1932

Abstract

Spillovers among jurisdictions are ubiquitous and likely to increase with increasing population and consumption, so the centralization or decentralization of environmental governance is of pressing concern in a world of tightly linked socio-ecological systems. Spillovers play a key role in federalism analysis because they tend to reduce benefits from decentralization. Laboratory federalism, a common rationale for decentralization, has not proven successful as a model of local policy innovation. Given a national policy toward a public good, differences in preferences across jurisdictions may push national policy toward a quantity instrument rather than a tax instrument. Finally, the lack of interaction between environmental federalism analysis and studies of adaptive governance and linked complex adaptive systems leaves both literatures incomplete. The increasing urgency of global sustainability issues argues for linking insights from environmental federalism with the literature on linked socio-ecological complex adaptive systems.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-110319-114535
2020-10-06
2024-12-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/resource/12/1/annurev-resource-110319-114535.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-110319-114535&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Agrawal A. 2003a. Common resources and institutional sustainability. The Drama of the Commons E Ostrom, T Dietz, N Dolšak, PC Stern, S Stonich, EU Weber 41–85 Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Agrawal A. 2003b. Sustainable governance of common-pool resources: context, methods, and politics. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 32:243–62
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Ahmad E, Brosio G 2008. Handbook of Fiscal Federalism Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Arrow KJ, Ehrlich PR, Levin SA 2014. Some perspectives on linked ecosystems and socioeconomic systems. Environment and Development Economics S Barrett, K-G Mäler, ES Maskin 95–116 Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Barbier E. 2011a. Capitalizing on Nature: Ecosystems as Natural Assets Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Barbier E. 2011b. Transaction costs and the transition to environmentally sustainable development. Environ. Innov. Soc. Transit. 1:58–69
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Barrett S. 2010. Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Berkes F. 2017. Environmental governance for the Anthropocene? Social-ecological systems, resilience and collaborative learning. Sustainability 9:1232
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Berry CR. 2009. Imperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bird RM, Slack E. 2014. Local taxes and local expenditures in developing countries: strengthening the Wicksellian connection. Public Adm. Dev. 34:359–69
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Boffa F, Piolatto A, Ponzetto GAM 2016. Political centralization and government accountability. Q. J. Econ. 131:1381–422
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Boulding K. 1966. The coming economics of Spaceship Earth. Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy H Jarrett 3–14 Baltimore, MD: Resour. Future/Johns Hopkins University Press
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Breton A. 2008. Modeling vertical competition. See Ahmad & Brosio 2008 86–105
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Brock WA, Starrett D. 2003. Managing systems with non-convex positive feedback. Environ. Resour. Econ. 26:4575–602
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Burtraw D, Shobe W. 2008. Local options on global stocks: how the states are affecting the U.S. debate on climate policy. States and Climate Change: Leaders or Lab Rats? J Domanski 43–67 Princeton, NJ: Policy Res. Inst. Region
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Burtraw D, Shobe W. 2009. State and local climate policy under a national emissions floor Discuss. Pap. 09-54 Resour. Future Washington, DC: https://media.rff.org/documents/RFF-DP-09-54.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Burtraw D, Woerman M. 2013. Economic ideas for a complex climate policy regime. Energy Econ 40:S24–31
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Cai H, Treisman D. 2009. Political decentralization and policy experimentation. Q. J. Political Sci. 4:135–58
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Carpenter S, Arrow K, Barrett S, Biggs R, Brock W et al. 2012. General resilience to cope with extreme events. Sustainability 4:123248–59
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Carpenter SR, Brock WA. 2004. Spatial complexity, resilience, and policy diversity: fishing on lake-rich landscapes. Ecol. Soc. 9:18
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Centeno MA, Nag M, Patterson TS, Shaver A, Windawi AJ 2015. The emergence of global systemic risk. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 41:65–85
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Cheikbossian G. 2008. Rent-seeking, spillovers and the benefits of decentralization. J. Urban Econ. 63:1217–28
