engendering an inclusive low carbon energy transition in japan considering the perspectives and awareness of the energy poor abstract engendering a low carbon energy transition is necessary to limit climate change impacts and temperature rises ideally this transition would be inclusive incorporating all stakeholders however the issue of energy or fuel poverty is a major obstacle to this goal this research investigates energy poverty in japan using a subjective multidimensional energy poverty measure clarifying the linkages between energy poverty and an inclusive just transition in terms of energy system and policy awareness behavior and preferences through the analysis of an original survey we uncover that there is a marked difference between low income and energy poverty households environmental awareness and their subsequent attitude toward the low carbon energy transition currently the energy poor have a negative attitude toward the low carbon energy transition in japan causing a lack of self reported engagement which will not engender an inclusive just transition our findings suggest that if the japanese low carbon energy transition were to be inclusive a further 5 percent of households could participate in the low carbon energy transition through access to solar or renewable energy capital findings identify the need for policies targeted at the energy poor specifically promoting access to solar capital and low carbon technologies in addition to existing policies targeted at low income households

advance notice and job search the value of an early start recent studies of the effect of advance notice on jobless duration following displacement misspecify the relationship between these two variables by treating advance notice as a dummy regressor in conventional survival time models job search theory however suggests that the major impact of advance notice is not to alter the efficiency of search after job loss but rather to allow workers to begin search before job loss the authors develop a sequential regimes job search model which allows search prior to displacement for workers with advance knowledge of layoff with different search intensities before and after layoff maximum likelihood estimates of the model are then computed using a pooled data set from the 1984 and 1986 displaced worker surveys advance knowledge is found to significantly shorten jobless duration for most labor force groups using these estimates the authors simulate the effect of various levels of advance knowledge on jobless duration their results indicate that relatively modest advance notice substantially benefits many displaced workers

the effect of advance notification of plant closings on unemployment using data from the 1984 displaced worker survey the authors model the determinants of time without work following job displacement for a large sample of workers laid off because of plant shutdowns between 1979 and 1984 the major focus of the paper is on the role of advance notification in mitigating unemployment the estimating procedure accommodates right censored observations stemming from continuing or open ended spells of unemployment advance notification is found to have significantly reduced the duration of unemployment of those notified workers who did not draw unemployment insurance benefits and in particular of those who left the plant prior to termination advance notice had much less effect on the time without work of notified workers whose spell length of unemployment was long enough for them to collect unemployment insurance benefits

advance notice and postdisplacement joblessness this article investigates whether prenotification decreases postdis placement joblessness reduced form estimates indicate that lengthy written notice is associated with small increases in the probability of avoiding nonemployment but with no decline in average durations significant reductions are found however for household heads women nonwhites and in local labor markets with high unemploy ment rates a new method is developed to control for the endogeneity of voluntarily provided advance notice this procedure suggests that previous research substantially overstates the degree to which preno tification reduces nonemployment and indicates that the actual de crease is between 2 and 5 working days

lessons from the u s unemployment insurance experiments recent social experiments have evaluated two reforms of the unemployment insurance ui system reemployment bonuses and job search programs the bonus experiments show that economic incentives affect the length of ui receipt and provide weak evidence that an earlier return to work does not decrease earnings the experiments do not show the favorability of a permanent bonus program as they ignore its effect on the number of the claimants the job search experiments test several more promising reforms nearly all of the combinations of services and increased enforcement reduce ui receipt and have favorable cost benefit analyses earnings often increase though the estimates are imprecise

normal markets market imperfections and energy efficiency abstract the conventional distinction between economic and engineering approaches to energy analysis obscures key methodological issues concerning the measurement of the costs and benefits of policies to promote the adoption of energy efficient technologies the engineering approach is in fact based upon firm economic foundations the principle of lifecycle cost minimization that arises directly from the theory of rational investment thus evidence that so called market barriers impede the adoption of cost effective energy efficient technologies implies the existence of market failures as defined in the context of microeconomic theory problems of imperfect information and bounded rationality on the part of consumers for example may lead real world outcomes to deviate from the dictates of efficient resource allocation a widely held contrary view that the engineering view lacks economic justification is based on the fallacy that markets are normally efficient

