Investigating affordability problems of utility services - a theoretical study on the ratio measure

Unlike in developing countries, there tends to be no problem of access to water, electricity, and heating for private households in transition countries. However, transition countries have a considerable amount of low-income households, and the problem of affordability of these environmental-related utility services remains urgent. Welfare economics literature suggests to neglect affordability aspects by separating allocative from distributive impacts of pricing. In practice, this separation runs the risk of rendering impossible any sustainability-oriented price reform. An Institutional Economics approach takes competing objectives into account. From this viewpoint it appears to be worth investigating the affordability-concept. Although the affordability-related research has escalated remarkably in recent years, the theoretical contributions are still limited. Hence, we focus on the simple ratio measure often used in practice. We analyze the arguments speaking for the 'potential affordability approach'. But we find that - within that approach - adhering formally to the ratio measure is possible only under conditions that make no sense regarding the concern of the measure. Thus for most cases the ratio measure is misleading. Some considerations on practical use for governance conclude the paper. --Affordability,Transition Countries,Utility Services

Recht auf Wasser - eine ökonomische Perspektive

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Ein neues Konzept zur Bewertung von nachhaltigem Zugang zu Wasser

Auch nach der Anerkennung eines Rechts auf Wasser durch die UN- Generalversammlung im Jahr 2010 steht ein Durchbruch bei dessenUmsetzung immer noch aus. Dazu fehlen bisher nicht zuletzt ein klares Begriffskonzept und Prüfsteine, wann das Recht auf Wasser erfüllt sein soll. Der Beitrag entwirft auf institutionenökonomischer Grundlage ein neues, nachhaltigkeitsorientiertes Bewertungssystem für den Zugang zu Wasser

Staatliche Instrumente zur Verlängerung der Produktnutzung auf dem Prüfstand

Die Lebens- und Nutzungsdauer von Produkten steht im Zentrum einer Diskussion um nachhaltigen Konsum. Ließe sich die Nutzungsdauer von Produkten auch durch staatliche Eingriffe verlängern und wäre dies tatsächlich ein Gewinn für die Nachhaltigkeit? Aus institutionen- und rechtsökonomischer Sicht ergeben sich Möglichkeiten und Grenzen unterschiedlicher Rechtsinstrumente

Perspectives on Institutional Change â Water Management in Europe

Agricultural Finance, Political Economy,

Effects of GPR139 agonism on effort expenditure for food reward in rodent models: Evidence for pro-motivational actions

Apathy, deficiency of motivation including willingness to exert effort for reward, is a common symptom in many psychiatric and neurological disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. Despite improved understanding of the neurocircuitry and neurochemistry underlying normal and deficient motivation, there is still no approved pharmacological treatment for such a deficiency. GPR139 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor expressed in brain regions which contribute to the neural circuitry that controls motivation including effortful responding for reward, typically sweet gustatory reward. The GPR139 agonist TAK-041 is currently under development for treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia which include apathy. To date, however, there are no published preclinical data regarding its potential effect on reward motivation or deficiencies thereof. Here we report in vitro evidence confirming that TAK-041 increases intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and has high selectivity for GPR139. In vivo, TAK-041 was brain penetrant and showed a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. It was without effect on extracellular dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens. In addition, TAK-041 did not alter the effort exerted to obtain sweet gustatory reward in rats that were moderately food deprived. By contrast, TAK-041 increased the effort exerted to obtain sweet gustatory reward in mice that were only minimally food deprived; furthermore, this effect of TAK-041 occurred both in control mice and in mice in which deficient effortful responding was induced by chronic social stress. Overall, this study provides preclinical evidence in support of GPR139 agonism as a molecular target mechanism for treatment of apathy

Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires sur l’Allemagne – CRIA

Falk Bretschneider, ATERAlexandre Escudier, chargé de recherche à la FNSPWolfgang Kaiser, Pierre Monnet, Michael Werner, directeurs d’étudesChristine Lebeau, professeur à l’Université Paris-IMarie-Louise Pelus-Kaplan, professeur à l’Université Paris-VIIPatrice Veit, directeur de recherche au CNRS Les mots de l’histoire : historiens allemands et français face à leurs concepts et à leurs outils Pendant l’année, le CRIA a poursuivi le séminaire collectif « Les mots de l’histoire », avec le souti..

Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires sur l’Allemagne – CRIA

Falk Bretschneider, ATERAlexandre Escudier, chargé de recherche à la FNSPWolfgang Kaiser, Pierre Monnet, Michael Werner, directeurs d’étudesChristine Lebeau, professeur à l’Université Paris-IMarie-Louise Pelus-Kaplan, professeur à l’Université Paris-VIIPatrice Veit, directeur de recherche au CNRS Les mots de l’histoire : historiens allemands et français face à leurs concepts et à leurs outils Pendant l’année, le CRIA a poursuivi le séminaire collectif « Les mots de l’histoire », avec le souti..

Enhanced Late Miocene Chemical Weathering and Altered Precipitation Patterns in the Watersheds of the Bay of Bengal Recorded by Detrital Clay Radiogenic Isotopes

The late Miocene was a period of declining CO2 levels and extensive environmental changes, which likely had a large impact on monsoon strength as well as on the weathering and erosion intensity in the South Asian Monsoon domain. To improve our understanding of these feedback systems, detrital clays from the southern Bay of Bengal (International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1443) were analyzed for the radiogenic isotope compositions of Sr, Nd, and Pb to reconstruct changes in sediment provenance and weathering regime related to South Asian Monsoon rainfall from 9 to 5 Ma. The 100 kyr resolution late Miocene to earliest Pliocene record suggests overall low variability in the provenance of clays deposited on the Ninetyeast Ridge. However, at 7.3 Ma, Nd and Pb isotope compositions indicate a switch to an increased relative contribution from the Irrawaddy River (by ∼10%). This shift occurred during the global benthic δ13C decline, and we suggest that global cooling and increasing aridity resulted in an eastward shift of precipitation patterns leading to a more focused erosion of the Indo‐Burman Ranges. Sr isotope compositions were decoupled from Nd and Pb isotope signatures and became more radiogenic between 6 and 5 Ma. Grassland expansion generating thick, easily weatherable soils may have led to an environment supporting intense chemical weathering, which is likely responsible for the elevated detrital clay 87Sr/86Sr ratios during this time. This change in Sr isotope signatures may also have contributed to the late Miocene increase of the global seawater Sr isotope composition

Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires sur l’Allemagne – CRIA

Falk Bretschneider, ATERAlexandre Escudier, chargé de recherche au CEVIPOF, FNSPWolfgang Kaiser, Pierre Monnet, Michael Werner, directeurs d’étudesChristine Lebeau, professeur à l’Université Paris-IMarie-Louise Pelus-Kaplan, professeur à l’Université Paris-VIIPatrice Veit, directeur de recherche au CNRS Les mots de l’histoire : historiens allemands et français face à leurs concepts et à leurs outils Le cria a poursuivi le séminaire collectif « Les mots de l’histoire », avec le soutien de la M..