ALBERT

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 547-571, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 589-607, September 2013.

Description: In EU countries, opening up of telecommunications markets and regulations have helped to reduce the price of digital services which is an important quasi-input factor in all firms. Integrating the use of telecommunications in a macroeconomic production function is the analytical starting point for our interdependent analysis of output, use of telecommunications and employment. Based on unit root and co-integration analysis as well as an error correction three-equation model which is estimated simultaneously, we present results both on long run links and short run links between telecommunications, output and employment. Considering various scenarios suggests that a fall in the relative price of telecommunications can generate a cumulated employment increase of 760,000 within seven years in Germany. The institutional setup for regulating telecommunications could be improved in Germany and other EU countries; investor-friendly regulation is required.

Description: In this paper the influence of ICT investments on the international activities of Russia is analyzed. Firstly, ICT investments are considered as a factor of the international competitiveness of the Russian economy (in comparison with some other countries). Dynamics of both export volumes and openness of national economies are used as the main criteria for comparison. Then, the role of ICT in the development of international activities on the regional level is analysed. Cluster analysis is performed for the set of data on the Russian regions. Finally, the accession of Russia to the WTO is considered in the context of the development of the ICT sector and the international activities of the Russian economy.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-18, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 533-537, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 541-546, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 572-588, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 608-631, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-19, Ahead of Print.

Description: This paper shows that in a two-country two-overlapping-generations model with migration, capital mobility and an immobile production factor (land), a locally welfare-improving pension reform at the cost of the neighboring country is possible if land plays a minor role in production. Furthermore, differences in the size of the PAYG pension schemes between the countries distort the international allocation of labour and capital. As a result, a Pareto-improving pension reform is possible if countries employ PAYG pension schemes of different size, provided that a federal government exists that redistributes benefits and losses of the reform both intergenerationally and internationally.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-19, Ahead of Print.

Description: Since its introduction in 1999, the euro has shown pronounced swings against the US dollar and the British pound. In this study, we investigate whether this evolution has affected bilateral German exports to two of its major export destinations: the US and the UK. Applying the autoregressive distributed lags bounds testing approach, we find different elasticities of trade between the two export destinations. Our results show that the export demand equation for the US seems to be more stable than that for the UK. Furthermore, it seems that the short-run dynamics in particular have changed.

Description: This study examines the effectiveness of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) intervention policy in the foreign exchange market. An attempt is made to capture volatility spillovers between the RBI’s intervention and exchange rate. The results indicate that the past volatility of intervention has a positive impact on the present volatility of the exchange rate. Similarly the past volatility of the exchange rate, increases the present volatility of intervention. The volatility of the exchange rate is more sensitive to its past shock than the past shock of an intervention. Similarly, the volatility of intervention is more sensitive to the past volatility of exchange rate compared to the past volatility of intervention.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-20, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-20, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-20, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 538-540, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue 5, Page 632-648, September 2013.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-18, Ahead of Print.

Description: Energy and climate policy drive large scale integration of distributed generation and demand side management, with massive consequences for distribution grids. New technologies and actors shape the transformation of electricity networks towards smart systems. We argue that future regulation of smart grids needs to allow more flexibility. Firstly, the core of network monopoly starts to weaken allowing for more third party involvement. Secondly, the increasing number and heterogeneity of stakeholders makes “one-size-fits-all” regulation simply less suitable, whilst regulation needs to take account of various interests. In this paper we discuss stakeholder involvement and make policy recommendations to render regulation of smart systems more flexible.

