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Table of Contents
Front Cover
Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Main Messages
Executive Summary
Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction: Global Natural Resource Subsidies
Overview
What are subsidies and why do they matter?
The magnitude of subsidies in natural resource sectors
The remainder of this report
Notes
References
Part I Air
Chapter 2 Toxic Air: Overview
Introduction
Poverty and exposure to air pollution
Fossil fuels and air pollution
Underpricing of polluting activities
A case for action
References
Chapter 3 Subsidizing Toxic Air: The Vast Underpricing of Fossil Fuels and Their Use
Introduction
Fossil fuels and air pollution
Explicit fossil fuel subsidies
The societal costs of air pollution
Fossil fuel subsidies: Best intentions but detrimental outcomes
Polluting fossil fuels and the role of price signals
Air pollution and price signals
Notes
References
Chapter 4 Virtually Inescapable: The Scale and Distribution of Toxic Air Pollution
Introduction
The global burden of air pollution
An unequal burden: New evidence on air pollution from the world's coal-fired power plants
Notes
References
Chapter 5 Pro-Poor and Pro-Health: The Benefits of Reforming Subsidies
The distributional implications of fossil fuel subsidy reform
Fossil fuel subsidy reforms save lives
References
Part II Land
Chapter 6 Size, Scope, and Composition of Agricultural Subsidies
Introduction
What is an agricultural subsidy?
Policy objectives of agricultural support
What is the magnitude of subsidies in the agriculture sector?
Notes
References
Chapter 7 Inefficient, Unequal, and Unwise: The Economic and Distributional Impacts of Agricultural
Introduction
Agricultural subsidies and productivity.
Agricultural subsidies and distributional goals
The way forward
Notes
References
Chapter 8 Reap What You Sow: The Water Footprint of Agricultural Subsidies
Introduction
Nitrogen legacies and the role of subsidies
The law of unintended consequences
The way forward
Cultivating solutions
Notes
References
Chapter 9 The Effects of Agricultural Subsidies on Forests and Their Spillovers
Introduction
Global deforestation is sensitive to changes in commodity prices
Assessing the effect of agricultural subsidies on deforestation
Agricultural subsidies and the emergence of infectious diseases: A focus on malaria
Notes
References
Part III Oceans
Chapter 10 The Economic, Social, and Environmental Effects of Harmful Fishery Subsidies
The state of the world's oceans
The dual challenges of open access and direct subsidies
The impact of subsidies in three critical fisheries
Implications and caveats
Notes
References
Part IV From evidence to action
Chapter 11 Reforming Harmful Subsidies in a Complex Political Economy
Introduction
Establishing the case for reform
Anticipating the political challenges to reform
Navigating political complexity: Six principles for effective reforms
Subsidy reforms for sustainable development
Note
References
Chapter 12 Bringing Together the Piece
Conclusions
Note
Reference
Boxes
Box 1.1 Formal definitions of implicit and explicit subsidies
Box 2.1 Air pollution: A toxic medley of many different pollutants from many different sources
Box 2.2 The unequal burden of air pollution on women, children, and ethnic minorities
Box 2.3 Indoor air pollution and the risks to human health
Box 2.4 Subsidy reforms and the need for complementary policies to tackle pollution.
Box 3.1 Pollution sources other than fossil fuels that receive public support and subsidies
Box 3.2 Subsidies: Intended for the poor, but benefiting the rich
Box 3.3 Technical spotlight: A meta-analysis of price elasticities in low- and middle-income countries
Box 3.4 Technical spotlight: A global empirical analysis of the relationship between energy prices and air pollution
Box 4.1 Technical spotlight: New evidence on global air pollution exposure and poverty
Box 4.2 Nuances matter: Air pollution and poverty in Vietnam
Box 4.3 Technical spotlight: New evidence on air pollution from the world's coal-fired power plants
Box 4.4 Historic evidence of socioeconomic sorting in Britain and beyond
Box 5.1 Technical spotlight: Assessing the distributional and health benefits of fossil fuel subsidy reform for 35 countries using the World Bank's Carbon Pricing Assessment Tool
Box 5.2 No two subsidy schemes are the same: Subsidies in Algeria, China, Indonesia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Box 5.3 Fossil fuel subsidy reform contributes to reducing greenhouse gases
Box 5.4 Health benefits of climate change mitigation policies
Box 6.1 Landscape restoration projects in Ethiopia
Box 6.2 A simple profit-maximization model to illustrate the policy impacts of support mechanisms
Box 6.3 Domestic support in agriculture: The WTO "boxes"
Box 6.4 The nominal rate of protection and producer support estimate
Box 7.1 Agricultural subsidies and technology adoption
Box 7.2 Technical spotlight: Estimating the impact of agricultural subsidies on total factor productivity at the country level
Box 7.3 Technical spotlight: Meta-analysis of the effects of agricultural input subsidies on agricultural production and farmers' incomes
Box 7.4 Technical spotlight: Farm input subsidy reforms in Malawi and Nigeria.
