Economic Trade-offs Research Articles

Carbon farming for climate change mitigation and ecosystem services – Potentials and influencing factors

Carbon Farming (CF) decreases atmospheric CO2 concentrations by increasing carbon stocks in soils and biomass. In addition to mitigating climate change, CF measures provide co-benefits through the supply of additional ecosystem services (ES). Integrating such benefits into a comprehensive assessment may increase the attractiveness of CF measures, increase adoption rates, and ultimately benefit climate and ecosystems. However, site-specific and measure-specific characteristics influence the impacts of CF measures. A comprehensive overview over CF impacts is lacking. We therefore analyzed six CF measures on cropland in the European temperate zone: (1) cover cropping, (2) introducing legumes or semi-perennial crops into crop rotations, (3) conversion to short rotation coppice, (4) agroforestry, (5) afforestation of marginal cropland, and (6) partial rewetting of drained organic soils. Through a structured literature review, we derived on-site climate change mitigation potentials, impacts on the supply of ES, and economic trade-offs, as well as influencing factors causing spatial heterogeneities. Our results show that the climate change mitigation potential varies strongly between and within CF measures. All measures can boost the supply of regulating ecosystem services, while trade-offs exist mainly with provisioning services and economic returns. Spatially heterogeneous effects in ES supply depend on local ES demand. As proof of concept, we mapped expected beneficial ES effects from 4 selected ES positively impacted by the measure (4) agroforestry in a GIS environment for Germany, as well as opportunity costs as an economic trade-off. The results suggest that strong co-benefits can be expected in areas where opportunity costs are high. Moreover, the CF measures with the highest climate change mitigation potential also imply the highest systemic change of the farm system. This constitutes a strong economic hurdle to implementation. We argue that payments for ES are needed to incentivize CF adoption and harness the beneficial effects on climate and ecosystems. Our findings provide a comprehensive view on the effect of CF measures and may support effective European climate change mitigation policy.

Economic Values for Coral Reef Conservation and Restoration in Florida

Florida’s coral reef is the third-largest barrier reef system in the world and provides valuable ecosystem services, such as recreation and tourism, erosion protection, and other services. Florida’s reefs have been declining due to impacts from climate change, pollution, and other pressures. In response, various conservation strategies have been implemented, including education and outreach, growing corals in nurseries and transplanting them to degraded reef sites, and deploying artificial reefs. However, few studies have estimated an explicit value for different strategies to attain conservation goals. Understanding economic values for reef restoration and enhancement is needed to help inform decision-making and support marine policy. This study conducted a stated preference choice experiment survey to examine the way U.S. residents make economic trade-offs among different restoration strategies, including increasing coral cover, deploying artificial reefs, and limiting visitor access to reef sites. The results suggest that, on average, the economic value of increasing coral cover is about twice as high as the value of increasing the number of artificial reef sites. Economic values for reducing visitation were similar to values for increasing the number of artificial reefs. These results provide essential information to policy analysts concerning reef use, reef importance, and economic values for reef restoration.

A framework for assessing the current and future capability of mechanical night ventilation in the context of climate change

Night ventilation is a technique in which the indoor air and the building’s thermal mass is cooled down during nighttime to provide a heat sink available during the next day to help mitigating overheating and reducing the daytime space cooling demand. This paper proposes a framework on evaluating the use of mechanical night ventilation today and in the future. It considers analysis of the ventilative cooling system, including mechanical night ventilation, by means of key performance indicators that involve thermal comfort, energy use and resiliency criteria as suggested by IEA Annex 80. It, additionally, introduces an economic parameter in form of diurnal and nocturnal price ratio of electricity as economic trade-off between nighttime fan- and daytime fan and chiller use in terms of electricity. A historic office building in north-central Sweden is presented as a detailed case as to illustrate the use of the framework. The investigation was done using a validated model of the building in IDA-ICE building simulation program at both current climate and future climate in 2050s. It was revealed that an upgraded ventilative cooling system with three times larger capacity is required to fulfill thermal comfort. Even though mechanical night ventilation could result in the annual cooling source electricity saving intensity up to 0.9 kWh/(m²∙a) at extreme current climate (2018), it could just insignificantly reduce the total electricity use for space cooling (up to 2 %) and only at some night ventilation rates at all mentioned climates. Mechanical night ventilation, however, could be applied in an economically beneficial way if the electricity network has different nocturnal and diurnal electricity prices. A unitless index of maximum nighttime over daytime electricity price ratio was proposed representing the maximum tolerable price for nighttime electricity, given a daytime electricity price, based on night- and daytime ventilation electricity demand. For economically justified application of mechanical night ventilation, lower nighttime over daytime electricity price ratios were required for higher night ventilation rates. For the typical future climate with night ventilation rates larger than 2.6 ACH, it will be necessary to have nighttime prices that are lower than daytime if mechanical night ventilation is to be economical. The approach used in the framework can be applied to future research and practice, regardless of the case-specific parameters such as building type, climate zone, location, etc.

The association between hunger-coping economic tradeoffs and food insecurity among female recipients of charitable food assistance

Food insecurity is an indicator of well-being in the United States. A high proportion of recipients of charitable food assistance (CFA) are women and are often in charge of specific household managerial responsibilities (e.g., childcare, transportation). Consequently, they frequently face choices between paying for food and paying for other basic need(s). This study aims to examine which hunger-coping economic tradeoffs place females with at least one dependent child in the house and females without a dependent child in the house at risk for experiencing food insecurity. Data was collected at 10 Houston-area and 10-Atlanta-area food pantries in 2022 (N=883). Using USDA cutoff criteria, households were considered food insecure based on ≥3 affirmative responses to the 18-item Food Security Scale Module. Hunger-coping economic tradeoff experiences were based on affirmative responses to whether anyone in the household ever had to choose between food and six basic needs (i.e. childcare, medicine/medical care, utilities, rent/mortgage, transportation, education). Covariate-adjusted logistic regression models were conducted to understand the relationship between six hunger-coping economic tradeoffs and food insecurity for the entire analytic sample and stratified by whether the female participant had a child in house. Standard errors in all regression models were corrected to account for multiple observations within a pantry. Adults, on average, were 55 years old (58% food insecure; 47% Hispanic; 42% black). Four hunger-coping economic tradeoffs were related to experiencing food insecurity. Economic tradeoffs between food and a) medicine/medical care and b) transportation elevated the likelihood of food insecurity, regardless of child status. Tradeoffs between food and childcare increased the risk for experiencing food insecurity among females with a dependent child. Deciding to pay between food and utilities was related to food insecurity experiences among females without a dependent child. Increases in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and eligibility along with programs to enhance resources related to medical care, transportation, childcare and utilities could help reduce food insecurity, especially among CFA recipients.

Public health and economic outcomes tradeoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic: political perspectives

Public health and economic outcomes tradeoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic: political perspectives

Vaccination strategies for different contact patterns: weighing epidemiological against economic outcomes.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the economic and epidemiological trade-offs that emerge when choosing between different vaccination strategies. For that purpose we employ a setting with three age groups that differ with respect to their fatality rates. The model also accounts for heterogeneity in the transmission rates between and within these age groups. We compare the results for two different contact patterns, in terms of the total number of deceased, the total number of infected, the peak infection rate and the economic gains from different vaccination strategies. We find that fatalities are minimized by first vaccinating the elderly, except when vaccination is slow and the general transmission rate is relatively low. In this case deaths are minimized by first vaccinating the group that is mainly responsible for spreading of the virus. With regard to the other outcome variables it is best to vaccinate the group that drives the pandemic first. A trade-off may therefore emerge between reducing fatalities on the one hand and lowering the number of infected as well as maximizing the economic gains from vaccinations on the other hand.

The Cost of Hatchery Straying: An Economic Case Study on Alaska Pink Salmon

Augmenting harvest using hatchery-produced salmon relies on fish returning to intended sites for capture. However, not all do – some stray, evading capture and entering wild spawning grounds, thus representing foregone yield. Here we ask, “what is the theoretical loss to harvesters as a result of straying?” We applied existing stray estimates and ex-vessel values from the world’s largest pink salmon hatchery-fishery program: Prince William Sound, Alaska, across three return years with full accounting of system wide harvest, escapement, and straying, to examine the value of strays under a range of scenarios that varied the component of the harvesting sector that might catch strays. In this system, approximately 1-5% of returning hatchery fish are estimated to stray away from release sites, which translates to approximate 0.8 - 4.5 million fish. We found that these strays were worth between $1 and $8 million per year, depending on the scenario and harvest year examined. While many important assumptions factor into this evaluation, our intention is for this work to spark dialogues about the economic tradeoffs associated with investing in stray reduction technologies, complementing the well-studied eco-evolutionary costs and benefits of straying.

Genetic gain in yield of Australian faba bean since 1980 and associated shifts in the phenotype: Growth, partitioning, phenology, and resistance to lodging and disease

ContextFeeding a growing human population with limited arable land requires greater crop yield that is, in turn, driven by improved agronomy, better varieties, and their synergy. Here we focus on faba bean, Vicia faba L., an under-researched grain legume for which on-farm yield in Australia has increased at 0.8 % y−1 since 1990. ObjectiveWe aimed to quantify genetic gain in seed yield of Australian faba bean varieties released since 1980, and to identify associated shifts in physiological and agronomic traits. MethodsWe combined three studies: the complete historical collection of Australian faba bean varieties was grown in 1) a vintage experiment of three field trials; and 2) a pot experiment inoculated with old and new strains of Ascochyta fabae. Since most varieties were grown in a national network of trials, we 3) estimated genetic gain in seed yield and individual seed weight in 129 environments. ResultsIn the vintage experiment, genetic gain in seed yield varied from 0.4 % y−1 to almost zero; low rates of genetic gain were also apparent in the national network of trials. Biomass, harvest index, and crop growth rate in the critical period had low rates of genetic change, and there were strong trade-offs between yield components and in their responses to selection. Breeding increased seed size at 0.5 % y−1. Visual lodging scores decreased at 4.9 % y−1. There was breakdown in resistance to Ascochyta blight, but it was restored in new varieties. ConclusionsAustralian faba bean breeding contributed to on-farm yield and profitability through improved agronomic traits and seed quality. Low genetic gain in yield can be partially attributed to physiological trade-offs between traits, economic trade-offs between multiple breeding targets, and genotype-by-environment interaction. ImplicationUnder-researched crops require greater investment to match the genetic gain in yield of major crops.

144 Assessing economic implications of thermal stress of Bos indicus and Bos taurus species during finishing in northern Colorado

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the economic implications of thermal stress on climate adaptive capacity, resiliency, and impact of Bos indicus and Bos taurus finishing steers using common finishing systems. The experimental design was a completely randomized design, with a 2 by 2 factorial arrangement of finishing system (‘natural’ or ‘conventional’) and species of cattle (Bos indicus or Bos taurus). Steers [n = 200; body weight (BW) ~450 kg] were housed in 20 feedlot pens (10 steers/pen) for the first 84 d, where cattle were blocked by initial BW. For the remainder of the 180 d (96 d) finishing period, cattle were moved to four Climate Smart Research Pens (50 steers/pen, 1 pen/ treatment, and species combination). Within each Climate Smart Research Pen, five SmartFeed systems were used to evaluate individual animal feed intake, one GreenFeed emission measurement system was used to evaluate individual animal gas emissions flux of enteric CH4, O2, H2, and CO2, and were equipped for nutrient mass balance of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Animal BW were collected every 28 d for analysis of average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency. Thermal stress behaviors were evaluated by one trained personnel on a subset of 7 steers/treatment via the measurement of respiration rate, open mouth breathing, rumen temperature, number of daily water intake events, lying and standing behavior, and pen surface temperature for the last 96 d of the finishing period. At harvest, carcass characteristics, liver scores, and heart scores were collected. Economic analyses were conducted post-hoc to determine the profitability of each species based on economic implications, tradeoffs, carcass quality and quantity, and time to finish. Selection of cattle for climate adaptive features may involve production tradeoffs (e.g., depressed rate of gain, greater yield risk, lower technical efficiency) and adjustment costs (e.g., re-optimizing feed for a new breed), which affect the adoption of less common breeds into the US cattle supply chain. Adding to the complexity of this evaluation, consumers preferences may not adapt quickly, affecting the prospect of Bos indicus cuts of meat in the market. We also, therefore, explore the supply- and demand-side effects of climate change adaptation through breed selection in the beef industry.

Inferring local social cost from renewable zoning decisions. Evidence from Lower Austria’s wind power zoning

Large infrastructures, such as wind turbines, may adversely affect their environment, so their deployment is often regulated. These regulations are frequently based on a dichotomy between areas considered feasible or infeasible areas for infrastructure deployment. To overcome the inability of such a binary distinction to adequately represent the involved economic trade-offs between, but also within feasible and infeasible areas, we establish a discrete choice framework to elicit social preferences implicit in Lower Austria’s wind power zoning and generate comprehensive estimates of local social costs in high spatial resolution. Our findings suggest that wind turbines were attributed significant local social costs in the political zoning process. These local social cost estimates can inform siting decisions, improve power system modelling and open a novel perspective on the assessment of potentials for renewable energies.

Is artificial intelligence a hazardous technology? Economic trade-off model

Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates various opportunities and risks. Our study explores the trade-off of AI technology, including existential risks. We develop a theory and a Bayesian simulation model in order to explore what is at stake. The study reveals four tangible outcomes: (i) regulating existential risks has a boundary solution of either prohibiting the technology or allowing a laissez-faire regulation. (ii) the degree of ‘normal’ risks follows a trade-off and is dependent on AI-intensity. (iii) we estimate the probability of ‘normal’ risks to be between 0.002% to 0.006% over a century. (iv) regulating AI requires a balanced and international approach due to the dynamic risks and its global nature.

Exploring the benefits of integrated energy-water management in reducing economic and environmental tradeoffs

Exploring the benefits of integrated energy-water management in reducing economic and environmental tradeoffs

Is Spartina alterniflora eradication project in Chongming Island a nature-based solution?

Invasive species profoundly impact ecosystems globally, not only threatening biodiversity by displacing native species but also disrupting ecological balances and imposing significant economic burdens. This has led countries to actively combat these pervasive threats. In China, Spartina alterniflora, an invasive species, has taken over more than 70 % of the coastal zone in just 50 years, especially in salt marsh. This study aims to assess the Spartina alterniflora eradication project in Dongtan of Chongming Island, Shanghai, based on the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NBS). To ensure the comprehensiveness and diversity of the assessment process, stakeholders with diverse backgrounds were invited. The Dongtan project was qualitatively evaluated using the IUCN self-assessment tool for its adherence to the IUCN NBS Standard, identifying its strengths, weaknesses, improvement areas, and contributions to the national eradication campaign. The results show that the Dongtan Project closely aligns with the NBS standard, achieving an 88 % match, and demonstrates excellence in addressing societal challenges, enhancing biodiversity, and offering multiple benefits. Nevertheless, improvements can be made in Economic Feasibility (Criterion 4), Inclusive Governance (Criterion 5), and Balance Trade-offs (Criterion 6). The study underscores the importance of employing NBS standards for self-assessment in the project design phase, which facilitates the identification and refinement of potential design issues. The success of the Dongtan Project, exemplified by its effective Spartina alterniflora eradication strategies, serves as a compelling model for similar national campaigns.

Inflation and Economic Growth Tradeoff, and Its Impact on Indonesia Poverty

There was tradeoff between inflation and economic growth in Indonesian economy over the last three decades, from 1990 to 2021. When economic growth tended to increase, inflation would also increase. The increasing scale of business sectors due to the increasing of economic growth shifted price and wage setting in the same direction, then increasing labor demand, and decreasing poverty. This study used a VAR model to estimate tradeoff between inflation and economic growth, and OLS model to estimate the relationship between economic growth and the poverty, and also between inflation and poverty. A VAR model explained that there was a positive bi-direction causality between inflation and economic growth, however, there was uncertainty whether economic growth caused inflation, or whether inflation caused economic growth. Although economic growth had a positive effect on reducing poverty, but due to the tradeoff between inflation and economic growth, then economic policies had to be designed to fully controlling inflation during the persistence of economic growth to prevent an increasing of poverty. Expected inflation and long run inflation target should always be a major concern when setting monetary policy to avoid higher economic fluctuation that could stimulate increasing of inflation and poverty.

The Big Tradeoff averted: five avenues to promote efficiency and equality simultaneously

Society as a whole faces a host of economic tradeoffs, many of which emerge around economic policies. An example of tradeoffs that any society faces in many economic realms is the tradeoff between economic efficiency and income equality (aka the efficiency-equality tradeoff). This tradeoff has been called “the Big Tradeoff” by the esteemed economist Arthur Okun, who also termed it “the Double Standard of a Capitalist Democracy.” Although the efficiency-equality tradeoff is more or less an inevitable tradeoff in most societal settings and economic contexts, there are still some special circumstances in which this tradeoff can be avoided. This paper identifies five such avenues and elaborates on why and how the tradeoff between these two somewhat contradictory societal goals—efficiency and equality—can be deftly averted under the mentioned circumstances. These avenues with their transformative potential can and should be used so that a capitalist society as an integrated whole can promote both efficiency and equality at the same time under these scenarios and avoid facing the Big Tradeoff in cases where it is evitable. Static and dynamic economic models are developed, solved, and applied to facilitate the articulation and exposition of the main points of each solution with formal rigor and logical coherence. Finally, policy implications are discussed.

GeoGOBLIN: A catchment-scale land balance model for assessment of climate mitigation pathways considering environmental trade-offs for multiple impact categories

GeoGOBLIN, a novel environmental impact and land balance assessment tool, builds upon the GOBLIN biophysical land use emissions model for Ireland, offering enhanced resolution and system-level detail. It combines remotely sensed data and national agricultural census data to model climate change, air quality, and eutrophication emissions at the catchment level. Integration of the CBM-CFS3 forest carbon modelling framework (utilised in Ireland's National Inventory Report) increases alignment with national emissions reporting. GeoGOBLIN disaggregates emissions by life cycle assessment impact categories, making it a valuable tool for policymakers and researchers evaluating environmental and economic trade-offs associated with land-use scenarios. Illustrative scenarios demonstrate GeoGOBLIN's ability to assess the multifaceted impacts of alternative land uses, supporting informed decision-making for sustainable land use, food production, and a circular bioeconomy.

Cervical Disk Arthroplasty: Updated Considerations of an Evolving Technology.

For years, anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion has been considered the benchmark for patients with cervical radiculopathy/myelopathy. However, concerns regarding adjacent segment pathology have promoted the popularity of cervical disk arthroplasty (CDA) with its motion-preserving properties. To replicate the natural cervical disk's six degrees of freedom and compressibility in cervical spine implants, designers need to carefully consider the level of constraint for stability and material selection. Recent CDA designs have incorporated strategies to facilitate unrestricted or semirestricted motion, deploying various articulating components and materials with distinct wear and compressibility properties. To optimize outcomes, patient selection considering additional degeneration of the cervical spine is critical. Clinical long-term studies have been reported in industry-funded FDA investigational device exemption and nonindustry-funded data for one-level and two-level CDA. There are limited data available on three-level and four-level CDA. Adverse events such as heterotopic ossification, osteolysis, migration, subsidence, and failure have been described, where analysis from explanted devices yields insight into in vivo wear and impingement performance. CDA has shown short-term cost advantages, such as decreased procedural expenses. Nonetheless, long-term analysis is necessary to assess possible economic tradeoffs. Advancements in designs may lead to improved implant longevity while evidence-based decision making will guide and responsibly manage the rapid advancement in CDA technology.

