WorldWideScience

Sample records for pricing randomized allocations

  1. Joint slot allocation and dynamic pricing of container sea–rail multimodal transportation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Liu

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The container sea–rail multimodal transport system faces complex challenges with demand uncertainties for joint slot allocation and dynamic pricing. The challenge is formulated as a two-stage optimal model based on revenue management (RM as actual slots sale of multi-node container sea–rail multimodal transport usually includes contract sale to large shippers and free sale to scattered shippers. First stage in the model utilizes an origin-destination control approach, formulated as a stochastic integer programming equation, to settle long-term slot allocation in the contract market and empty container allocation. Second stage in the model is formulated as a stochastic nonlinear programming equation to solve a multiproduct joint dynamic pricing and inventory control problem for price settling and slot allocation in each period of free market. Considering the random nature of demand, the methods of chance constrained programming and robust optimization are utilized to transform stochastic models into deterministic models. A numerical experiment is presented to verify the availability of models and solving methods. Results of considering uncertain/certain demand are compared, which show that the two-stage optimal strategy integrating slot allocation with dynamic pricing considering random demand is revealed to increase the revenue for multimodal transport operators (MTO while concurrently satisfying shippers' demand. Research resulting from this paper will contribute to the theory and practice of container sea–rail multimodal transport revenue management and provide a scientific decision-making tool for MTO.

  2. Reactive Power Pricing Model Considering the Randomness of Wind Power Output

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Zhong; Wu, Zhou

    2018-01-01

    With the increase of wind power capacity integrated into grid, the influence of the randomness of wind power output on the reactive power distribution of grid is gradually highlighted. Meanwhile, the power market reform puts forward higher requirements for reasonable pricing of reactive power service. Based on it, the article combined the optimal power flow model considering wind power randomness with integrated cost allocation method to price reactive power. Meanwhile, considering the advantages and disadvantages of the present cost allocation method and marginal cost pricing, an integrated cost allocation method based on optimal power flow tracing is proposed. The model realized the optimal power flow distribution of reactive power with the minimal integrated cost and wind power integration, under the premise of guaranteeing the balance of reactive power pricing. Finally, through the analysis of multi-scenario calculation examples and the stochastic simulation of wind power outputs, the article compared the results of the model pricing and the marginal cost pricing, which proved that the model is accurate and effective.

  3. Using an inflation-augmented price-earnings ratio to guide tactical asset allocation

    OpenAIRE

    Adrian Saville

    2011-01-01

    Asset allocation plays a central role in determining investment outcomes, and available evidence shows that portfolio results can be enhanced through tactical asset allocation if managers use the simple price-earnings ratio as a predictor of equity returns. Recently, some international evidence has emerged which shows that, by augmenting the price-earnings metric with information about consumer price inflation, further enhancements can be achieved in tactical asset allocation.  This study rev...

  4. Using an inflation-augmented price-earnings ratio to guide tactical asset allocation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian Saville

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Asset allocation plays a central role in determining investment outcomes, and available evidence shows that portfolio results can be enhanced through tactical asset allocation if managers use the simple price-earnings ratio as a predictor of equity returns. Recently, some international evidence has emerged which shows that, by augmenting the price-earnings metric with information about consumer price inflation, further enhancements can be achieved in tactical asset allocation.  This study reviews these arguments  as they apply to South Africa, and finds that an inflation-augmented price-earnings ratio is more successful in forecasting equity returns than is the simple price-earnings ratio.  Moreover, the metric is found to be significant in explaining relative asset class returns. On a risk-adjusted basis, however, the tool fails to improve the portfolio results when compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.

  5. Using an inflation-augmented price-earnings ratio to guide tactical asset allocation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian Saville

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Asset allocation plays a central role in determining investment outcomes, and available evidence shows that portfolio results can be enhanced through tactical asset allocation if managers use the simple price-earnings ratio as a predictor of equity returns. Recently, some international evidence has emerged which shows that, by augmenting the price-earnings metric with information about consumer price inflation, further enhancements can be achieved in tactical asset allocation.  This study reviews these arguments  as they apply to South Africa, and finds that an inflation-augmented price-earnings ratio is more successful in forecasting equity returns than is the simple price-earnings ratio.  Moreover, the metric is found to be significant in explaining relative asset class returns. On a risk-adjusted basis, however, the tool fails to improve the portfolio results when compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.

  6. A Dynamic Pricing Reverse Auction-Based Resource Allocation Mechanism in Cloud Workflow Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuejun Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Market-oriented reverse auction is an efficient and cost-effective method for resource allocation in cloud workflow systems since it can dynamically allocate resources depending on the supply-demand relationship of the cloud market. However, during the auction the price of cloud resource is usually fixed, and the current resource allocation mechanisms cannot adapt to the changeable market properly which results in the low efficiency of resource utilization. To address such a problem, a dynamic pricing reverse auction-based resource allocation mechanism is proposed. During the auction, resource providers can change prices according to the trading situation so that our novel mechanism can increase the chances of making a deal and improve efficiency of resource utilization. In addition, resource providers can improve their competitiveness in the market by lowering prices, and thus users can obtain cheaper resources in shorter time which would decrease monetary cost and completion time for workflow execution. Experiments with different situations and problem sizes are conducted for dynamic pricing-based allocation mechanism (DPAM on resource utilization and the measurement of Time⁎Cost (TC. The results show that our DPAM can outperform its representative in resource utilization, monetary cost, and completion time and also obtain the optimal price reduction rates.

  7. Multiarea Transmission Cost Allocation in Large Power Systems Using the Nodal Pricing Control Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Ghayeni

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes an algorithm for transmission cost allocation (TCA in a large power system based on nodal pricing approach using the multi-area scheme. The nodal pricing approach is introduced to allocate the transmission costs by the control of nodal prices in a single area network. As the number of equations is dependent on the number of buses and generators, this method will be very time consuming for large power systems. To solve this problem, the present paper proposes a new algorithm based on multi-area approach for regulating the nodal prices, so that the simulation time is greatly reduced and therefore the TCA problem with nodal pricing approach will be applicable for large power systems. In addition, in this method the transmission costs are allocated to users more equitable. Since the higher transmission costs in an area having a higher reliability are paid only by users of that area in contrast with the single area method, in which these costs are allocated to all users regardless of their locations. The proposed method is implemented on the IEEE 118 bus test system which comprises three areas. Results show that with application of multi-area approach, the simulation time is greatly reduced and the transmission costs are also allocated to users with less variation in new nodal prices with respect to the single area approach.

  8. Congestion Pricing for Aircraft Pushback Slot Allocation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yaping

    2017-01-01

    In order to optimize aircraft pushback management during rush hour, aircraft pushback slot allocation based on congestion pricing is explored while considering monetary compensation based on the quality of the surface operations. First, the concept of the “external cost of surface congestion” is proposed, and a quantitative study on the external cost is performed. Then, an aircraft pushback slot allocation model for minimizing the total surface cost is established. An improved discrete differential evolution algorithm is also designed. Finally, a simulation is performed on Xinzheng International Airport using the proposed model. By comparing the pushback slot control strategy based on congestion pricing with other strategies, the advantages of the proposed model and algorithm are highlighted. In addition to reducing delays and optimizing the delay distribution, the model and algorithm are better suited for use for actual aircraft pushback management during rush hour. Further, it is also observed they do not result in significant increases in the surface cost. These results confirm the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed model and algorithm. PMID:28114429

  9. Congestion Pricing for Aircraft Pushback Slot Allocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lihua; Zhang, Yaping; Liu, Lan; Xing, Zhiwei

    2017-01-01

    In order to optimize aircraft pushback management during rush hour, aircraft pushback slot allocation based on congestion pricing is explored while considering monetary compensation based on the quality of the surface operations. First, the concept of the "external cost of surface congestion" is proposed, and a quantitative study on the external cost is performed. Then, an aircraft pushback slot allocation model for minimizing the total surface cost is established. An improved discrete differential evolution algorithm is also designed. Finally, a simulation is performed on Xinzheng International Airport using the proposed model. By comparing the pushback slot control strategy based on congestion pricing with other strategies, the advantages of the proposed model and algorithm are highlighted. In addition to reducing delays and optimizing the delay distribution, the model and algorithm are better suited for use for actual aircraft pushback management during rush hour. Further, it is also observed they do not result in significant increases in the surface cost. These results confirm the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed model and algorithm.

  10. Congestion Pricing for Aircraft Pushback Slot Allocation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lihua Liu

    Full Text Available In order to optimize aircraft pushback management during rush hour, aircraft pushback slot allocation based on congestion pricing is explored while considering monetary compensation based on the quality of the surface operations. First, the concept of the "external cost of surface congestion" is proposed, and a quantitative study on the external cost is performed. Then, an aircraft pushback slot allocation model for minimizing the total surface cost is established. An improved discrete differential evolution algorithm is also designed. Finally, a simulation is performed on Xinzheng International Airport using the proposed model. By comparing the pushback slot control strategy based on congestion pricing with other strategies, the advantages of the proposed model and algorithm are highlighted. In addition to reducing delays and optimizing the delay distribution, the model and algorithm are better suited for use for actual aircraft pushback management during rush hour. Further, it is also observed they do not result in significant increases in the surface cost. These results confirm the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed model and algorithm.

  11. Bandwidth allocation and pricing problem for a duopoly market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    You Peng-Sheng

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This research discusses the Internet service provider (ISP bandwidth allocation and pricing problems for a duopoly bandwidth market with two competitive ISPs. According to the contracts between Internet subscribers and ISPs, Internet subscribers can enjoy their services up to their contracted bandwidth limits. However, in reality, many subscribers may experience the facts that their on-line requests are denied or their connection speeds are far below their contracted speed limits. One of the reasons is that ISPs accept too many subscribers as their subscribers. To avoid this problem, ISPs can set limits for their subscribers to enhance their service qualities. This paper develops constrained nonlinear programming to deal with this problem for two competitive ISPs. The condition for reaching the equilibrium between the two competitive firms is derived. The market equilibrium price and bandwidth resource allocations are derived as closed form solutions.

  12. Energy savings potential in China's industrial sector: From the perspectives of factor price distortion and allocative inefficiency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ouyang, Xiaoling; Sun, Chuanwang

    2015-01-01

    China's industrial energy consumption accounted for 70.82% of national and 14.12% of world energy usage in 2011. In the context of energy scarcity and environmental pollution, the industrial sector in China faces unsustainable growth problems. By adopting the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) framework, this paper analyzes the factor allocative efficiency of China's industrial sector, and estimates the energy savings potential from the perspective of allocative inefficiency. This paper focuses on three issues. The first is examining the factor allocative inefficiency of China's industrial sector. The second is measuring factor price distortion by the shadow price model. The third is estimating the energy savings potential in China's industrial sector during 2001–2009. Major conclusions are thus drawn. First, factor prices of capital, labor and energy are distorted in China due to government regulations. Moreover, energy price is relatively low compared to capital price, while is relatively high compared to labor price. Second, the industry-wide energy savings potential resulted from energy allocative inefficiency was about 9.71% during 2001–2009. The downward trend of energy savings potential implies the increasing energy allocative efficiency in China's industrial sector. Third, a transparent and reasonable pricing mechanism is conducive to improving energy allocative efficiency. - Highlights: • We measure energy savings potential resulted from allocative inefficiency in China's industrial sector. • Allocative inefficiency is explained based on the theoretical and empirical models. • Factor prices of capital, labor and energy are distorted because of government regulations. • Energy pricing reform is conducive to improving energy allocative efficiency

  13. A game-theoretical pricing mechanism for multiuser rate allocation for video over WiMAX

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chao-An; Lo, Chi-Wen; Lin, Chia-Wen; Chen, Yung-Chang

    2010-07-01

    In multiuser rate allocation in a wireless network, strategic users can bias the rate allocation by misrepresenting their bandwidth demands to a base station, leading to an unfair allocation. Game-theoretical approaches have been proposed to address the unfair allocation problems caused by the strategic users. However, existing approaches rely on a timeconsuming iterative negotiation process. Besides, they cannot completely prevent unfair allocations caused by inconsistent strategic behaviors. To address these problems, we propose a Search Based Pricing Mechanism to reduce the communication time and to capture a user's strategic behavior. Our simulation results show that the proposed method significantly reduce the communication time as well as converges stably to an optimal allocation.

  14. Preliminary report. Preliminary findings and views concerning the exemption of kerojet fuels from the Mandatory Petroleum Allocation and Price Regulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1978-01-01

    Preliminary findings indicate the following: kerojet fuel is not in short supply; it will not adversely impact on the supply of other petroleum products subject to the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act; competition and market forces are adequate; and it will not result in inequitable prices for kerojet or other products. Chapter II provides background information on the use, production, and distribution of kerojet. Chapter III analyzes the historical interaction of supply, demand, and price, and explores the market structure for kerojet during 1968 to 1976, prior to and during imposition of allocation and price controls. Chapter IV examines the effect upon kerojet supply, demand, price, and market structure of exempting kerojet from controls and indicates the benefits to be derived from such exemption. In Chapter V, the potential economic impacts of exemption are evaluated. Chapter VI provides a final summary of the DOE's findings and views in support of its preliminary judgment that kerojet should be exempted from allocation and price regulations. (MCW)

  15. Premium Pricing of Liability Insurance Using Random Sum Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mujiati Dwi Kartikasari

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Premium pricing is one of important activities in insurance. Nonlife insurance premium is calculated from expected value of historical data claims. The historical data claims are collected so that it forms a sum of independent random number which is called random sum. In premium pricing using random sum, claim frequency distribution and claim severity distribution are combined. The combination of these distributions is called compound distribution. By using liability claim insurance data, we analyze premium pricing using random sum model based on compound distribution

  16. Impact of electricity prices and volumetric water allocation on energy and groundwater demand management: analysis from Western India

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, M.D.

    2005-01-01

    In recent years, power tariff policy has been increasingly advocated as a mean to influence groundwater use and withdrawal decisions of farmers in view of the failure of existing direct and indirect regulations on groundwater withdrawal in India. Many researchers argue that pro rata electricity tariff, with built in positive marginal cost of pumping could bring about efficient use of the resource, though some argue that the levels of tariff in which demand becomes elastic to pricing are too high to be viable from political and socio-economic points of view. The paper presents a theoretical model to analyze farmers' response to changes in power tariff and water allocation regimes vis a vis energy and groundwater use. It validates the model by analyzing water productivity in groundwater irrigation under different electricity pricing structures and water allocation regimes. Water productivity was estimated using primary data of gross crop inputs, cost of all inputs, and volumetric water inputs. The analysis shows that unit pricing of electricity influences groundwater use efficiency and productivity positively. It also shows that the levels of pricing at which demand for electricity and groundwater becomes elastic to tariff are socio-economically viable. Further, water productivity impacts of pricing would be highest when water is volumetrically allocated with rationing. Therefore, an effective power tariff policy followed by enforcement of volumetric water allocation could address the issue of efficiency, sustainability and equity in groundwater use in India

  17. Joint pricing and resource allocation for OFDMA-based cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi; Goldsmith, André a J.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2011-01-01

    Cognitive users can share spectrum with primary users under constraints on the interference that results. We present a new pricing strategy for sharing the primary users' available subchannels with cognitive users by optimizing the secondary and primary users' utilities while meeting the primary users' interference constraints. The primary users aim to maximize their revenues by sharing their subchannels with secondary users while ensuring that they achieve a minimum target capacity. On the other hand, the secondary users aim to maximize their capacity under three different constraints: consumed power, a given budget for sharing subchannels, and tolerable interference caused to the primary users. We introduce a sequential procedure based on a distributed algorithm to determine the resource allocation, interference thresholds and prices that satisfy the requirements of both parties in the network. Simulations show that the users face a tradeoff between capacity, power, and price. © 2011 IEEE.

  18. Joint pricing and resource allocation for OFDMA-based cognitive radio systems

    KAUST Repository

    Ben Ghorbel, Mahdi

    2011-04-01

    Cognitive users can share spectrum with primary users under constraints on the interference that results. We present a new pricing strategy for sharing the primary users\\' available subchannels with cognitive users by optimizing the secondary and primary users\\' utilities while meeting the primary users\\' interference constraints. The primary users aim to maximize their revenues by sharing their subchannels with secondary users while ensuring that they achieve a minimum target capacity. On the other hand, the secondary users aim to maximize their capacity under three different constraints: consumed power, a given budget for sharing subchannels, and tolerable interference caused to the primary users. We introduce a sequential procedure based on a distributed algorithm to determine the resource allocation, interference thresholds and prices that satisfy the requirements of both parties in the network. Simulations show that the users face a tradeoff between capacity, power, and price. © 2011 IEEE.

  19. Preliminary report. Preliminary findings and views concerning the exemption of aviation gasoline from the Mandatory Petroleum Allocation and Price Regulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1978-01-01

    Preliminary findings indicate that: the fuel is not in short supply; exemption will not have an adverse impact on supply of any other petroleum product subject to the Emergency Petroleum allocation Act of 1973; competition and market force are adequate; exemption will not result in inequitable prices; and exemption will not have adverse state or regional impacts or any other adverse impacts. Chapter II provides background information on the use, production, and distribution of aviation gasoline. Chapter III analyzes the historical interaction of supply, demand, and price, and explores the market structure for aviation gasoline during 1968 to 1976, prior to and during imposition of allocation and price controls. Chapter IV examines aviation gasoline supply, demand, price, and market structure impacts of exempting aviation gasoline from controls. In Chapter V, the potential economic impacts of exemption are evaluated. Chapter VI provides a final summary of the DOE's findings and views in support of its preliminary judgment that aviation gasoline should be exempted from allocation and price regulations. (MCW)

  20. A Dynamic Programming-Based Sustainable Inventory-Allocation Planning Problem with Carbon Emissions and Defective Item Disposal under a Fuzzy Random Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kai Kang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing concern that business enterprises focus primarily on their economic activities and ignore the impact of these activities on the environment and the society. This paper investigates a novel sustainable inventory-allocation planning model with carbon emissions and defective item disposal over multiple periods under a fuzzy random environment. In this paper, a carbon credit price and a carbon cap are proposed to demonstrate the effect of carbon emissions’ costs on the inventory-allocation network costs. The percentage of poor quality products from manufacturers that need to be rejected is assumed to be fuzzy random. Because of the complexity of the model, dynamic programming-based particle swarm optimization with multiple social learning structures, a DP-based GLNPSO, and a fuzzy random simulation are proposed to solve the model. A case is then given to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed model and the DP-based GLNPSO algorithm. The results found that total costs across the inventory-allocation network varied with changes in the carbon cap and that carbon emissions’ reductions could be utilized to gain greater profits.

  1. The impact of China's carbon allowance allocation rules on the product prices and emission reduction behaviors of ETS-covered enterprises

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Yue-Jun; Wang, Ao-Dong; Tan, Weiping

    2015-01-01

    It is an important task for China to allocate carbon emission allowance to realize its carbon reduction target and establish carbon trading market. China has designed several allocation rules within seven pilot regions. What influence those rules may cause is closely related with the enthusiasm of emission trading scheme (ETS) covered enterprises' participation in carbon market, and more importantly, with the mechanism design and sustainable development of carbon market. For this purpose, the multi-stage profit model is developed to analyze the ETS-covered enterprises' product prices and emission reduction behaviors under different allocation rules. The results show that, first, under the rules of grandfathering, self-declaration and auctioning, when deciding the optimal product price and optimal carbon emission reduction, those enterprises may focus on maximizing current stage profit; however, under the rule of benchmarking, those enterprises may care more about the impact of current decisions on the profit in next stage. Second, the optimal product price policy is positively correlated with the price of the same kind products, consumers' low-carbon awareness and government subsidy. Finally, along with the increase of carbon price, consumers' low-carbon awareness and government subsidy and the decrease of carbon emission cap, those enterprises tend to reduce carbon emissions. - Highlights: • Analyze the impact of carbon allowance allocation rules on ETS-covered enterprises. • For grandfather, self-declaration and auction, they may maximize current profits. • For benchmark, they care the effect of current decisions on the coming profits. • The optimal product price positively relates to low-carbon awareness and subsidy. • Carbon price, low-carbon awareness and subsidy rise leads their emission reduction.

  2. The Retail Chain Design for Perishable Food: The Case of Price Strategy and Shelf Space Allocation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yujie Xiao

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Managing perishable food in a retail store is quite difficult because of the product’s short lifetime and deterioration. Many elements, such as price, shelf space allocation, and quality, which can affect the consumption rate, should be taken into account when the perishable food retail chain is designed. The modern tracking technologies provide good opportunities to improve the management of the perishable food retail chain. In this research, we develop a mathematical model for a single-item retail chain and determine the pricing strategy, shelf space allocation, and order quantity to maximize the retailer’s total profit with the application of tracking technologies. Then the single-item retail chain is extended into a multi-item one with a shelf space capacity and a simple algorithm is developed to find the optimal allocation of shelf space among these items. Finally, numerical experiments and real-life examples are conducted to illustrate the proposed models.

  3. Premium Pricing of Liability Insurance Using Random Sum Model

    OpenAIRE

    Kartikasari, Mujiati Dwi

    2017-01-01

    Premium pricing is one of important activities in insurance. Nonlife insurance premium is calculated from expected value of historical data claims. The historical data claims are collected so that it forms a sum of independent random number which is called random sum. In premium pricing using random sum, claim frequency distribution and claim severity distribution are combined. The combination of these distributions is called compound distribution. By using liability claim insurance data, we ...

  4. Pricing Employee Stock Options (ESOs) with Random Lattice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chendra, E.; Chin, L.; Sukmana, A.

    2018-04-01

    Employee Stock Options (ESOs) are stock options granted by companies to their employees. Unlike standard options that can be traded by typical institutional or individual investors, employees cannot sell or transfer their ESOs to other investors. The sale restrictions may induce the ESO’s holder to exercise them earlier. In much cited paper, Hull and White propose a binomial lattice in valuing ESOs which assumes that employees will exercise voluntarily their ESOs if the stock price reaches a horizontal psychological barrier. Due to nonlinearity errors, the numerical pricing results oscillate significantly so they may lead to large pricing errors. In this paper, we use the random lattice method to price the Hull-White ESOs model. This method can reduce the nonlinearity error by aligning a layer of nodes of the random lattice with a psychological barrier.

  5. Price control and macromarketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kancir Rade

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Price control at macro level is part of integral macro marketing strategic control system, or more precisely, part of social marketing mix control. Price impact is direct, if it is regarded in the context of needs satisfaction, and indirect, within the context of resource allocation. These two patterns of price impact define control mechanism structuring. Price control in sense of its direct impact at process of need satisfaction should comprise qualitative and quantitative level of needs satisfaction at a given price level and its structure, informational dimension of price and different disputable forms of corporate pricing policies. Control of price allocation function is based at objectives of macro marketing system management in the area of resource allocation and the role of price as allocator in contemporary market economies. Control process is founded, on one hand, at theoretical models of correlation between price and demand in different market structures, and on the other hand, at complex limits that price as allocator has, and which make whole control process even more complex because of reduction of the degree of determinism in functioning of contemporary economic systems. Control of price allocation function must be continuous and dynamic process if it is to provide for convergence with environmental changes and if it is to provide for placing control systems at micro marketing levels in the function of socially valid objectives.

  6. Wide brick tunnel randomization - an unequal allocation procedure that limits the imbalance in treatment totals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuznetsova, Olga M; Tymofyeyev, Yevgen

    2014-04-30

    In open-label studies, partial predictability of permuted block randomization provides potential for selection bias. To lessen the selection bias in two-arm studies with equal allocation, a number of allocation procedures that limit the imbalance in treatment totals at a pre-specified level but do not require the exact balance at the ends of the blocks were developed. In studies with unequal allocation, however, the task of designing a randomization procedure that sets a pre-specified limit on imbalance in group totals is not resolved. Existing allocation procedures either do not preserve the allocation ratio at every allocation or do not include all allocation sequences that comply with the pre-specified imbalance threshold. Kuznetsova and Tymofyeyev described the brick tunnel randomization for studies with unequal allocation that preserves the allocation ratio at every step and, in the two-arm case, includes all sequences that satisfy the smallest possible imbalance threshold. This article introduces wide brick tunnel randomization for studies with unequal allocation that allows all allocation sequences with imbalance not exceeding any pre-specified threshold while preserving the allocation ratio at every step. In open-label studies, allowing a larger imbalance in treatment totals lowers selection bias because of the predictability of treatment assignments. The applications of the technique in two-arm and multi-arm open-label studies with unequal allocation are described. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. The development in energy consumption, price sensitivity and allocation of power; Utviklingen i stroemforbruket, prisfoelsomheten og stroemmarkedet

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Halvorsen, Bente

    2012-11-15

    This report discusses the development in energy consumption in households, service industries, primary industries and other small industries, both in the short run (hour to hour, day by day) and over a longer period, back to the 1960. The report discusses the main driving forces behind this development, as well as the demand price sensitivity and its role in the allocation of power between customers and over time. The analysis shows that for the short-term fluctuations in consumption from hour to hour, the temperature of the main driver, while price changes have less influence. For the long-term trend, however, changes in relative energy prices are a key driver, along with population and income growth. Even if the short term price sensitivity is low for end-users, it may still have a big influence on the short-term clearance of the market (from hour to hour), as it affects the short term price sensitivity in the spot market. The long-term price elasticities in the retail markets is more important for determining consumption over a time period, and is important in allocating energy resources over time in the spot market, e.g. over the winter months. Empirical analyses show that the Norwegian demand responds to price changes, both in the short term in the spot market and in the longer term in the retail market. It takes a few weeks before the price signals from spot market affects the consumer prise for most end-users, but by then, most of the price signal has been transmitted. It also follows from the analysis that it is important to let prices vary between regions of the market in the event of scarcity, so customers in regions where shortages occur, have the incentive to change their demand. The faster these price signals affect consumer prices, the more efficient the market will be able to handle a tight power situation.(Author)

  8. IPO Allocations: Discriminatory or Discretionary?

    OpenAIRE

    William Wilhelm; Alexander Ljungqvist

    2001-01-01

    We estimate the structural links between IPO allocations, pre-market information production, and initial underpricing returns, within the context of theories of bookbuilding. Using a sample of both US and international IPOs we find evidence of the following: ? IPO allocation policies favour institutional investors, both in the US and worldwide. ? Increasing institutional allocations results in offer prices that deviate more from the indicative price range established prior to bankers’ efforts...

  9. Nonlinear Pricing with Random Participation

    OpenAIRE

    Jean-Charles Rochet; Lars A. Stole

    2002-01-01

    The canonical selection contracting programme takes the agent's participation decision as deterministic and finds the optimal contract, typically satisfying this constraint for the worst type. Upon weakening this assumption of known reservation values by introducing independent randomness into the agents' outside options, we find that some of the received wisdom from mechanism design and nonlinear pricing is not robust and the richer model which allows for stochastic participation affords a m...

  10. Choice Overload, Satisficing Behavior, and Price Distribution in a Time Allocation Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Álvarez

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent psychological research indicates that consumers that search exhaustively for the best option of a market product—known as maximizers—eventually feel worse than consumers who just look for something good enough—called satisficers. We formulate a time allocation model to explore the relationship between different distributions of prices of the product and the satisficing behavior and the related welfare of the consumer. We show numerically that, as the number of options becomes large, the maximizing behavior produces less and less welfare and eventually leads to choice paralysis—these are effects of choice overload—whereas satisficing conducts entail higher levels of satisfaction and do not end up in paralysis. For different price distributions, we provide consistent evidence that maximizers are better off for a low number of options, whereas satisficers are better off for a sufficiently large number of options. We also show how the optimal satisficing behavior is affected when the underlying price distribution varies. We provide evidence that the mean and the dispersion of a symmetric distribution of prices—but not the shape of the distribution—condition the satisficing behavior of consumers. We also show that this need not be the case for asymmetric distributions.

  11. Correlated continuous time random walk and option pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Longjin; Xiao, Jianbin; Fan, Liangzhong; Ren, Fuyao

    2016-04-01

    In this paper, we study a correlated continuous time random walk (CCTRW) with averaged waiting time, whose probability density function (PDF) is proved to follow stretched Gaussian distribution. Then, we apply this process into option pricing problem. Supposing the price of the underlying is driven by this CCTRW, we find this model captures the subdiffusive characteristic of financial markets. By using the mean self-financing hedging strategy, we obtain the closed-form pricing formulas for a European option with and without transaction costs, respectively. At last, comparing the obtained model with the classical Black-Scholes model, we find the price obtained in this paper is higher than that obtained from the Black-Scholes model. A empirical analysis is also introduced to confirm the obtained results can fit the real data well.

  12. The Ground Rules for Effective OBAs: Principles for Addressing Carbon-Pricing Competitiveness Concerns through the Use of Output-Based Allocations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Dobson

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The federal government’s decision to impose a minimum national price on carbon emissions has the potential to make certain businesses in the country less competitive. Specifically, there are emissions-intensive and trade-exposed industries across Canada that compete against producers from other jurisdictions where governments do not put a price on carbon. For these industries, the obligation to pay a carbon price creates a competitive disadvantage. Specifically, these businesses will face higher costs and may encounter a loss of market share to international competitors from jurisdictions that lack the same emission-control measures. That not only hurts Canadian businesses, it could also negate any emissions reductions that carbon pricing in Canada achieves on a global scale. The federal government has opted to protect such emissions-intensive, tradeexposed businesses using subsidies called output-based allocations (OBAs. This is the same system that Alberta is introducing through its forthcoming Carbon Competiveness Regulation. It also shares certain similarities with cap-and-trade programs, such as those in Ontario and Quebec, which provide free allocations of emissions permits to certain firms. OBAs are a desirable complementary policy to a carbon price as they maintain the incentive for producers to invest in production methods and facilities that are less emissions intensive. So while producers are still, nevertheless, subsidized to offset the tax burden of the carbon price, they will, under an OBA system, see greater benefits the more they work to reduce their emissions intensity. Still, to function most effectively and most efficiently, an OBA policy should follow certain key principles. The most critical principle in the design of an OBA policy is ensuring that OBAs are allocated to facilities independent of their individual emission levels, and allocated equally (on a per unit basis to facilities producing the same product. One of the

  13. Allocating multiple units

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tranæs, Torben; Krishna, Kala

    2002-01-01

    This paper studies the allocation and rent distribution in multi-unit, combinatorial-bid auctions under complete information. We focus on the natural multi-unit analogue of the first-price auction, where buyers bid total payments, pay their bids, and where the seller allocates goods to maximize his...... auction, which is the multi unit analogue of a second-price auction. Furthermore, we characterize these equilibria when valuations take a number of different forms: diminishing marginal valuations, increasing average valuations, and marginal valuations with single turning points...

  14. Balancing treatment allocations by clinician or center in randomized trials allows unacceptable levels of treatment prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hills, Robert K; Gray, Richard; Wheatley, Keith

    2009-08-01

    Randomized controlled trials are the standard method for comparing treatments because they avoid the selection bias that might arise if clinicians were free to choose which treatment a patient would receive. In practice, allocation of treatments in randomized controlled trials is often not wholly random with various 'pseudo-randomization' methods, such as minimization or balanced blocks, used to ensure good balance between treatments within potentially important prognostic or predictive subgroups. These methods avoid selection bias so long as full concealment of the next treatment allocation is maintained. There is concern, however, that pseudo-random methods may allow clinicians to predict future treatment allocations from previous allocation history, particularly if allocations are balanced by clinician or center. We investigate here to what extent treatment prediction is possible. Using computer simulations of minimization and balanced block randomizations, the success rates of various prediction strategies were investigated for varying numbers of stratification variables, including the patient's clinician. Prediction rates for minimization and balanced block randomization typically exceed 60% when clinician is included as a stratification variable and, under certain circumstances, can exceed 80%. Increasing the number of clinicians and other stratification variables did not greatly reduce the prediction rates. Without clinician as a stratification variable, prediction rates are poor unless few clinicians participate. Prediction rates are unacceptably high when allocations are balanced by clinician or by center. This could easily lead to selection bias that might suggest spurious, or mask real, treatment effects. Unless treatment is blinded, randomization should not be balanced by clinician (or by center), and clinician-center effects should be allowed for instead by retrospectively stratified analyses. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd and Chinese

  15. Dynamic replenishment, production, and pricing decisions in the face of supply disruption and random price-sensitive demand

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Stuart X.

    2013-01-01

    We study a joint decision problem for replenishment, production, pricing strategies in the face of both supply and demand uncertainties. The supply of the raw material suffers from a potential supply disruption while the demand for the finished goods is price-sensitive and random. We assume that the

  16. Covariance of random stock prices in the Stochastic Dividend Discount Model

    OpenAIRE

    Agosto, Arianna; Mainini, Alessandra; Moretto, Enrico

    2016-01-01

    Dividend discount models have been developed in a deterministic setting. Some authors (Hurley and Johnson, 1994 and 1998; Yao, 1997) have introduced randomness in terms of stochastic growth rates, delivering closed-form expressions for the expected value of stock prices. This paper extends such previous results by determining a formula for the covariance between random stock prices when the dividends' rates of growth are correlated. The formula is eventually applied to real market data.

  17. Optimal Pricing and Power Allocation for Collaborative Jamming with Full Channel Knowledge in Wireless Sensor Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Dae-Kyo; Kim, Insook; Kim, Dongwoo

    2017-11-22

    This paper presents a price-searching model in which a source node (Alice) seeks friendly jammers that prevent eavesdroppers (Eves) from snooping legitimate communications by generating interference or noise. Unlike existing models, the distributed jammers also have data to send to their respective destinations and are allowed to access Alice's channel if it can transmit sufficient jamming power, which is referred to as collaborative jamming in this paper. For the power used to deliver its own signal, the jammer should pay Alice. The price of the jammers' signal power is set by Alice and provides a tradeoff between the signal and the jamming power. This paper presents, in closed-form, an optimal price that maximizes Alice's benefit and the corresponding optimal power allocation from a jammers' perspective by assuming that the network-wide channel knowledge is shared by Alice and jammers. For a multiple-jammer scenario where Alice hardly has the channel knowledge, this paper provides a distributed and interactive price-searching procedure that geometrically converges to an optimal price and shows that Alice by a greedy selection policy achieves certain diversity gain, which increases log-linearly as the number of (potential) jammers grows. Various numerical examples are presented to illustrate the behavior of the proposed model.

  18. Optimal Pricing and Power Allocation for Collaborative Jamming with Full Channel Knowledge in Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dae-Kyo Jeong

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a price-searching model in which a source node (Alice seeks friendly jammers that prevent eavesdroppers (Eves from snooping legitimate communications by generating interference or noise. Unlike existing models, the distributed jammers also have data to send to their respective destinations and are allowed to access Alice’s channel if it can transmit sufficient jamming power, which is referred to as collaborative jamming in this paper. For the power used to deliver its own signal, the jammer should pay Alice. The price of the jammers’ signal power is set by Alice and provides a tradeoff between the signal and the jamming power. This paper presents, in closed-form, an optimal price that maximizes Alice’s benefit and the corresponding optimal power allocation from a jammers’ perspective by assuming that the network-wide channel knowledge is shared by Alice and jammers. For a multiple-jammer scenario where Alice hardly has the channel knowledge, this paper provides a distributed and interactive price-searching procedure that geometrically converges to an optimal price and shows that Alice by a greedy selection policy achieves certain diversity gain, which increases log-linearly as the number of (potential jammers grows. Various numerical examples are presented to illustrate the behavior of the proposed model.

  19. CO2 price dynamics. The implications of EU emissions trading for the price of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sijm, J.P.M.; Bakker, S.J.A.; Harmsen, H.W.; Lise, W.; Chen, Y.

    2005-09-01

    The present study analyses the relationship between EU emissions trading and power prices, notably the implications of free allocation of emissions allowances for the price of electricity in countries of North-western Europe. To study this impact, it uses a variety of analytical approaches, including interviews with stakeholders, empirical and statistical analyses, theoretical explorations, and analyses by means of the COMPETES model. The study shows that a significant part of the costs of freely allocated allowances is passed through to power price and discusses its implications in terms of higher electricity prices for consumers and windfall profits for producers. It concludes that free allocation of emission allowances is a highly questionable policy option for a variety of reasons and suggests that auctioning might offer a better perspective

  20. A stochastic model for stationary dynamics of prices in real estate markets. A case of random intensity for Poisson moments of prices changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rusakov, Oleg; Laskin, Michael

    2017-06-01

    We consider a stochastic model of changes of prices in real estate markets. We suppose that in a book of prices the changes happen in points of jumps of a Poisson process with a random intensity, i.e. moments of changes sequently follow to a random process of the Cox process type. We calculate cumulative mathematical expectations and variances for the random intensity of this point process. In the case that the process of random intensity is a martingale the cumulative variance has a linear grows. We statistically process a number of observations of real estate prices and accept hypotheses of a linear grows for estimations as well for cumulative average, as for cumulative variance both for input and output prises that are writing in the book of prises.

  1. ACCOUNTING ASPECTS OF PRICING AND TRANSFER PRICING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TÜNDE VERES

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The pricing methods in practice need really complex view of the business situation and depend on the strategy and market position of a company. The structure of a price seems simple: cost plus margin. Both categories are special area in the management accounting. Information about the product costs, the allocation methodologies in cost accounting, the analyzing of revenue and different level of the margin needs information from accounting system. This paper analyzes the pricing methods from management accounting aspects to show out the role of the accounting system in the short term and long term pricing and transfer pricing decisions.

  2. Dynamic Asset Allocation and the Informational Efficiency of Markets.

    OpenAIRE

    Grossman, Sanford J

    1995-01-01

    Markets have an allocational role; even in the absence of news about payoffs, prices change to facilitate trade and allocate resources to their best use. Allocational price changes create noise in the signal extraction process, and markets where such trading is important are markets in which we may expect to find a failure of informational efficiency. An important source of allocational trading is the use of dynamic trading strategies caused by the incomplete equitization of risks. Incomplete...

  3. Section 3. General issues in management : The benefits of a pre-deal purchase price allocation for acquisition decisions: An exploratory analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zülch, Henning; Detzen, Dominic; Wünsch, Martin; Wulf, Torsten; Meißner, Philip

    2013-01-01

    This paper analyzes the benefits of a pre-deal purchasing price allocation (pre-deal PPA), which acquirers have come to integrate into an acquisition process to examine the effects of a potential acquisition on the acquirer's financial statements. The authors take a management perspective and

  4. ACCOUNTING ASPECTS OF PRICING AND TRANSFER PRICING

    OpenAIRE

    TÜNDE VERES

    2011-01-01

    The pricing methods in practice need really complex view of the business situation and depend on the strategy and market position of a company. The structure of a price seems simple: cost plus margin. Both categories are special area in the management accounting. Information about the product costs, the allocation methodologies in cost accounting, the analyzing of revenue and different level of the margin needs information from accounting system. This paper analyzes the pricing methods from m...

  5. Policy on energy pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Webb, M. G.

    1977-10-15

    Some economic principles of energy pricing in a market type economy in which there is consumer sovereignty are discussed. Thus resources will be allocated via the production processes in line with the preferences of consumers as revealed by their purchases of goods and services. Prices play the crucial role of coordinating instruments in this allocative process. It is assumed that all the energy industries are in the public sector. The following topics are discussed: the specification of objectives for the energy sector; marginal cost pricing; problems associated with the measurement of marginal costs; some aspects of the environmental costs associated with energy production and use, and some issues related to time differentiated tariffs; the modification of prices to achieve financial targets; and the use of energy prices to achieve income distribution objectives.

  6. A JOINT EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF INVESTOR BEHAVIOR IN IPO PRICING METHODS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vinicio de Souza e Almeida

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This article jointly examines the differences of laboratory versions of the Dutch clock open auction, a sealed-bid auction to represent book building, and a two-stage sealed bid auction to proxy for the “competitive IPO”, a recent innovation used in a few European equity initial public offerings. We investigate pricing, seller allocation, and buyer welfare allocation efficiency and conclude that the book building emulation seems to be as price efficient as the Dutch auction, even after investor learning, whereas the competitive IPO is not price efficient, regardless of learning. The competitive IPO is the most seller allocative efficient method because it maximizes offer proceeds. The Dutch auction emerges as the most buyer welfare allocative efficient method. Underwriters are probably seeking pricing efficiency rather than seller or buyer welfare allocative efficiency and their discretionary pricing and allocation must be important since book building is prominent worldwide.

  7. Randomness confidence bands of fractal scaling exponents for financial price returns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibarra-Valdez, C.; Alvarez, J.; Alvarez-Ramirez, J.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A robust test for randomness of price returns is proposed. • The DFA scaling exponent is contrasted against confidence bands for random sequences. • The size of the band depends of the sequence length. • Crude oil and USA stock markets have been rarely inefficient. - Abstract: The weak-form of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) establishes that price returns behave as a pure random process and so their outcomes cannot be forecasted. The detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) has been widely used to test the weak-form of the EMH by showing that time series of price returns are serially uncorrelated. In this case, the DFA scaling exponent exhibits deviations from the theoretical value of 0.5. This work considers the test of the EMH for DFA implementation on a sliding window, which is an approach that is intended to monitor the evolution of markets. Under these conditions, the scaling exponent exhibits important variations over the scrutinized period that can offer valuable insights in the behavior of the market provided the estimated scaling value is kept within strict statistical tests to verify the presence or not of serial correlations in the price returns. In this work, the statistical tests are based on comparing the estimated scaling exponent with the values obtained from pure Gaussian sequences with the length of the real time series. In this way, the presence of serial correlations can be guaranteed only in terms of the confidence bands of a pure Gaussian process. The crude oil (WTI) and the USA stock (DJIA) markets are used to illustrate the methodology.

  8. Allocation matters. So what can we do about it? Strategies for the electricity sector 2008-2012

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sijm, J.P.M.; Neuhoff, K.; Keats, K.; Matthes, F.; Johnston, A.

    2005-11-01

    Power generation accounts for circa 2/3 of EU ETS emissions and the response of the power sector is central to both Kyoto compliance and to the price of EU ETS allowances.This study aims to Explain current allowance prices and impact on electricity price; Look at how allocation affects prices, operation and investment; Draw out implications for policy in Phase II and beyond. The executive summary will discuss Price impacts; Distortions from allocation; Recommendations; Higher-level conclusions on allocations approaches for longer term. The contents of the presentation are: Key drivers for CO2 price; Pass through to electricity price; Effect of allocation to existing facilities: Perfect grandfathering, Contingent on availability, Uniform benchmarking using moving base, Fuel specific benchmarking using moving base, Real life grandfathering; Effect of allocation to new facilities: Uniform benchmark, Fuel specific benchmarking; and Legal considerations

  9. 10 CFR 218.12 - Pricing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Pricing. 218.12 Section 218.12 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OIL STANDBY MANDATORY INTERNATIONAL OIL ALLOCATION Supply Orders § 218.12 Pricing. The price for oil subject to a supply order issued pursuant to this subpart shall be based on the price conditions...

  10. Quantitative Model of Price Diffusion and Market Friction Based on Trading as a Mechanistic Random Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniels, Marcus G.; Farmer, J. Doyne; Gillemot, László; Iori, Giulia; Smith, Eric

    2003-03-01

    We model trading and price formation in a market under the assumption that order arrival and cancellations are Poisson random processes. This model makes testable predictions for the most basic properties of markets, such as the diffusion rate of prices (which is the standard measure of financial risk) and the spread and price impact functions (which are the main determinants of transaction cost). Guided by dimensional analysis, simulation, and mean-field theory, we find scaling relations in terms of order flow rates. We show that even under completely random order flow the need to store supply and demand to facilitate trading induces anomalous diffusion and temporal structure in prices.

  11. Output-based allocation and investment in clean technologies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosendahl, Knut Einar; Storroesten, Halvor Briseid

    2011-07-01

    Allocation of emission allowances may affect firms' incentives to invest in clean technologies. In this paper we show that so-called output-based allocation tends to stimulate such investments as long as individual firms do not assume the regulator to tighten the allocation rule as a consequence of their investments. The explanation is that output-based allocation creates an implicit subsidy to the firms' output, which increases production, leads to a higher price of allowances, and thus increases the incentives to invest in clean technologies. On the other hand, if the firms expect the regulator to tighten the allocation rule after observing their clean technology investment, the firms' incentives to invest are moderated. If strong, this last effect may outweigh the enhanced investment incentives induced by increased output and higher allowance price. (Author)

  12. Domestic Price, (Expected) Foreign Price, and Travel Spending by Canadians in the United States

    OpenAIRE

    Jan Vilasuso; Fredric C. Menz

    1998-01-01

    In this paper, the authors develop and test a model to explain travel expenditures in the United States by Canadians. The model examines a consumer's choice problem where income is allocated between domestic and foreign consumption. Consumers do not know the foreign price level and base their spending in part on expected foreign price. In addition to expected foreign price, domestic price, exchange rates, income, and foreign price uncertainty influence travel spending. Empirically, each deter...

  13. Price and welfare effects of emission quota allocation

    OpenAIRE

    Golombek, Rolf; Kittelsen, Sverre A.C.; Rosendahl, Knut Einar

    2011-01-01

    Abstracts with downloadable Discussion Papers in PDF are available on the Internet: http://www.ssb.no Abstract: We analyze how different ways of allocating emission quotas may influence the electricity market. Using a large-scale numerical model of the Western European energy market, we show that different allocation mechanisms can have very different effects on the electricity market, even if the total emission target is fixed. This is particularly the case if output-based alloca...

  14. Internet resource pricing models

    CERN Document Server

    Xu, Ke; He, Huan

    2013-01-01

    This brief guides the reader through three basic Internet resource pricing models using an Internet cost analysis. Addressing the evolution of service types, it presents several corresponding mechanisms which can ensure pricing implementation and resource allocation. The authors discuss utility optimization of network pricing methods in economics and underline two classes of pricing methods including system optimization and entities' strategic optimization. The brief closes with two examples of the newly proposed pricing strategy helping to solve the profit distribution problem brought by P2P

  15. Essays on asset pricing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nazliben, Kamil

    2015-01-01

    The dissertation consists of three chapters that represent separate papers in the area of asset pricing. The first chapter studies investors optimal asset allocation problem in which mean reversion in stock prices is captured by explicitly modeling transitory and permanent shocks. The second chapter

  16. Price sensitive demand with random sales price - a newsboy problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sankar Sana, Shib

    2012-03-01

    Up to now, many newsboy problems have been considered in the stochastic inventory literature. Some assume that stochastic demand is independent of selling price (p) and others consider the demand as a function of stochastic shock factor and deterministic sales price. This article introduces a price-dependent demand with stochastic selling price into the classical Newsboy problem. The proposed model analyses the expected average profit for a general distribution function of p and obtains an optimal order size. Finally, the model is discussed for various appropriate distribution functions of p and illustrated with numerical examples.

  17. On pricing futures options on random binomial tree

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bayram, Kamola; Ganikhodjaev, Nasir

    2013-01-01

    The discrete-time approach to real option valuation has typically been implemented in the finance literature using a binomial tree framework. Instead we develop a new model by randomizing the environment and call such model a random binomial tree. Whereas the usual model has only one environment (u, d) where the price of underlying asset can move by u times up and d times down, and pair (u, d) is constant over the life of the underlying asset, in our new model the underlying security is moving in two environments namely (u 1 , d 1 ) and (u 2 , d 2 ). Thus we obtain two volatilities σ 1 and σ 2 . This new approach enables calculations reflecting the real market since it consider the two states of market normal and extra ordinal. In this paper we define and study Futures options for such models.

  18. A comparison of cost-based pricing rules for natural gas distribution utilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, C.C.

    1993-01-01

    Partial-equilibrium social welfare deadweight losses under uniform Ramsey pricing, a cost allocation pricing method, and the actual average revenues by customer class for two natural gas distribution utilities are calculated and compared. Marginal cost estimates are derived from a multiple-output translog variable cost function and used, along with three sets of demand elasticities, to generate the Ramsey prices and welfare losses. The actual and cost-allocation prices are taken directly from rate case files. The largest social welfare losses are associated with the cost-allocation rule, as high as 10-25% of revenue, despite suggestions in the literature to the contrary. (Author)

  19. Security cost allocation under combined bilateral-pool market dispatch

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdullah, M.P.; Hassan, M.Y.; Hussin, F.

    2008-01-01

    Most electricity markets around the world are a combination of bilateral and pool markets, such as NordPool and NYPOOL. In these models, market participants bid into the pool and also make bilateral contracts with each other. This paper addressed the issue of congestion management and security cost allocation in a power pool market model. The basic idea of security cost allocation is to divide the incurred security cost due to congestion relief into pool and bilateral market based on their flow contribution to the congested line. A newly proposed security cost allocation strategy of the combined bilateral-pool market was also presented along with case studies using IEEE-14 bus system that tested the proposed method. Using the proposed method, it was shown that security costs are allocated to market participants at different prices which reflect the load contribution to the security problem. This solves the problem of the uniform security cost allocation in a pure pool market system having uniform pricing, and provides a proper security signal to market participants. 11 refs., 3 tabs., 4 figs

  20. Dynamic fair node spectrum allocation for ad hoc networks using random matrices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahmes, Mark; Lemieux, George; Chester, Dave; Sonnenberg, Jerry

    2015-05-01

    Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) is widely seen as a solution to the problem of limited spectrum, because of its ability to adapt the operating frequency of a radio. Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) can extend high-capacity mobile communications over large areas where fixed and tethered-mobile systems are not available. In one use case with high potential impact, cognitive radio employs spectrum sensing to facilitate the identification of allocated frequencies not currently accessed by their primary users. Primary users own the rights to radiate at a specific frequency and geographic location, while secondary users opportunistically attempt to radiate at a specific frequency when the primary user is not using it. We populate a spatial radio environment map (REM) database with known information that can be leveraged in an ad hoc network to facilitate fair path use of the DSA-discovered links. Utilization of high-resolution geospatial data layers in RF propagation analysis is directly applicable. Random matrix theory (RMT) is useful in simulating network layer usage in nodes by a Wishart adjacency matrix. We use the Dijkstra algorithm for discovering ad hoc network node connection patterns. We present a method for analysts to dynamically allocate node-node path and link resources using fair division. User allocation of limited resources as a function of time must be dynamic and based on system fairness policies. The context of fair means that first available request for an asset is not envied as long as it is not yet allocated or tasked in order to prevent cycling of the system. This solution may also save money by offering a Pareto efficient repeatable process. We use a water fill queue algorithm to include Shapley value marginal contributions for allocation.

  1. The quotient of normal random variables and application to asset price fat tails

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caginalp, Carey; Caginalp, Gunduz

    2018-06-01

    The quotient of random variables with normal distributions is examined and proven to have power law decay, with density f(x) ≃f0x-2, with the coefficient depending on the means and variances of the numerator and denominator and their correlation. We also obtain the conditional probability densities for each of the four quadrants given by the signs of the numerator and denominator for arbitrary correlation ρ ∈ [ - 1 , 1) . For ρ = - 1 we obtain a particularly simple closed form solution for all x ∈ R. The results are applied to a basic issue in economics and finance, namely the density of relative price changes. Classical finance stipulates a normal distribution of relative price changes, though empirical studies suggest a power law at the tail end. By considering the supply and demand in a basic price change model, we prove that the relative price change has density that decays with an x-2 power law. Various parameter limits are established.

