Is Society Ready for A.I. Ethical Decision Making? Lessons from a Study on Autonomous Cars

We use two separate experiments to study social acceptance of AI ethical decision making. In the first experiment, we test whether there is an unjustifiable fear of technology. Moreover, we contrast two methodologies to estimate preferences: an indirect method and a direct method. We find that the direct method shows that humans have an aversion toward AI; however, the indirect method shows that humans do not mind the implementation of new technologies. We identify the cause of this discrepancy and find that, in addition to their own preferences, the respondents largely weight social preferences on the direct method. Finally, in the second experiment, we study how humans react to different ways to introduce this new technology to society to show that part of the fear of AI may be related to trust in the government

Impact Analysis of Changes in The Price of Water Resources in China and Beijing

This paper aims to analyze the impact of changes in resource prices on intra-region goods supply and on extra-region changes in prices, as well as possible impacts on the demand side, using China and Beijing as examples for analysis. Results of the analysis with Input-Output model and CGE model demonstrate that changes in the price of water supply do not have as significant an impact as is the case with energy goods such as electrical power or oil and mining. Also, another result with International IO model shows that an increase in the price of water resources in China would first induce changes in the prices of some domestic goods (education and research, chemical fertilizers, etc.); the effect on other countries would be relatively large in countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea, and in the industries of flour milling, heavy electrical equipment, knitting, non-ferrous metals, and apparel. However, all of these impacts would be minimal.Water resources, energy price rising effect, International Input-Output, CGE model

Sustainable Living with Environmental Risks

Earth System Sciences; Environmental Management; Sustainable Development; Environmental Risk Management; Sustainable Society; Biodiversity and Environment; Interdisciplinary Science; Leadership Education; Sustainable Living with Environmental Risks (SLER

A general equilibrium analysis of the inflationary impact of energy subsidies reform in Iran

Iran has suffered ever-increasing domestic energy consumption mostly due to its price controlling policy. If the trend continues, it will become a pure importer in the following decades. To avoid that unlucky fate, Iran started the energy subsidies reform on December 2010. It increased domestic energy and agricultural prices up to 20 times, making it the first major oil-exporting country to reduce substantially implicit energy subsidies. The paper studies the inflationary impact of the energy subsidies reform on different non-energy sectors and urban and rural households in Iran. For this purpose, the input-output price model of Iran is made and energy cross-price elasticities of non-energy sectors are derived. The results evidence the tremendous effects of the complete reform on the production and consumption prices.Energy subsidies reform, Production and consumption prices, Iran, Input-output price model, Decomposition

Reverse Inter-Generational Information Transmission: A Study of Hand Sanitizer Gel in Cambodia

We conduct a field experiment to study information transmission from children to their parents. We aim to promote the usage of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, by teaching children its benefits and then test whether (i) information has been transmitted and (ii) information has an impact on the decision to purchase the hand gel. Moreover, in addition to a lecture on the benefits of the hand gel, our intervention implements a hands-on experience where children actually use the hand gel. We show that the average treatment effect of our intervention is positive on parents’ information, thus information is transmitted. Moreover, we use an instrumental variable approach to show that higher information implies a higher probability to purchase more hand gel.This project was funded by our general Hiroshima University research fund

Economy-wide impacts of consumer responses to environmental information disclosure in Tokyo and the other parts of Japan

Environmental problems such as global warming due to GHG emissions have necessitated some constraint in our economic activities, as many countries and many people around the world are concerned about these issues. Environmental and economic policies such as carbon tax are one such constraint. A tax policy can be interpreted as a desirable method that can lead the economy, which has to pay the social cost of false economic activity or market failure, to a more optimal path. However, this policy will surely raise prices of goods. On the one hand, this price rise will benefit the public sector, but on the other hand, consumers demand will decline. The magnitude of the reduction usually depends on the price elasticity of demand, and the increase in government gain depends on the necessity of the goods for the people. Therefore, it is not necessarily trivial to ask whether the total effect of rising energy prices will be negative. In addition, nowadays, many people are concerned about environmental problems, and there are indications that consumers tend to change their purchasing behavior regarding certain goods to take environmental concerns into account even if this necessitates paying a higher price. This paper will empirically prove how the rise in oil and gas prices due to environmental policies like carbon tax affects the total production/consumption when we take into account the change in consumer behavior reflecting their attitudes toward preventing global warming. The main result of the analysis using an input-output model and price elasticity of demand in several sectors will show that most of sectors do not experience a decline in production after a price rise except the biggest sector, real estate. In Japan, real estate might be the main target to support for consumerfs purchasing from the viewpoint of economic policy.consumer behavior; disclosure of information about environmental damage; energy price rising effect; price elasticity of demand; International Input-Output model.

Impacts of urbanization on national transport and road energy use: Evidence from low, middle and high income countries

Few attempts have been made to investigate quantitatively and systematically the impact of urbanization on transport energy use for countries of different stages of economic development. This paper examines the influence of urbanization on national transport and road energy use for low, middle and high income countries during 1975?2005, using the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model. After controlling for population size, income per capita and the share of services in the economy, the main results suggest that urbanization influences national transport and road energy use positively. However, the magnitude of its influence varies among the three income groups. Changes in urbanization appear to have a greater impact on transport and road energy use in the high income group than in the other groups. Surprisingly, the urbanization elasticities of transport and road energy use in the middle income group are smaller than those of the low income group. This study not only sheds further light on the existing literature, but also provides policy makers with insightful information on the link between urbanization and transport energy use at the three different stages of development.Urbanization, Transport energy use, Development stages

Allocating Costs of Environmental Management among Generations: A Case of Environmental Liabilities in Transition Economies

The objective of this paper is to examine cost allocation in relation to remediating environmental liability issues in Russia, where significant environmental damages, continuing from the Soviet era, present serious impediments to pursuing sustainable development. The research attempts to highlight citizensf preferences for remediating facilities and sites with environmental liabilities, and elicits preference differences among citizens using choice experiment methods. Intergenerational issues are involved in addressing environmental liabilities in transition economies because the causes and effects are spread among generations. Therefore, evaluating citizensf preferences provides more policy implications for future remediation initiatives. The econometric analysis reveals that citizens demonstrate positive preferences for reducing pollution of drinking water and soil decontamination. The research also suggests that the households with higher incomes, older household heads (or spouses), and more young children have higher preferences for remediating environmental liabilities in Russia. Estimation of the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for age and income segments of the households allows the government to determine a suitable taxation policy. The findings provide new insights on cost allocation in relation to remediating environmental damages in transition economies that have suffered from these serious environmental legacies.Environmental management, Willingness to pay, Preference, Generation, Transition economics

The Impact of Wildfire Pollution on Childbirth: Evidence from the 2006 Forest Fire in Indonesia

Climate-related events, such as drought and deforestation, substantially increase the frequency and severity of wildfires and, consequently, the amount of air pollutants in Indonesia. We combine childbirth data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey and aerosol data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer to identify the effect of Indonesia's 2006 wildfire on newborns. More specifically, using a matching algorithm and a natural experiment approach, we show that the intensity of the fire decreased the weight of the newborns but did not affect either the sex or the gestation. Moreover, we also observe that weight loss is caused by exposure to pollutants during the early stages of pregnancy, not during the late stages