Thomas Sterner

Professor
Environmental Economics

Address: P.O. Box 640, SE 405 30 Gothenburg
Visiting address: Vasagatan 1
Tel: 46 (0)31-786 13 77
Fax: 46 (0)31-786 10 43
Email: Thomas.Sterner@economics.gu.se
Room: E-609

Thomas Sterner has been invited to speak on environmental tax reform in the Assemblée Nationale in Paris on 15 March, 2012. For details, see attached programme.
To watch the video, please click this link, scroll down, click on the photo of Thomas Sterner to start the video. Sterner´s speech starts after 5.15 minutes:

As professor of environmental economics in Gothenburg, Thomas Sterner has during the last 18 years built up a unit for environmental economics with three  professors, a dozen PhDs and about two dozen graduate students. The unit gives a unique PhD program in environmental economics, funded by Sida, a master program and runs a large number of other research and teaching activities.

Thomas Sterner´s main research interests lie in the design of policy instruments. He has studied a number of different applications ranging from energy and climate, through natural resource management such as fisheries to issues relating to industrial and transport pollution. 

Thomas Sterner is the editor of the new book Fuel Taxes and the Poor, The Distributional Effects of Gasoline Taxation and Their Implications for Climate Policy, authored by 35 renowned researchers. Reporting on examples of over two dozen countries this book challenges the conventional wisdom that petrol taxation, an important and much-debated instrument of climate policy, has a disproportionately detrimental effect on poor people. This book provides strong arguments for the proponents of environmental taxation. It has immediate policy implications at the intersection of multiple subject areas, including transport, environmental regulation, development studies, and climate change. Published Dec 2011 by RFF Press with Environment for Development initiative. Read the press release about the book.
>> Link to a web page devoted to Environmental Policy Instruments

Thomas Sterner was invited speaker at the World Bank ABCDE conference held in Stockholm June 2010 on Green Growth and Climate Change. Please visit the Swedish ABCDE-site, www.sweden.gov.se/abcde2010, to find the Webcast on demand, scroll down and press "Environmental Commons and the Green Economy" - Thomas Sterner is introduced by the chair Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University. Sterner´s speech starts after 3:20 minutes. Sterner´s presentation in pdf

Thomas Sterner teaches PhD and undergraduate courses in environmental and resource economics. He is also teaching in Environmental Policy Instruments at Chalmers:
http://www.chalmers.se/en/education/programmes/masters-info/Pages/Technology-Society-and-the-Environment.aspx

Thomas Sterner is active in a number of boards and has received several award/honours for instance:

• President of European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 2008-2009, Past President 2010-2011.
• Member of the External Advisory Board of SESYNC (National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center) http://sesync.org/
• Associate Editor of the Journal Environmental and Resource Economics, 2012-
• University of Gothenburg Collaboration Prize 2011 for the Unit for Environmental Economics, Received together with Anders Ekbom and Gunnar Köhlin.
• Member of the High Level Climate Reference group to the Environment minister in Sweden, 2011-
• Advisory Board: Cluster of Excellence "Future Ocean" at the University of Kiel 2011-
• Member of the External High-Level Review Panel for the report “Climate Change and the World Bank Group”
• Board of MISTRA 2010-
• Lead Author for the IPCC AR5
• Member of the Informal Expert Advisory Panel on Climate Change to the Department of the Taoiseach, Government of Ireland, 2008-9.
• Member of the Board of Academic advisors to the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, CCAP of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Member of the High-Level network of leading economists (organized by DG Environment and the EEA in Copenhagen).
• Pedagogical prize of Göteborg University, 2003, Environmental Economics.
• University Fellow at the Resources for the Future since 2001
• Board member of the Local Investment Programs (LIP) of the Ministry of the environment, 2002-5
• Research Advisory Committee for SANDEE, the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics, 1999- .
• External Examiner for environmental economics in the AERC, African Economic Research Consortium, 2000- 
• Myrdal Prize 2008 has been awarded to Thomas Sterner and Martin Persson for their article "Konsensus i förändring - Klimatekonomi efter Stern", in Ekonomisk Debatt nr 4, 2008. This article is based on the following article: Thomas Sterner and Martin Persson, (2008),"An Even Sterner Report": Introducing Relative Prices into the Discounting Debate, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy,  vol 2, issue 1.

