IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v70y2011i8p1448-1458.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coupled economic-ecological systems with slow and fast dynamics -- Modelling and analysis method

Author

Listed:
  • Crépin, Anne-Sophie
  • Norberg, Jon
  • Mäler, Karl-Göran

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the exploration of non-convex dynamics in coupled human-nature systems. We study welfare issues associated with the management of a human-nature complex adaptive system with a threshold and a stochastic driver. We exemplify with a specific system where we link changes in the number and diversity of birds to the abundance of a pest (insects) that causes damages to goods and services valuable to human beings. We present a method that simplifies the analysis and helps us discuss different management models that combine direct and indirect controls of the pest. This allows us to show that 1) the choice of control method depends in a highly non-linear way on biodiversity characteristics and 2) the socially optimal outcome may not be reachable using price instruments. Hence the price vs. quantity debate needs to be revisited using a complex adaptive system lens.

Suggested Citation

  • Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Norberg, Jon & Mäler, Karl-Göran, 2011. "Coupled economic-ecological systems with slow and fast dynamics -- Modelling and analysis method," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1448-1458, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:8:p:1448-1458
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800911000589
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Naevdal, Eric & Oppenheimer, Michael, 2007. "The economics of the thermohaline circulation--A problem with multiple thresholds of unknown locations," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 262-283, November.
    2. Anne-Sophie Crépin, 2003. "Multiple Species Boreal Forests – What Faustmann Missed," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(4), pages 625-646, December.
    3. Martin L. Weitzman, 1974. "Prices vs. Quantities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(4), pages 477-491.
    4. Polasky, Stephen & de Zeeuw, Aart & Wagener, Florian, 2011. "Optimal management with potential regime shifts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 229-240, September.
    5. Krysiak, Frank C., 2008. "Prices vs. quantities: The effects on technology choice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1275-1287, June.
    6. Marten Scheffer & Steve Carpenter & Jonathan A. Foley & Carl Folke & Brian Walker, 2001. "Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 413(6856), pages 591-596, October.
    7. Skiba, A K, 1978. "Optimal Growth with a Convex-Concave Production Function," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(3), pages 527-539, May.
    8. Hoel, Michael & Karp, Larry, 2001. "Taxes and quotas for a stock pollutant with multiplicative uncertainty," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 91-114, October.
    9. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
    10. Fridrik M. Baldursson & Nils‐Henrik M. Von Der Fehr, 2004. "Prices vs. Quantities: The Irrelevance of Irreversibility," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(4), pages 805-821, December.
    11. Eric Nævdal, 2001. "Optimal Regulation of Eutrophying Lakes, Fjords, and Rivers in the Presence of Threshold Effects," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(4), pages 972-984.
    12. Wagener, F. O. O., 2003. "Skiba points and heteroclinic bifurcations, with applications to the shallow lake system," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1533-1561, July.
    13. Newell, Richard G. & Pizer, William A., 2003. "Regulating stock externalities under uncertainty," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2, Supple), pages 416-432, March.
    14. Janssen, Marco A. & Anderies, John M. & Walker, Brian H., 2004. "Robust strategies for managing rangelands with multiple stable attractors," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 140-162, January.
    15. Hoel, Michael & Karp, Larry, 2002. "Taxes versus quotas for a stock pollutant," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 367-384, November.
    16. Naevdal, Eric, 2006. "Dynamic optimisation in the presence of threshold effects when the location of the threshold is uncertain - with an application to a possible disintegration of the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1131-1158, July.
    17. Yudelman, Montague & Ratta, Annu & Nygaard, David, 1998. "Pest management and food production: looking to the future," 2020 vision discussion papers 25, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Pizer, William A., 2002. "Combining price and quantity controls to mitigate global climate change," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 409-434, September.
    19. Michael Margolis & Eric Nævdal, 2008. "Safe Minimum Standards in Dynamic Resource Problems: Conditions for Living on the Edge of Risk," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 401-423, July.
    20. W.A. Brock & D. Starrett, 2003. "Managing Systems with Non-convex Positive Feedback," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(4), pages 575-602, December.
    21. Ben J. Heijdra & Pim Heijnen, 2009. "Environmental Policy and the Macroeconomy under Shallow-Lake Dynamics," CESifo Working Paper Series 2859, CESifo.
