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on Regulation |
| By: | Aditi Sengupta (SMU) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of more stringent environmental regulation on the dynamic structure of a deterministic competitive industry with endogenous entry and exit where firms invest in reduction of their future compliance cost. The level of regulation is exogenously fixed and constant over time. The compliance cost of a firm at each point of time depends on its current output, its accumulated past investment and the level of regulation. We outline sufficient conditions under which industries with more stringent regulation are associated with higher investment in compliance cost reduction and higher shake-out of firms over time; the opposite may be true under certain circumstances. Our analysis indicates that the effect of a change in regulation on market structure may be lagged over time. |
| Keywords: | Environmental regulation; Industry dynamics; Investment; Shake-out. |
| JEL: | L51 L52 O33 Q52 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:0903&r=reg |
| By: | Delia Rodrigo; Lorenzo Allio; Pedro Andres-Amo |
| Abstract: | Multi-level regulatory governance is becoming a priority in many OECD countries. High quality regulation at a certain level of government can be compromised by poor regulatory policies and practices at other levels, impacting negatively on the performance of economies and on business and citizens’ activities. The most common problems that affect the relationship between the public and the private sectors are duplication, overlapping responsibility and low quality. These affect public service delivery, citizen’s perception, business services and activities, as well as investment and trade. More positively, following certain principles and good practices for high quality regulation in a coherent way as well as facilitating co-ordination among regulatory institutions at different levels of government can bring improvements to the regulatory system as a whole. |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaaa:13-en&r=reg |
| By: | Nimal Attanayake |
| Abstract: | The study brings out several organizational, social, cultural and political constraints, which hinder effective implementation of regulations. Lack of human resources and skills, poor allocations, delays at the centre, lack of incentives, team approach and supportive services, legal restrictions and lack of support from consumers are common in the regulation of pharmaceuticals. A limited role played by regulators at the national level, lack of legislative power at central and peripheral levels, lack of organizational/management capacity of regulators, and social, cultural and political influences are common in the regulation of medical practice. A set of policy options and measures addressing these issues was identified to make the enforcement and monitoring of regulations more effective and efficient.[HEFP WP NO 05/03] |
| Keywords: | Pharmaceuticals; Medical practice; MoH; Enforcement and monitoring cost; Transaction cost; Social cost; pharmaceutical regulations; Social and cultural constraints; Medical practice |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2023&r=reg |
| By: | Cull , Robert; Demirguc-Kunt , Asli; Morduch, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | Regulation allows microfinance institutions to evolve more fully into banks, particularly for institutions aiming to take deposits. But there are potential trade-offs. Complying with regulation and supervision can be costly. The authors examine the implications for the institutions’ profitability and their outreach to small-scale borrowers and women. The tests draw on a new database that combines high-quality financial data on 245 of the world’s largest microfinance institutions with newly-constructed data on their prudential supervision. Ordinary least squares regressions show that supervision is negatively associated with profitability. Controlling for the non-random assignment of supervision via treatment effects and instrumental variables regressions, the analysis finds that supervision is associated with substantially larger average loan sizes and less lending to women than in ordinary least squares regressions, although it is not significantly associated with profitability. The pattern is consistent with the notion that profit-oriented microfinance institutions absorb the cost of supervision by curtailing outreach to market segments that tend to be more costly per dollar lent. By contrast, microfinance institutions that rely on non-commercial sources of funding (for example, donations), and thus are less profit-oriented, do not adjust loan sizes or lend less to women when supervised, but their profitability is significantly reduced. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Debt Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4948&r=reg |
| By: | Charlier, Christophe; Valceschini, Egizio |
