Energy and Depletable Resources: Economics and Policy, 1973–1998

This paper reviews the impact of the literature in depletable resources and energy economics over the period 1973–1998, particularly the initial period of publication of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 1974–1998. A discussion of prominent policy issues in this arena is provided, along with an indication of what academic economics papers have contributed to that debate. This is followed by a citation analysis of contributions in the fields of energy and exhaustible resource economics. For each of these two fields, a list of the top papers in each five-year period from 1974 to 1998 is presented, along with a list of the top journals in each decade, based on average citations per article. The top ten cited articles in the fields in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management are also presented.     

Adjustment costs from environmental change

The paper is concerned with the case whereby the distribution of a firm's productivity shocks changes without the knowledge of the firm. Over time the firm learns about the nature and extent of the change in the distribution of the shock and adjusts, incurring adjustment costs in the process. The long-run loss in profits (±) due to the shift in the distribution we term the equilibrium response. The transitory loss in profits, incurred while the firm is learning about the distribution shift, is termed the adjustment cost. The theory is then applied to the problem of measuring adjustment costs in the face of imperfectly observed climate change in agriculture. The empirical part of the paper involves estimating a restricted profit function for agricultural land in a five-state region of the Midwest US as a function of prices, land characteristics, actual weather realizations and expected weather. We then simulate the effect of an unobserved climate shock, where learning about the climate shock is by observing the weather and updating prior knowledge using Bayes Rule. We find adjustment costs to climate change are 1.4% of annual land rents.     

Assessment of the Nested Grid Model Estimates for Driving Regional Visibility Models in the Southwestern United States

ABSTRACT

The Nested Grid Model (NGM) is a primitive-equation meteorological model that is routinely exercised over North America for forecasting purposes by the National Meteorological Center. While prognostic meteorological models are being increasingly used to drive air quality models, their use in conducting annual simulations requires significant resources. NGM estimates of wind fields and other meteorological variables provide an attractive alternative since they are typically archived and readily available for an entire year. Preliminary evaluation of NGM winds during the summer of 1992 for application to the region surrounding the Grand Canyon National Park showed serious shortcomings. The NGM winds along the borders between California, Arizona and Mexico tend to be northwesterly with a speed of about 6 m/sec, while the observed flow is predominantly southerly at about 2-5 m/sec. The mesoscale effect of a thermal low pressure area over the highly heated Southern California and western Arizona deserts does not appear to be represented by the NGM because of its coarse resolution and the use of sparse observations in that region. Tracer simulations and statistical evaluation against special high resolution observations of winds in the southwest United States clearly demonstrate the northwest bias in NGM winds and its adverse effect on predictions of an air quality model. The “enhanced” NGM winds, in which selected wind observations are incorporated in the NGM winds using a diagnostic meteorological model provide additional confirmation on the primary cause of the northwest bias. This study has demonstrated that in situations where limited resources prevent the use of prognostic meteorological models, previously archived coarse resolution wind fields in which additional observations are incorporated to correct known biases provide an attractive option.     

The length of growing season and adult sex ratio affect sexual size dimorphism in moose

While factors affecting body growth have been extensively studied, very little is known about the factors likely to affect the sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in polygynous mammals. Based on the carcass mass of 24420 male and female moose recorded in 14 Norwegian populations, we examine three hypotheses to explain geographical variation in SSD. First, SSD is expected to decrease when the relative density of animals (for a given habitat quality) increases, because resource limitation at high population densities is assumed to affect body growth of males more than females. Second, because males are selected to invest in growth more than females, environmental seasonality and related improvement of the forage quality during the short and intense growing season are expected to increase SSD. Third, by decreasing the proportion of adult males in the population, resulting in start of rutting earlier in life, hunting may decrease the SSD by increasing the reproductive cost of young males. We found that males grew faster and for a longer time of their life than did females and thus were heavier (-24%) when they reached adulthood. Sexual size dimorphism was independent of density but was higher in areas with short growing seasons. The low SSD in populations with largely adult female-biased sex ratios (males per female) shows that male body growth decreases with a decreasing proportion of adult males in the population. Our results indicate that geographical variation in moose SSD is influenced by divergent responses in the sexes to ecological factors affecting body growth.     

99Tc in seawater in the West Spitsbergen Current and adjacent areas

99Tc levels were measured in seawater samples collected between 2000 and 2002 in the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) and along the western coast of Svalbard or Spitzbergen and compared with available oceanographic 3-D modelling results for the late 1990s. Additional data from related regions are also presented in order to support the data interpretation. The seawater in the Arctic fjord Kongsfjorden on the western coast of Svalbard is influenced by the WSC, as shown by the 99Tc levels in surface water. By means of the WSC, 99Tc reaches the Eastern Fram Strait, where one branch of the WSC turns west into the East Greenland Current (EGC), and another branch continues northwards into the Arctic Ocean. Surface seawater collected in the central part of the WSC during a cruise on board the R/V "Polarstern" in the summer of 2000, showed higher levels of (99)Tc than samples measured in Kongsfjorden in the spring of 2000. However, all levels measured in surface water are of the same order of magnitude. Data from sampling of deeper water in the WSC and EGC provide information pertaining to the lateral distribution of 99Tc. In all vertical profiling surveys (conducted in spring and summer), the highest levels of 99Tc were found in surface water. Comparison with oceanographic 3-D modelling indicates both significant seasonal variations in the lateral stratification of the WSC and variations with depth over shorter vertical distances. This information can be applied in sampling strategies, environmental monitoring, long-range transport of pollutants and physical oceanography.     

Safety-culture in a Norwegian shipping company

Problem: Although there has been considerable interest in safety culture and safety climate in many industries, little attention has been given to safety culture in one of the world's riskiest industries, shipping. Method: Using both self developed items and items from published research on safety culture, safety climate, and quality and management style, a 40-item safety culture questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was distributed in a self-administered form to sailors onboard 20 vessels and to officers attending a seminar in Manila. A total of 349 questionnaires were collected (total response rate, 60%). Results, discussion and impact on industry: Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed 11 factors when the Kaiser eigenvalue rule was used and four factors when the scree test criterion was used. The factor structure in the material confirmed structures found in other industries. The relative importance of the factors from the factor analysis on “level of safety” measures was tested by canonical correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results confirmed previous research and showed that the most important factors were influential across industries. To determine weather differences existed between nationalities, occupations, and vessels the factors from the PCA was subjected to Multiple Discriminant Analysis. Significant differences between occupations, nations, and vessels were found on one or more of the factors from the PCA.     

Introduction to the Issue

We are pleased to introduce this second issue of the Reviewof Environmental Economics and Policy. Like every issue, thisone includes several articles, a focused symposium, and a setof regular features. In the first of three articles, John Graham describes "The EvolvingRegulatory Role of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget,"where he was the "regulatory czar" as administrator of the Officeof Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) from 2001 to 2006.In his essay, Graham responds to the perception of OMB as antiregulatoryby describing the history of OIRA's proactive