a puzzling aspect of the effect of advance notice on unemployment displaced workers with generous periods of advance notice are more likely than their non notified counterparts to avoid post displacement unemployment altogether but once unemployed they tend to escape from unemployment much more slowly the authors using data from the five year retrospective 1988 and 1990 displaced worker surveys examine three potential explanations for this puzzle delaying behavior induced by the receipt of unemployment insurance nonrandom distribution of notice to workers and previous studies failure to appropriately incorporate the pre displacement search time of notified workers this analysis supports the third explanation after allowing for less intense search prior to displacement than following displacement the authors find that the pattern of escape rates for otherwise observationally equivalent workers does not differ by notification status

reducing energy demand a review of issues challenges and approaches most commentators expect improved energy efficiency and reduced energy demand to provide the dominant contribution to tackling global climate change but at the global level the correlation between increased wealth and increased energy consumption is very strong and the impact of policies to reduce energy demand is both limited and contested different academic disciplines approach energy demand reduction in different ways emphasising some mechanisms and neglecting others being more or less optimistic about the potential for reducing energy demand and providing insights that are more or less useful for policymakers this article provides an overview of the main issues and challenges associated with energy demand reduction summarises how this challenge is framed by key academic disciplines indicates how these can provide complementary insights for policymakers and argues that a sociotechnical perspective can provide a deeper understanding of the nature of this challenge and the processes through which it can be achieved the article integrates ideas from the natural sciences economics psychology innovation studies and sociology but does not give equal weight to each it argues that reducing energy demand will prove more difficult than is commonly assumed and current approaches will be insufficient to deliver the transformation required

reshaping markets for the benefit of energy saving abstract energy saving is an important option for preventing emission of greenhouse gases furthermore when energy saving is reducing the spatial and temporal density of energy consumption it supports a rising market share of renewable energy sources last but not the least energy saving plays a role in reducing the vulnerability for import dependency and supply disruptions despite these virtues energy saving and energy efficiency being typically demand side options appear to be harder to sell than the other options which focus on the supply side the currently prevailing market based approach in energy policy initially brought setbacks for energy saving the introductory article and the selected contributions to this special issue intend to show that markets can and should be shaped to the benefit of the uptake and of the potential of energy saving to this end all elements of the energy efficiency delivery context should be addressed in energy saving policies learning measurement and observation are important tools in this reshaping process all contributions are based on papers of the european council for an energy efficient economy 2003 summer study

non stationarity in garch models a bayesian analysis textabstractfirst the non stationarity properties of the conditional variances in the garch 1 1 model are analysed using the concept of infinite persistence of shocks given a time sequence of probabilities for increasing decreasing conditional variances a theoretical formula for quasi strict non stationarity is defined the resulting conditions for the garch 1 1 model are shown to differ from the weak stationarity conditions mainly used in the literature bayesian statistical analysis using monte carlo integration is applied to analyse both stationarity concepts for the conditional variances of the us 3 month treasury bill rate interest rates are known for their weakly non stationary conditional variances but using a quasi strict stationarity measure it is shown that the conditional variances are likely to be stationary second the level of the treasury bill rate is analysed for non stationarity using bayesian unit root methods the disturbances of the garch model for the treasury bill rate are t distributed it is shown that the unit root parameter is negatively correlated with the degrees of freedom parameter imposing normally distributed disturbances leads therefore to underestimation of the non stationarity in the level of the treasury bill rate

how do unemployment insurance and recall expectations affect on the job search among workers who receive advance notice of layoff this paper explores how advance notice of layoffs recall rehiring expectations and unemployment insurance ui benefits affected on the job search among a random sample of arizona ui recipients in 1975 76 the analysis which includes extensive controls for the characteristics of workers and their jobs indicates that pre unemployment search increased with length of notice and decreased with expected recall also among workers not expecting recall pre unemployment search decreased with the level of ui benefits available after layoff the authors argue that improved experience rating would encourage firms to give employees advance notice when layoffs are imminent and re employment bonuses for workers with zero or short unemployment spells would encourage early search

