Doron Lavee

A cost-benefit analysis of a deposit–refund program for beverage containers in Israel

The paper presents a full cost-benefit analysis of a deposit-refund program for beverage containers in Israel. We examine all cost elements of the program--storage, collection, and treatment costs of empty containers, and all potential benefits--savings in alternative treatment costs (waste collection and landfill disposal), cleaner public spaces, reduction of landfill volumes, energy-savings externalities associated with use of recycled materials, and creation of new workplaces. A wide variety of data resources is employed, and some of the critical issues are examined via several approaches. The main finding of the paper is that the deposit-refund program is clearly economically worthwhile. The paper contributes to the growing body of literature on deposit-refund programs by its complete and detailed analysis of all relevant factors of such a program, and also specifically in its analysis of the savings in alternative waste management costs. This analysis reveals greater savings than are usually assumed, and thus shows the deposit-refund program to be highly efficient.

The Benefits and Costs of Noise Reduction

This paper attempts to measure, in a cost-benefit analysis, a stricter noise abatement programme for noise originating from roads in Israel. Using the hedonic price method for three large cities and rural area transactions, a benefit from noise reduction was found. In order to perform a social cost-benefit analysis, a measure of benefit has been derived for 1 km of road and has been compared with the cost of noise reduction under different types of road structure. The results indicate that even though benefits have largely increased when compared to past decades (e.g. 1.2% of an average urban property value per 1 decibel reduction), the decision to insulate a given road is dependent on location and road structure. This raises the normative question of a national vs. regional standard that decision makers should be aware of and such studies could be of help in this respect.

Benchmarking in municipal solid waste recycling

The paper presents an analysis of the factors influencing the recycling potential of municipalities in Israel, including population size and density, geographic location, current waste levels, and current waste management system. We employ a standard regression analysis in order to develop an econometric model to predict where potential for economically efficient recycling is highest. By applying this model to readily available data, it is possible to predict with close to 90% accuracy whether or not recycling will be economically efficient in any given municipality. Government agencies working to promote advanced waste management solutions have at their disposal only limited resources and budget, and so must concentrate their efforts where they will be most effective. The paper thus provides policy-makers with a powerful tool to help direct their efforts to promote recycling at those municipalities where it is indeed optimal.

The Effect and Reform of Water Pricing: The Israeli Experience

Water pricing in Israel led the water situation to become almost disastrous. This was true for both quantity and quality issues. This paper deals with a proposed price reform and its implication for two issues. The first is the optimal timing to switch to a backstop technology--desalinating water in this case. Economic analysis shows that combining both demand and supply management can postpone desalinization projects by more than 20 years. The second issue deals with changing the price block schedule in order to compensate farmers for a given price change. Increasing the marginal price of water to its real value damages the marginal users. The paper tries to calculate and proposes a new price block schedule that will leave the farmers as well off as they were before the change.

Cost-benefit analysis of an accelerated vehicle-retirement programme

High taxes on new cars in Israel provide an incentive for car owners to defer the purchase of new vehicles. The result is a vehicle fleet of older, more polluting vehicles, with air pollution costs estimated at up to

Contamination by the Israeli military industry and its impact on apartment sale prices in an adjacent Tel Aviv neighborhood: a hedonic pricing model study

530 million annually. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a cost benefit analysis (CBA) of an accelerated vehicle-retirement (AVR) programme. The analysis considers the private car fleet as well as trucks and buses. The study develops an economic model to identify the optimal payment level that will maximise the net benefit of the programme, and then apply the model to three different vehicle categories. It finds that an AVR programme for private cars may indeed yield significant net benefits, while a similar programme for trucks and buses fails to meet the cost-benefit test. For private cars, the study finds that even according to a conservative estimate, the programme will result in the voluntary retirement of approximately 98,000 private cars, with a present value net benefit of more than

Is desalination the most sustainable alternative for water-shortage mitigation in Israel?

50 million. This is equal to a 17% reduction in total annual private car air pollution costs for the five-year time span of the proposed programme.

Analyzing Current and Expected Air Quality and Pollutant Emissions Across Israel

This study quantifies the effect of environmental degradation due to contamination from Taas Magen, an Israeli Defense Force industrial facility, on the nearby housing market. A model was constructed so as to isolate the impact of the contamination from that of the facility itself by incorporating information regarding public awareness of the contamination. The resulting regression analysis suggests that distance from the site of the facility affected home prices only after the general public became aware of the contamination. Therefore, it is specifically the environmental contamination, rather than the facility as of itself, that negatively impacted prices. As a result of the contamination, apartment prices fell by an average of

Wastewater Supply Management

24,665 (2006 dollars), equal to approximately 14% of the sales price of an average apartment in the sample area. Total losses to the surrounding housing market are accordingly estimated at between

National versus location-specific environmental standards: a cost–benefit analysis of wastewater treatment standards in Israel

267 and