Description: Modern macroeconomics has failed in the analysis of both the US banking and the euro crises, respectively, and there is also a rather inadequate view on a range of relevant policy issues. The approach presented herein looks at the reasons for analytical failure and suggests means of improvement – picking up proposals from the literature as well as contributing new ones. The economics profession did not anticipate the banking crisis and there is reluctance to switch to a new paradigm for stabilization policy analysis. Beyond this, there are several analytical challenges which should be integrated into a post-crisis approach: for example, the question of the true degree of economic openness and the role of multinational companies. Moreover, the macroeconomic impact of the digital economic expansion is largely underestimated. The traditional view on asset bubbles has become doubtful. A new paradigm should emphasize the triple analytical challenge of short-term financial market analysis, the routine new questioning of the systemic stability of economic systems and standard macroeconomic modeling – with some refinements; a “Schumpeterian Mundell-Fleming-Solow-Akerlof-model” and sustainability aspects are important on the one hand, on the other hand NKM models have to integrate a broader array of market imperfections. The perspectives presented could jump-start a new paradigm that combines a more realistic macro perspective with a complementary critical institutional analysis.

Description: Afshin Akhtarkhavari: Global governance and the environment: environmental principles and change in international law and politics Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9154-x Authors Candice Carr Kelman, University of California, Irvine, USA Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description: ASEAN - Improving Environmental Governance and Access to Justice (Amado S. Tolentino Jr) 95 APCEL / MFA - Urban and Industrial Environmental Management "The Singapore Model" (Koh Kheng-Lian) 102 Content Type Journal Article Pages 95-103 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 41 Journal Issue Volume 41, Number 2 / 2011

Description: Brazil - The Belo Monte Dam Case (Patricia Galindo da Fonseca and Antoine Bourgoignie) 104 Content Type Journal Article Pages 104-107 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 41 Journal Issue Volume 41, Number 2 / 2011

Description: IRENA / PrepCom-5 / Assembly-1 - Inaugural Meeting of IRENA Assembly 94 Content Type Journal Article Pages 94-94 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 41 Journal Issue Volume 41, Number 2 / 2011

Description: UNEP GC-26 / GMEF - A Complex Session (Donald Kaniaru) 56 CSD - PrepComs Meet (Ann Powers) 58 ITLOS / Case No. 17 - Seabed Mining "Advisory Opinion on Responsibility and Liability" (Donald K. Anton, Robert A. Makgill and Cymie R. Payne) 60 ICJ - Costa Rica v. Nicaragua "Provisional Relief Granted" 66 ILC - Impact of Conflict on Treaties "An Environmental Perspective" 67 IDDRI - Implications of the Nagoya Protocol (Mireille Jardin and Claudio Chiarolla) 70 ITPGRFA / GB-4 - The Treaty's Role Following Nagoya 71 ITPGRFA - Compliance "Procedures and Operational Mechanisms" (Elsa Tsioumani) 74 UNFF-9 - Sustainable Forest Management (Elisa Morgera) 74 UN Year of Forests - Sustainable Forest Management Tools "National Legal Frameworks since 1992" (Patrice Talla Takoukam) 77 UNCCD / CRIC-9 - Progress in Operations (Soledad Aguilar) 89 COFI-29 - Bycatch, Aquaculture Certification and Ecolabelling "New Guidelines Adopted" (Elisa Morgera) 91 Content Type Journal Article Pages 56-93 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 41 Journal Issue Volume 41, Number 2 / 2011

Description: Content Type Journal Article Pages 108-109 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 41 Journal Issue Volume 41, Number 2 / 2011

