Public funding to long distance buses: an entry barrier or a necessity?

Despite the deregulation of the market, the Norwegian express bus market is heavily concentrated to one major actor; Nor-Way Bussekspress which is owned by 40 different bus operators. We investigate this lack of competiton. Although several entry barriers can be identified from a theoretical point of view, we find most of them to have negligible effects in the real world. One important entry barrier that we find is the fact that the main company, Nor-Way Bussekspress, receives public subsidies for certain local parts of their express routes, paid by local county councils. This not only guarantees a certain minimum of revenue, but is also an efficient barrier for potential operators to enter the market. However, this kind of arrangement has several positive effects. It makes a more extensive service possible, and diminishes the need for additional local public transport. Whether these benefits offset the welfare loss of reduced competition is an open question.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Institutional and Political Conditions For The Establishment Of Congestion Charging Regimes: A Comparison Of Norwegian And Swedish Experiences

In this paper we summarize the knowledge of how toll cordons in Norway have developed the last 20 years. We compare this with the recent development in the Swedish city Stockholm, in order to further elaborate the knowledge of conditions for the establishing of congestion charging regimes in urban areas. The initialization and spreading of toll cordons in Norway is analyzed as a result of the interplay between institutional conditions (legal institutions, procedures and the financial structure urban government is embedded in) and urban political coalitions. Several factors seems crucial for the establishing of toll cordons ; the experience of having a congestion problem; that someone takes leadership in the process; high level of trust among the actors, and the establishing of incentives, i.e, that toll cordons are likely to trigger extraordinary funding from the government or at least that the revenue will not lead to a reduction in such funding. The content of these toll cordons/transport packages has developed over time: • While originally revenue was solely used for road infrastructure, there is a general tendency towards increased investments in public transport. • There is a tendency that these packages have been prolonged, enhanced to new generations, while initially set up for a 15 to 20 years period. However; on important dimension, we can observe continuity rather than change.The revenue is solely used for infrastructure, not operation. • In most packages, there has been an emphasis on large project with strong symbolic power. • Although addressed in the initial phase, such elements as restrictions on car use, parking policy and congestion charging, are not included in the packages when these have passed the political process. In other words: The combination of procedural rules (local consensus) and economic incentives (local competition on scarce state budget) hinders further changes in the transport packages. The economic incentive leads to a decision making situation that induce the actors to focus on “fresh” money for infrastructure purpose. The demand for local agreement leads to a situation where every key actor necessary for such a broad agreement has a veto-position in the decision-making process. This is also an important explanation for the lack of interest and support for road pricing/congestion charging schemes in Norway. Are these hypotheses about important obstacles for congestion charging supported when comparing these cases with the establishing of the congestion charging trial in Sweden? In general that seems to be the case: In the process leading up to the trial in Sweden, they established a situation where local government had few or no cost with the trial and at the same time the use of the revenue was earmarked for the local transport system. Their demand for local agreement was narrowed to an absolute majority, rather than requiring a considerable majority. Hence, the strategy in Stockholm was that of political conflict rather than consensus-building, a strategy that proved successful because the same coalition held majority at both national and city level. In other words: altering these conditions are among the lessons to be learnt for Norwegians or others who want to follow in the foot-steps of Stockholm when it comes to introduction of congestion charging.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Public funding to long distance buses: an entry barrier or a necessity?

Despite the deregulation of the market, the Norwegian express bus market is heavily concentrated to one major actor; Nor-Way Bussekspress which is owned by 40 different bus operators. We investigate this lack of competiton. Although several entry barriers can be identified from a theoretical point of view, we find most of them to have negligible effects in the real world. One important entry barrier that we find is the fact that the main company, Nor-Way Bussekspress, receives public subsidies for certain local parts of their express routes, paid by local county councils. This not only guarantees a certain minimum of revenue, but is also an efficient barrier for potential operators to enter the market. However, this kind of arrangement has several positive effects. It makes a more extensive service possible, and diminishes the need for additional local public transport. Whether these benefits offset the welfare loss of reduced competition is an open question.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Occupational skin diseases from 1997 to 2004 at the department of dermatology, University hospital of Northern Norway (UNN): An investigation into the course and treatment of occupational skin disease 10-15 years after first consultations with a dermatologist

