WorldWideScience

Sample records for economy opportunities costs

  1. Political economy of marine reserves: Understanding the role of opportunity costs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Martin D.; Lynham, John; Sanchirico, James N.; Wilson, James A.

    2010-01-01

    The creation of marine reserves is often controversial. For decisionmakers, trying to find compromises, an understanding of the timing, magnitude, and incidence of the costs of a reserve is critical. Understanding the costs, in turn, requires consideration of not just the direct financial costs but also the opportunity costs associated with reserves. We use a discrete choice model of commercial fishermen’s behavior to examine both the short-run and long-run opportunity costs of marine reserves. Our results can help policymakers recognize the factors influencing commercial fishermen’s responses to reserve proposals. More generally, we highlight the potential drivers behind the political economy of marine reserves. PMID:20133732

  2. Cost-Benefit of E-Learning under ODL of Developing Economies ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Journal Home > Vol 13, No 2 (2012) >. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. ... Does it cost less to apply e-learning in open and distance learning (ODL) of developing economies? ... in the institutes' environment, photocopy of materials and the opportunity cost of time during working period for the student.

  3. The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and R&D Needs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Committee on Alternatives and Strategies for Future Hydrogen Production and Use

    2004-08-31

    The announcement of a hydrogen fuel initiative in the President’s 2003 State of the Union speech substantially increased interest in the potential for hydrogen to play a major role in the nation’s long-term energy future. Prior to that event, DOE asked the National Research Council to examine key technical issues about the hydrogen economy to assist in the development of its hydrogen R&D program. Included in the assessment were the current state of technology; future cost estimates; CO2 emissions; distribution, storage, and end use considerations; and the DOE RD&D program. The report provides an assessment of hydrogen as a fuel in the nation’s future energy economy and describes a number of important challenges that must be overcome if it is to make a major energy contribution. Topics covered include the hydrogen end-use technologies, transportation, hydrogen production technologies, and transition issues for hydrogen in vehicles.

  4. Social opportunity cost of capital: empirical estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Townsend, S.

    1978-02-01

    This report develops estimates of the social-opportunity cost of public capital. The private and social costs of capital are found to diverge primarily because of the effects of corporate and personal income taxes. Following Harberger, the social-opportunity cost of capital is approximated by a weighted average of the returns to different classes of savers and investors where the weights are the flows of savings or investments in each class multiplied by the relevant elasticity. Estimates of these parameters are obtained and the social-opportunity cost of capital is determined to be in the range of 6.2 to 10.8%, depending upon the parameter values used. Uncertainty is found to affect the social-opportunity cost of capital in two ways. First, some allowance must be made for the chance of failure or at least of not realizing claims of a project's proponents. Second, a particular government project will change the expected variability of the returns to the government's entire portfolio of projects. In the absence of specific information about each project, the use of the economy-wide average default and risk adjustments is suggested. These are included in the empirical estimates reported. International capital markets make available private capital, the price of which is not distorted by the U.S. tax system. The inclusion of foreign sources slightly reduces the social-opportunity cost of capital. 21 references.

  5. Circular economy opportunity in the wind industry. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellini, Robert

    2015-05-01

    The objective of this study is to identify how the circular economy can be an opportunity for the French wind industry. A broad review of circular economy issues for the wind industry value chain has been conducted in order to be used as a decision making tool for ADEME and the wind industry stakeholders. First of all, a 'flow analysis' (including material, logistic and services related to wind power) has been carried out in order to highlight the specific challenges of circular economy for the wind sector. The strategic opportunities that meet these issues have then been identified. A selection of six opportunities has been further investigated to assess the benefits, to analyze the barriers and to identify actions that ADEME could initiate to foster these opportunities. These investigated opportunities are the following: - To structure a recycling chain for wind blades; - To promote the business model of the extension of wind turbine's lifetime; - To promote skills improvement of local providers for reconditioning and maintenance services; - To adapt the offshore hubs to integrate dismantling activity of onshore equipments; - To increase the manufacturing capacity of wind towers in France to increase local sourcing; - To encourage the creation of a leading French manufacturer to optimize the supply chain. In the light of this analysis, it can be concluded that circular economy represents a strategic opportunity for the French wind energy sector. The opportunities we focused on make up a consistent set of initiatives that improve the environmental, economic and social performance of the wind energy sector by strengthening industrial activities and services throughout all the life cycle: manufacturing stage (optimization of logistics flows and local manufacturing), use phase (maintenance, repair) and end-of-life phase of wind turbine (dismantling, recycling). While the sector has so far been focused on better solving technological challenges and

  6. Introducing Opportunity-based Entrepreneurship in a Transition Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Perunovic, Zoran

    2005-01-01

    This paper confronts necessity-based and opportunity-based entrepreneurial concepts in the transition of developing economies. The author constructs a research model and conducts field research (using Serbia as a case study) to explore how different personal and regional characteristics can favour......-up strategy for transition and developing economies....

  7. A hydrogen economy: opportunities and challenges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tseng, P.; Lee, J.; Friley, P.

    2005-01-01

    A hydrogen economy, the long-term goal of many nations, can potentially confer energy security, along with environmental and economic benefits. However, the transition from a conventional petroleum-based energy system to a hydrogen economy involves many uncertainties, such as the development of efficient fuel-cell technologies, problems in hydrogen production and its distribution infrastructure, and the response of petroleum markets. This study uses the US MARKAL model to simulate the impacts of hydrogen technologies on the US energy system and to identify potential impediments to a successful transition. Preliminary findings highlight possible market barriers facing the hydrogen economy, as well as opportunities in new R and D and product markets for bioproducts. Quantitative analysis also offers insights on policy options for promoting hydrogen technologies. (author)

  8. Opportunities for a bio-based economy in the Netherlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sanders, J.; Hoeven, D. van der

    2008-01-01

    The shift to a bio-based economy for the Netherlands is not only required because of climate change, but also for industrial strategy reasons. Traditional strongholds of the Dutch economy like the Rotterdam harbour, the agricultural sector (including the greenhouse sector, and food and feed industries) and the petrochemical industry will be affected by the new economic realities, and it is precisely to these sectors that a bio-based economy will offer new opportunities. (author)

  9. Managing Service Quality within the Knowledge-Based Economy: Opportunities and Challenges

    OpenAIRE

    Ion Plumb; Andreea Zamfir

    2009-01-01

    The knowledge-based economy, along with the impact of information society technologies, presents the service organizations and their customers with many potential opportunities as well as challenges. Therefore, this study explores how the knowledge-based economy could influence the quality management of service organizations. The study reveals that the actors within the service sector have vast new opportunities in terms of communication and value co-creation, but in the same time, the requir...

  10. Finding value in waste: Identifying opportunities for growth in a secondary resources economy

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Godfrey, Linda K

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available manufacturing economy (strengthening the local economy) o Create new jobs in an emerging secondary resources economy o Create job opportunities for low skilled, unemployed citizens o Through low barriers to entry, establish new enterprises, including co... in waste • Waste provides not only economic but also social opportunities • The 2015 Q1 unemployment rate for South Africa was 26.4% (12 year high) (StatsSA, 2015) • With an expanded unemployment rate (1) of 36.1% • ~60% of the unemployed have less...

  11. MoonVillage: Frame & Opportunity for Space Economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foing, B. H.

    2017-09-01

    We shall discuss the frame and opportunity for space economy in the context of elaborating the concept of a Moon Village with the goal of a sustainable human presence and activity on the lunar surface as an ensemble where multiple users can carry out multiple activities. This enterprise can federate all interested Nations and partners, in particular from terrestrial and non space commercial sectors .

  12. The opportunity cost of family labor in the economy of the dairy production in Michoacan, Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randy Alexis Jiménez Jiménez

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this research is to analyze associated factors with the variation of the profit margin and the influence of the opportunity cost of family labor in the economic profit of the family dairy in the municipality of Maravatio, Michoacan. Productive economic information was obtained through the use of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and direct observation, using the methodology of Participatory Action Research. The opportunity cost of workforce was established on the basis of the work options for the family members involved in the activity; the options were classified into three types: local, regional, and foreign, according to the location of the job opportunities. In order to determine the influence of family labor in earning, it was used a multiple regression model with inclusion of step-by-step variables. The livestock feed represented the highest index of determination of the profit margin variation with the 68 %. Family labor is one of the variables that have an adverse impact on the profitability of the production units, it represented 26% of the variation of economic gain, with a negative linear relation of -1.05 (P ≤0.001. The best labor alternatives for producers, when emigrating, show that family labor is not the productive factor allowing them to have earnings; however, the dairy activity provides productive and economic sustenance for people with a local and regional opportunity cost.

  13. CLASSICAL CALCULATION METHODS OF COSTS AND THEIR LIMITS IN ACTUAL FRAME OF ROMANIAN ECONOMY. PRESENT TENDENCIES IN COSTS ACCOUNTANCY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona Dragomirescu

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Classical accountancy shaped and coagulated in an informational system grafted on traditional production systems, characterized by mass productions, planning etc. The powerful concentrations and grouping, economies globalization, both as offer and as demand, the new restrictions and economical opportunities and global environment technologies lead to a redefining of enterprises’ objectives. From the well-known “quantity and productivity”, the enterprise faced a new system of objectives: quality’s increase; terms and costs decrease; productivity; flexibility. In such conditions the need of “defining new methods” appeared, the need of adapting the fundamental calculation methods, their improvement – respective the appearance of modern methods of costs calculation.

  14. Construction Cost Management in Resource Based Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Elazzazy, Muhammad

    2017-01-01

    Resource Based Economy tested according to criteria formulated from the construction cost management best practices. A cost management plan modeled to demonstrate the possibility of construction management under a new socio-economic system, which counts the consumed natural resources by construction as the dry cost to the environment.

  15. Cultural Differences in Opportunity Cost Consideration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ning; Ji, Li-Jun; Li, Ye

    2017-01-01

    Two studies were conducted to investigate cultural differences in opportunity cost consideration between Chinese and Euro-Canadians. Opportunity cost is defined as the cost of a benefit that must be forgone in order to pursue a better alternative (Becker et al., 1974). In both studies, participants read about hypothetical purchase scenarios, and then decided whether they would buy a certain product. Opportunity cost consideration was measured in two ways: (1) participants' thoughts pertaining to other (nonfocal) products while making decisions; (2) participants' decisions not to buy a focal product (Study 1) or a more expensive product (Study 2). Across both indexes, we found that after controlling for individual difference variables and amount of pocket money, Chinese participants in China considered financial opportunity cost more than Euro-Canadians in Study 1. Similar results were observed in Study 2 when comparing Chinese in Canada with Euro-Canadians However, the cultural effect on opportunity cost consideration was confounded by family income in Study 2. Implications for resource management, limitations of the current research and directions for future research are discussed.

  16. Influence of the economy crisis on project cost management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simankina, Tatyana; Ćetković, Jasmina; Verstina, Natalia; Evseev, Evgeny

    2017-10-01

    Economy crisis significantly affects primarily the project cost management. The article considers the problems of project management in the field of housing under conditions of economy crisis. Project budgets are reduced, their mutual interference grows and framework of risks changes. Apparently, specific approaches are required to be developed to optimize the expenses and guarantee the project implementation within the approved budget. There is considered domestic and foreign experience in terms of project cost management with involvement of BIM technologies.

  17. The energy costs of crisis for Italian economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tomasini, S.

    2008-01-01

    The dramatic fluctuations recorded by oil price over the last two years have refreshes the debate on the costs for economies, as the Italian one, that are net oil importer. With some econometric models such costs are estimated. Future perspectives are discussed. [it

  18. Should a vehicle fuel economy standard be combined with an economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions constraint? Implications for energy and climate policy in the United States

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karplus, Valerie J.; Paltsev, Sergey; Babiker, Mustafa; Reilly, John M.

    2013-01-01

    The United States has adopted fuel economy standards that require increases in the on-road efficiency of new passenger vehicles, with the goal of reducing petroleum use and (more recently) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Understanding the cost and effectiveness of fuel economy standards, alone and in combination with economy-wide policies that constrain GHG emissions, is essential to inform coordinated design of future climate and energy policy. We use a computable general equilibrium model, the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, to investigate the effect of combining a fuel economy standard with an economy-wide GHG emissions constraint in the United States. First, a fuel economy standard is shown to be at least six to fourteen times less cost effective than a price instrument (fuel tax) when targeting an identical reduction in cumulative gasoline use. Second, when combined with a cap-and-trade (CAT) policy, a binding fuel economy standard increases the cost of meeting the GHG emissions constraint by forcing expensive reductions in passenger vehicle gasoline use, displacing more cost-effective abatement opportunities. Third, the impact of adding a fuel economy standard to the CAT policy depends on the availability and cost of abatement opportunities in transport—if advanced biofuels provide a cost-competitive, low carbon alternative to gasoline, the fuel economy standard does not bind and the use of low carbon fuels in passenger vehicles makes a significantly larger contribution to GHG emissions abatement relative to the case when biofuels are not available. This analysis underscores the potentially large costs of a fuel economy standard relative to alternative policies aimed at reducing petroleum use and GHG emissions. It further emphasizes the need to consider sensitivity to vehicle technology and alternative fuel availability and costs as well as economy-wide responses when forecasting the energy, environmental, and economic outcomes of

  19. Opportunities and challenges of nanotechnology in the green economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iavicoli, Ivo; Leso, Veruscka; Ricciardi, Walter; Hodson, Laura L; Hoover, Mark D

    2014-10-07

    In a world of finite resources and ecosystem capacity, the prevailing model of economic growth, founded on ever-increasing consumption of resources and emission pollutants, cannot be sustained any longer. In this context, the "green economy" concept has offered the opportunity to change the way that society manages the interaction of the environmental and economic domains. To enable society to build and sustain a green economy, the associated concept of "green nanotechnology" aims to exploit nano-innovations in materials science and engineering to generate products and processes that are energy efficient as well as economically and environmentally sustainable. These applications are expected to impact a large range of economic sectors, such as energy production and storage, clean up-technologies, as well as construction and related infrastructure industries. These solutions may offer the opportunities to reduce pressure on raw materials trading on renewable energy, to improve power delivery systems to be more reliable, efficient and safe as well as to use unconventional water sources or nano-enabled construction products therefore providing better ecosystem and livelihood conditions.However, the benefits of incorporating nanomaterials in green products and processes may bring challenges with them for environmental, health and safety risks, ethical and social issues, as well as uncertainty concerning market and consumer acceptance. Therefore, our aim is to examine the relationships among guiding principles for a green economy and opportunities for introducing nano-applications in this field as well as to critically analyze their practical challenges, especially related to the impact that they may have on the health and safety of workers involved in this innovative sector. These are principally due to the not fully known nanomaterial hazardous properties, as well as to the difficulties in characterizing exposure and defining emerging risks for the workforce

  20. Social Economy: Challenges and Opportunities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioan HOSU

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The present article addresses a topic of interest for both the public sector and the nonprofit sector, namely that of the innovative practices of social economy. Diverse practices and models of social economy are increasingly present in the Romanian community, this being the reason why it is important to study the major coordinates of social economy and social entrepreneurship identified by means of an empirical research done in Romania. Social economy is considered one of the most important innovative strategy approaches as this sector may contribute to some efforts done for the elimination of poverty and the re-launching of local economies. The integration of the identified elements in regional programs and public policies is the starting point of the strategic approaches regarding reform in public administration. Social economy can be an example of joint action for public and private organizations and institutions interested in carrying out community projects based on inclusive, participative and innovative forms of community development.

  1. Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plantinga, Arnoud; Krijnen, Job M T; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M

    2018-01-01

    People often neglect opportunity costs: They do not fully take into account forgone alternatives outside of a particular choice set. Several scholars have suggested that poor people should be more likely to spontaneously consider opportunity costs, because budget constraints should lead to an increased focus on trade-offs. We did not find support for this hypothesis in five high-powered experiments (total N = 2325). The experiments used different products (both material and experiential) with both high and low prices (from $8.50 to $249.99) and different methods of reminding participants of opportunity costs. High-income and low-income participants showed an equally strong decrease in willingness to buy when reminded of opportunity costs, implying that both the rich and the poor neglect opportunity costs. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Behavioral Decision Making Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. The cost of fuel economy in the Indian passenger vehicle market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chugh, Randy; Cropper, Maureen; Narain, Urvashi

    2011-01-01

    To investigate how fuel economy is valued in the Indian car market, we compute the cost to Indian consumers of purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle and compare it to the benefit of lower fuel costs over the life of the vehicle. We estimate hedonic price functions for four market segments (petrol hatchbacks, diesel hatchbacks, petrol sedans, and diesel sedans) to compute 95% confidence intervals for the marginal cost to the consumer for an increase in fuel economy. We find that the associated present value of fuel savings falls within the 95% confidence interval for most specifications, in all market segments, for the years 2002 through 2006. Thus, we fail to consistently reject the hypothesis that consumers appropriately value fuel economy. - Highlights: → We examine the tradeoffs faced by new vehicle consumers in India. → We use hedonic price functions and instrumental variables. → We find no support for the hypothesis that consumers undervalue fuel economy. → Some consumers are willing to forgo substantial potential savings to own their preferred vehicle.

  3. Economies of scale in the Korean district heating system: A variable cost function approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Sun-Young; Lee, Kyoung-Sil; Yoo, Seung-Hoon

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims to investigate the cost efficiency of South Korea’s district heating (DH) system by using a variable cost function and cost-share equation. We employ a seemingly unrelated regression model, with quarterly time-series data from the Korea District Heating Corporation (KDHC)—a public utility that covers about 59% of the DH system market in South Korea—over the 1987–2011 period. The explanatory variables are price of labor, price of material, capital cost, and production level. The results indicate that economies of scale are present and statistically significant. Thus, expansion of its DH business would allow KDHC to obtain substantial economies of scale. According to our forecasts vis-à-vis scale economies, the KDHC will enjoy cost efficiency for some time yet. To ensure a socially efficient supply of DH, it is recommended that the KDHC expand its business proactively. With regard to informing policy or regulations, our empirical results could play a significant role in decision-making processes. - Highlights: • We examine economies of scale in the South Korean district heating sector. • We focus on Korea District Heating Corporation (KDHC), a public utility. • We estimate a translog cost function, using a variable cost function. • We found economies of scale to be present and statistically significant. • KDHC will enjoy cost efficiency and expanding its supply is socially efficient.

  4. The world economy facing the climate. Increasing responsibilities lead to new opportunities; L'Economie mondiale face au climat. A responsabilites accrues, opportunites nouvelles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gabus, A

    2003-09-01

    The respect of the Kyoto protocol the decrease of the greenhouse gases emission, will provide more constraints to the economy but also more opportunities. The author analyzes these constraints and the possible opportunities to propose then, an environmental, technological and institutional prospective of the greenhouse effect attenuation. (A.L.B.)

  5. Maintenance cost models in deregulated power systems under opportunity costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Arfaj, K.; Dahal, K.; Azaiez, M.N.

    2007-01-01

    In a centralized power system, the operator is responsible for scheduling maintenance. There are different types of maintenance, including corrective maintenance; predictive maintenance; preventive maintenance; and reliability-centred maintenance. The main cause of power failures is poor maintenance. As such, maintenance costs play a significant role in deregulated power systems. They include direct costs associated with material and labor costs as well as indirect costs associated with spare parts inventory, shipment, test equipment, indirect labor, opportunity costs and cost of failure. In maintenance scheduling and planning, the cost function is the only component of the objective function. This paper presented the results of a study in which different components of maintenance costs were modeled. The maintenance models were formulated as an optimization problem with single and multiple objectives and a set of constraints. The maintenance costs models could be used to schedule the maintenance activities of power generators more accurately and to identify the best maintenance strategies over a period of time as they consider failure and opportunity costs in a deregulated environment. 32 refs., 4 tabs., 4 figs

  6. Scale Economies and Industry Agglomeration Externalities: A Dynamic Cost Function Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Donald S. Siegel; Catherine J. Morrison Paul

    1999-01-01

    Scale economies and agglomeration externalities are alleged to be important determinants of economic growth. To assess these effects, the authors outline and estimate a microfoundations model based on a dynamic cost function specification. This model provides for the separate identification of the impacts of externalities and cyclical utilization on short- and long-run scale economies and input substitution patterns. The authors find that scale economies are prevalent in U.S manufacturing; co...

  7. Energy as a competitive factor - Opportunities for the Swiss economy; Wettbewerbsfaktor Energie - Chancen fuer die Schweizer Wirtschaft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ziegler, M.; Baettig, R.

    2010-02-15

    This report Swiss for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) reviews opportunities offered to the Swiss economy by regarding energy as a competitive factor. Goals set in Switzerland regarding the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions and measures taken in this area are commented on. The report takes a look at measures that are technically and economically implementable in the building and transport areas. The costs and investment involved in the implementation of a particular scenario are examined. The chances offered to Swiss companies in the area of replacements for fossil fuels are examined. Market potentials in the areas of renewable energy sources and energy productivity are reviewed as are related financial services and workplace effects.

  8. Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plantinga, Arnoud; Krijnen, Job M.T.; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M.

    2018-01-01

    People often neglect opportunity costs: They do not fully take into account forgone alternatives outside of a particular choice set. Several scholars have suggested that poor people should be more likely to spontaneously consider opportunity costs, because budget constraints should lead to an

  9. Evidence for opportunity cost neglect in the poor

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plantinga, A.; Krijnen, J.M.T.; Zeelenberg, M.; Breugelmans, S.M.

    2018-01-01

    People often neglect opportunity costs: They do not fully take into account forgone alternatives outside of a particular choice set. Several scholars have suggested that poor people should be more likely to spontaneously consider opportunity costs, because budget constraints should lead to an

  10. Unveiling information on opportunity costs in REDD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Delacote, Philip; Palmer, Charles; Bakkegaard, Riyong Kim

    2014-01-01

    Improving information about individual opportunity costs of deforestation agents has the potential to increase the efficiency of REDD when it takes the form of a payment for environmental services scheme. However, objectives pursued in REDD projects may vary across policy makers. Within a theoret......Improving information about individual opportunity costs of deforestation agents has the potential to increase the efficiency of REDD when it takes the form of a payment for environmental services scheme. However, objectives pursued in REDD projects may vary across policy makers. Within...... objectives in REDD-affected communities, having full information makes no difference to overall welfare as rents remain with agents. The amount of deforestation avoided will at least be as high as under asymmetric information. These results are illustrated with data collected on opportunity costs in Amazonas...

  11. Power plant economy of scale and cost trends: further analyses and review of empirical studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisher, C.F. Jr.; Paik, S.; Schriver, W.R.

    1986-07-01

    Multiple regression analyses were performed on capital cost data for nuclear and coal-fired power plants in an extension of an earlier study which indicated that nuclear units completed prior to the accident at Three-Mile Island (TMI) have no economy of scale, and that units completed after that event have a weak economy of scale (scaling exponent of about 0.81). The earlier study also indicated that the scaling exponent for coal-fired units is about 0.92, compared with conceptual models which project scaling exponents in a range from about 0.5 to 0.9. Other empirical studies have indicated poor economy of scale, but a large range of cost-size scaling exponents has been reported. In the present study, the results for nuclear units indicate a scaling exponent of about 0.94 but with no economy of scale for large units, that a first unit costs 17% more than a second unit, that a unit in the South costs 20% less than others, that a unit completed after TMI costs 33% more than one completed before TMI, and that costs are increasing at 9.3% per year. In the present study, the results for coal-fired units indicate a scaling exponent of 0.93 but with better scaling economy in the larger units, that a first unit costs 38.5% more, a unit in the South costs 10% less, flue-gas desulfurization units cost 23% more, and that costs are increasing at 4% per year

  12. MANUFACTURING PRICES, PRODUCTIVITY, AND LABOR COSTS IN 5 ECONOMIES

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VANARK, B

    The United States continues to surge ahead of other major industrial economies in terms of lower prices, higher levels of labor productivity, and better unit labor cost performance; while the depreciation of the dollar plays an important role, real productivity gains are important as well.

  13. Costs of rearing children in agricultural economies: an alternative estimation approach and findings from rural Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, M M; Magnani, R J; Mock, N B; Saadat, Y S

    1993-03-01

    There are changes in child costs during demographic transition. This study examines household time allocation from 66 agricultural households in 3 villages in Tangail District in rural north central Bangladesh in 1984-85 (371 days). Component and total child-rearing costs are estimated in alternative ways. Conventional "opportunity wage" measures are considered overestimated. The methodological shortcomings of direct cost accounting procedures and consumer demand methods in computing time cost and monetary cost of child rearing are pointed out. In this study's alternative computation, age standardized equivalent costs are generated. Child food consumption costs were generated from a large national survey conducted in 1983. Nonfood expenditures were estimated by food to nonfood expenditure ratios taken from the aforementioned survey. For estimating breast-feeding costs, an estimate was produced based on the assumption that costs for infant food consumption were a fixed proportion of food costs for older children. Land ownership groups were set up to reflect socioeconomic status: 1) landless households, 2) marginal farm households with 1 acre or .4 hectares of land, 3) middle income households with 1-2 acres of land, 4) upper middle income households with 2-4 acres of land, and 5) upper income or rich households with over 4 acres of land. The nonmarket wage rate for hired household help was used to determine the value of cooking, fetching water, and household cleaning and repairing. The results confirm the low costs of child rearing in high fertility societies. Productive nonmarket activities are effective in subsidizing the costs of children. The addition of a child into households already with children has a low impact on time costs of children; "this economies of scale effect is estimated ... at 20%." The highest relative costs were found in the lowest income households, and the lowest costs were in the highest income households. 5% of total household income is

  14. A Dynamic Economy with Costly Price Adjustment

    OpenAIRE

    Leif Danziger

    1998-01-01

    This paper studies a general-equilibrium model of a dynamic economy with menu costs. Each firm's productivity is exposed to idiosyncratic and aggregate productivity shocks around a trend, and the money supply to monetary shocks around a trend. All consumption, pricing, and production decisions are based on optimizing behavior. There exists a staggered Markov perfect equilibrium with prices determined by a two-sided (s,S) markup strategy. The paper analyzes the optimal markup strategy and inve...

  15. The Opportunity Cost of Capital

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayman Chit PhD

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The opportunity cost of the capital invested in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D to bring a new drug to market makes up as much as half the total cost. However, the literature on the cost of pharmaceutical R&D is mixed on how, exactly, one should calculate this “hidden” cost. Some authors attempt to adopt models from the field of finance, whereas other prominent authors dismiss this practice as biased, arguing that it artificially inflates the R&D cost to justify higher prices for pharmaceuticals. In this article, we examine the arguments made by both sides of the debate and then explain the cost of capital concept and describe in detail how this value is calculated. Given the significant contribution of the cost of capital to the overall cost of new drug R&D, a clear understanding of the concept is critical for policy makers, investors, and those involved directly in the R&D.

  16. The Opportunity Cost of Capital

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chit, Ayman; Chit, Ahmad; Papadimitropoulos, Manny; Krahn, Murray; Parker, Jayson; Grootendorst, Paul

    2015-01-01

    The opportunity cost of the capital invested in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) to bring a new drug to market makes up as much as half the total cost. However, the literature on the cost of pharmaceutical R&D is mixed on how, exactly, one should calculate this “hidden” cost. Some authors attempt to adopt models from the field of finance, whereas other prominent authors dismiss this practice as biased, arguing that it artificially inflates the R&D cost to justify higher prices for pharmaceuticals. In this article, we examine the arguments made by both sides of the debate and then explain the cost of capital concept and describe in detail how this value is calculated. Given the significant contribution of the cost of capital to the overall cost of new drug R&D, a clear understanding of the concept is critical for policy makers, investors, and those involved directly in the R&D. PMID:25933615

  17. Dopamine Manipulation Affects Response Vigor Independently of Opportunity Cost.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zénon, Alexandre; Devesse, Sophie; Olivier, Etienne

    2016-09-14

    Dopamine is known to be involved in regulating effort investment in relation to reward, and the disruption of this mechanism is thought to be central in some pathological situations such as Parkinson's disease, addiction, and depression. According to an influential model, dopamine plays this role by encoding the opportunity cost, i.e., the average value of forfeited actions, which is an important parameter to take into account when making decisions about which action to undertake and how fast to execute it. We tested this hypothesis by asking healthy human participants to perform two effort-based decision-making tasks, following either placebo or levodopa intake in a double blind within-subject protocol. In the effort-constrained task, there was a trade-off between the amount of force exerted and the time spent in executing the task, such that investing more effort decreased the opportunity cost. In the time-constrained task, the effort duration was constant, but exerting more force allowed the subject to earn more substantial reward instead of saving time. Contrary to the model predictions, we found that levodopa caused an increase in the force exerted only in the time-constrained task, in which there was no trade-off between effort and opportunity cost. In addition, a computational model showed that dopamine manipulation left the opportunity cost factor unaffected but altered the ratio between the effort cost and reinforcement value. These findings suggest that dopamine does not represent the opportunity cost but rather modulates how much effort a given reward is worth. Dopamine has been proposed in a prevalent theory to signal the average reward rate, used to estimate the cost of investing time in an action, also referred to as opportunity cost. We contrasted the effect of dopamine manipulation in healthy participants in two tasks, in which increasing response vigor (i.e., the amount of effort invested in an action) allowed either to save time or to earn more

  18. Opportunities and new business models : transaction cost and property rights perspectives on entrepreneurship

    OpenAIRE

    Stieglitz, Nils; Foss, Nicolai Juul

    2009-01-01

    Entrepreneurs in a competitive economy face three fundamental problems. They need to search for and discover a business opportunity (Kirzner, 1973), evaluate it (Knight, 1921), and then seize the opportunity to reap entrepreneurial profits (Schumpeter, 1911) (Langlois, 2007). The problem that we address is how the ability to exploit business opportunities is influenced by entrepreneurial search and the economic organization of entrepreneurship (Arrow, 1962; Lippman & Rumelt, 2003;...

  19. Opportunity Cost and the Intelligence of Economists: A Comment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arce, Daniel G.

    2016-01-01

    In "Opportunity Cost: A Reexamination," Professor Parkin contrasts forgone physical quantities with forgone values as measures of the opportunity cost of basic economic decisions. The impetus for his study stems from an experiment conducted by Ferraro and Taylor (2005), in which professional economists could not reach a consensus over…

  20. Estimating the opportunity costs of bed-days.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandmann, Frank G; Robotham, Julie V; Deeny, Sarah R; Edmunds, W John; Jit, Mark

    2018-03-01

    Opportunity costs of bed-days are fundamental to understanding the value of healthcare systems. They greatly influence burden of disease estimations and economic evaluations involving stays in healthcare facilities. However, different estimation techniques employ assumptions that differ crucially in whether to consider the value of the second-best alternative use forgone, of any available alternative use, or the value of the actually chosen alternative. Informed by economic theory, this paper provides a taxonomic framework of methodologies for estimating the opportunity costs of resources. This taxonomy is then applied to bed-days by classifying existing approaches accordingly. We highlight differences in valuation between approaches and the perspective adopted, and we use our framework to appraise the assumptions and biases underlying the standard approaches that have been widely adopted mostly unquestioned in the past, such as the conventional use of reference costs and administrative accounting data. Drawing on these findings, we present a novel approach for estimating the opportunity costs of bed-days in terms of health forgone for the second-best patient, but expressed monetarily. This alternative approach effectively re-connects to the concept of choice and explicitly considers net benefits. It is broadly applicable across settings and for other resources besides bed-days. © 2017 The Authors Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Resolving the "Cost-Effective but Unaffordable" Paradox: Estimating the Health Opportunity Costs of Nonmarginal Budget Impacts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomas, James; Claxton, Karl; Martin, Stephen; Soares, Marta

    2018-03-01

    Considering whether or not a proposed investment (an intervention, technology, or program of care) is affordable is really asking whether the benefits it offers are greater than its opportunity cost. To say that an investment is cost-effective but not affordable must mean that the (implicit or explicit) "threshold" used to judge cost-effectiveness does not reflect the scale and value of the opportunity costs. Existing empirical estimates of health opportunity costs are based on cross-sectional variation in expenditure and mortality outcomes by program budget categories (PBCs) and do not reflect the likely effect of nonmarginal budget impacts on health opportunity costs. The UK Department of Health regularly updates the needs-based target allocation of resources to local areas of the National Health Service (NHS), creating two subgroups of local areas (those under target allocation and those over). These data provide the opportunity to explore how the effects of changes in health care expenditure differ with available resources. We use 2008-2009 data to evaluate two econometric approaches to estimation and explore a range of criteria for accepting subgroup specific effects for differences in expenditure and outcome elasticities across the 23 PBCs. Our results indicate that health opportunity costs arising from an investment imposing net increases in expenditure are underestimated unless account is taken of likely nonmarginal effects. They also indicate the benefits (reduced health opportunity costs or increased value-based price of a technology) of being able to "smooth" these nonmarginal budget impacts by health care systems borrowing against future budgets or from manufacturers offering "mortgage" type arrangements. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Logistics opportunity costs: A mining case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leani van Jaarsveld

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This study highlighted the importance of determining the impact that an ineffective mode of transport has on a firm’s transportation model and costs. The main focus of this study was to determine the logistics opportunity costs of using road transport within a mining firm. A case study approach was followed, as the investigation aimed to analyse a complex problem experienced by one company and present it in an easily understandable format. From the results of this study, it was apparent that the logistics opportunity costs associated with the mode of transport was substantial. This highlighted the need for firms to revise their choice of transport mode on a regular basis, as it has a major impact not only on their transportation costs, but also on their inventory holding and carbon emissions. The results also have implications for South Africa’s only freight railway, Transnet Freight Rail, which should not only focus on expanding its existing capacity, but also on improving its customer service delivery whilst containing tariff increases.

  3. IT Education as an Opportunity for Uprising of Serbian Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Božidar Radenković

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The analysis of IT market in Serbia indicates an increase in exports of IT services. Consequently, the need for experts with competitive skills in modern information and communication technologies rises. International priorities related to the application of IT in business and science until the year 2020 include: e-education, cloud computing, mobile technologies, internet of things, ubiquitous and pervasive computing, social media, virtual reality, and big data. Designing environment for providing IT services in these fields can be an opportunity for the development of Serbian economy, because it does not require high infrastructural investments, only investments in education. This paper gives a proposal for leveraging higher education and lifelong learning in Serbia, with respect to the demands of the IT market.

  4. Energy efficiency and climate change: an opportunity for the Swiss economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ziegler, M.; Baettig, R.

    2010-01-01

    This article takes a look at the results of a study elaborated for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The study comes to the conclusion that the Swiss economy can profit from the implementation of energy-efficiency measures as well as from global growth in the area of products for increasing energy-efficiency. Swiss companies can therefore not only help lower emission rates for greenhouse gases and increase energy efficiency but also create new jobs. The long-term potential for the reduction of CO 2 emissions is quoted as being enormous. Winners and losers in the changing energy scene are noted and opportunities for Swiss exports are examined

  5. Opportunity cost of funding drugs for rare diseases: the cost-effectiveness of eculizumab in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coyle, Doug; Cheung, Matthew C; Evans, Gerald A

    2014-11-01

    Both ethical and economics concerns have been raised with respect to the funding of drugs for rare diseases. This article reports both the cost-effectiveness of eculizumab for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and its associated opportunity costs. Analysis compared eculizumab plus current standard of care v. current standard of care from a publicly funded health care system perspective. A Markov model covered the major consequences of PNH and treatment. Cost-effectiveness was assessed in terms of the incremental cost per life year and per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Opportunity costs were assessed by the health gains foregone and the alternative uses for the additional resources. Eculizumab is associated with greater life years (1.13), QALYs (2.45), and costs (CAN$5.24 million). The incremental cost per life year and per QALY gained is CAN$4.62 million and CAN$2.13 million, respectively. Based on established thresholds, the opportunity cost of funding eculizumab is 102.3 discounted QALYs per patient funded. Sensitivity and subgroup analysis confirmed the robustness of the results. If the acquisition cost of eculizumab was reduced by 98.5%, it could be considered cost-effective. The nature of rare diseases means that data are often sparse for the conduct of economic evaluations. When data were limited, assumptions were made that biased results in favor of eculizumab. This study demonstrates the feasibility of conducting economic evaluations in the context of rare diseases. Eculizumab may provide substantive benefits to patients with PNH in terms of life expectancy and quality of life but at a high incremental cost and a substantial opportunity cost. Decision makers should fully consider the opportunity costs before making positive reimbursement decisions. © The Author(s) 2014.

  6. Information and communication technologies and gender in climate change and green economy: Situating women’s opportunities and challenges in Zambian policies and strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justina Namukombo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Zambia’s 2012 report on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO +20 identifies existing opportunities on the country’s transitioning to green economy. The RIO +20 conference of 2012 has resulted in new momentum in addressing problems of sustainable development. However, this article argues that there are practical challenges that require paying attention to, especially those involving women. The article addressed one key question: To what extent can women participate in the transitioning process to green economy in Zambia and what opportunities and challenges exists? The study used document analysis to answer the above question. National policy documents were reviewed to understand interventions on environmental management. Whilst going through the documents, the study used gender analysis frameworks (education, skills, roles in family and society, access to infrastructure to bring out qualitative and quantitative information on women. Using suggested green economy interventions in the literature as benchmark, qualitative analysis was used to project possible participation of women in green economy activities and possible challenges to be faced. The study found that participation of women will be limited despite existing opportunities because of challenges of access to information and communication technology infrastructures, low educational levels and skills and financial constraints. As Zambia undergoes a transitioning process, these limitations should be addressed in planned green economy policies and interventions to maximise benefits. Keywords: Green economy; Gender; Policies; Strategies; ICT; Zambia

  7. Potential Cost-Effective Opportunities for Methane Emission Abatement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warner, Ethan [Joint Inst. for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO (United States); Steinberg, Daniel [Joint Inst. for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO (United States); Hodson, Elke [U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Heath, Garvin [Joint Inst. for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-08-01

    The energy sector was responsible for approximately 84% of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. in 2012 (EPA 2014a). Methane is the second most important GHG, contributing 9% of total U.S. CO2e emissions. A large portion of those methane emissions result from energy production and use; the natural gas, coal, and oil industries produce approximately 39% of anthropogenic methane emissions in the U.S. As a result, fossil-fuel systems have been consistently identified as high priority sectors to contribute to U.S. GHG reduction goals (White House 2015). Only two studies have recently attempted to quantify the abatement potential and cost associated with the breadth of opportunities to reduce GHG emissions within natural gas, oil, and coal supply chains in the United States, namely the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (2013a) and ICF (2014). EPA, in its 2013 analysis, estimated the marginal cost of abatement for non-CO2 GHG emissions from the natural gas, oil, and coal supply chains for multiple regions globally, including the United States. Building on this work, ICF International (ICF) (2014) provided an update and re-analysis of the potential opportunities in U.S. natural gas and oil systems. In this report we synthesize these previously published estimates as well as incorporate additional data provided by ICF to provide a comprehensive national analysis of methane abatement opportunities and their associated costs across the natural gas, oil, and coal supply chains. Results are presented as a suite of marginal abatement cost curves (MACCs), which depict the total potential and cost of reducing emissions through different abatement measures. We report results by sector (natural gas, oil, and coal) and by supply chain segment - production, gathering and boosting, processing, transmission and storage, or distribution - to facilitate identification of which sectors and supply chain

  8. The impact of oil on the Scottish economy with particular reference to the Aberdeen economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lloyd, M.G.; Newlands, D.A.

    1992-01-01

    The establishment of the North Sea oil industry over the last 20 years has had far reaching and dramatic effects upon the whole Scottish economy but especially upon those areas where oil related activity is geographically concentrated. This chapter discusses the impact of oil on the Scottish economy with particular reference to developments in the Aberdeen area. It is comprised of five main sections. The first outlines the way in which the oil industry has developed in Britain, noting that, despite rapid growth, there have been many lost opportunities. The impact of oil related developments in Scotland is discussed next before the focus narrows to the Aberdeen economy. The third section describes the familiar benefits of oil developments in Aberdeen while the fourth section analyses some of the less familiar costs. Finally, there is some discussion of the way in which the gains and losses of oil developments in Aberdeen have been distributed. (author)

  9. Valuation of opportunity costs by rats working for rewarding electrical brain stimulation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rebecca Brana Solomon

    Full Text Available Pursuit of one goal typically precludes simultaneous pursuit of another. Thus, each exclusive activity entails an "opportunity cost:" the forgone benefits from the next-best activity eschewed. The present experiment estimates, in laboratory rats, the function that maps objective opportunity costs into subjective ones. In an operant chamber, rewarding electrical brain stimulation was delivered when the cumulative time a lever had been depressed reached a criterion duration. The value of the activities forgone during this duration is the opportunity cost of the electrical reward. We determined which of four functions best describes how objective opportunity costs, expressed as the required duration of lever depression, are translated into their subjective equivalents. The simplest account is the identity function, which equates subjective and objective opportunity costs. A variant of this function called the "sigmoidal-slope function," converges on the identity function at longer durations but deviates from it at shorter durations. The sigmoidal-slope function has the form of a hockey stick. The flat "blade" denotes a range over which opportunity costs are subjectively equivalent; these durations are too short to allow substitution of more beneficial activities. The blade extends into an upward-curving portion over which costs become discriminable and finally into the straight "handle," over which objective and subjective costs match. The two remaining functions are based on hyperbolic and exponential temporal discounting, respectively. The results are best described by the sigmoidal-slope function. That this is so suggests that different principles of intertemporal choice are involved in the evaluation of time spent working for a reward or waiting for its delivery. The subjective opportunity-cost function plays a key role in the evaluation and selection of goals. An accurate description of its form and parameters is essential to successful

  10. Opportunity cost in the economic evaluation of da Vinci robotic assisted surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuertes-Guiró, Fernando; Girabent-Farrés, Montserrat; Viteri-Velasco, Eduardo

    2016-04-01

    This study aims to demonstrate the importance of the opportunity cost in using da Vinci robotic surgery, assisted by a comprehensive review of the literature to determine the differences in the total cost of surgery and operative time in traditional laparoscopic surgery and da Vinci robotic surgery. We identified the studies comparing the use of traditional laparoscopic surgery with robotics during the period 2002-2012 in the electronic economic evaluation databases, and another electronic search was performed for publications by Spanish hospitals in the same period to calculate the opportunity cost. A meta-analysis of response variables considering the total cost of the intervention and surgical time was completed using the items selected in the first revision, and their differences were analyzed. We then calculated the opportunity cost represented by these time differences using the data obtained from the studies in the second review of the literature. Nine items were selected in the first review and three in the second. Traditional laparoscopic surgery has a lower cost than the da Vinci (p < 0.00001). Robotic surgery takes longer (8.0-65.5 min) than traditional surgery (p < 0.00001), and this difference represents an average opportunity cost for robot use of € 489.98, with a unit cost factor/time which varies according to the pathology dealt with, from € 8.2 to 18.7/min. The opportunity cost is a quantity that must be included in the total cost of using a surgical technology within an economic cost analysis in the context of an economic evaluation.

  11. More chemistry between green and growth. The opportunities and dilemmas of a bio-based economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2010-12-01

    A bio-based economy is one in which enterprises manufacture non-food products from biomass. Such products include fuel for the transport industry, chemicals, materials, and energy. Biomass is the biological material of living or recently living organisms, either animal or vegetable. With technology becoming more sophisticated, it is growing easier to turn plants, trees, crops, and residual animal waste into biomass. Waste and waste streams are increasingly being used as input in production processes, thereby gaining an economic value of their own. They are giving rise to new, sustainable products with considerable added value that replace products based on non-renewable materials. New bio-based products may offer the Netherlands new economic opportunities. The Dutch can already boast a number of distinct advantages in that respect, thanks to the sophistication of their industrial sector, agro-industry, chemicals and energy industries, and transport and logistics sector - all key sectors in a bio-based economy. However, the growing world population and increasing level of prosperity worldwide, and the environmental and climate problems associated with such growth, are adding to the complexity of policy-making aimed at developing a bio-based economy. The shift from fossil-based to bio-based materials must be part of a comprehensive policy aimed at achieving a sustainable economy. [nl

  12. Incorporating economies of scale in the cost estimation in economic evaluation of PCV and HPV vaccination programmes in the Philippines: a game changer?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suwanthawornkul, Thanthima; Praditsitthikorn, Naiyana; Kulpeng, Wantanee; Haasis, Manuel Alexander; Guerrero, Anna Melissa; Teerawattananon, Yot

    2018-01-01

    Many economic evaluations ignore economies of scale in their cost estimation, which means that cost parameters are assumed to have a linear relationship with the level of production. Economies of scale is the situation when the average total cost of producing a product decreases with increasing volume caused by reducing the variable costs due to more efficient operation. This study investigates the significance of applying the economies of scale concept: the saving in costs gained by an increased level of production in economic evaluation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations. The fixed and variable costs of providing partial (20% coverage) and universal (100% coverage) vaccination programs in the Philippines were estimated using various methods, including costs of conducting questionnaire survey, focus-group discussion, and analysis of secondary data. Costing parameters were utilised as inputs for the two economic evaluation models for PCV and HPV. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and 5-year budget impacts with and without applying economies of scale to the costing parameters for partial and universal coverage were compared in order to determine the effect of these different costing approaches. The program costs of the partial coverage for the two immunisation programs were not very different when applying and not applying the economies of scale concept. Nevertheless, the program costs for universal coverage were 0.26 and 0.32 times lower when applying economies of scale compared to not applying economies of scale for the pneumococcal and human papillomavirus vaccinations, respectively. ICERs varied by up to 98% for pneumococcal vaccinations, whereas the change in ICERs in the human papillomavirus vaccination depended on both the costs of cervical cancer screening and the vaccination program. This results in a significant difference in the 5-year budget impact, accounting for 30 and 40% of reduction in

  13. Energy efficiency improvement and cost saving opportunities forpetroleum refineries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Worrell, Ernst; Galitsky, Christina

    2005-02-15

    The petroleum refining industry in the United States is the largest in the world, providing inputs to virtually any economic sector,including the transport sector and the chemical industry. The industry operates 146 refineries (as of January 2004) around the country,employing over 65,000 employees. The refining industry produces a mix of products with a total value exceeding $151 billion. Refineries spend typically 50 percent of cash operating costs (i.e., excluding capital costs and depreciation) on energy, making energy a major cost factor and also an important opportunity for cost reduction. Energy use is also a major source of emissions in the refinery industry making energy efficiency improvement an attractive opportunity to reduce emissions and operating costs. Voluntary government programs aim to assist industry to improve competitiveness through increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. ENERGY STAR (R), a voluntary program managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stresses the need for strong and strategic corporate energy management programs. ENERGY STAR provides energy management tools and strategies for successful corporate energy management programs. This Energy Guide describes research conducted to support ENERGY STAR and its work with the petroleum refining industry.This research provides information on potential energy efficiency opportunities for petroleum refineries. This Energy Guide introduces energy efficiency opportunities available for petroleum refineries. It begins with descriptions of the trends, structure, and production of the refining industry and the energy used in the refining and conversion processes. Specific energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies of plants and references to technical literature are provided. If available, typical payback periods are also listed. The Energy Guide draws upon the experiences with energy efficiency measures of petroleum refineries worldwide

  14. Analyzing cost efficient production behavior under economies of scope : A nonparametric methodology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cherchye, L.J.H.; de Rock, B.; Vermeulen, F.M.P.

    2008-01-01

    In designing a production model for firms that generate multiple outputs, we take as a starting point that such multioutput production refers to economies of scope, which in turn originate from joint input use and input externalities. We provide a nonparametric characterization of cost-efficient

  15. Municipal opportunities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cousens, D.; Chuddy, B.; Gleeson, A.; Leckie, D.; Wahl, K.; McGarry, D.

    1997-01-01

    The panel discussing market opportunities for municipal electric companies was moderated by Markham Mayor Don Cousens. He expressed himself in favour of deregulation and was optimistic about the benefits it will bring to municipal electric utilities and their customers. Barry Chuddy, General Manager of Business Development for TransAlta Energy discussed the advantages of recent cogeneration and district energy for municipal utilities in Ontario and Quebec, and expressed his support for incentive-based regulation based on a level playing field, competitive generation, and a reasonable charge for stranded assets. Toronto City Councillor Dan Leckie described cogeneration and district energy as a tremendous opportunity to reduce the cost of doing business in the city core through local job creation and by keeping money in the local economy. Karl Wahl, General Manager of Hydro Mississauga expressed optimism that the government will move expeditiously toward competition, choice and lower-cost supply. David McGarry, President of Elecsar Engineering of Sarnia spoke about the significant job creating potential that deregulation will bring to the electrical industry. He cited several examples from Ontario and British Columbia

  16. Maternal role rewards, opportunity costs and fertility.

    OpenAIRE

    Oppong C

    1982-01-01

    ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper comprising a literature survey of interrelations between women's social role, maternity and fertility - discusses the social theory background, opportunity cost of children, economic, political, psychic and social status, role rewards, conflicts, etc. Bibliography pp. 35 to 47 and references.

  17. How Opportunity Costs Decrease the Probability of War in an Incomplete Information Game

    OpenAIRE

    Polachek, Solomon; Xiang, Jun

    2008-01-01

    This paper shows that the opportunity costs resulting from economic interdependence decrease the equilibrium probability of war in an incomplete information game. This result is strongly consistent with existing empirical analyses of the inverse trade-conflict relationship, but is the opposite of the conclusion reached by Gartzke et al. (2001), who reject the opportunity cost argument in a game-theoretic framework. As a result of this paper's findings, one cannot dismiss the opportunity cost ...

  18. Incorporating economies of scale in the cost estimation in economic evaluation of PCV and HPV vaccination programmes in the Philippines: a game changer?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thanthima Suwanthawornkul

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Many economic evaluations ignore economies of scale in their cost estimation, which means that cost parameters are assumed to have a linear relationship with the level of production. Economies of scale is the situation when the average total cost of producing a product decreases with increasing volume caused by reducing the variable costs due to more efficient operation. This study investigates the significance of applying the economies of scale concept: the saving in costs gained by an increased level of production in economic evaluation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV and human papillomavirus (HPV vaccinations. Methods The fixed and variable costs of providing partial (20% coverage and universal (100% coverage vaccination programs in the Philippines were estimated using various methods, including costs of conducting questionnaire survey, focus-group discussion, and analysis of secondary data. Costing parameters were utilised as inputs for the two economic evaluation models for PCV and HPV. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs and 5-year budget impacts with and without applying economies of scale to the costing parameters for partial and universal coverage were compared in order to determine the effect of these different costing approaches. Results The program costs of the partial coverage for the two immunisation programs were not very different when applying and not applying the economies of scale concept. Nevertheless, the program costs for universal coverage were 0.26 and 0.32 times lower when applying economies of scale compared to not applying economies of scale for the pneumococcal and human papillomavirus vaccinations, respectively. ICERs varied by up to 98% for pneumococcal vaccinations, whereas the change in ICERs in the human papillomavirus vaccination depended on both the costs of cervical cancer screening and the vaccination program. This results in a significant difference in the 5-year budget

  19. Analyzing Cost Efficient Production Behavior Under Economies of Scope : A Nonparametric Methodology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cherchye, L.J.H.; de Rock, B.; Vermeulen, F.M.P.

    2006-01-01

    In designing a production model for firms that generate multiple outputs, we take as a starting point that such multi-output production refers to economies of scope, which in turn originate from joint input use and input externalities. We provide a nonparametric characterization of cost efficient

  20. Lost opportunity cost of surgical training in the Australian private sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aitken, R James

    2012-03-01

    To meet Australia's future demands, surgical training in the private sector will be required. The aim of this study was to estimate the time and lost opportunity cost of training in the private sector. A literature search identified studies that compared the operation time required by a supervised trainee with a consultant. This time was costed using a business model. In 22 studies (34 operations), the median operation duration of a supervised trainee was 34% longer than the consultant. To complete a private training list in the same time as a consultant list, one major case would have to be dropped. A consultant's average lost opportunity cost was $1186 per list ($106,698 per year). Training in rooms and administration requirements increased this to $155,618 per year. To train 400 trainees in the private sector to college standards would require 54,000 training lists per year. The consultants' national lost opportunity cost would be $137 million per year. The average lost hospital case payment was $5894 per list, or $330 million per year nationally. The total lost opportunity cost of surgical training in the private sector would be about $467 million per year. When trainee salaries, other specialties and indirect expenses are included, the total cost will be substantially greater. It is unlikely that surgeons or hospitals will be prepared to absorb these costs. There needs to be a public debate about the funding implications of surgical training in the private sector. © 2012 The Author. ANZ Journal of Surgery © 2012 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

  1. Increased Patient Cost-Sharing, Weak US Economy, and Poor Health Habits: Implications for Employers and Insurers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haren, Melinda C; McConnell, Kirk; Shinn, Arthur F

    2009-04-01

    Many healthcare stakeholders, including insurers and employers, agree that growth in healthcare costs is inevitable. But the current trend toward further cost-shifting to employees and other health plan members is unsustainable. In 2008, the Zitter Group conducted a large national study on the relationship between insurers and employers, to understand how these 2 healthcare stakeholders interact in the creation of health benefit design. The survey results were previously summarized and discussed in the February/March 2009 issue of this journal. The present article aims to assess the implications of those results in the context of the growing tendency to increase patient cost-sharing, a weak US economy, and poor health habits. Increasing cost-sharing is a blunt instrument: although it may reduce utilization of frivolous services, it may also result in individuals forgoing medically necessary care. Increases in deductibles will lead to an overall decrease in optimal care-seeking behavior as families juggle healthcare costs with a weak economy and stagnating wages.

  2. Does SDDS Subscription Reduce Borrowing Costs for Emerging Market Economies?

    OpenAIRE

    John Cady

    2005-01-01

    Does macroeconomic data transparency-as signaled by subscription to the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS)-help reduce borrowing costs in international capital markets? This question is examined using data on new issues of sovereign foreign-currency-denominated (U.S. dollar, yen, and euro) bonds for several emerging market economies. Panel econometric estimates indicate that spreads on new bond issues declined on average by close to 20 percent, or by an average of about 55 basis...