Description:    This paper considers unilateral border measures, as contemplated by a number of developed states in conjunction with domestic emissions reduction schemes, as they relate to international trade and international environmental law. Specifically, I argue that to the extent that WTO-compliance requires strict adherence to the principle of nondiscrimination, as embodied in the national treatment and most-favored nation provisions in the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, there is the potential for conflict with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), both as a free-standing principle of customary international law and as set out in various multilateral environmental agreements and, in particular in the climate change context, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. This is insofar as the unilateral imposition of BCAs by developed countries shifts costs of compliance with environmental legislation in developed economies onto the developing world. Such allocation may conflict with the principle of CBDR, which recognizes the unequal contribution to environmental degradation of developed countries as well as their enhanced ability to address the challenges presented by such degradation and, as a consequence, requires that they undertake more onerous obligations with respect to climate change mitigation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the extent to which this conflict is illustrative of a deeper tension between efficiency and equity considerations inherent in the intersection of international economic law and international environmental law. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9153-y Authors Sarah Davidson Ladly, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, 19th Street and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    This paper develops the Oslo-Potsdam solution to measuring regime effectiveness further conceptually. I argue that the temporal domain of regime effectiveness is not adequately dealt with by the current measurement concepts and develop three amendments to the Oslo-Potsdam solution. First, I suggest to measure effectiveness over the time interval the regime is in operation in order to capture welfare gains over time. Second, I propose an amendment that takes the pre-regime phase into account and I suggest a way to assess the loss of potential welfare brought about by delays in negotiating the regime. Third, I take temporal externalities of regime policies into account. Dealing with these three aspects of the temporal domain of regime effectiveness is important for obtaining complete and unbiased measurements. Achieving this is important in itself but also for comparative research, the assessment of regime dynamics, and ultimately for advising on policy. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9156-8 Authors Frank Grundig, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent at Canterbury, Canterbury, UK Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    Despite the substantial and likely increasing contribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping and the related adverse impacts on global climate change, GHG emissions from international shipping are yet neither regulated by the Kyoto Protocol, nor through any other legally binding, internationally accepted regulation. This paper is looking into the governance architecture that is currently in place to regulate GHG emissions from international shipping with a view to analyze whether the institutional degree of fragmentation within this architecture is contributing to the current situation where no legally binding, internationally accepted regulation has been set up yet. Following the hypothesis that the degree and the characteristics of governance fragmentation have a crucial impact on the effectiveness and performance of a governance system, this paper focuses on the current architecture of climate change governance in international shipping and the institutional interplay between its actors. Therefore, the analytical framework builds on approaches from international environmental governance, regime theory, institutional interplay, and fragmentation in international governance architectures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9155-9 Authors Bernd Hackmann, Ecological Economics, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description: We propose an ex-post analysis of the behavior of a central bank confronted with financial turmoil. For this purpose, we rely on a DSGE model that combines credit market frictions with a boom and bust scenario on the price of capital. Within this framework, we seek to understand the extent to which central banks could have intervened to limit the effects of the financial bubble and its bursting. We compare the results obtained in terms of economic stabilization under a simple Taylor rule with those of an augmented rule that takes into account a financial indicator. We show that a central bank using as sole instrument the interest rate cannot simultaneously improve inflation and credit cycles.

Description: The new regulatory framework imposes an increase in capital requirements for banks. Although core capital (equity) is more expensive than other liabilities (debt), it strengthens banks’ stability and improves its loss-absorbing capacity. In this paper, we investigate the link between high-quality capital requirements and systematic risk. We further analyze the extent to which an improvement in the quality of the banks’ balance-sheet will affect the expected return on equity. We show the impact of shifts in funding structure on information asymmetries (especially implicit guarantees) and on the average funding cost. Our results demonstrate that core capital is essential for increasing banks stability and for reducing the average funding cost for banks. Our empirical analysis provides support for the introduction of strengthened prudential requirements defined in Basel III.

