A Code of Practice for Grocery Goods Undertakings and An Ombudsman: How To Do A Lot of Harm By Trying To Do A Little Good. WP320. October 2009

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in its August 2009 Consultation Paper, Code of Practice for Grocery Goods Undertakings, argues that a Code governing grocery supplier/retailer relations, enforced by an Ombudsman, should be introduced. The Code constrains the behaviour of the retailer with respect to certain practices that, for example, shift risk from the retailer to the supplier as well as those result in unexpected costs to suppliers. The rationale for the Code appears to be that due to the devaluation of sterling, combined with the recession, retailers are able to put increased pressure on local suppliers for lower prices, which in turn squeezes suppliers’ margins. The paper argues that the Consultation Paper does not present a sound rationale for the Code, in reality the Code is a form of protectionism occasioned by the inflow of lower priced imports. Local suppliers should adapt through developing better products and becoming more efficient, rather than seeking shelter from market forces. The impact of the Code will likely be to lead to: higher consumer prices lowering consumer welfare and thus inconsistent with the declared aim of the Code; increased costs of doing business with local suppliers thus leading to an incentive for retailers to use more imports; and, perhaps, a less competitive grocery sector. It is argued that the Consultation Paper should be withdrawn and reissued, but in a manner consistent with the government’s better regulation agenda which is currently ignored. To the extent that the issue of concern is excessive buyer power of retailers then that should be addressed directly: by liberalising the Retail Planning Guidelines as the Competition Authority has been arguing for sometime; and/or sponsoring entry of new retailers; and/or amending competition law, if a problem exists and can be demonstrated to exist, but retain the competition test. The answer, based on the evidence presented in the Consultation Paper, is not the Code

THE RECESSION, BUDGETS, COMPETITION, AND REGULATION: SHOULD THE STATE SUPPLY BESPOKE PROTECTION? RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 12 OCTOBER 2009

Recessions are harsh. Demand declines. Firms shed labour, reduce output or file for bankruptcy. Pressure mounts to reduce prices and increase productivity. Returns decline; margins are squeezed; dividends are suspended. Unemployment increases. Firms seek to delay payments to suppliers, while simultaneously demanding suppliers reduce input prices and extend credit. Carefully assembled workforce teams are broken up. New products and innovations are put on hold. Competition is characterised as cut-throat, destructive and excessive. Faith in markets begins to be questioned

A Code of Practice for Grocery Goods Undertakings and an Ombudsman: How to Do a Lot of Harm by Trying to Do a Little Good

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in its August 2009 Consultation Paper, Code of Practice for Grocery Goods Undertakings, argues that a Code governing grocery supplier/retailer relations, enforced by an Ombudsman, should be introduced. The Code constrains the behaviour of the retailer with respect to certain practices that, for example, shift risk from the retailer to the supplier as well as those that result in unexpected costs to suppliers. The rationale for the Code appears to be that due to the devaluation of sterling, combined with the recession, retailers are able to put increased pressure on local suppliers for lower prices, which in turn squeezes suppliers’ margins. The paper argues that the Consultation Paper does not present a sound rationale for the Code, in reality the Code is a form of protectionism occasioned by the inflow of lower priced imports. Local suppliers should adapt through developing better products and becoming more efficient, rather than seeking shelter from market forces. The impact of the Code will likely be to lead to: higher consumer prices lowering consumer welfare and thus inconsistent with the declared aim of the Code; increased costs of doing business with local suppliers thus leading to an incentive for retailers to use more imports; and, perhaps, a less competitive grocery sector. It is argued that the Consultation Paper should be withdrawn and reissued, but in a manner consistent with the government’s better regulation agenda which is currently ignored. To the extent that the issue of concern is excessive buyer power of retailers then that should be addressed directly: by liberalising the Retail Planning Guidelines as the Competition Authority has been arguing for sometime; and/or sponsoring entry of new retailers; and/or amending competition law, if a problem exists and can be demonstrated to exist, but retain the competition test. The answer, based on the evidence presented in the Consultation Paper, is not the Code.

Computational Modalities of Belousov-Zhabotinsky Encapsulated Vesicles

We present both simulated and partial empirical evidence for the computational utility of many connected vesicle analogs of an encapsulated non-linear chemical processing medium. By connecting small vesicles containing a solution of sub-excitable Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, sustained and propagating wave fragments are modulated by both spatial geometry, network connectivity and their interaction with other waves. The processing ability is demonstrated through the creation of simple Boolean logic gates and then by the combination of those gates to create more complex circuits

Economic Regulation: Recentralisation of Power or Improved Quality of Regulation?