  3. Is there an optimal pension fund size? A scale-economy analysis of administrative and investment costs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bikker, J.A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates scale economies and the optimal scale of pension funds, estimating different cost functions with varying assumptions about the shape of the underlying average cost function: Ushaped versus monotonically declining. Using unique data for Dutch pension funds over 1992-2009, we

  4. 40 CFR 600.314-08 - Updating label values, annual fuel cost, Gas Guzzler Tax, and range of fuel economy for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... cost, Gas Guzzler Tax, and range of fuel economy for comparable automobiles. 600.314-08 Section 600.314-08 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) ENERGY POLICY FUEL ECONOMY AND CARBON-RELATED EXHAUST EMISSIONS OF MOTOR VEHICLES Fuel Economy Regulations for 1977 and Later...

  5. Hydrogen economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pahwa, P.K.; Pahwa, Gulshan Kumar

    2013-10-01

    In the future, our energy systems will need to be renewable and sustainable, efficient and cost-effective, convenient and safe. Hydrogen has been proposed as the perfect fuel for this future energy system. The availability of a reliable and cost-effective supply, safe and efficient storage, and convenient end use of hydrogen will be essential for a transition to a hydrogen economy. Research is being conducted throughout the world for the development of safe, cost-effective hydrogen production, storage, and end-use technologies that support and foster this transition. This book discusses hydrogen economy vis-a-vis sustainable development. It examines the link between development and energy, prospects of sustainable development, significance of hydrogen energy economy, and provides an authoritative and up-to-date scientific account of hydrogen generation, storage, transportation, and safety.

  6. The future of hydrogen - opportunities and challenges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ball, Michael; Wietschel, Martin

    2009-01-01

    The following article is reproduced from 'The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities and Challenges', edited by Michael Ball and Martin Wietschel, to be published by Cambridge University Press in June 2009. In the light of ever-increasing global energy use, the increasing cost of energy services, concerns over energy supply security, climate change and local air pollution, this book centres around the question of how growing energy demand for transport can be met in the long term. Given the sustained interest in and controversial discussion of the prospects of hydrogen, the authors highlight the opportunities and the challenges of introducing hydrogen as alternative fuel in the transport sector from an economic, technical and environmental point of view. Through its multi-disciplinary approach the book provides a broad range of researchers, decision makers and policy makers with a solid and wide-ranging knowledge base concerning the hydrogen economy. (author)

  7. Challenges and opportunities of convergence in building a knowledge economy

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Jolliffe, B

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Slides include: What is the knowledge economy? Drivers; Will it contribute to development? Development as freedom; Knowledge Economy, ICTs, convergence etc; Ducks to put in a row; Patents and knowledge economy; South Africa? Threat to local...

  8. Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Schröter

    Full Text Available Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone or partially restricted (partial use zone. Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2% and the non-use zone (+3.2%. Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%, which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1% of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.

  9. Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Costs Shift Spatial Priorities for Conserving Forest Biodiversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schröter, Matthias; Rusch, Graciela M.; Barton, David N.; Blumentrath, Stefan; Nordén, Björn

    2014-01-01

    Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%. PMID:25393951

  10. Outside opportunities and costs incurred by others.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roes, Frans L

    2007-07-21

    Descriptions of interactions between ants and their 'guests' serve to illustrate the thesis that Ewald's theory of the 'evolution of virulence' not only applies to interactions between micro-organisms causing infectious diseases and their hosts, but also to interactions between individuals belonging to differing species. For instance, the prediction is put forward and discussed that guests of army ants are, relative to guests of other species of ants, more often parasitic. A key variable in Ewald's theory is 'transmissibility'. It shows some resemblance to similar variables used in micro-economic theory and in Emerson's sociological Power-Dependence Relations theory. In this article, this variable is called 'outside opportunities'. In an A-B relation, an outside opportunity for A is anything which constitutes an alternative to what B can provide. It is concluded that in A-B interactions, the more outside opportunities are available to A, the more costs are incurred by B. Differences and similarities between this idea and Game Theory are discussed.

  11. Opportunity cost, willingness to pay and cost benefit analysis of a community forest of Nepal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anup KC

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the major policies in response to global climate change is reduction of green house gases emission. Community forests of Nepal are acting as major sources and sink of green house gases, in spite of providing socio-economic benefits to the user groups. There is a lack of information on whether community forests address the socio-economic disparity of user groups, and how it affects opportunity cost and willingness to pay to the forest users groups. Focusing on how the socio-economic conditions of forest users affect forest management, opportunity cost and willingness to pay; and effect of carbon trading mechanism and discounting on the cost benefit ratio, this study was carried out in one CF in western Nepal. The data collection methods included carbon stock measurement, household survey, focus group discussion and key informant interview. Study has shown that most of the forest users are in medium and poor economic classes and female involvement in forest conservation and management was remarkable. Poor people had high dependency on forest product and are most likely affected in terms of opportunity cost. Rich people were willing to pay more to sustain forest ecosystem services. Benefit cost ratio measured directly with and without discounting was 3.91 and 2.97, respectively. The findings of the present study indicate that the community forests users groups are benefitted from the current state of management. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i2.10522 International Journal of the Environment Vol.3(2 2014: 108-124

  12. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT OF REGIONAL NETWORK ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O.I. Botkin

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available Information practically of all the Russian regions economy branches and development by managing subjects is information − communicative the Internet technologies render huge influence on economic attitudes development in the environment of regional business: there are new forms of interaction of managing subjects and change is information − organizational structures of regional business management. Integrated image of the set forth above innovations is the regional network economy representing the interactive environment in which on high speed and with minimal transaction (R.H.Coase’s costs are performed social economic and commodity monetary attitudes between managing subjects of region with use of Internet global network interactive opportunities. The urgency of the regional network economy phenomenon research, first of all, is caused by necessity of a substantiation of regional network economy methodology development and management mechanisms development by its infrastructure with the purpose of regional business efficiency increase. In our opinion, the decision of these problems will be the defining factor of effective economic development maintenance and russian regions economy growth in the near future.

  13. Opportunities for a Bio-based Economy in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sanders, J.P.M.; Hoeven, van der D.A.

    2008-01-01

    The shift to a bio-based economy for the Netherlands is not only required because of climate change, but also for industrial strategy reasons. Traditional strongholds of the Dutch economy like the Rotterdam harbour, the agricultural sector (including the greenhouse sector, and food and feed

  14. Environmental costs os service sector and new economy; Los costes ambientales del sector servicios y la nueva economia: entre la desmaterializacion y efecto rebote

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carpintero, O.

    2003-07-01

    The growing size of the service sector in developed countries and the recent emergence of the new economy have contributed to extend a controversial message: the service sector and the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are less intensive in energy and materials use than industrial and agricultural activities. then, it is possible to maintain the current pattern of economic growth without taking into account its environmental costs. This paper explores the truthfulness, of those arguments, paying particular attention to some empirical evidences. These facts invite to caution when it comes to evaluating the green influence of ICTs in the reduction of the environmental costs of industrial economies. (Author)

  15. The Digital Economy: Controversity of Content and Impact on Economic Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kolomiyets Ganna M.

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The transformations of the technological structure of current economy have led to the emergence of digital economy that offers significant opportunities and, at the same time, creates threats. The article is aimed at displaying methodological approaches to interpretation of digital economy, contradiction of the possible results of its development and functioning, and the practical relevance of research into this phenomenon. The digital economy transforms economic interactions; destroys long chains of intermediaries; speeds up the conclusion of different agreements; eliminates spatial constraints in access to markets; offers competitive advantages to companies regardless of their size; enables to create a scale effect and materialize its positive impact by reducing costs. At the same time, in developed countries and industry sectors that can easily be automated, the need for low-and medium-skill workers is severely reduced. A more part-time economy is being formed, with engagement of freelancers who are not covered by the social security system on a short-term basis. These processes threaten the stability of incomes and the development of the national economy. A comparative analysis of the development of digital economy uses the indices that can form the basis of the national economic foresight.

  16. [Variability and opportunity costs among the surgical alternatives for breast cancer].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angulo-Pueyo, Ester; Ridao-López, Manuel; Martínez-Lizaga, Natalia; García-Armesto, Sandra; Bernal-Delgado, Enrique

    2014-01-01

    To analyze medical practice variation in breast cancer surgery (either inpatient-based or day-case surgery), by comparing conservative surgery (CS) plus radiotherapy vs. non-conservative surgery (NCS). We also analyzed the opportunity costs associated with CS and NCS. We performed an observational study of age- and sex-standardized rates of CS and NCS, performed in 199 Spanish healthcare areas in 2008-2009. Costs were calculated by using two techniques: indirectly, by using All-Patients Diagnosis Related Groups (AP-DRG) based on hospital admissions, and directly by using full costing from the Spanish Network of Hospital Costs (SNHC) data. Standardized surgery rates for CS and NCS were 6.84 and 4.35 per 10,000 women, with variation across areas ranging from 2.95 to 3.11 per 10,000 inhabitants. In 2009, 9% of CS was performed as day-case surgery, although a third of the health care areas did not perform this type of surgery. Taking the SNHC as a reference, the cost of CS was estimated at 7,078 € and that of NCS was 6,161 €. Using AP-DRG, costs amounted to 9,036 € and 8,526 €, respectively. However, CS had lower opportunity costs than NCS when day-case surgery was performed frequently-more than 46% of cases (following SNHC estimates) or 23% of cases (following AP-DRG estimates). Day-case CS for breast cancer was found to be the best option in terms of opportunity-costs beyond a specific threshold, when both CS and NCS are elective. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  17. Exploring the connections between green economy and informal economy in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzanne Smit

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The notion of an inclusive green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication requires an approach that engages with the informal economy. However, the informal economy is generally ignored or undervalued in discussions on the green economy. This paper set out to bolster this argument by identifying the ways in which the green economy and the informal economy may be connected by establishing the extent to which policies and plans relating to green economy connect with the informal economy, and recognising several informal green activities. The barriers and opportunities for connecting the two spheres were also explored as well as possible ways in which such activities may be supported at different levels of organisation. In the case of South Africa, many informal green activities that contribute to sustainable livelihoods are recognised. However, issues pertaining to procedure, process and participation hinder the transition to a truly inclusive green economy.

  18. Waste to energy opportunities and challenges for developing and transition economies

    CERN Document Server

    2012-01-01

    Solid waste management is currently a major issue worldwide with numerous areas reaching critical levels. Many developing countries and countries in transition still miss basic waste management  infrastructure and awareness. It is here that many of the solid waste management problems and challenges are currently being faced. As such, waste-to-energy (WTE) consists of a proven and continuously developing spectrum and range of technologies in a number of (mostly) developed countries. However, it’s integration in developing countries and systems in transition is often faced with scepticism and a complex set of barriers which are quite unique and differ greatly from those where WTE has been validated and applied over the years. Waste-to-Energy: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing and Transition Economies will address this issue both theoretically and using concrete examples, including: ·         contributions from numerous scholars and practitioners in the field, ·         useful less...

  19. Using Linked Electronic Health Records to Estimate Healthcare Costs: Key Challenges and Opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asaria, Miqdad; Grasic, Katja; Walker, Simon

    2016-02-01

    This paper discusses key challenges and opportunities that arise when using linked electronic health records (EHR) in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), with a particular focus on estimating healthcare costs. These challenges and opportunities are framed in the context of a case study modelling the costs of stable coronary artery disease in England. The challenges and opportunities discussed fall broadly into the categories of (1) handling and organising data of this size and sensitivity; (2) extracting clinical endpoints from datasets that have not been designed and collected with such endpoints in mind; and (3) the principles and practice of costing resource use from routinely collected data. We find that there are a number of new challenges and opportunities that arise when working with EHR compared with more traditional sources of data for HEOR. These call for greater clinician involvement and intelligent use of sensitivity analysis.

  20. OPPORTUNITY COST OF EDUCATIONAL HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT. APPLICATION FOR THE POSITION OF BENEFICIARY-INVESTOR

    OpenAIRE

    Florea Voiculescu

    2009-01-01

    The present paper focuses on providing a model of applying the opportunitycost concept on investments in human educational capital. In the first part we haveshown that the real costs of educational capital investment does not involve direct andindirect educational costs only but also the opportunity costs, i.e. the earnings that arelost by choosing to invest in education (and not in something else). From our researchthere results the fact that the share of the opportunity cost within the tota...

  1. Cost function estimates, scale economies and technological progress in the Turkish electricity generation sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali Akkemik, K.

    2009-01-01

    Turkish electricity sector has undergone significant institutional changes since 1984. The recent developments since 2001 including the setting up of a regulatory agency to undertake the regulation of the sector and increasing participation of private investors in the field of electricity generation are of special interest. This paper estimates cost functions and investigates the degree of scale economies, overinvestment, and technological progress in the Turkish electricity generation sector for the period 1984-2006 using long-run and short-run translog cost functions. Estimations were done for six groups of firms, public and private. The results indicate existence of scale economies throughout the period of analysis, hence declining long-run average costs. The paper finds empirical support for the Averch-Johnson effect until 2001, i.e., firms overinvested in an environment where there are excess returns to capital. But this effect was reduced largely after 2002. Technological progress deteriorated slightly from 1984-1993 to 1994-2001 but improved after 2002. Overall, the paper found that regulation of the market under the newly established regulating agency after 2002 was effective and there are potential gains from such regulation. (author)

  2. US ADOPTION OF IFRS MAY HELP TO JUMPSTART THE US ECONOMY

    OpenAIRE

    Anne B. Fosbre; Ellen M. Kraft,; Paul B. Fosbre,

    2011-01-01

    The United States prompt adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) may help to jumpstart the US economy. Investors would be able to make comparisons and evaluate investment opportunities worldwide. US Multinational companies would be able to cut costs. In preparation of financial statements using IFRS the results presented usually portray higher figures. This would help to present more favorable valuations and help to promote growth with improved financial reporting. The ...

  3. Entrepreneurial Opportunity in Denmark’s Underground Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rezaei, Shahamak; Dana, L-P; Vang, Jan

    Based on interviews with immigrants to Denmark, meetings with stakeholders and with experts in the field, this article addresses issues regarding the underground economy in Denmark. What circumstances and factors characterise specific sectors or breaches to the ones in which undocumented immigrants...

  4. Over-Education and Its Opportunity Cost in Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucel, Aleksander; Molina, Ivette Fuentes; Raya, Josep Maria

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the determinants of over-education in Japan and evaluate its opportunity costs for university graduates. To this end, we use the REFLEX data. Results reveal that over-education level in Japan is high and it brings an important wage penalty for Japanese workers. Large firm and high occupations point toward a…

  5. Running economy and energy cost of running with backpacks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheer, Volker; Cramer, Leoni; Heitkamp, Hans-Christian

    2018-05-02

    Running is a popular recreational activity and additional weight is often carried in backpacks on longer runs. Our aim was to examine running economy and other physiological parameters while running with a 1kg and 3 kg backpack at different submaximal running velocities. 10 male recreational runners (age 25 ± 4.2 years, VO2peak 60.5 ± 3.1 ml·kg-1·min-1) performed runs on a motorized treadmill of 5 minutes durations at three different submaximal speeds of 70, 80 and 90% of anaerobic lactate threshold (LT) without additional weight, and carrying a 1kg and 3 kg backpack. Oxygen consumption, heart rate, lactate and RPE were measured and analysed. Oxygen consumption, energy cost of running and heart rate increased significantly while running with a backpack weighing 3kg compared to running without additional weight at 80% of speed at lactate threshold (sLT) (p=0.026, p=0.009 and p=0.003) and at 90% sLT (p<0.001, p=0.001 and p=0.001). Running with a 1kg backpack showed a significant increase in heart rate at 80% sLT (p=0.008) and a significant increase in oxygen consumption and heart rate at 90% sLT (p=0.045 and p=0.007) compared to running without additional weight. While running at 70% sLT running economy and cardiovascular effort increased with weighted backpack running compared to running without additional weight, however these increases did not reach statistical significance. Running economy deteriorates and cardiovascular effort increases while running with additional backpack weight especially at higher submaximal running speeds. Backpack weight should therefore be kept to a minimum.

  6. Analysis of benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks (BOCR) with the AHP+ANP : A critical validation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijnmalen, D.J.D.

    2007-01-01

    This paper shows that the usual multiplicative synthesis of alternative priorities for benefits, opportunities, costs and risks, obtained from separate Analytic Hierarchy or Network models, can be ambiguous. The ratio of benefit and opportunity priorities to cost and risk priorities can be

  7. Minimizing opportunity costs to aquatic connectivity restoration while controlling an invasive species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milt, Austin W; Diebel, Matthew W; Doran, Patrick J; Ferris, Michael C; Herbert, Matthew; Khoury, Mary L; Moody, Allison T; Neeson, Thomas M; Ross, Jared; Treska, Ted; O'Hanley, Jesse R; Walter, Lisa; Wangen, Steven R; Yacobson, Eugene; McIntyre, Peter B

    2018-03-08

    Controlling invasive species is critical for conservation but can have unintended consequences for native species and divert resources away from other efforts. This dilemma occurs on a grand scale in the North American Great Lakes, where dams and culverts block tributary access to habitat of desirable fish species and are a lynchpin of long-standing efforts to limit ecological damage inflicted by the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). Habitat restoration and sea-lamprey control create conflicting goals for managing aging infrastructure. We used optimization to minimize opportunity costs of habitat gains for 37 desirable migratory fishes that arose from restricting sea lamprey access (0-25% increase) when selecting barriers for removal under a limited budget (US$1-105 million). Imposing limits on sea lamprey habitat reduced gains in tributary access for desirable species by 15-50% relative to an unconstrained scenario. Additional investment to offset the effect of limiting sea-lamprey access resulted in high opportunity costs for 30 of 37 species (e.g., an additional US$20-80 million for lake sturgeon [Acipenser fulvescens]) and often required ≥5% increase in sea-lamprey access to identify barrier-removal solutions adhering to the budget and limiting access. Narrowly distributed species exhibited the highest opportunity costs but benefited more at less cost when small increases in sea-lamprey access were allowed. Our results illustrate the value of optimization in limiting opportunity costs when balancing invasion control against restoration benefits for diverse desirable species. Such trade-off analyses are essential to the restoration of connectivity within fragmented rivers without unleashing invaders. © 2018 Society for Conservation Biology.

  8. Saudi Arabian Green Economy Infrastructure: Barriers, Strategies & Opportunity – An Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nisreen Ismail Albanawi

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Saudi Arabia is finally catching up with the rest of the developed world in terms of environmental awareness. In the past, while much of the rest of the world spent its time pondering issues such as global warming, water, air, and soil pollution, over-exploitation of resources, and a myriad of other environmental concerns, the Saudi people and government seemed to be primarily focused on expanding their capital in a globalized economy. However, in 2015, for the first time, this trend began to show legitimate change. This new emphasis on environmental concerns has caused some interest and uproar, specifically in the economic sector. The research, therefore, concentrated on the barriers, strategies, and opportunities that might impede or encourage Saudi Arabia in its quest to develop a greener and more sustainable economic infrastructure. After carefully considering the available literature, data, and reliable statistics, the report concluded that, while change will be difficult and, possibly slow, Saudi Arabia should expect to see greener projects and initiatives transpiring in their homeland over the course of the next several years.

  9. More chemistry between green and growth. The opportunities and dilemmas of a bio-based economy; Meer chemie tussen groen en groei. De kansen en dilemma's van een biobased economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2010-12-15

    A bio-based economy is one in which enterprises manufacture non-food products from biomass. Such products include fuel for the transport industry, chemicals, materials, and energy. Biomass is the biological material of living or recently living organisms, either animal or vegetable. With technology becoming more sophisticated, it is growing easier to turn plants, trees, crops, and residual animal waste into biomass. Waste and waste streams are increasingly being used as input in production processes, thereby gaining an economic value of their own. They are giving rise to new, sustainable products with considerable added value that replace products based on non-renewable materials. New bio-based products may offer the Netherlands new economic opportunities. The Dutch can already boast a number of distinct advantages in that respect, thanks to the sophistication of their industrial sector, agro-industry, chemicals and energy industries, and transport and logistics sector - all key sectors in a bio-based economy. However, the growing world population and increasing level of prosperity worldwide, and the environmental and climate problems associated with such growth, are adding to the complexity of policy-making aimed at developing a bio-based economy. The shift from fossil-based to bio-based materials must be part of a comprehensive policy aimed at achieving a sustainable economy. [Dutch] In dit advies gaat de SER in op mogelijkheden en knelpunten van de biobased economy. In een biobased economy dienen plantaardige en dierlijke biomassa (zoals gewassen, planten, snijafval, mest) als groene grondstoffen om non-food producten mee te maken (denk aan cosmetica, bioplastics, brandstoffen). De SER vindt dat de rijksoverheid stevig moet inzetten op een biobased economy met meer gesloten kringlopen. Dit draagt immers bij aan economische groei en aan een meer duurzame economie (gesloten kringlopen, gunstige arbeidsomstandigheden)

  10. Counting the opportunity cost of abandoning the omnibus Health ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Counting the opportunity cost of abandoning the omnibus Health Professions Authority ... Twenty two years of civil war ruined the healthcare system in South Sudan. Government provides only ... This regulatory vacuum is best resolved by establishing a Health Professions Authority to set the standards, and to supervise and ...

  11. Barter Economies and Centralized Merchants

    OpenAIRE

    Jose Noguera

    2000-01-01

    The main goal of this essay is to analyze the emergence of a barter economy, and the rise of centralized merchants and a barter redistribution system out of a primitive barter system. The environment is a spatial general equilibrium model where exchange is costly. Since exchange becomes more complicated as the scope of the economy increases, we prove that, after the economy reaches a critical size, the cost of trade expansion surpasses its benefits. This imposes limitations on the scope of th...

  12. Patient level costing in Ireland: process, challenges and opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, A; McElroy, B

    2015-03-01

    In 2013, the Department of Health released their policy paper on hospital financing entitled Money Follows the Patient. A fundamental building block for the proposed financing model is patient level costing. This paper outlines the patient level costing process, identifies the opportunities and considers the challenges associated with the process in the Irish hospital setting. Methods involved a review of the existing literature which was complemented with an interview with health service staff. There are considerable challenges associated with implementing patient level costing including deficits in information and communication technologies and financial expertise as well as timeliness of coding. In addition, greater clinical input into the costing process is needed compared to traditional costing processes. However, there are long-term benefits associated with patient level costing; these include empowerment of clinical staff, improved transparency and price setting and greater fairness, especially in the treatment of outliers. These can help to achieve the Government's Health Strategy. The benefits of patient level costing need to be promoted and a commitment to investment in overcoming the challenges is required.

  13. The role of economies of scale in the cost of dialysis across the world: a macroeconomic perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karopadi, Akash Nayak; Mason, Giacomo; Rettore, Enrico; Ronco, Claudio

    2014-04-01

    The treatment of chronic kidney disease through dialysis is a considerable expense in most health systems. The two chief methods of providing dialysis, haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) have significant differences in cost composition and factors of production. The aim of this article is to identify and quantify the macroeconomic variables that influence the relative cost of such modalities across different countries. From previously published literature, we extracted the estimates of HD/PD cost ratios in a total of 46 countries. We conducted a multivariate regression analysis using the estimated HD/PD cost ratio in each country, with several country level indicators as explanatory variables. We found a strong statistical effect of the following variables on the HD/PD cost ratio: country's level of development, economies of scale and percentage of private health-care expenditure. The statistical effects on HD/PD ratio by local manufacturing and relaxed import regulation of PD equipment were calculated and were found to be very significant. it is possible for a country to still reap the benefits of economies of scale in provision of PD, even in the absence of a large enough market to make local production of PD equipment feasible in that country.

  14. The political economy of abortion in India: cost and expenditure patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duggal, Ravi

    2004-11-01

    Access to abortion services is not difficult in India, even in remote areas. Providers of abortion range from traditional birth attendants to auxiliary nurse midwives and pharmacists, unqualified and qualified private doctors, to gynaecologists. Despite a well-defined law, there is a lack of regulation of abortion services or providers, and the cost to women is determined by supply side economics. The state is not a leading provider of abortions; services remain predominantly in the private sector. Abortions in the public sector are free only if the woman accepts some form of contraception; other fees may also be charged. The cost of abortion varies considerably, depending on the number of weeks of pregnancy, the woman's marital status, the method used, type of anaesthesia, whether it is a sex-selective abortion, whether diagnostic tests are carried out, whether the provider is registered and whether hospitalisation is required. A review of existing studies indicates that abortions cost a substantial amount--first trimester abortion averages Rs.500- 1000 and second trimester abortion Rs.2000-3000. Given the number of unqualified providers and with 15-20% of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions, the costs of unsafe abortions must also be counted. It is imperative for the state to regulate the abortion economy in India, both to rationalise costs and assure safe abortions for women.

  15. An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurzban, Robert; Duckworth, Angela; Kable, Joseph W.; Myers, Justus

    2013-01-01

    Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternate explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost – that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternate explanations both for the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across subdisciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternate models might be empirically distinguished. PMID:24304775

  16. Time-driven activity-based costing to identify opportunities for cost reduction in pediatric appendectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Yangyang R; Abbas, Paulette I; Smith, Carolyn M; Carberry, Kathleen E; Ren, Hui; Patel, Binita; Nuchtern, Jed G; Lopez, Monica E

    2016-12-01

    As reimbursement programs shift to value-based payment models emphasizing quality and efficient healthcare delivery, there exists a need to better understand process management to unearth true costs of patient care. We sought to identify cost-reduction opportunities in simple appendicitis management by applying a time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) methodology to this high-volume surgical condition. Process maps were created using medical record time stamps. Labor capacity cost rates were calculated using national median physician salaries, weighted nurse-patient ratios, and hospital cost data. Consumable costs for supplies, pharmacy, laboratory, and food were derived from the hospital general ledger. Time-driven activity-based costing resulted in precise per-minute calculation of personnel costs. Highest costs were in the operating room ($747.07), hospital floor ($388.20), and emergency department ($296.21). Major contributors to length of stay were emergency department evaluation (270min), operating room availability (395min), and post-operative monitoring (1128min). The TDABC model led to $1712.16 in personnel costs and $1041.23 in consumable costs for a total appendicitis cost of $2753.39. Inefficiencies in healthcare delivery can be identified through TDABC. Triage-based standing delegation orders, advanced practice providers, and same day discharge protocols are proposed cost-reducing interventions to optimize value-based care for simple appendicitis. II. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Leisure and the Opportunity Cost of Travel Time in Recreation Demand Analysis: A Re-Examination

    OpenAIRE

    Amoako-Tuffour, Joe; Martınez-Espineira, Roberto

    2008-01-01

    Using count data models that account for zero-truncation, overdispersion, and endogenous stratification, this paper estimates the value of access to recreational parks. The focus is on the valuation of the opportunity cost of travel time within the cost of the trip and its effects on estimated consumer surplus. The fraction of hourly earnings that corresponds to the opportunity cost of travel time is endogenously estimated as a function of visitor characteristics, rather than fixed exogenousl...

  18. Fuel economy and life-cycle cost analysis of a fuel cell hybrid vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Kwi Seong; Oh, Byeong Soo

    The most promising vehicle engine that can overcome the problem of present internal combustion is the hydrogen fuel cell. Fuel cells are devices that change chemical energy directly into electrical energy without combustion. Pure fuel cell vehicles and fuel cell hybrid vehicles (i.e. a combination of fuel cell and battery) as energy sources are studied. Considerations of efficiency, fuel economy, and the characteristics of power output in hybridization of fuel cell vehicle are necessary. In the case of Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS) cycle simulation, hybridization is more efficient than a pure fuel cell vehicle. The reason is that it is possible to capture regenerative braking energy and to operate the fuel cell system within a more efficient range by using battery. Life-cycle cost is largely affected by the fuel cell size, fuel cell cost, and hydrogen cost. When the cost of fuel cell is high, hybridization is profitable, but when the cost of fuel cell is less than 400 US$/kW, a pure fuel cell vehicle is more profitable.

  19. Implementation of the knowledge economy paradigm in the strategy of national economy development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dmytro Lukianenko

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the knowledge economy paradigm and the factors of its influence on the development of national economies in the context of transformation of the global competitive environment. It has been methodologically identified the basic categories and concepts concerning the determination of key factors and parameters of modern economic systems. It has been proved through the example of South Korea that implementation of the knowledge economy paradigm in long-term strategies initiated and supported by the state provides new opportunities of socio-economic progress. The basic problems of innovation-driven development of Ukraine’s economy through an assessment of its readiness to transition to the knowledge economy, compared with South Korea. The latter’s experience, despite the objective limitations, is regarded as an example of strategic success in formation of a creative innovation system.

  20. A green hydrogen economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clark, W.W. II [Clark Communications, Beverly Hills, CA (United States). Green Hydrogen Scientific Advisory Committee; Rifkin, J. [The Foundation on Economic Trends (United States)

    2006-11-15

    This paper is the result of over a dozen scholars and practitioners who strongly felt that a hydrogen economy and hence the future is closer than some American politicians and bureaucrats state. Moreover, when seen internationally, there is strong evidence, the most recent and obvious ones are the proliferation of hybrid vehicles, that for any nation-state to be energy independent it must seek a renewable or green hydrogen future in the near term. The State of California has once again taken the lead in this effort for both an energy-independent future and one linked strongly to the hydrogen economy. Then why a hydrogen economy in the first instance? The fact is that hydrogen most likely will not be used for refueling of vehicles in the near term. The number of vehicles to make hydrogen commercially viable will not be in the mass market by almost all estimates until 2010. However, it is less than a decade away. The time frame is NOT 30-40 years as some argue. The hydrogen economy needs trained people, new ventures and public-private partnerships now. The paper points out how the concerns of today, including higher costs and technologies under development, can be turned into opportunities for both the public and private sectors. It was not too long ago that the size of a mobile phone was that of a briefcase, and then almost 10 years ago, the size of a shoe box. Today, they are not only the size of a man's wallet but also often given away free to consumers who subscribe or contract for wireless services. While hydrogen may not follow this technological commercialization exactly, it certainly will be on a parallel path. International events and local or regional security dictate that the time for a hydrogen must be close at hand. (author)

  1. A green hydrogen economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, Woodrow W.; Rifkin, Jeremy

    2006-01-01

    This paper is the result of over a dozen scholars and practitioners who strongly felt that a hydrogen economy and hence the future is closer than some American politicians and bureaucrats state. Moreover, when seen internationally, there is strong evidence, the most recent and obvious ones are the proliferation of hybrid vehicles, that for any nation-state to be energy independent it must seek a renewable or green hydrogen future in the near term. The State of California has once again taken the lead in this effort for both an energy-independent future and one linked strongly to the hydrogen economy. Then why a hydrogen economy in the first instance? The fact is that hydrogen most likely will not be used for refueling of vehicles in the near term. The number of vehicles to make hydrogen commercially viable will not be in the mass market by almost all estimates until 2010. However, it is less than a decade away. The time frame is NOT 30-40 years as some argue. The hydrogen economy needs trained people, new ventures and public-private partnerships now. The paper points out how the concerns of today, including higher costs and technologies under development, can be turned into opportunities for both the public and private sectors. It was not too long ago that the size of a mobile phone was that of a briefcase, and then almost 10 years ago, the size of a shoe box. Today, they are not only the size of a man's wallet but also often given away free to consumers who subscribe or contract for wireless services. While hydrogen may not follow this technological commercialization exactly, it certainly will be on a parallel path. International events and local or regional security dictate that the time for a hydrogen must be close at hand

  2. Implementation Opportunities of Green Accounting for Activity-Based Costing (ABC in Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sorinel Capusneanu

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This article refers to implementation opportunities of green accounting for the Activity- Based Costing method. It shows why we choose Activity-Based Costing method and what must be done in this way. Green accounting observes the specific principles of the Activity-Based Costing method. It also represents the advantages and disadvantages of the green accounting into an enterprise in case of Activity-Based Costing implementation. The paper describes the stages we must follow in case of implementation of green accounting alongside Activity-Based Costing method into an enterprise.

  3. SOCIAL ECONOMY EFFICIENCY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florina Oana Virlanuta

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The social economy combines profitability with social inclusion. Social innovation is the first step in the creation of a social enterprise. Social economy development is a process underway, innovative in terms of relating the individual to the production processes, the concept of citizenship, production areas and modalities. The concern for sustainable development, analysis of economic and financial crisis, the issue of the relationship between the individual and the production process open up many opportunities for development that can influence public policies on employment and social cohesion.

  4. [Opportunity cost for men who visit family medicine units in the city of Querétaro, Mexico].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez Carranza, Edith Olimpia; Villarreal Ríos, Enrique; Vargas Daza, Emma Rosa; Galicia Rodríguez, Liliana; Martínez González, Lidia

    2010-12-01

    To determine the opportunity cost for men who seek care in the family medicine units (FMU) of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) in the city of Querétaro. A sample was selected of 807 men, ages 20 to 59 years, who sought care through the family medicine, laboratory, and pharmacy services provided by the FMU at the IMSS in Querétaro. Patients referred for emergency services and those who left the facilities without receiving care were excluded. The sample (n = 807) was calculated using the averages for an infinite population formula, with a confidence interval of 95% (CI95%) and an average opportunity cost of US$5.5 for family medicine, US$3.1 for laboratory services, and US$2.3 for pharmacy services. Estimates included the amount of time spent on travel, waiting, and receiving care; the number of people accompanying the patient, and the cost per minute of paid and unpaid job activities. The opportunity cost was calculated using the estimated cost per minute for travel, waiting, and receiving care for patients and their companions. The opportunity cost for the patient travel was estimated at US$0.97 (CI95%: 0.81-1.15), while wait time was US$5.03 (CI95%: 4.08-6.09) for family medicine, US$0.06 (CI95%: 0.05-0.08) for pharmacy services, and US$1.89 (CI95%: 1.56-2.25) for laboratory services. The average opportunity cost for an unaccompanied patient visit varied between US$1.10 for pharmacy services alone and US$8.64 for family medicine, pharmacy, and laboratory services. The weighted opportunity cost for family medicine was US$6.24. Given that the opportunity cost for men who seek services in FMU corresponds to more than half of a minimum salary, it should be examined from an institutional perspective whether this is the best alternative for care.

  5. EFFECT OF WATER BORNE DISEASES ON INDIAN ECONOMY: A COST- BENEFIT ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PATHAK Hemant

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper expressed the effect of water borne diseases, risk assessment and potential consequences on Indian economy. In Indian sub-continent higher burden of waterborne diseases due to a deteriorating public drinking water distribution system, increasing numbers of unregulated private water systems, and a limited, passive waterborne disease surveillance system. This shows that degraded water quality can contribute to water scarcity as it limits its availability for both human use and for the ecosystem. It isn’t cheap to treat water so that it is safe to drink. But it also isn’t cheap to treat everyone who becomes ill during a waterborne illness outbreak. As the level of protection becomes more effective, the cost of water treatment generally rises, as well. Unfortunately, government agencies generally attempt to minimize costs while the health effects have not been properly assessed.

  6. Internet of Things, Blockchain and Shared Economy Applications

    OpenAIRE

    Huckle, Steve; Bhattacharya, Rituparna; White, Martin; Beloff, Natalia

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores how the Internet of Things and blockchain technology can benefit shared economy applications. The focus of this research is understanding how blockchain can be exploited to create decentralised, shared economy applications that allow people to monetise, securely, their things to create more wealth. Shared economy applications such as Airbnb and Uber are well-known applications, but there are many other opportunities to share in the digital economy. With the recent interest...

  7. Behavioral Economics and Physician Board Meetings: Opportunity Cost, Regret, and Their Mitigation in Orthopaedic Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinicrope, Brent J; Roberts, Craig S; Sussman, Lyle

    2018-01-01

    Health care is a business. Health care providers must become familiar with terms such as opportunity costs, the potential loss or gain when one choice is made in lieu of another. The purpose of this study was to calculate the opportunity cost of two orthopaedic surgery society board meetings and discuss these in the context of behavioral economics and regret. A literature search was conducted to determine an orthopaedic surgeon's average yearly salary, hours worked per week, and weeks worked per year. The details of two orthopaedic surgery professional society meetings that one senior author (CSR) attended were used to calculate opportunity cost. Although the true benefits are multifactorial and difficult to objectively quantify, awareness of the cost-benefit ratio can help guide time and resource management to maximize the return on investment while minimizing buyer's remorse and perhaps influence the media by which medical meetings are held in the future. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 27(1):10-13, 2018).

  8. International political economy of climate negotiations while taking into account the mitigation and adaptation costs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ilasca, Constantin

    2016-01-01

    Our research focuses on the cooperation and climate governance in the post-Copenhagen era. Its main purpose is to observe and define the evolution of the climate regime, based on the positions of the European Union, China and the United States. These three countries can be considered as big emitters, major economies, as well as great powers. Two main drivers are taken into account in our analysis: mitigation and adaptation costs to climate change. The starting point for our research is to be found in the polarized evolution of the climate regime. The most illustrative aspect of this 'metamorphosis' is the shift, in 2009, from the top-down to the bottom-up architecture of the climate regime. Thus, we resort to a hybrid theoretical background, which consists of both international political economy and climate change economy. The joint contribution of the two approaches allows us to analyze international political economy with climate economy as an input, as well as the impact of international relations on the main economic framework of climate change. Our research is based on a specific cooperation model, known as the 'k-group' theory, as developed by Duncan Snidal (1985). Within this framework of mini-lateral cooperation, the thesis that we defend is that it is possible to have a climate k-group which may have a trigger effect in order to obtain an ambitious regime. The starting point for our argument is that this group can be considered as a 'club of the relevant', and that what it needs to achieve in order to constitute a k-group is to establish a 'coalition of the willing'. The capacity and the willingness to act are mainly influenced by the costs they have to bear, that is the costs to mitigate their emissions and to adapt to the climate change consequences. Meanwhile, the group's collective commitment depends on other countries' actions. More precisely, the incentive mechanism is built on the idea that cooperation is meant to widen, in order to eventually

  9. Guide to resource conservation and cost savings opportunities in the dairy processing sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-12-31

    This guide identifies and promotes opportunities for conserving energy and water, as well as reducing waste, in the dairy processing sector. The guide begins with an introduction and a profile of Ontario`s dairy processing sector, outlining the context for resource conservation and cost savings opportunities. It then outlines the rationale and the generic processes selected for careful examination of resource conservation and cost savings opportunities. Subsequent chapters describe the energy, water, and material resources commonly used in relation to the generic processes; the air, water, and solid waste residuals commonly derived from those processes; and new technologies with potential application in dairy processing. The generic processes covered in the guide are for fluid milk, cheese, ice cream and frozen products, cultured products such as yogurt, butter, and dried or evaporated products. The report ends with additional useful information for dairy processors.

  10. 'Economy' line foods from four supermarkets and brand name equivalents: a comparison of their nutrient contents and costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, S; Nelson, M

    2003-10-01

    Achieving healthy eating targets for low income households can be difficult because of economic barriers. Several UK supermarkets have introduced 'value line' or 'economy line' foods to improve their attractiveness to low income consumers. The costs and nutrient contents of five 'economy' line products of four major English supermarkets - Asda, KwikSave, Sainsbury and Tesco - were compared with branded (but not 'own label') equivalents. Single samples of tinned tomatoes, long-life orange juice, potatoes, sausages and white bread were purchased in each supermarket. They represented items of potential importance in relation to 'healthy' choices in the shopping baskets of low income households. Nutrients analysed were fat, sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin C, and energy. Economy line foods had a nutrient composition similar to and often better than the branded goods. The economy line products frequently had nutrient contents more in line with the Balance of Good Health (e.g. lower fat and sodium) compared with the branded goods. In terms of nutrients per pence, the economy line products were far better value for money compared with the branded lines. Economy line foods represent excellent value for money and are not nutritionally inferior to the branded products. They have a potentially important role to play in the promotion of healthy eating, especially amongst low income households.

  11. GLOBALIZATION AND SMALL BUSINESSES AND ECONOMIES – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NINKO KOSTOVSKI

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we analyze the effect of globalization in general and from the viewpoint of the small and medium sized companies in the Republic of Macedonia, as a typical developing economy. Our survey of 100 managers and business owners from small and medium sized enterprises indicates that they tend to perceive the globalization with more conservative glasses as negative, or at the best, as a neutral phenomenon to their overall business prospects. However, to harvest the apparent opportunities of the globalization and to achieve the desired internationalization of their businesses, they call for intensive regional cooperation seeing it as a gateway to much harsher realms of the globalized market. The literature review and the examples from some other countries support these conservative standing of our managers and offer practical explanations why the approach towards the globalization is conservative and often even negative. Small business is important provider of new jobs, ideas and business concepts. However, with the opening of the global market it is a constant pursue for customers all around the world, having to meet their diverse and rapidly changing needs and facing extremely shortened delivery terms and product lifecycles. Many small companies, particularly from the developing countries are not adequately prepared to face the reality of this challenge. On the other hand, the big multinational companies receive more than hefty incentives to invest into the developing countries and that creates additional negative sentiments towards the globalization among the local companies.

  12. The Forecast Scenarios of Development of the National Economy in the Context of the Need to Improve the «Cost of Living»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kulakov Gennady T.

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at elaborating and materialization of the forecast scenarios of development of the national economy in the context of substantiating the feasibility of improving the «cost of living» being the equivalent of the liability of public authorities for the value of human life. The article researches the phenomenon of the «cost of living» in the context of sustainable innovative development of a socially oriented development of economy as an axis for developing its forecast scenarios. Focus has been set on complementarity of the terms of «cost of living» and «sustainable development» in the context of satisfying vital interests of the population of Ukraine. It has been suggested that wages accounting as an equivalent to the «cost of living» should not be included with costs but with the value added, however, the growth rate of wages must not outpace the growth rate of labor productivity. For the first time on the basis of the interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach, as well as the index method, have been elaborated baseline scenarios of development of the national economy on the basis of the upgraded human development index: pessimistic, realistic, and optimistic forecasts.

  13. The Collaborative Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Avital, Michel; Andersson, Magnus; Nickerson, Jeffrey

    2014-01-01

    An economy based on the exchange of capital, assets and services between individuals has grown significantly, spurred by proliferation of internet-based platforms that allow people to share underutilized resources and trade with reasonably low transaction costs. The movement toward this economy...... of “sharing” translates into market efficiencies that bear new products, reframe established services, have positive environmental effects, and may generate overall economic growth. This emerging paradigm, entitled the collaborative economy, is disruptive to the conventional company-driven economic paradigm...... as evidenced by the large number of peer-to-peer based services that have captured impressive market shares sectors ranging from transportation and hospitality to banking and risk capital. The panel explores economic, social, and technological implications of the collaborative economy, how digital technologies...

  14. The industrial dynamics of the new digital economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frøslev Christensen, Jens; Maskell, Peter

    This work investigates the implications of digital technologies on the industrial and business dynamics of modern economies. In-depth studies analyse how deep-rooted work practices of the Old Economy have been dramatically challenged when confronted with the entrepreneurial wave of the New Economy...... channels of interaction with old partners must be reconfigured and familiar divisions of labour rethought. This book presents novel and detailed data showing how vast and still dominant industries of the Old Economy have responded to the new challenges and exploited the emerging opportunities...... those interested in technology, innovation and the New Economy....

  15. Crowdsourcing healthcare costs: Opportunities and challenges for patient centered price transparency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisel, Zachary F; VonHoltz, Lauren A Houdek; Merchant, Raina M

    2016-03-01

    Efforts to improve health care price transparency have garnered significant attention from patients, policy makers, and health insurers. In response to increasing consumer demand, state governments, insurance plans, and health care providers are reporting health care prices. However, such data often do not provide consumers with the most salient information: their own actual out-of-pocket cost for medical care. Although untested, crowdsourcing, a mechanism for the public to help answer complex questions, represents a potential solution to the problem of opaque hospital costs. This article explores, the challenges and potential opportunities for crowdsourcing out-of-pocket costs for healthcare consumers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. The Prison Economy of Needles and Syringes: What Opportunities Exist for Blood Borne Virus Risk Reduction When Prices Are so High?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla Treloar

    Full Text Available A formal Needle and Syringe Program (NSP is not provided in Australian prisons. Injecting equipment circulates in prisons as part of an informal and illegal economy. This paper examined how this economy generates blood-borne virus (BBV risk and risk mitigation opportunities for inmates.The HITS-p cohort recruited New South Wales inmates who had reported ever injecting drugs and who had a negative HCV serological test within 12 months prior to enrolment. For this study, qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 participants enrolled in HITS-p. Participants included 10 women and were incarcerated in 12 prisons.A needle/syringe was nominated as being typically priced in the 'inside' prison economy at $100-$150, with a range of $50-$350. Purchase or hire of equipment was paid for in cash (including transactions that occurred outside prison and in exchange for drugs and other commodities. A range of other resources was required to enable successful needle/syringe economies, especially relationships with visitors and other prisoners, and violence to ensure payment of debts. Strategies to mitigate BBV risk included retaining one needle/syringe for personal use while hiring out others, keeping drug use (and ownership of equipment "quiet", stealing used equipment from the prison health clinic, and manufacture of syringes from other items available in the prison.The provision of prison NSP would disrupt the inside economies built around contraband needles/syringes, as well as minimise BBV risk. However, any model of prison NSP should be interrogated for any unanticipated markets that could be generated as a result of its regulatory practices.

  17. The Prison Economy of Needles and Syringes: What Opportunities Exist for Blood Borne Virus Risk Reduction When Prices Are so High?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treloar, Carla; McCredie, Luke; Lloyd, Andrew R

    2016-01-01

    A formal Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) is not provided in Australian prisons. Injecting equipment circulates in prisons as part of an informal and illegal economy. This paper examined how this economy generates blood-borne virus (BBV) risk and risk mitigation opportunities for inmates. The HITS-p cohort recruited New South Wales inmates who had reported ever injecting drugs and who had a negative HCV serological test within 12 months prior to enrolment. For this study, qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 participants enrolled in HITS-p. Participants included 10 women and were incarcerated in 12 prisons. A needle/syringe was nominated as being typically priced in the 'inside' prison economy at $100-$150, with a range of $50-$350. Purchase or hire of equipment was paid for in cash (including transactions that occurred outside prison) and in exchange for drugs and other commodities. A range of other resources was required to enable successful needle/syringe economies, especially relationships with visitors and other prisoners, and violence to ensure payment of debts. Strategies to mitigate BBV risk included retaining one needle/syringe for personal use while hiring out others, keeping drug use (and ownership of equipment) "quiet", stealing used equipment from the prison health clinic, and manufacture of syringes from other items available in the prison. The provision of prison NSP would disrupt the inside economies built around contraband needles/syringes, as well as minimise BBV risk. However, any model of prison NSP should be interrogated for any unanticipated markets that could be generated as a result of its regulatory practices.

  18. Guide to resource conservation and cost savings opportunities in the food service sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    Opportunities for conserving energy and water, as well as reducing waste, within the 24,000 establishment-strong food service sector in Ontario are identified. Operators are encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities to lower their costs while conserving valuable resources at the same time. In preparing this guide, site visits were carried out at six food service facilities in Ontario. Information about how much money is generally spent on energy, water and waste management by food service operators is provided. The amount and type of waste generated by these facilities is also described. The volatility of the commercial food service market place was identified as one of the major impediments to energy conservation. It was found that most owners of the food service facilities make business decisions based on the lowest first costs, irrespective of longer-term energy efficiency and operating costs. 31 refs., 13 tabs., 9 figs., 4 appendices.

  19. OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF REWARD DELAYS AND THE DISCOUNTING OF HYPOTHETICAL MONEY AND CIGARETTES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Patrick S.; Herrmann, Evan S.; Johnson, Matthew W.

    2015-01-01

    Humans are reported to discount delayed rewards at lower rates than nonhumans. However, nonhumans are studied in tasks that restrict reinforcement during delays, whereas humans are typically studied in tasks that do not restrict reinforcement during delays. In nonhuman tasks, the opportunity cost of restricted reinforcement during delays may increase delay discounting rates. The present within-subjects study used online crowdsourcing (Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk) to assess the discounting of hypothetical delayed money (and cigarettes in smokers) under four hypothetical framing conditions differing in the availability of reinforcement during delays. At one extreme, participants were free to leave their computer without returning, and engage in any behavior during reward delays (modeling typical human tasks). At the opposite extreme, participants were required to stay at their computer and engage in little other behavior during reward delays (modeling typical nonhuman tasks). Discounting rates increased as an orderly function of opportunity cost. Results also indicated predominantly hyperbolic discounting, the “magnitude effect,” steeper discounting of cigarettes than money, and positive correlations between discounting rates of these commodities. This is the first study to test the effects of opportunity costs on discounting, and suggests that procedural differences may partially account for observed species differences in discounting. PMID:25388973

  20. Car buyers and fuel economy?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turrentine, Thomas S.; Kurani, Kenneth S.

    2007-01-01

    This research is designed to help researchers and policy makers ground their work in the reality of how US consumers are thinking and behaving with respect to automotive fuel economy. Our data are from semi-structured interviews with 57 households across nine lifestyle 'sectors.' We found no household that analyzed their fuel costs in a systematic way in their automobile or gasoline purchases. Almost none of these households track gasoline costs over time or consider them explicitly in household budgets. These households may know the cost of their last tank of gasoline and the unit price of gasoline on that day, but this accurate information is rapidly forgotten and replaced by typical information. One effect of this lack of knowledge and information is that when consumers buy a vehicle, they do not have the basic building blocks of knowledge assumed by the model of economically rational decision-making, and they make large errors estimating gasoline costs and savings over time. Moreover, we find that consumer value for fuel economy is not only about private cost savings. Fuel economy can be a symbolic value as well, for example among drivers who view resource conservation or thrift as important values to communicate. Consumers also assign non-monetary meaning to fuel prices, for example seeing rising prices as evidence of conspiracy. This research suggests that consumer responses to fuel economy technology and changes in fuel prices are more complex than economic assumptions suggest. The US Department of Energy and the Energy Foundation supported this research. The authors are solely responsible for the content and conclusions presented

  1. South Africa's opportunity to maximise the role of nuclear power in a global hydrogen economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greyvenstein, R. [Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa)], E-mail: renee.greyvenstein@pbmr.co.za; Correia, M. [Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa)], E-mail: michael.correia@pbmr.co.za; Kriel, W. [Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa)], E-mail: willem.kriel@pbmr.us

    2008-11-15

    Global concern for increased energy demand, increased cost of natural gas and petroleum, energy security and environmental degradation are leading to heightened interest in using nuclear energy and hydrogen to leverage existing hydrocarbon reserves. The wasteful use of hydrocarbons can be minimised by using nuclear as a source of energy and water as a source of hydrogen. Virtually all hydrogen today is produced from fossil fuels, which give rise to CO{sub 2} emissions. Hydrogen can be cleanly produced from water (without CO{sub 2} pollution) by using nuclear energy to generate the required electricity and/or process heat to split the water molecule. Once the clean hydrogen has been produced, it can be used as feedstock to fuel cell technologies, or in the nearer term as feedstock to a coal-to-liquids process to produce cleaner synthetic liquid fuels. Clean liquid fuels from coal - using hydrogen generated from nuclear energy - is an intermediate step for using hydrogen to reduce pollution in the transport sector; simultaneously addressing energy security concerns. Several promising water-splitting technologies have been identified. Thermo-chemical water-splitting and high-temperature steam electrolysis technologies require process temperatures in the range of 850 deg. C and higher for the efficient production of hydrogen. The pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), under development in South Africa, is ideally suited to generate both high-temperature process heat and electricity for the production of hydrogen. This paper will discuss South Africa's opportunity to maximise the use of its nuclear technology and national resources in a global hydrogen economy.

  2. Clean energy and the hydrogen economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandon, N P; Kurban, Z

    2017-07-28

    In recent years, new-found interest in the hydrogen economy from both industry and academia has helped to shed light on its potential. Hydrogen can enable an energy revolution by providing much needed flexibility in renewable energy systems. As a clean energy carrier, hydrogen offers a range of benefits for simultaneously decarbonizing the transport, residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Hydrogen is shown here to have synergies with other low-carbon alternatives, and can enable a more cost-effective transition to de-carbonized and cleaner energy systems. This paper presents the opportunities for the use of hydrogen in key sectors of the economy and identifies the benefits and challenges within the hydrogen supply chain for power-to-gas, power-to-power and gas-to-gas supply pathways. While industry players have already started the market introduction of hydrogen fuel cell systems, including fuel cell electric vehicles and micro-combined heat and power devices, the use of hydrogen at grid scale requires the challenges of clean hydrogen production, bulk storage and distribution to be resolved. Ultimately, greater government support, in partnership with industry and academia, is still needed to realize hydrogen's potential across all economic sectors.This article is part of the themed issue 'The challenges of hydrogen and metals'. © 2017 The Author(s).

  3. The potential of a circular economy in the Netherlands: summary report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bastein, T.; Roelofs, E.; Rietveld, E.; Hoogendoorn, A.

    2013-01-01

    For the Dutch Parliament, TNO has assessed the opportunities for a circular economy in The Netherlands. TNO estimates the value of a circular economy to be about 7.3 billion euro. The results and conclusions of the TNO-rapport ‘The potential of a circular economy in the Netherlands’ are sent to the

  4. Innovation and Job Creation in a Small Open Economy Evidence from Norwegian Manufacturing Plants 1982-92

    OpenAIRE

    Tor Jakob Klette; Svein Erik Førre

    1995-01-01

    It is often claimed that the opportunities to create new manufacturing jobs in open, high-cost economies such as Norway, are concentrated in products which are technologically advanced and knowledge intensive. This paper examines the relationship between job creation and innovation, as measured by R&D investments, in Norwegian manufacturing. We compare job creation in plants belonging to R&D firms to plants belonging to firms without R&D. We also compare job creation in plants belonging to hi...

  5. Supply chain cost improvement opportunities through streamlining cross-border operations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Hendrik Havenga

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (CBRTA in South Africa aims to encourage and facilitate trade between South Africa and its neighbouring countries. The CBRTA sponsored a study by Stellenbosch University (SU to determine the logistics cost impact of cross-border delays between South Africa and its major neighbouring trading partners, and prioritise opportunities for improvement. SU is the proprietor of both a comprehensive freight demand model and a logistics cost model for South Africa, which enable extractions and extensions of freight flows and related costs for specific purposes. Through the application of these models, the following information is identified and presented in this paper: South Africa’s most important border posts (based on traffic flows; a product profile for imports and exports through these border posts; the modal split (road and rail; the annual logistics costs incurred on the corridors feeding the border posts, as well as the additional costs incurred due to border delays. The research has proved that the streamlining of border-post operations that take a total supply chain view (i.e. of both border operations and those that could be moved from the border is beneficial.

