endogenous entry and self selection in private value auctions an experimental study this paper presents the results of an experimental study of endogenous entry in first price independent private value auctions n potential bidders simultaneously decide whether to participate in an auction or receive a known outside option in the second stage entrants submit bids after learning their own private values and the number of entrants an equilibrium model of heterogeneous risk averse bidders implies a self selection effect where bidding in the auction is lower with endogenous entry because only less risk averse bidders enter this effect is confirmed by the experiment we also observe excessive entry relative to the theoretical model

the importance of comprehensiveness in renewable electricity and energy efficiency policy based on extensive research interviews and supplemented with a review of the academic literature this article assesses the best way to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency it begins by briefly laying out why government intervention is needed and then details the four most favored policy mechanisms identified by participants eliminating subsidies for conventional and mature electricity technologies pricing electricity accurately passing a national feed in tariff and implementing a nationwide systems benefit fund to raise public awareness protect lower income households and administer demand side management programs drawing mostly from case studies in the united states the article also discusses why these policy mechanisms must be implemented comprehensively not individually if the barriers to renewables and energy efficiency are to be overcome

european schemes for promoting renewables in liberalised markets abstract the paper describes possibilities and problems for penetration of supply systems based on renewable energy sources in liberalised markets the analysis is based on recent development in eu with different models for support of installations based on renewable energy these include feed in models with guaranteed minimum tariffs tender models for different bands of technologies and green certificates trading models with obligatory consumer quota the paper describes the market situation in selected european countries including germany the uk holland and denmark an eu directive from september 2001 has postponed the decision on a possible harmonisation of promotional models until at least 2005 in order to obtain more practical experience with the different support schemes a critical evaluation is given in this paper of the different models with proposals for a balanced development between environmental and trading concerns it is argued that too much emphasis is presently given to the side of free trade at the expense of long range planning for a sustainable energy development

assessment of public acceptance and willingness to pay for renewable energy sources in crete abstract the aim of this study is to analyse and to evaluate the citizens public acceptance and willingness to pay wtp for renewable energy sources res in crete for this purpose a contingent valuation study was conducted using a double bound dichotomous choice format to elicit people s wtp and factors affecting it residents of 1440 households all over crete were interviewed face to face major conclusions can be used as a basis for sustainable energy planning for policies and the formulation of awareness campaigns and for res investment programs and projects in order to prepare implementation conditions and enhance public acceptance of renewable energy investments and programmes mean wtp per household was found to be 16 33 to be paid quarterly as an additional charge on the electricity bill larger willingness to pay was reported by those with high family income and residence size those having a higher level of energy information and awareness concerning climatic change those who have invested in some energy saving measures and those who suffer from more electricity shortages than others

the consequences of minimum wage laws some new theoretical ideas economists generally agree that the effect of a binding minimum wage law is to move firms backward along the demand curve for low skill workers however this prediction of worker displacement depends critically on the assumption that the productivity of firms labor is not dependent on the wage in this paper we show that in a conventional efficiency wage model a minimum wage may increase the level of employment in low wage jobs the formal logic of our model is similar to the case of labor demand under monopsony but arises in a model with a large number of employers

distributional impacts of state level energy efficiency policies in regional electricity markets abstract a number of u s states have passed legislation targeting energy efficiency and peak demand reduction we study one such state pennsylvania within the context of pjm a regional electricity market covering numerous different states our focus is on the distributive impacts of this policy specifically how the policy is likely to impact electricity prices in different areas of pennsylvania and in the pjm market more generally such spatial differences in policy impacts are difficult to model and the transmission system is often ignored in policy studies our model estimates supply curves on a zonal basis within regional electricity markets and yields information on price and fuel utilization within each zone we use the zonal supply curves estimated by our model to study regional impacts of energy efficiency legislation on utilities both inside and outside of pennsylvania for most utilities in pennsylvania it would reduce the influence of natural gas on electricity price formation and increase the influence of coal it would also save 2 1 to 2 8 percent of total energy cost in pennsylvania in a year similar to 2009 the savings are lower than 0 5 percent in other pjm states and the prices may slightly increase in washington dc area

