Potential gains from trading bad outputs: The case of U.S. electric power plants

Jointly with kilowatt-hours (kWh), electric power plants also produce CO₂, NO[subscript x], and SO₂. In this paper, we apply an environmental production model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare the production of kWh under command-and-control regulation of the undesirable byproduct with tradable permit regulation of the byproduct. This is done for each of the three undesirable outputs and combinations of them. We apply our model to a dataset of 80 coal-fired electric power plants from 1995 to 2005. From this we can identify the potential gains from trading the most common undesirable outputs produced by coal-fired electric power plants.Keywords: Joint production, Weak disposability, Tradable permit

Two-wavelength switching with a distributed-feed back semiconductor optical amplifier (DFBSOA)

Switching of a signal beam by another control beam at different wavelength is demonstrated experimentally using the optical bistability occurring in a 1.55 mm-distributed feedback semiconductor optical amplifier (DFBSOA) working in reflection. Counterclockwise (S-shaped) and reverse (clockwise) bistability are observed in the output of the control and the signal beam respectively, as the power of the input control signal is increased. With this technique an optical signal can be set in either of the optical input wavelengths by appropriate choice of the powers of the input signals. The switching properties of the DFBSOA are studied experimentally as the applied bias current is increased from below to above threshold and for different levels of optical power in the signal beam and different wavelength detunings between both input signals. Higher on-off extinction ratios, wider bistable loops and lower input power requirements for switching are obtained when the DFBSOA is operated slightly above its threshold value

The development of social preferences

This paper examines how social preferences develop with age. This is done using a range of mini-dictator games from which we classify 665 subjects into a variety of behavioural types. We expand on previous developmental studies of pro-sociality and parochialism by analysing individuals aged 9–67, and by employing a cross country study where participants from Spain interact with participants from different ethnic groups (Arab, East Asian, Black and White) belonging to different countries (Morocco, China, Senegal and Spain). We identify a ‘U-shaped’ relationship between age and egalitarianism that had previously gone unnoticed, and appeared linear. An inverse “U-shaped” relationship is found to be true for altruism. A gender differential is found to emerge in teenage years, with females becoming less altruistic but more egalitarian than males. In contrast to the majority of previous economic studies of the development of social preferences, we report evidence of increased altruism, and decreased egalitarianism and spite expressed towards black individuals from Senegal

Thomson scattering from a shock front

We have obtained a Thomson scattering spectrum in the collective regime by scattering a probe beam from a shock front, in an experiment conducted at the Omega laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The probe beam was created by frequency converting a beamline at Omega to a 2 ns2ns pulse of 0.263 μm0.263μm light, focused with a dedicated optical focusing system. The diagnostic system included collecting optics, spectrometer, and streak camera, with a scattering angle of 101°. The target included a primary shock tube, a 20-μm20-μm-thick beryllium drive disk, 0.3-μm0.3-μm-thick polyimide windows mounted on a secondary tube, and a gas fill tube. Detected acoustic waves propagated parallel to the target axis. Ten laser beams irradiated the beryllium disk with 0.351 μm0.351μm light at 5×1014 W/cm25×1014W∕cm2 for 1 ns1ns starting at toto, driving a strong shock through argon gas at ρo = 1 mg/ccρo=1mg∕cc. The 200 J200J probe beam fired at t = 19 nst=19ns for 2 ns2ns, and at t = 20.1 nst=20.1ns a 0.3 ns0.3ns signal was detected. We attribute this signal to scattering from the shocked argon, before the density increased above critical due to radiative collapse.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87893/2/10E504_1.pd

Tradable permits and unrealized gains from trade

With the advent of tradable permit programs for bad outputs (e.g., SO₂ emissions); concerns arose over whether the theoretical gains from trade would be realized. We will employ a methodology that calculates the potential gains accruing to coal-fired electric power plants from implementing a tradable permit program. The magnitude of the potential gains in a plant's kilowatt hour output from a tradable permit program relative to its observed production provides insights into the existence of intertemporal allocative inefficiencies and spatial allocative inefficiencies after the implementation of a tradable permit program.KEYWORDS: SO₂ emissions, Joint production model, Tradable permitsThis is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Elsevier and can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-economics

