216 research outputs found
Sydney Water : Pricing for Sustainability
We examine how scarcity pricing can be used to assist with urban water demand management in Sydney in low rainfall periods using an estimated aggregate daily water demand function. Modelling shows that current water supplies and water prices are inadequate to prevent Sydney reaching critically low water storage levels should there be a low rainfall period similar to what occurred in 2001 2005. Simulations indicate that, in low rainfall periods, the water price needed to balance supply and demand exceeds the marginal cost of supplying desalinised water. The policy implication is that even with expected increases in supply (groundwater withdrawals, recycling), Sydney water prices must be substantially raised over their current levels, preferably at predefined water storage trigger levels, in response to low rainfall periods.water, pricing, sustainability
Market reform, productivity and efficiency in Vietnamese rice production
This paper analyzes the dramatic increases in rice output and productivity in Vietnam due largely to market reform, inducing farmers to work harder and use land more efficiently. The reform process is captured through changes in effort variables and a decomposition of total factor productivity (TFP) due to enhanced incentives for two main reform periods: output contracts(1981-87) and trade liberalization (1988-94). The results show that the more extensive is market reform the larger the increase in TFP and the share of TFP growth due to incentive effects, suggesting that more competitive markets and secure property rights matter greatly.However, in the post-reform period (1995-99), the incentive component of TFP dissipates as a result of falls in the price of rice and slow increases in input prices, especially for hired labour, fertilizer and capital. A stochastic production frontier is estimated to determine what farm-specific
factors limit efficiency gains. Results show that farms in the main rice growing regions, those with larger farm size and farms with a higher proportion of rice land ploughed by tractor are more efficient, suggesting the need for additional reforms to augment productvity. In particular, the requirement that rice be grown in every province in Vietnam, restrictions on farm size(especially
in the north) and the slow development of rural credit markets for capital and land are seen to restrict the level and growth of efficiency substantially
The value of information in biosecurity risk-benefit assessment: an application to red imported fire ants
Policy makers are confronted daily with uncertainty, especially in complex areas like biosecurity. One way to improve decision-making and reduce uncertainties is to collect more information. Information is costly – whether the value of improved decision-making justifies the cost is a fundamental question facing policy makers. This paper addresses that question by making three practical contributions for binary choices (such as whether to implement or forego a particular policy). First, it analyses the determinants of the value of information, and how that value changes with features of the problem. Second, it uses this analysis to derive simple rules of thumb which provide upper bounds on the value of additional information. Third, it provides a practical application of the value of information in deciding whether to attempt eradication of the red imported fire ant.Environmental Economics and Policy,
Technology choice and efficiency on Australian dairy farms
Deregulation of the Australian dairy industry, specifically the removal of price subsidies to ‘market milk’, as well as ongoing drought in many dairy regions, has placed considerable pressure on farm cash income and a search for ways in which dairy farms can be made to operate more efficiently. Using traditional farm survey data and a unique biannual data set on farm technology use, this paper estimates a stochastic production frontier and technical efficiency model for dairy farms in New South Wales and Victoria, determining the relative importance of each input in dairy production, the effects of key technology variables on farm efficiency, and overall farm profiles based on the efficiency rankings of dairy producers. Results show that production exhibits constant returns to scale and although feed concentration and the number of cows milked at peak season matter, the key determinants of differences in dairy farm efficiency are the type of dairy shed used and the proportion of irrigated farm area. Overall farm profiles indicate that those in the ‘high efficiency group’ largely employ either rotary or swing-over dairy shed technology and have almost three times the proportional amount of land under irrigation.Australian dairy farms, dairy production and efficiency, dairy technology, stochastic production frontier, Livestock Production/Industries,
Sydney Water: Pricing for Sustainability
We examine how scarcity pricing can be used to assist with urban water demand management in Sydney in low rainfall periods using an estimated aggregate daily water demand function. Modelling shows that current water supplies and water prices are inadequate to prevent Sydney reaching critically low water storage levels should there be a low rainfall period similar to what occurred in 2001-2005. Simulations indicate that, in low rainfall periods, the water price needed to balance supply and demand exceeds the marginal cost of supplying desalinised water. The policy implication is that even with expected increases in supply (groundwater withdrawals, recycling), Sydney water prices must be substantially raised over their current levels, preferably at pre-defined water storage trigger levels, in response to low rainfall periods.water, pricing, sustainability
Biofuels Subsidies and the Green Paradox
This paper develops sufficient conditions under which the Weak Green Paradox may (and may not) hold in terms of subsidies for biofuel production such that the supply-side responses by fossil fuel producers may more than offset the substitution to biofuels. Analytical results are derived and numerical simulations show that, under a wide range of parameter values, biofuel subsidies will increase the rate of extraction of fossil fuels in the short and medium term, and possibly bring climate-change damages closer to the present.biofuels subsidies, the Green Paradox
Technical Efficiency Effects of Input Controls: Evidence from Australia's Banana Prawn Fishery
The paper provides the first ex-post estimates of the effects on technical efficiency of input controls in a fishery. Using individual vessel data from the northern prawn fishery of Australia for the years 1990–1996 and 1994–2000, a stochastic production frontier is estimated to analyse the efficiency impacts of input controls on engine and vessel size. The results indicate that technical efficiency is increasing in a measure of vessel size and engine capacity that was controlled by the regulator from 1985 to 2001, and decreasing in an unregulated input, gear headrope length. The study shows that fishers have substituted from regulated to unregulated inputs over the period 1990-2000 and technical efficiency has declined coincident with increasing restrictions on vessel size and engine capacity. The decline in technical efficiency indicates that the goal of the regulator to increase economic efficiency has not been realised.input controls, efficiency, fishery
Sydney water: pricing for sustainability
We examine how scarcity pricing can be used to assist with urban water demand management in Sydney in low rainfall periods using an estimated aggregate daily water demand function. Modelling shows that current water supplies and water prices are inadequate to prevent Sydney reaching critically low water storage levels should there be a low rainfall period similar to what occurred in 2001/2005. Simulations indicate that, in
low rainfall periods, the water price needed to balance supply and demand exceeds the
marginal cost of supplying desalinised water. The policy implication is that even with expected increases in supply (groundwater withdrawals, recycling), Sydney water prices must be substantially raised over their current levels, preferably at predefined water storage trigger levels, in response to low rainfall periods
- …