energy comes home the growth in private energy consumption is an increasing problem in western countries from an environmental point of view this consumption has to be reduced on the basis of two norwegian case studies this article discusses private energy consumption and possibilities for reduction with a special focus on the home it argues against a rational economic view of the consumer and emphasizes the significance of a more subtle understanding of private energy use the article approaches the challenges of reducing private energy consumption by analysing the domestication of the home and discusses everyday life activities as well as the phenomenon of rebuilding and redecorating by using the concept of domestication the article challenges the linear understanding of technological as well as behavioural change private energy consumption is part of a complex network and it is necessary to understand this network in order to achieve a more permanent reduction

energy production system optimization evidence from pakistan abstract the ongoing energy crisis in pakistan and the dependency on thermal electricity generation has contributed to the necessity to optimize energy production system the expensive thermal electricity and inability to recover its cost gives unprecedented rise to the electricity tariffs in this study optimization of the energy production system has been performed using linear programing model as the high cost of electricity generation has been found as the root cause of energy crises the objective function of the proposed model is cost minimization that will also reduce the circular debt specifically it has examined the optimum proportion of energy production from each available source under two different scenarios the first scenario considers that the existing system should be used at its maximum capacity in the second scenario seventy percent utilization of power plants has been examined the second scenario summarizes the optimum mix of energy production which minimizes the cost of electricity production the differential cost that is payable by the government as a subsidy is also compensated similarly it reduces circular debt that is a bottleneck between power generation companies and oil supply companies thus the proposed model has a tendency to minimize the cost of energy production and further reduce circular debt as well as the burden of a subsidy on the government the study specifies the problems confronting pakistan s energy sector and identifies the key elements of a potential policy response to address the country s severe power crisis

financial impact of energy efficiency under a federal combined efficiency and renewable electricity standard case study of a kansas super utility abstract historically local state and federal policies have separately promoted the generation of electricity from renewable technologies and the pursuit of energy efficiency to help mitigate the detrimental effects of global climate change and foster energy independence federal policymakers are currently considering and several states have enacted a combined efficiency and renewable electricity standard which proponents argue provides a comprehensive approach with greater flexibility and at lower cost we examine the financial impacts on various stakeholders from alternative compliance strategies with a combined efficiency and renewable electricity standard ceres using a case study approach for utilities in kansas our results suggest that an investor owned utility is likely to pursue the most lucrative compliance strategy for its shareholders one that under invests in energy efficiency resources if a business model for energy efficiency inclusive of both a lost fixed cost recovery mechanism and a shareholder incentive mechanism is implemented our analysis indicates that an investor owned utility would be more willing to pursue energy efficiency as a lower cost ceres compliance strategy absent implementing such a regulatory mechanism separate energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards would improve the likelihood of reducing reliance on fossil fuels at least cost through the increased pursuit of energy efficiency

pareto improving minimum wage laws by increasing the expected wage in low skill jobs a minimum wage law can reduce the incentive for low skill workers to imitate high skill workers in the signalling process the gain from reduced investment in the signal can more than offset the loss from unemployment among low skill workers so that total output increases moreover with an appropriate poll tax on workers to compensate owners of capital the law can make all workers and owners of capital better off

technology invention and diffusion in residential energy consumption a stochastic frontier approach traditional large appliances absorb a large share of residential electricity consumption and represent important targets of energy policy strategies aimed at achieving energy security despite being characterized by rather mature technologies this group of appliances still offers large potential in terms of efficiency gains due to their pervasive diffusion in this paper we analyse the electricity consumption of a set of four traditional white goods in a panel of ten eu countries observed over 21 years 1990 2010 with the aim of disentangling the amount of technical efficiency from the overall energy saving the technical efficiency trend is modelled through a set of technology components representing both the invention and adoption process by the means of specific patents weighted by production and bilateral import flows which allows to overcome the rigid stochastic frontier framework in modelling the effect of technical change our results show that the derived energy demand and inefficiency trends are both related to changes in the amount of available technology embodied in energy efficient appliances the effect is significant both in its domestic and international components and suggests an active role of innovation and trade policies for achieving efficiency targets which directly impact the amount of electricity consumed by households

