48,513 research outputs found
Modelling welfare effects of a liberalisation of the Dutch electricity market
The Dutch electricity sector has traditionally been dominated by the public sector. Although this organisational structure resulted in a reliable and low-priced system, it is said not to be completely stable and efficient. National and international developments stimulate the introduction of a liberalised system. In this article, we present the model NEDMOD which is used to estimate possible welfare gains of an implementation of a liberalised market system in the Dutch electricity market
Recommended from our members
Advanced Metering and Demand Responsive Infrastructure: A Summary of the PIER / CEC Reference Design, Related Research and Key Findings
The Impact of State and Foreign Ownership on Post-Transition Industrial Concentration: The Case of Polish Manufacturing
This paper reports an analysis of the determinants of the level and changes in Polish industrial concentration in the early post-transition era. The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 144 Polish manufacturing industries over the period 1989-1993. The results suggest that both state and foreign ownership have a significant impact on industry concentration and this relationship is U-shaped. Minimum efficient scale is found to be the only other factor to impact on industry concentration.Post-transition; Foreign Direct Investment; State ownership; industry concentration
Do Americans Consume Too Little Natural Gas? An Empirical Test Of Marginal Cost Pricing
This paper measures the extent to which prices exceed marginal costs in the U.S. natural gas distribution market during the period 1991-2007. We find large departures from marginal cost pricing in all 50 states, with residential and commercial customers facing average markups of over 40%. Based on conservative estimates of the price elasticity of demand these distortions impose hundreds of millions of dollars of annual welfare loss. Moreover, current price schedules are an important pre-existing distortion which should be taken into account when evaluating carbon taxes and other policies aimed at addressing external costs.
Sensitivity of the Exporting Economy on the External Shocks: Evidence from Slovene Firms
In this paper we investigate the export participation of Slovene firms. We first show that sunk costs are an important factor for explaining the export behavior of Slovene firms. Next we show that when the absorption power of the exporting market declines, firms still trade with their established buyers (hysteresis) despite the fact that due to lower prices their exporting revenues decline. We show that this can be explained with high exit costs, which consist of switching costs (costs of replacing stable buyers with new ones) and cost of reducing the production (compensation money for excess workers) and high re-entry costs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40020/3/wp634.pd
Recommended from our members
Lessons Learned and Next Steps in Energy Efficiency Measurement and Attribution: Energy Savings, Net to Gross, Non-Energy Benefits, and Persistence of Energy Efficiency Behavior
This white paper examines four topics addressing evaluation, measurement, and attribution of direct and indirect effects to energy efficiency and behavioral programs: Estimates of program savings (gross); Net savings derivation through free ridership / net to gross analyses; Indirect non-energy benefits / impacts (e.g., comfort, convenience, emissions, jobs); and, Persistence of savings
Low-Income Demand for Local Telephone Service: Effects of Lifeline and Linkup
This study evaluates the effect of the “Lifeline” and “Linkup” subsidy programs on telephone penetration rates of low-income households. It is the first to estimate low-income telephone demand across demographic groups using location-specific Lifeline and Linkup prices. The demand specifications use a discrete choice model aggregated across demographic groups. GMM estimators correct for the possible endogeneity of subsidized prices. A simulation predicts low-income telephone penetration would be 4.1 percentage points lower without Lifeline and Linkup. Results suggest that Linkup is more cost-effective than Lifeline, and that automatic enrollment in the programs increases penetration.telephone subsidies, low-income telephone usuers
Investment and Usage of New Technologies: Evidence from a Shared ATM Network
When new technologies become available, it is not only essential that firms have the correct investment incentives, but often also that consumers make the proper usage decisions. This paper studies investment and usage in a shared ATM network. Be- cause all banks coordinate their ATM investment decisions, there is no strategic but only a pure cost-saving incentive to invest. At the same time, because retail fees for cash withdrawals are regulated to zero at both branches and ATMs, consumers may not have the proper incentives to substitute their transactions from branches to the available ATMs. We develop an empirical model of coordinated investment and cash withdrawal demand, where banks choose the number of ATMs and consumers decide whether to withdraw cash at ATMs or branches. We find that banks substantially underinvested in the shared ATM network and thus provided too little geographic coverage. This contrasts with earlier findings of strategic overinvestment in networks with partial incompatibility. Furthermore, we find that consumer usage of the avail- able ATM network is too low because of the zero retail fees for cash withdrawals at branches. A direct promotion of investment (through subsidies or other means) can improve welfare, but the introduction of retail fees on cash withdrawals at branches would be more e¤ective, even if this does not encourage investment per se.
Estimating customer impatience in a service system with unobserved balking
This paper studies a service system in which arriving customers are provided
with information about the delay they will experience. Based on this
information they decide to wait for service or to leave the system. The main
objective is to estimate the customers' patience-level distribution and the
corresponding potential arrival rate, using knowledge of the actual
queue-length process only. The main complication, and distinguishing feature of
our setup, lies in the fact that customers who decide not to join are not
observed, but, remarkably, we manage to devise a procedure to estimate the load
they would generate. We express our system in terms of a multi-server queue
with a Poisson stream of customers, which allows us to evaluate the
corresponding likelihood function. Estimating the unknown parameters relying on
a maximum likelihood procedure, we prove strong consistency and derive the
asymptotic distribution of the estimation error. Several applications and
extensions of the method are discussed. The performance of our approach is
further assessed through a series of numerical experiments. By fitting
parameters of hyperexponential and generalized-hyperexponential distributions
our method provides a robust estimation framework for any continuous
patience-level distribution
Using cross-functional, cross-firm teams to co-create value: The role of financial measures
Increasingly, the involvement of representatives from all major business
functions in cross-functional, crossfirmteams is being viewed as a means to
develop and maintain profitable business-to-business relationships.However, if
the measurements of the value co-created in these relationships with customers
and suppliers donot incorporate the financial outcomes of joint cross-functional
initiatives, managers can be led to makedecisions that jeopardize the long-term
profitability of the two firms. In this paper, the authors explore
thedifferences in value co-creation when a company is linked to key customers
and key suppliers through crossfunctionalteams and when it is not. Using a case
study approach, the authors measured value co-creation infinancial terms and
describe how managers changed their behaviors toward customers and suppliers
whenthey were able to compare the value that was being co-created in each
relationship. In each pair ofrelationships, one involved cross-functional teams
and the other did not. The results indicate that crossfunctional,cross-firm
involvement leads to increased value co-creation. The research suggests that
marketingscholars and managers should emphasize the use of cross-functional
teams that involve all major functions tomanage relationships with key
customers, and should incorporate financial measures in the evaluation
ofrelationship performance
- …