This workshop is intended for researchers and doctoral students in economics who are interested in resource and environmental economics. The webinar is led by a team of researchers composed of Geir B. Asheim (Oslo University), Hassan Benchekroun (McGill University), Sophie Bernard (Polytechnique Montréal), Etienne Billette de Villemeur (Université de Lille, UQAM), Robert Cairns (McGill University), Justin Leroux (HEC Montréal), and Charles Séguin (UQAM).

This workshop on natural resource and environmental economics will host Moustapha Thiam, PhD student at UQAM, and Rémy Molinié, student at HEC Montréal.

→ This event will be in English.

• Moustapha Thiam, PhD student at UQAM
  Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and the Effectiveness of Pesticide Reduction Policies: Accounting for Adaptation

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between climate change and pesticide reduction policies in Quebec, focusing on their joint effects on agricultural productivity and input use, particularly pesticides. The study contributes to the literature by introducing crop-specific growing degree days (GDD), explicitly accounting for agricultural calendars and temperature thresholds. The results show that using average temperatures substantially overestimates the impact of climate change on agricultural yields by nearly a factor of two compared to GDD-based measures. We find that temperature variations above crop-specific thresholds can positively affect yields during certain growth phases and significantly influence pesticide use during the pre-planting stage. Farmers adapt their practices by adjusting pesticide use in response to climate-induced changes in maximum yields and optimal input requirements. Simulations of a pesticide tax further reveal that farmers’ adaptation to climate change reduces the effectiveness of pesticide reduction policies, as higher temperatures can lead to increased pesticide use at specific crop stages, partially offsetting policy impacts. Overall, the study provides important empirical insights for policymakers seeking to balance climate adaptation and environmental regulation objectives.

• Rémy Molinié, student at HEC Montréal
  State Energy Use Is (Mostly) a Policy Choice: Prices, Efficiency, and the Energy Demand Frontier

Abstract

State-level aggregate energy use is often portrayed as an inevitable consequence of fundamental factors like GDP per capita or climate. We argue instead that, conditional on these fundamentals, cross-state differences in energy demand are largely shaped by public policy. Using a panel of U.S. states from 2006–2022, we first apply an LMDI decomposition to show that recent reductions in per-capita energy use are overwhelmingly driven by lower energy intensity rather than lower activity or milder weather. We then estimate a stochastic demand frontier for total per-capita energy consumption and decompose variation into frontier, inefficiency, and noise. Finally, we use relative-importance methods to quantify how much variation in the frontier is associated with policy-controlled levers—specifically energy prices and energy-efficiency policies—versus structural and climatic factors such as GDP per capita, sectoral mix, building floor area, and heating and cooling degree days. Prices and efficiency policies explain more frontier variation than GDP or climate.