an econometric analysis of u s foreign direct investment this paper constructs a theoretical model of foreign direct investment and examines the extent to which the model can explain the level of outward direct investment by u s companies over the last two decades the authors find that market size and factor costs both labor and capital are important factors in the investment decision instrumental variable estimation is used to demonstrate that the expectation of short run fluctuations in the dollar also influences the timing of investment copyright 1996 by mit press

an efficiency theorem for incompletely known preferences there are n agents who have von neumann morgenstern utility functions on a finite set of alternatives a each agent i s utility function is known to lie in the nonempty convex relatively open set ui suppose l is a lottery on a that is undominated meaning that there is no other lottery that is guaranteed to pareto dominate l no matter what the true utility functions are then there exist utility functions ui ui for which l is pareto efficient this result includes the ordinal efficiency welfare theorem as a special case

changing energy intensity of economies in the world and its decomposition abstract this paper decomposes energy intensity change across countries into five components attributable to technological catch up technological progress and changes in capital energy ratio labor energy ratio and output structure it is found that 1 technological progress capital accumulation and output structure change contributed to the decline of energy intensity from 1980 to 2010 2 changes in labor energy ratio drove up energy intensity and 3 spatial and temporal heterogeneity existed regarding relative importance of the five components

determinants of foreign direct investment in spain this study utilizes panel data as a means of examining the determinants of foreign direct investment fdi in spain data that are taken in the period 1993 2002 are used in order to estimate the determinants of fdi at the sectoral level by differentiating the manufacturing sectors and at the regional level the analysis investigates the sectoral regional and macroeconomic variables that have successfully attracted fdi inflows from those that have not empirical results suggest that the differential between labour productivity and the cost of labour has been an important determinant of fdi in spain during the period 1993 2002 factors related to demand the evolution of human capital the export potential of the sectors and certain macroeconomic determinants that measure the differential between spain and the european union average also play a very important role in attracting flows of fdi certain policy issues that are relevant to the results are also discussed

economic assessment of eucalyptus spp for biomass production as alternative crop in southern italy the increase in energy prices and the stagnation of sales prices of the main agricultural commodities required a rethinking of farm production strategies since during the last years thanks to a series of policies aimed at promoting renewable sources it has been a rapid diffusion of lignocellulosic biomass species this paper aimed at evaluating the economic feasibility of the introduction of eucalyptus eucalyptus spp as energy crop for farmers of southern italy by comparing it with traditional crop rotations in particular economic analysis has been carried out in a representative case study located in the sicilian hilly hinterland where in 2013 it has been built a biomass plant for energy production however results showed that introduction of eucalyptus for biomass production is less profitable for farmers than traditional crops considering the incompressibility of production costs and the actual market price of woodchips

the locational determinants of direct investments among industrialized countries abstract market size and growth rate as well as tariff barriers have already been shown to influence u s direct investments in the eec the present paper enlarges the field of observation to all bilateral flows of direct investments among six industrialized countries the united states germany france the united kingdom the netherlands and belgium over the years 1969 1982 it also tests the impact of two other would be locational determinants of foreign direct investments namely unit labour costs and export flows moreover a new and alternative specification is put forward and tested which assumes that in the investment decision process foreign locations are in competition not only with each other but also with the home country of the investor

agro energy districts contributing to environmental and social sustainability in rural areas evaluation of a local public private partnership scheme in greece abstract the current economic downturn has put public budgets under pressure reducing investments and revenues for local stakeholders to cope among other things with contemporary demands of environmental protection local based partnerships may provide an efficient tool by adopting integrating and implementing actions based on awareness and participation of a set of different players this need is even more evident in rural areas in which a proposed decentralized bio energy production model established in agro energy districtscan provide incentive and create a comfortable ground for the development of an energy production plant based on a mixed public private partnership drawing on the implementation of a european co funded research project the paper presents the efforts being made to build a partnership at a local level in order to cover the lack of an institutional plan and public investment for handling biomass production our aim is not primarily to present the best technical solution to bio energy production but rather to illustrate the networking between different players the public consultation and the agreements being made under the form of public private partnerships as well as the levels of commitment and the risks taken the gist of this study is that despite the civic engagements the inconsistent administrative environment the dominance of the public sector and the state intervention through legislation and different political decisions makes it still difficult for local partnerships to exercise their power and turn from government to governance in order to cope with the environmental challenges and tackle inequalities faced in rural areas