Description:    In contemporary global environmental governance, private companies are both recipients of as well as contributors to the development and spread of environmental practices, norms, standards, and legislation. One sector that seems to be of particular significance is the environmental consultancy industry. It assists public and private actors in developing environmental solutions and ensuring implementation and compliance by providing particular knowledge, management, and assessment skills. However, little attention has been paid to the environmental authority and agency of companies active in this field. This exploratory study on global environmental consultancy firms is guided by the basic research questions on agency in earth system governance: What is agency? How do actors acquire authority and become agents? How can we evaluate the effects these agents generate? Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9149-7 Authors Sofie Bouteligier, Institute for International and European Policy, K.U. Leuven, Parkstraat 45, Box 3602, 3000 Leuven, Belgium Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    If countries are to engage in international environmental cooperation, they must bargain over the distribution of gains. When future bargaining over pollution abatement is expected, how should a country decide on public technology investments to reduce the domestic cost of pollution abatement? I find that while countries tend to underinvest because they fail to internalize the global benefits of new technology, the magnitude of the problem depends on a country’s bargaining power. Powerful countries underinvest less frequently, because they expect to reap most of the global benefits from new technology in the international negotiations. I also investigate the effectiveness of a simple reciprocal technology agreement. I find that it can help solve the underinvestment problem, and this beneficial effect is particularly pronounced in the case of powerful countries. These findings imply that changing the bargaining protocol on climate change to the benefit of powerful countries may help secure the necessary technology investments. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s10784-011-9165-7 Authors Johannes Urpelainen, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, 420 W 118th St 712 IAB, 10027 New York, NY, USA Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description: As a direct effect of the financial crisis in 2008, public debt began to accumulate rapidly, eventually leading to the European sovereign debt crisis. However, the dramatic increase in government debt is not only happening in European countries. All major G7 countries are experiencing similar developments. What are the implications of this kind of massive deficit and debt policy for the long term stability of these economies? Are there limits in debt-ratios that qualitatively change policy options? While theory can easily illustrate these limits, where are these limits in real economies? This paper examines the relationship between sovereign debt dynamics and capital formation, and accounts for the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on debt sustainability for the four largest advanced economies. We contribute to the literature on fiscal sustainability by framing the problem in an OLG model with government debt, physical capital, endogenous interest rates, and exogenous growth. For the calibration exercise we extract data from the OECD for Germany as a stabilization anchor in Europe, the US, the UK, and Japan for almost two decades before the 2008 crisis. Except for intertemporal preferences, all parameters are drawn or directly derived from the OECD database, or endogenously determined within the model. The results of the calibration exercise are alarming for all four countries under consideration. We identify debt ceilings that indicate a sustainable and unsustainable regime. For 2011 all four economies are either close to, or have already passed the ceiling. The results call for a dramatic readjustment in budget policies for a consolidation period and long-term fiscal rules that make it possible to sustain sufficient capital intensity so that these economies can maintain their high income levels. Current conditions are already starting to restrict policy choices. However, the results also make it very clear that none of these economies would survive a second financial crisis such as the one in 2008.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-19, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-16, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-21, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-3, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-18, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-19, Ahead of Print.

Description: The dichotomy of the increasing diversity of eurozone member countries and the institutional “one-size-fits-all” setting has exposed the deficiencies of the institutional economic architecture of the eurozone in the financial and economic crisis of 2008–2010. It has particularly exposed the weaknesses of middle-income countries within this framework. Greece, Ireland, and Portugal are experiencing outright financial crises. This article’s thesis is that small middle-income countries (MICs) in the eurozone face two general macroeconomic problems: (1) there is inherent macroeconomic instability; and (2) there is a problem of “competitiveness and convergence.” Small MICs’ ability to grow and catch up is demand-based and largely export-driven. Price competitiveness is an important factor of competitive growth within the eurozone. A national fiscal policy is crucial to countries’ ability to form and implement national policies for economic stability and competitive growth, which would enable a durable, above-average growth rate. Calls for a fiscal union along with the monetary union may therefore backfire.

Description: When accepting the Maastricht treaty, the members of the Euro-zone agreed on the establishment of a very independent European Central Bank (ECB). Over the years, however, French political leaders systematically brought forward proposals undermining the ECB’s independence, much to the dismay of their German counterparts. This pattern of political disagreement on central bank independence has again surfaced during the current sovereign debt crisis, and has contributed to the discord amongst the Euro-zone members on the causes and proper solutions to the problems. This article conducts tests of various factors generally expected to influence the preference for central bank independence. It shows that economic explanations are unable to account for the persistent differences amongst European member-states on this issue. In contrast, national differences in political and economic culture and especially a nation’s score on the dimension Power Distance—its acceptance of centralisation of power in political leaders or institutions—does show a correlation with the different levels of internalisation of the norm of central bank independence. These findings show that institutionalisation of economic norms does not imply their internalisation by the political and the economic elite. In the broader context of current European politics, this may mean that even if European leaders will be able to come up with a common institutional answer to the current crisis, more profound convergence of their underlying economic and political cultures is needed for the successful and sustainable implementation of these solutions.