For Further Details: See complete cv 

Latest books:

Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management (new edition)
 
Fuel Taxes and the Poor, The Distributional Effects of Gasoline Taxation and Their Implications for Climate Policy (2011) Published by RFF Press with Environment for Development initiative. Edited By Thomas Sterner.

Environmental Taxation in Practice, published by Ashgate

Choosing Environmental Policy, Comparing Instruments and Outcomes in the United States and Europe, RFF Press

Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management 
published by Resources for the Future  NEW: Chinese Edition

Selected articles:

Fischer, C., Torvanger, A., Shrivastava, M. K., Sterner, T., Stigson, P., (2012), “How should support for Climate-friendly Technologies be designed?”, Ambio 41 PP 33-45 (link)

Zetterberg, L., Wråke, M., Sterner, T., Fischer, C., Burtraw, D. (2012), “Short-Run Allocation of Emissions Allowances and Long-Term Goals for Climate Policy”, Ambio 41 PP 23-32 (link)

Löfgren, Å.,  Martinsson, M Hennlock, T Sterner, “Are experienced people affected by a pre-set default option—Results from a field experiment”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Volume 63, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 66-72 (link)

Wei, J., Johansson, D., Hennlock, M., Sterner, T. (2012) “The Fossil Endgame: Strategic Oil Price Discrimination and Carbon Taxation”, Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy (link)

Sterner, T. and M. Damon (2011), “Green Growth in the Post-Copenhagen Climate Energy Policy”, Energy Policy, 39(11), 7165-7173 (link) 

Carlsson, F., Kataria, M., Krupnick, A., Lampi, E., Löfgren, Å., Qin, P., Chung, S. and Sterner, T. 2011. Paying for Mitigation: A Multiple Country Study Forthcoming in Land Economics (link)

Carlsson F., Kataria M., Lampi E., Löfgren Å., Sterner T. 2011. Is fairness blind? – The effect of framing on preferences for effort-sharing rules, Ecological Economics 70, 1529-1535 (link) 

Coria, J and Sterner, T “Natural resource management: Challenges and policy options”, Annual Review Resource Economics 2011. 3:14.1–14.28 (link)

Carlsson, F., Löfgren, Å. and Sterner, T. (2011), “Discrimination in Scientific Review: A natural field experiment on blind versus non-blind review”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, forthcoming 

Coria, J., Löfgren, Å. and Sterner, T. (2010): "To Trade or Not to Trade: An Analysis of Trading Schemes at the Firm Level", Journal of Environmental Management 91, pp 2126-2133 (link) 

Carlsson, F., Kataria, M., Krupnick, A., Lampi,E., Löfgren,Å., Qin, P., Sterner, T., and Chung, S., "A Fair Share - Burden-Sharing Preferences in the United States and China". Working Paper no. 471, Dept of Economics, University of Gothenburg, 2010. (pdf)

Carlsson, F., Kataria, M., Krupnick, A., Lampi,E., Löfgren,Å., Qin, P., Sterner, T., and Chung, S., "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth - A Multiple Country Test of an Oath Script". Working Paper no. 473, Dept of Economics, University of Gothenburg, 2010. (pdf)

E Kateregga and T Sterner, (2012) “Production Functions for Nile Perch and Tilapia Fisheries: A case study of Uganda’s Section of Lake Victoria”, Crown Journal of Agriculture,Vol 1, issue 1, pp 01-12, Jan. (link)

Sterner, T. (2012) “Distributional effects of taxing transport fuel” Energy Policy, 41(0), ss.75-83 (link)