Published version. Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.30100 Objectives: We investigate the impact of occupational skin disease consultations among outpatients at the Dermatological Department, University Hospital, Northern Norway. Study design: From 1997 until 2004, 386 patients with occupational skin disease were examined and given advice on skin care, skin disease treatment, skin protection in further work, and on the legal rights of patients with this disease. Ten to fifteen years later, we wanted to look at these patients in terms of their work situation, the current status of their disease, the help they received from the labour offices, and their subjective quality of life. Material and methods: In the autumn of 2011 until the spring of 2012, a number of the patients examined in the period from 1997 to 2004 were selected and sent a questionnaire, which they were asked to answer and return, regarding their work situation and the progress and current status of their occupational disease. Results: A total of 153 (77%) patients answered the questionnaire; 71% of these patients were still in work, and further 15% had old-age retired, 13% were working until then; 16% had retired early because of disability; 54% had changed jobs because of their occupational skin disease; 86% of the patients indicated that the skin disease had improved since our previous investigation. Conclusions: Our investigation into patients with occupational skin disease documented that the majority of patients who had received professional dermatological consultation and intervention offers were still in the labour market and had good control of their skin disease 10-15 years later. We discovered that 71% of the patients were still employed. 13% had remained in work until they became old age pensioners. Only 16% dropped out of work because of disability. These high percentages may indicate that our intervention has contributed positively to patients’ work conditions and the course of their skin disease

Chapter 21 Differentiated integration in EU climate policy

EU climate policy is characterized by significant degrees of differentiated integration. Although the two topics complement each other, differentiated integration and studies of EU climate policy have rarely been studied in conjunction. To address this gap, we develop a three-fold conceptualization that makes it possible to explore differentiation during the course of a policy cycle: policy output differentiation, policy outcome differentiation and policy impact differentiation. Our examination of two key elements of EU climate policy legislation—emissions trading and renewables policy—shows that differentiated integration is an uneven and multi-directional process that varies over time. We argue that differentiation is an important enabler for concerted action in EU climate policy and that differentiation at the policy output and outcome stages may facilitate greater harmonization at the impact stage. Differentiation at the impact and outcome level of the three (idealtype) policy stages does not automatically reflect differentiation at the output policy stage; it is rather that output differentiation may facilitate both high and low levels of differentiation at these later stages

Energy security concerns versus market harmony:The Europeanisation of capacity mechanisms

The impact of renewables on the energy markets-falling wholesale electricity prices and lower investment stability-are apparently creating a shortage of energy project financing, which in future could lead to power supply shortages. Governments have responded by introducing payments for capacity, alongside payments for energy being sold. The increasing use of capacity mechanisms (CMs) in the EU has created tensions between the European Commission, which encourages cross-country cooperation, and Member States that favour backup solutions such as capacity markets and strategic reserves. We seek to trace the influence of the European Commission on national capacity markets as well as learning between Member States. Focusing on the United Kingdom, France and Poland, the analysis shows that energy security concerns have been given more emphasis than the functioning of markets by Member States. Policy developments have primarily been domestically driven, but the European Commission has managed to impose certain elements, most importantly a uniform methodology to assess future supply security, as well as specific requirements for national capacity markets: interconnectors to neighbouring countries, demand side responses and continuous revision of CMs. Learning from other Member States’ experiences also play a role in policy decisions

Differential growth and how liberalization was achieved in the postal services sector

EU liberalization has a tendency to occur even in the most disputed policy areas. Drawing on two approaches, gradual institutional theories and differentiated integration, this contribution seeks to clarify how the EU achieved liberalization policy in the postal market. A qualitative study of the decision-making process of the Postal Directive suggests that differential growth, in particular related to time rules in existing legislation that ensure future re-negotiations and concessions that constrain resistance, have contributed to policy change in EU postal services. This occurred under the conditions of instability in the market due to an unclear line between who is allowed to compete where, social norms that made it politically costly to create barriers to further integration and longevity that created desires to put an end to a process

Community Acceptance of Wind Energy Developments: Experience from Wind Energy Scarce Regions in Europe

Renewable energy plays an important role in the transition to a low emission society, yet in many regions energy projects have resulted in increasing societal polarization. Based on a comprehensive literature review and a survey among stakeholders from specific regions in Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Spain with little prior experience with wind energy, we highlight six categories of factors that shape community acceptance of onshore wind energy development: technical characteristics of wind energy projects, environmental impacts, economic impacts, societal impacts, contextual factors and individual characteristics. We identify key similarities in acceptance-related patterns of wind energy development across the selected regions, but also important differences, highlighting the very context-specific nature of community acceptance. The findings contribute to improving the understanding of the forces, factors and relationships at play between policy frameworks and perceptions of wind energy under different conditions. We conclude by proposing policy recommendations regarding measures to increase the positive impacts and reduce the negative impacts of wind energy projects, and to strengthen existing drivers and reduce barriers to community acceptance of wind energy development