Box 7.5 Technical spotlight: The Mi Riego highland irrigation program in Peru
Box 7.6 Technical spotlight: Estimating the distributional impact of output subsidies
Box 7.7 Technical spotlight: Estimating the distributional impact of input subsidies
Box 7.8 The varying effectiveness of inorganic fertilizer application on smallholder-managed fields
Box 7.9 Lessons from e-voucher programs in Guinea, Mali, and Niger
Box 8.1 A divided world: Fertilizer feast and famine
Box 8.2 NPK application: Skewed and distorted
Box 8.3 The nitrogen cascade beyond water
Box 8.4 Technical spotlight: Diminishing returns to fertilizer use
Box 8.5 Technical spotlight: Regional effects of fertilizer use
Box 8.6 Technical spotlight: Nitrogen fertilizer use and water pollution
Box 8.7 Technical spotlight: Drawing down the ocean underground
Box 8.8 The fallout of war
Box 9.1 Technical spotlight: The effects of agricultural commodity prices and producer supports on gloabl deforrestation
Box 9.2 Technical spotlight: Two country case studies on the impact of subsidies on deforestation, 2000-10
Box 9.3 Technical spotlight: Estimating the impact of deforestation on malaria transmission
Box 10.1 Managing the many stressors facing global fisheries
Box 10.2 The economics of fisheries
Box 10.3 Ecosystems of the Mauritanian EEZ, the East China Sea, and the northern South China Sea
Box 10.4 Technical spotlight: The Ecopath with Ecosim model
Box 10.5 Technical spotlight: Impact of subsidies and management regimes on biomass
Box 10.6 The importance of fishery ecology in determining the impact of harmful subsidies
Box 10.7 Technical spotlight: Subsidy removal and the recovery of fisheries under job optimization and ecological optimization
Box 11.1 The World Bank's Energy Subsidy Reform Facility.
Box 11.2 When compensation paves the way for reform: Murray-Darling Basin, Australia
Box 11.3 When winners feel like losers: Public perceptions can drive opposition to subsidy reform
Box 11.4 Lessons from India: The complexities of reforming agricultural subsidies and protectionism
Box 11.5 Credible compensation before subsidies are removed
Box 11.6 Lessons from Nigeria: National averages hide vulnerable population groups
Box 11.7 A fuel subsidy reform clears the air: Experience from Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt
Box 11.8 Fossil fuel subsidy reform in Mexico
Figures
Figure ES.1 Change in global agricultural productivity due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer, by quantile of use and region
Figure B2.3.1 The Energy Ladder: The dominant energy sources for cooking and heating, by level of income
Figure B2.4.1 Entry points for antipollution policies
Figure 3.1 Global energy sector subsidies, 2017
Figure 3.2 Global explicit fossil fuel subsidies, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.3 Top 20 explicit fossil fuel subsidy programs, 2020
Figure 3.4 Global sources of implicit fossil fuel subsidies and share of GDP, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.5 Top 20 providers of implicit fossil fuel subsidies, 2020
Figure 3.6 Global implicit fossil fuel subsidies, by type of fuel, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.7 Best intentions and detrimental effects of fossil fuel subsidies
Figure 3.8 Fossil fuel subsidies and health expenditures as a share of GDP in select countries, 2019
Figure 3.9 Fossil fuel subsidies and education expenditures as a share of GDP in select countries, 2019
Figure B3.3.1 Price elasticities of gasoline demand
Figure 3.10 Average price elasticities of energy demand
Figure 4.1 Global population exposed to different levels of air pollution risk.
Figure 4.2 Population exposed to air pollution, by region and as a share of total regional population.
Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Main Messages
Executive Summary
Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction: Global Natural Resource Subsidies
Overview
What are subsidies and why do they matter?
The magnitude of subsidies in natural resource sectors
The remainder of this report
Notes
References
Part I Air
Chapter 2 Toxic Air: Overview
Introduction
Poverty and exposure to air pollution
Fossil fuels and air pollution
Underpricing of polluting activities
A case for action
References
Chapter 3 Subsidizing Toxic Air: The Vast Underpricing of Fossil Fuels and Their Use
Introduction
Fossil fuels and air pollution
Explicit fossil fuel subsidies
The societal costs of air pollution
Fossil fuel subsidies: Best intentions but detrimental outcomes
Polluting fossil fuels and the role of price signals
Air pollution and price signals
Notes
References
Chapter 4 Virtually Inescapable: The Scale and Distribution of Toxic Air Pollution
Introduction
The global burden of air pollution
An unequal burden: New evidence on air pollution from the world's coal-fired power plants
Notes
References
Chapter 5 Pro-Poor and Pro-Health: The Benefits of Reforming Subsidies
The distributional implications of fossil fuel subsidy reform
Fossil fuel subsidy reforms save lives
References
Part II Land
Chapter 6 Size, Scope, and Composition of Agricultural Subsidies
Introduction
What is an agricultural subsidy?
Policy objectives of agricultural support
What is the magnitude of subsidies in the agriculture sector?
Notes
References
Chapter 7 Inefficient, Unequal, and Unwise: The Economic and Distributional Impacts of Agricultural
Introduction
Agricultural subsidies and productivity.
Agricultural subsidies and distributional goals
The way forward
Notes
References
Chapter 8 Reap What You Sow: The Water Footprint of Agricultural Subsidies
Introduction
Nitrogen legacies and the role of subsidies
The law of unintended consequences
The way forward
Cultivating solutions
Notes
References
Chapter 9 The Effects of Agricultural Subsidies on Forests and Their Spillovers
Introduction
Global deforestation is sensitive to changes in commodity prices
Assessing the effect of agricultural subsidies on deforestation
Agricultural subsidies and the emergence of infectious diseases: A focus on malaria
Notes
References
Part III Oceans
Chapter 10 The Economic, Social, and Environmental Effects of Harmful Fishery Subsidies
The state of the world's oceans
The dual challenges of open access and direct subsidies
The impact of subsidies in three critical fisheries
Implications and caveats
Notes
References
Part IV From evidence to action
Chapter 11 Reforming Harmful Subsidies in a Complex Political Economy
Introduction
Establishing the case for reform
Anticipating the political challenges to reform
Navigating political complexity: Six principles for effective reforms
Subsidy reforms for sustainable development
Note
References
Chapter 12 Bringing Together the Piece
Conclusions
Note
Reference
Boxes
Box 1.1 Formal definitions of implicit and explicit subsidies
Box 2.1 Air pollution: A toxic medley of many different pollutants from many different sources
Box 2.2 The unequal burden of air pollution on women, children, and ethnic minorities
Box 2.3 Indoor air pollution and the risks to human health
Box 2.4 Subsidy reforms and the need for complementary policies to tackle pollution.
Box 3.1 Pollution sources other than fossil fuels that receive public support and subsidies
Box 3.2 Subsidies: Intended for the poor, but benefiting the rich
Box 3.3 Technical spotlight: A meta-analysis of price elasticities in low- and middle-income countries
Box 3.4 Technical spotlight: A global empirical analysis of the relationship between energy prices and air pollution
Box 4.1 Technical spotlight: New evidence on global air pollution exposure and poverty
Box 4.2 Nuances matter: Air pollution and poverty in Vietnam
Box 4.3 Technical spotlight: New evidence on air pollution from the world's coal-fired power plants
Box 4.4 Historic evidence of socioeconomic sorting in Britain and beyond
Box 5.1 Technical spotlight: Assessing the distributional and health benefits of fossil fuel subsidy reform for 35 countries using the World Bank's Carbon Pricing Assessment Tool
Box 5.2 No two subsidy schemes are the same: Subsidies in Algeria, China, Indonesia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran
Box 5.3 Fossil fuel subsidy reform contributes to reducing greenhouse gases
Box 5.4 Health benefits of climate change mitigation policies
Box 6.1 Landscape restoration projects in Ethiopia
Box 6.2 A simple profit-maximization model to illustrate the policy impacts of support mechanisms
Box 6.3 Domestic support in agriculture: The WTO "boxes"
Box 6.4 The nominal rate of protection and producer support estimate
Box 7.1 Agricultural subsidies and technology adoption
Box 7.2 Technical spotlight: Estimating the impact of agricultural subsidies on total factor productivity at the country level
Box 7.3 Technical spotlight: Meta-analysis of the effects of agricultural input subsidies on agricultural production and farmers' incomes
Box 7.4 Technical spotlight: Farm input subsidy reforms in Malawi and Nigeria.