| Abstract: | New technologies and innovations suspected to affect environment or public health need to be regulated. Scientific risk assessment is considered as a key element for the regulation. Its role is reinforced when the regulation has the potential of constraining the international trade. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the WTO dealing with this kind of issues gives primacy to scientific risk assessment. Interesting situations arise with small risks that is to say situations where the probability of damage is tiny and/or expected damages are very small. If risk assessment is the only scientific element considered, the mere presence of risk âeven smallshould give reason for regulation. Does it rationalize the public decision for all that? If the social benefits associated with the blocked activity are consequent accepting the risk could be worthwhile. Recent works from the economic literature have shown that in order to get a good ârisk governanceâ cost-benefit analysis should be considered together with risk assessment (Bureau et al. 1998, Turvey and Mojduszka 2005). The aim of cost-benefit analysis is indeed to help public decision making. It consists in a set of methods that enables to evaluate the relevance of a regulation, comparing it with other possible options (from other types of regulation to the absence of any regulation). For that purpose cost-benefit analysis aims at estimating a monetary valuation, on the one hand, for environmental (or public health) degradation and, on the other hand, for the expected benefits implied by environmental conservation and technologiesâ development. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eea110:49839&r=reg |
| By: | Qingyue Meng |
| Abstract: | Infectious diseases are still recognized as severe public health problems at present in China, especially in poor rural areas. Since the late 1970s, the changing social and economic contexts have encouraged the government to adopt legislative instruments rather than sole political command system in steering and administering infectious disease control programs. However, little is known about the effectiveness and costs of implementing regulatory activities in infectious disease control. This study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of selected infectious disease control legislation and to estimate actual and required costs for implementing the regulation.[HEFP WP NO 03/03] |
| Keywords: | AIDC; DALY; mortality rate; Sexually transmitted infectious; China; anti-epidemic stations; China’s National People’s Congress; Act of Food Hygiene; Ministry of Health; Shandong; Shanxi provinces; regulation; cost; epidemic |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2020&r=reg |
| By: | Claudio Borio; Claudio Mathias Drehmann |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade or so, addressing financial instability has become a policy priority. Despite the efforts made, policymakers are still a long way from developing a satisfactory operational framework. A major challenge complicating this task is the "fuzziness" with which financial (in)stability can be measured. We review the available measurement methodologies and point out several weaknesses. In particular, we caution against heavy reliance on the current generation of macro stress tests, arguing that they can lull policymakers into a false sense of security. Nonetheless, we argue that the "fuzziness" in measurement does not prevent further progress towards an operational framework, as long as it is appropriately accounted for. Crucial features of that framework include: strengthening the macroprudential orientation of financial regulation and supervision; addressing more systematically the procyclicality of the financial system; relying as far as possible on automatic stabilisers rather than discretion, thereby lessening the burden on the real-time measurement of financial stability risks; and setting up institutional arrangements that leverage the comparative expertise of the various authorities involved in safeguarding financial stability, not least financial supervisors and central banks. |
| Keywords: | financial (in)stability, risk measurement, macroprudential, procyclicality |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:284&r=reg |
| By: | Considine , Timothy J.; Larson, Donald F. |
| Abstract: | The use of carbon-intense fuels by the power sector contributes significantly to the greenhouse gas emissions of most countries. For this reason, the sector is often key to initial efforts to regulate emissions. But how long does it take before new regulatory incentives result in a switch to less carbon intense fuels? This study examines fuel switching in electricity production following the introduction of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, a cap-and-trade regulatory framework for greenhouse gas emissions. The empirical analysis examines the demand for carbon permits, carbon based fuels, and carbon-free energy for 12 European countries using monthly data on fuel use, prices, and electricity generation. A short-run restricted cost function is estimated in which carbon permits, high-carbon fuels, and low-carbon fuels are variable inputs, conditional on quasi-fixed carbon-free energy production from nuclear, hydro, and renewable energy capacity. The results indicate that prices for permits and fuels affect the composition of inputs in a statistically significant way. Even so, the analysis suggests that the industry’s fuel-switching capabilities are limited in the short run as is the scope for introducing new technologies. This is because of the dominant role that past irreversible investments play in determining power-generating capacity. Moreover, the results suggest that, because the capacity for fuel substitution is limited, the impact of carbon emission limits on electricity prices can be significant if fuel prices increase together with carbon permit prices. The estimates suggest that for every 10 percent rise in carbon and fuel prices, the marginal cost of electric power generation increases by 8 percent in the short run. The European experience points to the importance of starting early down a low-carbon path and of policies that introduce flexibility in how emission reductions are achieved. |
| Keywords: | Energy Production and Transportation,Energy and Environment,Environment and Energy Efficiency,Carbon Policy and Trading,Markets and Market Access |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4957&r=reg |
| By: | Ragona, Maddalena; Mazzocchi, Mario |