consumer supplier government triangular relations rethinking the uk policy path for carbon emissions reduction from the uk residential sector abstract the uk residential household sector is responsible for approximately 30 of total carbon dioxide emissions and is often seen as the most promising in terms of early reductions as most direct household emissions come from only two fuel sources this paper critically examines how existing emissions reduction policies for the sector shape and are shaped by relations between the three main groups of actor in this policy domain central government gas and electricity suppliers and energy users focusing on relations between three dyads government suppliers suppliers consumers and consumers government enables us to examine aspects of demand reduction that have often been overlooked to date by relations we refer to services power relationships and flows of capital and information as well as less easily defined elements such as loyalty trust and accountability the paper argues that the chosen government policy path to deliver demand reduction which heavily emphasises the suppliers role suffers from principal agent problems fails to align consumers and supplier interests toward emissions reduction and does not yet portray a lower carbon future in positive terms it suggests that more attention should be paid to government consumer relations recognising that energy consumers are also citizens

preunemployment job search and advance job loss notice preunemployment search is the fundamental labor market process generating beneficial effects of advance notice yet theory indicates that workers receiving notice may not search whereas others may search even without advance notice our weighted results indicate that over one third of all nonnotified workers still search and over 40 of workers receiving notice do not respond by searching further preunemployment search determinants differ for notified nonnotified workers and men women for notified men search is strongly increased by longer notice and strongly decreased by higher unemployment insurance benefits but neither factor affects the employed search decisions of notified women

linking consumer energy efficiency with security of supply most modern energy policies seek to achieve systematic ongoing incremental increases in consumer energy efficiency since this contributes to improved security of supply favourable environmental outcomes and increased economic efficiency yet realised levels of efficiency are typically well below the most cost effective equilibrium due to variety of behavioural and organisational barriers which are often linked to information constraints in addition efficient users are normally unrewarded for collective benefits to system security and to the environment thus reducing the incentives for energy consumers to invest in efficiency improvements this paper examines the dichotomies and symmetries between supply and demand side solutions to energy security concerns and reviews opportunities to overcome barriers to improved consumer efficiency a security market is identified as a mechanism to promote both demand and supply side investments that support electricity system security such a market would assist in setting the optimal quantity of reserves while achieving an efficient balance between supply and demand side initiatives it would also help to smooth overall investment throughout the energy system by encouraging incremental approaches such as distributed generation and demand side alternatives where they provide competitive value although the discussion is applicable to energy systems in general it focuses primarily on electricity in new zealand

how much market do market based instruments create an analysis for the case of white certificates in the context of economic instruments for more energy efficiency and climate protection tradable certificates have been investigated for renewable energy and for a number of emissions in contrast tradable energy efficiency or white certificates have only lately been considered as a market based tool to foster energy efficiency as compared to standards and labelling for example theoretically there is little doubt about the advantages in practice however some fundamental problems arise critical issues are the design of an efficient artificial market for white certificates its compatibility with the european emissions trading system the identification of a suitable target group for an energy efficiency obligation and the measurement of energy savings as compared to a reference use of energy we use the theoretical framework of transaction cost economics to elaborate these issues we conclude that transaction costs and investment specificity will restrict markets for white certificates in practise long term contracts rather than spot trade will be the prevailing form of governance for energy efficiency investments

the rationale for energy efficiency policy assessing the recognition of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency retrofit policy the rationale for energy efficiency policy can be framed in terms of a variety of different benefits this paper considers how different benefits have been used within the overall rationale for energy efficient retrofit policy in different contexts we posit that different rationales may be used for the same policy response and that the form of rationale used may affect the design delivery or the level of policy support with different rationales making it easier to account for different results considering retrofit policy in the contexts of the uk germany new zealand and ireland we characterise policy rationale in each case assessing what the key perceived benefits have been and whether they have changed over time the analysis identifies some marked differences between cases with the recognition of benefits and the ensuing policy rationale resulting from a complex mix of political social and economic influences we find that recognition of multiple benefits may not equate with multiplied policy support and instead it is more likely that different rationales will have relevance at different times for different audiences the findings highlight that alongside evidence for policy it is important to also consider how the overall rationale for policy is eventually framed

stalemate in energy markets supply extension versus demand reduction abstract a demand curve for electricity intensity of the oecd economies is discussed based on a 1998 sample the long run price elasticity of intensity is assessed at 1 17 clearly not smaller than 1 refuting the allegation that lower prices guarantee lower bills the regression shows that electricity efficiency improvement is stronger than the height of the price and so that industrial nations with a high price tax policy reveal the smaller budget shares of electricity bills in gdp high end use prices taxes are not harmful to the economies but a necessity to trigger efficiency while efficiency seems not feasible without high end use prices nations as an aggregate react on electricity budget shares that they try to keep within acceptable affordable boundaries the analysis confirms that there still exist huge unexploited efficiency potentials but once the physical limits of efficiency are attained that non energy policies must take over to limit energy consumption end use demand reduction is discussed to be also more efficient and more effective than supply extension for meeting the energy needs the final question why the better options are overridden by the worse ones brings us to the discussion of barriers where the discussion is limited to a distinction between natural and artificial barriers to energy efficiency