eu research and innovation r i in renewable energies the role of the strategic energy technology plan set plan the set plan established a strategy to use research and innovation r i to green the eu energy sector while ensuring a secure supply and increasing eu competitiveness the strategy sets clear objectives and programming plans and takes stock of existing initiatives in the energy sector fosters a cooperative approach to r i introduces a high level steering group the set plan steering group to monitor progress creates a dedicated information system the setis to fill the void in policy information and produces estimates of financial needs over the programming period in this respect the set plan could serve as a blueprint for r i strategies to tackle other societal challenges to be effective such strategies should further clarify the hierarchy of existing objectives and instruments introduce specific instruments to pull the demand of new technologies strengthen links with education and training policies and formalize links with the governance structures of existing initiatives

using regional variation in wages to measure the effects of the federal minimum wage the imposition of a national minimum wage standard provides a natural experiment in which the treatment effect varies across states depending on the fraction of workers initially earning less than the new minimum the author exploits this fact to evaluate the effect of the april 1990 increase in the federal minimum wage on teenagers wages employment and school enrollment comparisons of grouped and individual state data confirm that the rise in the minimum wage increased teenagers wages there is no evidence of corresponding losses in teenage employment or changes in teenage school enrollment

employment effects of minimum and subminimum wages panel data on state minimum wage laws using panel data on state minimum wage laws and economic conditions for the years 1973 89 the authors reevaluate existing evidence on the effects of a minimum wage on employment their estimates indicate that a 10 increase in the minimum wage causes a decline of 1 2 in employment among teenagers and a decline of 1 5 2 in employment for young adults similar to the ranges suggested by earlier time series studies the authors also find evidence that youth subminimum wage provisions enacted by state legislatures moderate the disemployment effects of minimum wages on teenagers

the high low divide self selection by values in auction choice abstract most prior theoretical and experimental work involving auction choice has assumed bidders find out their value after making a choice of which auction to enter we examine whether or not bidders knowing their value prior to making a choice of which among multiple alternative auction formats to enter impacts their choice decision and or the outcome of the auctions the results show a strong impact on auction choice subjects with low values choose the first price sealed bid auction more often while subjects with high values choose the ascending auction more often the number of bidders in each auction revenue efficiency and average bidder surplus all end up equalized

the socio technical barriers to solar home systems shs in papua new guinea choosing pigs prostitutes and poker chips over panels this study explores the socio technical barriers to solar home systems shs in papua new guinea the authors collected primary data through semi structured research interviews conducted over the course of february 2010 april 2010 respondents included government officials financiers planners commercial distributors and companies teachers and rural villagers in addition to members of civil society academics consultants and trainers these interviews were supplemented with site visits to port moresby goroka and madang and field research in the villages of akameku asaroka lufa kundiawa okifa simbu and talidig the study draws from these interviews and visits to discuss four types of barriers technical barriers relate to substandard equipment and logistical problems economic barriers include high rates of poverty misconceptions about the role of currency and lack of financing political barriers include poor institutional capacity and a government commitment to fossil fueled grid electrification social barriers encompass unrealistic expectations about what shs can provide along with jealousy theft vandalism and unfamiliarity with solar technology

electricity generation from renewables in the united states resource potential current usage technical status challenges strategies policies and future directions abstract in order to secure the energy future and protect the environment the u s is looking for renewable resources to meet the increasing energy demands for its electricity sector which accounts for 40 of total u s energy consumption in 2011 the overall aim of this article is to summarize the possible approaches that can be used to improve and optimize the utilization of renewables for electricity generation in the united states first an overview is presented about the resource potential current usage and technical status of electricity generation from renewables in the united states second a number of economic operational regulatory sustainability and technical challenges that are likely to be encountered are identified third strategies are outlined that can be used to minimize costs deal with the spatial nature of renewables smooth temporal variations associated with intermittency and achieve successful integration of electricity generated from renewable resources into the u s power grid fourth a sustainability assessment framework for renewable resource deployment for electricity generation in the u s is discussed the framework considers multiple criteria including cost environmental and social impacts thus giving a comprehensive assessment of each renewable energy resource for electricity generation in the united states fifth the current u s renewable energy policy is analyzed and rigorous recommendations are made for optimizing future u s renewable energy policy that can permanently induce a long term sustainable shift towards electricity generation from renewables finally directions for future research are highlighted