  6. Analysis of the carbon sequestration costs of afforestation and reforestation agroforestry practices and the use of cost curves to evaluate their potential for implementation of climate change mitigation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Torres, Arturo Balderas [Environment Department, University of York, YO10 5DD (United Kingdom); Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), Tlaquepaque CP (Mexico); Technology and Sustainable Development Section, Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy, University of Twente/CSTM, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands); Marchant, Rob; Smart, James C.R. [Environment Department, University of York, YO10 5DD (United Kingdom); Lovett, Jon C. [Environment Department, University of York, YO10 5DD (United Kingdom); Technology and Sustainable Development Section, Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy, University of Twente/CSTM, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands); Tipper, Richard [Ecometrica, Edinburgh, EH9 1PJ (United Kingdom)

    2010-01-15

    Carbon sequestration in forest sinks is an important strategy to remove greenhouse gases and to mitigate climate change; however its implementation has been limited under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol which has not created the incentives for widespread implementation. The objective of this paper is to analyze the sequestration costs of agroforestry afforestation and reforestation projects (ARPs) following a partial market equilibrium using average cost curves and economic break even analysis to identify the supply costs. The modelling done in this work contrasts the voluntary and clean development mechanism transaction costs. Data is based on the voluntary project, Scolel Te, being implemented in Mexico. Cost curves are developed for seven different sequestration options considering transaction and implementation costs; information from agricultural production in Chiapas Mexico is used to integrate opportunity costs of two agroforestry practices suggesting that sequestration costs may follow a 'U' shape, with an initial reduction due to economies of scale and a subsequent increase caused by high opportunity costs. The widespread implementation of agroforestry options not requiring complete land conversion (e.g. living fences and coffee under shade) might be cost effective strategies not generating high opportunity costs. Results also suggest that payments in the early years of the project and lower transaction costs favour the development of ARPs in the voluntary market especially in marginal rural areas with high discount rates. (author)

  7. Identifying Cost-Effective Residential Energy Efficiency Opportunities for the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Busche, S.; Hockett, S.

    2010-06-01

    This analysis is an update to the 2005 Energy Efficiency Potential Study completed by KEMA for the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) and identifies potential energy efficiency opportunities in the residential sector on Kauai (KEMA 2005). The Total Resource Cost (TRC) test is used to determine which of the energy efficiency measures analyzed in the KEMA report are cost effective for KIUC to include in a residential energy efficiency program. This report finds that there remains potential energy efficiency savings that could be cost-effectively incentivized through a utility residential demand-side management program on Kauai if implemented in such a way that the program costs per measure are consistent with the current residential program costs.

  8. Using time-driven activity-based costing to identify value improvement opportunities in healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Robert S; Witkowski, Mary; Abbott, Megan; Guzman, Alexis Barboza; Higgins, Laurence D; Meara, John G; Padden, Erin; Shah, Apurva S; Waters, Peter; Weidemeier, Marco; Wertheimer, Sam; Feeley, Thomas W

    2014-01-01

    As healthcare providers cope with pricing pressures and increased accountability for performance, they should be rededicating themselves to improving the value they deliver to their patients: better outcomes and lower costs. Time-driven activity-based costing offers the potential for clinicians to redesign their care processes toward that end. This costing approach, however, is new to healthcare and has not yet been systematically implemented and evaluated. This article describes early time-driven activity-based costing work at several leading healthcare organizations in the United States and Europe. It identifies the opportunities they found to improve value for patients and demonstrates how this costing method can serve as the foundation for new bundled payment reimbursement approaches.

  9. Photovoltaic Solar Energy as a Chance and a Need for the Development of the Cuban Economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casal Rivera, Yanet; Parúas Cuza, Rafael

    2017-01-01

    The photovoltaic systems connected to the electric network as a great opportunity and a need for the Cuban economy. This works intends to present an analysis of a lot of aspects related to the economic feasibility of using solar energy generated by roof-mounted small photovoltaic systems such as some aspects related to the economic and environmental analysis and their contribution to the National and Township development as well as a study of the costs behaviors and its comparison concerning prices in reference to the normal electric power and the new investments for the minor sells of these systems to common people. Finally there is a proposition of actions to encourage the use of this kind of energy in the different sectors of the Cuban economy. (author)

  10. Opportunities and challenges for implementing cost accounting systems in the Kenyan health system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elesban Kihuba

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Low- and middle-income countries need to sustain efficiency and equity in health financing on their way to universal health care coverage. However, systems meant to generate quality economic information are often deficient in such settings. We assessed the feasibility of streamlining cost accounting systems within the Kenyan health sector to illustrate the pragmatic challenges and opportunities. Design: We reviewed policy documents, and conducted field observations and semi-structured interviews with key informants in the health sector. We used an adapted Human, Organization and Technology fit (HOT-fit framework to analyze the components and standards of a cost accounting system. Results: Among the opportunities for a viable cost accounting system, we identified a supportive broad policy environment, political will, presence of a national data reporting architecture, good implementation experience with electronic medical records systems, and the availability of patient clinical and resource use data. However, several practical issues need to be considered in the design of the system, including the lack of a framework to guide the costing process, the lack of long-term investment, the lack of appropriate incentives for ground-level staff, and a risk of overburdening the current health management information system. Conclusion: To facilitate the implementation of cost accounting into the health sector, the design of any proposed system needs to remain simple and attuned to the local context.

  11. Opportunities and challenges for implementing cost accounting systems in the Kenyan health system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kihuba, Elesban; Gheorghe, Adrian; Bozzani, Fiammetta; English, Mike; Griffiths, Ulla K.

    2016-01-01

    Background Low- and middle-income countries need to sustain efficiency and equity in health financing on their way to universal health care coverage. However, systems meant to generate quality economic information are often deficient in such settings. We assessed the feasibility of streamlining cost accounting systems within the Kenyan health sector to illustrate the pragmatic challenges and opportunities. Design We reviewed policy documents, and conducted field observations and semi-structured interviews with key informants in the health sector. We used an adapted Human, Organization and Technology fit (HOT-fit) framework to analyze the components and standards of a cost accounting system. Results Among the opportunities for a viable cost accounting system, we identified a supportive broad policy environment, political will, presence of a national data reporting architecture, good implementation experience with electronic medical records systems, and the availability of patient clinical and resource use data. However, several practical issues need to be considered in the design of the system, including the lack of a framework to guide the costing process, the lack of long-term investment, the lack of appropriate incentives for ground-level staff, and a risk of overburdening the current health management information system. Conclusion To facilitate the implementation of cost accounting into the health sector, the design of any proposed system needs to remain simple and attuned to the local context. PMID:27357072

  12. Opportunities and challenges for implementing cost accounting systems in the Kenyan health system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kihuba, Elesban; Gheorghe, Adrian; Bozzani, Fiammetta; English, Mike; Griffiths, Ulla K

    2016-01-01

    Low- and middle-income countries need to sustain efficiency and equity in health financing on their way to universal health care coverage. However, systems meant to generate quality economic information are often deficient in such settings. We assessed the feasibility of streamlining cost accounting systems within the Kenyan health sector to illustrate the pragmatic challenges and opportunities. We reviewed policy documents, and conducted field observations and semi-structured interviews with key informants in the health sector. We used an adapted Human, Organization and Technology fit (HOT-fit) framework to analyze the components and standards of a cost accounting system. Among the opportunities for a viable cost accounting system, we identified a supportive broad policy environment, political will, presence of a national data reporting architecture, good implementation experience with electronic medical records systems, and the availability of patient clinical and resource use data. However, several practical issues need to be considered in the design of the system, including the lack of a framework to guide the costing process, the lack of long-term investment, the lack of appropriate incentives for ground-level staff, and a risk of overburdening the current health management information system. To facilitate the implementation of cost accounting into the health sector, the design of any proposed system needs to remain simple and attuned to the local context.

  13. Chances for a circular economy in the Netherlands; Kansen voor de circulaire economie in Nederland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bastein, T.; Roelofs, E.; Rietveld, E.; Hoogendoorn, A.

    2013-06-15

    The concept of circular economy is an economic and industrial system that focuses on the reusability of products and raw materials, reduces value destruction in the overall system and aims at value creation within each tier of the system. In this report the (economic) opportunities are quantified as much as possible, and impacts on employment and the environmental are addressed. The study focuses specifically on the Dutch economy. The analysis starts by means of two detailed case studies: the use of biomass wastes and the circular economy that may arise in the metal-electronics industry [Dutch] Het begrip 'circulaire economie' is een economisch en industrieel systeem dat zich richt op de herbruikbaarheid van producten en grondstoffen, waarde vernietiging in het totale systeem minimaliseert en waarde creatie in iedere schakel van het systeem nastreeft. In dit rapport worden de (economische) kansen zoveel mogelijk gekwantificeerd, waarbij effecten op werkgelegenheid en milieudruk aan bod komen. De studie richt zich nadrukkelijk op de gehele Nederlandse economie. De analyse start aan de hand van twee gedetailleerde case studies: de benutting van reststromen uit biomassa en de circulaire economie die kan ontstaan t.b.v. producten uit de metaalelektro-sector.

  14. Long-run effects of falling cellulosic ethanol production costs on the US agricultural economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campiche, Jody L; Bryant, Henry L; Richardson, James W

    2010-01-01

    Renewable energy production has been expanding at a rapid pace. New advances in cellulosic ethanol technologies have the potential to displace the use of petroleum as a transportation fuel, and could have significant effects on both the agricultural economy and the environment. In this letter, the effects of falling cellulosic ethanol production costs on the mix of ethanol feedstocks employed and on the US agricultural economy are examined. Results indicate that, as expected, cellulosic ethanol production increases by a substantial amount as conversion technology improves. Corn production increases initially following the introduction of cellulosic technology, because producers enjoy new revenue from sales of corn stover. After cellulosic ethanol production becomes substantially cheaper, however, acres are shifted from corn production to all other agricultural commodities. Essentially, this new technology could facilitate the exploitation of a previously under-employed resource (corn stover), resulting in an improvement in overall welfare. In the most optimistic scenario considered, 68% of US ethanol is derived from cellulosic sources, coarse grain production is reduced by about 2%, and the prices of all food commodities are reduced modestly.

  15. International political economy of climate negotiations while taking into account the mitigation and adaptation costs

    OpenAIRE

    Ilasca, Constantin

    2016-01-01

    Our research focuses on the cooperation and climate governance in the post-Copenhagen era. Its main purpose is to observe and define the evolution of the climate regime, based on the positions of the European Union, China and the United States. These three countries can be considered as big emitters, major economies, as well as great powers. Two main drivers are taken into account in our analysis : mitigation and adaptation costs to climate change. The starting point for our research is to be...

  16. Economies of scope in Danish primary care practices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Troels; Rose Olsen, Kim

    2011-01-01

    between GP services and overall economies of scope. Data: Cross-section data for a sample of 331 primary care practices with 1-8 GPs from the year 2006. This is a unique combined dataset consisting of survey and register data. Results: We find a trend towards cost complementarities between the production......Aim: We analyze total operating costs and activities in Danish General Practice units to assess whether there are unexploited economies of scope in the production of primary care services. Methods: We apply stochastic frontier analysis to derive cost functions and associated cost complementarities...

  17. Comparative locomotor costs of domestic dogs reveal energetic economy of wolf-like breeds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryce, Caleb M; Williams, Terrie M

    2017-01-15

    The broad diversity in morphology and geographic distribution of the 35 free-ranging members of the family Canidae is only rivaled by that of the domesticated dog, Canis lupus familiaris. Considered to be among nature's most elite endurance athletes, both domestic and wild canids provide a unique opportunity to examine the variability in mammalian aerobic exercise performance and energy expenditure. To determine the potential effects of domestication and selective breeding on locomotor gait and economy in canids, we measured the kinematics and mass-specific metabolism of three large (>20 kg) dog breed groups (northern breeds, retrievers and hounds) of varying morphological and genomic relatedness to their shared progenitor, the gray wolf. By measuring all individuals moving in preferred steady-state gaits along a level transect and on a treadmill, we found distinct biomechanical, kinematic and energetic patterns for each breed group. While all groups exhibited reduced total cost of transport (COT) at faster speeds, the total COT and net COT during trotting and galloping were significantly lower for northern breed dogs (3.0 and 2.1 J kg -1  m -1 , respectively) relative to hound (4.2 and 3.4 J kg -1  m -1 , respectively) and retriever dogs (3.8 and 3.0 J kg -1  m -1 , respectively) of comparable mass. Similarly, northern breeds expended less energy per stride (3.5 J kg -1  stride -1 ) than hounds or retrievers (5.0 and 4.0 J kg -1  stride -1 , respectively). These results suggest that, in addition to their close genetic and morphological ties to gray wolves, northern breed dogs have retained highly cursorial kinematic and physiological traits that promote economical movement across the landscape. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  18. Restructuring and energy efficiency improvement of the Bulgarian energy economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moumdjian, G.

    1993-01-01

    The structure of the national energy economy of Bulgaria implies characteristic features that specify low efficiency as regards power production, ecology and economics. Even the qualitative assessments show that these indices stand far away from the standards established in developed countries like Denmark, Finland, Sweden, etc. The best starting position for harmful energy efficiency improvement as well as emission reduction must be based on the restructuring of energy economy. The strategy of restructuring and development of energy economy covers the whole integrated national energy flow system 'resources - end user'. The preliminary study shows that energy efficiency can be increased by 25-30% within a period of 6-10 years using the least-cost investment strategy (including the research and development activities expenses). The study covers the existing structure of energy sector. Scenarios are being elaborated for its development and restructuring in respect to: heat production and transfer; electricity generation and transmission; energy consumption and conservation in residential buildings, public buildings and commercial sector; energy consumption in transport sector and agriculture. The approach for identification of the real potential opportunities in relation to the above stated areas is based on mathematical statistics and stochastic differential equations, multicriterial assessments, approach of self organisation systems and demand-side management. (author)

  19. Cost of a measles outbreak in a remote island economy: 2014 Federated States of Micronesia measles outbreak.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pike, Jamison; Tippins, Ashley; Nyaku, Mawuli; Eckert, Maribeth; Helgenberger, Louisa; Underwood, J Michael

    2017-10-13

    After 20years with no reported measles cases, on May 15, 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified of two cases testing positive for measles-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Under the Compact of Free Association, FSM receives immunization funding and technical support from the United States (US) domestic vaccination program managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In a collaborative effort, public health officials and volunteers from FSM and the US government worked to respond and contain the measles outbreak through an emergency mass vaccination campaign, contact tracing, and other outbreak investigation activities. Contributions were also made by United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO). Total costs incurred as a result of the outbreak were nearly $4,000,000; approximately $10,000 per case. Direct medical costs (≈$141,000) were incurred in the treatment of those individuals infected, as well as lost productivity of the infected and informal caregivers (≈$250,000) and costs to contain the outbreak (≈$3.5 million). We assessed the economic burden of the 2014 measles outbreak to FSM, as well as the economic responsibilities of the US. Although the US paid the majority of total costs of the outbreak (≈67%), examining each country's costs relative to their respective economy illustrates a far greater burden to FSM. We demonstrate that while FSM was heavily assisted by the US in responding to the 2014 Measles Outbreak, the outbreak significantly impacted their economy. FSM's economic burden from the outbreak is approximately equivalent to their entire 2016 Fiscal Year budget dedicated to education. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Procedures when calculating economy for building envelopes in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rudbeck, Claus Christian; Svendsen, Sv Aa Højgaard

    1999-01-01

    of using total-economy. Total-economy incorporates all present and future investments (e.g. operational and maintenance costs) into one number making it possible to invest more money when constructing a building and save the money later on due to lower cost for maintenance and energy consumption.This paper...

  1. Methane recovery from animal manures: A current opportunities casebook

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-08-01

    This Casebook examines some of the current opportunities for the recovery of methane from the anaerobic digestion of animal manures US livestock operations currently employ four types of anaerobic digester technology: Slurry, plug flow, complete mix, and covered lagoon. An introduction to the engineering economies of these technologies is provided, and possible end-use applications for the methane gas generated by the digestion process are discussed. The economic evaluations are based on engineering studies of digesters that generate electricity from the recovered methane. Regression models, which can be used to estimate digester cost and internal rate of return, are developed from the evaluations.

  2. The hydrogen economy - an opportunity for gas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soederbaum, J.; Martin, G.; O'Neill, C.

    2003-01-01

    Natural gas could play a pivotal role in any transition to a hydrogen economy-that is one of the findings of the recently-released National Hydrogen Study, commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, and undertaken by the consulting firms ACIL Tasman and Parsons Brinckerhoff. The key benefits of hydrogen include zero emissions at the point of combustion (water is the main by-product) and its abundance Hydrogen can be produced from a range of primary energy sources including gas and coal, or through the electrolysis of water. Depending on the process used to manufacture hydrogen (especially the extent to which any associated carbon can be captured and sequestered), life-cycle emissions associated with its production and use can be reduced or entirely eliminated

  3. Opportunity Costs in Paediatric Training: The Specialist Registrars Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, M B; Nabialek, T; Kandamany, N

    2017-08-08

    In the training process, there is a tension between the work life and home life of trainees. This study explored both the personal impact and the opportunity costs of training from the Specialist Paediatric Registrar (SPR) perspective. The survey explored 1) career progression, 2) perceived functional effectiveness at work, 3) psychological impact of hospital based training, and 4) the personal and social cost of training. Fifty-three (71%) SPRs responded of whom 47 (89%)were married or in long term relationships. Seventy-five percent of trainees had a definite career plan with 86% intending to undertake fellowship training. Seventy percent believed they were efficient time managers but 53% had difficulty in making time for academic pursuits and fifty percent experienced negative feelings, which lingered after work and interfered with their relationships at home. Seventy-four percent stated training was undertaken at significant personal cost with only 21% achieving a very satisfactory work/life balance. To address these difficulties trainee wellbeing should be addressed at the Basic Specialist Training (BST) level and the career path clearly explained outlining the challenges that are likely to be encountered.

  4. Opportunity Costs in Paediatric Training: The Specialist Registrars Experience.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O’Neill, MB

    2017-08-01

    In the training process, there is a tension between the work life and home life of trainees. This study explored both the personal impact and the opportunity costs of training from the Specialist Paediatric Registrar (SPR) perspective. The survey explored 1) career progression2) perceived functional effectiveness at work 3) psychological impact of hospital based training and 4) the personal and social cost of training. Fifty-three (71%) SPRs responded of whom 47 (89%)were married or in long term relationships. Seventy-five percent of trainees had a definite career plan with 86% intending to undertake fellowship training. Seventy percent believed they were efficient time managers but 53% had difficulty in making time for academic pursuits and fifty percent experienced negative feelings, which lingered after work and interfered with their relationships at home. Seventy-four percent stated training was undertaken at significant personal cost with only 21% achieving a very satisfactory work\\/life balance. To address these difficulties trainee wellbeing should be addressed at the Basic Specialist Training (BST) level and the career path clearly explained outlining the challenges that are likely to be encountered.

  5. Towards an ammonia-mediated hydrogen economy?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Claus H.; Johannessen, Tue; Sørensen, Rasmus Zink

    2006-01-01

    Materialization of a hydrogen economy could provide a solution to significant global challenges, In particular. the possibility of improving the efficiency and simultaneously minimizing the environmental impact of energy conversion processes, together with the opportunity to reduce the dependency...

  6. Superefficient Refrigerators: Opportunities and Challenges for Efficiency Improvement Globally

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shah, Nihar; Park, Won Young; Bojda, Nicholas; McNeil, Michael A.

    2014-08-01

    As an energy-intensive mainstream product, residential refrigerators present a significant opportunity to reduce electricity consumption through energy efficiency improvements. Refrigerators expend a considerable amount of electricity during normal use, typically consuming between 100 to 1,000 kWh of electricity per annum. This paper presents the results of a technical analysis done for refrigerators in support of the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative. Beginning from a base case representative of the average unit sold in India, we analyze efficiency improvement options and their corresponding costs to build a cost-versus-efficiency relationship. We then consider design improvement options that are known to be the most cost effective and that can improve efficiency given current design configurations. We also analyze and present additional super-efficient options, such as vacuum-insulated panels. We estimate the cost of conserved electricity for the various options, allowing flexible program design for market transformation programs toward higher efficiency. We estimate ~;;160TWh/year of energy savings are cost effective in 2030, indicating significant potential for efficiency improvement in refrigerators in SEAD economies and China.

  7. Model Year 2017 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2016-11-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles.

  8. Model Year 2012 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2011-11-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles.

  9. Model Year 2013 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2012-12-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles.

  10. Model Year 2011 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2010-11-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles.

  11. Model Year 2018 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2017-12-07

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles.

  12. Unleashing business opportunities for wind energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abrutat, R.

    2001-01-01

    Internationally successful models for the implementation of wind energy are presented and suggested for the Australian electricity supply systems. With Perth being the congress host and Western Australia's known good wind resource, particular emphasis is given to the WA South West Interconnected System (SWIS). In the current framework, energy legislation is State Government's responsibility. In the light of the Kyoto Protocol the carbon dioxide emissions of the SWIS are indicated, the associated external cost are estimated and the Greenhouse Gas emissions offset potential from wind power is outlined. The socioeconomic advantages of wind energy are depicted. Recommendations are made on how these sustainable advantages might be utilised to unleash business opportunities for the private sector, which is the cornerstone of free enterprise economies. (author)

  13. The need for getting the balance right in matching economy, technology and people

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Norvik, H.

    1994-01-01

    The exploitation of the North Sea has reached a mature stage, and the dependency on new gigantic field discoveries to provide the returns needed in future are changing. According to the author of this paper, excellence in management of change will be as important as technical excellence in obtaining success and to get the right balance between technology, economy and employees to maintain competitiveness on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The aim of Statoil is to improve the profitability in the range of 12%, and to reduce costs and time by 30-40%. A cost reduction of 25% within the drilling sector is obtained. Alliances are built to utilize synergies, reduce costs and develop new business opportunities. Trade union representatives have a lot to offer in the Board of the Company and in the internal work in the company as well. Safety aspects are added

  14. The need for getting the balance right in matching economy, technology and people

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Norvik, H [Statoil (Norway)

    1994-12-31

    The exploitation of the North Sea has reached a mature stage, and the dependency on new gigantic field discoveries to provide the returns needed in future are changing. According to the author of this paper, excellence in management of change will be as important as technical excellence in obtaining success and to get the right balance between technology, economy and employees to maintain competitiveness on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The aim of Statoil is to improve the profitability in the range of 12%, and to reduce costs and time by 30-40%. A cost reduction of 25% within the drilling sector is obtained. Alliances are built to utilize synergies, reduce costs and develop new business opportunities. Trade union representatives have a lot to offer in the Board of the Company and in the internal work in the company as well. Safety aspects are added

  15. Fueling the Gig Economy: A Case Study Evaluation of Upwork.com

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daryl D. Green

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available With recent downsizing of talented professionals and the power of globalization to provide opportunities for more underdeveloped countries, the gig economy is a source of influence in today’s generation of professionals. Online outsourcing media have shown to be valuable resources for companies who need a specific set of skills for a limited period. This case study evaluates Upwork.com, one of the leading freelance websites in the gig economy; this article provides insights on how others should evaluate the power of this new economy in terms of opportunities for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers. Upwork has led the pack by providing a flexible platform for freelancers worldwide, including coders, writers, and web developers, putting businesses in touch with reasonably priced workers. The study begins by exploring the attributes of the gig economy. Data collection is achieved through qualitative analysis. The application of these conclusions could increase the survival rate of new freelancers on Upwork.com and in the gig economy. The study is significant because this research widens contemporary assumptions about strategic thinking for individuals engaged in e-commerce.

  16. Opportunities for cost reduction and improved environmental impact in the lead and lead/acid battery industries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, N.

    The opportunities for cost reduction through improved environmental performance exist in many companies, but often are not realized. This paper describes the efforts of a typical firm — Calder Industrial Materials (CIM) — that is experiencing ever-tighter environmental controls and profit erosion through the effects of new environmental legislation. At the same time, however, CIM sees opportunities to reduce its environmental burden and cut costs. As the story unfolds, readers may well discover many parallels with their own companies. It may even spur some into action, for remember, every £1000 saved requires ten times the turnover to generate the same profit.

  17. Values in the Smart Grid: The co-evolving political economy of smart distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, Stephen; Foxon, Timothy J.

    2014-01-01

    Investing in smart grid infrastructure is a key enabler for the transition to low carbon energy systems. Recent work has characterised the costs and benefits of individual “smart” investments. The political economy of the UK electricity system, however, has co-evolved such that there is a mismatch between where benefits accrue and where costs are incurred, leading to a problem of value capture and redeployment. Further, some benefits of smart grids are less easy to price directly and can be classified as public goods, such as energy security and decarbonisation. This paper builds on systemic treatments of energy system transitions to characterise the co-evolution of value capture and structural incentives in the electricity distribution system, drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus groups undertaken with smart grid stakeholders in the UK. This leads to an identification of municipal scale values that may be important for business models for the delivery of smart infrastructure. Municipalities may thus pursue specific economic opportunities through smart grid investment. This supports recent practical interest in an expanded role for municipalities as partners and investors in smart grid infrastructures. - Highlights: • Smart grid investments can benefit municipal economic development. • Drawing on urban political economy we describe these values. • New values alter the smart grid investment problem. • New integration of urban policy and DNOs are proposed by this research. • Socio-technical approaches are enhanced by urban political economy and vice versa

  18. The time scales of the climate-economy feedback and the climatic cost of growth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hallegatte, Stephane [CIRED - CNRM, Nogent-sur-Marne (France)

    2005-04-01

    This paper is based on the perception that the inertia of climate and socio-economic systems are key parameters in the climate change issue. In a first part, it develops and implements a new approach based on a simple integrated model with a particular focus on an innovative transient impact and adaptation modelling. In a second part, a climate-economy feedback is defined and characterized. It is found that: (i) it has a 70-year characteristic time, which is long when compared to the system's other time-scales, and it cannot act as a natural damping process of climate change; (ii) mitigation has to be anticipated since the feedback of an emission reduction on the economy is significant only after a 20-year delay and really efficient after a one-century delay; (iii) the IPCC methodology, that neglects the feedback from impacts to emissions, is acceptable up to 2100, whatever is the level of impacts. This analysis allows also to define a climatic cost of growth as the additional climate change damages due to the additional emissions linked to economic growth. Usefully, this metric for climate change damages is particularly independent of the baseline scenario. (orig.)

  19. The time scales of the climate-economy feedback and the climatic cost of growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hallegatte, Stephane

    2005-04-01

    This paper is based on the perception that the inertia of climate and socio-economic systems are key parameters in the climate change issue. In a first part, it develops and implements a new approach based on a simple integrated model with a particular focus on an innovative transient impact and adaptation modelling. In a second part, a climate-economy feedback is defined and characterized. It is found that: (i) it has a 70-year characteristic time, which is long when compared to the system's other time-scales, and it cannot act as a natural damping process of climate change; (ii) mitigation has to be anticipated since the feedback of an emission reduction on the economy is significant only after a 20-year delay and really efficient after a one-century delay; (iii) the IPCC methodology, that neglects the feedback from impacts to emissions, is acceptable up to 2100, whatever is the level of impacts. This analysis allows also to define a climatic cost of growth as the additional climate change damages due to the additional emissions linked to economic growth. Usefully, this metric for climate change damages is particularly independent of the baseline scenario. (orig.)

  20. The shadow economy in industrial countries

    OpenAIRE

    Dominik H. Enste

    2015-01-01

    The shadow (underground) economy plays a major role in many countries. People evade taxes and regulations by working in the shadow economy or by employing people illegally. On the one hand, this unregulated economic activity can result in reduced tax revenue and public goods and services, lower tax morale and less tax compliance, higher control costs, and lower economic growth rates. But on the other hand, the shadow economy can be a powerful force for advancing institutional change and can b...

  1. Theory and evidence for using the economy-of-scale law in power plant economics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phung, D.L.

    1987-05-01

    This report compiles theory and evidence for the use of the economy-of-scale law in energy economics, particularly in the estimation of capital costs for coal-fired and nuclear power plants. The economy-of-scale law is widely used in its simplest form: cost is directly proportional to capacity raised to an exponent. An additive constant is an important component that is not generally taken into account. Also, the economy of scale is perforce valid only over a limited size range. The majority of engineering studies have estimated an economy of scale exponent of 0.7 to 0.9 for coal-fired plants and an exponent of 0.4 to 0.6 for nuclear plants in the capacity ranges of 400 to 1000 MWe. However, the majority of econometric analyses found little or no economy of scale for coal-fired plants and only a slight economy of scale for nuclear plants. This disparity is explained by the fact that economists have included regulatory and time-related costs in addition to the direct and indirect costs used by the engineers. Regulatory and time-related costs have become an increasingly larger portion of total costs during the last decade. In addition, these costs appeared to have either a very small economy of scale or to be increasing as the size of the power plant increased. We conclude that gains in economy of scale can only be made by reducing regulatory and time-related costs through design standardization and regulatory stability, in combination with more favorable economic conditions. 59 refs

  2. What the new economy means for the oil business

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopeck, J.

    2001-01-01

    The value-creation opportunities associated with electronically transforming old economy sectors, particularly oil and gas companies, was discussed. Traditional businesses that use Internet technology extensively can shift their strategic perspective to an e-business perspective where required physical capital and working capital is very low, and where focus on product capital can be the greatest. This new strategy creates a more efficient and dynamic company with potential for long-term competitive advantages. Many oil companies have moved forward with implementing the needed technology and management infrastructure for e-business. Electronic transformation through a meta-capitalism perspective offers oil companies a great opportunity to create exceptional shareholder value. Some graphs showed that integrated oil companies have under-performed the Standard and Poors 500 even as they aggressively reduce their cost structures. The reinforcing dynamics between the responses from the integrated oil companies are creating the basis for an accelerated change of pace. The efforts that Texaco, Chevron, Shell and BP have made to move forward with e-business initiatives were highlighted. 8 figs

  3. Opportunistic maintenance considering non-homogenous opportunity arrivals and stochastic opportunity durations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Truong Ba, H.; Cholette, M.E.; Borghesani, P.; Zhou, Y.; Ma, L.

    2017-01-01

    Many systems and manufacturing processes undergo intermittent operation due to external factors (e.g. weather, low market prices), offering opportunities to conduct maintenance with reduced production losses. Making use of appropriate opportunities can thus lead to significant reduction in the total cost of maintenance and improvement in productivity. In this paper, an opportunistic maintenance (OM) model is developed considering two critical properties of real world opportunities: (i) non-homogeneous opportunity arrivals and (ii) stochastic opportunity duration. The model enables exploiting downtime cost savings from “partial” opportunities (stops shorter than the required maintenance time) thus extending the potential benefit of OM. The criteria for accepting maintenance opportunities are found by minimizing the single-cycle total cost. A closed form expression of the single-cycle total cost is derived for a given PM/OM policy and then a Genetic Algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. Numerical results are presented to assess the benefit of opportunistic maintenance and the marginal benefit of considering partial opportunities. Results indicate that significant savings can be achieved by considering OM. Moreover, it is shown that the novel consideration of partial opportunities significantly increase the benefit of OM. - Highlights: • Opportunistic and time-based preventive maintenance jointly optimized. • Non-homogeneous opportunity arrivals and stochastic durations considered. • “Partial” opportunities considered for the first time. • Opportunity duration thresholds used as a decision criterion. • Numerical study conducted to evaluate benefit of optimized policy.

  4. Fusion power economy of scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dolan, T.J.

    1993-01-01

    In the next 50 yr, the world will need to develop hundreds of gigawatts of non-fossil-fuel energy sources for production of electricity and fuels. Nuclear fusion can probably provide much of the required energy economically, if large single-unit power plants are acceptable. Large power plants are more common than most people realize: There are already many multiple-unit power plants producing 2 to 5 GW(electric) at a single site. The cost of electricity (COE) from fusion energy is predicted to scale as COE ∼ COE 0 (P/P 0 ) -n , where P is the electrical power, the subscript zero denotes reference values, and the exponent n ∼ 0.36 to 0.7 in various designs. The validity ranges of these scalings are limited and need to be extended by future work. The fusion power economy of scale derives from four interrelated effects: improved operations and maintenance costs; scaling of equipment unit costs; a geometric effect that increases the mass power density; and reduction of the recirculating power fraction. Increased plasma size also relaxes the required confinement parameters: For the same neutron wall loading, larger tokamaks can use lower magnetic fields. Fossil-fuel power plants have a weaker economy of scale than fusion because the fuel costs constitute much of their COE. Solar and wind power plants consist of many small units, so they have little economy of scale. Fission power plants have a strong economy of scale but are unable to exploit it because the maximum unit size is limited by safety concerns. Large, steady-state fusion reactors generating 3 to 6 GW(electric) may be able to produce electricity for 4 to 5 cents/kW·h, which would be competitive with other future energy sources. 38 refs., 6 figs., 6 tabs

  5. Impact of political costs on company benefits in the institutions with high free cash flow and low growth opportunity: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Pasandidehfar

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The political costs, bonuses paid to managers, how to use the growth opportunities obtained and their effects on the profitability of companies are the issues that have always been a major of corporations’ concerns. Company exposure to political decisions, its costs and effects on the company's cash flow is very important. Hence, understanding the relationship between variables in a company and how they influence on each other helps management decisions for better opportunities and reduction in political costs, increase cash flow and ultimately increase the profitability of the firms. This survey studies the relationship between the impact of political costs on companies with high free cash flow and low growth opportunity. In this survey, company's assets, sales, income and number of employees are estimated. Then the indexes related to these costs are evaluated based on the tax component, the cost of the sports, personnel costs and relationships among them. Pearson correlation coefficient, regression coefficients and analysis of variance have been used to examine the hypotheses of the survey. The results show that the political cost, high free cash flow and low growth opportunity had negative correlations with each other. In other words, there was a negative relationship between profit and political costs in companies with high free cash flow and low growth opportunity. Moreover, high free cash flow and low growth opportunities had significant effect on the relationship between political costs and benefits in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange.

  6. Abraham Lincoln and the global economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hormats, Robert D

    2003-08-01

    Abraham Lincoln would have well understood the challenges facing many modern emerging nations. In Lincoln's America, as in many developing nations today, sweeping economic change threatened older industries, traditional ways of living, and social and national cohesion by exposing economies and societies to new and powerful competitive forces. Yet even in the midst of the brutal and expensive American Civil war--and in part because of it--Lincoln and the Republican Congress enacted bold legislation that helped create a huge national market, a strong and unified economy governed by national institutions, and a rising middle class of businessmen and property owners. Figuring out how to maximize the benefits of globalization while minimizing its disruptions is a formidable challenge for policy makers. How do you expand opportunities for the talented and the lucky while making sure the rest of society doesn't fall behind? It may be helpful to look at the principles that informed the policies that Lincoln and the Republican Congress instituted after they came to power in 1861: Facilitate the upward mobility of low- and middle-income groups to give them a significant stake in the country. Emphasize the good of the national economy over regional interests. Affirm the need for sound government institutions to temper the dynamics of the free enterprise system. Tailor policies to the national situation. Realize that a period of turmoil may present a unique opportunity for reform. These principles drove the reforms that helped Americans cope with and benefit from rapid technological advances and the fast integration of the American economy in the nineteenth century. They may be instructive to today's policy makers who are struggling to help their own citizens integrate into the fast-changing global economy of the twenty-first century.

  7. The Clean Air Act and the Economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Since 1970, cleaner air and a growing economy have gone hand in hand. The Act has created market opportunities that have helped to inspire innovation in cleaner technologies for which the United States has become a global market leader.

  8. Knowledge Economy in China and Russia: Problems and Prospects

    OpenAIRE

    Untura G. A.

    2009-01-01

    General issues of building a knowledge-based economy are considered. The knowledge-based economies indexes of individual countries of the world are given, and Russia’s and China’s positions are shown. The problems and prospects of cooperation between Russia and China in science, technology and innovation are stated, in particular taking into account the opportunities for promoting contacts at the meso- level (case of Siberia)

  9. The impact of artificial intelligence on the world economy

    OpenAIRE

    Kuprevich, T. S.

    2017-01-01

    In the article the potential benefits and opportunities offered by AI in the world economy are considered. In the course of the research benefits and tendencies of artificial intelligence in the world economy were revealed, the main directions of development and barriers of artificial intelligence adoption are analyzed and revealed. Nowadays artificial intelligence (AI) is going mainstream, driven by machine learning, big data and cloud computing.

  10. Assessing energy projects from the viewpoint of individual economic branches and total economy. The role of economic efficiency analysis, cost-benefit analysis and multicriteria methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sell, A.

    1992-01-01

    Energy is an extremely important good and means of production not only for the individual branches of economy but, due to its essential meaning to the development of a region or a national economy and its external effects connected with production and consumption, also of great interest to all economic branches. This article deals with the relation of analyses in individual economical branches and those in total economy and with the question of what the importance of cost-benefit analyses and other methods is in the analysis in total economy. The author also mentions the planning as in the special literature the planning and evaluation phases are not analytically separated which is seen especially in the discussion about the multi-criteria methods. (orig.) [de

  11. Case Study Analysing Potentials to Improve Material Efficiency in Manufacturing Supply Chains, Considering Circular Economy Aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja T. Braun

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In order to decouple economic growth from global material consumption it is necessary to implement material efficiency strategies at the level of single enterprises and their supply chains, and to implement circular economy aspects. Manufacturing firms face multiple implementation challenges like cost limitations, competition, innovation and stakeholder pressure, and supplier and customer relationships, among others. Taking as an example a case of a medium-sized manufacturing company, opportunities to realise material efficiency improvements within the company borders—on the supply chain and by using circular economy measures—are assessed. Deterministic calculations and simulations, performed for the supply chain of this company, show that measures to increase material efficiency in the supply chain are important. However, they need to be complemented by efforts to return waste and used products to the economic cycle, which requires rethinking the traditional linear economic system.

  12. Develop Improved Materials to Support the Hydrogen Economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dr. Michael C. Martin

    2012-07-18

    The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) solicited and funded hydrogen infrastructure related projects that have a near term potential for commercialization. The subject technology of each project is related to the US Department of Energy hydrogen economy goals as outlined in the multi-year plan titled, 'Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan.' Preference was given to cross cutting materials development projects that might lead to the establishment of manufacturing capability and job creation. The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) used the US Department of Energy hydrogen economy goals to find and fund projects with near term commercialization potential. An RFP process aligned with this plan required performance based objectives with go/no-go technology based milestones. Protocols established for this program consisted of a RFP solicitation process, white papers and proposals with peer technology and commercialization review (including DoE), EMTEC project negotiation and definition and DoE cost share approval. Our RFP approach specified proposals/projects for hydrogen production, hydrogen storage or hydrogen infrastructure processing which may include sensor, separator, compression, maintenance, or delivery technologies. EMTEC was especially alert for projects in the appropriate subject area that have cross cutting materials technology with near term manufacturing and commercialization opportunities.

  13. Does integration of HIV and SRH services achieve economies of scale and scope in practice? A cost function analysis of the Integra Initiative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obure, Carol Dayo; Guinness, Lorna; Sweeney, Sedona; Initiative, Integra; Vassall, Anna

    2016-03-01

    Policy-makers have long argued about the potential efficiency gains and cost savings from integrating HIV and sexual reproductive health (SRH) services, particularly in resource-constrained settings with generalised HIV epidemics. However, until now, little empirical evidence exists on whether the hypothesised efficiency gains associated with such integration can be achieved in practice. We estimated a quadratic cost function using data obtained from 40 health facilities, over a 2-year-period, in Kenya and Swaziland. The quadratic specification enables us to determine the existence of economies of scale and scope. The empirical results reveal that at the current output levels, only HIV counselling and testing services are characterised by service-specific economies of scale. However, no overall economies of scale exist as all outputs are increased. The results also indicate cost complementarities between cervical cancer screening and HIV care; post-natal care and HIV care and family planning and sexually transmitted infection treatment combinations only. The results from this analysis reveal that contrary to expectation, efficiency gains from the integration of HIV and SRH services, if any, are likely to be modest. Efficiency gains are likely to be most achievable in settings that are currently delivering HIV and SRH services at a low scale with high levels of fixed costs. The presence of cost complementarities for only three service combinations implies that careful consideration of setting-specific clinical practices and the extent to which they can be combined should be made when deciding which services to integrate. NCT01694862. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  14. Price Discrimination, Economies of Scale, and Profits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Donghyun

    2000-01-01

    Demonstrates that it is possible for economies of scale to induce a price-discriminating monopolist to sell in an unprofitable market where the average cost always exceeds the price. States that higher profits in the profitable market caused by economies of scale may exceed losses incurred in the unprofitable market. (CMK)

  15. Globalization of Brewing and Economies of Scale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Erik Strøjer; Wu, Yanqing

    The globalization of the brewing industry after the turn of the century through a large wave of mergers and acquisitions has changed the structure of the world beer markets. The paper tracks the development in industry concentrations from 2002 to 2012 and points to high transportation costs...... for beers and economies of scale in advertising and sales efforts as the main factors behind the wave of cross-country mergers and acquisitions. Using firm-level data from the largest breweries, the estimations verify significant economies of scale in marketing and distribution costs. Based on information...

  16. The tourist industry: a growth opportunity for Southern economy

    OpenAIRE

    Gattei S.

    2011-01-01

    Over the years, the international tourist movement has considerably expanded and this has reinforced the idea that such a sector can have a major role on the growth of Mezzogiorno's economy and on reducing the gap with the Centre-North. This paper aims at analysing trends in the South during the decade 1988-2008, compared with those of the Centre-North and the main competitor countries of the Mediterranean area, and at identifying the major obstacles to development of Southern tourism in line...

  17. Creative Economy as Applied to Information Technology (IT Companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Fabris Lugoboni

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This research addresses creative economy, wherein creative industries are deemed amongst the economy's most dynamic sectors and are characterized as being those that highly prize intellectual capital, invest in technology and innovation. Collectively, these in turn offer individuals, businesses and cities opportunities to generate economic growth and development. The study herein presented sought to examine the application of creative economy at information technology companies. To this effect, IT professionals and others who work at large technology companies were interviewed so as to identify creative economy characteristics at companies comprised by this specific economic sector. Findings enabled the conclusion that creative economy is effectively present in IT companies´ day-to-day routines since the former is reportedly a sector that features a high degree of both dynamism and constant change, whereby creative economy characteristics help companies innovate whilst simultaneously hallmarks as being extremely demanding.

  18. Renewable energy consumption and income in emerging economies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sadorsky, Perry

    2009-01-01

    Increased economic growth and demand for energy in emerging economies is creating an opportunity for these countries to increase their usage of renewable energy. This paper presents and estimates two empirical models of renewable energy consumption and income for a panel of emerging economies. Panel cointegration estimates show that increases in real per capita income have a positive and statistically significant impact on per capita renewable energy consumption. In the long term, a 1% increase in real income per capita increases the consumption of renewable energy per capita in emerging economies by approximately 3.5%. Long-term renewable energy per capita consumption price elasticity estimates are approximately equal to -0.70.

  19. Energy economy and industrial ecology in the Brazilian cement sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavares, Marina Elisabete Espinho; Schaeffer, Roberto

    1999-01-01

    The article discusses the following issues of the Brazilian cement sector: the Brazilian cement main types specification, cement quantities evolution produced in Brazil from 1987 to 1997, energy conservation in the cement production process with additives, energy economy cost estimates from the utilization of additives, and several technologies energy economy cost used in the industrial sector

  20. Opportunities for low-cost CO2 storage demonstration projects in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meng, Kyle C.; Williams, Robert H.; Celia, Michael A.

    2007-01-01

    Several CO 2 storage demonstration projects are needed in a variety of geological formations worldwide to prove the viability of CO 2 capture and storage as a major option for climate change mitigation. China has several low-cost CO 2 sources at sites that produce NH 3 from coal via gasification. At these plants, CO 2 generated in excess of the amount needed for other purposes (e.g., urea synthesis) is vented as a relatively pure stream. These CO 2 sources would potentially be economically interesting candidates for storage demonstration projects if there are suitable storage sites nearby. In this study a survey was conducted to estimate CO 2 availability at modern Chinese coal-fed ammonia plants. Results indicate that annual quantities of available, relatively pure CO 2 per site range from 0.6 to 1.1 million tonnes. The CO 2 source assessment was complemented by analysis of possible nearby opportunities for CO 2 storage. CO 2 sources were mapped in relation to China's petroliferous sedimentary basins where prospective CO 2 storage reservoirs possibly exist. Four promising pairs of sources and sinks were identified. Project costs for storage in deep saline aquifers were estimated for each pairing ranging from $15-21/t of CO 2 . Potential enhanced oil recovery and enhanced coal bed methane recovery opportunities near each prospective source were also considered

  1. Opportunities and potential costs of an environmental tax. Working paper Nr 34

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scapecchi, Pascale

    2012-09-01

    After having outlined the role of an environmental tax in the policy for energy transition, the author discusses the definition of this tax and its objectives. She discusses the characteristics a carbon tax could have in terms of base, of exemption, of tax rate determination by using a cost-efficiency ratio, and of expected revenues. She identifies and comments benefits and drawbacks of an environmental tax, i.e.: economic and environmental benefits, lessons learned from the Swedish case (implementation of a carbon tax in 1991), negative impacts on economy, and assessment of anticipated macro-economic impacts by using economic models. She finally discusses the conditions of acceptability of such a tax by considering how revenues are redistributed

  2. Knowledge-Based Economy in Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico: A Comparative Analysis from the Bio-Economy Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Barbara MUNGARAY-MOCTEZUMA

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this article is to determine the necessary institutional characteristics of technology and human capital in Argentina, Costa Rica and Mexico in order to evolve towards a knowledge-based economy, addressing the importance of institutions for their development. In particular, the knowledge-based economy is analyzed from the perspective of bioeconomics. Based on the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI which considers 148 indicators, in the following categories: a economic performance and institutional regime; b education and human resources, c innovation, and d information and communication technologies, we selected 13 indicators. We aim to identify the strengths and opportunities for these countries in order to meet the challenges that arise from the paradoxes of technological progress and globalization. In this sense, bioeconomy is approached as part of the economy. This analysis shows, among other things, that Argentina has greater potential to compete in an economy sustained in the creation and dissemination of knowledge, while Costa Rica has an institutional and regulatory environment that is more conducive to the development of business activities, and Mexico faces significant challenges regarding its institutional structure, economic performance and human resources.

  3. Energy Development Opportunities for Wyoming

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Larry Demick

    2012-11-01

    The Wyoming Business Council, representing the state’s interests, is participating in a collaborative evaluation of energy development opportunities with the NGNP Industry Alliance (an industry consortium), the University of Wyoming, and the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. Three important energy-related goals are being pursued by the State of Wyoming: Ensuring continued reliable and affordable sources of energy for Wyoming’s industries and people Restructuring the coal economy in Wyoming Restructuring the natural gas economy in Wyoming

  4. Rural poor economies and foreign investors: an opportunity or a risk?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelo Antoci

    Full Text Available In the current age of commercial and financial openness, remote and poor local economies are becoming increasingly exposed to inflows of external capital. The new investors - enjoying lower credit constraints than local dwellers - might play a propulsive role in local development. At the same time, inflows of external capital can have negative impacts on local natural resource-dependent activities. We analyze a two-sector model where both sectors damage the environment, but only that of domestic producers relies on natural resources. We assess under which conditions the coexistence of the two sectors is compatible with sustainability, defined as convergence to a stationary state characterized by a positive stock of the natural resource. Moreover, we find that capital inflows can be stimulated by an increase in the pollution intensity of incoming activities, but also in the pollution intensity of the domestic sector; in both cases, capital inflows generate environmental degradation and a decrease in welfare for the local population. Finally, we show that a reduction in the cost of capital for external investors and the consequent capital inflows have the effect to increase wages, local investments and welfare of the local populations only if the environmental impact of the external sector is relatively low with respect to that of local activities. Otherwise, an unexpected scenario characterized by a reduction in domestic capital accumulation and the impoverishment of local agents can occur.

  5. Technology Roadmap: Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-01

    This roadmap explores the potential improvement of existing technologies to enhance the average fuel economy of motorised vehicles; the roadmap’s vision is to achieve a 30% to 50% reduction in fuel use per kilometre from new road vehicles including 2-wheelers, LDV s and HDV s) around the world in 2030, and from the stock of all vehicles on the road by 2050. This achievement would contribute to significant reductions in GHG emissions and oil use, compared to a baseline projection. Different motorised modes are treated separately, with a focus on LDV s, HDV s and powered two-wheelers. A section on in-use fuel economy also addresses technical and nontechnical parameters that could allow fuel economy to drastically improve over the next decades. Technology cost analysis and payback time show that significant progress can be made with low or negative cost for fuel-efficient vehicles over their lifetime use. Even though the latest data analysed by the IEA for fuel economy between 2005 and 2008 showed that a gap exists in achieving the roadmap’s vision, cutting the average fuel economy of road motorised vehicles by 30% to 50% by 2030 is achievable, and the policies and technologies that could help meet this challenge are already deployed in many places around the world.

  6. Opportunity for America: Mexico`s coal future

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loose, V.W.

    1993-09-01

    This study examines the history, current status and future prospects for increased coal use in Mexico. Environmental implications of the power-generation capacity expansion plans are examined in general terms. Mexican environmental law and regulations are briefly reviewed along with the new sense of urgency in the cleanup of existing environmental problems and avoidance of new problems as clearly mandated in recent Mexican government policy initiatives. It is expected that new capital facilities will need to incorporate the latest in process and technology to comply with existing environmental regulation. Technology developments which address these issues are identified. What opportunities have new initiatives caused by the recent diversification of Mexico`s energy economy offered US firms? This report looks at the potential future use of coal in the Mexican energy economy, examining this issue with an eye toward identifying markets that might be available to US coal producers and the best way to approach them. Market opportunities are identified by examining new developments in the Mexican economy generally and the energy economy particularly. These developments are examined in light of the current situation and the history which brought Mexico to its present status.

  7. The System Dynamics of U.S. Automobile Fuel Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Todd K. BenDor

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes the dynamics of U.S. automobile gasoline consumption since 1975. Using background literature on the history of domestic fuel economy and energy policy, I establish a conceptual model that explains historical trends in adoption of increased fuel economy. I then create a system dynamics simulation model to understand the relationship between increased fuel economy standards and potential changes to gas tax policies. The model suggests that when increases in mandated fuel economy are not conducted in an environment with rising fuel costs, fuel economy improvements may be directly counteracted by shifting tastes of consumers towards larger automobiles with lower fuel economy.

  8. The Baltics on Their Way towards a Circular Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grigoryan A. A.

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Circular economy has been studied extensively both in Europe and worldwide. It is largely viewed as a potential strategy for societal development, aimed to increase prosperity while reducing dependence on raw materials and energy. Many businesses regard circular economy as a way to enhance economic growth and increase profits. Governments across the world actively engage in the discussion about the benefits of a transition to a circular economy and about its impact on employment, economic growth, and the environment. This paper aims to study the major issues of circular economy, to identify its advantages, and to offer an insight into the transition stage the Baltic States are undergoing today on their way to circular economy. It is stressed that the Baltic countries are not fully using the opportunities offered by a circular economy. For example, Latvia’s, Lithuania’s, and Estonia’s recycling rates are significantly below those of other European countries. The Baltics depend heavily on EU financial support. An increase in funding will contribute to the implementation of circular economy technologies.

  9. Growing the Idaho economy : moving into the future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-13

    A report on transportation and the possible future economy of the State of Idaho from 2010 to 2030, including : current assets to leverage, driving forces shaping the future, long-range economic opportunities for Idaho including : four future scenari...

  10. Assessing the opportunity cost of implementing streamside management zone guidelines in eastern hardwood forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chris B. LeDoux

    2006-01-01

    Forest landowners, managers, loggers, land-use planners, and other decision/policy makers need to understand the opportunity cost associated with different levels of allowable management and required/voluntary protection in streamside management zones (SMZs). Four different logging technologies, two mature hardwood stands, three levels of streamside zone protection,...

  11. Challenges of Opportunity Cost Analysis in Planning REDD+: A Honduran Case Study of Social and Cultural Values Associated with Indigenous Forest Uses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Spencer T. Plumb

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The REDD Programme is predicated on the assumption that developed countries will provide sufficient funds to offset opportunity costs associated with avoiding deforestation. The role of non-market values in indigenous land management may challenge the efficacy of compensation schemes targeted at meeting opportunity costs as calculated in traditional opportunity cost analysis (OCA. Furthermore it is unclear how these economic incentives might affect social and cultural values linked to land-use norms, livelihoods, and local governance. This study explores the economic, social and cultural values of forest uses for a Miskito community in the Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras. Data were collected using household surveys, farm visits, and community workshops. OCA indicates potential for successful REDD+ payment schemes; however it is an inadequate method to account for subsistence and cultural opportunity costs associated with avoided deforestation. Compensation to change land-use practices may undermine governance institutions necessary to address deforestation in the region. Our results indicate that small-scale agriculture and other forest-based subsistence activities are important cultural practices for maintaining Miskito identity and forest management institutions. Recommendations are offered for using OCA to develop REDD+ projects that recognize the linkages between social and cultural values and forest management by focusing on approaches that consider a full range of economic, social and cultural opportunity costs.

  12. Co-Producing a Vision and Approach for the Transition towards a Circular Economy: Perspectives from Government Partners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne P. M. Velenturf

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The United Kingdom’s (UK economy is overly reliant on unsustainable production and consumption practices that deplete finite resources at rates that will increase production costs, business risk, and economic instability; it also produces emissions and waste that cause climate change and environmental degradation, impacting on well-being in the UK and beyond. The Resource Recovery from Waste programme (RRfW promotes a transition towards waste and resource management in a circular economy that restores the environment, creates societal benefits, and promotes clean growth by engaging relevant actors in academia, government, and industry to co-produce a shared vision and approach that will realise such a transition. Sharing the RRfW’s government engagement results, this article presents a positive outlook for changing the UK economy and society through waste and resource management practices that maximise the values of materials by circulating them in the economy for as long as possible. Key themes, regulatory instruments, a stable policy framework, and an approach for effective academic–government collaboration are proposed. Comparing the results to government plans in four UK nations shows great differences in progress towards realising a circular economy. The article concludes with recommendations to capitalise on opportunities for growth, innovation, and resilient infrastructure whilst contributing to quality jobs and welfare throughout the UK.

