Hydraulic fracturing has been increasingly used in the USA to economically extract natural gas and oil from newly discovered shale plays. Despite new, more severe, and long term impacts of hydraulic fracturing compared to conventional drilling, regulatory practices are mostly implemented by states that regulate with older regulations that were were written before the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing. This dissertation presents three essays on the economics of hydraulic fracturing. A standard renewable lease in hydraulic fracturing runs for a five-year primary term. The first essay examines the effect of initial contract length on extraction behavior and social costs. It finds that the rate of extraction decreases over time for both, the social planner and the private extractor. In addition, the social planner has a more stable extraction path compared to the private extractor. Holding other things equal, if the social planner seeks to induce a private extractor to leave a higher in situ stock un-extracted, then the optimal contract duration is longer. Simulations illustrate the magnitude of social costs inherent in hydraulic fracturing and non-optimal fixed contract lengths. The second essay investigates the impact of the significantly increased bonding requirements for horizontal wells introduced in West Virginia in December, 2011, on the probability of violation committed by those wells. Results suggest that the increased bonding requirement has reduced the probability of violation by 2.6 to 3.2 percentage points. Moreover, it slightly reduces the number of violations done by horizontal wells. Finally, the third essay explores several aspects of Act-13, introduced on February 14, 2012, by Pennsylvania. This act imposes new fees that are assessed annually for fifteen years, on all unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania. This chapter explores the impacts of Act-13 on the likelihood of an unconventional well's shut-down, rate of extraction, and probability of violation. Results suggest that wells incurring this increased fee schedule have a significantly higher likelihood (more than three times) of shut-down. Also, Act-13 have reduced the extraction rate, and the probability of violation committed by unconventional wells in Pennsylvania. / Ph. D.

This dissertation consists of three papers that explore the intersection between geography and housing markets. The research examines both how geographic context shapes housing prices and how house prices influence geography through household location decisions.The first paper explores the spatial structure of housing prices within Tucson, Arizona. Hedonic house-price studies typically assume that housing attribute prices are constant over space. The research tests this assumption and compares two methods of incorporating spatial-varying parameters into house-price models: geographically weighted regression and the spatial expansion method. The results provide evidence that housing attribute prices do indeed vary with geographic context and suggest that more reliable parameter estimates and better house-price estimation accuracy can be achieved through the use of these techniques.The second paper builds upon the first by examining how more realistic conceptions of housing market spatial structure influence the hedonic price estimates of location-specific externalities. The empirical analysis examines how two key spatial effects, spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity, impact the marginal price estimates for proximity to the Rillito River, within Tucson, Arizona. Both spatial effects are found to influence the resulting estimates, but spatial heterogeneity is of greater practical importance as the price estimates vary widely with geographic context. This research highlights the importance of considering both spatial effects in hedonic externality valuations.The final paper explores how housing prices influence interregional migration patterns, and more specifically, how their influence varies with both stage in the life course and educational attainment. The research models metropolitan migration within the United States during the period 1995 to 2000. The results indicate that housing prices play an important role in driving regional demographic change, as their influence varies with both demographic characteristics. High housing prices deter individuals in their late twenties and early thirties, but their influence wanes during middle age. House prices become more important as individuals near retirement. The results also provide evidence that college graduates respond more to house price differentials than do persons with lower levels of educational attainment.

