Substitution elasticities between capital, labour, material, electricity and fossil fuels in German producing and service sectors

In this paper, substitutional relationships between capital, labour, material, electricity, and fossil fuels in German producing and service sectors are estimated using a translog cost function. Estimates are based on a pooled time-series cross-sectional data sample for the period 1978-90 and nearly 50 sectors reported by the national account statistics. Results indicate that, except for the service sectors, own-price elasticities of all factor demands are below 0.5 (in absolute terms). In terms of the Morishima elasticity of substitution, labour and capital are substitutes in all sectors. Labour is generally a substitute for electricity, but not for fossil fuels. Results also support the hypothesis of capitalenergy substitutability and that the German economy is characterised by a nonhomothetic, non-constant-returns-to-scale production function. Substitution elasticities between input aggregates are estimated based on the nesting structure which underlies the computable general equilibrium model GEM-E3. Testing for weak homothetic separability restrictions, however, yields that input aggregation is allowed only in particular cases. Simulations with the GEM-E3 model demonstrate that the impacts of an ecological tax reform respond to a variation of substitution elasticities, but, all in all, the model proves to be relatively stable within a plausible range of values. --

Climate change policy and burden sharing in the European Union: applying alternative equity rules to a CGE-framework

The objective of this paper is to present different equity rules that can be applied to the initial allocation of greenhouse gas entitlements and to analyse the potential impacts of these rules EU-wide as well as on the level of member states. The methodological framework used in the empirical part of the paper is based on the GEM-E3 model, a multi-country and multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium model for fourteen EU-member states. The major finding of the paper is that being ex ante favoured with respect to the initial allocation of permits might not hold ex post, i.e. when trade of permits and actual emission reductions are carried out. The reason can be found in two effects. First, the interdependence of the EU economies allows smaller economies not to make full use of the advantages they get through the ability-to-pay allocation: The negative impact on the economic perfomance of the big economies leads to a drop of export demand in the smaller economies, which in turn lowers the expected positive impact on welfare in the latter ones. Second, the way of how a surplus of permits in a particular country is used has considerable impacts on consumer welfare. Selling the surplus of permits on the international market and use the receipts to reduce public deficit is one way, but it has no direct impact on demand. Other, more demand stimulating recycling strategies of the surplus (e.g. a lump-sum transfer to households) might be more promising if welfare losses are to be minimzed. Both effects may outweigh the positive effect realized ex ante in some countries due to a more ?fair? initial allocation of permits. The outcome emphasizes the importance of a consideration of full general equilibrium effects across countries. --

Seasonal patterns and interannual variability of phytoplankton in Lake Stechlin

The paper presents results of detailed phytoplankton investigations in Lake Stechlin between 1994 and 2003. The analysis includes the picoplankton fraction (dominated by Cyanobium sp.) that regularly appears as a deep-layer chlorophyll maximum (DCM). Planktothrix and Aulacoseira are successful competitors against Cyanobium in the isothermal period, the consequences differ markedly due to the fact that Planktothrix is able and Aulacoseira is unable to accumulate in the DCM after the onset of thermocline. The „regular-Cyanobium” and „irregular-Planktothrix, -Aulacoseira” patterns of DCM development has a basic influence on ecosystem functioning. Lake Stechlin a pristine, oligo-mesotrophic deep lake, with an established and detailed monitoring system and thus has been an ideal reference site for studying the influence of global climate changes on plankton that may improve our predictive tools for impact assessment

Event Monitoring Based On Web Services for Heterogeneous Event Sources

This article discusses event monitoring options for heterogeneous event sources as they are given in nowadays heterogeneous distributed information systems. It follows the central assumption, that a fully generic event monitoring solution cannot provide complete support for event monitoring; instead, event source specific semantics such as certain event types or support for certain event monitoring techniques have to be taken into account. Following from this, the core result of the work presented here is the extension of a configurable event monitoring (Web) service for a variety of event sources. A service approach allows us to trade genericity for the exploitation of source specific characteristics. It thus delivers results for the areas of SOA, Web services, CEP and EDA

Modelling of foreign trade in applied general equilibrium models: theoretical approaches and sensitivity analysis with the GEM-E3 model

The specification of the world closure, i.e. the way of closing the domestic economy model by incorporating the external sector, is a crucial component for those models in which production and consumption is not specified endogenously for all countries. This paper looks explicitly at the assumptions concerning the trade behaviour of the rest of the world that can be found in literature and in empirical applications, such as the GEM-E3 General Equilibrium Model for the EU. Starting from a description of the closure rule in the actual GEM-E3 model version, two main changes in the foreign trade specification are proposed and tested using an EU-wide ecological tax reform scenario. The first change refers to the rest of the world?s export supply function in which a constant finite price elasticity is introduced. The second change concerns the rest of the world?s import demand function in which an activity variable is incorporated. In summary, the impact in terms of economic welfare and changes in macroeconomic variables is noteworthy for the former case while no substantial changes could be observed for the latter case. Additionally, the sensitivity of the GEM-E3 model to variations in key parameter values such as the upper-level Armington elasticity are analysed. Results indicate that the model can be interpreted as quite robust to parameter changes. --

