energy market liberalization and renewable energy policies in oecd countries abstract this paper investigates the effect of energy liberalization compared to other drivers on policies that support renewable energy in a long panel of oecd countries we estimate this effect by accounting for the endogeneity of liberalization related to joint decisions within a country s energy strategy using regulation in other industries as instruments we find that energy liberalization increases public support for renewable energy the effect of liberalization is the second largest after the effect of per capita income and is mostly driven by reductions in entry barriers while the effect of privatization is unclear this finding suggests that a reduction in the monopolistic power of state owned utilities has a positive effect on renewable energy policies when various types of actors are ensured access to the grid instead of it being provided to only a few large private firms

increasing consumer participation rates for green pricing programs a choice experiment for south korea abstract this study examines the factors that can increase consumer participation rates in green pricing programs by conducting a choice experiment in south korea estimation results were obtained from a conditional logit conditional logit with interaction terms random parameter logit random parameter logit with correlation and individual level coefficient models a novelty of our analysis was the consideration of monetary and non monetary incentives as factors influencing consumer uptake in green pricing programs the estimation results show that increased consumer participation in green pricing programs is positively linked with green energy sources that produce fewer externalities more jobs and monetary incentives such as tax credits or green mileage however there is an inverted u shaped relationship between participation rates and the share of green electricity in total electricity supply mean willingness to pay for fuel cells is highest followed by solar and wind energy estimation from the random parameter logit with allowing for correlations among random coefficients of attributes reveals that consumers are divided into green pro environment consumers and blue growth oriented consumers green consumers prefer a higher green electricity share solar or fuel cell to wind a greater proximity of green power plants to their homes and green mileage or green parks to tax credits in comparison blue consumers favor a lower green electricity share green power plants that are far from their homes and monetary incentives rather than non monetary incentives the results of this study suggest guidelines for the design of successful green pricing programs green pricing programs that are designed with information on types of green energy sources consider the distance of power plants to consumers residences focus on the share of green electricity and incorporate monetary incentives are likely to have increased consumer participation rates

public preferences for investments in renewable energy production and energy efficiency abstract in this paper we investigate the choices citizens make when asked to express willingness to support a proposed energy policy and are then compelled to allocate the program funds to either renewable energy or energy efficiency in a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of maine usa we find that citizens have preferences for specific types of renewable energy but these preferences do not yield significantly different allocation of investment funds between renewable energy and energy efficiency we find that preferences are generally consistent regardless of presentation of options i e limited ordering effects our results also indicate that personal characteristics that are understudied in the energy literature including promotion prevention focus and social fiscal leanings influence both willingness to support energy policies and also their allocation of fund choices but in different ways this suggests the importance of including multiple options in energy policy proposals and that targeted messages regarding the components of such policies is key for optimal communication

the investor specific price of renewable energy project risk a choice experiment with incumbent utilities and institutional investors abstract renewable energy investments in germany have recently soared trebling the output of wind and solar power generation in only ten years while incumbent utilities have lagged behind in terms of investment new entrants have significantly contributed to this growth existing literature has primarily focused on explaining the lethargy of incumbents former investments although there is a growing need to investigate recent investment drivers to secure the necessary power plant capacity at a moderate cost from incumbents and new entrants alike to close this gap a choice experiment involving 1 659 investment choices by 52 european professional investors was conducted in significant contrast to the case with altruistic investors this survey underlines the importance of using financial incentives to attract professional investors given full exposure to electricity price risk incumbent utilities would facilitate projects at a 3 04 risk premium whereas institutional investors demand 6 61 generally incumbent utilities and institutional investors are equally attracted by low risk projects however when risk increases institutional investors are more hesitant to become involved while incumbent utilities confidently navigate these higher risk projects

environmental pricing of externalities from different sources of electricity generation in chile abstract the rapid increase in electricity demand in chile means a choice must be made between major investments in renewable or non renewable sources for additional production current projects to develop large dams for hydropower in chilean patagonia impose an environmental price by damaging the natural environment on the other hand the increased use of fossil fuels entails an environmental price in terms of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change this paper studies the debate on future electricity supply in chile by investigating the preferences of households for a variety of different sources of electricity generation such as fossil fuels large hydropower in chilean patagonia and other renewable energy sources using double bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation a novel advanced disclosure method and internal consistency test are used to elicit the willingness to pay for less environmentally damaging sources policy results suggest a strong preference for renewable energy sources with higher environmental prices imposed by consumers on electricity generated from fossil fuels than from large dams in chilean patagonia policy results further suggest the possibility of introducing incentives for renewable energy developments that would be supported by consumers through green tariffs or environmental premiums methodological findings suggest that advanced disclosure learning overcomes the problem of internal inconsistency in sb db estimates

green electricity policies in the united states case study while there has been interest in promoting the use of renewable energy in electricity production for a number of years in the united states the market share of non hydro renewable energy sources in electricity production has remained at about 2 percent over the past decade the paper reviews the principal energy resources used for electricity production considers the changing regulatory environment for the electricity industry and describes government policies that have been used to promote green electricity in the united states with an emphasis on measures adopted by state governments factors influencing the development of green power markets are also discussed including underlying economic issues public policy measures the regulatory environment external costs and subsidies without significant increases in fossil fuel prices much more stringent environmental regulations or significant changes in electricity customer preferences green electricity markets are likely to develop slowly in the united states

heterogeneity in preferences for woody biomass energy in the us mountain west abstract millions of acres of public forest in the us mountain west are substantially degraded and are in need of restoration mechanized restoration treatments can improve forest health and reduce the likelihood of severe wildfire these treatments produce some timber and substantial amounts of forest residues that can be used to generate renewable energy and displace fossil fuels using the choice modeling method this study investigates social preferences for generation of energy with woody biomass produced by restoration treatments on public forests in the mountain west both multinomial logit and latent class logit lcl models are fit to the data and used to estimate marginal willingness to pay mwtp for increased amounts of woody biomass energy generation and important associated co benefits and costs positive and statistically significant mwtp is found for the number of homes powered with wood the extent of healthy forests avoiding increases in the number of large wildfires and local air quality significant heterogeneity was found in respondent preferences for the attributes the heterogeneity can be explained in part by sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics of respondents the lcl revealed four classes of respondents with distinct preferences revealing conflicting viewpoints toward forest management for woody biomass energy generation

environmental quality competition and eco labeling abstract a three stage game of investment environmental quality provision and price competition is developed to study the impact of green technology investment eco labeling in a duopoly model of vertical product differentiation the firms incentives to invest in green technologies depend on their relative cost structure when firms are identical with respect to fixed costs both firms will always invest but if one firm is more efficient in investing then the other firm may or may not invest depending on the level of unit cost of investment quality competition will be tighter when the low quality firm is more efficient and looser when the high quality firm is more efficient in investing socially optimal investment for both firms is always positive but lower than in the duopoly solution in the absence of environmental externalities the quality dispersion chosen by profit maximizing firms may be too high or too low while environmental externalities increase the possibility low quality dispersion that is too low within the market solution finally and importantly ecolabeling can be used as a means of reducing excessive investment and increasing environmental quality that is too low

optimal strategies for general price quality decision models of new products with learning production costs abstract the question of product quality permeates every level of business and is becoming crucial for the survival of modern manufacturing firms in automotive and high tech industries in this paper we deal with the optimal price and quality policies for the introduction of a new product on the supply side the firm wants to determine the unit price and quality level over time given that unit cost declines along a learning curve and increases if quality is made greater on the demand side dynamic demand is related to price and quality as well as to cumulative sales which represent diffusion and saturation effects we will model this problem in a general framework that includes several previous results as special cases by applying the maximum principle we will derive the optimal price and quality policies and discover the interactions between these two major strategic marketing instruments and the diffusion process several fundamental theoretical results will be established for the model under certain specified conditions higher prices do imply higher quality and under other conditions the optimal price declines over time while the product quality improves to illustrate these results the theoretical results are applied to two specific cases the first one is a simple nonseparable demand growth function in price and quality the other is a separable demand function of price and quality

eco labelling competition and environment endogenization of labelling criteria this paper suggests a modelling of the labelling procedure consistent with empirical observations that allows the endogenous calculation of labelling criteria the authority in charge of the labelling program chooses the level of labelling criteria so as to maximise the social surplus anticipating competition between firms in environmental qualities and prices while accounting simply for the informational role of labels this model allows to understand observed behavior such as firms ignorance of a label resistance support or indifference of firms to the labelling program and the decision of the authority not to set up a label

estimating willingness to pay for renewable energy in south korea using the contingent valuation method the importance of renewable energy as a response to climate change is universally acknowledged however its successful implementation requires public approval and cooperation this study aims to identify the level of renewable energy acceptance in korea by estimating korean consumers additional willingness to pay wtp using the contingent valuation cv method which is the most widely used to analyze consumer preferences the estimation results indicate that korean consumers are willing to pay an additional usd 3 21 per month for electricity generated with renewable energy however wtp in korea is low relative to other advanced nations indicating that these values could be influenced through policies aimed at improving knowledge and acceptance of renewable energy sources among korean consumers

choice experiment study on the willingness to pay to improve electricity services abstract modern forms of energy are an important vehicle towards poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries most developing countries households rely heavily on wood fuel which impacts on their health and socio economic status to ease such a dependency other modern forms of energy namely electricity need to be provided however the quality of the electricity service namely reliability is an important factor in reducing this dependency this paper discusses a choice experiment valuation study conducted among electrified rural households located in kisumu kenya in which the willingness to pay wtp to avoid power outages or blackouts was estimated a mixed logit estimation was applied to identify the various socio economic and demographic characteristics which determine preferences in reducing power outages among a household s users in conclusion several of the socio economic and demographic characteristics outlined in this paper were identified and can assist service differentiation to accommodate the diverse households preferences towards the improvement of the electricity service

a market for renewable energy credits in the indian power sector abstract electricity generation from renewable energy sources in india has been promoted through a host of fiscal policies and preferential tariff for electricity produced from the same the fiscal policies include tax incentives and purchase of electricity generated through renewable energy sources the enactment of the electricity act 2003 the act has lent further support to renewable energy by stipulating purchase of a certain percentage of the power procurement by distribution utilities from renewable energy sources the renewable portfolio obligation as well as the feed in tariff for power procurement has been specified by a number of state electricity regulatory commissions sercs for the respective state under their jurisdiction a feed in tariff determined through a cost plus approach under a rate of return framework lacks incentive for cost minimisation and does not encourage optimal utilisation of renewable energy resources in the country such regulatory provisions differ across states the prevalent practice of fixing a renewable portfolio obligation along with cost based feed in tariffs disregards economic efficiency the paper proposes nationally tradable renewable energy credits scheme for achieving the targets set by the respective sercs as renewable portfolio obligation this would reduce the cost of compliance to a renewable portfolio obligation and would encourage efficient resource utilisation and investment in appropriate technologies the paper highlights its advantages and implementation issues this paper discusses regulatory developments for promotion of renewable energy in various indian states the paper also identifies a number of issues related to regulations concerning renewable portfolio obligation

predicting consumer demand responses to carbon labels abstract providing carbon footprint labels for all food products is a daunting and potentially infeasible project knowing how consumers substitute away from high carbon goods and what they choose as substitutes is essential for understanding which goods are likely to result in meaningful reductions in carbon emissions this paper proposes a model to systematically estimate how consumers will respond to information from a carbon footprint label our model uses consumers value of their individual carbon footprint with own and cross price elasticities of demand data on carbon emissions from life cycle analysis to simulate shifts in consumer demand for 42 food products and a non food composite and subsequent changes in carbon emissions from different labeling schemes our simulation results have several findings including 1 carbon labels can reduce emissions but labeling only some items could lead to perverse impacts where consumers substitute away from labeled goods to unlabeled goods with a higher carbon footprint 2 carbon labels can inform consumers such that their previous beliefs about carbon footprints matter and 3 carbon labels on alcohol and meat would achieve the largest decreases in carbon emissions among the 42 food products studied

consumer demand for green power and energy efficiency abstract this article examines reported willingness to pay for electric utility investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency resources using the results of deliberative polls conducted by electric utilities in texas 1 age education and salary tend to affect reported willingness to pay for utility investments in these resources intensive exposure to information about energy resource issues led to an increase in the number of respondents interested in paying a modest premium to support investments in both renewable energy resources and energy efficiency however average reported premiums actually declined following the polls as very high outlier responses moved to more reasonable values following the polls these results support the contention that informed dialogue about energy alternatives will result in broader interest in providing a modest level of support for these resources

analyzing public preferences and increasing acceptability for the renewable portfolio standard in korea abstract in order to respond to the challenge of climate change similar to other countries korea has announced various policies to vitalize the development and uptake of renewable energy the renewable portfolio standard rps is the most striking example of a policy in this area this study employs a conjoint survey and bayesian mixed logit model to analyze consumer preferences for specific attributes of the rps policy it analyzes households marginal willingness to pay mwtp for the rps with specific attributes and simulates the degree of household acceptability of the policy through a scenario analysis comparison between costs and benefits of implementing the policy is also attempted by analyzing the households mwtp with the actual transition expense of rps implementation incurred by electricity supply companies the simulation results provide implications for improving rps policy implementation households consider the creation of new jobs as the most important policy attribute followed by increase in electricity prices damage to forests reduction in co 2 emissions and length of power outages moreover the korean household is willing to accept an increase of up to 1 39 in its electricity prices relative to 2012 and the median mwtp of each household for rps implementation is krw 734 99 month usd 0 67 month

social costs from proximity to hydraulic fracturing in new york state the study reports data from an economic choice experiment to determine the likely welfare impacts of hydraulic fracturing in this case using natural gas extracted by hydraulic fracturing for household electricity data were collected from an internet survey of 515 residents of new york state the welfare analysis indicated that on average households incur a welfare loss from in state hydraulic fracturing as the source of their electricity the evidence suggests that households in shale counties bear more costs from hf electricity than households out of shale counties the average welfare loss is substantive estimated at 40 46 of average household electric bills in shale counties and 16 20 of bills in counties without shale the evidence also suggests that relative proximity to hf well sites also increases cost borne by households

optimal price subsidy policy for accelerating the diffusion of innovation due to the risk inherent in dependence on foreign oil there is a social benefit in aiding the introduction of alternative energy sources into the market place the federal government has initiated a number of programs including price subsidies to help accelerate the market diffusion of new alternative energy systems we develop a model to investigate analytically the effects of a price subsidy over time on the rate of market diffusion the model considers word of mouth effects and learning curve cost declines under a set of conditions that a new technology should be expected to meet before commercialization the optimal subsidy level is shown to be nonincreasing in time the related market price is shown to be closely related to the diffusion effect if there is no such effect the price to the customer is constant if there is positive diffusion effect price increases in time while if market saturation causes demand to decline over time price decreases in time

evaluating the impact of three incentive programs on the economics of cofiring willow biomass with coal in new york state abstract plantations of fast growing willow shrubs are being promoted as a source quality biomass feedstock for bioenergy and bioproducts in new york state ny in the near term cofiring of the feedstock in combination with other woody biomass with coal in existing utility power boilers is considered to be the most promising conversion method for energy generation despite the clear technological viability and associated environmental benefits cofiring of willow has not been widely adopted the relatively high production cost of the willow feedstock which is over twice that of coal is the primary reason for this lack of interest taxes that account for some of the social costs of using coal and or incentives that appropriate value for some of the social benefits of using willow are essential for eliminating most or the entire current price differential this paper presents an integrated analysis of the economics of power generation from cofiring willow biomass feedstock with coal from the perspective of the grower aggregator and the power plant emphasis is placed on analyzing the relative impact of a green premium price a closed loop biomass tax credit and payments to growers under the proposed conservation reserve program crp harvesting exemption policy the crp payments reduced the delivered cost of willow by 36 35 to 1 90 gj 1 and 1 70 gj 1 under current and increased yield conditions respectively these prices are still high relative to coal other incentives are required to ensure commercial viability the required levels of green premium price 0 4 1 0 cents kwh 1 and biomass tax credit 0 75 2 4 cents kwh 1 vary depending on whether the incentives were being applied by themselves or in combination and whether current yield or potential increased yields were being considered in the near term cofiring willow biomass and coal can be an economically viable option for power generation in ny if the expected overall beneficial effects associated with the production and use of the biomass is accounted for

the diffusion of energy efficiency in building awareness of global warming and the extent of greenhouse gas emissions has focused more attention upon energy efficiency in building moreover the inventory of green office space in the u s has increased dramatically since the introduction of rating schemes that attest to the energy efficiency or sustainability of commercial buildings in some metropolitan areas the supply of certified office buildings has more than doubled in the last decade and there are a few metropolitan areas where green office space now accounts for more than a quarter of the total office stock in this paper we analyze the diffusion of buildings certified for energy efficiency across us property markets using a panel of 48 metropolitan areas msas observed over the last 15 years we trace the diffusion of green building practices across the country we then model the geographic patterns and dynamics of building certification relating industry composition changes in economic conditions characteristics of the local commercial property market and the presence of human capital to the crosssectional variation in energy efficient building technologies and the diffusion of those technologies over time understanding the determinants and the rate at which energyefficient building practices diffuse over space and time is important for designing policies to affect resource consumption in the built environment

determinants of pro environmental consumption the role of reference groups and routine behavior abstract this paper investigates the determinants of pro environmental consumption focusing on the role of reference groups and routine behavior we study the factors that explain whether or not people have installed residential solar energy equipment or have subscribed to green electricity programs and the factors that influence the intensity of buying organic food in addition to demographic characteristics and environmental attitudes we consider the following categories of determinants economic and cognitive factors income estimated price premium level of information on environmentally friendly goods consumption patterns of reference persons own consumption patterns in the past using a unique data set from a survey conducted in the region of hanover germany we find the following 1 economic and cognitive factors are significant covariates of all three kinds of pro environmental consumption their influence is greatest in the case of green electricity 2 consumption patterns of reference persons are significant covariates of all three kinds of pro environmental consumption their influence is greatest in the case of organic food 3 the intensity of buying organic food is greater the longer people have been consumers of these goods

a disequilibrium model with smooth regime transitions and a keynesian spillover for switzerland s labor market abstract this paper presents a disequilibrium labor market model in which aggregation over a continuum of micro markets with different demand supply ratios produces smooth macro relationships mapping aggregate demand and supply onto actual employment and regime proportions aggregate labor demand consists of a classical part derived on a putty clay assumption and a keynesian spillover from the goods market the specification of labor supply incorporates intertemporal substitution the degree of aggregate imbalances on labor and goods markets is measured by business survey data the estimated model indicates a growing mismatch between the micro structures of demand and supply of labor the short run fluctuations of employment are primarily traced back to the keynesian spillover classical determinants of labor demand are relevant as well but only in the medium term labor supply is rather inert and thus absorbs the swings of labor demand only partly

greenwash vs brownwash exaggeration and undue modesty in corporate sustainability disclosure corporate greenwashing has accelerated in recent years bringing in its wake growing skepticism about corporate green claims although a theory of the drivers and deterrents of greenwashing has begun to emerge it is static in nature and does not incorporate the full range of ways in which firms can misrepresent their environmental performance our contribution is threefold first we extend the theory of organizational information disclosure to incorporate the possibility of undue modesty about a firm s environmental social and governance practices second we hypothesize about the drivers of exaggeration and undue modesty based on which of a firm s stakeholders are salient at a given point in time to do so we place the firm within a dynamic context that has largely been missing in the prior literature third we test our hypotheses using a data set that allows us to directly compare corporate green claims against actual performance results reveal that corporate output growth deregulation and low profits under deregulation significantly affect the choice between greenwashing and brownwashing the effects of growth and profits are mitigated by external scrutiny

wind power externalities a meta analysis this study presents the first quantitative meta analysis of the non market valuation literature on the external effects associated with wind power production a data set of 60 observations drawn from 32 studies is constructed the relative economic values of different types of externalities as well as the impact of various methodological and sample characteristics on welfare estimates are examined the results indicate a significant effect of visual externalities on welfare estimates in both directions i e a positive effect of visual improvements and a negative effect of deteriorations this finding corresponds to predictions of the importance of visual impacts in the social science literature external effects of wind power on biodiversity mainly birds do not affect welfare estimates indirect externalities caused by conventional sources of electricity that can be avoided by wind power such as a the reduction of air pollution do neither have a significant impact on welfare measures methodologically we find substantial but inelastic income effects and for choice experiments clear evidence of sensitivity to scope from a policy point of view our results suggest that a policy mix combining a promotion of wind turbines with another green policy facilitates expansion of wind energy

preferences for green electricity investment and regulatory incentives abstract this paper develops a theoretical model to investigate how consumers preferences for green electricity affect the incentives of a regulated firm to provide and invest in electricity from green sources optimal incentive regulation implies a trade off between providing an optimal match of consumers with green and brown electricity and efficient incentives to invest in cost reductions we show that a single price cap on green electricity is ineffective as it yields the same expected market outcome as with an unregulated firm price caps on both green and brown electricity are akin to a market share target policy which implements efficient investment but gives an inefficient ex post consumer allocation a single price cap on brown electricity weakly dominates these schemes and gives rise to three different optimal regulation regimes as a function of the underlying technology parameters

optimal production run length and warranty period for an imperfect production system under selling price dependent on warranty period abstract this paper extends the extant literature to consider that the selling price of the product sold with warranty policy is a function of the length of the warranty period for an imperfect production system a product under a free replacement repair warranty policy is considered and the lifetime distribution of the product is assumed to be exponentially distributed we seek to maximize the total profit per item through optimal determinations of the production run length and the warranty period based on the proposed mathematical model we will derive some lemmas and the propositions to carry out an efficient solution procedure to determine the optimal warranty period and production run length the numerical examples are given to illustrate the features of the proposed maximizing profit model and to show all of the possible cases of the solution procedure

impact of single versus multiple policy options on the economic feasibility of biogas energy production swine and dairy operations in nova scotia abstract the economic feasibility of on farm biogas energy production was investigated for swine and dairy operations under nova scotia canada farming conditions using net present value npv internal rate of return irr and payback period pp economic decision criteria in addition the effects of selected environmental and green energy policy schemes on co generation of on farm biogas energy production and other co benefits from anaerobic digestion of livestock manure were investigated cost efficiencies arising from economies of scale for on farm anaerobic biogas production were found for swine farms and less so for dairy production systems without incentive schemes on farm biogas energy production was not economically feasible across the farm size ranges studied except for 600 and 800 sow operations among single policy schemes investigated green energy credit policy schemes generated the highest financial returns compared to cost share and low interest loan schemes combinations of multiple policies that included cost share and green energy credit incentive schemes generated the most improvement in financial feasibility of on farm biogas energy production for both swine and dairy operations

discounted and per unit costs of product warranty this paper proposes a detailed model of the costs and benefits to producers and consumers of product warranty three common types of product warranty contract are considered in addition we explicitly allow for randomness in consumer repurchase behavior and for the possibility of an independent damage process acting on products sold under warranty the cost criteria considered are discounted costs profits and per unit costs and profits the model is used to analyze the trade off between warranty and quality control and to illustrate the sensitivity of warranty costs to environmental variables

corporate borrowing and credit constraints structural disequilibrium estimates for the u k this paper develops a structural model of the market for corporate borrowing in the united kingdom the authors allow trade to be dispersed across a number of submarkets and suppose that disequilibrium operates at this disaggregated level solving for the level of aggregate trade they can estimate nonlinear equations for the demand and supply of borrowing and for the associated interest rate the authors use survey data to measure the strength of spillover from other markets the estimates reveal that disequilibrium has had substantial effects the authors also obtain interesting and plausible estimates for the parameters of the behavioral equations copyright 1990 by mit press

valuation of environmental and societal trade offs of renewable energy sources abstract use of renewable energy sources is one solution to decrease green house gas emissions and the use of polluting fossil fuels renewables differ in their environmental and societal impacts and to design sound renewable energy policy societies need to assess the trade offs between alternative sources to enable the evaluation and comparison of renewable energy production alternatives in finland this paper applies the choice experiment to elicit the monetary information on people s preferences for four renewable energy sources wind power hydro power and energy from crops and wood and considers four impacts of energy production effects on biodiversity local jobs carbon emissions and household s electricity bill the nested logit analysis reveals that higher income male gender young age and pro environmental attitude increase the probability to choose renewable energy instead of the current energy mix wind power is on average the most popular renewable energy technology but regional differences exist biodiversity deterioration should be avoided the national aggregate willingness to pay based on stated preferences rather than preferences revealed by actual market behavior for a combination of renewable energy technologies that corresponds to finland s climate change and energy policy is over 500 million euros

willingness to pay for ancillary benefits of climate change mitigation assessing the willingness to pay wtp of the general public for climate change mitigation programmes enables governments to understand how much taxpayers are willing to support the implementation of such programs this paper contributes to the literature on the wtp for climate change mitigation programmes by investigating in addition to global benefits the ancillary benefits of climate change mitigation it does so by considering local and personal benefits arising from climate change policies the contingent valuation method is used to elicit the wtp for ancillary and global benefits of climate mitigation policies in the basque country spain results show that wtp estimates are 53 73 higher when ancillary benefits are considered

willingness to pay lip service applying a neuroscience based method to wtp for green electricity abstract consumers willingness to pay wtp represents a central question for providers of renewable energy most studies on the subject have used contingent valuation and choice experiments however all empirical designs employed to date suffer from serious biases such as strategic behavior we introduce a novel neuroscience based approach to renewable energy related wtp research neuropricing which eliminates some of these biases we tested consumers wtp for two different green electricity products and found wtp for these products to be about 15 above that for a non green electricity tariff our results suggest that neuropricing is indeed able to eliminate strategic behavior moreover this approach allows for wtp studies with much smaller sample sizes than traditional methods require the neuroscience methodology can be used by researchers and marketers alike not only for testing the effects of product attributes on wtp but also for evaluating wtp effects of specific messages in marketing communications thus it may lead to a better understanding of consumer behavior and hence facilitate more successful marketing of renewable energy

norms and economic motivation in the swedish green electricity market abstract the purpose of this paper is to provide an econometric analysis of the most important determinants of swedish households choice to pay a price premium for green electricity we draw on recent developments in the literature on integrating norm motivated behavior into neoclassical consumer theory and assume that individuals have a preference for keeping a self image as a morally responsible person consumer behavior in the green market place will then be heavily determined by how purchases of different goods affect this self image the analysis is based on postal survey responses from 655 swedish households which are analyzed within a binary choice econometric framework the results indicate that the impact of choosing green on the household budget largely influences the choice between green and brown electricity as does the degree of perceived personal responsibility for the issue and the felt ability to affect the outcome in a positive way we find limited support for the notion that perceptions about others behavior in general affect individual moral norms and ultimately expressed behavior but this is also complemented by the influence of explicit social influence the difficulty in observing others purchases makes it however difficult to distinguish between social and moral norms in the case of green electricity

wind hydro or mixed renewable energy source preference for electricity products when the share of renewable energy increases abstract while the share of renewable energy especially wind power increases in the energy mix the risk of temporary energy shortage increases as well thus it is important to understand consumers preference for the renewable energy towards the continuous growing renewable energy society we use a discrete choice experiment to infer consumers preferences when the share of renewable energy increases the study results indicate that consumers are generally willing to pay extra for an increasing share of renewable energy but the renewable energy should come from a mixture of renewable energy sources we also found that consumers prefer to trade with their current supplier rather than another well known supplier this study contributes to the energy portfolio theories and the theory of energy diversification in a consumer perspective the managerial implications of this study are also discussed

probabilistic decision model of wind power investment and influence of green power market this paper presents results from a model of a representative wind power investor s decision making process using a monte carlo simulation of a project financial analysis data in the form of probability distribution functions pdfs for key input variables were collected from interviews with investors and other professionals active in the u s wind power industry using a formal expert elicitation protocol this study presents the first quantitative estimates of the effect of the u s voluntary renewable energy certificate rec market on renewable energy generation the results indicate that the investment decisions of wind power project developers in the united states are unlikely to have been altered by the voluntary rec market the problem with the current voluntary rec market is that it does not offer developers a reliable risk adjusted revenue stream consequently the claims by u s green power retailers and promoters that voluntary market recs result in additional wind power projects lack credibility even dramatic increases in voluntary market rec prices in the absence of long term contracts were found to have only a small effect on investor behavior

can renewable energy be financed with higher electricity prices evidence from a spanish region abstract in this paper we estimate the willingness to pay for mix of renewable sources of electric power by means of a discrete choice experiment survey conducted in spain in 2010 two main categories of power supply attributes are explored source of renewable power wind solar and biomass and the origin of such power the findings suggest that most consumers are not willing to pay a premium for increases in the shares of renewable in their electricity mix for two of the three renewable sources considered wind and biomass an increase of the renewable mix would require a discount instead we record positive willing to pay for increases in the share of both solar power and locally generated power however preferences for types of renewable solar and wind are found to be heterogeneous by classifying respondents in two groups according to the implied importance of the share of renewable sources in their power mix we identify a market segment consisting of 20 of respondents that could promote renewable energy in the absence of subsidies this is because such a segment shows willingness to pay higher than the current feed in tariffs

change in consumer sensitivity to electricity prices in response to retail deregulation a panel empirical analysis of the residential demand for electricity in the united states abstract about ten years have passed since the deregulation of the u s retail electricity market and it is now generally accepted that the available data is adequate to quantitatively assess and compare conditions before and after deregulation this study therefore estimates the changes in price elasticity in the residential electricity market to examine the changes if any in household sensitivity as a result of retail electricity market deregulation policies to residential electricity rates specifically six types of panel data are prepared based on three cross sections all states except for alaska and hawaii and the district of columbia deregulated states and non deregulated states and two time series the period before deregulation and the period after deregulation the panel empirical analysis techniques are used to determine whether or not the variables are stationary and to estimate price elasticity we find that there is no substantial difference in the price elasticity between deregulated and non deregulated states for both periods before deregulation and after deregulation thus it can be said that the deregulation of the retail electricity market has not made consumers more sensitive to electricity rates and that retail deregulation policies are not the cause of price elasticity differences between deregulated and non deregulated states

the importance of regret minimization in the choice for renewable energy programmes evidence from a discrete choice experiment abstract this study provides a methodologically rigorous attempt to disentangle the impact of various factors unobserved heterogeneity information and environmental attitudes on the inclination of individuals to exhibit either a utility maximization or a regret minimization behaviour in a discrete choice experiment for renewable energy programmes described by four attributes greenhouse gas emissions power outages employment in the energy sector and electricity bill we explore the ability of different models multinomial logit random parameters logit and hybrid latent class and of different choice paradigms utility maximization and regret minimization in explaining people s choices for renewable energy programmes the pure random regret random parameters logit model explains the choices of our respondents better than other models indicating that regret is an important choice paradigm and that choices for renewable energy programmes are mostly driven by regret rather than by rejoice in particular we find that our respondents choices are driven more by changes in greenhouse gas emissions than by reductions in power outages finally we find that changing the level of information to one attribute has no effect on choices and that being a member of an environmental organization makes a respondent more likely to be associated with the utility maximization choice framework

us consumers willingness to pay for green electricity abstract we analyze us consumers demand for environmental attributes of deregulated residential electricity services using results from a survey designed to elicit consumers willingness to pay for such attributes and using results from a hedonic analysis of actual price premiums charged for green electricity in several deregulated markets survey results suggest that many population segments are willing to pay for decreased air emissions even if there is no alteration in fuel source furthermore several groups are willing to pay significantly more when emissions reductions stem from increased reliance upon renewable fuels the hedonic analysis suggests that several product features not considered in the survey help explain real price premiums including fuel mix from newly created renewable generation capacity green e certification brand name and state of offer while survey and hedonic results are not easily compared due to limitations of the survey both point to similar values for key environmental attributes though the survey results are likely to overstate actual willingness to pay in sum the results suggest that consumer driven purchases can in part support the future of renewable generation capacity in the united states though reliance upon other policy alternatives may be needed if energy prices spike

