A Partial Adjustment Model of U.S. Electricity Demand by Region, Season, and Sector

Identifying the factors that influence electricity demand in the continental United States and mathematically characterizing them are important for developing electricity consumption projections. The price elasticity of demand is especially important, since the electricity price effects of policy implementation can be substantial and the demand response to policy-induced changes in prices can significantly affect the cost of policy compliance. This paper estimates electricity demand functions with particular attention paid to the demand stickiness that is imposed by the capital-intensive nature of electricity consumption and to regional, seasonal, and sectoral variation. The analysis uses a partial adjustment model of electricity demand that is estimated in a fixed-effects OLS framework. This model formulation allows for the price elasticity to be expressed in both its short-run and long-run forms. Price elasticities are found to be broadly consistent with the existing literature, but with important regional, seasonal, and sectoral differences.electricity, demand elasticities, energy demand, partial adjustment

Implementing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy into Post Cerebral Vascular Accident Rehabilitation: An Occupational Therapy Guideline

Strokes are a leading cause of disability in the United States, with approximately 7 million adults currently living with a stroke. The incidence rate of strokes is expected to significantly increase by 2030, which demonstrates a need for this population to receive quality care (Billinger et al., 2014). There is extensive research on how occupational therapists provide skilled interventions for the physical and cognitive deficits of a stroke; however, a gap in the literature exists regarding treatment of the psychosocial impairments an individual may experience post-stroke. Specifically, there is limited research on how to treat post-stroke depression (PSD) and post-stroke anxiety (PSA), which are two prevalent psychosocial impairments resulting from a stroke, that lead to an interruption in occupational performance. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common frame of reference implemented in mental health practice; the authors investigated how CBT techniques could be implemented into post-stroke therapy to target PSD and PSA, thereby leading to increased occupational performance. The authors completed an extensive literature review before creating the product; this included the overall need for addressing PSA and PSD in typical post-stroke rehabilitation, and evidence supporting the use of CBT with this population. The literature review was completed using reliable databases and journals that generated articles relevant to the proposed topic and profession. Upon completion of the literature review, the authors created the guide following the occupational therapy process addressed within the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process (2014). The most evidence-based strategies and interventions were included within the guide. Additionally, the product was based on the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), and contains five sections. Part 1 is an overview of the psychosocial limitations that may present after a stroke, and how CBT can be incorporated into occupational therapy interventions as an adjunctive method to enhance the therapy process and outcomes. Part II provides occupational therapists with assessments that are appropriate to use with individuals post-stroke. Part III is an overview of occupational therapy intervention planning strategies to facilitate collaboration between the client and therapist. Part IV is the actual guide, and contains several CBT strategies, handouts, and worksheets that can assist the occupational therapist in providing the client with helpful tools to learn more about and overcome the psychosocial impairments they are experiencing. This guide is not intended to replace existing methods of occupational therapy intervention, but rather to serve as a supplement for providing a more comprehensive approach to post-stroke rehabilitation. Part V is a summary of the materials presented in the guide, as well as explaining the need for continuing research. The overall purpose of this guide was to facilitate occupational performance and functioning among this post-stroke population by occupational therapists using CBT strategies as a means for treating post-stroke depression (PSD) and post-stroke anxiety (PSA)

The dreams of the cashless society: A study of EFTPOS in New Zealand

This paper looks at the way in which Utopian dreams, such as the cashless society, influence the adoption of information technology. Some authors claim that Utopian visions are used by IT firms to market their services and products, and that the hype that often accompanies technological innovations is part of a large scale social process in contemporary societies. This article discusses the social role of technological utopianism with respect to the introduction of EFTPOS in New Zealand. The case of New Zealand is interesting, given that New Zealand has the highest saturation of EFTPOS terminals in the world

Teaching Opportunity Cost in an Emissions Permit Experiment

This paper describes an individual choice experiment that can be used to teach students how to correctly account for opportunity costs in production decisions. Students play the role of producers who require a fuel input and an emissions permit for production. Given fixed market prices, they make production quantity decisions on the basis of their costs. Permits have a constant price throughout the experiment. In one treatment, students have to purchase both a fuel input and an emissions permit for each production unit. In a second treatment, they receive permits for free, and any unused permits are sold on their behalf at the permit price. If students correctly incorporate opportunity costs, they will have the same supply function in both treatments. This experiment motivates classroom discussion of opportunity costs and emissions permit allocation under cap-and-trade schemes. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme provides a relevant example for classroom discussion, as industry earned significant windfall profits from free allocation of emissions allowances in the early phases of the program.opportunity cost, emissions permits, allowance allocation, classroom experiments