    22. Anne-Sophie Crépin, 2007. "Using Fast and Slow Processes to Manage Resources with Thresholds," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(2), pages 191-213, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giannis Vardas & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2015. "Time Scale Externalities and the Management of Renewable Resources," Working Papers 2015.27, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Liu, Shuang & Aurambout, Jean-Philippe & Villalta, Oscar & Edwards, Jacqueline & De Barro, Paul & Kriticos, Darren J. & Cook, David C., 2015. "A structured war-gaming framework for managing extreme risks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 369-377.
    3. Ekerhovd, Nils-Arne & Kvamsdal, Sturla F., 2017. "Up the ante on bioeconomic submodels of marine food webs: A data assimilation-based approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 250-261.
    4. Giannis Vardas & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2015. "Managing Interacting Populations under Time Scale Separation," DEOS Working Papers 1510, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    5. Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Biggs, Reinette & Polasky, Stephen & Troell, Max & de Zeeuw, Aart, 2012. "Regime shifts and management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 15-22.
    6. Nkuiya, Bruno & Diekert, Florian, 2023. "Stochastic growth and regime shift risk in renewable resource management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Halvor Briseid Storrøsten, 2012. "Prices vs. quantities: Technology choice, uncertainty and welfare," Discussion Papers 677, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    2. Lemoine, Derek M. & Traeger, Christian P., 2010. "Tipping Points and Ambiguity in the Economics of Climate Change," CUDARE Working Papers 98127, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    3. Pezzey, John C.V. & Jotzo, Frank, 2010. "Tax-Versus-Trading and Free Emission Shares as Issues for Climate Policy Design," Research Reports 95049, Australian National University, Environmental Economics Research Hub.
    4. Ian A. MacKenzie, 2017. "Rent creation and rent seeking in environmental policy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 145-166, April.
    5. Halvor Storrøsten, 2014. "Prices Versus Quantities: Technology Choice, Uncertainty and Welfare," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(2), pages 275-293, October.
    6. Tang, Bao-Jun & Wang, Xiang-Yu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2019. "Quantities versus prices for best social welfare in carbon reduction: A literature review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 554-564.
    7. Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Biggs, Reinette & Polasky, Stephen & Troell, Max & de Zeeuw, Aart, 2012. "Regime shifts and management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 15-22.
    8. Jacob LaRiviere & David Kling & James N Sanchirico & Charles Sims & Michael Springborn, 2018. "The Treatment of Uncertainty and Learning in the Economics of Natural Resource and Environmental Management," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 92-112.
    9. Dmitry Gromov & Thorsten Upmann, 2021. "Dynamics and Economics of Shallow Lakes: A Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Wagener, Florian & de Zeeuw, Aart, 2021. "Stable partial cooperation in managing systems with tipping points," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    11. Fell, Harrison & MacKenzie, Ian A. & Pizer, William A., 2012. "Prices versus quantities versus bankable quantities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 607-623.
    12. Polasky, Stephen & de Zeeuw, Aart & Wagener, Florian, 2011. "Optimal management with potential regime shifts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 229-240, September.
    13. Aart Zeeuw & Chuan-Zhong Li, 2016. "The Economics of Tipping Points," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(3), pages 513-517, November.
    14. Johannus Janmaat, 2012. "Fishing in a Shallow Lake: Exploring a Classic Fishery Model in a Habitat with Shallow Lake Dynamics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 215-239, February.
    15. Rohling, Moritz & Ohndorf, Markus, 2012. "Prices vs. Quantities with fiscal cushioning," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 169-187.
    16. Heimvik, Arild & Amundsen, Eirik S., 2019. "Prices vs. percentages: Use of tradable green certificates as an instrument of greenhouse gas mitigation," Working Papers in Economics 1/19, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    17. Reddy, P.V. & Schumacher, J.M. & Engwerda, J.C., 2012. "Optimal Management and Differential Games in the Presence of Threshold Effects - The Shallow Lake Model," Discussion Paper 2012-001, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    18. Wood, Peter J. & Heindl, Peter & Jotzo, Frank & Loschel, Andreas, 2013. "Linking Price and Quantity Pollution Controls under Uncertainty," Working Papers 249404, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    19. Storrøsten, Halvor Briseid, 2015. "Prices vs. quantities with endogenous cost structure and optimal policy," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 143-163.
    20. Derek Lemoine & Christian Traeger, 2014. "Watch Your Step: Optimal Policy in a Tipping Climate," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 137-166, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2011:i:8:p:1448-1458. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.