the european court of justice national governments and legal integration in the european union we develop a game theoretic model of the conditions under which the european court of justice can be expected to take adverse judgments against european union member governments and when the governments are likely to abide by these decisions the model generates three hypotheses first the greater the clarity of eu case law precedent the lesser the likelihood that the court will tailor its decisions to the anticipated reactions of member governments second the greater the domestic costs of an ecj ruling to a litigant government the lesser the likelihood that the litigant government will abide by it and hence the lesser the likelihood that the court will make such a ruling third the greater the activism of the ecj and the larger the number of member governments adversely affected by it the greater the likelihood that responses by litigant governments will move from individual noncompliance to coordinated retaliation through new legislation or treaty revisions these hypotheses are tested against three broad lines of case law central to ecj jurisprudence bans on agricultural imports application of principles of equal treatment of the sexes to occupational pensions and state liability for violation of eu law the empirical analysis supports our view that though influenced by legal precedent the ecj also takes into account the anticipated reactions of member governments

technology adoption consumer inattention and heuristic decision making evidence from a uk district heating scheme this paper contributes to the debate on the energy efficiency paradox according to which consumers fail to adopt cost effective energy efficient technologies over less efficient technologies and therefore fail to reduce energy consumption both traditional and behavioural theories are used to investigate the decision making process of residential consumers with empirical evidence based upon a specially designed quasi experimental survey of 784 households on the decision to connect to a district heating system a more energy efficient alternative to individual heating systems the results suggest an internal discount rate of around 36 per cent for homeowners a signal that consumers undervalue future energy costs we also find the household s decision to be negatively affected by years of payback up to around 7 8 years our findings suggest that neglecting consumer inattention and heuristics can lead to biases which cast doubt on the existence of the energy efficiency paradox we believe that these results help to explain why some consumers are unlikely to invest in energy efficient technology particularly those on low incomes

toward a new theory of institutional change going beyond historical and rational choice institutionalism this article elaborates the core of a new theory that can account for the discontinuous disproportionate and frequently wavelike nature of institutional change cognitive psychological findings on shifts in actors propensity for assuming risk help explain why periods of institutional stasis can be followed by dramatic breakthroughs as actors eventually respond to a growing problem load with efforts at bold transformation and insights on boundedly rational learning explain why solutions to these problems often occur as emulation of other countries innovations and experiences the new approach which elucidates both the demand and the supply side of institutional change is illustrated through an analysis of the transformation of developmental states welfare states and political regimes

an equivalent marginal cost pricing model for the district heating market district heating pricing is a core element in reforming the heating market existing district heating pricing methods such as the cost plus pricing method and the conventional marginal cost pricing method cannot simultaneously provide both high efficiency and sufficient investment cost return to solve this problem the paper presents a new pricing model namely equivalent marginal cost pricing emcp model which is based on the eve pricing theory and the unique characteristics of heat products and district heating the emcp model uses exergy as the measurement of heating product value and places products from different district heating regions into the same competition platform in the proposed model the return on investment cost is closely related to the quoted cost and within the limitations of the heating capacity cost reference and the maximum compensated shadow capacity cost both lower and higher price speculations of heat producers are restricted simulation results show that the model can guide heat producers to bid according to their production costs and to provide reasonable returns on investment which contributes to stimulate the role of price leverage and to promote the optimal allocation of heat resources

economies of scale in the korean district heating system a variable cost function approach this paper aims to investigate the cost efficiency of south korea s district heating dh system by using a variable cost function and cost share equation we employ a seemingly unrelated regression model with quarterly time series data from the korea district heating corporation kdhc a public utility that covers about 59 of the dh system market in south korea over the 1987 2011 period the explanatory variables are price of labor price of material capital cost and production level the results indicate that economies of scale are present and statistically significant thus expansion of its dh business would allow kdhc to obtain substantial economies of scale according to our forecasts vis a vis scale economies the kdhc will enjoy cost efficiency for some time yet to ensure a socially efficient supply of dh it is recommended that the kdhc expand its business proactively with regard to informing policy or regulations our empirical results could play a significant role in decision making processes

