smart grid investments regulation and organization worldwide but in particular in north america and europe the grid infrastructure managers are facing demands for reinvestments in new assets with higher on grid and off grid functionality in order to promote energy efficiency and low carbon conversion of the energy sector to meet societal policy objectives in terms of carbon dioxide emissions both the composition of the generators in favor of distributed energy resources der and the load promoting integration with downstream energy useage will change in this paper we chararcterize some of the effects of new asset investments policy on the network tasks assets and costs and contrast this with the assumptions implicit or explicit in current economic network regulation the resulting challenge is identified as the change in the direction of higher asymmetry of information and higher capital intensity combined with ambiguities in terms of task separation to provide guidance we present a model of investment provision under regulation between a distribution system operator dso and a potential investor generation the results from the model confirm the hypothesis that network regulation should find a focal point should integrate externalities in the performance assessment and should avoid wide delegation of contracting billing for smart grid investments

values in the smart grid the co evolving political economy of smart distribution investing in smart grid infrastructure is a key enabler for the transition to low carbon energy systems recent work has characterised the costs and benefits of individual smart investments the political economy of the uk electricity system however has co evolved such that there is a mismatch between where benefits accrue and where costs are incurred leading to a problem of value capture and redeployment further some benefits of smart grids are less easy to price directly and can be classified as public goods such as energy security and decarbonisation this paper builds on systemic treatments of energy system transitions to characterise the co evolution of value capture and structural incentives in the electricity distribution system drawing on semi structured interviews and focus groups undertaken with smart grid stakeholders in the uk this leads to an identification of municipal scale values that may be important for business models for the delivery of smart infrastructure municipalities may thus pursue specific economic opportunities through smart grid investment this supports recent practical interest in an expanded role for municipalities as partners and investors in smart grid infrastructures 2014 the authors published by elsevier ltd this is an open access article under the cc by license

a coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy this paper proposes a coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy based on the coevolution of ecosystems technologies institutions business strategies and user practices within a multi level micro meso macro perspective this builds on and develops previous coevolutionary analyses of long term technological and industrial change and recent renewed interest within ecological economics on coevolutionary approaches previous work has analysed how the coevolution of technologies and institutions has led to the lock in of current high carbon energy systems and how the coevolution of physical and social technologies and business strategies has brought significant material and welfare benefits to the minority of the world s population living in industrialised countries the coevolutionary framework proposed here may be used to undertake 1 detailed empirical analyses at a micro meso level of the challenges relating to the innovation and adoption of particularly low carbon technologies 2 as a framework for analysing the multi level interaction of social and technological elements within potential transition pathways to a low carbon energy system 3 to assess the implications for economic growth and prosperity of a transition to a low carbon economy and 4 to assist in the development of more formal multi level evolutionary economic models

interests and the wall of ideas germany s eastern trade policy after unification since 1989 germany s domestic and international environments have experienced significant changes thus it is reasonable to expect that the country s long standing foreign and domestic policies will adapt to novel challenges and pressures this article examines eastern trade policy an area in which one might expect to observe a greater degree of government intervention postunification in fact no such adaptation has taken place this empirical puzzle lends itself to analysis based on the interaction of interests institutions and ideas unification altered the prevailing constellation of material economic interests in germany as well as parliamentary electoral institutions however the events of 1989 to 1990 left untouched dominant ideas that shaped the west german political economy as well as crucial sets of domestic and international institutions linked to those ideas the authors conclude that the absence of an interventionist trade response stems from continuity at the nexus of ideas and insti

