution of the oceans, and global climate change. The essential lesson of the book is that treaties should not just tell countries what to do. Treaties must make it in the interests of countries to behave differently. That is, they must restructure the underlying game. Most importantly, they must create incentives for states to participate in a treaty and for parties to comply.

This book presents an examination of both the problem and the process underlying international environmental lawmaking: the recognition of international interdependence, the negotiation of international agreements and the evolution of international resource management. It examines the general problem of global resource management by means of general principles and case studies and by looking at how and why specific negotiations and agreements have failed to achieve their targets.