RÉMI GENEROSO

Assessing the Impact of National Air Quality Standards on Agricultural Land Values: Insights from Corn and Soybean Regions

Cécile Couharde, Rémi Generoso

Abstract

We examine the impact of the National Ambient Air Quality Stan-
dards, as defined by the Clean Air Act, on agricultural land values
within the corn and soybean regions of the United States. To achieve
this objective, agricultural census data on farmland values are com-
bined with pollution exposure metrics as defined by the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency. Using a difference-in-differences approach and
conducting various robustness checks, we find that compliance with air
quality standards has a statistically significant negative effect on agri-
cultural land values at the county level. Moreover, evidence from quan-
tile regression analysis suggests that counties in the lower quantiles fail
to translate the economic and environmental benefits of pollution re-
duction into increased farmland values, unlike their counterparts with
the highest-valued lands.

Mot(s) clé(s)

Air Quality Standards; Agricultural Land Values; Difference- in-Differences; Quantile Regression

The financial cost of stabilizing US farm income under climate change

Cécile Couharde, Rémi Generoso

Abstract

The paper assesses the financial cost of federal farm programs in mitigating income losses due to drier conditions expected from climate change. Our study encompasses agricultural-producing counties within the conterminous United States during the census years from 2002 to 2017. We quantify historical drought patterns and their projected trends for the near (2020-2049) and more distant (2030-2059) future, using climate reanalysis data and 20 downscaled global circulation model products from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5. We estimate the relationship between federal agricultural payments and climate change by analyzing how farm income losses due to drier conditions affect the magnitude and distribution of these payments under the RCP 8.5 scenario. We predict that, under unmitigated climate change, payments from federal farm program should significantly increase to maintain their income–stabilization capacity, with a greater likelihood

Mot(s) clé(s)

Climate change, Farm income, Federal farm payments, Uncertainty

Reexamining the growth effects of ENSO: the role of local weather conditions

Cécile Couharde, Olivier Damette, Rémi Generoso, Kamiar Mohaddes

Abstract

This paper examines the growth effects of ENSO events through their interactions with local weather conditions using the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from 1975 to 2014 and over a sample of 74 countries. The inclusion of SPEI in panel estimation makes it possible to control for time-varying country-specific effects of ENSO events, therefore outlining their heterogeneous effects on growth and eliminating a potential source of omitted variable bias. By better identifying the persistence of ENSO effects on local weather conditions, we evidence that ENSO events generate heterogeneous and local effects depending not only on countries' climate regime but also on their weather patterns. Our results suggest that examining the growth effects of ENSO events should thus explicitly account for their interaction with weather patterns to capture more precisely the heterogeneity across countries.

Mot(s) clé(s)

Economic growth, ENSO events, Weather conditions

Hydro-climatic thresholds and economic growth reversals in developing countries: an empirical investigation

Cécile Couharde, Rémi Generoso

Abstract

In this paper, we exploit the Global Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index database to search for a nonlinear relationship between hydro-climatic conditions and economic growth on a sample of developing countries over the period 1980-2011. We evidence a nonlinear link between hydro-climatic conditions and economic growth only in developing agricultural-dependant countries, the impact of hydro-climatic variations being more easily absorbed in more diversified economies. Furthermore, threshold values reached by hydro-climatic conditions that drive changes in the pattern of economic growth are lower than to those corresponding to extreme weather conditions, suggesting a high sensitivity of economic growth in developing agricultural-dependent countries to small fluctuations in weather.

Mot(s) clé(s)

Developing countries; Economic growth; Hydro-climatic conditions; Panel Smooth Transtion Regression (PSTR) model.

The ambiguous role of remittances in West African countries facing climate variability

Cécile Couharde, Rémi Generoso

Abstract

We investigate the consequences of remittances inflows on macroeconomic performance of West African countries over the 1985 - 2007 period. We take into account the exposition of those countries to climate variability by estimating a PCHVAR model which allows heterogeneity between countries’ responses to rainfall shocks. Our results show that the impact of remittances on macroeconomic performances is highly sensitive to those shocks. In particular, when drought conditions prevail, remittances do not longer exert any short-term spillover effects on growth and may increase a situation of economic dependence, by spurring agricultural imports.

Mot(s) clé(s)

Climate variability; Remittances; PCHVAR model; West Africa