  2. Equilibrium prices supported by dual price functions in markets with non-convexities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bjoerndal, Mette; Joernsten, Kurt

    2004-06-01

    The issue of finding market clearing prices in markets with non-convexities has had a renewed interest due to the deregulation of the electricity sector. In the day-ahead electricity market, equilibrium prices are calculated based on bids from generators and consumers. In most of the existing markets, several generation technologies are present, some of which have considerable non-convexities, such as capacity limitations and large start up costs. In this paper we present equilibrium prices composed of a commodity price and an uplift charge. The prices are based on the generation of a separating valid inequality that supports the optimal resource allocation. In the case when the sub-problem generated as the integer variables are held fixed to their optimal values possess the integrality property, the generated prices are also supported by non-linear price-functions that are the basis for integer programming duality. (Author)

  3. Emissions trading with offset markets and free quota allocations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosendahl, Knut Einar; Strand, Jon

    2012-07-01

    We study interactions between a 'policy bloc's' emissions quota market and an offset market where emissions offsets can be purchased from a non-policy 'fringe' of countries (such as for the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol). Policy-bloc firms are assumed to benefit from free quota allocations that are updated according to either past emissions or past outputs. We show that both overall abatement, and the allocation of given abatement between the policy bloc and the fringe, tend to be inefficient. When the policy-bloc quota market and offset markets are fully integrated (and firms buy offsets directly from the fringe), and all quotas and offsets must be traded at a single price, it is optimal for the policy bloc to either not constrain the offset market whatsoever, or to ban offsets completely. The former (latter) case occurs when free allocation of quotas is not too generous (very generous), and the offset market can profitably deliver large (only a small) quota amounts. Governments of policy countries would however instead prefer to buy offsets directly from the fringe at a price below the policy-bloc quota price. The offset price will then be below the marginal damage cost of emissions, and the quota price in the policy bloc above marginal damage cost. This solution is also inefficient as the policy bloc (acting as a monopsonist) purchases too few offsets from the fringe.(Author)

  4. The Effect of Price on Surgeons' Choice of Implants: A Randomized Controlled Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wasterlain, Amy S; Melamed, Eitan; Bello, Ricardo; Karia, Raj; Capo, John T

    2017-08-01

    Surgical costs are under scrutiny and surgeons are being held increasingly responsible for cost containment. In some instances, implants are the largest component of total procedure cost, yet previous studies reveal that surgeons' knowledge of implant prices is poor. Our study aims to (1) understand drivers behind implant selection and (2) assess whether educating surgeons about implant costs affects implant selection. We surveyed 226 orthopedic surgeons across 6 continents. The survey presented 8 clinical cases of upper extremity fractures with history, radiographs, and implant options. Surgeons were randomized to receive either a version with each implant's average selling price ("price-aware" group), or a version without prices ("price-naïve" group). Surgeons selected a surgical implant and ranked factors affecting implant choice. Descriptive statistics and univariate, multivariable, and subgroup analyses were performed. For cases offering implants within the same class (eg, volar locking plates), price-awareness reduced implant cost by 9% to 11%. When offered different models of distal radius volar locking plates, 25% of price-naïve surgeons selected the most expensive plate compared with only 7% of price-aware surgeons. For cases offering different classes of implants (eg, plate vs external fixator), there was no difference in implant choice between price-aware and price-naïve surgeons. Familiarity with the implant was the most common reason for choosing an implant in both groups (35% vs 46%). Price-aware surgeons were more likely to rank cost as a factor (29% vs 21%). Price awareness significantly influences surgeons' choice of a specific model within the same implant class. Merely including prices with a list of implants leads surgeons to select less expensive implants. This implies that an untapped opportunity exists to reduce surgical expenditures simply by enhancing surgeons' cost awareness. Economic/Decision Analyses I. Copyright © 2017 American

  5. Priced Timed Automata:  Theory and Tools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Kim Guldstrand

    2009-01-01

    Priced timed automata are emerging as useful formalisms for modeling and analysing a broad range of resource allocation problems. In this extended abstract, we highlight recent (un)deci\\-dability results related to priced timed automata as well as point to a number of open problems....

  6. The non-random walk of stock prices: the long-term correlation between signs and sizes

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Spada, G.; Farmer, J. D.; Lillo, F.

    2008-08-01

    We investigate the random walk of prices by developing a simple model relating the properties of the signs and absolute values of individual price changes to the diffusion rate (volatility) of prices at longer time scales. We show that this benchmark model is unable to reproduce the diffusion properties of real prices. Specifically, we find that for one hour intervals this model consistently over-predicts the volatility of real price series by about 70%, and that this effect becomes stronger as the length of the intervals increases. By selectively shuffling some components of the data while preserving others we are able to show that this discrepancy is caused by a subtle but long-range non-contemporaneous correlation between the signs and sizes of individual returns. We conjecture that this is related to the long-memory of transaction signs and the need to enforce market efficiency.

  7. Pricing Resources in LTE Networks through Multiobjective Optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Yung-Liang; Jiang, Jehn-Ruey

    2014-01-01

    The LTE technology offers versatile mobile services that use different numbers of resources. This enables operators to provide subscribers or users with differential quality of service (QoS) to boost their satisfaction. On one hand, LTE operators need to price the resources high for maximizing their profits. On the other hand, pricing also needs to consider user satisfaction with allocated resources and prices to avoid “user churn,” which means subscribers will unsubscribe services due to dissatisfaction with allocated resources or prices. In this paper, we study the pricing resources with profits and satisfaction optimization (PRPSO) problem in the LTE networks, considering the operator profit and subscribers' satisfaction at the same time. The problem is modelled as nonlinear multiobjective optimization with two optimal objectives: (1) maximizing operator profit and (2) maximizing user satisfaction. We propose to solve the problem based on the framework of the NSGA-II. Simulations are conducted for evaluating the proposed solution. PMID:24526889

  8. Pricing resources in LTE networks through multiobjective optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Yung-Liang; Jiang, Jehn-Ruey

    2014-01-01

    The LTE technology offers versatile mobile services that use different numbers of resources. This enables operators to provide subscribers or users with differential quality of service (QoS) to boost their satisfaction. On one hand, LTE operators need to price the resources high for maximizing their profits. On the other hand, pricing also needs to consider user satisfaction with allocated resources and prices to avoid "user churn," which means subscribers will unsubscribe services due to dissatisfaction with allocated resources or prices. In this paper, we study the pricing resources with profits and satisfaction optimization (PRPSO) problem in the LTE networks, considering the operator profit and subscribers' satisfaction at the same time. The problem is modelled as nonlinear multiobjective optimization with two optimal objectives: (1) maximizing operator profit and (2) maximizing user satisfaction. We propose to solve the problem based on the framework of the NSGA-II. Simulations are conducted for evaluating the proposed solution.

  9. Pricing Resources in LTE Networks through Multiobjective Optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yung-Liang Lai

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The LTE technology offers versatile mobile services that use different numbers of resources. This enables operators to provide subscribers or users with differential quality of service (QoS to boost their satisfaction. On one hand, LTE operators need to price the resources high for maximizing their profits. On the other hand, pricing also needs to consider user satisfaction with allocated resources and prices to avoid “user churn,” which means subscribers will unsubscribe services due to dissatisfaction with allocated resources or prices. In this paper, we study the pricing resources with profits and satisfaction optimization (PRPSO problem in the LTE networks, considering the operator profit and subscribers' satisfaction at the same time. The problem is modelled as nonlinear multiobjective optimization with two optimal objectives: (1 maximizing operator profit and (2 maximizing user satisfaction. We propose to solve the problem based on the framework of the NSGA-II. Simulations are conducted for evaluating the proposed solution.

  10. Spot Pricing When Lagrange Multipliers Are Not Unique

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feng, Donghan; Xu, Zhao; Zhong, Jin

    2012-01-01

    Classical spot pricing theory is based on multipliers of the primal problem of an optimal market dispatch, i.e., the solution of the dual problem. However, the dual problem of market dispatch may yield multiple solutions. In these circumstances, spot pricing or any standard pricing practice based...... on a strict extension of the principles of spot pricing and surplus allocation, we propose a new pricing methodology that can yield unique, impartial, and robust solution. The new method has been analyzed and compared with other pricing approaches in accordance with spot pricing theory. Case studies support...

  11. Supply chain coordination with two production modes and random demand depending on advertising expenditure and selling price

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Sheng-Dong; Zhou, Yong-Wu; Wang, Jun-Ping

    2010-10-01

    This article discusses production and order as well as advertising coordination issues in a single-manufacturer single-buyer supply chain, where the manufacturer sells a newsvendor-type product through the buyer who faces a random demand depending on advertising expenditure and selling price. The buyer has two ordering opportunities: the one happens before the beginning of the season, and the other takes place at the end of the season. The ordered items are produced by the manufacturer in two production modes for different requirements. The first production mode is relatively cheap but requires a long lead-time, whereas the second is expensive but offers quick response. Under such a setting, the centralised and decentralised decision models are developed, respectively, and the closed form solution to each model is provided as well. Moreover, we point out that the traditional revenue-sharing contract fails to coordinate the supply chain. We thus propose an improved revenue-sharing contract that requests the manufacturer not only shares the buyer's revenue but also bears a portion of the buyer's operating costs. Such a contract can achieve perfect coordination of the supply chain and arbitrarily allocate its profit between two parties.

  12. Price Formation Modelling by Continuous-Time Random Walk: An Empirical Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frédéric Délèze

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Markovian and non-Markovian\tmodels are presented to\tmodel the futures\tmarket price formation.\tWe show that\tthe\twaiting-time\tand\tthe\tsurvival\tprobabilities\thave\ta\tsignificant\timpact\ton\tthe\tprice\tdynamics.\tThis\tstudy tests\tanalytical\tsolutions\tand\tpresent\tnumerical\tresults for the\tprobability\tdensity function\tof the\tcontinuoustime random\twalk\tusing\ttick-by-tick\tquotes\tprices\tfor\tthe\tDAX\t30\tindex\tfutures.

  13. Cost Allocation of Transmission Losses in Electric Market Mechanism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erwin Dermawan

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a new method to calculate cost allocation of transmission losses (losses, based on a certain price of energy (i.e. a marginal price of system. Here is developed a mathematic model through manipulating of the network equation to separate losses. This model uses complex power injection and, does not use approximations and assumptions in determining the cost allocation of losses. Its calculation begins from the results of load flow calculation and then is continued to calculate power distribution from a generator to every load and every line. Finally, to be calculated separating of losses and cost allocation of losses. The proposed method is easy to be understood and applied. An illustration results on IEEE 14-bus system show that the method is always consistent with expectancies and somewhat different with a few reference methods.

  14. The initial impact of EU ETS verification events on stock prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brouwers, Roel; Schoubben, Frederiek; Van Hulle, Cynthia; Van Uytbergen, Steve

    2016-01-01

    This paper studies the impact of verified emissions publications in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) on the market value of participating companies. Using event study methodology on a unique sample of 368 listed companies, we show that verified emissions only resulted in statistically significant market responses when the carbon price was high and allowance scarcity was anticipated. The cross-section analysis of abnormal returns surrounding the publication of verified emissions shows that share prices decrease when actual emissions relative to allocated emissions increase. This negative relationship between allocation shortfalls and firm value is only significant for firms that are either carbon-intensive, compared to sector peers, or are less likely to pass through carbon-related costs in their product prices. The results suggest that although the EU ETS has been deemed unsuccessful so far due to over-allocation and low carbon price, shareholders initially perceived allowance holdings as value relevant. Our results highlight that a significant carbon market price and addressing pass-through costing are essential for successful future reforms of the EU ETS and other analogous carbon cap-and-trade systems implemented or planned worldwide. - Highlights: •We study the impact of EU ETS verified emissions disclosure on firms' market value. •Disclosure is relevant if carbon price is high and permits scarcity is anticipated. •We find a negative relationship between allocation shortfalls and firm value. •Stronger relationship for carbon – intensive and no cost pass-through firms. •High carbon price and addressing cost pass-through are crucial for EU ETS reforms.

  15. Optimizing Household Chlorination Marketing Strategies: A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effect of Price and Promotion on Adoption in Haiti.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritter, Michael; Camille, Eveline; Velcine, Christophe; Guillaume, Rose-Kerline; Lantagne, Daniele

    2017-07-01

    Household water treatment can reduce diarrheal morbidity and mortality in developing countries, but adoption remains low and supply is often unreliable. To test effects of marketing strategies on consumers and suppliers, we randomized 1,798 households in rural Haiti and collected data on purchases of a household chlorination product for 4 months. Households received randomly selected prices ($0.11-$0.56 per chlorine bottle), and half received monthly visits from sales agents. Each $0.22 drop in price increased purchases by 0.10 bottles per household per month ( P sales agents increased purchases at mid-range prices; however, the additional revenue did not offset visit cost. Choosing the lowest price and conducting visits maximizes chlorine purchase, whereas slightly raising the retail price and not conducting visits maximizes cost recovery. For the equivalent cost, price discounts increase purchases 4.2 times as much as adding visits at the current retail price. In this context, price subsidies may be a more cost-effective use of resources than household visits, though all marketing strategies tested offer cost-effective ways to achieve incremental health impact. Decisions about pricing and promotion for health products in developing countries affect health impact, cost recovery, and cost-effectiveness, and tradeoffs between these goals should be made explicit in program design.

  16. Pricing road use: politico-economic and fairness considerations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oberholzer-Gee, F. [University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh (United States); Weck-Hannemann, H. [University of Innsbruck (Austria). Institute of of Public Finance

    2002-09-01

    Road pricing measures are rarely adopted in practice. In this review, we ask why citizens are not more supportive of road pricing. We identify two difficulties. First, the general public is often unwilling to embrace the price system as an allocation mechanism for scarce resources. Second, for politico-economic reasons, any latent support for road pricing schemes rarely translates into actual policy-making. Based on our analysis, we outline components of a road pricing policy that might receive greater electoral support. (author)

  17. The Manpower Allocation Problem with Time Windows and Job-Teaming Constraints: A Branch-and-Price Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anders Dohn; Kolind, Esben; Clausen, Jens

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we consider the Manpower Allocation Problem with Time Windows, Job-Teaming Constraints and a limited number of teams (m-MAPTWTC). Given a set of teams and a set of tasks, the problem is to assign to each team a sequential order of tasks to maximize the total number of assigned tasks....... Both teams and tasks may be restricted by time windows outside which operation is not possible. Some tasks require cooperation between teams, and all teams cooperating must initiate execution simultaneously. We present an IP-model for the problem, which is decomposed using Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition....... The problem is solved by column generation in a Branch-and-Price framework. Simultaneous execution of tasks is enforced by the branching scheme. To test the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, 12 realistic test instances are introduced. The algorithm is able to find the optimal solution in 11 of the test...

  18. A fuzzy multi-objective model for capacity allocation and pricing policy of provider in data communication service with different QoS levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Wei; Wang, Xianjia; Zhong, Yong-guang; Yu, Lean; Jie, Cao; Ran, Lun; Qiao, Han; Wang, Shouyang; Xu, Xianhao

    2012-06-01

    Data communication service has an important influence on e-commerce. The key challenge for the users is, ultimately, to select a suitable provider. However, in this article, we do not focus on this aspect but the viewpoint and decision-making of providers for order allocation and pricing policy when orders exceed service capacity. It is a multiple criteria decision-making problem such as profit and cancellation ratio. Meanwhile, we know realistic situations in which much of the input information is uncertain. Thus, it becomes very complex in a real-life environment. In this situation, fuzzy sets theory is the best tool for solving this problem. Our fuzzy model is formulated in such a way as to simultaneously consider the imprecision of information, price sensitive demand, stochastic variables, cancellation fee and the general membership function. For solving the problem, a new fuzzy programming is developed. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that it is effective for determining the suitable order set and pricing policy of provider in data communication service with different quality of service (QoS) levels.

  19. Integrated approach to transmission services pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, C.W.; David, A.K.

    1999-01-01

    The paper presents an intuitively logical split between: (a) embedded, (b) operating, and (c) expansion cost based pricing and methodologies for implementation, for transmission services. A conceptually straightforward mechanism for the equitable allocation of transmission network embedded cost recovery based on capacity-use and reliability benefit is proposed, expansion cost is charged on a long-run marginal cost basis and finally, operating cost recovery is based on short-run marginal pricing. This is followed by co-ordinating these alternatives and integrating the pricing mechanisms to achieve appropriate price signals for bulk power users of transmission systems. (author)

  20. Managing the Newsvendor Modeled Product System with Random Capacity and Capacity-Dependent Price

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingying Li

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider a newsvendor modeled product system, where the firm provides products to the market. The supply capacity of the product is random, so the firm receives either the amount of order quantity or the realized capacity, whichever is smaller. The market price is capacity dependent. We consider two types of production cost structures: the procurement case and the in-house production case. The firm pays for the received quantity in the former case and for the ordered quantity in the latter case. We obtain the optimal order quantities for both cases. Comparing with the traditional newsvendor model, we find that the optimal order quantity in both the procurement case and the in-house production case are no greater than that in the traditional newsvendor model with a fixed selling price. We also find that the optimal order quantity for the procurement case is greater than that for the in-house production case. Numerical study is conducted to investigate the sensitivity of the optimal solution versus the distribution of the random capacity/demand.

  1. THE ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY OF LAND RENTAL MARKETS IN TRANSITION AGRICULTURE

    OpenAIRE

    Vranken, Liesbet; Mathijs, Erik

    2001-01-01

    This paper examines the functioning of the Hungarian land rental market. The allocative inefficiency of the land rental market is determined by calculating the marginal value productivity of land and using rental prices. Regional differences in allocative inefficiency are then correlated with demographic and socio-economic variables and with labor market-related factors.

  2. Pricing methodologies for congestion management in a deregulated ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The key factors involved in the pricing of energy identified till now are network security, reliability, transmission losses allocation, technical, and social issues. This bibliographical survey was an attempt towards summarizing the recognized works and publications oriented towards pricing of electricity market. The purpose of ...

  3. Auction design for the allocation of carbon emission allowances: uniform or discriminatory price?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cong, Ronggang; wei, yi-ming

    2010-01-01

    Only four states used auction in Phase Ⅰ (2005-2007) of the European Union Emission Trading System, of which four used a uniform-price sealed auction format. Here we discuss whether the auction should adopt a uniform-price or discriminatory-price format using an agent-based carbon allowances...... auction model established for the purpose. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) when carbon allowances are relatively scarce, the government should use a discriminatory-price auction; when carbon allowances are relatively abundant, the government should use a uniform-price auction. (2) Uncertainty......) The uniform-price auction is relatively insensitive to market structure. However, a monopoly market is more likely to develop under the discriminatory-price auction format. The results of the model have some policy implications for designing carbon market mechanisms in the future....

  4. Intelligent Continuous Double Auction method For Service Allocation in Cloud Computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nima Farajian

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Market-oriented approach is an effective method for resource management because of its regulation of supply and demand and is suitable for cloud environment where the computing resources, either software or hardware, are virtualized and allocated as services from providers to users. In this paper a continuous double auction method for efficient cloud service allocation is presented in which i enables consumers to order various resources (services for workflows and coallocation, ii consumers and providers make bid and request prices based on deadline and workload time and in addition providers can tradeoff between utilization time and price of bids, iii auctioneers can intelligently find optimum matching by sharing and merging resources which result more trades. Experimental results show that proposed method is efficient in terms of successful allocation rate and resource utilization.

  5. Hospital competition, resource allocation and quality of care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zwanziger Jack

    2002-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A variety of approaches have been used to contain escalating hospital costs. One approach is intensifying price competition. The increase in price based competition, which changes the incentives hospitals face, coupled with the fact that consumers can more easily evaluate the quality of hotel services compared with the quality of clinical care, may lead hospitals to allocate more resources into hotel rather than clinical services. Methods To test this hypothesis we studied hospitals in California in 1982 and 1989, comparing resource allocations prior to and following selective contracting, a period during which the focus of competition changed from quality to price. We estimated the relationship between clinical outcomes, measured as risk-adjusted-mortality rates, and resources. Results In 1989, higher competition was associated with lower clinical expenditures levels compared with 1982. The trend was stronger for non-profit hospitals. Lower clinical resource use was associated with worse risk adjusted mortality outcomes. Conclusions This study raises concerns that cost reductions may be associated with increased mortality.

  6. Emission projections 2008-2012 versus national allocation plans II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neuhoff, Karsten; Ferrario, Federico; Grubb, Michael; Gabel, Etienne; Keats, Kim

    2006-01-01

    We compare the national allocation plans (NAPs), proposed and submitted by EU Member States as of October 2006, with our estimations for CO 2 emissions by the installations covered by these NAPs. The collective allocations proposed under phase II NAPs exceed the historic trend of emissions extrapolated forward. Using our projections we find, depending on uncertainty in fuel prices, economic growth rates, performance of the non-power sector and CDM/JI availability, a 15% chance of a 'dead market' with emissions below cap even at zero prices. With an expected inflow of committed CDM/JI credits of 100 MtCO 2 /year, allowance supply will exceed demand in 50% of cases without any carbon price, and in 80% of our euros20/tCO 2 scenarios. Banking of allowances towards post-2012 conditions could create additional demand, but this is difficult to anticipate and conditional on policy evolution. The proposed phase II NAPs would result in low prices and only small volumes of CDM/JI would enter the EU ETS. CDM/JI would almost exclusively be public-sector funded, placing the cost of Kyoto compliance entirely upon governments. (Author)

  7. NASH BARGAINING BASED BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION IN COGNITIVE RADIO FOR DELAY CRITICAL APPLICATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalyani Kulkarni

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to effectively regulate the existing resources, dynamic spectrum access in cognitive radio needs to adopt the effective resource allocation strategies. Multimedia applications require large bandwidth and have to meet the delay constraints while maintaining the data quality. Game theory is emerging as an effective analytical tool for the analysis of available resources and its allocation. This paper addresses resource allocation schemes employing bargaining game model for Multi-carrier CDMA based Cognitive Radio. Resource allocation scheme is designed for transmission of video over cognitive radio networks and aim to perform bandwidth allocation for different cognitive users. Utility function based on bargaining model is proposed. Primary user utility function includes the pricing factor and an upbeat factor that can be adjusted by observing the delay constraints of the video. Allocated bandwidth to the secondary user can be adjusted by changing the upbeat factor. Throughput in the proposed scheme is increased by 2% as compared to other reported pricing based resource allocation schemes. The edge PSNR of reconstructed video obtained as 32.6dB resulting to optimum decoding of the video at the receiver. The study also shows upbeat factor can be used to enhanced capacity of the network.

  8. The role of revenue use in the acceptability of transport pricing policies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schuitema, Geertje; Steg, Linda

    Generally, pricing policies are believed to be effective in reducing problems of massive car use. However, pricing policies are not easily implemented, as they are hardly acceptable to the public. Studies indicate that revenue allocation is important for the acceptability of transport pricing.

  9. Stochastic arbitrage return and its implication for option pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fedotov, Sergei; Panayides, Stephanos

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to explore the role that random arbitrage opportunities play in pricing financial derivatives. We use a non-equilibrium model to set up a stochastic portfolio, and for the random arbitrage return, we choose a stationary ergodic random process rapidly varying in time. We exploit the fact that option price and random arbitrage returns change on different time scales which allows us to develop an asymptotic pricing theory involving the central limit theorem for random processes. We restrict ourselves to finding pricing bands for options rather than exact prices. The resulting pricing bands are shown to be independent of the detailed statistical characteristics of the arbitrage return. We find that the volatility “smile” can also be explained in terms of random arbitrage opportunities.

  10. Effects of a price increase on purchases of sugar sweetened beverages. Results from a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterlander, Wilma Elzeline; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona; Steenhuis, Ingrid H M

    2014-07-01

    Sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are receiving increased political interest. However, there have been no experimental studies of the effects of price increases on SSBs or the effects on close substitutes such as diet drinks, alcohol or sugary snacks. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of a price increase on SSBs on beverage and snack purchases using a randomized controlled design within a three-dimensional web-based supermarket. The trial contained two conditions: experimental condition with a 19% tax on SSBs (to reflect an increase in Dutch value added tax from 6% to 19%); and a control condition with regular prices. N = 102 participants were randomized and purchased groceries on a single occasion at a three-dimensional Virtual Supermarket. Data were analysed using independent t-tests and regression analysis. Results showed that participants in the price increase condition purchased significantly less SSBs than the control group (B = -.90; 95% CI = -1.70 to -.10 L per household per week). There were no significant effects on purchases in other beverage or snack food categories. This means that the higher VAT rate was effective in reducing SSB purchases and had no negative side-effects. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  11. Estimating the Performance of Random Forest versus Multiple Regression for Predicting Prices of the Apartments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjan Čeh

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this study is to analyse the predictive performance of the random forest machine learning technique in comparison to commonly used hedonic models based on multiple regression for the prediction of apartment prices. A data set that includes 7407 records of apartment transactions referring to real estate sales from 2008–2013 in the city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, was used in order to test and compare the predictive performances of both models. Apparent challenges faced during modelling included (1 the non-linear nature of the prediction assignment task; (2 input data being based on transactions occurring over a period of great price changes in Ljubljana whereby a 28% decline was noted in six consecutive testing years; and (3 the complex urban form of the case study area. Available explanatory variables, organised as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS ready dataset, including the structural and age characteristics of the apartments as well as environmental and neighbourhood information were considered in the modelling procedure. All performance measures (R2 values, sales ratios, mean average percentage error (MAPE, coefficient of dispersion (COD revealed significantly better results for predictions obtained by the random forest method, which confirms the prospective of this machine learning technique on apartment price prediction.

  12. Introducing taxes, subsidies or both: the effects of various food pricing strategies in a web-based supermarket randomized trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterlander, Wilma E; Steenhuis, Ingrid H M; de Boer, Michiel R; Schuit, Albertine J; Seidell, Jacob C

    2012-05-01

    Fiscal policies may form a solution in improving dietary intake. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of varying taxing and subsiding schemes to stimulate healthier food purchases. A randomized controlled trial with three levels of price reduction on healthy foods (no; 25%; 50%)×three levels of price increase on unhealthy foods (5%; 10%; 25%) factorial design was used. 150 participants were randomized into one of nine conditions and were asked to purchase groceries at a web-based supermarket. Data were collected in the Netherlands in January-February 2010 and analyzed using analysis of covariance. Subjects receiving 50% discount purchased significantly more healthy foods than subjects receiving no (mean difference=6.62 items, pprice increases on unhealthy foods were found. Price decreases are effective in stimulating healthy food purchases, but the proportion of healthy foods remains unaffected. Price increases up to 25% on unhealthier products do not significantly affect food purchases. Future studies are important to validate these results in real supermarkets and across different countries. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Constrained Monopoly Pricing with Random Participation

    OpenAIRE

    Basaluzzo, Gabriel; Miravete, Eugenio J

    2007-01-01

    We present a flexible model of monopoly nonlinear pricing with endogenous participation decisions of heterogeneous consumers. We make use of the moments that define the few self-selecting tariff options that are commonly used to implement the optimal nonlinear tariff to estimate how demand and cost variables affect the pricing strategies offered by incumbent monopolists in several early U.S. local cellular telephone markets through the different elements of the theoretical model: marginal cos...

  14. A transaction assessment method for allocation of transmission services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banunarayanan, Venkatasubramaniam

    The purpose of this research is to develop transaction assessment methods for allocating transmission services that are provided by an area/utility to power transactions. Transmission services are the services needed to deliver, or provide the capacity to deliver, real and reactive power from one or more supply points to one or more delivery points. As the number of transactions increase rapidly in the emerging deregulated environment, accurate quantification of the transmission services an area/utility provides to accommodate a transaction is becoming important, because then appropriate pricing schemes can be developed to compensate for the parties that provide these services. The Allocation methods developed are based on the "Fair Resource Allocation Principle" and they determine for each transaction the following: the flowpath of the transaction (both real and reactive power components), generator reactive power support from each area/utility, real power loss support from each area/utility. Further, allocation methods for distributing the cost of relieving congestion on transmission lines caused by transactions are also developed. The main feature of the proposed methods is representation of actual usage of the transmission services by the transactions. The proposed method is tested extensively on a variety of systems. The allocation methods developed in this thesis for allocation of transmission services to transactions is not only useful in studying the impact of transactions on a transmission system in a multi-transaction case, but they are indeed necessary to meet the criteria set forth by FERC with regard to pricing based on actual usage. The "consistency" of the proposed allocation methods has also been investigated and tested.

  15. Pricing and Policy Problems in the Northeast Fluid Milk Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Cotterill, Ronald

    2006-01-01

    This article documents the need for reform of milk pricing in the Northeast. The New York price gouging law can be recast as a fair share law. This new milk policy "kills two birds with one stone." It corrects regional inequities in raw milk pricing by reforming the pricing of milk at retail by limiting and redistributing excessive retail margins to farmers and consumers. The fair share policy relieves allocative price inefficiency, improves the performance of the federal milk market order po...

  16. Energy prices, equalization and federalism

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Courchene, T.J.

    2005-01-01

    A rise in oil prices over the last 30 years has shaped the debate on the equalization formula as well as the nature of fiscal federalism. The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 contributed to the creation of the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980 and the Energy Pricing and Taxation Agreement (EPTA) between Ottawa and Alberta in 1981. The current surge in oil prices, to recent highs of $70 a barrel has resulted in a new debate on energy pricing, equalization and fiscal frameworks. This article presented a review of the history of oil and federalism, and proposed a remedy to the horizontal fiscal imbalance by allocating the fixed equalization pool in accordance with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. An interprovincial revenue-sharing pool was suggested for resource revenues, agreed to and operated by the provinces. It was suggested that after the price spike in 1973 in which the price of oil tripled, a key part of the rationale for imposing export taxes on oil equal to the difference between domestic and world prices was that the federal government could subsidize oil imports into eastern Canada and maintain a uniform domestic price across the country. By continuing to subsidize imports and maintaining a domestic price below the world price, the government has been diverting potential energy revenues from energy-rich provinces and transferring them directly to Canadians in terms of subsidized energy prices. It was noted that energy price surges cannot send equalization payments soaring as they did before because of the 2004 Framework Agreement, in which the overall equalization will be increased to $10.9 billion. A 2-tier approach to equalization was presented, in which it was suggested that the $10.9 billion pool should be allocated with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. The creation of a revenue sharing pool for resource revenues was recommended. It was suggested that the 2 approaches will result in a strategic

  17. Energy prices, equalization and federalism

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Courchene, T.J. [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, ON (Canada). School of Policy Studies

    2005-10-01

    A rise in oil prices over the last 30 years has shaped the debate on the equalization formula as well as the nature of fiscal federalism. The oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 contributed to the creation of the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980 and the Energy Pricing and Taxation Agreement (EPTA) between Ottawa and Alberta in 1981. The current surge in oil prices, to recent highs of $70 a barrel has resulted in a new debate on energy pricing, equalization and fiscal frameworks. This article presented a review of the history of oil and federalism, and proposed a remedy to the horizontal fiscal imbalance by allocating the fixed equalization pool in accordance with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. An interprovincial revenue-sharing pool was suggested for resource revenues, agreed to and operated by the provinces. It was suggested that after the price spike in 1973 in which the price of oil tripled, a key part of the rationale for imposing export taxes on oil equal to the difference between domestic and world prices was that the federal government could subsidize oil imports into eastern Canada and maintain a uniform domestic price across the country. By continuing to subsidize imports and maintaining a domestic price below the world price, the government has been diverting potential energy revenues from energy-rich provinces and transferring them directly to Canadians in terms of subsidized energy prices. It was noted that energy price surges cannot send equalization payments soaring as they did before because of the 2004 Framework Agreement, in which the overall equalization will be increased to $10.9 billion. A 2-tier approach to equalization was presented, in which it was suggested that the $10.9 billion pool should be allocated with fiscal capacity disparities relating to non-resource revenues. The creation of a revenue sharing pool for resource revenues was recommended. It was suggested that the 2 approaches will result in a strategic

  18. Impact of smoking reduced nicotine content cigarettes on sensitivity to cigarette price: further results from a multi-site clinical trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Tracy T; Cassidy, Rachel N; Tidey, Jennifer W; Luo, Xianghua; Le, Chap T; Hatsukami, Dorothy K; Donny, Eric C

    2017-02-01

    To assess the impact of a reduction in the nicotine content of cigarettes on estimated consumption of reduced nicotine cigarettes and usual brand cigarettes at a variety of hypothetical prices. Double-blind study with participants assigned randomly to receive cigarettes for 6 weeks that were either usual brand or an investigational cigarette with one of five nicotine contents. Ten sites across the United States. A total of 839 eligible adult smokers randomized from 2013 to 2014. Participants received their usual brand or an investigational cigarette with one of five nicotine contents: 15.8 (primary control), 5.2, 2.4, 1.3, or 0.4 mg/g. The Cigarette Purchase Task was completed at baseline and at the week 6 post-randomization visit. Compared with normal nicotine content controls, the lowest nicotine content (0.4 mg/g) reduced the number of study cigarettes participants estimated they would smoke at a range of prices [mean reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g at a price of $4.00/pack: 9.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 6.81,12.19]. The lowest nicotine content also reduced the maximum amount of money allocated to study cigarettes and the price at which participants reported they would stop buying study cigarettes [median reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g, 95% CI = $8.21 (4.27,12.15) per day and $0.44 (0.17,0.71) per cigarette, respectively]. A reduction in nicotine content to the lowest level also reduced the maximum amount of money allocated to usual brand cigarettes (median reduction relative to 15.8 mg/g: $4.39 per day, 95% CI = 1.88,6.90). In current smokers, a reduction in nicotine content may reduce cigarette consumption, reduce the reinforcement value of cigarettes and increase cessation if reduced nicotine content cigarettes were the only cigarette available for purchase. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  19. Modeling efficient resource allocation patterns for arable crop ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    optimum plans. This should be complemented with strong financial support, farm advisory services and adequate supply of modern inputs at fairly competitive prices would enhance the prospects of the small holder farmers. Keywords: efficient, resource allocation, optimization, linear programming, gross margin ...

  20. Explaining European Emission Allowance Price Dynamics: Evidence from Phase II

    OpenAIRE

    Wilfried Rickels; Dennis Görlich; Gerrit Oberst

    2010-01-01

    In 2005, the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) established a new commodity: the right to emit a ton of CO2 (EUA). Since its launch, the corresponding price has shown rather turbulent dynamics, including nervous reactions to policy announcements and a price collapse after a visible over-allocation in Phase I. As a consequence, the question whether fundamental factors (fossil fuel prices, economic activity, weather) affect the EUA price remained partially unresolved. Today, being halfwa...

  1. Fuzzy pricing for urban water resources: model construction and application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Ranhang; Chen, Shouyu

    2008-08-01

    A rational water price system plays a crucial role in the optimal allocation of water resources. In this paper, a fuzzy pricing model for urban water resources is presented, which consists of a multi-criteria fuzzy evaluation model and a water resources price (WRP) computation model. Various factors affecting WRP are comprehensively evaluated with multiple levels and objectives in the multi-criteria fuzzy evaluation model, while the price vectors of water resources are constructed in the WRP computation model according to the definition of the bearing water price index, and then WRP is calculated. With the incorporation of an operator's knowledge, it considers iterative weights and subjective preference of operators for weight-assessment. The weights determined are more rational and the evaluation results are more realistic. Particularly, dual water supply is considered in the study. Different prices being fixed for water resources with different qualities conforms to the law of water resources value (WRV) itself. A high-quality groundwater price computation model is also proposed to provide optimal water allocation and to meet higher living standards. The developed model is applied in Jinan for evaluating its validity. The method presented in this paper offers some new directions in the research of WRP.

  2. Pricing American and Asian Options

    OpenAIRE

    Pat Muldowney

    2015-01-01

    An analytic method for pricing American call options is provided; followed by an empirical method for pricing Asian call options. The methodology is the pricing theory presented in "A Modern Theory of Random Variation", by Patrick Muldowney, 2012.

  3. The Manpower Allocation Problem with Time Windows and Job-Teaming Constraints: A Branch-and-Price Approach - Technical Report

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Anders Dohn; Kolind, Esben; Clausen, Jens

    In this paper, we consider the Manpower Allocation Problem with Time Windows, Job-Teaming Constraints and a limited number of teams (m-MAPTWTC). Given a set of teams and a set of tasks, the problem is to assign to each team a sequential order of tasks to maximize the total number of assigned tasks....... Both teams and tasks may be restricted by time windows outside which operation is not possible. Some tasks require cooperation between teams, and all teams cooperating must initiate execution simultaneously. We present an IP-model for the problem, which is decomposed using Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition....... The problem is solved by column generation in a Branch-and-Price framework. Simultaneous execution of tasks is enforced by the branching scheme. To test the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, 12 realistic test instances are introduced. The algorithm is able to find the optimal solution in 11 of the test...

  4. Aspects of Price Discrimination in the Monopoly

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catalin Angelo Ioan

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The analysis allowed the determination in general of the consumer’s surplus or of the manufacturer’s surpluss in the case of monopoly and the determination of the allocative inefficiency in relation to the situation of perfect competition. Also, we broached the price discrimination of third order, analyzing, in terms of goods elasticities, the opportunity to separate prices in the conditions of differences existing between groups of firms.

  5. Aspects of Price Discrimination in the Monopoly

    OpenAIRE

    Catalin Angelo Ioan; Gina Ioan

    2012-01-01

    The analysis allowed the determination in general of the consumer’s surplus or of the manufacturer’s surpluss in the case of monopoly and the determination of the allocative inefficiency in relation to the situation of perfect competition. Also, we broached the price discrimination of third order, analyzing, in terms of goods elasticities, the opportunity to separate prices in the conditions of differences existing between groups of firms.

  6. Energy price disparity and public welfare

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Templet, P.H.

    2001-01-01

    The differences in the price of energy to economic sectors are linked to a number of system parameters and to public welfare. There are large disparities in energy prices within states when comparing residential and industrial prices although neoclassical economics predicts one price in markets. The large disparities between the two sectors across states negatively affects the efficiency of resource allocation, creates subsidies for those getting the cheap energy and results in unequal access to energy. These in turn lead to inefficient partitioning of energy between products and waste, higher pollution, leakage of wealth and poorer energy use efficiency, i.e. high energy intensity. States with large energy price disparities between sectors have statistically higher poverty, lower incomes, more pollution and use more energy but with less efficiency. Higher energy price disparities also result in higher throughput per unit of output thus reducing the chances for sustainability and lower public welfare. 31 refs

  7. Unfair allocation of gains under equal price in cooperative purchasing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schotanus, Fredo; Calvi, R.; Merminod, N.

    2005-01-01

    Cooperative purchasing is becoming more and more common practice. However, many cooperative initiatives end prematurely or do not flourish. Important reasons indi-cated for these problems are directly or indirectly related to the unfair allocation of gains. The purpose of this paper is to analyse

  8. Interconnector capacity allocation in offshore grids with variable wind generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Sascha Thorsten

    2013-01-01

    the interconnector capacity should be allocated for wind generation and for international power trading. The main difficulty arises from the stochastic nature of wind generation: in a case with radial connections to the national coast, the wind park owner has the possibility of aggregating the offshore wind park....... It is concluded that treating offshore generation as a single price zone within the interconnector reduces the wind operator’s ability to pool it with other generation. Furthermore, a single offshore price zone between two markets will always receive the lower spot market price of the neighbouring zones, although...

  9. Potential impact of (CET) carbon emissions trading on China's power sector: A perspective from different allowance allocation options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cong, Rong-Gang; Wei, Yi-Ming

    2010-01-01

    In Copenhagen climate conference China government promised that China would cut down carbon intensity 40-45% from 2005 by 2020. CET (carbon emissions trading) is an effective tool to reduce emissions. But because CET is not fully implemented in China up to now, how to design it and its potential impact are unknown to us. This paper studies the potential impact of introduction of CET on China's power sector and discusses the impact of different allocation options of allowances. Agent-based modeling is one appealing new methodology that has the potential to overcome some shortcomings of traditional methods. We establish an agent-based model, CETICEM (CET Introduced China Electricity Market), of introduction of CET to China. In CETICEM, six types of agents and two markets are modeled. We find that: (1) CET internalizes environment cost; increases the average electricity price by 12%; and transfers carbon price volatility to the electricity market, increasing electricity price volatility by 4%. (2) CET influences the relative cost of different power generation technologies through the carbon price, significantly increasing the proportion of environmentally friendly technologies; expensive solar power generation in particular develops significantly, with final proportion increasing by 14%. (3) Emission-based allocation brings about both higher electricity and carbon prices than by output-based allocation which encourages producers to be environmentally friendly. Therefore, output-based allocation would be more conducive to reducing emissions in the Chinese power sector. (author)

  10. Distributed Multi-Cell Resource Allocation with Price Based ICI Coordination in Downlink OFDMA Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Gangming; Zhu, Shihua; Hui, Hui

    Multi-cell resource allocation under minimum rate request for each user in OFDMA networks is addressed in this paper. Based on Lagrange dual decomposition theory, the joint multi-cell resource allocation problem is decomposed and modeled as a limited-cooperative game, and a distributed multi-cell resource allocation algorithm is thus proposed. Analysis and simulation results show that, compared with non-cooperative iterative water-filling algorithm, the proposed algorithm can remarkably reduce the ICI level and improve overall system performances.

  11. Supply and Demand for Improved Sanitation: Results from Randomized Pricing Experiments in Rural Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peletz, Rachel; Cock-Esteb, Alicea; Ysenburg, Dorothea; Haji, Salim; Khush, Ranjiv; Dupas, Pascaline

    2017-06-20

    Improving access to sanitation is a global public health priority. Sufficient consumer demand is required for sanitation coverage to expand through private provision. To measure consumer demand for hygienic latrine platform products in rural Tanzania, we conducted a randomized, voucher-based real-money sales trial with 1638 households with unimproved latrines. We also evaluated multiple supply chain options to determine the costs of supplying latrine platform products to rural households. For concrete latrine SanPlats, 60% of households were willing to pay US$0.48 and 10% of households were willing to pay US$4.05, yet the average cost of supplying the SanPlat to households was US$7.51. Similarly, for plastic sanitary platforms, willingness-to-pay (WTP) dropped from almost 60% at a price of US$1.43 to 5% at a price of US$12.29, compared to an average supply cost of US$23.28. WTP was not significantly different between villages that had participated in the National Sanitation Campaign and those that had not. Randomized informational interventions, including hygiene data-sharing and peer-based exposure to latrine platform products, had minimal effects on WTP. In conclusion, current household demand for latrine platform products is too low to achieve national goals for improved sanitation coverage through fully commercial distribution.

  12. Optimal Decisions in a Single-Period Supply Chain with Price-Sensitive Random Demand under a Buy-Back Contract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feng Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies a single-period supply chain with a buy-back contract under a Stackelberg game model, in which the supplier (leader decides on the wholesale price, and the retailer (follower responds to determine the retail price and the order quantity. We analytically investigate the decentralized retailer’s optimal decision. Our results demonstrate that the retailer has a unique optimal simultaneous decision on the retail price and the order quantity, under a mild restriction on the demand distribution. Moreover, as it can be shown that the decentralized supply chain facing price-sensitive random demand cannot be coordinated with buy-back contract, we propose a scheme for the system to achieve Pareto-improvement. Theoretical analysis suggests that there exists a unique Pareto-equilibrium for the supply chain. In particular, when the Pareto-equilibrium is reached, the supply chain is coordinated. Numerical experiments confirm our results.

  13. Merchant interconnector projects by generators in the EU: Profitability and allocation of capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koten, Silvester van

    2012-01-01

    When building a cross-border transmission line (a so-called interconnector) as a for-profit (merchant) project, where the regulator has required that capacity allocation be done non-discriminatorily by explicit auction, the identity of the investor can affect the profitability of the interconnector project and, once operational, the resulting allocation of its capacity. Specifically, when the investor is a generator (hereafter the integrated generator) who also can use the interconnector to export its electricity to a distant location, then, once operational, the integrated generator will bid more aggressively in the allocation auctions to increase the auction revenue and thus its profits. As a result, the integrated generator is more likely to win the auction and the capacity is sold for a higher price. This lowers the allocative efficiency of the auction, but it increases the expected ex-ante profitability of the merchant interconnector project. Unaffiliated, independent generators, however, are less likely to win the auction and, in any case, pay a higher price, which dramatically lowers their revenues from exporting electricity over this interconnector. - Highlights: ► A merchant interconnector owned by an electricity generator needs special attention of regulators. ► Even when allocation of the capacity is done by auctions, the generator will make a large profit. ► The generator will also decrease the allocation of capacity to competitors by bidding aggressively.

  14. Stochastic arbitrage return and its implications for option pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Fedotov, Sergei; Panayides, Stephanos

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to explore the role that arbitrage opportunities play in pricing financial derivatives. We use a non-equilibrium model to set up a stochastic portfolio, and for the random arbitrage return, we choose a stationary ergodic random process rapidly varying in time. We exploit the fact that option price and random arbitrage returns change on different time scales which allows us to develop an asymptotic pricing theory involving the central limit theorem for random proces...

  15. Inflation and the price of oil in Canada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Globerman, S A [York Univ., Toronto; Bruce, H A

    1976-09-01

    A current policy concern in North America is how rapidly (if at all) domestic oil prices should be allowed to rise to world levels. An argument frequently used by those advocating control of domestic prices is that further increases in oil prices would impose undue burdens in the form of greater inflation and unemployment. While long-run costs associated with allocative inefficiencies are recognized, critics of policies calling for decontrolling domestic oil prices argue that the short-run costs associated with greater inflation and higher unemployment outweigh the long-run inefficiencies associated with price controls. Estimates of the impacts of increased oil costs are not easy. Three studies by Ontario on the consumer price index are described, and the authors conclude that the figures from these studies are too high. Some results of U.S. studies are cited. (MCW)

  16. Allocative inefficiency and the capital-energy controversy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christopoulos, Dimitris K.; Tsionas, Efthymios G.

    2002-01-01

    The purpose of the paper is to estimate a system of input demands for Greek manufacturing deviating from the standard practice of assuming strict cost minimization. The study allows for the presence of price distortions and allocative inefficiency in the decision process. This assumption affects parameter estimates and estimated elasticities materially, and throws new light on the capital-energy controversy in Greek manufacturing

  17. Marginal pricing of transmission services. An analysis of cost recovery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perez-Arriaga, I.J.., Rubio, F.J. [Instituto de Investigacion Technologica, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid (Spain); Puerta, J.F.; Arceluz, J.; Marin, J. [Unidad de Planificacion Estrategica, Iberdrola, Madrid (Spain)

    1996-12-31

    The authors present an in-depth analysis of network revenues that are computed with marginal pricing, and investigate the reasons why marginal prices in actual power systems fail to recover total incurred network costs. The major causes of the failure are identified and illustrated with numerical examples. The paper analyzes the regulatory implications of marginal network pricing in the context of competitive electricity markets and provides suggestions for the meaningful allocation of network costs among users. 5 figs., 9 tabs., 8 refs.

  18. Marginal pricing of transmission services. An analysis of cost recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez-Arriaga, I.J.., Rubio, F.J.; Puerta, J.F.; Arceluz, J.; Marin, J.

    1996-01-01

    The authors present an in-depth analysis of network revenues that are computed with marginal pricing, and investigate the reasons why marginal prices in actual power systems fail to recover total incurred network costs. The major causes of the failure are identified and illustrated with numerical examples. The paper analyzes the regulatory implications of marginal network pricing in the context of competitive electricity markets and provides suggestions for the meaningful allocation of network costs among users. 5 figs., 9 tabs., 8 refs

  19. Paying more for faster care? Individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access in health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benning, Tim M; Dellaert, Benedict G C

    2013-05-01

    Increased competition in the health care sector has led hospitals and other health care institutions to experiment with new access allocation policies that move away from traditional expert based allocation of care to price-based priority access (i.e., the option to pay more for faster care). To date, little is known about individuals' attitude toward price-based priority access and the evaluation process underlying this attitude. This paper addresses the role of individuals' evaluations of collective health outcomes as an important driver of their attitude toward (price-based) allocation policies in health care. The authors investigate how individuals evaluate price-based priority access by means of scenario-based survey data collected in a representative sample from the Dutch population (N = 1464). They find that (a) offering individuals the opportunity to pay for faster care negatively affects their evaluations of both the total and distributional collective health outcome achieved, (b) however, when health care supply is not restricted (i.e., when treatment can be offered outside versus within the regular working hours of the hospital) offering price-based priority access affects total collective health outcome evaluations positively instead of negatively, but it does not change distributional collective health outcome evaluations. Furthermore, (c) the type of health care treatment (i.e., life saving liver transplantation treatment vs. life improving cosmetic ear correction treatment - priced at the same level to the individual) moderates the effect of collective health outcome evaluations on individuals' attitude toward allocation policies. For policy makers and hospital managers the results presented in this article are helpful because they provide a better understanding of what drives individuals' preferences for health care allocation policies. In particular, the results show that policies based on the "paying more for faster care" principle are more

  20. Allocating the CO2 emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices. Comment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tehrani Nejad Moghaddam, Alireza

    2010-01-01

    The allocation of CO 2 emissions of petroleum refineries to their oil products is a necessary step in the retrospective Well-to-Tank (WTT) analysis. These allocated emissions are used to evaluate the environmental impacts of automotive fuels' production within the refinery. Oil refining is a complex joint production system and there exists no simple and unique answer to this allocation question. Recently, Pierru proposed adapting the Aumann-Shapley cost sharing method to deal with this issue. Our paper aims at describing the conceptual and technical difficulties of this adaptation to the WTT context. Moreover, we show that this approach, as proposed by Pierru, is not applicable to any real-type refinery model. Different suggestions are provided to improve its applicability (when it is possible) in real situations. A simple numerical example as well as a real-type refinery case study is provided for illustrations. Finally, we discuss an alternative allocation approach which we believe more adapted to the WTT context. (author)

  1. Price discounts significantly enhance fruit and vegetable purchases when combined with nutrition education: a randomized controlled supermarket trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterlander, Wilma E; de Boer, Michiel R; Schuit, Albertine J; Seidell, Jacob C; Steenhuis, Ingrid H M

    2013-04-01

    Reducing fruit and vegetable (F&V) prices is a frequently considered policy to improve dietary habits in the context of health promotion. However, evidence on the effectiveness of this intervention is limited. The objective was to examine the effects of a 50% price discount on F&Vs or nutrition education or a combination of both on supermarket purchases. A 6-mo randomized controlled trial within Dutch supermarkets was conducted. Regular supermarket shoppers were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: 50% price discounts on F&Vs, nutrition education, 50% price discounts plus nutrition education, or no intervention. A total of 199 participants provided baseline data; 151 (76%) were included in the final analysis. F&V purchases were measured by using supermarket register receipts at baseline, at 1 mo after the start of the intervention, at 3 mo, at 6 mo (end of the intervention period), and 3 mo after the intervention ended (9 mo). Adjusted multilevel models showed significantly higher F&V purchases (per household/2 wk) as a result of the price discount (+3.9 kg; 95% CI: 1.5, 6.3 kg) and the discount plus education intervention (+5.6 kg; 95% CI: 3.2, 7.9 kg) at 6 mo compared with control. Moreover, the percentage of participants who consumed recommended amounts of F&Vs (≥400 g/d) increased from 42.5% at baseline to 61.3% at 6 mo in both discount groups (P = 0.03). Education alone had no significant effect. Discounting F&Vs is a promising intervention strategy because it resulted in substantially higher F&V purchases, and no adverse effects were observed. Therefore, pricing strategies form an important focus for future interventions or policy. However, the long-term effects and the ultimate health outcomes require further investigation. This trial was registered at the ISRCTN Trial Register as number ISRCTN56596945 and at the Dutch Trial Register (http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp) as number NL22568.029.08.

  2. The influence of the PFI on waste management pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-01-01

    This report analyses the pricing mechanisms generated within the waste management sector under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and compares them with the cost-plus pricing mechanisms. The background to the research is traced, and the influence of the PFI on service procurement, the incentives to use PFI, the procurement process, and the allocation of contractual risk are discussed. The PFI pricing mechanisms are described, and a case study of a hypothetical local authority involved in the tender for integrated waste management services is created to illustrate the pricing mechanisms under the PFI, comparisons with traditional pricing, and a quantitative analysis. A non-PFI model, a PFI 20 year model, and PFI 25 year model are presented in the appendix

  3. The influence of the PFI on waste management pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-07-01

    This report analyses the pricing mechanisms generated within the waste management sector under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and compares them with the cost-plus pricing mechanisms. The background to the research is traced, and the influence of the PFI on service procurement, the incentives to use PFI, the procurement process, and the allocation of contractual risk are discussed. The PFI pricing mechanisms are described, and a case study of a hypothetical local authority involved in the tender for integrated waste management services is created to illustrate the pricing mechanisms under the PFI, comparisons with traditional pricing, and a quantitative analysis. A non-PFI model, a PFI 20 year model, and PFI 25 year model are presented in the appendix.

  4. Tiered gasoline pricing: A personal carbon trading perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Yao; Fan, Jin; Zhao, Dingtao; Wu, Yanrui; Li, Jun

    2016-01-01

    This paper proffers a tiered gasoline pricing method from a personal carbon trading perspective. An optimization model of personal carbon trading is proposed, and then, an equilibrium carbon price is derived according to the market clearing condition. Based on the derived equilibrium carbon price, this paper proposes a calculation method of tiered gasoline pricing. Then, sensitivity analyses and consumers' surplus analyses are conducted. It can be shown that a rise in gasoline price or a more generous allowance allocation would incur a decrease in the equilibrium carbon price, making the first tiered price higher, but the second tiered price lower. It is further verified that the proposed tiered pricing method is progressive because it would relieve the pressure of the low-income groups who consume less gasoline while imposing a greater burden on the high-income groups who consume more gasoline. Based on these results, implications, limitations and suggestions for future studies are provided. - Highlights: • Tiered gasoline pricing is calculated from the perspective of PCT. • Consumers would be burdened with different actual gasoline costs. • A specific example is provided to illustrate the calculation of TGP. • The tiered pricing mechanism is a progressive system.