  13. Model Year 2015 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2014-12-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  14. Model Year 2009 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2008-10-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  15. Model Year 2005 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2004-11-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  16. Model Year 2016 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2015-11-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  17. Model Year 2010 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2009-10-14

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  18. Model Year 2014 Fuel Economy Guide: EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    2013-12-01

    The Fuel Economy Guide is published by the U.S. Department of Energy as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of a new vehicle. The Guide lists estimates of miles per gallon (mpg) for each vehicle available for the new model year. These estimates are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with Federal Law. By using this Guide, consumers can estimate the average yearly fuel cost for any vehicle. The Guide is intended to help consumers compare the fuel economy of similarly sized cars, light duty trucks and special purpose vehicles. The vehicles listed have been divided into three classes of cars, three classes of light duty trucks, and three classes of special purpose vehicles.

  19. Challenges in Building a Sustainable Biobased Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mussatto, Solange I.

    2017-01-01

    for the production of fuels, chemicals, energy and materials is therefore recognized as a need by numerous industries and policy makers in countries around the world. In addition, a biobased economy has the potential to generate new jobs and even new industries, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurship...

  20. The Green Economy in the Global South

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brockington, Dan; Ponte, Stefano

    2015-01-01

    As multiple visions for a Green Economy seek to become real, so are green economic initiatives in the global South multiplying. These can offer integration into wealth-generating markets – as well as displacement, alienation, conflict and opportunities for ‘green washing’. The articles included i...

  1. The Green Economy in the Global South

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brockington, Dan; Ponte, Stefano

    2015-01-01

    in this collection bring together a multidisciplinary team of scholars and a range of case studies, from forestry governance to tourism to carbon finance, to provide nuanced analyses of Green Economy experiences in the global South – examining the opportunities they provide, the redistributions they entail...

  2. Reforming fossil fuel prices in India: Dilemma of a developing economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anand, Mukesh Kumar

    2016-01-01

    Over the period between 1990–1 and 2012–3, fossil fuel use on farms has risen and its indirect use in farming, particularly for non-energy purposes, is also growing. Consequently, both energy intensity and fossil fuel intensity are rising for Indian agriculture. But, these are declining for the aggregate Indian economy. Thus, revision of fossil fuel prices acquires greater significance for Indian agriculture than for rest of the economy. There are significant differences across crops. The crop-level analysis is supplemented by an alternative approach that utilizes a three-sector input–output (I–O) model for the Indian economy representing farming, fossil fuels, and rest of economy. Fossil fuels sector is assessed to portray, in general, strong forward linkages. The increase in total cost of farming, for a given change in fossil fuel prices, is estimated as a multiple of increase in direct input cost of fossil fuels in farming. From the three-sector aggregated economy this multiple was estimated at 3.99 for 1998–9. But it grew to 6.7 in 2007–8. The findings have stronger ramifications than commonly recognized, for inflation and cost of implementing the policy on food security. - Highlights: •Fossil fuels’ contribution in primary energy supply has risen from 55 to 75 per cent. •Energy intensity halved for aggregate GDP, but doubled for agricultural GDP. •Impact of fossil fuel price increase on farming costs mimics a widening spiral. •Total cost of farming may increase 6.7 times the increase in direct fuel input cost.

  3. Technological Advances and Opportunities for the Development of Sustainable Biorefineries

    OpenAIRE

    Mussatto, Solange I.

    2017-01-01

    Moving to a more sustainable economy, where renewable biomass is used to produce fuels, chemicals, energy and materials, is one of the main challenges faced by the society nowadays in order to ensure a sustainable low-carbon economy for the future. In addition, a bio-based economy has the potential to generate new jobs and new opportunities for entrepreneurship, with further benefits to the global economy and the society. Biomass can be used to replace fossil feedstocks for the production of ...

  4. Economies of vertical integration in the Swiss electricity sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fetz, Aurelio; Filippini, Massimo [Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Department of Economics, University of Lugano (Switzerland)

    2010-11-15

    Over the last two decades, several European nations have introduced reforms to their electricity sector. Generally, these reforms require a legal and functional unbundling of vertically integrated companies. These unbundling processes may reduce the possibilities that exist to fruitfully exploit the advantages of vertical integration. The goal of this paper is to empirically analyze the presence of economies of scale and vertical integration in the Swiss electricity sector. Economies of vertical integration between electricity production and distribution result from reduced transaction costs, better coordination of highly specific and interdependent investments and less financial risk. Different econometric specifications for panel data, including a random effects and a random-coefficients model, have been used to estimate a quadratic multi-stage cost function for a sample of electricity companies. The empirical results reflect the presence of considerable economies of vertical integration and economies of scale for most of the companies considered in the analysis. Moreover, the results suggest a variation in economies of vertical integration across companies due to unobserved heterogeneity. (author)

  5. Our Lunar Destiny: Creating a Lunar Economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohwer, Christopher J.

    2000-01-01

    "Our Lunar Destiny: Creating a Lunar Economy" supports a vision of people moving freely and economically between the earth and the Moon in an expansive space and lunar economy. It makes the economic case for the creation of a lunar space economy and projects the business plan that will make the venture an economic success. In addition, this paper argues that this vision can be created and sustained only by private enterprise and the legal right of private property in space and on the Moon. Finally, this paper advocates the use of lunar land grants as the key to unleashing the needed capital and the economic power of private enterprise in the creation of a 21st century lunar space economy. It is clear that the history of our United States economic system proves the value of private property rights in the creation of any new economy. It also teaches us that the successful development of new frontiers-those that provide economic opportunity for freedom-loving people-are frontiers that encourage, respect and protect the possession of private property and the fruits of labor and industry. Any new 21st century space and lunar economy should therefore be founded on this same principle.

  6. Careers in the knowledge economy and the web-based career support : new challenges and opportunities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Khapova, S.N.

    2006-01-01

    Increasing emergence of the knowledge economy invites consideration of its implications for career theory and research. The economy¿s increasing focus on professional and intellectual capabilities, as well as the continuous emergence of new technologies that assist people in their life and work

  7. Efficiency and separability in economies with a trade center

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Diamantaras, D.; Gilles, R.P.; Ruys, P.H.M.

    1994-01-01

    We discuss the endogenous selection of a costly allocation mechanism in a pure exchange economy. The allocation mechanism is modeled as an abstract trade center exhibiting setup costs, access costs and linear transaction costs. Exactly one trade center has to be selected. We define Pareto efficiency

  8. Can agricultural groundwater economies collapse? An inquiry into the pathways of four groundwater economies under threat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petit, Olivier; Kuper, Marcel; López-Gunn, Elena; Rinaudo, Jean-Daniel; Daoudi, Ali; Lejars, Caroline

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of collapse of agricultural groundwater economies using the adaptive-cycle analytical framework. This framework was applied to four case studies in southern Europe and North Africa to question and discuss the dynamics of agricultural groundwater economies. In two case studies (Saiss in Morocco and Clain basin in France), the imminent physical or socio-economic collapse was a major concern for stakeholders and the early signs of collapse led to re-organization of the groundwater economy. In the other two cases (Biskra in Algeria and Almeria in Spain), collapse was either not yet a concern or had been temporarily resolved through increased efficiency and access to additional water resources. This comparative analysis shows the importance of taking the early signs of collapse into account. These signs can be either related to resource depletion or to environmental and socio-economic impacts. Beyond these four case studies, the large number of groundwater economies under threat in (semi-)arid areas should present a warning regarding their possible collapse. Collapse can have severe and irreversible consequences in some cases, but it can also mean new opportunities and changes.

  9. Natural gas cost for evaluating energy resource opportunities at Fort Stewart

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stucky, D.J.; Shankle, S.A.

    1993-01-01

    Ft. Stewart, a United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) installation located near Hinesville, Georgia, is currently undergoing an evaluation of its energy usage, which is being performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory. In order to examine the energy resource opportunities (EROs) at Ft. Stewart, marginal fuel costs must be calculated. The marginal, or avoided, cost of gas service is used in conjunction with the estimated energy savings of an ERO to calculate the dollar value of those savings. In the case of natural gas, the costing becomes more complicated due to the installation of a propane-air mixing station. The propane-air station is being built under a shared energy savings (SES) contract. The building of a propane-air station allows Ft. Stewart to purchase natural gas from their local utility at an interruptible rate, which is lower than the rate for contracting natural gas on a firm basis. The propane-air station will also provide Ft. Stewart with fuel in the event that the natural gas supply is curtailed. While the propane-air station does not affect the actual cost of natural gas, it does affect the cost of services provided by gas. Because the propane-air station and the SES contract affect the cost of gas service, they must be included in the analysis. Our analysis indicates a marginal cost of gas service of 30.0 cents per therm, assuming a total propane usage by the mixing station of 42,278 gallons (38,600 therms) annually. Because the amount of propane that may be required in the event of a curtailment is small relative to the total service requirement, variations in the actual amount should not significantly affect the cost per therm.

  10. Natural gas cost for evaluating energy resource opportunities at Fort Stewart

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stucky, D.J.; Shankle, S.A.

    1993-01-01

    Ft. Stewart, a United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) installation located near Hinesville, Georgia, is currently undergoing an evaluation of its energy usage, which is being performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory. In order to examine the energy resource opportunities (EROs) at Ft. Stewart, marginal fuel costs must be calculated. The marginal, or avoided, cost of gas service is used in conjunction with the estimated energy savings of an ERO to calculate the dollar value of those savings. In the case of natural gas, the costing becomes more complicated due to the installation of a propane-air mixing station. The propane-air station is being built under a shared energy savings (SES) contract. The building of a propane-air station allows Ft. Stewart to purchase natural gas from their local utility at an interruptible rate, which is lower than the rate for contracting natural gas on a firm basis. The propane-air station will also provide Ft. Stewart with fuel in the event that the natural gas supply is curtailed. While the propane-air station does not affect the actual cost of natural gas, it does affect the cost of services provided by gas. Because the propane-air station and the SES contract affect the cost of gas service, they must be included in the analysis. Our analysis indicates a marginal cost of gas service of 30.0 cents per therm, assuming a total propane usage by the mixing station of 42,278 gallons (38,600 therms) annually. Because the amount of propane that may be required in the event of a curtailment is small relative to the total service requirement, variations in the actual amount should not significantly affect the cost per therm

  11. How Expensive Is Expensive Enough? Opportunities for Cost Reductions in Offshore Wind Energy Logistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Thomas; Hasager, Charlotte Bay

    2016-01-01

    This paper reveals that logistics may conservatively amount to 18% of the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind farms. This is the key finding from an extensive case study carried out within the organization of the world’s leading offshore wind farm developer and operator. The case study aimed...... to, and produced, a number of possible opportunities for offshore wind cost reductions through logistics innovation; however, within the case study company, no company-wide logistics organization existed to focus horizontally on reducing logistics costs in general. Logistics was not well defined...... within the case study company, and a logistics strategy did not exist. With full life-cycle costs of offshore wind farms still high enough to present a political challenge within the European Union in terms of legislation to ensure offshore wind diffusion beyond 2020, our research presents logistics...

  12. Integrating Into the Global Economy Through Services. The Case of Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnes Ghibuțiu

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Services represent a most important and dynamic frontier of international trade and investment. The steady expansion of trade in services and its relative resilience in the recent crisis, coupled with its key role in global production networks and its increasing potential in attracting investment provides new opportunities for countries to grow their economies and integrate into the global economy. Drawing on insights from current literature and relying on balance of payments and trade in value-added statistics, this paper examines the main developments shaping Romania’s services trade over the post-crisis years. Its aim is to assess whether the country is grabbing the new opportunities arising from services globalization. It finds that following the dramatic crisis-induced decline in the value and performance of Romania’s services trade, the outlook is now radically improving as evidenced by the strongly rebounding services flows and net exports. Nonetheless, the country’s integration into the global economy through services flows continues to remain below its potential.

  13. Integrating into the Global Economy through Services. The Case of Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AGNES GHIBUŢIU

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Services represent a most important and dynamic frontier of international trade and investment. The steady expansion of trade in services and its relative resilience in the recent crisis, coupled with its key role in global production networks and its increasing potential in attracting investment provides new opportunities for countries to grow their economies and integrate into the global economy. Drawing on insights from current literature and relying on balance of payments and trade in value-added statistics, this paper examines the main developments shaping Romania’s services trade over the post-crisis years. Its aim is to assess whether the country is seizing the new opportunities arising from services globalization. It finds that following the dramatic crisis-induced decline in the value and performance of Romania’s services trade, the outlook is now radically improving as evidenced by strongly rebounding services flows and net exports. Nonetheless, the country’s integration into the global economy through services flows continues to remain below its potential.

  14. Integrating bioenergy into a green economy: identifying opportunities and constraints

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Von Maltitz, Graham P

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available .kashan.co.za] BACKGROUND Bioenergy is a renewable energy option that has the potential to contribute to a low-carbon development path and stimulate a green economy. However, since bioenergy uses land and natural resources, it is in competition with the valuable bio... an analytical framework and decision-support tools to assist in assessing, managing and monitoring the sustainability of bioenergy. IMPROVING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF BIOENERGY THROUGH INTEGRATION WITH OTHER BIO-BASED PRODUCTS Since bioenergy production...

  15. Competition and Outsourcing with Scale Economies

    OpenAIRE

    Gérard P. Cachon; Patrick T. Harker

    2002-01-01

    Scale economies are commonplace in operations, yet because of analytical challenges, relatively little is known about how firms should compete in their presence. This paper presents a model of competition between two firms that face scale economies; (i.e., each firm's cost per unit of demand is decreasing in demand). A general framework is used, which incorporates competition between two service providers with price- and time-sensitive demand (a queuing game), and competition between two reta...

  16. The European Economy: From a Linear to a Circular Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florin Bonciu

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available For quite some time a profound preoccupation for many economists, politicians, environmentalists, sociologists or philosophers looking towards the coming decades consisted in searching for a new paradigm of development and growth that is feasible within the given limits of planet Earth. There are already widely accepted concepts like “sustainable development” or “low-carbon economy” that seem right but not enough. Such concepts seem to address the effects and not the causes. In this paper we analyze a broader approach that places human activity into a long term historical perspective, namely the circular economy. This new development paradigm, supported by the European Union, is, in fact, an “old” one moved upwards on a dialectical spiral so that it connects and resonates with the spirit and realities of our times. The conclusions reflect optimism concerning the success in large scale implementation of the circular economy concept in the European Union and worldwide and thus in taking advantage of opportunities rather than wasting resources by opposing the ineluctable changes.

  17. Comments on "Opportunity Cost: A Reexamination": A Case in Point of No Free Lunch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Daniel F.

    2016-01-01

    Ferraro and Taylor (2005) and Potter and Sanders (2012) have sparked a debate about the definition of opportunity cost (OC). This is, of course, ostensibly a very basic term, but Ferraro and Taylor said that most economists do not readily know its correct definition, and Potter and Sanders argued that this can be explained by the fact that there…

  18. Dilemmas and challenges: Development of new private sector in tranisitonal economies: Example Republic of Serbia

    OpenAIRE

    Anđelić, Goran

    2012-01-01

    One of the main questions in modern market ambient is development of new private sector in transitional economies. Private sector represents initial starter for development of every economy in one hand, and in other hand with its development are created real conditions for significant increase in economy of the whole region. Subject of this paper is analyzing conditions and opportunities of market ambient in transitional economies with special focus on Republic of Serbia, through focus of rec...

  19. From Enclave to Linkage Economies?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Michael W.

    as the enclave economy par excellence, moving in with fully integrated value chains, extracting resources and exporting them as commodities having virtually no linkages to the local economy. However, new opportunities for promoting linkages are offered by changing business strategies of local African enterprises...... as well as foreign multinational corporations (MNCs). MNCs in extractives are increasingly seeking local linkages as part of their efficiency, risk, and asset-seeking strategies, and linkage programmes are becoming integral elements in many MNCs’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities....... At the same time, local African enterprises are eager to, and increasingly capable of, linking up to the foreign investors in order to expand their activities and acquire technology, skills and market access. The changing strategies of MNCs and the improving capabilities of African enterprises offer new...

  20. Availability Cascades & the Sharing Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Netter, Sarah

    2014-01-01

    attention. This conceptual paper attempts to explain the emergent focus on the sharing economy and associated business and consumption models by applying cascade theory. Risks associated with this behavior will be especially examined with regard to the sustainability claim of collaborative consumption......In search of a new concept that will provide answers to as to how modern societies should not only make sense but also resolve the social and environmental problems linked with our modes of production and consumption, collaborative consumption and the sharing economy are increasingly attracting....... With academics, practitioners, and civil society alike having a shared history in being rather fast in accepting new concepts that will not only provide business opportunities but also a good conscience, this study proposes a critical study of the implications of collaborative consumption, before engaging...

  1. A social work study on different entrepreneurship opportunities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Zakeri Nasrabadi

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Entrepreneurs are big potentials for developing economy in any countries. They provide new job opportunities and help economy boost. There are literally many industries, which rely on new these people and they are considered as the primary source of generating new jobs. In this paper, we discuss three entrepreneurship opportunities including universities, technical and vocational centers and women. Universities are able to educate highly skilled people and send them to business and they are able to create new ideas. Technical and vocational centers are, in fact, the best place for training basic or recent advances in technological skills through short term or long term planning. The survey also indicates that women can be considered as a good source of job creation. In this paper, we review the recent related literature on entrepreneurship opportunities in the world and discuss some of the related issues more specifically in Iran.

  2. The role of entrepreneurship in transforming efficiency economies into innovation-based economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurie van Vuuren

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Entrepreneurship is believed to be a major driver of economic development. While it is right to consider entrepreneurship as a development tool, it is also crucial to identify the kind of entrepreneurship that contributes meaningfully towards economic development. Extant research revealed a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development and claimed that entrepreneurship in efficiency economies is dwarfed in terms of its contribution to economic development.   Aim: To identify and explain factors that would assist efficiency-based countries to transform their economies using entrepreneurship as a major policy tool.   Setting: We compared two structurally separate groups of countries. Each group consists of three countries and 9 years of data were extracted from Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring (GEM and United Nation (UN datasets.   Methods: We examined the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development using comparative research design. Bivariate correlation analysis was used to detect associations and various descriptive statistical tools were applied to examine and compare the entrepreneurial tendencies of countries included in our study.   Results: The results indicated that entrepreneurship in efficiency economies is unfairly undervalued by academic commentators and that our findings pose a serious question as to the U-shaped relationship argument. The analysis revealed that the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development is positive in both contexts, albeit the strength of the correlation is much more pronounced for innovation-driven economies compared to efficiency-driven countries. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the rate of total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA is strongly correlated with perceived opportunity and entrepreneurial intention scores in both contexts.   Conclusion: It is concluded that countries seeking to transform their

  3. The economic costs of 'decarbonising' the world economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burniaux, J.M.; Chateau, J.

    2008-01-01

    Complete text of publication follows: In the context of growing scientific evidence about a relationship between ongoing climate change and man-made Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions, policy makers will meet in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 in order to negotiate a new agreement to reduce GHGs emissions. The previous agreement - the Kyoto Protocol that was signed in 1997 and will end in 2012 - encompassed relatively modest emission reductions undertaken by a group of countries (Annex 1 countries). Such a partial action gave rise to concerns about the effectiveness of such a scheme - potentially undermined by the existence of carbon leakages - and its adverse effect on the international competitiveness of the energy-intensive industries in the Annex 1 countries. More importantly, it is now clear that industrialized countries alone are unable to stabilize the earth climate, an objective that is out of range without the active participation of the emerging economies. Therefore, the scenarios that will be discussed at the Copenhagen meeting will need to be much more ambitious, with emissions objectives that will imply a major restructuring of the world economy, putting it on the way of growth without carbon. This presentation will address the trade-offs between economic growth and environmental risks in the choice of a post-Kyoto strategy

  4. A Time of Opportunity: Energy, Extension, and Economic Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franklin, Nancy; Humphrey, Jordan; Roth, Greg W.; Jackson, Daney G.

    2010-01-01

    If adversity brings opportunity, great opportunity may now be on the doorstep. The dual forces of an economy transitioning from an industrial focus to an innovation imperative, and a global financial downturn of massive proportions are leaving families, organizations,and communities scrambling for relief, solutions, and hope. Meanwhile, a…

  5. Running for exercise mitigates age-related deterioration of walking economy.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justus D Ortega

    Full Text Available Impaired walking performance is a key predictor of morbidity among older adults. A distinctive characteristic of impaired walking performance among older adults is a greater metabolic cost (worse economy compared to young adults. However, older adults who consistently run have been shown to retain a similar running economy as young runners. Unfortunately, those running studies did not measure the metabolic cost of walking. Thus, it is unclear if running exercise can prevent the deterioration of walking economy.To determine if and how regular walking vs. running exercise affects the economy of locomotion in older adults.15 older adults (69 ± 3 years who walk ≥ 30 min, 3x/week for exercise, "walkers" and 15 older adults (69 ± 5 years who run ≥ 30 min, 3x/week, "runners" walked on a force-instrumented treadmill at three speeds (0.75, 1.25, and 1.75 m/s. We determined walking economy using expired gas analysis and walking mechanics via ground reaction forces during the last 2 minutes of each 5 minute trial. We compared walking economy between the two groups and to non-aerobically trained young and older adults from a prior study.Older runners had a 7-10% better walking economy than older walkers over the range of speeds tested (p = .016 and had walking economy similar to young sedentary adults over a similar range of speeds (p =  .237. We found no substantial biomechanical differences between older walkers and runners. In contrast to older runners, older walkers had similar walking economy as older sedentary adults (p =  .461 and ∼ 26% worse walking economy than young adults (p<.0001.Running mitigates the age-related deterioration of walking economy whereas walking for exercise appears to have minimal effect on the age-related deterioration in walking economy.

  6. Sustainability at no Cost

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørgaard, Jørgen

    The presentation is dealing with some basic concept around the whole economy, and what are really the costs and the benefits. A distinction is made between professional economy, driven by money (GDP), and the amateur economy, driven by love, affection, etc. within the families, among friends, in ...

  7. Economy in utilizing electron beam accelerators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Masao

    1980-01-01

    As the typical industrialized processes using electron beam irradiation, the following items may be given: the manufacture of cables covered with cross-linking polyethylene or PVC, heat-contracting material, cross-linking polyethylene foam, etc., and the curing of coatings or surface finishes. The results of investigating economy in these processes are described. First, the running cost of electron beam irradiation equipments is calculated. The result shows that, in general, the unit cost of the equipments becomes small with increasing output, therefore the selection of large power equipments may be advantageous for economy. Other important factors concerning the equipments are the reliability and lifetime which are being improved every year and the improvement of the operational efficiency of the equipments. Next, the comparison of cost was made for each industrialized process of the cables covered with cross-linking polyethylene, polyethylene foam, and the curing of coatings. In general, the processing cost is smaller and the depreciation cost is larger in electron beam irradiation process as compared with conventional processes. In addition, since the productive capacity is larger in electron beam process it is preponderant when the amount of production is large. In the industrialized examples, unique processes or features which are not obtainable by other methods are attained. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

  8. Economies of scale in biogas production and the significance of flexible regulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skovsgaard, Lise; Jacobsen, Henrik Klinge

    2017-01-01

    Biogas production is characterised by economies of scale in capital and operational costs of the plant and diseconomies of scale from transport of input materials. We analyse biogas in a Danish setting where most biogas is based on manure, we use a case study with actual distances, and find that the benefits of scale in capital and operational costs dominate the diseconomies of increasing transport distances to collect manure. To boost the yield it is common to use co-substrates in the biogas production. We investigate how costs and income changes, when sugar beet is added in this case study, and demonstrate that transport cost can be critical in relation to co-substrates. Further we compare the new Danish support for upgraded biogas with the traditional support for biogas being used in Combined Heat and Power production in relation to scale economies. We argue that economies of scale is facilitated by the new regulation providing similar support to upgraded biogas fed into the natural gas grid, however in order to keep transport costs low, we suggest that the biogas plants should be allowed to use and combine as many co-substrates as possible, respecting the sustainability criteria regarding energy crops in Danish legislation. - Highlights: • For Denmark we find economies of scale in biogas production based on pure manure. • Adding sugar beet outweigh economy of scale due to increased transport costs. • We investigate the main risks associated with input prices, yield and output prices. • Biogas fed into the gas grid should receive similar support as directly used in CHP. • Regulation should allow large biogas plants with few restrictions on co-substrates.

  9. PROGRAM GOALS MANAGEMENT OF THE ENTITIES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS OF ADAPTATION TO CONDITIONS OF THE TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitalii A. Vernikov

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject / topic. The relevance of this study is due to the fact that the current strategic goal of Economic Development is to create conditions that will ensure high and stable economic growth of the country and its socio-economic systems. One of the most effective tools for achieving the above goal should be the process of implementation-oriented management in the social and economic systems of the national economy, as they are a key factor in increasing the competitive advantages such as cost reduction, quality improvement, development of new markets, improve the country's image. This article discusses the features of the application program and target planning to company management, is an example of implementing and using techniques "Lean Production" in one of the domestic enterprises using program-target method.The purpose / objectives. The purpose of this article is to justify the strategic priorities of sustainable economic growth and social and economic systems of the national economy.Methodology. Methodological basis of this article are the comparative and economic-statistical methods of analysis.The Results. As part of the presentation of the article the author has been found that in the current climate of uncertainty and risk for Russian business to the fore issues that previously were not so relevant: how to be built business processes; which represent the optimal organizational structure; how to create a functioning system of quality management; what must be done to reduce the unit costs of production without compromising the quality of the products; how to motivate employees to achieve their goals. All of the above it is the projection of the same problem the effective development and implementation of the planned development strategy based on Management by Objectives.Conclusions / significance. Management of enterprises in the real sector of the economy in modern conditions should be based on synergies methodological principles

  10. Running for exercise mitigates age-related deterioration of walking economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortega, Justus D; Beck, Owen N; Roby, Jaclyn M; Turney, Aria L; Kram, Rodger

    2014-01-01

    Impaired walking performance is a key predictor of morbidity among older adults. A distinctive characteristic of impaired walking performance among older adults is a greater metabolic cost (worse economy) compared to young adults. However, older adults who consistently run have been shown to retain a similar running economy as young runners. Unfortunately, those running studies did not measure the metabolic cost of walking. Thus, it is unclear if running exercise can prevent the deterioration of walking economy. To determine if and how regular walking vs. running exercise affects the economy of locomotion in older adults. 15 older adults (69 ± 3 years) who walk ≥ 30 min, 3x/week for exercise, "walkers" and 15 older adults (69 ± 5 years) who run ≥ 30 min, 3x/week, "runners" walked on a force-instrumented treadmill at three speeds (0.75, 1.25, and 1.75 m/s). We determined walking economy using expired gas analysis and walking mechanics via ground reaction forces during the last 2 minutes of each 5 minute trial. We compared walking economy between the two groups and to non-aerobically trained young and older adults from a prior study. Older runners had a 7-10% better walking economy than older walkers over the range of speeds tested (p = .016) and had walking economy similar to young sedentary adults over a similar range of speeds (p =  .237). We found no substantial biomechanical differences between older walkers and runners. In contrast to older runners, older walkers had similar walking economy as older sedentary adults (p =  .461) and ∼ 26% worse walking economy than young adults (peconomy whereas walking for exercise appears to have minimal effect on the age-related deterioration in walking economy.

  11. Economies of scale in biogas production and the significance of flexible regulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Lise Skovsgaard; Klinge Jacobsen, Henrik

    2017-01-01

    Biogas production is characterised by economies of scale in capital and operational costs of the plant and diseconomies of scale from transport of input materials. We analyse biogas in a Danish setting where most biogas is based on manure, we use a case study with actual distances, and find...... that the benefits of scale in capital and operational costs dominate the diseconomies of increasing transport distances to collect manure. To boost the yield it is common to use co-substrates in the biogas production. We investigate how costs and income changes, when sugar beet is added in this case study......, and demonstrate that transport cost can be critical in relation to co-substrates. Further we compare the new Danish support for upgraded biogas with the traditional support for biogas being used in Combined Heat and Power production in relation to scale economies. We argue that economies of scale is facilitated...

  12. Economies of scale in ICT: how to balance infrastructure and applications for economies of scale in ICT and business

    OpenAIRE

    Woudstra, U.A.

    2010-01-01

    This study offers new insight into the economies of scale of ICT departments. Drawing from data on Housing Corporations, Municipalities and Hospitals, evidence was found that particularly infrastructure-related investments leverage a more efficient use of ICT resources. The measured economies between low and high infrastructure spending organizations are on average more than 20% for their operational ICT labour and for their total ICT costs. It was also found that organizations should spend a...

  13. Running Economy from a Muscle Energetics Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jared R. Fletcher

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The economy of running has traditionally been quantified from the mass-specific oxygen uptake; however, because fuel substrate usage varies with exercise intensity, it is more accurate to express running economy in units of metabolic energy. Fundamentally, the understanding of the major factors that influence the energy cost of running (Erun can be obtained with this approach. Erun is determined by the energy needed for skeletal muscle contraction. Here, we approach the study of Erun from that perspective. The amount of energy needed for skeletal muscle contraction is dependent on the force, duration, shortening, shortening velocity, and length of the muscle. These factors therefore dictate the energy cost of running. It is understood that some determinants of the energy cost of running are not trainable: environmental factors, surface characteristics, and certain anthropometric features. Other factors affecting Erun are altered by training: other anthropometric features, muscle and tendon properties, and running mechanics. Here, the key features that dictate the energy cost during distance running are reviewed in the context of skeletal muscle energetics.

  14. Women Employment in The New Economy: Clouds and Some Sunshine

    OpenAIRE

    Mukherjee, Dipa

    2008-01-01

    The last decade has witnessed greater participation of women in the labour market, especially in new arenas of economic activity. While opportunities have increased, traditional biases against women still exist, both while accepting women as workers and while wage setting. This paper explores the gender bias in the new economy in India and examines what part of it can be explained by differences in endowments and what part is due to discrimination. The New Economy has been identified in terms...

  15. GREEN ECONOMY AND THE REVERSE LOGISTICS OF WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Augusto Silva Marins

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available From the way globally accepted for economic growth representation of evolution of a country related to the findings of non consideration of environmental assets and liabilities as a measure of occupancy in the economy of the countries, this study suggests a paradigm shift in the operation of the world economy with the implementation of the Green Economy concept seeking the achievement of environmental goals necessary to a level considered optimal in terms of pollution at lower cost to society. The focus of the study is given to the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, particularly in the reverse logistics of WEEE as a potential tool for economic growth maintenance condition with sustainability. A diagnosis on the use of reverse logistics of WEEE in the world is also presented based on research conducted in countries on five continents. At the end of the study it was concluded that the application of reverse logistics in the world is still incipient with no evidence of the use of economic instruments that give opportunity for growth and sustainability. Accordingly, it is emphasized that the management of WEEE practiced in most countries has shown motivation solely on financial profit based on the export / import of waste in a kind of ruse coated green taking into account the environmental and health risks of the population in developing countries or in development, which are the main final destination of WEEE.

  16. FIA BioSum: a tool to evaluate financial costs, opportunities and effectiveness of fuel treatments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeremy Fried; Glenn. Christensen

    2004-01-01

    FIA BioSum, a tool developed by the USDA Forest Services Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program, generates reliable cost estimates, identifies opportunities and evaluates the effectiveness of fuel treatments in forested landscapes. BioSum is an analytic framework that integrates a suite of widely used computer models with a foundation of attribute-rich,...

  17. Effects of economies of scale and experience on the costs of energy-efficient technologies. Case study of electric motors in Germany

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jardot, D.; Eichhammer, W.; Fleiter, T. [Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Breslauer Str. 48, 76139 Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2010-11-15

    Increasing energy efficiency is discussed as an effective way to protect the climate, even though this is frequently associated with additional (investment) costs when compared to standard technologies. However, the investment costs of emerging energy-efficient technologies can be reduced by economies of scale and experience curve effects. This also brings about higher market penetration by lowering market barriers. Experience curves have already been analyzed in detail for renewable energy technologies, but are not as well documented for energy-efficient technologies despite their significance for energy and climate policy decisions. This work provides empirical evidence for effects of economies of scale and experience on the costs of energy-efficient electric motors. We apply a new methodology to the estimation of learning effects that is particularly promising for energy-efficient technologies where the very low data availability did not allow calculations of learning rates so far. Energy-efficient electric motors are a highly relevant energy technology that is responsible for about 55% of German electricity consumption. The analysis consists of three main steps. First, the calculation of composite price indices based on gross value added statistics for Germany which show the changes in cost components of electric motors over the period 1995 to 2006; second, an estimation of the corresponding learning rate which is, in a third step, compared with learning rates observed for other energy-efficient technologies in a literature review. Due to restrictions of data availability, it was not possible to calculate a learning rate for the differential costs of energy-efficient motors compared to standard motors. Still, we estimated a learning rate of 9% for 'Eff2' motors in a period when they penetrated the market and replaced the less efficient 'Eff3' motors. Furthermore, we showed the contribution of different effects to these cost reductions, like

  18. A cost-based empirical model of the aggregate price determination for the Turkish economy: A multivariate cointegration approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeren Fatma

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper tries to examine the long run relationships between the aggregate consumer prices and some cost-based components for the Turkish economy. Based on a simple economic model of the macro-scaled price formation, multivariate cointegration techniques have been applied to test whether the real data support the a priori model construction. The results reveal that all of the factors, related to the price determination, have a positive impact on the consumer prices as expected. We find that the most significant component contributing to the price setting is the nominal exchange rate depreciation. We also cannot reject the linear homogeneity of the sum of all the price data as to the domestic inflation. The paper concludes that the Turkish consumer prices have in fact a strong cost-push component that contributes to the aggregate pricing.

  19. Cues and economy in the acquisition of verb movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristine Bentzen

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we will discuss how economy principles interact with cues in the input in bilingual first language acquisition. We will look at the acquisition of verb placement in a child acquiring English and Norwegian simultaneously. Based on data from this child, it will be argued that when faced with ambiguous cues with respect to the verb movement parameter, children do not necessarily adopt the default, less marked setting. Rather, they may opt for a setting which yields an overall consistent grammar, even when this grammar contains operations that are more costly than those used in the target language. We will suggest that economy in acquisition may involve consistency in a grammar in correlation with economy in the more traditional sense within minimalism, where moving an element in general is considered more costly than not moving it (Chomsky 1995.

  20. Space development and space science together, an historic opportunity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metzger, P. T.

    2016-11-01

    The national space programs have an historic opportunity to help solve the global-scale economic and environmental problems of Earth while becoming more effective at science through the use of space resources. Space programs will be more cost-effective when they work to establish a supply chain in space, mining and manufacturing then replicating the assets of the supply chain so it grows to larger capacity. This has become achievable because of advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. It is roughly estimated that developing a lunar outpost that relies upon and also develops the supply chain will cost about 1/3 or less of the existing annual budgets of the national space programs. It will require a sustained commitment of several decades to complete, during which time science and exploration become increasingly effective. At the end, this space industry will capable of addressing global-scale challenges including limited resources, clean energy, economic development, and preservation of the environment. Other potential solutions, including nuclear fusion and terrestrial renewable energy sources, do not address the root problem of our limited globe and there are real questions whether they will be inadequate or too late. While industry in space likewise cannot provide perfect assurance, it is uniquely able to solve the root problem, and it gives us an important chance that we should grasp. What makes this such an historic opportunity is that the space-based solution is obtainable as a side-benefit of doing space science and exploration within their existing budgets. Thinking pragmatically, it may take some time for policymakers to agree that setting up a complete supply chain is an achievable goal, so this paper describes a strategy of incremental progress. The most crucial part of this strategy is establishing a water economy by mining on the Moon and asteroids to manufacture rocket propellant. Technologies that support a water economy will play an

  1. Investigation of scale economies for African biogas installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amigun, B.; Blottnitz, H. von

    2007-01-01

    Biogas technology can serve as a means to overcome energy poverty, which poses a constant barrier to economic development in Africa. This technology can be built on a wide range of scales, and conventional financial wisdom is that larger installations have advantages resulting from economies of scale. This study analyses the statistical evidence bearing on the existence of economies of scale in the small to medium scale production and use of biogas to support faster estimation (at the order of magnitude level) of investment costs for different plant sizes. Investment cost data were gathered for 21 biogas plants in the 4-100 m 3 range built since 1999 in eight African countries. Statistical regression indicates diseconomies of scale in the size range of the biogas industry investigated with a cost capacity factor (n) of 1.20 (R 2 = 0.90). The cost capacity factor obtained is notably greater than the conventionally used 0.6 factor rule. The result illustrates that the average cost size relationship is statistically significant with ±40% average estimating error

  2. Nunavut : Canada's emerging hydrogen economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goodings, C.R. [Nunavut Environmental Ltd., Bowen Island, BC (Canada)

    2000-05-01

    This power point presentation highlighted the opportunity for developing a hydrogen economy in Nunavut given the new political, social, economical and geographical conditions. The population of Nunavut territory consists of 85 per cent Inuit who have been given provincial like control over the 1.9 million sq km land claim. One of the challenge facing the government is to lessen Nunavut's dependence on imported oil for all energy needs. Average energy costs are currently 70 cents per kWh. The government subsidizes 75 per cent of all Nunavut's energy costs. The author claims that an energy system based on hydrogen is the key to developing Nunavut's power since it would create local employment and keep energy dollars in the community. For example, the Cambridge Bay Wind/Hydrogen Pilot Project was initiated to make use of hydrogen produced by wind power for electric power generation and for fuel for taxis. The system could be equally effective in Baker Lake which currently has three 720 W diesel generating units providing a maximum load of 1,127 kW. The average wind speed in the area is 7.6 m/s at a height of 25 meters. A simple graph illustrating the control strategy for wind-hydrogen fuel cell system was also included with this presentation. 29 figs.

  3. Mitigating Double Taxation in an Open Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Lindhe, Tobias

    2001-01-01

    The interaction of various methods of mitigating economic and international double taxation of corporate source income is studied within a standard neoclassical model of firm behavior. The main purpose is to determine to what extent methods effective in mitigating economic double taxation in a closed economy remain useful in an open economy where the firm's marginal investor is a foreigner. While a cut in the statutory corporate tax rate invariably reduces the cost of capital, the impact of t...

  4. Credit policy, inflation and growth in a financially repressed economy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Wijnbergen, S.J.G.

    1983-01-01

    This paper analyzes credit policy in an open economy macro-model incorporating stylized facts about the financial sector of less developed countries. The Keynes-Wicksell growth model is applied in view of the transmission channel of monetary policy into the supply side of the economy via the cost of

  5. Controversies Regarding Costs, Uncertainties and Benefits Specific to Shale Gas Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianu Daniel Muresan

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The shale gas exploration and development is now a delicate and controversial subject. It is often assumed that unconventional exploration and extraction automatically brings prosperity for local, national and regional economies. In this paper, we argue that shale gas development requires a contextualized understanding of regional issues. We are also trying to identify the opportunities and the risks of shale gas development in Eastern Europe (referring to Romania’s case and offer a cost-benefit analysis model that may be of interest to any policymakers and investors.

  6. Approximate Cores of a General Class of Economies. Part II. Set-Up Costs and Firm Formation in Coalition Production Economies,

    Science.gov (United States)

    1982-02-01

    r AAI1Z 608 YALE UNIV NEW HAVEN CT C OWLES FOUNDATION FOR RESEARC --ETC F/G 513 APPROXIMATE CORES 6F A GENERAL CLASS OF ECONOMIES. PART It. SET--ETC(U...theoretic models of the economy in strategic form are institutional. Markets and firms and even money are assumed to exist. Cooperative game theory can be...groups. Alternatively we can define firms and firms- in-being, specify the manner of trade in the markets , define what is meant by entry and exit and

  7. The political economy of local content in African extractives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buur, Lars; Hansen, Michael; Kjær, Mette

    Extractive foreign direct investment (FDI) is heralded as the new development opportunity in Africa. But extractive FDI has a record of producing enclaves in host countries with few linkages to the local economy. Only if it creates local content will extractive FDI become a catalyst of development...

  8. Contaminated land and wetland remediation in Nigeria: Opportunities for sustainable livelihood creation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sam, K; Zabbey, N

    2018-10-15

    The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is one of the most crude oil impacted deltas globally. The region has experienced over five decades of oil related contamination of the total environment (air, soil, water and biota). In 2011, UNEP released a seminal report on oil impact on Ogoniland environments, which up scaled demands for urgent clean up and restoration of degraded bio-resource rich environments of the Niger Delta, starting from Ogoniland. The Nigerian Government demonstrated renewed political will to remediate contaminated sites in Ogoniland with a launch of the clean-up exercise in June 2016. Stakeholders' expectations from the clean-up include not only environmental remediation but also restoration and creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities to reduce poverty in the region. Most studies have focused on the environmental restoration aspect and identified bioremediation as the likely appropriate remediation approach for Ogoniland, given its low environmental footprints, and low-cost burden on the weak and overstretched economy of Nigeria. This study mapped opportunities for sustainable livelihood creation during the Ogoniland remediation and restoration exercise. Given the value chain of bioremediation and its ancillary activities, the study analysed opportunities and mechanisms for skilled and unskilled job creation and prospects for sustainable livelihoods and knock-on effects. It is anticipated that the clean-up process would lead to economic prosperity and mitigate resource-driven conflicts in the Niger Delta. The study provides an exemplar for waste-to-wealth transformation in regions where natural resource mining has impacted communities, and has dislocated local economies and age-old livelihood structures. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Fueling the Gig Economy: A Case Study Evaluation of Upwork.com

    OpenAIRE

    Daryl D. Green; Craig Walker; Abdulrahman Alabulththim; Daniel Smith; Michele Phillips

    2018-01-01

    With recent downsizing of talented professionals and the power of globalization to provide opportunities for more underdeveloped countries, the gig economy is a source of influence in today’s generation of professionals. Online outsourcing media have shown to be valuable resources for companies who need a specific set of skills for a limited period. This case study evaluates Upwork.com, one of the leading freelance websites in the gig economy; this article provides insights on how others shou...

  10. Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for Breweries: An ENERGY STAR(R) Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Galitsky, Christina; Martin, Nathan; Worrell, Ernst; Lehman, Bryan

    2003-09-01

    Annually, breweries in the United States spend over $200 million on energy. Energy consumption is equal to 38 percent of the production costs of beer, making energy efficiency improvement an important way to reduce costs, especially in times of high energy price volatility. After a summary of the beer making process and energy use, we examine energy efficiency opportunities available for breweries. We provide specific primary energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies that have implemented the measures, as well as references to technical literature. If available, we have also listed typical payback periods. Our findings suggest that given available technology, there are still opportunities to reduce energy consumption cost-effectively in the brewing industry. Brewers value highly the quality, taste and drinkability of their beer. Brewing companies have and are expected to continue to spend capital on cost-effective energy conservation measures that meet these quality, taste and drinkability requirements. For individual plants, further research on the economics of the measures, as well as their applicability to different brewing practices, is needed to assess implementation of selected technologies.

  11. Economies of scale and optimal size of hospitals: Empirical results for Danish public hospitals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Troels

    number of beds per hospital is estimated to be 275 beds per site. Sensitivity analysis to partial changes in model parameters yields a joint 95% confidence interval in the range 130 - 585 beds per site. Conclusions: The results indicate that it may be appropriate to consolidate the production of small...... the current configuration of Danish hospitals is subject to scale economies that may justify such plans and to estimate an optimal hospital size. Methods: We estimate cost functions using panel data on total costs, DRG-weighted casemix, and number : We estimate cost functions using panel data on total costs......, DRG-weighted casemix, and number of beds for three years from 2004-2006. A short-run cost function is used to derive estimates of long-run scale economies by applying the envelope condition. Results: We identify moderate to significant long-run economies of scale when applying two alternative We...

  12. Management of Innovative Projects for Ensuring the Economic Safety in the Conditions of Integration of Economies into the World Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. K. Usmanova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: the aim of the article is to reveal problems and prospects, formulate economic security within the framework of innovation projects management, plan technologies in the context of integrating economies into the world economy, identify opportunities for forming, organizing, financing, managing priority economic directions. The subject is the management of innovative projects to ensure the economic security of Russian regions. The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the study of the features of the current state and the problems of the formation of economic security, the development of innovative design solutions in the context of integrating economies into the world economy. Ensuring the economic security of the regions of Russia directly depends on the introduction of innovative technologies and project management in the sectors of the national economy of Russia. Methods: the methodology of the solution of objectives is based on usage of a method of dialectic research, methods of the economic analysis, forecasting, the situational and systemic analysis, expert evaluations and the analysis of empirical data. Hypothesis. Ensuring an economic safety requires formation of innovative solutions, change of the current legislation within the Strategy of social and economic development in the conditions of integration of economies into the world economy. Results: the practical significance of the work is to identify the interrelationship between the development processes of innovative projects that ensure the economic security of the regions of Russia within the framework of regulating the current legislation, forecasting effective economic activity within the framework of the New Industrialization Strategy, selecting optimal project planning models to ensure the country's economic security and competitiveness in the conditions of integration Economies into the world economy. Conclusions and Relevance: in the conditions of integration of

  13. Strategic Outsourcing under Economies of Scale

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Yutian; Sen, Debapriya

    2010-01-01

    Economies of scale in upstream production can lead both disintegrated downstream firms as well as its vertically integrated rival to outsource offshore for intermediate goods, even if offshore production has moderate cost disadvantage compared to in-house production of the vertically integrated firm.

  14. Estimating the opportunity costs of activities that cause degradation in tropical dry forest: Implications for REDD +

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Borrego, Armonia; Skutsch, Margaret

    2014-01-01

    The viability of national REDD + programs will depend in part on whether funds generated from sales of carbon credits are sufficient to cover the opportunity costs (OC) of forgone uses of the forest. We present the results of a study in which OC were estimated in dry tropical forest, in western

  15. Application and opportunities of pulses in food system: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asif, Muhammad; Rooney, Lloyd W; Ali, Rashida; Riaz, Mian N

    2013-01-01

    Pulses are highly nutritious seeds of pod-bearing leguminous plants, specifically dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas. US farmers harvest about 2.6 million pounds of pulses every year but 75% of this is being exported internationally because of its increased consumption in the developing countries. In the current scenario, increasing costs of production, bad economy, and fluctuating food commodity prices have made a strong case for US producers to seek opportunities to increase domestic consumption of pulses through value-added products. Pulses are the richest sources of plant proteins and provide approximately 10% of the total dietary requirements of the proteins world over. Pulses are also high in dietary fibers and complex carbohydrates leading to low GI (glycemic index) foods. Pulses help to lower cholesterol and triglycerides as leguminous fibers are hypoglycosuria because of consisting more amylose than amylopectin. Pulses provide tremendous opportunities to be utilized in the processed foods such as bakery products, bread, pasta, snack foods, soups, cereal bar filing, tortillas, meat, etc. These show excellent opportunities in frozen dough foods either as added flour or as fillings. Pulses in view of their nutrient profile, seem to be ideal for inclusion in designing snack foods, baby, and sports foods.

  16. Aging infrastructure creates opportunities for cost-efficient restoration of aquatic ecosystem connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neeson, Thomas M; Moody, Allison T; O'Hanley, Jesse R; Diebel, Matthew; Doran, Patrick J; Ferris, Michael C; Colling, Timothy; McIntyre, Peter B

    2018-06-09

    A hallmark of industrialization is the construction of dams for water management and roads for transportation, leading to fragmentation of aquatic ecosystems. Many nations are striving to address both maintenance backlogs and mitigation of environmental impacts as their infrastructure ages. Here, we test whether accounting for road repair needs could offer opportunities to boost conservation efficiency by piggybacking connectivity restoration projects on infrastructure maintenance. Using optimization models to align fish passage restoration sites with likely road repair priorities, we find potential increases in conservation return-on-investment ranging from 17% to 25%. Importantly, these gains occur without compromising infrastructure or conservation priorities; simply communicating openly about objectives and candidate sites enables greater accomplishment at current funding levels. Society embraces both reliable roads and thriving fisheries, so overcoming this coordination challenge should be feasible. Given deferred maintenance crises for many types of infrastructure, there could be widespread opportunities to enhance the cost effectiveness of conservation investments by coordinating with infrastructure renewal efforts. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

  17. International comparison of the economy of constructing nuclear power plants by using the method of referred investment costs in Czechoslovakia and in the USA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Majer, P.; Jelen, J.

    1989-01-01

    The method of referred investment costs was applied to a comparison of the economy of constructing the nuclear power plant at Temelin, Czechoslovakia, with that for the hypothetic nuclear power plant at Middletown, USA. For a reasonably adopted Czechoslovak crown/USD rate, the obtained costs for building the Temelin power plant are 50% higher than those for building the reference Middletown power plant. This compares rather favorably with the general level of investment costs in Czechoslovakia under the present economic conditions. The analysis performed shows that savings in investment costs should be sought in the fields of technological modernization of preparatory work and in all construction work, with the aim to reduce particularly live work. (P.A.). 12 tabs., 8 refs

  18. Factors affecting economies of scale in combined sewer systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maurer, Max; Wolfram, Martin; Anja, Herlyn

    2010-01-01

    A generic model is introduced that represents the combined sewer infrastructure of a settlement quantitatively. A catchment area module first calculates the length and size distribution of the required sewer pipes on the basis of rain patterns, housing densities and area size. These results are fed into the sewer-cost module in order to estimate the combined sewer costs of the entire catchment area. A detailed analysis of the relevant input parameters for Swiss settlements is used to identify the influence of size on costs. The simulation results confirm that an economy of scale exists for combined sewer systems. This is the result of two main opposing cost factors: (i) increased construction costs for larger sewer systems due to larger pipes and increased rain runoff in larger settlements, and (ii) lower costs due to higher population and building densities in larger towns. In Switzerland, the more or less organically grown settlement structures and limited land availability emphasise the second factor to show an apparent economy of scale. This modelling approach proved to be a powerful tool for understanding the underlying factors affecting the cost structure for water infrastructures.

  19. Energy and climate. Opportunities, threats, myths; Energie und Klima. Chancen, Risiken, Mythen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luedecke, Horst-Joachim

    2013-05-01

    Germany reinvents itself with the energy policy turnaround as well as climate protection. In doing so, Germany holds a special position worldwide. The transformation of the electric power supply by wind turbines, photovoltaic power plants, biomass conversion plants and avoidance of CO{sub 2} have already been set up. What formerly employed the competent engineers, is interesting the entire society against the backdrop of current political decisions - since the electricity costs increase and a previously saved power supply are increasingly being questioned. The current energy policy turnaround and climate protection measures can only be sensible if there are benefits for the nature conservation, the security of supply with electrical power and the cost. Under this aspect, the author of the book under consideration reports on the opportunities, threats, advantages and disadvantages of the German route. The competitiveness of our country, the security against power outages, the tax burden, the cost of energy and finally the environment are at stake. The upcoming problems can not be solved by political wishful thinking but only with solid technology, economy and environmental protection.

  20. Estimating the Hospital Burden of Norovirus-Associated Gastroenteritis in England and its Opportunity Costs for Non-Admitted Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandmann, Frank G; Shallcross, Laura; Adams, Natalie; Allen, David J; Coen, Pietro G; Jeanes, Annette; Kozlakidis, Zisis; Larkin, Lesley; Wurie, Fatima; Robotham, Julie V; Jit, Mark; Deeny, Sarah R

    2018-02-26

    Norovirus places a substantial burden on healthcare systems, arising from infected patients, disease outbreaks, beds kept unoccupied for infection control, and staff absences due to infection. In settings with high rates of bed occupancy, opportunity costs arise from patients who cannot be admitted due to beds being unavailable. With several treatments and vaccines against norovirus in development, quantifying the expected economic burden is timely. The number of inpatients with norovirus-associated gastroenteritis in England were modelled using infectious and non-infectious gastrointestinal Hospital Episode Statistics codes and laboratory reports of gastrointestinal pathogens collected at Public Health England. The excess length of stay from norovirus was estimated with a multi-state model and local outbreak data. Unoccupied bed-days and staff absences were estimated from national outbreak surveillance. The burden was valued conventionally using accounting expenditures and wages, which we contrasted to the opportunity costs from forgone patients using a novel methodology. Between July 2013 and June 2016, 17.7% (95%-confidence interval: 15.6%‒21.6%) of primary and 23.8% (20.6%‒29.9%) of secondary gastrointestinal diagnoses were norovirus-attributable. Annually, the estimated median 290,000 (interquartile range: 282,000‒297,000) occupied and unoccupied bed-days used for norovirus displaced 57,800 patients. Conventional costs for the National Health Service reached £107.6 million; the economic burden approximated to £297.7 million and a loss of 6,300 quality-adjusted life years annually. In England, norovirus is now the second-largest contributor of the gastrointestinal hospital burden. With the projected impact being greater than previously estimated, improved capture of relevant opportunity costs seems imperative for diseases like norovirus.

  1. Daily variation in natural disaster casualties: information flows, safety, and opportunity costs in tornado versus hurricane strikes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahran, Sammy; Tavani, Daniele; Weiler, Stephan

    2013-07-01

    Casualties from natural disasters may depend on the day of the week they strike. With data from the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS), daily variation in hurricane and tornado casualties from 5,043 tornado and 2,455 hurricane time/place events is analyzed. Hurricane forecasts provide at-risk populations with considerable lead time. Such lead time allows strategic behavior in choosing protective measures under hurricane threat; opportunity costs in terms of lost income are higher during weekdays than during weekends. On the other hand, the lead time provided by tornadoes is near zero; hence tornados generate no opportunity costs. Tornado casualties are related to risk information flows, which are higher during workdays than during leisure periods, and are related to sheltering-in-place opportunities, which are better in permanent buildings like businesses and schools. Consistent with theoretical expectations, random effects negative binomial regression results indicate that tornado events occurring on the workdays of Monday through Thursday are significantly less lethal than tornados that occur on weekends. In direct contrast, and also consistent with theory, the expected count of hurricane casualties increases significantly with weekday occurrences. The policy implications of observed daily variation in tornado and hurricane events are considered. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

  2. Electrolysis: Information and Opportunities for Electric Power Utilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kroposki, B.; Levene, J.; Harrison, K.; Sen, P.K.; Novachek, F.

