<p> There are always painful tradeoffs in environmental problems. In the current period, the tradeoff. has to be made between consuming environmental goods and "dirty" goods. Since many pollutants accumulate in nature and cause long time problems, the current period's decision also has important impacts on future generations. This yields another tradeoff. between control of the pollution flow and cleanup of the pollution stock in the future. For a local government, tradeoffs between strict environmental policies and local economic prosperity are also concerns.</p><p> This thesis analyzes the tradeoffs made by households, firms and government under different policy regimes. Chapter 2 considers assigning tradable permits to households that are suffering from pollution generated by firms. The households can sell a limited number of permits to polluters according to personal preferences for environmental goods and "dirty" goods. It is shown that, the market transaction between households and polluters can achieve the efficient pollution level. Chapter 3 considers a case in which the stock pollution is reversible with capital investment. In a natural resource extraction model with externalities of heavy metal pollution in the surrounding farmland, the firms tradeoff. between controlling the pollution flow and abating the pollution stock, as well as the firms extraction decisions are analyzed. Chapter 4 derives the optimal environmental bond required by a local government as a financial assurance for inducing firms to do pollution abatement. A local government needs to make tradeoffs between charging a large amount of bond and encouraging local economic prosperity. For a local government, the optimal bond amount does not necessarily cover the worst-case scenario. This thesis contributes to environmental policy design by considering the interests of different parties. </p>

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "August, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77). Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 112 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-106).

Thesis (M. S.)--Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Ho, Chun-Yu; Committee Member: Nair-Reichert, Usha C.; Committee Member: Oyelere, Ruth Uwaifo. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-85).

abstract: This dissertation outlines the role that futures markets for tradable permits can play in improving the performance of incentive based policies for environmental externalities. An extensive literature on tradable permits exists. However, to my knowledge, the role of futures contracts as an instrument for responding to permit price uncertainty has not been considered, nor has their pricing performance in this role been examined. This research provides a theoretical description of how futures can be used to manage the price uncertainty associated with permit purchases. It then evaluates if the futures contract performance for the former U.S. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and the existing EU Carbon Dioxide (CO2) futures markets are consistent with the theoretical constructs. Overall, for the short time horizons examined, futures are the best information source regarding later permit prices for both markets examined. Consistent with the theoretical model presented, this implies futures markets can be looked to as a forecast of the incremental costs of emission control. The theory illustrates that firms can then use futures to eliminate the negative effects of permit price uncertainty and restore policy compliance cost minimization. These results demonstrate that an ideal futures market for emission permits can enhance policy performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2015

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I develop a generalized dynamic factor model for panel data with the goal of estimating an unobserved index. While similar models have been developed in the literature of dynamic factor analysis, my contribution is threefold. First, contrary to simple dynamic factor analysis where multiple attributes of the same subject are measured at each time period, my model also accounts for multiple subjects. It is therefore applicable to a panel data framework (i.e. multiple attributes for multiple subjects observed over time). Second, it estimates an unobserved index for every subject for every time period, as opposed to previous work where a single unobserved index was estimated for all subjects for every time period. Third, I address the complexity of the model by developing a novel iterative estimation process which we call the Two-Cycle Conditional Expectation-Maximization (2CCEM) algorithm. The 2CCEM algorithm is flexible enough to handle a variety of different types of datasets. The model is applied on a panel measuring attributes related to the operation of water and sanitation utilities. The goal is to estimate a dynamic benchmarking index that will capture the financial and operational performance of these utilities.

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