O objetivo desta dissertação é estimar os impactos econômicos de cenários de políticas climáticas para o Brasil. Mais especificamente, pretende-se através de um modelo de equilíbrio geral computável verificar como algumas variáveis econômicas respondem à simulação de algumas políticas de mitigação de mudanças climáticas por parte do Brasil. Para tal propósito, utilizou-se o modelo Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis EPPA do MIT, o qual é um modelo dinâmico-recursivo, multi-regional que representa a economia mundial. Os principais resultados revelaram que a introdução de metas de redução de emissões a partir de 2015, possibilita uma redução expressiva das emissões de GEEs do país, com destaque para a redução proveniente de desmatamento. Quanto ao nível de atividade econômica verificou-se que o sacrifício a ser realizado em termos de perdas do PIB não se mostrou expressivo, o que pode ser explicado por uma matriz energética intensiva em fontes de energia limpa. Em termos de bem-estar, observou-se que a inclusão de metas de redução do desmatamento, como as representadas pela política CP1 trouxeram perdas modestas em bem-estar para o Brasil, ou seja, o esforço no sentido de enquadramento com as metas de Copenhague é benéfico, pois as perdas de bem-estar serão relativamente pequenas, caso o país continue o ritmo de redução em emissões previsto para 2020. / The objective of this dissertation is to estimate the economic impacts of climate policy scenarios for Brazil. More specifically, it is intended through a computable general equilibrium model to see how some economic variables respond to the simulation of some policies to mitigate climate change by Brazil. For this purpose, it was used the Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model EPPA, from the MIT, which is a dynamic-recursive model, multi-regional that represents the world economy. The results reveal that the introduction of the targets for reducing emissions from 2015, allows an expressive reduction of GHG emissions in the country, notably the reduction from deforestation. Regarding the level of economic activity showed that the sacrifice being made in terms of GDP loss was not significant, which can be explained by an energy-intensive sources of clean energy. In terms of welfare, it was observed that the inclusion of the targets for reducing deforestation, such as those represented by the policy CP1 brought modest losses in welfare for Brazil, namely the effort to frame the goals of Copenhagen is beneficial, because the loss of welfare will be relatively small if the country can continue the pace of reduction in emissions in 2020.

O objetivo desta dissertação é estimar os impactos econômicos de cenários de políticas climáticas para o Brasil. Mais especificamente, pretende-se através de um modelo de equilíbrio geral computável verificar como algumas variáveis econômicas respondem à simulação de algumas políticas de mitigação de mudanças climáticas por parte do Brasil. Para tal propósito, utilizou-se o modelo Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis EPPA do MIT, o qual é um modelo dinâmico-recursivo, multi-regional que representa a economia mundial. Os principais resultados revelaram que a introdução de metas de redução de emissões a partir de 2015, possibilita uma redução expressiva das emissões de GEEs do país, com destaque para a redução proveniente de desmatamento. Quanto ao nível de atividade econômica verificou-se que o sacrifício a ser realizado em termos de perdas do PIB não se mostrou expressivo, o que pode ser explicado por uma matriz energética intensiva em fontes de energia limpa. Em termos de bem-estar, observou-se que a inclusão de metas de redução do desmatamento, como as representadas pela política CP1 trouxeram perdas modestas em bem-estar para o Brasil, ou seja, o esforço no sentido de enquadramento com as metas de Copenhague é benéfico, pois as perdas de bem-estar serão relativamente pequenas, caso o país continue o ritmo de redução em emissões previsto para 2020. / The objective of this dissertation is to estimate the economic impacts of climate policy scenarios for Brazil. More specifically, it is intended through a computable general equilibrium model to see how some economic variables respond to the simulation of some policies to mitigate climate change by Brazil. For this purpose, it was used the Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model EPPA, from the MIT, which is a dynamic-recursive model, multi-regional that represents the world economy. The results reveal that the introduction of the targets for reducing emissions from 2015, allows an expressive reduction of GHG emissions in the country, notably the reduction from deforestation. Regarding the level of economic activity showed that the sacrifice being made in terms of GDP loss was not significant, which can be explained by an energy-intensive sources of clean energy. In terms of welfare, it was observed that the inclusion of the targets for reducing deforestation, such as those represented by the policy CP1 brought modest losses in welfare for Brazil, namely the effort to frame the goals of Copenhagen is beneficial, because the loss of welfare will be relatively small if the country can continue the pace of reduction in emissions in 2020.