Box 7.5 Technical spotlight: The Mi Riego highland irrigation program in Peru
Box 7.6 Technical spotlight: Estimating the distributional impact of output subsidies
Box 7.7 Technical spotlight: Estimating the distributional impact of input subsidies
Box 7.8 The varying effectiveness of inorganic fertilizer application on smallholder-managed fields
Box 7.9 Lessons from e-voucher programs in Guinea, Mali, and Niger
Box 8.1 A divided world: Fertilizer feast and famine
Box 8.2 NPK application: Skewed and distorted
Box 8.3 The nitrogen cascade beyond water
Box 8.4 Technical spotlight: Diminishing returns to fertilizer use
Box 8.5 Technical spotlight: Regional effects of fertilizer use
Box 8.6 Technical spotlight: Nitrogen fertilizer use and water pollution
Box 8.7 Technical spotlight: Drawing down the ocean underground
Box 8.8 The fallout of war
Box 9.1 Technical spotlight: The effects of agricultural commodity prices and producer supports on gloabl deforrestation
Box 9.2 Technical spotlight: Two country case studies on the impact of subsidies on deforestation, 2000-10
Box 9.3 Technical spotlight: Estimating the impact of deforestation on malaria transmission
Box 10.1 Managing the many stressors facing global fisheries
Box 10.2 The economics of fisheries
Box 10.3 Ecosystems of the Mauritanian EEZ, the East China Sea, and the northern South China Sea
Box 10.4 Technical spotlight: The Ecopath with Ecosim model
Box 10.5 Technical spotlight: Impact of subsidies and management regimes on biomass
Box 10.6 The importance of fishery ecology in determining the impact of harmful subsidies
Box 10.7 Technical spotlight: Subsidy removal and the recovery of fisheries under job optimization and ecological optimization
Box 11.1 The World Bank's Energy Subsidy Reform Facility.
Box 11.2 When compensation paves the way for reform: Murray-Darling Basin, Australia
Box 11.3 When winners feel like losers: Public perceptions can drive opposition to subsidy reform
Box 11.4 Lessons from India: The complexities of reforming agricultural subsidies and protectionism
Box 11.5 Credible compensation before subsidies are removed
Box 11.6 Lessons from Nigeria: National averages hide vulnerable population groups
Box 11.7 A fuel subsidy reform clears the air: Experience from Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt
Box 11.8 Fossil fuel subsidy reform in Mexico
Figures
Figure ES.1 Change in global agricultural productivity due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer, by quantile of use and region
Figure B2.3.1 The Energy Ladder: The dominant energy sources for cooking and heating, by level of income
Figure B2.4.1 Entry points for antipollution policies
Figure 3.1 Global energy sector subsidies, 2017
Figure 3.2 Global explicit fossil fuel subsidies, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.3 Top 20 explicit fossil fuel subsidy programs, 2020
Figure 3.4 Global sources of implicit fossil fuel subsidies and share of GDP, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.5 Top 20 providers of implicit fossil fuel subsidies, 2020
Figure 3.6 Global implicit fossil fuel subsidies, by type of fuel, 2015-25 (projected)
Figure 3.7 Best intentions and detrimental effects of fossil fuel subsidies
Figure 3.8 Fossil fuel subsidies and health expenditures as a share of GDP in select countries, 2019
Figure 3.9 Fossil fuel subsidies and education expenditures as a share of GDP in select countries, 2019
Figure B3.3.1 Price elasticities of gasoline demand
Figure 3.10 Average price elasticities of energy demand
Figure 4.1 Global population exposed to different levels of air pollution risk.
Figure 4.2 Population exposed to air pollution, by region and as a share of total regional population.