uncertainty and risk in financial markets this paper considers a general equilibrium model in which the distinction between uncertainty and risk is formalized by assuming agents have incomplete preferences over statecontingent consumption bundles as in bewley 1986 without completeness individual decision making depends on a set of probability distributions over the state space a bundle is preferred to another if and only if it has larger expected utility for all probabilities in this set when preferences are complete this set is a singleton and the model reduces to standard expected utility in this setting we characterize pareto optima and equilibria and show that the presence of uncertainty generates robust indeterminacies in equilibrium prices and allocations for any specification of initial endowments we derive comparative statics results linking the degree of uncertainty with changes in equilibria despite the presence of robust indeterminacies we show that equilibrium prices and allocations vary continuously with underlying fundamentals equilibria in a standard risk economy are thus robust to adding small degrees of uncertainty finally we give conditions under which some assets are not traded due to uncertainty aversion

profitability of wind energy investments in china using a monte carlo approach for the treatment of uncertainties abstract china is the global leader in terms of installed wind capacity further wind energy development is expected for the next years and decades to meet the continuously increasing electricity demand and the need of using clean domestic energy since 2009 china is divided into four geographical regions each assigned with a different benchmark on grid tariff moreover the existing infrastructures are not equally developed throughout the country making investment decisions more complicated and risky the scope of this paper is to apply an innovative methodology and evaluate the attractiveness of each region for wind energy development by taking into consideration all relevant investment risks such as wind potential wind curtailment access to the grid and macroeconomic parameters to this purpose a monte carlo simulation approach integrated into a typical financial model is implemented in each of the four regions performing many hundreds of iterations each characterized by a randomly selected set of the examined uncertain parameters this approach intends to provide information to private investors doing a first exploratory research in the huge country s area in order to decide whether and where to invest as well as to policy makers to help them assess critical policy parameters and investigate different scenarios of wind energy development the evaluation of the current framework for wind energy development in china verifies that the existing system of feed in tariffs in china is very effective for the balanced deployment of wind energy in the whole country however it is shown that the risk of curtailment and grid accessibility may significantly reduce the potential profitability of wind energy investments in all four regions priority for development of infrastructures should be given in isolated northern windy areas with high accumulation of wind farms

the determinants of fdi location choice in china a discrete choice analysis this study addresses two questions what are the determinants of foreign direct investment fdi location choice in china what are the factors that determine investors choice between economic zo

foreign direct investment and factor demand elasticities abstract this paper argues that the liberalisation of foreign direct investment fdi has made labour costs more important to domestic investment and long run labour demand it provides evidence from british and german data that is consistent with this view first high unit labour costs increase fdi outflows and lower fdi inflows second the effect of unit labour costs on domestic manufacturing investment was more negative in the high fdi 1980s than in the low fdi 1970s and this change was concentrated in high fdi industries the estimates suggest that the long run labour demand elasticity may have risen substantially

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

firm specific assets and the link between exchange rates and foreign direct investment foreign direct investment fdi theory and empirical studies have generated mixed support for a link between exchange rates and fdi this paper argues that exchange rate movements may affect acquisition fdi because acquisitions involve firm specific assets which can generate returns in currencies other than that used for purchase using data on japanese acquisitions in the united states across three digit sic industries from 1975 to 1992 maximum likelihood estimates from discrete dependent variable models support the hypothesis that real dollar depreciations make japanese acquisitions more likely in u s industries particularly those which more likely have firm specific assets copyright 1997 by american economic association

pareto optima and equilibria when preferences are incompletely known an exchange economy in which agents have convex incomplete preferences defined by families of concave utility functions is considered sufficient conditions for the set of efficient allocations and equilibria to coincide with the set of efficient allocations and equilibria that result when each agent has a utility in her family are provided welfare theorems in an incomplete preferences framework therefore hold under these conditions and efficient allocations and equilibria are characterized by first order conditions

intertemporal equilibria with knightian uncertainty we study a dynamic and infinite dimensional model with incomplete multiple prior preferences in interior efficient allocations agents share a common risk adjusted prior and subjective interest rate interior efficient allocations and equilibria coincide with those of economies with subjective expected utility and priors from the agents multiple prior sets a specific model with neither risk nor uncertainty at the aggregate level is considered risk is always fully insured for small levels of ambiguity there exists an equilibrium with inertia where agents also insure fully against knightian uncertainty when the level of ambiguity exceeds a critical threshold full insurance no longer prevails and there exist equilibria with inertia where agents do not insure against uncertainty at all we also show that equilibria with inertia are indeterminate

