Despite their growth, outlined and analysed in this book, the claims and counter-claims that surround offsets have not been subjected to critical scrutiny by economists. This book fills that gap. It brings together a team of internationally renowned specialists to document and evaluate the economic impact of several countries' offset policies. In addition, the papers by industrialists and defence officials yield further insights which help to tease out which of the claims made for offsets do not stand critical scrutiny.
Although international programs for carbon offsets play an important role in current and prospective climate-change policy, they continue to be very controversial. Asymmetric information creates several incentive problems, include adverse selection and moral hazard, in offset markets. The current regulatory focus on additionality tends to paint all these problems with a broad brush without proper consideration of the context or their implications -- National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
With the US invasion of Iraq, the issue of arms trading is once again at the forefront of world events. Arms-importing countries often ask their suppliers to 'offset' the cost by reinvesting some of the money in their country.
Although international programs for carbon offsets play an important role in current and prospective climate-change policy, they continue to be very controversial. Asymmetric information creates several incentive problems, include adverse selection and moral hazard, in offset markets. The current regulatory focus on additionality tends to paint all these problems with a broad brush without proper consideration of the context or their implications.
Technology offsets, a nonconventional international trade-financing tool, is used by governments (buyers) to obtain industrial and technological benefits from companies (sellers) as part of international procurement. Offsets deals involve billions of dollars and this practice exists in around 80 countries around the world. Though offsets is a popular practice in defence, it is increasingly gaining popularity in civil sectors. Offsets is often tainted by controversy and receives bad press. What then makes offsets popular? Governments claim that offsets delivers technology and knowledge transfer, skills in high technology sectors and employment, and offsets expands export opportunities through participation in OEM supply chains. For companies, offsets is mainly employed as a tool to obtain a competitive edge and win sales in international business. In the past, there have been mixed results of case studies on the impact of offsets successes and failures. Considering the mismanagement of globalisation, unfair trade agreements and current political and economic discontent, there is a stronger need for governments and companies to use vehicles such as offsets to create a relationship of trust and commitment for sustainable development. This book fills the gap in offsets and focuses on how to manage offsets more effectively by addressing issues of strategy, policy and implementation, technology management, governance and risk. Technology Offsets in International Defence Procurement is designed for those studying international procurement, international trade, international business, technology management, defence policy and industrial policy. This book will also be of interest to practitioners and policy makers in both government and industry.
Upsetting the Offset engages critically with the political economy of carbon markets. It presents a range of case studies and critiques from around the world, showing how the scam of carbon markets affects the lives of communities. But the book doesn't stop there. It also presents a number of alternatives to carbon markets which enable communities to live in real low-carbon futures.
Models are fundamental for estimating the possible costs and effectiveness of different policies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is a wide array of models to perform such analysis, differing in the level of technological detail, treatment of technological progress, spatial and sector details, and representation of the interaction of the energy sector to the overall economy and environment. These differences impact model results, including cost estimates. More fundamentally, these models differ as to how they represent fundamental processes that have a large impact on policy analysis-such as how different models represent technological learning and cost reductions that come through increasing production volumes, or how different models represent baseline conditions. Reliable estimates of the costs and potential impacts on the United States economy of various emissions reduction and other mitigation strategies are critical to the development of the federal climate change research and development portfolio. At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Academies organized a workshop, summarized in this volume, to consider some of these types of modeling issues.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets have long been promoted as an important element of a comprehensive climate policy approach. Offset programs can reduce the overall cost of achieving a given emission goal by enabling emission reductions to occur where costs are lower. Offsets have the potential to deliver sustainability co-benefits, through technology development and transfer. They can also develop human and institutional capacity for reducing emissions in sectors and locations not included in a cap and trade or a mandatory government policy. However, offsets can pose a risk to the environmental integrity of climate actions, especially if issues surrounding additionality, permanence, leakage, quantification and verification are not adequately addressed. The challenge is to design offset programs and policies that can maximize their potential benefits while minimizing their potential risks. This handbook provides a systematic and comprehensive review of existing offset programs. It looks at what offsets are, how offset mechanisms function, and the successes and pitfalls they have encountered. Coverage includes offset programs across the full swath of applications including mandatory and voluntary systems, government regulated and private markets, carbon offset funds, and accounting and reporting protocols such as the WBCSD/WRI GHG Protocol and ISO 14064. Learning from the successes and failures of these programs will be essential to crafting effective climate policy. This is an essential reference for all regulators, policy makers, business leaders and NGOs concerned with the design and operation of GHG offset programs world-wide. Published with SEI
This book on the economics of defence industry assesses a series of historical and contemporary case studies that consistently demonstrate the need for governments to recognise, and thereafter factor, the financial needs of a narrow industrial sector that is capital intensive, technologically advanced and that requires a highly skilled labour force. Since the end of the cold war, Western governments have systematically reduced financial support to their domestic defence industry and have seemingly ignored planning and funding industrial mobilisation. In all cases, government policy has been to encourage industries to consolidate capacity to become financially viable in a sector that has seen diminished demand. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused Western governments to reassess their previous assumptions. Efforts to increase industrial capacity have been met with the iron laws of economics whereby businesses need to show return on investments. The chapters in this volume posit that efforts to rationalise industrial capacity and innovation to meet short-term financial efficiencies, inevitably results in limited, expensive, and long delays in increased production in times of international crisis. This book serves as an essential guide for academics, researchers and students interested in defence economics, industrial economics, international relations, and industrial policy. The chapters in this book were originally published in various issues of Defense & Security Analysis.
