2002 World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists

Agricultural activities by heterogeneous producers are the cause of a wide range of environmental problems. The stock of pollution can be reduced by changing production practices or by removing pollutants after they are generated. In this paper we analyze the optimal choice of two different irrigation technologies over time and space, determining the optimal size and location of the agricultural production area and of the riparian zone and theoptimal level of water use. Moreover, the paper analyzes the optimal combination of source control and abatement strategies.The results show that input taxes need to be complemented by land-technology taxes or subsidies to establish the socially optimal outcome and that the optimal intertemporal policy depends on the form of abatement cost and damage functions. Finally, thepaper presents a novel approach for solving spatial-intertemporal optimal control problem - the so called two stage solution approach.



	Paper Title:	Dynamics Of Controlling Pollution Stock When Producers Are Heterogeneous
	Presenting Author:	Angels Xabadia (Univ. de Girona and U.C. Berkeley)
	Coauthor 1:	Renan Goetz
	Coauthor 2:	David Zilberman
	Coauthor 3:
	Abstract:	Agricultural activities by heterogeneous producers are the cause of a wide range of environmental problems. The stock of pollution can be reduced by changing production practices or by removing pollutants after they are generated. In this paper we analyze the optimal choice of two different irrigation technologies over time and space, determining the optimal size and location of the agricultural production area and of the riparian zone and theoptimal level of water use. Moreover, the paper analyzes the optimal combination of source control and abatement strategies.The results show that input taxes need to be complemented by land-technology taxes or subsidies to establish the socially optimal outcome and that the optimal intertemporal policy depends on the form of abatement cost and damage functions. Finally, thepaper presents a novel approach for solving spatial-intertemporal optimal control problem - the so called two stage solution approach.
	Link to paper:	http://weber.ucsd.edu/~carsonvs/papers/877.pdf

	Session / Day / Time	1F / Monday / 8:00 - 10:00 am

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