Modelling the impact of the recession on greenhouse gases from agriculture in Ireland

working paperThe effects of the recession of 2009 have been felt across the economy of Ireland. The rapid contraction in economic activity has had its effect on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well. It is possible to model the recession’s effect on agricultural GHG in the FAPRI-Ireland GHG model using the latest international commodity price projections from Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). The FAPRI-Ireland GHG model creates projections of future levels of Irish agricultural activity and then uses a mix of national and default emissions factors to convert this activity to estimates of annual GHG emissions from now to 2020. Our model is shocked using post-downturn commodity price projections for a selection of exogenous prices. The changes to these international commodity prices reflect the international market response to the downturn, and as such they have an impact on the level of GHG emitted by the agricultural sector in Ireland. This analysis finds that, despite the depth and breadth of the recession, the impact on GHG emissions from Irish agriculture has been muted. The impact of the shock is to reduce the projected annual emissions from the sector by only 0.14 Mt by 2020. This compares to the 2.97 Mt reduction in annual emissions which the sector would have to achieve if, for example, a reduction target of 20 percent on 2005 levels were to be imposed

7 Million Americans Can’t Escape ‘Dead End’ Jobs

Involuntary part-time is one of the worst problems in the labor market today. These are people who want full-time work, but for a collage of reasons, can only obtain part-time work (35 hours a week or less). There are about 7 million Americans stuck in involuntary part-time work. At the start of the recession, there were about 3.5 million. Although the economy shows signs of improvement, involuntary part-time workers express little hope in their future. Many don\u27t have healthcare, About 75 percent of IPT workers are either below the poverty line or in low income ($36,000 for a family of four). This two-part capstone explores the reasons why involuntary part-time remains high, why it\u27s so hard for workers and where it is the worst in the country

Public problems: private solutions? Short-term contracting of inpatient hospital care

Executive summary Public patients are routinely being treated in Australian private hospitals. Some jurisdictions have large-scale, planned programs where private or not-for-profit hospitals are contracted by the public sector to treat public inpatients (for example, Queensland’s Surgery Connect program). Often, however, ‘contracting’ is done on an ad hoc or short-term basis where private hospitals are asked, at relatively short notice, to treat public patients in order to relieve pressure on public hospitals. The findings from this project stem from interviews with 24 senior health executives across Australia. Interviewees were public and private hospital executives and government bureaucrats. All had experience in hospital contracting. The focus of the interviews was their experiences with contracting: why and how contracting arrangements were developed, what worked, what didn’t, and what changes to policy and practice were made over time. Interviewees were also asked about their views on the merits of contracting, whether it should be done more often, and if so, what needed to be done to make sure it worked well. While the views of these senior health executives on this topic were diverse, several clear messages emerged that are pertinent to policymakers working in this area. They are: The way we are doing contracting currently in Australia tends to be ad hoc, and this is enormously frustrating to hospital executives in both the public and private sectors. Without greater certainty about the type and volume of patients to be treated, and how long contract arrangements will remain in place, it is unlikely that the full benefits of contracting (such as more timely access to care for public patients, and the more efficient use of resources) will be realised. Some private hospital executives are unconvinced of the merits of contracting because they believe it reduces the value of private health insurance and the incentives to develop other private sources of revenue. Their views on contracting raise broader policy questions about the relative roles of public and private hospitals in Australia. These questions need to be addressed if governments intend to expand to use of contracting in the hospital sector. State and territory governments (referred to as states) need to develop clear and consistent policies on contracting in the hospital sector. This includes developing fee schedules for different types of services and processes for establishing and negotiating contracts with the private sector. At the same time state-level policies need to be flexible enough to allow local (or regional) health services to make decisions about when, where and how contracting is done in their area. Without significant local level involvement in decision-making, it is difficult to ensure that contracting arrangements between local public and private hospitals (which tend to be more convenient for patients) will work in the longer-term. Hospital executives have suggested numerous options for reform that have the potential to improve the way we do contracting in Australia. They range from small-scale reforms, such as contracting over longer time-periods and setting up brokers to facilitate contracting, to larger-scale ones such as establishing contestable funding pools; co-location of public and private hospitals; public-private partnerships; and implementing new hospital financing models (such as Medicare Select). These options, and more, need to be given serious consideration by policymakers if they are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our hospital systems

Impact Of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Targets On Agricultural Activity

As part of its continuing commitment to address the causes of climate change, the EU has agreed reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be achieved by 2020. In the case of Ireland the target is a reduction of 20 percent relative to the 2005 level. Agriculture is a major source of GHG emissions in Ireland, comprising 26.8 percent of total GHG emissions in 2007. Understanding the scale and cost of the decrease in agricultural production required to achieve this reduction in GHG emissions is particularly important, as is the comparison of the cost of this approach with a range of possible other means of achieving emissions reductions in the sector. This study finds that, even with reduced fertiliser usage and more extensive production practices, a very substantial decrease in the livestock population is required to meet the emission reduction targets by 2020. The paper concludes that a solution involving a mix of measures may ultimately be requiredagriculture, policy analysis, partial equilibrium modelling, baseline, scenario analysis, GHG, Kyoto, climate, Ireland, FAPRI, EU Gold Model, abatements, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q11, Q17, Q18, Q54,

Do the Poor Pay More for Healthy Food? An Empirical Economic Analysis

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,