Explaining income inequality trends: An integrated approach

In large parts of the world, income inequality has been rising in recent decades. Other regions have experienced declining trends in income inequality. This raises the question of which mechanisms underlie contrasting observed trends in income inequality around the globe. To address this research question in a comparative study, we examine a global sample of 73 countries between 1981 and 2010. Yet, we are particularly interested in the heterogeneity of inequality determinants across world regions, and along the income distribution. We find declining labour income shares and increasing imports from high-income countries to significantly contribute to increasing income inequality; taxation and imports from low-income countries exert countervailing effects. The impacts of technological change, financial globalization, domestic financial deepening, and public social spending turn out to be region-specific. Most importantly, we do not find systematic evidence of education’s equalizing effect across high- and low-income countries. Our results are largely robust to changing the underlying sources of income Ginis, but looking at different segments of income distribution reveals heterogeneous effects

The IIASA Energy Access Tool (Energy-ENACT)

Researchers from the Energy Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), building on work carried out within the framework of the Global Energy Assessment (GEA), have developed an interactive web-based scenario analysis tool that permits assessment of different policies for achieving universal access to modern energy by 2030. This software, known as the IIASA Energy-ENACT tool, is designed to assist national and regional policy makers and analysts in their strategic policy planning processes. The tool extends work undertaken for the GEA and, as such, is built on an extensive set of energy access scenarios to visualise costs and benefits of specific policy choices and their impacts. This document serves as an introduction to the Energy-ENACT tool and as a brief manual for the typical user

Stabilization of high T(sub c) phase in bismuth cuprate superconductor by lead doping

It has widely been ascertained that doping of lead in Bi:Sr:Ca:Cu:O systems promotes the growth of high T(sub c) (110 K) phase, improves critical current density, and lowers processing temperature. A systematic investigation is undertaken to determine optimum lead content and processing conditions to achieve these. A large number of samples with cationic compositions of Bi(2-x)Pb(x)Sr2Ca2Cu3 (x = 0.2 to 2.0) were prepared by conventional solid state reaction technique. Samples of all compositions were annealed together at a temperature and characterized through resistance-temperature (R-T) measurements and x ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the zero resistance temperature, T(sub c)(0) and to identify presence of phases, respectively. The annealing temperature was varied between 790 C to optimize processing parameters. Results are given. In brief, an optimum process is reported along with composition of leaded bismuth cuprate superconductor which yields nearly a high T(sub c) single phase with highly stable superconducting properties

Stabilization of high Tc phase in bismuth cuprate superconductor by lead doping

It has been widely ascertained that doping of lead in Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O systems promotes the growth of high T sub c (110 K) phase, improves critical current density, and lowers processing temperature. A systematic study was undertaken to determine optimum lead content and processing conditions to achieve these properties. A large number of samples with cationic compositions of Bi(2-x)Pb(x)Sr2Ca2Cu3 (x = 0.2 to 2.0) were prepared by conventional solid state reaction technique. Samples of all compositions were annealed together at a temperature and characterized through resistance temperature (R-T) measurements and x ray diffraction to determine the zero resistance temperature, T sub c(0) and to identify presence of phases, respectively. The annealing temperature was varied between 790 and 880 C to optimize processing parameters. Results are given. In brief, an optimum process is reported along with composition of leaded bismuth cuprate superconductor which yields nearly a high T sub c single phase with highly stable superconducting properties

Kerosene subsidies for household lighting in India: what are the impacts?

Kerosene subsidy reform is a key policy concern in India and other developing countries. As kerosene is widely used for lighting in India, any price change will likely have considerable public welfare impacts on the large fraction of the poor who do not have access to reliable electricity supply for lighting. In this study, we assess historic kerosene use for residential lighting across population groups separated by urban/rural, expenditure, and electricity service levels using data from India. Consumption trends are used to inform a service demand model and evaluate how changes in fuel price, electricity connection, and supply reliability influence environmental, health and economic outcomes. We find that users relying on kerosene for supplemental lighting—in combination ('stacked') with electricity—accounted for 64% of residential kerosene consumed for lighting in 2005. Tested scenarios that addressed service needs of supplemental users had the greatest welfare benefits, especially in the future. Scenarios reducing PM2.5 emissions from kerosene lighting can avert between 50 and 300 thousand disability adjusted life years relative to a baseline scenario in 2030. Lighting kerosene is highly price sensitive, resulting in a drop in demand of 97% in a scenario in which current subsidies are phased out by 2030. Deadweight loss of the subsidy in 2005 is estimated at $200–950 million, with three quarters attributable to supplemental kerosene lighting. Support for cleaner lighting technologies not reliant on fossil fuel subsidies would appear to be 'no regrets' or 'co-benefits' options for India, and could be implemented in parallel with subsidy removal

