Students' expectations of the economic returns to college education Results of a controlled experiment

This study reports the results of an experiment designed to elicit students' subjective beliefs about the economic returns to college education. An important feature of our experimental design is the inclusion of financial incentives for accurate reporting. We also consider the extent to which individuals' beliefs about their own returns differ from their beliefs about the returns for others. The evidence shows that students do have a self-enhancement tendency, and this finding cannot be attributed to previously uncontrolled order effects. The evidence also indicates that there is no significant difference between beliefs elicited using hypothetical surveys or real financial incentives in the elicitation procedure. This finding suggests that economists' reluctance to gather subjective data on earnings expectations may not be warrant.rate of return, human capital

How to comply with environmental regulations? The role of information

The effectiveness of environmental regulation can be viewed as conditioned by the action of at least two main agents: the regulated firms and the public agency (the regulator). The agency’s role is, on one hand, to enact environmental regulations and, on the other, to monitor firms’ environmental behavior and enforce environmental regulations. The regulated firms, on the other hand, must be informed about the legal limits imposed on them and subsequently they must be able to comply with those limits. Using a questionnaire on the pulp and paper industry in Portugal we found that firms decision to comply with environmental regulations is strongly influenced by firms’ information on its legal obligations and that this effect is stronger for smaller firms. Moreover larger and younger firms are less likely to comply with environmental regulations than smaller and older firms. With respect to the public agency’s behavior, we found that greater monitoring efforts are directed towards larger and younger firms, as well as towards those firms most likely to cause higher pollution levels.

Has Portugal gone wireless? : looking back, looking ahead

This paper analyses the pattern and rate of adoption of mobile telephones by the Portuguese population. It is shown that the pattern of diffusion is S-shaped and is consistent with a logistic function, which describes a symmetrical growth process. Furthermore, it is found that about 67 percent of the population will likely adopt mobile phones, and that the levelling-off process in the diffusion of mobile phones has already begun. The analysis is intended to inform the larger discussion of managing the communications service, as well as to assist analysts concerned about assessing the impact of public policies in the evolution of communications sectors.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

3rd Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics & 5th Meeting of Environmental and Energy Economics

The 3rd Annual Conference of the Portuguese Association of Energy Economics – APEEN and the International Meeting on Energy and Environmental Economics – ME3 took place on the 18-19 October 2018 in Braga, Portugal. The event was hosted by the Universidade do Minho and gathered the contributions of specialists in Energy and Environmental Economics to enrich the debate about the many issues raised by the management of resources and waste. The main topic was Managing Resources and Waste: challenges for Energy and Environmental Economics beyond 2030. ​Natural resources are the keystone in environmental and energy economics. Nowadays, resource management cannot ignore waste, traditionally seen as a by-product of consumption and production decisions, but increasingly recognized as a source of energy or as new type of resource

Analysis of take-back decisions regarding electrical and electronic equipment waste in Portugal

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar os determinantes da decisão de entrega dos EEE em fim de vida para reciclagem, avaliando as motivações e os interesses dos utilizadores destes equipamentos em relação ao mercado de retoma dos EEE em Fim de Vida. Os resultados obtidos indicam que existe uma falta de sensibilidade dos consumidores para o processo de retoma dos seus equipamentos. Por outro lado, mostram que as condições de informação e as características sociodemográficas interferem nos desejos dos consumidores para a devolução dos seus REE. Neste âmbito, pode-se concluir que o mercado de retoma de EEE em Fim de Vida em Portugal se encontra em fase de crescimento nomeadamente ao nível de estratégias de retoma e competitividade.This paper aims to investigate the determinants of consumers’ decision to take-back Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste in Portugal. It assesses users’ perception of these items, evaluating the motivations and interests they have concerning the market of electrical and electronic equipment waste. Results indicate a lack of awareness by consumers about the process of take-back available for their equipment. On the other hand, results show that information conditions and sociodemographic factors affect consumers' motivations for returning the electrical and electronic equipment at the end of life. In this context, it can be concluded that the Portuguese market for the recovery of Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste is still in its infancy, particularly in terms of recovery strategies and competitiveness

Environmental tobacco smoke risk perception and smoking behavior in Portugal

This study analyzes public attitudes towards environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) risks. ETS legislation and smoking behaviors using recent data from Special Eurobarometer 272 that is a unique database on public perception of ETS. Some major conclusions are drawn: (1) both smokers and non-smokers are aware of health consequences from ETS, (2) moderate and heavy smokers tend to be less concerned with seriousness of the health consequences, (3) that the belief that ETS increases the risk of a serious disease decreases the probability of being smoker, (4)ETS beliefs do not affect the quitting decision, (5) those who smoke at home appear to be aware of health consequences of ETS, (6) ETS health risk beliefs is negatively associated with the number of cigarette consumed.

Multilateral negotiations over climate change policy

Negotiations in the real world have many features which tend to be ignored in policy modeling. They are often multilateral, involving many negotiating parties with preferences over outcomes that can differ substantially. They are also often multidimensional, in the sense that several policies are negotiated over simultaneously. Trade negotiations are a prime example, as are negotiations over environmental policies to abate carbon dioxide. We demonstrate how one can formally model this type of negotiation process. We use a policy-oriented computable general equilibrium model to generate preference functions which are then used in a formal multilateral bargaining game. The case study is to climate change policy, but the main contribution is to demonstrate how one can integrate formal economic models of the impacts of policies with formal bargaining models of the negotiations over those policies.Fundação para a ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A look into the circularity of waste water sludge in Portugal: context, constraints and opportunities

The Portuguese action plan for the circular economy, proposes under action #6, the need to increase the efficiency of water use and reuse, as well as the improvement in the valorisation of nutrients present in waste water sludge. In 2014, last data available, only 52% of the sludge was subject to valorisation, indicating a significant room for improvement. This paper aims to analyse the potential for improvement in the quantity of sludge from WW subject to valorisation. To this end, the installed capacity to valorize sludge and its location is compared with the quantity of sludge produced and its location. Preliminary results indicate a clear mismatch between the distribution of installed capacity for biological treatment of WW-sludge and the distribution of waste water sludge produced