determinants of residential space heating expenditures in germany abstract we first examine the determinants of household expenditures on space heating and hot water supply in germany a number of socio economic characteristics of households are included along with building characteristics our analysis covers information on more than 12 000 households in germany for the years 1998 and 2003 the analysis continues by investigating whether different kinds of households are affected differently by increases in energy prices households in owner occupied properties are less affected compared to those in rented accommodation this could be because owners are more likely to have installed energy efficient heating and hot water supply systems and landlords have less of an incentive to improve the conditions of their rented accommodations an energy policy targeting especially the latter group might benefit not only households in rented accommodation but might also increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well

climate policy and the social cost of power generation impacts of the swedish national emissions target the purpose of this paper is to discuss how the design of climate policy in a small open economy may affect the internalization of carbon related external costs and ultimately the social choice between different power generation technologies empirically we focus on the swedish case and analyze three climate policy regimes out of which two represent different national goal formulations and thus compliance strategies the results show that the social choice between power generation technologies in sweden will be significantly influenced by the choice of climate policy regime most notably if sweden would abandon its present national target for carbon dioxide emissions and instead make full use of the country s participation in international emissions trading natural gas fired power would replace onshore wind power as the power generation source with the lowest social cost

increasing returns path dependence and the study of politics it is increasingly common for social scientists to describe political processes as path dependent the concept however is often employed without careful elaboration this article conceptualizes path dependence as a social process grounded in a dynamic of increasing returns reviewing recent literature in economics and suggesting extensions to the world of politics the article demonstrates that increasing returns processes are likely to be prevalent and that good analytical foundations exist for exploring their causes and consequences the investigation of increasing returns can provide a more rigorous framework for developing some of the key claims of recent scholarship in historical institutionalism specific patterns of timing and sequence matter a wide range of social outcomes may be possible large consequences may result from relatively small or contingent events particular courses of action once introduced can be almost impossible to reverse and consequently political development is punctuated by critical moments or junctures that shape the basic contours of social life

examining political connections to study institutional change evidence from two unexpected election outcomes in south korea we argue that the analysis of multiple political connections in an event study framework can improve the study of institutional change based on a unique data set of multiple political relationships of 4 936 south korean board of director members we show that the large business conglomerates the chaebol did not benefit from the unexpected conservative election victories in the 2012 south korean parliamentary and presidential elections personal connections to the presidential candidates and to the opposition party were relevant for the stock returns of small firms our findings suggest that korea s political economy has evolved into a hybrid regime in which the political power of large multinational corporations is limited but political connections still matter for smaller firms the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of president park in 2017 and the long term development of market capitalisation appear to be congruent with the results of our study

swedish district heating a system in stagnation current and future trends in the district heating sector this paper argues that sweden s old and established district heating sector is heading into a stagnation phase the aim is to analyse the factors influencing this development as well as the strateg

free trade agreements and governance of the global trading system n 1995 when the wto was established it seemed to be final confirmation of the success of a system that had managed multilateral trade relations since 1947 it provided an institutional framework within which governments were not only able to negotiate reductions in trade barriers but also to bind themselves to rules of conduct that in principle were both universal and nondiscriminatory about the same time however the new wave of regional and bilateral free trade agreements ftas was beginning to gather strength for some this has emerged as a threat to the central role of the wto as manager of the trading system and even to presage the fading of an era of multilateralism in trade relations for others it has been a call to revise long held conceptions about the multilateral system and to embrace a more complex world composed of networks of multilateral plurilateral regional and bilateral arrangements in this article we aim to contribute to this debate by exploring how far ftas have strengthened or weakened global governance of the trading system for the most part the contribution of economists to the debate has centred around the effects of preferential tariff regimes including their rules of origin on merchandise trade and trade relations we think that the almost exclusive focus on tariff regimes is too narrow a prism for one thing we are sceptical of the practical significance of the tariff preferences that have been actually introduced in affecting trade flows more important the focus on tariff barriers leaves aside the other major aspects of trade relations that multilateral plurilateral regional and bilateral arrangements seek to address central to these

prospects of trade liberalization between the developed and the developing countries abstract this paper analyzes the theoretical and policy aspects of various possible approaches multilateral preferential and others toward new initiatives for liberalizing trade relations between the developed and the developing countries the increasing differentiation between the newly industrializing countries nics and the less developed countries ldcs suggests that a multidimensional framework allowing flexibility in dealing with different subsets within the developing countries would be more relevant the paper analyzes the probable outcomes and constraints of the various trade liberalizing options with regard to their effects on trade flows welfare and terms of trade