Chronic seismic hazards and resulting secondary impacts as natural conditions of the country, and loss of robust building and prudent settlement practices as aggravated by rapid population growth make cities the most vulnerable geographical and social entities in Turkey. In contrast, Turkish disaster policy is solely focused on post-disaster issues and no incentives or provision exist to encourage risk analysis or risk mitigation approaches, despite current international efforts. For the development of risk reduction policies an essential step is to prioritize settlements according to their vulnerability levels. This could be determined by hazard probabilities and attributes of the building stock of each settlement. Measurement of vulnerability levels allows the ordering of settlements into risk categories. Vulnerability levels of settlements are then assumed to depend on a number of attributes of cities to explore if vulnerability could be related to a set of urban properties. Results of statistical analyses indicate that total building loss is related to the ratio of population over the total number of buildings in mid-range settlements, and directly related to population in metropolitan cities. Relative loss on the other hand is related with rate of agglomeration and development index in almost every size category of settlements. Observations provide guiding principles for effective mitigation practices in Turkey by ordering settlements and offer means of differential implementation. These could contribute to improved safety measures in urban standards, building codes, building supervision procedures, insurance systems, investment priorities, and Law (6306) on Redevelopment of Areas under Disaster Risk.

Cette thèse a pour objet les politiques d'adaptation au changement climatique. Il est montré que la Convention-cadre sur le changement climatique (1992), ainsi que la construction des stratégies de réponse, sont caractéristiques d'une approche pollutioniste. Cette approche a conduit à appréhender la question du changement climatique comme un problème classique de pollution et d'environnement. Il en est résulté un double biais en défaveur de l'adaptation par rapport aux politiques d'atténuation : l'adaptation a été confinée dans un rôle secondaire et marginal dans la structuration des politiques, avec un cadre conceptuel et méthodologique inopérationnel pour sa mise en œuvre. La thèse propose une déconstruction de cette conception du changement climatique ; les limites majeures qui caractérisent les politiques d'atténuation remettant par ailleurs en cause la prépondérance qui leur a été accordée. La déconstruction de cette approche pollutioniste permet tout d'abord de montrer que la définition et l'opérationnalisation de stratégies d'adaptation efficaces nécessitent de dépasser (i) le cadre analytique standard des politiques climatiques et, (ii) la conception du changement climatique comme une question de pollution classique et de gestion de l'environnement. Il est alors soutenu que l'adaptation doit être inscrite dans la promotion du développement, c'est-à-dire qu'elle doit être appréhendée non plus dans une problématique de gestion ad hoc des effets d'une pollution mais dans une problématique de développement. Que ce soit dans le contexte propre aux politiques d'adaptation, ou plus largement dans celui des politiques climatiques, la thèse laisse cependant ouverte les questions relatives à la viabilité et aux modalités d'organisation et de financement d'un régime climat inscrit dans la promotion du développement. / Climate change adaptation policies are the subject of this thesis. It has been showed that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the response strategies construction are characteristic of a pollutionist approach. This approach led to envision the question of climate change as a classic pollution and environment issue. As a result, this approach has generated a double bias to the disadvantage of adaptation compared to mitigation policies: adaptation has been confined in a secondary and marginal role in climate policies structuring, and with an inoperative conceptual and methodological framework for its implementation. The thesis proposes a deconstruction of this climate change conceptualization. Moreover, the major limits that characterize mitigation policies call into question the predominance given to them in climate policies construction. The « pollutionist » approach deconstruction allows at first to show that adaptation policies definition and operationalization need to go beyond (i) the standard analytic framework of climate policies and, (ii) the climate change conceptualization as a classic pollution and environment management issue. The thesis then argues that adaptation has to be integrated in development promoting policies, which means that adaptation needs to be conceptualized no longer as an ad hoc management of pollution effects issue, but as a development issue. Whether in the proper context of adaptation policies, or more largely of climate policies, the thesis leaves open the questions of the viability, but also of the organization and financing modalities, of a climate regime which fits within development promoting.

