the effect of income on child development this study presents estimates of the effect of parental income on children s cognitive social and emotional development the effect of current income is small especially when income is treated as endogenous the effect of permanent income is substantially larger but relatively small when compared to the magnitude of recent policy induced changes in income family background characteristics play a more important role than income in determining child outcomes policies that affect family income will have little direct impact on child development unless they result in very large and permanent changes in income

asset transformation and the challenges to servitize a utility business model abstract the traditional energy utility business model is under pressure and energy services are expected to play an important role for the energy transition experts and scholars argue that utilities need to innovate their business models and transform from commodity suppliers to service providers the transition from a product oriented capital intensive business model based on tangible assets towards a service oriented expense intensive business model based on intangible assets may present great managerial and organizational challenges little research exists about such transitions for capital intensive commodity providers and particularly energy utilities where the challenges to servitize are expected to be greatest this qualitative paper explores the barriers to servitization within selected swiss and german utility companies through a series of interviews with utility managers one of them is asset transformation the shift from tangible to intangible assets as major input factor for the value proposition which is proposed as a driver for the complexity of business model transitions managers need to carefully manage those challenges and find ways to operate both new service and established utility business models aside policy makers can support the transition of utilities through more favorable regulatory frameworks for energy services and by supporting the exchange of knowledge in the industry

intergenerational economic mobility in the united states 1940 to 2000 we estimate trends in intergenerational economic mobility by matching men in the census to synthetic parents in the prior generation we find that mobility increased from 1950 to 1980 but has declined sharply since 1980 while our estimator places greater weight on location effects than the standard intergenerational coefficient the size of the bias appears to be small our preferred results suggest that earnings are regressing to the mean more slowly now than at any time since world war ii causing economic differences between families to become more persistent however current rates of positional mobility appear historically normal

public versus private investment in human capital endogenous growth and income inequality in this paper we present an overlapping generations model with heterogeneous agents in which human capital investment through formal schooling is the engine of growth we use simple functional forms for preferences technologies and income distribution to highlight the distinction between economies with public education and those with private education we find that income inequality declines more quickly under public education on the other hand private education yields greater per capita incomes unless the initial income inequality is sufficiently high we also find that societies will choose public education if a majority of agents have incomes below average

on the competitiveness of grid tied residential photovoltaic generation systems in pakistan panacea or paradox abstract pakistan is experiencing a slow uptake of grid tied residential pv generation systems gtrpvgs despite of steep fall in pv module price higher solar irradiation and enactment of net metering by the government this slow uptake is attributed to the lack of awareness of four major stakeholders namely the house hold utility financier and the policy maker this paper presents a coherent framework that addresses the concerns of the stakeholders using four country specific parameters i e the local solar irradiation pv system costs borrowing and discount rates and electricity tariffs to compute npv irr payback period and levelized cost of electricity lcoe assuming net metering we model the economic payoffs on self consumption and sale of pv electricity at varying net metering rates system sizes load to generation profiles borrowing and discount rates findings suggest economic competitiveness of pv electricity with an irr and payback averaging around 28 and 5 years respectively moreover the lcoe is also found to be significantly lower than the retail rates the findings inform the household and financier on the economic yield utility on efficient tariff setting and government on sustainable policy design finally we argue that gtrpvgs bears huge potential for pakistan suffering from energy deficit unsustainable cost transmission losses and environmental hazards

transitory consumption durability and different approaches to test the life cycle model abstract transitory consumption and durability of consumption goods cannot be separately identified using euler equations tests of the life cycle model this problem can be solved by adopting a permanent income framework to test the theory

the impact of parental income on early schooling transitions a re examination using data over three generations abstract this paper applies new semi parametric techniques to estimate the effects of parental income on the probability of being held back in elementary school in france we use information on grandparents past socioeconomic status and parents education level to separate the parental income effects from the effects of the unmeasured determinants of children s performance at school that are correlated with parental income when considering the probability of being held back in elementary school we find that the effects of parental poverty are much larger than the effects of a child s sex or age age within his her class or of the parents education level our findings suggest that policy decisions that increase income transfers to relatively poor families have a potentially very large impact on children s early performance at school

the nature and nurture of economic outcomes this paper uses data on adopted children to examine the relative importance of biology and environment in determining educational and labor market outcomes i employ three long term panel data sets which contain information on adopted children their adoptive parents and their biological parents in at least two of the three data sets the mechanism for assigning children to adoptive parents is fairly random and does not match children to adoptive parents based on health race or ability i find that adoptive parents education and income have a modest impact on child test scores but a large impact on college attendance marital status and earnings in contrast with existing work on iq scores i do not find that the influence of adoptive parents declines with child age this abstract was borrowed from another version of this item

