
Andrea BaranziniUniversity of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland – Geneva | HEG · Economie d'Entreprise
Andrea Baranzini
Dr, University of Geneva
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Publications (89)
Carbon markets – both emission trading systems and baseline and credit systems – are an increasingly common policy instrument being introduced to address climate change mitigation. However, their design is crucial to ensure that they deliver cost-effective emission reductions while maintaining environmental integrity. This Element puts together a c...
While instruments to price congestion exist since the 1970s, less than a dozen cities around the world have a cordon or zone pricing scheme. Geneva, Switzerland, may be soon joining them. This paper builds on a detailed review of the existing schemes to identify a set of plausible design options for the Geneva congestion charge. In turn, it analyze...
Unilateral climate policies have been unable to achieve intended emissions reductions. We argue that international harmonization of climate policy beyond the Paris Agreement is the only way forward and that global carbon pricing, either through a tax or market, is the best available instrument to manage this. A foundation has already been laid, as...
Social spillovers are considered a key feature of technological diffusion. In presence of
cultural barriers, social spillovers may, however, be hampered. In this paper, we exploit
exogenous cultural borders and a policy shock to investigate the role of social spillovers
in the adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. With data on about 19,00...
Following the entry into force of the Paris Agreement in November 2016, governments around the world are now expected to turn their nationally determined contributions into concrete climate policies. Given the global public good nature of climate change mitigation and the important cross-country differences in marginal abatement costs, distributing...
Environmental taxes are often underexploited. This paper analyses the effectiveness of a garbage tax, assessing its effects on multiple outcomes as well as its acceptability. We study how a Supreme Court decision, mandating the Swiss Canton of Vaud to implement a tax on garbage, affects garbage production and beliefs about the tax. We adopt a diffe...
Economic theory assumes that willingness to pay (WTP) increases with the quantity of the consumed good. This implies that there should be a scope effect in contingent valuation studies. However, in previous issues of Ecological Economics, several authors criticized the contingent valuation (CV) method for the absence of such effect or its inadequac...
Turning the Paris Agreement’s greenhouse gas emissions pledges into domestic policies is the next challenge for governments. We address the question of the acceptability of cost-effective climate policy in a real-voting setting. First, we analyze voting behavior in a large ballot on energy taxes, rejected in Switzerland in 2015 by more than 2 milli...
This paper analyzes the demand for recreation in Swiss forests using the individual travel cost method. We apply a two-steps approach, i.e., a hurdle zero-truncated negative binomial model, that allows accounting for a large number of non-visitors caused by the off-site phone survey and over-dispersion. Given the national scale of the survey, we gr...
Les auteurs mènent une évaluation contingente sur un échantillon représentatif de la population pour estimer la disponibilité à payer (DAP) pour un programme de création de nouvelles réserves forestières en Suisse. Le scénario prévoit des restrictions d’accès aux zones forestières en question, raison pour laquelle l’analyse porte essentiellement su...
Carbon pricing is a recurrent theme in debates on climate policy. Discarded at the 2009 COP in Copenhagen, it remained part of deliberations for a climate agreement in subsequent years. As there is still much misunderstanding about the many reasons to implement a global carbon price, ideological resistance against it prospers. Here, we present the...
This paper analyzes the drivers of carbon taxes acceptability with survey data
and a randomized labeling treatment. Based on a sample of more than 300 individuals,
it assesses the effect on acceptability of specific policy designs and individuals’
perceptions of carbon taxes advantages and disadvantages. We find that the lack
of perception of prima...
The forest seen from the inhabitants of Geneva: perception and economic values of the forest
This article analyses the perception, behavior and relation of the population in the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland) with respect to forests. The results are based on a survey conducted in winter 2014. We observe that the Geneva population uses the forest le...
In this paper, we test for scope effects in Contingent Valuation applying different distributional assumptions for WTP, a non-parametric estimation and an estimation based on an open-ended format. Mean WTP is sensitive to the distributional assumption, but so is the scope effect. The nonparametric model, without conditions on the distribution, is t...
In theory, carbon taxes are considered a sound instrument to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Despite its relatively scarce and recent implementation, empirical assessments of carbon taxes effectiveness are increasingly available, although they have not been surveyed yet. We fill the gap by reviewing the main studies, including indirect effects on te...
