Creating protective space for innovation in electricity distribution networks in Great Britain: the politics of institutional change

Innovation in electricity distribution networks will be an important element in the transition to a sustainable low-carbon energy system. The nature of networks as regulated monopolies means that the locus of the evolution of protective space for innovation is regulatory institutions, and that the politics of creating protective space is the politics of institutional change. In this paper, I examine the case of Britain, where protective space for research, development and demonstration projects was created over the course of the 2000s in the form of funding mechanisms within the regulatory regime. The case study is used to test structural and discursive theories of gradual institutional change. I conclude that these theoretical frameworks are consistent with the evidence, but that the characterisations of regime actors and of dominant paradigms are insufficiently flexible. I also conclude that the framework for innovation in the British regulator remains incomplete

The political dynamics of green transformations: feedback and institutional context

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Right wing populism and the climate change agenda: Exploring the linkages

The rise of right wing populism (RWP) poses a challenge for the climate agenda, as leaders and supporters tend to be climate sceptics and hostile to climate policy (although there are some variations within this general pattern). However, there is a surprising dearth of research that investigates the nature and causes of this association. This paper considers two kinds of explanation. One is termed 'structuralist', drawing on accounts of the roots of populism in economic and political marginalisation amongst those 'left behind' by globalisation and technological change. A second focuses on the ideological content of RWP, especially its antagonism between 'the people' and a cosmopolitan elite, with climate change and policy occupying a symbolic place in this contrast. It is argued that there are limits to the structuralist approach, and that an ideologically based explanation is more compelling. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research on right wing populism and climate science and polic

De Gustibus non est Taxandum: Heterogeneity in Preferences and Optimal Redistribution

The prominent but unproven intuition that preference heterogeneity reduces re-distribution in a standard optimal tax model is shown to hold under the plausible condition that the distribution of preferences for consumption relative to leisure rises, in terms of first-order stochastic dominance, with income. Given mainstream functional form assumptions on utility and the distributions of ability and preferences, a simple statistic for the effect of preference heterogeneity on marginal tax rates is derived. Numerical simulations and suggestive empirical evidence demonstrate the link between this potentially measurable statistic and the quantitative implications of preference heterogeneity for policy.

Catastrophic crisis communication: a study of hospital crisis planning following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

The purpose of this study was to determine whether hospitals in southern New Jersey and throughout the United States were prepared to respond to catastrophic crisis situations and find out if hospitals have changed or improved crisis plans since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. To examine preparedness and improvement of crisis plans since September 11, 2001, the researcher employed qualitative and quantitative studies. The researcher conducted in-depth personal interviews with public relations specialists from four southern New Jersey hospitals and sent email surveys to 40 hospitals throughout the United States to find out if these facilities felt prepared to respond to catastrophic crises and see if their crisis plans have been changed or improved since September 11, 2001. Findings of the study indicate that hospitals in southern New Jersey and throughout the United States do feel prepared to respond to catastrophic crisis. In addition, many hospitals update crisis plans on a regular basis

The governance of retail energy services in the UK: a framework for the future

This Working Paper is the first output of research on retail market governance in the theme on “Decision making”. Retail markets are the main commercial interface for most people with the energy system. Current retail energy market governance in the UK is characterized by a quite complex mix of arrangements that have evolved over time. The scale of governance is increasingly complex, for both technical and political reasons, with a trend towards multi-level governance. The role of EU institutions has increased and this seemed set to continue until the EU Referendum; some energy governance is now devolved (although to different extents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandii); and some local government is beginning to play a more active role. However, the principal level is still the nation state, and that is therefore our predominant focus

The Evidence of Benefits for Poor People of Electricity Provision: Scoping Note and Review Protocol