did china diversify its foreign reserves summary this paper takes a novel approach to detect the latent currency portfolio of chinese foreign exchange reserves and the underlying portfolio management strategies during 2000 and 2007 based on a portfolio accounting identity and the budget constraint of the chinese central bank s holding of foreign assets the monthly growth rate of reserves can be decomposed into monthly rate of return valuation effects of exchange rates and monthly net purchase rate the valuation effect reveals the value share of each currency bayesian inference is adopted to estimate the state space model with a mixture of gaussian distributions the results show that china significantly and dramatically diversified its reserves out of the us dollar in 2002 both the euro s value and quantity shares increased from 5 to more than 20 by the end of 2007 china held about at most 67 3 of its reserves in the us dollar 22 in the euro 2 5 in the japanese yen 4 7 in the australian dollar and 3 5 in the british pound the average annual rate of return was about 3 copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

the empire strikes back the evolution of the eastern bloc from a soviet asset to a soviet liability the structure of the soviet bloc would appear to be ideal for the maximization of soviet domestic and foreign interests the actual ledger of soviet gains and losses from control over eastern europe however reveals a different picture over the postwar period eastern european contributions to soviet national security economic growth and domestic stability have declined this decline in the value of empire to the soviets is a function of three factors the first is growing regime society tensions in eastern europe as a result of east europe s dependence on the soviet union and the derivative structures of its stalinist political economies the second is the soviet role within the bloc as a political and economic monopoly and monopsony and the third is the unexpected costs both to the soviet union and to eastern europe that attended the bloc s reunion in the early 1970s with a global capitalist system in crisis

the developing world is poorer than we thought but no less successful in the fight against poverty a new data set on national poverty lines is combined with new price data and almost 700 household surveys to estimate absolute poverty measures for the developing world we find that 25 of the population lived in poverty in 2005 as judged by what poverty typically means in the world s poorest countries this is higher than past estimates substantial overall progress is still indicated the corresponding poverty rate was 52 in 1981 but progress was very uneven across regions the trends over time and regional profile are robust to various changes in methodology though precise counts are more sensitive

trade openness and economic growth panel data evidence from sub saharan africa this paper uses an instrumental variables approach to estimate the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in sub saharan africa instrumental variables estimates show that economic growth has a significant negative contemporaneous effect on trade openness while trade openness has a significant positive effect on economic growth a 1 percentage point increase in the ratio of trade over gdp is associated with a short run increase in growth of approximately 0 5 in a given year the cumulative long run effect on the level of gdp per capita is larger reaching about 2

the international organization of third world debt third world debt grew very rapidly in the 1970s many states faced with sharply higher costs for energy and manufactured imports borrowed aggressively in unregulated offshore capital markets but what constrains sovereign states to repay this debt to commercial banks creditors do not turn to their home states to enforce payment rather the supervision of sovereign debt is largely a function of commercial banking arrangements especially lenders syndicates and the international monetary fund s conditional lending this political structure which involves unified private sanctions has ensured that no state defaults unless it is insolvent or is willing to accept a radical rupture in its international commercial relationships when the problem is insolvency creditors routinely convene ad hoc conferences in conjunction with an imfapproved stabilization program creditors can renegotiate debt service schedules and provide new financing if necessary these arrangements are distinctive among international economic regimes because they rely on nonstate actors as the primary source of rules norms and procedures

the erosion of colonial trade linkages after independence high trade between countries with colonial ties may be explained by government policies that establish preferential access or as a consequence of networks formed through social interactions using bilateral trade data from 1948 to 2003 we examine the eect of independence on post colonial trade the severing of formal colonial relations can lead to an immediate reduction in trade as preferential access is eliminated as well as a gradual reduction corresponding to the deterioration of trading networks our results reveal that independence reduces colonial trade with its colonizer metropole the reduction cumulates over a 30 year period and the disruption is particularly severe for hostile separations we also find that overall colonial trade falls subsequent to independence but to a lesser extent than trade with the metropole