the boundaries of multinational enterprises and the theory of international trade this paper begins with a review of empirical evidence on multinational firms conceptual underpinnings of a theory are developed relying in particular on the notion of knowledge capital as a mobile joint input into geographically separated production facilities this idea is embedded in a simple two country general equilibrium model that supports multinational production in equilibrium under conditions consistent with the empirical evidence the final section examines internalization and shows why certain properties of knowledge capital also imply a preference for transferring technologies internally within the firm rather than through arm s length markets

distributional analysis of portfolio choice trading in a market is compared with receiving some particular consu mption bundle given increasing state independent preferences and complete markets the analysis focuses on the distribution price of t he particular bundle the distributional price is the price of the ch eapest utility equivalent bundle sold in the market the distribution al price is determined by the distribution functions of the outside b undle and the state price density simple portfolio performance measu res illustrate the value of the approach unlike capm based measures these measures are valid even when superior information is the sourc e of superior performance copyright 1988 by the university of chicago

eu and russian discourse on energy relations the paper explores the dominant interpretations of the eu russian energy relations by identifying three dominant concepts around which these interpretations revolve 1 integration 2 liberalization and 3 diversification building on a detailed discourse analysis of 97 textual units produced by eu leaders and institutions and 104 documents and speeches by russian policy makers the paper argues that these three discourses differ widely in their assessment of the two partners mutual ties both in terms of the relationship s symmetry and the perceived benefits for each partner the paper comes up with two basic arguments first in spite of the shared usage of the three basic notions by both sides the interpretations of each of the discourses are widely different in the eu and in russia which causes continuous frictions and misunderstandings second and surprisingly the discourse of integration is dominant both in the eu and russia which shows that the claims about the alleged securitization of eu russian energy relations are clearly exaggerated

enabling private sector investment in microgrid based rural electrification in developing countries a review access to electricity is widely recognized as an important factor for economic and social development low rates of access particularly in remote rural areas in regions such as sub saharan africa south asia and southeast asia have led developing nations and international organizations to set ambitious goals to expand the reach of electricity decentralized solutions such as microgrids have been proposed as cost effective solutions to reaching communities located far from central grid infrastructure lack of capital from public and donor sources has severely impeded achieving access goals leading to calls for greater private sector participation in electrification activities however due to the high level of risk associated with decentralized electrification projects in low income areas marginal expected returns on investment and a lack of clear and effective public policy the private sector has not shown significant interest in participating in such projects the purpose of this paper is to review barriers to private sector participation in decentralized electrification projects and to identify solutions that have been implemented and proposed to overcome these barriers the barriers discussed include unsecure revenue streams inability to finance projects and long term project risks such as grid encroachment the range of interventions and business models reviewed include methods to secure reliable demand subsidy models risk guarantees and different revenue models this paper does not include an analysis of the effectiveness of the different interventions described future research should evaluate the relative costs and benefits of these interventions in order to provide robust policy guidance to decision makers in developing countries

adoption of low cost energy efficiency measures in the tertiary sector an empirical analysis based on energy survey data this paper empirically explores factors driving the adoption of low cost energy efficiency measures in the tertiary sector which mainly consists of public and private services trade commerce and some small industries the measures considered include switching off installations or lighting managing energy use and routinely considering energy efficiency for new purchases our statistical analysis employs single and multivariate probit models relying on more than 1500 observations from a recent representative survey of the tertiary sector in germany the findings suggest that the landlord tenant dilemma holds for the adoption of all low cost energy efficiency measures considered they further imply that financial incentives such as higher energy prices accelerate the diffusion of low cost energy measures our findings also provide some evidence that knowledge transfer from the mother company to a subsidiary enhances the diffusion of low cost energy efficiency measures likewise public sector organizations are more likely to adopt energy management by and large though sectoral heterogeneity appears to have little impact on the adoption of low cost energy efficiency measures