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Colding J, Barthel S. 2019. Exploring the social-ecological systems discourse 20 years later. Ecol. Soc. 24:12
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Crépin A-S, Norberg J, Mäler K-G 2011. Coupled economic-ecological systems with slow and fast dynamics—modelling and analysis method. Ecol. Econ. 70:81448–58
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Dalmazzone S. 2008. Decentralization and the environment. See Ahmad & Brosio 2008 459–77
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Desmet K, Rossi-Hansberg E. 2015. On the spatial economic impact of global warming. J. Urban Econ. 88:16–37
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Diamond J. 1997. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies New York: W.W. Norton
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Dijkstra BR, Fredriksson PG. 2010. Regulatory environmental federalism. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ. 2:319–39
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Dorsch MJ, Flachsland C. 2017. A polycentric approach to global climate governance. Glob. Environ. Politics 17:245–64
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Duit A. 2016. Resilience thinking: lessons for public administration. Public Adm 94:2364–80
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Eaton S, Kostka G. 2018. What makes for good and bad neighbors? An emerging research agenda in the study of Chinese environmental politics. Environ. Politics 27:5782–803
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Eichenberger R, Frey B. 2008. Functional, overlapping and competing jurisdictions (FOCJ): a complement and alternative to today's federalism. See Ahmad & Brosio 2008 154–81
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Falk A, Fehr E, Urs F 2003. Appropriating the commons: a theoretical explanation. The Drama of the Commons E Ostrom, T Dietz, N Dolšak, PC Stern, S Stonich, EU Weber 154–91 Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Fell H, Kaffine DT. 2014. Can decentralized planning really achieve first-best in the presence of environmental spillovers. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 68:146–53
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Fischel W. 2001. Municipal corporations, homeowners and the benefit view of the property tax. Property Taxation and Local Government Finance: Essays in Honor of C. Lowell Harriss WE Oates 33–77 Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Inst. Land Policy
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Folke C, Hahn T, Olsson P, Norberg J 2005. Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 30:441–73
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Garcia-Mila T, McGuire TJ, Oates W 2017. Strength in diversity? Fiscal federalism among the fifty U.S. states. Work. Pap. 1001 Barcelona Grad. Sch. Econ.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Goulder LH, Stavins RN. 2011. Challenges from state-federal interactions in US climate change policy. Am. Econ. Rev. 101:3253–57
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Hamilton M, Lubell M. 2018. Collaborative governance of climate change adaptation across spatial and institutional scales. Policy Stud. J. 46:2222–47
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Hinkelmann K, Kempthorne O. 1994. Design and Analysis of Experiments Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Inman RP. 1985. Markets, governments and the new political economy. Handbook of Public EconomicsVol. 2: AJ Auerbach, M Feldstein 647–777 Amsterdam: North-Holland
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Koethenbuerger M. 2008. Revisiting the “Decentralization Theorem”—on the role of externalities. J. Urban Econ. 64:1116–22
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Levin S, Xepapadeas T, Crépin A-S, Norberg J, de Zeeuw A et al. 2013. Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems: modeling and policy implications. Environ. Dev. Econ. 18:2111–32
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Libecap GD. 1989. Contracting for Property Rights Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Libecap GD. 2014. Addressing global environmental externalities: transaction costs considerations. J. Econ. Lit. 52:2424–79
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Lipscomb M, Mobarak AM. 2016. Decentralization and pollution spillovers: evidence from the re-drawing of county borders in Brazil. Rev. Econ. Stud. 84:1464–502
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Lockwood B. 2008. The political economy of decentralization. See Ahmad & Brosio 2008 33–60
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Lorz O, Willmann G. 2005. On the endogenous allocation of decision powers in federal structures. J. Urban Econ. 57:2242–57
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Mäler K-G, Xepapadeas A, de Zeeuw A 2003. The economics of shallow lakes. Environ. Resour. Econ. 26:4603–24
    [Google Scholar]
  50. McCann L. 2013. Transaction costs and environmental policy design. Ecol. Econ. 88:253–62
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Millimet D. 2014. Environmental federalism: a survey of the empirical literature. Case West. Reserve Law Rev. 64:41669–1757