job queues and wages this paper uses job applications data to investigate the relationship between job queues and wage differentials the main finding is that openings for jobs that pay the minimum wage attract more job applicants than jobs that pay either slightly more or slightly less than the minimum wage this spike in the job application rate distribution suggests that ex ante rents generated for employees by an above market level minimum wage are not completely dissipated by reductions in nonwage benefits in addition we find that highly unionized firms large firms and firms in high wage industries tend to receive relatively many job applicants for openings

conceptualizing the acceptance of wind and solar electricity drawing from research interviews and the academic literature this article conceptualizes the conditions that promote investor confidence and the social acceptance of wind and solar sources of electricity it explores the factors influencing the acceptance of commercial wind turbines in denmark and india and residential solar panels in germany and the united states the article begins by justifying its selection of case studies and explaining the methodology behind its research interviews and field visits it then summarizes some of the key findings in recent surveys of public attitudes and market acceptance concerning renewable energy with a focus on why some investors and communities reject wind and solar systems whereas others rapidly approve and adopt them the article proposes that acceptance has multiple dimensions socio political community and market that must be met holistically in order for investors and users to embrace renewable energy the article argues that acceptance hinges upon the prevalence of nine factors the lack of such factors creates environments where they are rejected the theory is tested against four case studies that explore the forces driving renewable energy in denmark germany india and the united states

consumer preferences and willingness to pay for compact fluorescent lighting policy implications for energy efficiency promotion in saint lucia this article examines consumer willingness to pay for energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs using the results of a stated preferences study conducted in the caribbean island nation of saint lucia geographic location low income status and age are found to affect willingness to pay for compact fluorescent lighting while higher income status and other demographic variables appear to have minimal or no significant impacts energy efficiency knowledge is associated with increased willingness to pay for energy efficient bulbs and with increased use of compact fluorescent lighting contrary to theoretical expectations past purchase of compact fluorescent bulbs is found to have no impact on self reported willingness to pay we hypothesize that this null result is due to the recent emergence of low cost low quality compact fluorescent bulbs in the saint lucian lighting market which may be negatively influencing consumers preferences and expectations regarding energy efficient lighting findings support the argument that government sponsored education and subsidy programs will likely result in increased use of energy saving technologies in saint lucia but such behavioral changes may not be sustained in the long run unless low quality bulbs the lemons of the compact fluorescent lighting market can be clearly identified by consumers

designed to fail the medicare auction for durable medical equipment we examine the theoretical properties of the auction for medicare durable medical equipment two unique features of the medicare auction are 1 winners are paid the median winning bid and 2 bids are nonbinding we show that median pricing results in allocation inefficiencies as some high cost firms potentially displace low cost firms as winners further the auction may leave demand unfulfilled as some winners refuse to supply because the price is set below their cost we also introduce a model of nonbinding bids that establishes the rationality of a lowball bid strategy employed by many bidders in the actual medicare auctions and recently replicated in caltech experiments we contrast the median price auction with the standard clearing price auction where each firm bids true costs as a dominant strategy resulting in competitive equilibrium prices and full efficiency jel d44 i11 h57

an overview of incentive policies for the expansion of renewable energy generation in electricity power systems and the brazilian experience abstract energy production from renewable sources is already a reality in many countries and with that different strategies for incentivizing investments in renewable energy generation have been proposed and used over the years in this study long term policies that have been applied in several countries such as feed in tariffs shares with commercialization of certificates auctions and net metering are overviewed and discussed the main advantages and disadvantages of these incentive strategies are emphasized focusing on applications some of these strategies that have already been applied in brazil are analyzed in greater depth emphasizing the potentialities and fragilities of these mechanisms observed within the country even though it is a country that stands out in relation to other latin american countries regarding electricity generation from non hydro renewable sources brazil still faces barriers that prevent a utilization compatible with its potential moreover the trend for renewable sources such as wind and solar power is to represent an energy capacity reserve to cover hydrological risks and also to contribute to a distributed generation spread through electricity distribution networks

characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco innovation a patent analysis of energy efficient technologies abstract this paper provides an empirical investigation of the role played by selected characteristics of the policy mix in inducing innovation in energy efficiency technologies an original dataset covering 23 oecd countries over the period 1990 2010 combines the full set of policies in the energy efficiency domain for the residential sector with data on patents applied over the same period in this specific technological sector the econometric results suggest that when the policy mix is characterised by a more balanced use in demand pull and technology push instruments its positive effects on eco innovation tend to be greater moreover a more comprehensive policy mix is shown to be able to enhance innovation activities for the generation of new energy efficient technologies however the simple addition of an indiscriminate number of simultaneous policy instruments may reduce policy mix effectiveness finally the empirical findings confirm previous evidence on the importance of policy spillover effects and suggest that policy similarity between countries may represent an important aspect to be accounted for in policy mix design

policies and market factors driving wind power development in the united states abstract in the united states there has been substantial recent growth in wind energy generating capacity with growth averaging 24 percent annually during the past five years about 1700 mw of wind energy capacity was installed in 2001 while another 410 mw became operational in 2002 during 2003 development activity has remained strong with an estimated 1600 mw of capacity installed with this growth an increasing number of states are experiencing investment in wind energy projects currently about half of all states host at least one wind power project this paper explores the key factors at play in the 12 states in which a substantial amount of wind energy capacity has been developed or planned some of the factors that are examined include policy drivers such as renewable portfolio standards rps federal and state financial incentives as well as market drivers such as consumer demand for green power natural gas price volatility and wholesale market rules

hybrid modeling to support energy climate policy effects of feed in tariffs to promote renewable energy in portugal abstract feed in tariffs have been the main policy instrument applied in portugal for the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources under the eu directives on energy and climate regulation in this paper we provide an empirical impact assessment of the economic and environmental effects of portugal s fits policy to promote res e generation impact assessment of policy instruments plays a crucial role on decision making process for numerical simulations we make use of a hybrid top down bottom up general equilibrium modeling approach which represents a reliable tool to analyze the complex interactions between economic energy and environmental issues related to energy policies numerical simulations confirm the empirical evidence that the fits policy implemented by portugal was both an effective and a cost efficient way to increase the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources and thus to achieve the national res e target of 45 in 2010 results show relatively modest macroeconomic impacts indicating potentially low economic adjustment costs from an environmental perspective the deployment of renewable energy source results in significant carbon emissions reductions

the effect of the minimum wage on the fast food industry using a longitudinal survey of fast food restaurants in texas the authors examine the impact of recent increases in the federal minimum wage on a low wage labor market less than 5 of fast food restaurants were using the new youth subminimum wage in july august 1991 even though the vast majority paid a starting wage below the new hourly minimum wage immediately before it became effective although some restaurants increased wages beyond the level needed to comply with higher minimum wages in both 1990 and 1991 those federal minimum wage increases greatly compressed the distribution of starting wages in the texas fast food industry two findings at variance with conventional predictions are that 1 employment increased more in those firms likely to have been most affected by the 1991 minimum wage increase than in other firms and 2 price changes were unrelated to mandated wage changes

a theory of dual labor markets with application to industrial policy discrimination and keynesian unemployment this paper develops a model of dual labor markets based on employers need to motivate workers in order to elicit effort from their workers employers may find it optimal to pay more than the going wage this changes fundamentally the character of labor markets the model is applied to a wide range of labor market phenomena it provides a coherent framework for understanding the claims of industrial policy advocates it also can provide the basis for a theory of occupational segregation and discrimination that will not be eroded by market forces finally the model provides the basis for a theory of involuntary unemployment

the cms auction experimental studies of a median bid procurement auction with nonbinding bids we report on the experimental results of simple auctions with i a median bid pricing rule and ii non binding bids winning bids can be withdrawn the two central pillars of the competitive bidding program designed by the centers for medicare medicaid services cms comparisons between the performance of the cms auction and the performance of the excluded bid auction reveal the problematic nature of the cms auction the cms auction fails to generate competitive prices of goods and fails to satisfy demand in all proposed efficiency measures we find the excluded bid auction significantly outperforms the cms auction