adjustment costs durables and aggregate consumption abstract previous tests of the permanent income hypothesis pih have focused on either non durables or durables expenditures in isolation this paper studies consumer purchases of non durables and durables as the outcome of a single optimization problem it is shown that with non separability in utility the presence of adjustment costs of changing durables stocks may affect the time series properties of both components of expenditure an econometric test of the pih based on the model developed in the paper is both more efficient and less prone to bias than those in some previous studies however this test confirms earlier rejections of the pih in aggregate quarterly data

sources of lifetime inequality is lifetime inequality mainly due to differences across people established early in life or to differences in luck experienced over the working lifetime we answer this question within a model that features idiosyncratic shocks to human capital estimated directly from data as well as heterogeneity in ability to learn initial human capital and initial wealth we find that as of age 23 differences in initial conditions account for more of the variation in lifetime earnings lifetime wealth and lifetime utility than do differences in shocks received over the working lifetime jel d31 d91 j24 j31 to what degree is lifetime inequality due to differences across people established early in life as opposed to differences in luck experienced over the working lifetime among the individual differences established early in life which ones are the most important a convincing answer to these questions is of fundamental importance first and most simply an answer serves to contrast the potential importance of the myriad policies directed at modifying or at providing insurance for initial conditions e g public education against those directed at shocks over the working lifetime e g unemployment insurance second a discussion of lifetime inequality cannot go too far before discussing which specific type of initial condition is the most critical for determining how one fares in life third a useful framework for answering these questions should also be central in the analysis of a wide range of policies considered in macroeconomics public finance and labor economics we view lifetime inequality through the lens of a risky human capital model agents differ in terms of three initial conditions initial human capital learning ability and financial wealth initial human capital can be viewed as controlling the intercept of an agent s mean earnings profile whereas learning ability acts to rotate

distribution network prices and solar pv resolving rate instability and wealth transfers through demand tariffs 1 in 4 detached households in southeast queensland have installed rooftop solar pv amongst the highest take up rates in the world electricity distribution network capacity is primarily driven by periodic demand and household load generally peaks in the early evening whereas solar pv production peaks during the middle of the day and thus a mismatch exists compounding matters is the fact that the structure of the regulated two part network tariff is dominated by a flat rate variable charge in this article interval meter data at the customer switchboard circuit level confirms that solar households use only slightly less peak capacity than non solar households and that non trivial cross subsidies are rapidly emerging a tariff model demonstrates that a peak capacity based demand tariff is a more efficient cost reflective and equitable pricing structure that improves the stability of tariffs given a rate of return regulatory constraint

economic performance and policies for grid connected residential solar photovoltaic systems in brazil abstract we analyze the economic competitiveness of grid connected distributed solar photovoltaic generation through small scale rooftop installations in five brazilian state capitals the locations represent a comprehensive set of the two essential parameters for the economic viability of pv solar irradiation and local electricity tariffs levelized electricity costs lec for pv generation and net present values npv for a specific pv system are presented the analysis comprises three different interest rate scenarios reflecting different conditions for capital acquisition to finance the generators subsidized mature market and country specific risk adjusted interest in the npv analysis revenue flow is modeled by the sale of pv electricity at current residential tariffs assuming net metering using subsidized interest rates the analysis shows that solar pv electricity is already competitive in brazil while in the country specific risk adjusted rate the declining but still high capital costs of pv make it economically unfeasible at a mature market interest rate pv competitiveness is largely dependent on the residential tariff economic competitiveness in this scenario is given for locations with high residential tariffs we demonstrate the high potential of distributed generation with photovoltaic installations in brazil and show that under certain conditions grid connected pv can be economically competitive in a developing country

chaos in power pakistan s electricity crisis abstract pakistan is facing a severe electricity crisis due to a persistent and widening gap between demand and available system generating capacity the worsening of power shortages has become a major political issue reflecting the hardships for individuals and businesses it threatens to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of government and to further stress the social fabric of the country the power crisis did not emerge suddenly it is the direct result of imprudent and reckless energy policies over the last three decades these policies have impeded the development of cheap and abundant domestic energy sources they have also resulted in very inefficient fuel mix choices compromising energy and economic security pakistan s energy bankruptcy is ultimately due to massive institutional and governance failure this paper analyzes the problems confronting pakistan s electricity sector and identifies the key elements of a potential policy response to address the country s severe power crisis