    2006-09-01

    Recent advancements in hydrogen technologies and renewable energy applications show promise for economical near- to mid-term conversion to a hydrogen-based economy. As the use of hydrogen for the electric utility and transportation sectors of the U.S. economy unfolds, electric power utilities need to understand the potential benefits and impacts. This report provides a historical perspective of hydrogen, discusses the process of electrolysis for hydrogen production (especially from solar and wind technologies), and describes the opportunities for electric power utilities.

  3. Knowledge Creation in International Joint Ventures in Emerging Economies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ulrik B.

    Entering and developing presence in emerging economies often require foreign firms to set up International Joint Ventures (IJVs) with local partners, especially when the prime motive of the operation is to capture opportunities in the local markets (Mohr & Puck, 2005). IJVs have therefore become...... an important way for firms to enter these markets and a significant force in shaping a firm’s global strategy in expanding international activities abroad. However, research has shown that IJVs in emerging economies are unstable, and firms have experienced that performance of their IJVs in these emerging...... economies often does not meet their expectations (Fang & Zou, 2010). Extant research has shown that, in general, management of IJVs appears to be a difficult issue. 60-70% of all partnerships are not successful (Lambe, Spekman, & Hunt, 2002). Inter-partner learning has been proposed in the literature...

  4. 20 Years Experience with using Low Cost Launch Opportunities for 20 Small Satellite Missions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meerman, Maarten; Sweeting, Martin, , Sir

    To realise the full potential of modern low cost mini-micro-nano-satellite missions, regular and affordable launch opportunities are required. It is simply not economic to launch individual satellites of 5-300kg on single dedicated launchers costing typically 15-20M per launch. Whilst there have been periodic 'piggy-back' launches of small satellites on US launchers since the 1960's, these have been infrequent and often experienced significant delays due the vagaries of the main (paying!) payload. In 1989, Arianespace provided a critical catalyst to the microsatellite community when it imaginatively developed the ASAP platform on Ariane-4 providing, for the first time, a standard interface and affordable launch contracts for small payloads up to 50kg. During the 1990's, some 20 small satellites have been successfully launched on the Ariane-4 ASAP ring for international customers carrying out a range of operational, technology demonstration and training missions. However, most of these microsatellite missions seek low Earth orbit and especially sun-synchronous orbits, but the number of primary missions into these orbit has declined since 1996 and with it the availability of useful low cost launch opportunities for microsatellites. Whilst Ariane-5 has an enhanced capacity ASAP, it has yet to be widely used due both to the infrequent launches, higher costs, and the GTO orbit required by the majority of customers. China, Japan and India have also provided occasional secondary launches for small payloads, but not yet on a regular basis. Fortunately, the growing interest and demand for microsatellite missions coincided with the emergence of regular, low cost launch opportunities from the former Soviet Union (FSU) - both as secondary 'piggy-back' missions or as multiple microsatellite payloads on converted military ICBMs. Indeed, the FSU now supplies the only affordable means of launching minisatellites (200-500kg) into LEO as dedicated missions on converted missiles as

  5. Comparing flexibility mechanisms for fuel economy standards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fischer, Carolyn

    2008-01-01

    Since 1975, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program has been the main policy tool in the US for coping with the problems of increasing fuel consumption and dependence on imported oil. The program mandates average fuel economy requirements for the new vehicle sales of each manufacturer's fleet, with separate standards for cars and light trucks. The fact that each manufacturer must on its own meet the standards means that the incentives to improve fuel economy are different across manufacturers and vehicle types, although the problems associated with fuel consumption do not make such distinctions. This paper evaluates different mechanisms to offer automakers the flexibility of joint compliance with nationwide fuel economy goals: tradable CAFE credits, feebates, output-rebated fees, and tradable credits with banking. The policies are compared according to the short- and long-run economic incentives, as well as to issues of transparency, implementation, administrative and transaction costs, and uncertainty

  6. Low-Cost Carriers, Local Economy and Tourism Development at Four Portuguese Airports. A Model of Cost–Benefit Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vânia Costa

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The liberalisation of air transport created a new era in the sector. The entry of low-cost carriers triggered dynamism and consequently changed the behaviours of the demand and supply of air transport services. The volume of traffic at Portuguese airports increased from 17 million passengers in 2002 to more than 30 million in 2012, representing cumulative growth of 75%. The commitment to low-cost carriers (LCCs was a determining factor for this growth in that, in 2012, these carriers recorded a market share of 33%. This study aims to analyse the evolution of LCC air traffic in Portugal and its impact on regional economic development. Through a model of cost–benefit analysis, we determine the costs, benefits and net welfare in the developmet of the region driven by the LCC routes of 4 Portuguese airports, Faro, Lisbon, Funchal and Porto, between 2005 and 2012. The methodology proves the existence of a positive net impact driven by LCCs on the local economy, directly through job creation and increased consumption in the tourism sector and indirectly by the increased demand from other sectors.

  7. Household opportunity costs of protecting and developing forest lands in Son La and Hoa Binh Provinces, Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Le Ngoc Lan

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Vietnam has pilot-tested a payment for forest environmental services (PFES program in an effort to restore and protect forest areas, some of which have been severely degraded by the excessive cutting of trees by small-scale farmers planting annual crops on steep, sloping lands. The pilot program implemented in southern Vietnam seems to be successful, yet the program in northern Vietnam has not produced the desired rates of planting and maintaining forest areas. The reasons for these mixed results include differences in socio-economic characteristics and also the production and marketing opportunities available to rural households in the project areas. To gain insight regarding program participation, we examine the household-level opportunity costs of planting and ­maintaining small plots of forest trees in northern Vietnam. We find that small-scale farmers in Hoa Binh Province, with limited financial resources, prefer the annual revenue stream provided by crops such as maize and cassava, rather than waiting for 7 years to obtain revenue from a forest planting. Farmers in Son La Province, with limited access to markets, prefer annual crops because they are not able to sell bamboo shoots and other forest products harvested from their small plots. In both provinces, the payments offered for planting and maintaining forest trees are smaller than the opportunity costs of planting and harvesting annual crops. Thus, most households likely would choose not to participate in the PFES program, at current payment rates, if given the opportunity to decline.

  8. Energy white paper: Our energy future - Creating a low carbon economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2003-02-01

    Energy is vital to a modern economy. We need energy to heat and light our homes, to help us travel and to power our businesses. Our economy has also benefited hugely from our country's resources of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas. However, our energy system faces new challenges. Energy can no longer be thought of as a short-term domestic issue. Climate change - largely caused by burning fossil fuels - threatens major consequences in the UK and worldwide, most seriously for the poorest countries who are least able to cope. Our energy supplies will increasingly depend on imported gas and oil from Europe and beyond. At the same time, we need competitive markets to keep down costs and keep energy affordable for our businesses, industries, and households. This white paper addresses those challenges. It gives a new direction for energy policy. We need urgent global action to tackle climate change. We are showing leadership by putting the UK on a path to a 60% reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. And, because this country cannot solve this problem alone, we will work internationally to secure the major cuts in emissions that will be needed worldwide. Our analysis suggests that, by working with others, the costs of action will be acceptable - and the costs of inaction are potentially much greater. And as we move to a new, low carbon economy, there are major opportunities for our businesses to become world leaders in the technologies we will need for the future - such as fuel cells, offshore wind and tidal power. Science and technology are vital, and we will be supporting further research and development in these areas. In parallel, we need access to a wide range of energy sources and technologies and a robust infrastructure to bring the energy to where we want to use it. We will maintain competitive markets in the UK and press for further liberalisation in Europe. And we renew our commitment that no household in Britain should be living in fuel poverty by

  9. Exploiting the opportunities of Internet and multi-channel pricing : An exploratory research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sotgiu, Francesca; Ancarani, Fabio

    2004-01-01

    Smart firms are not worried about the impact of the Internet on pricing, but realise that they have the unique opportunity to exploit new options and improve their marketing performance. Multi-channel pricing is one of the most interesting opportunities firms can exploit in the digital economy.

  10. Explaining Iceland’s Excessive Boom and Bust: a Political Economy Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefán Ólafsson

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available We explain the Icelandic bubble economy and the financial crisis of 2008 with lessons from classical political economy theories (Keynes, Minsky, Kindleberger, Reinhart and Rogoff. We ask why and how the Icelandic bubble came about? Why it went so far off track? Who were the main actors? And why they did it? At the base of these developments were changes in the policy environment and institutional changes in finance and economy, which produced both new opportunities and new risks, as well as paving the way for new powers to rise in the society, not least with the full privatization of the state banks in 2003. An overextended belief in the virtues of the free market of the private sector led to a laissez-faire attitude towards the new risks, while the new opportunities were pursued with great efforts. This produced a classical but unusually large financial bubble, culminating in 2003-2008, with massive and risky growth of banks. The main characteristic of the Icelandic bubble was extensive business speculation with borrowed money. The consequence was excessive accumulation of foreign debt, which tends to be the ultimate cause of financial crises. The main actors were the top ten percent of income earners, who gained tremendously during the decade leading up to the collapse. Their incomes grew way beyond all others, not least their financial earnings, which sprang mainly from the activities of the unsustainable bubble economy.

  11. FROM CIRCULAR ECONOMY TO BLUE ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iustin-Emanuel, ALEXANDRU

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Addressing the subject of this essay is based on the background ideas generated by a new branch of science - Biomimicry. According to European Commissioner for the Environment, "Nature is the perfect model of circular economy". Therefore, by imitating nature, we are witnessing a process of cycle redesign: production-consumption-recycling. The authors present some reflections on the European Commission's decision to adopt after July 1, 2014 new measures concerning the development of more circular economies. Starting from the principles of Ecolonomy, which is based on the whole living paradigm, this paper argues for the development within each economy of entrepreneurial policies related to the Blue economy. In its turn, Blue economy is based on scientific analyses that identify the best solutions in a business. Thus, formation of social capital will lead to healthier and cheaper products, which will stimulate entrepreneurship. Blue economy is another way of thinking economic practice and is a new model of business design. It is a healthy, sustainable business, designed for people. In fact, it is the core of the whole living paradigm through which, towards 2020, circular economy will grow more and more.

  12. Agribusiness opportunity costs and environmental legal protection: investigating trade-off on hotspot preservation in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Igari, Alexandre Toshiro; Tambosi, Leandro Reverberi; Pivello, Vânia Regina

    2009-08-01

    Prior to deforestation, São Paulo State had 79,000 km(2) covered by Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) physiognomies, but today less than 8.5% of this biodiversity hotspot remains, mostly in private lands. The global demand for agricultural goods has imposed strong pressure on natural areas, and the economic decisions of agribusiness managers are crucial to the fate of Cerrado domain remaining areas (CDRA) in Brazil. Our aim was to investigate the effectiveness of Brazilian private protected areas policy, and to propose a feasible alternative to promote CDRA protection. This article assessed the main agribusiness opportunity costs for natural areas preservation: the land use profitability and the arable land price. The CDRA percentage and the opportunity costs were estimated for 349 municipal districts of São Paulo State through secondary spatial data and profitability values of 38 main agricultural products. We found that Brazilian private protected areas policy fails to preserve CDRA, although the values of non-compliance fines were higher than average opportunity costs. The scenario with very restrictive laws on private protected areas and historical high interest rates allowed us to conceive a feasible cross compliance proposal to improve environmental and agricultural policies.

  13. Building Digital Economy - The Research Councils Programme and the Vision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hand, John

    We at the Research Councils believe that there are many aspects of society and business that could be transformed by the innovative design and use of digital technologies. This has led to the Digital Economy Programme. The Digital Economy is an RCUK Cross-Research Council Programme, led by the EPSRC, but working closely with ESRC, MRC, AHRC and TSB. What is Digital Economy? Digital Economy is the novel design or use of information and communication technology to help transform the lives of individuals, society or business. All Digital Economy research involves the user community. This can include industry, government, society, charities or other groups as applicable. The research will understand the technologies and also why change is needed, what the impacts will be and who will benefit. Research in this cross-research council area can be driven by economic, social or technical need. The early involvement of the user community is vital if new technologies are to be integrated successfully into business opportunities, technical solutions or commercial products and processes. Challenges in the Digital Economy will require multi-disciplinary academic input, including, but not limited to, the arts and humanities, economic and social sciences and medical sciences, in addition to engineering and physical sciences.

  14. Objectives, Budgets, Thresholds, and Opportunity Costs-A Health Economics Approach: An ISPOR Special Task Force Report [4].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danzon, Patricia M; Drummond, Michael F; Towse, Adrian; Pauly, Mark V

    2018-02-01

    The fourth section of our Special Task Force report focuses on a health plan or payer's technology adoption or reimbursement decision, given the array of technologies, on the basis of their different values and costs. We discuss the role of budgets, thresholds, opportunity costs, and affordability in making decisions. First, we discuss the use of budgets and thresholds in private and public health plans, their interdependence, and connection to opportunity cost. Essentially, each payer should adopt a decision rule about what is good value for money given their budget; consistent use of a cost-per-quality-adjusted life-year threshold will ensure the maximum health gain for the budget. In the United States, different public and private insurance programs could use different thresholds, reflecting the differing generosity of their budgets and implying different levels of access to technologies. In addition, different insurance plans could consider different additional elements to the quality-adjusted life-year metric discussed elsewhere in our Special Task Force report. We then define affordability and discuss approaches to deal with it, including consideration of disinvestment and related adjustment costs, the impact of delaying new technologies, and comparative cost effectiveness of technologies. Over time, the availability of new technologies may increase the amount that populations want to spend on health care. We then discuss potential modifiers to thresholds, including uncertainty about the evidence used in the decision-making process. This article concludes by discussing the application of these concepts in the context of the pluralistic US health care system, as well as the "excess burden" of tax-financed public programs versus private programs. Copyright © 2018 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Economies of Scope in Distance Education: The Case of Chinese Research Universities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fengliang Li

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available With the rapid development of information technologies, distance education has become “another form of product differentiation in the output mix produced by the multi-product university or college” (Cohn & Cooper, 2004, p. 607. This article aims at analyzing the economies of scope of distance education (as an educational output in Chinese research universities. The empirical results show that a product-specific economies of scope do exist in distance education programs offered by Chinese research universities; b there are economies of scale in distance education; and c there are weak cost complementarities between distance education and research output, meaning that distance education and academic research can promote each other to reduce the costs in Chinese research universities.

  16. An empirical study of the underground economy in the Kingdom of Belgium

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rezaei, Shahamak; Goli, Marco; Dana, Léo-Paul

    2013-01-01

    This article investigates the underground economy in Belgium. Although several government initiatives are attempting to combat underground economic activities, we found illegal foreign workers identifying opportunities and fulfilling market needs. Underground employment thus thrives in a variety...

  17. Antecedents of trust in the sharing economy : A systematic review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    ter Huurne, Maarten; Ronteltap, Amber; Corten, R.; Buskens, V.W.

    2017-01-01

    Users and potential users of the sharing economy need to place a considerable amount of trust in both the person and the platform with which they are dealing. The consequences of transaction partners’ opportunism may be severe, for example damage to goods or endangered personal safety. Trust is,

  18. Hydrogen energy stations: along the roadside to the hydrogen economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, W.W.; Rifkin, J.; O'Connor, T.; Swisher, J.; Lipman, T.; Rambach, G.

    2005-01-01

    Hydrogen has become more than an international topic of discussion within government and among industry. With the public announcements from the European Union and American governments and an Executive Order from the Governor of California, hydrogen has become a ''paradigm change'' targeted toward changing decades of economic and societal behaviours. The public demand for clean and green energy as well as being ''independent'' or not located in political or societal conflict areas, has become paramount. The key issues are the commitment of governments through public policies along with corporations. Above all, secondly, the advancement of hydrogen is regional as it depends upon infrastructure and fuel resources. Hence, the hydrogen economy, to which the hydrogen highway is the main component, will be regional and creative. New jobs, businesses and opportunities are already emerging. And finally, the costs for the hydrogen economy are critical. The debate as to hydrogen being 5 years away from being commercial and available in the marketplace versus needing more research and development contradicts the historical development and deployment of any new technology be it bio-science, flat panel displays, computers or mobile phones. The market drivers are government regulations and standards soon thereafter matched by market forces and mass production. Hydrogen is no different. What this paper does is describes is how the hydrogen highway is the backbone to the hydrogen economy by becoming, with the next five years, both regional and commercial through supplying stationary power to communities. Soon thereafter, within five to ten years, these same hydrogen stations will be serving hundreds and then thousands of hydrogen fuel powered vehicles. Hydrogen is the fuel for distributed energy generation and hence positively impacts the future of public and private power generators. The paradigm has already changed. (author)

  19. Fertility and the economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, G S

    1992-08-01

    Fertility and the economy is examined in the context of the Malthusian question about the links between family choices and longterm economic growth. Micro level differences are not included not are a comprehensive range of economic or determinant variables. Specific attention is paid to income and price effects, the quality of children, overlapping generations, mortality effects, uncertainty, and economic growth. Fertility and the demand for children in linked to parental incomes and the cost of rearing children, which is affected by public policies that change the costs. Demand is also related to child and adult mortality, and uncertainty about sex of the child. Fertility in one generation affects fertility in the next. Malthusian and neoclassical models do not capture the current model of modern economies with rising income/capita and human and physical capital, extensive involvement of married women in the labor force, and declining fertility to very low levels. In spite of the present advances in firm knowledge about the relationships between fertility and economic and social variables, there is still much greater ignorance of the interactions. The Malthusian utility function that says fertility rises and falls with income did hold up to 2 centuries of scrutiny, and the Malthusian inclusion of the shifting tastes in his analysis could be translated in the modern context to include price of children. The inclusion of net cost has significant consequences, i.e., rural fertility can be higher because the cost of rearing when children contribute work to maintaining the farm is lower than in the city. An income tax deduction for children in the US reduces cost. Economic growth raises the cost of children due the time spent on child care becoming more valuable. The modern context has changed from Malthusian time, and the cost of education, training, and medical care is relevant. The implication is that a rise in income could reduce the demand for children when

  20. Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling-Up Nutrition in Healthcare

    OpenAIRE

    Darnton-Hill, Ian; Samman, Samir

    2015-01-01

    Healthcare continues to be in a state of flux; conventionally, this provides opportunities and challenges. The opportunities include technological breakthroughs, improved economies and increasing availability of healthcare. On the other hand, economic disparities are increasing and leading to differing accessibility to healthcare, including within affluent countries. Nutrition has received an increase in attention and resources in recent decades, a lot of it stimulated by the rise in obesity,...

  1. Green economy in Norway. What is a Green economy and what will make it possible?; Groenn oekonomi i Norge. Hva er det og hvordan faa det til?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2011-07-01

    This report was commissioned by the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) and WWF-Norway. The report's purpose is to develop an analytical framework to discuss and assess what the green economy is or may be in a Norwegian context, to use the framework to provide an overall assessment of the extent to which Norway and different sectors today can be said to be 'green' and, finally, to outline the conditions, strategies and opportunities for investment in the development of the green economy in Norway.(auth)

  2. Critical Analysis on Construction Workforce Sustainability in Developed Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Sing, Michael; Tam, Vivian; Fung, Ivan; Liu, Henry

    2017-01-01

    The construction industry in the developed economy has suffered a shortage of workforce which triggers project cost escalation and project delay and suppresses the whole economy. This paper aims to explore the perceptions of the general public and construction workers towards workforce shortage in the Hong Kong construction industry and identifies the critical factors affecting their intention to join the industry. Triangulation approach was adopted in this study and a street survey was condu...

  3. Factors Affecting the Ability of Agriculture to Pay Irrigation-Water Costs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hagood, M. A. [Land and Water Development Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome (Italy)

    1967-11-15

    There are no universally acceptable standard criteria for determining how much agriculture can pay for irrigation water. Justification of cost will depend upon the country's need to develop its soil and water resources for food, for international trade, and for its cumulative effect on other industries in comparison with other possible uses and their over-all contributions to the economy. Social and political conditions often have as much or more influence on development cost decisions than do strictly economic analyses. Many studies indicate that US $0.10/1000 US gal is an upper limit of acceptable costs for developing irrigation water at present economic levels. Under private development and on projects where water users must pay total water costs, methods are available for making feasibility budgets based on present prices. Because of inflation, world food shortage, recessions, future population and other unknown factors, it is hazardous to predict how much farmers or agriculture can pay for irrigation water. Better utilization of water available now offers opportunities for ''developing'' sources at costs much less than those for sources such as sea-water conversion. (author)

  4. A new energy paradigm for Turkey: A political risk-inclusive cost analysis for sustainable energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oksay, Serhan; Iseri, Emre

    2011-01-01

    Implementing sustainable development policies in order to achieve economic and social development while maintaining adequate environmental protection to minimize the damage inflicted by the constantly increasing world population must be a major priority in the 21st century. While the emerging global debate on potential cost-effective responses has produced potential solutions such as cap and trade systems and/or carbon taxes as part of evolving sustainable energy/environmental policies, this kind of intellectual inquiry does not seem to be an issue among Turkish policy-making elites. This is mainly due to their miscalculation that pursuing sustainable energy policies is much more expensive in comparison to the utilization of fossil fuels such as natural gas. Nevertheless, the pegged prices of an energy sector dominated by natural gas are illusive, as both the political risks and environmental damage have not been incorporated into the current cost calculations. This paper evaluates energy policies through a lens of risk management and takes an alternative approach to calculating energy costs by factoring in political risks. This formulation reveals that the cost of traditional fossil-based energy is in fact more expensive than renewable energy. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies would provide Turkey with a significant opportunity to stimulate its economy by being one of the first countries to develop green technologies and as a result this burgeoning sector would prompt job creation as well; mainly due to the externalities. - Research highlights: → This paper evaluates Turkish energy policies through risk management scope and takes an alternative approach on calculating electricity costs by factoring in political risks. → The cost of traditional fossil-based energy turns out to be more expensive than renewable energy. → The paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies could provide Turkey

  5. A new energy paradigm for Turkey: A political risk-inclusive cost analysis for sustainable energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oksay, Serhan, E-mail: serhano@khas.edu.t [Kadir Has University, Department of Business Administration (Turkey); Iseri, Emre, E-mail: eiseri@khas.edu.t [Kadir Has University, Department of International Relations, Cibali Campus, Kadir Has Caddesi 34083, Istanbul (Turkey)

    2011-05-15

    Implementing sustainable development policies in order to achieve economic and social development while maintaining adequate environmental protection to minimize the damage inflicted by the constantly increasing world population must be a major priority in the 21st century. While the emerging global debate on potential cost-effective responses has produced potential solutions such as cap and trade systems and/or carbon taxes as part of evolving sustainable energy/environmental policies, this kind of intellectual inquiry does not seem to be an issue among Turkish policy-making elites. This is mainly due to their miscalculation that pursuing sustainable energy policies is much more expensive in comparison to the utilization of fossil fuels such as natural gas. Nevertheless, the pegged prices of an energy sector dominated by natural gas are illusive, as both the political risks and environmental damage have not been incorporated into the current cost calculations. This paper evaluates energy policies through a lens of risk management and takes an alternative approach to calculating energy costs by factoring in political risks. This formulation reveals that the cost of traditional fossil-based energy is in fact more expensive than renewable energy. In addition to being environmentally friendly, the paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies would provide Turkey with a significant opportunity to stimulate its economy by being one of the first countries to develop green technologies and as a result this burgeoning sector would prompt job creation as well; mainly due to the externalities. - Research highlights: {yields} This paper evaluates Turkish energy policies through risk management scope and takes an alternative approach on calculating electricity costs by factoring in political risks. {yields} The cost of traditional fossil-based energy turns out to be more expensive than renewable energy. {yields} The paradigm shift towards renewable energy policies could

  6. Benchmarking a Transition Economy Capital Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Keller

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available As the centrally planned communist nations of Central Europe lacked liquid and efficient capital markets,financial systems architecture became instrumental to their transition into market economies. Now, afteralmost 17 years of operations, it is time to take a snapshot of one of these economies and compare it to a welldeveloped capital market. This study is the first to provide a quantifiable comparison of the quality of thecapital markets of a fully developed and a transition economy; namely Euronext France [Euronext] and theWarsaw Stock Exchange [WSE]. Using intraday data for the Euronext market and the WSE it is shown thatwhile overall liquidity is certainly much greater in Euronext, range based intra-day volatility is significantlylower in the WSE. For stocks with the highest market capitalisation the WSE has lower transaction costs inthe first [largest] decile than Euronext. These results indicate that while the established market is significantlymore liquid in terms of average trade size and trade numbers it does not always offer lower transaction costsor volatility. This is a new result as most contributions to the literature argue that an emerging market within atransition economy will suffer from excess volatility.

  7. Collaborative Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    collaborative economy and tourism Dianne Dredge and Szilvia Gyimóthy PART I - Theoretical explorations 2.Definitions and mapping the landscape in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy and Dianne Dredge 3.Business models of the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 4.Responsibility and care...... in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge 5.Networked cultures in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 6.Policy and regulatory perspectives in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge PART II - Disruptions, innovations and transformations 7.Regulating innovation in the collaborative economy: An examination...... localities of tourism Greg Richards 11.Collaborative economy and destination marketing organizations: A systems approach Jonathan Day 12.Working within the Collaborative Tourist Economy: The complex crafting of work and meaning Jane Widtfeldt Meged and Mathilde Dissing Christensen PART - III Encounters...

  8. Cost Characteristics of Telecom Networks and their Implications for Market Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Falch, Morten

    1997-01-01

    The paper analyses the cost structure of telecom operators and test the hypotheses of economies of scale and economies of density. The impact of new technologies and the regulatory implications are analysed.......The paper analyses the cost structure of telecom operators and test the hypotheses of economies of scale and economies of density. The impact of new technologies and the regulatory implications are analysed....

  9. Scale economies in a series of generic interim SNF storage facilities - 15104

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rothwell, G.

    2015-01-01

    This paper describes a micro-economic, cost-engineering model of a centralized (Generic Interim Storage Facility - GISF) facility to monitor LWR irradiated fuel with particular attention to scale economies (e.g., to compare the likely costs at a power plant site or at regional, national and international facilities). This paper is based on the cost estimates of the Private Fuel Services Facility (PFSF) on the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians' Reservation in Utah, licensed by the US NRC in 2006 to centralize storage of 40.000 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM) for 20 to 40 years. Assuming movement of the 40.000 MTHM every 40 years to a new facility, the levelized costs are 144 dollars/kg without high security and physical protection, and 208 dollars/kg with high security through 2111 (assuming disposal within a century), or about 0.50 dollars/MWh to 0.75 dollars/MWh depending on the burnup and thermal efficiency of the nuclear power plant. This cost estimate is generalized to explore scale economies for facilities with and without high security and physical protection. There are declining levelized costs with increasing size to 120.000 MTHM without high security, and to 500.000 MTHM with high security, i.e., the higher the level of security, the stronger the economies of scale. (author)

  10. Estimating unbiased economies of scale of HIV prevention projects: a case study of Avahan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lépine, Aurélia; Vassall, Anna; Chandrashekar, Sudha; Blanc, Elodie; Le Nestour, Alexis

    2015-04-01

    Governments and donors are investing considerable resources on HIV prevention in order to scale up these services rapidly. Given the current economic climate, providers of HIV prevention services increasingly need to demonstrate that these investments offer good 'value for money'. One of the primary routes to achieve efficiency is to take advantage of economies of scale (a reduction in the average cost of a health service as provision scales-up), yet empirical evidence on economies of scale is scarce. Methodologically, the estimation of economies of scale is hampered by several statistical issues preventing causal inference and thus making the estimation of economies of scale complex. In order to estimate unbiased economies of scale when scaling up HIV prevention services, we apply our analysis to one of the few HIV prevention programmes globally delivered at a large scale: the Indian Avahan initiative. We costed the project by collecting data from the 138 Avahan NGOs and the supporting partners in the first four years of its scale-up, between 2004 and 2007. We develop a parsimonious empirical model and apply a system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and fixed-effects Instrumental Variable (IV) estimators to estimate unbiased economies of scale. At the programme level, we find that, after controlling for the endogeneity of scale, the scale-up of Avahan has generated high economies of scale. Our findings suggest that average cost reductions per person reached are achievable when scaling-up HIV prevention in low and middle income countries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. From disaster, a new digital economy for Haiti | IDRC - International ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2018-02-28

    Feb 28, 2018 ... Learn how IDRC-supported research is helping to build women's skills for the digital economy, and creating job opportunities. This article is part of an ongoing series of stories about innovative projects in the developing world, a partnership between IDRC and Canadian Geographic. Read the full story.

  12. Blockchain - an Innovation Technology of the Post-Industrial Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arkhireiska Natalia V.

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at studying the innovation technology of the post-industrial economy - blockchain. It has been found that blockchain is a multifunctional and multi-level information technology designed to reliably account for different assets. It has been proved that the most important today is blockchain for Bitcoin. The article explores the opportunities, prospects and risks associated with investment in cryptocurrency. It has been determined that the main advantages of investment in Bitcoins are: steadily growing rate, confidence in currency, liquidity, anonymity, decentralization. However, there are significant downsides, such as: scaling problem, uncertainty about the status of the cryptocurrency on the part of the State, and excessive processing time for payments (approximately 10 minutes. It has been proved that the main benefits of Blockchain 1.0 and 2.0 are economic efficiency and cost savings through the use of decentralized network models, which do not require trust in a single transactional center, while Blockchain 3.0 is a freedom that will enable blockchain technology to implement solutions that are not related to monetary turnover and market transactions.

  13. How Expensive Is Expensive Enough? Opportunities for Cost Reductions in Offshore Wind Energy Logistics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas Poulsen

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper reveals that logistics may conservatively amount to 18% of the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind farms. This is the key finding from an extensive case study carried out within the organization of the world’s leading offshore wind farm developer and operator. The case study aimed to, and produced, a number of possible opportunities for offshore wind cost reductions through logistics innovation; however, within the case study company, no company-wide logistics organization existed to focus horizontally on reducing logistics costs in general. Logistics was not well defined within the case study company, and a logistics strategy did not exist. With full life-cycle costs of offshore wind farms still high enough to present a political challenge within the European Union in terms of legislation to ensure offshore wind diffusion beyond 2020, our research presents logistics as a next frontier for offshore wind constituencies. This important area of the supply chain is ripe to academically and professionally cultivate and harvest in terms of offshore wind energy cost reductions. Our paper suggests that a focused organizational approach for logistics both horizontally and vertically within the company organizations could be the way forward, coupled with a long-term legislative environment to enable the necessary investments in logistics assets and transport equipment.

  14. Macroeconomic Benefits of Low-Cost Reusable Launch Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Eric J.; Greenberg, Joel

    1998-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Technology Program to provide information on the technical and commercial feasibility of single-stage to orbit (SSTO), fully-reusable launchers. Because RLVs would not depend on expendable hardware to achieve orbit, they could take better advantage of economies of scale than expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) that discard costly hardware on ascent. The X-33 experimental vehicle, a sub-orbital, 60%-scale prototype of Lockheed Martin's VentureStar SSTO RLV concept, is being built by Skunk Works for a 1999 first flight. If RLVs achieve prices to low-earth orbit of less than $1000 US per pound, they could hold promise for eliciting an elastic response from the launch services market. As opposed to the capture of existing market, this elastic market would represent new space-based industry businesses. These new opportunities would be created from the next tier of business concepts, such as space manufacturing and satellite servicing, that cannot earn a profit at today's launch prices but could when enabled by lower launch costs. New business creation contributes benefits to the US Government (USG) and the US economy through increases in tax revenues and employment. Assumptions about the costs and revenues of these new ventures, based on existing space-based and aeronautics sector businesses, can be used to estimate the macroeconomic benefits provided by new businesses. This paper examines these benefits and the flight prices and rates that may be required to enable these new space industries.

  15. Cost effects of hospital mergers in Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azevedo, Helda; Mateus, Céu

    2014-12-01

    The Portuguese hospital sector has been restructured by wide-ranging hospital mergers, following a conviction among policy makers that bigger hospitals lead to lower average costs. Since the effects of mergers have not been systematically evaluated, the purpose of this article is to contribute to this area of knowledge by assessing potential economies of scale to explore and compare these results with realized cost savings after mergers. Considering the period 2003-2009, we estimate the translog cost function to examine economies of scale in the years preceding restructuring. Additionally, we use the difference-in-differences approach to evaluate hospital centres (HC) that occurred between 2004 and 2007, comparing the years after and before mergers. Our findings suggest that economies of scale are present in the pre-merger configuration with an optimum hospital size of around 230 beds. However, the mergers between two or more hospitals led to statistically significant post-merger cost increases, of about 8 %. This result indicates that some HC become too large to explore economies of scale and suggests the difficulty of achieving efficiencies through combining operations and service specialization.

  16. Putting Opportunism in the Back Seat

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Nicolai; Weber, Libby

    2013-01-01

    TCE and its applications in management research put more emphasis on opportunism than on bounded rationality. By augmenting the bounded rationality assumption to include interpretive limitations, we show that there are sources of costly conflict that are not rooted in opportunism. Moreover, we show...... that bounded rationality may drive opportunism. All hierarchal forms are inherently subject to specific bounded-rationality-based conflicts, thus have different capacities to mitigate bounded-rationality-based transaction costs....

  17. Compensating the opportunity cost of forest functional zoning - two alternative options for the Romanian forest policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marian Drăgoi,

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available An important challenge of the environmental policy is conceivingappropriate economic instruments able to account for the positive externalities provided by forest ecosystems. This issue is extremely important for implementing the provisions of the Romanian Forest Act, which states that forest owners shall be compensated for the opportunity costs of giving up harvesting operations due to various conservation purposes. The paper presents a statistical method based on analytical assessment of the effective forgone revenues brought about by banning the harvesting operations in 96 cases, each case being a distinctive forest management plan conceived for a large forest area, i.e. a production unit. Doing so, the scale effect has been taken into account because all legal provisions referring to forest management planning systems are focused on production units, considered the basic reference elements for sustainable forest management. The multiple regression function produced by the statistical analysis was turned into a simple formula allowing for a straightforward set up of the average compensation worth being paid per year and hectare. In order to better fetch the real opportunity cost paid for each hectare of protected forest, the algorithmwas further improved in order to account for the differences in stumpage residual value. Actually, the average compensation is differentiated onto five categories of hauling distances, using the same algorithm used by the National Forest Administration for differentiating the average reservation price established at national level on the ground of full-cost method stumpage pricing system.

  18. Compensating the opportunity cost of forest functional zoning - two alternative options for the Romanian forest policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marian Drăgoi

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available An important challenge of the environmental policy is conceiving appropriate economic instruments able to account for the positive externalities provided by forest ecosystems. This issue is extremely important for implementing the provisions of the Romanian Forest Act, which states that forest owners shall be compensated for the opportunity costs of giving up harvesting operations due to various conservation purposes. The paper presents a statistical method based on analytical assessment of the effective forgone revenues brought about by banning the harvesting operations in 96 cases, each case being a distinctive forest management plan conceived for a large forest area, i.e. a production unit. Doing so, the scale effect has been taken into account because all legal provisions referring to forest management planning systems are focused on production units, considered the basic reference elements for sustainable forest management. The multiple regression function produced by the statistical analysis was turned into a simple formula allowing for a straightforward set up of the average compensation worth being paid per year and hectare. In order to better fetch the real opportunity cost paid for each hectare of protected forest, the algorithm was further improved in order to account for the differences in stumpage residual value. Actually, the average compensation is differentiated onto five categories of hauling distances, using the same algorithm used by the National Forest Administration for differentiating the average reservation price established at national level on the ground of full-cost method stumpage pricing system. 

  19. THE PLACE OF THE EMERGING ECONOMY OF ROMANIA INSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION ECONOMIES IN TERMS OF FTSE CRITERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mardiros Daniela-Neonila

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The importance of this research lies from the need to know the economies developed, emerging and frontier of the European Union and the mode of their manifestation according to the market indicators. Consequently, we had in mind a presentation of the economies in the categories mentioned above framed in terms of market criteria used by FTSE Group, a provider of stock market indices and associated data services. Using data from a series of reports published by FTSE we made an analysis of how each of the considered economies and in particular Romania, acts according of these. Was taken into consideration criteria as: market and regulatory environment (formal stock market regulatory authorities actively monitor market; fair and non-prejudicial treatment of minority shareholders; non or selective incidence of foreign ownership restrictions; free and well-developed equity market; no objections or significant restrictions or penalties applied on the repatriation of capital; free and well-developed foreign exchange market; non or simple registration process for foreign investors; custody and settlement (settlement-rare incidence of failed trades; custody-sufficient competition to ensure high quality custodian services; clearing and settlement; stock lending permitted; settlement-free delivery available; custody-omnibus account facilities available to international investors; dealing landscape (brokerage-sufficient competition to ensure high quality broker services; liquidity-sufficient broad market liquidity to support sizeable global investment; transaction costs-implicit and explicit costs to be reasonable and competitive; short sales permitted; off-exchange transactions permitted; efficient trading mechanism; transparency; derivates (developed derivatives market. The final part of the paper is reserved to the understanding of the mode in which each of the considered economies of the European Union, including Romania and regardless of what category

  20. Smart Environmental Policy with Full-Cost Pricing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy Olewiler

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Canada’s natural capital — its resources, ecosystems and wildlife — are indispensable to the productivity of industry. Despite this, both the public and private sectors have failed to adequately factor in the consequences of production and consumption on the natural environment. There is a growing need for full-cost pricing, a system that adjusts market prices to reflect not only the direct costs of good and services, but also their impact on this country’s natural capital. As this paper argues, the onus is on the federal government to create the conditions for full-cost pricing to succeed. Ottawa needs to eliminate energy subsidies (to producers and consumers, implement full-cost pricing on air contaminants and greenhouse gases and encourage projects at the provincial and municipal levels that adopt that methodology. The benefits include productivity gains; potentially billions in savings for consumers, businesses and governments; a strong environment supporting sustainable industries; and simplified tax systems. In surveying past and existing federal initiatives and missed opportunities in previous budgets, this paper assesses costs and consequences, arguing that a healthy environment is synonymous with a healthy economy, and providing hard data to back up that conviction. With Budget 2012 just around the corner, the time is ripe for the Harper government to introduce full-cost pricing, and guarantee Canada a brighter future.

  1. The economy of knowledge, collapse and depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ugo Pagano

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews a recent strand of research emphasizing how the present institutions of the knowledge economy may be jeopardizing the very promise of growth and prosperity that the increased use of knowledge is generally reported to bring about. The excessive privatization of knowledge generates self-reinforcing vicious and virtuous circles of accumulation of intellectual property and investment in human capital, which increase global inequality. The present institutions of the global economy entail also a reduction of global investment opportunities that is one of the causes of the present global depression. Absent spontaneous antidotes to these phenomena, economic and science policies should aim at redressing the balance between public and private knowledge. Because of the distortion of incentives, stemming from uncompensated knowledge externalities at the international level, these policies should necessarily be coordinated at global level.

  2. Trends in Opportunity Costs of U.S. Postsecondary Education: A National HRD and Human Capital Theory Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornacchione, Edgard; Daugherty, Jenny L.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore opportunity costs of postsecondary education in the U.S. in the past three decades (1975-2005), as a measure to support investment decisions at national levels and as experienced by individuals deciding on pursuing further education. Based on human capital theory and inspired by a set of studies aiming at…

  3. Changing role of non-timber forest products (NTFP) in rural household economy: the case of Sinharaja World Heritage site in Sri Lanka.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senaratne, Athula; Abeygunawardena, Piyasena; Jayatilake, Wijaya

    2003-11-01

    This paper examines the modified patterns of utilizing non-timber forest products (NTFP) and associated behavioral changes around tropical forest areas in the context of conservation-related objectives and other commercially driven objectives. Our study introduces a conceptual framework based on the household production theory and tests empirically the hypotheses drawn at Sinharaja World Heritage in Sri Lanka. The results show that conditions introduced by forest conservation programs and the spread of small-scale commercial tea cultivation are transforming the economy around Sinharaja. The process is an economically rational one where resident communities decide upon their actions based on the opportunity cost of time involved with NTFP in the absence of observable prices. Although the process, overall, has led to a decline in the role of NTFP in the household economy, its impact over different NTFP are not uniform, leaving sustained demand for certain NTFP. This situation calls for a multifaceted approach in forest management programs to address the various household needs fulfilled by NTFP-based activities.

  4. Real economy versus virtual economy - New challenges for nowadays society

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Associates Professon Dr. Veronica Adriana Popescu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available In the paper Real Economy versus Virtual Economy – New Challenges for Nowadays Society our goal is to present the importance of both real economy and virtual economy.At the begging of our research, we have presented the main views of some specialists concerning both virtual and real economy. After that we have compared the two types of economies and we have stressed the most important aspects connected to them. The main reason why we have decided to approach this complex subject is due to the increasing interest in the virtual economy matters and the relation that this particular type of economy develops with the real economy.

  5. Time-driven activity-based costing of multivessel coronary artery bypass grafting across national boundaries to identify improvement opportunities: study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erhun, F; Mistry, B; Platchek, T; Milstein, A; Narayanan, V G; Kaplan, R S

    2015-08-25

    Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is a well-established, commonly performed treatment for coronary artery disease--a disease that affects over 10% of US adults and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In 2005, the mean cost for a CABG procedure among Medicare beneficiaries in the USA was $32, 201 ± $23,059. The same operation reportedly costs less than $2000 to produce in India. The goals of the proposed study are to (1) identify the difference in the costs incurred to perform CABG surgery by three Joint Commission accredited hospitals with reputations for high quality and efficiency and (2) characterise the opportunity to reduce the cost of performing CABG surgery. We use time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to quantify the hospitals' costs of producing elective, multivessel CABG. TDABC estimates the costs of a given clinical service by combining information about the process of patient care delivery (specifically, the time and quantity of labour and non-labour resources utilised to perform each activity) with the unit cost of each resource used to provide the care. Resource utilisation was estimated by constructing CABG process maps for each site based on observation of care and staff interviews. Unit costs were calculated as a capacity cost rate, measured as a $/min, for each resource consumed in CABG production. Multiplying together the unit costs and resource quantities and summing across all resources used will produce the average cost of CABG production at each site. We will conclude by conducting a variance analysis of labour costs to reveal opportunities to bend the cost curve for CABG production in the USA. All our methods were exempted from review by the Stanford Institutional Review Board. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  6. Agglomeration economies, competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance

    OpenAIRE

    Páger, Balázs; Komlósi, Éva

    2015-01-01

    This paper aims to elaborate the role of agglomeration effects on countries' competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance. Our research contributes to the understanding of the relationship that exists between a country's urban system characterized by spatial agglomeration (concentration) or deglomeration (deconcentration) processes, and its competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance, respectively. Urbanization economies refer to considerable cost savings generated through the locating...

  7. Impact of non-petroleum vehicle fuel economy on GHG mitigation potential

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luk, Jason M; Saville, Bradley A; MacLean, Heather L

    2016-01-01

    The fuel economy of gasoline vehicles will increase to meet 2025 corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFE). However, dedicated compressed natural gas (CNG) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) already exceed future CAFE fuel economy targets because only 15% of non-petroleum energy use is accounted for when determining compliance. This study aims to inform stakeholders about the potential impact of CAFE on life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, should non-petroleum fuel vehicles displace increasingly fuel efficient petroleum vehicles. The well-to-wheel GHG emissions of a set of hypothetical model year 2025 light-duty vehicles are estimated. A reference gasoline vehicle is designed to meet the 2025 fuel economy target within CAFE, and is compared to a set of dedicated CNG vehicles and BEVs with different fuel economy ratings, but all vehicles meet or exceed the fuel economy target due to the policy’s dedicated non-petroleum fuel vehicle incentives. Ownership costs and BEV driving ranges are estimated to provide context, as these can influence automaker and consumer decisions. The results show that CNG vehicles that have lower ownership costs than gasoline vehicles and BEVs with long distance driving ranges can exceed the 2025 CAFE fuel economy target. However, this could lead to lower efficiency CNG vehicles and heavier BEVs that have higher well-to-wheel GHG emissions than gasoline vehicles on a per km basis, even if the non-petroleum energy source is less carbon intensive on an energy equivalent basis. These changes could influence the effectiveness of low carbon fuel standards and are not precluded by the light-duty vehicle GHG emissions standards, which regulate tailpipe but not fuel production emissions. (letter)

  8. The opportunity cost of not utilising the woody invasive alien plant species in the Kouga, Krom and Baviaans catchments in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thulile Vundla

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study estimates the opportunity costs of using woody invasive alien plants (IAPs for value-added products by estimating the net economic return from the value-added industries in South Africa. By 2008, IAPs were estimated at the national level to cover an area of 1 813 million condensed hectares in South Africa. A market has formed around their use for value-added products (VAP like charcoal, firewood and timber in the Kouga, Kromme and Baviaans River catchments in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The net economic return from these value-added industries was estimated for the purpose of several management scenarios, and was then used to estimate the opportunity costs if they were not used. A system dynamics model was used to value and analyse the Net Present Value of clearing in the study area and to estimate the opportunity cost of the non-use of VAP. The study showed that the inclusion of VAPs in the project would yield higher net present values for clearing. The findings from this study suggest that a cofinance option of the total economic returns from VAP for clearing costs is the best management scenario for reducing the costs of clearing and maximising the net economic returns from clearing. The net economic returns of VAPs by 2030 are estimated at R23 million without the co-finance option and R26 million with the option. The cumulative net income from VAPs with co-financing over the period of valuation is estimated to be R609 million.

  9. Modulation of habitat-based conservation plans by fishery opportunity costs: a New Caledonia case study using fine-scale catch data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marilyn Deas

    Full Text Available Numerous threats impact coral reefs and conservation actions are urgently needed. Fast production of marine habitat maps promotes the use of habitat-only conservation plans, where a given percentage of the area of each habitat is set as conservation objectives. However, marine reserves can impact access to fishing grounds and generate opportunity costs for fishers that need to be minimized. In New Caledonia (Southwest Pacific, we used fine-scale fishery catch maps to define nineteen opportunity costs layers (expressed as biomass catch loss considering i total catches, ii target fish families, iii local marine tenure, and iv gear type. The expected lower impacts on fishery catch when using the different cost constraints were ranked according to effectiveness in decreasing the costs generated by the habitat-only scenarios. The exercise was done for two habitat maps with different thematic richness. In most cases, habitat conservation objectives remained achievable, but effectiveness varied widely between scenarios and between habitat maps. The results provide practical guidelines for coral reef conservation and management. Habitat-only scenarios can be used to initiate conservation projects with stakeholders but the costs induced by such scenarios can be lowered by up to 50-60% when detailed exhaustive fishery data are used. When using partial data, the gain would be only in the 15-25% range. The best compromises are achieved when using local data.

  10. Environmental issues elimination through circular economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Špirková, M., E-mail: marta.spirkova@stuba.sk; Pokorná, E.; Šujanová, J.; Samáková, J. [Paulínska 16, 917 24 Trnava, Slovakia, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology in Trnava (Slovakia)

    2016-04-21

    Environmental efforts of European Union are currently going towards circular economy. Tools like Extended Producer Responsibility and Eco-design were established. The circular economy deals with resources availability issue on one hand and waste management on the other hand. There are few pioneering companies all over the world with some kind of circular economy practice. Generally the concept is not very wide-spread. The paper aims to evaluate possibility of transition towards circular economy in Slovak industrial companies. They need to have an active approach to material treatment of their products after usage stage. Innovation is another important pre-condition for the transition. Main problem of current cradle to grave system is landfilling of valuable materials after one cycle of usage. Their potential value for next manufacturing cycles is lost. Companies may do not see connection between waste management and material resource prices and volatility of supplies. Municipalities are responsible for municipal waste collection and treatment in Slovakia. The circular economy operates by cradle to cradle principle. Company manages material flow until the material comes back to the beginning of manufacturing process by itself or by another partners. Stable material supplies with quite low costs are provided this way. It is necessary to deal with environmental problems in phase of product design. Questionnaire survey results show on one hand low involvement of industrial companies in waste management area, however on the other hand they are open to environmental innovations in future.

  11. Environmental issues elimination through circular economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Špirková, M.; Pokorná, E.; Šujanová, J.; Samáková, J.

    2016-01-01

    Environmental efforts of European Union are currently going towards circular economy. Tools like Extended Producer Responsibility and Eco-design were established. The circular economy deals with resources availability issue on one hand and waste management on the other hand. There are few pioneering companies all over the world with some kind of circular economy practice. Generally the concept is not very wide-spread. The paper aims to evaluate possibility of transition towards circular economy in Slovak industrial companies. They need to have an active approach to material treatment of their products after usage stage. Innovation is another important pre-condition for the transition. Main problem of current cradle to grave system is landfilling of valuable materials after one cycle of usage. Their potential value for next manufacturing cycles is lost. Companies may do not see connection between waste management and material resource prices and volatility of supplies. Municipalities are responsible for municipal waste collection and treatment in Slovakia. The circular economy operates by cradle to cradle principle. Company manages material flow until the material comes back to the beginning of manufacturing process by itself or by another partners. Stable material supplies with quite low costs are provided this way. It is necessary to deal with environmental problems in phase of product design. Questionnaire survey results show on one hand low involvement of industrial companies in waste management area, however on the other hand they are open to environmental innovations in future.

  12. Environmental issues elimination through circular economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Špirková, M.; Pokorná, E.; Šujanová, J.; Samáková, J.

    2016-04-01

    Environmental efforts of European Union are currently going towards circular economy. Tools like Extended Producer Responsibility and Eco-design were established. The circular economy deals with resources availability issue on one hand and waste management on the other hand. There are few pioneering companies all over the world with some kind of circular economy practice. Generally the concept is not very wide-spread. The paper aims to evaluate possibility of transition towards circular economy in Slovak industrial companies. They need to have an active approach to material treatment of their products after usage stage. Innovation is another important pre-condition for the transition. Main problem of current cradle to grave system is landfilling of valuable materials after one cycle of usage. Their potential value for next manufacturing cycles is lost. Companies may do not see connection between waste management and material resource prices and volatility of supplies. Municipalities are responsible for municipal waste collection and treatment in Slovakia. The circular economy operates by cradle to cradle principle. Company manages material flow until the material comes back to the beginning of manufacturing process by itself or by another partners. Stable material supplies with quite low costs are provided this way. It is necessary to deal with environmental problems in phase of product design. Questionnaire survey results show on one hand low involvement of industrial companies in waste management area, however on the other hand they are open to environmental innovations in future.

  13. Building Commissioning: A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse-gas Emissions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mills, Evan

    2009-07-16

    The aim of commissioning new buildings is to ensure that they deliver, if not exceed, the performance and energy savings promised by their design. When applied to existing buildings, commissioning identifies the almost inevitable 'drift' from where things should be and puts the building back on course. In both contexts, commissioning is a systematic, forensic approach to quality assurance, rather than a technology per se. Although commissioning has earned increased recognition in recent years - even a toehold in Wikipedia - it remains an enigmatic practice whose visibility severely lags its potential. Over the past decade, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has built the world's largest compilation and meta-analysis of commissioning experience in commercial buildings. Since our last report (Mills et al. 2004) the database has grown from 224 to 643 buildings (all located in the United States, and spanning 26 states), from 30 to 100 million square feet of floorspace, and from $17 million to $43 million in commissioning expenditures. The recorded cases of new-construction commissioning took place in buildings representing $2.2 billion in total construction costs (up from 1.5 billion). The work of many more commissioning providers (18 versus 37) is represented in this study, as is more evidence of energy and peak-power savings as well as cost-effectiveness. We now translate these impacts into avoided greenhouse gases and provide new indicators of cost-effectiveness. We also draw attention to the specific challenges and opportunities for high-tech facilities such as labs, cleanrooms, data centers, and healthcare facilities. The results are compelling. We developed an array of benchmarks for characterizing project performance and cost-effectiveness. The median normalized cost to deliver commissioning was $0.30/ft2 for existing buildings and $1.16/ft2 for new construction (or 0.4% of the overall construction cost). The commissioning projects for which

  14. Evaluation of Missed Energy Saving Opportunity Based on Illinois Home Performance Program Field Data: Homeowner Selected Upgrades Versus Cost-Optimized Solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yee, S. [Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit, Chicago, IL (United States); Milby, M. [Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit, Chicago, IL (United States); Baker, J. [Partnership for Advanced Residential Retrofit, Chicago, IL (United States)

    2014-06-01

    Expanding on previous research by PARR, this study compares measure packages installed during 800 Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® (IHP) residential retrofits to those recommended as cost-optimal by Building Energy Optimization (BEopt) modeling software. In previous research, cost-optimal measure packages were identified for 15 Chicagoland single family housing archetypes. In the present study, 800 IHP homes are first matched to one of these 15 housing groups, and then the average measures being installed in each housing group are modeled using BEopt to estimate energy savings. For most housing groups, the differences between recommended and installed measure packages is substantial. By comparing actual IHP retrofit measures to BEopt-recommended cost-optimal measures, missed savings opportunities are identified in some housing groups; also, valuable information is obtained regarding housing groups where IHP achieves greater savings than BEopt-modeled, cost-optimal recommendations. Additionally, a measure-level sensitivity analysis conducted for one housing group reveals which measures may be contributing the most to gas and electric savings. Overall, the study finds not only that for some housing groups, the average IHP retrofit results in more energy savings than would result from cost-optimal, BEopt recommended measure packages, but also that linking home categorization to standardized retrofit measure packages provides an opportunity to streamline the process for single family home energy retrofits and maximize both energy savings and cost effectiveness.

