10,251 research outputs found
INTEREST GROUPS, VETO POINTS AND ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT
In this paper we examine the effects of interest group pressure and the structure of political institutions on infrastructure deployment by state-owned electric utilities in a panel of 78 countries during the period 1970 – 1994. We consider two factors that jointly influence the rate of infrastructure deployment: (1) the extent to which the consumer base consists of industrial consumers, which are capable of exerting discipline on political actors whose competing incentives are to construct economically inefficient “white elephants” to satisfy the demands of concentrated geographic interests, labor unions and construction firms; and (2) veto points in formal policymaking structures that constrain political actors, thereby reducing these actors’ sensitivity to interest group demands. A higher fraction of industrial customers provides political actors with stronger incentives for discipline, reducing the deployment of white elephants and thus the infrastructure growth rate, ceteris paribus. Veto points reduce political actors’ sensitivity to interest group demands in general and thus moderate the relationship between industrial interest group pressure and the rate of infrastructure deployment.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40097/3/wp711.pd
INTEREST GROUPS, VETO POINTS AND ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE DEPLOYMENT
In this paper we examine the effects of interest group pressure and the structure of political institutions on infrastructure deployment by state-owned electric utilities in a panel of 78 countries during the period 1970 – 1994. We consider two factors that jointly influence the rate of infrastructure deployment: (1) the extent to which the consumer base consists of industrial consumers, which are capable of exerting discipline on political actors whose competing incentives are to construct economically inefficient “white elephants” to satisfy the demands of concentrated geographic interests, labor unions and construction firms; and (2) veto points in formal policymaking structures that constrain political actors, thereby reducing these actors’ sensitivity to interest group demands. A higher fraction of industrial customers provides political actors with stronger incentives for discipline, reducing the deployment of white elephants and thus the infrastructure growth rate, ceteris paribus. Veto points reduce political actors’ sensitivity to interest group demands in general and thus moderate the relationship between industrial interest group pressure and the rate of infrastructure deployment.Electricity, Institutional Environment, Investment, Regulation, interest group, state owned enterprise
Green Economy Indicators
The chapter is an attempt to answer the question: how is the actual green economy implementation process underway to be measured? The answers were given firstly by the international organizations OECD, UNEP, Word Bank, Global Green Growth Institute, as well as the consulting company Dual Citizen. Also the author of this chapter proposed the Green Economy Index. There is a growing awareness concerning the need for international unification of the indicators used to measure a green economy. Existing indicators represented slightly different approaches and methodologies, based on their own definitions of the subject to be measured. The topic of green economy indicators is going to grow in importance in upcoming years. This will be connected with locating a green economy at the centre of regional and national development strategies.Wydanie współfinansowane ze środków Miasta Łodzi w ramach zadania “Współpraca z wyższymi uczelniami” – umowa 100/03/201
Interest Groups, Veto Points, and Electricity Infrastructure Deployment
In this article we examine the effects of interest group pressure and the structure of political institutions on infrastructure deployment by state-owned electric utilities in a panel of seventy-eight countries during the period 1970–94. We consider two factors that jointly influence the rate of infrastructure deployment: (1) the extent to which the consumer base consists of industrial consumers, which are capable of exerting discipline on political actors whose competing incentives are to construct economically inefficient “white elephants” to satisfy the demands of concentrated geographic interests, labor unions, and national engineering and construction lobbies; and (2) veto points in formal policymaking structures that constrain political actors, thereby reducing these actors\u27 sensitivity to interest group demands. A higher fraction of industrial customers provides political actors with stronger incentives for discipline, reducing the deployment of white elephants and thus the infrastructure growth rate, ceteris paribus. Veto points reduce political actors\u27 sensitivity to interest group demands in general and thus moderate the relationship between industrial interest group pressure and the rate of infrastructure deployment
International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977-1999
Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that the domestic adoption of market-oriented reforms is strongly influenced by international pressures of coercion and emulation. We find robust support for these arguments with an event-history analysis of the determinants of reform in the telecommunications and electricity sectors of as many as 205 countries and territories between 1977 and 1999. Our results also suggest that the coercive effect of multilateral lending from the IMF, the World Bank or Regional Development Banks is increasing over time, a finding that is consistent with anecdotal evidence that multilateral organizations have broadened the scope of the “conditionality” terms specifying market-oriented reforms imposed on borrowing countries. We discuss the possibility that, by pressuring countries into policy reform, cross-national coercion and emulation may not produce ideal outcomes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40099/3/wp713.pd
The Importance of Social and Government Learning in Ex Ante Policy Evaluation
We provide two methodological insights on \emph{ex ante} policy evaluation
for macro models of economic development. First, we show that the problems of
parameter instability and lack of behavioral constancy can be overcome by
considering learning dynamics. Hence, instead of defining social constructs as
fixed exogenous parameters, we represent them through stable functional
relationships such as social norms. Second, we demonstrate how agent computing
can be used for this purpose. By deploying a model of policy prioritization
with endogenous government behavior, we estimate the performance of different
policy regimes. We find that, while strictly adhering to policy recommendations
increases efficiency, the nature of such recipes has a bigger effect. In other
words, while it is true that lack of discipline is detrimental to prescription
outcomes (a common defense of failed recommendations), it is more important
that such prescriptions consider the systemic and adaptive nature of the
policymaking process (something neglected by traditional technocratic advice)
A new perspective on the competitiveness of nations
The capability of firms to survive and to have a competitive advantage in global markets depends on, amongst other things, the efficiency of public institutions, the excellence of educational, health and communications infrastructures, as well as on the political and economic stability of their home country. The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is thus an important issue for policy-makers. Despite many attempts to provide objectivity in the development of measures of national competitiveness, there are inherently subjective judgments that involve, for example, how data sets are aggregated and importance weights are applied. Generally, either equal weighting is assumed in calculating a final index, or subjective weights are specified. The same problem also occurs in the subjective assignment of countries to different clusters. Developed as such, the value of these type indices may be questioned by users. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is proposed. To start, a hierarchical clustering analysis is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient for purposes of country clustering. In the proposed methodology, 178 criteria are used for this purpose. Next, relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in our third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one
Essays on the economics of the energy mix diversification in the Transport Sector
The analysis of the consequences of the diversification of the Transport Sector energy mix is
the main focus of this thesis. As a sector highly powered by fossil fuels, the promotion of
alternative energy sources such as electricity and renewable fuels has to be pursued to reduce
the use of oil, and consequently cut greenhouse gases emissions. However, currently, the
alternative sources are faced with several challenges. To address some of these challenges,
this thesis performs four analyses organized into three main parts. In the first one, the
interactions between both conventional and alternative transports’ energy sources, economic
growth and carbon dioxide emissions have been examined. Two essays have been carried out in
the first part, to achieve these objectives. The recent methods of Panel-Vector Autoregressive
and the Autoregressive Distributed lag models have been applied. The main findings suggest
that the electricity use in the transport sector only contributes to reducing GHG emissions if
this electricity is coming from renewable sources. At the same time, the alternative energy
sources could compromise the economic growth highlighting that their cost-effectiveness must
be enlarged.
With adequate policy supporting, the penetration of the electricity in transport sector could
have a great potential in, for instance, storing renewable electricity, improving renewable
electricity utilisation. For that, the deployment of electricity on the road transportation is
required. These evidences have definitively motivated the second and third main parts of this
thesis. They are focused on the main challenges that the electric mobility on road
transportation is faced: the penetration of electric vehicles in the automotive market and the
impact of these vehicles on the electricity system management and renewables integration.
