Thomas W. Hertel - Böcker

Land has long been overlooked in economics. That is now changing. A substantial part of the solution to the climate crisis may lie in growing crops for fuel and using trees for storing carbon. This book investigates the potential of these options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, estimates the costs to the economy, and analyses the trade-offs with growing food. The first part presents new databases that are necessary to underpin policy-relevant research in the field of climate change while describing and critically assessing the underlying data, the methodologies used, and the first applications. Together, the new data and the extended models allow for a thorough and comprehensive analysis of a land use and climate policy. This book outlines key empirical and analytical issues associated with modelling land use and land use change in the context of global climate change policy. It places special emphasis on the economy-wide competition for land and other resources, especially; The implications of changes in land use for the cost of climate change mitigation, Land use change as a result of mitigation, and Feedback from changes in the global climate to land use. By offering synthesis and evaluation of a variety of different approaches to this challenging field of research, this book will serve as a key reference for future work in the economic analysis of land use and climate change policy.

Land has long been overlooked in economics. That is now changing. A substantial part of the solution to the climate crisis may lie in growing crops for fuel and using trees for storing carbon. This book investigates the potential of these options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, estimates the costs to the economy, and analyses the trade-offs with growing food. The first part presents new databases that are necessary to underpin policy-relevant research in the field of climate change while describing and critically assessing the underlying data, the methodologies used, and the first applications. Together, the new data and the extended models allow for a thorough and comprehensive analysis of a land use and climate policy. This book outlines key empirical and analytical issues associated with modelling land use and land use change in the context of global climate change policy. It places special emphasis on the economy-wide competition for land and other resources, especially; The implications of changes in land use for the cost of climate change mitigation, Land use change as a result of mitigation, and Feedback from changes in the global climate to land use. By offering synthesis and evaluation of a variety of different approaches to this challenging field of research, this book will serve as a key reference for future work in the economic analysis of land use and climate change policy.

This book, drawn from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), aims to help readers conduct quantitative analysis of international trade issues in an economy-wide framework. In addition to providing a succinct introduction to the GTAP modelling framework and data base, this book contains seven of the most refined GTAP applications undertaken to date, covering topics ranging from trade policy to the global implications of environmental policies, factor accumulation and technological change. The authors of the applications are representative of the broader group of GTAP users. Some are academics, while others are professional economists in national and international agencies. All of their studies can be independently replicated by the reader through accessing software and files via the Internet. Readers can also explore the sensitivity of results to varying assumptions and use the applications to launch independent research projects.

Lowell Stewart Hardin (1917–2015), an Indiana farm boy who became an enormously influential international agriculturalist, made the world a better place for the poor and the hungry on this earth. For seventeen years he led the Ford Foundation's agricultural development efforts, contributing to the Green Revolution. He helped to found and guide international agriculture research centers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He inspired others to get involved and opened doors for them. He taught by example, gave others credit, and always stepped back, avoiding the limelight himself. In this volume, twenty-two people who knew him well share stories of Lowell, and lessons they learned from this extraordinary mentor and wonderful human being.

This is an open access book.Crafted for both the economist and the curious mind, this book introduces a novel approach to blending economic and biophysical sciences to enable multi-scale analysis of a range of sustainability challenges confronting the world’s land and water resources at both local and global scales. It focuses specifically on the interface between the environment and food systems, utilizing economic theory to structure the overall framework. However, within the SIMPLE-G framework, there is ample room to incorporate fine-scale biophysical knowledge from agronomy, climate science, ecology, geography, hydrology, as well as a range of socioeconomic considerations. This enables multi-scale analyses incorporating grid cells that can vary in size from 250 meters to sub-regional scales. This, in turn, allows for investigation of global change drivers’ impacts on local sustainability, as well as feedbacks from local sustainability policies to regional and global outcomes.The book opens with a foreword by a prominent sustainability scientist, Prof. Navin Ramankutty, and proceeds in five parts covering, respectively: (1) introduction and overview, (2) basic economic theory underpinning SIMPLE-G, (3) the SIMPLE-G framework, including structure, data, parameters, computer implementation, and validation, (4) eight diverse applications of the SIMPLE-G framework, covering a range of geographies and sustainability challenges, and (5) a forward-looking chapter on future directions. The book provides step-by-step guidance on building and utilizing gridded models with real-world case studies demonstrating practical applications which will facilitate its use by academics, practitioners, and students conducting research on climate impacts, land-use, water resource management, food security, poverty, equity, nutritional outcomes, and overall sustainability.

This book explores the fundamental determinants of long term changes in agricultural land use and the associated implications for environmental and food security.  The book is designed around the idea that each chapter focuses on one driver, or underlying determinant, of land use change at global scale. It starts with key factors which have been influential in the past, such as growth population, incomes and agricultural productivity, thereafter turning to new drivers such as biofuels, climate change and demand for environmental services. Specialized topics include food security outcomes, projections of future agricultural prices, greenhouse gas emissions, the role of globalization and market integration. The book draws heavily on the emerging body of literature on these topics, summarizes key findings and organizes these within a unifying economic framework.