Cees van Beers

An Empirical Multi-Country Analysis of the Impact of Environmental Regulations on Foreign Trade Flows

In this paper, it is argued that the inconclusiveness in previous empirical studies on the relationship between antipollution standards and foreign trade is due to inaccurate variables used to represent environmental regulations strictness. Two variables of environmental policy stringency are composed and evaluated against the polluter pays principle. In the framework of a trade flow equation, it is found that, with an environmental policy strictness variable closely connected to the polluter pays principle, the impact of stricter regulations on export and import flows is negative. This result implies the existence of government actions to impede imports. Copyright 1997 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Perseverance of Perverse Subsidies and their Impact on Trade and the Environment

Theoretical and empirical aspects of policy failures due to subsidies are discussed in the context of international trade. A general classification of subsidies that cause environmental externalities is presented. The economic and environmental impacts of producer subsidies on international trade are examined with partial equilibrium analysis. The magnitude and economic and environmental relevance of subsidies in various sectors is assessed on the basis of empirical indicators. Finally, suggestions are provided on how subsidy-related policy failures can be eliminated at national and international levels. This discussion paper has resulted in a publication in Ecological Economics , 2001, 36(3), 475-86.

Public subsidies and policy failures : how subsidies distort the natural environment, equity and trade, and how to reform them

Public Subsidies and Policy Failures: How Subsidies Distort the Natural Environment, Equity and Trade and How to Reform Them By Cees van Beers and Andre de Moor. Cheltenham. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Inc. 2001. Pp. xiv, 143.

Determining the environmental effects of indirect subsidies: integrated method and application to the Netherlands

60.00. This book studies public subsidies and policy failures. More specifically, it looks at how governments choose to subsidize and how much such subsidies cost society. It also tries to understand why subsidies persist once they fail to serve their purpose and further harm economic, environmental, and social policy objectives. The book is organized in six chapters. The first two chapters, particularly Chapter 2, build the theoretical framework on which the problem will be considered. The remaining chapters are devoted to the analysis of the problem and propositions for subsidy reform policies. Chapter 2 develops an economic analysis of public subsidies and policy failures on the basis of a standard welfare economics framework with a graphical model that shows the consequences of introducing subsides into a market economy. The effort to build a model involving subsidies is interesting because, as far as I am aware, there are very few, if any, attempts to do so in this manner. However, maybe due to the novelty and the complexity of the issue, the graphical analysis becomes quite difficult to follow because of the excessive number of lines and badly indicated points. Because of these problems, in some cases the match between what is explained in the text and pointed out in the graphics is not clear, weakening the explanatory power of the model. Chapter 3 investigates the costs and impacts of public subsidies in various sectors of a domestic economy with emphasis on those associated with natural resources, such as agriculture, mining, forestry, fisheries, and energy. The analysis is performed based on figures from OECD and nonOECD countries. The classification and quantifications presented are very important because they help the reader understand how big subsidies are in the world economy and how they affect natural resources, the environment, and welfare as a whole. It is easy to understand that subsidies figures are not very precise due to the different forms in which they are granted. Notwithstanding, the analysis about other costs, such as water externalities, should be more thoroughly developed. The issue of how governments become addicted to subsidies is developed in Chapter 4. The authors present two kinds of barriers to removing subsidies. One is economic and the other is institutional and political. Among the different arguments developed in the chapter to explain the addiction to subsidies, I particularly disagree with the statement that says because producers are not well organized, consumer subsidies in developing countries are not easily eliminated. This is a very general statement and may not apply to many developing countries. Subsidy reform policies and strategies are presented in Chapter 5. This chapter focuses on how to overcome the barriers created by subsidy addiction, as developed in the previous chapter. …

Environmental Harm of Hidden Subsidies: Global Warming and Acidification

The term ‘environmentally damaging subsidies’ covers all sorts of direct and indirect subsidies with negative consequences for the environment. This article presents a method to determine the environmental impact of these subsidies. It combines a microeconomic framework with an environmental impact module. The method is particularly useful for analysing indirect subsidies. These are often hidden, and therefore, not recognized as subsidies. Use of the method will provide a basis for formulating corrective policy. The method is applied to several important subsidies in the Netherlands, in agriculture, energy and transport sectors. The results reveal large environmental effects, which deserve serious attention from policy makers. To illustrate the specific features of the method, its application to a particular subsidy, namely the exemption of excise taxes on aviation fuels, is presented in full detail.