  5. Analysis of thermal coal pricing and the coal price distortion in China from the perspective of market forces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cui, Herui; Wei, Pengbang

    2017-01-01

    The price of thermal coal has always been the focus of the debate between coal mining industry and electric power industry. The thermal coal price is always lower than other same quality coal, and this phenomenon of thermal coal price distortion has been existing in China for a long time. The distortion coal price can not reflect the external cost and the resource scarcity of coal, which could result in environment deteriorating and inefficient resource allocation. This paper studied the phenomenon of thermal coal price distortion through economic theoretical modeling and empirical cointegration analysis from the perspective of market forces. The results show that thermal coal price is determined by electricity price, the prediction elasticity of a electricity enterprise, price elasticity of demand of electricity, the input prediction elasticity of a electricity enterprise and the price elasticity of supply of thermal coal. The main reason of coal price distortion is the unbalance market force of coal industry and thermal coal generation industry. The distortion rate of coal price is positively related to the market force of electric power industry and negatively related to the industrial concentration of coal industry. - Highlights: • This paper studied thermal coal pricing and the coal price distortion in China. • The main reason of coal price distortion is the unbalance market force. • Thermal coal price is also influenced by electricity price and price elasticity of demand of electricity. • The distortion rate of coal price is negatively related to the industrial concentration of coal industry.

  6. Assessing Asset Pricing Models Using Revealed Preference

    OpenAIRE

    Jonathan B. Berk; Jules H. van Binsbergen

    2014-01-01

    We propose a new method of testing asset pricing models that relies on using quantities rather than prices or returns. We use the capital flows into and out of mutual funds to infer which risk model investors use. We derive a simple test statistic that allows us to infer, from a set of candidate models, the model that is closest to the model that investors use in making their capital allocation decisions. Using this methodology, we find that of the models most commonly used in the literature,...

  7. Predicting service request rates for adaptive resource allocation in SOA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Serebrenik, A.; Sidorova, N.; Barjis, J.; Kinghorn, J.; Ramaswamy, S.; Dubois, E.; Johannesson, P.

    2009-01-01

    Service orientation is rapidly becoming the common practice in the IT world. A price one often has to pay for the advantages of service oriented architectures (SOA) is performance deterioration. SOA performance heavily depends on the allocation of computational resources to services. The needs of

  8. The dynamics of farm land allocation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arnberg, Søren; Hansen, Lars Gårn

    This study develops a dynamic multi-output model of farmers’ crop allocation decisions that allows estimation of both short-run and long-run adjustments to a wide array of economic incentives. The method can be used to inform decision-makers about a number of issues including agricultural policy...... reform and environmental regulation. The model allows estimation of dynamic effects relating to price expectations adjustment, investment lags and crop rotation constraints. Estimation is based on micro-panel data from Danish farmers that includes acreage, output and variable input utilisation...... at the crop level. Results indicate that there are substantial differences between the shortrun and long-run land allocation behaviour of Danish farmers and that there are substantial differences in the time lags associated with different crops. Since similar farming conditions are found in northern Europe...

  9. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS IN TRANSFER PRICING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Osvald

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In the conditions of globalization all the companies try to find the effective ways of maximizing their profit. One of the instruments is the system of the transfer pricing that helps to optimize the costs and allocate effective the resources of the company. Transfer pricing has detrimental effect on the economy of countries, though the governments use the regulations to minimize this effect on their economy. In this case the conflict of interests appears. Paper deals with an analysis of the functions and reasons of the economic agents which use the transfer prices to demonstrate the conflict of interests in transfer pricing. The purpose of the study is the determination of the best ways to solve the conflict situations in the process of transfer pricing according to the economic interests of the agents: company and government and within the company: headquarters and subsidiaries. The main point of resolving the conflict between company and government is to make clear regulations of transfer pricing for enterprises and productive relations between company and government. The methods to resolve the conflict within the company are: clear guidelines, decentralization and motivation for stuff members.

  10. International comparison of energy price using a purchasing power parity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Dong Hun; Jo, Sung Han [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

    1999-05-01

    The price control of government results in price distortion as well as lowering efficiency of energy market and distortion of allocating resources. Consequently, such a price policy leads to energy overconsumption and has negative influences on other policies trying to reduce environmental burden resulted from energy consumption. When the energy price does not reflect the market price properly, it results in inefficiency of energy industry and it makes very difficult to supply investment funds. Therefore, the government is planning to implement liberalization of energy price step by step. The purpose of this study is to provide basic materials for establishing a reasonable energy price policy through the international comparison among OECD countries on major products price focusing on petroleum products. To overcome problems of exchange rate, a purchasing power indicator from OECD was used for comparative analysis with OECD countries. 11 refs. 1 fig., 23 tabs.

  11. Dynamic pricing and automated resource allocation for complex information services reinforcement learning and combinatorial auctions

    CERN Document Server

    Schwind, Michael; Fandel, G

    2007-01-01

    Many firms provide their customers with online information products which require limited resources such as server capacity. This book develops allocation mechanisms that aim to ensure an efficient resource allocation in modern IT-services. Recent methods of artificial intelligence, such as neural networks and reinforcement learning, and nature-oriented optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, are advanced and applied to allocation processes in distributed IT-infrastructures, e.g. grid systems. The author presents two methods, both of which using the users??? w

  12. Allocation of resources in the presence of indivisibilities: Scarf's problem revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bjoerndal, Mette; Joernsten, Kurt

    2004-06-01

    In his article ''The Allocation of Resources in the Presence of Indivisibilities,'' Scarf points out that the major problem presented to economic theory by the presence of indivisibilities is the impossibility of detecting optimality at the level of the firm, or the economy as a whole, using the creation of profitability based on competitive linear prices. In the absence of such competitive prices, Scarf instead introduces a quantity test. Further development of the quantity test idea has lead to algorithms that are used to solve parametric integer programming problems. However, the quantity test is not a fully acceptable replacement of prices to analyse markets with indivisibilities. Recently, O'Neill et al. have suggested a new scheme that generates discriminatory equilibrium prices in markets with non-convexities- In this paper we elaborate this idea even further and use it to generate non-linear price functions that can be interpreted as a non-linear pricing scheme for markets with non-convexities. (Author)

  13. Two pricing methods for solving an integrated commercial fishery ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    a model (Hasan and Raffensperger, 2006) to solve this problem: the integrated ... planning and labour allocation for that processing firm, but did not consider any fleet- .... the DBONP method actually finds such price information, and uses it.

  14. Reforming residential electricity tariff in China: Block tariffs pricing approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Chuanwang; Lin, Boqiang

    2013-01-01

    The Chinese households that make up approximately a quarter of world households are facing a residential power tariff reform in which a rising block tariff structure will be implemented, and this tariff mechanism is widely used around the world. The basic principle of the structure is to assign a higher price for higher income consumers with low price elasticity of power demand. To capture the non-linear effects of price and income on elasticities, we set up a translog demand model. The empirical findings indicate that the higher income consumers are less sensitive than those with lower income to price changes. We further put forward three proposals of Chinese residential electricity tariffs. Compared to a flat tariff, the reasonable block tariff structure generates more efficient allocation of cross-subsidies, better incentives for raising the efficiency of electricity usage and reducing emissions from power generation, which also supports the living standards of low income households. - Highlights: • We design a rising block tariff structure of residential electricity in China. • We set up a translog demand model to find the non-linear effects on elasticities. • The higher income groups are less sensitive to price changes. • Block tariff structure generates more efficient allocation of cross-subsidies. • Block tariff structure supports the living standards of low income households

  15. Evidence of efficiency in United States futures oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duchock, C.J. Jr.

    1991-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to use the Perpetual Contract Data for West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures contracts in studies of the US crude oil futures market prices to determine whether the market was efficient. Analysis was done to determine whether the Perpetual Contract Data exhibited the characteristics of a random walk. Daily data on US crude oil perpetual futures contract prices were analyzed using standard statistical techniques and spectral analysis techniques. Spectral analysis was used on the first differences of daily data to determine whether the price change data contained cyclicality. Results showed no significant cycles or autocorrelation in the data, concluding there was evidence to indicate the Perpetual Contract Data for futures prices is a random walk. This is similar to the conclusion by Howard (1988) that spot West Texas Intermediate Crude prices follow a random walk. Thus, both the futures and spot markets efficiently capture current information in prices

  16. Store-directed price promotions and communications strategies improve healthier food supply and demand: impact results from a randomized controlled, Baltimore City store-intervention trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budd, Nadine; Jeffries, Jayne K; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Kharmats, Anna; McDermott, Ann Yelmokas; Gittelsohn, Joel

    2017-12-01

    Small food store interventions show promise to increase healthy food access in under-resourced areas. However, none have tested the impact of price discounts on healthy food supply and demand. We tested the impact of store-directed price discounts and communications strategies, separately and combined, on the stocking, sales and prices of healthier foods and on storeowner psychosocial factors. Factorial design randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four corner stores in low-income neighbourhoods of Baltimore City, MD, USA. Stores were randomized to pricing intervention, communications intervention, combined pricing and communications intervention, or control. Stores that received the pricing intervention were given a 10-30 % price discount by wholesalers on selected healthier food items during the 6-month trial. Communications stores received visual and interactive materials to promote healthy items, including signage, taste tests and refrigerators. All interventions showed significantly increased stock of promoted foods v. There was a significant treatment effect for daily unit sales of healthy snacks (β=6·4, 95 % CI 0·9, 11·9) and prices of healthy staple foods (β=-0·49, 95 % CI -0·90, -0·03) for the combined group v. control, but not for other intervention groups. There were no significant intervention effects on storeowner psychosocial factors. All interventions led to increased stock of healthier foods. The combined intervention was effective in increasing sales of healthier snacks, even though discounts on snacks were not passed to the consumer. Experimental research in small stores is needed to understand the mechanisms by which store-directed price promotions can increase healthy food supply and demand.

  17. Posted Price Mechanisms for a Random Stream of Customers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Correa, José R.; Foncea, Patricio; Hoeksma, Ruben; Oosterwijk, Tim; Vredeveld, Tjark

    2017-01-01

    Posted price mechanisms constitute a widely used way of selling items to strategic consumers. Although suboptimal, the attractiveness of these mechanisms comes from their simplicity and easy implementation. In this paper, we investigate the performance of posted price mechanisms when customers

  18. Price Sensitivity of Demand for Prescription Drugs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skipper, Lars; Simonsen, Marianne; Skipper, Niels

    This paper investigates price sensitivity of demand for prescription drugs using drug purchase records for at 20% random sample of the Danish population. We identify price responsiveness by exploiting exogenous variation in prices caused by kinked reimbursement schemes and implement a regression ...... education and income are, however, more responsive to the price. Also, essential drugs that prevent deterioration in health and prolong life have lower associated average price sensitivity....

  19. Kernel-Correlated Levy Field Driven Forward Rate and Application to Derivative Pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bo Lijun [Xidian University, Department of Mathematics (China); Wang Yongjin [Nankai University, School of Business (China); Yang Xuewei, E-mail: xwyangnk@yahoo.com.cn [Nanjing University, School of Management and Engineering (China)

    2013-08-01

    We propose a term structure of forward rates driven by a kernel-correlated Levy random field under the HJM framework. The kernel-correlated Levy random field is composed of a kernel-correlated Gaussian random field and a centered Poisson random measure. We shall give a criterion to preclude arbitrage under the risk-neutral pricing measure. As applications, an interest rate derivative with general payoff functional is priced under this pricing measure.

  20. Use of cooperative game theory concepts for loss allocation in bilateral electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satyaramesh, P.V.; Radhakrishna, C.

    2009-01-01

    The deregulation of electricity markets has resulted in changes in electricity pricing. Participants in a deregulated market require a fair and equitable pricing structure that reflects both the share of power produced and consumed in the network, as well as the cost of power loss caused by users. This paper focused on the allocation of losses using the cooperative game theory (CGT) where many transactions take place in a bilateral electricity market environment. A set of approaches documented in literature in the areas of application of CGT were first identified and their applicability to allocations of losses in bilateral electricity markets were then reviewed. The allocation methods can be classified into 3 broad categories, namely classical, new, and variants of nucleolus. The structure of the game and the concept of fairness behind it were the 2 points that were examined in detail in this study. The allocation concept of these methods was systematically analyzed and compared. Calculations were performed on a six-bus system sample and a standard IEEE 14-bus system. The variants of nucleolus were shown to be among the most plausible concepts. The power losses for each transaction were calculated using a power flow procedure. 16 refs., 4 tabs., 1 fig.

  1. Use of cooperative game theory concepts for loss allocation in bilateral electricity markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Satyaramesh, P.V. [AP Transco, Hyderabad, AP (India); Radhakrishna, C. [Global Energy Consulting Engineers Private Ltd., Hyderabad, AP (India)

    2009-07-01

    The deregulation of electricity markets has resulted in changes in electricity pricing. Participants in a deregulated market require a fair and equitable pricing structure that reflects both the share of power produced and consumed in the network, as well as the cost of power loss caused by users. This paper focused on the allocation of losses using the cooperative game theory (CGT) where many transactions take place in a bilateral electricity market environment. A set of approaches documented in literature in the areas of application of CGT were first identified and their applicability to allocations of losses in bilateral electricity markets were then reviewed. The allocation methods can be classified into 3 broad categories, namely classical, new, and variants of nucleolus. The structure of the game and the concept of fairness behind it were the 2 points that were examined in detail in this study. The allocation concept of these methods was systematically analyzed and compared. Calculations were performed on a six-bus system sample and a standard IEEE 14-bus system. The variants of nucleolus were shown to be among the most plausible concepts. The power losses for each transaction were calculated using a power flow procedure. 16 refs., 4 tabs., 1 fig.

  2. Comparing two socially optimal work allocation rules when having a profit optimizing subcontractor with ample capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Christian

    2005-01-01

    We study a service system modelled as a single server queuing system where request for service either can be processed at the service system or by a subcontractor. In the former case the customer is incurred waiting costs but the service is free, while in the latter case the customer must pay...... for the service but there is no waiting time, hence no waiting costs. Under the premises that the subcontractor prices his services in order to maximize his profit, we study two work allocation rules, which given the price of subcontractor seek to allocate work such that the costs of the customers are minimized...

  3. Comparing two socially optimal work allocation rules when having a profit optimizing subcontractor with ample capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Christian

    2003-01-01

    We study a service system modelled as a single server queueing system where request for service either can be processed at the service system or by a subcontractor. In the former case the customer is incurred waiting costs but the service is free, while in the latter case the customer must pay...... for the service but there is no waiting time, hence no waiting costs. Under the premises that the subcontractor prices his services in order to maximize his profit, we study two work allocation rules, which given the price of the subcontractor seek to allocate work such that the costs of the customers...

  4. Financial news predicts stock market volatility better than close price

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam Atkins

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The behaviour of time series data from financial markets is influenced by a rich mixture of quantitative information from the dynamics of the system, captured in its past behaviour, and qualitative information about the underlying fundamentals arriving via various forms of news feeds. Pattern recognition of financial data using an effective combination of these two types of information is of much interest nowadays, and is addressed in several academic disciplines as well as by practitioners. Recent literature has focused much effort on the use of news-derived information to predict the direction of movement of a stock, i.e. posed as a classification problem, or the precise value of a future asset price, i.e. posed as a regression problem. Here, we show that information extracted from news sources is better at predicting the direction of underlying asset volatility movement, or its second order statistics, rather than its direction of price movement. We show empirical results by constructing machine learning models of Latent Dirichlet Allocation to represent information from news feeds, and simple naïve Bayes classifiers to predict the direction of movements. Empirical results show that the average directional prediction accuracy for volatility, on arrival of new information, is 56%, while that of the asset close price is no better than random at 49%. We evaluate these results using a range of stocks and stock indices in the US market, using a reliable news source as input. We conclude that volatility movements are more predictable than asset price movements when using financial news as machine learning input, and hence could potentially be exploited in pricing derivatives contracts via quantifying volatility. Keywords: Machine learning, Natural language processing, Volatility forecasting, Technical analysis, Computational finance

  5. Auction-based bandwidth allocation in the Internet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Jiaolong; Zhang, Chi

    2002-07-01

    It has been widely accepted that auctioning which is the pricing approach with minimal information requirement is a proper tool to manage scare network resources. Previous works focus on Vickrey auction which is incentive compatible in classic auction theory. In the beginning of this paper, the faults of the most representative auction-based mechanisms are discussed. And then a new method called uniform-price auction (UPA), which has the simplest auction rule is proposed and it's incentive compatibility in the network environment is also proved. Finally, the basic mode is extended to support applications which require minimum bandwidth guarantees for a given time period by introducing derivative market, and a market mechanism for network resource allocation which is predictable, riskless, and simple for end-users is completed.

  6. Near-term oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lynch, M.C.

    2001-01-01

    This PowerPoint presentation included 36 slides that described the state of oil prices and how to predict them. Prices are random, stochastic, chaotic, mean-reverting and driven by speculators, oil companies and OPEC. The many factors that enable price forecasting are economic growth, weather, industry behaviour, speculators, OPEC policy choices, Mexico/Russia production policy, non-OPEC supply and the interpretation of the above factors by OPEC, speculators, traders and the petroleum industry. Several graphs were included depicting such things as WTI price forecasts, differentials, oil market change in 2001, inventory levels, and WTI backwardation. The presentation provided some explanations for price uncertainties, price surges and collapses. U.S. GDP growth and the volatility of Iraq's production was also depicted. The author predicted that economic growth will occur and that oil demand will go up. Oil prices will fluctuate as the Middle East will be politically unstable and weather will be a major factor that will influence oil prices. The prices are likely to be more volatile than in the 1986 to 1995 period. 2 tabs., 22 figs

  7. ALLOCATING VENDOR RISKS IN THE HANFORD WASTE CLEANUP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keisler, Jeff M.; Buehring, William A.; McLaughlin, Peter D.; Robershotte, Mark A.; Whitfield, Ronald G.

    2004-01-01

    Organizations may view outsourcing as a way to eliminate risk. This application uses a decision analytic approach to determine which risks can be shared or shifted to vendors and which ones should be borne by the buyer. In this case, we found that allocating risks incorrectly could increase costs dramatically. This approach was used to develop the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) privatization initiative for the Hanford Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS). We describe this application and/SUMmarize technical and organizational lessons learned in the years following. The model used an assessment protocol to predict how vendors would react to proposed risk allocations in terms of their actions and their pricing

  8. Blocked Randomization with Randomly Selected Block Sizes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jimmy Efird

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available When planning a randomized clinical trial, careful consideration must be given to how participants are selected for various arms of a study. Selection and accidental bias may occur when participants are not assigned to study groups with equal probability. A simple random allocation scheme is a process by which each participant has equal likelihood of being assigned to treatment versus referent groups. However, by chance an unequal number of individuals may be assigned to each arm of the study and thus decrease the power to detect statistically significant differences between groups. Block randomization is a commonly used technique in clinical trial design to reduce bias and achieve balance in the allocation of participants to treatment arms, especially when the sample size is small. This method increases the probability that each arm will contain an equal number of individuals by sequencing participant assignments by block. Yet still, the allocation process may be predictable, for example, when the investigator is not blind and the block size is fixed. This paper provides an overview of blocked randomization and illustrates how to avoid selection bias by using random block sizes.

  9. Allocating the CO{sub 2} emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices. Comment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tehrani Nejad Moghaddam, Alireza [Department of Economic Studies, Institut Francais du Petrole (I.F.P.), 92852, Rueil-Malmaison (France)

    2010-01-15

    The allocation of CO{sub 2} emissions of petroleum refineries to their oil products is a necessary step in the retrospective Well-to-Tank (WTT) analysis. These allocated emissions are used to evaluate the environmental impacts of automotive fuels' production within the refinery. Oil refining is a complex joint production system and there exists no simple and unique answer to this allocation question. Recently, Pierru proposed adapting the Aumann-Shapley cost sharing method to deal with this issue. Our paper aims at describing the conceptual and technical difficulties of this adaptation to the WTT context. Moreover, we show that this approach, as proposed by Pierru, is not applicable to any real-type refinery model. Different suggestions are provided to improve its applicability (when it is possible) in real situations. A simple numerical example as well as a real-type refinery case study is provided for illustrations. Finally, we discuss an alternative allocation approach which we believe more adapted to the WTT context. (author)

  10. Carbon price volatility: Evidence from EU ETS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Zhen-Hua; Zou, Le-Le; Wei, Yi-Ming

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines carbon price volatility using data from the European Union Emission Trading Scheme from a nonlinear dynamics point of view. First, we use a random walk model, including serial correlation and variance ratio tests, to determine whether carbon price history information is fully reflected in current carbon price. The empirical research results show that carbon price is not a random walk: the price history information is not fully reflected in current carbon price. Second, use R/S, modified R/S and ARFIMA to analyse the memory of carbon price history. For the period April 2005-December 2008, the modified Hurst index of the carbon price is 0.4859 and the d value of ARFIMA is -0.1191, indicating short-term memory of the carbon price. Third, we use chaos theory to analyse the influence of the carbon market internal mechanism on carbon price, i.e., the market's positive and negative feedback mechanism and the heterogeneous environment. Chaos theory proves that the correlation dimension of carbon price increases. The maximal Lyapunov exponent is positive and large. There is no obvious complex endogenous phenomenon of nonlinear dynamics the carbon price fluctuation. The carbon market is mildly chaotic, showing both market and fractal market characteristics. Price fluctuation is not only influenced by the internal market mechanism, but is also impacted by the heterogeneous environment. Finally, we provide suggestions for regulation and development of carbon market.

  11. Option pricing under stochastic volatility: the exponential Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perelló, Josep; Masoliver, Jaume; Sircar, Ronnie

    2008-01-01

    We study the pricing problem for a European call option when the volatility of the underlying asset is random and follows the exponential Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model. The random diffusion model proposed is a two-dimensional market process that takes a log-Brownian motion to describe price dynamics and an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck subordinated process describing the randomness of the log-volatility. We derive an approximate option price that is valid when (i) the fluctuations of the volatility are larger than its normal level, (ii) the volatility presents a slow driving force, toward its normal level and, finally, (iii) the market price of risk is a linear function of the log-volatility. We study the resulting European call price and its implied volatility for a range of parameters consistent with daily Dow Jones index data

  12. Price Formation by Bargaining and Posted Prices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kultti, K.K.

    1997-01-01

    We study markets with two types of agents. Sellers have an indivisible good for sale, and their reservation value is zero. Buyers are randomly matched with sellers, and they value the good at unity. Sellers may be matched with any positive number of buyers, and they may choose to determine the price

  13. The Cost Effectiveness of the U.S. Export Enhancement Program Bonus Allocation Mechanism

    OpenAIRE

    Humei Wang; Richard J. Sexton

    2004-01-01

    The U.S. Export Enhancement Program is evaluated from the perspective of the cost effectiveness of its bonus allocation mechanism. The current mechanism resembles a discriminatory-price, common-value auction. However, auction theory suggests that a discriminatory auction may not be optimal in this setting for several reasons. This article evaluates the current format relative to an alternative, uniform-price auction. Estimation results reveal evidence of strategic bidder behavior under the cu...

  14. Estimation of mean-reverting oil prices: a laboratory approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bjerksund, P.; Stensland, G.

    1993-12-01

    Many economic decision support tools developed for the oil industry are based on the future oil price dynamics being represented by some specified stochastic process. To meet the demand for necessary data, much effort is allocated to parameter estimation based on historical oil price time series. The approach in this paper is to implement a complex future oil market model, and to condense the information from the model to parameter estimates for the future oil price. In particular, we use the Lensberg and Rasmussen stochastic dynamic oil market model to generate a large set of possible future oil price paths. Given the hypothesis that the future oil price is generated by a mean-reverting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, we obtain parameter estimates by a maximum likelihood procedure. We find a substantial degree of mean-reversion in the future oil price, which in some of our decision examples leads to an almost negligible value of flexibility. 12 refs., 2 figs., 3 tabs

  15. Marginal pricing of transmission services: An analysis of cost recovery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perez-Arriaga, I.J.; Rubio, F.J. [Univ. Pontificia Comillas, Madrid (Spain); Puerta, J.F.; Arceluz, J.; Marin, J. [IBERDROLA, Bilbao (Spain). Unidad de Planificacion Estrategica

    1995-02-01

    This paper presents an in-depth analysis of network revenues computed with marginal pricing, and in particular it investigates the reasons why marginal prices fail to recover the total incurred network costs in actual power systems. The basic theoretical results are presented and the major causes of the mismatch between network costs and marginal revenues are identified and illustrated with numerical examples, some tutorial and others of realistic size. The regulatory implications of marginal network pricing in the context of competitive electricity markets are analyzed, and suggestions are provided for the meaningful allocation of the costs of the network among its users.

  16. Marginal pricing of transmission services: An analysis of cost recovery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perez-Arriaga, I.J.; Rubio, F.J.; Puerta, J.F.; Arceluz, J.; Marin, J.

    1995-01-01

    This paper presents an in-depth analysis of network revenues computed with marginal pricing, and in particular it investigates the reasons why marginal prices fail to recover the total incurred network costs in actual power systems. The basic theoretical results are presented and the major causes of the mismatch between network costs and marginal revenues are identified and illustrated with numerical examples, some tutorial and others of realistic size. The regulatory implications of marginal network pricing in the context of competitive electricity markets are analyzed, and suggestions are provided for the meaningful allocation of the costs of the network among its users

  17. Rain dance: the role of randomization in clinical trials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diniz JB

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Juliana Belo Diniz,1 Victor Fossaluza,2 Carlos Alberto de Bragança Pereira,1,2 Sergio Wechsler2 1Institute of Psychiatry, Clinics Hospital University of São Paulo Medical School, 2Department of Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Abstract: Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for testing efficacy of treatment interventions. However, although randomization protects against deliberately biased samples, it does not guarantee random imbalances will not occur. Methods of intentional allocation that can overcome such deficiency of randomization have been developed, but are less frequently applied than randomization. Initially, we introduce a fictitious case example to revise and discuss the reasons of researchers' resistance to intentionally allocate instead of simply randomizing. We then introduce a real case example to evaluate the performance of an intentional protocol for allocation based on compositional data balance. A real case of allocation of 50 patients in two arms was compared with an optimal allocation of global instead of sequential arrivals. Performance was measured by a weighted average of Aitchison distances, between arms, of prognostic factors. To compare the intentional allocation with simple random allocation, 50,000 arrival orderings of 50 patients were simulated. To each one of the orders, both kinds of allocations into two arms were considered. Intentional allocation performed as well as optimal allocation in the case considered. In addition, out of the 50,000 simulated orders, 61% of them performed better with intentional allocation than random allocation. Hence, we conclude that intentional allocation should be encouraged in the design of future interventional clinical trials as a way to prevent unbalanced samples. Our sequential method is a viable alternative to overcome technical difficulties for study designs that require sequential inclusion of

  18. A Game Theoretic Framework for Bandwidth Allocation and Pricing in Federated Wireless Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Bo; Yamori, Kyoko; Xu, Sugang; Tanaka, Yoshiaki

    With the proliferation of IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks, large numbers of wireless access points have been deployed, and it is often the case that a user can detect several access points simultaneously in dense metropolitan areas. Most owners, however, encrypt their networks to prevent the public from accessing them due to the increased traffic and security risk. In this work, we use pricing as an incentive mechanism to motivate the owners to share their networks with the public, while at the same time satisfying users' service demand. Specifically, we propose a “federated network” concept, in which radio resources of various wireless local area networks are managed together. Our algorithm identifies two candidate access points with the lowest price being offered (if available) to each user. We then model the price announcements of access points as a game, and characterize the Nash Equilibrium of the system. The efficiency of the Nash Equilibrium solution is evaluated via simulation studies as well.

  19. Comparative analysis of used car price evaluation models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chuancan; Hao, Lulu; Xu, Cong

    2017-05-01

    An accurate used car price evaluation is a catalyst for the healthy development of used car market. Data mining has been applied to predict used car price in several articles. However, little is studied on the comparison of using different algorithms in used car price estimation. This paper collects more than 100,000 used car dealing records throughout China to do empirical analysis on a thorough comparison of two algorithms: linear regression and random forest. These two algorithms are used to predict used car price in three different models: model for a certain car make, model for a certain car series and universal model. Results show that random forest has a stable but not ideal effect in price evaluation model for a certain car make, but it shows great advantage in the universal model compared with linear regression. This indicates that random forest is an optimal algorithm when handling complex models with a large number of variables and samples, yet it shows no obvious advantage when coping with simple models with less variables.

  20. The world price of jump and volatility risk

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Driessen, J.; Maenhout, P.

    2006-01-01

    Jump and volatility risk are important for understanding equity returns, option pricing and asset allocation. This paper is the first to study international integration of markets for jump and volatility risk, using data on index options for each of the three main global markets: US S&P 500 index

  1. Discrete-Time Pricing and Optimal Exercise of American Perpetual Warrants in the Geometric Random Walk Model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vanderbei, Robert J.; Pınar, Mustafa Ç.; Bozkaya, Efe B.

    2013-01-01

    An American option (or, warrant) is the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell an underlying equity at any time up to a predetermined expiration date for a predetermined amount. A perpetual American option differs from a plain American option in that it does not expire. In this study, we solve the optimal stopping problem of a perpetual American option (both call and put) in discrete time using linear programming duality. Under the assumption that the underlying stock price follows a discrete time and discrete state Markov process, namely a geometric random walk, we formulate the pricing problem as an infinite dimensional linear programming (LP) problem using the excessive-majorant property of the value function. This formulation allows us to solve complementary slackness conditions in closed-form, revealing an optimal stopping strategy which highlights the set of stock-prices where the option should be exercised. The analysis for the call option reveals that such a critical value exists only in some cases, depending on a combination of state-transition probabilities and the economic discount factor (i.e., the prevailing interest rate) whereas it ceases to be an issue for the put.

  2. Discrete-Time Pricing and Optimal Exercise of American Perpetual Warrants in the Geometric Random Walk Model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vanderbei, Robert J., E-mail: rvdb@princeton.edu [Princeton University, Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering (United States); P Latin-Small-Letter-Dotless-I nar, Mustafa C., E-mail: mustafap@bilkent.edu.tr [Bilkent University, Department of Industrial Engineering (Turkey); Bozkaya, Efe B. [Sabanc Latin-Small-Letter-Dotless-I University, Faculty of Administrative Sciences (Turkey)

    2013-02-15

    An American option (or, warrant) is the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell an underlying equity at any time up to a predetermined expiration date for a predetermined amount. A perpetual American option differs from a plain American option in that it does not expire. In this study, we solve the optimal stopping problem of a perpetual American option (both call and put) in discrete time using linear programming duality. Under the assumption that the underlying stock price follows a discrete time and discrete state Markov process, namely a geometric random walk, we formulate the pricing problem as an infinite dimensional linear programming (LP) problem using the excessive-majorant property of the value function. This formulation allows us to solve complementary slackness conditions in closed-form, revealing an optimal stopping strategy which highlights the set of stock-prices where the option should be exercised. The analysis for the call option reveals that such a critical value exists only in some cases, depending on a combination of state-transition probabilities and the economic discount factor (i.e., the prevailing interest rate) whereas it ceases to be an issue for the put.

  3. Radio resource allocation over fading channels under statistical delay constraints

    CERN Document Server

    Le-Ngoc, Tho

    2017-01-01

    This SpringerBrief presents radio resource allocation schemes for buffer-aided communications systems over fading channels under statistical delay constraints in terms of upper-bounded average delay or delay-outage probability. This Brief starts by considering a source-destination communications link with data arriving at the source transmission buffer. The first scenario, the joint optimal data admission control and power allocation problem for throughput maximization is considered, where the source is assumed to have a maximum power and an average delay constraints. The second scenario, optimal power allocation problems for energy harvesting (EH) communications systems under average delay or delay-outage constraints are explored, where the EH source harvests random amounts of energy from renewable energy sources, and stores the harvested energy in a battery during data transmission. Online resource allocation algorithms are developed when the statistical knowledge of the random channel fading, data arrivals...

  4. Kernel-Correlated Lévy Field Driven Forward Rate and Application to Derivative Pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bo Lijun; Wang Yongjin; Yang Xuewei

    2013-01-01

    We propose a term structure of forward rates driven by a kernel-correlated Lévy random field under the HJM framework. The kernel-correlated Lévy random field is composed of a kernel-correlated Gaussian random field and a centered Poisson random measure. We shall give a criterion to preclude arbitrage under the risk-neutral pricing measure. As applications, an interest rate derivative with general payoff functional is priced under this pricing measure

  5. The effects of the vegetable prices insurance on the fluctuation of price: Based on Shanghai evidences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Chunhong; Li, Huishang; Hao, Shuai; Zhang, Xuebiao; Yang, Wei

    2017-10-01

    Taking Shanghai as an example, the influence of the vegetable price insurance on the fluctuation of prices was analyzed in the article. It was found that the sequence of seasonal fluctuations characteristics of leafy vegetable prices was changed by the vegetable cost-price insurance, the period of price fluctuation was elongated from 12-to-18 months to 37 months, and the influence of random factors on the price fluctuations was reduced in some degree. There was still great space for innovation of the vegetable prices insurance system in Shanghai. Some countermeasures would be suggested to develop the insurance system to better to play the role of insurance and promote the market running more smoothly in Shanghai such as prolonging the insurance cycle, improving the price information monitoring mechanism and innovating income insurance products and so on.

  6. An emissions trading scheme design for power industries facing price regulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Yong-Gun; Lim, Jong-Soo

    2014-01-01

    The electricity market, monopolistic in nature, with government price regulation, poses a serious challenge for policy makers with respect to the cost-effectiveness of emissions trading, particularly in Asian countries. This paper argues that a cap-and-trade regulatory system for indirect emissions combined with a rate-based allocation system for direct emissions can achieve market efficiency even in the presence of price and quantity controls in the electricity market. This particular policy mix could provide appropriate incentives for industries to reduce their electricity consumption while inducing power producers to reduce their direct carbon emissions cost-effectively in conditions where there is strict government control of electricity prices. Another advantage of the suggested policy mix is that it allows carbon leakage in cross-border power trades to be effectively eliminated. - Highlights: • A rate-based allocation induces power producers to minimize direct emissions. • A cap-and-trade on indirect emission induces firms to reduce electricity consumption. • These two can jointly achieve market efficiency even in the regulated power market

  7. 73 Activity Based Costing and Product Pricing Decision: the Nigerian Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebipanipre Gabriel Mieseigha

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper examined activity based costing and product pricing decisions in Nigeria so as to ascertain whether activity based costing have the ability to enhance profitability and control cost of manufacturing firms. Towards this end, a multiple correlation and regression estimation technique was used in analyzing the data obtained in the study. The study found that activity based costing affects product costing and pricing decision. In addition, the results showed that improved profitability and cost control can be achieved by implementing activity based costing approach by manufacturing firms. The implication is that traditional costing approach fails in many pricing situations by arbitrarily allocating indirect cost and activity based costing helps in allocating indirect cost accurately. Thus, it was recommended amongst others that activity based costing need to be practiced, maintained and implemented by manufacturing firms since it has a broad range of uses for a wide variety of company functions and operations in the area of process analysis, strategy support, time-based accounting, monitoring wastage, as well as quality and productivity management.

  8. Preliminary Study on Bidding Price Ratio Pattern of Public Works in Taiwan - a Case Study of Bridges, Elevated Highways, Tunnels and Subways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Paoshan; Wang, Hanhsiang; Chen, Pingfu; Yeh, Lihsu

    2018-01-01

    Commonly seen tender bid price information of the public works in Taiwan are the budget amount, floor price, awarding price and so on. The ratio of the awarding price to the floor price or budget price is the so-called bidding price ratio. This ratio is influenced by multifaceted factor interactions and is significant to decision making management in engineering projects. Low bidding price ratio may imply that the budget allocation by the tendering agency is inconsiderate or due to the improper market competition of low price bid rigging. High bidding price ratio in turn may indicate that the allocated budget is relatively low, bidder risks in increased contract execution uncertainty or even exclusive bidding scenario. Therefore, the correlation between the bidding price ratio and the aforementioned tender award information is the key issue of this study. This study gathered the tender information of the civil engineering projects in Taiwan within the past seven years. By performing statistical analysis and clustering the gathered data by bidding price ratio, this study investigated the influencing factors and regulations of bidding price ratio using data mining approach.

  9. Economic evaluation of price discounts and skill-building strategies on purchase and consumption of healthy food and beverages: The SHELf randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le, Ha N D; Gold, Lisa; Abbott, Gavin; Crawford, David; McNaughton, Sarah A; Mhurchu, Cliona Ni; Pollard, Christina; Ball, Kylie

    2016-06-01

    Pricing strategies are a promising approach for promoting healthier dietary choices. However, robust evidence of the cost-effectiveness of pricing manipulations on dietary behaviour is limited. We aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of a 20% price reduction on fruits and vegetables and a combined skills-based behaviour change and price reduction intervention. Cost-effectiveness analysis from a societal perspective was undertaken for the randomized controlled trial Supermarket Healthy Eating for Life (SHELf). Female shoppers in Melbourne, Australia were randomized to: (1) skill-building (n = 160); (2) price reductions (n = 161); (3) combined skill-building and price reduction (n = 161); or (4) control group (n = 161). The intervention was implemented for three months followed by a six month follow-up. Costs were measured in 2012 Australian dollars. Fruit and vegetable purchasing and consumption were measured in grams/week. At three months, compared to control participants, price reduction participants increased vegetable purchases by 233 g/week (95% CI 4 to 462, p = 0.046) and fruit purchases by 364 g/week (95% CI 95 to 633, p = 0.008). Participants in the combined group purchased 280 g/week more fruits (95% CI 27 to 533, p = 0.03) than participants in the control group. Increases were not maintained six-month post intervention. No effect was noticed in the skill-building group. Compared to the control group, the price reduction intervention cost an additional A$2.3 per increased serving of vegetables purchased per week or an additional A$3 per increased serving of fruit purchased per week. The combined intervention cost an additional A$12 per increased serving of fruit purchased per week compared to the control group. A 20% discount on fruits and vegetables was effective in promoting overall fruit and vegetable purchases during the period the discount was active and may be cost-effective. The price discount program gave better value for money

  10. A Reevaluation of Price Elasticities for Irrigation Water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howitt, Richard E.; Watson, William D.; Adams, Richard M.

    1980-08-01

    The effectiveness of pricing systems in the allocation of irrigation water is linked with the price elasticity of demand of farmers for water. Using microeconomic theory, it is shown that omission of the elasticity of demand for the crop produced leads to an inelastic bias in the demand for irrigated water. Linear programing approaches omit the product elasticity of demand and are consequently biased, whereas quadratic programing approaches to estimating derived demands for irrigation water include product demand functions. The difference between the resulting estimates are empirically demonstrated for regional derived demand functions estimated from a model of California's agricultural industry.

  11. Rising energy prices and the economics of water in agriculture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zilberman, D.; Sproul, T.; Rajagopal, D.; Sexton, S.; Hellegers, P.J.G.J.

    2008-01-01

    Rising energy prices will alter water allocation and distribution. Water extraction and conveyance will become more costly and demand for hydroelectric power will grow. The higher cost of energy will substantially increase the cost of groundwater, whereas increasing demand for hydroelectric power

  12. Draft regulatory analysis: notice of proposed rulemaking motor gasoline allocation revisions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1980-06-01

    The Draft Regulatory Analysis is prepared for those proposed regulations which either may have a major impact on the general economy, individual industries, or geographic regions and levels of government, or may be significant in that they affect important DOE policy concerns and are the object of public interest. The problems and proposed solutions for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Public Hearings on the Motor Gasoline Allocation Program are examined. The ERA's mandate for this program is set out in the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973. Under this Act, the President is empowered to enforce, at his discretion, price and allocation controls on petroleum and petroleum products, including gasoline, through September 30, 1981. The Act sets the following allocation goals: protect public health; maintain public services and agricultural operations; foster competition in the petroleum industry; distribute petroleum among industry sectors and US regions equitably; and minimize economic disruption and unnecessary interference wth market mechanisms.

  13. Welfare distribution effect of a price reduction in the Dutch gas transport market: A scenario analysis of regulatory policy, market form and rent allocation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Witteloostuijn, Arjen; Van Marrewijk, Charles

    2007-01-01

    As part of the larger energy market deregulation program, the Dutch energy authority - DTe - has developed the habit to force the Dutch gas transport enterprise - Gas Transport Services, or GTS - to lower its prices. DTe's key argument is that lower gas transport prices will benefit the end-user. Indeed, that might well be the case. This policy, in general, is in line with European legislation on the liberalization of the gas market. We model and simulate the (domestic) welfare effects of a 5 percent transport price reduction. From this, we conclude that at least three observations complicate matters substantially. First, GTS is government-owned, and the dominant shipper - Gasunie Trade and Supply (or GasTerra, as it was recoined recently) - is partly so (50%). Second, shippers enter into the competitive game to make profits. Third, not only is the majority of gas transported in the Netherlands exported to foreign end-users, but also foreign owners have a large stake in Dutch shippers. As a result, part of the rents will always be distributed, or will 'leak' away, to foreign consumers and shippers (or their shareholders). These three observations together have three important implications. First, state ownership implies that much rent allocation is simply a matter of circulating money from one government sub-budget to the other. Second, given that the industry is imperfectly competitive, part of the rents will not be passed on to the end-consumers. Third, it is unavoidable that a substantial part of the rents are transferred abroad. A general conclusion for policy-makers is that market liberalization might not bring ex post what they expected ex ante. (author)

  14. Three essays on pricing and risk management in electricity markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotsan, Serhiy

    2005-07-01

    A set of three papers forms this dissertation. In the first paper I analyze an electricity market that does not clear. The system operator satisfies fixed demand at a fixed price, and attempts to minimize "cost" as indicated by independent generators' supply bids. No equilibrium exists in this situation, and the operator lacks information sufficient to minimize actual cost. As a remedy, we propose a simple efficient tax mechanism. With the tax, Nash equilibrium bids still diverge from marginal cost but nonetheless provide sufficient information to minimize actual cost, regardless of the tax rate or number of generators. The second paper examines a price mechanism with one price assigned for each level of bundled real and reactive power. Equilibrium allocation under this pricing approach raises system efficiency via better allocation of the reactive power reserves, neglected in the traditional pricing approach. Pricing reactive power should be considered in the bundle with real power since its cost is highly dependent on real power output. The efficiency of pricing approach is shown in the general case, and tested on the 30-bus IEEE network with piecewise linear cost functions of the generators. Finally the third paper addresses the problem of optimal investment in generation based on mean-variance portfolio analysis. It is assumed the investor can freely create a portfolio of shares in generation located on buses of the electrical network. Investors are risk averse, and seek to minimize the variance of the weighted average Locational Marginal Price (LMP) in their portfolio, and to maximize its expected value. I conduct simulations using a standard IEEE 68-bus network that resembles the New York - New England system and calculate LMPs in accordance with the PJM methodology for a fully optimal AC power flow solution. Results indicate that the network topology is a crucial determinant of the investment decision as line congestion makes it difficult to deliver power to

  15. Mobile access to virtual randomization for investigator-initiated trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deserno, Thomas M; Keszei, András P

    2017-08-01

    Background/aims Randomization is indispensable in clinical trials in order to provide unbiased treatment allocation and a valid statistical inference. Improper handling of allocation lists can be avoided using central systems, for example, human-based services. However, central systems are unaffordable for investigator-initiated trials and might be inaccessible from some places, where study subjects need allocations. We propose mobile access to virtual randomization, where the randomization lists are non-existent and the appropriate allocation is computed on demand. Methods The core of the system architecture is an electronic data capture system or a clinical trial management system, which is extended by an R interface connecting the R server using the Java R Interface. Mobile devices communicate via the representational state transfer web services. Furthermore, a simple web-based setup allows configuring the appropriate statistics by non-statisticians. Our comprehensive R script supports simple randomization, restricted randomization using a random allocation rule, block randomization, and stratified randomization for un-blinded, single-blinded, and double-blinded trials. For each trial, the electronic data capture system or the clinical trial management system stores the randomization parameters and the subject assignments. Results Apps are provided for iOS and Android and subjects are randomized using smartphones. After logging onto the system, the user selects the trial and the subject, and the allocation number and treatment arm are displayed instantaneously and stored in the core system. So far, 156 subjects have been allocated from mobile devices serving five investigator-initiated trials. Conclusion Transforming pre-printed allocation lists into virtual ones ensures the correct conduct of trials and guarantees a strictly sequential processing in all trial sites. Covering 88% of all randomization models that are used in recent trials, virtual randomization

  16. Actuarial risk measures for financial derivative pricing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goovaerts, M.J.; Laeven, R.J.A.

    2008-01-01

    We present an axiomatic characterization of price measures that are superadditive and comonotonic additive for normally distributed random variables. The price representation derived involves a probability measure transform that is closely related to the Esscher transform, and we call it the

  17. CO2 price dynamics. A follow-up analysis of the implications of EU emissions trading for the price of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sijm, J.P.M.; Ten Donkelaar, M.; Hers, J.S.; Scheepers, M.J.J.; Chen, Y.

    2006-03-01

    The present study discusses the results of some follow-up analyses on the relationship between EU emissions trading and power prices, notably the implications of free allocations of CO2 emissions allowances for the price of electricity in Germany and the Netherlands. These analyses include: An update of the empirical and statistical analyses of the price trends and pass through rates of CO2 costs in the power sector of Germany and the Netherlands; An analysis by means of the model COMPETES of the potential effects of CO2 emissions trading on the wholesale market shares of the major power producers in the Netherlands; An analysis of two policy options to cope with certain adverse effects of passing through the opportunity costs of freely allocated CO2 emission allowances, i.e. less grandfathering to the major power producers - in favour of major electricity users - by either a more stringent allocation to the power generators or auctioning part of the allowances to these generators. A major finding of the present study is that dark/spark spreads of power production in Germany and the Netherlands have improved substantially in 2005, especially during the period August-December. Whereas valid CO2 pass through rates of 40 to 70 percent have been estimated for the first period of 2005 (January- July), estimates for the year 2005 as a whole - and particularly for the latter period August-December - seem to be less or not valid since other factors, such as market power or scarcity, seem also (or even more) responsible for the improvement of dark/spark spreads in the latter period of 2005 (while data are lacking to abstract for these other factors). Regarding the policy options to address adverse effects of CO2 cost pass through, the report concludes that a small degree of less grandfathering to the power producers (i.e. 10-20 percent of the allowances needed) will reduce their windfall profits accordingly, without a major, decisive impact on the operational and investment

  18. Lawsuits allege price fixing by generic drug makers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robbins RA

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. Two years after high generic drug prices became a public controversy, Reuters is reporting that 20 states filed a lawsuit Thursday against Mylan, Teva Pharmaceuticals and four other generic drug makers (1. The suit alleges the companies conspired to fix prices or allocated markets to prop up prices. The civil lawsuit, led by antitrust investigators in Connecticut, comes one day after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against two former executives of the generic drug maker, Heritage. The states attorneys general asked the court to order the companies to disgorge ill-gotten gains, which were not defined, pay attorneys' fees and stop collusion. Of the states in the Southwest only Nevada is participating in the lawsuit. The cases are part of a broader generic drug pricing probe that remains under way at the state and federal level, as well as in the U.S. Congress. In 2014, media reports of …

  19. Transmission pricing in privately-owned electricity grids: An illustration from the Argentine electricity pool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdala, Manuel A.

    2008-01-01

    The Argentine electricity reform of 1992 offers an interesting example of decentralized transmission pricing arrangements within a competitive system. This paper is a shortened version of an original analysis made in 1994 of the regulation of the Argentine transmission system, with emphasis on investment cost allocation rules. To make up for the limitation of short-run marginal cost (SRMC) pricing, incentives on service quality were put in place, including penalties for lack of line availability. The mechanism for capacity expansion, based on ad-hoc rules for allocations of investment costs, had the potential to produce non-optimal investment outcomes, as such rules ignored beneficiaries on the demand side. For fine tuning of this system, I proposed an alternative rule based on traditional welfare analysis that broadens the universe of identified beneficiaries, and thus can be expected to produce a fairer outcome on investment cost allocation, reducing the potential risks of non-optimal investment. A brief postscript comments on the paper from the perspective of 2007. (author)

  20. Incentive pricing and cost recovery at the basin scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Frank A; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel

    2009-01-01

    Incentive pricing programs have potential to promote economically efficient water use patterns and provide a revenue source to compensate for environmental damages. However, incentive pricing may impose disproportionate costs and aggravate poverty where high prices are levied for basic human needs. This paper presents an analysis of a two-tiered water pricing system that sets a low price for subsistence needs, while charging a price equal to marginal cost, including environmental cost, for discretionary uses. This pricing arrangement can promote efficient and sustainable water use patterns, goals set by the European Water Framework Directive, while meeting subsistence needs of poor households. Using data from the Rio Grande Basin of North America, a dynamic nonlinear program, maximizes the basin's total net economic and environmental benefits subject to several hydrological and institutional constraints. Supply costs, environmental costs, and resource costs are integrated in a model of a river basin's hydrology, economics, and institutions. Three programs are compared: (1) Law of the River, in which water allocations and prices are determined by rules governing water transfers; (2) marginal cost pricing, in which households pay the full marginal cost of supplying treated water; (3) two-tiered pricing, in which households' subsistence water needs are priced cheaply, while discretionary uses are priced at efficient levels. Compared to the Law of the River and marginal cost pricing, two-tiered pricing performs well for efficiency and adequately for sustainability and equity. Findings provide a general framework for formulating water pricing programs that promote economically and environmentally efficient water use programs while also addressing other policy goals.

  1. Allocation of losses in distribution system with dispersed generation of electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atanasovski, Metodija B.

    2005-01-01

    The problem of allocation of losses in distribution systems with dispersed generation (DG) of electricity is considered in this work. Definition of category DG, overview of technologies which belongs to this category and main features of each technology are given. Modeling of DG in steady state analysis of distribution networks is completely elaborated. Requirements for ideal allocation of losses are summarized. Methods from the literature, for allocation of losses in distribution systems with DG, are elaborated, as: classical distribution pricing method, substitution method, marginal loss coefficients method and nodal factors pricing method. In this work a new method for allocation of losses in distribution systems with DG is also presented. The new method is based on branches and resolves the problems of implementation of branch based methods for transmission networks to distribution networks. The method establishes direct relationship between losses in each branch of the network and injected active and reactive power in the nodes on which path to the root node the branch is placed. Reactive power is considered in the loss allocation process in this method and allocation of crossed terms of active and reactive power is performed using quadratic allocation of crossed terms. DG in this method is treated as negative power injection. It is assumed that the network is radial and the power flow in each branch of the, distribution network is constant and equal to the sum of injected active and reactive power in each node on which path to the root node, the branch is placed. The network is considered loss less. The new proposed method is applied and tested on real distribution network which is a part of Distribution company-Bitola. One distribution feeder of power station 110/10 kV/kV Bitola 4 is considered. Different types of consumers and two small hydro power plants in property of JP Strezevo as typical representatives of DG are connected to the feeder. Results

  2. Disappointment and adherence among parents of newborns allocated to the control group

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meinich Petersen, Sandra; Zoffmann, Vibeke; Kjærgaard, Jesper

    2014-01-01

    among parents of newborns who were randomized to the control group, but also a broad expression of understanding and accepting the idea of randomization. The trial staff might use the model of reactions in understanding the parents' disappointment and in this way support their motives for participation......BACKGROUND: When a child participates in a clinical trial, informed consent has to be given by the parents. Parental motives for participation are complex, but the hope of getting a new and better treatment for the child is important. We wondered how parents react when their child is allocated...... to achieve saturation. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes across the data sets. RESULTS: The parents reported good understanding of the randomization process. Their most common reaction to allocation was disappointment, though relief was also seen. A model of reactions to being allocated...

  3. Proceedings of the buying and pricing power in Alberta 2001 conference : making informed decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    The changing landscape of energy pricing and buying in Alberta provided the impetus for this conference, where a wide range of topics were covered. The presenters reflected on the importance of having comprehensive information in order to make a decision in this field. The eleven speakers represented power distribution companies and discussed: the new challenges in buying and selling power in Alberta; the evolving electricity market managing and energy portfolio; pricing of power in the new market; the impact on industrial/commercial customers; allocation of risk in power purchase agreements; paying for the transmission system; marketing under the changing rules of the game; forward markets in Alberta; new product and service offerings; alternatives to the grid: distributed generation, energy strategies; uncertainty and opportunity in Alberta's deregulated market, load allocation and financial settlement. The conference was an opportunity for all interested parties to exchange views and ideas pertaining to the marketing and the pricing of energy in Alberta. refs., tabs., figs

  4. Multidemand Multisource Order Quantity Allocation with Multiple Transportation Alternatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Gang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on a multidemand multisource order quantity allocation problem with multiple transportation alternatives. To solve this problem, a bilevel multiobjective programming model under a mixed uncertain environment is proposed. Two levels of decision makers are considered in the model. On the upper level, the purchaser aims to allocate order quantity to multiple suppliers for each demand node with the consideration of three objectives: total purchase cost minimization, total delay risk minimization, and total defect risk minimization. On the lower level, each supplier attempts to optimize the transportation alternatives with total transportation and penalty costs minimization as the objective. In contrast to prior studies, considering the information asymmetry in the bilevel decision, random and fuzzy random variables are used to model uncertain parameters of the construction company and the suppliers. To solve the bilevel model, a solution method based on Kuhn-Tucker conditions, sectional genetic algorithm, and fuzzy random simulation is proposed. Finally, the applicability of the proposed model and algorithm is evaluated through a practical case from a large scale construction project. The results show that the proposed model and algorithm are efficient in dealing with practical order quantity allocation problems.