the prime criteria for private sector participation in renewable energy investment in the middle east case study iran abstract to have sustainable electricity generation from renewable energy resources economically competitive more privatization is needed in this sector true understanding based on transparent information is one of the salient necessities for the private sector to invest in the energy business in this article the researchers are to recognize the targeted factors considered by the private sector in order to improve their participation in the electricity generation markets from renewable sources in the middle east the results illustrate that the most important factors are governmental policies consumption markets and engineering efficiency these recognized factors then are classified from different aspects such as techno engineering business and relevant policies and the environment

review of taiwan s climate policy after copenhagen abstract the copenhagen accord in 2009 initiated new opportunities for international cooperation in reducing greenhouse gas ghg emissions the purpose of this study was to review taiwan s current climate policy and in response to the copenhagen accord to deliberate this policy in the light of new strategic thinking the study proposes a two stage approach with a dividing line in 2020 in the first stage from now until 2020 strategy should be based on cost constraints with a suggested reduction cost below 60 t co 2 and implementation of domestic ghg emissions trading scheme and reduction strategies in the second stage from 2020 and beyond action by taiwan should accord with international cooperative actions to link its domestic emissions trading scheme with the international carbon market

on the contribution of external cost calculations to energy system governance the case of a potential large scale nuclear accident abstract the contribution of nuclear power to a sustainable energy future is a contested issue this paper presents a critical review of an attempt to objectify this debate through the calculation of the external costs of a potential large scale nuclear accident in the externe project a careful dissection of the externe approach resulted in a list of 30 calculation steps and assumptions from which the 6 most contentious ones were selected through a stakeholder internet survey the policy robustness and relevance of these key assumptions were then assessed in a workshop using the concept of a pedigree of knowledge overall the workshop outcomes revealed the stakeholder and expert panel s scepticism about the assumptions made generally these were considered not very plausible subjected to disagreement and to a large extent inspired by contextual factors such criticism indicates a limited validity and useability of the calculated nuclear accident externality as a trustworthy sustainability indicator furthermore it is our contention that the externe project could benefit greatly in terms of gaining public trust from employing highly visible procedures of extended peer review such as the pedigree assessment applied to our specific case of the external costs of a potential large scale nuclear accident

the need for improved financial reporting of a developing country energy utility abstract some consideration has been given to regulatory and institutional reforms to facilitate sustainable development in electricity usage in papua new guinea but little attention has been paid to bringing about full compliance of financial reporting expectations of the country s main energy utility examining documentary evidence of the audit reports of the auditor general s office of papua new guinea this study considers the financial reporting compliance of png power for the period 2007 2013 and the means by which compliant reporting may be improved the results of the study reveal that the financial statements of png power are late and receive disclaimers of opinion from the auditor general s office which suggest that png power s stakeholders are not receiving accurate and reliable financial information to make informed decisions about sustainable development of electricity usage and planning in papua new guinea the study reveals that it would take little resources to improve png power s reporting which in turn could enhance national energy policy decision making and energy utility accountability

on the duality between prior beliefs and trading demands in an abstract model with asymmetric information we show that there is a duality relationship between the prior beliefs and trading demands of bets for any given individual then we aggregate all the agents to obtain a second duality relationship between common prior beliefs and trading possibilities we easily derive from these relationships the no trade theorem and its converse general efficiency results can be obtained moreover our framework is sufficiently general to cover special cases proved previously for example econometrica 62 1994 1327 discussion paper 83 center for rationality and interactive decision theory the hebrew university of jerusalem 1995 j econom theory 91 2000 127 gameseconom behav 24 1998 172 yet our argumentsare both simple and intuitive r 2003 published by elsevier science usa

foreign direct investment in the uk evidence from a disaggregated panel of the uk food sector most empirical studies of foreign direct investment fdi typically use either a cross sectional capturing ownership specific and industry determinants or time series capturing the determinants of fdi over time approach panel data techniques however have the advantage of combining both aspects of the data using disaggregated panel data for the uk food sector a leading recipient of fdi in the uk the results in this paper highlight the predominance of ownership specific and industry characteristics in determining the presence of foreign owned firms in this sector while macro economic factors have a more marginal effect

a critical review of china s rapidly developing renewable energy and energy efficiency policies renewable energy and energy efficiency reee policies have far reaching implications for energy security climate change economic competitiveness pollution and human livelihood for these reasons reee has become a national priority for the chinese government particularly since 2005 this paper aims to critically review china s reee policies in six sectors electricity industry transportation buildings and local government in addition to examining the progress china has made in the development and implementation of reee policies this review also identifies limitations and room for improvement finally five policy recommendations are presented