Consequential versus attributional life cycle optimization of poultry manure management technologies in a food-energy-water-waste nexus

To model the environmental and economic tradeoffs of managing poultry manure wastes in a food-energy-water-waste nexus, this work builds a framework to conduct a combined life cycle and techno-economic optimization and a spatial analysis of poultry manure management technologies. To align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and 13: Climate Action by mitigating the massive water and climate impacts induced by the common practice of fertilizer crops using direct land application of poultry manure, the framework minimizes freshwater eutrophication (FE) impact and climate change impact (GWP). To account for the circular economy, the net present value (NPV) is maximized to measure the economic feasibility of implementing alternative management pathways. A multi-objective mixed-integer non-linear programming framework accounts for the selection of direct land application, and waste to energy technologies, spatial variation in manure supply, facility sizing, and the products’ consumption and end-of-life. This optimization framework is evaluated for a case study in New York state. Under an attributional life cycle optimization, anaerobic digestion minimizes FE with an impact of 0.002 kg P-eq/ton manure, while using a consequential life cycle optimization, hydrothermal carbonization minimizes FE with an impact of −0.96 kg P-eq/ton manure. For both life cycle methodologies, pyrolysis with land application of biochar minimizes GWP. At the attributional life cycle assessment tradeoff point for GWP and NPV, minimum carbon credits of US$33/ton CO2-eq are necessary for a pyrolysis plant to have a positive NPV, implying that harnessing economies of scale or robust carbon accounting is necessary for the widespread adoption of pyrolysis as a poultry manure management technology.

Commentary on “Country-specific net-zero strategies of the pulp and paper industry”

The pulp and paper industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries. Achieving net-zero emissions in this industry is crucial for mitigating global warming and reducing environmental pollution. The article entitled “Country-specific net-zero strategies of the pulp and paper industry,” published in Nature, addressed this issue. Through an in-depth analysis of the historical emission data of the pulp and paper industry in 30 major countries, a series of country-specific net-zero strategies were proposed. This commentary reviewed the main content and views of that article, and the rigor and applicability of its methods are discussed. Then, the potential impacts of economic trade-offs, resource endowments, and technological advancements on the net-zero strategies of the pulp and paper industry in various countries are further considered.

Economic, equity, and political trade-offs in energy transition in irrigation in Bihar, India

Affordable and reliable energy is an important driver for improving access to irrigation in South Asia. Policies for improving electricity access and augmenting supply are likely to impact affordability and equity in irrigation access, especially in regions where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. In this paper, we focus on the state of Bihar in eastern India to study trade-offs across economic, equity, and political dimensions of energy transition in irrigation. We argue that in the context of the nascent but steadily increasing solar-powered irrigation, a decentralised energy regime is techno-economically and socio-politically distinct from a conventional centralised grid supply. With different economic costs, governance issues, and varied incentives of stakeholders, there are significant trade-offs associated with the two pathways of energisation. We further assess the multidimensional trade-offs associated with the conventional ‘centralised’ and the modern ‘decentralised’ energy supply systems for irrigation to present a comprehensive understanding of the technical systems aiming to address economic development and livelihood security issues. We find that the life cycle costs (LCC) of centralised grid supply are not only higher than that of decentralised solar-powered irrigation (SIP) but also the LCC for grid supply has a high sensitivity to average cost to supply electricity (ACS). We also find that at lower pumping hours or lower average cost to supply (ACS), grid electricity is competitive compared to SIP, but with an increase in pumping hours, ACS or both, there is a considerable increase in the LCC of the grid connected pump, making SIP a more economical option. Furthermore, we augment the analysis using primary data on farmers to examine the economic, equity, and political trade-offs. By highlighting the complexities associated with the diffusion of decentralised energy solutions in irrigation, our findings provide useful insights for public policy related to energy transition in irrigation in India.