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This open access book seeks to understand why we consume as we do, how consumption changes, and why we keep consuming more and more, despite the visible damage we are doing to the planet. The chapters cover both the stubbornness of unsustainable consumption patterns in affluent societies and the drivers of rapidly increasing consumption in emerging economies. They focus on consumption patterns with the largest environmental footprints, including energy, housing, and mobility and engage in sophisticated ways with the theoretical frontiers of the field of consumption research, in particular on the ‘practice turn’ that has come to dominate the field in recent decades. This book maps out what we know about consumption, questions what we take for granted, and points us in new directions for better understanding—and changing—unsustainable consumption patterns.

Sales & marketing --- Sustainability --- Central government policies --- Sociology --- unsustainable consumption patterns --- emerging economies --- consumption studies --- social practice theory --- the practice turn

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A collection that celebrates the research of Margaret Spufford, a "game-changing" historian who shifted the focus away from the political and social elite in urban communities to the "other 98%" in local and rural areas.

Great Britain --- History --- HISTORY / Modern / 17th Century. --- Early modern England. --- Faith. --- Margaret Spufford. --- People. --- Place. --- clothing trade. --- consumption patterns. --- credit and finance. --- cultural history. --- dissenters. --- early modern history. --- historical records. --- intellectual worlds. --- localities. --- religious conformists. --- rural communities. --- rural history. --- social change. --- social history.

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Despite the many calls to reform the CDM, its conceptual underpinnings are strong and it will most likely survive in the post-2012 climate regime. Some modifications may be considered in the short term to strengthen the effectiveness and transparency of the mechanism without modifying the Marrakesh Accords. In the medium term substantially increased mitigation efforts in developing countries may require a combination of three possible financial mechanisms: the current activity-based CDM albeit improved, a second market mechanism that would seek to improve the long term emission trends of developing countries by promoting broad based emission reduction programs primarily in the private sector, and a third financial mechanism outside of the market which would be an incentive for the adoption of policy changes leading to a low carbon path, but where emission reductions would not be used as international offsets.

Carbon --- Carbon dioxide --- Carbon Policy and Trading --- Clean development mechanism --- Climate change --- Coal --- Compliance costs --- Consumption patterns --- Debt Markets --- Developed countries --- Economics --- Emission reduction --- Emission reduction commitments --- Emission reductions --- Emissions --- Energy --- Energy and Environment --- Energy efficiency --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Environment --- Environment and Energy Efficiency --- Environmental --- Environmental Economics and Policies --- Environmental integrity --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial resources --- Market mechanism --- Mines --- Montreal Protocol --- Oil --- Public Sector Development --- Transport --- Transport and Environment --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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May 2000 - Evaluating design alternatives is a first step in introducing optimal water subsidy schemes. The definition of appropriate targeting criteria and subsidy levels needs to be supported by empirical analysis, generally an informationally demanding exercise. An assessment carried out in Panama revealed that targeting individual households would be preferable to geographically based targeting. Empirical analysis also showed that only a small group of very poor households needed a subsidy to pay their water bill. In designing a rational scheme for subsidizing water services, it is important to support the choice of design parameters with empirical analysis that simulates the impact of subsidy options on the target population. Otherwise, there is little guarantee that the subsidy program will meet its objectives. But such analysis is informationally demanding. Ideally, researchers should have access to a single, consistent data set containing household-level information on consumption, willingness to pay, and a range of socioeconomic characteristics. Such a comprehensive data set will rarely exist. G-mez-Lobo, Foster, and Halpern suggest overcoming this data deficiency by collating and imaginatively manipulating different sources of data to generate estimates of the missing variables. The most valuable sources of information, they explain, are likely to be the following: Customer databases of the water company, which provide robust information on the measured consumption of formal customers but little information on unmeasured consumption, informal customers, willingness to pay, or socioeconomic variables; General socioeconomic household surveys, which are an excellent source of socioeconomic information but tend to record water expenditure rather than physical consumption; Willingness-to-pay surveys, which are generally tailored to a specific project, are very flexible, and may be the only source of willingness-to-pay data. However, they are expensive to undertake and the information collected is based on hypothetical rather than real behavior. Where such surveys are unavailable, international benchmark values on willingness to pay may be used. Combining data sets requires some effort and creativity, and creates difficulties of its own. But once a suitable data set has been constructed, a simulation model can be created using simple spreadsheet software. The model used to design Panama's water subsidy proposal addressed these questions: What are the targeting properties of different eligibility criteria for the subsidy? How large should the subsidy be? How much will the subsidy scheme cost, including administrative costs? Armed with the above information, policymakers should be in a position to design a subsidy program that reaches the intended beneficiaries, provides them with the level of financial support that is strictly necessary, meets the overall budget restrictions, and does not waste an excessive amount of funding on administrative costs. This paper - a product of the Finance, Private Sector, and Infrastructure Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to evaluate and disseminate lessons of experience in designing policies to improve the quality and sustainability of infrastructure services and to enhance the access of the poor to these basic services. The authors may be contacted at vfoster@worldbank.org or jhalpern@worldbank.org.

Administrative Procedures --- Consumption --- Consumption Patterns --- Cred Demand --- E-Business --- Economic Theory and Research --- Empirical Analysis --- Environment --- Environmental Economics and Policies --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Incentives --- Income --- Information --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Need --- Options --- Poverty --- Private Sector Development --- Revenue --- Standards --- Subsidies --- Tariffs --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Values --- Water --- Water Conservation --- Water Resources --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions --- Water Use --- Willingness To Pay --- Wtp

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Projects and reforms targeting infrastructure services can affect consumer welfare through changes in the price, coverage, or quality of the services provided. The benefits of improved service quality-while significant-are often overlooked because they are difficult to quantify. This paper reviews methods of evaluating the welfare implications of changes in the quality of infrastructure services within the broader theoretical perspective of welfare measurement. The study outlines the theoretical assumptions and data requirements involved, illustrating each method with examples that highlight common methodological features and differences. The paper also presents the theoretical underpinnings and potential applications of a new approach to analyzing the effects of interruptions in the supply of infrastructure services on household welfare.

Air Pollution --- Communities & Human Settlements --- Compensating Variation --- Consumption --- Consumption Patterns --- Demand --- Drinking Water --- Economic Theory and Research --- Economics --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Environment --- Environmental Economics and Policies --- Equivalent Variation --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Housing and Human Habitats --- Income --- Industry --- Information --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure Regulation --- Investment --- Investments --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Markets and Market Access --- Need --- Poverty --- Supply --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water --- Water and Industry --- Water Resources --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions --- Welfare Economics --- Welfare Gains --- Willingness To Accept --- Willingness To Pay