INFER Annual Conference 2003

INFER Annual Conference 2004

Environmental Economics

Institutions, Competition, Rationality

September 17 / 18, 2004

at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Wuppertal, Germany

Conference Objectives

The principle objective of the conference is to encourage economic research and to strengthen contact between applied and academic economics. Young researchers and professionals with a background in economics or related disciplines are invited to share their results, views, and experiences.

Conference Topics

The interrelation of environmental and economic issues represents one of the most demanding challenges both for policy makers and economists. In the face of continuing environmental degradation both in industrialised and developing countries, this environmental issue remains very topical. At the same time, the current problems of the world economy underline the demand of integrating issues of economic welfare and the workability of competitive markets. Transforming industries and societies towards sustainable development remains a challenging task for research.

Although environmental economics has become a well-established discipline within economics and much research has been done in the past two decades, methodological issues are now at stake. This is because

recent methods and fields of economics, like institutional and competition (industrial) economics, are only rarely considered within environmental economics and

some of the prevailing and emerging environmental problems may need new methodological tools for economic analysis.

Therefore, this conference attempts to systematically explore new methodological frontiers. Topics will include analysis on how to bring institutions into environmental economics as well as the implications of modern evolutionary theories of competition. Also the application of new theories of human behaviour, governance theories and the analysis of their implications for environmental policy problems are demanding tasks for research, which may also require interdisciplinary analysis. Furthermore, the challenging task of bridging the analytical gap to new insights of environmental research represents a major topic of this conference.

The announced conference welcomes contributions on all facets of these issues, especially including papers on:

the interrelation of environmental and institutional economics.

environmental economics, industrial organization, and evolutionary market competition.

international environmental governance beyond the state.

the economics of federalism in environmental policy: states and laws between competition and harmonization.

environmental management “under the shadow of the law”: analysis of a public role for the private sector.

new insights from environmental research and consequences for economic analysis: land economics, material flows economics (…).

new concepts of rationality in environmental economics (“homo sustinens”): what changes?

rationality and policy instruments: economic and legal incentives for sustainable behaviour.

new modelling approaches in environmental economics.

Participants

The conference is addressed to senior researchers, post-docs, recently graduated students, and professionals from business, government or non-governmental institutions. We encourage especially junior scholars to submit papers.

Place

The Annual Conference will be held at the Wuppertal Institute, Wuppertal in Germany. The institute is located in short walking distance from Wuppertal main station.

Tentative Programme (as of August 2004)

Friday, September 17

13.00 Registration

14.00–15.00 Opening
Dr. Michael Stierle (INFER)
Prof. Dr. Raimund Bleischwitz / Dr. Oliver Budzinski (Organizers)
Prof. Dr. Peter Hennicke (Wuppertal Institute)

15.00–16.00 Keynote Speech Prof. Dr. Frank Convery (University College Dublin, Ireland)

Discussion

16.00 Coffee Break

16.30–17.30 Keynote Speech Dr. Manfred Bergmann (European Commission, DG ECFIN)

"The Effects of Environmental Policy on the Competitiveness of European Business"

Discussion

17.30–19.00 Parallel Sessions

Session 1 – Room A Environmental Federalism

Session 2 – Room B Governance of the Corporate Sector

19.30 Diner

Saturday, September 18

9.00–10.00 Plenary Speeches “New Visions of Rationality”

Prof. Dr. Frank Beckenbach (University of Kassel, Germany):
"Conceptualizing a Realistic Agent in Environmental Economics"

PD Dr. Markus Pasche (University of Jena, Germany):

„Voluntary Commitment to Environmental Protection: A Bounded Rationality Approach“

Discussion

10.00 Coffee Break

10.15–11.30 Parallel Sessions

Session 3 – Room A Developing Countries

Session 4 – Room B Rationality and Behavioural Issues

Session 5 – Room C Competition and Trade

11.30 Coffee Break

11.45–13.00 Parallel Sessions

Session 6 – Room A Environmental Policy

Session 7 – Room B Energy Markets

Session 8 – Room C Land Use and Biodiversity

13.00 Lunch

14.00–14.30 Farewell Speech Prof. Dr. Jürgen Backhaus (University of Erfurt, Germany)
“Designing Institutions for Rational Sustainable Policy”

14.30 Closure / End of Conference

Sessions

- Sessions - September 17, 2004

Session 1 – Room A
Environmental Federalism

Session 2 – Room B
Governance of the Corporate Sector

17.30 – 17.50

Cynthia LIN
(Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A.)