determination of price and warranty length for a normal lifetime distributed product abstract in this paper a decision model is presented for manufacturing firms to determine the optimal price and warranty length to maximize profits based on the pre determined life cycle we consider the free renewal warranty policy under which failed items are renewed free of charge until a specified total operating time has been achieved the expected number of renewals based on the warranty length is derived for a normal lifetime distributed product and the total cost of production and providing warranty is evaluated a solution approach using the maximum principle is described and is applied to two specific types of markets the first type of market considers the case of static sales rate function with a positive discount rate and the second type of market considers the case of separable sales rate function with a zero discount rate a sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the effect of model parameters on the optimal solution some conclusions are drawn based on the sensitivity analysis

renewable energy policy and electricity restructuring a california case study abstract many countries are in the process of deregulating and restructuring their electric power industries although the introduction of retail competition may have negative impacts on the development of renewable energy a number of countries are establishing new programs to support these clean energy technologies in the united states debate has centered on three primary renewables support mechanisms 1 the renewables portfolio standard 2 programs funded by an electricity distribution surcharge and 3 voluntary renewable energy purchases by electricity customers via green power marketing california provides a good case study of the design of renewables support programs within industry restructuring because policymakers considered all three of these options during the state s restructuring proceedings moreover many of the same policy options design issues and political conflicts that have arisen in california are likely to recur in other states and countries some of the most important lessons from the california experience include 1 renewable energy and environmental advocates must clearly articulate the need and rationale for continued support of renewables 2 cost containment and competitive neutrality concerns must be addressed head on 3 combinations of policies are likely to be far more effective than any single renewables policy and 4 the effectiveness of renewable energy policies developed during the restructuring process will be strongly linked to their duration and stability

valuing a wind farm construction a contingent valuation study in greece abstract our analysis is based on data from a double bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation study implemented to elicit public attitudes towards renewable energy generation and their willingness to pay for the construction of a wind farm in the area of messanagros in the island of rhodes greece results indicate that there are significant positive values deriving from the proposed project respondents report a mean willingness to pay a premium in their bi monthly electric bills of 8 86 for the sole purpose of the construction of the wind farm the estimated economic benefits to the local population are weighed against the investment cost in a cost benefit analysis to inform policy making and implications for eu energy policy are provided

random preferences towards bioenergy environmental externalities a case study of woody biomass based electricity in the southern united states article i nfo this paper contrasts alternate methodological approaches of investigating public preferences the random parameter logit rpl where tastes and preferences of respondents are assumed to be heterogeneous and the conditional logit cl approach where tastes and preferences remain fixed for individuals we conducted a choice experiment to assess preferences for woody biomass based electricity in arkansas florida and virginia reduction of co2 emissions and improvement of forest habitat by decreasing risk of wildfires and pest outbreaks were presented to respondents as attributes of using green electricity the results indicate that heterogeneous preferences might be a better fit for assessing preferences for green electricity all levels of both attributes were positive contributors to welfare but they were no statistically significant respondents expressed a positive mean marginal willingness to pay wtp for each attribute level the total wtp for green electricity per kilowatt hour was 0 049 kwh or 40 5 per capita year 1 when converted into future total annual expenditures

adoption of green electricity by german small and medium sized enterprises smes a qualitative analysis abstract the german government aims at generating 80 percent of the country s electricity from renewable sources by 2050 in the german liberalized electricity market customers can support this target by purchasing green electricity ge i e electricity produced from renewable energy sources yet the demand for ge has remained low among small and medium sized enterprises smes which represent the country s biggest electricity customer group based on a review of the relevant literature this article investigates factors that determine smes decisions whether to adopt ge for this purpose thematic interviews with ge providers and representatives of smes are performed and qualitatively analyzed the results of the interview analysis form the basis for a conceptual framework that reflects the ge adoption decisions of german smes and lay the groundwork for future analysis in this area

stuck between a roc and a hard place barriers to the take up of green energy in the uk abstract this paper examines the uk mechanisms for ensuring future investment in renewable energy through consumer adoption of green energy tariffs and the renewable obligation certificate roc system using a national survey and focus groups the stated willingness by uk customers to pay a premium for renewable or green energy and actual take up of such tariffs is assessed substantial differences between willingness to pay for and the adoption of green energy tariffs are reported this disparity is linked to a range of factors including consumer confusion lack of supply complexities of constructing green source tariffs under the roc system and a lack of customer trust it is concluded that the re definition of the green energy market in favour of green source tariffs greater direct compliance with the renewable obligation by addressing supply constraints and efforts in providing clearer information and choices for consumers via a compulsory green energy accreditation scheme are required if willing consumers are to contribute to investment in renewable energy

what determines urban households willingness to pay for co2 emission reductions in turkey a contingent valuation survey abstract this paper explores turkish urban households willingness to pay wtp for co2 emission reductions expected to result from improvements in power production a face to face questionnaire with a contingent valuation cv module prepared using the double bounded dichotomous choice elicitation framework was administered to 2422 respondents representative of urban turkey a developing country with low but rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions the determinants of wtp were identified by considering not only the impact of standard socio economic factors but also the effects of environmental knowledge attitudes and behaviour the relevance of the identity of the collection agent national versus international institutions in terms of trust people have towards them and the degree of perceived participation of others in the realization of the project our study confirms the existing literature in demonstrating that wtp figures reported by young and educated people that are active on environmental issues and who also possess material security and environmental knowledge are more likely to be high however their willingness to make contributions is hampered significantly by their belief that their fellow citizens will not contribute and the general lack of trust in institutions overall this study may be taken as a call to eliminate governance related uncertainties in climate change deals

applying threshold models to donations to a green electricity fund this study applies a threshold model proposed by granovetter 1978 to analyze the diffusion process of donating behavior for renewable energy we first use a stated preference survey to estimate the determinants of a decision to support the donation scheme under various predicted participation rates using the estimated coefficients we simulate how herd behavior spreads and the participation rate reaches the equilibrium the participation rate at the equilibrium is estimated as 37 88 when the suggested donation is 500 yen while it is 17 76 when the suggested amount is 1000 yen the influence of environmentalism and altruism is also examined and we find that these motivations increase the participation rate by 31 51 on average

willingness to pay for renewable energy evidence from a contingent valuation survey in kenya a modern form of energy in particular electricity for household use is an important vehicle in alleviating poverty in developing countries however access and costs of connecting to this service for most poor in these countries is inconceivable policies promoting electricity connection in rural areas are known to be beneficial in improving the socio economic and health well being for households this paper examines willingness to pay wtp for rural electrification connection in kisumu district kenya using the contingent valuation method cvm a nonparametric and a parametric model are employed to estimate wtp values for two electricity products grid electricity ge and photovoltaic pv electricity the results indicate that respondents are willing to pay more for ge services than pv and households favoured monthly connection payments over a lump sum amount some of the policies suggested in this paper include subsidizing the connection costs for both sources of electricity adjusting the payment periods and restructuring the market ownership of providing rural electricity services

is there a price premium for energy efficiency labels evidence from the introduction of a label in korea abstract this study examines the price premium from korea s energy efficiency grade label the korean government recently began energy certification of televisions providing a setting to analyze a possible price effect of the new label hedonic regression results seem to show that a price premium exists for products with the energy efficiency grade label however potential unobserved heterogeneity is a concern difference in difference and fixed effects models are used to capture the net effect of the label by controlling for time and product differences the results suggest that any price premium does not result from the energy efficiency label itself instead energy efficient products already had higher prices before the introduction of the energy efficiency label the finding turns our attention to the importance of careful design of labeling programs

using conjoint analysis to derive estimates of compensating variation abstract we use several approaches to derive estimates of hicksian compensating variation from conjoint ratings data the different estimation approaches produced mixed results with respect to consistency with utility theory statistical significance of key variables magnitude of welfare estimates and confidence bounds on welfare estimates these findings suggest conjoint analyses are not a panacea for the problems being debated regarding contingent valuation and travel cost methodologies and conjoint questions appear to share many of the advantages and disadvantages associated with dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions

green power voluntary purchases price elasticity and policy analysis abstract green power schemes offer electricity from renewable energy sources to customers for a higher price than ordinary electricity this study examines the demand characteristics of green power in australia and policies which could increase its sales a sample of 250 pooled time series and cross sectional observations was used to estimate a statistically significant elasticity of demand for green power with respect to price of 0 96 with a 95 confidence interval of 68 the wide variation in market penetration between jurisdictions and between countries for green power and the low awareness of green power found by surveys indicate that green power sales could be increased by appropriate marketing and government policies the most cost effective means to increase sales was found to be advertising campaigns although only one australian example was found in the state of victoria in 2005 it was also found that full tax deductibility of the green power premium to residential customers exemption from the goods and services tax and a tax rebate for green power are all probably less cost effective for promoting sales than direct government purchase of green power in terms of cost per unit of increased sales

morphological analysis of energy services paving the way to quality differentiation in the power sector abstract the activation of the still predominantly passive demand side is necessary to further guarantee a stable power system in the short term and ensure capacity adequacy in the long run a system with a high share of generators with nearly no marginal costs requires new services that facilitate transmitting the right economic signals to the system stakeholders to this end we refine the notion of energy services and propose a framework to systematically design quality differentiated energy services for consumers this approach facilitates a value based economic assessment of energy services that deviates from the marginal cost paradigm we further illustrate pricing options for these new energy service products and outline infrastructural needs and additional use case specific product properties moreover we discuss how the morphological approach can be formalised using a mathematical programming formulation and introduce a complexity measure that facilitates assessing potential adoption obstacles for end consumers additionally we illustrate the practical applicability of these findings by using a prototypical implementation of a decision support system to foster differentiated energy services we recommend a more lenient regulatory regime lowering the barriers for new market entrants

slack shortage and discouraged consumers in eastern europe estimates based on smoothing by aggregation as a consequence of aggregation over markets the observed quantity may be less than the quantity demanded and less than the quantity supplied to deal with such situations a new technique is proposed for estimating demand and supply curves and the extent of shortage and slack the technique is applied to the consumption goods markets of czechoslovakia the german democratic republic hungary poland and yugoslavia it is found that shortage even corrected for a discouraged consumer effect is seldom as great as slack

private vs public regulation political economy of the international environment minimum standards set by a world environmental organization weo and ngo labelling are promoted as alternative approaches to international environmental protection we explore the potential inter play between these two approaches when the weo is subject to pressure from producers we find that if weo and ngo schemes are mutually exclusive then the existence of an ngo alternative increases industry resistance to weo proposals and this may reduce welfare if however the schemes are run in parallel existence of the ngo lessens producer opposition to weo activities this allows the weo to be bolder in its proposals which is good for welfare

investment preferences for wood based energy initiatives in the us abstract the forest sector is poised to become a major supplier of wood based energy in the us prospects for growth in energy demand and higher prices can create opportunities for private investments in renewable energy industries a conjoint analysis examined individuals willingness to invest in wood based energies following a random utility model the study design included three investment attributes annual returns on investment type of investment and location of investment three ordinal models that also included demographic and attitudinal characteristics indicate that wood based energy is less preferred among potential investors compared to the stock market and solar wind renewable energy investments expected returns and location of energy investments within the us are also major drivers of investment preferences favorable attitudes towards forestry and wood based energy could enhance prospects for a greater number of potential investors

valuing climate protection through willingness to pay for biomass ethanol abstract this study uses a multi part split sample contingent valuation method cvm and fair share fs survey to better understand the public s valuation of mitigating global climate change through its willingness to pay for biomass or cellulosic ethanol in addition to a basic cvm question a related scenario was developed that asked half of the survey respondents to state their fair share cost to lessen a potential food shortage in the next decade also through the expanded use of cellulosic ethanol three alternative biomass feedstocks were assessed farming residues forestry residues and paper mill wastes and municipal solid wastes overall a slightly larger proportion of respondents were wtp extra for cellulosic ethanol in the basic cvm scenario than in the fs scenario though no significant differences were found in the wtp for the different feedstocks bid curve lognormal regression results for the two models were similar supporting the idea that asking a fs rather than a conventional wtp question may be justifiable in some circumstances such as in cases of a national emergency

carbon capture and storage on its way to large scale deployment social acceptance and willingness to pay in germany abstract carbon capture and storage ccs is an emerging technology to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel fired power plants in the wake of a rapidly changing german energy system ccs can play an important role by means of an online survey among 130 university students in dresden this paper investigates the level and influencing factors of social acceptance of ccs furthermore the individual willingness to pay for ccs and renewable power delivery is measured and compared through a choice model the survey results reveal that the attitude towards ccs is neutral moreover it is shown that acceptance of ccs is an important factor for the willingness to pay the level of willingness to pay for ccs technology is much lower than for renewable energy

