Special Issue "Economic Analysis of Environmental Goods for Policy"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Angel Perni
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Universidad de Cádiz, Cádiz, SpainInstituto Universitario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Social Sostenible (INDESS)
Interests: environmental economics; environmental policy; modeling; policy evaluation
Prof. Dr. Laura Riesgo
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics, Sevilla, Spain
Interests: agricultural economics; water economics; development economics
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Economic activity can pose serious threats to the current and future conservation of environmental goods and the associated ecosystem services by polluting natural systems, overexploiting natural resources, transforming land from biodiversity habitats to cropping or housing, and contributing to global change. Appropriate economic incentives may contribute to overcoming these environmental issues, promoting sustainable actions by economic agents. Public intervention may lead the role to internalize environmental externalities by both regulation and promoting incentives.

Economic analysis is particularly relevant to guide policy decision-making to conserve and improve the environment. Indeed, economic analysis is key to achieve an efficient allocation of scarce resources and promote a sustainable management of environmental goods, providing a useful set of tools to safeguard sustainability. Even though in the literature we can find a wide range of economic analyses that allow a better understanding of how policies can be implemented to ensure the efficient allocation of environmental goods, there is still some room for improvement, at methodological and practical levels.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to such a field, assessing environmental policies through economic analysis. We encourage authors to submit research papers in which specific policies are analysed and applied to case studies, in both developed and developing countries. Papers should include a careful discussion of the policy implications based on economic analysis.

This Special Issue might include, but is not limited to, the following topics:

  • Economic valuation of environmental goods, emphasizing the role of ecosystem services to maintain social welfare and in particular, the methodological issues related to the valuation of final and intermediate ecosystem services as well as the integration of socio-ecological indicators in economic valuation methods;
  • Analysis of institutional mechanisms for conserving environmental goods, including payments for ecosystem services and tradable entitlement systems, among others;
  • Protected natural areas and species conservation, including aspects such as ecotourism, endangered and invasive species;
  • Integration of economic and ecological modelling, supporting the assessment and design of environmental policies.

As mentioned above, papers should follow a critical and constructive analysis of specific environmental policies, including themes such as biodiversity, water, agriculture and climate change. For this purpose, we suggest that authors conduct interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research of the environmental goods and policy under scrutiny.

Dr. Angel Perni
Prof. Dr. Laura Riesgo
Guest Editors

 

Keywords

  • economic valuation
  • environmental policies
  • ecosystem services
  • economic modelling
  • ecological modelling
  • institutional analysis

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Paying for Sustainable Coffee in a Developing Country: Consumers’ Profile in Costa Rica
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9360; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169360 - 20 Aug 2021
Viewed by 307
Abstract
This article analyzes the willingness to pay of Costa Rican consumers for three environmental certifications in the coffee market, namely, Carbon Neutral, Fairtrade, and ISO 14001. A face-to-face survey was applied to 1191 Costa Rican inhabitants. The results show that Costa Rican consumers [...] Read more.
This article analyzes the willingness to pay of Costa Rican consumers for three environmental certifications in the coffee market, namely, Carbon Neutral, Fairtrade, and ISO 14001. A face-to-face survey was applied to 1191 Costa Rican inhabitants. The results show that Costa Rican consumers are willing to pay price premiums around 30% for all the considered environmental certifications. In addition, a Cragg’s hurdle model shows that household income, the level of education, and environmental or community activism increase the likelihood of consumers paying price premiums for environmental certifications, while men are less likely to pay than women. It was also found that the size of the price premiums that respondents are willing to pay are positively related to income, gender (female), and education, and negatively related to age. Once the effect of socioeconomic variables has been controlled for, we conclude that consumers are more willing to pay for the CN certification than for the other two. The results can be useful for participants in the coffee value chain; coffee producers can use environmental certifications both to enhance their participation in green markets, particularly in developing countries, and to improve their environmental performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Analysis of Environmental Goods for Policy)

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Paying for sustainable coffee in a developing country: consumers’ profile in Costa Rica
Authors: Andrey Valenciano-Salazar Francisco J André Mario Soliño
Affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madriddisabled, Madrid, Spain
Abstract: ABSTRACT This article studies the willingness to pay of Costa Rican consumers for three environmental certifications in the coffee market, namely, Carbon Neutral, Fairtrade and ISO14001. A face-to-face survey was applied to a sample of the Costa Rican population structured according to province and gender distribution. The results show that Costa Rican consumers are willing to pay price premiums around 30% for all the considered environmental certifications. Using a Cragg hurdle model, the study identifies the socioeconomic variables that are related to consumers’ decisions on whether to pay and how much more to pay for an environmental certified coffee than for a conventional one. Regarding the probability that respondents accept to pay a price premium for an environmental certification, the results show that household income, the level of education, and environmental or community activism have a positive impact, while men are less likely to pay such a price premium. It was also found that the size of the price premiums that respondents are willing to pay are positively related to income and education, and negatively related to age and women are willing to pay higher premiums than men. Once the effect of socioeconomic variables has been controlled for, consumers are more willing to pay higher price premiums for the CN certification. The results can be useful for participants in the coffee value chain; coffee producers can use environmental certifications both to enhance their participation in green markets, particularly in developing countries, and to improve their environmental performance.

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