consumer durables and the real interest rate one important channel through which real interest rates affect aggregate demand is consumer expenditure on durable goods this paper examines empirically the link between interest rates and consumer durables solving for the decision rule relating income and interest rates to consumer demand is an intractable task this paper avoids this problem by examining the first order conditions necessary for maximization by the representative consumer structural parameters of there presentative utility function are thus recovered the estimated model suggests that expenditure on consumer durables is far more sensitive to changes in the interest rate than is expenditure on nondurables and services this abstract was borrowed from another version of this item

intergenerational income mobility in the united states social scientists and policy analysts have long expressed concern about the extent of intergenerational income mobility in the united states but remarkably little empirical evidence is available the few existing estimates of the intergenerational correlation in income have been biased downward by measurement error unrepresentative samples or both new estimates based on intergenerational data from the panel study of income dynamics imply that the intergenerational correlation in long run income is at least 0 4 indicating dramatically less mobility than suggested by earlier research copyright 1992 by american economic association

squaring the sunny circle on balancing distributive justice of power grid costs and incentives for solar prosumers abstract solar prosumers are about to revolutionize the power sector utilities are challenged in recovering the costs of distribution grids as parts of their revenue basis decreases through self consumption adjusting the grid tariff sets off a reinforcing feedback loop that increases the attractiveness of solar investments but also leads to a distribution effect between solar prosumers and conventional consumers the question is how to recover distribution grid costs equitable without hampering the diffusion of solar power can the two criteria be fulfilled at the same time or is do we aim for squaring a circle to address this question i present a system dynamics simulation model designed to understand the interactions and assess these competing goals the occurring distribution effect under the volumetric grid tariff with net purchase and sale appears to be rather limited simulation experiments reveal that grid tariff designs strongly influence investments for solar power a capacity tariff can reduce deviations from the cost causation principle of solar prosumers and incentivizes investments in decentralized storage solutions to reduce peak demand nevertheless also the capacity tariff causes a distribution effect

child care choices and children s cognitive achievement the case of single mothers we evaluate the effect of child care versus maternal time inputs on child cognitive development using single mothers from the nlsy79 to deal with nonrandom selection of children into child care we exploit the exogenous variation in welfare policy rules facing single mothers in particular the 1996 welfare reform and earlier state level policy changes generated substantial increases in their work child care use we construct a comprehensive set of welfare policy variables and use them as instruments to estimate child cognitive ability production functions in our baseline specification we estimate that a year of child care reduces child test scores by 2 1

why the apple doesn t fall far understanding intergenerational transmission of human capital parents with higher education levels have children with higher education levels however is this because parental education actually changes the outcomes of children suggesting an important spillover of education policies or is it merely that more able individuals who have higher education also have more able children this paper proposes to answer this question with a unique dataset from norway using the reform of the education system that was implemented in different municipalities at different times in the 1960s as an instrument for parental education we find little evidence of a causal relationship between parents education and children s education despite significant ols relationships we find 2sls estimates that are consistently lower than the ols estimates with the only statistically significant effect being a positive relationship between mother s education and son s education these findings suggest that the high correlations between parents and children s education are due primarily to family characteristics and inherited ability and not education spillovers

does parents money matter abstract this paper asks whether parents income per se has a positive impact on children s abilities previous research has established that income is positively correlated across generations this does not prove that parents money matters however since income is presumably correlated with ability this paper estimates the impact of parents income by focusing on income variation due to factors union industry and job loss that arguably represent luck i find that changes in parents income due to luck have a negligible impact on children s human capital for most families although parents money does matter for families whose father has low education

is schooling mostly in the genes nature nurture decomposition using data on relatives we modify r a fisher s model by incorporating measures of the environment that may be correlated across kin groups we estimate a model of schooling attainment using data on eight kin groups and find a large contribution of genetic endowments to the variance in schooling though certain aspects of the environment matter

intergenerational persistence of earnings the role of early and college education recent empirical evidence from the united states indicates a high degree of persistence in earnings across generations designing effective public policies to increase social mobility requires identifying and measuring the major sources of persistence and inequality in earnings we provide a quantitative model of intergenerational human capital transmission that focuses on three sources innate ability early education and college education we find that approximately one half of the intergenerational correlation in earnings is accounted for by parental investment in education in particular early education we show that these results have important implications for education policy