This paper measures the performance in terms of costs of Swiss drinking water utilities accounting for environmental factors. We estimate a translog stochastic variable cost frontier using two different techniques on an unbalanced panel of 141 water distribution utilities over the years 2002–2009, for a total of 745 observations. Results show that...
In spite of economist’s claims, climate policy instruments such as carbon taxes are rarely implemented. This paper analyzes the drivers of carbon taxes acceptability in the semi-direct democratic context of Geneva, Switzerland. Based on a sample of more than 300 individuals, we assess the effect on acceptability of socioeconomic characteristics, en...
Public acceptability is one of the main barriers to the implementation of carbon taxes. Qualitative evidence based on a sample of individuals interviewed in Geneva, Switzerland, shows that the general public would not tackle climate change as economists suggest. The gap concerns not only the choice of climate policy’s instruments (i.e. pull versus...
Social norms have been included in the theory of collective action to overcome difficulties in explaining why commons may perform better when self-regulated. The role of trust has been identified in several contexts of local social dilemmas, but only recently has been extended to global commons, based on large descriptive evidence collected by Elin...
Social norms have been included in the theory of collective action to overcome difficulties in explaining why commons may perform better when self-regulated. The role of trust has been identified in several contexts of local social dilemmas, but only recently has been extended to global commons, based on large descriptive evidence collected by Elin...
Using co-integration techniques, we investigate the determinants of gasoline demand in Switzerland over the period 1970-2008. We obtain a very weak price elasticity of -0.09 in the short run and -0.34 in the long run. For fuel demand, i.e. gasoline plus diesel, the corresponding price elasticities are -0.08 and -0.27. The rich dataset allows workin...
We apply a hedonic model to the Geneva-Switzerland rental market to assess the value of view from dwellings and of land uses around buildings. Using a geographic information system, we calculate three-dimensional view variables, accessibility and land use variables. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to develop precise view measures at the d...
This paper investigates the relationships between energy consumption and economic growth in Switzerland over the period 1950-2010. We apply bounds testing techniques to different energy types separately. Robustness tests are performed by including additional variables and restricting the analysis to the period after 1970. The results show that ther...
Using the hedonic approach, this paper analyses housing market data to infer the impact of noise on rents in Geneva, Switzerland. Using three different databases, including a geographical information system (GIS), we obtained structural, accessibility and environmental variables for a large proportion of apartments rented in Geneva. The results can...
This paper compares the use of perceived and measured noise in a hedonic housing model. Although in theory the use of subjective variables is recommended, most empirical applications use measured noise variables. Merging different databases, we obtain a sample of about 2800 apartments located in Geneva, Switzerland, containing both measured and per...
This paper applies contingent valuation to assess public awareness of tropical deforestation, to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) to conserve tropical forests, and to determine the impact of the payment vehicle on the stated WTP of a sample of about 500 individuals in Geneva, Switzerland. About ¾ of respondents state that they have already...
This paper estimates a translog cost function for Swiss water utilities. From the cost function, we are able to estimate measures of marginal costs as well as economies of production density, customer density and scale, which are important determinants in water policies, such as planning and water tariffs. In order to explore the determinants of wa...
Services Industriels de Geneve (SIG) is a monopoly which delivers natural gas, water and electricity in the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland). A few years ago, SIG offered to Geneva households the possibility to choose among six different types of electricity products. The new electricity products differ particularly because of the origin of their pro...
Dans ce papier, nous mesurons le degré de ségrégation résidentielle entre les Suisses et les étrangers dans le canton de Genève et la commune de Zurich en appliquant une série d'indicateurs de ségrégation standards. Nous montrons qu'il y a relativement peu de ségrégation selon la nationalité, mais que le niveau d'éducation (utilisé comme indicateur...
In this paper, we assess the economic efficiency of Swiss water utilities. To reach this aim, we accessed a new and unexploited database, which counts 330 water utilities, representing about 55% of the drinking water distributed in Switzerland. The database spans over six years (2000-2005) and offers information on the type of the water production...
On June 27–30, 2007, we organized at the Geneva School of Business Administration an International Symposium entitled "Hedonic Methods in Real Estate". During the first day, called the "Swiss hedonic day", Swiss researchers from universities, consulting firms and banks discussed the models they use, the topics analysed, data, econometric issues, an...
