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

race and gender discrimination in bargaining for a new car more than three hundred paired audits at new car dealerships reveal that dealers quoted significantly lower prices to white males than to black or female test buyers using identical scripted bargaining strategies ancillary evidence suggests that the dealerships disparate treatment of women and blacks may be caused by dealers statistical inferences about consumers reservation prices but the data do not strongly support any single theory of discrimination copyright 1995 by american economic association

market power in a gis based hedonic price model of local farmland markets buyers of farmland are usually interested in parcels for sale that are close to their own farms with a limited number of parcels for sale this may lead to market power in local farmland markets the objective of this paper is to investigate whether market power affects farmland prices hedonic price models are adapted to allow for local market power of either sellers or buyers a distinction is made between rural and urban farmland markets the results provide evidence of market power effects in rural farmland markets however for farmland in urban areas market prices are dominated by speculation effects

an analysis of the correlates of discrimination facing young hispanic job seekers this study examines the extent and correlates of discrimination faced by young accented hispanic males in chicago and san diego using the outcomes of job applications by matched pairs of anglo and hispanic job seekers this is one of the first examples of audits being used in the labormarket area the audit methodology provides a powerful basis for examining discriminatory hiring practices because it permits direct comparison of hiring outcomes for pairs of anglo and hispanic jobseekers with similar labor market qualifications in this paper we first present differences in anglo hispanic success rates in filing applications obtaining interviews and obtaining jobs this builds on the descriptive analysis presented in harry cross et al 1990 we then focus on the correlates of differential success in obtaining interviews and in subsequent job acquisition i the audit methodology

when does delinquency result in neglect mortgage distress and property maintenance abstract numerous studies have found that foreclosed properties sell at a discount and push down the sale prices of nearby properties which may be partly driven by poorer maintenance of the foreclosed homes however direct evidence of foreclosure related property neglect has been scarce this paper uses data on constituent complaints and requests for public services made to the city of boston to examine the incidence and timing of this type of foreclosure externality interior and exterior property conditions appear to suffer most while homes are bank owned although complaints about reduced maintenance are also common earlier in the foreclosure process

overcoming electricity crisis in pakistan a review of sustainable electricity options abstract pakistan is facing severe electricity supply shortages causing forced power outages over the last decade ranging from 8 to 12 h a day in urban areas and up to 18 h in rural areas the major causes behind the increasing gap between supply and demand are mainly increases in electricity demand on one hand and depleting energy resources and financial constraints on the other in this context the government has been taking various measures including a partial restructuring of the electricity sector under guidelines from international financing institutes at present the country is therefore not only facing a serious challenge of meeting the electricity demand but is also facing the challenge of ensuring energy security in the context of globally important climate change issues the role of policy makers at this stage is crucial for not only assessing and reviewing the current strategies to minimize the electricity supply and demand gap but also the need to develop future strategies ensuring affordable electricity with efficient generation transmission and distribution towards sustainable development in the country this paper provides a review of the current energy situation discussion on policy drivers and plans analysis of the issues of the power sector as well as recommendations for narrowing the electricity supply demand gap towards sustainable electricity for the country

renewable energy an efficient mechanism to improve gdp abstract this article analyzes the effects of renewable energy on gdp for 116 economies in 2003 through structural equation modeling sem approach in order to decipher the mechanism of how the use of renewables improves macroeconomic efficiency we decompose gdp by the expenditure approach although previous theory predicts positive effects of renewables on capital formation and trade balance the sem results show that renewables have a significant positive influence on capital formation only the result that renewables do not have a significant impact on trade balance implies that renewables do not have an import substitution effect thus we confirm the positive relationship between renewable energy and gdp through the path of increasing capital formation but not for the path of increasing trade balance

demand for international reserves corrections for serial correlation and heteroscedasticity 1987 demand for international reserves corrections for serial correlation and heteroscedasticity applied economics vol 19 no 5 pp 609 618

determinants of international trade flows the case of developing countries abstract the question of magnitude and the time path of the trade flows to changes in the exchange rates and to changes in the price level is of emitent practical importance to assess the above proposition a distributed lag structure is imposed on the relative prices and on the effective exchange rate as the determinants of trade flows then import and export demand functions are estimated for a sample of developing countries using the almon procedure the empirical findings appeared to sustain orcutt s early conjecture that trade flows adjust differently to different price stimuli more precisely it was found that imports and exports reactions were quicker and the total response time was shorter when an exchange rate rather than relative prices caused a change in international prices