Fisher, B., S Polasky and T Sterner, (2011), "Conservation and Human Welfare: Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services", Environmental and Resource Economics, 48:151-159  DOI 10.1007/s10640-010-9415-0 (pdf)

Fischer, F., Muchapondwa, E. and Sterner, T. (2011), "A Bio-Economic Model of Community Incentives for Wildlife Management Under CAMPFIRE", Environmental and Resource Economics 48:303-319,  DOI 10.1007/s10640-010-9409-y (pdf)

Coria, J. and Sterner, T. (2010), "Tradable Permits in Developing Countries: Evidence From Air Pollution in Chile", The Journal of Environment and Development, (forthcoming)

Garcia, J H., R Bluffstone, T Sterner (2009): Corporate Environmental Management in Transition Economies: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe,  Czech Journal of Economics and Finance, 59(5):410-425.

Svedäng H.,  J. Stål , T. Sterner, &  M. Cardinale, (2010) "Consequences of subpopulation structure on fisheries management: cod (Gadus morhua) in the Kattegat and Öresund (North Sea)", Reviews in Fisheries Science, (pdf).

Sterner, T. and Lozada, A. (2009), "The Income Distribution Effects of Fuel Taxation", Gaceta de Economica INE-ITAM, 

Sterner,T "In defence of sensible economics", in Solow,R. & Touffut eds, Changing Climate, Changing Economy, Cournot Centre for Economic Studies, Edward Elgar, 2009.  Click to see a video in French from the presentation at the Centre Cournot of the chapter "In Defence of Sensible Economics" December 2008.

Sterner,T and D Burtraw, "Climate Change Abatement: Not "Stern" Enough?", in Parry and Day, eds. "100 Policy Commentaries on Environmental, Energy, Urban and Public Health Problems: Volume 1",RFF Press

Sterner,T., Turnheim, B. (2009), "Innovation and diffusion of Environmental Technology: Industrial NOX abatement in Sweden under Refunded Emission Payments", Ecological Economics

Är bensinskatten regressiv?, Hanna Ahola, Emanuel Carlsson och Thomas Sterner, Ekonomisk Debatt 2/2009 (pdf)

Kateregga, E. and Sterner, T. (2009), Lake Victoria Fish Stocks and the Effects of Water Hyacinth" Journal of Environment and Development, March, Vol 18:1 pp 62-78. pdf

Mendelsohn R, T Sterner, M Persson and J P Weyant, "Comments on Simon Dietz and Nicholas Stern's Why Economic Analysis Supports Strong Action on Climate Change: A Response to the Stern Review's Critics", Review of Environmental Economics and Policy Vol 2:2 pp 309-313,DOI 10.1093/reep/ren012

Jorge H Garcia, Shakeb Afsah and Thomas Sterner, (2008), "Which Firms are More Sensitive to Public Disclosure Schemes for Pollution Control? Evidence from Indonesia¿s PROPER Program", Environmental Resource Economics, Volume 42, Issue2 (2009), Page 151. pdf version

An Even Sterner Report: Introducing relative Prices into the Discounting Debate, a comment on the Stern Review, with Martin Persson, Feb 2007 pdf version

"Which Firms are More Sensitive to Public Disclosure Schemes for Pollution Control? Evidence from Indonesias PROPER Program`", Jorge H Garcia, Shakeb Afsah and Thomas Sterner, (2008),  Environmental Resource Economics, (accepted and forthcoming).

"Konsensus i Förändring- Klimatekonomi efter Stern", Martin Persson och Thomas Sterner, Ekonomisk Debatt, 2008 May.

