Directed Technical Change in Labor and Environmental Economics

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hémous ◽  
Morten Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economics ◽  
Labor Economics ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Green Technologies ◽  
Directed Technical Change ◽  
Slow Development ◽  
Balanced Growth Path

It is increasingly evident that the direction of technological change responds to economic incentives. We review the literature on directed technical change in the context of environmental economics and labor economics, and we show that these fields have much in common both theoretically and empirically. We emphasize the importance of a balanced growth path and show that the lack of such a path is closely related to the slow development of green technologies in environmental economics and to growing inequality in labor economics. We discuss whether the direction of innovation is efficient. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Economics, Volume 13 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Understanding the Improbable: A Survey of Fat Tails in Environmental Economics

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc N. Conte ◽  
David L. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economics ◽  
Resource Economics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Fat Tails ◽  
Disaster Impacts ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Optimal Environmental Policy ◽  
Natural Disaster Impacts

We survey the growing literature on fat-tailed distributions in environmental economics. We then examine the theoretical and statistical properties of such distributions, focusing especially on when these properties are likely to arise in environmental problems. We find that a number of variables are fat tailed in environmental economics, including the climate sensitivity, natural disaster impacts, spread of infectious diseases, and stated willingness to pay. We argue that different fat-tailed distributions arise from common pathways. Finally, we review the literature on the policy implications of fat-tailed distributions and controversies over their interpretation. We conclude that the literature has made great strides in demonstrating when fat tails matter for optimal environmental policy. Yet, much is less well understood, including how alternative policies affect fat-tailed distributions, the optimal policy in a computational economy with many fat-tailed problems, and how to account for imprecision in empirical tests for fat tails. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Resource Economics, Volume 13 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Effect of Feed-In Tariff with Deregulation on Directed Technical Change in the Energy Sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minoru Nakada
Keyword(s):  
Technical Change ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Saving Energy ◽  
Resource Saving ◽  
Balanced Growth ◽  
Directed Technical Change ◽  
Final Good ◽  
Balanced Growth Path ◽  
The Government ◽  
Feed In Tariff

Abstract In this study, we examine how a feed-in tariff (FIT) accompanied with deregulation in the energy sector affects the direction of technical change along the balanced growth path. A final good is composed of resource-saving (such as renewable) energy and traditional resource-intensive energy. The government introduces a FIT scheme for promoting resource-saving energy, while it deregulates the traditional energy sector for efficiency improvement. The implementation of the scheme positively affects directed technical change toward the resource-saving energy technology and economic growth. Meanwhile, the biased technical change leads to an upsurge in the surcharge. Associated deregulation not only accelerates the biased technical change but also drives the surge in the surcharge rate, unless the initial market structure of the traditional energy sector is highly concentrated.

MEDIUM RUN REDUX

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 695-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter McAdam ◽  
Alpo Willman
Keyword(s):  
Production Function ◽  
Financial Market ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Growth Path ◽  
Balanced Growth ◽  
Directed Technical Change ◽  
Tfp Growth ◽  
Balanced Growth Path

We develop a framework for measuring and analyzing medium-run departures from balanced growth, and apply it to developments in the euro area. A time-varying factor-augmenting production function (mimicking directed technical change) with below-unitary substitution elasticity is shown to account for the observed dynamics of factor incomes shares, TFP growth, and its components. Based on careful data accounting, we also identify a rising markup and the importance of financial-market regulations in the 1970s. The balanced growth path emerges as a special (and testable) case of our framework, as do existing strands of medium-run debates.

Small Steps with Big Data: Using Machine Learning in Energy and Environmental Economics

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Harding ◽  
Carlos Lamarche
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Environmental Economics ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Applications Of Machine Learning ◽  
Media Data

This article reviews recent endeavors to incorporate big data and machine learning techniques into energy and environmental economics research. We find that novel datasets, from high frequency smart meter data to satellite images and social media data, are already used by researchers. At the same time most of the analyses rely on traditional econometric techniques. Nevertheless, we find applications of machine learning models that address the high dimensionality of the data and seek out new and better strategies for estimating heterogenous treatment effects. We provide an introduction to the main themes in machine learning, which are likely to be of use to economists in energy and environmental economics, and illustrate them using a real data example derived from an energy efficiency program evaluation. We provide the data and code in order to stimulate further research in this area. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Resource Economics, Volume 13 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Endogenous Retroviruses Drive Resistance and Promotion of Exogenous Retroviral Homologs

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott S. Chiu ◽  
Sue VandeWoude
Keyword(s):  
Immune Modulation ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Endogenous Retroviruses ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Self Tolerance ◽  
Vertebrate Hosts ◽  
Insight Into

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) serve as markers of ancient viral infections and provide invaluable insight into host and viral evolution. ERVs have been exapted to assist in performing basic biological functions, including placentation, immune modulation, and oncogenesis. A subset of ERVs share high nucleotide similarity to circulating horizontally transmitted exogenous retrovirus (XRV) progenitors. In these cases, ERV–XRV interactions have been documented and include ( a) recombination to result in ERV–XRV chimeras, ( b) ERV induction of immune self-tolerance to XRV antigens, ( c) ERV antigen interference with XRV receptor binding, and ( d) interactions resulting in both enhancement and restriction of XRV infections. Whereas the mechanisms governing recombination and immune self-tolerance have been partially determined, enhancement and restriction of XRV infection are virus specific and only partially understood. This review summarizes interactions between six unique ERV–XRV pairs, highlighting important ERV biological functions and potential evolutionary histories in vertebrate hosts. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, Volume 9 is February 16, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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