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Microeconomic reform and the environment

Workshop proceedings

The Productivity Commission convened a workshop on 8 September 2000 in Melbourne. Its purpose was to explore the links between economic and environmental policy objectives and outcomes.

The workshop was structured around a series of contributed papers that considered issues arising in four sectors (water, electricity, transport and forestry) as well as some common themes among them. Key issues explored by participants include: how microeconomic reform can best contribute to meeting existing and future environmental challenges; and the principles that should drive the policies and guide tradeoffs among economic and environmental objectives.

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  • Contents

Preliminaries
Cover, Copyright, Foreword, Contents, Acknowledgments

PART I   INTRODUCTION

Introduction
Neil Byron

PART II   THE WATER SECTOR

1   Lessons from Australia's first practical experiment in integrated microeconomic and environmental reform
Tim Fisher
Presentation summary

2   Microeconomic reform and the environment: a view from the water sector
David Evans and Andrew Amos
Presentation summary

3   Discussion: the water sector

PART III   THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR

4   Impact of microeconomic reform on greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector
Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss
Presentation summary

5   Microeconomic reform and the environment: the electricity sector
Margaret Beardow and Harry Schaap
Presentation summary

6   Discussion: the electricity sector

PART IV   THE TRANSPORT SECTOR

7   Microeconomic reform and the environment in the transport sector
Tony Slatyer
Presentation summary

8   Transport and global warming: catastrophe or concoction?
John Paterson
Presentation summary

9   Discussion: the transport sector

PART V   THE FOREST SECTOR

10   Australian forests: marching toward micro-efficiency, stumbling toward sustainability?
John Marsden
Presentation summary

11   Microeconomic reform and forest environments
Hans Drielsma

12   Discussion: the forest sector
Presentation summary

PART VI   PANEL DISCUSSION

13   Panel discussion
Graeme Samuel, Anwen Lovett, Stephen Dovers, Molly Harriss Olson
Presentations
Discussion

PART VII   SUMMARY

14   Summary
Mike Young

Epilogue
Neil Byron

APPENDICES

A   Workshop program

B   Workshop participants