do policy mix characteristics matter for low carbon innovation a survey based exploration of renewable power generation technologies in germany abstract policy mixes may play a crucial role in redirecting and accelerating innovation towards low carbon solutions thus addressing a key societal challenge towards this end some argue that the characteristics of such policy mixes matter greatly yet with little empirical evidence backing up such claims in this paper we explore this link between policy mix characteristics and low carbon innovation using the research case of the transition of the german electricity system towards renewable energy our empirical insights are based on an innovation survey administered to german manufacturers of renewable power generation technologies which builds on the community innovation survey for our purposes we adjusted the survey to better capture companies perceptions of policy mixes employing a bivariate tobit model we find evidence that companies perceptions regarding the consistency and credibility of the policy mix are positively associated with their innovation expenditures for renewable energies and this positive link intensifies when considering the mutual interdependence of these policy mix characteristics in contrast neither the comprehensiveness of the instrument mix nor the coherence of policy processes were found to be related to innovation expenditures overall these findings suggest that future research on low carbon and eco innovation should pay greater attention to the characteristics of policy mixes rather than focusing on policy instruments only finally our findings indicate a need to consider how policy may be measured in innovation surveys to generate better informed policy advice regarding the greening of innovation

toward a consumer economy in china implications of changing wage policies for u s cotton exports the effect of a chinese minimum wage increase on china s textile market as well as on the world cotton market is evaluated based on a nonlinear quadratic almost ideal demand system nqaids model of china s textile demand the results suggest that the income elasticity for textiles is around 0 6 in china and that apparel is less price responsive than home textiles and other textile products simulation results suggest that a minimum wage increase would raise chinese domestic textile consumption and lower chinese textile exports most of the decline in textile exports by china is offset by expansion in other countries domestic textile production and results in a slight increase in world cotton mill utilization and higher clothing prices

an investigation of the average bid mechanism for procurement auctions in a procurement context it can be quite costly for a buyer when the winning seller underestimates the cost of a project and then defaults on the project midway through completion the average bid auction is one mechanism intended to help address this problem this format involves awarding the contract to the bidder who has bid closest to the average of the bids submitted we compare the performance of this mechanism with the standard low price mechanism to determine how successful the average bid format is in preventing bidder losses as well as its impact on the price paid by the buyer we find the average bid mechanism to be more successful than expected because surprisingly bidding behavior remains similar between the average bid and low price auctions we provide an explanation for the bidding behavior in the average bid auction that is based on subjects having problems processing signals near the extremes of the distribution this paper was accepted by teck hua ho behavioral economics

renewable energy technology diffusion an analysis of photovoltaic system support schemes in medellin colombia abstract colombia s electricity mix is dominated by hydropower which constitutes over 65 percent of the installed capacity the country has important potential for introducing solar photovoltaic sources into its electricity generation mix given its high average annual insolation however there is a lack of incentives and support schemes for alternative renewable energy technologies this paper analyzes the diffusion of a photovoltaic system in colombia with a focus on medellin colombia s second largest city a diffusion model is constructed based on the classic bass diffusion theory where the adoption rate is a function of awareness raising campaigning and social interaction the model incorporates both subsidy and feed in tariff policies policy implementation scenarios and the effects of policy mixes are analyzed results show that a 50 percent subsidy for investment together with a usd 0 30 kwh feed in tariff rate jointly provide the highest marginal increase in diffusion rate however given the cheapness of the country s current hydroelectric resources photovoltaic system diffusion might remain a challenge for both the government and private sectors for the foreseeable future

policy mixes for sustainability transitions an extended concept and framework for analysis reaching a better understanding of the policies and politics of transitions presents a main agenda item in the emerging field of sustainability transitions one important requirement for these transitions such as the move towards a decarbonized energy system is the redirection and acceleration of technological change for which policies play a key role in this regard several studies have argued for the need to combine different policy instruments in so called policy mixes however existing policy mix studies often fall short of reflecting the complexity and dynamics of actual policy mixes the underlying politics and the evaluation of their impacts in this paper we take a first step towards an extended interdisciplinary policy mix concept based on a review of the bodies of literature on innovation studies environmental economics and policy analysis the concept introduces a clear terminology and consists of the three building blocks elements policy processes and characteristics which can be delineated by several dimensions based on this we discuss its application as analytical framework for empirical studies analyzing the impact of the policy mix on technological change throughout the paper we illustrate the proposed concept by using the example of the policy mix for fostering the transition of the german energy system to renewable power generation technologies finally we derive policy implications and suggest avenues for future research