access to electricity in small island developing states of the pacific issues and challenges abstract energy poverty is widespread in small island developing states sids of the pacific it is estimated that 70 percent of pacific islander households do not have access to electricity which is equivalent to access rates in sub saharan africa and slightly below the average for low income countries pacific sids face unique challenges in expanding access to electricity given that their populations are spread across tens of thousands of islands governments and development partners in pacific sids continue to prioritise development of electricity grids as is evident in ongoing subsidisation of grid based power consumption and the establishment of ambitious grid based renewable energy targets this paper argues that traditional approaches to rural electrification which prioritise grid extension are not suited to the pacific islands region increased funding should be directed by both governments and development partners towards rural electrification especially in off grid areas where isolated systems are more appropriate institutional reform is also important regulatory reform is needed for power utilities to extend electricity grids into rural areas institutional arrangements that facilitate the sustainable operation and maintenance of off grid systems also need to be established past donor and government funded off grid rural electrification projects have rarely been sustainable alternative approaches involving payment of output based subsidies to energy service companies are worth exploring although will only succeed where sound regulatory arrangements are in place

economic and socio economic assessment methods for ocean renewable energy public and private perspectives this paper provides a comprehensive review of the current state of the art of the economics and socio economics of ocean renewable energy ore the many ways in which the viability and impacts of an ore project are assessed and an analysis of the current weaknesses issues or inappropriateness of the metrics and methodologies used in their definition and presentation the outcomes of this paper are anticipated to benefit the ore and wider renewable sector as a whole the review revealed that for the most part the current study of economics and socio economics of ore remain separate and discrete areas of research the economic methods utilised appear to be comprehensive but are limited to project or private investor level the methods identified for socioeconomic assessment fall between traditional and now routine environmental assessment approaches and more novel holistic approaches such as ecosystem services and life cycle assessment the novel section of the paper explored the connectivity between the economics and socio economics of ore in relation to project developments and policy planning a visualisation method was created of concentric rings intersected by related axis of economic socio economic and environment and enabled the examination of the benefits arising from the connectivity between the two spheres the concept of sustainable development process and the integration of environmental assessment for ore was also explored and how it responds to differing stakeholder aspirations and interpretations the analysis revealed that there was a divergence between public and private economic and socioeconomic assessments for ore environmental assessment is primarily a public responsibility but with significant inputs from the private developer involved while economic assessments are conducted primarily by the developer and or investor at their own behest however the two spheres of economic and socio economic for ore are highly connected and synergistic and must be examined in a holistic manner

investigating geography and institutions as determinants of foreign direct investment in africa using panel data this article uses a cross country econometric approach to identify the determinants for foreign direct investment fdi in africa the contribution is 3 fold firstly we recognize that the estimation techniques used elsewhere such as ordinary least squares may be flawed we therefore use a dynamic one step generalized method of moments gmm estimator due to arellano and bond 1991 the gmm estimates identified a number of robust determinants of fdi namely government consumption inflation rate investment governance political stability accountability regulatory burden rule of law and initial literacy it is concluded that geography does not seem to have a direct influence on fdi flows to africa neither market seeking nor re exporting motives of fdi seem to dominate with different policy instruments being significant in the different specifications this does not discount the importance of good policies but probably indicates the importance of good policies made by good institutions institu

real exchange rate risk expectations and the level of direct investment four models of direct investment are analyzed assuming various relationships between foreign and domestic production the direct effect of risk adjusted expected real foreign currency appreciation is to lower foreign capital cost thus stimulating direct investment however when costs of other inputs are also affected induced productivity changes or output price changes may offset the direct effect reducing direct investment pooled estimation results for u s annual bilateral direct investment flows to five industrialized countries show significant reductions associated with expected appreciation of real foreign currency and significant increases associated with risk these results are consistent with the model where in response to risk the multinational firm reduces exports to the foreign country but offsets this somewhat by increasing foreign capital input and production

are fluctuations in energy consumption per capita transitory evidence from a panel of pacific island countries this study applies the panel stationarity test developed by carrion i silvestre et al 2005 breaking the panels an application to gdp per capita econometrics journal 8 159 175 to examine the stationarity of energy consumption per capita for a panel of 13 pacific island countries over the period 1980 2005 this test has the advantage that it allows for multiple structural breaks at unknown dates that can differ across countries and can account for all forms of cross sectional correlation between countries the conclusion from the study is that energy consumption per capita in approximately 60 of countries is stationary and that energy consumption per capita for the panel as a whole is stationary the study offers several suggestions for modelling energy consumption and policy making in the pacific islands

