check
Publications | Environmental Economics and Management

Recent Publications By Year

Publications by Authors

Contact Us

The Department of Environmental Economics and Management

The Robert H. Smith Faculty
of Agriculture, Food and Environment
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Herzl 229, Rehovot 7610001
Fax: 08-9466267

Department Head:
Dr. Ohad Raveh, Tel: 08-9489373

Head of the teaching program:
Dr. Ohad Raveh, Tel: 08-9489373

Secretary: 
Miri Arazi, Tel: 08-9489230

Publications

2022
David, Z. ; Thomas, R. ; Jed, S. ; Liang, L. ; Heiman, A. . From The Laboratory To The Consumer: Innovation, Supply Chain, And Adoption With Applications To Natural Resources. Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2022, 119, e2115880119. Publisher's Version
Heiman, A. ; Reardon, T. ; Zilberman, D. . The Effects Of Covid-19 On The Adoption Of “On-The-Shelf Technologies”: Virtual Dressing Room Software And The Expected Rise Of Third-Party Reverse-Logistics. Service ScienceService Science 2022, 14, 179 - 194. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The fashion industry is adapting to the new situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by changing the structure of its supply chain, much like other industries that experience exogenous shocks. The pandemic affected conditions of apparel retailers: downstream among consumers and upstream among suppliers. It induced retailers to accelerate the adoption of technologies to make their supply chains more flexible and resilient. Before COVID-19, the apparel industry had gradually adopted virtual dressing room (VDR) technologies and crowd wisdom software, both of which reduce the risk associated with online purchases. Apparel retailers also altered the structure of their supply chains by outsourcing product turns via third-party logistics providers. This article analyzes how changes in market demand and supply conditions following the outbreak of COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of VDR technologies. The analysis is based on a conceptual microeconomic model of adopting technologies and changes in the supply chain. We support our theoretical findings with business cases. Understanding the nonlinear relationships among changes in demand, supply chains, and retail technology adoption triggered by exogenous shocks is essential for managers and affects the quality of service.The fashion industry is adapting to the new situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by changing the structure of its supply chain, much like other industries that experience exogenous shocks. The pandemic affected conditions of apparel retailers: downstream among consumers and upstream among suppliers. It induced retailers to accelerate the adoption of technologies to make their supply chains more flexible and resilient. Before COVID-19, the apparel industry had gradually adopted virtual dressing room (VDR) technologies and crowd wisdom software, both of which reduce the risk associated with online purchases. Apparel retailers also altered the structure of their supply chains by outsourcing product turns via third-party logistics providers. This article analyzes how changes in market demand and supply conditions following the outbreak of COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of VDR technologies. The analysis is based on a conceptual microeconomic model of adopting technologies and changes in the supply chain. We support our theoretical findings with business cases. Understanding the nonlinear relationships among changes in demand, supply chains, and retail technology adoption triggered by exogenous shocks is essential for managers and affects the quality of service.
Biyalogorsky, E. ; Heiman, A. ; Muller, E. . The Differential Effects Of Time And Usage On The Brand Premiums Of Automobiles. 2022, 39, 212 - 226. Publisher's VersionAbstract
We investigate how the status and functional benefits of cars’ brands lose value over time. Theoretically, we show that brands with a higher status, or that appeal to status-conscious consumers, exhibit steeper price decline over time. Empirically, we take advantage of the phenomenon of twin cars – pairs of car models that are nearly identical from a structural and mechanical standpoint, but that are sold under differing brand names – to disentangle the effects of physical wear and tear, which should impact both the premium brand and the corresponding standard brand similarly; and time-related price decline, which should affect each brand differently. The main result is that a premium car’s price declines much faster than that of the corresponding standard car (controlling for physical condition, mileage, and initial price). This result suggests that status declines faster than do functional attributes, and status seekers tend to replace their cars earlier.
Bar-Nahum, Z. ; Reznik, A. ; Finkelshtain, I. ; Kan, I. . Centralized Water Management Under Lobbying: Economic Analysis Of Desalination In Israel. Ecological Economics 2022, 193, 107320. Publisher's VersionAbstract
This paper studies the impact of lobbying on policies in a centrally managed water economy. First, we develop an optimal control model in which long-run water-management policies are an outcome of negotiation between policymakers and a politically organized farming sector. We show that under equilibrium conditions in the political game, larger political power of the farmers' lobby leads to faster exhaustion of naturally replenished water resources, and expedites the investment in water-supply backstop technologies such as desalination. Then, we employ a detailed hydro-economic model of Israel's water economy to assess the validity of claims by scientists and bureaucrats that lobbying by the local agricultural sector has contributed to the depletion of the country's natural freshwater resources and thus accelerated the development of seawater desalination. Specifically, we compare observed trajectories of water-management policies in the years 2000–2020 to their simulated counterparts, and find a better fit for simulated scenarios that involve lobbying than for a socially optimal one; this result prevails under simulated conditions of extreme water shortage due to faster population growth or lower recharge of natural water sources. The best-fitted political-equilibrium scenarios indicate considerable deadweight loss. We discuss potential causes of over- and undervaluation of the lobbying effect.