conceptualising housing costs the hidden face of energy poverty in poland abstract the study proposes an approach to assess a hidden aspect of energy poverty ep in poland we consider households energy under consumption driven by low energy efficiency and budgetary constraints a household is exposed to hidden energy poverty hep if it s total disposable income after deducting the expected housing cost falls under the established threshold to approximate the expected total housing expenditures the data from the eu silc dataset on dwellings parameters households attributes and regional characteristics of poland is used the results show that in 2017 the scale of exposure to hep in poland was 23 7 per cent and this phenomenon is to some extent linked to income poverty there is a clear distinction between subjective ep indicators and exposure to hep two different profiles of exposed to hep households in poland are constructed the first group lives in detached houses and is composed of households with dependent children the second group consists of elderly people inhabiting blocks of flats both groups should be targeted by separate policies

a framework to evaluate security of supply in the electricity sector security of electricity supply soes has become a major concern for regulators and policymakers over the last decade however most work focusses either more generally on energy security or on a single fuel we develop a comprehensive but flexible framework to assess the soes for a single jurisdiction taking into the account the specificities of electricity this framework has two aims i provide a snapshot of the situation to understand current weaknesses and determine what actions are required ii capture the evolution over time to evaluate progress and identify potential problems before they materialise the framework based on an extensive literature review consists of twelve dimensions that are critical for soes we develop metrics that capture the state and evolution of each dimension this framework is intended to be a management information tool for all stakeholders aimed at organising data and structuring its analysis to enable monitoring the evolution of the soes while also functioning as an early warning system by flagging potential future problems

quantifying the prevalence of fuel poverty across the european union abstract the literature and policy base for fuel poverty in the uk and ireland is well established and there is a growing body of single country studies beyond these two eu member states for example brunner et al 2012 dubois 2012 robine et al 2008 however on a european level the last analysis of fuel poverty was conducted in 2004 prior to the enlargement of the eu using survey data this paper presents an updated overview of the prevalence of european fuel poverty in the context of the accession of numerous former social states and rising fuel prices analysis reveals the phenomenon of fuel poverty is occurring across the eu with particularly high levels of fuel poverty found in eastern and southern european states it is argued that there are both eu and national policy frameworks in place that address climate change and these could be used as a starting point for countries to address fuel poverty through improved domestic energy efficiency measures this paper reflects research undertaken in 2011 supported by eaga charitable trust within the umbrella of work examining issues of poverty and social exclusion across the eu which has enabled access to the eu silc dataset

marginal costs and co benefits of energy efficiency investments the case of the swiss residential sector abstract key elements of present investment decision making regarding energy efficiency of new buildings and the refurbishment of existing buildings are the marginal costs of energy efficiency measures and incomplete knowledge of investors and architects about pricing co benefits and new technologies this paper reports on a recently completed empirical study for the swiss residential sector it empirically quantifies the marginal costs of energy efficiency investments i e additional insulation improved window systems ventilation and heating systems and architectural concepts for the private sector first results on the economic valuation of co benefits such as improved comfort of living improved indoor air quality better protection against external noise etc may amount to the same order of magnitude as the energy related benefits are given the cost benefit analysis includes newly developed technologies that show large variations in prices due to pioneer market pricing add on of learning costs and risk components of the installers based on new empirical data on the present cost situation and past techno economic progress the potential of future cost reduction was estimated applying the experience curve concept the paper shows for the first time co benefits and cost dynamics of energy efficiency investments of which decision makers in the real estate sector politics and administrations are scarcely aware

barriers within firms to energy efficient investments abstract many investments in energy efficiency fail to be made despite their apparent profitability internal hurdle rates are often set at levels higher than the cost of capital to the firm reasons for these practices include bounded rationality principal agent problems and moral hazard the policy implication is that government can simultaneously improve overall energy efficiency and increase private sector productivity by providing informational and organizational services that go beyond the traditional regulatory framework