  15. The Political Economy of Extraterritoriality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul B. Stephan

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Near the end of the 2009 Term the Supreme Court decided Morrison v. Australia National Bank, Ltd., the strongest anti-extraterritoriality opinion it has produced in modern times. Not only is Congress presumed generally to prefer only territorial regulation, but lower courts that had carved out exceptions from this principle over a long period of time must now revisit their positions. Again this year in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Co. the Court relied on an aggressive use of the presumption against extraterritoriality to cut back on an important field of private litigation. The Court appears to have embraced two related stances: The imposition of barriers to extraterritorial regulation generally advances welfare, and the lower courts cannot be trusted to determine those instances where an exception to this rule might be justified. Implicit in the Court's position are intuitions about the political economy of both legislation and litigation. I want to use the occasion of the Morrison and Kiobel decisions to consider the political economy of extraterritorial regulation by the United States. International lawyers for the most part have analyzed state decisions to exercise prescriptive jurisdiction over extraterritorial transactions in terms of a welfare calculus that determines the likely costs and benefits to the state as a whole. Fewer studies have considered the political economy of the decision whether to regulate foreign transactions. No work of which I am aware has considered the political economy of deciding the extraterritorial question through litigation. This paper seeks to fill these gaps by sketching out what political economy suggests both about extraterritoriality and the role of courts as arbiters of extraterritoriality.

  16. Modern methods of cost saving of the production activity in construction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silka, Dmitriy

    2017-10-01

    Every time economy faces recession, cost saving questions acquire increased urgency. This article shows how companies of the construction industry have switched to the new kind of economic relations over recent years. It is specified that the dominant type of economic relations does not allow to quickly reorient on the necessary tools in accordance with new requirements of economic activity. Successful experience in the new environment becomes demanded. Cost saving methods, which were proven in other industries, are offered for achievement of efficiency and competitiveness of the companies. Analysis is performed on the example of the retail sphere, which, according to the authoritative analytical reviews, is extremely innovative on both local and world economic levels. At that, methods, based on the modern unprecedentedly high opportunities of communications and informational exchange took special place among offered methods.

  17. Institutional economy applied to the Natural Resources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aguilera klink, Federico

    1999-01-01

    The author intend to show how the perspective of institutional economy, worried about natural resources and the environment, insists in the necessity of a conceptual reconstruction of the concept of economy. This proposal is presented by considering three main aspects essentials for that reconstruction: a) The displacement of the philosophical assumptions of XVIII and XIX countries, b) Reformulation a widening of the meaning of the basic concepts and c) How to complement the marked price analysis with the consideration of social values. After analyzing these aspects it is show how they are applied to the study of natural resources and environmental problems through the notion of social costs

  18. Lightweighting Impacts on Fuel Economy, Cost, and Component Losses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brooker, A. D.; Ward, J.; Wang, L.

    2013-01-01

    The Future Automotive Systems Technology Simulator (FASTSim) is the U.S. Department of Energy's high-level vehicle powertrain model developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It uses a time versus speed drive cycle to estimate the powertrain forces required to meet the cycle. It simulates the major vehicle powertrain components and their losses. It includes a cost model based on component sizing and fuel prices. FASTSim simulated different levels of lightweighting for four different powertrains: a conventional gasoline engine vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and a battery electric vehicle (EV). Weight reductions impacted the conventional vehicle's efficiency more than the HEV, PHEV and EV. Although lightweighting impacted the advanced vehicles' efficiency less, it reduced component cost and overall costs more. The PHEV and EV are less cost effective than the conventional vehicle and HEV using current battery costs. Assuming the DOE's battery cost target of $100/kWh, however, the PHEV attained similar cost and lightweighting benefits. Generally, lightweighting was cost effective when it costs less than $6/kg of mass eliminated.

  19. The key role of the meat industry in transformation to a low-carbon, climate resilient, sustainable economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rijsberman, Frank

    2017-10-01

    Climate change, air pollution and refugees have become key global challenges threatening sustainability of lifestyles, economies and ecosystems. Agri-food systems are the number one driver of environmental change. Livestock production is the world's largest land user, responsible for half of greenhouse gas emissions from agri-food systems, and the source of repeated health crises. Poor diets have become the number one cause of ill health. Recommendations for a healthy diet emphasize plant-based food. Rapidly falling costs in information technology, biotechnology, renewable energy and battery technology will disrupt current energy and transportation systems and offer opportunities for responsible meat production. Growing consumer interest in healthy food, combined with innovative information systems, offer opportunities to create value through quality control and consumer information in integrated value chains. Meat scientists have a major role to play in the necessary transformation of global agri-food systems towards a new model of green economic growth that is climate resilient, sustainable and provides green jobs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. A cost-benefit analysis of produced water management opportunities in selected unconventional oil and gas plays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsters, P.; Macknick, J.; Bazilian, M.; Newmark, R. L.

    2013-12-01

    fracturing and produced water issues relate to the larger water-energy nexus. Specifically, this study develops a play-specific model to compare the decision factors and costs involved in managing produced water. For example, when transport distances to a wastewater disposal site are far enough, options for recycling water become more favorable, depending on the characteristics of each play. This model can provide policymakers and other interested parties with cost estimates of different water management options, including a better understanding of the costs and opportunities associated with recycling produced water. This work provides a cross-play assessment of produced water management options and costs and could serve as the foundation for more detailed analyses of opportunities to minimize hydraulic fracturing's impacts on freshwater resources.

  1. Collaborative Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    that are emerging from them, and how governments are responding to these new challenges. In doing so, the book provides both theoretical and practical insights into the future of tourism in a world that is, paradoxically, becoming both increasingly collaborative and individualized. Table of Contents Preface 1.The...... collaborative economy and tourism Dianne Dredge and Szilvia Gyimóthy PART I - Theoretical explorations 2.Definitions and mapping the landscape in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy and Dianne Dredge 3.Business models of the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 4.Responsibility and care...... in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge 5.Networked cultures in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 6.Policy and regulatory perspectives in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge PART II - Disruptions, innovations and transformations 7.Regulating innovation in the collaborative economy: An examination...

  2. Collaborative Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    collaborative economy and tourism Dianne Dredge and Szilvia Gyimóthy PART I - Theoretical explorations 2.Definitions and mapping the landscape in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy and Dianne Dredge 3.Business models of the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 4.Responsibility and care...... and similar phenomena are among these collective innovations in tourism that are shaking the very bedrock of an industrial system that has been traditionally sustained along commercial value chains. To date there has been very little investigation of these trends, which have been inspired by, amongst other...... in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge 5.Networked cultures in the collaborative economy Szilvia Gyimóthy 6.Policy and regulatory perspectives in the collaborative economy Dianne Dredge PART II - Disruptions, innovations and transformations 7.Regulating innovation in the collaborative economy: An examination...

  3. Food Processing and Marketing: New Directions...New Opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Mary A., Ed.

    1995-01-01

    This issue uses tomato processing to illustrate the new directions and opportunities available in the food market. Comparative advantage and economies of scale are discussed in relation to markets. Forecasting success in the market is attributed to studying consumer consumption trends by type and monitoring standards of living in 32 newly…

  4. The Impact of Granting Market Economy Status to China on Antidumping Duties and Imports: The Case of Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soonchan Park

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available The Korean government has officially recognized China as a full market economy. This paper investigates the impact of grantingThe Korean government has officially recognized China as a full market economy. This paper investigates the impact of granting market economy status to China on antidumping (AD duties and imports. With regard to non-market economies (like China, it is presumed that prices and costs are influenced by state interference and, therefore, authorities use prices and costs from a third party economy to construct normal values. This, however, leads to higher dumping margins. This paper examines the use of Non-Market Economy (NME on dumping margins and statistical analysis finds that NME, in fact, raises margins by 18.7∼27.3%. Furthermore, the imposition of AD duties significantly restrains trade; for example, a 10% AD duty causes imports to fall by about 1.5~3.4%.

  5. TRIPOLARISATION OF THE CURRENCIES IN THE WORLD ECONOMY: US DOLLAR – EURO – YEN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramona TOMA

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available At present, the world economy is dominated by three poles – the USA, the European Union and Japan – among which there should be real co-operation to ensure the international stability on all levels. The introduction of the euro was perceived by the experts as the beginning of the competition among the currencies on the international financial markets. The European Monetary Union was conceived to cause an internal, not an external change, with an economic and financial purpose and as a further step of the European integration. Moreover, the international monetary system does not allow the European single currency to make gains that might cause losses to the US dollar. Both currencies have room in the world economy, but the euro has been beneficial to both the euro area and the rest of the world. At present, the euro is stronger than the sum of the twelve former national currencies. The consolidation of the national economies of the euro area becomes stronger due to the impact on liquidities, to the various investment opportunities for the entities that manage the financial portfolios and the central banks that manage the foreign currency reserves. The competition among the currencies means more opportunities in the world economy: the euro is an international currency used along with the US dollar and the yen, not against them.

  6. Mid-Career Academic Women and the Prestige Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Kandiko Howson, Camille Blackwell; Coate, Kelly Lynn; de St Croix, Tania

    2017-01-01

    Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with women academics based in London higher education institutions in the UK, this paper investigates the gendered nature of the prestige economy in academia. We explore how mid-career academic women strategise their career development and the opportunities and barriers they perceive, particularly in relation to the accrual of academic esteem. Concept maps were used to facilitate dialogue about career plans and provided an artefact from the interviewee...

  7. Guide to resource conservation and cost savings opportunities in the soap, detergents and related products sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-03-01

    The soaps, detergents and related products sector is an important component of the chemical industry within Ontario, as these products are used for cleaning purposes in industrial, institutional and domestic consumer applications. This guide was prepared to assist the sector with cost savings and resource conservation. The guide highlights opportunities for resource conservation through energy and water efficiency improvements, more efficient utilisation of raw materials, and reduction of environmental releases at source. 54 figs.

  8. Business management practices in the power industry: Decision making in a market economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, J.H. [Fieldstone Private Capital Group, New York, NY (United States); Rosel, V. [Fieldstone Private Capital Group, Prague (Czechoslovakia)

    1995-12-01

    Management of a free market power industry, or managing the transition from a planned economy to a free market one, is driven by a fundamental economic premise - it is unrealistic (and economically unsound) to try to shelter end users (manufacturers or otherwise) from the true cost of energy: (i) energy prices are a function of fuel inputs (ii) fuel inputs are world priced (iii) end users must pay prices based on true costs Trying to counter any of these dictates will cause economic inefficiencies and misallocations. Managers of energy production in a free market economy must therefore learn to acquire data, and learn to extrapolate. As information is never complete, or perfect, managers must learn to consider contingencies, alternatives and options. In a free market economy, the decision to build a power facility is not controlled simply by the recognition of a perceived need for more power in an area. Because survival in a free market economy requires making a profit, as part for the decision process managers must: (i) talk to their customers to determine power needs into the future (ii) talk to their input suppliers, and arrange contracts (iii) make sure that there is a spread between cost and revenue As stated this is a simple recipe, but is difficult in practice. To perform any forecasting, managers must acquire control over cost, so as to have a base from which to judge the continued profitability or potential profitability, of any current activity or future ventures. It should be noted that planning for the future is difficult at any time but even more so when moving through an era where in the entire economy is undergoing systemic changes. Historic customer base, and historic supply arrangements, may not mean much. Therefore, managers must keep acquiring information, and updating forecasts.

  9. Local ownership, smart energy systems and better wind power economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvelplund, Frede; Möller, Bernd; Sperling, Karl

    2013-01-01

    is never sold at a lower price than the most expensive heat alternative. The other is to lower the average costs of wind power by building more onshore wind power capacity, and proportionally less offshore wind power. This is facilitated by local and regional majority ownership models that increase...... the acceptance rate of onshore wind. The economy of wind power is thus improved by both increasing its value and reducing its costs.......Increasing wind power shares enhances the need to integrate wind power into the energy system and to improve its economy. In this study we propose two ways of achieving this end. One is to increase the value of wind power by integrating the heat and power markets, and thus ensures that wind power...

  10. Costs, emissions reductions, and vehicle repair: evidence from Arizona.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ando, A; McConnell, V; Harrington, W

    2000-04-01

    The Arizona inspection and maintenance (I/M) program provides one of the first opportunities to examine the costs and effectiveness of vehicle emission repair. This paper examines various aspects of emission reductions, fuel economy improvements, and repair costs, drawing data from over 80,000 vehicles that failed the I/M test in Arizona between 1995 and the first half of 1996. We summarize the wealth of data on repair from the Arizona program and highlight its limitations. Because missing or incomplete cost information has been a serious shortcoming for the evaluation of I/M programs, we develop a method for estimating repair costs when they are not reported. We find surprising evidence that almost one quarter of all vehicles that take the I/M test are never observed to pass the test. Using a statistical analysis, we provide some information about the differences between the vehicles that pass and those that do not. Older, more polluting vehicles are much more likely never to pass the I/M test, and their expected repair costs are much higher than those for newer cars. This paper summarizes the evidence on costs and emission reductions in the Arizona program, comparing costs and emissions reductions between cars and trucks. Finally, we examine the potential for more cost-effective repair, first through an analysis of tightening I/M cut points and then by calculating the cost savings of achieving different emission reduction goals when the most cost-effective repairs are made first.

  11. A paradigm shift needed for nuclear reactors. From economies of unit scale to economies of production scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Ning

    2009-01-01

    The success and sustainability of the nascent 'Nuclear Renaissance' will depend heavily on the timely development and deployment SMRs (small and modular reactors) as a new paradigm to increase economic competitiveness and broaden markets and applications for nuclear energy. A critical assessment of the historical and current reactor construction cost data reveals a troubling trend of rapid escalation in practically all countries, while showing little or negative economies of (unit) scale. The escalation cannot be fully accounted for by cost inflation in materials and labors, or by ratcheting regulations and other external factors. Rather, it appears that the intrinsic complexity and the associated risks and costs of extremely large systems have offset all returns of (unit) scale in power engineering and learning effects in practice. The construction heavy nature of the nuclear power plants exacerbates the cost problem as compared to that of the manufactured goods. The power markets have evolved away from the very large monolithic generation units toward modular units more amenable for manufacturing and transportation. This is clearly illustrated through the increasingly bi-modal distribution of generation units around a few MWe (wind, micro-turbines etc) and 100-200 MWe (gas turbine and combined cycle). The rapid market adoption and penetration of these units dwarf the addition rates of the very large units. This is not merely an outcome based on economic and financial risk reduction (important in their own right) or better match of applications - the technological and operational performances are equal or even superior in these smaller modular units. This presentation will use the industry, market and application data analyses, and successful examples from other sectors and industries with different organizing principles to demonstrate the benefits and potentials of SMRs. The resultant paradigm shift, from the singular pursuit of economies of unit scale to

  12. Thinking on the development of nuclear science and technology information in knowledge economy time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Yue

    2010-01-01

    The arrival of knowledge-based economy has brought the opportunities and challenges for the development of nuclear science and technology information. In the knowledge economy environment, knowledge becomes the new driving force for economic development, and people's demand for nuclear science and technology expertise will significantly increase. So the role of nuclear science and technology intelligence services will become even more and more prominent. Meanwhile, with the rapid development of modem information technology, the informatization of human society is towards the development of digital and intelligent. This also will raise new demands for nuclear science and technology information work. Discusses the status of nuclear science and technology information work of own units under the knowledge-based economy condition, and puts forward some thought and suggestions on development of nuclear science and technology information work under the knowledge economy environment. (author)

  13. Sharing is caring: The potential of the sharing economy to support aging in place.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Julie; Ward, Carley; Lee, Chaiwoo; D'Ambrosio, Lisa; Coughlin, Joseph

    2018-01-24

    This article explores innovative applications of sharing economy services that have the potential to support a population aging in place, especially the "oldest old," aged 85 and older, and their caregivers. A mixed-methods study conducted by the MIT AgeLab examined perceptions of and experiences with sharing economy services, ultimately finding opportunities and barriers to use. Thus, although sharing economy services have potential to support aging in place, to do so successfully will require reconstructing how older adults, family caregivers, aging service professionals, gerontology educators, and gerontology students conceptualize and deliver care to an aging population. We suggest examples for gerontology educators to integrate into their classrooms to further cultivate an appreciation among students of multiple approaches to intervention, including those that leverage sharing economy and technology-enabled platforms to support older adults and their caregivers.

  14. Evaluation of Missed Energy Saving Opportunity Based on Illinois Home Performance Program Field Data: Homeowner Selected Upgrades Versus Cost-Optimized Solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yee, S.; Milby, M.; Baker, J.

    2014-06-01

    Expanding on previous research by PARR, this study compares measure packages installed during 800 Illinois Home Performance with ENERGY STAR(R) (IHP) residential retrofits to those recommended as cost-optimal by Building Energy Optimization (BEopt) modeling software. In previous research, cost-optimal measure packages were identified for fifteen Chicagoland single family housing archetypes, called housing groups. In the present study, 800 IHP homes are first matched to one of these fifteen housing groups, and then the average measures being installed in each housing group are modeled using BEopt to estimate energy savings. For most housing groups, the differences between recommended and installed measure packages is substantial. By comparing actual IHP retrofit measures to BEopt-recommended cost-optimal measures, missed savings opportunities are identified in some housing groups; also, valuable information is obtained regarding housing groups where IHP achieves greater savings than BEopt-modeled, cost-optimal recommendations. Additionally, a measure-level sensitivity analysis conducted for one housing group reveals which measures may be contributing the most to gas and electric savings. Overall, the study finds not only that for some housing groups, the average IHP retrofit results in more energy savings than would result from cost-optimal, BEopt recommended measure packages, but also that linking home categorization to standardized retrofit measure packages provides an opportunity to streamline the process for single family home energy retrofits and maximize both energy savings and cost-effectiveness.

  15. Economy or chrematistics: Serbian case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anđelković Petar M.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The nations are worth as much as it is worth their economies. In today's global world, people gain or lose independence primarily by how successful their economy is . Of course, freedom and independence of a people is defended in all fields, but the economic success is the key to success to all the rest. A society that is for us and the former socialist countries, termed transition, represents a return to predatory capitalism and the way in hypocritical, orchestrated democracy; it is now the world of lasting evil and bigger injustice that undermine the state and relentlessly pushing them into ,,peripheral capitalism' (Ljubisa Mitrovic. The word 'economy' is of Greek origin and translated into our language it means' skill of housekeeping (economy'. What we habitually continue to call economy in the world today and in Serbia, we can not call the skill of keeping. The term 'economy' has long been superseded, in his place is the term 'chrematistics' also a word of Greek origin that means inserted enrichment. This term in use is introduced by Aristotle. This ancient philosopher emphasized that the economy and chrematistics are antipodes and that chrematistics destructive to society. By its nature, it leads to the destruction of the economy. Practically, it can be called 'destroyers skill of keeping the economy.' Today in the world and Serbia do not have the economy, we have chrematistics (speculation on commodity markets , pyramid schemes, the development of the securities market , games on the stock market ... . Chrematistics the trick word, and that's why we can replace it with the term 'casino-economy.' A new form of monarchy, which is expressed as a new imperialism, is not based on ' cunning mind' (Hegel and the 'spirit of the law' ( Montesquieu , but the 'cunning of the economy', which is dominated by raw (Hobbes laws of the market and where the economy becomes policies. Figure of societies of Eastern Europe, where the neoliberal social

  16. Development of transnational corporations in the world: opportunities and threats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra NICULA

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Transnational corporations (TNCs are incorporated or unincorporated enterprises comprising parent enterprises and their foreign affiliates. Transnational Corporations exert a great deal of power in the globalized world economy. Many corporations are richer and more powerful than the states that seek to regulate them. Through mergers and acquisitions corporations have been growing very rapidly and some of the largest TNCs now have annual profits exceeding the GDPs of many low and medium income countries. TNCs dominate the global economy and exert their influence over global policymaking. Worldwide companies start the trend in many domains having a big range of competitors. Trade is an important development tool. Trade between developing and industrialized countries has expanded and borrowing from rich countries to the poor areas of this world increased. The links between these differing groups of economies intensified subsequently and made these two groups increasingly dependent from each other. TNCs based their activity around this idea. In this paper, we try to emphasize the role of the TNCs in the worldwide economy, the advantages and disadvantages these corporations bring to the countries they activate in and even to the entire world and what effect they have on globalization. Some opportunities and threats of TNS activity are presented, exemplifying through some well known corporations which succeded in this competitive world. The authors wanted in this way to show the positive and negative aspects of their performance and give the reader the opportunity to develop the own opinion.

  17. CORRELATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTROMANIAN ECONOMY BETWEEN INVESTMENT NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Popa

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Currently, the correlations between the naturally environment problems and the economic and social situation are the important part of the national policy for every country. As a starting point, a series of measurable targets – the Millennium Development Goals (MDG from the United Nations – were established for monitoring progress. The first Romanian Millennium Development Goals Report established a set of eight development objectives and 21 related targets to monitor progress. In another point, integrated Europe underlines the fact that the environmental investment projects should be subscribed to the cohesion policy with a lot of objectives established by the Lisbon Strategy, from March 2000, underlying the territorial dimension. The sustainable development also needs the finding of financing solutions, adequate to the market economy mechanisms. Romania started the economic reform after 1990, but there are still many deficiencies in the achievement of the correlation between the social-economic developments, crisis and environmental sustainability. First of all, in Romania, the environmental sustainability must be integrated into core development work, for maximizing synergies. Secondly, it should be built as a portfolio of public and private projects for environment. Third, these projects need the financing funds and the good ability to access these funds

  18. The voluntary formalization of enterprises in a developing economy - The case of Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nelson, Edwin G.; Nelson, E.G.; de Bruijn, E.J.

    2005-01-01

    The informal sector of the Tanzanian economy is a changing, heterogeneous mixture of enterprises operating wholly or partially outside of the government system of regulation. It flourishes partly because informality offers opportunities of economic necessity to the poor, most of who will never be

  19. Bioeconomy in Romania - Aim for an Innovative Economy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuela Dora Orboi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In the world, population growth phenomenon is accentuated, being estimated an increase of 30% over the next 40 years, leading to more than 9 billion people by the year 2050. In this period, mankind will face a exploitation without preceding of its natural resources, them being finite. There will be significant climate change, loss of biodiversity, increasing pressures on the environment, threatening, thus, the stability of living systems. In this context, Europe needs to change the manner of approaching to production, consumption, processing, storage, recycling and disposal of biological resources. Bioeconomy is the key element for smart growth in Europe, aspect pointed out in the Europe 2020 strategy adopted by the European Commission. This strategy is based on the Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development (FP7 and the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020. Bio-economy represents a cost savings in using the soil and sea biological resources, including the production of renewable biological resources and conversion of those resources and waste to value-added products (food, feed, bio bioenergy. Bioeconomy include sectors like agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food industry, as well as parts of chemical industry biotechnological and energetic. Bioeconomy relies on life sciences, agronomy, ecology, food science, social sciences, biotechnology, information and communication technologies and engineering. The bioeconomy support granted in the European Union offers many opportunities for Romania. Through bioeconomy specific approaches, the bioresources production potential in Romania could be exploited. Developing and implementing new solutions for better exploitation of this Romanian potential requires a significant investment in education and research. For Romania, the bioeconomy is a chance, an objective for a more innovative economy, smart, low emissions and with more sustainable use of renewable

  20. On financial equilibrium with intermediation costs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Markeprand, Tobias Ejnar

    2008-01-01

    This paper studies the set of competitive equilibria in financial economies with intermediation costs. We consider an arbitrary dividend structure, which includes options and equity with limited liabilities.We show a general existence result and upper-hemi continuity of the equilibrium correspond......This paper studies the set of competitive equilibria in financial economies with intermediation costs. We consider an arbitrary dividend structure, which includes options and equity with limited liabilities.We show a general existence result and upper-hemi continuity of the equilibrium...

  1. Stabilization Policy and the Costs of Dollarization

    OpenAIRE

    Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe; Martin Uribe

    2000-01-01

    This paper compares the welfare costs of business cycles in a dollarized economy to those arising in economies with different monetary arrangements. The alternative monetary policy regimes studied belong to three broad families: devaluation rate rules, inflation targeting, and money growth rate rules. The analysis is conducted within an optimizing model of a small open economy with sticky prices. The model is calibrated to the Mexican economy and is driven by three external shocks: terms of t...

  2. Challenges and Opportunities for International Students in Graduate Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Xinya

    2015-01-01

    International students pursuing graduate education in U.S. institutes have been rapidly increasing in recent years. Students from all over the world remarkably contribute to the advancement of U.S. economy and technology. This article addresses the challenges and opportunities international students face during and after graduate education. The…

  3. The transition from industrial (traditional to new (information economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilić Bogdan B.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available At the end of 20th century a new economy and a new information society emerged, as a result of achieving the third and the transition to the fourth scientific and technological revolution. The basis of this new economy lies in the transition from the industrial production to the production based on information and technology. The new economy contributes to changing the character of the factors of production, the structure of the value produced the motives of production, the workers’ position (robots replacing slaves etc. Besides labor, capital, land and entrepreneurship, information appears to be the fifth and the most important factor of production. The Internet is becoming the foundation of the new economy and contributes to changing the way people learn and do research, as well as to reducing the burden of administration, changing the way of competition, reducing operating costs crossing national borders and leading to the process of globalization of the world economy into an integral entity. Some basic characteristics of this new economy are the following: the information basis of production, rapid changes of products, flexible production systems, network organization of production, integration, services backed by products, skills and knowledge generalization, education, knowledge and talent becoming the most important factor of the socio-economic growth and development, etc. The new economy leads to a number of advantages when compared to the traditional one. However, it also has a number of negative consequences: pollution indebtedness of underdeveloped countries, widening the gap between the development level of regions, countries and individuals, growing inflation unemployment etc. But the new economy is objectively conditioned and the task of each national economy is to determine the most favorable way of its incorporation into this new economy (globalization.

  4. Can the real opportunity cost stand up: displaced services, the straw man outside the room.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckermann, Simon; Pekarsky, Brita

    2014-04-01

    In current literature, displaced services have been suggested to provide a basis for determining a threshold value for the effects of a new technology as part of a reimbursement process when budgets are fixed. We critically examine the conditions under which displaced services would represent an economically meaningful threshold value. We first show that if we assume that the least cost-effective services are displaced to finance a new technology, then the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the displaced services (d) only coincides with that related to the opportunity cost of adopting that new technology, the ICER of the most cost-effective service in expansion (n), under highly restrictive conditions-namely, complete allocative efficiency in existing provision of health care interventions. More generally, reimbursement of new technology with a fixed budget comprises two actions; adoption and financing through displacement and the effect of reimbursement is the net effect of these two actions. In order for the reimbursement process to be a pathway to allocative efficiency within a fixed budget, the net effect of the strategy of reimbursement is compared with the most cost-effective alternative strategy for reimbursement: optimal reallocation, the health gain maximizing expansion of existing services financed by the health loss minimizing contraction. The shadow price of the health effects of a new technology, βc = (1/n + 1/d - 1/m)(-1), accounts for both imperfect displacement (the ICER of the displaced service, d < m, the ICER of the least cost-effective of the existing services in contraction) and the allocative inefficiency (n < m) characteristic of health systems.

  5. The hidden cost of consensus: How coordinated market economies insulate politics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lawrence Ezrow

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Previous research has argued that while elections motivate parties to respond to public sentiment, global economic ties reduce this responsiveness by redirecting elites from their electorates and toward market actors. In this study, we extend this work to examine the influence of globalization on party responsiveness across different forms of production-welfare regimes. Coordinated market economies (CMEs accommodate economic interdependence by striking corporatist bargains between political elites, trade union representatives, and organized business. Although these consensual relations facilitate economic stability, they also insulate policymakers from voters. Analyses that pair public opinion and party positions across 18 advanced capitalist democracies from 1977 to 2009 show that while CMEs permit political elites a wide room to maneuver under economic globalization, political parties competing in these organized market economies do not respond to public opinion. This is the case regardless of level of exposure to world markets. In CMEs, party position-taking is uninfluenced by external factors (economic globalization and domestic factors (public opinion alike. By examining the consequences for party behavior, our results raise questions about the virtues of coordinated market capitalism for the health of representative democracy.

  6. Relationships between Institutional Economics of Cooperation and the Political Economy of Trust

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Hernandéz

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between institutional economics of cooperation and the political economy of trust. Transactions costs, principal-agent theory, market power, increasing-returns theory and value creation, strategic management: competitive forces, resource-based theory, organisationtal knowledge and learning, strategic choice theory and collective efficiency theory are reviewed. Lastly, the political economy of trust is sustained.

  7. Study of China's coal supply cost

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schneider, K.

    1998-01-01

    The Department of Primary Industries and Energy is funding a joint research project between ABARE and the Energy Research Institute of China's State Planning Commission, China's leading organisation undertaking policy-related energy sector research. Together, the two organisations will analyse the economic costs and impacts of moving large quantities of coal from China's northern coal fields to, power stations in the rapidly growing south-eastern coastal provinces. The study will also compare the true economic costs of using domestic coal - including the costs of subsidies on coal production and transport - with the costs of using imported coal. ABARE will use its dynamic model, MEGABARE, to undertake ky parts of the study, taking into account the complex linkages between sectors in an economy and between different economies

  8. Comparison between response dynamics in transition economies and developed economies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenenbaum, Joel; Horvatić, Davor; Bajić, Slavica Cosović; Pehlivanović, Bećo; Podobnik, Boris; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2010-10-01

    In developed economies, the sign of the price increment influences the volatility in an asymmetric fashion—negative increments tend to result in larger volatility (increments with larger magnitudes), while positive increments result in smaller volatility. We explore whether this asymmetry extends from developed economies to European transition economies and, if so, how such asymmetry changes over time as these transition economies develop and mature. We analyze eleven European transition economies and compare the results with those obtained by analyzing U.S. market indices. Specifically, we calculate parameters that quantify both the volatility asymmetry and the strength of its dependence on prior increments. We find that, like their developed economy counterparts, almost all transition economy indices exhibit a significant volatility asymmetry, and the parameter γ characterizing asymmetry fluctuates more over time for transition economies. We also investigate how the association between volatility and volatility asymmetry varies by type of market. We test the hypothesis of a negative correlation between volatility and volatility asymmetry. We find that, for developed economies, γ experiences local minima during (i) “Black Monday” on October 19, 1987, (ii) the dot-com bubble crash in 2002, and (iii) the 2007-2009 global crisis while for transition economies, γ experiences local maxima during times of economic crisis.

  9. The phenomenon of factoring, benefits for beneficiary and national economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kasavica Petar

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The essay encompasses three thematic units focused on the phenomenon of factoring and its benefits for beneficiaries and national economies. In the first part the essay analyses background, concept and participants, types of factoring products, and how factoring functions from the perspective of involved risks. In the second part the essay analyses benefits of factoring for beneficiaries, especially their financial performances and how factoring decreases collection risk and costs of working capital financing. In the third part the essay analyses benefits of factoring for national economies tackling its capabilities to support declining companies and how factoring upgrades macroeconomic figures and features of financial sector. This part explains the way how national economies are organized through international factoring based on two factor systems. The goal of the essay is to pinpoint micro benefits and their impact on macro environment, i.e. national economy.

  10. Plutonium economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Traube, K.

    1984-01-01

    The author expresses his opinion on the situation, describes the energy-economic setting, indicates the alternatives: fuel reprocessing or immediate long-term storage, and investigates the prospects for economic utilization of the breeder reactors. All the facts suggest that the breeder reactor will never be able to stand economic competition with light-water reactors. However, there is no way to prove the future. It is naive to think that every doubt could and must be removed before stopping the development of breeder reactors - and thus also the reprocessing of the fuel of light-water reactors. On the basis of the current state of knowledge an unbiased cost-benefit-analysis can only lead to the recommendation to stop construction immediately. But can 'experts', who for years or even decades have called for and supported the development of breeder reactors be expected to make an unbiased analysis. Klaus Traube strikes the balance of the state Germany's nuclear economy is in: although there is no chance of definitively abandoning that energy-political cul-de-sac, no new adventures must be embarked upon. Responsible handling of currently used nuclear technology means to give up breeder technology and waive plutonium economy. It is no supreme technology with the aid of which structural unemployment or any other economic problem could be solved. (orig.) [de

  11. Violence against children in South Africa: the cost of inaction to society and the economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Celia; Fry, Deborah; Ward, Catherine L; Ganz, Gary; Casey, Tabitha; Zheng, Xiaodong; Fang, Xiangming

    2018-01-01

    Despite the extent and magnitude of violence against children in South Africa, political and financial investments to prevent violence against children remain low. A recent costing study investigating the social burden and economic impact of violence against children in South Africa found notable reductions to mental and physical health outcomes in the population if children were prevented from experiencing violence, neglect and witnessing family violence. The results showed, among others, that drug abuse in the entire population could be reduced by up to 14% if sexual violence against children could be prevented, self-harm could be reduced by 23% in the population if children did not experience physical violence, anxiety could be reduced by 10% if children were not emotionally abused, alcohol abuse could be reduced by 14% in women if they did not experience neglect as children, and lastly, interpersonal violence in the population could be reduced by 16% if children did not witness family violence. The study further estimated that the cost of inaction in 2015 amounted to nearly 5% of the country's gross domestic product. These findings show that preventing children from experiencing and witnessing violence can help to strengthen the health of a nation by ensuring children reach their full potential and drive the country's economy and growth. The paper further discusses ways in which preventing and ending violence against children may be prioritised in South Africa through, for instance, intersectoral collaboration and improving routine monitoring data, such as through the sustainable development goals.

  12. To Do or Not to Do: Dopamine, Affordability and the Economics of Opportunity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beeler, Jeff A; Mourra, Devry

    2018-01-01

    Five years ago, we introduced the thrift hypothesis of dopamine (DA), suggesting that the primary role of DA in adaptive behavior is regulating behavioral energy expenditure to match the prevailing economic conditions of the environment. Here we elaborate that hypothesis with several new ideas. First, we introduce the concept of affordability, suggesting that costs must necessarily be evaluated with respect to the availability of resources to the organism, which computes a value not only for the potential reward opportunity, but also the value of resources expended. Placing both costs and benefits within the context of the larger economy in which the animal is functioning requires consideration of the different timescales against which to compute resource availability, or average reward rate. Appropriate windows of computation for tracking resources requires corresponding neural substrates that operate on these different timescales. In discussing temporal patterns of DA signaling, we focus on a neglected form of DA plasticity and adaptation, changes in the physical substrate of the DA system itself, such as up- and down-regulation of receptors or release probability. We argue that changes in the DA substrate itself fundamentally alter its computational function, which we propose mediates adaptations to longer temporal horizons and economic conditions. In developing our hypothesis, we focus on DA D2 receptors (D2R), arguing that D2R implements a form of "cost control" in response to the environmental economy, serving as the "brain's comptroller". We propose that the balance between the direct and indirect pathway, regulated by relative expression of D1 and D2 DA receptors, implements affordability. Finally, as we review data, we discuss limitations in current approaches that impede fully investigating the proposed hypothesis and highlight alternative, more semi-naturalistic strategies more conducive to neuroeconomic investigations on the role of DA in adaptive

  13. To Do or Not to Do: Dopamine, Affordability and the Economics of Opportunity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beeler, Jeff A.; Mourra, Devry

    2018-01-01

    Five years ago, we introduced the thrift hypothesis of dopamine (DA), suggesting that the primary role of DA in adaptive behavior is regulating behavioral energy expenditure to match the prevailing economic conditions of the environment. Here we elaborate that hypothesis with several new ideas. First, we introduce the concept of affordability, suggesting that costs must necessarily be evaluated with respect to the availability of resources to the organism, which computes a value not only for the potential reward opportunity, but also the value of resources expended. Placing both costs and benefits within the context of the larger economy in which the animal is functioning requires consideration of the different timescales against which to compute resource availability, or average reward rate. Appropriate windows of computation for tracking resources requires corresponding neural substrates that operate on these different timescales. In discussing temporal patterns of DA signaling, we focus on a neglected form of DA plasticity and adaptation, changes in the physical substrate of the DA system itself, such as up- and down-regulation of receptors or release probability. We argue that changes in the DA substrate itself fundamentally alter its computational function, which we propose mediates adaptations to longer temporal horizons and economic conditions. In developing our hypothesis, we focus on DA D2 receptors (D2R), arguing that D2R implements a form of “cost control” in response to the environmental economy, serving as the “brain’s comptroller”. We propose that the balance between the direct and indirect pathway, regulated by relative expression of D1 and D2 DA receptors, implements affordability. Finally, as we review data, we discuss limitations in current approaches that impede fully investigating the proposed hypothesis and highlight alternative, more semi-naturalistic strategies more conducive to neuroeconomic investigations on the role of DA in

  14. To Do or Not to Do: Dopamine, Affordability and the Economics of Opportunity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeff A. Beeler

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Five years ago, we introduced the thrift hypothesis of dopamine (DA, suggesting that the primary role of DA in adaptive behavior is regulating behavioral energy expenditure to match the prevailing economic conditions of the environment. Here we elaborate that hypothesis with several new ideas. First, we introduce the concept of affordability, suggesting that costs must necessarily be evaluated with respect to the availability of resources to the organism, which computes a value not only for the potential reward opportunity, but also the value of resources expended. Placing both costs and benefits within the context of the larger economy in which the animal is functioning requires consideration of the different timescales against which to compute resource availability, or average reward rate. Appropriate windows of computation for tracking resources requires corresponding neural substrates that operate on these different timescales. In discussing temporal patterns of DA signaling, we focus on a neglected form of DA plasticity and adaptation, changes in the physical substrate of the DA system itself, such as up- and down-regulation of receptors or release probability. We argue that changes in the DA substrate itself fundamentally alter its computational function, which we propose mediates adaptations to longer temporal horizons and economic conditions. In developing our hypothesis, we focus on DA D2 receptors (D2R, arguing that D2R implements a form of “cost control” in response to the environmental economy, serving as the “brain’s comptroller”. We propose that the balance between the direct and indirect pathway, regulated by relative expression of D1 and D2 DA receptors, implements affordability. Finally, as we review data, we discuss limitations in current approaches that impede fully investigating the proposed hypothesis and highlight alternative, more semi-naturalistic strategies more conducive to neuroeconomic investigations on the

  15. Policy Pathways: Improving the Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles - A policy package

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-01

    The transportation sector accounts for approximately one-fifth of global final energy consumption and will account for nearly all future growth in oil use, particularly for road vehicles. The right policy mix can allow countries to improve the fuel economy of road vehicles, which in turn can enhance energy security and reduce CO2 emissions. Improving the Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles highlights lessons learned and examples of good practices from countries with experience in implementing fuel economy policies for vehicles. The report, part of the IEA’s Policy Pathway series, outlines key steps in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It complements the IEA Technology Roadmap: Fuel Economy for Road Vehicles, which outlines technical options, potentials, and costs towards improvement in the near, medium and long term.

  16. Oil price shocks: Sectoral and dynamic adjustments in a small-open developed and oil-exporting economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dissou, Yazid

    2010-01-01

    The recent uptrend in oil prices represents both an opportunity and a challenge for small-open developed and oil-exporting countries. Using Canada as a study case and in contrast to most studies that use aggregate models, this paper employs a multi-sector, intertemporal general equilibrium model to provide perspectives on the sectoral, aggregate and dynamic adjustments of a sustained increase in oil prices. It highlights the transmission channels through which the rise in oil prices affects the domestic economy. The simulation results suggest that the shock would have positive aggregate impacts, but would also spur the reallocation of resources and would therefore induce disparities in sectoral adjustments. The suggested contraction in some industries could not however be attributed to a pure Dutch disease phenomenon because of, among other factors, the cost-push effect induced by the increase in oil prices.

  17. The Impact of Alzheimer's Disease on the Chinese Economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keogh-Brown, Marcus R; Jensen, Henning Tarp; Arrighi, H Michael; Smith, Richard D

    2016-02-01

    Recent increases in life expectancy may greatly expand future Alzheimer's Disease (AD) burdens. China's demographic profile, aging workforce and predicted increasing burden of AD-related care make its economy vulnerable to AD impacts. Previous economic estimates of AD predominantly focus on health system burdens and omit wider whole-economy effects, potentially underestimating the full economic benefit of effective treatment. AD-related prevalence, morbidity and mortality for 2011-2050 were simulated and were, together with associated caregiver time and costs, imposed on a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model of the Chinese economy. Both economic and non-economic outcomes were analyzed. Simulated Chinese AD prevalence quadrupled during 2011-50 from 6-28 million. The cumulative discounted value of eliminating AD equates to China's 2012 GDP (US$8 trillion), and the annual predicted real value approaches US AD cost-of-illness (COI) estimates, exceeding US$1 trillion by 2050 (2011-prices). Lost labor contributes 62% of macroeconomic impacts. Only 10% derives from informal care, challenging previous COI-estimates of 56%. Health and macroeconomic models predict an unfolding 2011-2050 Chinese AD epidemic with serious macroeconomic consequences. Significant investment in research and development (medical and non-medical) is warranted and international researchers and national authorities should therefore target development of effective AD treatment and prevention strategies.

  18. International lessons in new methods for grading and integrating cost effectiveness evidence into clinical practice guidelines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Antioch, Kathryn M; Drummond, Michael F; Niessen, Louis W

    2017-01-01

    Economic evidence is influential in health technology assessment world-wide. Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) can enable economists to include economic information on health care provision. Application of economic evidence in CPGs, and its integration into clinical practice and national decisio......-of-life, budget impact, cost-effective ratios, net benefits and disparities in access and outcomes. Priority setting remains essential and trade-off decisions between policy criteria can be based on MCDA, both in evidence based clinical medicine and in health planning....... that scores that checklist for grading studies, when assessing economic evidence. Cost-effectiveness Analysis (CEA) thresholds, opportunity cost and willingness-to-pay (WTP) are crucial issues for decision rules in CEA generally, including end-of-life therapies. Limitations of inter-rater reliability......, logistics, innovation price, price sensitivity, substitutes and complements, WTP, absenteeism and presentism. Supply issues may include economies of scale, efficiency changes, and return on investment. Involved equity and efficiency measures may include cost-of-illness, disease burden, quality...

  19. Circular Economy: Questions for Responsible Minerals, Additive Manufacturing and Recycling of Metals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damien Giurco

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The concept of the circular economy proposes new patterns of production, consumption and use, based on circular flows of resources. Under a scenario where there is a global shift towards the circular economy, this paper discusses the advent of two parallel and yet-to-be-connected trends for Australia, namely: (i responsible minerals supply chains and (ii additive manufacturing, also known as 3D production systems. Acknowledging the current context for waste management, the paper explores future interlinked questions which arise in the circular economy for responsible supply chains, additive manufacturing, and metals recycling. For example, where do mined and recycled resources fit in responsible supply chains as inputs to responsible production? What is required to ensure 3D production systems are resource efficient? How could more distributed models of production, enabled by additive manufacturing, change the geographical scale at which it is economic or desirable to close the loop? Examples are given to highlight the need for an integrated research agenda to address these questions and to foster Australian opportunities in the circular economy.

  20. Knowledge Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Kerr, Aphra; O Riain, Sean

    2009-01-01

    We examine a number of key questions regarding this knowledge economy. First, we look at the origin of the concept as well as early attempts to define and map the knowledge economy empirically. Second, we examine a variety of perspectives on the socio-spatial organisation of the knowledge economy and approaches which link techno-economic change and social-spatial organisation. Building on a critique of these perspectives, we then go on to develop a view of a knowledge economy that is conteste...

  1. Blockchain - an Innovation Technology of the Post-Industrial Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Arkhireiska Natalia V.

    2017-01-01

    The article is aimed at studying the innovation technology of the post-industrial economy - blockchain. It has been found that blockchain is a multifunctional and multi-level information technology designed to reliably account for different assets. It has been proved that the most important today is blockchain for Bitcoin. The article explores the opportunities, prospects and risks associated with investment in cryptocurrency. It has been determined that the main advantages of investment in B...

  2. Ocean warming expands habitat of a rich natural resource and benefits a national economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jansen, Teunis; Post, Søren Lorenzen; Kristiansen, Trond

    2016-01-01

    Geographic redistribution of living natural resources changes access and thereby harvesting opportunities between countries. Internationally shared fish resources can be sensitive to shifts in the marine environment and this may have great impact on the economies of countries and regions that rely...... northwest in the Atlantic. This change in migration pattern was followed by a rapid development of a large-scale fishery of substantial importance for the national economy of Greenland (23% of Greenland's export value of all goods in 2014). A pelagic trawl survey was conducted in mid-summer 2014...

  3. Estimate of Cost-Effective Potential for Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards in 13 Major World Economies Energy Savings, Environmental and Financial Impacts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Letschert, Virginie E. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Bojda, Nicholas [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Ke, Jing [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); McNeil, Michael A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2012-07-01

    This study analyzes the financial impacts on consumers of minimum efficiency performance standards (MEPS) for appliances that could be implemented in 13 major economies around the world. We use the Bottom-Up Energy Analysis System (BUENAS), developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), to analyze various appliance efficiency target levels to estimate the net present value (NPV) of policies designed to provide maximum energy savings while not penalizing consumers financially. These policies constitute what we call the “cost-effective potential” (CEP) scenario. The CEP scenario is designed to answer the question: How high can we raise the efficiency bar in mandatory programs while still saving consumers money?

  4. Economies of capacity use in decontamination of pig carcasses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård; Lawson, Lartey Godwin; Lund, Mogens

    2013-01-01

    This article analyzes the economies of capacity use regarding hot water decontamination to reduce postslaughter risk of pathogens in meat, taking interfarm heterogeneities of Salmonella risk and costs of transportation into account, using Denmark as a case study. If risk reduction goals are state...

  5. Technological Advances and Opportunities for the Development of Sustainable Biorefineries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mussatto, Solange I.

    to generate new jobs and new opportunities for entrepreneurship, with further benefits to the global economy and the society. Biomass can be used to replace fossil feedstocks for the production of different products, among of which, chemicals are particularly very attractive due to their high market value...

  6. Approximation of the economy of fusion energy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Entler, Slavomír; Horáček, Jan; Dlouhý, T.; Dostál, V.

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 152, June (2018), s. 489-497 ISSN 0360-5442 Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/2 Program:StrategieAV Institutional support: RVO:61389021 Keywords : Nuclear fusion * Fusion energy * Economy * NPV * LCOE * External costs Subject RIV: JF - Nuclear Energetics OBOR OECD: Thermodynamics Impact factor: 4.520, year: 2016 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544218305395

  7. Participatory approach to improving safety, health and working conditions in informal economy workplaces in Cambodia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawakami, Tsuyoshi; Tong, Leng; Kannitha, Yi; Sophorn, Tun

    2011-01-01

    The present study aimed to improve safety and health in informal economy workplaces such as home workplaces, small construction sites, and rural farms in Cambodia by using "participatory" approach. The government, workers' and employers' organizations and NGOs jointly assisted informal economy workers in improving safety and health by using participatory training methodologies. The steps taken were: (1) to collect existing good practices in safety and health in Cambodia; (2) to develop new participatory training programmes for home workers and small construction sites referring to ILO's WISE training programme, and (3) to train government officers, workers, employers and NGOs as safety and health trainers. The participatory training programmes developed consisted of action-checklists associated with illustrations, good example photo sheets, and texts explaining practical, low-cost improvement measures. The established safety and health trainers reached many informal economy workers through their human networks, and trained them by using the developed participatory training programmes. More than 3,000 informal economy workers were trained and they implemented improvements by using low-cost methods. Participatory training methodologies and active cooperation between the government, workers, employers and NGOs made it possible to provide practical training for those involved in the informal economy workplaces.

  8. Exploring the implementation of a circular economy strategy: the case of a closed-loop supply of aluminum beverage cans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stewart, Raphaëlle Marie Marianne; Niero, Monia; Murdock, Karen

    2018-01-01

    The circular economy concept provides a key opportunity to address the challenge of resource scarcity for both policy makers and industries. Companies are urged to play their part and integrate circular economy in their business. However, little has been said about how implementation should occur...... and the consequences for the industry. This paper explores possibilities for the business implementation of a beverage producer’s circular economy strategy, which consists in setting up a closed-loop supply of aluminum beverage cans. For this purpose, we develop a business model-inspired framework derived from...

  9. UNDERGROUND ECONOMY, INFLUENCES ON NATIONAL ECONOMIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CEAUȘESCU IONUT

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of research is to improve the understanding of nature underground economy by rational justification of the right to be enshrined a reality that, at least statistically, can no longer be neglected. So, we propose to find the answer to the question: has underground economy to stand-alone?

  10. Linear Economy Versus Circular Economy: A Comparative and Analyzer Study for Optimization of Economy for Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sariatli Furkan

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Upon visiting the existing literature on the subject of linear vs. circular economy, this paper finds that, the blueprint of the current economy is hardly sustainable by using the comparative benchmarking method that drained from literature. The intrinsic mechanics of the linear economy, by relying on the wasteful take - make - dispose flow, is detrimental to the environment, cannot supply the growing populace of our planet with essential services and it naturally leads to strained profitability. Elements of a plausible solution to the challenges have been around for decades, although they have only recently been compiled in to the conceptual framework of circular economy. The core ideas of Circular Economy are elimination of waste by design, respect for the social, economic and natural environment and resource-conscious business conduct. Built on the backbone of these principles, the circular economy has demonstrated to deliver tangible benefits and viability to address the economic, environmental and social challenges of our days.

  11. Precarious Working Conditions and Exploitation of Workers in the Nigerian Informal Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akeem Ayofe Akinwale

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Situations in the informal economy expose workers to dangers without opportunity for hazard pay, thereby reflecting exploitation. Based on the Marxist theory of conflict, this paper examines the extent of precarious working conditions and exploitation of workers in the Nigerian informal economy. A total of 500 respondents randomly selected from various informal economy organizations participated in the survey conducted in Lagos State, Nigeria. The findings revealed that most of the respondents (76.4% had worked for up to five years consecutively, followed by a few (18%, who had worked for up to ten years consecutively. Their monthly income ranged from 10,000 naira ($60 to 80,000 naira ($485. Their mean monthly income was 30,000 naira ($182. Most of them (73.5% worked for 10 to 12 hours daily, while 26.5% worked for seven to nine hours daily. The experience of low pay with relatively long daily working hours shows the extent of exploitation in the Nigerian informal economy. Several background characteristics, such as gender, age, level of education, and marital status influenced the workers’ experience of precarious working conditions and exploitation. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a progressive workplace policy that can ensure decent work and adequate protection for workers in the Nigerian informal economy.

  12. Coal: Bonn saddling the economy with new burdens

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kessler, M.

    1993-01-01

    The prospects of an energy consensus between the p[arties have faded away. The Social Democrats and Christian Democrats are jeopardizing the possible compromise between coal and nuclear energy. Now there are efforts to concoct a new energy tax. The economy must prepare to cope with higher costs for nuclear energy and coal. (HP) [de

  13. Tariff Policy and Transport Costs under Reciprocal Dumping

    OpenAIRE

    Jun Oshiro

    2011-01-01

    This paper analyzes tariff competition by investigating the strategic interactions among firms that are highly mobile across national boundaries. Although high transport costs yield a geographic dispersion of the industry, sufficiently low transport costs result in a core-periphery location where nobody bears tariff burdens. In any case, the world economy would be in a much better position under an international coordination scheme. An economy is only required to enforce a weak international ...

  14. Young entrepreneurs pushed by necessity and pulled by opportunity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cheraghi, Maryam

    2017-01-01

    The vocational choice to be an entrepreneur is made in a social context of institutions in society, which channel, regulate, enable and constrain life, with pushes and pulls. The necessity to make a living may push the entrepreneur, or an opportunity for business may pull the entrepreneur to start....... The push by necessity and pull by opportunity are exerted by institutions in society such as its economy and culture. The purpose here is to account for how young entrepreneurs' experiences of opportunity-pull and necessity-push are influenced by society's economic wealth and culture, as traditional versus...... secular-rational culture and as survival versus self-expression culture. - A sample of 41,281 young entrepreneurs in 93 countries was surveyed in Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. - Analyses show that young entrepreneurs' experience of opportunity-pull rather than necessity-push is not distinctly...

  15. Measuring flood footprint of a regional economy - A case study for the UK flooding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, D.

    2013-12-01

    Analysis of the urban economy and society is central to understanding the broad impacts of flooding and to identify cost-effective adaptation and mitigation measures. Assessments of the flooding impacts on cities have traditionally focused on the initial impact on people and assets. These initial estimates (so-called ';direct damage') are useful both in understanding the immediate implications of damage, and in marshalling the pools of capital and supplies required for re-building after an event. Since different economies as well as societies are coupled, especially under the current economic crisis, any small-scale damage may be multiplied and cascaded throughout wider economic systems and social networks. The direct and indirect damage is currently not evaluated well and could be captured by quantification of what we call the flood footprint. Flooding in one location can impact the whole UK economy. Neglecting these knock-on costs (i.e. the true footprint of the flood) means we might be ignoring the economic benefits and beneficiaries of flood risk management interventions. In 2007, for example, floods cost the economy about £3.2 bn directly, but the wider effect might actually add another 50% to 250% to that. Flood footprint is a measure of the exclusive total socioeconomic impact that is directly and indirectly caused by a flood event to the flooding region and wider economic systems and social networks. We adopt the UK 2012 flooding. An input-output basic dynamic inequalities (BDI) model is used to assess the impact of the floodings on the level of a Yorkshire economy, accounting for interactions between industries through demand and supply of intermediate consumption goods with a circular flow. After the disaster the economy will be unbalanced. The recovery process finishes when the economy is completely balance, i.e., when labour production capacity equals demands and production and all the variables reach pre-disaster levels. The analysis is carried out

  16. Fuel Cell Development for NASA's Human Exploration Program: Benchmarking with "The Hydrogen Economy"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, John H.

