JAKARTA, INDONESIA: THE ECONOMICS OF WATER AND WASTE

Jakarta's main streets are landscaped, manicured, and modern. Off these streets, however, the environment is that of an overgrown village. Compared to other Asian cities, Jakarta's drinking water, sewerage treatment, solid waste disposal, and general environment are seriously deficient. This case study briefly outlines the deficiencies. Less than one-fourth the residents have piped water. Almost no one is attached to a sewer. One-third of the city's solid waste never reaches the landfill. The source of the problems is historical -- for a long time, the problems of this rapidly growing city were not adequately addressed. And the problem has become worse in recent years by the policymakers' concern with providing first-class service to all, despite the fact that budgetary shortcomings prevent them from extending such service beyond the richest households. As a result, the poor often receive no public services and must resort to expensive private provision or do without. The principal lesson from and for Jakarta is that policymakers must give more attention to providing less-than-first-class but affordable services to the poor.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Revisiting the empirical existence of the Phillips Curve for India

This paper revisits the empirical existence of the Phillips curve in the Indian context. To estimate the Phillips curve we need two variables – inflation and the output gap. In the case of India, incorrect measurement of both variables causes much difficulty in estimating the Phillipscurve. We use a non-linear Kalman filter approach to estimate the output gap and find that the Kalman filter estimate captures all the dynamics of the economy. Our results show that after taking supply shocks into consideration, there is clear evidence as to the existence of the Phillips curve in India for recent years.Kalman Filter; Output Gap; Inflation

The Unsteady Lift Produced by a Flat-Plate Wing Translating Past Finite Obstacles

The unsteady lift of a high-angle-of-attack, flat-plate wing encountering finite-length obstacles is studied using towing-tank force measurements. The wing translates from rest and interacts with a rectangular channel, ceiling, or ground obstacle. Variations with angle of attack, obstacle length, mid-chord height to the obstacle, and starting distance between the wing leading edge (LE) and obstacle (typically 1 chord) are examined. For channels, as the gap height decreases, circulatory-lift peaks attributed to leading-edge vortices (LEVs) are the largest, and from the second peak onward occur earliest. This is likely from wing blockage enhancing the flow speed. The lift reduces while exiting a channel, and is lowest afterward if exiting during a lift peak. For ceilings, the first circulatory-lift maximum increases for smaller LE-to-ceiling gaps, but for gaps of 0.5 chords or less, subsequent peaks are below the no-obstacle case yet still earlier. For grounds, with lower wing height the first circulatory-lift peak is larger but the second peak's behavior varies with angle of attack, and the lift decreases near the ground end. Grounds affect peak timing the least, indicating a reduced influence on the LEV. Changing the starting distance to a channel alters the lift, likely from different LEV timing