Public policy and the value of the environment: an alternative approach

There is a growing concern regarding the ‘true’ GNP. The claim is that the cost of environmental degradation should be taken into account when calculating welfare measures for society which can be derived from the system of national accounts (SNA). However, the reason that it has not been done is the difficulty of calculating the true ‘price of the environment’. The literature recognizes two types of measurements. One is based on indirect measures (e.g. hedonic methods) while the second is based on direct methods (e.g. contingent valuation methods). There is an alternative approach which is suggested in this paper. The new method relies on the assumption that what we see in reality is the outcome of a maximization process of some social welfare function which includes not only GNP but other elements of which environmental quality is one. By observing the reality, we can get some information on the implicit governmental weights and hence on the trade‐off between the GNP and the environment. This is a positive approach rather than a normative one, so future decisions can rely on this measurement as a guide for controversial decisions regarding development versus preservation. The theoretical model is then applied to the Israeli economy as an example in order to have some estimate on the price derived by this method.     

Quantification of polychlorinated biphenyls in plastic granulates from the recycling of cables - Reference materials and interlaboratory comparison

A procedure for the quantification of the PCB marker congeners 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, 180 in plastic waste form the recycling of cables in the range of content between 0.1 mgkg(-1) and 20 mgkg(-1) was validated. Representative reference materials for laboratory analyses were produced using granulates from different recycling processes. The method development included aspects of grinding, sieving, homogenising as well as the comparison of extraction methods and chromatographic conditions. The validated procedure foresees grinding of the technical sample to an upper particle size limit of 0.50mm followed by extraction with an unpolar solvent such as n-hexane and gas chromatographic determination. LOD and LOQ for individual congeners ranged between 0.01 mgkg(-1) and 0.08 mgkg(-1). Electron capture detection (ECD) and mass selective detection (MS) were equivalent if chromatographic conditions were appropriately selected. The application of MS was advantageous in presence of significant amounts of interfering components which have been found in some cables. Three reference materials containing the marker congeners in the range of 0.1 mgkg(-1)-5 mgkg(-1) were submitted to a final validation intercomparison with 23 selected field laboratories using the developed method. Relative reproducibility standard deviations varied between 15% and 33%.     

Intergenerational equity: The capital-environment trade-off

This paper examines the trade-off between capital accumulation and environmental quality that determines an intergenerationally equitable program according to the Rawls maximin criterion. This trade-off is explored by an analysis of regular maximin programs in the framework developed by Brock. This results in a constant utility path supported by competitive prices with government imposed effluent charges and environmental rentals. Sufficient conditions for a regular maximin path to satisfy a Hartwick rule in deciding on the combination of capital and environmental quality left to future generations are given.     

The relative role of age and experience in determining variation in body mass during the early breeding career of the Common Tern (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sterna hirundo</Emphasis>)

Body mass is a consistent individual trait that characterises the state of adult birds and mammals and is positively related with long-term reproductive success. However, whether and to what extent body mass changes over lifetime in long-lived birds is poorly studied. In this paper, we investigate how individual body mass varies with age. Furthermore, we try to separate possible effects of age and experience on body mass. This study was conducted in a Common Tern colony on the German Wadden Sea coast. Transponders allowed registration of individuals throughout the breeding season and consecutive years with an antenna system combined with electronic balances for recording individual body-mass changes within and between years. Individual body masses of males and females were measured during three stages of the breeding season: at arrival, during incubation and chick rearing when mass was lowest in both sexes. Individual-based longitudinal analyses clearly showed that body mass during arrival, incubation and chick rearing increased up to an age of 5 or 6 years. First-time breeders had lower body mass than experienced breeders. Experience had stronger effects on incubation mass than age. Recruiting age also affected body-mass development of breeders: Three-year-old recruits showed a stronger increase in mass with experience than 4-year-old recruits. We assume that increasing experience enables birds to cope better with the physiological challenge of reproduction. To explain the general phenomenon of higher body mass in older birds, our results support the constraint hypothesis rather than either the selection or restraint hypothesis.