Companies in the United States are concerned about the indeterminate effectiveness of corporate cyberloafing mitigation efforts leading to the persistence of employee cyberloafing behavior. Although middle managers are the driving force behind the transformational influences that guide employee productivity and could proffer practical solutions, a lack of clarity surrounds the middle manager's role in the overall cyberloafing mitigation efforts within organizations. The central research question for this transcendental phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of middle managers regarding their roles in mitigating employee cyberloafing at higher education institutions in Florida. This study used a social constructivist-interpretive framework that draws from the multiple realities constructed through social interactions and lived experiences. Participants included 7 middle managers with experience mitigating cyberloafing at higher education institutions in Florida. Four major themes emerged from an inductive analysis of the data, including managing employee performance, proximity matters, cyberloafing interventions, and understanding employee online technology use. The results and recommendations of this study provide implications for social change. Business organizations may modify cyberloafing mitigation strategies and policies from a better understanding of manager/employee interactions, transformational managerial influences used to mitigate employee cyberloafing, and managerial knowledge of employee appropriation of online technology.

Thesis Abstract: Chapter I: Regional burden sharing of GHG mitigation policies – A Canadian perspective. The distribution of the burden of cost arising from the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a contentious issue in policy discussions; more so among regional jurisdictions in the federalist countries with decentralized authorities over environmental regulations. In this setting, often the policy discussions are focused on the distribution of regional emission reduction targets that, in turn, entails negotiations over the distribution of the scarcity rents and the regional transfers of wealth. The allocation of regional emission entitlements is thus a key factor that could hinder the political feasibility of a national GHG mitigation policy. In this paper, we build a multi-region computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Canadian economy to assess the implications of different burden sharing rules governing the national GHG abatement policy with a cap-and-trade system of emission permits. In addition to assessing the impacts of traditional regional emissions allocation rules that involve intra-regional transfers of wealth, we consider a particular emission allocation that avoids such transfers, which may be a more palatable option given the context of likely fierce negotiations over the issue. Our results indicate to differing outcomes depending on the allocation policy in use. The CGE framework is also able to shed light on the transmission mechanisms that drive the results underlying the policy options. Chapter II: Endogenous technological change and emission allowances. Given the imminent threat of global warming due to GHG emissions, a number of emission mitigation policies have been proposed in the literature. However, they generally suffer from the classical equity-efficiency trade-off. High costs from equity concerns often render environmental policies politically unattractive and thus hard to implement. Recent advancement in the climate policy modeling literature that incorporates endogenous technological change (ETC) into the framework can potentially bring new insights into this debate. Using an inter-temporal, multi-sector CGE approach with ETC incorporated into the framework, this paper builds a model that focuses on the equity-efficiency debate for the policymakers. Canada is chosen as the country of investigation for this purpose. The paper provides a new welfare ranking of four permit allocation policies that address the equity-efficiency trade-off. In a second-best setting with pre-existing distortions, output-based allocation (OBA) of emission permits is compared to three other policy options: (i) an emissions trading system with grandfathered allocation (GFA), (ii) an auction permit trading system where permit revenue is recycled to lower payroll taxes (RPT), and (iii) a hybrid of OBA and R&D subsidy (O-R&D). We find that adapting OBA, as well as O-R&D, is welfare improving over GFA. The implicit output subsidy, entailed in the OBA policy, mitigates against the rising cost effect in the GFA policy. This is reinforced through added investment incentive in R&D when ETC in incorporated into the framework. With O-R&D, since the R&D subsidy corrects for market imperfections in the knowledge accumulation process, the effect is further bolstered, culminating into mitigation of uneven distributional outcome for energy-intensive industries as a whole. Contrary to previous results, we also find that, in terms of the welfare metric, OBA unequivocally improves the distributional outcome across sectors as compared to the RPT policy. Inclusion of ETC also unequivocally generates a higher welfare ranking for all permit policy schemes. Chapter III: Emission permit banking and induced technological change. This paper attempts to undertake an exploratory research by integrating two themes in the emission mitigation policy literature, which include: the inter-temporal emission permit banking and borrowing and the role of induced technological change in emission mitigation. Using a simple optimal control approach, we construct a unified framework that evaluates the optimal path of emissions and the optimal trajectory of permit price when both inter-temporal banking and borrowing of permits and the effects of induced technological change (ITC) are present. We find that ITC leads to a declining emission trajectory over time. The effect of ITC on the optimal permit price path, however, is ambiguous and critically depends on the extent of marginal cost saving that emanates from emission-saving technological innovation.