east european military expenditures in the 1970s collective good or bargaining offer in late november 1978 nicolae ceausescu general secretary of the romanian communist party returned to bucharest from a moscow meeting of the warsaw treaty organization wto in a series of speeches from 25 november through 1 december he began to denounce efforts by the soviet union to integrate more fully the armies of the wto members and to get the east european members to increase their defense expenditures ceausescu was making a dramatic and apparently successful appeal for domestic support for his resistance to soviet pressure other wto member states although less publicly have also resisted this soviet pressure romania is not the only east european state ignoring soviet calls for higher defense spending poland for example has also shown a significant decline during the 1970s in the amount of its gross national product gnp spent on defense d gnp east germany on the other hand increased its expenditures dramatically over the same decade

external ambition and economic performance realist approaches to international politics raise the possibility that external policies based on expanding military power may undermine the economic bases of that power the links between external strategy and economic performance can be classified as fiscal macroeconomic effects structural microeconomic and structural effects and protectionist effects on foreign economic policy the case of prewar japan suggests that for countries at an intermediate position in the international power hierarchy and in the international division of labor the positive effects of external ambition on economic performance may dominate other cases national socialist germany contemporary developing countries and the postwar superpowers seem to confirm that international position is a principal determinant of these effects

anarchy hierarchy and the variety of international relations security relations between states vary along a continuum from anarchic alliances to hierarchic empires this continuum in turn is defined by the parties rights of residual control the state s choice between alternatives is explained in a theory of relational contracting as a function of the expected costs of opportunism which decline with relational hierarchy and governance costs which rise with relational hierarchy a comparison of early postwar relations between the united states and western europe and the soviet union and eastern europe illustrates the theory

spatially uneven development and low carbon transitions insights from urban and regional planning the ageing of existing energy system infrastructure the threat of climate change and uncertainty in the movement of energy prices have resulted in a widespread agreement on the need for a transition to a low carbon energy system yet the nature of this transition i e what when how and where and its socio economic outcomes at different scales are not well understood the interdependence of the energy sector and economic growth has been mostly studied at the national level via some general equilibrium or econometric models whilst sub national studies at community or urban levels mostly focus on the governance of transitions hence we suggest that a regional perspective to energy policy and research promises to integrate these two approaches by providing a more robust and comprehensive understanding of the implications of low carbon transitions as well as contributing to the development of more effective policies by building on recent ideas on geographical aspects of energy transitions this article offers insights on the changing relationship between the spatial organisation of economic activities and energy systems and identifies tools and methods from urban and regional planning to help with the delivery of efficient and equitable policy outcomes

trends in rainfall and economic growth in africa a neglected cause of the african growth tragedy abstract we examine the role of rainfall trends in poor growth performance of sub saharan african nations relative to other developing countries using a new cross country panel climatic data set in an empirical economic growth framework our results show that rainfall has been a significant determinant of poor economic growth for african nations but not for other countries depending on the benchmark measure of potential rainfall we estimate that the direct impact under the scenario of no decline in rainfall would have resulted in a reduction of between around 15 and 40 of today s gap in african gdp per capita relative to the rest of the developing world

business model innovation in electricity supply markets the role of complex value in the united kingdom this research investigates the new opportunities that business model innovations are creating in electricity supply markets at the sub national scale these local supply business models can offer significant benefits to the electricity system but also generate economic social and environmental values that are not well accounted for in current policy or regulation this paper uses the uk electricity supply market to investigate new business models which rely on more complex value propositions than the incumbent utility model nine archetypal local supply business models are identified and their value propositions value capture methods and barriers to market entry are analysed this analysis defines complex value as a key concept in understanding business model innovation in the energy sector the process of complex value identification poses a challenge to energy researchers commercial firms and policymakers in liberalised markets to investigate the opportunities for system efficiency and diverse outcomes that new supplier business models can offer to the electricity system

the hygienic transition from cesspools to sewer systems 1840 1930 the dynamics of regime transformation this article addresses the topic of transition and system change and proposes endogenous regime transformation as alternative transition path to technological substitution using sociological and institutional insights the dynamics of regime transformation are conceptualised two characteristics are pressure from outsider groups and adjustments in cognitions norms and formal rules enacted by regime insiders the transformation perspective is illustrated with a historical case study the hygienic transition from cesspools to integrated sewer systems in the netherlands the case study is used to make additions to the transformation perspective particularly with regard to tactical and strategic games