determinants of participation versus consumption in the nordic swan eco labeled market abstract this paper analyzes the determinants of demand for nordic swan eco labeled paper products and whether the factors determining the discrete decision to buy a swan labeled product are different from those that determine the quantity purchased using observed consumer purchase data from denmark we find that prices and socio demographic characteristics have a strong impact on the decision to purchase a swan labeled good the quantity consumed of swan labeled goods on the other hand is strongly affected by the availability of swan goods discounts and household size

whatever the customer wants the customer gets exploring the gap between consumer preferences and default electricity products in germany abstract in liberalized electricity markets residential customers can choose their preferred provider and select among a variety of different electricity products including green power options successful product design and marketing strategies for green electricity may provide electricity providers with a competitive advantage while at the same time contributing to energy policy objectives this requires however a thorough understanding of customer preferences we investigate the relative importance of different product attributes in creating customer value and find that price and electricity mix are the two most important attributes the german electricity customers we surveyed in 2009 expressed an implicit willingness to pay a premium of about 16 for electricity from renewable sources we conclude that consumers are willing to pay a significant price premium for an upgrade from the current default electricity mix in germany to a more environmentally friendly default electricity mix and discuss implications for marketing strategy and energy policy our findings are based on a dataset of 4968 experimental choices made by 414 german residential consumers collected in a stated preference survey

community pressure for green behavior the desire to avoid rousing community hostility may encourage firms to behave in an environmentally responsible manner firms may engage in corporate social responsibility csr to maintain community support and or to regain the support of a community where it has been lost it has been conjectured that such informal regulation could effectively replace formal intervention in some settings and usefully complement it in others we explore these conjectures with mixed results informal regulation is necessarily less efficient than a well designed formal alternative and the pattern of green behavior induced by the threat of community hostility may increase or decrease welfare the existence of community pressure may increase or decrease the optimal calibration of a formal intervention in this case an environmental tax and may complement or detract from the incentives generated by an optimally calibrated tax

willingness to pay for green electricity in korea a contingent valuation study abstract green electricity is energy that is generated from renewable energy sources such as solar power wind power small scale hydroelectric power tidal power and biomass power these sources mostly do not produce pollutants and are considered environmentally friendly however considering the current state of technology they are more costly government should take visible actions to compensate for the increased production costs this paper attempts to apply a contingent valuation cv method to obtain at least a preliminary evaluation of the benefits that ensue from the introduction of the policy that raises the percentage of green electricity consumption from 0 2 of the total electricity supply to 7 by 2011 overall the cv survey was successful in eliciting the willingness to pay wtp for green electricity considering that the cv method operated within respondents abilities to answer and the wtp estimates were statistically significant the monthly mean wtp estimates from parametric and non parametric methods were krw 1681 usd 1 8 and krw 2072 usd 2 2 respectively the estimates of the annual benefits to relevant residents amounted to krw 150 5 billion usd 157 5 million and krw 185 6 billion usd 194 2 million respectively

natural oligopolies a vertical differentiation model this article contains a more complete characterization of conditions under which vertically differentiated markets are or are not natural oligopolies than has been found previously in the literature specifically previous results on markets in which firms have cost functions with constant returns are incomplete these results are expanded moreover results are provided for markets with firms having increasing or decreasing marginal cost functions

explaining demand for green electricity using data from all u s utilities abstract green electricity programs enable households to voluntarily contribute to the development of renewable electricity by purchasing green electricity through their local utility using a dataset of all utilities in the united states this paper explores the utility consumer and program characteristics that influence participation levels in green electricity as well as whether a utility chooses to offer a program among other results we find that the key determinants of program participation are the education of the consumer base and the affordability of the green electricity program our results enhance understanding of private provision of environmental public goods and could aid in ex ante evaluations of whether a green electricity program is likely to cover its administrative costs or be a cost effective way of improving environmental quality

green electricity markets as mechanisms of public goods provision theory and experimental evidence utility based green electricity programs provide market opportunities for consumers to reduce the carbon footprint of their electricity use these programs deploy three types of public goods contribution mechanisms voluntary contribution green tariff and all or nothing green tariff kotchen and moore 2007 we extend the theoretical understanding of the all or nothing green tariff mechanism by showing that an assumption of warm glow preferences is needed to explain widespread participation in programs deploying this mechanism we conduct the first experimental test to compare the revenue generating capacity of a pure public good based on the voluntary contribution mechanism and an impure public good based on the green tariff mechanism in experimental play the voluntary contribution mechanism raises 50 more revenue than the green tariff mechanism with the all or nothing green tariff experimental play and regression estimates show that a warm glow preference positively affects participation as predicted by the theory

dynamic pricing and warranty policies for products with fixed lifetime abstract we consider a repairable product with known market entry and departure times a warranty policy is offered with product purchase under which a customer can have a failed item repaired free of charge in the warranty period it is assumed that customers are heterogeneous in their risk attitudes toward uncertain repair costs incurred after the warranty expires the objective is to determine a joint dynamic pricing and warranty policy for the lifetime of the product which maximizes the manufacturer s expected profit in the first part of the analysis we consider a linearly decreasing price function and a constant warranty length we first study customers purchase patterns under several different pricing strategies by the manufacturer and then discuss the optimal pricing and warranty strategy in the second part we assume that the warranty length can be altered once during the product lifetime in developing a joint pricing and warranty policy numerical studies show that a dynamic warranty policy can significantly outperform a fixed length warranty policy

environmental labeling and incomplete consumer information in laboratory markets abstract survey evidence suggests that consumers care about the environment and are willing to pay a higher price for a product that generates less environmental harm we induce buyer preferences over quality in a laboratory posted offer market to study sellers incentives to offer products of differing quality buyers are unaware of the product quality before purchase as is often the case for goods with differing environmental quality we first document the market failure that arises from incomplete information when no signaling or reputations are possible we then study various treatments that could remedy this failure seller reputations and unverified cheap talk signals sometimes increase the number of higher valued green goods the only reliable way to improve product quality in the experiment however is to use a third party that charges a fee to certify product quality claims

monopolist pricing with dynamic demand and production cost this paper deals with pricing of a new product over time by a monopolist who maximizes the discounted profit stream the interdependency of cost and demand on cumulative production makes the problem inherently dynamic cost is assumed to be declining with cumulative production learning curve effect while demand is a function of price and cumulative sales representing word of mouth and saturation effects the paper addresses this problem in a general framework that includes several previous results as special cases and provides new insights in other situations while the learning curve and word of mouth effect cause prices to be lower than the price that maximizes immediate revenues the saturation factor has the opposite effect the price path over time is affected by these factors and the interest rate we characterize the price path under several different situations and interpret the results for policy guidelines