Description: Conventional money demand specifications in the euro area have become unstable since 2001. We specify a money demand equation in deviations of individual euro area Member States variables from the euro area average and show that the income elasticity as well as the interest rate semi-elasticity remain stable. The corresponding deep parameters of the utility function have not changed fundamentally. Aggregate money demand instability does therefore not result from altered standard factors determining the preference for holding money. Instead, other factors determine the aggregate monetary overhang. Since monetary developments cannot easily be explained by changing preferences, they should be closely monitored as they may actually be a sign of other factors.

Description: The coordination channel has recently been established as an additional means by which foreign exchange market intervention may be effective. It is conjectured that strong and persistent misalignments of the exchange rate are caused by a coordination failure among fundamentals-based traders. In such situations official intervention may act as a coordinating signal, encouraging traders to engage in stabilizing speculation. We apply the framework developed in Reitz and Taylor ( Eur Econ Rev 52(1), 55–76 2008 ) to daily data on the yen-US dollar exchange rate and on Federal Reserve and Japanese Ministry of Finance intervention operations. The results provide further support for the coordination channel of intervention effectiveness.

Description: By combining economic and financial data for Portuguese manufacturing firms with data on their exports and imports, we uncover some aspects of the relationship between international trade engagement and firms’ performances. In line with recent theoretical and empirical developments in the international trade literature: (i) we testify that Portuguese international trade is highly concentrated, especially on the import side, and both in inter- and intra-sector terms; (ii) we corroborate previous studies and theses according to which two-way traders outperform only importers, only exporters and above all domestic firms; (iii) we find that the greater the diversification of markets and goods (especially with regard to imports), the better the performance achieved by internationalised firms; (iv) we notice that the higher the intensity of firms’ international trade (especially imports), the better their performance; (v) we also present evidence that destination markets for exports and origin markets for imports are also important in explaining firm’s performance.

Description: This paper examines the importance of the economic sentiments of some macroeconomic key variables in Estonia, Slovenia and Latvia. We analyze the importance of domestic as well as foreign sentiments with respect to these economies against the background of their accession to the European Monetary Union. For this purpose, we develop and apply a framework which is based on a restricted autoregressive model. We focus on two issues: firstly, we investigate the relationship between domestic stock prices, income and sentiments; and, secondly, we take external effects stemming from EMU and US share prices and sentiments into account. Our results show that European sentiments are important for income and domestic sentiments. Furthermore, we are able to establish linkages between global share prices and domestic income. From a more general perspective, we find a significant positive influence stemming from (domestic) share prices on sentiments in Estonia and Latvia, and also find evidence for an inverse relationship in Latvia.

Description: The analysis considers the impact of FDI inflows and FDI outflows and shows that the presence of (cumulated) FDI requires higher import elasticities in absolute terms than stated in the standard Marshall Lerner condition. One may derive a range for the elasticity of the ratio of exports to imports with respect to the real exchange rate, namely that the sum of the absolute import elasticities at home and abroad must exceed unity plus an additional parameter—for standard special cases the sum of both elasticities must exceed 2 if a real depreciation is to improve the real current account. Not only can one determine a modified Marshall Lerner condition for a world economy with economic globalization, rather one also can get new insights from considering a broader macroeconomic perspective. The insights obtained are highly relevant for the discussion about high current account deficits of the US and high surplus positions of countries such as Japan, China and Germany—adjustment could be more complex than suggested by traditional models.