Thus, the second part of this thesis aims to analyse the driving factors of electric vehicles
adoption. This analysis goes further by distinguishing the adoption drivers of 100% electric
vehicles, also known as battery electric vehicles, and plug-in electric vehicles. The factors
analysed include: political, social, economic, environmental, and technical. A Panel-Corrected
Standard Errors (PCSE) estimator is used for European Union countries and the robustness of
the results has been confirmed by employing a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method.
Actually, the main challenge for both 100% electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles
adoption is the technological progress of the batteries. Furthermore, this analysis highlights
that the policymaking should be focused on each type of vehicle technology instead of electric
vehicles as a whole. In line with the findings of the first part of this thesis, countries with high
endogenous potential should promote more 100% electric vehicles than plug-in electric vehicles
to take advantage of the renewable electricity. While countries with low renewable potential
should promote more plug-in electric vehicles. The policies supporting electric mobility have been effective in the 100% electric vehicles market share enlargement, but not for plug-in
electric vehicles.
With an appropriated policy support and technological development, the 100% electric vehicles
could contribute to increasing the efficiency of the electricity system and renewables
integration. These evidences constitute the main motivation for the third part of this thesis.
Therefore, the main objective of the third part is to analyse the drivers of both peak electricity
demand and renewables integration, providing special attention to the role played by battery
electric vehicles to this equilibrium. Both Panel-Corrected Standard Errors and Driscoll-Kraay
estimators have been applied for European Union countries. Different models’ specifications
have been used to confirm the robustness of the results found. This part highlights that the
deployment of the 100% electric vehicles has led to a decrease of the peak electricity demand,
which is indeed a desirable effect. Still, it should deserve further attention since the
deployment of the large amounts of battery electric vehicles could modify this effect. At the
same time, the 100% electric vehicles have not contributed to renewables integration. The
policies focused on demand side management have been effective in integrating renewables in
contrast to their lack of success in reducing peak electricity demand. The policymakers should
design demand side management efficient policies to reduce the peak load demand. The
promotion of Demand Response measures, such as differentiated electricity tariffs in peak
periods and out-off peak periods could be an efficient way to achieve it.A presente tese foca-se em analisar as consequências da diversificação do mix de energia no
sector dos transportes. Este sector é intensivo no consumo de combustíveis fósseis e
consequentemente, é responsável por elevados níveis de emissões de gases com efeito de
estufa. De forma a mitigar o seu impacto ambiental, o uso de fontes de energia alternativas,
tais como eletricidade e combustíveis renováveis deve ser incentivado. Contudo, existem
inúmeros desafios associados à utilização destas fontes. Com o intuito de abordar alguns dos
desafios enfrentados, a presente tese realiza quatro ensaios, organizados em três partes. Na
parte inicial, são estudadas as interações entre o consumo de fontes de energia convencionais
e alternativas no sector dos transportes, bem como a sua relação com o crescimento económico
e com as emissões de dióxido de carbono. De forma a analisar essas interações, foram realizados
dois ensaios. Neles, foram aplicadas duas metodologias recentes de análise de dados em painel:
Vetor Autorregressivo em Painel (Panel Vector Autoregressive - PVAR) e o Modelo
Autorregressivo com Desfasamento Distribuído (Autoregressive Distributed Lag - ARDL). Os
principais resultados sugerem que o consumo de eletricidade no setor dos transportes será
benéfico para o ambiente, se essa eletricidade for gerada a partir de fontes de energia
renováveis. Enquanto isso, as fontes alternativas poderão estar a comprometer o crescimento
económico, enfatizando que o custo-benefício dessas fontes deve ser melhorado.
A introdução de eletricidade no mix energético do setor dos transportes poderá ter um grande
potencial em, por exemplo, possibilitar o armazenamento de eletricidade renovável
aumentando assim a sua utilização. Para isso, as políticas devem promover o carregamento dos
veículos quando existe excesso de geração de eletricidade renovável. Para que seja possível
capturar esses benefícios, é necessária a implementação de eletricidade no transporte
rodoviário. Definitivamente, estas evidências motivaram a segunda e terceira parte desta tese.
