scholarly journals SOCIAL AND PRIVATE PROFITABILITY OF TREE-BASED ADAPTATION OPTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN A DRYLAND AREA OF TUNISIA

New Medit ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Hamed Daly-Hassen ◽  
Mohamed Annabi ◽  
Caroline King-Okumu

Climate change exacerbates the effects of water scarcity on livelihoods. Governments can intervene by structuring incentives for agricultural adaptations so that farmers can choose the ones that create more benefits for the society as a whole. This requires consideration of a range of different benefits to different groups within the social cost-benefit analysis (CBA). We assess the social and private profitability of two alternative tree-based adaptation techniques that have received state support in the traditional barley cropping/rangeland systems in Central Tunisia: olive tree plantation, and intercropping with cactus. The results showed that society does not benefit from offering incentives for olive production. The production of irrigated olive trees without incentives is profitable for farmers and for society, while rainfed plantation is not profitable at all. However, it is possible for farmers to increase their incomes without increasing agricultural water use if they are encouraged to adopt intercropping with cactus to supplement livestock food and watering. The findings highlight scope for policies to balance between returns both for society, and for farmers, as revealed through the application of quantitative social CBA.

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Huppertz ◽  
Bo Weidema ◽  
Simon Standaert ◽  
Bernard De Caevel ◽  
Elisabeth van Overbeke

This paper presents a market-price-based method to value sub-soil resources in environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. The market price incorporates the privileged information of the market agents, explicitly or implicitly anticipating future applications of the resource, future backstop technologies, recycling potentials, the evolution of reserves and extraction costs. The market price is therefore considered as the best available integrated information reflecting the actual values of these parameters. Our method is based on the Hotelling rule and the fact that private agents discount future costs and benefits at a higher rate than society as a whole. In practice, the price of the last resource unit sold is calculated with the Hotelling rule using a market discount rate. Then, the price at depletion is retropolated with a social discount rate smaller than the market discount rate. The resulting corrected “socially optimal” price is higher than the market price. The method allows to calculate the social cost of resource exhaustion, which is applicable in Cost-Benefit Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. The method is applied to mineral and fossil resources and the results are compared with other recent methods that seek to place a monetary value on resource depletion.


Author(s):  
Omid M. Rouhani ◽  
Christopher R. Knittel ◽  
Debbie Niemeier

Studies examining the social cost of driving usually ignore the opportunity cost of having roads in place: the associated land rents. Especially for geographic regions where land is valuable, including the rent costs may even lead governments to close some roads. By using the London congestion charging zone case, a more general long-run social cost curve is calculated with the addition of the rents. Based on the optimal road usage concept, this study found that including the rents in the cost/benefit analysis significantly affects the results and can increase the social cost by up to 200% and decrease the optimal road usage by 40%.


1975 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-314
Author(s):  
Shahrukh Rafi Khan

Pakistan, like any developing country, must regularly divert some of the scarce agricultural land to an alternative use—to another crop, to a site for a reservoir or a plant for processing agriculture's output, or to industrial, com¬mercial or housing purposes. This paper is an exercise in estimating he social cost of releasing agricultural land in the Punjab for use in another activity. It will, hopefully, serve as a model for planners and policy-makers who are con¬fronted with specific projects requiring cost-benefit analysis. For example, Pakistan's Fifth Five-Year Plan calls for construction of numerous sugar mills, sites for which will require an estimated 100 acres of agricultural land per mill. The-cost of using this land for sugar refining may be expressed in terms of the net value of the agricultural output foregone. Similarly, if cane cultivation > is extended to provide input for the refineries, its cost must be evaluated by the value of the crops which are foregone.


2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-353
Author(s):  
Woo-Jung Jon

This article considers whether it is justifiable to reduce damages where directors are liable for business failure. It argues that holding directors liable for all damage due to business failure prevents individual directors from doing business enterprisingly. According to a cost-benefit analysis, the fear of potential liability results in excessive costs when business decisions are made. The total costs that individual directors expend in making business decisions is smaller than the total costs of the company as the company’s costs includes not only directors’ costs but also other employees’ costs. In comparison, the total amount of loss that individual directors may suffer due to a business failure is far larger than the total loss of the company, where the directors are liable for the total loss of the company jointly and severally. It is because the directors would also suffer salary reduction or discharge. Under these circumstances, the directors should pay close attention in order not to err in their business judgment. Thus, even where risks are minimal, directors may act too cautiously and passively, rather than pursue a more profitable entrepreneurship aggressively. Therefore, the simple compensatory principle may not be adequate where business failure occurs


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suah Kim ◽  
Namjo Kim

Overtourism has given rise to conflict among various stakeholders. Accordingly, to control overtourism, the public sector has started to implement policies. Recently, Udo off Jeju Island in South Korea has begun experiencing overtourism; to prevent the situation from deteriorating, the public sector implemented a vehicle restriction policy. This study used a cost-benefit analysis framework to assess the social costs and benefits of the public policy to control overtourism in Udo. Through interviews and relevant data and documents, this study classified analysis items related to the policy that could be either a cost or benefit to different stakeholders. The social cost-benefit analysis showed that the net benefit increases, the longer the policy continues, thus ensuring it is adequate and feasible to implement the policy. An effective management public policy for the sustainability of the region’s tourism should always be promoted.


2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 873-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin L Weitzman

The choice of an overall discount rate for climate change investments depends critically on how different components of investment payoffs are discounted at differing rates reflecting their underlying risk characteristics. Such underlying rates can vary enormously, from ≈ 1 percent for idiosyncratic diversifiable risk to ≈ 7 percent for systematic nondiversifiable risk. Which risk-adjusted rate is chosen can have a huge impact on cost-benefit analysis. In this expository paper, I attempt to set forth in accessible language with a simple linear model what I think are some of the basic issues involved in discounting climate risks. The paper introduces a new concept that may be relevant for climate-change discounting: the degree to which an investment hedges against the bad tail of catastrophic damages by insuring positive expected payoffs even under the worst circumstances. The prototype application is calculating the social cost of carbon. (JEL C51, Q54, Q58)


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