Description: The paper investigates the export behavior of German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in response to the introduction of Euro and the subsequent fall in trade costs. Based on a testable prediction derived from Helpman et al. (American Economic Review 94:300–316, 2004 ) and Helpman (Journal of Economic Literature 44:589–630, 2006 ), the paper argues that the likelihood of SMEs to become an exporter increases after the monetary union. By using an empirical probit estimation technique, it is found that SMEs, and especially medium-sized enterprises, indeed benefit from cost reductions in entering into export markets. What is more, firms operating in furniture, electrical equipment, plastics, medical instruments, machinery and textiles are more likely to benefit from monetary union. These results are robust to using exchange rate volatility as a proxy for the cost reductions due to monetary union.

Description: According to the relevant literature, monetary policy implications concerning the optimal inflation rate can be derived by examining the relationship between inflation and the Relative Price Variability (RPV). This paper studies this issue for selected Euro Area (EA) countries, using monthly data for the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices. In particular, semi-parametric estimations are employed so as to find the accurate form of the inflation-RPV relationship. The results indicate that this relationship exhibits a U-shape functional profile. Furthermore, the optimal inflation rates for the EA, France, Germany and Spain are also calculated. For all countries and the EA, we find that although the European Central Bank’s “below but close to 2 %” inflation target is optimal for the EA average, it is not the optimum inflation rate for the individual counties.

Description: Illegal immigration affects not only EU member states adjacent, but also those distant from the Mediterranean Sea due to open internal borders and intra-EU onward migration. Member states without a direct influx of illegal immigrants may therefore free-ride on border countries’ enforcement efforts, leading to a sub-optimal level of border control when immigration policy remains uncoordinated. By applying a numerical example, we show that an expected externality mechanism leads to voluntary preference revelation with respect to immigration policy under several (but not all) scenarios, thereby avoiding strategic behavior in the regular negotiation process. This policy measure requires, however, the EU Commission to take on a very active role as moderator between member states (rather than as legislator).

Description: Most empirical studies found that monetary policy has a significant effect on house prices while stock markets remain unaffected by interest rate shocks. In this paper we conduct a more detailed analysis by studying various sub-segments of the real estate market. Employing a new dataset for Switzerland we estimate vector autoregressive models and find positive interest rate shocks to have adverse effects on house and condominium prices on the one hand and rental prices on the other. Commercial property prices as stock markets do not react on interest rate variations.

Description: This paper investigates the role of special economic zones (SEZs) in liberalizing the Chinese and Indian economies and their impact on economic growth. The policy change to a more liberalized economy is identified using SEZ variables as instrumental variables. The results indicate that export and FDI growth have positive and statistically significant effects on economic growth in these countries. The presence of SEZs increases regional growth but increasing the number of SEZs has negligible effect on growth. The key to faster economic growth appears to be a greater pace of liberalization.

Description: In view of the ongoing financial and economic crisis originated during 2008–09 and the possibility of a double dip recession in advanced economies, export-dependent economies of Asia and the Pacific need to rebalance its growth toward domestic and regional demand for sustainable growth of Asia and the world. Despite remarkable growth during the last decade, the region still faces extensive basic infrastructure needs such as transport, energy, telecommunications and water. Asia, therefore, needs to enhance its connectivity through developing transport infrastructure at the national and regional level to rebalance its growth through enhancing intraregional trade, to enhance economic integration and to meet basic infrastructure needs. Transport plays a significant role in enhancing connectivity within and across Asian economies. However, building massive transport infrastructure will have profound implications on environment and climate change at the national, regional and global levels. In this evolving scenario, Asia needs to build efficient, safe, affordable, timely, world-class, socially and environmentally sustainable and seamless transport connections within the region, and with the rest of the world, in order to be competitive and prosperous. This paper analyzes the major challenges in developing sustainable transport connectivity, by fostering regional cooperation toward a seamless Asia. The paper examines the needs and benefits of transport connectivity and financing requirement for 2010–2020. It examines the impact of transport connectivity on environment and the prospects and challenges for developing seamless sustainable transport connectivity. Finally, the paper provides policy recommendations on what the region can do to meet these challenges.