a note on the optimal rate of growth of international reserves the current reform of the international monetary system rests on the conception that the nominal quantity of external reserves taken in the aggregate must provide the flexible element in the adjustment between the supply of and the demand for real international liquidity carried to its logical conclusion this principle implies the adoption of a passive money system in the international sphere the nominal quantity of money ceases to be an exogenous datum to which prices and wages must conform and becomes a dependent variable having an equilibrium level 1 the new reserve assets are destined to satisfy the long run needs for reserve growth 2 yet as is well known the evaluation of such needs presents appreciable difficulties in itself this estimation problem is not new it was explicitly discussed in the report of the gold delegation appointed in 1929 to examine the trends in the gold demand and supply the method used by the delegation is worth recalling it is based upon the double assumption that 1 the monetary demand for gold is proportional to the quantity of money and 2 the demand for money is proportional to the aggregate value of transactions the second part of this hypothesis reflects obviously the quantity theory in its classical form the first part expresses instead an institutional situation in those years the countries under the gold standard used to maintain by virtue of law or of convention a margin of gold cover against the total amount of notes and of central bank sight liabilities the combination of the two ratios led the delegation to estimate the need for gold reserves as a fixed proportion of the total value of transactions

the foreclosure discount myth or reality abstract foreclosed properties sell at lower prices than do nearby non distressed properties of particular concern is whether there is a stigma foreclosure discount whereby reo properties sell at lower prices simply because they have been involved in foreclosure proceedings to the extent that such a discount exists arbitrage opportunities exist and the associated market failure has significant policy implications we examine the foreclosure discount from a different perspective than prior researchers by comparing holding period returns earned by purchasers of reos with those earned by purchasers of similar non distressed properties our results show that the majority of reo purchasers do not earn economically significant excess returns on average the implied market discount is less than typical transaction costs we also find evidence that reo properties and buyers vary systematically from their counterparts in the non distressed market segment and that reo attribute prices differ from those of non distressed properties overall our evidence suggests that the market for reos operates efficiently lenders are not irrationally dumping reo properties and reo investors are not reaping extraordinary profits

demand for international reserves survey of recent empirical studies in the last decade many countries have preferred to move to a system of managed floating that is intermediate between the extremes of fixed rates and a clean float since managing the float requires international reserves it is clear that the study of these reserves is as relevant today as it has been in the past there are at least six reviews of the literature relevant to this study clower and lipsey 1968 niehans 1970 salant 1970 grubel 1971 williamson 1973 and cohen 1975 the justification for writing this review is that since completion of the last survey many papers have appeared which contribute to the stock of knowledge in this field however unlike the previous reviews which have concentrated on the broader issues pertaining to international liquidity such as the demand for reserves the supply of reserves the composition and distribution of reserves etc this study focuses solely on surveying empirical studies bearing on the demand for international reserves this review wi

the square root law uncertainty and international reserves under alternative regimes canadian experience 1950 1976 abstract a transactions precautionary model of demand for international reserves is developed and tested against canadian data the results indicate that i the demand for reserves is characterized by economies of scale with respect to the volume of transactions that are invariant to the exchange rate regime but ii structural change took the form of a relatively larger responsiveness of reserves holdings under fixed rates to a measure of permanent variability in transactions

modelling and forecasting the demand for natural gas in pakistan abstract this study examines both the short and long term dynamics of natural gas consumption in pakistan through an econometric model sector specific income price and cross price elasticities of natural gas demand are estimated over the period 1978 2011 the estimated income elasticities indicate that real gdp per capita exerts a larger impact on gas consumption as compared to its price the price and cross price elasticities are relatively low indicating consumers indifference in pakistan towards price escalation they neither decrease gas consumption nor try to explore less expensive substitutes for natural gas a validation of the estimated demand equations is performed showing high degree of accuracy through tracking the historical data in order to determine the future outlook of natural gas demand sectoral equations are simulated as baseline both moderate and extreme demand scenarios are projected for the period 2012 2020 ex post simulation resulting through baseline scenario suggests that the power sector is more likely to occupy top position in terms of natural gas consumption it is expected that the natural gas consumption would reach 734 062 mmcft by 2020 followed by the transport sector 238 943 mmcft industrial sector 541 869 mmcft residential sector 304 821 mmcft and the commercial sector 72 784 mmcft furthermore simulation results based on moderate and extreme scenarios reveal that a deliberate increase in natural gas prices reduces per capita natural gas consumption significantly over the forecast time horizon 2012 2020 the findings of this study have significant implications with respect to energy conservation and economic development particularly price and income elasticities have practical relevance for appropriate pricing and income policies additionally forecast results can provide useful support for designing an appropriate infrastructure and investment plan with reference to gas market in future

