Annual Review of Resource Economics - Early Publication

The global value chain (GVC) framework may provide a systematic approach to depict and advance sustainable path options at the global, national, and local scales. However, a coherent picture of the fragmented body of knowledge on the sustainability implications of GVCs is lacking. In an attempt to delineate the most effective perspective for addressing sustainability challenges within GVCs, this review explores the main academic streams that have emerged in response to the pressing need for detailed insights into GVCs. These academic streams include sociological, economic, and management approaches. We examine the intersections and distinctions among them, evaluating whether they converge or diverge in addressing sustainability within GVCs. By discussing the limitations and potential of these approaches, we suggest a possible integrated and appropriate research agenda to achieve an encompassing and still operative perspective to address current sustainability challenges.

Wildlife species generate significant economic value through recreational opportunities, ecosystem services, and their existence and preservation for future generations. Policymaker decisions about fish and wildlife conservation, population management, hunting and fishing limits, and damage assessments all rely to some extent on nonmarket valuation estimates of the species in question. Focusing on individual species, we present a comprehensive review of the nonmarket valuation literature from 1990 to 2023. We quantify studies by species and synthesize the characteristics of these species. We examine why certain species or uses have been the historical focus. Finally, we offer some insights into gaps in our knowledge and directions for future research. While the wildlife valuation literature is extensive, we question the scope of coverage and speculate on the reasons for such heavy coverage of some species and limited coverage of others. Charisma, endemism, and rarity play a large role, as do species with large use values.

Rapid advances and diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to transform agriculture globally by improving measurement, prediction, and site-specific management on the farm, enabling autonomous equipment that is trained to mimic human behavior and developing recommendation systems designed to autonomously achieve various tasks. Here, we discuss the applications of AI-enabled technologies in agriculture, including those that are capable of on-farm reinforcement learning and key attributes that distinguish them from precision technologies currently available. We then describe various ways through which AI-driven technologies are likely to change the decision space for farmers and require changes to the theoretical and empirical economic models that seek to understand the incentives for their adoption. We conclude with a discussion of areas for future research on the economic, environmental, and equity implications of AI-enabled technology adoption for the agricultural sector.

Successfully analyzing and managing trade-offs between community welfare and wildlife conservation are complex tasks that require a multidisciplinary approach and consideration of various factors. Bioeconomic modeling provides a structured quantitative framework for understanding and evaluating the complex interactions between biological systems and economic activities, aiding in the crafting of more effective and sustainable conservation and rural development strategies. Combined with results from other methods such as economic valuation, institutional analysis, impact evaluation, and framed-field experiments, they can provide guidance on reaching the social planner's optimum. The literature suggests significant roles for comanagement, benefit-sharing, and sustainable financing of conservation as the key ingredients for managing the trade-offs between communities’ welfare and nature conservation in Africa. However, comprehensive research tackling multiple problems simultaneously is required to fully understand and manage the trade-offs. Further, mainstreaming gender and climate change in studies of the trade-offs is increasingly becoming an obligation.

This review discusses the role of road transport policies in achieving the European Union's ambitious zero-emission target for the transportation sector by 2050 and provides an overview of the empirical literature that studies the effectiveness of urban transport policies. The analysis is divided into two parts. First, we study policies that are relevant in the transitional phase from internal combustion engine vehicles to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), then we discuss policies that will remain relevant as we switch entirely to BEVs. In the best-case scenario, the transition can be driven by fuel taxes, but in case fuel taxes are not feasible or acceptable, a combination of penalties for buying polluting vehicles and subsidies for scrappage of such vehicles might be the best compromise. In the long run, road space will be increasingly at a premium, and to ensure its efficient use, increasingly sophisticated road-pricing policies will be needed.

This article reviews the literature on the economic impacts of disasters caused by extreme weather and climate events to draw lessons on how societies can better manage these risks. While evidence that richer, better-governed societies suffer less and recover faster from climate extremes suggests adaptation, knowledge gaps remain, and little is known about the efficiency of specific adaptation actions. I review various “no or low” regrets adaptation options that are recommended when uncertainties over climate change impacts are high. I discuss how governments can play an important role in adaptation by directly providing public goods to manage disaster risks or by facilitating private agents’ adaptation responses but also highlight the political economy of policy and coordination failures.

Water scarcity and drought have determined the structure, location, and fate of civilizations throughout history. Drought remains an important factor in the performance of developed and developing economies, especially in the agricultural sector. While significant attention has been paid to drought as a meteorological phenomenon and on its economic impact, comparative institutional analysis of the economics of drought is limited. In this review, we focus on how economic institutions, the humanly devised constraints that shape the allocation and use of water, impact the severity and incidence of droughts. Water property rights in developed countries encourage infrastructure investments and reallocations that mitigate drought impacts, although such institutions may codify inequitable water access during drought. Developing economies rely more on informal strategies for mitigating drought and remain more vulnerable, experiencing economic losses, conflict, and violence.