  5. Circulation of Railway Rolling Stock: A Branch-and-Price Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Peeters (Marc); L.G. Kroon (Leo)

    2003-01-01

    textabstractWe describe an algorithmic approach to determine an efficient railway rolling stock circulation on a single line or on a set of interacting lines. Given the timetable and the passengers? seat demand, we develop a branch-and-price algorithm that results in an allocation of rolling

  6. Second best pricing policies for an exhaustible resource

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanson, D.A.

    1977-02-01

    In the theory of exhaustible resources, the classical result, originally derived by Harold Hotelling (J. Polit. Econ., 39: 137-75 (1931)) is that the scarcity rent of the resource must increase at the rate of interest. The scarcity rent is the market price of the resource less extraction costs. At the depletion time, the market price must be equal either to the zero demand price or the cost of a perfect substitute, assuming no adjustment costs in switching to the substitute. The substitute may be either a natural resource with a higher extraction cost or a backstop technology. The Hotelling result is a price equilibrium condition in a competitive asset market (Solow, Amer. Econ. Rev. Proc., 64: 1-14 (1974)). It is also an efficiency condition for allocating the resource over time in a first best world. However, Solow raises the possibility that constraints creating a wedge between interest rates may be important considerations in the resource allocation problem. In a second-best world it is not at all clear how fast the scarcity rent of the resource should increase from a social viewpoint. However, for one simple case the analysis of this problem is straightforward. Suppose consumption is determined by a Keynesian consumption function with marginal propensity to consume (1 - s); s is marginal propensity to save. With consumption determined in this behavioral manner, savings may be inadequate to reduce the market interest rate to the point where it is equal to the social rate of time preference. It is argued here that for this case the scarcity rent of the resource should increase at a rate equal to a weighted combination of these two interest rates.

  7. MODERN METHODS OF PRICING IN THE STRATEGIC ACTIVITIES PLANNING OF PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES IN UKRAINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Slushaenko

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This article investigated the role of pricing for strategic activities of pharmaceutical companies. It has been modified Bass diffusion model for new products, and it has been conducted empirical testing of the model on the sample of the products of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market. Among the analyzed pricing models for new product allocated to one that meets the needs of the pharmaceutical industry and is based on available statistics. Formed a clear selection algorithm pricing policy of the company to the new product.

  8. Fractal asset returns, arbitrage and option pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Potgieter, Petrus H.

    2009-01-01

    In the discrete-time fractional random walk model a market with one risky asset affords an arbitrage opportunity as described by Cutland et al. [Cutland NJ, Kopp PE, Willinger W. Stock price returns and the Joseph effect: a fractional version of the Black-Scholes model. In: Russo Francesco, Bolthausen Erwin, Dozzi Marco, editors. Seminar on 6 stochastic analysis, random fields and applications, pp. 327-351. Seminar on stochastic analysis, random fields and applications. Ascona: Centro Stefano Franscini; 1993, Progress in probability 36. Birkhauser Verlag; 1995.] and Sottinen [Sottinen Tommi. Fractional Brownian motion, random walks and binary market models. Finance Stoch 2001;5(3):343-355]. We briefly discuss these results and compute a numerical example in a fractional binomial model as illustration and mention an option pricing model for assets the returns of which are driven by a fractional Brownian motion [Yaozhong Hu, Bernt Oksendal. Fractional white noise calculus and applications to finance. Infin Dimens Anal Quant Probability Rel Top 2003;6:1-32, ISSN 0219-0257; Fajardo J, Cajueiro DO. Volatility estimation and option pricing with fractional Brownian motion, October 2003. Available from: (http://ideas.repec.org/p/ibm/finlab/flwp53.html)].

  9. Randomized controlled trials in evidence-based mental health care: getting the right answer to the right question.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essock, Susan M; Drake, Robert E; Frank, Richard G; McGuire, Thomas G

    2003-01-01

    The purpose of clinical research is to answer this question: Would a new treatment, when added to the existing range of treatment options available in practice, help patients? Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)--in particular, double-blind RCTs--have important methodological advantages over observational studies for addressing this question. These advantages, however, come at a price. RCTs compare treatments using a particular allocation rule for assigning patients to treatments (random assignment) that does not mimic real-world practice. "Favorable" results from an RCT indicating that a new treatment is superior to existing treatments are neither necessary nor sufficient for establishing a "yes" answer to the question posed above. Modeled on an experimental design, RCTs are expensive in time and money and must compare simple differences in treatments. Findings have a high internal validity but may not address the needs of the field, particularly where treatment is complex and rapidly evolving. Design of clinical research needs to take account of the way treatments are allocated in actual practice and include flexible designs to answer important questions most effectively.

  10. Some Key Issues in Policy, Pricing, Regulation, and Financing of Irrigation Development in India Today

    OpenAIRE

    Morris, Sebastian

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we discuss the stylised problems relating to water and irrigation in India and argue that most of the inefficiencies, misuse and environmental damage have their roots in the mispricing of water and electricity. Since the only kind of subsidies thus far used are price based input subsidies they end up distorting the allocative prices, from which the other distortions follow. The problems of the sector can be overcome by changing the method of subsidisation. Converting price based...

  11. Negotiating transfer pricing using the Nash bargaining solution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clempner Julio B.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyzes and proposes a solution to the transfer pricing problem from the point of view of the Nash bargaining game theory approach. We consider a firm consisting of several divisions with sequential transfers, in which central management provides a transfer price decision that enables maximization of operating profits. Price transferring between divisions is negotiable throughout the bargaining approach. Initially, we consider a disagreement point (status quo between the divisions of the firm, which plays the role of a deterrent. We propose a framework and a method based on the Nash equilibrium approach for computing the disagreement point. Then, we introduce a bargaining solution, which is a single-valued function that selects an outcome from the feasible pay-offs for each bargaining problem that is a result of cooperation of the divisions of the firm involved in the transfer pricing problem. The agreement reached by the divisions in the game is the most preferred alternative within the set of feasible outcomes, which produces a profit-maximizing allocation of the transfer price between divisions. For computing the bargaining solution, we propose an optimization method. An example illustrating the usefulness of the method is presented.

  12. A scalable delivery framework and a pricing model for streaming media with advertisements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Hadrusi, Musab; Sarhan, Nabil J.

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents a delivery framework for streaming media with advertisements and an associated pricing model. The delivery model combines the benefits of periodic broadcasting and stream merging. The advertisements' revenues are used to subsidize the price of the media content. The pricing is determined based on the total ads' viewing time. Moreover, this paper presents an efficient ad allocation scheme and three modified scheduling policies that are well suited to the proposed delivery framework. Furthermore, we study the effectiveness of the delivery framework and various scheduling polices through extensive simulation in terms of numerous metrics, including customer defection probability, average number of ads viewed per client, price, arrival rate, profit, and revenue.

  13. Optimizing Irrigation Water Allocation under Multiple Sources of Uncertainty in an Arid River Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Y.; Tang, D.; Gao, H.; Ding, Y.

    2015-12-01

    Population growth and climate change add additional pressures affecting water resources management strategies for meeting demands from different economic sectors. It is especially challenging in arid regions where fresh water is limited. For instance, in the Tailanhe River Basin (Xinjiang, China), a compromise must be made between water suppliers and users during drought years. This study presents a multi-objective irrigation water allocation model to cope with water scarcity in arid river basins. To deal with the uncertainties from multiple sources in the water allocation system (e.g., variations of available water amount, crop yield, crop prices, and water price), the model employs a interval linear programming approach. The multi-objective optimization model developed from this study is characterized by integrating eco-system service theory into water-saving measures. For evaluation purposes, the model is used to construct an optimal allocation system for irrigation areas fed by the Tailan River (Xinjiang Province, China). The objective functions to be optimized are formulated based on these irrigation areas' economic, social, and ecological benefits. The optimal irrigation water allocation plans are made under different hydroclimate conditions (wet year, normal year, and dry year), with multiple sources of uncertainty represented. The modeling tool and results are valuable for advising decision making by the local water authority—and the agricultural community—especially on measures for coping with water scarcity (by incorporating uncertain factors associated with crop production planning).

  14. A weighted possibilistic programming approach for sustainable vendor selection and order allocation in fuzzy environment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gupta, Pankaj; Govindan, Kannan; Mehlawat, Mukesh Kumar

    2016-01-01

    This paper focused on the analysis of imprecise information in terms of many critical parameters for a multi-objective multi-item vendor selection-order allocation problem with price-breaks. We used both quantitative and qualitative criteria taking into account the economic, technological, social...

  15. FARM RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND PROFITABILITY OF ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Unique cropping systems have emerged in Nigeria to suit limited farmer resources and production objectives in humid forest inland valley ecosystems. But the basis for farm resource allocation and profitability of different crop enterprises are not properly understood. This study is based on a survey of 48 randomly selected ...

  16. Analysis of relationships between hourly electricity price and load in deregulated real-time power markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lo, K.L.; Wu, Y.K.

    2004-01-01

    Risk management in the electric power industry involves measuring the risk for all instruments owned by a company. The value of many of these instruments depends directly on electricity prices. In theory, the wholesale price in a real-time market should reflect the short-run marginal cost. However, most markets are not perfectly competitive, therefore by understanding the degree of correlation between price and physical drivers, electric traders and consumers can manage their risk more effectively and efficiently. Market data from two power-pool architectures, both pre-2003 ISO-NE and Australia's NEM, have been studied. The dynamic character of electricity price is mean-reverting, and consists of intra-day and weekly variations, seasonal fluctuations, and instant jumps. Parts of them are affected by load demands. Hourly signals on both price and load are divided into deterministic and random components with a discrete Fourier transform algorithm. Next, the real-time price-load relationship for periodic and random signals is examined. In addition, time-varying volatility models are constructed on random price and random load with the GARCH model, and the correlation between them analysed. Volatility plays a critical role on evaluating option pricing and risk management. (author)

  17. Shapley value based transfer pricing in supply chains with stochastic demand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lihua Chen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the question of how to ideally divide total profits among supply chain members, especially in a stochastic demand market. The Shapley value is used as the methodology solution to divide profits in a supply chain. To illustrate the Shapley value solution and procedures, a two-echelon supply chain consisting of one supplier and two heterogeneous retailers is examined. The goal is to figure out ideal transfer prices for products delivered among supply chain members. These transfer prices will achieve the suggested profit allocations among three companies.

  18. Transmission service charges: cost allocation and rate design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poray, A. T.

    2000-01-01

    The application of the Ontario Hydro Networks Company (OHNC) to the Ontario Energy Board to seek approval for cost allocation and rate design methodology to recover revenue requirements for the provision of transmission services in Ontario are summarized. Insights that led to the arguments made in support of the application are also described. The paper contains an overview of plans for the operation of the transmission system, the agreement between Ontario Hydro Services Company (OHSC) and the Independent Market Operator (IMO), the stakeholder consultation process by OHNC to develop the transmission cost allocation and rate design methodology, a discussion of the major rate design issues, a summary of stakeholder opinions and a summary of OHNC's final proposal for transmission pricing. Public hearings on the OHNC application were held between February 16 and March 20, 2000. Final decision by the OEB is expected sometime in May 2000

  19. Economic Dynamics of the German Hog-Price Cycle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernst Berg

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available We investigated the economic dynamics of the German hog-price cycle with an innovative ‘diagnostic’ modeling approach. Hog-price cycles are conventionally modeled stochastically—most recently as randomly-shifting sinusoidal oscillations. Alternatively, we applied Nonlinear Time Series analysis to empirically reconstruct a deterministic, low-dimensional, and nonlinear attractor from observed hog prices. We next formulated a structural (explanatory model of the pork industry to synthesize the empirical hog-price attractor. Model simulations demonstrate that low price-elasticity of demand contributes to aperiodic price cycling – a well know result – and further reveal two other important driving factors: investment irreversibility (caused by high specificity of technology, and liquidity-driven investment behavior of German farmers.

  20. Integrating dynamic acquisition pricing and remanufacturing decisions under random price-sensitive returns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sun, X.; Li, Y.; Govindan, Kannan

    2013-01-01

    As uncertainties increase in both the acquisition of used products and the demand of remanufactured products, balancing supply and demand has become more important for a remanufacturing firm. Therefore, the remanufacturing firm needs to combine acquisition management with remanufacturing planning...... level and acquisition price of each period, which holds a lower computational complexity. Finally, numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the algorithm and to conduct managerial insights of main parameters....

  1. Wealth Transfers from Implementing Real-Time Retail Electricity Pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Borenstein, Severin

    2005-01-01

    Adoption of real-time electricity pricing %u2014 retail prices that vary hourly to reflect changing wholesale prices %u2014 removes existing cross-subsidies to those customers that consume disproportionately more when wholesale prices are highest. If their losses are substantial, these customers are likely to oppose RTP initiatives unless there is a supplemental program to offset their loss. Using data on a random sample of 636 industrial and commercial customers in southern California, I sho...

  2. Loss aversion and price volatility as determinants of attitude towards and preference for variable price in the Swedish electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Juliusson, E. Asgeir; Gamble, Amelie; Gaerling, Tommy

    2007-01-01

    The results of a survey of a random sample of 488 Swedish residents showed that a positive attitude towards and preference for a variable price agreement with the incumbent electricity supplier was negatively affected by loss aversion, and a positive attitude also negatively affected by beliefs about price volatility. Although correlated with attitude and preference, age, education, and current choice of a variable price agreement had no independent effects. Income and current electricity costs had no effects. (author)

  3. Optimal pricing of transmission and distribution services in electricity supply

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farmer, E.D.; Cory, B.J.; Perera, B.L.P.P.

    1995-01-01

    A new strategy for the separate pricing of transmission and distribution services in electricity supply is formulated and evaluated. The proposed methodology is a multivariate transmission generalisation of the method of peak load pricing previously applied to the optimal time-of-use pricing of generation on a power system with diverse generation technologies and with elastic demand. The method allocates both capacity and operational costs on a time-of-use basis, in an optimal manner, that avoids cross-subsidisation both between differing supply system participants and differing times of usage. The method is shown to promote the optimal development of the transmission, distribution or interconnecting systems, rewarding justified investments in transmission capacity and discouraging overinvestment. It also leads to appropriate returns on invested capital without significant 'revenue reconciliation'. This contrasts with SRMC pricing as is shown by a comparative revenue evaluation. It is concluded that the method has wide potential application in electricity supply. (author)

  4. Influence of price discounts and skill-building strategies on purchase and consumption of healthy food and beverages: outcomes of the Supermarket Healthy Eating for Life randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ball, Kylie; McNaughton, Sarah A; Le, Ha N D; Gold, Lisa; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona; Abbott, Gavin; Pollard, Christina; Crawford, David

    2015-05-01

    Fiscal strategies are increasingly considered upstream nutrition promotion measures. However, few trials have investigated the effectiveness or cost effectiveness of pricing manipulations on diet in real-world settings. We assessed the effects on fruit, vegetable, and beverage purchasing and consumption of a 20% price-reduction intervention, a tailored skills-based behavior-change intervention, and a combined intervention compared with a control condition. The Supermarket Healthy Eating for Life trial was a randomized controlled trial conducted over 3 mo [baseline (time 1) to postintervention (time 2) with a 6-mo follow-up (time 3)]. Female primary household shoppers in Melbourne, Australia, were randomly assigned to a 1) skill-building (n = 160), 2) price-reduction (n = 161), 3) combined skill-building and price-reduction (n = 160), or 4) control (n = 161) group. Supermarket transaction data and surveys were used to measure the following study outcomes: fruit, vegetable, and beverage purchases and self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption at each time point. At 3 mo (time 2), price reduction-alone participants purchased more total vegetables and frozen vegetables than did controls. Price reduction-alone and price reduction-plus-skill-building participants purchased more fruit than did controls. Relative to controls, in the price-reduction group, total vegetable consumption increased by 233 g/wk (3.1 servings or 15% more than at baseline), and fruit purchases increased by 364 g/wk (2.4 servings; 35% more than at baseline). Increases were not maintained 6 mo postintervention (time 3). Price reduction-alone participants showed a tendency for a slight increase in fruit consumption at time 2 (P = 0.09) that was maintained at time 3 (P = 0.014). No intervention improved purchases of bottled water or low-calorie beverages. A 20% price reduction in fruit and vegetables resulted in increased purchasing per household of 35% for fruit and 15% for vegetables over the

  5. Impacts of high energy prices on long-term energy-economic scenarios for Germany

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krey, V.; Markewitz, P. [Research Center Juelich, Inst. of Energy Res., Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation, Juelich (Germany); Horn, M. [DIW Berlin, Berlin (Germany); Matthes, C.; Graichen, V.; Harthan, R.O.; Repenning, J. [Oeko-Institut, Berlin (Germany)

    2007-05-15

    Prices of oil and other fossil fuels on global markets have reached a high level in recent years. These levels were not able to be reproduced on the basis of scenarios and prognoses that were published in the past. New scenarios, based on higher energy price trajectories, have appeared only recently. The future role of various energy carriers and technologies in energy-economic scenarios will greatly depend on the level of energy prices. Therefore, an analysis of the impact of high energy prices on long-term scenarios for Germany was undertaken. Based on a reference scenario with moderate prices, a series of consistent high price scenarios for primary and secondary energy carriers were developed. Two scenarios with (i) continuously rising price trajectories and (ii) a price shock with a price peak during the period 2010-15 and a subsequent decline to the reference level are analysed. Two types of models have been applied in the analysis. The IKARUS energy systems optimisation model covers the whole of the German energy system from primary energy supply down to the end-use sectors. Key results in both high price scenarios include a replacement of natural gas by hard coal and renewable energy sources in electricity and heat generation. Backstop technologies like coal liquefaction begin to play a role under such conditions. Up to 10% of final energy consumption is saved in the end-use sectors, with the residential and transport sector being the greatest contributors. Even without additional restrictions, CO{sub 2} emissions significantly drop in comparison to the reference scenario. The ELIAS electricity investment analysis model focuses on the power sector. In the reference scenario with current allocation rules in the emissions trading scheme, the CO{sub 2} emissions decrease relatively steadily. The development is characterised by the phaseout of nuclear energy which is counterweighted by the increase of renewable. In the high price scenario, the CO{sub 2

  6. Free allocation in the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS): identifying efficient mechanisms through to 2030

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jalard, Matthieu; Alberola, Emilie

    2015-11-01

    . Besides, it enables to avoid over-allocations and perverse threshold effects observed in Phase III, but it further mutes the carbon price signal to consumers, and should be complemented by additional mechanisms to exploit demand -side abatement potentials. This mechanism would lead to a less impacting CSCF of 71% in 2030 with a 1.4% annual growth assumption that would however depend on the aggregate output level. Based on our estimates, this factor would be comprised between 62% and 82% in 2030, entailing an uncertainty about the net carbon cost borne by installations amounting to 10% of added value for the cement sector and 6% for the steel sector, with a 30 euro/tCO 2 price assumption. - In Scenario 3, a more targeted and focused allocation is presented, which better reflects the exposure to carbon leakage risks. It is proposed to use differentiated allocation rates either based on carbon cost and trade intensity thresholds like implemented in California for example, or based on targeted maximum carbon costs for each sectors depending on trade intensity. This would enable to reduce the allocation volume and overcome the ex post correction and the uncertainty coming with it, and to mitigate carbon costs more efficiently for exposed sectors. - The Scenario 4 assesses the European Commission's proposal, which could be leading to a 20% ex post reduction of allocation volume to all installations by 2030, on top of the 20% uniform reduction of benchmarks. Focusing allocation to exposed sectors, and enhancing flexibility in the supply of free allowances through a dynamic New Entrant Reserve could be levers to help combat carbon leakages more efficiently and maintain incentives to reduce emissions. In the end, it appears that a combination of instruments is needed to forge a credible road-map for decarbonization of industry sectors: a predictable carbon price signal, flexible and targeted free allocation, as well as additional instruments to steer demand for low

  7. Rent distribution effect of a price reduction in the Dutch gas transport market. A scenario analysis of regulatory policy, market form and rent allocation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Witteloostuijn, A.; Brakman, S.; Van Marrewijk, C.

    2005-09-01

    As part of the larger energy market deregulation program, the Dutch Office of Energy Regulation (DTe) has developed the habit to force the Dutch gas transport enterprise (Gas Transport Services GTS) to lower its prices. In this report, we simulate the welfare effects of a five per cent transport price reduction. DTe's key argument is that lower gas transport prices will benefit the end-user. Indeed, that might well be the case. However, at least three observations complicate matters substantially: Observation 1: government ownership. GTS is government -owned, and the dominant shipper (Gasunie Trade and Supply) is partly so (50 %). Hence, lost revenues from the gas transport business will all emerge at the debit side of the government's budget, and part of the shippers' rent returns in the government's pockets. Observation 2: imperfect competition. Firms enter into the competitive game to make profits. Shippers are not different. So, apart from in the extreme case of perfect competition (or, more generally, perfect contestability), part of the rents will end up in the pockets of the shippers, rather than the endconsumers. Observation 3: rent export. The Netherlands are not an isolated island in the European gas ocean. Not only is the majority of gas transported in the Netherlands exported to foreign end-users, but apart from that have foreign owners a large stake in Dutch shippers. As a result, given the fact that the Dutch industry is not autarktic, part of the rents will always be distributed, or will always 'leak' away, to foreign consumers and shippers (or their shareholders). These three observations together have three important implications. First, state ownership implies that much rent allocation is simply a matter of circulating money from one government sub-budget to the other (Observation 1). Second, given that the industry is imperfectly competitive, part of the rents will not be passed on to the endconsumers (Observation 2). Third, it is unavoidable

  8. The minimum price required by investors in IPOs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed Jeribi

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available With regard to purchasing Tunisian IPOs shares, the current paper aims at considering two types of investors: a non-institutional investor and an institutional one. Each is concerned with placing a purchase order at the offer price during the subscription period. In line with the literature on IPOs, we attempted to determine the minimum price required by an investor allowing for recovering the initial investment, information costs, transaction costs, and the offsetting of shortfall. We expect that the initial return of an IPO share in the Tunisian market is positively related to the following factors: the number of non-institutional investors participating during the subscription period, the subscription ratio of institutional investors, the expected rate of return by investors, the gap between the closing date of the subscription period and the day following the announcement of the subscription result, the gap between the announcement of the subscription result and the first listing day, the number of trading days, the cost of information and the transaction costs. However, it is negatively related to other determinants, such as the discount level, the number of shares allocated for a non-institutional investor and the number of offered shares, which are allocated to non-institutional investors.

  9. An equivalent marginal cost-pricing model for the district heating market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Junli; Ge, Bin; Xu, Hongsheng

    2013-01-01

    District heating pricing is a core element in reforming the heating market. Existing district heating pricing methods, such as the cost-plus pricing method and the conventional marginal-cost pricing method, cannot simultaneously provide both high efficiency and sufficient investment cost return. To solve this problem, the paper presents a new pricing model, namely Equivalent Marginal Cost Pricing (EMCP) model, which is based on the EVE pricing theory and the unique characteristics of heat products and district heating. The EMCP model uses exergy as the measurement of heating product value and places products from different district heating regions into the same competition platform. In the proposed model, the return on investment cost is closely related to the quoted cost, and within the limitations of the Heating Capacity Cost Reference and the maximum compensated shadow capacity cost, both lower and higher price speculations of heat producers are restricted. Simulation results show that the model can guide heat producers to bid according to their production costs and to provide reasonable returns on investment, which contributes to stimulate the role of price leverage and to promote the optimal allocation of heat resources. - Highlights: • Presents a new district heating pricing model. • Provides both high market efficiency and sufficient investment cost return. • Provides a competition mechanism for various products from different DH regions. • Both of lower and higher price speculations are restricted in the new model

  10. Optimal public rationing and price response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grassi, Simona; Ma, Ching-To Albert

    2011-12-01

    We study optimal public health care rationing and private sector price responses. Consumers differ in their wealth and illness severity (defined as treatment cost). Due to a limited budget, some consumers must be rationed. Rationed consumers may purchase from a monopolistic private market. We consider two information regimes. In the first, the public supplier rations consumers according to their wealth information (means testing). In equilibrium, the public supplier must ration both rich and poor consumers. Rationing some poor consumers implements price reduction in the private market. In the second information regime, the public supplier rations consumers according to consumers' wealth and cost information. In equilibrium, consumers are allocated the good if and only if their costs are below a threshold (cost effectiveness). Rationing based on cost results in higher equilibrium consumer surplus than rationing based on wealth. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Allocating Retirement Funds between TIAA and CREF: How Should Participants Choose Now between Fixed and Variable Annuities?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malkiel, Burton G.

    1979-01-01

    The basic provisions of the TIAA-CREF retirement plans are outlined and the impact of inflation and falling stock prices on annuities and bonds are investigated. Major factors that should be considered when allocating contributions to TIAA-CREF funds are discussed. (SF)

  12. When to "Fire" Customers: Customer Cost-Based Pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Jiwoong Shin; K. Sudhir; Dae-Hee Yoon

    2012-01-01

    The widespread adoption of activity-based costing enables firms to allocate common service costs to each customer, allowing for precise measurement of both the cost to serve a particular customer and the customer's profitability. In this paper, we investigate how pricing strategies based on customer cost information affects a firm's customer acquisition and retention dynamics, and ultimately its profit, using a two-period monopoly model with high- and low-cost customer segments. Although past...

  13. Price premium of organic salmon in Danish retail sale

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ankamah Yeboah, Isaac; Nielsen, Max; Nielsen, Rasmus

    2016-01-01

    for organic salmon in Danish retail sale using consumer panel scanner data from households by applying a random effect hedonic price model that permits unobserved household heterogeneity. A price premium of 20% was identified for organic salmon. The magnitude of this premium is comparable to organic labeled...

  14. A Study on Rational Pricing System for Water Supply

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moon, H.J. [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

    2001-12-01

    Reasonable pricing of water can induce optimal water use by the public by relaying the considerable costs of water provision and plays an important role of providing a basic scheme for the reasonable management of water. This study provides a reasonable pricing scheme of water that reflects the economic and social values of water as a resource by investigating reasonable bulk-water pricing and retail-water pricing. For bulk pricing, the study discuss the range of costs to be covered, design of efficient pricing structures(differentiated by source quality, loss ratios and time year), and sharing efficient costs between beneficiaries (customer groups and regions). The study also addresses the adjustment of present charging schemes for bulk water such as charges for bulk water from dam, abstraction charges, and river charges etc. Factoring in demand and available resource characteristics, the differentiated pricing mechanism is also investigated. The study proposes a differentiated pricing mechanism based on season, where the pricing structure reflects the cost structure related to fluctuated demand. In addition, implementation methods and effects of introducing seasonal pricing scheme are discussed. Another seasonal pricing mechanism, the seasonally differentiated pricing scheme in bulk pricing reflects a cost structure related to resource availability, is also investigated. Increasing block rate as a reasonable pricing scheme for water conservation, and priority pricing as a tool socially desirable water allocation in the case water shortage are designed. for practical implementation of pricing scheme, several issues are discussed: identification and calculation of costs that should be covered and the structure of costs as a basis of differentiated pricing scheme, issue of forecasting, and practical that could be happen in the implementation of increasing block rate and seasonal pricing schemes, etc. Institutional systems that implement the proposed pricing schemes

  15. PRICE AND PRICING STRATEGIES

    OpenAIRE

    SUCIU Titus

    2013-01-01

    In individual companies, price is one significant factor in achieving marketing success. In many purchase situations, price can be of great importance to customers. Marketers must establish pricing strategies that are compatible with the rest of the marketing mix. Management should decide whether to charge the same price to all similar buyers of identical quantities of a product (a one-price strategy) or to set different prices (a flexible price strategy). Many organizations, especially retai...

  16. Price and access charge discrimination in electricity distribution: an application to the Chilean case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raineri, R.; Giaconi, P.

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents and analyzes a model of electricity distribution in Chile with three alternative regulatory pricing contract schemes for assigning a common capacity cost to final customers and competitive energy sellers. The first scheme involves Ramsey Pricing, while under the second and third schemes the monopoly chooses final prices and access charges subject either to a peak-load Physical Cap or a total revenue Price Cap constraint. In addition, we consider circumstances in which the regulator does not know consumer demand, the monopoly cannot price discriminate beyond a range defined by the marginal cost as a floor and the stand-alone cost as a ceiling, and access charges are set at the fully distributed cost allocation level currently in force. The model is calibrated with Chilean data, and demonstrates that in terms of social welfare the fully distributed cost contract scheme currently in effect can be improved by discriminatory pricing complemented by certain of the analyzed constraints. (author)

  17. Resource allocation on computational grids using a utility model and the knapsack problem

    CERN Document Server

    Van der ster, Daniel C; Parra-Hernandez, Rafael; Sobie, Randall J

    2009-01-01

    This work introduces a utility model (UM) for resource allocation on computational grids and formulates the allocation problem as a variant of the 0–1 multichoice multidimensional knapsack problem. The notion of task-option utility is introduced, and it is used to effect allocation policies. We present a variety of allocation policies, which are expressed as functions of metrics that are both intrinsic and external to the task and resources. An external user-defined credit-value metric is shown to allow users to intervene in the allocation of urgent or low priority tasks. The strategies are evaluated in simulation against random workloads as well as those drawn from real systems. We measure the sensitivity of the UM-derived schedules to variations in the allocation policies and their corresponding utility functions. The UM allocation strategy is shown to optimally allocate resources congruent with the chosen policies.

  18. Simulating the Effects of Various Pricing Scenarios on Water Tariff System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    saeid Yazdani

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Water demand management policies and water pricing tools have important effects on optimal water allocation. An important water pricing policy is determining suitable water tariffs for urban water uses. In this regard, the emphasis laid by the targeted subsidy law on water pricing based on supply cost will have a great impact on the price of water and on water resources management. Based on these considerations, the present study was designed and conducted in 2010-2011 to identify proper water prices for Golestan Province under the targeted subsidy law. For this purpose, the economic value of water as veiwed by urban users was estimated using the contingent valuation method. In a second stage, the average cost approach was employed to determine the cost of water production from surface and ground water resources from the viewpoint of suppliers. Finally, the present water tariffs, the economic value of water, and the average cost of water production obtained in the previous sategs were compared to evaluate various scenarios of water pricing under the targeted subsidy law. Based on our findings, a stepwise water pricing system that strikes a balance between the economic value of water and water production cost is recommended for implementation in order achieve simultaneous improvements in both water demand and supply management.

  19. Economics and the refinery's CO2 emissions allocation problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierru, A.

    2007-01-01

    The establishment of a market for CO 2 emission rights in Europe leads oil-refining companies to add a cost associated with carbon emissions to the objective function of linear programming models used to manage refineries. These models may be used to compute the marginal contribution of each finished product to the CO 2 emissions of the refinery. Babusiaux (Oil. Gas Sci. Technol., 58, 2003, 685-692) has shown that, under some conditions, this marginal contribution is a relevant means of allocating the carbon emissions of the refinery. Thus, it can be used in a well-to-wheel Life Cycle Assessment. In fact, this result holds if the demand equations are the only binding constraints with a non-zero right-hand side coefficient. This is not the case for short-run models with fixed capacity. Then, allocating CO 2 emissions on a marginal basis tends to over-value (or undervalue) the total volume of emissions. In order to extend the existing methodology, we discuss two distinct solutions to this problem, inspired by economic theory: adapting either the Aumann-Shapley cost sharing method (Values of non-atomic games, 1974, Princeton University Press) or the Ramsey pricing formula (Econ. J., 37, 1927, 47-61; J. Econ. Theory, 3, 1971, 219-240). We compare these two solutions, with a strong argument in favour of Ramsey prices, based on the determination of the optimal environmental tax rate to which imported finished products should be subject. (author)

  20. Juxtaposition of micro and macro dynamics of dividend policy on stock price volatility in financial sector of Pakistan : (comparative analysis through common, fixed, random and GMM effect)

    OpenAIRE

    Hamid, Kashif; Khurram, Muhammad Usman; Ghaffar, Wasim

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to analyze the dividend policy dynamics in context to firm specific and macroeconomic variables with stock price volatility in the financial sector of Pakistan. Panel data is used for the period 2006-2014 to identify the common, fixed, random and GMM effect. It is concluded that dividend payout ratio, market value, interest volatility and inflation volatility have positive significant correlation with price volatility. Common effect model shows that dividend payou...

  1. Theories of the price and quantity of physician services. A synthesis and critique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farley, P J

    1986-12-01

    In the traditional neoclassical model of supply and demand, prices determine the allocation of economic resources. The difficulty in applying this model to physician services is the rationing of resources directly by physicians themselves, eliminating the allocative function of prices. Welfare consequences are appropriately judged in terms of efficiency and equity, not departures from the structural relationships implied by supply and demand. As interpreted here, both competitive theories and target-income theories of this market imply that physicians consider both their own welfare and the welfare of their patients in their decision-making. All consumer benefits and all producer costs are internalized by physicians. They consequently have an incentive to obtain the maximum possible social benefit from the resources at their disposal, to the extent that they are (implicitly) allowed to share in the resulting social gains. The distribution of gains between patients and physicians is determined by professional ethics within bounds imposed by competitive forces.

  2. Improving the Forecasting Accuracy of Crude Oil Prices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuluo Yin

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Currently, oil is the key element of energy sustainability, and its prices and economy have a strong mutual influence. Modeling a good method to accurately predict oil prices over long future horizons is challenging and of great interest to investors and policymakers. This paper forecasts oil prices using many predictor variables with a new time-varying weight combination approach. In doing so, we first use five single-variable time-varying parameter models to predict crude oil prices separately. Second, every special model is assigned a time-varying weight by the new combination approach. Finally, the forecasting results of oil prices are calculated. The results show that the paper’s method is robust and performs well compared to random walk.

  3. A statistical analysis of product prices in online markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizuno, T.; Watanabe, T.

    2010-08-01

    We empirically investigate fluctuations in product prices in online markets by using a tick-by-tick price data collected from a Japanese price comparison site, and find some similarities and differences between product and asset prices. The average price of a product across e-retailers behaves almost like a random walk, although the probability of price increase/decrease is higher conditional on the multiple events of price increase/decrease. This is quite similar to the property reported by previous studies about asset prices. However, we fail to find a long memory property in the volatility of product price changes. Also, we find that the price change distribution for product prices is close to an exponential distribution, rather than a power law distribution. These two findings are in a sharp contrast with the previous results regarding asset prices. We propose an interpretation that these differences may stem from the absence of speculative activities in product markets; namely, e-retailers seldom repeat buy and sell of a product, unlike traders in asset markets.

  4. Consumer responses to time varying prices for electricity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thorsnes, Paul; Williams, John; Lawson, Rob

    2012-01-01

    We report new experimental evidence of the household response to weekday differentials in peak and off-peak electricity prices. The data come from Auckland, New Zealand, where peak residential electricity consumption occurs in winter for heating. Peak/off-peak price differentials ranged over four randomly selected groups from 1.0 to 3.5. On average, there was no response except in winter. In winter, participant households reduced electricity consumption by at least 10%, took advantage of lower off-peak prices but did not respond to the peak price differentials. Response varied with house and household size, time spent away from home, and whether water was heated with electricity. - Highlights: ► Seasonal effects in winter. ► High conservation effect from information. ► Higher peak prices no effect on peak use. ► Low off-peak prices encourage less conservation off-peak.

  5. Variances in consumers prices of selected food Items among ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study focused on the determination of variances among consumer prices of rice (local white), beans (white) and garri (yellow) in Watts, Okurikang and 8 Miles markets in southern zone of Cross River State. Completely randomized design was used to test the research hypothesis. Comparing the consumer prices of rice, ...

  6. Prices and Price Setting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R.P. Faber (Riemer)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractThis thesis studies price data and tries to unravel the underlying economic processes of why firms have chosen these prices. It focuses on three aspects of price setting. First, it studies whether the existence of a suggested price has a coordinating effect on the prices of firms.

  7. Emission allowances -- Long-term price trend

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lennox, F.H.

    1994-01-01

    Estimated trends in emission allowance (EA) values have been of interest to all those affected by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 since it became law in 1990. The authors published estimates of the values of EAs in December 1991, and revised their estimate in November 1992. The summary trends of the 1992 estimate is shown here. General estimates such as these are no longer useful. Everyone directly involved in complying with the Act or in buying and selling allowances has developed their own outlook on EA values. Many recent trades have been publicized. The prices from the first auction are also well known. Therefore this article is concerned only with what might happening the long-run. Once Phase 2 compliance is essentially complete and emissions roughly match Emission Allowance allocations of some 9.8 million tons annually, what pressures will there be on prices? What will be the direction of values after Phase 2 is in balance?

  8. Detecting non-binomial sex allocation when developmental mortality operates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, Richard D; Kapranas, Apostolos; Hardy, Ian C W

    2016-11-07

    Optimal sex allocation theory is one of the most intricately developed areas of evolutionary ecology. Under a range of conditions, particularly under population sub-division, selection favours sex being allocated to offspring non-randomly, generating non-binomial variances of offspring group sex ratios. Detecting non-binomial sex allocation is complicated by stochastic developmental mortality, as offspring sex can often only be identified on maturity with the sex of non-maturing offspring remaining unknown. We show that current approaches for detecting non-binomiality have limited ability to detect non-binomial sex allocation when developmental mortality has occurred. We present a new procedure using an explicit model of sex allocation and mortality and develop a Bayesian model selection approach (available as an R package). We use the double and multiplicative binomial distributions to model over- and under-dispersed sex allocation and show how to calculate Bayes factors for comparing these alternative models to the null hypothesis of binomial sex allocation. The ability to detect non-binomial sex allocation is greatly increased, particularly in cases where mortality is common. The use of Bayesian methods allows for the quantification of the evidence in favour of each hypothesis, and our modelling approach provides an improved descriptive capability over existing approaches. We use a simulation study to demonstrate substantial improvements in power for detecting non-binomial sex allocation in situations where current methods fail, and we illustrate the approach in real scenarios using empirically obtained datasets on the sexual composition of groups of gregarious parasitoid wasps. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Design and implementation of ticket price forecasting system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuling; Li, Zhichao

    2018-05-01

    With the advent of the aviation travel industry, a large number of data mining technologies have been developed to increase profits for airlines in the past two decades. The implementation of the digital optimization strategy leads to price discrimination, for example, similar seats on the same flight are purchased at different prices, depending on the time of purchase, the supplier, and so on. Price fluctuations make the prediction of ticket prices have application value. In this paper, a combination of ARMA algorithm and random forest algorithm is proposed to predict the price of air ticket. The experimental results show that the model is more reliable by comparing the forecasting results with the actual results of each price model. The model is helpful for passengers to buy tickets and to save money. Based on the proposed model, using Python language and SQL Server database, we design and implement the ticket price forecasting system.

  10. Model documentation: Electricity market module, electricity finance and pricing submodule

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1994-04-07

    The purpose of this report is to define the objectives of the model, describe its basic approach, and provide detail on how it works. The EFP is a regulatory accounting model that projects electricity prices. The model first solves for revenue requirements by building up a rate base, calculating a return on rate base, and adding the allowed expenses. Average revenues (prices) are calculated based on assumptions regarding regulator lag and customer cost allocation methods. The model then solves for the internal cash flow and analyzes the need for external financing to meet necessary capital expenditures. Finally, the EFP builds up the financial statements. The EFP is used in conjunction with the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS). Inputs to the EFP include the forecast generating capacity expansion plans, operating costs, regulator environment, and financial data. The outputs include forecasts of income statements, balance sheets, revenue requirements, and electricity prices.

  11. Rapid, easy, and cheap randomization: prospective evaluation in a study cohort

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parker Melissa J

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background When planning a randomized controlled trial (RCT, investigators must select randomization and allocation procedures based upon a variety of factors. While third party randomization is cited as being among the most desirable randomization processes, many third party randomization procedures are neither feasible nor cost-effective for small RCTs, including pilot RCTs. In this study we present our experience with a third party randomization and allocation procedure that utilizes current technology to achieve randomization in a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective manner. Methods This method was developed by the investigators for use in a small 48-participant parallel group RCT with four study arms. As a nested study, the reliability of this randomization procedure was prospectively evaluated in this cohort. The primary outcome of this nested study was the proportion of subjects for whom allocation information was obtained by the Research Assistant within 15 min of the initial participant randomization request. A secondary outcome was the average time for communicating participant group assignment back to the Research Assistant. Descriptive information regarding any failed attempts at participant randomization as well as costs attributable to use of this method were also recorded. Statistical analyses included the calculation of simple proportions and descriptive statistics. Results Forty-eight participants were successfully randomized and group allocation instruction was received for 46 (96% within 15 min of the Research Assistant placing the initial randomization request. Time elapsed in minutes until receipt of participant allocation instruction was Mean (SD 3.1 +/− 3.6; Median (IQR 2 (2,3; Range (1–20 for the entire cohort of 48. For the two participants for whom group allocation information was not received by the Research Assistant within the 15-min pass threshold, this information was obtained following a second

  12. Gas markets and pricing in Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mashayekhi, A.; Law, P.L.

    1992-01-01

    The issues of natural gas market development and pricing are reviewed within the context of specific Asian countries where gas plays an important role. Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia's Penninsular Gas Utilization project signals a new era in pipeline gas trade with an agreement to supply Singapore. There is now also an opportunity to extend Malaysian pipeline supplies to Thailand, which is actively seeking natural gas from neighboring countries. The prospects for LNG are dominated by the high growth markets of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. LNG trade has tended to bind the region together through close economic ties. Due to the increasing damand within the supplier countries themselves and their close neighbors, it is likely that LNG consumers will increasingly need to look beyond their traditional Southeast Asian suppliers in the future, perhaps to higher cost LNG schemes outside the region. In Southeast Asia, reduction of the high volumes of associated gas currently flared from the Bombay High Field in India will not only make big contribution to meeting the country's future gas demand, but will also prove environmentally beneficial. Pakistan, in order to control its developing gas markets, has raised gas prices to consumers substantially, with beneficial effects on supply and demand. In Bangladesh, economic pricing has been important in allocating gas resources efficiently. At both the regional and global level, the link between gas use and the environment is becoming stronger, raising the question of relating gas and energy prices to environmental costs and benefits

  13. Estimating the Cost of Early Infant Male Circumcision in Zimbabwe: Results From a Randomized Noninferiority Trial of AccuCirc Device Versus Mogen Clamp

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mavhu, Webster; Hatzold, Karin; Biddle, Andrea K.; Madidi, Ngonidzashe; Ncube, Getrude; Mugurungi, Owen; Ticklay, Ismail; Cowan, Frances M.; Thirumurthy, Harsha

    2015-01-01

    Background: Safe and cost-effective programs for implementing early infant male circumcision (EIMC) in Africa need to be piloted. We present results on a relative cost analysis within a randomized noninferiority trial of EIMC comparing the AccuCirc device with Mogen clamp in Zimbabwe. Methods: Between January and June 2013, male infants who met inclusion criteria were randomized to EIMC through either AccuCirc or Mogen clamp conducted by a doctor, using a 2:1 allocation ratio. We evaluated the overall unit cost plus the key cost drivers of EIMC using both AccuCirc and Mogen clamp. Direct costs included consumable and nonconsumable supplies, device, personnel, associated staff training, and environmental costs. Indirect costs comprised capital and support personnel costs. In 1-way sensitivity analyses, we assessed potential changes in unit costs due to variations in main parameters, one at a time, holding all other values constant. Results: The unit costs of EIMC using AccuCirc and Mogen clamp were $49.53 and $55.93, respectively. Key cost drivers were consumable supplies, capacity utilization, personnel costs, and device price. Unit prices are likely to be lowest at full capacity utilization and increase as capacity utilization decreases. Unit prices also fall with lower personnel salaries and increase with higher device prices. Conclusions: EIMC has a lower unit cost when using AccuCirc compared with Mogen clamp. To minimize unit costs, countries planning to scale-up EIMC using AccuCirc need to control costs of consumables and personnel. There is also need to negotiate a reasonable device price and maximize capacity utilization. PMID:26017658

  14. Estimating the Cost of Early Infant Male Circumcision in Zimbabwe: Results From a Randomized Noninferiority Trial of AccuCirc Device Versus Mogen Clamp.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangenah, Collin; Mavhu, Webster; Hatzold, Karin; Biddle, Andrea K; Madidi, Ngonidzashe; Ncube, Getrude; Mugurungi, Owen; Ticklay, Ismail; Cowan, Frances M; Thirumurthy, Harsha

    2015-08-15

    Safe and cost-effective programs for implementing early infant male circumcision (EIMC) in Africa need to be piloted. We present results on a relative cost analysis within a randomized noninferiority trial of EIMC comparing the AccuCirc device with Mogen clamp in Zimbabwe. Between January and June 2013, male infants who met inclusion criteria were randomized to EIMC through either AccuCirc or Mogen clamp conducted by a doctor, using a 2:1 allocation ratio. We evaluated the overall unit cost plus the key cost drivers of EIMC using both AccuCirc and Mogen clamp. Direct costs included consumable and nonconsumable supplies, device, personnel, associated staff training, and environmental costs. Indirect costs comprised capital and support personnel costs. In 1-way sensitivity analyses, we assessed potential changes in unit costs due to variations in main parameters, one at a time, holding all other values constant. The unit costs of EIMC using AccuCirc and Mogen clamp were $49.53 and $55.93, respectively. Key cost drivers were consumable supplies, capacity utilization, personnel costs, and device price. Unit prices are likely to be lowest at full capacity utilization and increase as capacity utilization decreases. Unit prices also fall with lower personnel salaries and increase with higher device prices. EIMC has a lower unit cost when using AccuCirc compared with Mogen clamp. To minimize unit costs, countries planning to scale-up EIMC using AccuCirc need to control costs of consumables and personnel. There is also need to negotiate a reasonable device price and maximize capacity utilization.

  15. Optimal allocation and adaptive VAR control of PV-DG in distribution networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fu, Xueqian; Chen, Haoyong; Cai, Runqing; Yang, Ping

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A methodology for optimal PV-DG allocation based on a combination of algorithms. • Dealing with the randomicity of solar power energy using CCSP. • Presenting a VAR control strategy to balance the technical demands. • Finding the Pareto solutions using MOPSO and SVM. • Evaluating the Pareto solutions using WRSR. - Abstract: The development of distributed generation (DG) has brought new challenges to power networks. One of them that catches extensive attention is the voltage regulation problem of distribution networks caused by DG. Optimal allocation of DG in distribution networks is another well-known problem being widely investigated. This paper proposes a new method for the optimal allocation of photovoltaic distributed generation (PV-DG) considering the non-dispatchable characteristics of PV units. An adaptive reactive power control model is introduced in PV-DG allocation as to balance the trade-off between the improvement of voltage quality and the minimization of power loss in a distribution network integrated with PV-DG units. The optimal allocation problem is formulated as a chance-constrained stochastic programming (CCSP) model for dealing with the randomness of solar power energy. A novel algorithm combining the multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) with support vector machines (SVM) is proposed to find the Pareto front consisting of a set of possible solutions. The Pareto solutions are further evaluated using the weighted rank sum ratio (WRSR) method to help the decision-maker obtain the desired solution. Simulation results on a 33-bus radial distribution system show that the optimal allocation method can fully take into account the time-variant characteristics and probability distribution of PV-DG, and obtain the best allocation scheme

  16. Joint pricing and inventory replenishment decisions with returns and expediting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Stuart X.

    2012-01-01

    We study a single-item periodic-review model for the joint pricing and inventory replenishment problem with returns and expediting. Demand in consecutive periods are independent random variables and their distributions are price sensitive. At the end of each period, after the demand is realized, a

  17. Comparing two socially optimal work allocation rules when having a profit optimizing subcontractor with ample capacity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Christian

    We study a service system modelled as a single server queueing system where requests for service either can be processed at the service system or by a subcontractor. In the former case the subcontractor is incurred waiting costs but the service is free, while in the latter case the customer must...... pay for the service but there is no waiting time, hence no waiting costs. Under the premises that the subcontractor prices his services in order to maximize his profit, we study two work allocation rules, which given the príce of the subcontractor seek to allocate work such that the costs...

  18. Controlling market power and price spikes in electricity networks: Demand-side bidding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rassenti, Stephen J; Smith, Vernon L; Wilson, Bart J

    2003-03-04

    In this article we report an experiment that examines how demand-side bidding can discipline generators in a market for electric power. First we develop a treatment without demand-side bidding; two large firms are allocated baseload and intermediate cost generators such that either firm might unilaterally withhold the capacity of its intermediate cost generators from the market to benefit from the supracompetitive prices that would result from only selling its baseload units. In a converse treatment, ownership of some of the intermediate cost generators is transferred from each of these firms to two other firms such that no one firm could unilaterally restrict output to spawn supracompetitive prices. Having established a well controlled data set with price spikes paralleling those observed in the naturally occurring economy, we also extend the design to include demand-side bidding. We find that demand-side bidding completely neutralizes the exercise of market power and eliminates price spikes even in the presence of structural market power.

  19. Zinc allocation and re-allocation in rice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stomph, Tjeerd Jan; Jiang, Wen; Van Der Putten, Peter E. L.; Struik, Paul C.

    2014-01-01

    Aims: Agronomy and breeding actively search for options to enhance cereal grain Zn density. Quantifying internal (re-)allocation of Zn as affected by soil and crop management or genotype is crucial. We present experiments supporting the development of a conceptual model of whole plant Zn allocation and re-allocation in rice. Methods: Two solution culture experiments using 70Zn applications at different times during crop development and an experiment on within-grain distribution of Zn are reported. In addition, results from two earlier published experiments are re-analyzed and re-interpreted. Results: A budget analysis showed that plant zinc accumulation during grain filling was larger than zinc allocation to the grains. Isotope data showed that zinc taken up during grain filling was only partly transported directly to the grains and partly allocated to the leaves. Zinc taken up during grain filling and allocated to the leaves replaced zinc re-allocated from leaves to grains. Within the grains, no major transport barrier was observed between vascular tissue and endosperm. At low tissue Zn concentrations, rice plants maintained concentrations of about 20 mg Zn kg−1 dry matter in leaf blades and reproductive tissues, but let Zn concentrations in stems, sheath, and roots drop below this level. When plant zinc concentrations increased, Zn levels in leaf blades and reproductive tissues only showed a moderate increase while Zn levels in stems, roots, and sheaths increased much more and in that order. Conclusions: In rice, the major barrier to enhanced zinc allocation towards grains is between stem and reproductive tissues. Enhancing root to shoot transfer will not contribute proportionally to grain zinc enhancement. PMID:24478788

  20. Targeting health subsidies through a non-price mechanism: A randomized controlled trial in Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dupas, Pascaline; Hoffmann, Vivian; Kremer, Michael; Zwane, Alix Peterson

    2016-01-01

    Free provision of preventive health products can dramatically increase access in low income countries. A cost concern about free provision is that some recipients may not use the product, wasting resources (over-inclusion). Yet charging a price to screen out non-users may screen out poor people who need and would use the product (over-exclusion). We report on a randomized controlled trial of a screening mechanism that combines the free provision of chlorine solution for water treatment with a small non-monetary cost (household vouchers that need to be redeemed monthly in order). Relative to a non-voucher free distribution program, this mechanism reduces the quantity of chlorine procured by 60 percentage points, but reduces the share of households whose stored water tests positive for chlorine residual by only one percentage point, dramatically improving the tradeoff between over-inclusion and over-exclusion. PMID:27563091

  1. Asymmetric Price Responses of Gasoline Stations. Evidence for Heterogeneity of Retailers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Faber, R.P. [Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

    2009-11-15

    This paper studies asymmetric price responses of individual firms, via daily retail prices of almost all gasoline stations in the Netherlands and suggested prices of the five largest oil companies over more than two years. I find that 38% of the stations respond asymmetrically to changes in the spot market price. Hence, asymmetric pricing is not a feature of the market as a whole, but of individual firms. For asymmetrically pricing stations, the asymmetry is substantial directly after a change but disappears after one or two days. I study station-specific characteristics and conclude that asymmetric pricing seems to be a phenomenon that is randomly distributed across stations. I also find that none of the five largest oil companies adjust their suggested prices asymmetrically.

  2. Asymmetric Price Responses of Gasoline Stations. Evidence for Heterogeneity of Retailers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Faber, R.P.

    2009-11-01

    This paper studies asymmetric price responses of individual firms, via daily retail prices of almost all gasoline stations in the Netherlands and suggested prices of the five largest oil companies over more than two years. I find that 38% of the stations respond asymmetrically to changes in the spot market price. Hence, asymmetric pricing is not a feature of the market as a whole, but of individual firms. For asymmetrically pricing stations, the asymmetry is substantial directly after a change but disappears after one or two days. I study station-specific characteristics and conclude that asymmetric pricing seems to be a phenomenon that is randomly distributed across stations. I also find that none of the five largest oil companies adjust their suggested prices asymmetrically.