Not Employed 37 Hours or Employed 41? A CGE Analysis for Germany

The objective of our analysis is to find out whether an increase in working time without pay compensation can be considered an adequate policy to reduce unemployment. From the perspective of economic theory the outcome is in general ambiguous: On the one hand, as the increase in working time raises labour productivity per employee, conditional demand for labour will increase (substitution effect) and conditional demand for intermediate inputs will decline. Since, on the other hand, workers do have a longer working time anyway, no positive effect on the number of persons employed can be expected. However, output of the manufacturing industry, and thus unconditional demand for labour, capital and intermediate goods, will increase (output effect). In order to sell the additional output, firms have to lower prices. Depending on the price elasticities, revenues and hence profits will change. We quantify the employment effects of an economy-wide increase in weekly normal hours in Germany on the basis of a CGE model using an input-output framework for all sectors of the economy. Our simulation results support the argument of the opponents of longer working time that not more jobs will be created. However, when we recycled the higher tax revenues from GDP growth to lower the contribution to social security, then we have been able to support the claim of the proponents that more jobs will be created. --unemployment,labour market rigidities,longer working hours,computable general equilibrium modelling

Substitution Elasticities between Capital, Labour, Material, Electricity and Fossil Fuels in German Producing and Service Sectors

In this paper, substitutional relationships between capital, labour, material, electricity, and fossil fuels in German producing and service sectors are estimated using a translog cost function. Estimates are based on a pooled time-series cross-sectional data sample for the period 1978-90 and nearly 50 sectors reported by the national account statistics. Results indicate that, except for the service sectors, own-price elasticities of all factor demands are below 0.5 (in absolute terms). In terms of the Morishima elasticity of substitution, labour and capital are substitutes in all sectors. Labour is generally a substitute for electricity, but not for fossil fuels. Results also support the hypothesis of capitalenergy substitutability and that the German economy is characterised by a nonhomothetic, non-constant-returns-to-scale production function. Substitution elasticities between input aggregates are estimated based on the nesting structure which underlies the computable general equilibrium model GEM-E3. Testing for weak homothetic separability restrictions, however, yields that input aggregation is allowed only in particular cases. Simulations with the GEM-E3 model demonstrate that the impacts of an ecological tax reform respond to a variation of substitution elasticities, but, all in all, the model proves to be relatively stable within a plausible range of values

Reducing secondary losses by blowing cold air in a turbine

Local blowing on the profile suction side of the turbine guide wheel blades can be effective in preventing the propagation of secondary flows that is, the transport of casing and hub boundary layers by pressure gradients. Some preliminary results on how the blowing should be accomplished in order to influence the secondary flows in the desired manner are given. The effectiveness of blowing is demonstrated. Blowing is also seen to be more effective than using boundary layer slots as far as diminishing losses in the rim zones is concerned

Tradable SO-2-permits in the European Union: a practicable scheme for public utilities

In this paper, a practicable scheme of SO2-emission permits for European power producers is developed. Background is the second UN-ECE Sulphur Protocol from 1994 (Protocol of Oslo). After discussing some theoretical models of spatially differentiated permit schemes, evaluating the U.S. Acid Rain and RECLAIM Program, and considering the setting in the EU-15 countries, a scheme of locally undifferentiated emission permits is proposed which is distinguished by a high degree of both economic efficiency and market functioning. However, as our model simulations indicate, national deposition targets will be violated in all probability due to the scheme?s missing differentiation regarding the receptors. The risk of hot spots is addressed adequately by a differentiated bundle of countermeasures. The general economic impact of an EU-wide permit scheme is low, and, in terms of change in GDP, lower compared to a non-coordinated SO2 policy. The proposed mode of the initial permit allocation allows for early price signals and guarantees maximum static and dynamic efficiency. Balancing the interests of existing and new emitters, a long-term transition from the grandfathering to the free auction procedure is chosen. --

A Regulatory Framework for a Policy of Sustainability: Lessons from the Neo-Liberal School

In this paper targets, institutions and policy measures for describing and implementing sustainable development are evaluated in terms of their conformity with the economic framework of a market system. Firstly, from the viewpoint of neo-liberal economic thinking as conceived by the German Freiburg school of economists (Eucken), a general set of criteria is developed, including issues of operationalization and legitimation of goals as well as institutional and instrumental issues. On this basis general rules for designing an ecological framework guaranteeing the greatest possible degree of conformity with a market system are derived. The concrete application of these rules leads to recommendations for a policy of sustainability with respect to the setting of goals, the establishment of institutions (role of ecological councils, of a central environmental organization on UN level and of the GATT/WTO regime) as well as the use of appropriate instruments. --sustainability targets,regulatory rules,neo-liberal framework,environment and international trade,environmental policy assessment