daily exchange rate behaviour and hedging of currency risk textabstractwe construct models which enable a decision maker to analyze the implications of typical time series patterns of daily exchange rates for currency risk management our approach is bayesian where extensive use is made of markov chain monte carlo methods the effects of several model characteristics unit roots garch stochastic volatility heavy tailed disturbance densities are investigated in relation to the hedging strategies consequently we can make a distinction between statistical relevance of model specifications and the economic consequences from a risk management point of view we compute payoffs and utilities from several alternative hedge strategies the results indicate that modelling time varying features of exchange rate returns may lead to improved hedge behaviour within currency overlay management

a view from the macro side rebound backfire and khazzoom brookes abstract this paper attempts to delineate a few key insights extracted from theoretical macroeconomic considerations of the rebound issue the goal has been to reduce these thoughts to a clear set of assertions that if true would be useful points of reference in the ongoing discussion despite their non empirical nature

comparison of energy efficiency subsidies under market power abstract energy efficiency subsidies are very popular all over the world for energy conservation and emission reduction by using a game theory model this article captures the differences of two important types of subsidies fixed subsides and output subsidies some interesting conclusions are achieved and some social phenomena are rationally explained firstly increasing total subsidies increases the number of subsidized firms moreover fiercer competition produces more firms to be subsidized thus the number of subsidized firms depends on the competition in this industry secondly output subsidies achieve a higher consumer surplus and a lower producer surplus than do fixed subsidies therefore consumers like output subsidies while firms like fixed subsidies finally output subsidies achieve a more favorable environmental impact and subsidize more firms than do fixed subsidies that is the environmental effects of output subsidies dominate those of fixed subsidies in summary based on both the effects on the environment and the consumer surplus this article supports output subsidies and explains the advantages of output subsidies

what explains local policy elites preferences toward renewable energy energy efficiency policy abstract in this paper we attempt to identify individual level determinants that shape renewable energy and energy efficiency re ee policy adoption decisions utilizing the grid group cultural theory ct mixed with rational choice perspectives through an analysis of data collected from a statewide survey of 420 local policy elites in more than 50 arkansas cities in 2014 we found that cultural values particularly those of egalitarianism and individualism significantly influence re ee policy preferences with egalitarians demonstrating higher support for re ee policies and individualists demonstrating lower levels of support we further found that feasibility considerations particularly economic and land use feasibility perceptions significantly influence re ee policy preferences with higher levels of perceived feasibility being associated with higher levels of support for re ee policies however feasibility perceptions were not strong enough to overcome the effects of cultural values particularly for egalitarians and individualists in sum such feasibility considerations are present in policy elites related policy preference formation but are constrained by their cultural value predispositions we conclude by discussing various ramifications of our research findings

the worker adjustment and retraining notification act effects on notice provision the worker adjustment and retraining notification act warn of 1988 requires that covered firms provide affected employees with 60 days advance notice of plant closings and large scale layoffs the authors use data from the three most recent displaced worker surveys to compare the extent of notice under voluntary 1983 88 and mandatory 1989 91 notice regimes they find that the legislation has had at most a small impact on the provision of notice of the length stipulated under the act this non event is at least partially due to the liberal firm size and layoff thresholds for determining coverage under warn

the proof of the pudding making energy efficiency work abstract if western industrialized market economies are to realize a substantial proportion of the potential benefits of increased energy efficiency there is a need to move beyond engineering and economic estimates of efficiency potential and to consider seriously the implications of the behavioural and programme evaluation literature on energy efficiency that literature suggests that reliance upon market mechanisms alone will not permit realization of economically efficient levels of energy efficiency however if points the way toward designing energy efficiency programmes that show real promise of significantly achieving their potential in industrialized market economies

advance notice job search and postdisplacement earnings three to 5 years after job displacements workers receiving the advance notice mandated by current law earn approximately 10 more than their nonnotified counterparts this differential is not the result of firms systematically notifying persons with favorable reemployment prospects early warnings are disproportionately obtained by individuals expected to earn relatively low wages in subsequent employment it is not clear however whether prenotification has a causal effect the notification differential may occur because the advance notice is frequently provided by employers offering other kinds of adjustment assistance such as job counseling skill retraining supple mental unemployment benefits or outplacement assistance