Environmental Federalism and Regulatory Delegation: An Incomplete Contracting Approach

Mark STARMANNS / Boris BRAUN
(University of Bamberg, Germany)

Environmental Governance in Production Chains and Trans-national Networks: Applying Stakeholder Theory to Inter-cultural Contexts

17.50 – 18.10

Bert SAVEYN / Stef PROOST
(Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium)

Environmental Tax Reform with Vertical Externalities in a Federal State

Constantin A. BOB
(Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

Companies Future in the Integration Process Environment

18.10 – 18.30

Dirk HUCHTEMANN / Manuel FRONDEL
(Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Essen, Germany)

Increasing the Efficiency of Institutional Arrangements: Transboundary Water Management of Regional German River Catchments

Constantin Dan DUMITRESCU
(Politehnica University, Bucharest, Romania)

An Approach on the Restructuring Strategy Based on Efficiency

18.30 – 18.50

Nicolas MARCHETTI
(University of Montpellier, France)

On Auctions for Siting Noxious Facilities in a Multiple-city Region

Mbolatiana RAMBONILAZA
(Cemagref, Bordeaux, France)

Labelling an Eco-Efficient Marketing Tool for Environmentally Friendly Product?

- Sessions - September 18, 2004	Session 3 – Room A Developing Countries	Session 4 – Room B Rationality and Behavioural Issues	Session 5 – Room C Competition and Trade
10.15 – 10.35	Andreas OBERHEITMANN / Manuel FRONDEL (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Essen, Germany) The Dark Side of China’s Increasing Economic Prosperity: Will Energy Consumption and Global Emission Rise Dramatically?	Fred B. JENNINGS (Center for Ecological Economic and Ethical Education, Ipswich, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) Bounded Rationality, Interdependence and Horizon Effects: Out from an Age of Denial into an Ecological Economics	Christian SPIELMANN / Matthias BUSSE (Hamburg Institute of International Economics, Germany) Trade in Pollution-Intensive Goods: Do Environmental Regulations Matter and What Do We Do About Them?
10.35 – 10.55	Susanne MENZEL (University of Göttingen, Germany / University of York, UK) Financial Transfer for Biodiversity Conservation in Developing Countries: A Contribution to Reasonable Use of Contingent Valuation Results	Jenny SUNDMACHER / Torsten SUNDMACHER / Jörg JASPER (University of Duisburg-Essen / University of Hanover, Germany) The Idea of Man in Classical Economic Theory as a Basis for a Modern Theory of Environmental Economics	Adriana GRIGORESCU (National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania) Market Makers and Competition Based on Environmental Facilities
10.55 – 11.15	Surendra Kumar YADAV (National Institute of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi, India) Sustainable Development of Degraded Soil due to Brick Industry Faces Economic Constraints: A Case Study in South Delhi (India)	Ashir MEHTA (University of Baroda, India) Determinants of Quality of Life: The Asian Experience	Tilmann RAVE (Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Germany) Strategic Environmental Assessment for Subsidies in Germany
11.15 – 11.35	CHANG Chiung-Ting (University of York, UK) Balancing Development against Protection in Flood Risk Management

- Sessions - September 18, 2004	Session 6 – Room A Environmental Policy	Session 7 – Room B Energy Markets	Session 8 – Room C Land Use and Biodiversity
11.45 – 12.05	Olga KIUILA (Warsaw University, Poland) Simulation of the Carbon Tax Reform in Estonia	Frank CONVERY / Gemma O’REILLY (University College Dublin, Ireland) The Nature of Competition in the Wind Energy Market	Frank GATZWEILER (University of Bonn, Germany) Institutional Economics for Sustaining Biodiversity
12.05 – 12.25	John K. WILSON (University of South Australia) / Richard DAMANIA (University of Adelaide, Australia) Corruption, Political Competition and Environmental Policy	Jean-Marc BEHRINGER (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschafts-forschung Essen, Germany) Electricity Generation beyond Former Walls: The Impact of EU Enlargement on Eastern European Electricity Markets	Christina RÜFFER (University of Göttingen, Germany) A Result-Orientated Payment Scheme as an Innovative Policy Instrument for the Conservation of Agrobiodiversity: An Interdisciplinary Approach
12.25 – 12.45	Philippe LE GOFFE / Julien SALANIÉ (Agrocampus, Rennes, France) Recreational Fishing in France: Market or Institutional Failures?		ZHOU Jian-Ming (University of Florence, Italy) Solving the Irrational Land Use for Better Competition and Environment - A Challenge to Nobel Laureate Schultz and Nominee Hirschman

Publication of papers

The selection of papers presented at the conference will be published in a conference volume in November 2004. The registration fee for speakers includes one free copy of the conference volume for each presented paper.

For information about former Annual Conferences please click here.

Conference Committee

Prof. Dr. Raimund Bleischwitz / Wuppertal Institute and College of Europe, Brugge, Dr. Oliver Budzinski / University of Marburg

E-Mail: raimund.bleischwitz@wupperinst.org and budzinski@wiwi.uni-marburg.de