In this paper, we investigate how different levels of entrance fees affect donations for a public good, a natural park. To explore this issue, we conducted a stated preference study focusing on visitors' preferences for donating money to raise funds for a protected area in Costa Rica given different entrance fee levels. The results reveal that there is incomplete crowding out of donations when establishing an entrance fee.

A growing set of policies involve transfers conditioned upon socially desired actions, such as attending school or conserving forest. However, given a desire to maximize the impact of limited funds by avoiding transfers that do not change behavior, typically some potential recipients are excluded on the basis of their characteristics, their actions or at random. This paper uses a laboratory experiment to study the behavior of individuals excluded on different bases from a new incentive that encourages real monetary donations to a public environmental conservation program. We show that the donations from the individuals who were excluded based on prior high contributions fell significantly. Yet the rationale used for exclusion mattered, in that none of the other selection criteria used as the basis for exclusion resulted in negative effects on contributions. 

When designing schemes such as conditional cash transfers or payments for ecosystem services, the choice of whom to select and whom to exclude is critical. We incentivize and measure actual contributions to an environmental public good to ascertain whether being excludedfrom a rebate can affect contributions and, if so, whether the rationale for exclusion influences such effects. Treatments, i.e., three rules that determine who is selected and excluded, are randomly assigned. Two of the rules base exclusion on subjects’ initial contributions. The third is based upon location and the rationales are always explained. The rule that targets the rebate to low initial contributors, who have more potential to raise contributions, is the only rule that raised contributions by those selected. Yet by design, that same rule excludes the subjects who contributed the most initially. They respond by reducing their contributions even though their income and prices are unchanged.

Forest loss is a common problem in all five East African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. This is mainly because forest is a mean of livelihood and a source of income in all countries. Deforestation and forest degradation are accelerated by the need for charcoal, fuelwood, timber production, and unregulated logging. In addition, the competition for land, mainly agricultur all and and urbanization are also contributing to deforestation in these countries. However, the rate of forest loss differs across the five countries. For instance, the annual rate of forest loss in Ethiopia is about 0.54% whereas it is about 1.95% in Uganda. 

Using Swedish administrative data, this study investigates the link between wealth and sexual orientation across genders, focusing on nearly 4400 individuals who have ever been in a same-sex legal union and their siblings who had been exclusively in different-sex relationships. Employing unconditional quantile regressions and sibling fixed effects, we show that the wealth gap by gender and sexual orientation varies across the wealth distribution. Men in same-sex couples (SSCs) experience a wealth penalty below the 70th percentile but a premium above it. For women, the wealth penalty persists until the 95th percentile. Similar patterns hold for the wealth subcomponents, with men in SSCs holding more financial resources, real estate and debt at the top of the distributions, while women in SSCs hold more financial resources but less real estate and total debt. Additional analysis highlights the positive marginal effects of urban residency and years of schooling on these patterns.

In recent decades, there has been increasing research interest in individuals’ support of and resistance to climate and environmental policy instruments. However, there is an empirical bias in the literature, as few studies have been conducted in low-income countries. Based on a survey with 4,766 respondents we identify the level of public acceptability for climate policy instruments and their determinants in East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda). While our sample is not fully representative of the East-African population, we capture highly educated individuals in urban areas, who are likely to have a large influence on policy processes. In line with previous studies in other contexts, we find that higher education and climate change concern are linked to the acceptability of policies aimed at reducing fossil fuel consumption. Specifying how the revenue from a climate tax or subsidy removal would be used, almost doubled the support for these policy instruments. In contrast to earlier studies, we find that investments in social programmes, not environmental programmes, was the revenue specification that increased the acceptability the most. One possible explanation would be that in a context where poverty is more prevalent, social issues are more salient to people. We also find weak associations between trust in government and the acceptability of climate policy instruments in East Africa and large heterogeneity across the five focal East African countries. Besides establishing an empirical foundation for future research on climate policy support in East Africa, the study provides essential policy insights: Investing in education and improved information, contributing to increased awareness and understanding of climate concerns, can potentially increase support for climate policy proposals also in the East African context. Earmarking revenues from climate policy instruments for social programmes may also significantly boost support. However, as our study is not fully representative of the population in the five countries and relies on stated preferences, which may be subject to different biases, the results should be interpreted with caution.

Climate investments and environmental reforms run a high risk of failure if acceptance is low. As African countries develop their climate action plans under the Paris Agreement, it is therefore important that governments, donors and other stakeholders have a good understanding of public support for different climate policy instruments.

