Author : Wensu Li
Release : 2021
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Kind : eBook
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Book Synopsis Three Essays on Environmental Economics by : Wensu Li

Download or read book Three Essays on Environmental Economics written by Wensu Li. This book was released on 2021. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation addresses three issues in environmental economics. The first chapter uses data from the United States to examine how extreme weather events, which are more frequent and severe because of climate change, affect people's work time and location. A key question in this chapter is the role of job flexibility, such as access to work-at-home arrangements or flexible schedules, in people's adaptation behavior. The empirical analysis shows that people with higher job flexibility can adapt more easily to extreme weather, implying that job flexibility might be an important tool for adapting to climate change. The second chapter considers the role of waste quality in the international waste trade for recycling. It presents a theoretical model of the vertical market structure in recycling and obtains the market equilibrium quality and quantity in the international recyclable market where the upstream waste collectors sell to the downstream recycling mills. Adding the quality dimension opens a new way to think about the pollution haven effect. The policy analysis shows that, when taking waste quality into account, changes in border policies may lead to counter-intuitive outcomes. The third chapter estimates the nonlinear relationship between household electricity consumption and household income. The purchase of new electrical appliances creates a discontinuous jump in electricity use which is partly why electricity consumption does not grow proportionally with income. Chapter 3 empirically verifies the positive jump with the purchase of common appliances and identifies air conditioners as a key driver behind the rapid growth of household energy consumption in China in the early 2010s.