estimating bargaining power in the market for existing homes although bargaining is common in markets for heterogeneous goods it has largely been ignored in the hedonic literature in a break from that tradition we establish sufficient conditions that permit one to identify the effect of buyer and seller bargaining on hedonic models our model is estimated using a previously overlooked feature of the american housing survey that permits us to observe characteristics of both buyers and sellers results suggest that household wealth gender and other demographic traits influence bargaining power in addition variation in bargaining power arising from the presence of school age children accounts for anomalous seasonal patterns reported in various widely cited indices of quality adjusted house prices

bargaining power in apartment sales in corsica a latent class approach this paper extends the bargaining model of harding et al harding j rosenthal s and sirmans cf 2003 estimating bargaining power in the market for existing homes review of economics and statist

bargaining power fear of disagreement and wage settlements theory and evidence from u s industry the paper develops and estimates a theoretical model of wage determination and union nonunion wage differentials in order to overcome the institutional ctiticisms of the formal bargaining literature the paper generalizes the nash zeuthen harsanyi model by linking the solution to the institutional concepts of bargaining power and fear or cost of disagreement and by making the outcome depend not only on endogenous but also on exogenous factors an operational specification of bargaining power and fear of disagreement allows the model to be estimated with data covering twelve companies and trade unions during the period from mid 1950 s to the late 1970 s while giving limited support to the nashzeuthen harsanyi solution the empirical analysis indicates that the bargaining outcome usually deviates from the nash zeuthen harsanyi point and in accordance with the institutionalist claim that it varies significantly with exogenous factors contrary to the traditional labor economics view the results do not support the general conclusion that the bargaining solution lies on the marginal revenue product curve of labor instead the relevant coefficients suggest that for many firms and unions the outcome might be better characterized by the efficient contract vertical contract curve

effectiveness of rca institutions to limit local externalities using foreclosure data to test covenant effectiveness residential community associations rcas are said to be an efficient institutional agreement to limit local spillovers while several studies have identified a positive marginal effect of rca rules none have explicitly measured the effectiveness of these institutions to limit local externalities this study measures this effectiveness by estimating how the direct and spillover price impacts caused by foreclosure differ by rca status using a spatial hedonic model that controls for selection bias using propensity score methods and coarsened exact matching we find that foreclosed rca properties experience smaller direct foreclosure discounts and produce smaller spill over effects than their non rca counterparts

forced sales and house prices the market for housing differs in several important ways from the textbook model of a liquid asset market with exogenous fundamentals this implies that the price at which a house is sold can be influenced not only by general supply and demand conditions but also by idiosyncratic factors including the urgency of the sale and the effects of the ownership transfer on the physical quality of the house first houses are productive only when people are living in them owning an empty house is equivalent to throwing away the dividend on a financial asset second houses are fragile assets that need maintenance and are vulnerable to van dalism unoccupied houses are particularly vulnerable and expensive to protect third short term rental contracts involve high transactions costs resulting from the moving costs of renters and the need of homeowners to protect their property against damage fourth houses are expensive indivisible and heterogeneous assets each house has certain unique characteristics which are likely to appeal to certain poten tial buyers and not to others so selling a house requires matching it with an appro priate buyer because of the high costs of intermediation in housing this task is normally undertaken by a real estate broker rather than a dealer fifth most home owners must finance their purchases using mortgages collateralized debt contracts that transfer home ownership to the mortgage lender through a foreclosure process if the homeowner defaults the expansion of mortgage credit in the early 2000s and the recent decline in house prices have led to an unprecedented increase in foreclosures since 2006 foreclosures transfer houses to financial institutions which must maintain and pro tect them until they can be sold foreclosed houses are likely to sell at low prices both because they may have been physically damaged during the foreclosure pro cess and because financial institutions have an incentive to sell them quickly in a liquid market an asset can be sold rapidly with a minimal impact on its price but

exploring the driving factors of global lng trade flows using gravity modelling abstract taking into account the attributes of the liquefied natural gas lng trade and the space time characteristics of trade flows this paper identifies the multiple dimensional factors that influenced the global lng trade between 2004 and 2015 following an analysis of the data via the application of gravity models the empirical results of this study indicate that these influencing factors possess both general and regional characteristics in contrast to general trade the lng trade is mainly affected by the economic magnitude of the demand side regionally pipeline natural gas has a significant substitute effect on the lng trade within the global model though not within the asian model additionally the lng trade in asia is more sensitive to the influence of import prices and research and development investment than in the global model our subsample analyses show that the results are robustness across different periods finally this paper discusses pertinent policy implications for the lng trade especially as related to asia