  3. Attribute framing affects the perceived fairness of health care allocation principles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eyal Gamliel

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Health care resource allocation is a central moral issue in health policy, and opinions about it have been studied extensively. Allocation situations have typically been described and presented in a positive manner (i.e., who should receive medical aid. On the other hand, the negative valence allocation situation (i.e., who should not receive medical aid has been relatively neglected. This paper demonstrates how positive versus negative framing of the exact same health care resource allocation situation can affect the perceived fairness of allocation principles. Participants usually perceived non-egalitarian principles (i.e., need, equity and tenure to be fairer in positively framed situations (i.e., to deliver health care resources to certain patients than negatively framed situation (i.e., not to deliver health care resources to other patients. However, framing did not affect the perceived fairness of the equality principle (i.e., a random draw. The paper offers a theoretical explanation for the effect of framing on the perceived fairness of heath care resource allocation and discusses implications for both researchers and policy makers.

  4. Hedging electricity price volatility using nuclear power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mari, Carlo

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Nuclear power is an important asset to reduce the volatility of electricity prices. • Unpredictability of fossil fuels and carbon prices makes power prices very volatile. • The dynamics of fossil fuels and carbon prices is described by Brownian motions. • LCOE values, volatilities and correlations are obtained via Monte Carlo simulations. • Optimal portfolios of generating technologies are get using a mean–variance approach. - Abstract: The analysis presented in this paper aims to put in some evidence the role of nuclear power as hedging asset against the volatility of electricity prices. The unpredictability of natural gas and coal market prices as well as the uncertainty in environmental policies may affect power generating costs, thus enhancing volatility in electricity market prices. The nuclear option, allowing to generate electricity without carbon emissions, offers the possibility to reduce the volatility of electricity prices through optimal diversification of power generating technologies. This paper provides a methodological scheme to plan well diversified “portfolios” of generating capacity that minimize the electricity price risk induced by random movements of fossil fuels market prices and by unpredictable fluctuations of carbon credits prices. The analysis is developed within a stochastic environment in which the dynamics of fuel prices as well as the dynamics of carbon credits prices is assumed to evolve in time according to well defined Brownian processes. Starting from market data and using Monte Carlo techniques to simulate generating cost values, the hedging argument is developed by selecting optimal portfolio of power generating technologies using a mean–variance approach

  5. Optimal load allocation of multiple fuel boilers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Alex C; Du, Yan Yi

    2009-04-01

    This paper presents a new methodology for optimally allocating a set of multiple industrial boilers that each simultaneously consumes multiple fuel types. Unlike recent similar approaches in the utility industry that use soft computing techniques, this approach is based on a second-order gradient search method that is easy to implement without any specialized optimization software. The algorithm converges rapidly and the application yields significant savings benefits, up to 3% of the overall operating cost of industrial boiler systems in the examples given and potentially higher in other cases, depending on the plant circumstances. Given today's energy prices, this can yield significant savings benefits to manufacturers that raise steam for plant operations.

  6. Effect of a price discount and consumer education strategy on food and beverage purchases in remote Indigenous Australia: a stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brimblecombe, Julie; Ferguson, Megan; Chatfield, Mark D; Liberato, Selma C; Gunther, Anthony; Ball, Kylie; Moodie, Marj; Miles, Edward; Magnus, Anne; Mhurchu, Cliona Ni; Leach, Amanda Jane; Bailie, Ross

    2017-02-01

    Evidence is mounting that price discounts can be effective in improving diet. This study examined the effectiveness of a 20% price discount on food and drink purchases with and without consumer education in remote Indigenous Australia. A 20% discount on fruit, vegetables, water, and artificially sweetened soft drinks was applied for 24 weeks in 20 communities in remote Indigenous Australia where the community store was managed by the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA) or Outback Stores (OBS) in a stepped-wedge randomised trial. Communities were randomly allocated to a fixed framework of five sets of four stratified by store association; ten stores (two in each set) were randomly assigned to receive consumer education. A store from each of the ALPA and OBS store groups (contained in separate opaque envelopes) was selected, and stores in turn continued to be consecutively allocated to the fixed store set framework, starting with the first store slot in the first store set, until all stores had been allocated. The effect of the discount on the weight of fruit and vegetables purchased (the primary endpoint) was assessed using weekly store sales data and mixed models per protocol. We did sensitivity analyses by repeating the analyses with the outliers included and repeating the analyses for the primary outcome measure removing each store one at a time. This trial was registered with Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12613000694718. Weekly store sales data on all food and drink products sold in 20 stores were collected from July 1, 2012, to Dec 28, 2014. Price discount alone was associated with a 12·7% (95% CI 4·1-22·1) increase in purchases in grams of fruit and vegetables combined (primary outcome), and a 19·8% (6·2-35·1) increase post discount (after vs before); an effect of 12 g and 18 g per capita per day. Sensitivity analyses did not modify the results for the primary outcome measure. A 20% discount can only increase

  7. Optimal Rate Allocation in Cluster-Tree WSNs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Lopez Vicario

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a solution to the problem of guaranteed time slot allocation in cluster-tree WSNs. Our design uses the so-called Network Utility Maximization (NUM approach as far as we aim to provide a fair distribution of the available resources. From the point of view of implementation, we extend here the authors’ proposed Coupled-Decompositions Method (CDM in order to compute the NUM problem inside the cluster tree topology and we prove the optimality of this new extended version of the method. As a result, we obtain a distributed solution that reduces the total amount of signalling information in the network up to a factor of 500 with respect to the classical techniques, that is, primal and dual decomposition. This is possible because the CDM finds the optimal solution with a small number of iterations. Furthermore, when we compare our solution to the standard-proposed First Come First Serve (FCFS policy, we realize that FCFS becomes pretty unfair as the traffic load in the network increases and thus, a fair allocation of resources can be considered whenever the price to pay in terms of signalling and computational complexity is controlled.

  8. Joint production and corporate pricing: An empirical analysis of joint products in the petroleum industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karimnejad, H.

    1990-01-01

    This dissertation investigates the pricing mechanism of joint products in large multi-plant and multi-product corporations. The primary objective of this dissertation is to show the consistency of classical theories of production with corporate pricing of joint products. This dissertation has two major parts. Part One provides a theoretical framework for joint production and corporate pricing. In this part, joint production is defined and its historical treatment by classical and contemporary economists is analyzed. Part Two conducts an empirical analysis of joint products in the US petroleum industry. Methods of cost allocation are used in the pricing of each individual petroleum product. Three methods are employed to distribute joint production costs to individual petroleum products. These methods are, the sales value method, the barrel gravity method and the average unit cost method. The empirical findings of dissertation provide useful guidelines for pricing policies of large multi-product corporations

  9. Profit allocation of independent power producers based on cooperative Game theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jia, N.X.; Yokoyama, R.

    2003-01-01

    With the development of deregulation, the retail market is being formed. The independent power producers (IPPs) can contact the customers and sell electric power to them directly to obtain the profits because IPPs can provide electricity at cheaper prices to the customers than the utilities can. If IPP can obtain further more profit through collaborating with other ones in some coalition, it will prefer to collaborate to form this coalition rather than participating individually. In coalition, also the problem of how to allocate profit rationally for each IPP should also be solved. In this paper, we discuss the cooperation of IPPs in retail market and give a formulation about the calculation of IPPs profits. After that, based on Game theory, we propose a scheme to decide the profit allocation of each IPP in the coalitions rationally and impartially. (author)

  10. Auction Design for the Allocation of Emission Permits in the Presence of Market Power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sunnevaag, K.J.

    2003-01-01

    To the extent that emission permits have been allocated using market mechanisms, this has been done using a sealed-bid auction design, typically with discriminatory prices. However, several authors have recommended the ascending auction format. Basically, two 'competing' ascending auction designs have been suggested, the standard ascending auction (with clock or demand schedules), or an alternative ascending-clock implementation of Vickrey-pricing. The latter design was introduced as a response to problems of bid shading under the sealed-bid and the standard ascending auction format. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the allocation of permits under these two alternative mechanisms. The auction process and the resulting market outcome in the presence of oligopolistic competition are simulated. In this setting, it is not obvious that bid shading is the optimal strategy under the standard design, nor is it obvious that sincere bidding is the optimal strategy under the alternative ascending auction design. The alternative auction format makes it less costly to pursue a strategy to increase market shares through the acquisition of emission permits, thus increasing the competitor's costs, leading to overbidding as the optimal strategy

  11. 7 CFR 1000.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing... advanced pricing factors. Class prices per hundredweight of milk containing 3.5 percent butterfat, component prices, and advanced pricing factors shall be as follows. The prices and pricing factors described...

  12. Impact of CO2 quota allocation to new entrants in the electricity market

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindboe, H.H.; Werling, J.; Kofoed-Wiuff, A. [Ea Energy Analyses (Denmark); Bregnbaek, L. [Energy Modelling (Denmark)

    2007-08-28

    In 2003, the EU adopted a directive on a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (ETS) encompassing all major energy-producing units and the majority of the energy-intensive industry. The EU ETS is based on the recognition that creating a price for carbon through the establishment of a market for emission reductions provides the most cost-effective way of complying with international greenhouse gas commitments (EU 2005, EU action against climate change). All countries have opted to allocate CO{sub 2}-allowances to new power plants. The present project explores the consequences of allocation to new entrants on market players' investments in the electric market, the welfare-economic consequences and impacts on long-term CO{sub 2}-emission from the electricity sector. (au)

  13. Carbon pricing in the EU: Evaluation of different EU ETS reform options

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brink, Corjan; Vollebergh, Herman R.J.; Werf, Edwin van der

    2016-01-01

    This paper studies various options to support allowance prices in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), such as adjusting the cap, an auction reserve price, and fixed and variable carbon taxes in addition to the EU ETS. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model that explicitly allows for allowance banking and for a detailed cost-effectiveness analysis at the EU Member State level. We find that tightening the cap provides an ad hoc solution to the fundamental issue of the robustness of the effective carbon price, while introducing a price component to the ETS brings structural carbon price support in times of negative demand shocks for emission allowances. These price-based policies still benefit from the intertemporal flexibility through the banking provision in the EU ETS by re-allocating emissions over time with stronger emission reductions in early years and emission increases in later years. A higher emission price has a larger negative impact on the new Member States' economies than on other Member States. Furthermore, introducing a carbon tax in addition to the EU ETS decreases the price of allowances, resulting in welfare gains for net buyers of allowances while net sellers are worse off. - Highlights: • We analyse reform options for European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) with a CGE model. • Variable carbon tax and auction reserve price support carbon price at least cost. • Price-based reforms decrease early emissions but increase later emissions through banking. • New Member States' economies are affected more than others by higher CO_2 prices. • Lower allowance prices due to a carbon tax are unfavourable to net sellers of allowances.

  14. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Allowance Prices, Trade Flows, Competitiveness Effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klepper, G.; Peterson, S.

    2004-03-01

    The upcoming European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is one of the more controversial climate policy instruments. Predictions about its likely impact and its performance can at present only be made to a certain degree. As long as the National Allocations Plans are not finally settled the overall supply of allowances is not determined. In this paper we will identify key features and key impacts of the EU ETS by scanning the range of likely allocation plans using the simulation model DART. The analysis of the simulation results highlights a number of interesting details in terms of allowance trade flows between member countries, of allowance prices, and in terms of the role of the accession countries in the ETS

  15. Bone metastasis: review and critical analysis of random allocation trials of local field treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratanatharathorn, Vaneerat; Powers, William E.; Moss, William T.; Perez, Carlos A.

    1999-01-01

    Purpose: Compare and contrast reports of random allocation clinical trials of local field radiation therapy of metastases to bone to determine the techniques producing the best results (frequency, magnitude, and duration of benefit), and relate these to the goals of complete relief of pain and prevention of disability for the remaining life of the patient. Methods and Materials: Review all published reports of random allocation clinical trials, and perform a systematic analysis of the processes and outcomes of the several trial reports. Results: All trials were performed on selected populations of patients with symptomatic metastases and most studies included widely diverse groups with regard to: (a) site of primary tumor, (b) location, extent, size, and nature of metastases, (c) duration of survival after treatment. All trial reports lack sufficient detail for full and complete analysis. Much collected information is not now available for reanalysis and many important data sets were apparently never collected. Several of the variations in patient and tumor characteristics were found to be much more important than treatment dose in the outcome results. Treatment planning and delivery techniques were unsophisticated and probably resulted in a systematic delivery of less than the assigned dose to some metastases. In general the use and benefit of retreatment was greater in those patients who initially received lower doses but the basis and dose of retreatment was not documented. Follow-up of patients was varied with a large proportion of surviving patients lost to follow-up in several studies. The greatest difference in the reports is the method of calculation of results. The applicability of Kaplan-Meier actuarial analysis, censoring the lost and dead patients, as used in studies with loss to follow-up of a large number of patients is questionable. The censoring involved is 'informative' (the processes of loss relate to the outcome) and not acceptable since it

  16. Price Sensitivity of Demand for Prescription Drugs: Exploiting a Regression Kink Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simonsen, Marianne; Skipper, Lars; Skipper, Niels

    This paper investigates price sensitivity of demand for prescription drugs using drug purchase records for at 20% random sample of the Danish population. We identify price responsiveness by exploiting exogenous variation in prices caused by kinked reimbursement schemes and implement a regression ...... education and income are, however, more responsive to the price. Also, essential drugs that prevent deterioration in health and prolong life have lower associated average price sensitivity....... kink design. Thus, within a unifying framework we uncover price sensitivity for different subpopulations and types of drugs. The results suggest low average price responsiveness with corresponding price elasticities ranging from -0.08 to -0.25, implying that demand is inelastic. Individuals with lower...

  17. Modeling Long-term Behavior of Stock Market Prices Using Differential Equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiaoxiang; Zhao, Conan; Mazilu, Irina

    2015-03-01

    Due to incomplete information available in the market and uncertainties associated with the price determination process, the stock prices fluctuate randomly during a short period of time. In the long run, however, certain economic factors, such as the interest rate, the inflation rate, and the company's revenue growth rate, will cause a gradual shift in the stock price. Thus, in this paper, a differential equation model has been constructed in order to study the effects of these factors on the stock prices. The model obtained accurately describes the general trends in the AAPL and XOM stock price changes over the last ten years.

  18. The value of innovation under value-based pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Santiago G.; Ray, Joshua A.

    2016-01-01

    Objective The role of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in incentivizing innovation is controversial. Critics of CEA argue that its use for pricing purposes disregards the ‘value of innovation’ reflected in new drug development, whereas supporters of CEA highlight that the value of innovation is already accounted for. Our objective in this article is to outline the limitations of the conventional CEA approach, while proposing an alternative method of evaluation that captures the value of innovation more accurately. Method The adoption of a new drug benefits present and future patients (with cost implications) for as long as the drug is part of clinical practice. Incidence patients and off-patent prices are identified as two key missing features preventing the conventional CEA approach from capturing 1) benefit to future patients and 2) future savings from off-patent prices. The proposed CEA approach incorporates these two features to derive the total lifetime value of an innovative drug (i.e., the value of innovation). Results The conventional CEA approach tends to underestimate the value of innovative drugs by disregarding the benefit to future patients and savings from off-patent prices. As a result, innovative drugs are underpriced, only allowing manufacturers to capture approximately 15% of the total value of innovation during the patent protection period. In addition to including the incidence population and off-patent price, the alternative approach proposes pricing new drugs by first negotiating the share of value of innovation to be appropriated by the manufacturer (>15%?) and payer (price that satisfies this condition. Conclusion We argue for a modification to the conventional CEA approach that integrates the total lifetime value of innovative drugs into CEA, by taking into account off-patent pricing and future patients. The proposed approach derives a price that allows manufacturers to capture an agreed share of this value, thereby incentivizing

  19. The value of innovation under value-based pricing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Santiago G; Ray, Joshua A

    2016-01-01

    The role of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) in incentivizing innovation is controversial. Critics of CEA argue that its use for pricing purposes disregards the 'value of innovation' reflected in new drug development, whereas supporters of CEA highlight that the value of innovation is already accounted for. Our objective in this article is to outline the limitations of the conventional CEA approach, while proposing an alternative method of evaluation that captures the value of innovation more accurately. The adoption of a new drug benefits present and future patients (with cost implications) for as long as the drug is part of clinical practice. Incidence patients and off-patent prices are identified as two key missing features preventing the conventional CEA approach from capturing 1) benefit to future patients and 2) future savings from off-patent prices. The proposed CEA approach incorporates these two features to derive the total lifetime value of an innovative drug (i.e., the value of innovation). The conventional CEA approach tends to underestimate the value of innovative drugs by disregarding the benefit to future patients and savings from off-patent prices. As a result, innovative drugs are underpriced, only allowing manufacturers to capture approximately 15% of the total value of innovation during the patent protection period. In addition to including the incidence population and off-patent price, the alternative approach proposes pricing new drugs by first negotiating the share of value of innovation to be appropriated by the manufacturer (>15%?) and payer (price that satisfies this condition. We argue for a modification to the conventional CEA approach that integrates the total lifetime value of innovative drugs into CEA, by taking into account off-patent pricing and future patients. The proposed approach derives a price that allows manufacturers to capture an agreed share of this value, thereby incentivizing innovation, while supporting health

  20. Norwegian physicians' knowledge of the prices of pharmaceuticals: a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksen, Ida Iren; Melberg, Hans Olav; Bringedal, Berit

    2013-01-01

    The objectives of this study are to measure physicians' knowledge of the prices of pharmaceuticals, and investigate whether there are differences in knowledge of prices between groups of physicians. This article reports on a survey study of physicians' knowledge of the prices of pharmaceuticals conducted on a representative sample of Norwegian physicians in the autumn of 2010. The importance of physicians' knowledge of costs derives from their influence on total spending and allocation of limited health-care resources. Physicians are important drivers in the effort to contain costs in health care, but only if they have the knowledge needed to choose the most cost-effective treatment options. A survey was sent to 1543 Norwegian physicians, asking them for price estimates and their opinions on the importance of considering the cost of treatment to society as a decision factor when treating their patients. This article deals with a subsection in which the physicians were asked to estimate the price of five pharmaceuticals: simvastatin, alendronate (Fosamax), infliximab (Remicade), natalizumab (Tysabri) and escitalopram (Cipralex). The response rate was 65%. For all the five pharmaceuticals, more than 50% and as many as 83% gave responses that differed more than 50% from the actual drug price. The price of more expensive pharmaceuticals was underestimated, while the opposite was the case for less expensive medicines. The data show that physicians in general have poor knowledge of the prices of the pharmaceuticals they offer their patients. However, the physicians who frequently deal with a drug have better knowledge of its price than those who do not handle a medication as often. The data also suggest that those physicians who agree that cost of care to society is an important decision factor have better knowledge of drug prices.

  1. Intangible Property : Defining Intangible Property for Transfer Pricing Purposes and Exploring the Concept of Economic Ownership

    OpenAIRE

    Eriksson, Emma

    2010-01-01

    In this thesis the definition of intangible property contained in the Transfer Pricing Guidelines is analysed with the aim of exploring whether it is satisfactory or not. Furthermore, the need to have a definition of intangible property for transfer pricing purposes at all is explored. To properly allocate income and expenditure relating to intangible property one needs to first establish who is the owner of the property. In the light of this the economic ownership is explored as well. Two co...

  2. Applying Activity Based Costing (ABC) Method to Calculate Cost Price in Hospital and Remedy Services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajabi, A; Dabiri, A

    2012-01-01

    Activity Based Costing (ABC) is one of the new methods began appearing as a costing methodology in the 1990's. It calculates cost price by determining the usage of resources. In this study, ABC method was used for calculating cost price of remedial services in hospitals. To apply ABC method, Shahid Faghihi Hospital was selected. First, hospital units were divided into three main departments: administrative, diagnostic, and hospitalized. Second, activity centers were defined by the activity analysis method. Third, costs of administrative activity centers were allocated into diagnostic and operational departments based on the cost driver. Finally, with regard to the usage of cost objectives from services of activity centers, the cost price of medical services was calculated. The cost price from ABC method significantly differs from tariff method. In addition, high amount of indirect costs in the hospital indicates that capacities of resources are not used properly. Cost price of remedial services with tariff method is not properly calculated when compared with ABC method. ABC calculates cost price by applying suitable mechanisms but tariff method is based on the fixed price. In addition, ABC represents useful information about the amount and combination of cost price services.

  3. Adaptation of warrant price with Black Scholes model and historical volatility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aziz, Khairu Azlan Abd; Idris, Mohd Fazril Izhar Mohd; Saian, Rizauddin; Daud, Wan Suhana Wan

    2015-05-01

    This project discusses about pricing warrant in Malaysia. The Black Scholes model with non-dividend approach and linear interpolation technique was applied in pricing the call warrant. Three call warrants that are listed in Bursa Malaysia were selected randomly from UiTM's datastream. The finding claims that the volatility for each call warrants are different to each other. We have used the historical volatility which will describes the price movement by which an underlying share is expected to fluctuate within a period. The Black Scholes model price that was obtained by the model will be compared with the actual market price. Mispricing the call warrants will contribute to under or over valuation price. Other variables like interest rate, time to maturity date, exercise price and underlying stock price are involves in pricing call warrants as well as measuring the moneyness of call warrants.

  4. Structural change and forecasting long-run energy prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernard, J.T.; Khalaf, L.

    2004-01-01

    Fluctuating energy prices have a significant impact on the economies of industrialized nations. A recent study has shown a strong non-linear relationship between changes in oil prices and growth in gross domestic product (GDP). In order to forecast the behaviour of energy prices, a complete model must take into account domestic and international supply and demand conditions, market regulations, technological advances and geopolitics. In 1999, Pindyck suggested that for long-term forecasting, a simple model should be adopted where prices grow in real terms and at a fixed rate. This paper tests the statistical significance of Pindyck's suggested class of econometric equations that model the behaviour of long-run real energy prices. The models assume mean-reverting prices with continuous and random changes in their level and trend. They are estimated using Kalman filtering. The authors used simulation-based procedures to address the issue of non-standard test statistics and nuisance parameters. Results were reported for a standard Monte Carlo test and a maximized Monte Carlo test. Results shown statistically significant instabilities for coal and natural gas prices, but not for crude oil prices. Various models were differentiated using out-of-sample forecasting exercises. 25 refs., 3 tabs

  5. Price, tax and tobacco product substitution in Zambia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoklosa, Michal; Goma, Fastone; Nargis, Nigar; Drope, Jeffrey; Chelwa, Grieve; Chisha, Zunda; Fong, Geoffrey T

    2018-03-24

    In Zambia, the number of cigarette users is growing, and the lack of strong tax policies is likely an important cause. When adjusted for inflation, levels of tobacco tax have not changed since 2007. Moreover, roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco, a less-costly alternative to factory-made (FM) cigarettes, is highly prevalent. We modelled the probability of FM and RYO cigarette smoking using individual-level data obtained from the 2012 and 2014 waves of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Zambia Survey. We used two estimation methods: the standard estimation method involving separate random effects probit models and a method involving a system of equations (incorporating bivariate seemingly unrelated random effects probit) to estimate price elasticities of FM and RYO cigarettes and their cross-price elasticities. The estimated price elasticities of smoking prevalence are -0.20 and -0.03 for FM and RYO cigarettes, respectively. FM and RYO are substitutes; that is, when the price of one of the products goes up, some smokers switch to the other product. The effects are stronger for substitution from FM to RYO than vice versa. This study affirms that increasing cigarette tax with corresponding price increases could significantly reduce cigarette use in Zambia. Furthermore, reducing between-product price differences would reduce substitution from FM to RYO. Since RYO use is associated with lower socioeconomic status, efforts to decrease RYO use, including through tax/price approaches and cessation assistance, would decrease health inequalities in Zambian society and reduce the negative economic consequences of tobacco use experienced by the poor. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  6. Random reward priming is task-contingent

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ásgeirsson, Árni Gunnar; Kristjánsson, Árni

    2014-01-01

    Consistent financial reward of particular features influences the allocation of visual attention in many ways. More surprising are 1-trial reward priming effects on attention where reward schedules are random and reward on one trial influences attentional allocation on the next. Those findings...

  7. Effects of house prices on health: New evidence from Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atalay, Kadir; Edwards, Rebecca; Liu, Betty Y J

    2017-11-01

    Recent house price variation has strongly affected households' housing wealth and debt, yet the non-economic consequences of these changes in housing wealth are still poorly understood. Using a sample of 19,000 individuals from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) for 2001-2015, we examine the relationship between house price fluctuations and individual health by exploiting large exogenous changes in house prices in Australia. We find that an increase in local house prices is associated with a positive effect on the physical health of outright owners and a negative effect on the physical and mental health of renters. Improvements in physical health for outright owners can be partially attributed to health-related investments and behaviours such as a reduction in weight, an increase in physical exercise and an increase in time allocated to home production. These findings support the presence of a health-wealth gradient through the wealth mechanism distinct from the effects of local area amenities and macroeconomic conditions. Our findings highlight some of the often-overlooked social impacts - both positive and negative - of fluctuations in the housing market. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Entropy-based financial asset pricing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihály Ormos

    Full Text Available We investigate entropy as a financial risk measure. Entropy explains the equity premium of securities and portfolios in a simpler way and, at the same time, with higher explanatory power than the beta parameter of the capital asset pricing model. For asset pricing we define the continuous entropy as an alternative measure of risk. Our results show that entropy decreases in the function of the number of securities involved in a portfolio in a similar way to the standard deviation, and that efficient portfolios are situated on a hyperbola in the expected return-entropy system. For empirical investigation we use daily returns of 150 randomly selected securities for a period of 27 years. Our regression results show that entropy has a higher explanatory power for the expected return than the capital asset pricing model beta. Furthermore we show the time varying behavior of the beta along with entropy.

  9. Entropy-based financial asset pricing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ormos, Mihály; Zibriczky, Dávid

    2014-01-01

    We investigate entropy as a financial risk measure. Entropy explains the equity premium of securities and portfolios in a simpler way and, at the same time, with higher explanatory power than the beta parameter of the capital asset pricing model. For asset pricing we define the continuous entropy as an alternative measure of risk. Our results show that entropy decreases in the function of the number of securities involved in a portfolio in a similar way to the standard deviation, and that efficient portfolios are situated on a hyperbola in the expected return-entropy system. For empirical investigation we use daily returns of 150 randomly selected securities for a period of 27 years. Our regression results show that entropy has a higher explanatory power for the expected return than the capital asset pricing model beta. Furthermore we show the time varying behavior of the beta along with entropy.

  10. Joint energy and spinning reserve dispatching and pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rashidinejad, M.; Song, Y.-H.; Javidi Dasht-Bayaz, M.H.

    2000-01-01

    Unpredictable load demand variations, and also sudden generation interruption, may cause imbalance in power systems. To prevent any blackout and to reduce such total power imbalance, spinning reserve can provide electric power system ability to respond. Adequate amount of spinning reserve should be based on economy and risk as an optimal decision making. This paper uses Quadratic Programming (QP) method to solve Joint Energy and Spinning Reserve Dispatch (JESRD) problem and derives the optimal price of spinning reserve. In JESRD, Unserved Energy Cost (UEC) is considered as an Opportunity Cost of Spinning Reserve (OCSR). To distribute the System Reserve Requirements (SRR) among generation units, two different models, Fixed Reserve Percentage (FRP) or fixed allocation model and Non-Fixed Reserve Percentage (NFRP) or flexible allocation model has been investigated. Numerical results on a 5-bus test system and the 30-bus IEEE standard system, considering FRP and NFRP models are included. (author)

  11. Price schedules coordination for electricity pool markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legbedji, Alexis Motto

    2002-04-01

    We consider the optimal coordination of a class of mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints, which is formally interpreted as a resource-allocation problem. Many decomposition techniques were proposed to circumvent the difficulty of solving large systems with limited computer resources. The considerable improvement in computer architecture has allowed the solution of large-scale problems with increasing speed. Consequently, interest in decomposition techniques has waned. Nonetheless, there is an important class of applications for which decomposition techniques will still be relevant, among others, distributed systems---the Internet, perhaps, being the most conspicuous example---and competitive economic systems. Conceptually, a competitive economic system is a collection of agents that have similar or different objectives while sharing the same system resources. In theory, constructing a large-scale mathematical program and solving it centrally, using currently available computing power can optimize such systems of agents. In practice, however, because agents are self-interested and not willing to reveal some sensitive corporate data, one cannot solve these kinds of coordination problems by simply maximizing the sum of agent's objective functions with respect to their constraints. An iterative price decomposition or Lagrangian dual method is considered best suited because it can operate with limited information. A price-directed strategy, however, can only work successfully when coordinating or equilibrium prices exist, which is not generally the case when a weak duality is unavoidable. Showing when such prices exist and how to compute them is the main subject of this thesis. Among our results, we show that, if the Lagrangian function of a primal program is additively separable, price schedules coordination may be attained. The prices are Lagrange multipliers, and are also the decision variables of a dual program. In addition, we propose a new form of

  12. Assessment and Decomposition of Total Factor Energy Efficiency: An Evidence Based on Energy Shadow Price in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peihao Lai

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available By adopting an energy-input based directional distance function, we calculated the shadow price of four types of energy (i.e., coal, oil, gas and electricity among 30 areas in China from 1998 to 2012. Moreover, a macro-energy efficiency index in China was estimated and divided into intra-provincial technical efficiency, allocation efficiency of energy input structure and inter-provincial energy allocation efficiency. It shows that total energy efficiency has decreased in recent years, where intra-provincial energy technical efficiency drops markedly and extensive mode of energy consumption rises. However, energy structure and allocation improves slowly. Meanwhile, lacking an integrated energy market leads to the loss of energy efficiency. Further improvement of market allocation and structure adjustment play a pivotal role in the increase of energy efficiency.

  13. Research on allocation efficiency of the daisy chain allocation algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Jingping; Zhang, Weiguo

    2013-03-01

    With the improvement of the aircraft performance in reliability, maneuverability and survivability, the number of the control effectors increases a lot. How to distribute the three-axis moments into the control surfaces reasonably becomes an important problem. Daisy chain method is simple and easy to be carried out in the design of the allocation system. But it can not solve the allocation problem for entire attainable moment subset. For the lateral-directional allocation problem, the allocation efficiency of the daisy chain can be directly measured by the area of its subset of attainable moments. Because of the non-linear allocation characteristic, the subset of attainable moments of daisy-chain method is a complex non-convex polygon, and it is difficult to solve directly. By analyzing the two-dimensional allocation problems with a "micro-element" idea, a numerical calculation algorithm is proposed to compute the area of the non-convex polygon. In order to improve the allocation efficiency of the algorithm, a genetic algorithm with the allocation efficiency chosen as the fitness function is proposed to find the best pseudo-inverse matrix.

  14. Statistical Power and Optimum Sample Allocation Ratio for Treatment and Control Having Unequal Costs Per Unit of Randomization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xiaofeng

    2003-01-01

    This article considers optimal sample allocation between the treatment and control condition in multilevel designs when the costs per sampling unit vary due to treatment assignment. Optimal unequal allocation may reduce the cost from that of a balanced design without sacrificing any power. The optimum sample allocation ratio depends only on the…

  15. Resourse Allocation and Pricing Principles for a University Computer Centre. Working Paper Series Number 6819.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Possen, Uri M.; And Others

    As an introduction, this paper presents a statement of the objectives of the university computing center (UCC) from the viewpoint of the university, the government, the typical user, and the UCC itself. The operating and financial structure of a UCC are described. Three main types of budgeting schemes are discussed: time allocation, pseudo-dollar,…

  16. Rules of the annual allocation mechanism for export capacities on the Italian Northwest Border for 2003

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2002-12-01

    RTE (Reseau de Transport de l'Electricite) and GRTN (Gestore della Rete di Trasmissione Nazionale) are the transmission system operators respectively in France and in Italy. In the frame of the liberalization of the electricity market, the AEEG (Autorita per l'energia elettrica e il gas), and the CRE (the French regulatory authority) entered into an agreement on transfer capacity allocation over the Italian north west border (France-Italy and Switzerland-Italy borders) for the year 2004 ('the Agreement'). This allocation concerns the transfer capacity from France to Italy and from Switzerland to Italy autonomously allocable by Italy. This document summarizes the rules of the annual allocation mechanism for export capacities on the Italian northwest border for 2003: 1 - definitions; 2 - annual available capacity for the free market on the northwest border (reserved capacity, annual available capacity for the free market); 3 - annual allocation mechanism (prerequisite conditions, provisions for interruptible customer to participate to the annual allocation mechanism, provisions for eligible customers and traders to participate to the annual allocation mechanism, accuracy and completeness, nature, information about the user, annual allocation mechanism, capacity allocation confirmation, nomination of the annual allocated capacity and the reserved capacity, specific provisions related to the maintenance period on the France-Italy border, specific provisions related to the guarantee of the annual allocated capacity on the France-Italy border); 4 - general provisions (coming into force and duration of the rules, loss of the right to use the annual allocated capacity, guarantee prices and reimbursement, conditions of payment, force majeure, confidentiality, transfer of rights and obligations, notifications, contractual documents, responsibility, applicable law and language, dispute resolution). Application forms and special provisions for the

  17. The impacts of price responsiveness on strategic equilibrium in competitive electricity markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bompard, Ettore; Ma, Yuchao; Napoli, Roberto [Department of Electrical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino (Italy); Abrate, Graziano; Ragazzi, Elena [Ceris-CNR, Via Real Collegio, 30, 10024 Moncalieri (Italy)

    2007-06-15

    One of the most important aspects that may affect market welfare is that related to the low demand responsiveness to price. This situation may greatly impact the market performance causing low efficiency, high prices and a disproportional allocation of surpluses. The structure of electricity markets is usually oligopolistic; producers may bid prices higher than their marginal costs to the short run wholesale market, inducing outcome deviations from the perfect competitive benchmark. The possibility of gaming the market is amplified in the presence of low demand responsiveness to price. This paper proposes a model to assess the role of demand elasticity in mitigating the effects of supply side strategic bidding behavior. We model the supply side in a conjectural supply function (CSF) framework, which allows incorporation of exogenous changes in demand elasticity and different levels of competition in a given market. The impacts of demand responsiveness on the market performances are assessed through a set of proposed indices that are applied to a model of the Italian market. (author)

  18. The impacts of price responsiveness on strategic equilibrium in competitive electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bompard, Ettore; Ma, Yuchao; Napoli, Roberto; Abrate, Graziano; Ragazzi, Elena

    2007-01-01

    One of the most important aspects that may affect market welfare is that related to the low demand responsiveness to price. This situation may greatly impact the market performance causing low efficiency, high prices and a disproportional allocation of surpluses. The structure of electricity markets is usually oligopolistic; producers may bid prices higher than their marginal costs to the short run wholesale market, inducing outcome deviations from the perfect competitive benchmark. The possibility of gaming the market is amplified in the presence of low demand responsiveness to price. This paper proposes a model to assess the role of demand elasticity in mitigating the effects of supply side strategic bidding behavior. We model the supply side in a conjectural supply function (CSF) framework, which allows incorporation of exogenous changes in demand elasticity and different levels of competition in a given market. The impacts of demand responsiveness on the market performances are assessed through a set of proposed indices that are applied to a model of the Italian market. (author)

  19. Cogenerational sources of energies and their allocating problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Badida Miroslav

    1997-12-01

    Full Text Available Energy production in industrial communities consume a main part of primary raw materials and it is one of the sources of ecologicall impact. Electric power plants and warm produce plants are mostly important investment – consuming establishments with a long time of return, what stress along with the economical, predictional, logistical and environmental decision making aspect of their allocating. Already input of the mentioned aspects along with the price movement after the energy depression motivate a formation of new conception of combinated so-called items, which are able to use the energetic potential of fuels with a higher concurrent efficiency and, on the other hand, can reduce ecologic impacts of fossil combustion.

  20. Study protocol: combining experimental methods, econometrics and simulation modelling to determine price elasticities for studying food taxes and subsidies (The Price ExaM Study).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterlander, Wilma E; Blakely, Tony; Nghiem, Nhung; Cleghorn, Christine L; Eyles, Helen; Genc, Murat; Wilson, Nick; Jiang, Yannan; Swinburn, Boyd; Jacobi, Liana; Michie, Jo; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona

    2016-07-19

    There is a need for accurate and precise food price elasticities (PE, change in consumer demand in response to change in price) to better inform policy on health-related food taxes and subsidies. The Price Experiment and Modelling (Price ExaM) study aims to: I) derive accurate and precise food PE values; II) quantify the impact of price changes on quantity and quality of discrete food group purchases and; III) model the potential health and disease impacts of a range of food taxes and subsidies. To achieve this, we will use a novel method that includes a randomised Virtual Supermarket experiment and econometric methods. Findings will be applied in simulation models to estimate population health impact (quality-adjusted life-years [QALYs]) using a multi-state life-table model. The study will consist of four sequential steps: 1. We generate 5000 price sets with random price variation for all 1412 Virtual Supermarket food and beverage products. Then we add systematic price variation for foods to simulate five taxes and subsidies: a fruit and vegetable subsidy and taxes on sugar, saturated fat, salt, and sugar-sweetened beverages. 2. Using an experimental design, 1000 adult New Zealand shoppers complete five household grocery shops in the Virtual Supermarket where they are randomly assigned to one of the 5000 price sets each time. 3. Output data (i.e., multiple observations of price configurations and purchased amounts) are used as inputs to econometric models (using Bayesian methods) to estimate accurate PE values. 4. A disease simulation model will be run with the new PE values as inputs to estimate QALYs gained and health costs saved for the five policy interventions. The Price ExaM study has the potential to enhance public health and economic disciplines by introducing internationally novel scientific methods to estimate accurate and precise food PE values. These values will be used to model the potential health and disease impacts of various food pricing policy

  1. Study protocol: combining experimental methods, econometrics and simulation modelling to determine price elasticities for studying food taxes and subsidies (The Price ExaM Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilma E. Waterlander

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There is a need for accurate and precise food price elasticities (PE, change in consumer demand in response to change in price to better inform policy on health-related food taxes and subsidies. Methods/Design The Price Experiment and Modelling (Price ExaM study aims to: I derive accurate and precise food PE values; II quantify the impact of price changes on quantity and quality of discrete food group purchases and; III model the potential health and disease impacts of a range of food taxes and subsidies. To achieve this, we will use a novel method that includes a randomised Virtual Supermarket experiment and econometric methods. Findings will be applied in simulation models to estimate population health impact (quality-adjusted life-years [QALYs] using a multi-state life-table model. The study will consist of four sequential steps: 1. We generate 5000 price sets with random price variation for all 1412 Virtual Supermarket food and beverage products. Then we add systematic price variation for foods to simulate five taxes and subsidies: a fruit and vegetable subsidy and taxes on sugar, saturated fat, salt, and sugar-sweetened beverages. 2. Using an experimental design, 1000 adult New Zealand shoppers complete five household grocery shops in the Virtual Supermarket where they are randomly assigned to one of the 5000 price sets each time. 3. Output data (i.e., multiple observations of price configurations and purchased amounts are used as inputs to econometric models (using Bayesian methods to estimate accurate PE values. 4. A disease simulation model will be run with the new PE values as inputs to estimate QALYs gained and health costs saved for the five policy interventions. Discussion The Price ExaM study has the potential to enhance public health and economic disciplines by introducing internationally novel scientific methods to estimate accurate and precise food PE values. These values will be used to model the potential

  2. Factors of Selection of the Stock Allocation Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohov Heorhii K.

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The article describes results of the author’s study of factors of making strategic decisions on selection of methods of stock allocation by public joint stock companies in Ukraine. The author used the Random forest mathematical apparatus of classification trees building and also informal methods. The article analyses the reasons that restrain public allocation of stock. It shows significant influence upon selection of a method of stock allocation of such factors as capital concentration, balance rate of corporate rights, sector of economy and significant participation of the institutes of common investment or the state in the authorised capital. The built hierarchical model of classification of factors of the issuing policy of joint stock companies finds logical justification in specific features of the institutional environment, however, it does not fit into the framework of the classical concept of the market economy. The model could be used both for formation of goals of corporate financial strategies and in the process of improvement of state regulation of activity of securities issuers. The prospect of further studies in this direction is identification of transformation of factors of selection of the stock allocation method under conditions of revival of the stock market.

  3. Misuse of randomization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Jianping; Kjaergard, Lise Lotte; Gluud, Christian

    2002-01-01

    The quality of randomization of Chinese randomized trials on herbal medicines for hepatitis B was assessed. Search strategy and inclusion criteria were based on the published protocol. One hundred and seventy-six randomized clinical trials (RCTs) involving 20,452 patients with chronic hepatitis B...... virus (HBV) infection were identified that tested Chinese medicinal herbs. They were published in 49 Chinese journals. Only 10% (18/176) of the studies reported the method by which they randomized patients. Only two reported allocation concealment and were considered as adequate. Twenty percent (30...

  4. Quantum-like Viewpoint on the Complexity and Randomness of the Financial Market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choustova, Olga

    In economics and financial theory, analysts use random walk and more general martingale techniques to model behavior of asset prices, in particular share prices on stock markets, currency exchange rates and commodity prices. This practice has its basis in the presumption that investors act rationally and without bias, and that at any moment they estimate the value of an asset based on future expectations. Under these conditions, all existing information affects the price, which changes only when new information comes out. By definition, new information appears randomly and influences the asset price randomly. Corresponding continuous time models are based on stochastic processes (this approach was initiated in the thesis of [4]), see, e.g., the books of [33] and [37] for historical and mathematical details.

  5. Spatial and temporal predictions of agricultural land prices using DSM techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carré, F.; Grandgirard, D.; Diafas, I.; Reuter, H. I.; Julien, V.; Lemercier, B.

    2009-04-01

    Agricultural land prices highly impacts land accessibility to farmers and by consequence the evolution of agricultural landscapes (crop changes, land conversion to urban infrastructures…) which can turn to irreversible soil degradation. The economic value of agricultural land has been studied spatially, in every one of the 374 French Agricultural Counties, and temporally- from 1995 to 2007, by using data of the SAFER Institute. To this aim, agricultural land price was considered as a digital soil property. The spatial and temporal predictions were done using Digital Soil Mapping techniques combined with tools mainly used for studying temporal financial behaviors. For making both predictions, a first classification of the Agricultural Counties was done for the 1995-2006 periods (2007 was excluded and served as the date of prediction) using a fuzzy k-means clustering. The Agricultural Counties were then aggregated according to land price at the different times. The clustering allows for characterizing the counties by their memberships to each class centroid. The memberships were used for the spatial prediction, whereas the centroids were used for the temporal prediction. For the spatial prediction, from the 374 Agricultural counties, three fourths were used for modeling and one fourth for validating. Random sampling was done by class to ensure that all classes are represented by at least one county in the modeling and validation datasets. The prediction was done for each class by testing the relationships between the memberships and the following factors: (i) soil variable (organic matter from the French BDAT database), (ii) soil covariates (land use classes from CORINE LANDCOVER, bioclimatic zones from the WorldClim Database, landform attributes and landform classes from the SRTM, major roads and hydrographic densities from EUROSTAT, average field sizes estimated by automatic classification of remote sensed images) and (iii) socio-economic factors (population

  6. 7 CFR 1124.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1124.50 Section 1124.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  7. 7 CFR 1030.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1030.50 Section 1030.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued... prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  8. Gas prices and price process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Groenewegen, G.G.

    1992-01-01

    On a conference (Gas for Europe in the 1990's) during the Gasexpo '91 the author held a speech of which the Dutch text is presented here. Attention is paid to the current European pricing methods (prices based on the costs of buying, transporting and distributing the natural gas and prices based on the market value, which is deducted from the prices of alternative fuels), and the transparency of the prices (lack of information on the way the prices are determined). Also attention is paid to the market signal transparency and gas-gas competition, which means a more or less free market of gas distribution. The risks of gas-to-gas competition for a long term price stability, investment policies and security of supply are discussed. Opposition against the Third Party Access (TPA), which is the program to implement gas-to-gas competition, is caused by the fear of natural gas companies for lower gas prices and lower profits. Finally attention is paid to government regulation and the activities of the European Commission (EC) in this matter. 1 fig., 6 ills., 1 tab

  9. Pricing, hedging and risk management : practical tips for natural gas buyers and sellers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shields, D.

    1998-01-01

    Risk analysis and techniques to manage risk as it pertains to the natural gas industry were discussed. Portfolio allocations for long-term, short-term fixed price and variable price contracts were described. Options were defined as a market instrument offering the benefits of a fixed price purchase or sale without the obligation of incurring financial or opportunity losses if the market goes against the option buyer. Options should be used as a defence strategy to protect portfolios from price risk in times of uncertainty and to take advantage of current floating market conditions without making a full price commitment. Options can also be used as an offensive strategy to make a directional play on the market or on volatility. Options selling was regarded as a much higher risk than options buying. The variables that affect options premiums were: (1) volatility, (2) time to expiration, (3) underlying price versus strike price, and (4) flexibility. Williams Energy's new world class energy trading floor in Tulsa, Oklahoma was also described. Williams is the largest-volume transporter of natural gas in the U.S. with more than 27,000 miles of pipelines. Williams pipelines transport 16 per cent of all the natural gas used in the U.S. and the company is one of the nation's largest natural gas gatherers and processors. tabs., figs

  10. Consistency of self-reported alcohol consumption on randomized and sequential alcohol purchase tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael eAmlung

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Behavioral economic demand for addictive substances is commonly assessed via purchase tasks that measure estimated drug consumption at a range of prices. Purchase tasks typically use escalating prices in sequential order, which may influence performance by providing explicit price reference points. This study investigated the consistency of value preferences on two alcohol purchase tasks (APTs that used either a randomized or sequential price order (price range: free to $30 per drink in a sample of ninety-one young adult monthly drinkers. Randomization of prices significantly reduced relative response consistency (p < .01, although absolute consistency was high for both versions (>95%. Self-reported alcohol consumption across prices and indices of demand were highly similar across versions, although a few notable exceptions were found. These results suggest generally high consistency and overlapping performance between randomized and sequential price assessment. Implications for the behavioral economics literature and priorities for future research are discussed.

  11. Allocating the CO2 emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierru, A.

    2005-06-01

    Linear programming is widely used by multi-product oil-refining firms, which minimize a refinery's variable cost under a set of constraints. In addition to operating costs, this variable cost can include the cost associated with the refinery's CO 2 emissions. We suggest a quite general approach combining use of Aumann-Shapley cost-sharing method and breakdown of the objective function of the linear program. This approach determines an appropriate rule for the allocation of the refinery's CO 2 emissions (or, in general, variable costs) among the various finished products, which can be used for purposes of Life Cycle Assessment. A numerical application to a simplified refining model is presented. (author)

  12. How to make an EEG allocation. The EEG allocation is not decided by solar growth rates but by politicians; Wir basteln uns eine EEG-Umlage. Wie hoch die EEG-Umlage wird, haengt weniger am Solarzubau, sondern ist eine politische Entscheidung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Welter, Philippe

    2012-09-15

    In political discussions, the EEG allocation is still viewed as a reference point for the cost of financial incentives for renewable energy sources. However, there are many contributing factors of which the cost of renewables is only one. The most important aspects are privileges for industrial consumers, liquidity reserves, and stock exchange electricity prices. The contribution goes into detail.

  13. Zinc allocation and re-allocation in rice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stomph, T.J.; Jiang, W.; Putten, van der P.E.L.; Struik, P.C.

    2014-01-01

    Aims: Agronomy and breeding actively search for options to enhance cereal grain Zn density. Quantifying internal (re-)allocation of Zn as affected by soil and crop management or genotype is crucial. We present experiments supporting the development of a conceptual model of whole plant Zn allocation

  14. Allocating the CO2 emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices. A reply

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pierru, Axel

    2010-01-01

    In this reply, I oppose and further debate some of the points raised in Mr. Tehrani's comment (2010). In addition, I show that, when dealing with short-run linear-programming models with not-adjusted-to-demand capacities, Aumann-Shapley prices can be considered as an attempt to recreate long-run marginal costs. (author)

  15. Does subsidy work? Price elasticity of demand for influenza vaccination among the elderly in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondo, Masahide; Hoshi, Shu-ling; Okubo, Ichiro

    2009-08-01

    Subsidy for influenza vaccination is often provided to the elderly in order to encourage them to receive a flu shot in developed countries. However, its effect on uptake rate, i.e., price elasticity of demand, has not been well studied. Japan's decentralised vaccination programme allows observation of various pairs in price and uptake rate of flu shots among the elderly by the municipality from 2001/2002 to 2004/2005 season. We combine our sample survey data (n=281), which monitor price, subsidy and uptake rate, with published data on local characteristics in order to estimate price elasticity of demand with panel model. We find price elasticity of demand for influenza vaccine: nearly zero in nationwide, nearly zero in urban area, and -1.07 in rural area. The results question the rationale for subsidy, especially in urban area. There are cases where maintaining or increasing the level of subsidy is not an efficient allocation of finite health care resources. When organising a vaccination programme, health manager should be careful about the balance between subsidy and other efforts in order to encourage the elderly to receive shots with price elasticity in mind.

  16. Output-based allocations and revenue recycling. Implications for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lennox, James A.; Nieuwkoop, Renger van

    2010-01-01

    The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) is more comprehensive in its coverage of emissions than schemes introduced or proposed to date in any other country in that it includes agricultural greenhouse gases, which account for half of New Zealand's total emissions. But, motivated by concerns for the international competitiveness of emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industrial and agricultural activities, current legislation provides for substantial ongoing free allocations to such activities, linked to their output. Here we use a computable general equilibrium model to analyse the impacts of output-based allocation, given the possibility of recycling net revenues to reduce prior distorting taxes. Unlike previous modelling studies of alternative NZ ETS designs, we allow for a more realistic modelling both of capital and labour supply. We find that, as suggested by theoretical results, interactions between the ETS and existing taxes are important. Given any level of output-based allocation, the negative macroeconomic impacts can be reduced by recycling net revenues as efficiently as possible. Less obviously, we find that there may be an optimal non-zero level of output-based allocation. This optimal level increases as the carbon price and/or factor supply elasticities increase, but decreases if revenues are recycled with greater efficiency. (author)

  17. Output-based allocations and revenue recycling. Implications for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lennox, James A. [Landcare Research NZ, Lincoln (New Zealand); Nieuwkoop, Renger van [Center for Energy Policy and Economy, Zuerich (Switzerland)

    2010-12-15

    The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) is more comprehensive in its coverage of emissions than schemes introduced or proposed to date in any other country in that it includes agricultural greenhouse gases, which account for half of New Zealand's total emissions. But, motivated by concerns for the international competitiveness of emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industrial and agricultural activities, current legislation provides for substantial ongoing free allocations to such activities, linked to their output. Here we use a computable general equilibrium model to analyse the impacts of output-based allocation, given the possibility of recycling net revenues to reduce prior distorting taxes. Unlike previous modelling studies of alternative NZ ETS designs, we allow for a more realistic modelling both of capital and labour supply. We find that, as suggested by theoretical results, interactions between the ETS and existing taxes are important. Given any level of output-based allocation, the negative macroeconomic impacts can be reduced by recycling net revenues as efficiently as possible. Less obviously, we find that there may be an optimal non-zero level of output-based allocation. This optimal level increases as the carbon price and/or factor supply elasticities increase, but decreases if revenues are recycled with greater efficiency. (author)

  18. Energy policies in a macroeconomic model: an analysis of energy taxes when oil prices decline

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Capros, P.; Karadeloglou, P.; Mentzas, G.

