11:15 AM - 11:30 AM
[MIS21-09] Role of economics for better policy making: Exmaple from sustainable plastic management
Keywords:economics, plastics, policy evaluation, plastic bag
Since this is a joint session with academic societies in other fields, I would like to begin by introducing, in my own way, how the field of environmental economics approaches problems before presenting my own research result.
Many researchers in the field of economics frequently receive requests from policymakers and researchers in other fields asking for collaboration on research projects because "economic insights are needed." This may be particularly common in interdisciplinary fields like environmental economics, where real-world issues are more easily visualized. Such collaborative work often provides valuable opportunities to deepen our understanding of environmental issues and can be highly rewarding for economists.
At the same time, I often worry that those who request collaboration may not feel they are getting the outcomes they expected. There are two main reasons for this.
The first is that what is often expected from economics is an assessment of the "economic viability" of a project. To put it bluntly, such questions often amount to "calculating whether the introduction of a certain technology will be profitable or not." However, very few economists specialize in analyzing the profitability of individual projects, and such studies rarely lead to academic publications.
The second issue is the difference in perspectives between policymakers and economists when it comes to policy evaluation. Measuring the effects of public policies, which have broad societal impacts, is not an easy task. One major challenge is that experiments are often impossible to conduct. If we could randomly assign people into treatment and control groups by restricting aspects of their daily lives, we could make significant progress in measuring policy effects. However, the barriers to implementing such randomization are quite high. Over time, the social sciences have developed methodologies to control for confounding variables in the absence of experiments. However, effect measurements based on complex estimation models are often not well received by policymakers.
Finally, I will present an analysis of the impact of the plastic bag fee policy. In Japan, a nationwide charge for plastic bags was introduced in July 2020. Similar policies have been implemented worldwide, and several reliable studies on their effects already exist. In this report, I will introduce some of these previous studies and present the findings of my analysis on the impact of Japan's plastic bag fee policy.
Many researchers in the field of economics frequently receive requests from policymakers and researchers in other fields asking for collaboration on research projects because "economic insights are needed." This may be particularly common in interdisciplinary fields like environmental economics, where real-world issues are more easily visualized. Such collaborative work often provides valuable opportunities to deepen our understanding of environmental issues and can be highly rewarding for economists.
At the same time, I often worry that those who request collaboration may not feel they are getting the outcomes they expected. There are two main reasons for this.
The first is that what is often expected from economics is an assessment of the "economic viability" of a project. To put it bluntly, such questions often amount to "calculating whether the introduction of a certain technology will be profitable or not." However, very few economists specialize in analyzing the profitability of individual projects, and such studies rarely lead to academic publications.
The second issue is the difference in perspectives between policymakers and economists when it comes to policy evaluation. Measuring the effects of public policies, which have broad societal impacts, is not an easy task. One major challenge is that experiments are often impossible to conduct. If we could randomly assign people into treatment and control groups by restricting aspects of their daily lives, we could make significant progress in measuring policy effects. However, the barriers to implementing such randomization are quite high. Over time, the social sciences have developed methodologies to control for confounding variables in the absence of experiments. However, effect measurements based on complex estimation models are often not well received by policymakers.
Finally, I will present an analysis of the impact of the plastic bag fee policy. In Japan, a nationwide charge for plastic bags was introduced in July 2020. Similar policies have been implemented worldwide, and several reliable studies on their effects already exist. In this report, I will introduce some of these previous studies and present the findings of my analysis on the impact of Japan's plastic bag fee policy.