Research Centre for Environmental Economics (RCEE)
Research Center for Environmental Economics
Forschungszentrum für Umweltökonomik (FZU)
About
The Research Center for Environmental Economics (Forschungszentrum für Umweltökonomie, FZU) brings together a dynamic group of economists who all work on solving pressing problems situated at intersection of the natural environment and the economy. We use theory, empirical, and experimental methods for better understanding the challenges of sustainable resource management and to provide relevant policy recommendations. Use this webpage as a platform to stay tuned in on our work or to explore the various projects we are involved in, many of them interdisciplinary.
News
NEW PUBLICATIONS
The paper “Cold Case: The Forensic Economics of Energy Efficiency Labeling for Refrigeration Appliances” by Timo Goeschl has just been accepted for publication in Energy Economics.
van den Broek, K. L., Walker, I., & Klöckner, C. A. (2019). Drivers of energy saving behaviour: The relative influence of intentional, normative, situational and habitual processes. Energy Policy, 132, 811-819.
The paper 'Leveling Up? - An Inter-Neighborhood Experiment on Parochialism and the Efficiency of Multi-Level Public Goods Provision' (with C. Gallier, M. Kesternich, J. Lohse, C. Reif and D. Römer) has been published by the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 164 (August 2019), 500-517.
van den Broek K. L. Stakeholders' perceptions of the socio-economic and environmental challenges at Lake Victoria. Lakes & Reserv. 2019;00:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/lre.12275
STAFF NEWS
Karlijn van den Broek has been selected for the Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership, funded by the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung. The 2-year program is designed to train the next generation of leaders in sustainability and transformation research in Europe. More information is available here.
Timo Goeschl attended the 'Dialogue on Climate Economics' in Berlin on June 12-14. This was the kick-off event for phase II of the BMBF programm on the Economics of Climate Change. He (re)presented the COMPLIANCE project (joint with the Universities of Kassel and Mannheim and the ZEW), which the Research Center for Environmental Economics coordinates.
Marcel Oestreich, Assistant Professor of Economics at Brock University, Canada, has started his research visit at the Alfred-Weber-Institute. Marcel is an expert on environmental economics, applied game theory, and empirical finance and has published in the top field journals in these areas. He will be in Heidelberg until November and can be found in office #326, Bergheimer Str. 20.
Environmental Economics Brownbag Seminar
Upcoming talk:
20.08.2019 Robbert Schaap (Heidelberg University)
Location: ZEW, room "Luxemburg"
Title: Prudence and Precautionary Saving by Natural Resource Users
Abstract: Worsening income shocks due to climate change and overexploitation can result in severe hardships for households of natural resource users if they are unable to smooth consumption. This paper utilizes the institutional framework and diversity of the artisanal Chilean fisheries sector to study precautionary savings behaviour in response to income variability whilst controlling for higher order risk preferences (prudence). Agents harvesting resources governed by restrictive quotas have a preference for more precautionary savings compared to agents in open-access regimes. This indicates that restrictive quotas could set an upper-bound on the ability of natural resource users to smooth consumption by adjusting resource extraction rates, increasing the importance of self-insurance through saving. Additionally, we test if prudence is a predictor of precautionary savings and whether prudence relates to occupational choice. We find some evidence for self-selection, as open-access resource users are on average more prudent and prudent agents have a stronger preference for salaried work.
More information about the seminar and upcoming talks is available here.