The Geneva and Zurich housing markets are characterised by high proportions of foreigners and a large share of rental housing. This provides ideal conditions for testing whether foreigners pay more for the same quality of housing than Swiss households and whether flats in neighbourhoods with higher proportions of foreigners rent at a discount. Hedo...
In this paper we assess the recreation demand for the Bois de Finges, one of the largest pine forest in Switzerland and of European importance. In order to quantify the recreation benefits, we have applied the travel cost method. The data were collected through an on-site survey during 2004. Firstly, we have identified the variables having an impac...
This paper identifies the factors determining the attendance at football games in Switzerland. Our data covers three seasons of the top division of the Swiss football league, between 2001 and 2004, which includes a major revision of the championship rules in 2003-2004. We were able to gather a high amount of information, allowing us to take into co...
In the 1920s, possibly even a decade earlier, agricultural economists started to explain unit land prices by regressing them on property attributes (Colwell and Dilmore 1999). Well known is Frederick Waugh’s (1928) regression of the prices of different types of asparagus on their color, diameter and homogeneity, with a view to helping farmers produ...
This book provides the most recent advances in and applications of the assessment of environmental amenities or nuisances, land use changes, discrimination and seggregation on the housing market. The emphasis is on problems, practices and innovative solutions, leading to improvements of the "hedonic price model", an economic valuation technique tha...
Ce papier étudie la mise en œuvre concrète d’une politique environnementale visant la réduction de la consommation énergétique dans le domaine du bâtiment. Nous proposons et évaluons (ex ante) différents mécanismes selon les principes du développement durable, i.e. l’efficacité environnementale, l’efficacité économique et l’équité. Le contexte est...
We apply the hedonic model to the Geneva-Switzerland rental market, in order to assess the value of view and landscape use. In that purpose, we construct a large database of about 10 500 observations containing dwellings structural characteristics and combine it with environmental variables on noise and local air pollution exposure. Then, we make u...
Book review of Andrea Baranzini and Phillipe Thalmann, Editors, Voluntary Approaches in Climate Policy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK (2004)
This paper explores the reasons why economic instruments of climate change are reluctantly applied and stresses the need for interdisciplinary research linking economic theory and empirical testing to deliberative political procedures. It is divided in three parts. The first one recalls the main issues in implementing Cost-Benefit Analysis such as...
This article discusses the determinants of firms' location choice in Switzerland between 1998 and 2001. Using the required econometric tools, we analyse a rich set of variables to explain the location choice in the Swiss cantons; the migration of firms from one canton to another one; and the number of newly created firms. The results suggest for ex...
The aim of this paper is to compare the use of scientific and perceived noise measures in a hedonic model framework. Although in theory the use of subjective variables is recommended, most of the empirical applications use scientific noise variables. Using three different databases, we are able to obtain a relative large sample of about 2800 apartm...
Although the literature has demonstrated at length that carbon taxes are an effective and efficient instrument for meeting an emissions reduction target, their implementation proves extremely difficult. In addition, those countries that managed to introduce a carbon tax set it at ineffective low levels and/or exempted large parts of the economy and...
We apply the hedonic model to the rental markets of the Geneva and Zurich urban areas, Switzerland, in order to assess the value of natural land uses and land use diversity. In order to construct variables to quantify land uses and patterns in the neighbourhoods of the buildings, we make use of the Zurich and Geneva geographic information system (G...
In this paper we assess the recreation demand for the Bois de Finges, one of the largest pine forest in Switzerland and of European importance. In order to quantify the recreational benefits, we have applied the travel cost method. The data were collected through an on-site survey during 2004. Firstly, we have identified the variables having an imp...
Introductory chapter to this volume, with an typology and overview of voluntary approaches and the issues they raise and with an introduction to the contributions.
Voluntary approaches (VAs) are increasingly implemented in different countries as the main instrument in environmental policies. The authors focus on the economics of VAs, their advantages and disadvantages and how they compare with other climate policy instruments. Voluntary Approaches in Climate Policy illustrates how corporate voluntarism can be...
Recent studies on global warming have introduced the inherent uncertainties associated with the costs and benefits of climate policies and have often shown that abatement policies are likely to be less aggressive or postponed in comparison to those resulting from traditional cost–benefit analyses (CBA). Yet, those studies have failed to include the...
