Sebastian Strunz

Consumer Preferences Determine Resilience of Ecological-Economic Systems

We perform a model analysis to study the origins of limited resilience in coupled ecological-economic systems. We demonstrate that under open access to ecosystems for profit-maximizing harvesting forms, the resilience properties of the system are essentially determined by consumer preferences for ecosystem services. In particular, we show that complementarity and relative importance of ecosystem services in consumption may significantly decrease the resilience of (almost) any given state of the system. We conclude that the role of consumer preferences and management institutions is not just to facilitate adaptation to, or transformation of, some natural dynamics of ecosystems. Rather, consumer preferences and management institutions are themselves important determinants of the fundamental dynamic characteristics of coupled ecological-economic systems, such as limited resilience.

State Aid Dispute on Germany’s Support for Renewables: Is the Commission on the Right Course?

The Commission is concerned that renewable support schemes may distort competition and trade between Member States. Thus, the Commission has recently proposed guidelines on how to make renewable support schemes compliant with state aid rules. Moreover, it has opened in-depth proceedings to investigate whether the German support scheme counts as inappropriate state aid in the meaning of Article 107 (1) tfeu. The Commission believes that, in particular, Germany’s concessions to energy-intensive industries, which pay only reduced levies to finance the renewables scheme, are distortive. This paper reviews the Commission’s arguments in this case as well as the proposed guidelines on state aid. It concludes that Germany’s support scheme does not constitute inappropriate state aid and that the Commission’s guidelines should be open to further discussion.

Between Scylla and Charybdis? On the place of economic methods in sustainability science

The flaws of mainstream economic methodology are becoming widely acknowledged. Should we, therefore, reject all of its concepts within the quest for sustainability? A predicament looms: neither would it make sense to neglect useful tools, nor to redundantly replicate the mainstream’s narrow perspective on sustainability problems. We argue that avoiding both fallacies is possible because power of judgment facilitates non-dogmatic methodological decisions: the scientists’ judgment, that is, the capacity to apply general concepts to specific situations, supports their decisions concerning which methods are suitable for tackling a given sustainability problem. The intersubjective quality of judgment prevents the resulting methodological pluralism from drifting toward arbitrariness.

Policy convergence as a multifaceted concept: the case of renewable energy policies in the European Union

The literature on policy convergence has identified numerous facets and causal drivers of convergence. Distinguishing four dimensions of convergence (object, benchmark, drivers and directed process) helps clarify why and in what form policy convergence may occur (or not). Thus, depending on, for example, the object of analysis (policy outcome or instruments used), the same empirical case may give rise to opposing assessments. Furthermore, both economic and political drivers are necessary to account for successful policy convergence: economic convergence partly explains why countries may face similar problems, and political mechanisms explain why they might choose similar policies to solve a given problem. This article illustrates the multifaceted character of convergence for the dynamic field of renewable energy policies in the European Union. The empirical results indicate temporary convergence in the case of policy support instrument choices and conditional convergence in terms of renewable shares. However, the results suggest divergence of public R&D subsidies targeting renewables.

Public Choice barriers to efficient climate adaptation – theoretical insights and lessons learned from German flood disasters

In this paper, we take a Public Choice perspective to identify and categorise barriers to efficient public climate adaptation. Specifically, we distinguish three dimensions of public adaptation: extent, structure (form and timing) and organisation (coordination across territorial authorities and policy fields). Within each of these dimensions, we investigate how the self-interest of voters, pressure groups, bureaucrats and politicians may bias adaptation decisions. Thus, we indicate specific barriers to efficient public adaptation. Based on this framework, we illustrate how Germanys response to major flood disasters reflects the incentive structure of concerned stakeholders and their political interaction. The ad hoc character of some public adaptation measures implies a clear bias from the efficient benchmark. In conclusion, we argue that the propositions of Public Choice theory shed some light on how empirical public adaptation processes unfold.

Speeding up the energy transition

Renewable energies are on the rise worldwide, but they have to compete against established fossil energies. Lifting import tariffs on selected inputs for renewables can foster the transition to these energies.

Mythos monetärer Wachstumszwang: Am Gelde hängt doch alles?

Im Postwachstumsdiskurs erfreuen sich Theorien eines monetaren Wachstumszwangs groser Popularitat. Jedoch stellt die Vielschichtigkeit des sozialen Phanomens Geld einseitige Kausalitaten infrage. Welche Bedeutung kommt dem Geld system wirklich zu?