Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

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Number of Results 4

WP(2/2020)308. Increasing the cost-effectiveness of water quality improvements through pollution abatement target-setting at different spatial scales

Authors: Czajkowski Mikołaj, Andersen Hans E., Blicher-Mathiasen Gite, Budziński Wiktor, Elofsson Katarina, Hagemejer Jan, Hasler Berit, Humborg Christoph, Smart James C. R., Smedberg Erik, Stålnacke Per, Thodsen Hans, Wąs Adam, Wilamowski Maciej, Żylicz Tomasz, Hanley Nick
In this paper, we investigate the potential gains in cost-effectiveness from changing the spatial scale at which nutrient reduction targets are set for the Baltic Sea, focusing on nutrient loadings associated with agriculture. Costs of achieving load…

WP308. Increasing the cost-effectiveness of water quality improvements through pollution abatement target-setting at different spatial scales

In this paper, we investigate the potential gains in cost-effectiveness from changing the spatial scale at which nutrient reduction targets are set for the Baltic Sea, focusing on nutrient loadings associated with agriculture. Costs of achieving loadings reductions are compared across five levels of spatial scale, namely the entire Baltic Sea; the marine basin level; the country level; the watershed level; and the grid square level. A novel highly disaggregated model, which represents decreases in agricultural profits, changes in root zone N concentrations and transport to the Baltic Sea is proposed, and is then used to estimate the gains in cost-effectiveness from changing the spatial scale of nutrient reduction targets. The model includes 14 Baltic Sea marine basins, 14 countries, 117 watersheds and 19,023 10-by-10 km grid squares. A range of policy options are identified which approach the cost-effective reductions in N loadings identified by the constrained optimization model. We argue that our results have important implications for both domestic and international policy design for achieving water quality improvements where non-point pollution is a key stressor of water quality.


Czajkowski Mikołaj, Andersen Hans E., Blicher-Mathiasen Gite, Budziński Wiktor, Elofsson Katarina, Hagemejer Jan, Hasler Berit, Humborg Christoph, Smart James C. R., Smedberg Erik, Stålnacke Per, Thodsen Hans, Wąs Adam, Wilamowski Maciej, Żylicz Tomasz, Hanley Nick
cost-effectiveness nutrient pollution agricultural run-off Baltic Sea eutrophication

WP(26/2016)217. Understanding the distribution of economic benefits from improving coastal and marine ecosystems

Authors: Pakalniete Kristine, Aigars Juris, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Strake Solvita, Zawojska Ewa, Hanley Nick
The ecological status of coastal and marine waterbodies world-wide is threatened by multiple stressors, including nutrient inputs from various sources and increasing occurrences of invasive alien species. These stressors impact the environmental qual…

WP217. Understanding the distribution of economic benefits from improving coastal and marine ecosystems

The ecological status of coastal and marine waterbodies world-wide is threatened by multiple stressors, including nutrient inputs from various sources and increasing occurrences of invasive alien species. These stressors impact the environmental quality of the Baltic Sea. Each Baltic Sea country contributes to the stressors and, at the same time, is affected by their negative impacts on water quality. Understanding who benefits from improvements in coastal and marine waters is key to assessing public support for policies aimed at achieving such changes. We propose a new approach to account for variability in benefits related to differences in socio-demographics of respondents, by using a structural model of discrete choice. Our method (1) provides a convenient way of incorporating a wide range of socio-demographics as explanatory variables in conditional multinomial logit models without the risk of collinearity, and (2) is more statistically efficient than the alternative, typically used approaches. The new technique is applied in a study which examines the preferences of Latvian citizens towards improvements of the coastal and marine environment quality that could help the Baltic Sea waters of Latvia reach Good Environmental Status as required by the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Applying the discrete choice experiment method, we find that overall, Latvians are willing to pay for reducing losses of biodiversity, for improving water quality for recreation by reduced eutrophication, and for reducing new occurrences of invasive alien species. A significant group within the sample seems not to value environmental improvements in the Baltic Sea, and, thus, is unwilling to support costly measures for achieving such improvements. The structural model of discrete choice reveals substantial heterogeneity among Latvians towards changes in the quality of coastal and marine waters of Latvia.


Pakalniete Kristine, Aigars Juris, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Strake Solvita, Zawojska Ewa, Hanley Nick
good environmental status coastal and marine water quality biodiversity invasive alien species eutrophication discrete choice experiment observed preference heterogeneity socio-demographic characteristics hybrid choice model

WP(41/2015)189. Valuing the benefits of improved marine environmental quality under multiple stressors

Authors: Tuhkanen Heidi, Urbel-Piirsalu Evelin, Nõmmann Tea, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Hanley Nick
Many marine and coastal ecosystems are under increasing pressure from multiple stressors. In the Baltic Sea, these stressors include oil and chemical spills from shipping, nutrient run-off from land and invasive species. All of these pressures have b…

WP189. Valuing the benefits of improved marine environmental quality under multiple stressors

Many marine and coastal ecosystems are under increasing pressure from multiple stressors. In the Baltic Sea, these stressors include oil and chemical spills from shipping, nutrient run-off from land and invasive species. All of these pressures have been rising over the recent past. Increasing pressures lead to reductions in environmental quality, which produce negative effects on human well-being. In this paper, the choice experiment method is used to estimate the benefits to people in Estonia resulting from reductions in pressure from multiple stressors in the Baltic.


Tuhkanen Heidi, Urbel-Piirsalu Evelin, Nõmmann Tea, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Hanley Nick
multiple stressors Good Environmental Status marine and coastal water quality choice experiments oil and chemical spills eutrophication invasive species

WP(7/2015)155. Is the income elasticity of the willingness to pay for pollution control constant?

Authors: Barbier Edward S., Czajkowski Mikołaj, Hanley Nick
This paper explores both theoretically and empirically whether or not the willingness to pay (WTP) for pollution control varies with income. Our model indicates that the income elasticity of the marginal WTP for pollution reduction is only constant u…

WP155. Is the income elasticity of the willingness to pay for pollution control constant?

This paper explores both theoretically and empirically whether or not the willingness to pay (WTP) for pollution control varies with income. Our model indicates that the income elasticity of the marginal WTP for pollution reduction is only constant under very restrictive conditions, which are not necessary for an environmental Kuznets curve relationship between pollution and income. Our empirical analysis tests the null hypothesis that the elasticity of the WTP for pollution control with respect to income is constant, employing a multi-country contingent valuation study of eutrophication reduction in the Baltic Sea. Our findings reject this hypothesis, and estimate an income elasticity of the WTP for eutrophication control of 0.1 - 0.2 for low-income respondents and 0.6 - 0.7 for high-income respondents. Thus, our empirical results suggest that the elasticity is not constant and always less than one.


Barbier Edward S., Czajkowski Mikołaj, Hanley Nick
Baltic Sea benefit transfer environmental Kuznets curve eutrophication income elasticity of willingness to pay non-market valuation
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