On the robustness of gender differences in economic behavior

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData and code availability: The dataset generated and analyzed for this research project as well as the custom code that supports the study′s findings are available on OSF (https://osf.io/tyzjh/?view_only=243e2b6ca1174a8d802f496ce97c6a70). The oTree code is available on request.Because of the importance of economic decisions, researchers have looked into what factors influence them. Gender has received a lot of attention for explaining differences in behavior. But how much can be associated with gender, and how much with an individual's biological sex? We run an experimental online study with cis- and transgender participants that (1) looks into correlational differences between gender and sex for competitiveness, risk-taking, and altruism by comparing decisions across these different subject groups. (2) we prime participants with either a masculine or feminine gender identity to examine causal gender effects on behavior. We hypothesize that if gender is indeed a primary factor for decision-making, (i) individuals of the same gender (but different sex) make similar decisions, and (ii) gender priming changes behavior. Based on 780 observations, we conclude that the role of gender (and sex) is not as decisive for economic behavior as originally thought.Elite Network of BavariaBavarian State Ministry of Science and the ArtsUniversity of Exeter Business Schoo

Substitutability among undesirable outputs

In recent years, economists have started to move beyond calculating regulatory effects on a pollutant-by-pollutant basis since their interaction is important. In this study, we take up this issue. To allow for joint production of multiple pollutants and marketable output, we specify our technology using a directional distance function. This allows us to treat pollutants as joint outputs, yet accounts for their ‘undesirability’. We estimate the distance function for a sample of coal-fired electric power plants from 1985 to 1998, which includes the first 4 years of Phase I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. We focus on the interaction between SO₂ and NOₓ , as they became more highly regulated and estimate shadow prices of the pollutants and the Morishima elasticity of transformation between two pollutants, NOₓ and SO₂, as well as with respect to the desirable output, kilowatt-hours of electricity. As expected, we find that power plants increase NOₓ emissions as they decrease SO₂, i.e. they are substitutes

TWO-DIMENSIONAL BLAST-WAVE-DRIVEN RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY: EXPERIMENT AND SIMULATION

This paper shows results from experiments diagnosing the development of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability with two-dimensional initial conditions at an embedded, decelerating interface. Experiments are performed at the Omega Laser and use ~5 kJ of energy to create a planar blast wave in a dense, plastic layer that is followed by a lower density foam layer. The single-mode interface has a wavelength of 50 μm and amplitude of 2.5 μm. Some targets are supplemented with additional modes. The interface is shocked then decelerated by the foam layer. This initially produces the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability followed and then dominated by Rayleigh–Taylor growth that quickly evolves into the nonlinear regime. The experimental conditions are scaled to be hydrodynamically similar to SN1987A in order to study the instabilities that are believed to occur at the He/H interface during the blast-wave-driven explosion phase of the star. Simulations of the experiment were performed using the FLASH hydrodynamics code.United States. Dept. of Energy (Stewardship Science Academic Alliances Program. Grant DE FG03-99DP00284)United States. Dept. of Energy (Stewardship Science Academic Alliances Program. Grant DE-FG03-00SF22021

Immune Dysregulation and Self-Reactivity in Schizophrenia: Do Some Cases of Schizophrenia Have an Autoimmune Basis?

Schizophrenia affects 1% of the world's population, but its cause remains obscure. Numerous theories have been proposed regarding the cause of schizophrenia, ranging from developmental or neurodegenerative processes or neurotransmitter abnormalities to infectious or autoimmune processes. In this review, findings suggestive of immune dysregulation and reactivity to self in patients with schizophrenia are examined with reference to criteria for defining whether or not a human disease is autoimmune in origin. Associations with other autoimmune diseases and particular MHC haplotypes, increased serum levels of autoantibodies, and in vivo and in vitro replication of some of the functional and ultrastructural abnormalities of schizophrenia by transfer of autoantibodies from the sera of patients with schizophrenia suggest that, in some patients at least, autoimmune mechanisms could play a role in the development of disease. Recent findings regarding specific autoimmune responses directed against neurotransmitter receptors in the brain in patients with schizophrenia will also be reviewed