Seminar: "The Economics of Circular Economy: Dynamics, Externalities, and Policy"- Meilin Ma

Join us for a presentation by Meilin Ma, is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University’s College of Agriculture and the Purdue Center for Food and Agricultural Business.

Seminar title:  The Economics of Circular Economy: Dynamics, Externalities, and Policy

Abstract:  Circular economy valorizes waste from primary production to produce valuable circular products, reducing emissions and enhancing sustainability. However, circularity can also increase emissions: circular products raise the profitability of primary production, thereby stimulating primary output and its residues. Whether this rebound effect results in a net increase in waste depends on the relative pace of gradual, irreversible investment in circular processing capacity. We develop a dynamic model integrating production, pollution accumulation, and the endogenous expansion of circular capacity. Producers initially release primary-production waste as pollution and may adopt circular technologies in response to input and output prices. Calibrated to the U.S. dairy–biogas sector, we show that, given multiple margins of the externality inherent in circularity, a policy mix comprising pollution taxes, circular-product subsidies, and circular-technology support abates pollution more efficiently and delivers higher social welfare than any single instrument in isolation.

Bio:  Dr. Meilin Ma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University and Associate Editor of American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Food Policy. Her research lies at the intersection of agri-environmental economics and industrial organization. Dr. Ma’s recent work on the bioeconomy value chains studies how farms and firms adopt bio-technologies and how they invest to scale up circular-bioeconomy supply chains, combining theory with applied evidence. Her personal website: https://sites.google.com/view/ma-meilin/home