Thesis Abstract: Chapter I: Regional burden sharing of GHG mitigation policies – A Canadian perspective. The distribution of the burden of cost arising from the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a contentious issue in policy discussions; more so among regional jurisdictions in the federalist countries with decentralized authorities over environmental regulations. In this setting, often the policy discussions are focused on the distribution of regional emission reduction targets that, in turn, entails negotiations over the distribution of the scarcity rents and the regional transfers of wealth. The allocation of regional emission entitlements is thus a key factor that could hinder the political feasibility of a national GHG mitigation policy. In this paper, we build a multi-region computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Canadian economy to assess the implications of different burden sharing rules governing the national GHG abatement policy with a cap-and-trade system of emission permits. In addition to assessing the impacts of traditional regional emissions allocation rules that involve intra-regional transfers of wealth, we consider a particular emission allocation that avoids such transfers, which may be a more palatable option given the context of likely fierce negotiations over the issue. Our results indicate to differing outcomes depending on the allocation policy in use. The CGE framework is also able to shed light on the transmission mechanisms that drive the results underlying the policy options. Chapter II: Endogenous technological change and emission allowances. Given the imminent threat of global warming due to GHG emissions, a number of emission mitigation policies have been proposed in the literature. However, they generally suffer from the classical equity-efficiency trade-off. High costs from equity concerns often render environmental policies politically unattractive and thus hard to implement. Recent advancement in the climate policy modeling literature that incorporates endogenous technological change (ETC) into the framework can potentially bring new insights into this debate. Using an inter-temporal, multi-sector CGE approach with ETC incorporated into the framework, this paper builds a model that focuses on the equity-efficiency debate for the policymakers. Canada is chosen as the country of investigation for this purpose. The paper provides a new welfare ranking of four permit allocation policies that address the equity-efficiency trade-off. In a second-best setting with pre-existing distortions, output-based allocation (OBA) of emission permits is compared to three other policy options: (i) an emissions trading system with grandfathered allocation (GFA), (ii) an auction permit trading system where permit revenue is recycled to lower payroll taxes (RPT), and (iii) a hybrid of OBA and R&D subsidy (O-R&D). We find that adapting OBA, as well as O-R&D, is welfare improving over GFA. The implicit output subsidy, entailed in the OBA policy, mitigates against the rising cost effect in the GFA policy. This is reinforced through added investment incentive in R&D when ETC in incorporated into the framework. With O-R&D, since the R&D subsidy corrects for market imperfections in the knowledge accumulation process, the effect is further bolstered, culminating into mitigation of uneven distributional outcome for energy-intensive industries as a whole. Contrary to previous results, we also find that, in terms of the welfare metric, OBA unequivocally improves the distributional outcome across sectors as compared to the RPT policy. Inclusion of ETC also unequivocally generates a higher welfare ranking for all permit policy schemes. Chapter III: Emission permit banking and induced technological change. This paper attempts to undertake an exploratory research by integrating two themes in the emission mitigation policy literature, which include: the inter-temporal emission permit banking and borrowing and the role of induced technological change in emission mitigation. Using a simple optimal control approach, we construct a unified framework that evaluates the optimal path of emissions and the optimal trajectory of permit price when both inter-temporal banking and borrowing of permits and the effects of induced technological change (ITC) are present. We find that ITC leads to a declining emission trajectory over time. The effect of ITC on the optimal permit price path, however, is ambiguous and critically depends on the extent of marginal cost saving that emanates from emission-saving technological innovation.