Are demand elasticities affected by politically determined tax levels? with  Flood, L. and N Islam Applied Economics Letters, Accepted October 2007. working paper version

Innovation and Diffusion of Environmental Technology, Industrial NOx  Abatement in Sweden under Refunded Emission Payments, Thomas Sterner and Bruno Turnheim, RFF DP 0802, pdf version

Corporate environmental management in transition economies: The case of Central and Eastern Europe, with J Garcia and R Bluffstone, Sept 2006 pdf version

Output and Abatement Effects of Allocation Readjustment in Permit Trade, with A. Müller, Climatic Change, RFF DP 06-49, Oct 2006 pdf version 

Disconting and relative prices, with M. Hoel, Climatic Change, DOI 10.1007/s10584-007-9255-2, March 2007, pdf version

Public Disclosure of Industrial Pollution, The PROPER approach for Indonesia?, with J. Garcia and S. Afsah, Environmental and Development Economics, 2007, pdf version

Fuel Taxes: An important instrument for climate policy, Energy Policy, Vol. 35, Issue 6; June 2007, pdf version

Quick fixes for environmental problems: part oft he solution, or part of the problem?, with M. Troell, J. Vincent, S. Aniyar, S. Barrett, W. Brock, S. Carpenter, K. Chopra, P. Ehrlich, M. Hoel, S. Levin, K-G Mäler, J. Norberg, L. Pihl, T. Söderqvist, J. Wilen and A. Xepapadeas, Environment, Vol. 48, N. 10, pp20-27, Dec 2006, pdf version

Explaining Environmental Management in Central and Eastern Europe, with R, Bluffstone, Comparative Economic Studies, Vol. 48. N. 4, pp 619-640, Dec 2006, pdf version

Unobserved Diversity, Depletion and Irreversibility, The importance of subpopulations for Manangement of cod stocks, Ecological Economics, Vol. 61, Issue 2-3, pp 566-574, March 2007 pdf version

Indicators for an invasive species: Water Hyacinths in Lake Victoria, with E. Kateregga, Ecological Indicators, Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp 362-370, April 2007 pdf version 

Refunded Emission Payments - a hybrid instrument with some attractive properties, with L. H. Isaksson, Ecological Economics, Vol. 57. N. 1, pp 93-106, 2006 pdf version 

Monitoring and Enforcement: Is Two-Tier Regulation Robust?, with V. Katuria, Ecological Economics, Vol. 57(3), pp 477-93, 2006 pdf version 

The political of refunded Emission Payments, with P. G. Fredriksson, Economic Letters, Vol. 87, N. !, pp 113-119, 2005 pdf version

FORMAS-article Growth and Climate Impact: the Need for Controls pdf version

A Net Loss: Policy Instruments for Commercial Cod Fishing in Sweden, with Henrik Svedäng, Ambio, vol 34, No 2, March 2005 pdf version 

Public Discosure of Industrial Pollution: The PROPER Approach for Indonesia? with Jorge García López and Shakeb Afsah, Resources for the Future, September 2004, Discussion Paper 04-34  pdf version   

A Bioeconomic Model of Community Incentives for Wildlife Management Before and After Campfire with Fischer, C. and E Muchapondwa, RFF Working Paper 2005:05 pdf version

Political Economy Obstacles to Fuel Taxation, with Henrik Hammar and Åsa Löfgren, Energy Journal, ISSN0195-6574, July 2004, Vol 25(3). pdf version

Environmental Taxes in Europe, (2003) Public Finance and Management, 3(1), pp 117-42, ISSN Number 1523-9721, with Gunnar Köhlin, see http://www.spaef.com/PFM_PUB/index.html or http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=461537

How to Promote Prevention - Economics Incentives, Legal Regulations or Both?, Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, June 2003, with K Torén, see file:///M|/eudora/attach/Entrez-PubMed.htm

Monitoring and Enforcement: Is Two-Tier Regulation Robust? with Vinish Kathuria, Ecological Economics, Forthcoming  pdf version

Discounting and distributional considerations in the context of Global Warming, with C. Azar, Ecological Economics, Vol. 19, pp 169-184 (November 1996)  pdf version

