Economics and Social Costs of Hydroelectric Power

Per-Olov Johansson () and Bengt Kriström ()
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Per-Olov Johansson: Stockholm School of Economics
Bengt Kriström: Department of Economics, SLU

No 2018:9, CERE Working Papers from CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics

Abstract: This paper offers a non-technical overview of the issues involved when applying cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to hydropower, both in terms of new installations and changing existing regulatory structures. Our focus is on the conceptual and empirical problems of applying CBA to provide decision support in such cases. A large body of literature now exists on the social net values of generating electricity from moving water. The studies focusing values related to the ecological system include, but are not limited to, effects on climate, aesthetics, landscape, recreation and wildlife. Taken together, they confirm the view that the public invariably seems to place significant values on the integrity of the ecological system. It does, however, not seem possible to draw general conclusions from the literature on whether or not a given (dis)investment will pass a cost-benefit test; the end-result depends entirely on the specifics.

Keywords: Cost-Benefit Analysis; Ecosystem Services; Energy; Sustainable Energy System; Hydropower (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H43 Q41 Q42 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2018-10-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:slucer:2018_009

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