hot and cold seasons in the housing market every year housing markets in the united kingdom and the united states experience systematic above trend increases in prices and transactions during the spring and summer hot season and below trend falls during the autumn and winter cold season house price seasonality poses a challenge to existing housing models we propose a search and matching model with thick market effects in thick markets the quality of matches increases rising buyers willingness to pay and sellers desire to transact a small deterministic driver of seasonality can be amplified and revealed as deterministic seasonality in transactions and prices quantitatively mimicking seasonal fluctuations in uk and us markets

hedonic prices and implicit markets estimating demand and supply functions for differentiated products in choosing the level of quality to purchase the buyer of a differentiated product also chooses a point on the marginal price schedule for that product hence in general the demand functions for product characteristics cannot be consistently estimated by ordinary least squares market equilibrium results in a matching of characteristics of demanders and suppliers this matching restricts the use of buyer and seller characteristics as instruments when estimating demand and supply functions for product characteristics the paper develops these issues a stochastic structure for hedonic equilibrium models is then proposed identification results are presented and estimation procedures are outlined

pakistan s overall energy potential assessment comparison of lng tapi and ipi gas projects abstract pakistan is facing severe energy crisis in spite of the fact that nature has blessed her with huge energy potential short fall of electricity supply in the country is increasing and has been recorded up to 4522 mw in 2010 this deficit reached to 7000 mw in may 2011 a comprehensive review of pakistan s energy sector is presented in this paper energy potential major issues of energy sector and energy import options are discussed issues like poor management combined cycle capacity low hydro power share circular debt and energy security have been covered energy potential assessment includes hydro solar wind coal nuclear hydrogen cells geo thermal ocean resources and bio mass future prediction calculations are based upon country s current and world s average per capita energy consumption current oil and gas reserves of the country contribute to only 5 percent and 48 8 percent of the energy mix and at the current rate will be exhausted by 13 and 16 years respectively the overwhelming dependence of the energy sector on imported fossil fuels may create a situation of energy security threat however dependence upon the energy import options cannot be avoided in order to lessen the severity of energy crisis in near future some of the energy import options are turkmanistan afghanistan pakistan and india tapi iran pakistan and india ipi gas pipelines liquefied natural gas lng from qatar etc on the other hand exploitation of vast renewable potential like hydro solar and wind requires serious attention exploitation of indigenous coal resources would also be a key for solving energy crisis in the long run in summary this paper presents energy potential assessment in context of major issues future predictions and impact of energy import options this in turn provides a big clear and brighter picture of the country s energy sector

renewable energy sources in power generation in pakistan abstract pakistan as an underdeveloped and populous country requires an uninterrupted source of energy to keep its development on track and provide its citizens with a reasonable standard of living conversely the country is unable to fulfil its domestic energy requirements and is undergoing an acute energy crisis electricity is a sector that has suffered the most from the energy shortages the gap between demand and supply is met through blackouts and at times the country plunges into darkness for more than 10 12 h a day this crisis that the country is currently facing did not occur overnight the root cause of this debacle goes back in history and can be attributed to decades of mismanagement poor planning and negligence this article provides a comprehensive overview of the electricity sector in pakistan and the issues it is beset with in addition an analysis of the energy policies that the country has announced over the years as well as the impact that they have had on the electricity sector is presented it is concluded that pakistan s existing energy mix is not sustainable due to the excessive reliance on imported fossil fuels rising electricity generation cost and increase in power generation related emissions this paper develops a roadmap and proposes the energy sources that can fulfil the country s rising energy requirements whilst being sustainable at the same time the roadmap identifies and highlights the primary tasks that the country must undertake to reach its vision of meeting its energy needs and integrating renewable energy sources in the power generation the recommendations of this paper will provide guidelines to the decision makers and policymakers with an insight on how the energy technology and resource development should be carried out which sources should be given priority and how the issues should be resolved both in the short and long term

measuring racial discrimination with fair housing audits caught in the act a survey technique called a fair housing audit provides a direct measure of racial discrimination in housing this paper examines the econometric issues raised by audit data measures the discrimination uncovered by a 1981 boston study and tests hypotheses about the causes of discrimination the estimated level of discrimination is high black housing seekers are told about 30 percent fewer available housing units than are whites the hypothesis tests indicate that the primary cause of this discrimination is that housing agents illegally promote their economic interests by catering to the racial prejudice of their current or potential white customers