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has set legally binding emissions targets for a basket of six greenhouse gases and timetables for industrialised countries. It has also incorporated three international flexibility mechanisms. However, the Articles defining the flexibility mechanisms carry word...
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has set legally binding emissions targets for a basket of six greenhouse gases and timetables for industrialised countries. It has also incorporated three international flexibility mechanisms. However, the Articles defining the flexibility mechanisms carry word...
In this paper, we use the hedonic approach to estimate the value of a statistical life based on the 1995 Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) and the 1994 Swiss Wage Structure Survey (SWSS). Roughly, the value of a statistical life in Switzerland ranges from CHF 10 to 15 million (6.5-9.5 million current US$). However, more important than the absolute v...
Carbon taxes have been frequently advocated as a cost-effective instrument for reducing emissions. However, in the practice of environmental policies, only six countries have implemented taxes based on the carbon content of the energy products. In this paper, we evaluate carbon taxes with regard to their competitiveness, distributional and environm...
By authorising the international exchange of allowances and reduction credits for greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol ‘flexibility’ mechanisms will spawn a global market for greenhouse gas emission offsets. If conditions for ‘supplementarity’ – the extent to which countries may use international mechanisms relative to domestic efforts – re...
This paper recognizes that compensating differentials are a function of the income tax rate, using this observation to introduce a methodology for estimating compensating differentials with a specific application to the value of a statistical life (VSL). When taxes change, the pre-tax wages of risky jobs should shift relative to the pre-tax wages o...
In this paper, we focus on a human activity that may contribute to desertification, namely deforestation resulting from fuelwood and charcoal needs for energy consumption. Our aim is to demonstrate that liquified petroleum gas (LPG) could be a financially attractive energy source which may reduce the pressure to use forests for their energy product...
In this paper we analyze the production process of water treatment utilities in Switzerland. The production process possesses returns to scale and decreasing marginal costs. These results have some implications for water pollution policies. For "direct" polluters, the actual policy is inefficient. We show that economies may be realized with a diffe...
In second-best environmental policies, nonconvexities arise because of decreasing marginal pollution abatement costs. In this case, we chow that, unlike tradeable permits, taxes may introduce incorrect incentives. Moreover, even when taxes lead to efficient solutions, the tax rate should not be based on marginal pollution abatement cost, but to ave...
This paper analyzes sustainable growth in a stochastic environment, with human extinction as a possible outcome. The basic constraint of sustainability is that consumption never decreases over an infinite horizon, which requires that the probability of extinction be maintained at zero. We show that this problem can be examined in a standard optimal...
Uncertainty is inherent in the analysis of global warming issues. Not only is there considerable scientific uncertainty about the magnitude of global warming, but even if that problem were resolved, there is uncertainty about what monetary value to assign to the costs and benefits of various policies to reduce global warming. And yet the influence...
E3: Energie, Ecologie, Economie, by PilletGonzague & OdumHoward. Georg Editeur, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland: xvi + 259 pp., 24 × 16 × 2 cm, illustr., index, English summary, SFrs 48, 1987. - Volume 15 Issue 4 - Andrea Baranzini, Sylvie Sandoz-Terraz, Gaye Bristow
Cet article met l’accent sur une procédure d’évaluation de toute contribution de l’environnement physique à un revenu économique. Après un bref survol de la manière dont ce problème est posé en économie politique, les auteurs s’attachent à reprendre les choses à partir de l’analyse énergétique de l’environnement et à les poursuivre du côté de l’éco...
Dans ce papier, grâce à la méthode du coût du trajet, nous avons déterminé la fonction de demande pour les usages récréatifs du Bois de Finges, une des pinèdes la plus vaste de Suisse et d’importance européenne. D’abord, nous avons identifié les variables ayant un impact sur le nombre de visites, tels que le coût de la visite, les caractéristiques...
Ce cahier étudie les choix de (dé)localisation des entreprises sur le territoire suisse entre 1998 et 2001. A l’aide des outils économétriques nécessaires, nous analysons l’impact des principaux déterminants du choix de (dé)localisation généralement considérés dans la littérature sur, d’une part, la probabilité qu’un établissement donné s’implante...
Thèse sc. écon. et soc., écon. pol. Genève. Bibliogr.