a thorn in the lion s paw has britain paid too much for common market membership the welfare consequence of britain s entry into the common market is studied for 1972 1980 the figures show that in some years britain would have been better off by 3 4 percent of gdp trading on its own its average losses were greater than 1 5 percent of gdp moreover a feasible alternative arrangement is described in which common market association would benefit both great britain and other common market countries without harming non common market countries the methodology involves a general equilibrium model of customs union formation which determines financial arrangements such as cross country compensation and the distribution of common tariff revenues obviously similar studies can be done for other applications such as the proposed north atlantic free trade area

when do institutions bite historical institutionalism and the politics of institutional change historical institutionalist theories of endogenous change have enhanced our understanding of institutional development by providing a theoretical vocabulary for analyzing how institutions may be renegotiated over the long run by social and political actors in these theories however the causal impact of institutions themselves on political outcomes including their own change and reform is less developed a significant problem for an institutional research program this paper addresses this problem by proposing strategies that integrate historical institutionalism s insights into endogenous institutional change with a systematic analysis of the institutional conditions under which bottom up processes of gradual change are likely to be counteracted in particular the institutionalization of cultural categories and the allocation of power over the timing of reform within institutional and policy configurations are important variables for understanding how pre existing institutions may enable institutional incumbents to channel delay or prevent institutional change

best practices in regional trading agreements an application to asia regionalism in asia particularly in the form of free trade areas ftas is a recent trend that is becoming increasingly important this has been disturbing to many given the significance of trade and investment in asian economic growth and development and the region s key role in global commerce in light of this trend the goal of this paper is to develop a blueprint or a set of 10 best practices that can be used as a guide to ftas in order to ensure that they approximate first best outcomes to the greatest extent possible next the paper applies this framework to the existing ftas between asian countries and their regional and extra regional partners the results suggest that the more advanced regional accords generally receive high grades with the notable exception of rules of origin which tend to be even more problematic in the context of accords in which an oecd country is a party

market opening and third party access in district heating networks the purpose of this paper is to analyse the possible effects of introducing tpa in district heating networks by identifying and scrutinizing a number of possible scenarios for increased competition the analysis builds on a theoretical discussion of economic efficiency in district heating operations and the possible impacts on consumer prices of a market opening an important conclusion is that regulated tpa may have small positive effects on competition and at the same time it can have a negative impact on the possibility to run the integrated district heating operations in a cost effective manner this conclusion stems in part from the observation that most district heating networks are local in scope moreover district heating operations are highly interdependent in for instance that the level of the return temperature of the water will affect the efficiency of combined heat and power plants for these reasons the introduction of the so called single buyer model or perhaps even more preferable an extended and more transparent producer market could represent more efficient market designs moreover in networks with clear natural monopoly characteristics an ex ante price regulation must be considered

power trade and competition in northern europe abstract the eu electricity directive has encouraged a movement towards closer integration of power markets in northern europe at the same time the industry is undergoing significant restructuring with vertical separation and horizontal concentration being two key features the effectiveness of competition in the region will crucially depend on the extent and conditions of cross border trade between the countries concerned most importantly the conditions and cost of access to transmission networks will determine the nature of market integration and its impact on competitive conditions there is a risk that high transaction costs tariff distortions and weak unbundling will act as barriers to trade thereby limiting the extent of competition while the eu is currently pursuing voluntary solutions among system operators it is likely that regulations governing international transmission infrastructure will be required

re regulating district heating in sweden abstract the electricity market reform in sweden has had great but little discussed consequences for the district heating industry formerly regulated municipal district heating companies are now obliged to operate in a commercial manner and pricing previously regulated by the local authority act is now free the swedish competition authority has on several occasions mentioned to the government that a price regulation ought to be reinstated since district heating is a natural monopoly and in many cases in a dominant market position on local heating markets the competition authority also believes that cross subsidies occur in multi service utilities i e between monopolistic district heating and competitive electricity production and sales municipal district heating is often organised together with electricity sales and production in a municipally owned limited company many municipalities have recently sold their energy utilities to private or state owned commercial actors thus creating private monopolies exempt from price regulations in 1999 the national energy administration stem was given the task to monitor the district heating market and to suggest means to come to terms with these issues stem does not favour a price regulation as the first measure stem also has an operative goal of increasing the use of district heating as a means of reducing electricity dependence in the heating of premises here an interesting conflict of interest exists between the two government authorities we argue that the differences in opinion go beyond the actual tasks given to the authorities but rather depend on perspectives economics and consumer perspective versus an engineering environmental and production perspective we would also like to encourage a broad discussion about the state of district heating and its regulatory condition and that neither economical models nor energy models are taken for granted