a qualitative factor analysis of renewable energy and sustainable energy for all se4all in the asia pacific this study assesses the factors responsible for the success and failure of renewable energy access programs in bangladesh china laos mongolia nepal sri lanka india indonesia malaysia and papua new guinea based on 441 research interviews over the course of four years site visits to 90 renewable energy facilities and focus groups with almost 800 community members in 10 countries this study develops a series of overarching qualitative factors that correlate with programs that met their targets sometimes ahead of schedule and produced measurable benefits exceeding costs the inverse of these factors is associated with programs that did not meet their targets were behind schedule and or produced measurable costs exceeding benefits it concludes by offering 10 lessons for energy analysts and development practitioners concerning appropriate technology income generation financing political leadership capacity building programmatic flexibility marketing and awareness stakeholder engagement community ownership and technical standardization

liquidity and valuation in an uncertain world abstract during the 2007 2009 financial crisis there was little or no trading in a variety of financial assets even though bid and ask prices existed for many of these assets we develop a model in which this illiquidity arises from uncertainty and we argue that this new form of illiquidity makes bid and ask prices unsuitable as metrics for establishing fair value for these assets we show how the extreme uncertainty that traders face can be characterized by incomplete preferences over portfolios and we use bewley s 2002 model of decision making under uncertainty to derive equilibrium quotes and the nonexistence of trading at these quotes we then suggest alternatives for valuing assets in illiquid markets

foreign and domestic multinational presence in the uk the determinants of multinational presence in uk manufacturing industry in 1979 are analysed it is argued that maultinational presence may result from strategic interaction as well as other firm and industry characteristics the determinants of both foreign and uk multinational presence are estimated using a dataset that enables both types of multinational to be indentified results show an important effect of both scale and concentration on multinational presence

efficient trading strategies in the presence of market frictions we provide a price characterization of efficient contingent claims that is chosen by at least a rational agent in multiperiod economies with market frictions frictions include market incompleteness transaction costs short selling and borrowing costs we characterize the inefficiency cost of a trading strategy its required investment minus the largest amount necessary to obtain the same utility level and we propose a measure of portfolio performance we show that arbitrage bounds cannot be tightened based on efficiency without restricting preferences or endowments we observe common investment strategies becoming inefficient with market frictions and others rationalized by them in this article we characterize efficient contingent claims to future consumption consumption bundles in multiperiod economies with uncertainty taking a wide range of market frictions into account 1 such as dynamic market

independent regulatory agencies and rules harmonization for the electricity sector and renewables in the mediterranean region the paper analyses the existing regulatory framework for the electricity and renewables sectors and the role of regulatory agencies in northern africa and middle east countries under the promotion by the european union using data collected through an original survey directed at regulators ministry departments and energy companies of the southern mediterranean the study is aimed at assessing the extent of agencies independence looking at three main dimensions of independence regulatory instruments available to regulators and decision making autonomy regulators organizational autonomy and regulators accountability results show that those countries having established an independent regulator have a more credible regulatory framework than those countries in which such a body does not exist in particular the analysis shows that turkey croatia and jordan have defined a regulatory framework that limits administrative expropriation and consequently creates an environment more suitable for attracting investments in the electricity and renewables sector on the institutional ground this is probably related with the harmonization of regulatory standards promoted by the european union through the neighboring policy for the jordan case and the membership perspective in the turkish and croatian cases

subjective beliefs and ex ante trade we study a definition of subjective beliefs applicable to preferences that allow for the perception of ambiguity and provide a characterization of such beliefs in terms of market behavior using this definition we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the efficiency of ex ante trade and show that these conditions follow from the fundamental welfare theorems when aggregate uncertainty is absent our results show that full insurance is efficient if and only if agents share some common subjective beliefs our results hold for a general class of convex preferences which contains many functional forms used in applications involving ambiguity and ambiguity aversion we show how our results can be articulated in the language of these functional forms confirming results existing in the literature generating new results and providing a useful tool for applications