| Abstract: | Recently regulatory evaluation performed by the European Commission has been reviewed in response to the call for more evidence-based policy making and âBetter Regulationâ, which requires instruments to support the adoption of more effective and efficient regulations, as well as an improved coordination of policy interventions across the economic, social and environmental dimensions (European Commission, 2002). At the same time, there is a demand for clarity in the methods used to evaluate the impacts of regulations. While there is an ongoing debate on the methodological frameworks that are or could be used to assess the overall impact of regulations, our focus here is on the quantitative techniques that measure the economic effects and estimate the monetary values of non-market effects. This is especially relevant in policy areas like that of food safety, where a wide variety of alternative techniques are used to measure the same impact, often with very different or even conflicting results. Food safety regulations generate different effects to different economic actors along the food chain, covering more than a policy area, like health protection, competition, trade and environment. The aim of this study is to review and discuss the quantitative methodologies applied to assess the socio-economic impacts of food safety regulations in a selection of studies found in the literature available to date1. The paper is structured as follows. First, we propose a classification of potential impacts relevant in food safety regulations, based on the European Commission Impact Assessment Guidelines (2005). Then, we associate each impact with the methodologies used in the literature. An overview of the methodologies is presented, highlighting strengths and weaknesses; methodologies not currently used but potentially exploitable in food safety regulatory assessments are briefly described. In the fourth section, we add further information about the evaluation studies, by specifying stage of assessment, level of analysis, type of data required, and geographical scope of analysis. Final considerations conclude the review. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eea110:49887&r=reg |
| By: | Viroj Tangcharoensathien |
| Abstract: | End stage organ failure is very distressing condition. Initially, there was only palliativetreatment for end stage organ failure such as hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Later on, the advancement of immunosuppressive drugs, surgical techniques and medical diagnostic devices gave hope for end stage organ failure patients (1, 2). With organ transplantation the failing organ is replaced with a functioning one. The results are very impressive; the 1-year survival rate was 93-98% and 5-year survival rate was 73-82% compared to those of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, 78% and 29% respectively (3). Patients can function almost normally in their daily activities, play sport and do some hard work. There are also benefits for good mental health and social relationships (2, 4). In developed countries, organ transplantation is currently considered a well-established treatment for irreversible renal, cardiac and liver failure, as well as for some respiratory diseases (5). Although the operative costs and the immunosuppressive drugs are very expensive, in the long term, the total cost of kidney transplantation is lower than that of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis (6, 7).[HEFP WP NO 04/03] |
| Keywords: | Medical Council; Organ Donation Center; Thai Transplantation Society; Thailand; transplantations; organs; regulations; environment; semi structured interviews; organ harvest procedure; Cadaver donor procedure; Living related donor procedure; Stakeholder analysis; Primary stakeholders |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2027&r=reg |
| By: | Ulf von Lilienfeld-Toal (Stockholm School of Economics); Dilip Mookherjee (Boston University); Sujata Visaria (Boston University) |
| Abstract: | It is generally presumed that strengthening legal enforcement of lender rights increases credit access for all borrowers, by expanding the set of incentive compatible loan contracts. This is based on an implicit assumption of infinitely elastic supply of loans. With inelastic supply, strengthening enforcement generates general equilibrium effects which reduce credit access for small borrowers while expanding it for wealthy borrowers. We find evidence from a firm-level panel data set of such adverse distributional impacts of an Indian judicial reform which increased banks’ ability to recover non-performing loans in the 1990s. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-183&r=reg |
| By: | Chaisse Julien |
| Abstract: | The 1994 Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (the WTO Agreement), requires each WTO member to “ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations and administrative procedures with its obligations as provided in the annexed Agreements.” It is natural for the issue of WTO conformity to be a subject of much attention if it should arise in the most representative and the only compulsory dispute settlement in the world. It is this conformity that the paper deals with. The paper analyzes legal issues that arise in the overall context of WTO conformity of Indian law with India’s WTO obligations. The substantive issue that most prominently emerges here is patent protection in the field of pharmaceutical, agricultural and chemical products, together with the issue of legality of acts or omissions of the Indian executive and the competence of WTO panels to decide on them. |
| Keywords: | WTO; Dispute; Conformity; Law; WTO Agreements; Dispute Settlement Body; Appellate Body; India; Domestic Law; GATT; Trade; WTO Law |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2025&r=reg |