Thesis Abstract: Chapter I: Regional burden sharing of GHG mitigation policies – A Canadian perspective. The distribution of the burden of cost arising from the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a contentious issue in policy discussions; more so among regional jurisdictions in the federalist countries with decentralized authorities over environmental regulations. In this setting, often the policy discussions are focused on the distribution of regional emission reduction targets that, in turn, entails negotiations over the distribution of the scarcity rents and the regional transfers of wealth. The allocation of regional emission entitlements is thus a key factor that could hinder the political feasibility of a national GHG mitigation policy. In this paper, we build a multi-region computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Canadian economy to assess the implications of different burden sharing rules governing the national GHG abatement policy with a cap-and-trade system of emission permits. In addition to assessing the impacts of traditional regional emissions allocation rules that involve intra-regional transfers of wealth, we consider a particular emission allocation that avoids such transfers, which may be a more palatable option given the context of likely fierce negotiations over the issue. Our results indicate to differing outcomes depending on the allocation policy in use. The CGE framework is also able to shed light on the transmission mechanisms that drive the results underlying the policy options. Chapter II: Endogenous technological change and emission allowances. Given the imminent threat of global warming due to GHG emissions, a number of emission mitigation policies have been proposed in the literature. However, they generally suffer from the classical equity-efficiency trade-off. High costs from equity concerns often render environmental policies politically unattractive and thus hard to implement. Recent advancement in the climate policy modeling literature that incorporates endogenous technological change (ETC) into the framework can potentially bring new insights into this debate. Using an inter-temporal, multi-sector CGE approach with ETC incorporated into the framework, this paper builds a model that focuses on the equity-efficiency debate for the policymakers. Canada is chosen as the country of investigation for this purpose. The paper provides a new welfare ranking of four permit allocation policies that address the equity-efficiency trade-off. In a second-best setting with pre-existing distortions, output-based allocation (OBA) of emission permits is compared to three other policy options: (i) an emissions trading system with grandfathered allocation (GFA), (ii) an auction permit trading system where permit revenue is recycled to lower payroll taxes (RPT), and (iii) a hybrid of OBA and R&D subsidy (O-R&D). We find that adapting OBA, as well as O-R&D, is welfare improving over GFA. The implicit output subsidy, entailed in the OBA policy, mitigates against the rising cost effect in the GFA policy. This is reinforced through added investment incentive in R&D when ETC in incorporated into the framework. With O-R&D, since the R&D subsidy corrects for market imperfections in the knowledge accumulation process, the effect is further bolstered, culminating into mitigation of uneven distributional outcome for energy-intensive industries as a whole. Contrary to previous results, we also find that, in terms of the welfare metric, OBA unequivocally improves the distributional outcome across sectors as compared to the RPT policy. Inclusion of ETC also unequivocally generates a higher welfare ranking for all permit policy schemes. Chapter III: Emission permit banking and induced technological change. This paper attempts to undertake an exploratory research by integrating two themes in the emission mitigation policy literature, which include: the inter-temporal emission permit banking and borrowing and the role of induced technological change in emission mitigation. Using a simple optimal control approach, we construct a unified framework that evaluates the optimal path of emissions and the optimal trajectory of permit price when both inter-temporal banking and borrowing of permits and the effects of induced technological change (ITC) are present. We find that ITC leads to a declining emission trajectory over time. The effect of ITC on the optimal permit price path, however, is ambiguous and critically depends on the extent of marginal cost saving that emanates from emission-saving technological innovation.

