IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v228y2023ics0165176523001751.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economics of satellite deorbiting performance bonds

Author

Listed:
  • Adilov, Nodir
  • Alexander, Peter J.
  • Cunningham, Brendan M.

Abstract

The rapid accumulation of orbital debris, coupled with the exponentially increasing number of satellites in certain regions of orbital space, impedes and may preclude long-term utilization of these resources. While voluntary satellite deorbiting guidelines are demonstrably ineffective in incentivizing firms to deorbit their expended satellites, we suggest interest-bearing deorbiting performance bonds provide an incentive mechanism that has minimal effect on firms’ operating costs. Not only would this type of bond reduce the rate of growth in orbital debris, these bonds could be tradeable, thus establishing market prices for certain types of orbital debris, both stimulating the market for active debris removal and further encouraging investments in satellite robustness.

Suggested Citation

  • Adilov, Nodir & Alexander, Peter J. & Cunningham, Brendan M., 2023. "The economics of satellite deorbiting performance bonds," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:228:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523001751
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176523001751
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111150?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Aghakazemjourabbaf, Sara & Insley, Margaret, 2021. "Leaving your tailings behind: Environmental bonds, bankruptcy and waste cleanup," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Julien Guyot & Akhil Rao & Sebastien Rouillon, 2022. "The long-run economics of sustainable orbit use," Working Papers hal-03896730, HAL.
    3. Rao, Akhil & Burgess, Matthew & Kaffine, Daniel, 2020. "Orbital-use fees could more than quadruple the value of the space industry," MPRA Paper 112708, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Nodir Adilov & Peter Alexander & Brendan Cunningham, 2015. "An Economic Analysis of Earth Orbit Pollution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(1), pages 81-98, January.
    5. Jason F. Shogren & Joseph A. Herriges & Ramu Govindasamy, 1991. "Limits to Environmental Bonds: Lessons from the Labor Literature," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 91-wp82, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    6. Shogren, Jason F. & Herriges, Joseph A. & Govindasamy, Ramu, 1993. "Limits to environmental bonds," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 109-133, October.
    7. Zachary Grzelka & Jeffrey Wagner, 2019. "Managing Satellite Debris in Low-Earth Orbit: Incentivizing Ex Ante Satellite Quality and Ex Post Take-Back Programs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(1), pages 319-336, September.
    8. Sébastien Rouillon, 2020. "A Physico-Economic Model of Low Earth Orbit Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 77(4), pages 695-723, December.
    9. Costanza, Robert & Perrings, Charles, 1990. "A flexible assurance bonding system for improved environmental management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 57-75, April.
    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. Akhil Rao & Mark Moretto & Marcus Holzinger & Daniel Kaffine & Brian Weeden, 2023. "OPUS: An Integrated Assessment Model for Satellites and Orbital Debris," Papers 2309.10252, arXiv.org.

    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. Bernhard, Pierre & Deschamps, Marc & Zaccour, Georges, 2023. "Large satellite constellations and space debris: Exploratory analysis of strategic management of the space commons," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 304(3), pages 1140-1157.
    2. Bongers, Anelí & Torres, José L., 2023. "Orbital debris and the market for satellites," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    3. Ancev, Tiho & Merrett, Danielle, 2018. "Security Bonding in Unconventional Gas Development: Evidence from an Economic Experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 139-146.
    4. Yang, Peifang & Davis, Graham A., 2021. "Why don't environmental bonds fully cover reclamation costs?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Igarashi, Yoshiyuki & Coupal, Roger & Finnoff, David & Andersen, Matthew A., 2014. "Economics of Oil and Gas Development in the Presence of Reclamation and Bonding Requirements," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170600, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Aghakazemjourabbaf, Sara & Insley, Margaret, 2021. "Leaving your tailings behind: Environmental bonds, bankruptcy and waste cleanup," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Kim, Byung-Cheol & Oliver, Matthew E., 2017. "Taming drillers through legislative action: Evidence from Pennsylvania’s shale gas industry," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 15-35.
    8. Julien Guyot & Akhil Rao & Sebastien Rouillon, 2022. "The long-run economics of sustainable orbit use," Working Papers hal-03891292, HAL.
    9. Gerard, David, 2000. "The law and economics of reclamation bonds," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 189-197, December.
    10. Martin Stuermer & Maxwell Fleming & Ian Lange & Sayeh Shojaeinia, 2023. "Growth and Resources in Space: Pushing the Final Frontier?," Working Papers 2023-02, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    11. Ben White, 2015. "Do control rights determine the optimal extension of liability to investors? The case of environmental policy for mines," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 26-52, August.
    12. Jacob Julien, 2021. "The (Mixed) Effects of Minimum Asset Requirements When There is a Possibility of Technological Change," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 167-191, March.
    13. Knowler, Duncan & Barbier, Edward, 2005. "Importing exotic plants and the risk of invasion: are market-based instruments adequate?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 341-354, February.
    14. White, Ben & Doole, Graeme J. & Pannell, David J. & Florec, Veronique, 2012. "Optimal environmental policy design for mine rehabilitation and pollution with a risk of non-compliance owing to firm insolvency," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(2), pages 1-22.
    15. Watzold, Frank, 2000. "Efficiency and applicability of economic concepts dealing with environmental risk and ignorance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 299-311, May.
    16. Adamson, Seabron & Sagar, Ambuj, 2002. "Managing climate risks using a tradable contingent security approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 43-51, January.
    17. Kuusela, O.P. & Amacher, G.S. & Moeltner, K., 23. "Performance Bonds in Tropical Timber Concessions: Encouraging the Adoption of Reduced Impact Logging Techniques," Scandinavian Forest Economics: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics, Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics, issue 44, May.
    18. Aditya Jain & Akhil Rao, 2022. "International cooperation and competition in orbit-use management," Papers 2205.03926, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2022.
    19. Templet, Paul H., 1995. "Grazing the commons: an empirical analysis of externalities, subsidies and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 141-159, February.
    20. Akhil Rao & Giacomo Rondina, 2022. "The Economics of Orbit Use: Open Access, External Costs, and Runaway Debris Growth," Papers 2202.07442, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tradeable performance bonds; Satellite deorbiting; Economics of satellites; Economics of space; Orbital debris;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ecolet:v:228:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523001751. 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/ecolet .

    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.