Estimation of the Global Health Impacts of Air Pollution

Air pollution is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to global health outcomes. A methodological framework for evaluating the global health related outcomes of outdoor and indoor (household) air pollution is presented and validated for the year 2005. Ambient concentrations of PM2.5 re estimated with a combination of energy and atmospheric models, with detailed representation of urban and rural spatial exposures. Populations dependent on solid fuels are established with household survey data. Health impacts for outdoor and household air pollution are independently calculated using the fractions of disease that can be attributed to ambient air pollution exposure and solid fuel use. Estimated ambient pollution concentrations indicate that more than 80% of the population exceeds the WHO Air Quality Guidelines in 2005. In addition, 3.26 billion people were found to use solid fuel for cooking in three regions of Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and Pacific Asia in 2005. Outdoor air pollution results in 2.7 million deaths or 23 million DALYs while household air pollution from solid fuel use and related indoor smoke results in 2.1 million deaths or 41.6 million DALYs. The higher morbidity from household air pollution can be attributed to children below the age of five in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The burden of disease from air pollution is found to be significant, thus indicating the importance of policy interventions

Projecting the impact of air pollution on child stunting in India – synergies and trade-offs between climate change mitigation, ambient air quality control, and clean cooking access

Many children in India face the double burden of high exposure to ambient (AAP) and household air pollution (HAP), both of which can affect their linear growth. Although climate change mitigation is expected to decrease AAP, climate policies could increase the cost of clean cooking fuels. Here, we develop a static microsimulation model to project the air pollution-related burden of child stunting in India up to 2050 under four scenarios combining climate change mitigation (2°C target) with national policies for AAP control and subsidised access to clean cooking. We link data from a nationally representative household survey, satellite-based estimates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), multi-dimensional demographic projection and PM2.5 and clean cooking access projections from an integrated assessment model. We find that the positive effects on child linear growth from reductions in AAP under the 2°C Paris Agreement target could be fully offset by the negative effects of climate change mitigation through reduced clean cooking access. Targeted AAP control or subsidised access to clean cooking could shift this trade-off to result in net benefits of 2.8 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.4, 4.2) or 6.5 (UI: 6.3, 6.9) million cumulative prevented cases of child stunting between 2020-50 compared to business-as-usual. Implementation of integrated climate, air quality, and energy access interventions has a synergistic impact, reducing cumulative number of stunted children by 12.1 (UI: 10.7, 13.7) million compared to business-as-usual, with the largest health benefits experienced by the most disadvantaged children and geographic regions. Findings underscore the importance of complementing climate change mitigation efforts with targeted air quality and energy access policies to concurrently deliver on carbon mitigation, health and air pollution and energy poverty reduction goals in India

Effects of apparent temperature on daily mortality in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence that elevated temperatures can lead to increased mortality is well documented, with population vulnerability being location specific. However, very few studies have been conducted that assess the effects of temperature on daily mortality in urban areas in Portugal.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this paper time-series analysis was used to model the relationship between mean apparent temperature and daily mortality during the warm season (April to September) in the two largest urban areas in Portugal: Lisbon and Oporto. We used generalized additive Poisson regression models, adjusted for day of week and season.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results show that in Lisbon, a 1°C increase in mean apparent temperature is associated with a 2.1% (95%CI: 1.6, 2.5), 2.4% (95%CI: 1.7, 3.1) and 1.7% (95%CI: 0.1, 3.4) increase in all-causes, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. In Oporto the increase was 1.5% (95%CI: 1.0, 1.9), 2.1% (95%CI: 1.3, 2.9) and 2.7% (95%CI: 1.2, 4.3) respectively. In both cities, this increase was greater for the group >65 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Even without extremes in apparent temperature, we observed an association between temperature and daily mortality in Portugal. Additional research is needed to allow for better assessment of vulnerability within populations in Portugal in order to develop more effective heat-related morbidity and mortality public health programs.</p