A DissertaÃÃo avalia os efeitos da atividade pesqueira associativa em tanques redes em comunidades selecionadas e localizadas no municÃpio de Jaguaribara, no AÃude CastanhÃo e a sua capacidade em promover desenvolvimento sustentÃvel para as comunidades envolvidas na atividade no aÃude CastanhÃo. Para alcanÃar os objetivos desse trabalho, foi feito um estudo de caso sobre os projetos de piscicultura em tanques-rede do AÃude CastanhÃo - CE, tendo por objetivo avaliar os efeitos da atividade aquÃcola e sua capacidade em promover desenvolvimento sustentÃvel para as comunidades envolvidas na produÃÃo. Daà a importÃncia das pesquisas em mecanismos que resultem em um equilÃbrio entre aspectos econÃmicos, sociais e ambientais. A pesquisa utiliza dados primÃrios coletados junto aos piscicultores da comunidade. Estimam-se indicadores de bem-estar econÃmico e social bem como de privaÃÃes das famÃlias envolvidas nas atividades, buscando entender se o padrÃo atual de vida difere daquele que prevalece no municÃpio de Jaguaribara, onde està inserido. O estudo determina a alocaÃÃo econÃmica dos recursos e avalia a conveniÃncia econÃmica da produÃÃo escalonada por trimestre bem como avaliar se à viÃvel, de um ponto de vista econÃmico a retirada das vÃsceras para serem vendidas separadamente. Este Ãltimo elemento tem impacto importante de um ponto de vista ambiental, tendo em vistas que de outra forma esse material altamente poluente, se depositado em lixÃes ou em qualquer outro espaÃo, contaminaria tanto eventuais mananciais aquÃferos de superfÃcie como de subsolo. Para estudar a otimizaÃÃo da produÃÃo escalonada, minimiza-se a funÃÃo de custo de produÃÃo, conhecendo-se os custos unitÃrios trimestrais. Os preÃos de venda do pescado coletado foram levantados junto aos entrevistados. Assim geram-se restriÃÃes de receita mÃnima que, no trabalho foi estabelecida como ao menos um salÃrio mÃnimo por trimestre. Para o caso das vÃsceras estabeleceu-se valores equivalentes a 10% do peso vivo do animal como valor de venda. Os custos obtidos sÃo aqueles associados à utilizaÃÃo da mÃo de obra no trabalho de retirada das vÃsceras. Os resultados mostraram que os criadores de peixes envolvidos na pesquisa tÃm padrÃo de vida bem melhores do que aqueles observados no municÃpio de Jaguaribara em 2010. A pesquisa tambÃm sugere que os custos mÃnimos de produÃÃo acontecem quando a produÃÃo se distribui nos quatro trimestres estudados, mas com maior concentraÃÃo no terceiro. No que se refere à retirada das vÃsceras para venda em separado, os resultados econÃmicos foram satisfatÃrios e mostraram que a maior concentraÃÃo de produÃÃo desses resÃduos, objetivando minimizar custos, deve acontecer no segundo trimestre. A pesquisa conclui que o projeto tem viabilidade econÃmica, proporciona melhores padrÃes de vida para os envolvidos, e tem forte externalidade ambiental positiva, na medida em que utiliza as vÃsceras para produzir biodiesel, que poupa petrÃleo, e nÃo contamina o ambiente. / This thesis evaluates the effects of associative pens aquaculture activities in selected communities located in the municipality of Jaguaribara, into the CastanhÃo reservoir, and its capacity into promoting sustainable development for the involved communities into the CastanhÃo. To reach the objectives of this work, a case study was conducted upon pens aquaculture projects into the CastanhÃo reservoir, aiming at evaluating the effects of aquiculture activity and its capacity to promote sustainable development for the communities involved into the production. Hence the importance of researches based on mechanisms that result in a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects. The study uses primary data collected with the communitiesâ fishermen. We estimate economic and social well-being and also deprivation indicators of the families involved into the activities, seeking to understand if the current living pattern is different from the dominant pattern of the municipality of Jaguaribara. The study determinates the economic allocation of resources and evaluates the economic convenience of trimestral scaled production as well as if it is viable, on an economic point of view, to separate and sell viscus. This last subject has an important environmental impact, as it is highly pollutant, and is disposed inappropriately, it would contaminate either superficial reservoirs or underground aquifers. To study the scaled production optimization, we will minimize the production cost function, as we know the trimestral unitary costs. Selling prices of collected fishes were registered through interviews. This way, we generated minimum income restrictions, which was established in this study as at least one minimum wage by trimester. As for the viscus, we established a value equivalent to 10% of the living fish weight as a selling value. Costs considered are those regarding manpower need for viscus extraction. Results show that fishermen involved in this study have a much better standard of living than those observed in the municipality of Jaguaribara in 2010. The study also suggests that minimum production costs occur when production is distributed within the four analyzed trimesters, but with a higher concentration during the third trimester. Regarding the viscus extraction for separate sell, economic results were satisfactory and showed that a higher concentration of production, seeking minimizing costs, should occur during the second trimester. This study concludes that the project is economically viable, offers better living standards for the involved and has a strong environmental positive externality, as it uses viscus to produce biodiesel, saving oil and not contaminating the environment.