    1992-01-01

    This paper attempts an analysis of energy and macroeconomic policy issues in oil-importing countries within the context of decreasing oil prices and macroeconomic modelling. A medium-term perspective is retained and the assumption is made that the economy experiences unemployment and excess capacity when the price declines. The analysis excludes any response elements that refer to long-term equilibria, optimum allocation of resources or welfare characterization of results which should be dealt with within the context of price adjusted equilibrium models. This paper adopts the approach of quantity adjusted neo-Keynesian macroeconomic models. The paper also inquires into the macroeconomic models currently used by the Commission of the European Communities. The analysis is carried out using the HGRV model which is a large-scale neo-Keynesian multisectoral macroeconomic model of the Greek economy. (UK)

  19. The need for randomization in animal trials: an overview of systematic reviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirst, Jennifer A; Howick, Jeremy; Aronson, Jeffrey K; Roberts, Nia; Perera, Rafael; Koshiaris, Constantinos; Heneghan, Carl

    2014-01-01

    Randomization, allocation concealment, and blind outcome assessment have been shown to reduce bias in human studies. Authors from the Collaborative Approach to Meta Analysis and Review of Animal Data from Experimental Studies (CAMARADES) collaboration recently found that these features protect against bias in animal stroke studies. We extended the scope the work from CAMARADES to include investigations of treatments for any condition. We conducted an overview of systematic reviews. We searched Medline and Embase for systematic reviews of animal studies testing any intervention (against any control) and we included any disease area and outcome. We included reviews comparing randomized versus not randomized (but otherwise controlled), concealed versus unconcealed treatment allocation, or blinded versus unblinded outcome assessment. Thirty-one systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria: 20 investigated treatments for experimental stroke, 4 reviews investigated treatments for spinal cord diseases, while 1 review each investigated treatments for bone cancer, intracerebral hemorrhage, glioma, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and treatments used in emergency medicine. In our sample 29% of studies reported randomization, 15% of studies reported allocation concealment, and 35% of studies reported blinded outcome assessment. We pooled the results in a meta-analysis, and in our primary analysis found that failure to randomize significantly increased effect sizes, whereas allocation concealment and blinding did not. In our secondary analyses we found that randomization, allocation concealment, and blinding reduced effect sizes, especially where outcomes were subjective. Our study demonstrates the need for randomization, allocation concealment, and blind outcome assessment in animal research across a wide range of outcomes and disease areas. Since human studies are often justified based on results from animal studies, our results suggest that unduly biased animal

  20. Economics and the refinery's CO{sub 2} emissions allocation problem; Allocation des emissions de CO{sub 2} d'une raffinerie: solutions suggerees par la theorie economique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierru, A. [Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP), IFP School, 92 - Rueil-Malmaison (France)

    2007-07-01

    The establishment of a market for CO{sub 2} emission rights in Europe leads oil-refining companies to add a cost associated with carbon emissions to the objective function of linear programming models used to manage refineries. These models may be used to compute the marginal contribution of each finished product to the CO{sub 2} emissions of the refinery. Babusiaux (Oil. Gas Sci. Technol., 58, 2003, 685-692) has shown that, under some conditions, this marginal contribution is a relevant means of allocating the carbon emissions of the refinery. Thus, it can be used in a well-to-wheel Life Cycle Assessment. In fact, this result holds if the demand equations are the only binding constraints with a non-zero right-hand side coefficient. This is not the case for short-run models with fixed capacity. Then, allocating CO{sub 2} emissions on a marginal basis tends to over-value (or undervalue) the total volume of emissions. In order to extend the existing methodology, we discuss two distinct solutions to this problem, inspired by economic theory: adapting either the Aumann-Shapley cost sharing method (Values of non-atomic games, 1974, Princeton University Press) or the Ramsey pricing formula (Econ. J., 37, 1927, 47-61; J. Econ. Theory, 3, 1971, 219-240). We compare these two solutions, with a strong argument in favour of Ramsey prices, based on the determination of the optimal environmental tax rate to which imported finished products should be subject. (author)

  1. Relating price strategies and price-setting practices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ingenbleek, P.T.M.; Lans, van der I.A.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose - This article addresses the relationship between price strategies and price-setting practices. The first derive from a normative tradition in the pricing literature and the latter from a descriptive tradition. Price strategies are visible in the market, whereas price-setting practices are

  2. Coordinating a Supply Chain with Price and Advertisement Dependent Stochastic Demand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liying; Wang, Yong; Yan, Xiaoming

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates pricing and ordering as well as advertising coordination issues in a single-manufacturer single-retailer supply chain, where the manufacturer sells a newsvendor-type product through the retailer who faces a stochastic demand depending on both retail price and advertising expenditure. Under the assumption that the market demand has a multiplicative functional form, the Stackelberg and cooperative game models are developed, and the closed form solution to each model is provided as well. Comparisons and insights are presented. We show that a properly designed revenue-cost-sharing contract can achieve supply chain coordination and lead to a Pareto improving win-win situation for channel members. We also discuss the allocation of the extra joint profit according to individual supply chain members' risk preferences and negotiating powers. PMID:24453832

  3. Coordinating a Supply Chain with Price and Advertisement Dependent Stochastic Demand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liying Li

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates pricing and ordering as well as advertising coordination issues in a single-manufacturer single-retailer supply chain, where the manufacturer sells a newsvendor-type product through the retailer who faces a stochastic demand depending on both retail price and advertising expenditure. Under the assumption that the market demand has a multiplicative functional form, the Stackelberg and cooperative game models are developed, and the closed form solution to each model is provided as well. Comparisons and insights are presented. We show that a properly designed revenue-cost-sharing contract can achieve supply chain coordination and lead to a Pareto improving win-win situation for channel members. We also discuss the allocation of the extra joint profit according to individual supply chain members’ risk preferences and negotiating powers.

  4. Coordinating a supply chain with price and advertisement dependent stochastic demand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liying; Wang, Yong; Yan, Xiaoming

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates pricing and ordering as well as advertising coordination issues in a single-manufacturer single-retailer supply chain, where the manufacturer sells a newsvendor-type product through the retailer who faces a stochastic demand depending on both retail price and advertising expenditure. Under the assumption that the market demand has a multiplicative functional form, the Stackelberg and cooperative game models are developed, and the closed form solution to each model is provided as well. Comparisons and insights are presented. We show that a properly designed revenue-cost-sharing contract can achieve supply chain coordination and lead to a Pareto improving win-win situation for channel members. We also discuss the allocation of the extra joint profit according to individual supply chain members' risk preferences and negotiating powers.

  5. Modeling and complexity of stochastic interacting Lévy type financial price dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yiduan; Zheng, Shenzhou; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Jun; Wang, Guochao

    2018-06-01

    In attempt to reproduce and investigate nonlinear dynamics of security markets, a novel nonlinear random interacting price dynamics, which is considered as a Lévy type process, is developed and investigated by the combination of lattice oriented percolation and Potts dynamics, which concerns with the instinctive random fluctuation and the fluctuation caused by the spread of the investors' trading attitudes, respectively. To better understand the fluctuation complexity properties of the proposed model, the complexity analyses of random logarithmic price return and corresponding volatility series are preformed, including power-law distribution, Lempel-Ziv complexity and fractional sample entropy. In order to verify the rationality of the proposed model, the corresponding studies of actual security market datasets are also implemented for comparison. The empirical results reveal that this financial price model can reproduce some important complexity features of actual security markets to some extent. The complexity of returns decreases with the increase of parameters γ1 and β respectively, furthermore, the volatility series exhibit lower complexity than the return series

  6. 7 CFR 1131.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1131.53 Section 1131.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  7. 7 CFR 1005.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1005.53 Section 1005.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  8. 7 CFR 1126.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1126.53 Section 1126.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  9. 7 CFR 1032.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1032.53 Section 1032.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  10. 7 CFR 1030.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1030.53 Section 1030.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  11. 7 CFR 1033.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1033.53 Section 1033.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  12. 7 CFR 1001.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1001.53 Section 1001.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  13. 7 CFR 1007.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1007.53 Section 1007.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  14. 7 CFR 1006.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1006.53 Section 1006.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  15. 7 CFR 1033.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1033.50 Section 1033.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  16. 7 CFR 1005.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1005.50 Section 1005.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  17. 7 CFR 1001.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1001.50 Section 1001.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  18. 7 CFR 1006.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1006.50 Section 1006.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  19. 7 CFR 1126.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1126.50 Section 1126.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  20. 7 CFR 1032.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1032.50 Section 1032.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  1. 7 CFR 1131.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1131.50 Section 1131.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  2. 7 CFR 1007.50 - Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1007.50 Section 1007.50 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued..., and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.50. ...

  3. 7 CFR 1124.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 9 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. 1124.53 Section 1124.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture... Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors. See § 1000.53. ...

  4. Transmission embedded cost allocation methodology with consideration of system reliability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hur, D.; Park, J.-K.; Yoo, C.-I.; Kim, B.H.

    2004-01-01

    In a vertically integrated utility industry, the cost of reliability, as a separate service, has not received much rigorous analysis. However, as a cornerstone of restructuring the industry, the transmission service pricing must change to be consistent with, and supportive of, competitive wholesale electricity markets. This paper focuses on the equitable allocation of transmission network embedded costs including the transmission reliability cost based on the contributions of each generator to branch flows under normal conditions as well as the line outage impact factor under a variety of load levels. A numerical example on a six-bus system is given to illustrate the applications of the proposed methodology. (author)

  5. Optimizing multiple reliable forward contracts for reservoir allocation using multitime scale streamflow forecasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Mengqian; Lall, Upmanu; Robertson, Andrew W.; Cook, Edward

    2017-03-01

    Streamflow forecasts at multiple time scales provide a new opportunity for reservoir management to address competing objectives. Market instruments such as forward contracts with specified reliability are considered as a tool that may help address the perceived risk associated with the use of such forecasts in lieu of traditional operation and allocation strategies. A water allocation process that enables multiple contracts for water supply and hydropower production with different durations, while maintaining a prescribed level of flood risk reduction, is presented. The allocation process is supported by an optimization model that considers multitime scale ensemble forecasts of monthly streamflow and flood volume over the upcoming season and year, the desired reliability and pricing of proposed contracts for hydropower and water supply. It solves for the size of contracts at each reliability level that can be allocated for each future period, while meeting target end of period reservoir storage with a prescribed reliability. The contracts may be insurable, given that their reliability is verified through retrospective modeling. The process can allow reservoir operators to overcome their concerns as to the appropriate skill of probabilistic forecasts, while providing water users with short-term and long-term guarantees as to how much water or energy they may be allocated. An application of the optimization model to the Bhakra Dam, India, provides an illustration of the process. The issues of forecast skill and contract performance are examined. A field engagement of the idea is useful to develop a real-world perspective and needs a suitable institutional environment.

  6. Monetary Policy Rules, Supply Shocks, and the Price-Level Elasticity of Aggregate Demand: A Graphical Examination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kyer, Ben L.; Maggs, Gary E.

    1995-01-01

    Utilizes two-dimensional price and output graphs to demonstrate the way that the price-level elasticity of aggregate demand affects alternative monetary policy rules designed to cope with random aggregate supply shocks. Includes graphs illustrating price-level, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), nominal GDP, and nominal money supply targeting.…

  7. Test Pricing and Reimbursement in Genomic Medicine: Towards a General Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vozikis, Athanassios; Cooper, David N; Mitropoulou, Christina; Kambouris, Manousos E; Brand, Angela; Dolzan, Vita; Fortina, Paolo; Innocenti, Federico; Lee, Ming Ta Michael; Leyens, Lada; Macek, Milan; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Prainsack, Barbara; Squassina, Alessio; Taruscio, Domenica; van Schaik, Ron H; Vayena, Effy; Williams, Marc S; Patrinos, George P

    2016-01-01

    This paper aims to provide an overview of the rationale and basic principles guiding the governance of genomic testing services, to clarify their objectives, and allocate and define responsibilities among stakeholders in a health-care system, with a special focus on the EU countries. Particular attention is paid to issues pertaining to pricing and reimbursement policies, the availability of essential genomic tests which differs between various countries owing to differences in disease prevalence and public health relevance, the prescribing and use of genomic testing services according to existing or new guidelines, budgetary and fiscal control, the balance between price and access to innovative testing, monitoring and evaluation for cost-effectiveness and safety, and the development of research capacity. We conclude that addressing the specific items put forward in this article will help to create a robust policy in relation to pricing and reimbursement in genomic medicine. This will contribute to an effective and sustainable health-care system and will prove beneficial to the economy at large. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  8. POWERS. Simulation of pricing and investment decisions in a liberalized Dutch electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rijkers, F.A.M.; Battjes, J.J.; Janszen, F.H.A.; Kaag, M.

    2001-02-01

    With the liberalisation of the Dutch electricity market the electricity price will be divided into a network component and a commodity component. Further, liberalisation will change the determination of the commodity price. Before liberalisation the commodity price was centrally determined by the Sep (Samenwerkende Electriciteitsproductiebedrijven or Dutch Electricity Generating Board), but with the introduction of liberalisation prices will be determined by the market itself. To analyse the liberalised market a new model (POWERS) has been developed in which the new structure of the electricity market is incorporated and the increasing competition between energy companies is taken into account. An overview of the POWERS-model is presented in this report. The model is based on the system dynamics. This means that the decisions (regarding production volume, allocation of the plants, price setting) made by each market player is based on information from the previous period. Optimisation models that are based on the assumption of 'perfect foresight' do not apply to the electricity market. Currently, the model contains a detailed description of the production capacity of the current market players in the Netherlands. Among other purposes the model is suitable for determining an outlook of forward prices on the Dutch electricity market and for analysing the impacts of alternative strategies of the different market players on their profits. 4 refs

  9. Edgeworth Price Cycles, Cost-Based Pricing, and Sticky Pricing in Retail Gasoline Markets

    OpenAIRE

    Michael D. Noel

    2007-01-01

    This paper examines dynamic pricing behavior in retail gasoline markets for 19 Canadian cities over 574 weeks. I find three distinct retail pricing patterns: 1. cost-based pricing, 2. sticky pricing, and 3. steep, asymmetric retail price cycles that, while seldom documented empirically, resemble those of Maskin & Tirole[1988]. Using a Markov switching regression, I estimate the prevalence of patterns and the structural characteristics of the cycles. Retail price cycles prevail in over 40% of ...

  10. Competitive Pricing by a Price Leader

    OpenAIRE

    Abhik Roy; Dominique M. Hanssens; Jagmohan S. Raju

    1994-01-01

    We examine the problem of pricing in a market where one brand acts as a price leader. We develop a procedure to estimate a leader's price rule, which is optimal given a sales target objective, and allows for the inclusion of demand forecasts. We illustrate our estimation procedure by calibrating this optimal price rule for both the leader and the follower using data on past sales and prices from the mid-size sedan segment of the U.S. automobile market. Our results suggest that a leader-follow...

  11. Transport Infrastructure Slot Allocation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koolstra, K.

    2005-01-01

    In this thesis, transport infrastructure slot allocation has been studied, focusing on selection slot allocation, i.e. on longer-term slot allocation decisions determining the traffic patterns served by infrastructure bottlenecks, rather than timetable-related slot allocation problems. The

  12. List prices vs. bargain prices: which solution to estimate consumer price indices?

    OpenAIRE

    Carlo De Gregorio

    2010-01-01

    Alternative approaches to CPI surveys are here evaluated, in markets where final prices are based on some sort of price listing. Three types of surveys are compared: local surveys (LOC), with small samples and a local price collection; list price surveys (LIS), with huge samples and centralised collection; mixed surveys (MXD), in which LOC and LIS are jointly used. Based on a multiplicative pricing model, some conditions are derived to establish the relative efficiency of these approaches. Th...

  13. Does the Lowest Bid Price Evaluation Criterion Make for a More Efficient Public Procurement Selection Criterion? (Case of the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ochrana František

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Through the institute of public procurement a considerable volume of financial resources is allocated. It is therefore in the interest of contracting entities to seek ways of how to achieve an efficient allocation of resources. Some public contract-awarding entities, along with some public-administration authorities in the Czech Republic, believe that the use of a single evaluation criterion (the lowest bid price results in a more efficient tender for a public contract. It was found that contracting entities in the Czech Republic strongly prefer to use the lowest bid price criterion. Within the examined sample, 86.5 % of public procurements were evaluated this way. The analysis of the examined sample of public contracts proved that the choice of an evaluation criterion, even the preference of the lowest bid price criterion, does not have any obvious impact on the final cost of a public contract. The study concludes that it is inappropriate to prefer the criterion of the lowest bid price within the evaluation of public contracts that are characterised by their complexity (including public contracts for construction works and public service contracts. The findings of the Supreme Audit Office related to the inspection of public contracts indicate that when using the lowest bid price as an evaluation criterion, a public contract may indeed be tendered with the lowest bid price, but not necessarily the best offer in terms of supplied quality. It is therefore not appropriate to use the lowest bid price evaluation criterion to such an extent for the purpose of evaluating work and services. Any improvement to this situation requires a corresponding amendment to the Law on Public Contracts and mainly a radical change in the attitude of the Office for the Protection of Competition towards proposed changes, as indicated within the conclusions and recommendations proposed by this study.

  14. The EU ETS and Dynamic Allocation in Phase IV—An Ex-Ante Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vicki Duscha

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Fear of lowering firms’ competitiveness and carbon leakage is the reason for large amounts of allowances in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS still being allocated for free. At the same time, unadjusted free allocation of allowances in times of economic recession is partly responsible for the large surplus of allowances that has cumulated in the EU ETS and that is lowering prices in the market. For Phase IV, the introduction of dynamic allocation has been proposed to react to significant changes in production, to prevent the accumulation of further surplus on the one hand and to protect installations from severe underallocation on the other. A reserve of about 400 million allowances is planned for that purpose. This paper analyses the demand for certificates from this reserve under different assumptions on production development as well as different design options for Phase IV. The analysis builds on freely available allocation data from Phase III along with projections of production trends from different time periods in the past. In most of the scenarios, the 400 million allowances are sufficient to fulfil demand for allowances from dynamic allocation until at least the second half of Phase IV (often even for the whole of Phase IV. Even though certain aspects analysed are now not fully compatible with the agreed-upon Phase IV revision, the analysis indicates that the amount of allowances foreseen for dynamic allocation is sufficient for Phase IV. In particular the threshold value of 10% that was introduced in the legislation will ensure that the demand of allowances is likely well below the demand found in the different scenarios in this analysis that neglects this threshold value.

  15. The impact of Australian ETS news on wholesale spot electricity prices. An exploratory analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chevallier, Julien

    2010-01-01

    This article investigates the impact of news concerning the development of emissions trading in Australia (such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS)) on wholesale electricity spot prices, by using a database of 117 news announcements from December 1, 1998 to July 1, 2009. As power producers constitute the bulk of the participants of the proposed Australian emissions trading scheme, regulatory changes (about allocation, banking, coverage, targets) are indeed likely to affect the five interconnected electricity markets in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. We assess these effects with an ARMA(1,1)-GARCH(1,1) model, where daily electricity spot prices are regressed against exogenous variables in the mean and variance equations. This article constitutes the first empirical analysis of Australian ETS news effects on electricity wholesale spot prices. Our results show two asymmetric types of news effects, depending on their information content. (author)

  16. The impact of Australian ETS news on wholesale spot electricity prices. An exploratory analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chevallier, Julien [Universite Paris Dauphine, Place du Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny, 75775 Paris Cedex 16 (France)

    2010-08-15

    This article investigates the impact of news concerning the development of emissions trading in Australia (such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS)) on wholesale electricity spot prices, by using a database of 117 news announcements from December 1, 1998 to July 1, 2009. As power producers constitute the bulk of the participants of the proposed Australian emissions trading scheme, regulatory changes (about allocation, banking, coverage, targets) are indeed likely to affect the five interconnected electricity markets in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. We assess these effects with an ARMA(1,1)-GARCH(1,1) model, where daily electricity spot prices are regressed against exogenous variables in the mean and variance equations. This article constitutes the first empirical analysis of Australian ETS news effects on electricity wholesale spot prices. Our results show two asymmetric types of news effects, depending on their information content. (author)

  17. The impact of Australian ETS news on wholesale spot electricity prices: An exploratory analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chevallier, Julien, E-mail: julien.chevallier@dauphine.f [Universite Paris Dauphine, Place du Marechal de Lattre de Tassigny, 75775 Paris Cedex 16 (France)

    2010-08-15

    This article investigates the impact of news concerning the development of emissions trading in Australia (such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS)) on wholesale electricity spot prices, by using a database of 117 news announcements from December 1, 1998 to July 1, 2009. As power producers constitute the bulk of the participants of the proposed Australian emissions trading scheme, regulatory changes (about allocation, banking, coverage, targets) are indeed likely to affect the five interconnected electricity markets in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. We assess these effects with an ARMA(1,1)-GARCH(1,1) model, where daily electricity spot prices are regressed against exogenous variables in the mean and variance equations. This article constitutes the first empirical analysis of Australian ETS news effects on electricity wholesale spot prices. Our results show two asymmetric types of news effects, depending on their information content.

  18. Arbitrage Pricing, Capital Asset Pricing, and Agricultural Assets

    OpenAIRE

    Louise M. Arthur; Colin A. Carter; Fay Abizadeh

    1988-01-01

    A new asset pricing model, the arbitrage pricing theory, has been developed as an alternative to the capital asset pricing model. The arbitrage pricing theory model is used to analyze the relationship between risk and return for agricultural assets. The major conclusion is that the arbitrage pricing theory results support previous capital asset pricing model findings that the estimated risk associated with agricultural assets is low. This conclusion is more robust for the arbitrage pricing th...

  19. Output Price Risk, Material Input Price Risk, and Price Margins: Evidence from the US Catfish Industry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Bouras

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Aim/purpose - To develop a conceptual model for analyzing the impact of output price risk and material input price risk on price margins. Design/methodology/approach - To analyze the combined effect of output price risk and material input risk on price margins, we use a series of comparative static analyses, GARCH models, and data ranging from 1990/01 to 2012/12. Findings - The theoretical results indicate that the impact of output price risk and the impact of material input price risk on price margins are ambiguous and, to a great extent, hinge on the correlation between output price and material input price. The empirical results show that whole frozen catfish price risk and live catfish price risk negatively affect the price margin for frozen catfish. The empirical results, however, indicate that the risk of the price of live catfish affects markedly the price margin for frozen whole catfish in contrast to the impact of the risk of the price of frozen whole catfish. Research implications/limitations - The empirical results have significant implications for managerial decision-making especially when crafting strategies for improving price margins. Accordingly, in order to beef up the price margin for frozen whole catfish, catfish processors may consider engaging in vertical integration. This paper has some limitations: first, it assumes that firms operate in competitive markets; second, it assumes that firms produce and sell a single product. Originality/value/contribution - Unlike earlier studies that focused solely on the effect of output price risk on price margins, this paper analyzes theoretically and empirically the impact of output price risk and material input price risk on price margins.

  20. Co-movements of Alaska North Slope and UK Brent crude oil prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ewing, B.T.; Harter, C.L.

    2000-01-01

    In order to study the inter-relationships of international crude oil markets, empirical analyses are used to investigate univariate and multivariate relationships between Alaska North Slope and UK Brent oil prices. Using monthly data from the period 1974-1996, the results show that both price series follow a random walk and that these oil markets share a long-run common trend. The empirical results suggest that the two markets are 'unified'. That is, they are competitive, and there is price convergence in the markets. (author)

  1. 7 CFR 1000.53 - Announcement of class prices, component prices, and advanced pricing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... advanced pricing factors. 1000.53 Section 1000.53 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture..., component prices, and advanced pricing factors. (a) On or before the 5th day of the month, the market... administrator for each Federal milk marketing order shall announce the following prices and pricing factors for...

  2. Ex-vessel Fish Price Database: Disaggregating Prices for Low-Priced Species from Reduction Fisheries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Travis C. Tai

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Ex-vessel fish prices are essential for comprehensive fisheries management and socioeconomic analyses for fisheries science. In this paper, we reconstructed a global ex-vessel price database with the following areas of improvement: (1 compiling reported prices explicitly listed as “for reduction to fishmeal and fish oil” to estimate prices separately for catches destined for fishmeal and fish oil production, and other non-direct human consumption purposes; (2 including 95% confidence limit estimates for each price estimation; and (3 increasing the number of input data and the number of price estimates to match the reconstructed Sea Around Us catch database. Our primary focus was to address this first area of improvement as ex-vessel prices for catches destined for non-direct human consumption purposes were substantially overestimated, notably in countries with large reduction fisheries. For example in Peru, 2010 landed values were estimated as 3.8 billion real 2010 USD when using separate prices for reduction fisheries, compared with 5.8 billion using previous methods with only one price for all end-products. This update of the price database has significant global and country-specific impacts on fisheries price and landed value trends over time.

  3. Auction pricing of network access for North American railways

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrod, Steven

    2013-01-01

    The question of pricing train paths for "open access" railway networks in North America is discussed. An auction process is suggested as necessary to maintain transparency in the contracting process. Multiple random samples of auction pricing for a single track railway line demonstrate...... that the infrastructure entity will receive approximately 15.6% less than the true value of the contracted train paths. This loss of revenue threatens the objective of reducing government subsidy for the railway network. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

  4. Price and maternal obesity influence purchasing of low- and high-energy-dense foods2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Leonard H; Dearing, Kelly K; Paluch, Rocco A; Roemmich, James N; Cho, David

    2007-01-01

    Background Price can influence food purchases, which can influence consumption. Limited laboratory research has assessed the effect of price changes on food purchases, and no research on individual differences that may interact with price to influence purchases exists. Objective We aimed to assess the influence of price changes of low-energy-density (LED) and high-energy-density (HED) foods on mother’s food purchases in a laboratory food-purchasing analogue. Design Mothers were randomly assigned to price conditions in which the price of either LED or HED foods was manipulated from 75% to 125% of the reference purchase price, whereas the price of the alternative foods was kept at the reference value. Mothers completed purchases for 2 income levels ($15 or $30 per family member). Results Purchases were reduced when prices of LED (P elasticity of HED foods and substitution of LED for HED foods. PMID:17921365

  5. Essays on pricing electricity and electricity derivatives in deregulated markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popova, Julia

    2008-10-01

    This dissertation is composed of four essays on the behavior of wholesale electricity prices and their derivatives. The first essay provides an empirical model that takes into account the spatial features of a transmission network on the electricity market. The spatial structure of the transmission grid plays a key role in determining electricity prices, but it has not been incorporated into previous empirical models. The econometric model in this essay incorporates a simple representation of the transmission system into a spatial panel data model of electricity prices, and also accounts for the effect of dynamic transmission system constraints on electricity market integration. Empirical results using PJM data confirm the existence of spatial patterns in electricity prices and show that spatial correlation diminishes as transmission lines become more congested. The second essay develops and empirically tests a model of the influence of natural gas storage inventories on the electricity forward premium. I link a model of the effect of gas storage constraints on the higher moments of the distribution of electricity prices to a model of the effect of those moments on the forward premium. Empirical results using PJM data support the model's predictions that gas storage inventories sharply reduce the electricity forward premium when demand for electricity is high and space-heating demand for gas is low. The third essay examines the efficiency of PJM electricity markets. A market is efficient if prices reflect all relevant information, so that prices follow a random walk. The hypothesis of random walk is examined using empirical tests, including the Portmanteau, Augmented Dickey-Fuller, KPSS, and multiple variance ratio tests. The results are mixed though evidence of some level of market efficiency is found. The last essay investigates the possibility that previous researchers have drawn spurious conclusions based on classical unit root tests incorrectly applied to

  6. Joint Ordering and Pricing Decisions for New Repeat-Purchase Products

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang Wu

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies ordering and pricing problems for new repeat-purchase products. We incorporate the repeat-purchase rate and price effects into the Bass model to characterize the demand pattern. We consider two decision models: (1 two-stage decision model, in which the sales division chooses a price to maximize the gross profit and the purchasing division determines an optimal ordering decision to minimize the total cost under a given demand subsequently, and (2 joint decision model, in which the firm makes ordering and pricing decisions simultaneously to maximize the profit. We combine the generalized Bass model with dynamic lot sizing model to formulate the joint decision model. We apply both models to a specific imported food provided by an online fresh produce retailer in Central China, solve them by Gaussian Random-Walk and Wagner-Whitin based algorithms, and observe three results. First, joint pricing and ordering decisions bring more significant profits than making pricing and ordering decisions sequentially. Second, a great initiative in adoption significantly increases price premium and profit. Finally, the optimal price shows a U-shape (i.e., decreases first and increases later relationship and the profit increases gradually with the repeat-purchase rate when it is still not very high.

  7. Price strategy and pricing strategy: terms and content identification

    OpenAIRE

    Panasenko Tetyana

    2015-01-01

    The article is devoted to the terminology and content identification of seemingly identical concepts "price strategy" and "pricing strategy". The article contains evidence that the price strategy determines the direction, principles and procedure of implementing the company price policy and pricing strategy creates a set of rules and practical methods of price formation in accordance with the pricing strategy of the company.

  8. Price-related promotions for tobacco products on Twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Catherine L; Kornfield, Rachel; Kim, Yoonsang; Emery, Sherry; Ribisl, Kurt M

    2016-07-01

    This cross-sectional study examined price-related promotions for tobacco products on Twitter. Through the Twitter Firehose, we obtained access to all public tweets posted between 6 December 2012 and 20 June 2013 that contained a keyword suggesting a tobacco-related product or behaviour (eg, cigarette, vaping) in addition to a keyword suggesting a price promotion (eg, coupon, discount). From this data set of 155 249 tweets, we constructed a stratified sampling frame based on the price-related keywords and randomly sampled 5000 tweets (3.2%). Tweets were coded for product type and promotion type. Non-English tweets and tweets unrelated to a tobacco or cessation price promotion were excluded, leaving an analytic sample of 2847 tweets. The majority of tweets (97.0%) mentioned tobacco products while 3% mentioned tobacco cessation products. E-cigarettes were the most frequently mentioned product (90.1%), followed by cigarettes (5.4%). The most common type of price promotion mentioned across all products was a discount. About a third of all e-cigarette-related tweets included a discount code. Banned or restricted price promotions comprised about 3% of cigarette-related tweets. This study demonstrates that the vast majority of tweets offering price promotions focus on e-cigarettes. Future studies should examine the extent to which Twitter users, particularly youth, notice or engage with these price promotion tweets. 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/

  9. Economic Order Quality Model for Determining the Sales Prices of Fresh Goods at Various Points in Time

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Po-Yu Chen

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Although the safe consumption of goods such as food products, medicine, and vaccines is related to their freshness, consumers frequently understand less than suppliers about the freshness of goods when they purchase them. Because of this lack of information, apart from sales prices, consumers refer only to the manufacturing and expiration dates when deciding whether to purchase and how many of these goods to buy. If dealers could determine the sales price at each point in time and customers’ intention to buy goods of varying freshness, then dealers could set an optimal inventory cycle and allocate a weekly sales price for each point in time, thereby maximizing the profit per unit time. Therefore, in this study, an economic order quality model was established to enable discussion of the optimal control of sales prices. The technique for identifying the optimal solution for the model was determined, the characteristics of the optimal solution were demonstrated, and the implications of the solution’s sensitivity analysis were explained.

  10. Mellin Transform Method for European Option Pricing with Hull-White Stochastic Interest Rate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji-Hun Yoon

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Even though interest rates fluctuate randomly in the marketplace, many option-pricing models do not fully consider their stochastic nature owing to their generally limited impact on option prices. However, stochastic dynamics in stochastic interest rates may have a significant impact on option prices as we take account of issues of maturity, hedging, or stochastic volatility. In this paper, we derive a closed form solution for European options in Black-Scholes model with stochastic interest rate using Mellin transform techniques.

  11. Allocating the CO{sub 2} emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices. A reply

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierru, Axel [Economics Department, IFP, 228-232 Avenue Napoleon Bonaparte, 92852 Rueil-Malmaison (France)

    2010-05-15

    In this reply, I oppose and further debate some of the points raised in Mr. Tehrani's comment (2010). In addition, I show that, when dealing with short-run linear-programming models with not-adjusted-to-demand capacities, Aumann-Shapley prices can be considered as an attempt to recreate long-run marginal costs. (author)

  12. Combined natural gas and electricity network pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morais, M.S.; Marangon Lima, J.W. [Universidade Federal de Itajuba, Rua Dr. Daniel de Carvalho, no. 296, Passa Quatro, Minas Gerais, CEP 37460-000 (Brazil)

    2007-04-15

    The introduction of competition to electricity generation and commercialization has been the main focus of many restructuring experiences around the world. The open access to the transmission network and a fair regulated tariff have been the keystones for the development of the electricity market. Parallel to the electricity industry, the natural gas business has great interaction with the electricity market in terms of fuel consumption and energy conversion. Given that the transmission and distribution monopolistic activities are very similar to the natural gas transportation through pipelines, economic regulation related to the natural gas network should be coherent with the transmission counterpart. This paper shows the application of the main wheeling charge methods, such as MW/gas-mile, invested related asset cost (IRAC) and Aumman-Shapley allocation, to both transmission and gas network. Stead-state equations are developed to adequate the various pricing methods. Some examples clarify the results, in terms of investments for thermal generation plants and end consumers, when combined pricing methods are used for transmission and gas networks. The paper also shows that the synergies between gas and electricity industry should be adequately considered, otherwise wrong economic signals are sent to the market players. (author)

  13. Value based pricing: the least valued pricing strategy

    OpenAIRE

    Hoenen, Bob

    2017-01-01

    Pricing has been one of the least researched topics in marketing, although within these pricing strategies: cost-plus pricing is considered as the leading pricing strategy worldwide. Why should companies use such an unprofitable strategy, where fighting for a higher market share due to low prices is more a rule than exception? VBP is one of the most underestimated strategies by organizations. The definition of VBP is: 'value pricing applies to products that have the potential of being differe...

  14. 48 CFR 36.207 - Pricing fixed-price construction contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Pricing fixed-price... Contracting for Construction 36.207 Pricing fixed-price construction contracts. (a) Generally, firm-fixed... methods. (b) Lump-sum pricing shall be used in preference to unit pricing except when— (1) Large...

  15. The net effect of alternative allocation ratios on recruitment time and trial cost.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vozdolska, Ralitza; Sano, Mary; Aisen, Paul; Edland, Steven D

    2009-04-01

    Increasing the proportion of subjects allocated to the experimental treatment in controlled clinical trials is often advocated as a method of increasing recruitment rates and improving the performance of trials. The presumption is that the higher likelihood of randomization to the experimental treatment will be perceived by potential study enrollees as an added benefit of participation and will increase recruitment rates and speed the completion of trials. However, studies with alternative allocation ratios require a larger sample size to maintain statistical power, which may result in a net increase in time required to complete recruitment and a net increase in total trial cost. To describe the potential net effect of alternative allocation ratios on recruitment time and trial cost. Models of recruitment time and trial cost were developed and used to compare trials with 1:1 allocation to trials with alternative allocation ratios under a range of per subject costs, per day costs, and enrollment rates. In regard to time required to complete recruitment, alternative allocation ratios are net beneficial if the recruitment rate improves by more than about 4% for trials with a 1.5:1 allocation ratio and 12% for trials with a 2:1 allocation ratio. More substantial improvements in recruitment rate, 13 and 47% respectively for scenarios we considered, are required for alternative allocation to be net beneficial in terms of tangible monetary cost. The cost models were developed expressly for trials comparing proportions or means across treatment groups. Using alternative allocation ratio designs to improve recruitment may or may not be time and cost-effective. Using alternative allocation for this purpose should only be considered for trial contexts where there is both clear evidence that the alternative design does improve recruitment rates and the attained time or cost efficiency justifies the added study subject burden implied by a larger sample size.

  16. Price strategy and pricing strategy: terms and content identification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Panasenko Tetyana

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the terminology and content identification of seemingly identical concepts "price strategy" and "pricing strategy". The article contains evidence that the price strategy determines the direction, principles and procedure of implementing the company price policy and pricing strategy creates a set of rules and practical methods of price formation in accordance with the pricing strategy of the company.

  17. Research on Supply Chain Coordination and Profit Allocation Based on Altruistic Principal under Bilateral Asymmetric Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuiliang Gu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available To ensure supply chain coordination and equitable profit allocation when there is bilateral asymmetric information, a supply chain consisting of one manufacturer with private manufacturing cost information and one retailer with private selling cost information is considered. A bilateral adverse selection model is established with a virtual altruistic principal as the coordination subject, for which the supply chain coordination conditions and an allocation rule for the supply chain surplus are then given. It was found that contract coordination depended on the costs and risk rates of both parties and market demand; that is, the lower the costs and the risk rate, the easier the supply chain coordination. Second, the trading volume distortion degree was positively correlated with production cost, sales cost, and price sensitivity and negatively correlated with the market environment parameter. Third, the allocation proportion for the supply chain surplus was determined. Finally, under a specific cost distribution assumption, a numerical example was given to simulate the contract execution and analyze the relationships between costs and profit.

  18. Nonlinear Pricing in Energy and Environmental Markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Koichiro

    Consumers Respond to Nonlinear Pricing? Evidence from Household Water Demand" provides similar empirical evidence in residential water markets. In this paper, I exploit variation in residential water pricing in Southern California to examine how consumers respond to nonlinear pricing. Contrary to the standard predictions for nonlinear budget sets, I find no bunching of consumers around the kink points of their nonlinear price schedule. I then explore whether consumers respond to marginal price, expected marginal price, or average price when faced with nonlinear water price schedules. The price schedule of one service area was changed from a linear price schedule to a nonlinear price schedule. This policy change lead to an increase in marginal price and expected marginal price but a decrease in average price for many consumers. Using household-level panel data, I find strong evidence that consumers respond to average price rather than marginal or expected marginal price. Estimates of the short-run price elasticity for the summer and winter months are -.127 and -.097, and estimates of the long-run price elasticity for the summer and winter months are -.203 and -.154. I conclude with "The Effect of Cash Rewards on Energy Conservation: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design" to examine the effect of an alternative form of nonlinear pricing that was developed to provide an explicit financial incentive for conservation. In the summer of 2005, California residents received a 20% discount on their summer electricity bills if they could reduce their electricity consumption by 20% relative to 2004. Nearly all households automatically participated in the program, but the eligibility rule required households to have started their electricity service by a certain cutoff date in 2004. This rule generated an essentially random assignment of the program among households that started their service right before and after the cutoff date. Using household-level monthly billing records

  19. Randomization of inspections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markin, J.T.

    1989-01-01

    As the numbers and complexity of nuclear facilities increase, limitations on resources for international safeguards may restrict attainment of safeguards goals. One option for improving the efficiency of limited resources is to expand the current inspection regime to include random allocation of the amount and frequency of inspection effort to material strata or to facilities. This paper identifies the changes in safeguards policy, administrative procedures, and operational procedures that would be necessary to accommodate randomized inspections and identifies those situations where randomization can improve inspection efficiency and those situations where the current nonrandom inspections should be maintained. 9 refs., 1 tab

  20. Logistics: Price Rises Incurred by High Oil Price

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Lai Zhihui

    2011-01-01

    @@ "When the oil price grows by 100%, the logistic indus-try will see a price growth of 40%, while the logistics in-dustry a price rise of 35%, which means every price increase of 5% in the oil price will bring along that of 2% in this industry." said Liu Zongsheng, General Manager of Itochu Logistics Co., Ltd., on the seminar "Focusing on the eco-nomic consequences of raising oil price, interest rate and deposit reserve ratio", which was held recently.

  1. The capital-asset-pricing model and arbitrage pricing theory: a unification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali Khan, M; Sun, Y

    1997-04-15

    We present a model of a financial market in which naive diversification, based simply on portfolio size and obtained as a consequence of the law of large numbers, is distinguished from efficient diversification, based on mean-variance analysis. This distinction yields a valuation formula involving only the essential risk embodied in an asset's return, where the overall risk can be decomposed into a systematic and an unsystematic part, as in the arbitrage pricing theory; and the systematic component further decomposed into an essential and an inessential part, as in the capital-asset-pricing model. The two theories are thus unified, and their individual asset-pricing formulas shown to be equivalent to the pervasive economic principle of no arbitrage. The factors in the model are endogenously chosen by a procedure analogous to the Karhunen-Loéve expansion of continuous time stochastic processes; it has an optimality property justifying the use of a relatively small number of them to describe the underlying correlational structures. Our idealized limit model is based on a continuum of assets indexed by a hyperfinite Loeb measure space, and it is asymptotically implementable in a setting with a large but finite number of assets. Because the difficulties in the formulation of the law of large numbers with a standard continuum of random variables are well known, the model uncovers some basic phenomena not amenable to classical methods, and whose approximate counterparts are not already, or even readily, apparent in the asymptotic setting.

  2. Enhancing medicine price transparency through price information mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinsch, Michael; Kaddar, Miloud; Schmitt, Sarah

    2014-05-08

    Medicine price information mechanisms provide an essential tool to countries that seek a better understanding of product availability, market prices and price compositions of individual medicines. To be effective and contribute to cost savings, these mechanisms need to consider prices in their particular contexts when comparing between countries. This article discusses in what ways medicine price information mechanisms can contribute to increased price transparency and how this may affect access to medicines for developing countries. We used data collected during the course of a WHO project focusing on the development of a vaccine price and procurement information mechanism. The project collected information from six medicine price information mechanisms and interviewed data managers and technical experts on key aspects as well as observed market effects of these mechanisms.The reviewed mechanisms were broken down into categories including objective and target audience, as well as the sources, types and volumes of data included. Information provided by the mechanisms was reviewed according to data available on medicine prices, product characteristics, and procurement modalities. We found indications of positive effects on access to medicines resulting from the utilization of the reviewed mechanisms. These include the uptake of higher quality medicines, more favorable results from contract negotiations, changes in national pricing policies, and the decrease of prices in certain segments for countries participating in or deriving data from the various mechanisms. The reviewed mechanisms avoid the methodological challenges observed for medicine price comparisons that only use national price databases. They work with high quality data and display prices in the appropriate context of procurement modalities as well as the peculiarities of purchasing countries. Medicine price information mechanisms respond to the need for increased medicine price transparency and have the

  3. Dynamic Pricing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sharifi, Reza; Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Fathi, S. Hamid

    2017-01-01

    Dynamic pricing scheme, also known as real-time pricing (RTP), can be more efficient and technically beneficial than the other price-based schemes (such as flat-rate or time-of-use (TOU) pricing) for enabling demand response (DR) actions. Over the past few years, advantages of RTP-based schemes h...... of dynamic pricing can lead to increased willingness of consumers to participate in DR programs which in turn improve the operation of liberalized electricity markets.......Dynamic pricing scheme, also known as real-time pricing (RTP), can be more efficient and technically beneficial than the other price-based schemes (such as flat-rate or time-of-use (TOU) pricing) for enabling demand response (DR) actions. Over the past few years, advantages of RTP-based schemes...

  4. Crude Oil Price Forecasting Based on Hybridizing Wavelet Multiple Linear Regression Model, Particle Swarm Optimization Techniques, and Principal Component Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shabri, Ani; Samsudin, Ruhaidah

    2014-01-01

    Crude oil prices do play significant role in the global economy and are a key input into option pricing formulas, portfolio allocation, and risk measurement. In this paper, a hybrid model integrating wavelet and multiple linear regressions (MLR) is proposed for crude oil price forecasting. In this model, Mallat wavelet transform is first selected to decompose an original time series into several subseries with different scale. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) is used in processing subseries data in MLR for crude oil price forecasting. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to adopt the optimal parameters of the MLR model. To assess the effectiveness of this model, daily crude oil market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), has been used as the case study. Time series prediction capability performance of the WMLR model is compared with the MLR, ARIMA, and GARCH models using various statistics measures. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the individual models in forecasting of the crude oil prices series. PMID:24895666

  5. Crude oil price forecasting based on hybridizing wavelet multiple linear regression model, particle swarm optimization techniques, and principal component analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shabri, Ani; Samsudin, Ruhaidah

    2014-01-01

    Crude oil prices do play significant role in the global economy and are a key input into option pricing formulas, portfolio allocation, and risk measurement. In this paper, a hybrid model integrating wavelet and multiple linear regressions (MLR) is proposed for crude oil price forecasting. In this model, Mallat wavelet transform is first selected to decompose an original time series into several subseries with different scale. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA) is used in processing subseries data in MLR for crude oil price forecasting. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to adopt the optimal parameters of the MLR model. To assess the effectiveness of this model, daily crude oil market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), has been used as the case study. Time series prediction capability performance of the WMLR model is compared with the MLR, ARIMA, and GARCH models using various statistics measures. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the individual models in forecasting of the crude oil prices series.

  6. The European power industry : asymmetries and price volatility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isabel, M.; Soares, R.T.

    2005-01-01

    A time series model was used to obtain empirical evidence on the spot price volatility of the Spanish electricity market. The model was based on a single market operator and 2 system operators. A generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model was used to model and forecast conditional variances related to the spot price volatility of the Spanish electricity market. A correlogram analysis was used to model the processes behind the time series. Autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions were used to demonstrate that the the derived electricity spot price series was not a random walk. Lags in various areas were attributed to the fact that a large proportion of electricity is consumed by industry. Weekly cycles justified values presented by a lags multiple of 7. Results of the modelling study showed that the method can be used in the risk management of electricity portfolios as well as in the pricing and hedging of different types of derivatives in electricity markets. It was concluded that further work is needed to reduce instability and asymmetries between generators, consumers and regulators. 16 refs., 5 tabs., 5 figs

  7. Dynamic Resource Allocation in Hybrid Access Femtocell Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Afaz Uddin Ahmed

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Intercell interference is one of the most challenging issues in femtocell deployment under the coverage of existing macrocell. Allocation of resources between femtocell and macrocell is essential to counter the effects of interference in dense femtocell networks. Advances in resource management strategies have improved the control mechanism for interference reduction at lower node density, but most of them are ineffective at higher node density. In this paper, a dynamic resource allocation management algorithm (DRAMA for spectrum shared hybrid access OFDMA femtocell network is proposed. To reduce the macro-femto-tier interference and to improve the quality of service, the proposed algorithm features a dynamic resource allocation scheme by controlling them both centrally and locally. The proposed scheme focuses on Femtocell Access Point (FAP owners’ satisfaction and allows maximum utilization of available resources based on congestion in the network. A simulation environment is developed to study the quantitative performance of DRAMA in hybrid access-control femtocell network and compare it to closed and open access mechanisms. The performance analysis shows that higher number of random users gets connected to the FAP without compromising FAP owners’ satisfaction allowing the macrocell to offload a large number of users in a dense heterogeneous network.

  8. The Clean-Development Mechanism, stochastic permit prices and energy investments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hieronymi, Philipp; Schüller, David

    2015-01-01

    We analyze the impact on energy investments stemming from different emission permit classes, by considering permits that are allocated inside the European Emission Trading Scheme and secondary Certified Emission Reduction (sCER) permits originating from the Clean Development Mechanism. One price taking firm which is subject to emission regulation has the choice to invest in gas or wind power plant. The firm faces uncertainty regarding stochastically evolving permit prices, while it receives a premium on the electricity price for wind energy. As a first step, we determine the value of the option to invest into a gas power plant over time. Then, we calculate the investment probability of a gas power investment in a range of policy scenarios. We find that allowing the usage of sCER permits in the present policy framework has a positive impact on gas power investment. Decoupling the price processes has a similar effect. If the quota of sCER permits is doubled, the decrease in the investment probability for wind power is large. We carry out sensitivity tests for different parameter values, and find that investment behavior changes significantly with differing interest rates, the wind energy premium and volatility. - Highlights: • We model the impact of two CO 2 permit classes on energy investments. • We present a real-options framework accounting for uncertainty. • Clean Development Mechanism permits have a negative influence on investment into renewable energy. • Interest rate and volatility values have a strong impact on the results

  9. Residency Allocation Database

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Veterans Affairs — The Residency Allocation Database is used to determine allocation of funds for residency programs offered by Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs). Information...

  10. A note on mate allocation for dominance handling in genomic selection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toro Miguel A

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Estimation of non-additive genetic effects in animal breeding is important because it increases the accuracy of breeding value prediction and the value of mate allocation procedures. With the advent of genomic selection these ideas should be revisited. The objective of this study was to quantify the efficiency of including dominance effects and practising mating allocation under a whole-genome evaluation scenario. Four strategies of selection, carried out during five generations, were compared by simulation techniques. In the first scenario (MS, individuals were selected based on their own phenotypic information. In the second (GSA, they were selected based on the prediction generated by the Bayes A method of whole-genome evaluation under an additive model. In the third (GSD, the model was expanded to include dominance effects. These three scenarios used random mating to construct future generations, whereas in the fourth one (GSD + MA, matings were optimized by simulated annealing. The advantage of GSD over GSA ranges from 9 to 14% of the expected response and, in addition, using mate allocation (GSD + MA provides an additional response ranging from 6% to 22%. However, mate selection can improve the expected genetic response over random mating only in the first generation of selection. Furthermore, the efficiency of genomic selection is eroded after a few generations of selection, thus, a continued collection of phenotypic data and re-evaluation will be required.

  11. Oil price volatility and the asymmetric response of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radchenko, S.

    2005-01-01

    This paper analyzes the effect of volatility in oil prices on the degree of asymmetry in the response of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases. Several time series measures of the asymmetry between the responses of gasoline prices to oil price increases and decreases and several measures of the oil price volatility are constructed. In all models, the degree of asymmetry in gasoline prices declines with an increase in oil price volatility. The results support the oligopolistic coordination theory as a likely explanation of the observed asymmetry and are not consistent with the standard search theory and the search theory with Bayesian updating. (author)

  12. Market Structure and Price Transmission of Eggs Commodity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Aziz Ahmad

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Purposes of this research are to determine some characteristics of distribution channel, market structure, and price maker transmission in purebred chicken egg commodity in Banyumas District, Central Java Province. Primary data applied on this research is from all channel distribution levels; from producers to final consumers. Meanwhile secondary data is collected from government official sources, such as BPS-Statistic of Banyumas Disrict, Banyumas Department of Industry, Trading and Cooperation, and previous researches which has been made by researcher team. Sample determining is directed by proportional random sampling methods. Some measurements are applied to this research, including to; Herfindahl Index (HI, Concentration Ratio (CF, and Minimum Efficiency Scale (MES to investigate market structure; and Asymmetric Price Transmission (APT to determine price transmission mechanism model. This research finds that (1 the distribution channel of egg commodity is spitted to different channel, the first channel: egg producer – retail traders – final consumers, and second channel: egg producers – whole seller – retail traders – final consumers; (2 market structure which is created to this farming specific commodity is perfect market; (3 price transmission mechanism analysis statistically shows that there is almost no existence of dominant power in price formation.

  13. Fund allocation within Australian dental care: an innovative approach to output based funding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tennant, M; Carrello, C; Kruger, E

    2005-12-01

    Over the last 15 years in Australia the process of funding government health care has changed significantly. The development of dental funding models that transparently meet both the service delivery needs for data at the treatment level and policy makers' need for health condition data is critical to the continued integration of dentistry into the wider health system. This paper presents a model of fund allocation that provides a communication construct that addresses the needs of both policy makers and service providers. In this model, dental treatments (dental item numbers) have been grouped into eight broad dental health conditions. Within each dental health condition, a weighted average price is determined using the Department of Veterans Affairs' (DVA) fee schedule as the benchmark, adjusted for the mix of care. The model also adjusts for the efficiency differences between sectors providing government funded dental care. In summary, the price to be applied to a dental health condition category is determined by the weighted average DVA price adjusted by the sector efficiency. This model allows governments and dental service providers to develop funding agreements that both quantify and justify the treatment to be provided. Such a process facilitates the continued integration of dental care into the wider health system.

  14. IS THE PRICE RIGHT? PRICING FOR LONG TERM PROFITABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Erika NYÁRÁDI

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The way how we choose our pricing strategy has a significant impact on company’s success. Nowadays companies more and more adopt a new way of thinking in pricing, namely pricing for a long term period in order to bring higher profitability, to build an efficient pricing strategy. Marketers have only recently begun to focus seriously on effective pricing. These companies are the so called progressive companies. They have begun doing more than just worrying about pricing. To increase profitability many are abandoning traditional reactive pricing procedures in favor of proactive pricing, making explicit corporate decisions to change their focus to growth in top-line sales to growth in profitability. The long-term implications of price strategies are still under-researched, and managers should be aware of shifts in customer reactions that may result from frequent adoption of certain strategies. The company pricing strategy should be seen in relation to developments in the company variables, internal ones (capital strength, competencies, organizational conditions, efficiency of the work force etc. as well as external ones (customers, competitors, the technological development etc., adopting strategic pricing. In this paper I will present the most effective pricing strategies leading to long term profitability, and also suggest practical conditions for pricing strategies to maximize profit in the long run.

  15. Patients' views on price shopping and price transparency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semigran, Hannah L; Gourevitch, Rebecca; Sinaiko, Anna D; Cowling, David; Mehrotra, Ateev

    2017-06-01

    Driven by the growth of high deductibles and price transparency initiatives, patients are being encouraged to search for prices before seeking care, yet few do so. To understand why this is the case, we interviewed individuals who were offered access to a widely used price transparency website through their employer. Qualitative interviews. We interviewed individuals enrolled in a preferred provider organization product through their health plan about their experience using the price transparency tool (if they had done so), their past medical experiences, and their opinions on shopping for care. All interviews were transcribed and manually coded using a thematic coding guide. In general, respondents expressed frustration with healthcare costs and had a positive opinion of the idea of price shopping in theory, but 2 sets of barriers limited their ability to do so in reality. The first was the salience of searching for price information. For example, respondents recognized that due to their health plan benefits design, they would not save money by switching to a lower-cost provider. Second, other factors were more important than price for respondents when choosing a provider, including quality and loyalty to current providers. We found a disconnect between respondents' enthusiasm for price shopping and their reported use of a price transparency tool to shop for care. However, many did find the tool useful for other purposes, including checking their claims history. Addressing the barriers to price shopping identified by respondents can help inform ongoing and future price transparency initiatives.