    2007-01-01

    The theoretically high efficiency and low temperature operation of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells has motivated them to be the subject of much study since their invention in the 19th Century, but their relatively high life cycle costs kept them as a "solution in search of a problem" for many years. The first problem for which fuel cells presented a truly cost effective solution was that of providing a power source for NASA's human spaceflight vehicles in the 1960 s. NASA thus invested, and continues to invest, in the development of fuel cell power plants for this application. This development program continues to place its highest priorities on requirements for minimum system mass and maximum durability and reliability. These priorities drive fuel cell power plant design decisions at all levels, even that of catalyst support. However, since the mid-1990's, prospective environmental regulations have driven increased governmental and industrial interest in "green power" and the "Hydrogen Economy." This has in turn stimulated greatly increased investment in fuel cell development for a variety of commercial applications. This investment is bringing about notable advances in fuel cell technology, but, as these development efforts place their highest priority on requirements for minimum life cycle cost and field safety, these advances are yielding design solutions quite different at almost every level from those needed for spacecraft applications. This environment thus presents both opportunities and challenges for NASA's Human Exploration Program

  17. Educating All Learners for the New Economy: Region Needs More Varied Range of Learning Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Cecilia; Kazis, Richard

    2009-01-01

    New England's population and labor force growth have slowed considerably in recent years. What relatively little growth that has occurred has been concentrated in immigrant and other populations that have not been well-served historically by its educational and economic institutions. In an economy that is demanding ever more advanced skills from…

  18. Missed Opportunity: The Underutilisation of Forced Migrants in the British Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dieu Donné HACK-POLAY

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper looks at the work experiences of forced migrants in the country of origin and the host country. The article builds on interviews with forced migrants from three nationalities, Congo (DRC, Kosovo and Somalia to contrast their experience of work in the labour market in the United Kingdom. The research found that the place the migrants occupy in the host labour market is not often commensurate with their qualifications and professional baggage from the country of origin. The forced migrants often landed in menial, unskilled or semi-skilled jobs. Ethnicity or racial origin had little impact on the degree of success in the host labour market. However the article concludes that the professional demise of the forced migrants is not only a loss to them but the host economy might be missing out on valuable human resources, given the high skills that the migrants harbour.

  19. Strategic Islands in Economic Games: Isolating Economies From Better Outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael S. Harré

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Many of the issues we face as a society are made more problematic by the rapidly changing context in which important decisions are made. For example buying a petrol powered car is most advantageous when there are many petrol pumps providing cheap petrol whereas buying an electric car is most advantageous when there are many electrical recharge points or high capacity batteries available. Such collective decision-making is often studied using economic game theory where the focus is on how individuals might reach an agreement regarding the supply and demand for the different energy types. But even if the two parties find a mutually agreeable strategy, as technology and costs change over time, for example through cheaper and more efficient batteries and a more accurate pricing of the total cost of oil consumption, so too do the incentives for the choices buyers and sellers make, the result of which can be the stranding of an industry or even a whole economy on an island of inefficient outcomes. In this article we consider the issue of how changes in the underlying incentives can move us from an optimal economy to a sub-optimal economy while at the same time making it impossible to collectively navigate our way to a better strategy without forcing us to pass through a socially undesirable “tipping point”. We show that different perturbations to underlying incentives results in the creation or destruction of “strategic islands” isolated by disruptive transitions between strategies. The significant result in this work is the illustration that an economy that remains strategically stationary can over time become stranded in a suboptimal outcome from which there is no easy way to put the economy on a path to better outcomes without going through an economic tipping point.

  20. The cost of children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordström, Leif Jonas

    , the opportunity cost of two children is estimated to 28-29 per cent of full income, which in monetary units is close to estimated income difference between women employed in the public and private sector. The opportunity cost of fatherhood is generally positive, but only significantly positive for men born......In this paper we estimate the opportunity cost of children. The underlying theoretical model is represented by a household production model. In the empirical analysis, we consider three different cohorts for men and women born between 1955 and 1970. For the women in the two oldest cohorts...

  1. Stay the Course or Seize an Opportunity? Options for Alberta’s Post-Secondary Institutions in a Period of Uncertainty About the Rebound of the Oil Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ken Norrie

    2017-09-01

    considerable resources being tied up by programs that are not in high demand. If post-secondary administrators and governors cannot know when oil prices will rebound, if ever, they are even less able to predict what sectors Alberta’s future economy will shift toward as it diversifies away from its energy export reliance. Whatever decision is made, to stay the course or shift to exploit expected opportunities, university and college leaders are taking risk where the consequences will be borne across the institutions’ students and faculty and the Alberta taxpayer. In that light there is a larger, existential question that must be addressed when considering Alberta post-secondary education institutions and how they respond to the slumping energy sector. What is the mission of PSE institutions in the Alberta economy? Are they instruments of economic adjustment, providing education and skills training that allow Albertans to be mobile across jobs, employers, industries and regions? Or, are they instruments for fostering economic diversification, where research, education and skills training are oriented toward meeting the needs of a targeted or emerging economic opportunity?

  2. THE HYBRID APPROACH OF INFLATION TARGETING: WHAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR AN EMERGING ECONOMY LIKE TUNISIA?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hella Guerchi Mehri

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available After economic crises happening in many emerging countries, flexible exchange rates became a required theoretical condition helping to target inflation. Many countries stopped using exchange rate as an anchor for monetary policy and started using inflation targeting framework. In emerging countries, monetary authorities work to stabilize the exchange rate because of their “fear of floating”. They are against high volatility of interest rate allowing speculative attacks and causing free fluctuations of their national currency. To avoid uncontrolled market movements, they have to choose between active and public exchange rate management and tight inflation targeting. In the same vein, Central bank of Tunisia follows financial measures linked closely to inflation without focusing especially on monetary aggregates in order to study a possible transition to targeting inflation strategy. It uses a simple Taylor rule where interest rates adjustment are guided by the anticipated inflation deviation from its original target and also by the gap between observed and potential GDP.As an emerging economy with a high degree of financial vulnerability, and facing different shocks, Tunisia should adopt a hybrid rule of inflation targeting in an open economy. This hybrid rule explicitly takes into account the evolution of the exchange rate in the reaction function of the central bank.

  3. Nuclear power--the hope of green economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian Jiashu; Wang Chuang

    2010-01-01

    The thesis introduces the current situation of nuclear power development and developed countries' attitude towards nuclear power as the demand for energy consumption is continuously increasing with the global economic and social development and the green house gas emission leads to global warming. By comparison of the impact to the environment and the generating cost between thermal power and nuclear power, it is of great significance to strengthen nuclear power development to carry out international cooperation on low-carbon economy and to enhance self-innovation for developing the green economy and dealing with climate change. Based on the analysis of nuclear industry development in China, the Mid-Long Term Development Plan for Nuclear Power has been set up, and challenges and objectives of nuclear and radiation safety regulation have been brought forward. (authors)

  4. The solar energy based global economy. A policy leading to the ecological era

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scheer, H.

    1999-01-01

    Bound in its fossil energy and raw materials supply chains, the global economy is heading for a global ecological crisis and dramatically aggravating conflicts. Moreover, this exclusive dependence on fossil energy and materials resources forces a global concentration process increasingly undermining democratic and free market systems. But the will to survive is not the only reason to consider a new industrial revolution to be imperative. Such a sweeping change, from a fossil energy based regime to a system relying exclusively on renewable energy sources and raw materials, would open up unique opportunities for the evolution of a peaceful and democratic global economy fostering the development of superior technologies and sustainable regional economic systems. The author of the book elaborates the scenario permitting such a radical change, and explains the necessary basic approaches and appropriate policies relating to technology, the economy, ecology, and the social system. The ultimate goal is that the evolution of the solar energy based global economy will be accompanied by an intrinsic economic driving force eventually leading to an ecological era. (orig./CB) [de

  5. Army Roof Management and Improvement Opportunities

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bailey, David

    1999-01-01

    ... - about $200 million annually. Systemic, integrated solutions offer the Army a great opportunity to save millions of dollars annually in repair and replacement costs, and to avoid incidental costs incurred due to interrupted...

  6. Measuring economies of scale at the city market level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdmanis, Vivian G

    2010-01-01

    Data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques have been applied to the assessing efficiency and productivity among individual hospitals. In this article, we employ DEA to address whether economies of scale exist among hospital markets by first assessing individual hospitals operating in 2005 in the State of Florida and then by comparing hospital markets' efficiency relative to each other. The interest in hospital markets stems from issues relating to mergers among hospitals or the reallocation of services (inputs) among hospitals in a market area, particularly as occupancy rates and reimbursements are tending to fall. Facing more competition and stringent financial conditions, hospitals would benefit from decreasing costs by exploiting economies of scale.

  7. A comparison of high-speed flywheels, batteries, and ultracapacitors on the bases of cost and fuel economy as the energy storage system in a fuel cell based hybrid electric vehicle

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doucette, Reed T.; McCulloch, Malcolm D. [Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Thom Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PJ (United Kingdom)

    2011-02-01

    Fuel cells aboard hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are often hybridized with an energy storage system (ESS). Batteries and ultracapacitors are the most common technologies used in ESSs aboard HEVs. High-speed flywheels are an emerging technology with traits that have the potential to make them competitive with more established battery and ultracapacitor technologies in certain vehicular applications. This study compares high-speed flywheels, ultracapacitors, and batteries functioning as the ESS in a fuel cell based HEV on the bases of cost and fuel economy. In this study, computer models were built to simulate the powertrain of a fuel cell based HEV where high-speed flywheels, batteries, and ultracapacitors of a range of sizes were used as the ESS. A simulated vehicle with a powertrain using each of these technologies was run over two different drive cycles in order to see how the different ESSs performed under different driving patterns. The results showed that when cost and fuel economy were both considered, high-speed flywheels were competitive with batteries and ultracapacitors. (author)

  8. Socio-economic opportunities of the biobased economy in the south-west of the Netherlands. Estimated employment impact in 2020; Sociaaleconomische kansen van de biobased economy in Zuidwest-Nederland. Inschatting werkgelegenheidseffecten in 2020

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Van Lieshout, M.; Warringa, G.; Bergsma, G.; Croezen, H.

    2013-06-15

    This study, commissioned by the Socio-Economic Councils (SER) of the Dutch provinces of Zeeland and Brabant, was carried out in collaboration with a supervisory committee comprising numerous stakeholders in the biobased economy in the south-west of the Netherlands. The motto was 'agro meets chemistry'. Given that it was clear from the outset that the volume of locally available biomass is insufficient for large-scale power generation without inducing serious competition with food production, it was opted to restrict the scope of the 'biobased economy' to production of biobased chemicals and innovative materials. Because of the study's limited scope and duration, gross employment effects were also calculated for Zeeland and West Brabant only. To this end, three factors critical for the growth of the biobased economy and thus for potential employment effects were analysed: the price of fossil feedstocks, the availability of biomass for chemical industry applications, and the availability of capital for investing in innovative biobased processes. To cover the full range of possible developments in the biobased economy, two scenarios were developed: high and low, with in each case employment effects being estimated on the basis of a biomass flow analysis and employment indices [Dutch] Deze studie is uitgevoerd in opdracht van de SER Zeeland en de SER Brabant, in samenwerking met een begeleidingscommissie met brede vertegenwoordiging van stakeholders van de biobased economy in Zuidwest Nederland. De insteek was 'agro meets chemistry'. Aangezien bij aanvang vast stond dat de lokaal beschikbare biomassa onvoldoende is voor grootschalige energieopwekking, zonder ernstige concurrentie met voedselproductie te veroorzaken, is er voor gekozen om de biobased economy te beperken tot de productie van biobased chemie en innovatieve materialen. Verder is gezien de beperkte omvang en doorlooptijd van de studie besloten om

  9. The Intelligent Industrial Facility in the New Economy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2001-01-01

    To quote from an article that appeared in the August 9th, 2000edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail, Report on Business:"Productivity soared in the United States at the strongest pace since theearly 1980' s, propelledbythecomputerizationoftheworkingworld and massive investment by business in ever faster high-tech equipment.The billions of dollars being spent on new computer equipment and new electronic commerce systems continued to pay off in the second quarter, allowing the economic output per worker to surpass the already high expectations of financial analysts.The U. S. Department of Labour reported yesterday that productivity in the United States rose at an annualized rate of 5.3 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter... its strongest 12 month increase since the third quarter of 1983 Much ofthe productivity gains in the computerization and on-line presence is in turn, expected to enable Canadian businesses to keep improving the productivity of their workers and match the gains of the United States. "In order to achieve gains of this magnitude, we must move beyond automation at the plant floor level. New opportunities are emerging from the networked e-business environment of the internet, intranets and extranets. Fast and efficient access to these technologies is becomingessential for survival in today' s new economy. E-business lets you create and manage a network of employees, suppliers and partners working toward a common goal. The result is a seamless, integrated system that can sense and respond to customers, competitors and global markets in real time. By enabling collaboration, integration and empowerment, these new technologies increase productivity, reduce cycle times, lower costs, create new business opportunities and achievegreater return on investment.To summarize, we need to take a systems integration approach to automation.

  10. The green economy and the role of industry in the green growth. Report for the Cercle de l'Industrie

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crifo, P.; Crassous-Doerfler, R.; Flam, M.

    2010-06-01

    In its first part, this report proposes and comments definition for the green economy and growth, outlines the methodological difficulty in performing an economical assessment, identifies the possible green growth levers, and compares the situation of China, United States and Europe with respect to green growth. The second part addresses the role of industry in the green economy: constraint or opportunity, value creating activities, success and risk factors

  11. Decarbonizing the Global Economy - An Integrated Assessment of Low Carbon Emission Scenarios proposed in Climate Policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hokamp, Sascha; Khabbazan, Mohammad Mohammadi

    2017-04-01

    In 2015, the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) reaffirmed to targeting the global mean temperature rise below 2 °C in 2100 while finding no consent on decarbonizing the global economy, and instead, the final agreement called for enhanced scientific investigation of low carbon emission scenarios (UNFCC, 2015). In addition, the Climate Action Network International (CAN) proposes Special Reports to address decarbonization and low carbon development including 1.5 °C scenarios (IPCC, 2016). In response to these developments, we investigate whether the carbon emission cuts, in accordance with the recent climate policy proposals, may reach the climate target. To tackle this research question, we employ the coupled climate-energy-economy integrated assessment Model of INvestment and endogenous technological Development (MIND, cf. Edenhofer et al., 2005, Neubersch et al. 2014). Extending MIND's climate module to the two-box version used in the Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (DICE, cf. Nordhaus and Sztorc, 2013, Nordhaus 2014), we perform a cost-effectiveness analysis with constraints on anthropogenic carbon emissions. We show that a climate policy scenario with early decarbonization complies with the 2° C climate target, even without Carbon Capturing and Storage (CCS) or negative emissions (see van Vuuren et al., 2013, for negative emissions). However, using emission inertia of 3.7 percent annually, reflecting the inflexibility on transforming the energy sector, we find a climate policy with moderately low emissions from 2100 onwards at a cost in terms of Balanced Growth Equivalents (BGE, cf. Anthoff and Tol, 2009) of 0.764 % that requires an early (2035 vs. 2120) peak of investments in renewable energy production compared to a business-as-usual scenario. Hence, decarbonizing the global economy and achieving the 2 °C target might still be possible before 2100, but the window of opportunity is beginning to close. References: Anthoff, D., and Tol, R

  12. A Model for Understanding the Relationship Between Transaction Costs and Acquisition Cost Breaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-04-30

    an assistant professor and received a BA in anthropology and a BA and MA in economics (2004) and a PhD in political economy and public policy (2008...between transaction costs and cost overruns. Biggs (2013) showed that as the EAC SE/PM cost ratio rises there is a statistically significant corresponding...Estimate at Completion ( EAC ) is the sum of the ACWP and the estimate to completion (ETC) for the remaining work. The ETC can be calculated using the cost

  13. Comparative economic efficiency, operating costs and fuel consumption rates of freight transport modes between the largest industrial cities and seaports in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W J (Wessel Pienaar

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with aspects of efficiency within the five modes of freight transport, with special reference to the operating cost and fuel consumption rates between South Africa’s largest industrial cities and seaports. In particular, the paper deals with (a the opportunities that exist for the achievement of efficiency in freight transport; (b the subgroups of economies that can enhance efficiency attainment in the freight transport industry; (c prevailing cost structures, operating cost and fuel consumption rates within the five modes of freight transport; and (d the salient economic features of the freight transport market. The research approach and methodology combine (a a literature survey; (b empiric research, (c an analysis of the cost structures of freight transport operators from different modes of transport; and (d interviews conducted with specialists in the freight transport industry.

  14. A test of vertical economies for non-vertically integrated firms: The case of rural electric cooperatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greer, Monica L.

    2008-01-01

    This paper seeks to evaluate unrealized economies of vertical integration for rural electric cooperatives. Given the well-established network economies that are inherent in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, the coops long-standing choice of market structure is questionable (especially if their strategy is welfare maximization). Organized as either generation-and-transmission or distribution-only, the traditional measures of vertical economies will not work. Thus, I have devised an alternative method by which to measure such economies and find that, on average, cost savings in excess of 39% could have been realized had the coops adopted a vertically integrated structure. (author)

  15. A system of token economy associated to response cost applied to the out of the task behaviour of two adolescents suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo Chaves Cruz

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a program of token economy, that is, positive reinforcement, associated to negative punishment, that is, response cost, on the “out of the task” behaviour of two adolescents diagnosed as suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD. The program involved presenting or removing points contingent to the emission of adequate or inadequate behaviour, respectively, considering the task at hand. The token economy system was carried out through the adoption of colourful individual cards numbered from one to 10 points. Points were also removed when the student showed at the present session an increased frequence of inadequate behaviour compared to the last session. When reaching 10 points, the cards were exchanged for the privilegies (positive reinforcers previously negotiated between teacher and student. Statistical treatment was carried out through the use of Levene and Student t tests. The significance of the difference between means (p < 0.0001 revealed the efficacy of the intervention treatment on the behaviour of both participants. It was concluded that the merging effect of the positive reinforcement and negative punishment (= response cost learning principles leads to the modification of classroom disruptive behaviours in children with ADHD.

  16. Gender Roles against Opportunities for Entrepreneurship

    OpenAIRE

    Umam, Khoirul

    2017-01-01

    Micro, Small and Medium Business activities have a very important role in promoting the economy because this sector has been tested to have resistance to the economic crisis. Micro, Small and Medium Business has wide employment opportunities that can improve people's welfare. But the facts above are not as easy as Micro, Small and Medium Also has some problems, where small businesses Often face natural exa interest of ions with various Difficulties, such as capital constra...

  17. Wastewater Treatment Costs and Outlays in Organic Petrochemicals: Standards Versus Taxes With Methodology Suggestions for Marginal Cost Pricing and Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Russell G.; Singleton, F. D., Jr.

    1986-04-01

    With the methodology recommended by Baumol and Oates, comparable estimates of wastewater treatment costs and industry outlays are developed for effluent standard and effluent tax instruments for pollution abatement in five hypothetical organic petrochemicals (olefins) plants. The computational method uses a nonlinear simulation model for wastewater treatment to estimate the system state inputs for linear programming cost estimation, following a practice developed in a National Science Foundation (Research Applied to National Needs) study at the University of Houston and used to estimate Houston Ship Channel pollution abatement costs for the National Commission on Water Quality. Focusing on best practical and best available technology standards, with effluent taxes adjusted to give nearly equal pollution discharges, shows that average daily treatment costs (and the confidence intervals for treatment cost) would always be less for the effluent tax than for the effluent standard approach. However, industry's total outlay for these treatment costs, plus effluent taxes, would always be greater for the effluent tax approach than the total treatment costs would be for the effluent standard approach. Thus the practical necessity of showing smaller outlays as a prerequisite for a policy change toward efficiency dictates the need to link the economics at the microlevel with that at the macrolevel. Aggregation of the plants into a programming modeling basis for individual sectors and for the economy would provide a sound basis for effective policy reform, because the opportunity costs of the salient regulatory policies would be captured. Then, the government's policymakers would have the informational insights necessary to legislate more efficient environmental policies in light of the wealth distribution effects.

  18. Human economy and natural economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masullo Andrea

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The decline of economy is due to its dependency from a virtual value, the currency, the coin, that in the recent phase of consumerism is so far from real value: human capital and natural capital. If human economy wants to continue to produce wellbeing, it must accept to be a subset of natural economy, intercept flux of matter produced by its circular mechanisms, put constraints in it, i.e. machines and structures, to direct it temporarily for our advantage, and finally release it to the same original flux, in an still usable state. In this way it will assume a function no more parasitic but symbiotic. It will be connected to natural cycles without destroying it, recovering the co-evolutionary link between nature and culture, building an economic web suited to the ecological web; thus we will have a mosaic characterised by biodiversity, technological diversity, and cultural diversity, able to produce a durable prosperity.

  19. The Efficiency Opportunity Impact of Information Systems in an Organizational Economics Framework of Informatics

    OpenAIRE

    Kühn Pedersen, Mogens; Holm Larsen, Michael

    2004-01-01

    Information systems (IS) have a record of raising efficiency and effectiveness in business operations. In the modern economy, ongoing efficiency improvements through innovation play a decisive role. A new theory of distributed relations refocuses innovations comptence from core to distributed competence, raising new efficiency opportunities. The paper suggest an economic model of the efficiency op-portunities of information processing revealing the efficiency form of distributed relations, a ...

  20. Immersive Environment Development for Training: Opportunities for Cooperation, Coordination, and Cost Savings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tackentien, J.; Hoffheins, B.; Brown, R.

    2015-01-01

    Immersive environments are increasingly demonstrating their utility for a number of nuclear safeguards, nuclear safety, and nuclear and physical security applications. Although training is an obvious use, the immersive (or sometimes called virtual) environment allows the user to ''visit'' nuclear facilities and sites that might have access restrictions because of security, high radiation or other hazards; are difficult and expensive to visit. An immersive environment can also be reconfigured to study various scenarios, processes, and other what-if situations, which can aid planning and design of new facilities or evaluate safeguards, safety and/or security measures before they are implemented. As the International Atomic Energy Agency, other international organizations, State Authorities, industry, and academia continue development and use of immersive environments and other electronic training technologies, more and more applications can be envisioned. Immersive environments are not a direct or always a desirable replacement for hands-on learning; however, the demand for electronic training media, particularly immersive environments, will grow. The resulting increase of system features and libraries presents opportunities to shorten development time frames, reduce costs and increase availability of immersive environments for a wider audience looking to balance the need for quality training with limited resources. Substantial time and cost savings can be realized by the sharing of raw assets among developers and organizations. This paper will explore potential guidelines, criteria, and mechanisms for such cooperation, including a prototype asset repository website. (author)

  1. The Impact of Informal Economy on the Interest Rate Pass-through ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    economy. The informal sector could provide a buffer for factors of production .... technology because marginal costs are lower than the formal sector. ... from Peru they find that informal labour markets act as a buffer stock of labour, increasing.

  2. Bivariate Cointegration Analysis of Energy-Economy Interactions in Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ismail Oladimeji Soile

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Fixing the prices of energy products below their opportunity cost for welfare and redistribution purposes is common with governments of many oil producing developing countries. This has often resulted in huge energy consumption in developing countries and the question that emerge is whether this increased energy consumption results in higher economic activities. Available statistics show that Iran’s economy growth shrunk for the first time in two decades from 2011 amidst the introduction of pricing reform in 2010 and 2014 suggesting a relationship between energy use and economic growth. Accordingly, the study examined the causality and the likelihood of a long term relationship between energy and economic growth in Iran. Unlike previous studies which have focused on the effects and effectiveness of the reform, the paper investigates the rationale for the reform. The study applied a bivariate cointegration time series econometric approach. The results reveals a one-way causality running from economic growth to energy with no feedback with evidence of long run connection. The implication of this is that energy conservation policy is not inimical to economic growth. This evidence lend further support for the ongoing subsidy reforms in Iran as a measure to check excessive and inefficient use of energy.

  3. Costs of Oil Dependence: A 2000 Update

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greene, D.L.; Tishchishyna, N.I.

    2000-01-01

    Oil dependence remains a potentially serious economic and strategic problem for the United States. This report updates previous estimates of the costs of oil dependence to the U.S. economy and introduces several methodological enhancements. Estimates of the costs to the U.S. economy of the oil market upheavals of the last 30 years are in the vicinity of $7 trillion, present value 1998 dollars, about as large as the sum total of payments on the national debt over the same period. Simply adding up historical costs in 1998 dollars without converting to present value results in a Base Case cost estimate of $3.4 trillion. Sensitivity analysis indicates that cost estimates are sensitive to key parameters. A lower bound estimate of $1.7 trillion and an upper bound of $7.1 trillion (not present value) indicate that the costs of oil dependence have been large under almost any plausible set of assumptions. These cost estimates do not include military, strategic or political costs associated with U.S. and world dependence on oil imports

  4. Cost of Oil Dependence: A 2000 Update

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greene, D.L.; Tishchishyna, N.I.

    2000-05-01

    Oil dependence remains a potentially serious economic and strategic problem for the United States. This report updates previous estimates of the costs of oil dependence to the U.S. economy and introduces several methodological enhancements. Estimates of the costs to the U.S. economy of the oil market upheavals of the last 30 years are in the vicinity of $7 trillion, present value 1998 dollars, about as large as the sum total of payments on the national debt over the same period. Simply adding up historical costs in 1998 dollars without converting to present value results in a Base Case cost estimate of $3.4 trillion. Sensitivity analysis indicates that cost estimates are sensitive to key parameters. A lower bound estimate of $1.7 trillion and an upper bound of $7.1 trillion (not present value) indicate that the costs of oil dependence have been large under almost any plausible set of assumptions. These cost estimates do not include military, strategic or political costs associated with U.S. and world dependence on oil imports.

  5. Costs of Oil Dependence: A 2000 Update

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Greene, D.L.

    2000-05-17

    Oil dependence remains a potentially serious economic and strategic problem for the United States. This report updates previous estimates of the costs of oil dependence to the U.S. economy and introduces several methodological enhancements. Estimates of the costs to the U.S. economy of the oil market upheavals of the last 30 years are in the vicinity of $7 trillion, present value 1998 dollars, about as large as the sum total of payments on the national debt over the same period. Simply adding up historical costs in 1998 dollars without converting to present value results in a Base Case cost estimate of $3.4 trillion. Sensitivity analysis indicates that cost estimates are sensitive to key parameters. A lower bound estimate of $1.7 trillion and an upper bound of $7.1 trillion (not present value) indicate that the costs of oil dependence have been large under almost any plausible set of assumptions. These cost estimates do not include military, strategic or political costs associated with U.S. and world dependence on oil imports.

  6. Putting Opportunism in the Back Seat

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Nicolai; Weber, Libby

    2013-01-01

    TCE and its applications in management research put more emphasis on opportunism than on bounded rationality. By augmenting the bounded rationality assumption to include interpretive limitations, we show that there are sources of costly conflict that are not rooted in opportunism. Moreover, we show...

  7. The Impact of Personal Relationships on Bribery Incidence in Transition Economies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, Gjalt; Phan Anh Tu, [No Value; van Ees, Hans

    2015-01-01

    Prior work on corruption has largely overlooked personal relationships as an essential determinant of bribery incidence in transition economies. In these countries, relationships with public officials are instrumental in enabling transactions and lowering transaction costs, due to incoherent and

  8. Cost estimation of Kyoto Protocol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Giulio, Enzo

    2005-01-01

    This article proposes a reflection on important aspects in the costs determination performance of Kyoto Protocol. The evaluation of the main models evidence possible impacts on the economies. A key role in the determination of the cost is represented by the relative hypothesis to emission trading and the projects CDM-JI and from the political capacity at the cost negative or equal to zero [it

  9. Why the New Economy is a Learning Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lundvall, Bengt-Åke

    In this paper it is shown that the intense focus on the new economy reflected real change as well as 'hype?. The basic reason why new economy-growth could not be seen as sustainable is that introducing advanced technologies can only take place successfully when it is accompanied by organizational...... change and competence-building among employees. Any strategy that gives technology an independent role as problem-solver is doomed to fail. Danish data of a unique character are used to demonstrate that the key to economic performance is to promote learning at different levels of the economy....... In the conclusion it is argued that there is a need for a new type of knowledge and learning oriented Keynesianism in order to get close to the kind of growth rates characterizing the high days of the new economy adventure in the US....

  10. The Sharing Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Avital, Michel; Carroll, John M.; Hjalmarsson, Anders

    2015-01-01

    The sharing economy is spreading rapidly worldwide in a number of industries and markets. The disruptive nature of this phenomenon has drawn mixed responses ranging from active conflict to adoption and assimilation. Yet, in spite of the growing attention to the sharing economy, we still do not know...... much about it. With the abundant enthusiasm about the benefits that the sharing economy can unleash and the weekly reminders about its dark side, further examination is required to determine the potential of the sharing economy while mitigating its undesirable side effects. The panel will join...... the ongoing debate about the sharing economy and contribute to the discourse with insights about how digital technologies are critical in shaping this turbulent ecosystem. Furthermore, we will define an agenda for future research on the sharing economy as it becomes part of the mainstream society as well...

  11. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF ROMANIAN ECONOMY IN 2013 AND VALUATIONS FOR 2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florin Marian BUHOCIU

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper has proposed to analyze the evolution of the Romania in economy in 2013 by dynamic levels of significant macroeconomic indicators, namely: industrial production, manufacturing, retail and volume of market services provided to the population, buildings and new car sales. Also the unemployment rate was analyzed. We considered it necessary to present also two indicators rarely used in macroeconomic analysis, namely "the feeling of confidence in the economy" and that of "consumer confidence". They were analyzed also the evolution of certain indicators such as the RON/ EUR exchange rate and that of some regional currencies (PLN, CZK, HUF. Based on the analysis of evolution of all these economic and financial indicators, we could appreciate that the national economy is on an upward trend, with real opportunities to continue the current growth in 2014.

  12. Progress in integrated energy-economy-environment model system development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasukawa, Shigeru; Mankin, Shuichi; Sato, Osamu; Tadokoro, Yoshihiro; Nakano, Yasuyuki; Nagano, Takao

    1987-11-01

    The Integrated Energy-Economy-Environment Model System has been developed for providing analytical tools for the system analysis and technology assessments in the field of nuclear research and development. This model system consists of the following four model groups. The first model block installs 5 models and can serve to analyze and generate long-term scenarios on economy-energy-environment evolution. The second model block installs 2 models and can serve to analyze the structural transition phenomena in energy-economy-environment interactions. The third model block installs 2 models and can handle power reactor installation strategy problem and long-term fuel cycle analysis. The fourth model block installs 5 models and codes and can treats cost-benefit-risk analysis and assessments. This report describes mainly the progress and the outlines of application of the model system in these years after the first report on the research and development of the model system (JAERI-M 84 - 139). (author)

  13. Tourism, the Future of Economy in Albania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arjana Kadiu

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Tourism is one of the main pillars of economy for many countries in the world. It influences the economy and offers more employment possibilities every year. Mediterranean countries have a favorable, geographical position and climate to develop tourism. Most of these countries, have obtained higher incomes from this industry, and as a result, more prosperity and economic development. Today, about 30 % of the world’s tourists spend their vacations in the Mediterranean Region. Albania is one of these countries and it has great possibilities for the future.The nature of Albania, it’s geographical position and its panorama, the climatic and physical diversity of its territory, represent some of its rich resources and strengthness. Previously, Albania’s economy depended in agriculture and small industries. After the 90-s, when many citizens left the country, the situation changed and even that source of income became inconsiderable. Heavy or textile industry, were hardly developed. Tourism was hardly developed too. Only few investments were made in this sector. In October 2012, EU Commission recommended Albania to be granted the EU candidate status. Therefore, Albania’s economy has to be developed according to EU standards. In this paper we would like to assess, which may be some important and effective innovative management strategies for Albania’s tourism. What are some of the steps to follow in this direction? The article aims to make a comparison with Greece and Montenegro, as reference points, in order to understand these countries’ touristic strategies and try to adapt some of them or think about new effective ones. It aims to provide a profile that shows; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The study will be based in official statistics and scientific literature. The study concludes that the economic benefits of tourism are considerable, immediate and there are many new ways to activate the natural sources of Albania.

  14. The cost of harmful alcohol use in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matzopoulos, R G; Truen, S; Bowman, B; Corrigall, J

    2014-02-01

    The economic, social and health costs associated with alcohol-related harms are important measures with which to inform alcohol management policies and laws. This analysis builds on previous cost estimates for South Africa. We reviewed existing international best-practice costing frameworks to provide the costing definitions and dimensions. We sourced data from South African costing literature or, if unavailable, estimated costs using socio-economic and health data from secondary sources. Care was taken to avoid possible causes of cost overestimation, in particular double counting and, as far as possible, second-round effects of alcohol abuse. The combined total tangible and intangible costs of alcohol harm to the economy were estimated at 10 - 12% of the 2009 gross domestic product (GDP). The tangible financial cost of harmful alcohol use alone was estimated at R37.9 billion, or 1.6% of the 2009 GDP. The costs of alcohol-related harms provide a substantial counterbalance to the economic benefits highlighted by the alcohol industry to counter stricter regulation. Curtailing these costs by regulatory and policy interventions contributes directly and indirectly to social well-being and the economy. CONCLUSIONS; Existing frameworks that guide the regulation and distribution of alcohol frequently focus on maximising the contribution of the alcohol sector to the economy, but should also take into account the associated economic, social and health costs. Current interventions do not systematically address the most important causes of harm from alcohol, and need to be informed by reliable evidence of the ongoing costs of alcohol-related harms.

  15. Effect Of Feed Restriction On Growth Performance And Economy Of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The dietary treatments consisted of providing feed ad libitum (ull fed) and two feed restriction treatments restrictingeedng 80 % of ad libitum ... A cost – benefit analysis was utilized for the economy of production. ... Feed efficiency was improved by restriction followed with re-alimentation. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  16. In-use fuel economy of hybrid-electric school buses in Iowa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallmark, Shauna; Sperry, Bob; Mudgal, Abhisek

    2011-05-01

    Although it is much safer and more fuel-efficient to transport children to school in buses than in private vehicles, school buses in the United States still consume 822 million gal of diesel fuel annually, and school transportation costs can account for a significant portion of resource-constrained school district budgets. Additionally, children in diesel-powered school buses may be exposed to higher levels of particulates and other pollutants than children in cars. One solution to emission and fuel concerns is use of hybrid-electric school buses, which have the potential to reduce emissions and overall lifecycle costs compared with conventional diesel buses. Hybrid-electric technologies are available in the passenger vehicle market as well as the transit bus market and have a track record indicating fuel economy and emissions benefits. This paper summarizes the results of an in-use fuel economy evaluation for two plug-in hybrid school buses deployed in two different school districts in Iowa. Each school district selected a control bus with a route similar to that of the hybrid bus. Odometer readings, fuel consumption, and maintenance needs were recorded for each bus. The buses were deployed in 2008 and data were collected through May 2010. Fuel consumption was calculated for each school district. In Nevada, IA, the overall average fuel economy was 8.23 mpg for the hybrid and 6.35 mpg for the control bus. In Sigourney, IA, the overall average fuel economy was 8.94 mpg for the hybrid and 6.42 mpg for the control bus. The fuel consumption data were compared for the hybrid and control buses using a Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results indicate that fuel economy for the Nevada hybrid bus was 29.6% better than for the Nevada control bus, and fuel economy for the Sigourney hybrid bus was 39.2% higher than for the Sigourney control bus. Both differences were statistically significant.

  17. Do business groups affect corporate cash holdings? Evidence from a transition economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weixing Cai

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available We examine whether business groups’ influence on cash holdings depends on ownership. Group affiliation can increase firms’ agency costs or benefit firms by providing an internal capital market, especially in transition economies characterized by weak investor protection and difficult external capital acquisition. A hand-collected dataset of Chinese firms reveals that group affiliation decreases cash holdings, alleviating the free-cash-flow problem of agency costs. State ownership and control of listed firms moderate this benefit, which is more pronounced when the financial market is less liquid. Group affiliation facilitates related-party transactions, increases debt capacity and decreases investment-cash-flow sensitivity and overinvestment. In transitional economies, privately controlled firms are more likely to benefit from group affiliation than state-controlled firms propped up by the government.

  18. Eradication of schistosomiasis in Guangxi, China. Part 2: Political economy, management strategy and costs, 1953-92.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sleigh, A.; Jackson, S.; Li, X.; Huang, K.

    1998-01-01

    Reported are the results of a study of the political economy, management, and costs of the successful Guangxi schistosomiasis eradication programme, spanning 40 years from 1953 to 1992. For this purpose we analysed all government data and memoranda on the policy, management, technical support, finance, and the control strategy of the programme. We also interviewed many local staff involved in the programme over the 40-year period and obtained cost data from annual county-level records on seven major categories of variable costs. Schistosomiasis control in Guangxi began with one of the first examples of community participation and rapid assessment in public health history--the use of pre-franked envelopes to return disease questionnaires and suspect snails from rural areas. This approach quickly and accurately delineated the endemic area. This was Mao Zedong's "mass line", incorporating ideas and knowledge from peasants directly into services run for and by them, here the schistosomiasis control programme. Recognition by China's leaders that schistosomiasis was a great economic burden, steadfast prioritizing of the programme over 40 years, local innovative scientific study, agricultural and environmental focus on eradicating the snail hosts and boosting rural production, and mass community education and support were all key factors in the final success. Local leaders motivated programme staff and everyone involved knew the objectives. The programme was always multisectoral, with policy developed centrally, and strategy and collaboration encouraged and rewarded at the grass-roots. These features explain how a very poor autonomous region such as Guangxi finally eradicated schistosomiasis, spending less than US$ 0.50 per protected citizen per year; it is remarkable that the disease and snails were initially found across a large area of complex environments and modern drugs such as praziquantel were not available for most of the 40-year period. The lessons from Guangxi

  19. Energy Efficiency Improvement and Cost Saving Opportunities for the Vehicle Assembly Industry: An ENERGY STAR Guide for Energy and Plant Managers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Galitsky, Christina; Galitsky, Christina; Worrell, Ernst

    2008-01-01

    The motor vehicle industry in the U.S. spends about $3.6 billion on energy annually. In this report, we focus on auto assembly plants. In the U.S., over 70 assembly plants currently produce 13 million cars and trucks each year. In assembly plants, energy expenditures is a relatively small cost factor in the total production process. Still, as manufacturers face an increasingly competitive environment, energy efficiency improvements can provide a means to reduce costs without negatively affecting the yield or the quality of the product. In addition, reducing energy costs reduces the unpredictability associated with variable energy prices in today?s marketplace, which could negatively affect predictable earnings, an important element for publicly-traded companies such as those in the motor vehicle industry. In this report, we first present a summary of the motor vehicle assembly process and energy use. This is followed by a discussion of energy efficiency opportunities available for assembly plants. Where available, we provide specific primary energy savings for each energy efficiency measure based on case studies, as well as references to technical literature. If available, we have listed costs and typical payback periods. We include experiences of assembly plants worldwide with energy efficiency measures reviewed in the report. Our findings suggest that although most motor vehicle companies in the U.S. have energy management teams or programs, there are still opportunities available at individual plants to reduce energy consumption cost effectively. Further research on the economics of the measures for individual assembly plants, as part of an energy management program, is needed to assess the potential impact of selected technologies at these plants.

  20. The Development of Fuel Cell Technology for Electric Power Generation - From Spacecraft Applications to the Hydrogen Economy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, John H.

    2005-01-01

    The fuel cell uses a catalyzed reaction between a fuel and an oxidizer to directly produce electricity. Its high theoretical efficiency and low temperature operation made it a subject of much study upon its invention ca. 1900, but its relatively high life cycle costs kept it as "solution in search of a problem" for its first half century. The first problem for which fuel cells presented a cost effective solution was, starting in the 1960's that of a power source for NASA's manned spacecraft. NASA thus invested, and continues to invest, in the development of fuel cell power plants for this application. However, starting in the mid-1990's, prospective environmental regulations have driven increased governmental and industrial interest in "green power" and the "Hydrogen Economy." This has in turn stimulated greatly increased investment in fuel cell development for a variety of terrestrial applications. This investment is bringing about notable advances in fuel cell technology, but these advances are often in directions quite different from those needed for NASA spacecraft applications. This environment thus presents both opportunities and challenges for NASA's manned space program.

  1. A Political Economy of University Funding: The English Case

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saunders, Murray

    2012-01-01

    The focus of this paper is the coalition United Kingdom government policy on university funding in England as a political economy. It depicts higher education as a public and private good in the context of international trends in "cost sharing" and it addresses the centrality of economic drivers for the profile and orientation of higher…

  2. Biogas between renewable energy and bio-economy policies—opportunities and constraints resulting from a dual role

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pfau, S.F.; Hagens, J.E.; Dankbaar, B.

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND - Biogas plays a major role in two policy domains: the renewable energy domain and the bio-economy domain. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of current biogas practices with the two policy domains and to identify how biogas can contribute to both. METHODS - The

  3. Modernisation Parameters of Fixed Capital in the Reindustrialization Conditions of the Economy: Statistical Aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yulia V. Razvadovskaya

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In sales terms of strategy of the reindustrialization directed to recovery of potential of industrial production on qualitatively new technological basis in article the attention on such object of state regulation of economy as level of technological effectiveness of industries of the processing and extracting sectors of the Russian economy is focused. A main objective of this article is the research of parameters of modernization of fixed capital, including its statistical recording and analysis. Unlike the existing researches in which technological effectiveness is determined by such indicators as costs for Research and Development and a share of highly skilled workers in this article for an assessment use of such indicator as an organic structure of the equity which reflects change of a technical structure of the equity in dynamics is offered. In article measure calculations "an organic structure of the equity" on industries of the processing and extracting sectors of the Russian economy are made. Comparison of the received results with data of official statistics, including an indicator "a «fondovooruzhennost» by types of economic activity" allows to formulate a conclusion about need of accounting of cost indicators of a factor "work" in case of an assessment of parameters of technological rearmament of production. Also comparison of parameters of technological effectiveness of the extracting and processing sectors of economy of Russia and the USA is made. The carried-out calculations testify to repeatedly lagging behind absolute values of a technical structure of the equity in industries of the processing economy sector, and also to availability of a technology gap between extracting and processing sectors of the Russian economy. Such dynamics is a consequence of the adverse institutional changes generating growth of transformational and transactional expenses in national economy.

  4. UNEP greenhouse gas abatement costing studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shakespeare Maya, R. (Southern Centre for Energy and Environment (Zimbabwe)); Muguti, E. (Ministry of Transport and Energy. Department of Energy (Zimbabwe)); Fenhann, J.; Morthorst, P.E. (Risoe National Laboratory. Systems Analysis Department (Denmark))

    1992-08-01

    The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) programme of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Costing Studies is intended to clarify the economic issues involved in assessing the costs of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and to propose approaches to comparable costing studies. Phase 1 of the Zimbabwe country study describes the current energy situation in Zimbabwe related to the national economy, energy supply and demand and amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Factors regarding the geography, (including a map illustrating the degree and character of land degradation by erosion) population, politics, international relations, land-use and management of the energy sector are dealt with in detail and the text is illustrated with data compiled from the study. It is estimated that Zimbabwe consumed 270.4 Tj of energy during 1988 and emitted 21.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide. An emission intensity of 80.2 tonnes/Tj for the whole economy and 63.6 tonnes/Tj for electric power generation alone was calculated. Forecasting for the year 2020 estimated carbon dioxide emission intensities of 73.5 tonnes/Tj for the whole economy and 43.7 tonnes for power generation. Net carbon dioxide emissions are predicted to be 30-42 tonnes during 2020. (AB).

  5. UNEP greenhouse gas abatement costing studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shakespeare Maya, R.; Muguti, E.; Fenhann, J.; Morthorst, P.E.

    1992-08-01

    The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) programme of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Costing Studies is intended to clarify the economic issues involved in assessing the costs of limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and to propose approaches to comparable costing studies. Phase 1 of the Zimbabwe country study describes the current energy situation in Zimbabwe related to the national economy, energy supply and demand and amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Factors regarding the geography, (including a map illustrating the degree and character of land degradation by erosion) population, politics, international relations, land-use and management of the energy sector are dealt with in detail and the text is illustrated with data compiled from the study. It is estimated that Zimbabwe consumed 270.4 Tj of energy during 1988 and emitted 21.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide. An emission intensity of 80.2 tonnes/Tj for the whole economy and 63.6 tonnes/Tj for electric power generation alone was calculated. Forecasting for the year 2020 estimated carbon dioxide emission intensities of 73.5 tonnes/Tj for the whole economy and 43.7 tonnes for power generation. Net carbon dioxide emissions are predicted to be 30-42 tonnes during 2020. (AB)

  6. Contract farming in Costa Rica: opportunities for smallholders?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sáenz-Segura, J.F.

    2006-01-01

    Transaction costs and other market failures are widely present in the agricultural sector of emerging economies and negatively affect to low-income smallholders, making difficult their integration into dynamic agri-food supply chains. Earlier literature mentions contract farming as an economic

  7. Calcaneus length determines running economy: implications for endurance running performance in modern humans and Neandertals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raichlen, David A; Armstrong, Hunter; Lieberman, Daniel E

    2011-03-01

    The endurance running (ER) hypothesis suggests that distance running played an important role in the evolution of the genus Homo. Most researchers have focused on ER performance in modern humans, or on reconstructing ER performance in Homo erectus, however, few studies have examined ER capabilities in other members of the genus Homo. Here, we examine skeletal correlates of ER performance in modern humans in order to evaluate the energetics of running in Neandertals and early Homo sapiens. Recent research suggests that running economy (the energy cost of running at a given speed) is strongly related to the length of the Achilles tendon moment arm. Shorter moment arms allow for greater storage and release of elastic strain energy, reducing energy costs. Here, we show that a skeletal correlate of Achilles tendon moment arm length, the length of the calcaneal tuber, does not correlate with walking economy, but correlates significantly with running economy and explains a high proportion of the variance (80%) in cost between individuals. Neandertals had relatively longer calcaneal tubers than modern humans, which would have increased their energy costs of running. Calcaneal tuber lengths in early H. sapiens do not significantly differ from those of extant modern humans, suggesting Neandertal ER economy was reduced relative to contemporaneous anatomically modern humans. Endurance running is generally thought to be beneficial for gaining access to meat in hot environments, where hominins could have used pursuit hunting to run prey taxa into hyperthermia. We hypothesize that ER performance may have been reduced in Neandertals because they lived in cold climates. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Forest fuel - economy and models for cost analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsson, Anders.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to develop guidelines for the R and D work within Skogskraft with the aim of improving the efficiency of the investigatory work. The report mainly concerns logging waste. The contents are as follows; Terminology - definitions: This section includes a brief description of wood fuels with regard to terminology, definitions, production and marketing. Units of measurement: Different units of measurement are descrived and their relationship to forestry, sawmills and consumers of wood fuels. An account is also given of effective thermal values and formulas for calculations of the energy content for different wood fuels. Calculation models, analyses: This section discusses different models and standards for calculating machine and manual costs. In addition, views are given on cost analysis and certain guidelines with regard to overhead costs. Actors and systems: There is a risk that technical problems receive a far too dominant role in relation to problems which concern organisation and structure. Consequently, it is important to define the actors and to illustrate the different driving forces and tensions that may occur. Seven different actors/interested parties have been described and analysed with regard to primary and secondary interests in ecological, technical and economic questions. Preparation of reports: Certain recommendations have been given with regard to formal requirements and quality requirements

  9. An economy-wide evaluation of new power generation in South Africa: The case of Medupi and Kusile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bohlmann, Jessika; Bohlmann, Heinrich; Inglesi-Lotz, Roula; Heerden, Jan van

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates the role that the building of two new power stations, Medupi and Kusile, will play in facilitating future economic activity in South Africa. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to estimate the economy-wide effects of these new power stations. Our simulation results also provide insight into how much the local economy has lost due to inadequate electricity supply in the period leading up to the construction of Medupi and Kusile. We find that the decision to build additional power generation capacity was necessary and justified, and that the failure to sooner recognise the need for expansion of the country's electricity generation capacity and subsequent delays in commissioning Medupi and Kusile, likely cost the economy over R110bn in lost production. Additional analysis, in which a further two-year delay in the construction of Medupi and Kusile is simulated, shows that such an event will cause the economy to perform below baseline projections up to 2022. - Highlights: • We analyse the impact of new electricity generation in the South African economy. • We use UPGEM, a dynamic CGE model specifically designed for the local economy. • Without new electricity generation, GDP is 3.15 per cent lower by 2019, relative to the base. • Inadequate electricity supply since 2008 has cost the South African economy R110bn. • A two-year delay in construction will result in lower GDP up to 2022.

  10. Innovative Technologies for Human Exploration: Opportunities for Partnerships and Leveraging Novel Technologies External to NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hay, Jason; Mullins, Carie; Graham, Rachael; Williams-Byrd, Julie; Reeves, John D.

    2011-01-01

    Human spaceflight organizations have ambitious goals for expanding human presence throughout the solar system. To meet these goals, spaceflight organizations have to overcome complex technical challenges for human missions to Mars, Near Earth Asteroids, and other distant celestial bodies. Resolving these challenges requires considerable resources and technological innovations, such as advancements in human health and countermeasures for space environments; self-sustaining habitats; advanced power and propulsion systems; and information technologies. Today, government space agencies seek cooperative endeavors to reduce cost burdens, improve human exploration capabilities, and foster knowledge sharing among human spaceflight organizations. This paper looks at potential opportunities for partnerships and spin-ins from economic sectors outside the space industry. It highlights innovative technologies and breakthrough concepts that could have significant impacts on space exploration and identifies organizations throughout the broader economy that specialize in these technologies.

  11. International oil opportunities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hares, T.N.D.; Mann, D.W.

    1995-01-01

    Some of the key issues to be addressed when selecting international opportunities, were discussed. The ideal opportunity should have the following characteristics: (1) large, low risk (2) high percentage of rent available to the investor, (3) low cost and low technical requirements, (4) low country risk, (5) low competition, (6) easy to access, and (7) favorable environment in which to work. Entering an international opportunity can be achieved by competitive bidding, direct negotiation, partnership, corporate and/or asset acquisition, and long-term relationships. Key success factors were identified as (1) applying technical financial and commercial skills in the international environment, (2) speedy response, (3) excellent relationships in the foreign country, (4) understanding the local culture, and (5) keeping a good track record. 6 figs

  12. Industrial energy economy, national and international aspects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-01-01

    VDI-report 1061 contains the papers given on the Conference of the same name in Essen on the 22 and 23.6.1993. German industry suffers not only from high wage and on-cost but high, energy costs as well. Waste disposal problems and impending taxes on wages are the cause of these difficulties. The EC believes that competition between energy supplies may help to reduce energy costs. This report deals with cost-efficient energy supply for the German industry and books at the background of this scenario. This industry puts forward its wishes and demands to politicians and energy economy. Representatives of energy suppliers discuss energy supplies, demand, availability, safety of supplies, competitiveness, quality and environmental aspects. The influence of energy costs and environmental taxation on the industrial and economic future of Germany and the situation in the Eastern States of Germany are a further subject of discussion. The views of the EC commission, the industry and the energy suppliers on energy transports across the EC are discussed as well. (orig./UA) [de

  13. Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the economy, avoid waste and reduce marine litter

    OpenAIRE

    Ten Brink, Patrick; Schweitzer, Jean-pierre; Watkins, Emma; De Smet, Michel; Leslie, Heather; Galgani, Francois

    2017-01-01

    We live in the plastic age (the “plasticene”), producing over 300 million tonnes (mt) of plastic every year globally, 5-15 mt of which flow into already polluted oceans. Plastic remains a key material in the global economy, but low rates of collection, reuse and recycling, emissions of microplastic from product wear and tear, and often insufficient disposal measures are leading to far-reaching environmental, health, social and economic impacts. The costs of inaction are unacceptably high. Glo...

  14. Opportunity-based age replacement policy with minimal repair

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jhang, J.P.; Sheu, S.H.

    1999-01-01

    This paper proposes an opportunity-based age replacement policy with minimal repair. The system has two types of failures. Type I failures (minor failures) are removed by minimal repairs, whereas type II failures are removed by replacements. Type I and type II failures are age-dependent. A system is replaced at type II failure (catastrophic failure) or at the opportunity after age T, whichever occurs first. The cost of the minimal repair of the system at age z depends on the random part C(z) and the deterministic part c(z). The opportunity arises according to a Poisson process, independent of failures of the component. The expected cost rate is obtained. The optimal T * which would minimize the cost rate is discussed. Various special cases are considered. Finally, a numerical example is given

  15. Scale and Scope Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business

    OpenAIRE

    Alvin J. Silk; Ernst R. Berndt

    2003-01-01

    We assess size and scope-related economies in the global advertising and marketing services business. A translog cost function is employed wherein a firm's costs vary according to its scale and two dimensions of the scope of its operations. Parameters of the model are estimated via three stage least squares using annual data for 1989-2001 for an unbalanced panel consisting of the eight largest firms in this industry. A firm's total variable costs are affected by its scale, scope (mix of servi...

  16. An opportunity for the White House

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, R.; Mohsberg, J.

    1992-01-01

    This article examines the institutional barriers to economic development in the hydroelectric power industry. The topics discussed in the article include a review of the benefits and advantages to the US industrial competitiveness and economy of hydroelectric power, relicensing of existing hydroelectric power plants, costs related to relicensing, and areas for improvement of the licensing process

  17. Sharing economy: la socializzazione fonda lo scambio economico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elvira Martini

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The sharing economy expresses a new consumer culture in which the “reuse” and access will replace the purchase and ownership, dispelling the dividing line be- tween public and private. This new model is being developed as a spontaneous economic phenomenon to meet the challenges generated by the crisis. The object of sharing economy are, in the start experiences, goods, tools, space, services, skills, ideas: from co-working to car-sharing, from co-housing to crowdfunding. Jeremy Rifkin provides authoritative and comprehensive analysis of the ongoing phenomenon when he states that we are witnessing the birth of a new economic paradigm that is shaped by the enormous reduction of marginal costs, generated by the technological infrastructure; a reduction that prefigures a new “participatory economy”, made possible by digital technology, within “freedom of access exceeds the ownership, sustainability supplants consumerism, cooperation ousts competi- tion. An economy where the logic of the delegation is overcome and all the actors interact and release new resources in order to identify and implement answer to their needs” (Rifkin, 2014. The aim of this work is to advance a reflection on how the sharing economy can help shape new forms of welfare, where social ties are increasingly the foundation of economic exchange and cooperation (Pais, Mainieri, 2015.