The facts that relative consumption concerns may give rise both to positional and environmental externalities, and that these two externalities are increasingly transboundary require us to derive an optimal commodity tax in an international framework. The corrective tax policy decided at a national level is found to fail to internalize all positional and environmental externalities. The optimal tax policy under an international cooperative framework reflects correction for both global positional and environmental externalities. In this broader framework, we also characterize the provision of pollution abatement as an additional policy instrument. The results show that relative concerns for one of the private goods do not lead to any modification of the policy rule for public abatement.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-12-04T13:09:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dalila Cisco Collatto_.pdf: 5590707 bytes, checksum: 80ad4ef5277f300bbbc14a3d8fb3e27c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-04T13:09:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dalila Cisco Collatto_.pdf: 5590707 bytes, checksum: 80ad4ef5277f300bbbc14a3d8fb3e27c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-25 / IFSUL - Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense / A demanda por maior transparência e responsabilidade no tocante às questões ambientais provém do crescimento da consciência social acerca dos danos causados pela poluição e do debate sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável. O uso responsável dos recursos naturais é uma importante questão social e política, e como tal, representa fator essencial na tomada de decisões de negócios. Nesse panorama, as práticas contábeis precisam incluir a valoração e a análise de custos externos e de dívidas ambientais como parte da informação disponibilizada aos tomadores de decisão. Nessa direção, o objetivo desta pesquisa se concentra na proposição de um método para mensurar e evidenciar o Environmental Debt (ED) de um sistema produtivo. Para tanto, emprega-se a Design Science Research para conduzir a pesquisa, cujo resultado principal viabiliza a proposição do Método de Mensuração e Evidenciação do Environmental Debt (MEED). O método é desenvolvido a partir da combinação de recursos identificados na literatura, de proposições de grupos de pesquisa, de métodos do mercado de consultoria e de organismos internacionais envolvidos com o reconhecimento do preço dos recursos naturais. O resultado da aplicação do MEED revela a valoração e a evidenciação dos custos externos e das obrigações ambientais a partir da internalização das externalidades ambientais, conectada ao objetivo primordial da contabilidade, a saber, a avaliação do patrimônio. O método é testado no setor de avicultura, especificamente, na produção de frangos griller, e avaliado por especialistas de áreas multidisciplinares. Verifica-se que externalidades ambientais estão presentes no sistema avaliado, afetando negativamente o patrimônio. Por fim, apresenta-se o Relato Integrado como uma ferramenta de comunicação que visa a gerar informações para subsidiar a gestão dos negócios, incentivando os sistemas produtivos a buscarem soluções que impactem menos o meio ambiente e que proporcionem maior qualidade de vida à sociedade. / The demand for greater transparency and accountability for environmental issues stems from growing social awareness of pollution damage and the debate on sustainable development. Responsible use of natural resources is an important social and political issue, and as such it is an essential factor in business decision making. In this scenario, accounting practices need to include valuation and analysis of external costs and Environmental Debts as part of the information made available to decision makers. Therefore, this study is focused on proposing a method to measure and evidence the Environmental Debt (ED) of a productive system. For this purpose, Design Science Research is used to conduct the research, whose main result makes possible to propose the Environmental Debt Measurement and Evidence Method (MEED). The method is developed from a combination of resources identified in the literature, from propositions from research groups, from consulting market methods and from international organizations involved in the recognition of the price of natural resources. The result of applying MEED reveals the valuation and disclosure of external costs and environmental obligations from the internalization of environmental externalities, linked to the primary objective of accounting, namely, valuation of equity. The method is tested in the poultry sector, specifically in the production of griller chickens, and evaluated by experts from multidisciplinary areas. Environmental externalities are present in the evaluated system, negatively affecting the equity. Finally, the Integrated Report is presented as communication tool aiming at generating information to subsidize business management, encouraging production systems to seek solutions that impact less the environment and providing better quality of life for society.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-04-12T16:45:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabrício Eidelwein_.pdf: 3923548 bytes, checksum: 36d9c55f73c9e8e15962e851d07db5c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-12T16:45:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabrício Eidelwein_.pdf: 3923548 bytes, checksum: 36d9c55f73c9e8e15962e851d07db5c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / Os negócios e a natureza estão intimamente conectados e o desenvolvimento humano depende de uma relação harmoniosa entre ambos. Enquanto a disponibilidade de recursos naturais é pressionada pelo crescimento populacional, por níveis crescentes de poluição e por padrões de consumo inadequados, as organizações procuram referências para crescer de modo sustentável. Tendo em vista a dependência que os negócios têm da natureza, a busca por soluções de menor impacto ambiental é, além de uma boa prática, uma condição sine qua non para a manutenção da competitividade. O atual formato de avaliação dos resultados econômicos nas empresas é incompatível com a mensuração do real valor gerado. Além de estimular ações de curto prazo que, muitas vezes, geram impactos ambientais no longo prazo, a Demonstração de Resultado do Exercício (DRE) desconsidera uma série de efeitos ambientais externos gerados pelas organizações, os quais impactam a sociedade sem que ela seja recompensada. Estes impactos são conhecidos como externalidades ambientais, as quais podem ser positivas, embora sejam, majoritariamente, negativas. No Brasil, a indústria petroquímica é rigidamente controlada pela legislação ambiental e pela ação das comunidades com as quais se relaciona. Ainda assim, é um ramo industrial sujeito à geração de externalidades. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um método para a elaboração da Demonstração do Resultado Econômico-Ambiental (DREA), a qual internaliza as externalidades ambientais, bem como a aplicação em uma empresa do setor petroquímico. Para tanto, o método de pesquisa utilizado foi o Design Science Research (DSR). Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que as externalidades ambientais presentes planta fabril avaliada são predominantemente negativas. A internalização destes custos externos impactaria o resultado econômico consolidado da empresa em valor correspondente a 12,5% do Lucro Líquido do exercício considerado. Além disso, é possível concluir que o método desenvolvido é adequado para a elaboração da DREA e configura-se em um passo importante no avanço da contabilidade. / Business and nature are closely connected and human development depends on a harmonious relationship between them. While the availability of natural resources is pressed by population growth, by increasing levels of pollution and inadequate consumption patterns, organizations seek drivers to grow sustainably. Given the dependence that businesses have of nature, the search for lower environmental impact solutions is, besides a good practice, a sine qua non condition for maintaining competitiveness. The current format for evaluating economic results in companies is inconsistent with the measurement of the real value generated. Besides stimulating short-term actions, which often cause environmental impact in the long term, the traditional Income Statement disregards a series of external environmental effects generated by organizations, which affect the society without a compatible reward. These impacts are known as environmental externalities, which can be positive, although they are mostly negative. In Brazil, the petrochemical industry is tightly controlled by the environmental legislation and by the action of the communities with which it interacts. Even so, it is an industry subject to the generation of externalities. In this sense, this research aimed to develop a method for the preparation of the Economic and Environmental Income Statement (EEIS), which internalize environmental externalities, and test this method in a petrochemical company. To support this study, the research method used was the Design Science Research (DSR). The results of this research indicate that environmental externalities present in the assessed petrochemical plant are predominantly negative. The internalization of the relative external costs would impact the consolidated economic results of the company in an amount equal to 12.5% of net profit for the year considered. In addition, it can be concluded that the developed method is suitable for the preparation of EEIS and sets up an important step in advancing the accounting.

This study estimates the economic costs of mining pollution on water resources for the years 2008 and 2009 based on the conceptual framework of Environmental Efficiency. This framework identifies such costs as the mining companies’ trade-off between increasing production that is saleable at market prices (desirable output) and reducing the environmental pollution that emerges from the production process (undesirable output). These economic costs were calculated from parametric and non parametric production possibility frontiers for 28 and 37 mining units in 2008 and 2009, respectively, which were under the purview of the National Campaign for Environmental Monitoring of Effluent and Water Resources, conducted by the Energy and Mining Investment Supervisory Agency (Osinergmin) in those years. The results show that the economic cost of mining pollution on water resources rose to U.S. $ 814.7 million and U.S. $ 448.8 million for 2008 and 2009, respectively. These economic costs were highly concentrated in a few mining units, within a few pollution parameters, and were also higher in mining units with average/low mineral production. Taking into consideration that at present the fine and penalty system in the mining sector is based on administrative criteria, this study proposes a System of Environmentally Efficient Sanctions based on economic criteria so as to establish a preventive mechanism for pollution. It is hoped that this mechanism will generate the necessary incentives for mining companies to address the negative externalities that emerge from their production process. / En este estudio se aproximan los costos económicos de la contaminación ambiental minera sobre los recursos hídricos para 2008 y 2009 en el marco conceptual de la Eficiencia Medioambiental, que interpreta dichos costos como el trade-off de los empresarios mineros entre incrementar su producción que es vendible a precios de mercado (output deseable) yreducir la contaminación ambiental que se desprende de su proceso productivo (output no deseable). Dichos costos económicos fueron calculados a partir de fronteras de posibilidades de producción paramétricas y no paramétricas para 28 y 37 unidades mineras en los años 2008 y 2009 respectivamente, las que estuvieron bajo el ámbito de la Campaña Nacional deMonitoreo Ambiental de Efluentes y Recursos Hídricos que realizó el Organismo Supervisor de Inversión Energía y Minería (Osinergmin) en dichos años. Los resultados indican que los costos económicos de la contaminación ambiental minera sobre los recursos hídricos ascendieron, en promedio, para los años 2008 y 2009, a US$ 814,7 millones,y US$ 448,8 millones, respectivamente. Dichos costos estuvieron altamente concentrados en pocas unidades productivas, así como en pocos parámetros de contaminación, y fueron mayores en unidades mineras con producción media/baja de minerales. Dado que en la actualidad el sistema de multas y sanciones en el sector minero se basa en criterios administrativos, el estudio propone un Sistema de Sanciones Ambientalmente Eficiente basado en criterios económicos