Three essays on water, pollution, and energy economics
Date
2021
Authors
Lurbé, Salvador, author
Manning, Dale, advisor
Burkhardt, Jesse, committee member
Suter, Jordan, committee member
Anderson, Jana, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
This dissertation contains three chapters related to the economics of Water, Pollution, and Energy. In Chapter one we investigate how the demand for water responds to conservation efforts based on social comparisons, specifically if the message a household receives affects the way it responds. Using ex post power tests, we demonstrate the need for a significant increase in sample size to apply causal identification strategies to identify heterogeneous impacts using Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) that are not specifically designed to identify such effects. Alternatively, RCTs could be designed specifically to identify heterogeneous treatment effects. In Chapter 2 we quantitatively test how household electricity use in rural Rwanda responds to electricity reliability. We examine technology adoption, technology disadoption, and the quantity of electricity purchased. For each model, we focus on the association between the decisions being made and the reliability of the electricity service, which is either experienced or observed depending on whether the household has adopted the electricity technology. We find that poor electricity reliability is a barrier to initial technology adoption and is associated with short-term disadoption decisions, but does not lead to permanent disadoption. The data suggest that households are short-sighted and that households can learn from peers' experiences with the service. Our research suggests that poor electricity reliability can limit willingness to pay for electrification in rural areas of the developing world, where electricity access is lagging behind development goals. In Chapter 3 we study the effects of pollution on crime by looking at the association between pollution, specifically at Particulate Matter (PM) and Ozone (O3), and counts of aggregated crime types and Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) in the UK. We primarily focus our analysis on ASB, as the literature has identified costs associated with them in the UK, but has overlooked its association with pollution. Using a fixed effects model, we find an association between pollution and some crime types, especially those that are economically motivated. We find weaker evidence of an association between pollution and offenses associated with aggressive and violent behavior (including ASB), and we discuss potential mechanisms in the context of the rational choice crime model. We conclude that one potential mechanism could be a decrease in the utility of the non-punishable alternative activity, or a decrease of the offender's value of the future costs associated with being caught.