There is very little knowledge about acceptance of green transition in low- and middle-income countries. This study contributes new knowledge about public support for carbon taxes and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies in the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where widespread poverty and corruption contribute to low trust in political institutions. 

Amid growing emphasis on community-based approaches to natural resource management, there are concerns about the lack of women participation in communal decision-making. We analyze the association between participation of women in decision-making of forest user groups in Ethiopia and several forest management outcomes. We combine longitudinal survey, administrative and forest inventory data and find that participation of women in executive committees (i.e., formal decision-making) is associated with greater forest benefits, and an improved (perceived and actual) condition of the forest. Alternatively, the association between women participation in group-level meetings and outcomes is not robust. This implies that women participation in formal decision-making is required to reach forest conservation and livelihood gains.

Drained peatlands are hotspots for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which could be mitigated by rewetting and land use change. We performed an ecological/economic analysis of rewetting drained fertile peatlands in a hemiboreal climate using different land use strategies over 80 years. Vegetation, soil processes, and total GHG emissions were modeled using the CoupModel for four scenarios: (1) business as usual—Norway spruce with average soil water table of −40 cm; (2) willow with groundwater at −20 cm; (3) reed canary grass with groundwater at −10 cm; and (4) a fully rewetted peatland. The predictions were based on previous model calibrations with several high-resolution datasets consisting of water, heat, carbon, and nitrogen cycling. Spruce growth was calibrated by tree-ring data that extended the time period covered. The GHG balance of four scenarios, including vegetation and soil, were 4.7, 7.1, 9.1, and 6.2 Mg CO2eq ha−1 year−1, respectively. The total soil emissions (including litter and peat respiration CO2 + N2O + CH4) were 33.1, 19.3, 15.3, and 11.0 Mg CO2eq ha−1 year−1, respectively, of which the peat loss contributed 35%, 24%, and 7% of the soil emissions for the three drained scenarios, respectively. No peat was lost for the wet peatland. It was also found that draining increases vegetation growth, but not as drastically as peat respiration does. The cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is sensitive to time frame, discount rate, and carbon price. Our results indicate that the net benefit was greater with a somewhat higher soil water table and when the peatland was vegetated with willow and reed canary grass (Scenarios 2 and 3). We conclude that saving peat and avoiding methane release using fairly wet conditions can significantly reduce GHG emissions, and that this strategy should be considered for land use planning and policy-making. 

Because the effectiveness of payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs depends on landowners’ engagement, understanding the relationship between the type of payment and participation is a key issue. This paper reports on a choice experiment that quantifies landowners’ preferences for cash and educational in-kind payment. The main results indicate a positive correlation between participation in a PES contract and the magnitude of the cash payment, while participation seems uncorrelated with the magnitude of the educational inkind payment. In addition, we investigate the mix of payment types and heterogeneity in preferences, which can help policymakers design strategies to increase participation.

Healthy and productive forests benefit us all, but what are the priorities of those directly managingour Swedish forests? This brief presents a comparison of the preferences of key stakeholdersregarding Swedish forest management and biodiversity protection. According to the SwedishForest Act production and environmental goals should be regarded as equally important. Our studyfinds that forest owners, public forestry officials and employees at industrial forestry companiesand forest owners’ associations prefer management practices that promote production rather thanbiodiversity protection.

A great deal of biodiversity can be found in private forests, and protecting it requires taking into consideration the preferences of key stakeholders. In this study, we examine divergence in stakeholders' preferences for forest attributes across the general public, private non-industrial forest owners and public and private forest officials in Sweden by conducting a discrete choice experiment. Our results indicate that citizens have a positive valuation of biodiversity protection. Moreover, their valuation is statistically significantly higher than those of forest owners. Interestingly, our results suggest that both forest owners and forest officials have a strong orientation towards production, with higher valuation than the general public of the common management practice of even aged stands and clear felling. Even though the Swedish Forestry Act regards production and environmental goals as equally important, we find that forest officials prefer management practices that promote production rather than biodiversity protection. 

Från inledningen: I den här rapporten undersöker vi hur skillnaden mellan kvinnors och mäns ägande av fastigheter förändras i samband med att äktenskap ingås eller avslutas. För att göra detta använder vi oss av individdata från Statistiska Centralbyrån (SCB) och fastighetstaxeringsregistret. Vi börjar med att titta på hur fördelningen av ägande av fastighetsvärde 2019 är fördelat mellan män och kvinnor som befinner sig i en kärleksrelation, för olikkönade samboskap och äktenskap samt för samkönade äktenskap och partnerskap. Därefter tittar vi på hur fastighetsägande förändras för de kvinnor och män som ingår eller avslutar ett äktenskap under 2018.