  16. Resource Allocation Optimization Model of Collaborative Logistics Network Based on Bilevel Programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-feng Xu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Collaborative logistics network resource allocation can effectively meet the needs of customers. It can realize the overall benefit maximization of the logistics network and ensure that collaborative logistics network runs orderly at the time of creating value. Therefore, this article is based on the relationship of collaborative logistics network supplier, the transit warehouse, and sellers, and we consider the uncertainty of time to establish a bilevel programming model with random constraints and propose a genetic simulated annealing hybrid intelligent algorithm to solve it. Numerical example shows that the method has stronger robustness and convergence; it can achieve collaborative logistics network resource allocation rationalization and optimization.

  17. Analyzing the effects of past prices on reference price formation

    OpenAIRE

    van Oest, R.D.; Paap, R.

    2004-01-01

    textabstractWe propose a new reference price framework for brand choice. In this framework, we employ a Markov-switching process with an absorbing state to model unobserved price recall of households. Reference prices result from the prices households are able to remember. Our model can be used to learn how many prices observed in the past are used for reference price formation. Furthermore, we learn to what extent households have sufficient price knowledge to form an internal reference price...

  18. State Approaches to Demand Reduction Induced Price Effects: Examining How Energy Efficiency Can Lower Prices for All

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Taylor, Colin [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Hedman, Bruce [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Goldberg, Amelie [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

    2015-12-01

    Effects (DRIPE) as a real, quantifiable benefit of energy efficiency and demand response programs. DRIPE is a measurement of the value of demand reductions in terms of the decrease in wholesale energy prices, resulting in lower total expenditures on electricity or natural gas across a given grid. Crucially for policymakers and consumer advocates, DRIPE savings accrue not only to the subset of customers who consume less, but to all consumers. Rate-paying customers realize DRIPE savings when price reductions across an electricity or natural gas system are passed on to all retail customers as lower rates (depending upon regulation and market structure, residual savings may be wholly or partially retained by utilities). DRIPE savings, though seemingly small in terms of percent price reductions or dollars per household, can amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per year across entire states or grids. Therefore, accurately assessing DRIPE benefits can help to ensure appropriate programs are designed and implemented for energy efficiency measures. This paper reviews the existing knowledge and experience from select U.S. states regarding DRIPE (including New York and Ohio), and the potential for expanded application of the concept of DRIPE by regulators. Policymakers and public utility commissions have a critical role to play in setting the methodology for determining DRIPE, encouraging its capture by utilities, and allocating DRIPE benefits among utilities, various groups of customers, and/or society at large. While the methodologies for estimating DRIPE benefits are still being perfected, policymakers can follow the examples of states such as Maryland and Vermont in including conservative DRIPE estimates in their resource planning.

  19. Integrated waste load allocation for river water pollution control under uncertainty: a case study of Tuojiang River, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jiuping; Hou, Shuhua; Yao, Liming; Li, Chaozhi

    2017-07-01

    This paper presents a bi-level optimization waste load allocation programming model under a fuzzy random environment to assist integrated river pollution control. Taking account of the leader-follower decision-making in the water function zones framework, the proposed approach examines the decision making feedback relationships and conflict coordination between the river basin authority and the regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on the Stackelberg-Nash equilibrium strategy. In the pollution control system, the river basin authority, as the leader, allocates equitable emissions rights to different subareas, and the then subarea EPA, as the followers, reallocates the limited resources to various functional zones to minimize pollution costs. This research also considers the uncertainty in the water pollution management, and the uncertain input information is expressed as fuzzy random variables. The proposed methodological approach is then applied to Tuojiang River in China and the bi-level linear programming model solutions are achieved using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker condition. Based on the waste load allocation scheme results and various scenario analyses and discussion, some operational policies are proposed to assist decision makers (DMs) cope with waste load allocation problem for integrated river pollution control for the overall benefits.

  20. Forecasting Day-Ahead Electricity Prices : Utilizing Hourly Prices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. Raviv (Eran); K.E. Bouwman (Kees); D.J.C. van Dijk (Dick)

    2013-01-01

    textabstractThe daily average price of electricity represents the price of electricity to be delivered over the full next day and serves as a key reference price in the electricity market. It is an aggregate that equals the average of hourly prices for delivery during each of the 24 individual

  1. A branch-and-price algorithm to solve the integrated berth allocation and yard assignment problem in bulk ports

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Robenek, Tomáš; Umang, Nitish; Bierlaire, Michel

    2014-01-01

    In this research, two crucial optimization problems of berth allocation and yard assignment in the context of bulk ports are studied. We discuss how these problems are interrelated and can be combined and solved as a single large scale optimization problem. More importantly we highlight the diffe...

  2. Options to address concerns regarding EU ETS induced increases in power prices and generators' profits. The case of carbon cost pass-through in Germany and the Netherlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sijm, J.P.M.; Hers, J.S.; Wetzelaer, B.J.H.W.

    2008-02-01

    Power prices in EU countries have increased significantly since the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) became effective on 1 January 2005. This suggests that these increases in power prices are due to this scheme, in particular the pass-through of the costs of EU allowances (EUAs) to cover the CO2 emissions of eligible installations. In all sectors, however - including the power sector - eligible installations have usually received almost all of their needed allowances for free during the first phase of the EU ETS (2005-07). In several EU countries, the coincidence of the increases in power prices and the implementation of the EU ETS has raised questions, and sometimes fierce political debate, on whether power producers have indeed passed through the costs of freely allocated CO2 allowances to electricity prices, and to what extent the increase in these prices can be attributed to this pass-through or to other factors. In addition, it has raised discussions on whether - and to what extent - the supposed passing through of these costs has led to additional profits for power producers, that is, the so-called 'windfall profits' induced by the EU ETS. Finally, the supposed ETSinduced increases in power prices and generators' profits has raised concerns affecting the legitimacy of the present EU ETS, including concerns regarding its impact on the international competitiveness of some powerintensive industries, the purchasing power of electricity end-users such as small households or, more generally, the distribution of social welfare among power producers and consumers. As a result, in several countries policy makers and stakeholders have suggested a variety of options to address these concerns, including changing the emissions trading allocation system, taxing windfall profits or controlling market prices of EU carbon allowances, electricity or both. Against this background, the objectives of this chapter include: (a) To analyse empirically the trends in power

  3. Oil prices and the stock prices of alternative energy companies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henriques, Irene; Sadorsky, Perry

    2008-01-01

    Energy security issues coupled with increased concern over the natural environment are driving factors behind oil price movements. While it is widely accepted that rising oil prices are good for the financial performance of alternative energy companies, there has been relatively little statistical work done to measure just how sensitive the financial performance of alternative energy companies are to changes in oil prices. In this paper, a four variable vector autoregression model is developed and estimated in order to investigate the empirical relationship between alternative energy stock prices, technology stock prices, oil prices, and interest rates. Our results show technology stock prices and oil prices each individually Granger cause the stock prices of alternative energy companies. Simulation results show that a shock to technology stock prices has a larger impact on alternative energy stock prices than does a shock to oil prices. These results should be of use to investors, managers and policy makers. (author)

  4. Forecasting Day-Ahead Electricity Prices: Utilizing Hourly Prices

    OpenAIRE

    Raviv, Eran; Bouwman, Kees E.; van Dijk, Dick

    2013-01-01

    This discussion paper led to a publication in 'Energy Economics' , 2015, 50, 227-239. The daily average price of electricity represents the price of electricity to be delivered over the full next day and serves as a key reference price in the electricity market. It is an aggregate that equals the average of hourly prices for delivery during each of the 24 individual hours. This paper demonstrates that the disaggregated hourly prices contain useful predictive information for the daily average ...

  5. Higher Education Prices and Price Indexes. 1976 Supplement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halstead, Kent D.

    The 1976 supplement presents higher education price index data for fiscal years 1971 through 1976. The basic study, "Higher Education Prices and Price Indexes" (ED 123 996) presents complete descriptions of the indexes together with index values and price data for fiscal years 1961 through 1974. Indexes are presented for research and development,…

  6. Theory of Financial Risk and Derivative Pricing - 2nd Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe; Potters, Marc

    2003-12-01

    Foreword; Preface; 1. Probability theory: basic notions; 2. Maximum and addition of random variables; 3. Continuous time limit, Ito calculus and path integrals; 4. Analysis of empirical data; 5. Financial products and financial markets; 6. Statistics of real prices: basic results; 7. Non-linear correlations and volatility fluctuations; 8. Skewness and price-volatility correlations; 9. Cross-correlations; 10. Risk measures; 11. Extreme correlations and variety; 12. Optimal portfolios; 13. Futures and options: fundamental concepts; 14. Options: hedging and residual risk; 15. Options: the role of drift and correlations; 16. Options: the Black and Scholes model; 17. Options: some more specific problems; 18. Options: minimum variance Monte-Carlo; 19. The yield curve; 20. Simple mechanisms for anomalous price statistics; Index of most important symbols; Index.

  7. Another look on the relationships between oil prices and energy prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lahiani, Amine; Miloudi, Anthony; Benkraiem, Ramzi; Shahbaz, Muhammad

    2017-01-01

    This paper employs the Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lags (QARDL) model developed recently by Cho et al. (2015) to investigate the pass-through of oil prices to a set of energy prices. This approach allows analyzing simultaneously short-term connections and long-run cointegrating relationships across a range of quantiles. It also provides insights on the short-run predictive power of oil prices in predicting energy prices while accounting for the cointegration between oil prices and each of the considered energy prices in low, medium and high quantiles. Two key findings emerge from this paper. First, all considered energy prices are shown to be cointegrated with oil price across quantiles meaning that a stationaryequilibriumrelationship exists between single energy price and oil price. Second, we find evidence that oil price is a significant predictor of individual petroleum products prices and natural gas in the short run. This paper has important policy implications for forecasters, energy policy-makers and portfolio managers. - Highlights: • The pass-through of oil prices to a set of energy prices is investigated for US economy. • All considered energy prices are shown to be cointegrated with oil price across quantiles. • Oil price is a significant predictor of individual petroleum products prices in the short run. • Oil price also predicts natural gas prices in the short run.

  8. Effect of food prices on the prevalence of obesity among young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, E; Powell, L M

    2011-03-01

    To examine the extent to which various food prices were associated with the obesity status of young adults. Retrospective cohort study of 6537 men and 5324 women in the USA using panel data from the Monitoring the Future Surveys (1992-2003), which were merged with two food-at-home and one food-away-from-home price measures from the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association. Longitudinal individual random effect and fixed effect models were estimated. This study found that food prices did not have a significant effect on the prevalence of obesity among young female adults. For young adult men, an individual random effect estimator suggested that a 10% increase in the price of fast food was associated with a 13.2% decrease in the probability of obesity, but this effect lost its economic and statistical significance once individual fixed effects were controlled for in the estimation. Overall, the results imply that observed time-varying individual characteristics, such as working status, marital status and school enrolment status, may over-ride the effect of changes in food prices for young adults. More research employing longitudinal data is necessary to determine if food subsidies or taxes, particularly soft drink and fast food taxes or subsidies for fruit and vegetables, could be effective policy measures to curtail the increasing prevalence of obesity among young adults. Copyright © 2010 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Treated Wastewater for Irrigated Agriculture in the Jordan Valley - Analysing Water allocation and Willingness to Pay for reused water

    OpenAIRE

    Alfarra, Amani

    2010-01-01

    Jordan Valley is an important regional supplier of crops where much of the freshwater resources are consumed. A Water Reuse Index shows that there is room for an increase of TWW volumes. An evaluation of various water resource allocations with fresh and TWW sources using WEAP model was applied. The contingent valuation method for farmers' willingness to accept/pay for the TWW was applied considering pricing for different water quality.

  10. Pricing Mining Concessions Based on Combined Multinomial Pricing Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chang Xiao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A combined multinomial pricing model is proposed for pricing mining concession in which the annualized volatility of the price of mineral products follows a multinomial distribution. First, a combined multinomial pricing model is proposed which consists of binomial pricing models calculated according to different volatility values. Second, a method is provided to calculate the annualized volatility and the distribution. Third, the value of convenience yields is calculated based on the relationship between the futures price and the spot price. The notion of convenience yields is used to adjust our model as well. Based on an empirical study of a Chinese copper mine concession, we verify that our model is easy to use and better than the model with constant volatility when considering the changing annualized volatility of the price of the mineral product.

  11. The impact of electricity price changes on industrial prices and the general price level in Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Seul-Ye; Yoo, Seung-Hoon

    2013-01-01

    Electricity has played an important role in the economic development of Korea and, thus, has become a critical factor in sustaining the well-being of the Korean people. This study attempts to investigate the impact of electricity price changes on industrial prices and the general price level using input–output (I–O) analysis. To this end, we apply the I–O price model to the 2011 I–O table recently produced by the Bank of Korea, paying particular attention to the electricity sector by considering it as exogenous and then investigating its impacts. The impacts of the electricity price changes on each industrial sector's prices and the general price level are quantitatively derived. For example, the overall impact of a 10% increase in electricity price on the Korean national economy is estimated to be 0.4367%. We also report the results from the model with the electricity sector endogenous and the model with endogenous electricity and labor sectors. This information can be usefully utilized in decision-making regarding price management for electricity. - Highlights: • We investigate the impact of electricity price changes on the Korean economy. • We use the input–output (I–O) analysis specifying the electricity sector as exogenous. • We apply the I–O price model to 2010 I–O table produced by the Bank of Korea. • The impact of a 10% increase in electricity price on the Korean economy is 0.2176%

  12. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) Optimal Control Considering Selling Price and Salesman Initiative Cost

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hertini, Elis; Anggriani, Nursanti; Mianna, Winda; Supriatna, Asep K.

    2018-03-01

    Retailers usually offer several types of similar products. A larger number of available stock products in display space will lead consumer to buy more, as well as giving a negative impression on other types of less available products. However, the amount of display space is limited so capacity of carrying the products is limited. Competition among products to increase demand rate is influenced by stock levels available in display space, price and salesmen’s initiative in promoting the products. The Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) to replenish the stock of the product is dependent on the on-hand inventory. Salesman’s initiative also affects maximum profit obtained by the seller. In this paper, Potryagin’s Maximal Principle is used to determine the state of the inventory levels response to control prices of products. Sensitivity analysis of capacity allocation display space is also presented numerically.

  13. Multimedia transmission in MC-CDMA using adaptive subcarrier power allocation and CFO compensation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chitra, S.; Kumaratharan, N.

    2018-02-01

    Multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system is one of the most effective techniques in fourth-generation (4G) wireless technology, due to its high data rate, high spectral efficiency and resistance to multipath fading. However, MC-CDMA systems are greatly deteriorated by carrier frequency offset (CFO) which is due to Doppler shift and oscillator instabilities. It leads to loss of orthogonality among the subcarriers and causes intercarrier interference (ICI). Water filling algorithm (WFA) is an efficient resource allocation algorithm to solve the power utilisation problems among the subcarriers in time-dispersive channels. The conventional WFA fails to consider the effect of CFO. To perform subcarrier power allocation with reduced CFO and to improve the capacity of MC-CDMA system, residual CFO compensated adaptive subcarrier power allocation algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed technique allocates power only to subcarriers with high channel to noise power ratio. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using random binary data and image as source inputs. Simulation results depict that the bit error rate performance and ICI reduction capability of the proposed modified WFA offered superior performance in both power allocation and image compression for high-quality multimedia transmission in the presence of CFO and imperfect channel state information conditions.

  14. Fundamentals of randomized clinical trials in wound care

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eskes, Anne M; Brölmann, Fleur E; Sumpio, Bauer E

    2012-01-01

    randomization is a necessary feature of a robust comparative study, it is not sufficient to ensure a study at low risk of bias. Randomized clinical trials should also ensure adequate allocation concealment and blinding of outcome assessors, apply intention-to-treat analysis, and use patient-oriented outcomes...

  15. Price fairness

    OpenAIRE

    Diller, Hermann

    2013-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this article is to integrate the various strands of fair price research into a concise conceptual model. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed price fairness model is based on a review of the fair pricing literature, incorporating research reported in not only English but also German. Findings – The proposed fair price model depicts seven components of a fair price: distributive fairness, consistent behaviour, personal respect and regard for the partner, fair dea...

  16. Reduction potential, shadow prices, and pollution costs of agricultural pollutants in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Kai; Gong, Chengzhu; Wang, Dong

    2016-01-15

    This paper analyses the reduction potential, shadow prices, and pollution costs of agricultural pollutants in China based on provincial panel data for 2001-2010. Using a parameterized quadratic form for the directional output distance function, we find that if agricultural sectors in all provinces were to produce on the production frontier, China could potentially reduce agricultural emissions of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) by 16.0%, 16.2%, and 20.4%, respectively. Additionally, our results show that the shadow price of TN increased rapidly and continuously, while that of COD and TP fluctuated for the whole period. For the whole country, the average shadow price of COD, TN, and TP are 8266 Yuan/tonne, 25,560 Yuan/tonne, and 10,160 Yuan/tonne, respectively. The regional shadow prices of agricultural pollutants are unbalanced. Furthermore, we show that the pollution costs from emissions of COD, TN, and TP are 6.09% of the annual gross output value of the agricultural sector and are highest in the Western and lowest in the Eastern provinces. Our estimates suggest that there is scope for further pollution abatement and simultaneous output expansion for China's agriculture if farmers promote greater efficiency in their production process. Policymakers are required to dynamically adjust the pollution tax rates and ascertain the initial permit price in an emission trading system. Policymakers should also consider the different pollution costs for each province when making the reduction allocations within the agricultural sector. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Effect of oil price on Nigeria’s food price volatility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ijeoma C. Nwoko

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the effect of oil price on the volatility of food price in Nigeria. It specifically considers the long-run, short-run, and causal relationship between these variables. Annual data on oil price and individual prices of maize, rice, sorghum, soya beans, and wheat spanning from 2000 to 2013 were used. The price volatility for each crop was obtained using Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedascity (GARCH (1, 1 model. Our measure of oil price is the Refiner acquisition cost of imported crude oil. The Augmented Dickey–Fuller and Phillip–Perron unit root tests show that all the variables are integrated of order one, I (1. Therefore, we use the Johansen co-integration test to examine the long-run relationship. Our results show that there is no long-run relationship between oil price and any of the individual food price volatility. Thus, we implement a VAR instead of a VECM to investigate the short-run relationship. The VAR model result revealed a positive and significant short-run relationship between oil price and each of the selected food price volatility with exception of that of rice and wheat price volatility. These results were further confirmed by the impulse response functions. The Granger causality test result indicates a unidirectional causality from oil price to maize, soya bean, and sorghum price volatilities but does not show such relationship for rice and wheat price volatilities. We draw some policy implications of these findings.

  18. Short-term electricity price forecast based on the improved hybrid model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong Yao; Wang Jianzhou; Jiang He; Wu Jie

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → The proposed models can detach high volatility and daily seasonality of electricity price. → The improved hybrid forecast models can make full use of the advantages of individual models. → The proposed models create commendable improvements that are relatively satisfactorily for current research. → The proposed models do not require making complicated decisions about the explicit form. - Abstract: Half-hourly electricity price in power system are volatile, electricity price forecast is significant information which can help market managers and participants involved in electricity market to prepare their corresponding bidding strategies to maximize their benefits and utilities. However, the fluctuation of electricity price depends on the common effect of many factors and there is a very complicated random in its evolution process. Therefore, it is difficult to forecast half-hourly prices with traditional only one model for different behaviors of half-hourly prices. This paper proposes the improved forecasting model that detaches high volatility and daily seasonality for electricity price of New South Wales in Australia based on Empirical Mode Decomposition, Seasonal Adjustment and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average. The prediction errors are analyzed and compared with the ones obtained from the traditional Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model. The comparisons demonstrate that the proposed model can improve the prediction accuracy noticeably.

  19. Short-term electricity price forecast based on the improved hybrid model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dong Yao, E-mail: dongyao20051987@yahoo.cn [School of Mathematics and Statistics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Wang Jianzhou, E-mail: wjz@lzu.edu.cn [School of Mathematics and Statistics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China); Jiang He; Wu Jie [School of Mathematics and Statistics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 (China)

    2011-08-15

    Highlights: {yields} The proposed models can detach high volatility and daily seasonality of electricity price. {yields} The improved hybrid forecast models can make full use of the advantages of individual models. {yields} The proposed models create commendable improvements that are relatively satisfactorily for current research. {yields} The proposed models do not require making complicated decisions about the explicit form. - Abstract: Half-hourly electricity price in power system are volatile, electricity price forecast is significant information which can help market managers and participants involved in electricity market to prepare their corresponding bidding strategies to maximize their benefits and utilities. However, the fluctuation of electricity price depends on the common effect of many factors and there is a very complicated random in its evolution process. Therefore, it is difficult to forecast half-hourly prices with traditional only one model for different behaviors of half-hourly prices. This paper proposes the improved forecasting model that detaches high volatility and daily seasonality for electricity price of New South Wales in Australia based on Empirical Mode Decomposition, Seasonal Adjustment and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average. The prediction errors are analyzed and compared with the ones obtained from the traditional Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model. The comparisons demonstrate that the proposed model can improve the prediction accuracy noticeably.

  20. Crude Oil Price Forecasting Based on Hybridizing Wavelet Multiple Linear Regression Model, Particle Swarm Optimization Techniques, and Principal Component Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ani Shabri

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Crude oil prices do play significant role in the global economy and are a key input into option pricing formulas, portfolio allocation, and risk measurement. In this paper, a hybrid model integrating wavelet and multiple linear regressions (MLR is proposed for crude oil price forecasting. In this model, Mallat wavelet transform is first selected to decompose an original time series into several subseries with different scale. Then, the principal component analysis (PCA is used in processing subseries data in MLR for crude oil price forecasting. The particle swarm optimization (PSO is used to adopt the optimal parameters of the MLR model. To assess the effectiveness of this model, daily crude oil market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI, has been used as the case study. Time series prediction capability performance of the WMLR model is compared with the MLR, ARIMA, and GARCH models using various statistics measures. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the individual models in forecasting of the crude oil prices series.

  1. Delivered Pricing, FOB Pricing, and Collusion in Spatial Markets

    OpenAIRE

    Maria Paz Espinosa

    1992-01-01

    This article examines price discrimination and collusion in spatial markets. The problem is analyzed in the context of a repeated duopoly game. I conclude that the prevailing pricing systems depend on the structural elements of the market. Delivered pricing systems emerge in equilibrium in highly monopolistic and highly competitive industries, while FOB is used in intermediate market structures. The fact driving this result is that delivered pricing policies allow spatial price discrimination...

  2. Cost allocation with limited information

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hougaard, Jens Leth; Tind, Jørgen

    This article investigates progressive development of Aumann-Shapley cost allocation in a multilevel organizational or production structure. In particular, we study a linear parametric programming setup utilizing the Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition procedure. Typically cost allocation takes place after...... all activities have been performed, for example by finishing all outputs. Here the allocation is made progressively with suggestions for activities. I other words cost allocation is performed in parallel for example with a production planning process. This development does not require detailed...... information about some technical constraints in order to make the cost allocation....

  3. Risk capital allocation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hougaard, Jens Leth; Smilgins, Aleksandrs

    Risk capital allocation problems have been widely discussed in the academic literature. We consider a company with multiple subunits having individual portfolios. Hence, when portfolios of subunits are merged, a diversification benefit arises: the risk of the company as a whole is smaller than...... the sum of the risks of the individual sub-units. The question is how to allocate the risk capital of the company among the subunits in a fair way. In this paper we propose to use the Lorenz set as an allocation method. We show that the Lorenz set is operational and coherent. Moreover, we propose a set...... of new axioms related directly to the problem of risk capital allocation and show that the Lorenz set satisfies these new axioms in contrast to other well-known coherent methods. Finally, we discuss how to deal with non-uniqueness of the Lorenz set....

  4. Day-ahead price forecasting of electricity markets by a new feature selection algorithm and cascaded neural network technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amjady, Nima; Keynia, Farshid

    2009-01-01

    With the introduction of restructuring into the electric power industry, the price of electricity has become the focus of all activities in the power market. Electricity price forecast is key information for electricity market managers and participants. However, electricity price is a complex signal due to its non-linear, non-stationary, and time variant behavior. In spite of performed research in this area, more accurate and robust price forecast methods are still required. In this paper, a new forecast strategy is proposed for day-ahead price forecasting of electricity markets. Our forecast strategy is composed of a new two stage feature selection technique and cascaded neural networks. The proposed feature selection technique comprises modified Relief algorithm for the first stage and correlation analysis for the second stage. The modified Relief algorithm selects candidate inputs with maximum relevancy with the target variable. Then among the selected candidates, the correlation analysis eliminates redundant inputs. Selected features by the two stage feature selection technique are used for the forecast engine, which is composed of 24 consecutive forecasters. Each of these 24 forecasters is a neural network allocated to predict the price of 1 h of the next day. The whole proposed forecast strategy is examined on the Spanish and Australia's National Electricity Markets Management Company (NEMMCO) and compared with some of the most recent price forecast methods.

  5. Pricing and Trust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Huck, Steffen; Ruchala, Gabriele K.; Tyran, Jean-Robert

    -competitive (monopolistic) markets. We then introduce a regulated intermediate price above the oligopoly price and below the monopoly price. The effect in monopolies is more or less in line with standard intuition. As price falls volume increases and so does quality, such that overall efficiency is raised by 50%. However......We experimentally examine the effects of flexible and fixed prices in markets for experience goods in which demand is driven by trust. With flexible prices, we observe low prices and high quality in competitive (oligopolistic) markets, and high prices coupled with low quality in non...

  6. Dynamic cyclical comovements of oil prices with industrial production, consumer prices, unemployment, and stock prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ewing, Bradley T.; Thompson, Mark A.

    2007-01-01

    This paper examines the empirical relationship between oil prices and several key macroeconomic variables. In particular, we investigate the cyclical comovements of crude oil prices with output, consumer prices, unemployment, and stock prices. The methodology involves the use of the Hodrick-Prescott [Hodrick, R.J., Prescott, E.C., 1980. Post-War US Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation. Working Paper, Carnegie Mellon University] and Baxter-King [Baxter, M., King, R.G., 1999. Measuring business cycles: approximate band-pass filters for economic time series. Review of Economics and Statistics 81, 575-593] filters, as well as the recently developed full-sample asymmetric Christiano-Fitzgerald [Christiano, L.J., Fitzgerald, T.J., 2003. The band pass filter. International Economic Review 44, 435-465] band-pass filter. Contemporaneous and cross-correlation estimates are made using the stationary cyclical components of the time series to make inference about the degree to which oil prices move with the cycle. Besides documenting a number of important cyclical relationships using three different time series filtering methods, the results suggest that crude oil prices are procyclical and lag industrial production. Additionally, we find that oil prices lead consumer prices. (author)

  7. Energy prices and agricultural commodity prices: Testing correlation using copulas method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koirala, Krishna H.; Mishra, Ashok K.; D'Antoni, Jeremy M.; Mehlhorn, Joey E.

    2015-01-01

    The linear relationships between energy prices and prices for agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans may have been affected, over the last several years, by policy legislations in the farm sector, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the Renewable Fuel Standard Program for 2014. Using high-frequency data and newer methodology, this study investigates dependence between agricultural commodity futures prices and energy futures prices. Results reveal that agricultural commodity and energy future prices are highly correlated and exhibit positive and significant relationship. Findings from this study highlight that an increase in energy price increases the price of agricultural commodities. - Highlights: • Energy policy mandates production of 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015. • Energy-intensive agriculture has a link between energy sector and crop production costs. • We investigate correlation between energy prices and agricultural commodity prices. • Agricultural commodity and energy future prices are highly correlated. • Increase in energy price increases the price of agricultural commodity

  8. Impact of European pharmaceutical price regulation on generic price competition: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puig-Junoy, Jaume

    2010-01-01

    Although economic theory indicates that it should not be necessary to intervene in the generic drug market through price regulation, most EU countries intervene in this market, both by regulating the maximum sale price of generics (price cap) and by setting the maximum reimbursement rate, especially by means of reference pricing systems. We analyse current knowledge of the impact of direct price-cap regulation of generic drugs and the implementation of systems regulating the reimbursement rate, particularly through reference pricing and similar tools, on dynamic price competition between generic competitors in Europe. A literature search was carried out in the EconLit and PubMed databases, and on Google Scholar. The search included papers published in English or Spanish between January 2000 and July 2009. Inclusion criteria included that studies had to present empirical results of a quantitative nature for EU countries of the impact of price capping and/or regulation of the reimbursement rate (reference pricing or similar systems) on price dynamics, corresponding to pharmacy sales, in the generic drug market. The available evidence indicates that price-cap regulation leads to a levelling off of generic prices at a higher level than would occur in the absence of this regulation. Reference pricing systems cause an obvious and almost compulsory reduction in the consumer price of all pharmaceuticals subject to this system, to a varying degree in different countries and periods, the reduction being greater for originator-branded drugs than for generics. In several countries with a reference pricing system, it was observed that generics with a consumer price lower than the reference price do not undergo price reductions until the reference price is reduced, even when there are other lower-priced generics on the market (absence of price competition below the reference price). Beyond the price reduction forced by the price-cap and/or reference pricing regulation itself

  9. Understanding Price Controls and Non-Price Competition with Matching Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Hatfield, John William; Plott, Charles R.; Tanaka, Tomomi

    2012-01-01

    We develop a quality competition model to understand how price controls affect market outcomes in buyer-seller markets with discrete goods of varying quality. While competitive equilibria do not necessarily exist in such markets when price controls are imposed, we show that stable outcomes do exist and characterize the set of stable outcomes in the presence of price restrictions. In particular, we show that price controls induce non-price competition: price floors induce the trade of ineffici...

  10. Avoided cost estimation and post-reform funding allocation for California's energy efficiency programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baskette, C.; Horii, B.; Price, S.; Kollman, E.

    2006-01-01

    This paper summarizes the first comprehensive estimation of California's electricity avoided costs since the state reformed its electricity market. It describes avoided cost estimates that vary by time and location, thus facilitating targeted design, funding, and marketing of demand-side management (DSM) and energy efficiency (EE) programs that could not have occurred under the previous methodology of system average cost estimation. The approach, data, and results reflect two important market structure changes: (a) wholesale spot and forward markets now supply electricity commodities to load serving entities; and (b) the evolution of an emissions market that internalizes and prices some of the externalities of electricity generation. The paper also introduces the multiplier effect of a price reduction due to DSM/EE implementation on electricity bills of all consumers. It affirms that area- and time-specific avoided cost estimates can improve the allocation of the state's public funding for DSM/EE programs, a finding that could benefit other parts of North America (e.g. Ontario and New York), which have undergone electricity deregulation. (author)

  11. Separated influence of crude oil prices on regional natural gas import prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji, Qiang; Geng, Jiang-Bo; Fan, Ying

    2014-01-01

    This paper analyses the impact of global economic activity and international crude oil prices on natural gas import prices in three major natural gas markets using the panel cointegration model. It also investigates the shock impacts of the volatility and the increase and decrease of oil prices on regional natural gas import prices. The results show that both global economic activity and international crude oil prices have significant long-term positive effects on regional natural gas import prices. The volatility of international crude oil prices has a negative impact on regional natural gas import prices. The shock impact is weak in North America, lags in Europe and is most significant in Asia, which is mainly determined by different regional policies for price formation. In addition, the response of natural gas import prices to increases and decreases in international crude oil prices shows an asymmetrical mechanism, of which the decrease impact is relatively stronger. - Highlights: • Impacts of world economy and oil prices on regional natural gas prices are analysed • North American natural gas prices are mainly affected by world economy • Asian and European natural gas prices are mainly affected by oil prices • The volatility of oil prices has a negative impact on regional natural gas prices • The response of natural gas import prices to oil prices up and down shows asymmetry

  12. Motorcycle helmets in Vietnam: ownership, quality, purchase price, and affordability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hung, Dang Viet; Stevenson, Mark R; Ivers, Rebecca Q

    2008-06-01

    This study investigated motorcycle helmet ownership, quality, purchase price, and affordability in Vietnam. A random sample of motorcyclists was interviewed to investigate aspects of helmet ownership, the purchase price, and affordability of a motorcycle helmet. Multivariate modeling conducted to determine factors associated with the purchase price and affordability of motorcycle helmets. Helmet quality was assessed based on current legal requirements in Vietnam. The prevalence of helmet use in Vietnam remains low (23.3%) despite a high level of helmet ownership (94%), indicating that this is an important area for public health intervention. Overall the quality of helmets appeared to be good; however, few helmets displayed legally required information. Motorcyclists with a high income purchase more helmets for their household rather than more expensive helmets. To ensure that helmets are accessible to the community, policy-makers need to consider pricing motorcycle helmets at a price indicated by the results of this study. Prior to universal motorcycle helmet legislation, the government will also need to ensure that standard helmets are available and that enforcement is at a level to ensure that motorcycle helmets are actually used.

  13. An Empirical Study on the Behavior of Monthly Stock Prices of Fortune 500 Firms and S&P Smaller Firms: Evidence and Implications

    OpenAIRE

    Young H. Kim; Edward L. Davis; Charles T. Moses

    2014-01-01

    This paper revisits a random walk hypothesis by investigating the behavior of monthly stock prices of 461 Fortune 500 firms over 45 years and 599 S&P smaller firms over 10 years. The Box-Jenkins ARIMA models are applied to time series analysis and stock market forecasting to find the monthly stock price behavior. The research findings show that 309 (67.03%) Fortune 500 firms and 449 (74.96%) S&P smaller firms follow a random walk. The monthly stock prices of Fortune 500 firms and S&P firms ...

  14. The capital-asset-pricing model and arbitrage pricing theory: A unification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, M. Ali; Sun, Yeneng

    1997-01-01

    We present a model of a financial market in which naive diversification, based simply on portfolio size and obtained as a consequence of the law of large numbers, is distinguished from efficient diversification, based on mean-variance analysis. This distinction yields a valuation formula involving only the essential risk embodied in an asset’s return, where the overall risk can be decomposed into a systematic and an unsystematic part, as in the arbitrage pricing theory; and the systematic component further decomposed into an essential and an inessential part, as in the capital-asset-pricing model. The two theories are thus unified, and their individual asset-pricing formulas shown to be equivalent to the pervasive economic principle of no arbitrage. The factors in the model are endogenously chosen by a procedure analogous to the Karhunen–Loéve expansion of continuous time stochastic processes; it has an optimality property justifying the use of a relatively small number of them to describe the underlying correlational structures. Our idealized limit model is based on a continuum of assets indexed by a hyperfinite Loeb measure space, and it is asymptotically implementable in a setting with a large but finite number of assets. Because the difficulties in the formulation of the law of large numbers with a standard continuum of random variables are well known, the model uncovers some basic phenomena not amenable to classical methods, and whose approximate counterparts are not already, or even readily, apparent in the asymptotic setting. PMID:11038614

  15. Online Job Allocation with Hard Allocation Ratio Requirement (Author’s Manuscript)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-14

    server divided by its capacity. Specifically , let nj be the number of jobs that have already been allocated to server j. When job i arrives, it is...decisions solely based on current system state is needed. The problem of online job allocation has attracted much attention . Most current studies study...closed-form expressions for their performance. Specifically , we prove that, in order to allocate at least 1− 1θ of jobs , the two policies only need to

  16. Price performance following stock's IPO in different price limit systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Ting; Wang, Yue; Li, Ming-Xia

    2018-01-01

    An IPO burst occurred in China's stock markets in 2015, while price limit trading rules usually help to reduce the short-term trading mania on individual stocks. It is interesting to make clear the function of the price limits after IPOs. We firstly make a statistical analysis based on all the IPO stocks listed from 1990 to 2015. A high dependency exists between the activities in stock's IPO and various market environment. We also focus on the price dynamics in the first 40 trading days after the stock listed. We find that price limit system will delay the price movement, especially for the up-trend movements, which may lead to longer continuous price limit hits. Similar to our previous work, many results such as ;W; shape can be also observed in the future daily return after the price limit open. At last, we find most IPO measures show evident correlations with the following price limit hits. IPO stocks with lower first-day turnover and earning per share will be followed with a longer continuous price limit hits and lower future daily return under the newest trading rules, which give us a good way to estimate the occurrence of price limit hits and the following price dynamics. Our analysis provides a better understanding of the price dynamics after IPO events and offers potential practical values for investors.

  17. It is desirable allocative function of the food market in a global economy?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leon Rodriguez, Nohra

    2008-01-01

    This article brings forth the free market influence on product patterns, agricultural output quantities and prices in the global economy? casting doubt over the allocative efficiency of markets and intending to outline some risks brought on by excessive reliance on free markets regarding consumer welfare, food security and negative impact on the environment and sustainable economic growth. As the main analytic element it is presented the preeminence of agricultural food multinational producers, as well as the scale of their influence in terms of product supply and commercialization, responding exclusively to profit maximization incentives without taking into account their role in terms of food nutrition patterns and production

  18. Estimating the commodity market price of risk for energy prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolos, Sergey P.; Ronn, Ehud I.

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to estimate the ''market price of risk'' (MPR) for energy commodities, the ratio of expected return to standard deviation. The MPR sign determines whether energy forward prices are upward- or downward-biased predictors of expected spot prices. We estimate MPRs using spot and futures prices, while accounting for the Samuelson effect. We find long-term MPRs generally positive and short-term negative, consistent with positive energy betas and hedging, respectively. In spot electricity markets, MPRs in Day-Ahead Prices agree with short-dated futures. Our results relate risk premia to informed hedging decisions, and futures prices to forecast/expected prices. (author)

  19. ACFAC: a cash flow analysis code for estimating product price from an industrial operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delene, J.G.

    1980-04-01

    A computer code is presented which uses a discountted cash flow methodology to obtain an average product price for an industtrial process. The general discounted cash flow method is discussed. Special code options include multiple treatments of interest during construction and other preoperational costs, investment tax credits, and different methods for tax depreciation of capital assets. Two options for allocating the cost of plant decommissioning are available. The FORTRAN code listing and the computer output for a sample problem are included

  20. The impact of the EU ETS on prices, profits and emissions in the power sector. Simulation results with the COMPETES model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lise, W.; Sijm, J.; Hobbs, B.F.

    2009-06-01

    This paper analyses the impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on electricity wholesale in 20 European countries. The analyses show that the costs of (freely allocated) CO2 emission allowances are nearly fully passed through to power prices, which also depend on the structure of the power market, i.e., the incidence of market power, and the price responsiveness of power demand. Finally, the analyses show that internalization and pass-through of carbon costs are needed to reduce CO2 emissions by both changing the mix of power generation technologies and lowering total electricity demand

  1. The impact of the EU ETS on prices, profits and emissions in the power sector. Simulation results with the COMPETES model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lise, W. [IBS Research and Consultancy, Istanbul (Turkey); Sijm, J. [ECN Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands); Hobbs, B.F. [Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (United States)

    2009-06-15

    This paper analyses the impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on electricity wholesale in 20 European countries. The analyses show that the costs of (freely allocated) CO2 emission allowances are nearly fully passed through to power prices, which also depend on the structure of the power market, i.e., the incidence of market power, and the price responsiveness of power demand. Finally, the analyses show that internalization and pass-through of carbon costs are needed to reduce CO2 emissions by both changing the mix of power generation technologies and lowering total electricity demand.

  2. Oil price and food price volatility dynamics: The case of Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ijeoma C. Nwoko

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the long and short run relationships between oil price and food price volatility as well as the causal link between them. The study used annual food price volatility index from FAO from 2000 to 2013 and crude oil price from U.S. Energy Information and Administration (EIA from 2000 to 2013. The Johansen and Jesulius co-integration test revealed that there is a long run relationship between oil price and domestic food price volatility. The vector error correction model indicated a positive and significant short run relationship between oil price and food price volatility. The Granger causality test revealed a unidirectional causality with causality running from oil price to food price volatility but not vice versa. It is recommended that policies and interventions that will help reduce uncertainty about food prices such as improved market information, trade policies and investment in research and development among others should be encouraged. Also to reduce the effect of oil price shock, it is recommended that government should subsidise pump price of refined oil, seek alternative sources of energy and there should be less dependence on oil for fertilizer production.

  3. Why do stumpage prices increase more than lumber prices?

    Science.gov (United States)

    William G. Luppold; John E. Baumgras; John E. Baumgras

    1998-01-01

    Every sawmiller who has been in business more than 5 years realizes that hardwood stumpage prices tend to increase faster than lumber prices, decreasing the margin between these two prices. Although increases in stumpage versus lumber prices are readily apparent, the reason for the decrease in the margin is not. Recent research findings indicate that the stumpage/...

  4. Agricultural and oil commodities: price transmission and market integration between US and Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franco Rosa

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Purpose of this article it to get some evidences of market interaction between United States and Italy using the time series analysis of spot prices spanning from January 1999 to May 2012 for crude oil and three ag-commodities: wheat, corn and soybean. These crops have been selected for their relevance in ag-commodity exchanges between US and Italy markets. The integration between US and Italy agricultural markets is hypothesized for the consistent volume of crop traded between these two countries while the price transmission is related to the leading price signals of the CBT (Chicago Board of Trade. The integration between oil and ag-commodity markets is suggested both by the large use of energy intensive inputs, (fertilizer, seed, machinery in production of these ag-commodities, and their use in biofuel production. The results suggest: a for US market the evidence of market integration between crude oil and US ag-commodities; b for Italy the integration with US ag-commodity markets and less evidence of integration with the oil market. These results are valuable information both for the agents and policy makers contributing to improve the information accuracy to predict the price movements used by marketing operators for their strategies and policy makers to set up policies to re-establish conditions of market efficiency and allocate these ag-commodities in alternative market channels.

  5. Option pricing: Stock price, stock velocity and the acceleration Lagrangian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baaquie, Belal E.; Du, Xin; Bhanap, Jitendra

    2014-12-01

    The industry standard Black-Scholes option pricing formula is based on the current value of the underlying security and other fixed parameters of the model. The Black-Scholes formula, with a fixed volatility, cannot match the market's option price; instead, it has come to be used as a formula for generating the option price, once the so called implied volatility of the option is provided as additional input. The implied volatility not only is an entire surface, depending on the strike price and maturity of the option, but also depends on calendar time, changing from day to day. The point of view adopted in this paper is that the instantaneous rate of return of the security carries part of the information that is provided by implied volatility, and with a few (time-independent) parameters required for a complete pricing formula. An option pricing formula is developed that is based on knowing the value of both the current price and rate of return of the underlying security which in physics is called velocity. Using an acceleration Lagrangian model based on the formalism of quantum mathematics, we derive the pricing formula for European call options. The implied volatility of the market can be generated by our pricing formula. Our option price is applied to foreign exchange rates and equities and the accuracy is compared with Black-Scholes pricing formula and with the market price.

  6. Game Theoretic Modeling of Water Resources Allocation Under Hydro-Climatic Uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, C.; Lall, U.; Siegfried, T.

    2005-12-01

    Typical hydrologic and economic modeling approaches rely on assumptions of climate stationarity and economic conditions of ideal markets and rational decision-makers. In this study, we incorporate hydroclimatic variability with a game theoretic approach to simulate and evaluate common water allocation paradigms. Game Theory may be particularly appropriate for modeling water allocation decisions. First, a game theoretic approach allows economic analysis in situations where price theory doesn't apply, which is typically the case in water resources where markets are thin, players are few, and rules of exchange are highly constrained by legal or cultural traditions. Previous studies confirm that game theory is applicable to water resources decision problems, yet applications and modeling based on these principles is only rarely observed in the literature. Second, there are numerous existing theoretical and empirical studies of specific games and human behavior that may be applied in the development of predictive water allocation models. With this framework, one can evaluate alternative orderings and rules regarding the fraction of available water that one is allowed to appropriate. Specific attributes of the players involved in water resources management complicate the determination of solutions to game theory models. While an analytical approach will be useful for providing general insights, the variety of preference structures of individual players in a realistic water scenario will likely require a simulation approach. We propose a simulation approach incorporating the rationality, self-interest and equilibrium concepts of game theory with an agent-based modeling framework that allows the distinct properties of each player to be expressed and allows the performance of the system to manifest the integrative effect of these factors. Underlying this framework, we apply a realistic representation of spatio-temporal hydrologic variability and incorporate the impact of

  7. Why does primary angioplasty not work in registries? Quantifying the susceptibility of real-world comparative effectiveness data to allocation bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, Sayan; Davies, Justin E; Malik, Iqbal S; Foale, Rodney A; Mikhail, Ghada W; Hadjiloizou, Nearchos; Hughes, Alun; Mayet, Jamil; Francis, Darrel P

    2012-11-01

    Meta-analysis of registries (comparative effectiveness research) shows that primary angioplasty and fibrinolysis have equivalent real-world survival. Yet, randomized, controlled trials consistently find primary angioplasty superior. Can unequal allocation of higher-risk patients in registries have masked primary angioplasty benefit? First, we constructed a model to demonstrate the potential effect of allocation bias. We then analyzed published registries (55022 patients) for allocation of higher-risk patients (Killip class ≥1) to determine whether the choice of reperfusion therapy was affected by the risk level of the patient. Meta-regression was used to examine the relationship between differences in allocation of high-risk patient to primary angioplasty or fibrinolysis and mortality. Initial modeling suggested that registry outcomes are sensitive to allocation bias of high-risk patients. Across the registries, the therapy receiving excess high-risk patients had worse mortality. Unequal distribution of high-risk status accounted for most of the between-registry variance (adjusted R(2)(meta)=83.1%). Accounting for differential allocation of higher-risk patients, primary angioplasty gave 22% lower mortality (odds ratio, 0.78; 95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.97; P=0.029). We derive a formula, called the number needed to abolish, highlighting situations in which comparative effectiveness studies are particularly vulnerable to this bias. In ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, clinicians' preference for management of a few high-risk patients can shift mortality substantially. Comparative effectiveness research in any disease is vulnerable to this, especially diseases with an immediately identifiable high-risk subgroup that clinicians prefer to allocate to 1 therapy. For this reason, preliminary indications from registry-based comparative effectiveness research should be definitively tested by randomized, controlled trials.

  8. Consistent Estimation of Pricing Kernels from Noisy Price Data

    OpenAIRE

    Vladislav Kargin

    2003-01-01

    If pricing kernels are assumed non-negative then the inverse problem of finding the pricing kernel is well-posed. The constrained least squares method provides a consistent estimate of the pricing kernel. When the data are limited, a new method is suggested: relaxed maximization of the relative entropy. This estimator is also consistent. Keywords: $\\epsilon$-entropy, non-parametric estimation, pricing kernel, inverse problems.

  9. Demand side management in recycling and electricity retail pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazan, Osman

    This dissertation addresses several problems from the recycling industry and electricity retail market. The first paper addresses a real-life scheduling problem faced by a national industrial recycling company. Based on their practices, a scheduling problem is defined, modeled, analyzed, and a solution is approximated efficiently. The recommended application is tested on the real-life data and randomly generated data. The scheduling improvements and the financial benefits are presented. The second problem is from electricity retail market. There are well-known patterns in daily usage in hours. These patterns change in shape and magnitude by seasons and days of the week. Generation costs are multiple times higher during the peak hours of the day. Yet most consumers purchase electricity at flat rates. This work explores analytic pricing tools to reduce peak load electricity demand for retailers. For that purpose, a nonlinear model that determines optimal hourly prices is established based on two major components: unit generation costs and consumers' utility. Both are analyzed and estimated empirically in the third paper. A pricing model is introduced to maximize the electric retailer's profit. As a result, a closed-form expression for the optimal price vector is obtained. Possible scenarios are evaluated for consumers' utility distribution. For the general case, we provide a numerical solution methodology to obtain the optimal pricing scheme. The models recommended are tested under various scenarios that consider consumer segmentation and multiple pricing policies. The recommended model reduces the peak load significantly in most cases. Several utility companies offer hourly pricing to their customers. They determine prices using historical data of unit electricity cost over time. In this dissertation we develop a nonlinear model that determines optimal hourly prices with parameter estimation. The last paper includes a regression analysis of the unit generation cost

  10. 48 CFR 216.203 - Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment. 216.203 Section 216.203 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE... CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 216.203 Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment. ...

  11. Driving for fun? Comparing the effect of fuel prices on weekday and weekend fuel consumption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frondel, Manuel; Vance, Colin [Rheinisch-Westfaelisches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), Hohenzollernstr. 1-3, D-45128 Essen (Germany)

    2010-01-15

    Focusing on individual motorists in car-owning households in Germany, this paper investigates the determinants of automobile travel, with the specific aim of quantifying the effects of fuel prices and person-level attributes on travel conducted over a five-day week and weekend. Our analysis is predicated on the notion that car use is an individual decision, albeit one that is dependent on intra-household allocation processes, thereby building on a growing body of literature that has identified the importance of socioeconomic factors such as employment status, gender, and the presence of children in determining both access to and use of the car. To capture this two-stage decision process, we employ the two-part model, which consists of probit and OLS estimators, and derive elasticity estimates that incorporate both the discrete and continuous choices pertaining to car use. With fuel price elasticity estimates ranging between - 0.45 and - 0.50, our results suggest raising prices via fuel taxes to be a promising energy conservation and climate protection measure. (author)

  12. Driving for fun? Comparing the effect of fuel prices on weekday and weekend fuel consumption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frondel, Manuel; Vance, Colin

    2010-01-01

    Focusing on individual motorists in car-owning households in Germany, this paper investigates the determinants of automobile travel, with the specific aim of quantifying the effects of fuel prices and person-level attributes on travel conducted over a five-day week and weekend. Our analysis is predicated on the notion that car use is an individual decision, albeit one that is dependent on intra-household allocation processes, thereby building on a growing body of literature that has identified the importance of socioeconomic factors such as employment status, gender, and the presence of children in determining both access to and use of the car. To capture this two-stage decision process, we employ the two-part model, which consists of probit and OLS estimators, and derive elasticity estimates that incorporate both the discrete and continuous choices pertaining to car use. With fuel price elasticity estimates ranging between - 0.45 and - 0.50, our results suggest raising prices via fuel taxes to be a promising energy conservation and climate protection measure. (author)

  13. Effects of fundamentals acquisition and strategy switch on stock price dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Songtao; He, Jianmin; Li, Shouwei

    2018-02-01

    An agent-based artificial stock market is developed to simulate trading behavior of investors. In the market, acquisition and employment of information about fundamentals and strategy switch are investigated to explain stock price dynamics. Investors could obtain the information from both market and neighbors resided on their social networks. Depending on information status and performances of different strategies, an informed investor may switch to the strategy of fundamentalist. This in turn affects the information acquisition process, since fundamentalists are more inclined to search and spread the information than chartists. Further investigation into price dynamics generated from three typical networks, i.e. regular lattice, small-world network and random graph, are conducted after general relation between network structures and price dynamics is revealed. In each network, integrated effects of different combinations of information efficiency and switch intensity are investigated. Results have shown that, along with increasing switch intensity, market and social information efficiency play different roles in the formation of price distortion, standard deviation and kurtosis of returns.

  14. Dynamic Pricing and Supply Coordination with Reimbursement Contract under Random Yield and Demand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guo Li

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the dynamic pricing and supply chain coordination in a decentralized system that consists of one supplier and one manufacturer, in which both the market demand and production yield are stochastic. We show that the centralized expected profit is jointly concave in the production quantity and order quantity when the price is ex-ante selected. We also derive the equilibrium strategies in the decentralized system and prove that the entire profit of supply chain is inevitably lower than that under centralized system. Based on this, we propose a reimbursement contract to coordinate the decentralized supply chain so as to achieve the maximized profit. It is worth mentioning that, under reimbursement contract, the equilibrium production and order quantities are irrelevant to the manufacturer's risk sharing coefficient but are only determined by the supplier’s risk sharing coefficient.

  15. Loss Aversion, Adaptive Beliefs, and Asset Pricing Dynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamal Samy Selim

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We study asset pricing dynamics in artificial financial markets model. The financial market is populated with agents following two heterogeneous trading beliefs, the technical and the fundamental prediction rules. Agents switch between trading rules with respect to their past performance. The agents are loss averse over asset price fluctuations. Loss aversion behaviour depends on the past performance of the trading strategies in terms of an evolutionary fitness measure. We propose a novel application of the prospect theory to agent-based modelling, and by simulation, the effect of evolutionary fitness measure on adaptive belief system is investigated. For comparison, we study pricing dynamics of a financial market populated with chartists perceive losses and gains symmetrically. One of our contributions is validating the agent-based models using real financial data of the Egyptian Stock Exchange. We find that our framework can explain important stylized facts in financial time series, such as random walk price behaviour, bubbles and crashes, fat-tailed return distributions, power-law tails in the distribution of returns, excess volatility, volatility clustering, the absence of autocorrelation in raw returns, and the power-law autocorrelations in absolute returns. In addition to this, we find that loss aversion improves market quality and market stability.

  16. Using Economic Experiments to Test the Effect of Reliability Pricing and Self-Sizing on the Private Provision of a Public Good Results: The Case of Constructing Water Conveyance Infrastructure to Mitigate Water Quantity and Quality Concerns in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, J.; Howitt, R. E.; Kroll, S.