  18. The spatiality of specialty coffee bars and the cognitive-cultural economy in Amsterdam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Shaker Ardekani

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Economic restructuring has led to the emergence of new socio-economic arrangements in cities based on the cognitive-cultural economy. Furthermore, the arrival of new middle classes in inner-cities has contributed to a renaissance of interest in urban culture and new consumption spaces. Focusing on specialty coffee bars (SCBs, the study explores their spatial patterns and spatial distributions in Amsterdam in order to find the spatial correlations between new urban consumption spaces and their locational economic strategies in terms of the cognitive-cultural opportunities. By employing geographic information system (GIS, the findings suggest a positive spatial correlation between urban areas involved in the cognitive-cultural economy and the concentration of SCBs. Although the argued correlation does not imply causation, it provides distinct insights related to the interconnectedness of new urban consumption spaces and their contextual urban economy. The paper also slightly touches upon some of the capabilities of GIS in the field of urban studies and poses some questions for further investigations.

  19. Bio economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem patterns Case study for Romania - USH ProBusiness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Costin Lianu

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper is investigating various patterns of entrepreneurial relations and engagements  that may help the shift to bio economy  and the ways they can facilitate entrepreneurial understanding and access to markets and business opportunities in this field. It also investigate the role of universities and cluster in transfer of knowledge towards bio economy and possibilities of interaction making a case study on USH ProBusiness in Romania. Main conclusion of the paper is that participation of  entrepreneurs, especially SME but also large companies in active  Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE   plays an essential role in transposing bio economy  from strategy to action but some regions may be well advanced  and other lagging behind. High trust and large EE in terms of networking are better fit to accelerate the knowledge and innovation process and universities may play a major role in this direction, as important catalyst.

  20. A New Trend of Foreign Direct Investment and Sustainable Growth of Emerging Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pradeep Kumar

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available With the rise of globalisation concept, the opportunity of going global for companies has become so influential that many of the companies that are doing well in the home country are staring up their businesses in other countries to maximise the profit. The trend of investing in other economies has become very popular that's why the trend of foreign direct investment between developed and developing economies has not only been increased but significantly a new trend has emerged for foreign direct investment among developing to developing economies. It has been seen that foreign direct investment (FDI as foreign capital is playing very wider and important role in the socio-economic development of a nation. Evidently, it played an important role to the development of the developed nations, and playing a significant role in the development of the number of developing nations. Today, FDI is considered to be the core incentive for economic and social development as far as the developing nations are concerned.

  1. Sharing economy as a new business model for energy storage systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lombardi, P.; Schwabe, F.

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Sharing economy as new business model for Energy Storage Operators. • More attractiveness of Battery Storage Systems. • Optimal Dimensioning of Battery Storage Systems for sharing economy application. - Abstract: Energy storage systems (ESS) are the candidate solution to integrate the high amount of electric power generated by volatile renewable energy sources into the electric grid. However, even though the investment costs of some ESS technologies have decreased over the last few years, few business models seem to be attractive for investors. In most of these models, ESS are applied only for one use case, such as primary control reserve. In this study, a business model based on the sharing economy principle has been developed and analyzed. In this model, the energy storage operator offers its storage system to different kinds of customers. Each customer uses the ESS for their single use case. A set of different use cases has been identified to make the operation of the ESS profitable (e.g. peak shaving, self-consumption and day-ahead market participation). Different kinds of stationary batteries (lithium-ion, sodium-sulfur and vanadium redox-flow) have been considered as energy storage technologies, which differ both in their investment costs and their technical properties, such as round-trip efficiency. The simulation of the business model developed showed that a sharing economy-based model may increase the profitability of operating a battery storage system compared to the single use case business model. Additionally, larger battery dimensions regarding power and capacity were found to be profitable and resulted in an increased revenue stream.

  2. Reforms, environmental concerns spurring growth opportunities for gas, electricity in U.S., Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carson, M.

    1998-01-01

    As the 21st century approaches, deregulation of developed economies, economic liberalization, and an emphasis on cleaner fuels are creating significant growth opportunities for electricity, natural gas, and other forms of energy on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The paper discusses the US status, European vs. US fuel use, dominant fuels vs. strategies, fuel use trends, opportunities for electricity growth, and trends and observations. An additional section describes the slowing of the trillion dollar international independent power market

  3. Digital Dynamism: How IT and social media are enhancing business opportunities for Sri Lankan entrepreneurs

    OpenAIRE

    Anushka Wijesinha

    2015-01-01

    As the Sri Lankan economy attempts to transform into a more value-added and knowledge-led one, recent advancements in technology and innovation have created a plethora of new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper provides four case studies of innovative enterprises and initiatives to demonstrate how the digital economy is enhancing the country's business potential and creating jobs. The firms studied are all start-ups run by young professionals (between 28-35 years)...

  4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC NATURE OF SHADOW ECONOMY AND CAUSES OF ITS DEVELOPMENT IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Mazur

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The socio-economic nature of the shadow economy is revealed. The shadow economy has both positive and negative signs for the society; the possibility for the population to survive in conditions of economic crisis, reducing transaction costs authors refer to positive signs, and the destructive economic development to negative. The common (prohibitions and restrictions and partial (high tax burden and inefficient system of its administration; numerous bureaucratic procedures; mistrust to the government institutions and the judiciary; corruption in all levels of the governance, etc. causes of the shadow economy in entrepreneurship are disclosed. It is argued that the shadow economy is neither a sector nor a certain part of the legal economy, it can be in any sector of the legal economy closely interlaced with it, and therefore its limits cannot be clearly identified (determine in the formal economy. The shadow economy is not possible to determine especially in the information society. The categories of the shadow economy and its structuring are suggested. It has been researched the historical roots of the shadow economy spread in entrepreneurship, and lie in the shadow of public-private partnership which carries interests of "civil servant-entrepreneurs" and allows to manage state resources and control market. Therefore, the shadow policy creates favorable conditions for the entrepreneurs to work in the shadow. At the same time, access to the shadow entails stricter regulation by the state. It is proved that corruption is a part of the shadow economy, not an independent phenomenon, so they should be research comprehensively and systematically. Instead of overcoming the shadow economy and its component - corruption has been suggested to establish favorable business environment for their unfavorable existence, that is to carry out deshadowing of the economy.

  5. Feebates, rebates and gas-guzzler taxes: a study of incentives for increased fuel economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greene, D.L.; Patterson, P.D.; Singh, Margaret; Li Jia

    2005-01-01

    US fuel economy standards have not been changed significantly in 20 years. Feebates are a market-based alternative in which vehicles with fuel consumption rates above a 'pivot point' are charged fees while vehicles below receive rebates. By choice of pivot points, feebate systems can be made revenue neutral. Feebates have been analyzed before. This study re-examines feebates using recent data, assesses how the undervaluing of fuel economy by consumers might affect their efficacy, tests sensitivity to the cost of fuel economy technology and price elasticities of vehicle demand, and adds assessments of gas-guzzler taxes or rebates alone. A feebate rate of $500 per 0.01 gallon per mile (GPM) produces a 16 percent increase in fuel economy, while a $1000 per 0.01 GPM results in a 29 percent increase, even if consumers count only the first 3 years of fuel savings. Unit sales decline by about 0.5 percent but sales revenues increase because the added value of fuel economy technologies outweighs the decrease in sales. In all cases, the vast majority of fuel economy increase is due to adoption of fuel economy technologies rather than shifts in sales

  6. Oil Shocks through International Transport Costs: Evidence from U.S. Business Cycles

    OpenAIRE

    Hakan Yilmazkuday

    2011-01-01

    The effects of oil shocks on output volatility through international transport costs are investigated in an open-economy DSGE model. Two versions of the model, with and without international transport costs, are structurally estimated for the U.S. economy by a Bayesian approach for moving windows of ten years. For model selection, the posterior odds ratios of the two versions are compared for each ten-year window. The version with international transport costs is selected during periods of hi...

  7. Energy and environment in the ASEAN: challenges and opportunities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karki, S.K.; Mann, M.D.; Salehfar, Hossein

    2005-01-01

    The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of the most dynamic economic regions of the world. Its economy is linked with its diverse energy resources, high-level urbanization, and rapid industrialization. ASEAN's growing economy in the last two decades has increased the concern of sustainable development in the face of deteriorating energy security, environmental pollution, and economic hardship in energy investment. However, opportunities exist to tackle these issues. Increasing energy efficiency (both supply and demand side), exploitation of renewable energy resources (mostly hydro), and an integrated approach on energy resource management are some of the important approaches toward the sustainable energy path. Because the options are capital-intensive, cooperation and development of appropriate institutional structures and decision mechanism across the region are urgently needed

  8. CO2, energy and economy interactions: A multisectoral, dynamic, computable general equilibrium model for Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Yoonyoung

    While vast resources have been invested in the development of computational models for cost-benefit analysis for the "whole world" or for the largest economies (e.g. United States, Japan, Germany), the remainder have been thrown together into one model for the "rest of the world." This study presents a multi-sectoral, dynamic, computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Korea. This research evaluates the impacts of controlling COsb2 emissions using a multisectoral CGE model. This CGE economy-energy-environment model analyzes and quantifies the interactions between COsb2, energy and economy. This study examines interactions and influences of key environmental policy components: applied economic instruments, emission targets, and environmental tax revenue recycling methods. The most cost-effective economic instrument is the carbon tax. The economic effects discussed include impacts on main macroeconomic variables (in particular, economic growth), sectoral production, and the energy market. This study considers several aspects of various COsb2 control policies, such as the basic variables in the economy: capital stock and net foreign debt. The results indicate emissions might be stabilized in Korea at the expense of economic growth and with dramatic sectoral allocation effects. Carbon dioxide emissions stabilization could be achieved to the tune of a 600 trillion won loss over a 20 year period (1990-2010). The average annual real GDP would decrease by 2.10% over the simulation period compared to the 5.87% increase in the Business-as-Usual. This model satisfies an immediate need for a policy simulation model for Korea and provides the basic framework for similar economies. It is critical to keep the central economic question at the forefront of any discussion regarding environmental protection. How much will reform cost, and what does the economy stand to gain and lose? Without this model, the policy makers might resort to hesitation or even blind speculation. With

  9. The Net Contribution of Nuclear Power to the National Economy in Korea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Manki; Kim, Seung-su; Lee, Jong Hee; Kim, Soo-eun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    The objective of the study is to quantify the net contribution of nuclear power to the national economy in Korea focusing on the operating phase of nuclear power. This study is to see what would have happened to the Korean national economy, if all the nuclear power had been completely replaced with its substitute, coal power, providing a mechanism addressing a possible feedback between price and output on a national economy, triggered by the structural change in power sector. The role of nuclear power is estimated to be significant in terms of total output, GDP, price level, and labor employment in Korean economy. The net contribution of nuclear power estimated in this study can be recognized as positive externalities of nuclear power, which can be used to balance between positive externalities and negative externalities in the estimation of social cost of nuclear power, on which public concerns are substantially growing in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power accident in Japan.

  10. The Net Contribution of Nuclear Power to the National Economy in Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Manki; Kim, Seung-su; Lee, Jong Hee; Kim, Soo-eun

    2016-01-01

    The objective of the study is to quantify the net contribution of nuclear power to the national economy in Korea focusing on the operating phase of nuclear power. This study is to see what would have happened to the Korean national economy, if all the nuclear power had been completely replaced with its substitute, coal power, providing a mechanism addressing a possible feedback between price and output on a national economy, triggered by the structural change in power sector. The role of nuclear power is estimated to be significant in terms of total output, GDP, price level, and labor employment in Korean economy. The net contribution of nuclear power estimated in this study can be recognized as positive externalities of nuclear power, which can be used to balance between positive externalities and negative externalities in the estimation of social cost of nuclear power, on which public concerns are substantially growing in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power accident in Japan

  11. Moneyless Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Das, Subhendu

    2012-01-01

    Moneyless economy (MLE) does not have any money in the economy. All products and services are free for all people. This means everybody must work, work for free, and get everything they want for free also. Any work that a society needs is considered legitimate. MLE is not socialism. MLE has the ability to provide a lifestyle that anyone wants. We show that it is possible to run the exact same economy that we have now, in the exact same way, and without money. Any government of any country can...

  12. TACKLING THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: A SOCIAL ACTOR APPROACH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Colin C. Williams

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, participants in the informal economy have started to be viewed less as rational economic actors who engage in the informal economy when the pay-off is greater than the expected cost of being caught and punished, and more as social actors who engage when their tax morale (i.e., motivation to pay taxes is low. To evaluate this new social actor approach and the implications for tackling the informal economy, this paper reports evidence from 41,689 face-to-face interviews conducted across the European Union. Multilevel logistic regression analysis reveals a strong association between participation in the informal economy and the level of tax morale. Finding that higher tax morale (and thus lower participation in the informal economy is strongly correlated at the country-level with greater levels of state intervention and at the individual-level with characteristics such as gender, age, education and employment status, the outcome is to confirm a structuralist political economy explanation and refute the modernization and neo-liberal explanations and remedies, as well as to uncover the importance of some policy solutions not considered until now, including older citizens mentoring of younger people, and improving women’s participation in the labour force.

  13. Cost considerations in remediation and disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dance, J.T.; Huddleston, R.D.

    1999-01-01

    Opportunities for assessing the costs associated with the reclamation and remediation of sites contaminated by oilfield wastes are discussed. The savings can be maximized by paying close attention to five different aspects of the overall site remediation and disposal process. These are: (1) highly focused site assessment, (2) cost control of treatment and disposal options, (3) value added cost benefits, (4) opportunities to control outside influences during the remedial process, and (5) opportunities for managing long-term liabilities and residual risk remaining after the remedial program is completed. It is claimed that addressing these aspects of the process will ultimately lower the overall cost of site remediation and waste disposal

  14. Time and travel costs incurred by women attending antenatal tests: A costing study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhoef, Talitha I; Daley, Rebecca; Vallejo-Torres, Laura; Chitty, Lyn S; Morris, Stephen

    2016-09-01

    to estimate the costs to women, their friends and family for different antenatal tests in the Down's syndrome (DS) screening pathway. questionnaire-based costing study. eight maternity clinics across the UK. pregnant women (n=574) attending an appointment for DS screening, NIPT or invasive testing between December 2013 and September 2014. using data collected from the questionnaires we calculated the total costs to women by multiplying the time spent at the hospital and travelling to and from it by the opportunity costs of the women and accompanying person and adding travel and childcare costs. Assumptions about the value of opportunity costs were tested in one-way sensitivity analyses. The main outcome measure was the mean cost to the women and friends/family for each test (DS screening, NIPT, and invasive testing). mean costs to women and their family/friend were £33.96 per visit, of which £22.47 were time costs, £9.15 were travel costs and £2.34 were childcare costs. Costs were lowest for NIPT (£22), £32 for DS screening (£44 if combined with NIPT), and highest for invasive testing (£60). Sensitivity analysis revealed that variations around the value of leisure time opportunity costs had the largest influence on the results. there are considerable costs to women, their friends and family when attending different tests in the DS screening pathway. when assessing the cost-effectiveness of changes to this pathway, costs to women should be considered. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. 78 FR 46799 - Use of Market Economy Input Prices in Nonmarket Economy Proceedings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-02

    ...The Department of Commerce (``Department'') is modifying its regulation which states that the Department normally will use the price that a nonmarket economy (``NME'') producer pays to a market economy supplier when a factor of production is purchased from a market economy supplier and paid for in market economy currency, in the calculation of normal value (``NV'') in antidumping proceedings involving NME countries. The rule establishes a requirement that the input at issue be produced in one or more market economy countries, and a revised threshold requiring that ``substantially all'' (i.e., 85 percent) of an input be purchased from one or more market economy suppliers before the Department uses the purchase price paid to value the entire factor of production. The Department is making this change because it finds that a market economy input price is not the best available information for valuing all purchases of that input when market economy purchases of an input do not account for substantially all purchases of the input.

  16. The Sharing Economy

    OpenAIRE

    Reinhold, Stephan; Dolnicar, Sara

    2017-01-01

    Peer-to-peer accommodation networks in general, and Airbnb in specific, are frequently referred to as part of the sharing economy. This chapter provides an overview of key characteristics of the sharing economy, discusses how these characteristics relate to peer-to-peer accommodation, and positions peer-to-peer accommodation networks within the sharing economy.

  17. A new mechanism for energy conservation technology services

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan, Feng

    1996-12-31

    In the ninth-five year plan of China, the socialist market economy model will be developed. In the stage of transferring from planning economy to market economy, the energy conservation technology services industry in China has met new challenges. Over the past ten to fifteen years, there has developed a new mechanism for financing energy efficiency investments in market economies. The process is simple. After inspecting an enterprise or an entity for energy saving opportunities, an Energy Service Company (ESCO) which business aimed at making money will review the recommended energy conservation opportunities with the enterprise or the entity (user) and implement those measures acceptable to the user at no front end cost to the user. The ESCO then guarantees that the energy savings will cover the cost of the capital renovations using the Performance Contracting.

  18. Greening and earning. Searching for chances for the Dutch economy; Vergroenen en verdienen. Op zoek naar kansen voor de Nederlandse economie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanemaaijer, A.; Manders, T.; Raspe, O.; Van den Berge, M.; Brandes, L.; Van der Esch, S.; Notenboom, J.; Reudink, M.

    2013-10-15

    This Signals Report focuses on the interface between greening and competitiveness, especially with regard to the chances that are offered by greening. It describes how the Netherlands is doing, how we are doing compared to other countries. It also identifies bottlenecks and barriers that companies encounter in realizing their ambition to become greener, and the report looks across the border to learn from other countries. Based on this analysis, the report outlines opportunities for policy signals to facilitate the transition to a green, innovative and competitive Dutch economy [Dutch] Dit Signalenrapport richt zich op het raakvlak tussen vergroening en concurrentiekracht en vooral op de kansen die vergroening biedt. Het beschrijft hoe Nederland ervoor staat, hoe we het doen ten opzichte van andere landen, het inventariseert knelpunten en barrieres waar bedrijven tegenaan lopen bij het realiseren van hun ambitie om te vergroenen, en het kijkt over de grens om te leren van andere landen. Op basis van deze analyse schetst dit signalenrapport mogelijkheden voor beleid om de overgang naar een groene, innovatieve en concurrerende Nederlandse economie te bevorderen.

  19. Outlook for Japanese economy and energy demand in fiscal year 2015. Will decline in oil price benefit sluggish Japanese economy after tax increase?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yanagisawa, Akira; Ikarii, Ryohei; Iwata, Sohei; Wang, In-Ha; Tomokawa, K.; Shibata, Yoshiaki; Ito, Kokichi

    2015-01-01

    Although prompt economic recovery was expected, after tax increase in April 2014, not so much progress has been made as anticipated. One of the reasons for this is the increase in energy cost due to the decline in LNG price following that of oil price from an international point of view, and the electric rate hike resulted from the delay in restart of nuclear power plant from a domestic point of view, and so on. In this article, the outlook for the Japanese economy and the energy demand in the fiscal year 2015 and the influences of various factors were evaluated. For this evaluation, the values set as the primary premises for the standard scenario were: (1) world economy, (2) CIF prices for importing oil, LNG, and coal, (3) exchange rates, (4) nuclear power generation, (5) electricity demand, and (6) temperature. Then, the influences of following items on economy and energy demand were analyzed: (1) macro economy, (2) production activity, (3) domestic supply of primary energy, (4) final energy consumption, (5) sales amount of electricity and composition of electrical sources, (6) sales amount of city gas, (7) sales amount of fuel oil and LNG, (8) renewable energy power generation, (9) restart rate of nuclear power plant, and so on. (S.K.)

  20. Energy [R]Evolution: Opportunities for Decarbonizing Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrne, J. M.

    2016-12-01

    The future of conventional energy in Canada is uncertain. World oil prices have suffered steep declines recently and there are no strong arguments for recovery in the foreseeable future. The country is now engaged in serious debates and discussions over the value of GHG emissions, pipelines, oil and gas operations, and renewable energy. Oilsands deposits in northern Alberta require long-term investment and decades of consistent sales to repay those investments. The election of more progressive governments in Alberta and Canada may provide the national and global credibility and opportunity to address the environmental problems caused by Oilsands and other fossil fuel developments. The discussion will focus on the possible ways forward for Canada to diversify the regional and national economy with renewable energy networks, thereby meeting our Paris GHG emission reduction commitments. The end goal of this work is to see the Canadian economy decarbonized within two decades.

  1. Perspectives on Eco Economics. Circular Economy and Smart Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Balaceanu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The implementation of sustainable development principles in contemporary economic thinking has generated the conceptual remodeling that expresses the new mechanisms of the economy. Thus, the concept of circular economy meet the theoretical representation of an economic system oriented towards the re-use of waste as raw materials and limiting the production of waste that cannot come back into the economic circuit. Circular economy is one that involves even its concept of operation, recovery and regeneration, as much as possible of resources, aiming to preserve, at the highest level, the value and usefulness of products, components and raw materials, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles. In this way, we can find solutions for two major issues affecting today's economy: the limited nature of resources and the pollution generated by the waste resulting from economic activities.

  2. Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the economy, avoid waste and reduce marine litter

    OpenAIRE

    ten Brink, Patrick; Schweitzer, Jean-Pierre; Watkins, Emma; Janssens, Charlotte; De Smet, Michiel; Leslie, Heather; Galgani, François

    2018-01-01

    We live in the plastic age (the “plasticene”), producing over 300 million tonnes (mt) of plastic every year globally, 5–15 mt of which flow into already polluted oceans. Plastic remains a key material in the global economy, but low rates of collection, reuse and recycling, emissions of microplastic from product wear and tear, and often insufficient disposal measures are leading to far-reaching environmental, health, social and economic impacts. The costs of inaction are unacceptably high. Glo...

  3. Impact of a carbon tax on the Chilean economy: A computable general equilibrium analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    García Benavente, José Miguel

    2016-01-01

    In 2009, the government of Chile announced their official commitment to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below a business-as-usual projection by 2020. Due to the fact that an effective way to reduce emissions is to implement a national carbon tax, the goal of this article is to quantify the value of a carbon tax that will allow the achievement of the emission reduction target and to assess its impact on the economy. The approach used in this work is to compare the economy before and after the implementation of the carbon tax by creating a static computable general equilibrium model of the Chilean economy. The model developed here disaggregates the economy in 23 industries and 23 commodities, and it uses four consumer agents (households, government, investment, and the rest of the world). By setting specific production and consumptions functions, the model can assess the variation in commodity prices, industrial production, and agent consumption, allowing a cross-sectoral analysis of the impact of the carbon tax. The benchmark of the economy, upon which the analysis is based, came from a social accounting matrix specially constructed for this model, based on the year 2010. The carbon tax was modeled as an ad valorem tax under two scenarios: tax on emissions from fossil fuels burned only by producers and tax on emissions from fossil fuels burned by producers and households. The abatement cost curve has shown that it is more cost-effective to tax only producers, rather than to tax both producers and households. This is due to the fact that when compared to the emission level observed in 2010, a 20% emission reduction will cause a loss in GDP of 2% and 2.3% respectively. Under the two scenarios, the tax value that could lead to that emission reduction is around 26 US dollars per ton of CO_2-equivalent. The most affected productive sectors are oil refinery, transport, and electricity — having a contraction between 7% and 9%. Analyzing the electricity

  4. Economy and Grace

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Else Marie Wiberg

    2015-01-01

    Luther develops his idea the grace of God in tandem with his idea of economy, and a society characterized by ethical and social values such as love of neighbour and caring for the poor. Hence, the reformer's search for a gracious God is developed along with his criticism of the current indulgence...... doctrine and the emerging 'oeconomia moderna'. Thus, building on a simul gratia et oeconomia, grace and economy simultaneously, Luther's reformation theology can be perceived as te intersection of an economy of grace and a horizontal social economy (works of love) in quotidian life that together constitute...

  5. China's nuclear technology for economy growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Yanxiao

    1998-01-01

    The transfer of nuclear technology to practical applications in energy, agriculture, food, industries and others has made important contributions to the prosperity of the national economy and the improvement of living standard of Chinese people in the past 40 years. Facing the great challenges in upcoming years, sustained efforts are needed to promote industrialization, commercialization and internationalization of nuclear technology. Rapid economic growth is providing the golden opportunities for the development of nuclear technology in China. With the trends to globalization of economic development, civilian applications of nuclear technology will have to be involved in international co-operation and competitive world markets to narrow the gap between China and other developed countries in the world in the next century. (author)

  6. Expanding opportunities. Strategic buying of utilities in new EU member states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LaBelle, Michael

    2009-01-01

    During the 1990s, limited investment opportunities in Western Europe, the opening of the energy markets in Eastern Europe, and the future expansion of the European Union (EU) prompted an expansionist strategy by energy companies from the original EU member states. In this paper, the acquisition and divestiture activities and strategies of utilities from France and Germany are analyzed in the context of the 2004 and 2007 EU enlargements. Through quantitative and qualitative data analysis, including the development of two case studies, the strategy for expansion and evolution in new member states is examined. The results demonstrate a concerted effort to establish economies of scale through ownership of distribution companies. A change in strategy occurs as these privatization opportunities disappear. Generation and trading activity become the growth area for these companies as electricity supply becomes another factor that can contribute to the economies of scale. Recent EU-supported efforts towards regionalization of electricity markets, positions these companies well due to their strong regional presence. This paper will explore these issues in the context of ownership and geographic distribution. (author)

  7. The economic impact of shale gas development on state and local economies: benefits, costs, and uncertainties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barth, Jannette M

    2013-01-01

    It is often assumed that natural gas exploration and development in the Marcellus Shale will bring great economic prosperity to state and local economies. Policymakers need accurate economic information on which to base decisions regarding permitting and regulation of shale gas extraction. This paper provides a summary review of research findings on the economic impacts of extractive industries, with an emphasis on peer-reviewed studies. The conclusions from the studies are varied and imply that further research, on a case-by-case basis, is necessary before definitive conclusions can be made regarding both short- and long-term implications for state and local economies.

  8. Finnish NGOs promoting health equity in the context of welfare economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rouvinen-Wilenius, Päivi; Ahokas, Jussi; Kiukas, Vertti; Aalto-Kallio, Mervi

    2018-04-05

    Health inequality is a national challenge in Finland. The WHO global strategy of Health for All implies that all people should have an equal opportunity to develop and maintain their health through fair and just access to health resources. This article examines the role of Finnish Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in strengthening the health equity. The article presents the strategy and specific criteria constructed by the NGOs to promote health equity in society. The health equity criteria and welfare economy strategy are combined to a framework which NGOs can utilize in their work to promote health equity. The welfare economy strategy describes the important issues that NGOs have to address when working towards a specific societal goal, in this case equity. The health equity criteria in turn are an instrument for the practical implementation of the preconditions of equity.

  9. Metro Profile: A Familiar Name with an Economy Facing Familiar Challenges

    OpenAIRE

    Fernandez Laris, Georgette A; Gascon, Charles S.

    2015-01-01

    Springfield, Mo., a city with a common name, has an economy with familiar successes and challenges. The health care sector is booming, and the cost of living is somewhat low, as are wages. But labor productivity seems to be subpar, and the poverty rate is above average.

  10. Modeling of similar economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey B. Kuznetsov

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective to obtain dimensionless criteria ndash economic indices characterizing the national economy and not depending on its size. Methods mathematical modeling theory of dimensions processing statistical data. Results basing on differential equations describing the national economy with the account of economical environment resistance two dimensionless criteria are obtained which allow to compare economies regardless of their sizes. With the theory of dimensions we show that the obtained indices are not accidental. We demonstrate the implementation of the obtained dimensionless criteria for the analysis of behavior of certain countriesrsquo economies. Scientific novelty the dimensionless criteria are obtained ndash economic indices which allow to compare economies regardless of their sizes and to analyze the dynamic changes in the economies with time. nbsp Practical significance the obtained results can be used for dynamic and comparative analysis of different countriesrsquo economies regardless of their sizes.

  11. A theory of family, economy, and gender.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, J

    1988-03-01

    Historically, the requirements of population replacement have interacted with modes of subsistence technology to shape the differential distribution of power and prestige by sex. Two assumptions undergird Huber's argument: in all societies, producers have more power than consumers; those who control the distribution of valued goods beyond the family have the most power. Evidence comes from societies based on foraging, the hoe, the plow, herding, and industrial technologies. Huber concludes that changes in the work people do have altered the stratification and family systems of plow societies. Declines in mortality and fertility and changes in lactation customs have reduced the time that women spend pregnant or nursing. Increases in educational levels and employment rates enable women to provide sizable shares of family income. These trends have increased the centrality of individual goal attainment in the Western ideational system. Now women, along with men, have been swept into the occupational streams of the industrial revolution, though not quite into the mainstream. Still in question is the extent to which women will hold a fair share of top positions. This will hinge on responsibility for housework and childcare early in a woman's career, a time when most single parents or couples lack resources to command full-time quality care for the daily needs of their children. Ambitious women can avoid much conflict by remaining childless, but that is the point; ambitious men need not make that choice. Women cannot become men's social equals until the most talented women can aspire as realistically as their male counterparts to contribute in proportion to their talents. Thus, the overlap of family, economy, and gender, reshaped by continuing technological change, continues to affect women's status. Industrialization 1st turned the cost-benefit ratio of children upside down. Then wives were drawn into the labor force, raising the opportunity cost of their time, and

  12. PERCEPTION OF THE FINANCIAL MANAGERS OF THE SMALL AND MIDDLE BUSINESS WITH RELATIONSHIP AT THE COST OF CAPITAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Márcio André Veras Machado

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available This article has as purpose to analyze the degree of the financial managers' perception among small and middle organizations about the capital cost. The data were collected within 27 companies in 10 sections of the Brazilian economy. The method chosen for data collection relies greatly on personal interviews based on route previously elaborated. The interviews demonstrated that most of the interviewees even does not know about the cost of equity. The ones who know about it, in its majority, measure like as the minimum rate of profitability, measured for the cost of lost opportunity. In the regard of the cost of debt, most of them know and were unanimous to confirm that the cost of debt is explicit and it already comes defined by the financial institutions, in its contracts. It was observed that among the managers interviewed which affirmed to know the cost of equity and cost of debt, the great part were in the management position, had college degree in accounting or engineering,, had more than 15 years of experience in these functions, had over 40 years, worked within companies 21 years old and over in the market, and were basically male. Key-words: Cost of Equity, Cost of Debt, Small and Middle Business.

  13. DEPENDENCE OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND COST OF PRODUCTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Sklyarov

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Economic systems exist on condition of receipt and spending of energy. Energy consumption is a necessary condition for the existence and functioning of the economic systems of any scale: macroeconomics, microeconomics, regional economy or the world economy.The economic system operates on the scale at which it is able to produce energy and get access to energy. Moreover, receipt and consumption of energy in the operation of the economic system is mainly determined by, the level of energy production from energy sources, since this level is determined by the level of energy consumption by industries and enterprises of the economy.Currently, the economic system does not produce energy in reserve. Thus, the question of energy effi ciency and energy saving was always acute.The article describes the energy efficiency and energy saving effect on the cost of production. Were used two methods: “costs and release” matrix and “price - value added” matrix. The result is the equation of dependence of energy efficiency and costs.

  14. www.FuelEconomy.gov

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — FuelEconomy.gov provides comprehensive information about vehicles' fuel economy. The official U.S. government site for fuel economy information, it is operated by...

  15. Conditions for greening the Dutch economy; Voorwaarden voor de vergroening van de economie in Nederland

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanemaaijer, A.; Manders, T.; Kruitwagen, S.; Dietz, F.

    2012-08-15

    Greening the economy is considered to be one of the major worldwide challenges of the coming decades. Greening is about limiting the use of natural resources and sparing the environment. By taking into account the limits of the natural capital we can safeguard prosperity in the long term. Greening is important for the Netherlands, too. Using energy, raw materials, land and water more efficiently will make the Dutch economy less vulnerable and the environment cleaner. Focusing on green growth is thus not so much the short-term answer to the present economic crisis but rather a long-term contribution to strengthening the structure of the Dutch economy. This strengthening is not something that will happen of its own accord but requires an active role on the part of the government together with the business sector and the general public. A long-term vision for greening the economy forms an important first step. How to measure progress is another important element in aiming for the goal of green growth. A different set of rules will also be required in order to steer society towards greening. The cost of environmental pollution, for example, should be better reflected in prices. Abolishing subsidies and tax incentives that stand in the way of this greening process is also part of this. Implementing tax proposals of this kind, of course, requires weighing many factors. The government could also create better conditions for the development and application of innovations that spare the environment. This report sets out some of the requirements for greening the Dutch economy and suggests ways in which these could be implemented in some areas. At the same time, the document identifies those areas in need of further investigation to gain a better overview of what 'going for green growth' would mean for the Netherlands and what this requires. [Dutch] Vergroening van de economie wordt wereldwijd gezien als 1 van de grote uitdagingen voor de komende decennia

  16. Improving entrepreneurial opportunity recognition through web content analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakar, Muhamad Shahbani Abu; Azmi, Azwiyati

    2017-10-01

    The ability to recognize and develop an opportunity into a venture defines an entrepreneur. Research in opportunity recognition has been robust and focuses more on explaining the processes involved in opportunity recognition. Factors such as prior knowledge, cognitive and creative capabilities are shown to affect opportunity recognition in entrepreneurs. Prior knowledge in areas such as customer problems, ways to serve the market, and technology has been shows in various studies to be a factor that facilitates entrepreneurs to identify and recognize opportunities. Findings from research also shows that experienced entrepreneurs search and scan for information to discover opportunities. Searching and scanning for information has also been shown to help novice entrepreneurs who lack prior knowledge to narrow this gap and enable them to better identify and recognize opportunities. There is less focus in research on finding empirically proven techniques and methods to develop and enhance opportunity recognition in student entrepreneurs. This is important as the country pushes for more graduate entrepreneurs that can drive the economy. This paper aims to discuss Opportunity Recognition Support System (ORSS), an information support system to help especially student entrepreneurs in identifying and recognizing business opportunities. The ORSS aims to provide the necessary knowledge to student entrepreneurs to be able to better identify and recognize opportunities. Applying design research, theories in opportunity recognition are applied to identify the requirements for the support system and the requirements in turn dictate the design of the support system. The paper proposes the use of web content mining and analytics as two core components and techniques for the support system. Web content mining can mine the vast knowledge repositories available on the internet and analytics can provide entrepreneurs with further insights into the information needed to recognize

  17. Assessment of the impacts of oil: Opportunities and challenges for economic development in Sudan

    OpenAIRE

    Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed

    2011-01-01

    This paper provides an assessment of the impacts of oil and discusses the opportunities and challenges for enhancing economic development in Sudan. One advantage of our analysis in this paper is that we provide a more comprehensive analysis using the most recent secondary data to discuss the positive and negative impacts of oil for enhancing economic development in Sudan. We explain that the various positive impacts of oil and the opportunities for enhancing development in Sudan's economy inc...

  18. Opportunities of Establishment of Destination Management and Marketing Organizations in Bulgaria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venelin Terziev

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines tourism sector development in the Republic of Bulgaria in the context of the country’s strategic priorities till 2020 of knowledge-based economy, sustainable growth and smart specialization, the opportunities for its integration with agri-food sector and potential contribution to balanced rural development. The principles and roles of destination management and marketing organizations are discussed and the opportunities for their application in the national conditions are explored. A framework for of establishment, management and functioning of such organizations is proposed based on integrated and participatory approaches, planning, coordination and communication activities, permanent monitoring and controlling.

  19. Economy of climate policy. Criticism and alternatives

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van den Bergh, J.C.J.M.

    2002-01-01

    The economy of climate policy is characterized by notions as cost-benefit analysis, optimal policy and optimal timing. It is argued that the use of such notions reflects an unjustified optimism with respect to the contribution of economic science to the discussion on climate policy. The complexity of the biosphere and the uncertainty about climatic change, as well as their socio-economic consequences, are extensive. Another economic approach of the climate problem is suggested, based on complexity and historical justice. 12 refs [nl

  20. Adjusting patients streaming initiated by a wait time threshold in emergency department for minimizing opportunity cost.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Byungjoon B J; Delbridge, Theodore R; Kendrick, Dawn B

    2017-07-10

    Purpose Two different systems for streaming patients were considered to improve efficiency measures such as waiting times (WTs) and length of stay (LOS) for a current emergency department (ED). A typical fast track area (FTA) and a fast track with a wait time threshold (FTW) were designed and compared effectiveness measures from the perspective of total opportunity cost of all patients' WTs in the ED. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This retrospective case study used computerized ED patient arrival to discharge time logs (between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010) to build computer simulation models for the FTA and fast track with wait time threshold systems. Various wait time thresholds were applied to stream different acuity-level patients. National average wait time for each acuity level was considered as a threshold to stream patients. Findings The fast track with a wait time threshold (FTW) showed a statistically significant shorter total wait time than the current system or a typical FTA system. The patient streaming management would improve the service quality of the ED as well as patients' opportunity costs by reducing the total LOS in the ED. Research limitations/implications The results of this study were based on computer simulation models with some assumptions such as no transfer times between processes, an arrival distribution of patients, and no deviation of flow pattern. Practical implications When the streaming of patient flow can be managed based on the wait time before being seen by a physician, it is possible for patients to see a physician within a tolerable wait time, which would result in less crowded in the ED. Originality/value A new streaming scheme of patients' flow may improve the performance of fast track system.

  1. Investment opportunity : the FPL low-cost solar dry kiln

    Science.gov (United States)

    George B. Harpole

    1988-01-01

    Two equations are presented that may be used to estimate a maximum investment limit and working capital requirements for the FPL low-cost solar dry kiln systems. The equations require data for drying cycle time, green lumber cost, and kiln-dried lumber costs. Results are intended to provide a preliminary estimate.

  2. Political economy of nuclear power, 1946-1982

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cohn, S.M.

    1986-01-01

    This dissertation seeks to explain the pattern of nuclear power development in the United States, treating the subject as a case study of how major infrastructural development choices are made in a modern capitalist economy. The main concept adduced in the thesis to organize nuclear history is that of an Official Technology (OT). The latter enjoys strong state support, the promoted image of the coming technology and capture of critical mass advantages. The dissertation analyzes the incentives key political-economic interests had for promoting nuclear power to OT status 1946-1974 and the mechanisms used by these groups to facilitate nuclear expansion. At OT differential, tallying the microeconomic impact of nuclear's capture of OT status is calculated. Included in the differential are the benefits of scale economies, learning curve cost reductions, federal subsidies and regulatory incentives, misleading information environments, and bureaucratic momentum. Nuclear's decline after 1974 is tied to the erosion of this differential by a political challenge to the technology's OT status

  3. Reuse of Electronic Equipment and Software Installed on Them ‒ an Exploratory Analysis in the Context of Circular Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristian Bogdan Onete

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The transition to a circular economy in which the value of products, materials and resources is maintained as long as possible and the waste is minimized, has led to the creation of new business opportunities and new, innovative and efficient production and consumption models. Over the last few years, the principles of the circular economy have been gradually integrated into several sectors, the consumer electronics industry being such an example. The applicability of the circular economy principles in this sector has been presented in the literature, but these approaches have taken into account, in particular, the physical, tangible components of electronic products, focusing on the existing interrelationships between the circular economy and the production and use of electronic devices and equipment. Given that electronic products often incorporate intangible components, namely the software necessary for their operation, we have chosen to address in this paper the problems of the circular economy from this perspective, the purpose of this paper being to emphasize the relation between the use of software products and the principles of circular economy. Thus, the paper presents the main opportunities and challenges that circular economy involves for all stakeholders, namely manufacturers of electronic goods and developers of the related software and their users. In order to determine the way consumers capitalize the possibilities to reuse the software components of IT products they use (computers, tablets, mobile phones, we have undertaken an exploratory research that took place between October and November 2017 on the basis of a structured questionnaire posted online and applied to Romanian young people, the number of respondents being 257. Research has shown the respondents easily adapt to new versions of software when they change their phone or laptop and there is a frequent transfer of equipment without considering the possibilities of reuse

  4. Political economies and environmental futures for the sharing economy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Frenken, Koen|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/207145253

    2017-01-01

    The sudden rise of the sharing economy has sparked an intense public debate about its definition, its effects and its future regulation. Here, I attempt to provide analytical guidance by defining the sharing economy as the practice that consumers grant each other temporary access to their

  5. Cost efficiency in the Swiss gas distribution sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farsi, Mehdi; Filippini, Massimo; Kuenzle, Michael

    2007-01-01

    This paper studies the cost structure of gas distribution utilities in Switzerland. Three stochastic frontier models are applied to a panel of 26 companies operating from 1996 to 2000. Efficiency is assumed to be constant over time. The analysis highlights the importance of output characteristics such as customer density and network size. The results suggest that the utilities could slightly reduce their operating costs by improving efficiency. There is no evidence of significant unexploited scale economies. However, our analysis indicates that the estimates of scale economies could be sensitive to the assumptions regarding the variation of output with output characteristics

  6. PV opportunities in India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Jack L.; Ullal, Harin S.

    1996-01-01

    The growing middle class in India, coupled with a need for electricity to provide basic services to the masses, provides an opportunity to deploy photovoltaic systems in cost-effective applications ranging from grid-connected to isolated location requirements. This need is being satisfied by aggressive government programs, the availability of funds from agencies such as the World Bank, and the desire of Indian industries to form joint ventures for in-country manufacturing. The relaxed restrictions on doing business in India makes today's opportunities timely indeed.

  7. Introduction Of Techno-Economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Woo Hui

    2001-08-01

    This book gives descriptions of science, technology and techno-economy, invention and science and technology in the Twenty-First century, theory and model of technological innovation, technology and economy technology and industry, technology and business, spread and transfer of technique, technology and international economy, science, technique and culture, science, technology and government, development of technology in Korea and developing countries, and conclusion on the past and the future of techno-economy.

  8. Without continuous basic research technology will stagnate and economy will be in no growth. Why?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Jørgen Lindgaard

    2008-01-01

    The paper presents some ideas about new knowledge and the effects from knowledge on development of new technology. Paul M. Romer established in the 1980s the so-called New Growth Economy. The basic idea is here that knowledge is included explicitly in the production function. With knowledge...... as a public good its unit costs will be declining and it can substitute other inputs with not-declining unit costs. A problem with that idea is the neglect of the cost connected with production of a new idea. Joel Mokyr has from the end of 1990s developed his ideas about the knowledge economy. He distingues...... between propositional knowledge and prescriptive knowledge. The first-mentioned is about what nature is. The second-mentioned is about how to manipulate to get a wanted result. What is important is that m ost important new technologies cannot be developed without many different areas of propositional...

  9. China’s energy economy situation, reforms, behavior, and energy intensity

    CERN Document Server

    Ma, Hengyun

    2012-01-01

    In the new millennium, understanding China’s energy economy is crucial for politicians, businesspeople and energy economists, as China’s energy policy choices will mean both challenges and opportunities for the world in terms of an increasing share of primary energy consumption and investment. This book initially reviews the literature on China’s energy economy and in so doing reveals that many important areas have been overlooked or are outdated in their coverage. Given the size of China and its global importance, the book then review s China’s current energy situation and fills the gaps in the literature for those who are interested in and concerned about China’s economic development and energy reform in the new millennium.   The book is different from previous studies in several important ways: Firstly, it presents recent,  pioneering research rather than a simple textbook, several sections of which have been published in high-quality energy journals. Secondly, the book first subdivides China'...

  10. Concept of digital nomad: fundamental risks of digital economy development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Lyudvigovna Iakovleva

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective to identify the key risks of the digital economy development. Methods abstractlogical and dialectical methods. Results a modern individual cannot imagine their life without digital devices which facilitate their functioning and enable them to be included into the virtual space. The role of digital economy in the changes in all spheres of human life is analyzed in the article. With the growing role of the digital economy the approaches to business models formation are changing as well as the role of digital assets. This also leads to the transformation of human behavior the new risks of the digital economy accelerated development. In this regard the article characterizes an individual as a digital nomad defines the features of their behavior in the socioeconomic environment and highlights the main risks that arise in connection with digital nomadism. It is determined that one of the most characteristic features of a modern person is hypermobility eparkourism. In addition the paper describes the problems of anonymity in virtual space and the emergence of systems that provide anonymity of the individual as well as the risks arising in connection with that. The problem of lack of culture and value systems in the virtual space is highlighted as well the problem of developing contradictions in information leading to the alienation of people from the real world. It was determined that the informatization of economy on the one hand leads to faster business processes reduced transaction costs saving of variable costs due to robotization of production and on the other hand it leads to the transformation of competition growth of tension in society in connection with the job cuts. Another problem is personal and national security associated with the development of social networks the developers of which are other countries and also with the emergence of mechanisms of influence on mass consciousness. Scientific novelty it is shown that the risks

  11. RECIPROCITY IN THE ECONOMY OF THE AGE OF SILICON ECONOMY SYSTEMS TO EARLY EXPERIENCES CURRENT SOLIDARITY ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Horacio, Simes

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Reciprocity is an integrating principle of supportive economy activities. In non-capitalist societies, it has been realized through the participation of certain institutional arrangements that favored the stability of exchange relations. Progress towards capitalist societies and deepening them, dissolved many of these institutional supports, while economy relations separated from other social relations in which it was first inserted. In addition, the selfish individual was become an active participant in the economy life of society. With the construction of market economies and state regulation, reciprocal relationships were being reduced to a lower field activities. Under these circumstances, they should investigate how reciprocity is manifested today, the institutional arrangements that are suitable to give stability and unity to cooperative behavior and the dynamics of their relationship to the context of the market and the state.

  12. Factor substitution, and economies of scale and utilisation in Kuwait's crude oil industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Mutairi, Naief; Burney, Nadeem A.

    2002-01-01

    The cost structure of the crude oil industry in Kuwait has been examined, with specific focus on factor substitution, and economies of scale and utilisation. This has been done by estimating translog cost functions, both long-run and short-run, using time-series data covering the period from 1976 to 1996. The results indicate that the implied production structure is non-homothetic, and the pattern of scale effect is labour saving, but capital and material using. The evidence also supports the presence of an induced exogenous technical change, which is non-neutral (labour and capital using, and material saving). The elasticity of substitution between capital and labour is positive, implying that the two inputs are substitute. The results also indicate the existence of diseconomies of scale in the production of crude oil, but no economies or diseconomies of utilisation

  13. Relationship Between Energy Prices, Monetary Policy and Inflation; A Case Study of South Asian Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atiq-ur-Rehman

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Monetary policy tools, including money supply and interest rate, are the most popular instruments to control inflation around the globe. It is assumed that a tight monetary policy, either in form of reduction in money supply or an increase in interest rate, will reduce inflation by reducing aggregate demand in an economy. However, monetary policy could be counterproductive if cost side effects of monetary tightening prevail. High energy prices may increase the cost of production by reducing aggregate supply in the economy. If tight monetary policy is used to reduce this cost push inflation, the cost side effect of energy prices will add to cost side effects of monetary tightening and will become dominant. In this case, the monetary policy could be counterproductive. Furthermore, simultaneous reduction in aggregate supply and aggregate demand will bring twofold reduction in output. Therefore greater care is needed in the use of monetary policy in the situation of cost push inflation. This article investigates the presence of cost side effect of monetary transmission mechanism, the role of international oil prices in domestic inflation, and implications for monetary policy. The findings suggest that both monetary policy and oil prices have cost side effects on inflation and monetary tightening could be counterproductive if used to reduce energy pushed inflationary trend.

  14. The NNP and Sustainability in Open Economy: Highlights on Recent World Economy and on Open Economy of Bangladesh

    OpenAIRE

    Mohajan, Haradhan

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses the theory of the net national product and, emphasizes on social welfare and sustainable accounting in open economy. It is observed that the world economy following an egalitarian path, the aggregate capital gains being positive is equivalent to the interest rate tending to decrease. This is important for the concept of net national product in open economies. Martin Weitzman gives a foundation for net national product as the stationary equivalent of a wealth maximizing pa...

  15. Concurrent sourcing and external supplier opportunism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mols, Niels Peter

    costs of opportunism are determined as a product of four factors. The four factors are: likelihood of discovering supplier opportunism, buyer’s internalized quantity as reaction to supplier opportunism, asset specificity of external supplier’s investments, and multiplicator effects. Each......When a firm simultaneously makes and buys the same components then the firm uses concurrent sourcing. This paper presents an agency model for explaining how and when concurrent sourcing reduces the likelihood of external supplier opportunism. In the proposed model, the external supplier’s expected...... of these factors are explained and discussed in the paper. The paper ends by offering a number of theoretical and managerial implications....

  16. Ecology, Economy and security of supply of the Dutch Electricity Supply System. A scenario based future analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roedel, J.G.

    2008-01-01

    The Dutch electricity sector has been transformed into a liberalized international energy market. Market players are free to choose from various electricity generation options when replacing or expanding production capacity. However, choices that are made now will influence emissions (ecology), integral costs (economy) and availability (security of supply) for the next 25 - 40 years. This thesis shows if and how, based on the current electricity supply system, an optimal balance of ecology, economy and security of supply can be achieved. First, the current electricity supply system is described to create a frame of reference. Then, future technological developments are described for electricity production options. Four potential scenarios are constructed featuring various uncertainties: the globalising versus the local economy; priority versus subordination for the environment; and the security/insecurity of the fuel supply. These four scenarios are worked out with a specially developed techno-economic simulation model; the results are analysed in terms of ecology, economy and security of supply. The findings indicate that it is impossible to arrive at an optimal balance for the defined scenarios. Scenarios with a low environmental impact lead to high integral costs and vice versa. However, by applying a smart combination of various modern generation technologies, CO2 capture and storage, the deployment of biomass and the re-use of residual heat it is possible to reach an optimal balance whereby the additional integral costs can be kept under control compared with the lowest-cost scenarios. To achieve this, clear growth and incentive guidelines need to be established for the various production options. This thesis will form a good starting point for that exercise

  17. THE NEW ECONOMY AND THE ECONOMY OF TOURISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MIRELA MAZILU

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Together with the Internet, e-business and the new economy era, in general, fundamental transformation of the social and economic structure take place. In parallel, the assaults on the standard economic science amplify, in the sense of some conceptual reformulations and of some reinterpretations of the economic phenomena and laws. Besides the classical factors of production, work and capital, information is added, either as a distinct factor or as a detached one of the two mentioned. Also, the empiric findings regarding the so-called tertiarisation of the economy or the increase of the share of the services sector in the total of the national economy, as well as the so-called intangible investments in the total of the investment funds, have lead to numerous attempts of redefining what we call today a "modern economy". Other factors with major influence, regarding the adjustment of the economic science to the new trends from the real economy, refer to the following: the liberalisation of the international exchanges and the globalisation; the growth of the importance of the so-called free time (including here the household activities and the ones unfolded in the interest of the community, entertainment, but also the time destined to the development of the degree of culture and education on one's own and the fluidisation of the limits of differentiation between this and the work activity in the formal sector as well as the informal one; the more rapid dynamic of the financial and banking markets than the so-called classic productive sector of the economy; the extension of the use of computers and of the means and techniques of communication, in the activity of the companies as well as in the households, and the impact on the structure of the time and the financial budget of the population etc. All these have an impact on the tourism unfolding.

  18. China's energy economy. Situation, reforms, behavior, and energy intensity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Hengyun [Henan Agricultural Univ., Zhengzhou (China). College of Economics and Management; Oxley, Les [Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand). Dept of Economics and Finance

    2012-07-01

    In the new millennium, understanding China's energy economy is crucial for politicians, businesspeople and energy economists, as China's energy policy choices will mean both challenges and opportunities for the world in terms of an increasing share of primary energy consumption and investment. This book initially reviews the literature on China's energy economy and in so doing reveals that many important areas have been overlooked or are outdated in their coverage. Given the size of China and its global importance, the book then review s China's current energy situation and fills the gaps in the literature for those who are interested in and concerned about China's economic development and energy reform in the new millennium. The book is different from previous studies in several important ways: Firstly, it presents recent, pioneering research rather than a simple textbook, several sections of which have been published in high-quality energy journals. Secondly, the book first subdivides China's energy intensity change into aspects of budget constraint, technological change, factor substitution, energy demand and economic growth using a newly developed econometric approach. Thirdly, it provides many new and different econometric findings and derives many new policy implications for China's energy economy. And lastly, it brings to light a wealth of new knowledge for those who are interested in China's energy economy, the world energy market and global environmental and climate change issues.

  19. RUSSIAN MULTINATIONALS IN ROMANIA AND THEIR IMPACT UPON THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CODRUŢA DURA

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Our paper provides an insight into the universe of Russian multinationals and their influence upon the Romanian economy. Even if statistical data on foreign direct investment stock by country of origin do not prove the existence of Russian capital in Romania, it is a fact that the high values of foreign direct investment stock from the Netherlands, Austria, Germany or Switzerland are largely due to the investment projects undertaken in Romania by Russian multinationals. Despite the lack of relevant statistical data, we can say that the impact of Russian MNC’s on the Romanian economy is huge. Among positive influences we can mention: global employment opportunities for highly qualified workforce in the region; the transfer of advanced technologies to Romanian enterprises and the local markets; the awareness of business partners and public opinion on social responsibility; the insert of higher performance standards, competitiveness and managerial ethics.

  20. Plutonium economy. Plutonium-Wirtschaft

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Traube, K

    1984-01-01

    The author expresses his opinion on the situation, describes the energy-economic setting, indicates the alternatives: fuel reprocessing or immediate long-term storage, and investigates the prospects for economic utilization of the breeder reactors. All the facts suggest that the breeder reactor will never be able to stand economic competition with light-water reactors. However, there is no way to prove the future. It is naive to think that every doubt could and must be removed before stopping the development of breeder reactors - and thus also the reprocessing of the fuel of light-water reactors. On the basis of the current state of knowledge an unbiased cost-benefit-analysis can only lead to the recommendation to stop construction immediately. But can 'experts', who for years or even decades have called for and supported the development of breeder reactors be expected to make an unbiased analysis. Klaus Traube strikes the balance of the state Germany's nuclear economy is in: although there is no chance of definitively abandoning that energy-political cul-de-sac, no new adventures must be embarked upon. Responsible handling of currently used nuclear technology means to give up breeder technology and waive plutonium economy. It is no supreme technology with the aid of which structural unemployment or any other economic problem could be solved.