Professor Frans de Vries

Biography

Frans de Vries is Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen Business School.

His research is centered around the design and functioning of environmental markets and incentive-based policy mechanisms for pollution control and biodiversity conservation. Another focal point of his research relates to the interplay between environmental policy and technological innovation.

Dr. De Vries joined the University of Aberdeen in the autumn of 2021. Previously he has held academic positions at the University of Stirling in Scotland, and the Universities of Groningen and Tilburg in the Netherlands.

Research Overview

Environmental Economics
Environmental Policy and Technological Change
Industrial Organisation
Applied Game Theory

Current Research

Clear Skies: Multi-Pollutant Climate Policy in the Presence of Global Dimming

with Matthew McGinty

Abstract:  Multi-pollutant interactions can have crucial implications for the design and performance of environmental policy targeting single pollutants. This paper presents a two-region model where a global pollutant (CO₂) and local pollutant (SO₂) are produced jointly. The interaction between SO₂ and CO₂ gives rise to the global dimming effect, which relates SO₂ emissions to the environmental damage caused by CO₂ emissions. We analyze climate policy by comparing abatement of these pollutants in the presence and absence of the dimming effect. We then draw implications for the design of international climate agreements, which should reflect the interactive nature between pollutants. The paper also illustrates how a market-based policy in the form of emissions taxes can be embedded into climate agreements to facilitate an efficient coordination of multi-pollutant abatement across regions. Our model predicts that this involves a uniform tax on the global pollutant but differentiated (region-specific) taxes on the local pollutant.

Past Research

Selected Publications

Börger, T., N. Hanley, R.J. Johnston, K. Meginnis, T. Ndebele, G.E.A. Siyal & F.P. de Vries (2023), Equity Preferences and Abatement Cost Sharing in International Environmental Agreements, American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 

Cason, T.N., J.K. Stranlund & F.P. de Vries (2023), Investment Incentives in Tradable Emissions Markets with Price Floors, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 10, pp. 283-314.

Banerjee, S., T.N. Cason, F.P. de Vries & N. Hanley (2021), Spatial Coordination and Joint Bidding in Conservation Auctions, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 8, pp. 1013-1049.

Banerjee, S., T.N. Cason, F.P. de Vries & N. Hanley (2017), Transaction Costs, Communication and Spatial Coordination in Payment for Ecosystem Services Schemes, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 83, pp. 68-89.

Banerjee, S., F.P. de Vries, N. Hanley & D.P. van Soest (2014), The Impact of Information Provision on Agglomeration Bonus Performance: An Experimental Study on Local Networks, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 96, pp. 1009-1029.

Dekker, T., H.R.J. Vollebergh, F.P. de Vries & C.A. Withagen (2012), Inciting Protocols, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 64, pp. 45-67.

Dijkstra, B.R. & F.P de Vries (2006), Location Choice by Households and Polluting Firms: An Evolutionary Approach, European Economic Review 50, pp. 425-446.

Funding and Grants

Current Grants

• The Economics of Marine Plastic Pollution: What are the Benefits of International Cooperation? - Principal Investigator, ESRC-funded project (June 2019 - April 2023)