{"135471":{"#nid":"135471","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Smaller is Better: Emilson Silva Applies Game Theory to Pollution Control","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEmilson Silva devotes a great deal of thought to games -- not leisure activities such as soccer or Parcheesi, but the complex give-and-take of public policy and economics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA professor of economics and director of the Ph.D. program in the Ivan Allen College\u0027s School of Economics, Silva analyzes the rationale behind the behavior of governments in determining policies that have transboundary effects, that is, policies that affect not only the citizens of a particular jurisdiction, but also the citizens of another jurisdiction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESilva\u0027s research is conducted through the rubric of game theory, which employs mathematical models to describe the ways groups of people interact. The best-known example is the zero-sum game, where one person or group\u0027s gain is contingent on another\u0027s loss.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGame theory gained traction among economists in the late 1940s, and variations of it have been applied to studies in political science, psychology, and biology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Silva\u0027s research purposes, game theory provides a framework for studying the strategic considerations that lead entities, primarily governments, to adopt particular sets of policies and regulations. Understanding the rationale behind these decisions within the context of game theory could help policy makers coordinate their actions to convey maximum benefits to the greatest number of people, while minimizing or even eliminating the loss to other participants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEnvironmental issues are of special interest to Silva because the tradeoffs involved in this particular policy-development \u2018game\u2019 do not produce clearly defined winners and losers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The effects of air and water pollution do not respect political boundaries,\u0022 he said, \u0022so the actions -- or inaction -- of one jurisdiction regarding pollution abatement typically impacts surrounding jurisdictions.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA recent research project examined the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, designed in 1997 and intended to foster international cooperation toward reducing a number of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions with specific benchmarks. Despite general agreement on the need to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon and other harmful emissions, the U.S. is conspicuously absent from the list of 190-plus signatories to the complex agreement, which began taking effect in 2005. The reasons behind the U.S. Senate\u0027s refusal to ratify the treaty include a claim that meeting the treaty\u0027s emissions standards would confer a competitive disadvantage to the U.S. relative to emerging economies elsewhere in the world. In game theory terms, the gains achieved by Kyoto in terms of air quality would be more than offset by the dollar cost of compliance by U.S. industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESilva set out to find an alternative to Kyoto that would mitigate American objections while staving off the global-warming threat thought to be caused by certain industrial pollutants. First, he formulated an \u2018ideal\u2019 model agreement, meaning a treaty that would maximize the welfare of all nations participating in this protocol. The model was tested with real-world scenarios and numbers, and employed emissions trading and other mechanisms that were defined in Kyoto to help countries lower the costs of meeting their emissions targets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESilva concluded that under certain ideal conditions, \u0022the Kyoto Protocol is actually a very efficient protocol that maximizes global welfare in terms of reducing greenhouse gases and industrial emissions.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut the more pressing issue, at least for the U.S., was how to reduce harmful emissions without sacrificing competitiveness, since any cooperative agreement by its very nature is anti-competitive at some level.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Realistically speaking it\u0027s very hard to coordinate a global environmental agreement,\u0022 noted Silva. Instead, he proposed a series of bilateral or regional pacts. \u0022It might be much easier to enact smaller agreements involving fewer countries,\u0022 he explained. \u0022These countries would be parties to more than one agreement, so there could be some overlap on critical issues. In this way, all countries would be connected at least indirectly to a shared set of objectives. In principle, you could achieve the same outcome as you would with a large global agreement.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESilva illustrates his approach with the example of the 1991 treaty between the U.S. and Canada to limit the sulfur emissions that produce acid rain. Canada and several European countries, including France, signed a similar agreement among themselves six years earlier. More recently, Canada has been pursuing a carbon emission-limiting treaty with France. If such an accord can be implemented, \u0022the U.S. is then indirectly connected to France via Canada,\u0022 he said. While the original agreements were negotiated to maximize the benefits to each of the participants in a specific realm, each now derives a benefit from the others\u0027 pollution-control efforts and has an economic stake in their prosperity. Countries would continue to act in their own self-interest, but with those interests more narrowly defined, there is a greater likelihood that areas of cooperation or common benefit will be found. In other words, the scenario Silva sketched out could improve the odds of U.S. participation in some kind of cap-and-trade system. Overlapping agreements provide a diplomatic foot in the door for policy coordination on other issues as well.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe global perspective that Silva brings to his economics classes is an important component of a Georgia Tech education. \u0022There is a trend toward globalization in many fields, and my research tends to fit squarely within global issues,\u0022 he said. \u0022I think in terms of ways we can improve the well-being of individuals not only in the West, but across the globe. So I\u0027m looking for innovative ways in which multinational companies and governments can develop policies that improve the welfare of the whole world.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESilva\u0027s research not only features a wide geographic range, it reaches across disciplines as well. He works with colleagues in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences on the nuts-and-bolts of emerging pollution-abatement technologies such as carbon capture. He also consults with public policy experts in the School of Public Policy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Their input is valuable because they tend to be pragmatic and focus on specific issues,\u0022 he said, \u0022so I learn from them as well.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Silva devotes a great deal of thought to games \u2014 not soccer or Parcheesi, but the complex give-and-take of public policy and economics."}],"uid":"27167","created_gmt":"2012-06-14 12:45:24","changed_gmt":"2022-05-25 15:38:57","author":"Rebecca Keane","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-06-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-06-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"135531":{"id":"135531","type":"image","title":"Emilson Silva","body":null,"created":"1449178671","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:51","changed":"1475894766","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:06","alt":"Emilson Silva","file":{"fid":"194791","name":"screen_shot_2012-06-14_at_1.47.00_pm.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screen_shot_2012-06-14_at_1.47.00_pm_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/screen_shot_2012-06-14_at_1.47.00_pm_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":155528,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/screen_shot_2012-06-14_at_1.47.00_pm_0.png?itok=aL49lYbe"}},"134851":{"id":"134851","type":"image","title":"Emilson Silva","body":null,"created":"1449178671","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:51","changed":"1475894763","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:03","alt":"Emilson Silva","file":{"fid":"194771","name":"silva.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/silva_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/silva_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":15475,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/silva_0.jpg?itok=g4Xe3MEN"}},"134861":{"id":"134861","type":"image","title":"Air Pollution","body":null,"created":"1449178671","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:37:51","changed":"1475894763","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:03","alt":"Air Pollution","file":{"fid":"194772","name":"polution_vertical.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/polution_vertical_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/polution_vertical_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":54466,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/polution_vertical_0.jpg?itok=Ex76xVNl"}}},"media_ids":["135531","134851","134861"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"35941","name":"Emilson Silva"},{"id":"8460","name":"game theory"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"35981","name":"pollution control"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}