Description: Content Type Journal Article Pages 58-60 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 43 Journal Issue Volume 43, Number 1 / 2013

Description: China - Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Climate Change Legislation (Mingde Cao) 52 Content Type Journal Article Pages 52-58 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 43 Journal Issue Volume 43, Number 1 / 2013

Description: UNECE/Water Convention - MoP-6 "Achievements, New Tools and Future Challenges" (Francesca Romanin Jacur) 42 UNECE: Aarhus Convention - Compliance Committee "Deliberations" (Elsa Tsioumani) 46 Mauritius/UK - The Chagos Archipelago "Latest Developments" 50 Content Type Journal Article Pages 42-51 Journal Environmental Policy and Law Online ISSN 1878-5395 Print ISSN 0378-777X Journal Volume Volume 43 Journal Issue Volume 43, Number 1 / 2013

Description:    This article introduces an exploratory framework which, on a conceptual level, suggests that the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment can contribute to the accessibility of responsible investment and encourage institutional investors to undertake it. By co-operating with leaders of global environmental governance and by engaging with investee companies in the field of the environment, responsible investment by institutional investors may help to improve the lack of coherence in global environmental governance. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9188-8 Authors Riikka Sievänen, University of Helsinki, PB 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland John Sumelius, University of Helsinki, PB 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland K. M. Zahidul Islam, University of Helsinki, PB 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland Mila Sell, University of Helsinki, PB 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    This article adopts a perspective of climate justice as an object of discourse and takes the bargaining coalitions at the Conference of the Parties as the relevant units to map the heterogeneous discourse on climate justice at the Cancun COP16. Based on the statements of nine coalitions, the analysis identifies three discourses on climate justice. The conflict discourse articulates the North–South duality over issues of historical responsibility for climate change. The transition discourse points to solving the problem of sharing the cost of mitigating climate change through a process of global low-carbon growth. The vulnerability discourse focuses on the urgency of ambitious actions by all parties. These three discourses, and their appropriation by the bargaining coalitions, are inherent of new alignments among developed and developing countries alliances and blocs that simultaneously reproduce and surpass the North–South ideological divide. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9195-9 Authors René Audet, Département stratégie, responsabilité sociale et environnementale, École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case postale 8888, succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-18, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-19, Ahead of Print.

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Description: Climate Policy, Volume 13, Issue sup01, Page 87-105, March 2013.

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Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-30, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-3, Ahead of Print.