reform despite politics the political economy of power sector reform in fiji 1996 2013 abstract attempts to reform the electricity sector in developing countries have achieved mixed results despite the implementation of similar reforms in many developed countries and concerted effort by donors to transfer reform models in many cases political obstacles have prevented full and effective implementation of donor promoted reforms this paper examines the political economy of power sector reform in fiji from 1996 to 2013 reform has been pursued with political motives in a context of clientelism policy inconsistency and reversal is explained by the political instability of ethnic based politics in fiji modest success has been achieved in recent years despite these challenges with fiji now considered a model of power sector reform for other small islands developing states sids in the pacific the experience demonstrates that reform is possible within difficult political environments but it is challenging takes time and is not guaranteed the way in which political motives have driven and shaped reform efforts also highlights the need for studies of power sector reform to direct greater attention toward political drivers behind reform

energy policy and cooperation in southeast asia the history challenges and implications of the trans asean gas pipeline tagp network this article explores the proposed multibillion dollar trans asean gas pipeline tagp network in southeast asia focusing on the interests that have promoted the tagp and why based on extensive field research textual analysis of government reports and more than 100 research interviews at government institutions multilateral development banks universities consulting firms energy companies and nongovernmental organizations this article assesses the challenges facing the tagp in terms of promotion implementation and operation it explores the genesis of the tagp project and the drivers pushing southeast asian investment in natural gas with a special emphasis on the development needs of the region it also investigates the numerous technical economic legal political social and environmental impediments to the tagp project the article concludes that the rhetoric of regional energy cooperation touted by the association of southeast asian nations asean does not match its actual practice and that in many cases discussions of regionalism and energy security are intended to obscure opportunistic thinking within individual countries

the diagnosis of an electricity crisis and alternative energy development in pakistan abstract the electricity sector in pakistan is currently facing the formidable challenges of an insufficient installed capacity a suboptimal infrastructure circular debt and revenue shortage all of these problems hamper socioeconomic activities this paper diagnoses the overall condition of the electricity sector as well as the potential and recent progress in the implementation of alternative energy projects in the context of the targets set in the national energy security plan nesp the assessment reveals the unsatisfactory overall progress of the implementation of the nesp in general and alternative energy in particular we assess that if the short term measures contained in the nesp have been adequately executed were enough to bridge the existing electricity supply demand gap and the country might not be facing an ongoing electricity crisis further we investigated the specific alternative energy policy issues that hinder this sector s development in pakistan we conclude that fuel diversification by means of the maximum utilisation of alternative energy resources would help in solving the crisis and would also furnish the long term energy needs of the country finally we recommend a comprehensive strategy for revamping the electricity sector and developing the alternative energy resources needed to tackle the ongoing electricity crisis in pakistan

the framing of unconventional natural gas resources in the foreign energy policy discourse of the russian federation the advent of unconventional resources of natural gas has altered the order on global as well as continental gas markets with rising liquidity the position of established dominant suppliers is eroding we focus on the initial response of russia the leading supplier of natural gas to europe to the new situation building the research on unit level constructivism and discourse analysis we use frame analysis to reveal what image of unconventional resources was constructed in russian foreign energy policy discourse fepd in the period between 2009 and 2011 when the unconventional revolution did not yet have any sharp contours we conclude that in russian fepd the unconventionals are considered as a distinctive and inferior source of energy compared to conventional natural gas emphasis is put on their economic irrationality and environmental hazards the bottom line of the discourse is the idea that there is a choice between conventional and unconventional sources with this choice being framed as one between good and bad or right and wrong

reserve reporting in the united states coal industry united states energy policymaking can be better supported with accurate and consistent data on coal reserves both in the public and private sectors in particular reserve data for coal and other energy resources should be directly comparable so that decision makers can easily understand the relationship among available resources long term policy and investment choices regarding energy security the environment and resource allocation depend on accurate information but existing and easily available data on the magnitude of geologically environmentally economically socially and legally accessible coal reserves are of insufficient quality to guide such decisions even still these data are often presented for use in policy and energy analysis currently coal reserves are overstated relative to competitor energy resource reserves in part because coal reporting standards have historically been more liberal and vague than standards for resources like natural gas overstating the marketable coal resource could lead to inefficient allocation of limited capital investment that can be difficult to reverse us government bodies like the energy information administration united states geological survey securities and exchange commission and bureau of land management can help correct deficiencies by clarifying standards and collecting data that are relevant for decision makers such as energy based reserve information