arch models properties estimation and testing abstract the aim of this survey paper is to provide an account of some of the important developments in the autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity arch model since its inception in a seminal paper by engle 1982 this model takes account of many observed properties of asset prices and therefore various interpretations can be attributed to it we start with the basic arch models and discuss their different interpretations arch models have been generalized in different directions to accommodate more and more features of the real world we provide a comprehensive treatment of many of the extensions of the original arch model next we discuss estimation and testing for arch models and note that these models lead to some interesting and unique problems there have been numerous applications and we mention some of these as we present different models the paper includes a glossary of the acronyms for the models we describe

the german energy transition as a regime shift abstract in this paper i use the resilience framework to interpret the project of transforming the german energy system into a renewable energy sources res based system the so called energiewende as a regime shift this regime shift comprises several transformations which are currently altering the technological political and economic system structure to build my argument i first sketch how technological political and economic developments reduced the resilience of the conventional fossil nuclear energy regime and created a new res regime second i depict recent changes in german public discourse and energy policy as the shift to the res regime third i highlight the challenges involved with increasing the resilience of the res regime in particular sufficient resilience of the electricity transmission grid appears to be crucial for facilitating the transformation of the whole energy system

energy savings obligations in the uk a history of change this paper looks at energy savings obligations in the uk more specifically it discusses how the policy instrument changed over time and what the drivers of that change were the uk was the first country in europe that introduced obligations on suppliers to save energy at the customer end in 1994 since then this policy changed rapidly and is now the principal instrument to deliver energy savings in the housing stock the paper aims to answer three questions first how did the policy instrument change over time second what were the key drivers of that change third how did those pressures filter through the policy process and affect the energy savings obligations

advance notice and unemployment new evidence from the 1988 displaced worker survey this paper examines how advance notice of layoff affects the incidence and duration of unemployment following displacement the authors use the displaced worker survey for 1988 which unlike earlier surveys in the series contains information on written notice the results are mixed longer written notice may more than double the proportion of white collar workers who move directly to new employment but written notice has no such positive effects for blue collar workers regardless of its length informal unwritten notice benefits male workers either by improving their chances of avoiding unemployment white collar men or by reducing the average spell of unemployment blue collar men

energy efficiency fallacies a postscript a special issue of energy policy 28 2000 was devoted to a collection of papers edited by dr lee schipper these papers were addressed to various aspects of the debate on the role of raising energy efficiency as a contributor to meeting international obligations in the context of global warming the collection included a paper entitled energy efficiency fallacies revisited in which it was argued that economically justified measures to raise the productivity of energy increased the demand for it at the macroeconomic level 1 thus such measures had no part to play in meeting international obligations to reduce fuel consumption for environmental or other reasons it was claimed in that paper that an economic rather than an engineering definition of energy efficiency led to the conclusion that energy efficiency was simply part of general economic efficiency although the point was not pursued the following brief postscript to the paper offers a simple graphical justification for the claim and discusses the implications

inflow shortages in deregulated power markets reasons for concern in many countries hydropower constitutes a large share of the electricity producing capacity in the earlier regulated electricity markets production capacities exceeded demand due to security of supply concerns the present deregulated markets base investments upon profitability alone and security of supply issues are claimed to be less important market operators trust the pricing mechanism in competitive markets to clear then low inflow constitutes a less problem several markets both under regulated and deregulated regimes have faced serious droughts some of them have experienced problems with market clearance chile brazil california while other markets functioned well the nordic market important features to the market response are the flexibility of demand the pattern of inflow shortage the storage capacities the possibility of trade between regions with different production technologies and the market design and concentration we apply an empirical based market model to simulate the effects under two inflow shortage scenarios in an international market with combined hydro and thermal capacities and restricted transmission capacities we compare the scenarios with actual events and show that the model and the real market outcome are comparable the simulations do not reveal any problems with the functioning of the market which should calm down the anxiousness about security of supply in deregulated markets with stochastic energy supply

the impact of advance notice a comment on a study by nord and ting in their analysis of the effects of advance notification of plant closings nord and ting ilr review july 1991 claim that much can be expected of current legislation that mandates a 60 day prenotification standard because the outcomes of voluntary arrangements in an interval preceding implementation of the legislation point to substantial reductions in both joblessness and earnings losses for workers given over two months warning of their impending layoff they also suggest that many of the disparate results reported in the earlier plant closing literature reflect the inability to distinguish between formal and informal notice on the basis of the 1984 and 1986 displaced worker surveys

