AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BIRD DAMAGE IN VINEYARDS OF THE MARLBOROUGH REGION

Production Economics,

A Chinese Sky Trust? Distributional Impacts of Carbon charges and Revenue Recycling in China

The introduction of carbon charges on the use of fossil fuels in China would have a progressive impact on income distribution. This outcome, which contrasts to the regressive distributional impact found in most studies of carbon charges in industrialized countries, is driven primarily by differences between urban and rural expenditure patterns. If carbon revenues were recycled on an equal per capita basis via a ‘sky trust,’ the progressive impact would be further enhanced: low-income (mainly rural) households would receive more in sky-trust dividends than they pay in carbon charges, and high-income (mainly urban) households would pay more than they receive in dividends. Thus a Chinese sky trust would contribute to both lower fossil fuel consumption and greater income equality.carbon charges, fossil fuels, China, income distribution, carbon revenues, fuel consumption, income equality

Parsimonious Catchment and River Flow Modelling

It is increasingly the case that models are being developed as “evolving” products rather than\ud one-off application tools, such that auditable modelling versus ad hoc treatment of models becomes a\ud pivotal issue. Auditable modelling is particularly vital to “parsimonious modelling” aimed at meeting\ud specific modelling requirements. This paper outlines various contributory factors and aims to seed\ud proactively a research topic by inextricably linking value/risk management to parsimonious modelling.\ud Value management in modelling may be implemented in terms of incorporating “enough detail” into a\ud model so that the synergy among the constituent units of the model captures that of the real system. It is a\ud problem of diminishing returns, since further reductions in the constituent units will create an\ud unacceptable difference between the model and the real system; conversely, any further detail will add to\ud the cost of modelling without returning any significant benefit. The paper also defines risk management\ud in relation to modelling. It presents a qualitative framework for value/risk management towards\ud parsimonious modelling by the categorisation of “modelling techniques” in terms of “control volume.

Money and happiness : rank of income, not income, affects life satisfaction

Does money buy happiness, or does happiness come indirectly from the higher rank in society that money brings? Here we test a rank hypothesis, according to which people gain utility from the ranked position of their income within a comparison group. The rank hypothesis contrasts with traditional reference income hypotheses, which suggest utility from income depends on comparison to a social group reference norm. We find that the ranked position of an individual’s income predicts general life satisfaction, while absolute income and reference income have no effect. Furthermore, individuals weight upward comparisons more than downward comparisons. According to the rank hypothesis, income and utility are not directly linked: Increasing an individual’s income will only increase their utility if ranked position also increases and will necessarily reduce the utility of others who will lose rank

THE ABSORPTION OF WATER BY WASHED PARCHMENT COFFEE WHEN STORED UNDER WATER

THE ABSORPTION OF WATER BY WASHED PARCHMENT COFFEE WHEN STORED UNDER WATE

Same-Sex Sexualities, Gender Variance, Economy and Livelihood in Nepal: Exclusions, Subjectivity and Development

This case study explores the relationship between socioeconomic opportunity and exclusion in relation to minority gender and sexualities in Nepal. The study, a component of a wider programme on Sexuality, Poverty and Law supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) and undertaken at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), aims to advance empirically grounded insights and recommendations to address the socioeconomic conditions of sexuality and gender minority peoples, in respect of varied aspects of life experience, subjectivity, self-identity and livelihood. Based on fieldwork conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal, between November 2013 and June 2014 the case study recounts experiences of socioeconomic marginalisation and opportunity as encountered and created by people who experience themselves as being different from socially normative conventions of sexuality and gender; in respect of the present research this has specifically entailed focusing on the experiences of transgender people and people who practise same-sex sexualities (and in respect of an understanding that such genders and sexualities are experienced differently by different people and do not represent uniform or singular categorisations). Many of the people who participated in the research evidence a multifaceted array of livelihood strategies as being connected to sexuality and gender difference. Some of these strategies were found to have been taken forward in the context of community-based support projects (for example, associated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for sexual and gender minorities) while others were conceived as independent life choices, or experienced as arising out of lack of choice or economic opportunity. In each of these often interconnected circumstances, the relationship between sexuality, gender, economy and livelihood emerges as complex and ambivalent.UK Department for International Developmen

The maximum medical aid price programme: A review of the concept and of its ability to reduce expenditure on medicines

Medicine prices in South Africa have increased significantly in recent years. Furthermore, a consideration of expenditure on medicines by medical schemes shows that this component of health care costs had grown to 26,1% in 1988, which is high by comparison with other Western economies. The use of generic medicines offers one possible solution to rising expenditure. For savings to be optimised, however, generics need to be used on a planned and structured basis. The maximum medical aid price (MMAP) system of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa provides such a programme.MMAP is a programme through which certain medical schemes elect to pay only a specified maximum price for offpatent products that have generic equivalents. Although MMAP does not require substitution by generic medicines, it does have the effect of encouraging their use.Two case studies measuring the savings that can be achieved through adoption of MMAP by medical schemes are reviewed. Although they differ in their respective  methodologies, their results are consistent and show that savings of about 9,3% were possible in 1989. Medical schemes with higher proportions of older members tend to show greater savings. The studies also show that the potential for achieving savings through the use of MMAP increases with the passage of time