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on Energy Economics |
| By: | Baltasar Manzano; Carlos de Miguel; José Mª Martín Moreno |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of oil price shocks on the business cycle of the EU-15 countries using a standard dynamic general equilibrium model for a small open economy in which oil is included as an imported productive input. The results show that oil shocks can account for a significant percentage of GDP fluctuations in many of those countries. Furthermore, we show that the increases in the relative price of oil had a negative effect on welfare, particularly in southern European countries, which are historically associated with a lax monetary policy during oil crisis. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:215&r=ene |
| By: | Fedderke, Johannes W.; Bogetic, Zeljko |
| Abstract: | The authors use a panel-data set for the period 1980-2002 to estimate demand for electricity and telecommunications services and project investment needs in South Africa through 2010 for two growth scenarios. Projections of average annual investment needs in electricity and telecommunications for the current growth scenario (3.6 percent a year) are of the order of 0.2 percent and 0.75 percent of GDP, respectively. An alternative, accelerated growth scenario (6 percent a year) implies approximate doubling of investment needs in these sectors. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory & Research,Investment and Investment Climate,Banks & Banking Reform,Pro-Poor Growth and Inequality,ICT Policy and Strategies |
| Date: | 2006–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3829&r=ene |
| By: | Fedderke, Johannes W.; Bogetic, Zeljko |
| Abstract: | The paper provides a first systematic, comprehensive benchmarking of South Africa ' s infrastructure performance in four major sectors--electricity, water and sanitation, information and communication technology, and transportation--against the relevant group of comparator countries using a new World Bank international data base with objective and perception-based indicators of infrastructure performance from over 200 countries. Specifically, the paper seeks to answer a number of relevant questions: How does South Africa compare on major indicators of infrastructure sector performance against the relevant country groups? What do outcome indicators tell us about the relative strengths and weaknesses of South Africa ' s infrastructure compared with various income and geographical comparator groups of countries? Where are the largest deviations-positive and negative-from the benchmarks and other comparators? And how does one interpret some of these comparisons to be useful for policy purposes? |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure Regulation,Economic Theory & Research,Income,Poverty Monitoring & Analysis,Economic Conditions and Volatility |
| Date: | 2006–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3830&r=ene |
| By: | Sergey Boltramovich; Vladislav Yurkovsky; Pavel Filippov; Hannu Hernesniemi |
| Keywords: | Russia, infrastructure, cluster, energy, ICT, logistics, construction |
| Date: | 2005–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:968&r=ene |
| By: | Ivana Capozza (Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Camillo Rosalba 53, BARI) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate how the interaction between the product and the emission permit markets may affect firms' propensity to adopt cleaner technologies. The adoption of a cleaner technology has the direct effect of reducing the compliance cost of the firm, but it also involves a strategic decision, if the industry is not perfectly competitive. We look at this problem from both a theoretical and an experimental point of view. We develop a model of duopoly, in which two firms engage in quantity competition in the output market and behave as price takers in the permit market. Firms have the possibility of investing in a cleaner production technology, which is available on the market at some cost. We set up a dynamic game over an infinite horizon in order to investigate firms' investment decisions: in each period, each firm decides whether to invest in the new technology or not. The stationary equilibria to this game crucially depend on both the cost of switching to the cleanest technology and the emission cap. Technology diffusion is one of the possible equilibria of the game. In order to test the predictions of the theory, we design and implement an "innovation experiment" that replicates the "innovation game". The results of our pilot experiment suggest that firms' behaviour will eventually lead to innovation diffusion. |
| Keywords: | tradable permits, technology adoption, oligopoly, laboratory experiments |
| JEL: | C91 L13 Q28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bai:series:wp0008&r=ene |