    2016-12-01

    Public financing of public projects is becoming more difficult with growing political and financial pressure to reduce the size and scope of government action. Private provision is possible but is often doomed by under-provision. If however, market-like mechanisms could be incorporated into the solicitation of funds to finance the provision of the good, because, for example, the good is supplied stochastically and is divisible, then we would expect fewer incentives to free ride and greater efficiency in providing the public good. In a controlled computer-based economic experiment, we evaluate two market-like conditions (reliability pricing allocation and self-sizing of the good) that are designed to reduce under-provision. The results suggest that financing an infrastructure project when the delivery is allocated based on reliability pricing rather than historical allocation results in significantly greater price formation efficiency and less free riding whether the project is of a fixed size determined by external policy makers or determined endogenously by the sum of private contributions. When reliability pricing and self-sizing (endogenous) mechanism are used in combination free-riding is reduced the greatest among the tested treatments. Furthermore, and as expected, self-sizing when combined with historical allocations results in the worst level of free-riding. This setting for this treatment creates an incentive to undervalue willingness to pay since very low contributions still return positive earnings as long as enough contributions are raised for a single unit. If everyone perceives everyone else is undervaluing their contribution the incentive grows stronger and we see the greatest degree of free riding among the treatments. Lastly, the results from the analysis suggested that the rebate rule may have encouraged those with willingness to pay values less than the cost of the project to feel confident when contributing more than their willingness to pay and

  17. Price Regulations in a Multi-unit Uniform Price Auction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boom, Anette

    not exceed the price cap whereas a selective bid cap for only the larger firms, does not guarantee this outcome. A sufficiently high bid floor always destroys pure strategy equilibria with equilibrium prices above the marginal costs, no matter whether the floor applies to all or only to relatively small......Inspired by recent regulations in the New York ICAP market we examine the effect of different price regulations on a multi-unit uniform price auction. We investigate a bid cap and a bid foor. Given suffciently high total capacities general bid caps always ensure that the market price does...

  18. Price Regulations in a Multi-unit Uniform Price Auction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boom, Anette

    Inspired by recent regulations in the New York ICAP market we examine the effect of different price regulations on a multi-unit uniform price auction. We investigate a bid cap and a bid foor. Given suffciently high total capacities general bid caps always ensure that the market price does...... not exceed the price cap whereas a selective bid cap for only the larger firms, does not guarantee this outcome. A sufficiently high bid floor always destroys pure strategy equilibria with equilibrium prices above the marginal costs, no matter whether the floor applies to all or only to relatively small...

  19. 48 CFR 3016.203 - Fixed price contracts with economic price adjustments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fixed price contracts with economic price adjustments. 3016.203 Section 3016.203 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF... TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 3016.203 Fixed price contracts with economic price adjustments. ...

  20. Exporter Price Premia?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jäkel, Ina Charlotte; Sørensen, Allan

    This paper provides new evidence on manufacturing firms' output prices: in Denmark, on average, exported varieties are sold at a lower price (i.e. a negative exporter price premium) relative to only domestically sold varieties. This finding stands in sharp contrast to previous studies, which have...... found positive exporter price premia. We also document that the exporter price premium varies substantially across products (both in terms of sign and magnitude). We show that in a standard heterogeneous firms model with heterogeneity in quality as well as production efficiency there is indeed no clear......-cut prediction on the sign of the exporter price premium. However, the model unambiguously predicts a negative exporter price premium in terms of quality-adjusted prices, i.e. prices per unit of quality. This prediction is broadly borne out in the Danish data: while the magnitude of the premium varies across...

  1. Beyond the sticker price: including and excluding time in comparing food prices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yanliang; Davis, George C; Muth, Mary K

    2015-07-01

    An ongoing debate in the literature is how to measure the price of food. Most analyses have not considered the value of time in measuring the price of food. Whether or not the value of time is included in measuring the price of a food may have important implications for classifying foods based on their relative cost. The purpose of this article is to compare prices that exclude time (time-exclusive price) with prices that include time (time-inclusive price) for 2 types of home foods: home foods using basic ingredients (home recipes) vs. home foods using more processed ingredients (processed recipes). The time-inclusive and time-exclusive prices are compared to determine whether the time-exclusive prices in isolation may mislead in drawing inferences regarding the relative prices of foods. We calculated the time-exclusive price and time-inclusive price of 100 home recipes and 143 processed recipes and then categorized them into 5 standard food groups: grains, proteins, vegetables, fruit, and dairy. We then examined the relation between the time-exclusive prices and the time-inclusive prices and dietary recommendations. For any food group, the processed food time-inclusive price was always less than the home recipe time-inclusive price, even if the processed food's time-exclusive price was more expensive. Time-inclusive prices for home recipes were especially higher for the more time-intensive food groups, such as grains, vegetables, and fruit, which are generally underconsumed relative to the guidelines. Focusing only on the sticker price of a food and ignoring the time cost may lead to different conclusions about relative prices and policy recommendations than when the time cost is included. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  2. Effect of price and information on the food choices of women university students in Saudi Arabia: An experimental study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halimic, Aida; Gage, Heather; Raats, Monique; Williams, Peter

    2018-04-01

    To explore the impact of price manipulation and healthy eating information on intended food choices. Health information was provided to a random half of subjects (vs. information on Saudi agriculture). Each subject chose from the same lunch menu, containing two healthy and two unhealthy entrees, deserts and beverages, on five occasions. Reference case prices were 5, 3 and 2 Saudi Arabian Reals (SARs). Prices of healthy and unhealthy items were manipulated up (taxed) and down (subsidized) by 1 SAR in four menu variations (random order); subjects were given a budget enabling full choice within any menu. The number of healthy food choices were compared with different price combinations, and between information groups. Linear regression modelling explored the effect of relative prices of healthy/unhealthy options and information on number of healthy choices controlling for dietary behaviours and hunger levels. University campus, Saudi Arabia, 2013. 99 women students. In the reference case, 49.5% of choices were for healthy items. When the price of healthy items was reduced, 58.5% of selections were healthy; 57.2% when the price of unhealthy items rose. In regression modelling, reducing the price of healthy items and increasing the price of unhealthy items increased the number of healthy choices by 5% and 6% respectively. Students reporting a less healthy usual diet selected significantly fewer healthy items. Providing healthy eating information was not a significant influence. Price manipulation offers potential for altering behaviours to combat rising youth obesity in Saudi Arabia. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. The allocation of resources for animal health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, K S

    2017-04-01

    Economics is too important to be left to the experts. This paper is therefore mainly for animal health policy-makers who are not economists but want a better appreciation of how economics can contribute to resource allocation decisions. First, the methodology of economic analysis is outlined with the objective of dispelling criticisms of its simplifying assumption of rationality. Then, unusual in economics but more familiar to biological and veterinary scientists, the technical aspects of transforming resources into products are discussed. Economics' unique contribution is to establish criteria enabling society to obtain maximum value from the production and distribution of goods and services (products) from scarce resources. Animal disease reduces the efficiency of this process. Value is intangible, but people reveal how much they value (i.e. feel a want or need for) products by what they actually consume, in quality and quantity. Animal products, and so implicitly animals themselves, are an example. The strength of people's preferences is reflected both in the prices they pay for market goods and services, and by their political votes where markets do not exist. Importantly, there is a difference between financial value (what the consumer pays for a good or service) and economic value (the maximum amount of money they would be prepared to pay for it). Allocating resources for animal health creates both costs and benefits, financial and economic. Moreover, costs and benefits are both private and social because of externalities, a major consideration in infectious diseases. Where production decisions with animal health implications are made exclusively for private benefit, government has a role in providing incentives for animal sectors to act in ways that result in socially efficient outcomes.

  4. Essays in financial transmission rights pricing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posner, Barry

    This work examines issues in the pricing of financial transmission rights in the PJM market region. The US federal government is advocating the creation of large-scale, not-for-profit regional transmission organizations to increase the efficiency of the transmission of electricity. As a non-profit entity, PJM needs to allocate excess revenues collected as congestion rents, and the participants in the transmission markets need to be able to hedge their exposure to congestion rents. For these purposes, PJM has developed an instrument known as the financial transmission right (FTR). This research, utilizing a new data set assembled by the author, looks at two aspects of the FTR market. The first chapter examines the problem of forecasting congestion in a transmission grid. In the PJM FTR system firms bid in a competitive auction for FTRs that cover a period of one month. The auctions take place in the middle of the previous month; therefore firms have to forecast congestion rents for the period two to six weeks after the auction. The common methods of forecasting congestion are either time-series models or full-information engineering studies. In this research, the author develops a forecasting system that is more economically grounded than a simple time-series model, but requires less information than an engineering model. This method is based upon the arbitrage-cost methodology, whereby congesting is calculated as the difference of two non-observable variables: the transmission price difference that would exist in the total absence of transmission capacity between two nodes, and the ability of the existing transmission to reduced that price difference. If the ability to reduce the price difference is greater than the price difference, then the cost of electricity at each node will be the same, and congestion rent will be zero. If transmission capacity limits are binding on the flow of power, then a price difference persists and congestion rents exist. Three

  5. Emissions allocation in transportation routes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leenders, B.P.J.; Velázquez Martínez, J.; Fransoo, J.C.

    2017-01-01

    This article studies the allocation of CO2 emissions to a specific shipment in routing transportation. The authors show that this problem differs from a cost allocation problem specifically because the concavity condition does not hold necessarily in the CO2 allocation problem. This implies that a

  6. A Five-Year Hedonic Price Breakdown for Desktop Personal Computer Attributes in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuno Manoel Martins Dias Fouto

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to identify the attributes that discriminate the prices of personal desktop computers. We employ the hedonic price method in evaluating such characteristics. This approach allows market prices to be expressed as a function, a set of attributes present in the products and services offered. Prices and characteristics of up to 3,779 desktop personal computers offered in the IT pages of one of the main Brazilian newspapers were collected from January 2003 to December 2007. Several specifications for the hedonic (multivariate linear regression were tested. In this particular study, the main attributes were found to be hard drive capacity, screen technology, main board brand, random memory size, microprocessor brand, video board memory, digital video and compact disk recording devices, screen size and microprocessor speed. These results highlight the novel contribution of this study: the manner and means in which hedonic price indexes may be estimated in Brazil.

  7. Price Recall, Bertrand Paradox and Price Dispersion With Elastic Demand

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Carvalho, M.

    2009-01-01

    This paper studies the consequence of an imprecise recall of the price by the consumers in the Bertrand price competition model for a homogeneous good. It is shown that firms can exploit this weakness and charge prices above the competitive price. This markup increases for rougher recall of the

  8. Analyzing the effects of past prices on reference price formation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R.D. van Oest (Rutger); R. Paap (Richard)

    2004-01-01

    textabstractWe propose a new reference price framework for brand choice. In this framework, we employ a Markov-switching process with an absorbing state to model unobserved price recall of households. Reference prices result from the prices households are able to remember. Our model can be used to

  9. Pricing for a basket of LCDS under fuzzy environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Liang; Liu, Jie-Fang; Wang, Jun-Tao; Zhuang, Ya-Ming

    2016-01-01

    This paper looks at both the prepayment risks of housing mortgage loan credit default swaps (LCDS) as well as the fuzziness and hesitation of investors as regards prepayments by borrowers. It further discusses the first default pricing of a basket of LCDS in a fuzzy environment by using stochastic analysis and triangular intuition-based fuzzy set theory. Through the 'fuzzification' of the sensitivity coefficient in the prepayment intensity, this paper describes the dynamic features of mortgage housing values using the One-factor copula function and concludes with a formula for 'fuzzy' pricing the first default of a basket of LCDS. Using analog simulation to analyze the sensitivity of hesitation, we derive a model that considers what the LCDS fair premium is in a fuzzy environment, including a pure random environment. In addition, the model also shows that a suitable pricing range will give investors more flexible choices and make the predictions of the model closer to real market values.

  10. Volatilities, Traded Volumes, and Price Increments in Derivative Securities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Kyungsik; Lim, Gyuchang; Kim, Soo Yong; Scalas, Enrico

    2007-03-01

    We apply the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to the statistics of the Korean treasury bond (KTB) futures from which the logarithmic increments, volatilities, and traded volumes are estimated over a specific time lag. For our case, the logarithmic increment of futures prices has no long-memory property, while the volatility and the traded volume exhibit the existence of long-memory property. To analyze and calculate whether the volatility clustering is due to the inherent higher-order correlation not detected by applying directly the DFA to logarithmic increments of the KTB futures, it is of importance to shuffle the original tick data of futures prices and to generate the geometric Brownian random walk with the same mean and standard deviation. It is really shown from comparing the three tick data that the higher-order correlation inherent in logarithmic increments makes the volatility clustering. Particularly, the result of the DFA on volatilities and traded volumes may be supported the hypothesis of price changes.

  11. Leveraged exchange-traded funds price dynamics and options valuation

    CERN Document Server

    Leung, Tim

    2016-01-01

    This book provides an analysis, under both discrete-time and continuous-time frameworks, on the price dynamics of leveraged exchange-traded funds (LETFs), with emphasis on the roles of leverage ratio, realized volatility, investment horizon, and tracking errors. This study provides new insights on the risks associated with LETFs. It also leads to the discussion of new risk management concepts, such as admissible leverage ratios and admissible risk horizon, as well as the mathematical and empirical analyses of several trading strategies, including static portfolios, pairs trading, and stop-loss strategies involving ETFs and LETFs. The final part of the book addresses the pricing of options written on LETFs. Since different LETFs are designed to track the same reference index, these funds and their associated options share very similar sources of randomness. The authors provide a no-arbitrage pricing approach that consistently value options on LETFs with different leverage ratios with stochastic volatility and ...

  12. Modelling the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narayan, Paresh Kumar; Narayan, Seema

    2010-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to model the impact of oil prices on Vietnam's stock prices. We use daily data for the period 2000-2008 and include the nominal exchange rate as an additional determinant of stock prices. We find that stock prices, oil prices and nominal exchange rates are cointegrated, and oil prices have a positive and statistically significant impact on stock prices. This result is inconsistent with theoretical expectations. The growth of the Vietnamese stock market was accompanied by rising oil prices. However, the boom of the stock market was marked by increasing foreign portfolio investment inflows which are estimated to have doubled from US$0.9 billion in 2005 to US$1.9 billion in 2006. There was also a change in preferences from holding foreign currencies and domestic bank deposits to stocks local market participants, and there was a rise in leveraged investment in stock as well as investments on behalf of relatives living abroad. It seems that the impact of these internal and domestic factors were more dominant than the oil price rise on the Vietnamese stock market. (author)

  13. Drug Pricing Reforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaiser, Ulrich; Mendez, Susan J.; Rønde, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Reference price systems for prescription drugs have found widespread use as cost containment tools. Under such regulatory regimes, patients co-pay a fraction of the difference between pharmacy retail price of the drug and a reference price. Reference prices are either externally (based on drug...... prices in other countries) or internally (based on domestic drug prices) determined. In a recent study, we analysed the effects of a change from external to internal reference pricing in Denmark in 2005, finding that the reform led to substantial reductions in prices, producer revenues, and expenditures...... for patients and the health insurance system. We also estimated an increase in consumer welfare but the size effect depends on whether or not perceived quality differences between branded and other drugs are taken into account....

  14. Transfer Pricing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Søren Bo

    2014-01-01

    Against a background of rather mixed evidence about transfer pricing practices in multinational enterprises (MNEs) and varying attitudes on the part of tax authorities, this paper explores how multiple aims in transfer pricing can be pursued across four different transfer pricing regimes. A MNE h...

  15. [Food and nutrition security policy in Brazil: an analysis of resource allocation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Custódio, Marta Battaglia; Yuba, Tânia Yuka; Cyrillo, Denise Cavallini

    2013-02-01

    To describe the progression and distribution of federal funds for programs and activities that fall within the scope of the guidelines of the Brazilian National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security (PNSAN) in the period from 2004 to 2010. This descriptive study used data from the Transparency Website maintained by the Brazilian Public Sector Internal Control Office. Search results were exported to Excel spreadsheets. To determine the resources allocated to food security initiatives, a database was set up containing all actions developed by the federal government between 2004 and 2010. This database was reviewed and the actions that were not related to PNSAN were discarded. The annual amounts obtained were corrected by the Consumer Price Index and updated for the year 2010. Since actions are part of specific programs, the sum of the resources allocated for all the actions of a program amounted to the resources invested in the program as a whole. The programs were then prioritized according to the amount of resources received in 2010. Of the 5 014 actions receiving federal funds in the study period, 814 were related to PNSAN (229 programs). There was growth in resources allocated for PNSAN programs, reaching US$ 15 billion in 2010 (an 82% increase over the previous year). The largest amount was invested in Bolsa Família, a cash transfer program. Ten programs received 90% of the funds, of which five were linked to food production processes. The amount of resources invested in the PNSAN and in actions and programs that promote food and nutrition security is increasing in Brazil.

  16. Natural gas pricing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Freedenthal, C.

    1993-01-01

    Natural gas pricing is the heart and soul of the gas business. Price specifically affects every phase of the industry. Too low a price will result in short supplies as seen in the mid-1970s when natural gas was scarce and in tight supply. To fully understand the pricing of this energy commodity, it is important to understand the total energy picture. In addition, the effect and impact of world and US economies, and economics in general are crucial to understanding natural gas pricing. The purpose of this presentation will be to show the parameters going into US natural gas pricing including the influence of the many outside industry factors like crude oil and coal pricing, market drivers pushing the gas industry, supply/demand parameters, risk management for buyers and sellers, and other elements involved in pricing analysis

  17. Transfer of single farm payment entitlements to farm successors: impact on structural change and rental prices in Switzerland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriele Mack

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the impact of tradable and non-tradable single farm payment (SFP entitlements for farm successors on structural change and the lease market. Using the example of Swiss agriculture, the effects on rental-price trends and farm-exit rates are investigated. An ex-ante normative impact analysis is performed with the agent-based agricultural-sector model SWISSland, which simulates structural change processes and income trends in Swiss agriculture over a period of up to 15 years. A land market implemented at municipality level simulates the plot-by-plot leasing of land to surrounding neighbouring agents that is common in Switzerland. Allocation of plots to tenants as well as lease pricing is modelled taking into account the farm-specific land rents. The results show that personalised SFP entitlements which could not be transferred to a farm successor not only cause an intensification of structural change, but would also thus lead to a substantial reduction in rental prices. SFP entitlements which were successfully transferred to farm successors have only a slight impact on structural change and the rental prices of arable land. Only for grassland in the mountain region does a stronger shift result in a significant reduction in rental prices.

  18. An exploratory study on equity in funding allocation for essential medicines and health supplies in Uganda's public sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusemererwa, Donna; Alban, Anita; Obua, Ocwa Thomas; Trap, Birna

    2016-08-30

    To ascertain equity in financing for essential medicines and health supplies (EMHS) in Uganda, this paper explores the relationships among government funding allocations for EMHS, patient load, and medicines availability across facilities at different levels of care. We collected data on EMHS allocations and availability of selected vital medicines from 43 purposively sampled hospitals and the highest level health centers (HC IV), 44 randomly selected lower-level health facilities (HC II, III), and from over 400 facility health information system records and National Medical Stores records. The data were analyzed to determine allocations per patient within and across levels of care and the effects of allocations on product availability. EMHS funding allocations per patient varied widely within facilities at the same level, and allocations per patient between levels overlapped considerably. For example, HC IV allocations per patient ranged from US$0.25 to US$2.14 (1:9 ratio of lowest to highest allocation), and over 75 % of HC IV facilities had the same or lower average allocation per patient than HC III facilities. Overall, 43 % of all the facilities had optimal stock levels, 27 % were understocked, and 30 % were overstocked. Using simulations, we reduced the ratio between the highest and lowest allocations per patient within a level of care to less than two and eliminated the overlap in allocation per patient between levels. Inequity in EMHS allocation is demonstrated by the wide range of funding allocations per patient and the corresponding disparities in medicines availability. We show that using patient load to calculate EMHS allocations has the potential to improve equity significantly. However, more research in this area is urgently needed. The article does not report any results of human participants. It is implemented in collaboration with the Uganda's Ministry of Health, Pharmacy Division.

  19. Testing causal relationships between wholesale electricity prices and primary energy prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakajima, Tadahiro; Hamori, Shigeyuki

    2013-01-01

    We apply the lag-augmented vector autoregression technique to test the Granger-causal relationships among wholesale electricity prices, natural gas prices, and crude oil prices. In addition, by adopting a cross-correlation function approach, we test not only the causality in mean but also the causality in variance between the variables. The results of tests using both techniques show that gas prices Granger-cause electricity prices in mean. We find no Granger-causality in variance among these variables. -- Highlights: •We test the Granger-causality among wholesale electricity and primary energy prices. •We test not only the causality in mean but also the causality in variance. •The results show that gas prices Granger-cause electricity prices in mean. •We find no Granger-causality in variance among these variables

  20. The long-run forecasting of energy prices using the model of shifting trend

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radchenko, Stanislav

    2005-01-01

    improve the long-term forecasts, I suggest to combine forecasts from the shifting trend model, random walk model, and an autoregressive model. The main results may be summarized as follows. The shifting trend model offers an alternative approach to construct long-run forecasts of energy prices which give additional insights about the competitive nature of energy markets. The constructed forecasts seem to be unaffected by the presence of large long-lived increases and decreases in energy prices. Also, these forecasts may be combined with the forecasts from random walk model and univariate autoregressive model to substantially decrease the mean squared forecast error (MSFE) of energy forecasts. (Author)

  1. Consumer food choices: the role of price and pricing strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steenhuis, Ingrid H M; Waterlander, Wilma E; de Mul, Anika

    2011-12-01

    To study differences in the role of price and value in food choice between low-income and higher-income consumers and to study the perception of consumers about pricing strategies that are of relevance during grocery shopping. A cross-sectional study was conducted using structured, written questionnaires. Food choice motives as well as price perceptions and opinion on pricing strategies were measured. The study was carried out in point-of-purchase settings, i.e. supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and sports canteens. Adults (n 159) visiting a point-of-purchase setting were included. Price is an important factor in food choice, especially for low-income consumers. Low-income consumers were significantly more conscious of value and price than higher-income consumers. The most attractive strategies, according to the consumers, were discounting healthy food more often and applying a lower VAT (Value Added Tax) rate on healthy food. Low-income consumers differ in their preferences for pricing strategies. Since price is more important for low-income consumers we recommend mainly focusing on their preferences and needs.

  2. An electricity price model with consideration to load and gas price effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Min-xiang; Tao, Xiao-hu; Han, Zhen-xiang

    2003-01-01

    Some characteristics of the electricity load and prices are studied, and the relationship between electricity prices and gas (fuel) prices is analyzed in this paper. Because electricity prices are strongly dependent on load and gas prices, the authors constructed a model for electricity prices based on the effects of these two factors; and used the Geometric Mean Reversion Brownian Motion (GMRBM) model to describe the electricity load process, and a Geometric Brownian Motion(GBM) model to describe the gas prices; deduced the price stochastic process model based on the above load model and gas price model. This paper also presents methods for parameters estimation, and proposes some methods to solve the model.

  3. Welfare distribution effect of a price reduction in the Dutch gas transport market: A scenario analysis of regulatory policy, market form and rent allocation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A. Witteloostuijn, van (Arjen); S. Brakman (Steven); J.G.M. van Marrewijk (Charles)

    2007-01-01

    textabstractAs part of the larger energy market deregulation program, the Dutch energy authority—DTe—has developed the habit to force the Dutch gas transport enterprise—Gas Transport Services, or GTS—to lower its prices. DTe's key argument is that lower gas transport prices will benefit the

  4. Tiered co-payments, pricing, and demand in reference price markets for pharmaceuticals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herr, Annika; Suppliet, Moritz

    2017-12-01

    Health insurance companies curb price-insensitive behavior and the moral hazard of insureds by means of cost-sharing, such as tiered co-payments or reference pricing in drug markets. This paper evaluates the effect of price limits - below which drugs are exempt from co-payments - on prices and on demand. First, using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we find that the new policy decreases prices by 5 percent for generics and increases prices by 4 percent for brand-name drugs in the German reference price market. Second, estimating a nested-logit demand model, we show that consumers appreciate co-payment exempt drugs and calculate lower price elasticities for brand-name drugs than for generics. This explains the different price responses of brand-name and generic drugs and shows that price-related co-payment tiers are an effective tool to steer demand to low-priced drugs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. The Effect of Price on Surgeons' Choice of Implants: A Randomized Controlled Survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wasterlain, Amy S.; Melamed, Eitan; Bello, Ricardo; Karia, Raj; Capo, John T.; Adams, Julie; Vochteloo, A. J. H.; Powell, Andrew John; Marcus, Alexander; Andreas, Platz; Miller, Anna N.; Berner, A. B. Arne; Altintas, Burak; Sears, Benjamin W.; Calfee, Ryan P.; Ekholm, Carl; Fernandes, C. H.; Porcellini, Giuseppe; Jones, Clifford; Moreno-Serrano, Constanza L.; Manke, Chad; Crist, Brett D.; Haverkamp, Daniel; Hanel, Doug; Merchant, Milind; Rikli, Daniel A.; Shafi, Mohamed; Patiño, Juan M.; Duncan, Scott F.; Ballas, Efsthathios G.; Harvey, Edward; Walbeehm, E. T.; Schumer, Evan D.; Evans, Peter J.; Suarez, Fabio; Lopez-Gonzalez, Francisco; Seibert, Franz Josef; DeSilva, Gregory; Bayne, Grant J.; Guitton, T. G.; Nancollas, Michael; Lane, Lewis B.; Westly, Stephen K.; Villamizar, Harold Alonso; Pountos, Ippokratis; Hofmeister, Eric; Biert, Jan; Goslings, J. Carel; Bishop, Julius; Peters, R. W.

    2017-01-01

    Surgical costs are under scrutiny and surgeons are being held increasingly responsible for cost containment. In some instances, implants are the largest component of total procedure cost, yet previous studies reveal that surgeons' knowledge of implant prices is poor. Our study aims to (1) understand

  6. An Evaluation of Different Training Sample Allocation Schemes for Discrete and Continuous Land Cover Classification Using Decision Tree-Based Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    René Roland Colditz

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Land cover mapping for large regions often employs satellite images of medium to coarse spatial resolution, which complicates mapping of discrete classes. Class memberships, which estimate the proportion of each class for every pixel, have been suggested as an alternative. This paper compares different strategies of training data allocation for discrete and continuous land cover mapping using classification and regression tree algorithms. In addition to measures of discrete and continuous map accuracy the correct estimation of the area is another important criteria. A subset of the 30 m national land cover dataset of 2006 (NLCD2006 of the United States was used as reference set to classify NADIR BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance time series of MODIS at 900 m spatial resolution. Results show that sampling of heterogeneous pixels and sample allocation according to the expected area of each class is best for classification trees. Regression trees for continuous land cover mapping should be trained with random allocation, and predictions should be normalized with a linear scaling function to correctly estimate the total area. From the tested algorithms random forest classification yields lower errors than boosted trees of C5.0, and Cubist shows higher accuracies than random forest regression.

  7. Real options theory to the pricing of allowances contract to carbon emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horii, Leticia Takahashi; Parente, Virginia; Goldemberg, Jose

    2010-01-01

    The objective of this work is to develop a pricing model contract for allowances to emit carbon through Real Options. Emissions allowances are equivalent tons of carbon traded between Annex I countries from companies that have the ability to reduce their emissions beyond what is assigned to it. The surplus of emission reductions produced by these companies may be sold in the emissions market. Thus, this work can contribute to improving the management of contractual risk and enable companies estimated the price at which a contract can be signed. Properly evaluate the contracts that the market environment is a challenge for companies. The historic low of information and randomness in the price of carbon allowances in the spot market suggest extreme caution in its use. (author)

  8. Peer-Allocated Instant Response (PAIR): Computional allocation of peer tutors in learning communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Westera, Wim

    2009-01-01

    Westera, W. (2007). Peer-Allocated Instant Response (PAIR): Computational allocation of peer tutors in learning communities. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/10/2/5.html

  9. Analysis of Urban Households' Preference for Informal Access to ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-10-02

    Oct 2, 2016 ... system, demand and supply, information systems as well as social ... the price system to dictate solely the allocation and distribution of land in the .... 400 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents through a random sampling ..... Urban land and informality: An evaluation of institutional response.

  10. Recovering a time-homogeneous stock price process from perpetual option prices

    OpenAIRE

    Ekström, Erik; Hobson, David

    2009-01-01

    It is well known how to determine the price of perpetual American options if the underlying stock price is a time-homogeneous diffusion. In the present paper we consider the inverse problem, that is, given prices of perpetual American options for different strikes, we show how to construct a time-homogeneous stock price model which reproduces the given option prices.

  11. Welfare distribution effect of a price reduction in the Dutch gas transport market: A scenario analysis of regulatory policy, market form and rent allocation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Witteloostuijn , van Arjen; Brakman, S.; van Marrewijk, C.

    2007-01-01

    As part of the larger energy market deregulation program, the Dutch energy authority-DTe-has developed the habit to force the Dutch gas transport enterprise-Gas Transport Services, or GTS-to lower its prices. DTe's key argument is that lower gas transport prices will benefit the end-user. Indeed,

  12. A stochastic version of the Price equation reveals the interplay of deterministic and stochastic processes in evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rice Sean H

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Evolution involves both deterministic and random processes, both of which are known to contribute to directional evolutionary change. A number of studies have shown that when fitness is treated as a random variable, meaning that each individual has a distribution of possible fitness values, then both the mean and variance of individual fitness distributions contribute to directional evolution. Unfortunately the most general mathematical description of evolution that we have, the Price equation, is derived under the assumption that both fitness and offspring phenotype are fixed values that are known exactly. The Price equation is thus poorly equipped to study an important class of evolutionary processes. Results I present a general equation for directional evolutionary change that incorporates both deterministic and stochastic processes and applies to any evolving system. This is essentially a stochastic version of the Price equation, but it is derived independently and contains terms with no analog in Price's formulation. This equation shows that the effects of selection are actually amplified by random variation in fitness. It also generalizes the known tendency of populations to be pulled towards phenotypes with minimum variance in fitness, and shows that this is matched by a tendency to be pulled towards phenotypes with maximum positive asymmetry in fitness. This equation also contains a term, having no analog in the Price equation, that captures cases in which the fitness of parents has a direct effect on the phenotype of their offspring. Conclusion Directional evolution is influenced by the entire distribution of individual fitness, not just the mean and variance. Though all moments of individuals' fitness distributions contribute to evolutionary change, the ways that they do so follow some general rules. These rules are invisible to the Price equation because it describes evolution retrospectively. An equally general

  13. How Does Pricing of Day-ahead Electricity Market Affect Put Option Pricing?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Raouf Sheybani

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, impacts of day-ahead market pricing on behavior of producers and consumers in option and day-ahead markets and on option pricing are studied. To this end, two comprehensive equilibrium models for joint put option and day-ahead markets under pay-as-bid and uniform pricing in day-ahead market are presented, respectively. Interaction between put option and day-ahead markets, uncertainty in fuel price, day-ahead market pricing, and elasticity of consumers to strike price, premium price, and day-ahead price are taken into account in these models. By applying the presented models to a test system impact of day-ahead market pricing on equilibrium of joint put option and day-ahead markets are studied.

  14. Gold prices

    OpenAIRE

    Joseph G. Haubrich

    1998-01-01

    The price of gold commands attention because it serves as an indicator of general price stability or inflation. But gold is also a commodity, used in jewelry and by industry, so demand and supply affect its pricing and need to be considered when gold is a factor in monetary policy decisions.

  15. International distortions of competition under emissions trading due to differences in national permit allocation. Theory and empirical analysis of the EU-energy intensive industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brockhagen, D.

    2004-03-01

    The first part develops a theory of distortions of competition among competing firms, induced by differences in the method and/or stringency of national allocation of greenhouse gas emission permits in an international emissions trading system. By applying neoclassical theory on output optimisation, price setting and other factors such as R and D expenditures, five potentially distorting effects are identified for perfect and imperfect markets,. The second part develops economic indicators and a two tier approach, which can be applied empirically, in order to test whether an industry is vulnerable to the potential effects found before. The third part applies the two tier approach empirically to four sectors of the energy intensive industry in the EU: steel making, cement, oil refining and electricity generation. The steel industry is the most vulnerable industry, followed by oil refining, whereas cement and electricity are not vulnerable. At a permit price of 20 euros/ton CO 2 , and with national allocations that differ more than 40% in terms of allowed emissions per ton product output, this thesis predicts that some steel makers would be forced out of the market. (author)

  16. Value-based differential pricing: efficient prices for drugs in a global context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danzon, Patricia; Towse, Adrian; Mestre-Ferrandiz, Jorge

    2015-03-01

    This paper analyzes pharmaceutical pricing between and within countries to achieve second-best static and dynamic efficiency. We distinguish countries with and without universal insurance, because insurance undermines patients' price sensitivity, potentially leading to prices above second-best efficient levels. In countries with universal insurance, if each payer unilaterally sets an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) threshold based on its citizens' willingness-to-pay for health; manufacturers price to that ICER threshold; and payers limit reimbursement to patients for whom a drug is cost-effective at that price and ICER, then the resulting price levels and use within each country and price differentials across countries are roughly consistent with second-best static and dynamic efficiency. These value-based prices are expected to differ cross-nationally with per capita income and be broadly consistent with Ramsey optimal prices. Countries without comprehensive insurance avoid its distorting effects on prices but also lack financial protection and affordability for the poor. Improving pricing efficiency in these self-pay countries includes improving regulation and consumer information about product quality and enabling firms to price discriminate within and between countries. © 2013 The Authors. Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. International Asset Pricing, Currency Risk and Integration of Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sema BAYRAKTAR

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This study attempts to test the conditional version of the international asset-pricing model proposed in Bayraktar (2000, 2009 by using a parsimonious multivariate GARCH process. The theoretical model, contrary to previous empirical studies that have used random selection of currency risks, determines which currencies should be included in an empirical test, thus avoids this kind of random selection bias. The results from both full and sub-samples regressions provide some weak evidence for the existence of exchange rate risks, thus partially support the theory. However, exchange rate risks' premia are found considerably smaller than that of market risk.

  18. Effect of optimum stratification on sampling with varying probabilities under proportional allocation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syed Ejaz Husain Rizvi

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available The problem of optimum stratification on an auxiliary variable when the units from different strata are selected with probability proportional to the value of auxiliary variable (PPSWR was considered by Singh (1975 for univariate case. In this paper we have extended the same problem, for proportional allocation, when two variates are under study. A cum. 3 R3(x rule for obtaining approximately optimum strata boundaries has been provided. It has been shown theoretically as well as empirically that the use of stratification has inverse effect on the relative efficiency of PPSWR as compared to unstratified PPSWR method when proportional method of allocation is envisaged. Further comparison showed that with increase in number of strata the stratified simple random sampling is equally efficient as PPSWR.

  19. Modeling the relationship between the oil price and global food prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Sheng-Tung; Kuo, Hsiao-I; Chen, Chi-Chung

    2010-01-01

    The growth of corn-based ethanol production and soybean-based bio-diesel production following the increase in the oil prices have significantly affect the world agricultural grain productions and its prices. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between the crude oil price and the global grain prices for corn, soybean, and wheat. The empirical results show that the change in each grain price is significantly influenced by the changes in the crude oil price and other grain prices during the period extending from the 3rd week in 2005 to the 20th week in 2008 which implies that grain commodities are competing with the derived demand for bio-fuels by using soybean or corn to produce ethanol or bio-diesel during the period of higher crude oil prices in these recent years. The subsidy policies in relation to the bio-fuel industries in some nations engaging in bio-fuel production should be considered to avoid the consequences resulting from high oil prices. (author)

  20. Energy prices and taxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    Energy Prices and Taxes contains a major international compilation of energy prices at all market levels: import prices, industry prices and consumer prices. The statistics cover main petroleum products, gas, coal and electricity, giving for imported products an average price both for importing country and country of origin. Every issue includes full notes on sources and methods and a description of price mechanisms in each country

  1. Dynamic Optimization for IPS2 Resource Allocation Based on Improved Fuzzy Multiple Linear Regression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maokuan Zheng

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The study mainly focuses on resource allocation optimization for industrial product-service systems (IPS2. The development of IPS2 leads to sustainable economy by introducing cooperative mechanisms apart from commodity transaction. The randomness and fluctuation of service requests from customers lead to the volatility of IPS2 resource utilization ratio. Three basic rules for resource allocation optimization are put forward to improve system operation efficiency and cut unnecessary costs. An approach based on fuzzy multiple linear regression (FMLR is developed, which integrates the strength and concision of multiple linear regression in data fitting and factor analysis and the merit of fuzzy theory in dealing with uncertain or vague problems, which helps reduce those costs caused by unnecessary resource transfer. The iteration mechanism is introduced in the FMLR algorithm to improve forecasting accuracy. A case study of human resource allocation optimization in construction machinery industry is implemented to test and verify the proposed model.

  2. Optimal allocation of energy storage in a co-optimized electricity market: Benefits assessment and deriving indicators for economic storage ventures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishnan, Venkat; Das, Trishna

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a framework for optimally allocating storage technologies in a power system. This decision support tool helps in quantitatively answering the questions on “where to and how much to install” considering the profits from arbitrage opportunities in a co-optimized electricity market. The developed framework is illustrated on a modified IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 24 bus RTS (Reliability Test System), and the framework finds the optimal allocation solution and the revenues storage earns at each of these locations. Bulk energy storage, CAES (compressed air energy storage) is used as the representative storage technology, and the benefits of optimally allocated storage integration onto the grid are compared with transmission expansion solution. The paper also discusses about system-level indicators to identify candidate locations for economical storage ventures, which are derived based on the optimal storage allocation solution; and applies the market price based storage venture indicators on MISO (Mid-continental Independent System Operator) and PJM (Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection) electricity markets. - Highlights: • Storage optimal allocation framework based on high-fidelity storage dispatch model. • Storage with transmission addresses energy and ancillary issues under high renewables. • Bulk storage earns higher revenues from co-optimization (∼10× energy only market). • Grid offers distributed opportunities for investing in a strategic mix of storage. • Storage opportunities depend on cross-arbitrage, as seen from MISO (Mid-continental Independent System Operator) and PJM (Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection) markets

  3. Switching health insurers: the role of price, quality and consumer information search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boonen, Lieke H H M; Laske-Aldershof, Trea; Schut, Frederik T

    2016-04-01

    We examine the impact of price, service quality and information search on people's propensity to switch health insurers in the competitive Dutch health insurance market. Using panel data from annual household surveys and data on health insurers' premiums and quality ratings over the period 2006-2012, we estimate a random effects logit model of people's switching decisions. We find that switching propensities depend on health plan price and quality, and on people's age, health, education and having supplementary or group insurance. Young people (18-35 years) are more sensitive to price, whereas older people are more sensitive to quality. Searching for health plan information has a much stronger impact on peoples' sensitivity to price than to service quality. In addition, searching for health plan information has a stronger impact on the switching propensity of higher than lower educated people, suggesting that higher educated people make better use of available health plan information. Finally, having supplementary insurance significantly reduces older people's switching propensity.

  4. Cost allocation review : staff discussion paper

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-09-01

    This report addressed the need for updated cost allocation studies filed by local electricity distribution companies because they ensure that distribution rates for each customer class remain just and reasonable. According to the 2001 Electricity Distribution Rate Handbook, the Ontario Energy Board requires new cost allocation studies before implementing any future incentive regulation plans. A review of cost allocations allows the Board to consider the need for adjustments to the current share of distribution costs paid by different classes of ratepayers. This report included 14 sections to facilitate consultations with stakeholders on financial information requirements for cost allocation; directly assignable costs; functionalization; categorization; allocation methods; allocation of other costs; load data requirements; cost allocation implementation issues; addition of new rate class and rate design for scattered unmetered loads; addition of new rate class for larger users; rates to charge embedded distributors; treatment of the rate sub-classification identified as time-of-use; and, rate design implementation issues. 1 fig., 7 appendices

  5. Psychological Prices and Price Rigidity in Grocery Retailing: Analysis of German Scanner Data

    OpenAIRE

    Herrmann, Roland; Moeser, Anke

    2005-01-01

    A substantial degree of price rigidity has been reported for branded foods in various studies with scanner data. One possible explanation for price rigidity is the existence of psychological pricing points. We analyze to which extent psychological pricing plays a role in grocery retailing and whether it contributes to price rigidity of branded foods in Germany. Psychological pricing defined here as just-below-the-round-figure-pricing is empirically analyzed with scanner data of weekly prices ...

  6. Value-based pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Netseva-Porcheva Tatyana

    2010-01-01

    The main aim of the paper is to present the value-based pricing. Therefore, the comparison between two approaches of pricing is made - cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. The 'Price sensitively meter' is presented. The other topic of the paper is the perceived value - meaning of the perceived value, the components of perceived value, the determination of perceived value and the increasing of perceived value. In addition, the best company strategies in matrix 'value-cost' are outlined. .

  7. How do minimum cigarette price laws affect cigarette prices at the retail level?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feighery, E C; Ribisl, K M; Schleicher, N C; Zellers, L; Wellington, N

    2005-04-01

    Half of US states have minimum cigarette price laws that were originally passed to protect small independent retailers from unfair price competition with larger retailers. These laws prohibit cigarettes from being sold below a minimum price that is set by a formula. Many of these laws allow cigarette company promotional incentives offered to retailers, such as buydowns and master-type programmes, to be calculated into the formula. Allowing this provision has the potential to lower the allowable minimum price. This study assesses whether stores in states with minimum price laws have higher cigarette prices and lower rates of retailer participation in cigarette company promotional incentive programmes. Retail cigarette prices and retailer participation in cigarette company incentive programmes in 2001 were compared in eight states with minimum price laws and seven states without them. New York State had the most stringent minimum price law at the time of the study because it excluded promotional incentive programmes in its price setting formula; cigarette prices in New York were compared to all other states included in the study. Cigarette prices were not significantly different in our sample of US states with and without cigarette minimum price laws. Cigarette prices were significantly higher in New York stores than in the 14 other states combined. Most existing minimum cigarette price laws appear to have little impact on the retail price of cigarettes. This may be because they allow the use of promotional programmes, which are used by manufacturers to reduce cigarette prices. New York's strategy to disallow these types of incentive programmes may result in higher minimum cigarette prices, and should also be explored as a potential policy strategy to control cigarette company marketing practices in stores. Strict cigarette minimum price laws may have the potential to reduce cigarette consumption by decreasing demand through increased cigarette prices and reduced

  8. 48 CFR 5416.203 - Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment. 5416.203 Section 5416.203 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed Price Contracts 5416.203 Fixed-price...

  9. The Earnings/Price Risk Factor in Capital Asset Pricing Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Falcão Noda

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This article integrates the ideas from two major lines of research on cost of equity and asset pricing: multi-factor models and ex ante accounting models. The earnings/price ratio is used as a proxy for the ex ante cost of equity, in order to explain realized returns of Brazilian companies within the period from 1995 to 2013. The initial finding was that stocks with high (low earnings/price ratios have higher (lower risk-adjusted realized returns, already controlled by the capital asset pricing model's beta. The results show that selecting stocks based on high earnings/price ratios has led to significantly higher risk-adjusted returns in the Brazilian market, with average abnormal returns close to 1.3% per month. We design asset pricing models including an earnings/price risk factor, i.e. high earnings minus low earnings, based on the Fama and French three-factor model. We conclude that such a risk factor is significant to explain returns on portfolios, even when controlled by size and market/book ratios. Models including the high earnings minus low earnings risk factor were better to explain stock returns in Brazil when compared to the capital asset pricing model and to the Fama and French three-factor model, having the lowest number of significant intercepts. These findings may be due to the impact of historically high inflation rates, which reduce the information content of book values, thus making the models based on earnings/price ratios better than those based on market/book ratios. Such results are different from those obtained in more developed markets and the superiority of the earnings/price ratio for asset pricing may also exist in other emerging markets.

  10. Climate, Agriculture, Energy and the Optimal Allocation of Global Land Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinbuks, J.; Hertel, T. W.

    2011-12-01

    The allocation of the world's land resources over the course of the next century has become a pressing research question. Continuing population increases, improving, land-intensive diets amongst the poorest populations in the world, increasing production of biofuels and rapid urbanization in developing countries are all competing for land even as the world looks to land resources to supply more environmental services. The latter include biodiversity and natural lands, as well as forests and grasslands devoted to carbon sequestration. And all of this is taking place in the context of faster than expected climate change which is altering the biophysical environment for land-related activities. The goal of the paper is to determine the optimal profile for global land use in the context of growing commercial demands for food and forest products, increasing non-market demands for ecosystem services, and more stringent GHG mitigation targets. We then seek to assess how the uncertainty associated with the underlying biophysical and economic processes influences this optimal profile of land use, in light of potential irreversibility in these decisions. We develop a dynamic long-run, forward-looking partial equilibrium framework in which the societal objective function being maximized places value on food production, liquid fuels (including biofuels), timber production, forest carbon and biodiversity. Given the importance of land-based emissions to any GHG mitigation strategy, as well as the potential impacts of climate change itself on the productivity of land in agriculture, forestry and ecosystem services, we aim to identify the optimal allocation of the world's land resources, over the course of the next century, in the face of alternative GHG constraints. The forestry sector is characterized by multiple forest vintages which add considerable computational complexity in the context of this dynamic analysis. In order to solve this model efficiently, we have employed the

  11. Optimal allocation of testing resources for statistical simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintana, Carolina; Millwater, Harry R.; Singh, Gulshan; Golden, Patrick

    2015-07-01

    Statistical estimates from simulation involve uncertainty caused by the variability in the input random variables due to limited data. Allocating resources to obtain more experimental data of the input variables to better characterize their probability distributions can reduce the variance of statistical estimates. The methodology proposed determines the optimal number of additional experiments required to minimize the variance of the output moments given single or multiple constraints. The method uses multivariate t-distribution and Wishart distribution to generate realizations of the population mean and covariance of the input variables, respectively, given an amount of available data. This method handles independent and correlated random variables. A particle swarm method is used for the optimization. The optimal number of additional experiments per variable depends on the number and variance of the initial data, the influence of the variable in the output function and the cost of each additional experiment. The methodology is demonstrated using a fretting fatigue example.

  12. 48 CFR 16.203 - Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fixed-price contracts with economic price adjustment. 16.203 Section 16.203 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 16.203 Fixed-price...

  13. The role of auctions and forward markets in the EU ETS: counterbalancing the cost-inefficiencies of combining generous allocation with a ban on banking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ehrhart, K.M.; Hoppe, C.; Schleich, J.; Seifert, S.

    2005-07-01

    From an analysis of the available national allocation plans for the first period (2005-2007) of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS), it can be inferred that (i) the total allocation to installations covered under the EU ETS is rather generous and (ii) most EU Member States ban the transfer of allowances (banking) into the second period (2008-2012). In this article, we explore the cost-efficiency issues associated with such a generous allocation of allowances to the trading sectors in combination with the ban on banking. It is argued that allocation to the trading sectors is higher than implied by a cost-minimization approach. Moreover, due to the reduced level of flexibility, a ban on banking increases overall compliance costs. In addition, the results of a simulation game conducted with real company participants and with a student control group suggest that a generous primary allocation in the first phase combined with a ban on banking also leads to a cost-inefficient choice of abatement measures within periods. The results of the simulations are also consistent with the conjecture that forward markets and auctioning off a part of the total quantity of allowances result in more reliable price signals and most cost-efficient outcomes. (author)

  14. A choice modelling analysis on the similarity between distribution utilities’ and industrial customers’ price and quality preferences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Söderberg, Magnus

    2008-01-01

    The Swedish Electricity Act states that electricity distribution must comply with both price and quality requirements. In order to maintain efficient regulation it is necessary to firstly, define quality attributes and secondly, determine a customer's priorities concerning price and quality...... to evaluate the same twelve choice situations in which price and four specific quality attributes are varied. The preferences expressed by the utilities, and estimated by a random parameter logit, correspond quite well with the preferences expressed by the largest industrial customers. The preferences...

  15. Potential impacts of electricity price changes on price formation in the economy: a social accounting matrix price modeling analysis for Turkey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akkemik, K. Ali

    2011-01-01

    Recent reforms in the Turkish electricity sector since 2001 aim to introduce a tariff system that reflects costs. This is expected to affect the production and consumer prices of electricity. The changes in electricity prices are then reflected in production costs in other segments of the economy. Subsequently, producer and consumer prices will be affected. The potential impact of the changes in electricity prices that the ongoing electricity reforms in Turkey will bring about may have important implications on the price formation in economic activities and the cost of living for households. This paper evaluates the potential impacts of changes in electricity prices from a social accounting matrix (SAM) price modeling perspective. It is found that based on the estimated price multipliers that prices in the energy-producing sectors, mining, and iron and steel manufacturing sectors would be affected more severely than the remaining sectors of the economy. Consumer prices are affected slightly less than producer prices. - Research Highlights: → The impact of electricity generation costs on prices in other sectors is modeled. → A micro-SAM emphasizing electricity supply is constructed using 2002 I-O tables. → Energy, mining, and steel sectors are more responsive to electricity costs. → Living costs are less responsive to electricity cost changes than producer prices.

  16. Are energy-dense foods really cheaper? Reexamining the relation between food price and energy density.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lipsky, Leah M

    2009-11-01

    The inverse relation between energy density (kcal/g) and energy cost (price/kcal) has been interpreted to suggest that produce (fruit, vegetables) is more expensive than snacks (cookies, chips). The objective of this study was to show the methodologic weakness of comparing energy density with energy cost. The relation between energy density and energy cost was replicated in a random-number data set. Additionally, observational data were collected for produce and snacks from an online supermarket. Variables included total energy (kcal), total weight (g), total number of servings, serving size (g/serving), and energy density (kcal/g). Price measures included energy cost ($/kcal), total price ($), unit price ($/g), and serving price ($/serving). Two-tailed t tests were used to compare price measures by food category. Relations between energy density and price measures within food categories were examined with the use of Spearman rank correlation analysis. The relation between energy density and energy cost was shown to be driven by the algebraic properties of these variables. Food category was strongly correlated with both energy density and food price measures. Energy cost was higher for produce than for snacks. However, total price and unit price were lower for produce. Serving price and serving size were greater for produce than for snacks. Within food categories, energy density was uncorrelated with most measures of food price, except for a weak positive correlation with serving price within the produce category. The findings suggest the relation between energy density and food price is confounded by food category and depends on which measure of price is used.

  17. Predicting Baseline for Analysis of Electricity Pricing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, T. [Ulsan National Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of); Lee, D. [Ulsan National Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of); Choi, J. [Ulsan National Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of); Spurlock, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Sim, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Todd, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Wu, K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2016-05-03

    To understand the impact of new pricing structure on residential electricity demands, we need a baseline model that captures every factor other than the new price. The standard baseline is a randomized control group, however, a good control group is hard to design. This motivates us to devlop data-driven approaches. We explored many techniques and designed a strategy, named LTAP, that could predict the hourly usage years ahead. The key challenge in this process is that the daily cycle of electricity demand peaks a few hours after the temperature reaching its peak. Existing methods rely on the lagged variables of recent past usages to enforce this daily cycle. These methods have trouble making predictions years ahead. LTAP avoids this trouble by assuming the daily usage profile is determined by temperature and other factors. In a comparison against a well-designed control group, LTAP is found to produce accurate predictions.

  18. Value-based pricing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Netseva-Porcheva Tatyana

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The main aim of the paper is to present the value-based pricing. Therefore, the comparison between two approaches of pricing is made - cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. The 'Price sensitively meter' is presented. The other topic of the paper is the perceived value - meaning of the perceived value, the components of perceived value, the determination of perceived value and the increasing of perceived value. In addition, the best company strategies in matrix 'value-cost' are outlined. .

  19. Tradable permit allocations and sequential choice

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MacKenzie, Ian A. [Centre for Economic Research, ETH Zuerich, Zurichbergstrasse 18, 8092 Zuerich (Switzerland)

    2011-01-15

    This paper investigates initial allocation choices in an international tradable pollution permit market. For two sovereign governments, we compare allocation choices that are either simultaneously or sequentially announced. We show sequential allocation announcements result in higher (lower) aggregate emissions when announcements are strategic substitutes (complements). Whether allocation announcements are strategic substitutes or complements depends on the relationship between the follower's damage function and governments' abatement costs. When the marginal damage function is relatively steep (flat), allocation announcements are strategic substitutes (complements). For quadratic abatement costs and damages, sequential announcements provide a higher level of aggregate emissions. (author)

  20. Transfer Pricing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rohde, Carsten; Rossing, Christian Plesner

    trade internally as the units have to decide what prices should be paid for such inter-unit transfers. One important challenge is to uncover the consequences that different transfer prices have on the willingness in the organizational units to coordinate activities and trade internally. At the same time...... the determination of transfer price will affect the size of the profit or loss in the organizational units and thus have an impact on the evaluation of managers‟ performance. In some instances the determination of transfer prices may lead to a disagreement between coordination of the organizational units...