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Nechyba T. 2001. The benefit view and the new view: Where do we stand, twenty-five years into the debate?. Property Taxation and Local Government Finance W Oates 114–21 Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Inst. Land Policy
    [Google Scholar]
  53. North DC. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Oates W. 2004. A reconsideration of environmental federalism. Recent Advances in Environmental Economics J List, A de Zeeuw 1–32 Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Oates W. 2005. Toward a second-generation theory of fiscal federalism. Int. Tax Public Finance 12:4349–73
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Oates W. 2008. On the evolution of fiscal federalism: theory and institutions. Natl. Tax J. 61:2313–34
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Ostrom E. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Ostrom E. 2010. Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Glob. Environ. Change 20:4550–57
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Ostrom E. 2012. Nested externalities and polycentric institutions: Must we wait for global solutions to climate change before taking actions at other scales. Econ. Theory 49:2353–69
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Preiser R, Biggs R, De Vos A, Folke C 2018. Social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems: organizing principles for advancing research methods and approaches. Ecol. Soc. 23:446
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Rose-Ackerman S. 1980. Risk taking and reelection: Does federalism promote innovation. J. Leg. Stud. 9:3593–616
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Rubenfeld DL. 1985. The economics of the public sector. Handbook of Public EconomicsVol. 2: AJ Auerbach, M Feldstein 571–645 Amsterdam: North-Holland
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Runyan CW, D'Odorico P, Shobe W 2015. The economic impacts of positive feedbacks resulting from deforestation. Ecol. Econ. 120:93–99
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Shobe W, Burtraw D. 2012. Rethinking environmental federalism in a warming world. Clim. Change Econ. 3:41250018 https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010007812500182
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  65. Sigman H. 2002. International spillovers and water quality in rivers: Do countries free ride. Am. Econ. Rev. 92:41152–59
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Sigman H. 2005. Transboundary spillovers and decentralization of environmental policies. J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 50:182–101
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Sorens JP. 2016. Secession risk and fiscal federalism. Publius J. Fed. 46:125–50
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Strumpf KS. 2002. Does government decentralization increase policy innovation. J. Public Econ. Theory 4:2207–41
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Treisman D. 2004. Rational appeasement. Int. Organ. 58:2345–73
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Treisman D. 2007. The Architecture of Government: Rethinking Political Decentralization Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Ventura J. 2019. Sharing a government. J. Eur. Econ. Assoc. 17:61723–52
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Volden C. 1996. Entrusting the states with welfare reform. The New Federalism: Can the States Be Trusted? J Ferejohn, B Weingast 65–96 Stanford, CA: Hoover Inst. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Volden C, Ting MM, Carpenter DP 2008. A formal model of learning and policy diffusion. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 102:3319–32
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Walker B, Barrett S, Polasky S, Galaz V, Folke C et al. 2009. Looming global-scale failures and missing institutions. Science 325:59461345–46
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Walker B, Carpenter S, Rockstrom J, Crépin A-S, Peterson G 2012. Drivers, “slow” variables, “fast” variables, shocks, and resilience. Ecol. Soc. 17:330
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Weiland PS. 2000. Federal and state preemption of environmental law: a critical analysis. Harv. Environ. Law Rev. 24:237
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Williams RC. 2012. Growing state-federal conflicts in environmental policy: the role of market-based regulation. J. Public Econ. 96:111092–99
    [Google Scholar]
  78. Wilson J. 2003. Scientific uncertainty, complex systems, and the design of common-pool institutions. The Drama of the Commons E Ostrom, T Dietz, N Dolšak, PC Stern, S Stonich, EU Weber 327–59 Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Young OR. 2002. The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change: Fit, Interplay, and Scale Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
    [Google Scholar]
  80. Zodrow G. 2001. Reflections on the new view and the benefit view of the property tax. Property Taxation and Local Government Finance W Oates 79–110 Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Inst. Land Policy
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-110319-114535
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error