complementarity and substitutability a review of state level renewable energy policy instrument interactions abstract this paper provides an extensive review of two streams of literature the first part of the review focuses on policy tools and their interrelationships and the second part focuses on the literature on the state renewable energy policy tools based on the reviews this paper investigates how policymakers choose a set of interrelated renewable energy policy instruments and identify under what conditions policy instruments complement or substitute we extend the political market framework by examining the influences of 1 administrative agencies on the supply side 2 interest groups on the demand side and 3 the policy induced problem situation changes on the adoption of state renewable energy policy tools building upon reviews of both policy tools and policy diffusion theories a set of hypotheses are advanced for state renewable energy policy interactions among public benefit fund pbf renewable portfolio standards rps and corporate tax incentive cti the hypotheses are tested by three event history models in which rps pbf and cti serve as dependent variables separately the complementary effects between previous use of rps and adoption of pbf between previous use of pbf and adoption of rps and between previous use of cti and adoption of rps are confirmed we also find support for the policy substitutability between previous use of cti and adoption of pbf

comparing the feed in tariff incentives for renewable electricity in ontario and germany the development of feed in tariff fit programs to support green electricity in ontario the green energy and green economy act of 2009 and germany the erneuerbare energien gesetz of 2000 is compared the two policies are highly comparable offering similar rates for most renewable electricity technologies major differences between the policies include the level of differentiation found in the german policy as well as the use of a price degression strategy for fit rates in germany compared to an escalation strategy in ontario the german renewable electricity portfolio is relatively balanced compared to ontario where wind power dominates the portfolio at the federal level canada does not yet have a policy similar to the european directive on renewable energy and this lack may impact decisions taken by manufacturers of renewable technologies who consider establishing operations in the province ontario s green energy and green economy act could be benefit from lessons in the german system especially with regard to degression of feed in tariff rates over time which could significantly reduce payments to producers over the course of a contract and in turn encourage greater competitiveness among renewable power providers in the future

workers as creditors performance bonds and efficiency wages from the standpoint of economic theory the difficulty in regulating workers performance distinguishes labor markets from commodity markets commodities do not respond to incentives workers in contrast can quit steal be hung over refuse to cooperate with other workers or generally work at low effort levels since direct monitoring is often costly and unreliable it may not be the profit maximizing solution to this problem economists have discussed various schemes to make productive behavior incentive compatible for workers the most frequently discussed schemes fall into two broad categories efficiency wages and deferred compensation or bonding schemes these schemes have been suggested as explanations for a wide variety of labormarket features that appear anomalous from the conventional supply and demand perspective efficiency wage models can generate equilibria in which there is involuntary unemployment and in which identical workers are paid different wages in jobs that are otherwise equally attractive george a akerlof and janet l yellen 1985 have argued that they can provide an important component of a model of business cycles deferred compensation schemes have been proposed as explanations for upward sloping age earnings profiles mandatory retirement pensions and hierarchical tournament promotion structures 2 because bonding is costless to firms efficiency wage and bonding strategies are often viewed as mutually incompatible profit maximizing firms should offer efficiency wages only in situations where bonding is impossible one widely held view argues that in labor markets where agency issues arise these problems are effectively solved by various bonding arrangements and moreover that this observation helps to explain otherwise peculiar features of some labor markets as mentioned above it follows that efficiency wages do not generally exist proponents of efficiency wage theory argue that there is considerable evidence of widespread agency problems e g large expenditures by many firms on monitoring and that there are barriers to the use of bonds notably moral hazard on the part of firms or legal constraints efficiency wages cannot therefore be ruled out a priori as an equilibrium solution to these agency problems 3 in this paper we study these issues surrounding efficient worker compensation in a framework that allows heterogeneity among firms and integrates the financial and

minimum wage legislation in a dual labor market the paper studies the equilibrium effects of minimum wage legislation in an economy with coexisting primary and secondary labor markets owing to difficulties in monitoring relative wages and the threat of job loss play a functional role in eliciting effort from primary sector workers minimum wage laws hence affect the primary wage and employment level even if the law only binds in the secondary labor market furthermore interaction between the two sectors can also alter the secondary outcome relative to the standard analysis and has implications for participation decisions and for the level of unemployment

