Case study India responds to international food safety requirements

"As awareness grows about food safety issues, the need for countries to provide greater assurance about the safety and quality of food also grows....This brief reviews (1) how India utilizes the international framework for food safety standards set forth by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (hereafter referred to as Codex), and (2) how India provides safety assurances for exports and promotes access to international markets for exporters." from TextFood safety ,food security ,Public health ,

Order Flow and the Formation of Dealer Bids: Information Flows and Strategic Behavior in the Government of Canada Securities Auctions

Is order-flow an important component of private information possessed by traders in government securities markets? Utilizing a detailed data set on Government of Canada securities auctions, we argue that the answer is yes. Direct participation in these auctions is limited to government securities dealers. However, non-dealer customers can also submit bids through dealers. We document patterns of strategic behavior by both sides of the market, dealers and customers, that support the hypothesis that customer bids provide valuable order-flow information to dealers. Dealer bids respond to privately observed customer bids, and dealers observing customer bid can predict the auction cutoff price better. Customers also respond strategically to dealers' use of the information contained in their bids.

Order Flow and the Formation of Dealer Bids: An Analysis of Information and Strategic Behavior in the Government of Canada Securities Auctions

Using data on Government of Canada securities auctions, this paper shows that in countries where direct access to primary issuance is restricted to government securities dealers, Order-flow" information is a key source of private information for these security dealers. Order-flow information is revealed to a security dealer through his interactions with customers, who can place bids in the auctions only through the security dealer. Since each dealer interacts with a different set of customers, they, in effect, see different portions of the market demand and supply curves, leading to differing private inferences of where the equilibrium price might.Treasury auctions, Behavioural finance

Governing the conflicted commons: democracy in the Indian tribal belt

This paper problematises the question of how policy-relevant knowledge is produced, how it can include concerns of all stakeholders, and how it informs political processes, by focussing on a specific case. To do so, it surveys literature on impacts of resource expropriation and processes of exclusion on indigenes in central eastern India. It examines how a shift to local democracy in recent decades can potentially facilitate inclusion of concerns of indigenes and the environment in natural resource governance within this resource-rich but poverty-stricken conflict zone. It argues that, in order to enable democratic resource governance, evidence-based knowledge must inform changes in institutional processes. It makes the case for a doctoral project being undertaken during 2012-15 that seeks to generate such knowledge. The project emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between decentralisation reforms and indigenous communities’ rights and participation in natural resource governance, in order to enable inclusive governance in a conflict zone of economic, political, ethnic and ecological interests. This paper justifies why this knowledge is required and describes the methodological approach adopted to generate it. It also preliminarily identifies gaps in the political process, explaining why it is challenging for such research to facilitate better implementation even if it does feed back into more evidence-based policy

Digitalisation and social inclusion in multi-scalar smart energy transitions

Activity generated around smart energy transitions risks undermining a basic spatial planning principle: create better places for inhabitants. The possibilities unleashed by digitalisation have enigmatic force. Stepping back from this techno-centrism, this article asks: where are the people in these visions? How can energy sector digitalisation become people-centric and inclusive? It employs a multi-scalar approach to examine social inclusion in case studies of two smart energy transitions: electricity sector digitalisation in Lisbon, and mobility sector digitalisation in Bergen. This reveals how planning and implementing sustainability transitions can exacerbate existing inequalities, but equally offers opportunities to enable inclusive smart energy transitions.publishedVersio

Cross-sectoral metrics as accountability tools for twin transitioning energy systems

As energy systems become ever more closely intertwined in order to enable electrification and real-time coordination across sectors, tracking the nature of change to ensure accountability during complex implementation processes presents novel challenges and requires renewed thinking on data infrastructures. For instance, sectors like electricity generation, electricity distribution and electrified urban transport have begun to interact more closely and with more spatial complexity than ever before. Correspondingly, this conceptual article articulates the evolving relationship between cross-sectoral metrics (CSM) and twin transitions (i.e., digitalisation and decarbonisation) of energy systems in the Anthropocene. It argues for development of explicitly cross-sectoral metrical analysis as an accountability tool for shifts to equitable, low-carbon energy systems. It draws on three pertinent fields of study—calculative logics, institutionalisation, and degrees of digitalisation—to provide the basis for a theory of transformative metrics for application to evolving energy systems. Scholarship on calculative logics offers insights on the nature of metrics, work on institutionalisation helps understand the dynamics of integrating novel metrics into evolving sociotechnical systems, and consideration of degrees of digitalisation ensures mindfulness of differences across contexts. Resulting insights can serve as diagnostic tools to inform timely monitoring and implementation of twin transitions for energy systems. Work across three distinct lines of scholarship is specified to enable conceptual development, and an empirical case study is sketched to show how to operationalise and apply an analytical framework. This delineation serves as a step towards a theory of transformative metrics, for integrative study of CSM for accountable twin transitions.publishedVersio

Drivers of Scalar Biases: Environmental Justice and the Portuguese Solar Photovoltaic Rollout

Studying the dynamics of solar photovoltaic (PV) rollout can generate insights on how policies enable and constrain energy transitions. This energy source has low carbon emissions, and has rapidly become economically competitive. This combination makes it one of the fastest growing energy technologies globally. Yet its rollout is spatially uneven, and slowed down by drivers other than cost and environmental impact, namely energy infrastructure, regulatory inertia, and political dynamics. These drivers of scalar biases make the rollout of solar energy along environmentally just lines challenging. This article analyzes the solar PV rollout in solar-rich Portugal during 2017–2020 to illustrate these drivers. The way solar PV layers on top of existing electric grid infrastructure determines the spatiality of its rollout. The path dependence of sectoral regulations modulates which actors are able to drive this technological diffusion. The particular political moment, unfolding contestation, and orchestrated consensus are decisive for both the rate and manner of growth of solar PV energy. The three drivers promote large-scale solar PV, whereas small-scale projects for households and communities remain limited. Empirical study of these drivers and how they combine in a specific context are key to understand the scalar environmental justice effects of policies for energy transitions.acceptedVersio

Governing the conflicted commons: democracy in the Indian tribal belt

This paper problematises the question of how policy-relevant knowledge is produced, how it can include concerns of all stakeholders, and how it informs political processes, by focussing on a specific case. To do so, it surveys literature on impacts of resource expropriation and processes of exclusion on indigenes in central eastern India. It examines how a shift to local democracy in recent decades can potentially facilitate inclusion of concerns of indigenes and the environment in natural resource governance within this resource-rich but poverty-stricken conflict zone. It argues that, in order to enable democratic resource governance, evidence-based knowledge must inform changes in institutional processes. It makes the case for a doctoral project being undertaken during 2012-15 that seeks to generate such knowledge. The project emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between decentralisation reforms and indigenous communities’ rights and participation in natural resource governance, in order to enable inclusive governance in a conflict zone of economic, political, ethnic and ecological interests. This paper justifies why this knowledge is required and describes the methodological approach adopted to generate it. It also preliminarily identifies gaps in the political process, explaining why it is challenging for such research to facilitate better implementation even if it does feed back into more evidence-based policy