Thesis Abstract: Chapter I: Regional burden sharing of GHG mitigation policies – A Canadian perspective. The distribution of the burden of cost arising from the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a contentious issue in policy discussions; more so among regional jurisdictions in the federalist countries with decentralized authorities over environmental regulations. In this setting, often the policy discussions are focused on the distribution of regional emission reduction targets that, in turn, entails negotiations over the distribution of the scarcity rents and the regional transfers of wealth. The allocation of regional emission entitlements is thus a key factor that could hinder the political feasibility of a national GHG mitigation policy. In this paper, we build a multi-region computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Canadian economy to assess the implications of different burden sharing rules governing the national GHG abatement policy with a cap-and-trade system of emission permits. In addition to assessing the impacts of traditional regional emissions allocation rules that involve intra-regional transfers of wealth, we consider a particular emission allocation that avoids such transfers, which may be a more palatable option given the context of likely fierce negotiations over the issue. Our results indicate to differing outcomes depending on the allocation policy in use. The CGE framework is also able to shed light on the transmission mechanisms that drive the results underlying the policy options. Chapter II: Endogenous technological change and emission allowances. Given the imminent threat of global warming due to GHG emissions, a number of emission mitigation policies have been proposed in the literature. However, they generally suffer from the classical equity-efficiency trade-off. High costs from equity concerns often render environmental policies politically unattractive and thus hard to implement. Recent advancement in the climate policy modeling literature that incorporates endogenous technological change (ETC) into the framework can potentially bring new insights into this debate. Using an inter-temporal, multi-sector CGE approach with ETC incorporated into the framework, this paper builds a model that focuses on the equity-efficiency debate for the policymakers. Canada is chosen as the country of investigation for this purpose. The paper provides a new welfare ranking of four permit allocation policies that address the equity-efficiency trade-off. In a second-best setting with pre-existing distortions, output-based allocation (OBA) of emission permits is compared to three other policy options: (i) an emissions trading system with grandfathered allocation (GFA), (ii) an auction permit trading system where permit revenue is recycled to lower payroll taxes (RPT), and (iii) a hybrid of OBA and R&D subsidy (O-R&D). We find that adapting OBA, as well as O-R&D, is welfare improving over GFA. The implicit output subsidy, entailed in the OBA policy, mitigates against the rising cost effect in the GFA policy. This is reinforced through added investment incentive in R&D when ETC in incorporated into the framework. With O-R&D, since the R&D subsidy corrects for market imperfections in the knowledge accumulation process, the effect is further bolstered, culminating into mitigation of uneven distributional outcome for energy-intensive industries as a whole. Contrary to previous results, we also find that, in terms of the welfare metric, OBA unequivocally improves the distributional outcome across sectors as compared to the RPT policy. Inclusion of ETC also unequivocally generates a higher welfare ranking for all permit policy schemes. Chapter III: Emission permit banking and induced technological change. This paper attempts to undertake an exploratory research by integrating two themes in the emission mitigation policy literature, which include: the inter-temporal emission permit banking and borrowing and the role of induced technological change in emission mitigation. Using a simple optimal control approach, we construct a unified framework that evaluates the optimal path of emissions and the optimal trajectory of permit price when both inter-temporal banking and borrowing of permits and the effects of induced technological change (ITC) are present. We find that ITC leads to a declining emission trajectory over time. The effect of ITC on the optimal permit price path, however, is ambiguous and critically depends on the extent of marginal cost saving that emanates from emission-saving technological innovation.