fostering a renewable energy technology industry an international comparison of wind industry policy support mechanisms this article examines the importance of national and sub national policies in supporting the development of successful global wind turbine manufacturing companies we explore the motivations behind establishing a local wind power industry and the paths that different countries have taken to develop indigenous large wind turbine manufacturing industries within their borders this is done through a cross country comparison of the policy support mechanisms that have been employed to directly and indirectly promote wind technology manufacturing in 12 countries we find that in many instances there is a clear relationship between a manufacturer s success in its home country market and its eventual success in the global wind power market whether new wind turbine manufacturing entrants are able to succeed will likely depend in part on the utilization of their turbines in their own domestic market which in turn will be influenced by the annual size and stability of that market consequently policies that support a sizable stable market for wind power in conjunction with policies that specifically provide incentives for wind power technology to be manufactured locally are most likely to result in the establishment of an internationally competitive wind industry

sustainable energy policy for asia mitigating systemic hurdles in a highly dense city abstract greenhouse gas emission ghg has been increasingly a sensitive issue that is across border and impacting global public interests while the use of renewable energy technology is perceived as a means to enable delivery of emission free solutions its penetration into the energy market has not been timely and significant enough as projected in prior studies this article aims to illustrate some of the critical hurdles as the policy makers start formulating environmentally friendly energy consumption means for the public in asian economies in particular through analyzing the characteristics in the case of hong kong the authors unveil the challenges for this highly dense city to reach a landscape of alternative energy resources for its transition into a sustainable economy education and engagement with the public about a sustainable future alignment of stakeholders economic interests and absorption capacity of emerging technologies are argued as the three main challenges and initiatives in mitigating the underlying systemic hurdles that remain to be overcome observing the current responses to the externalities by the policy makers in hong kong this study articulates the critical challenges to mitigate these specific systemic hurdles embedded in the existing infrastructure of a highly dense city possible mitigating measures to enable deployment of integrative sustainable energy solutions in dealing with climate change are discussed

medicare part d are insurers gaming the low income subsidy design this paper shows how in medicare part d insurers gaming of the subsidy paid to low income enrollees distorts premiums and raises the program cost using plan level data from the first five years of the program i find multiple instances of pricing strategy distortions for the largest insurers instrumental variable estimates indicate that the changes in a concentration index measuring the manipulability of the subsidy can explain a large share of the premium growth observed between 2006 and 2011 removing this distortion could reduce the cost of the program without worsening consumer welfare

modes of governance for municipal energy efficiency services the case of led street lighting in germany energy efficiency retrofits are often impeded by high perceived investment risks long payback periods and a lack of skills at the municipal level these issues are particularly pronounced as procuring implementing and managing retrofits can exceed existing municipal governance capacities the diffusion of municipal led street lighting as a replacement for conventional lighting serves as an example this paper argues that technological e g complexity and maturity economic e g selling services vs products and financing costs institutional e g property situation and contracts and competency barriers to retrofitting e g lack of measurement capacity and qualified facilitators translate into transaction costs we develop a taxonomy of appropriate modes of municipal retrofitting governance based on transaction costs economics the findings indicate that more market based solutions energy performance contracts in particular can facilitate the procurement of innovative energy efficiency retrofitting solutions and associated investments among municipalities if neutral tenders open book accounting municipal ownership and intermediary organisations allow municipalities to choose appropriate governance structures for particular technologies and retrofits

comment on david neumark and william wascher employment effects of minimum and subminimum wages panel data on state minimum wage laws in their article published in the minimum wage research symposium in the october 1992 issue of this journal industrial and laborrelations review volume 45 number 1 pp 55 81 david neumark and william wascher claim to find empirical support for three propositions 1 a higher minimum wage leads to a lower teenage employmentpopulation rate 2 the effect of the minimum wage on employment can be seen within a year but becomes stronger after two years and 3 in states with legal subminimum wages a significant fraction of teenage employees are paid a subminimum wage and the availability of a subminimum wage blunts the disemployment effect of the minimum wage the same symposium contains three papers by us that present empirical evidence suggesting conclusions opposite those of neumark and wascher 1 since neumark and