Discussion Papers
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2009)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 28We examine the social desirability of ethanol production from agricultural crops when its effects on the greenhouse gas balance, land competition and crop prices are taken into account. The model comprises two land use forms: bioenergy crop and conventional feed crop. Industry demands crops for both ethanol and feed production. We characterize theoretically the private and social optima and apply the framework to barley production in Finland. In particular, we focus on various parts of the production chain and examine how the life cycle CO2 –eq emissions associated in each part and the endogenous prices impact social benefits from ethanol production. We find ethanol production socially desirable under current ethanol price if, in addition to ethanol itself, it is possible to produce the side products: grain residue for animal feed, and the straw for energy. If either these side products cannot be produced, social returns to ethanol production either vanish or become very small. Moreover, we show that emissions from soil belong to critical key variables; if the existing uncertain proxies underestimate emissions from soil, social returns to ethanol production may vanish altogether. In all above cases, the outcomes result from changes in emissions offset, fertilizer intensity and land-use that are guided by endogenous crop prices.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2008)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 26
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2008)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 27
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2008)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 25We analyze optimal phosphorus fertilization and erosion control policies in a spatial, dynamic, stationary framework. First-best instruments to incentivize farmers to undertake the socially optimal choices are analyzed both analytically and empirically. The empirical application is conducted for a cereal production area of 4 hectares. We find that taxes on phosphorus use can equivalently be levied either on fertilizer use or directly on soil phosphorus. However, tax on soil phosphorus is simpler and poses lower information requirements for the social planner. Also, the potential differences in socially and privately applied discount rates are shown to affect optimal tax rates substantially.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2008)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 23
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2008)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 21We analyse the overall determinants of demand and isolate the effect of advance ticket sales on Finnish football league attendances. We postulate a linear OLS model for log-attendance data from the years 1991-2007. Matchday weather, timing of the match, team performance and match characteristics together with team, year, month and stadium specific dummies are used as the explanatory variables. The model is found to explain the data very well. The results suggest that offering the option of buying the tickets in advance has had an isolated positive effect on attendance for associated teams.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2007)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 19This paper examines how jointness of environmental benefits and environmental heterogeneity affect the potential benefits of green auctions over flat-rate agri-environmental policies. A sealed bid green auction with two environmental objectives, nutrient runoff reduction and biodiversity provision, is analyzed. The green auction is analyzed analytically and then empirically by using Finnish data. Auctions that screen farmers’ applications according to an environmental index (with and without a cost-saving component) are simulated in the context of two different conservation options. The first option assumes enlarged field edges are located in whichever edge of a parcel, providing only biodiversity benefits, whereas in the second option they are located on the waterfront so as to also reduce nitrogen runoff. Empirical results show that in both cases the green auction with the cost saving outperforms other policies. However, when environmental benefits are not jointly produced by a practice, farmer participation is much more sensitive to how objectives and cost-saving are weighted, leading to unwanted swings in participation.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2007)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 18Oil transportation and other maritime traffic in the Gulf of Finland have increased rapidly over the last decade, and this development is estimated to continue in the future. The increasing volume of oil and other transport leads to higher risk of oil spills in the Gulf of Finland. The Gulf of Finland is an important area in the environmental and economic sense. An oil spill would cause harm for example to the nature and to the recreational use of the area. This paper presents the contingent valuation study that is conducted to elicit respondents’ willingness to pay for improvements in the oil spill response capacity and for reductions in the harm of future oil spills in the Gulf of Finland. The mean willingness to pay is estimated with two approaches; the Turnbull lower bound estimator and the logit model, and then aggregated to the relevant population. The Finn’s aggregate willingness to pay for reducing the harm from future oil spills ranges from 89 million to 330 million, depending on the used approach and on the assumption about nonrespondents willingness to pay. The results show that the factors affecting respondents’ willingness to pay are the offered bid, income, the perception about the effectiveness of the program, the view on the importance of oil spill combating and the distance of the place of residence to the Gulf of Finland. The results seem to indicate that the respondents value the nature of the area more than the recreational possibilities.
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2006)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 17
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2006)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 16
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2006)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 15
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2006)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 14
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2006)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 13
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 12
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 11
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 10
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 9
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(Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 8
