We estimate the impact of large changes in the relative prices of natural gas and coal from 2005-2011, due primarily to “fracking,” on regional electricity marginal costs and air pollution emissions from electricity producers. We find strong evidence that natural gas is displacing coal as baseload. We estimate marginal emissions over the generation profile for each region in the U.S. using a no...

This study examines dynamic interrelationships and causality relationships among CO2 emissions, economic, political and financial variables over the period of 1971-2011 for the case of Iran as one of the top CO2 emitting countries in the world. The results of ARDL and Johansen cointegration approaches confirm the existence of long run relationship among CO2 emissions, energy consumption, GDP, f...

This paper extends the model of Fielding (1999), which is designed to explain changes in investment in South Africa during the Apartheid period, by allowing a role for indicators of political instability and political and civil rights, as measured by Fedderke et al. (1999). The conclusions based on estimation of the original model are robust to the inclusion of the political factors, but these ...

We use quasi-experimental variation due to the introduction of fracking to estimate the impact of a decrease in natural gas prices on marginal air pollution emissions from electricity producers. We find natural gas generation has displaced coal fired generation as the marginal fuel source significantly changing the marginal emissions profile. The impact of cheap natural gas varies across U.S. r...

The expansion of welfare-state arrangements is seen as the result of dynamic interaction between market behaviour and political behaviour, often with considerable time lags, sometimes generating either virtuous or vicious circles. Such interaction may also involve induced (endogenous) changes in social norms and political preferences. Moreover, the internationalisation process not only limits t...

Among environmental economists instrument choice has tended to come down to the task of ’getting the prices right’. Command-and-control interventions were viewed with suspicion. Recently, behavioral economics has revealed undesired interactions between price regulation and intrinsic motivation. We contribute by experimentally testing direct and persistence effects of taxes and command-and-contr...

This study offers an extension of Harjoto, Laksmana and Lee (2020) by presenting a descriptive comparison gender differences in writing style, how they impact the choice words readability corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. We examine readability, solidarity, certainty CSR find that female leaders use style conveys greater solidarity with their audience, thereby making better connect...

Schooling and Citizenship: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Reforms This paper examines whether schooling has a positive impact on individual's political interest, voting turnout, democratic values, political involvement and political group membership, using the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). Between 1949 and 1969 the number of compulsory years of schooling was increased from eight to...

Standard real business cycle theory predicts that consumption should be smoother than output, as observed in developed countries. In emerging economies, however, consumption is more volatile than income. In this paper we provide a novel explanation of this phenomenon, the ‘consumption volatility puzzle’, based on political frictions. We develop a dynamic stochastic political economy model where...

Cross-country data on energy consumption, GDP and vulnerability are used to measure percentage changes in vulnerability associated with percentage changes in per capita GDP and per capita energy consumption. Energy consumption, through its nonlinear effects on per capita income, have the effect of reducing a country’s overall vulnerability to climate change by a greater amount at moderate incom...