As mesmas incidem nos principais desafios que a mobilidade elétrica rodoviária enfrenta: a
penetração de veículos elétricos no mercado automóvel e o impacto dos veículos elétricos, quer
na gestão do sistema elétrico quer na integração de energias renováveis. Assim, a segunda parte
pretende analisar os fatores que suportam a adoção de veículos elétricos, abordando o seu
papel individualmente tanto nos veículos 100% elétricos como nos híbridos plug-in. Fatores
políticos, sociais, económicos, ambientais e técnicos foram incluídos e analisados. A Regressão
Linear com Erros Padrão Corrigidos para Painel (Panel Corrected Standard Errors - PCSE) foi
aplicada para analisar países da União Europeia e a robustez dos resultados foi comprovada
mediante a aplicação de modelos de Regressão Aparentemente não Relacionada (Seemingly
Unrelated Regression - SUR). A análise mostrou que o progresso tecnológico das baterias tem
se revelado como um dos principais desafios para a implementação dos veículos 100% elétricos
e dos híbridos plug-in. Além disso, este ensaio realça que as políticas devem ser focadas em cada tipo de veículo individualmente em vez de concentradas na mobilidade elétrica como um
todo. Tendo em conta os resultados obtidos na primeira parte desta tese, países com elevado
potencial em energias renováveis devem promover mais os veículos 100% elétricos do que os
veículos híbridos plug-in, de forma a conseguir tirar maior vantagem da utilização intensiva de
eletricidade renovável. Pelo contrário, países com baixo potencial em renováveis devem
promover mais a utilização de híbridos plug-in.
Poderão os veículos 100% elétricos contribuir para o aumento da eficiência do sistema elétrico
e para a integração de renováveis? Esta curiosidade constitui-se como a essencial motivação
para a terceira parte. O seu principal objetivo é analisar os impulsionadores do pico de consumo
de eletricidade e de integração de renováveis, dando especial foco ao papel que os veículos
100% elétricos desempenham nesse equilíbrio. A Regressão Linear com Erros Padrão Corrigidos
para Painel (Panel Corrected Standard Errors - PCSE) e a Regressão com Erros Padrão de
Driscoll-Kraay (Regression with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors) foram os modelos aplicados
para analisar países da União Europeia. Foram testadas diferentes especificações nos modelos,
confirmando assim a robustez dos resultados. Esta parte salienta que o aumento da quota de
mercado de veículos elétricos gera um decréscimo do pico de consumo de eletricidade, o que
é, na verdade, um efeito desejável num sistema electroprodutor. Este efeito deve, no entanto,
merecer atenção dos decisores de políticas, uma vez que, a implementação de um elevado
número de veículos 100% elétricos, poderá alterar este efeito colocando picos de consumo em
outros períodos. Importa salientar também que os resultados sugerem que as políticas aplicadas
para a gestão ativa da procura (Demand Side Management - DSM) de eletricidade têm sido
efetivas na integração de renováveis, mas não têm contribuído para reduzir o pico de consumo.
Os decisores de políticas devem delinear políticas de DSM eficientes, promovendo, por
exemplo, medidas de resposta da procura, tais como tarifas de eletricidade com preços
diferenciados entre períodos de pico e períodos fora de pico
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MCA4climate: A Practical Framework for Planning Pro-Development Climate Policy
MCA4climate is a major new UNEP initiative providing 1 Introduction practical assistance to governments in preparing their climate change mitigation and adaptation plans and strategies. It aims to help governments, particularly in developing countries, identify policies and measures that are low cost, environmentally effective and consistent with national development goals. It does this by providing a structured approach to assessing and prioritizing climate-policy options, while taking into consideration associated social, economic, environmental and institutional costs and benefits. In doing so, it seeks to counter the widely held perception that tackling climate change is costly, highlight the potential developmental benefits of addressing climate change and encourage action to that end
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