is unilateral tariff reduction preferable to a customs union the curious case of the missing foreign tariffs during the past decade and a half an important part of the literature on customs unions has dealt with the question of whether a country might obtain the gains it would achieve from a customs union cu in an alternative way by a unilateral tariff reduction utr utr may involve a partial reduction in tariffs or a reduction all the way to zero a widely accepted conclusion see eitan berglas p 329 c a cooper and b f massell 1965b pp 745 47 roma dauphin ch 2 harry johnson p 280 melvyn krauss pp 417 19 and peter robson is that utr does indeed hold out the prospect for all the gains from a cuwithout the disadvantagesif two important simplifying assumptions are made namely that we ignore economies of scale and the effects of a customs union on the terms of trade 2 in the words of berglas it is important to note that if a preferential trade agreement does not affect the terms of trade then it does not allow for any mutually beneficial policy opportunities which are not open to each of the member countries separately through utr p 329 if this conclusion is correct it is very important in that it undercuts the earlier literature on customs unions the question asked by jacob viner in his pioneering work whether a cu represents a net gain or a net loss in economic efficiencybecomes unimportant except insofar as a customs union is based on terms of trade effects3 or economies of scale 4 since a cu can be summarily rejected in favor of utr the utr case would mean that for economists the puzzle is not to identify the efficiency gains or losses from a cu but rather to explain why countries form customs unions in the first place berglas p 329 cooper and massell 1965b p 247 and johnson p 270 indeed in his survey of cu theory krauss identifies the problem raised by cooper and massellof why countries form customs unionsas the theoretical issue of the past decade the 1960 s just as in the prior one the major issue as explicitly defined by jacob viner 1950 was whether a customs union represented a movement towards freer trade or greater protection p 413 the typical reply to the cooper massell question is countries tend to form a cu for noneconomic reasons berglas pp 329 30 5

institutional development through policy making a case study of the brazilian central bank a number of contemporary studies rightly emphasize the notion that policy outcomes result from institutional determinants but as a growing literature on institutional development notes these institutions are themselves impermanent sometimes in crisis moments institutions are replaced wholesale more frequently institutions evolve gradually over time using the brazilian central bank as a case study this article illustrates that the policy making process itself can be a central driver of gradual institutional development with institutions evolving through the accumulation of policy choices made over many years and under different policymakers in response to contemporaneous events and unforeseeable economic and political challenges

accounting for behavioral effects of increases in the carbon dioxide co2 tax in revenue estimation in sweden in this paper we describe how behavioral responses of carbon dioxide co 2 tax increases are accounted for in tax revenue estimation in sweden the rationale for developing a method for this is a

the transformation of the swedish model economic ideas distributional conflict and institutional change this article examines the transformation of the swedish model of economic regulation from an ideational perspective while the majority of arguments about the decline of the swedish model have focused on the role of structural factors this article looks to illuminate the ideational factors that made possible both the emergence and the transformation of the swedish model the article details how during the 1930s and 1940s economic ideas provided the swedish state and its trade union allies with the means to construct the institutions of the swedish model by the 1970s however swedish business suffered diminishing returns to continued participation within these institutions and responded to labor s challenges by adopting a two pronged strategy of withdrawal from and ideological contestation of labor s supporting institutions the politics of ideas was key in this regard during the 1980s swedish business marshaled alternative economic ideas to contest and thus delegitimate existing institutions and the patterns of distribution they made possible swedish business thus began the process of overturning the swedish model long before capital mobility or domestic inflation was ever a problem by highlighting these factors the article offers an explanation of the transformation of the swedish model that stresses the centrality of ideational contestation for understanding institutional change in general