Natural resource economics

Halkos and Managi (2017). Measuring the Effect of Economic Growth on Countries’ Environmental Efficiency: A Conditional Directional Distance Function Approach, Environmental and Resource Economics, 68, 753-775. Answer the following questions based on your understanding of the above article and feel free to come up with your own examples: 1) There are a number of empirical studies examining the EKC hypothesis. The first paragraph mentioned a few in the text (and footnote 1). Choose any 3 studies and summarize the following aspects for each study: • Assumed functional form of the relationship (Between environmental degradation and economic development) • Research methodologies employed to explore the relationship • Countries and time periods under investigation • Measures of environmental degradation 2) Discuss the two main methods to measure efficiency, including the pros and cons corresponding to each. 3) What data (i.e. source, variables etc.) was employed by this study? 4) Describe the empirical approach used in this study and discuss the main contribution(s)? (You do NOT need to demonstrate understanding on how to actually implement the empirical approach, but you need to know which approach has been employed and the justifications/contributions for choosing this approach). 5) Discuss the main findings and implications. Reading 2: Ji K., Magnus J.R., and Wang W. (2014). Natural Resources, Institutional Quality, and Economic Growth in China, Environmental and Resource Economics, 57, 323-343. Answer the following questions based on your understanding of the above article and feel free to come up with your own examples: 1) What does the “resource curse” refer to? And briefly discuss the possible reasons for it to happen (you might need to do a bit of your own research in order to address the question in full detail)? 2) What are the 4 main contributions of this study? 3) What data (i.e. source, variables etc.) was employed? Describe the empirical model being estimated and the econometric approaches used. 4) Discuss the main findings and implications?