knowledge and competitive advantage the coevolution of firms technology and national institutions this issue of jibs offers reviews of two books that analyse the dynamic interaction between the business environments and business strategies in very different ways the institutional underpinnings for business strategies are a major research topic for comparative management aiming to explain why in different contexts firms pursue different strategies and with different implications for performance j peter murman in knowledge and competitive advantage takes a historical perspective focusing on the co evolutionary processes between national innovation systems business strategies and performance this books thus adds to the industry level longitudinal research reviewed in jibs no 4 2003 tom murtha et al s managing new industry creation and david mckendrick et al s from silicon valley to singapore

socio economic acceptability for smart grid development a comprehensive review abstract a deep transformation of the electrical grid system at the global level is expected in the near future with new economic relations between energy suppliers and consumers this is the smart grid framework which can integrate the behavior of all connected users who become prosumers to ensure a sustainable energy supply in an efficient economical and safe manner smart grid projects have a significant impact on electricity consumers through shifts in consumer behavior culture and lifestyle the aim of this paper is to explore the degree of investigation of the main socio economic features in terms of private and social costs which are relevant for smart grids development and public acceptance to this aim a literature review of 148 peer reviewed scientific journal articles on smart grids has been conducted developing an original taxonomy for the socio economic features in terms of private direct costs directly associated with the monetary costs paid by consumers and social indirect costs constituted by consumers perception privacy cyber security and regulation the importance of the analysis of social costs arising from externalities is that they may hinder the deployment of specific technologies even if these technologies appear to be useful based on private costs the results reveal that the explored literature mainly deals with private costs although an emerging literature starts to address the social costs that may hamper smart grids deployment the paper reviews new opportunities and challenges for further research bridging the gap between engineering and socio economic research areas including business organizational applications policy and security issues the resulting enrichment of interdisciplinary know how can be the basis for the sustainable development of current and future generations

transition pathways for a uk low carbon electricity future abstract achieving long term targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions such as the uk s legally binding target of reducing its emissions by 80 by 2050 will require a transition in systems for meeting and shaping energy service demands involving radical substitution to low carbon supply technologies and improvements in end use energy efficiency this paper describes the development and high level analysis of a set of transition pathways to a uk low carbon electricity system explaining key features of the core pathways developed and the distinctiveness and value of the approach the pathways use an action space concept to explore the dynamic interactions between choices made by actors which are influenced by the competing governance framings or logics that different actors pursue the paper sets out three core transition pathways market rules central co ordination and thousand flowers in which market government and civil society logics respectively dominate it summarises the key technological and institutional changes in these pathways and the roles of actors in bringing these about this leads to an identification of the key risks to the realisation of each of the pathways and of the challenges for individuals businesses social movements and policy makers in taking action to bring them about and sustain them

the co evolutionary relationship between energy service companies and the uk energy system implications for a low carbon transition abstract the energy service company esco business model is designed to reward businesses by satisfying consumers energy needs at less cost and with fewer carbon emissions via energy demand management and or sustainable supply measures in contrast the revenue of the incumbent energy utility company euco model is coupled with the sale of units of energy which are predominantly sourced from fossil fuels the latter is currently dominant in the uk this paper addresses two questions first why has the esco model traditionally been confined to niche applications second what role is the esco model likely to play in the transition to a low carbon uk energy system to answer these the paper examines the core characteristics of the esco model relative to the euco model the paper then examines how escos have co evolved with the various dimensions of the energy system i e ecosystems institutions user practices technologies and business models to provide insight into how escos might help to shape the future uk energy system we suggest that institutional and technological changes within the uk energy system could result in a more favourable selection environment for escos consequently enabling the esco model to proliferate at the expense of the euco model