At one level, the relationship between electricity, economic growth and the elimination of poverty is obvious. At the aggregate level, no country has achieved a high level of per capita income and welfare without a functioning electricity system. At the level of individual households, access to a reliable supply of electricity by poor households is thought to contribute significantly to overcoming a number of barriers, including: limited opportunities for children to study; severe constraints on economic opportunities; negative health effects via inability to store food safely; and constraints on the ability to access information via TV, radio and mobile phones. It may have negative effects on the provision of services, including health, education and pumped water. Finally, limited access and poor reliability of supply more widely across the economy may prevent the reduction of poverty through constraining economic growth. However, the evidence for the exact relationships between the provision of electricity on the one hand and the reduction of poverty on the other are not as well understood as they could be. Although there are some existing reviews of particular aspects of the relationship between electricity and poverty, an up-to-date, rigorous assessment of the evidence base designed to inform DFID’s programming is absent. This document sets out the background and context for a review to be undertaken by IDS assessing the extent and quality of the evidence base for the relationships between low carbon electricity capacity and benefits for poor people. It delineates the boundaries of the study and highlights some of the relevant issues and the types of evidence available. It identifies the different kinds of electricity interventions and the kinds of developmental outcomes to be considered. The details of the proposed approach may subsequently be refined in consultation with reviewers and other stakeholders.DFI

Quantifying the latitudinal representivity of in situ solar wind observations

Advanced space-weather forecasting relies on the ability to accurately predict near-Earth solar wind conditions. For this purpose, physics-based, global numerical models of the solar wind are initialized with photospheric magnetic field and coronagraph observations, but no further observation constraints are imposed between the upper corona and Earth orbit. Data assimilation (DA) of the available in situ solar wind observations into the models could potentially provide additional constraints, improving solar wind reconstructions, and forecasts. However, in order to effectively combine the model and observations, it is necessary to quantify the error introduced by assuming point measurements are representative of the model state. In particular, the range of heliographic latitudes over which in situ solar wind speed measurements are representative is of primary importance, but particularly difficult to assess from observations alone. In this study we use 40+ years of observation-driven solar wind model results to assess two related properties: the latitudinal representivity error introduced by assuming the solar wind speed measured at a given latitude is the same as that at the heliographic equator, and the range of latitudes over which a solar wind measurement should influence the model state, referred to as the observational localisation. These values are quantified for future use in solar wind DA schemes as a function of solar cycle phase, measurement latitude, and error tolerance. In general, we find that in situ solar wind speed measurements near the ecliptic plane at solar minimum are extremely localised, being similar over only 1° or 2° of latitude. In the uniform polar fast wind above approximately 40° latitude at solar minimum, the latitudinal representivity error drops. At solar maximum, the increased variability of the solar wind speed at high latitudes means that the latitudinal representivity error increases at the poles, though becomes greater in the ecliptic, as long as moderate speed errors can be tolerated. The heliospheric magnetic field and solar wind density and temperature show very similar behaviour

Positive and Normative Judgments Implicit in U.S. Tax Policy, and the Costs of Unequal Growth and Recessions

Calculating the welfare implications of changes to economic policy or shocks requires economists to decide on a normative criterion. One approach is to elicit the relevant moral criteria from real-world policy choices, converting a normative decision into a positive inference, as in the recent surge of “inverse-optimum” research. We find that capitalizing on the potential of this approach is not as straightforward as we might hope. We perform the inverse-optimum inference on U.S. tax policy from 1979 through 2010 and argue that the results either undermine the normative relevance of the approach or challenge conventional assumptions upon which economists routinely rely when performing welfare evaluations

Positive and Normative Judgments Implicit in U.S. Tax Policy, and the Costs of Unequal Growth and Recessions

Calculating the welfare implications of changes to economic policy or shocks to the economy requires economists to decide on a normative criterion. One way to make that decision is to elicit the relevant moral criteria from real-world policy choices, converting a normative decision into a positive inference exercise as in, for example, the recent surge of so-called “inverse-optimum” research. We find that capitalizing on the potential of this approach is not as straightforward as we might hope. We perform the inverse- optimum inference on U.S. tax policy from 1979 through 2010 and identify two broad explanations for its evolution. These explanations, however, either undermine the reliability of the inference exercise's conclusions or challenge conventional assumptions upon which economists routinely rely when performing welfare evaluations. We emphasize the need for better evidence on society's positive and normative judgments in order to resolve the questions these findings raise