The October 2009 Government Statement on Economic Regulation proposes a number of sensible reforms that are likely to improve regulatory performance in energy, airports, telecommunications, postal services and transport. However, the Government Statement also proposes to reduce the independence of regulators by holding them to account through a whole series of additional mechanisms, some of which are informal and lack transparency, while at the same time instructing regulators to take into account evolving/current – possible transient – priorities. There are good reasons for preserving and strengthening rather than undermining regulatory independence. For example, it facilitates investment in long-lived assets with a large element of sunk or irrecoverable investment, a common characteristic of network sectors. The Government Statement’s unexplained move to reduce regulators’ independence finds no support in either the government commissioned background report prepared by the Economic Intelligence Unit, Review of the Regulatory Environment in Ireland, or recent European Union legislation on energy and telecommunications regulation. Indeed, these sources are strongly in favour of regulatory independence. Two, not necessarily mutually exclusive explanations, for reducing regulatory independence are discussed: to remove an anomaly in the Irish political system; and, to assist in the delivery of social partnership. The paper concludes by arguing that some thought might be given to public consultation of the reforms in the Government Statement prior to further implementation.

How impact fees and local planning regulation can influence deployment of telecoms infrastructure

This paper examines how local government planning regulations and charges affect the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure. We explore the economic rationale for local government regulation of such infrastructure, which we suggest should be based on managing negative externalities. Using data from Ireland, we find that the observed geographical pattern of impact fees is inconsistent with the economic rationale for them. A simple econometric model of the number of telecoms masts in each country also suggests that the level of impact fees is negatively associated with mast deployment. This paper also examines other regulatory factors that affect the provision of new infrastructure. We find wide regional variation in these regulations but are unableto quantify their impact on infrastructure provision. Such regulatory complexity places extra compliance burdens on private operators, which may in turn distort the level and regional pattern of network investment. We suggest further regional harmonisation of development policy towards telecoms infrastructure to avoid exacerbating regional disparities in rollout of services. --Land use regulation,telecommunications infrastructure investment,impact fees

Very high energy gamma-rays and the Hubble parameter

A new method, based on the absorption of very high-energy gamma-rays by the cosmic infrared background, is proposed to constrain the value of the Hubble constant. As this value is both fundamental for cosmology and still not very well measured, it is worth developing such alternative methods. Our lower limit at the 68% confidence level is H0 > 74 km/s/Mpc, leading, when combined with the HST results, to H0 ~ 76 km/s/Mpc. Interestingly, this value, which is significantly higher than the usually considered one, is in exact agreement with other independent approaches based on baryonic acoustic oscillations and X-ray measurements. Forthcoming data from the experiments HESS-2 and CTA should help improving those results. Finally, we briefly mention a plausible correlation between absorption by the extragalactic background light and the absence of observation of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at very high energies.Comment: Proc. of the 12th Marcel Grossmann meeting on general relativity. 3 pages, 1 figur

Potential of CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery and Sequestration in the Golden Pinnacle Reef Reservoir in the Williston Basin, North Dakota

This design project is developed to determine the feasibility of CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and CO2 sequestration in the Golden Pinnacle Reef Reservoir in the Williston Basin, North Dakota; with a specific analysis of the Shell Golden #34X-34 (SWSE 34 T161N R87 W) well in Renville County, North Dakota, USA. The objectives of this research are to: (1) Characterize the candidate reservoir; (2) Estimate the potential of CO2 EOR and the capacity of CO2 sequestration; and (3) Optimize the operations under different production/injection and economic options. This research is conducted to establish the reservoir parameters and future production possibilities of the Golden Pinnacle Reef Reservoir. In this model, the geology and depositional environment of the Golden Pinnacle Reef Reservoir is evaluated in order to develop a working geologic model, from which, simulations were conducted. Previous production data is also analyzed to determine the properties of the formation water and oil, and to closely replicate the actual conditions in the reservoir. The reservoir simulations are conducted using a commercial reservoir modeling software, donated by a petroleum services company (Schlumberger, 2006)

Three Dimensional Simulations of Tornado Sheltering Effect of Man-made Structures

A three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was utilized to investigate tornado-like vortex interactions with wide man-made structures. The tornado-like wind profile was approximated using Rankine vortex model. By utilizing the CFD model, it was explained why tornadoes exhibit less damage on leeward side of large structures. During the preliminary stage of this study, a perpendicular vortex-prism interaction was analyzed. The prism height and the length were equal to the vortex core radius. The prism was also 12 times wider than the vortex core radius. During the vortex-prism interaction, the near-ground portion of the vortex was blocked by the leading face of the prism. To proceed with the travel, the primary vortex had to introduce a new low-level vortex behind the prism, which mitigated maximum flow speeds on the prism\u27s leeward side. Various visualization techniques were employed to understand and quantitatively study the vortex sheltering effect. It was shown that the vortex flow speeds are reduced by more than 30% in a region of length equal to 6 times the prism height. The sheltering effect was also investigated for different prism sizes. It was demonstrated that the thinner the prism is, the more it disrupts the near-ground strength of the translating vortex. Following these findings, the tornado sheltering performance of a wide wall was studied. During the vortex-wall interaction a 20 m high wall was able to reduce the maximum tornado-like wind speeds by 30%, on a distance of 102 m behind the wall. The magnitude of the wind speed reduction was found to be dependent on the wall width and the wall height, relatively to the vortex core radius. The sheltering efficiency of the wall also changes depending on the tornado-like vortex impact angle on the wall. The new findings arising in this study can be applied for designing tornado-safe structures and areas