Income dependent direct and indirect rebound effects from ’green’ consumption choices in Australia

Changing household behaviour is often encouraged as a means of reducing energy demand and subsequently greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The direct and indirect rebound effects from cost-saving ‘green’ household consumption choices were estimated using Australian data. Rebound effects from cost-saving 'green' consumption choices are modelled as income effects, allowing for variation with households income level. Cases examined are: reduced vehicle use, reduced electricity use, the adoption of energy efficient vehicles, and the adoption of energy efficient electrical lighting. Four econometric estimation models are utilised to estimate income effects, and the before and after expenditure patterns are matched with life-cycle assessment (LCA) estimates of the embodied GHG of each expenditure category. Direct and indirect rebound effects alone are estimated at around 10% for household electricity conservation, and for reduced vehicle fuel consumption around 20%, at the median household income level. Direct rebound effects are larger for low-income households; however, indirect effects are larger for higher income households. The scale of the effect estimated, and the variation with household incomes, is attributed to LCA methodologies. These results should be interpreted as the minimum rebound effect, with greater rebound effects, and decreased effectiveness of household ‘green’ consumption, expected in reality

Markets in political influence: rent-seeking, networks and groups

Mainstream economic theories of rent-seeking and interest groups typically ignore the parallel, yet highly relevant, streams of research on social networks and groups. Incorporating these broader social and psychological theories into economic models of rent-seeking appear to be a promising avenue for developing an integrated theory of the market for political influence that predicts many of the observed stylised facts, and can better inform policy makers. Such a theory has the potential to predict the often conflicting findings of empirical studies - such as significant underinvestment in rent-seeking, loyalty of political donors and recipients, and the variation in the prevalence of the ‘revolving door’ across industries. This review highlights the shortcomings of basic rent-seeking theory and analyses how network and group concepts can improve the alignment between theory and evidence. Directions in research and policy analysis based on an integrated model are discussed

Income dependent direct and indirect rebound effects from ’green’ consumption choices in Australia

Changing household behaviour is often encouraged as a means of reducing energy demand and subsequently greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The direct and indirect rebound effects from cost-saving ‘green’ household consumption choices were estimated using Australian data. Rebound effects from cost-saving 'green' consumption choices are modelled as income effects, allowing for variation with households income level. Cases examined are: reduced vehicle use, reduced electricity use, the adoption of energy efficient vehicles, and the adoption of energy efficient electrical lighting. Four econometric estimation models are utilised to estimate income effects, and the before and after expenditure patterns are matched with life-cycle assessment (LCA) estimates of the embodied GHG of each expenditure category. Direct and indirect rebound effects alone are estimated at around 10% for household electricity conservation, and for reduced vehicle fuel consumption around 20%, at the median household income level. Direct rebound effects are larger for low-income households; however, indirect effects are larger for higher income households. The scale of the effect estimated, and the variation with household incomes, is attributed to LCA methodologies. These results should be interpreted as the minimum rebound effect, with greater rebound effects, and decreased effectiveness of household ‘green’ consumption, expected in reality

Markets in political influence: rent-seeking, networks and groups

Mainstream economic theories of rent-seeking and interest groups typically ignore the parallel, yet highly relevant, streams of research on social networks and groups. Incorporating these broader social and psychological theories into economic models of rent-seeking appear to be a promising avenue for developing an integrated theory of the market for political influence that predicts many of the observed stylised facts, and can better inform policy makers. Such a theory has the potential to predict the often conflicting findings of empirical studies - such as significant underinvestment in rent-seeking, loyalty of political donors and recipients, and the variation in the prevalence of the ‘revolving door’ across industries. This review highlights the shortcomings of basic rent-seeking theory and analyses how network and group concepts can improve the alignment between theory and evidence. Directions in research and policy analysis based on an integrated model are discussed

Properties of the circumgalactic medium in cosmic ray-dominated galaxy haloes

We investigate the impact of cosmic rays (CRs) on the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in FIRE-2 simulations, for ultra-faint dwarf through Milky Way (MW)-mass haloes hosting star-forming (SF) galaxies. Our CR treatment includes injection by supernovae, anisotropic streaming and diffusion along magnetic field lines, and collisional and streaming losses, with constant parallel diffusivity κ∼3×10²⁹ cm² s⁻¹ chosen to match γ-ray observations. With this, CRs become more important at larger halo masses and lower redshifts, and dominate the pressure in the CGM in MW-mass haloes at z ≲ 1–2. The gas in these ‘CR-dominated’ haloes differs significantly from runs without CRs: the gas is primarily cool (a few ∼10⁴), and the cool phase is volume-filling and has a thermal pressure below that needed for virial or local thermal pressure balance. Ionization of the ‘low’ and ‘mid’ ions in this diffuse cool gas is dominated by photoionization, with O VI columns ≳10^(14.5) cm⁻² at distances ≳150kpc⁠. CR and thermal gas pressure are locally anticorrelated, maintaining total pressure balance, and the CGM gas density profile is determined by the balance of CR pressure gradients and gravity. Neglecting CRs, the same haloes are primarily warm/hot (⁠T≳10⁵) with thermal pressure balancing gravity, collisional ionization dominates, O VI columns are lower and Ne VIII higher, and the cool phase is confined to dense filaments in local thermal pressure equilibrium with the hot phase