the energy efficiency gap what does it mean abstract as renewed attention has been given by policy makers to energy conservation issues it has frequently been asserted that an energy efficiency gap exists between actual and optimal energy use the critical questions is how to define the optimal level of energy efficiency this paper seeks to disentangle some confusing strands of argument that are frequently brought to bear on this question by identifying the major conceptual issues that determine the set of feasible answers we identify five separate and distinct notions of optimality the economists economic potential the technologists economic potential hypothetical potential the narrow social optimum and the true social optimum each of these has associated with it a corresponding definition of the energy efficiency gap our analysis demonstrates that necessary preconditions for identifying the right measure of the energy efficiency gap include understanding and disentangling market failure and non market failure explanations for the gradual diffusion of energy efficient technologies

how to deal with the rebound effect a policy oriented approach policy makers and environmental agencies have echoed concerns brought forward by academics about the need to address the rebound effect for achieving absolute energy and environmental decoupling however such concerns have generally not been translated into tangible policy action the reasons behind this inaction are not fully understood and much remains unknown about the status of the rebound effect issue on the policy agenda and policy pathways available such knowledge gaps may hamper the development of effective policies to address this issue in this paper we examine the extent to and ways in which the rebound effect is considered in policy documents and analyse thirteen specific policy pathways for rebound mitigation the effectiveness of the pathways is scrutinised and conclusions are offered to mitigate rebound effects the main policy conclusions of the paper are that an appropriate policy design and policy mix are key to avoiding undesired outcomes such as the creation of additional rebound effects and environmental trade offs from the discussion economy wide cap and trade systems as well as energy and carbon taxes when designed appropriately emerge as the most effective policies in setting a ceiling for emissions and addressing energy use across the economy

international trade and the labor market experience of displaced workers using data from the displaced workers survey and the national bureau of economic research trade and immigration dataset the author of this study finds that among manufacturing workers displaced in 1979 83 the average duration of joblessness varied directly with the rise in their industry s import share since 1972 74 this relationship appears to be due in large part to the fact that the work force in industries with rising import shares tends to have demographic characteristics associated with labor market adjustment difficulties such as higher proportions of women and blue collar workers than are found in other industries

the social return on investment in the energy efficiency of buildings in germany the german government has developed a variety of policy instruments intended to reduce national co2 emissions these instruments include a programme administered by kfw bank which aims at improving the energy efficiency of buildings it provides attractive credit conditions or subsidies to finance refurbishment measures which improve the energy efficiency of buildings significantly the refurbishment programme leads to a reduction in energy use which benefits private investors by reducing their energy bills in order to estimate whether the programme benefits society as a whole additional effects must be taken into account such as the amount of employment generated and the impact on the public budget the aim of this paper is to evaluate the social benefits of the german co2 refurbishment programme for the years 2005 2007 an extended input output model is used to estimate the effect of the refurbishment works on public revenue via taxes and social security contributions the value of avoided co2 emissions is approximated using a range of marginal damage estimates from the literature from these social benefits the programme cost is deducted the net social benefit thus computed turns out to be positive this finding suggests that the refurbishment programme is a reasonable investment of public funds

fuel poverty and energy efficiency obligations a critical assessment of the supplier obligation in the uk energy efficiency obligations or white certificates are increasingly used to reduce carbon emissions while the energy efficiency obligations were originally intended as carbon reduction and not fuel poverty policies due to recognition of the potential for regressive outcomes they often include provisions for vulnerable and low income customers intuitively reducing carbon emissions and alleviating fuel poverty seem to be two sides of the same coin there are however considerable tensions between the two when addressed through energy efficiency obligations particularly arising from the potentially regressive impacts of rising energy prices resulting from such obligations but also the complexity of targeting fuel poor households and the implications for deliverability despite those tensions the uk government decided to use energy efficiency obligations the supplier obligation as the main policy for reducing fuel poverty in light of the proposals this paper provides an analysis of the main tensions between carbon reduction and fuel poverty alleviation within energy efficiency obligations outlines the fuel poverty provisions of the british supplier obligation assesses its rules for identifying the fuel poor and provides a critical analysis of the planned policy changes based on this analysis alternative approaches to targeting fuel poverty within future supplier obligations are proposed