An optimal location strategy for Internet sellers in markets with different tax rates

The traditional view that a high sales tax rate reduces trade by driving a wedge between the purchase and sale price may not apply to internet commerce for two reasons. The first reason is that the sales tax paid by buyers purchasing via the internet is determined by the tax rate in the region of the buyer. The second reason is that a high sales tax may lower the before-tax price if sellers absorb part of the tax. Taken together, this implies that internet distributors may profitably target customers in regions with low tax rates by locating their selling addresses in high tax regions. Consequently the optimal marketing strategy for a global internet distributor may include siting selling locations in regions with high tax rates in order to target customers in regions with low tax rates. An empirical analysis of the European car market suggests that this is more than a remote theoretical possibility by demonstrating that the before-tax prices recommended by manufacturers for new cars are lower in high tax countries

Valuing the attributes of renewable energy investments in Scotland

This study was funded by a grant from the Scottish Economic Policy Network (SEPN) with funding assistance provided by the University of Glasgow, Department of Economics (Professor Nick Hanley) and the University of Sterling (Robert Wright). The goal of the project was to determine the value of differing types of renewable energy projects by how they would effect environmental and community quality of life factors. The key issues examined include; air quality, landscape, wildlife, and long term local employment. Stated preference methods were employed through the use of a discrete choice experiment survey approach. Willingness-to-pay for different types of renewable energy projects was estimated, i.e., moderate onshore windmill farms, large onshore windmill farms, offshore windmill farms, and biomass fueled power plants. The most significant findings were that rural areas likely to be most highly impacted by the new energy projects were willing to accept low or moderate environmental damage in exchange for commercial development gains. Urban respondents on the other hand were more likely to oppose any disturbance to the landscape or wildlife and had no value placed on the economics development gains for the rural areas; income level of households showed no significant difference in environmental values

Short-run and long-run determinants of the price of gold

In 1833 the price of gold was $20.65 per ounce, about$415 in 2005 terms, while in 2005 the actual price of gold was $445 - a very small change in the real price of gold over a period of one hundred and seventy two years. Despite this apparent constancy in real terms over the long run, it is also true that, outside of periods when the gold price was fixed through various iterations of the gold standard, it has fluctuated significantly in the shorter term, sometimes for years at a time. Can these two apparently contradictory realities be reconciled? And can one be sure that the long run positive relationship between gold and inflation has persisted beyond the era of Bretton Woods? Indeed, is there any credence to the claim that gold can be used as a long-run hedge against inflation? The results reported in this paper provide some answers to these questions that are so central to the gold market and its many participants around the world. We also address the inflation hedging properties of gold in the currencies of the major gold-consuming countries outside of the USA, taking into account both the domestic exchange rate relative to the dollar and domestic consumer price index movements. Real gold prices denominated in the home currency of investors outside of the USA also deviate in the short-run from their home country inflation hedge price and there is also a long-run tendency for gold prices to revert to the long-run hedge price. The major gold consuming countries outside of the USA, that is, India, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia were rational to purchase gold in that it proved more than adequate as an inflation hedge. For these countries the actual USA dollar gold price between 1976 and 2005 far exceeded the dollar gold price required to provide an inflation hedge after taking account of exchange rates between the US dollar and the home country and the home country consumer price index movements

Risk-based versus deterministic explosives safety criteria

The Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board (DDESB) is actively considering ways to apply risk-based approaches in its decision- making processes. As such, an understanding of the impact of converting to risk-based criteria is required. The objectives of this project are to examine the benefits and drawbacks of risk-based criteria and to define the impact of converting from deterministic to risk-based criteria. Conclusions will be couched in terms that allow meaningful comparisons of deterministic and risk-based approaches. To this end, direct comparisons of the consequences and impacts of both deterministic and risk-based criteria at selected military installations are made. Deterministic criteria used in this report are those in DoD 6055.9-STD, `DoD Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standard.` Risk-based criteria selected for comparison are those used by the government of Switzerland, `Technical Requirements for the Storage of Ammunition (TLM 75).` The risk-based criteria used in Switzerland were selected because they have been successfully applied for over twenty-five years