Från inledningen: I den här rapporten tar vi ett unikt grepp kring kvinnors och mäns ägande av företag i Sverige. Att äga ett företag ger ägaren makt över företaget. Det skapar förutsättningar att ta beslut som är anpassade till dem själva. Att äga ett företag ger också en möjlighet att ta ut inkomst för näringsverksamhet eller utdelning. Vilket innebär skattemässiga fördelar.

Den genomsnittliga kvinnan som kan och vill äga företag ska ha samma förutsättningar att göra det som den genomsnittliga mannen. Så är det inte idag. De ojämlikheter som finns i ägandet tyder på strukturella hinder som kan kopplas till flera faktorer som uppväxt, utbildning, nätverk, diskriminering och tillgångtill kapital.

Sett från ett bredare perspektiv handlar ägande om att skapa förutsättningar för ett bättre samhälle. Ett diversifierat ägande av företag gör det enklare att skapa produkter och tjänster för alla. Det handlar om att öka förmågan att lösa komplexa problem och att skapa nya innovationer.

I denna rapport studerar vi ägande av företag och jämför framförallt kvinnor och män. Vi utökar analysen för att försöka fånga en del av den heterogenitet som finns inom dessa grupper och tittar på ålder samt om företagsägaren eller hens föräldrar är födda i Sverige eller inte.

The last decade has witnessed a rapid increase in the popularity – both in theory and practice – of payments for ecosystem services (PES) as an environmental policy tool in developing countries (Pattanayak et al. 2010; Ferraro 2011). An early review by Landell-Mills and Porras (2002) found approximately 200 incipient PES schemes in developing countries, and the numbers have only increased since then (Pattanayak et al. 2010). Although often small in scale, a few countries have established nationwide PES schemes: Costa Rica has its Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) programme, which, since its inception in 1997, has made payments for forest conservation (primarily) on nearly half a million hectares of land; China has its Sloping Lands Conservation Programme (SLCP), which has thus far contracted 12 million hectares for reforestation in an attempt to stem soil erosion; and Mexico has its Pago de Servicios Ambientales Hidrológicos (PSAH) programme, which compensates beneficiary communities for preserving 600,000 hectares of forest (Pattanayak et al. 2010).

This brief presents a framework that can be used to assess the potential impact of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) schemes. Insights from this framework challenge claims to general cost-efficiency of PES, suggesting that impacts will depend greatly on the context in which PES is implemented. In light of this, the role that PES policies can play in realizing REDD+ is discussed.

While the rapid digitalization in higher education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pan- demic, has restructured the landscape of teaching and learning, a comprehensive under- standing of its implications on students' academic outcomes across various academic disciplines remains unexplored. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth examination of the effects of crisis-driven digitalization on student performance, specifically the shift to emergency remote education during the COVID-19 crisis. Lever- aging a panel dataset encompassing 82,694 individual student course grades over a span of six years, we explore the effects of digitalization across nationalities, educational levels, genders, and crucially, academic disciplines. Our findings are threefold: (i) firstly, we note that crisis-driven digitalization significantly impacted students' chances of passing a course and achieving higher course grades in comparison to the pre-crisis period. (ii) Secondly, we found the effect to be heterogeneous across disciplines. Notably, practical disciplines, such as nursing, experienced a negative impact from this sudden shift, in contrast to more theoretical disciplines such as business administration or mathematics, which saw a positive effect. (iii) Lastly, our results highlight significant variations in the impact based on educational levels and nationalities. Master's students had a harder time adapting to the digital shift than their bachelor counterparts, while international students faced greater challenges in less international academic environments. These insights underscore the need for strategic interventions tailored to maximize the potential of digital learning across all disciplines and student demographics. The study aims to guide educators and policymakers in creating robust digital learning environments that promote equitable outcomes and enhance students' learning experiences in the digital age.

This paper estimates the effects of certification of nonindustrial private forest owners on forest degradation in Sweden-one of the countries with the largest total area of certified forests. We rely on official forest inventory data, information on certification status, and impact evaluation methods to identify the causal effect of certification on three key environmental outcomes. We find that certification has not halted forest degradation in that it has not improved any of the environmental outcomes. Moreover, for forest certification to have an effect, the standards should be tightened and the monitoring and enforcement of forest certification schemes strengthened.

In 2014, Mistra-SWECIA conducted an extensive survey of forest owners and forestry advisors in Sweden. The aim of the study was to gain a more comprehensive picture of how foresters in Sweden view climate change and adaptation. The survey asked about the risks associated with climate change, views on different adaptation measures, and the importance of having science-based information for decision-making.