In our field, the term “resiliency” is typically thought of as resiliency to climate change . However, economic resiliency can also be resiliency to any sort of disaster – economic, human- caused, or “natural”. Economic resiliency or an economic resiliency study (sometimes called a vulnerability assessment) involves taking a good hard look at your community …
Black Lives Matter When talking about sustainability we often use the metaphor of a three legged stool. We take great pains to explain how each leg – economic, social, and environmental – is essential to ensure that the stool will hold the person who sits on it. The person in this metaphor is us, human …
Recycling changed dramatically in 2018, when China went from accepting 45% of the world’s plastic waste to almost none. As a result, by 2030, up to 111 million metric tons of plastic could be displaced.[1] All that extra plastic, as well as the paper and other materials China is refusing, has significant and far-reaching effects. …
1. Can proximity to urban green spaces be considered a luxury? Classifying a non-tradable good with the use of hedonic pricing method Edyta Łaszkiewicz⁎, Piotr Czembrowski, Jakub Kronenberg Ecological Economics 161 (2019) 237–247 In this article, the authors examine apartment rents in Lodz, Poland, to see whether proximity to “green space” (defined as parks, forests, …
Every so often, I get requests to do an economic impact analysis of a local tourism event, or a new business that’s recently opened in the area. The person that is asking usually knows enough about an economic analysis to know that they need one (or think they do), but not always enough to make …
Measuring Willingness to Pay for Environmental Attributes in Seafood Hilger, J., Hallstein, E., Stevens, A.W. et al. Environ Resource Econ (2019) 73: 307. We found this article very interesting because of our recent work with CEI on growing farmed scallop in Maine. Most research suggests that consumers are willing to pay for environmental attributes (like …
Americans go through 102.1 billion plastic bags each year, and those bags end up everywhere. Whether they’re in whale stomachs, or in our water as microplastics, the volume has people concerned. In an effort to reduce the amount of plastic, bans on single-use plastic bags are on the rise. California and New York already have …
For generations most companies have measured their success or failure by the amount of profits and losses they experience. This is in part because financial gains and losses are easy to quanitfy, but also because legally a company owes a fiduciary duty of care to its stockholders, and must weigh stockholder impact when making corporate …
On December 28, 2018, the Trump administration announced that the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) that restrict mercury emissions were too costly and without enough benefits to make them necessary. Those in favor of the restrictions argue that the real cost comes from changing the standards. Why is mercury an issue? Mercury is a …
This past week, newly elected governor Janet Mills ended former governor Paul LePage’s ban on wind farms in certain areas of the state. As an environmental economist, I am in favor of increased wind power in the state. Renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and in certain circumstances, hydropower, will help with our much …