Developing measures for valuing changes in biodiversity

This document reports the findings from the DEFRA funded research project 'Developing measures for valuing changes in biodiversity'. The aim of the research was to develop an appropriate framework that will enable cost-effective and robust valuations of the total economic value of changes to biodiversity in the UK countryside. The research involved a review of ecological and economic literature on the valuation of biodiversity changes. The information gathered from this review, along with the findings from a series of public focus groups and an expert review of valuation methodologies, were used to develop a suite of valuation instruments that were used to measure the economic value of different aspects of biodiversity. Contingent valuation and choice experiment studies were administered to households in Cambridgeshire and Northumberland, while valuation workshops were conducted in Northumberland only. The data from these studies were also used to test for benefits transfer

Evaluation of the efficacy of commercial disinfectants against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Race 1 and Tropical Race 4 propagules

Panama disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) has devastated banana production worldwide. This work aimed to determine effective disinfectants against two races of Foc, race 1 and tropical race 4 (TR4), for implementation with on-farm biosecurity procedures against this disease following the outbreak of TR4 in North Queensland in 2015. A total of 32 commercial disinfectants were screened and their activity was assessed after ≤ 30 sec, 5 min, 30 min and 24 hr of contact with a Foc suspension containing 105/ml chlamydospores without and with soil added (0.05 g/ml). Of the disinfectants tested, the quaternary ammonium compounds containing ≥ 10% active ingredient were found to be the most effective against both Foc races. These products, when used at a 1:100 dilution, completely inhibited the survival of all Foc propagules across all the contact times regardless of the absence or presence of soil. The bioflavonoids product EvoTech 213 and bleach (10% sodium hypochlorite) used at a 1:10 dilution also eliminated all Foc propagules across all the contact times. None of the detergent-based or miscellaneous products tested were completely effective against both Foc races even used at a 1:10 dilution. Soil decreases the efficacy of disinfectants and therefore must be removed from contaminated items before treatments are applied

Silicon accumulation and water uptake by wheat

Silicon (Si) content in cereal plants and soil-Si solubility may be used to estimate transpiration, assuming passive Si uptake. The hypothesis for passive-Si uptake by the transpiration stream was tested in wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Stephens) grown on the irrigated Portneuf silt loam soil (Durixerollic calciorthid) near Twin Falls, Idaho. Treatments consisted of 5 levels of plant-available soil water ranging from 244 to 776 mm provided primarily by a line-source sprinkler irrigation system. Evapotranspiration was determined by the water-balance method and water uptake was calculated from evapotranspiration, shading, and duration of wet-surface soil. Water extraction occurred from the 0 to 150-cm zone in which equilibrium Si solubility (20°C) was 15 mg Si L-1 in the Ap and Bk (0-58 cm depth) and 23 mg Si L-1 in the Bkq (58-165 cm depth). At plant maturity, total Si uptake ranged from 10 to 32 g m-2, above-ground dry matter from 1200 to 2100 g m-2 and transpiration from 227 to 546 kg m 2. Silicon uptake was correlated with transpiration (Siup = –0.7 + .06T, r2 = 0.85) and dry matter yield with evapotranspiration (Y = 119 + 3.3ET, r2 = 0.96). Actual Si uptake was 2.4 to 4.7 times that accounted for by passive uptake, supporting designation of wheat as a Si accumulator. The ratio of Si uptake to water uptake increased with soil moisture. The confirmation of active Si uptake precludes using Si uptake to estimate water use by wheat

Inflammatory bowel disease in Cape Town, 1975-1980 Part I. Ulcerative colitis

Previously documented and new patients with ulcerative colitis seen between 1975 and 1980 in the Gastro-intestinal Clinic of Groote Schuur Hospital were studied to establish the local incidence and clinical features of tHis disease. There were 220 patients and the mean follow-up was 7,7 ± 0,4 years. Sixty percent of patients were White, 37% Coloured and 3% Black. The incidence for the Coloured and White population was calculated' to be 1,3 and 2,4/100000 per year during 1970-1974 and 1,6 and 2,1/100000per year during 1975-1980. respectively. In Jews the rates were 8.5 and 10.4/100 000 per year for the two periods. Insufficient data are available to calculate an incidence for the Black population. The disease was limited to less than 15 cm above the anus in 14% of patients, to the rectoSigmoid colon in 45%. and to the rest of the colon in 40%. Although the severity of symptoms was related to the extent of disease, 22% of patients with extensive colitis had mild symptoms, while 15% with disease limited to the rectum had severe symptoms. The clinical features were similar in the White and Coloured population groups. A total colectomy was performed on 20% of patients with extensive colitis; in 2%the diseasewas complicated by colonic-carcinom