Factor Demand and Substitution in a Developing Country: Energy use in Mexican Manufacturing, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 91, No. 4, pp 723-739 pdf versionFish

• Climate
• Energy and Gasoline
• Policy Instruments
• Development
• Industrial Economics, Wage, Labour and Productivity
• Transport
• General
• Other Interdisciplinary work on Natural Resource, Health and Waste
• Valutation

Popular Press:

2012-02-04 Sindonews: Kenaikan harga BBM pilihan tepat menekan subsidi (In Bahasa only, the official language of Indonesia. Rough translation: Raising the fuel price is the best choice)
http://www.sindonews.com/read/2012/02/04/452/569467/kenaikan-harga-bbm-pilihan-tepat-menekan-subsidi

2012-02-04 Galamedia: Pembatasan BBM Gagal di Eropa (In Bahasa only, the official language of Indonesia. Rough translation: Quantity Restriction on subsidize oil will not work as it didn't in Europe)
http://www.klik-galamedia.com/index.php?id=201202040737566

2012-02-03 Pikiran Rayat Online: Pembatasan BBM Bersubsidi tidak Efektif (In Bahasa only, the official language of Indonesia. Rough translation: Subsidized fuel restriction is not effective)
http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/node/175532

2012-02-03 Antara News: Emil Salim: jangan perkeruh isu BBM (In Bahasa only, the official language of Indonesia. Rough translation: Emil Salim: Give people correct information about oil subsidy)
http://www.antaranews.com/berita/295847/emil-salim-jangan-perkeruh-isu-bbm

2012-02-03 Bisnis jabara: PAKAR INTERNASIONAL: Dana pengurangan subsidi BBM untuk program kesra (In Bahasa only, the official language of Indonesia. Rough translation: International Expert: Fuel subsidies better switched for Welfare program)
http://bisnis-jabar.com/index.php/2012/02/pakar-internasional-dana-pengurangan-subsidi-bbm-untuk-program-kesra/

2012-01-15 Business Live, South Africa: Petrol taxes won't hurt the poor http://www.businesslive.co.za/southafrica/sa_markets/2012/01/15/petrol-taxes-won-t-hurt-the-poor?mode=all

2012-01-12 CNBC Africa/ABN, South Africa: "Fuel Taxes on the Poor with Author Thomas Sterner" http://www.abndigital.com/page/multimedia/video/beyond-markets/1139380-Fuel-Taxes-on-the-Poor-with-Author-Thomas-Sterner In light of the Fuel Subsidy Strike action happening in Nigeria ABN takes a look at the effect of Fuel taxes on the poor and discuss it with Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics in Gothenburg & Washington.
The tv-show (7.10 minutes) was broadcasted via cable throughout Africa and in England.

2012-01-12 Sveriges Radio Vetenskapsradion Klotet: "Vansinne subventionera bensin i ett land där folk dör av brist på rent vatten"/ Världen gav sex gånger mer subventioner till olja, kol och gas 2010 än till förnyelsebar energi http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3345&artikel=4902480

2012-01-11 Sveriges Radio P1 Vetenskapsradion, Nyheter, Vetenskap & Miljö: Statlig rea på bensin ger ökade klimatutsläpp http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=406&artikel=4900660 Thomas Sterner intervjuas om det fördubblade bensinpriset i Nigeria, och om slutsatserna i sin nya bok Fuel Taxes and the Poor, The Distributional Effects of Gasoline Taxation and Their Implications for Climate Policy.

2011-11-29 Svenska Dagbladet: Bensinskatten slår inte mot fattiga http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/bensinskatten-slar-inte-mot-fattiga_6670148.svd

2011-11-29 Sveriges Radio P1 Morgon: Höjd bensinskatt drabbar inte fattiga hårdare än de rika http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=1650&artikel=4827533 Diskussion mellan Thomas Sterner och Maria Spetz, VD Motormännens riksförbund.