The effect of internal and external technology sourcing on firm performance throughout the technology life cycle

Abstract We investigate environmental impacts of off-budget or indirect subsidies, which, unlike on-budget subsidies, are not visible in government budgets. Such subsidies have received little attention in economic and environmental research, even though they may be at least as important from an environmental perspective as on-budget subsidies. We offer a typology of indirect subsidies. Next, we estimate the magnitude of these subsidies and their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) and acidifying emissions for the agriculture, energy, and transport sectors in The Netherlands. The calculations are based on a model approach that translates a particular subsidy into price and quantity changes using empirical elasticities, followed by environmental effect estimates using pollution-intensity parameters. The various environmental pollution effects are aggregated into environmental indicators. The results show, among others, that GHG emissions caused by off-budget subsidies contribute to more than 30% of the policy t...We investigate environmental impacts of off-budget or indirect subsidies, which, unlike on-budget subsidies, are not visible in government budgets. Such subsidies have received little attention in economic and environmental research, even though they may be at least as important from an environmental perspective as on-budget subsidies. We offer a typology of indirect subsidies. Next, we estimate the magnitude of these subsidies and their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) and acidifying emissions for the agriculture, energy, and transport sectors in The Netherlands. The calculations are based on a model approach that translates a particular subsidy into price and quantity changes using empirical elasticities, followed by environmental effect estimates using pollution-intensity parameters. The various environmental pollution effects are aggregated into environmental indicators. The results show, among others, that GHG emissions caused by off-budget subsidies contribute to more than 30% of the policy targets specified by the Kyoto Protocol for CO2 emissions reduction by The Netherlands. Reforming or removing off-budget subsidies may thus be an important strategy of effective climate policy.

Frugal Innovation in Africa: Tracking Unilever's Washing-powder Sachets

In studies about the impact of technology sourcing on firm performance, the impact of the technology life cycle has thus far received scant attention. This paper investigates this topic from the knowledge-based perspective. Data was gathered from 22 PLD (Programmable Logic Device) manufacturers in the integrated circuit industry between 1986 and 2005, and used to test two hypotheses based on panel analysis: (1) that strategic alliance networks, as a mode of external technology sourcing, have a positive effect on a firms innovative and market performance early in the technology life cycle, and (2) that internal development as a mode of internal technology sourcing has a positive effect on a firms innovative and market performance later in the technology life cycle. Although both hypotheses are supported as far as market performance is concerned, neither is supported when it comes to innovative performance.

On the Relationship Between Acquisitions, Divestitures and Innovations: An Explorative Study

Western-based multinational enterprises (MNEs) have played a major role in the introduction and marketing of new products and services in Africa?s consumer markets. Frugal innovations are the result of the recent ambitions of mostly MNEs to design and sell products for and to consumers at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). This chapter presents a case study which suggests that better collaboration with African partners in order to supply goods to the BoP in a profitable way is of great importance. The OMO sachets were a success from a sales perspective and turnover increased greatly over figures from the early 1990s due to the introduction of the more affordable economy-sized sachets. Finally, the chapter considers whether, by addressing frugal innovation for Africa, product innovations brought into Africa by foreign parties can increasingly become influenced and transformed a priori by Africans, before the products have entered the African market. Keywords: Africa; Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP); frugal innovation; OMO sachets; Western-based multinational enterprises (MNEs)

Political Determinants of Fossil Fuel Pricing

Firms increasingly use acquisitions and divestitures to acquire strategic assets such as technological know-how and technological capabilities that can contribute to their innovation potential. This study investigates whether firms combining acquisitions and divestitures have been more innovative than those that did not. It uses an empirical model to examine the relationship between acquisitions and/or divestitures, on the one hand, and the probability of firms to produce innovations, on the other hand. Innovations are distinguished according to products and/or processes that are “new to the firm” as a proxy for all innovations including imitations and those that are “new to the market” which is a proxy for so-called real innovations, excluding imitations. In order to test the model a data set is used that includes 2381 firms and was derived from the Dutch Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2) survey for the years 1994–1996. The estimation results show that divestitures in the services industry affect the probability to innovate positively in case of innovations that are “new to the firm”. In the manufacturing industry, a stable and positive correlation was found between acquisitions and/or divestitures on the hand, and real innovation activities of firms on the other hand.

Value Sensitive Design of Complex Product Systems

This paper provides an empirical analysis of economic and political determinants of gasoline and diesel prices for about 200 countries over the period 1991–2010. A range of both political and economic variables are found to systematically influence fuel prices, and in ways that differ systematically with countries’ per-capita income levels. For democracies, the analysis finds that fuel prices correlate positively with both duration of democracy and tenure of democratic leaders. In non-democratic societies there is more often no such relationship or it is the opposite of that for democracies. Regime switches—transitions from non-democratic to democratic government, or vice versa—reduce fuel prices. Fuel prices are also lower for more corrupt, or more centralized, governments. Higher levels of gross domestic product per capita lead to higher fuel prices, while export income from selling fossil fuels reduces these prices dramatically. Higher motor fuel consumption also appears to reduce fuel prices, most for gasoline. Absolute “pass-through” of crude oil price changes to fuel prices is found to be high on average.