Description:    Clean development mechanism (CDM) is encountering many uncertainties due to the coming end of the commitment period and critically suggested reformation. As the largest participant in the CDM market, China shoulders the biggest proportion of market risk. Among the studies on CDM in China, few have focused upon the legal aspect of CDM, which is crucial in defending developers’ interests. To fill this research gap in making the transition from policy to law, this paper claims that carbon emission right, which is the basis of trade, should be attributed as a property right in Property Law of People’s Republic of China. The present study will discuss the characteristics of carbon emission, definition, and legal attribution of carbon emission right. The valid object of carbon emission right in the CDM market under Property Law should be certified emissions reductions (CERs). The usufructuary right could be specifically applied in practice to the owners’ property right on CERs in China. Although experience from the CDM is not fully applicable to the development of cap and trading, the success of CDM market provides a reasonable platform to study emission right in the view of legal science. Furthermore, the proposed research acts as the pioneer study that lay the theoretical foundations in legal science on emission right trading for other potential schemes, which in turn addresses international environmental issues. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9191-0 Authors Qing Pei, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Lanlan Liu, College of Political Science and Law, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100089 China David D. Zhang, Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    Is the rationale of the convention on biological diversity (CBD)—the distinction between provider and user of genetic resources—outdated? While the response is in the negative at the global level, as demonstrated by the adoption in 2010 of the Nagoya Protocol, the provider–user distinction, if portrayed exclusively as a North–South relation, is no longer adequate to fully apprehend the political and legal dynamics at work in access and benefit sharing (ABS) regimes. Evolving configurations of this distinction can be found in a country that formerly saw itself solely as a provider (Brazil) and in a country that initially considered itself as both a user and a provider (France). In both cases, non-State actors (even if from the public sector) are reinterpreting the categories of the CBD for their own ends and are seeking to gain prerogatives related to the governance of genetic resources. That said, the trajectories of Brazil and French Guiana are quite different. While Brazil appears to be leaving behind an indiscriminate fight against biopiracy and entering a process of valorization of resources (led by the national scientific community), Guiana is shifting toward a locally governed regime that seeks to control as much as possible but which is difficult to put in place, even if arrangements have commenced on the fringes of official negotiations. Finally, the article shows that the content of ABS regimes is specified by the outcomes of local dynamics of biodiplomacy as much as by the stereotypical hypotheses discussed at a global level. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9184-z Authors Geoffroy Filoche, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR GRED, Montpellier, France Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    An agreement on climate change mitigation hinges on large-scale international cooperation. Rational agents are supposed to consider the cost and benefits of cooperation, which then determine their negotiation positions. Behavioral economics provides experimental evidence that decision-making in negotiation-like situations is influenced by systematic cognitive biases and social interaction. In this paper, we examine the impact of bounded rationality and social preferences on bargaining in international climate negotiations and illustrate how particular deviations from full rationality affect the incentives to cooperate. Of special interest are fairness preferences for burden-sharing rules and behavioral responses to different framings of climate change and policy, as well as implications of these for communication about climate change. The analysis will further address different levels of representation, including individual citizens, politicians, experts, and (professional) negotiators. The consequences of the most prominent nonstandard preferences and biases for negotiating a climate treaty are assessed, and specific strategies to foster cooperation are suggested. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9182-1 Authors Elisabeth Gsottbauer, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici Cn, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Cerdanyola, Spain Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description:    In the past forty years, numerous proposals to improve the fragmented international environmental governance (IEG) system have been developed, many of which call for the establishment of an international environment organisation. Although governments and scholars agree that the system needs improvement, no such substantial reform has yet been undertaken. Based on the literature study and more than twenty interviews, this article explains the absence of an international environment organisation, using three theories of new institutionalism: historical, rational choice and discursive institutionalism. Through the notion of path dependency, historical institutionalism explains how the self-reinforcing cycle of a rather diffused development of the IEG system, characterised by incremental changes, has made the system more complicated and prevented substantial institutional change. Historical institutionalism also highlights power inequalities and lack of trust between nation-states, as well as turf wars between international organisations, as key explanatory factors hampering IEG reform. Rational choice institutionalism complements such explanations by showing how incremental institutional changes that do not add up to substantial reform are the result of the fact that neither nation-states nor international organisations are interested in establishing a powerful environment organisation that might encroach upon their sovereignty. Finally, discursive institutionalism suggests that the norm to do at least something to improve the IEG system has prompted nation-states to create “symbolic” institutions. The concept of socialisation helps to explain why incremental institutional developments within the UN system are more likely than substantial reform. The article shows that new institutionalism theories complement rather than contradict one another, resulting in a more holistic explanation of lack of IEG reform. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s10784-012-9183-0 Authors Marjanneke J. Vijge, Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands Journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Online ISSN 1573-1553 Print ISSN 1567-9764

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-25, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-16, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-24, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 0, Issue 0, Page 1-14, Ahead of Print.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 12, Issue 5, Page 527-533, September 2012.

Description: Climate Policy, Volume 12, Issue 5, Page 630-644, September 2012.