Interviewed by Jonas Hägglund, concerning research funding, Radio P4 Feb 10 2011 for Västekot.

Thomas Sterner interviewed by the Harvard Political Review: How to Pass a Gas Tax - The politics of an unpopular policy, by Will Rafey, June 1, 2010.

Ekonomisk Debatt nr 8 2009, Replik till Radetzki-Lundgren av Klas Eklund, Olle Häggström, Markku Rummukainen och Thomas Sterner

Le Monde 2009-11-20:Fixons à 2050 la réduction de 50 % des émissions de CO2, par Roger Guesnerie et Thomas Sterner
Opinion article published by the well respected French newspaper Le Monde, written by Thomas Sterner, President of European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, and  Professor of environmental economics, University of Gothenburg, and Roger Guesnerie, Professor, Collège de France, and President of Paris School of Economics.

The Financial Times 2009-11-09: Big advantage of discussing 2050
"Prospects for climate talks in Copenhagen are not good. We think the main reason is the considerable distance between the parties when it comes to burden of payment and obligations", says Professors Thomas Sterner, President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, and Roger Guesnerie, President of Paris School of Economics. Their letter, Big advantage of discussing 2050, is published in the comment section of The Financial Times, one of the world¿s leading business news organisations, on November 9, 2009.

Business and Financial times of Ghana, 090706, Robinsson, Sterner and  Akpalu, "Debate on Fuel Subsidies"
Debatt artikel som bygger på pågående forskning om inkomstfördelningseffekter av klimatpolitik  i form av bensinskatter. EfD planerar en bok med en serie artiklar om hur bensinskatter slår avseende fördelningen av kostnader bland olika inkomst grupper. En vanlig - men generellt felaktig - uppfattning  är att bensinskatter slår mot de fattiga. Vi bemöter detta - bland annat genom detta debattinlägg i Ghana där bränslepriserna nyligen höjts och många protester hörts!

Ekonomisk Debatt, nr 6 2009, "Konsten att kasta stenar i växthuset",
Debattartikel som bemöter Radetzki och Lundgren som argumenterar emot klimatförändringarna.

France 24, "Débat sur le Tax sur le Carbonne", 20090727
Deltagande i fransk TV inför f d premiärminister Rocards utredning om koldioxidsskatt:
Participated by link in French Ch 24 Television program: "France 24, the French international news channel, is dedicating its debate today to Carbon tax, the day before Michel Rocard (former French Prime minister) presents his report on carbon tax to the French government". Other participants in the debate: Dominique PAILLE, Porte-parole de l´UMP; Emmanuel COMBET, Economiste, CIRED; Jean-Marc FÉDIDA. Avocat, essayiste.

Dagens Nyheters Ledare 2008-09-13: "Klimatsmart politik"
Jenny Jewert, vetenskapsjournalist och fristående kolumnist i Dagens Nyheter, skriver på ledarsidan om effektiv klimatpolitik och apropå Sternrapporten referar hon till Thomas Sterner.

Affärsvärlden Nr 14, April 2009: "Samband mellan kriserna - så tycker experterna"
Thomas Sterner intervjuas i Affärsvärlden Nr 14, April 2009, s 20-29, i samband med artikeln "En grön Keynes ska rädda världen" om att många menar att finanskrisen och klimatkrisen har samma rötter och lösning

DN Debatt 2008-06-24: "Billigare än beräknat att uppnå klimatmål"

GP Debatt 2008-05-22: Torsken i Västerhavet kan vara utan räddning

GP Debatt 2007-12-14: Låt yrkesfiskarna äga fiskevattnen

"Nu räknar ekonomerna med miljön", Naturvetaren nr 4, 2007

Miljöforskning mot fattigdom, GU Journalen , 2006-12-18

Profilen, GU Journalen, 2006-12-19

"I Fokus" spalten i MISTRAs Nyhetsbrev 2006:1 

Stafettpinnen i GU-journalen