solar energy markets economics and policies abstract solar energy has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years due to both technological improvements resulting in cost reductions and government policies supportive of renewable energy development and utilization this study analyzes the technical economic and policy aspects of solar energy development and deployment while the cost of solar energy has declined rapidly in the recent past it still remains much higher than the cost of conventional energy technologies like other renewable energy technologies solar energy benefits from fiscal and regulatory incentives including tax credits and exemptions feed in tariff preferential interest rates renewable portfolio standards and voluntary green power programs in many countries the emerging carbon credit markets are expected to provide additional incentives to solar energy deployment however the scale of incentives provided by the existing carbon market instruments such as the clean development mechanism of the kyoto protocol is limited despite the huge technical potential the development and large scale deployment of solar energy technologies world wide still has to overcome a number of technical financial regulatory and institutional barriers the continuation of policy supports might be necessary for several decades to maintain and enhance the growth of solar energy in both developed and developing countries

the doping effect of italian feed in tariffs on the pv market abstract in less than six years italy has become one of the leading markets for pv power plants and one of the countries in the world with the largest number of installations and installed peak power such a quick and large growth is due to a series of feed in tariff schemes that have been uncapped until 2012 as a matter of fact any size or any number of pv power plants could be installed during a period of three years since the feed in tariffs are not paid by national taxes but are charged on the electricity bills italian energy users are now due to pay each year a surcharge of 9 billion euros on their energy bills this paper aims at discussing this development by highlighting the benefits but also some significant drawbacks that the application of uncontrolled feed in tariffs has produced

non cognitive child outcomes and universal high quality child care exploiting a rich panel data child survey merged with administrative records along with a pseudo experiment generating variation in the take up of pre school across municipalities we provide evidence of the effects on non cognitive child outcomes of participating in large scale publicly provided universal pre school programs and family day care vis a vis home care we find that compared to home care being enrolled in pre school at age three does not lead to significant differences in child outcomes at age seven no matter the gender or mother s level of education family day care on the other hand seems to significantly deteriorate outcomes for boys whose mothers have a lower level of education finally increasing hours in family day care from 30 40 hours per week to 40 50 hours per week and hours in pre school from 20 30 hours per week to 30 40 hours per week leads to significantly poorer child outcomes

parental childcare and children s educational attainment evidence from china this paper examines the determinants of child educational attainment in addition to those examined in previous studies it is found that maternal childcare is another important determinant of child educational attainment the results are robust after controlling for endogeneity the iv estimates show that once childcare time is controlled for child health does not have an effect on school enrolment age this finding suggests that omitting the childcare time may have biased the estimated effect of child health on school enrolment in previous studies

inter generational effect of parental time and its policy implications abstract motivated by the empirical fact that parents with more human capital spend more time teaching and taking care of their children we develop and estimate a theoretical model in which altruistic parents pass their human capital on in two ways goods investment and time investment based on the estimated model we quantitatively assess how the two types of investment affect wage inequality and inter generational mobility using the model to study the impacts of a public policy that taxes income to finance public schooling we find significantly different policy effects in our model than in a model where time investment does not respond endogenously to the policy

surprises in the consumption function the life cycle hypothesis has been the dominant theoretical basis for empirical work on the aggregate consumption function for about a quarter of a century under it real consumption is proportional to real life cycle wealth where the factor of proportionality depends on real interest rate expectations and the demographic structure of the population life cycle wealth is the sum of financial and human wealth however because the latter is the present real value of the stream of labour and transfer income expected over the life cycle it is not directly observable this fact has led to a great variety of proxying devices in empirical applications and in consequence much looseness in the interpretation of very different models as being all consistent with life cycle theory indeed one can argue that this has protected the hypothesis from being seriously tested and perhaps rejected an insight associated with friedman 1957 is that the view taken by consumers of life cycle income does not alter by much from period to period since there is greater persistence in life cycle income than in current income this also explains the greater persistence of consumption than of current income intuitively this would suggest that lagged consumption being related to last period s perception of life cycle income which in turn is not much different from this period s perception should have a major role in predicting current consumption this intuition was formalised by hall 1978 using ideas familiar from the study of stock market prices and the term structure of interest rates hall showed that if the real rate of interest is constant and given a number of other assumptions including no transitory element in consumption then the life cycle hypothesis implies that

consumption of non durables and durables an empirical note abstract the empirical analysis of consumption in four european countries and the u s a shows different autocorrelation patterns for non durables and durables which do not however correspond to the differences implied by the life cycle permanent income model as formulated by hall and mankiw

changes in the wage structure family income and children s education abstract we exploit the changes in the distribution of family income to estimate the effect of parental resources on college education our strategy exploits the fact that families at the bottom of the income distribution were much poorer in the 1990s than they were in the 1970s while the opposite is true for families in the top quartile of the distribution our estimates suggest large effects of family income on enrollments for example we find that a 10 percent increase in family income is associated with a 1 4 percent increase in the probability of attending a four year college

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