Teaching Opportunity Cost in an Emissions Permit Experiment

This paper describes an individual choice experiment that can be used to teach students how to correctly account for opportunity costs in production decisions. Students play the role of producers who require a fuel input and an emissions permit for production. Given fixed market prices, they make production quantity decisions on the basis of their costs. Permits have a constant price throughout the experiment. In one treatment, students have to purchase both a fuel input and an emissions permit for each production unit. In a second treatment, they receive permits for free, and any unused permits are sold on their behalf at the permit price. If students correctly incorporate opportunity costs, they will have the same supply function in both treatments. This experiment motivates classroom discussion of opportunity costs and emissions permit allocation under cap-and-trade schemes. The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme provides a relevant example for classroom discussion, as industry earned significant windfall profits from free allocation of emissions allowances in the early phases of the program.opportunity cost; emissions permits; allowance allocation; classroom experiments

Pricing Strategies under Emissions Trading: An Experimental Analysis

An important feature in the design of an emissions trading program is how emissions allowances are initially distributed into the market. In a competitive market the choice between an auction and free allocation should, according to economic theory, not have any influence on firms’ production choices nor on consumer prices. However, many observers expect the method of allocation to affect product prices. This paper reports on the use of experimental methods to investigate behavior with respect to how prices will be determined under a cap-and-trade program. Participants initially display a variety of pricing strategies. However, given a simple economic setting in which earnings depend on this behavior, we find that subjects learn to consider the value of allowances and overall behavior moves toward that predicted by economic theory.carbon dioxide, climate change, emissions trading, distributional effects, electricity, allocation, auctions

An Experimental Analysis of Auctioning Emissions Allowances under a Loose Cap

The direct sale of emissions allowances by auction is an emerging characteristic of cap-and-trade programs. This study is motivated by the observation that all of the major implementations of cap-and-trade regulations for the control of air pollution have started with a generous allocation of allowances relative to recent emissions history, a situation we refer to as a “loose cap.” Typically more stringent reductions are achieved in subsequent years of a program. We use an experimental setting to investigate the effects of a loose cap environment on a variety of auction types. We find all auction formats studied are efficient in allocating emissions allowances, but auction revenues tend to be lower relative to competitive benchmarks when the cap is loose. Regardless of whether the cap is tight or loose, the different auction formats tend to yield comparable revenues toward the end of a series of auctions. However, aggressive bidding behavior in initial discriminatory auctions yields higher revenues than in other auction formats, a difference that disappears as bidders learn to adjust their bids closer to the cutoff that separates winning and losing bids.auction, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, allowance trading, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, cap and trade

Pricing Strategies Under Emissions Trading: An Experimental Analysis

An important feature in the design of an emissions trading program is how emissions allowances are initially distributed into the market. In a competitive market the choice between an auction and free allocation should, according to economic theory, not have any influence on firms’ production choices nor on consumer prices. However, many observers expect the method of allocation to affect product prices. This paper reports on the use of experimental methods to investigate behavior with respect to how prices will be determined under a cap-and-trade program. Participants initially display a variety of pricing strategies. However, given a simple economic setting in which earnings depend on this behavior, we find that subjects learn to consider the value of allowances and overall behavior moves toward that predicted by economic theory.carbon dioxide; climate change; emissions trading; distributional effects; electricity; allocation; auctions

Collusion in Auctions for Emission Permits: An Experimental Analysis

Environmental markets have several institutional features that provide a new context for the use of auctions and which have not been studied previously. This paper reports on laboratory experiments testing three auction forms -– uniform and discriminatory price sealed bid auctions and an ascending clock auction. We test the ability of subjects to tacitly or explicitly collude in order to maximize profits. Our main result is that the discriminatory and uniform price auctions produce greater revenues than the clock auction, both without and with explicit communication. The clock appears to be more subject to successful collusion because of its sequential structure and because it allows bidders to focus on one dimension of cooperation (quantity) rather than two (price and quantity).auctions, collusion, experiments, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases