socially responsible investors and the microentrepreneur a canadian case socially responsible investors buy financial securities with two goals to make a market based return and to make companies act in a more socially responsible way most research on socially responsible investment deals with investing in stocks traded on major exchanges we add the case of loaning small amounts of funds to microentrepreneurs through a discussion of a particular case the case is that of calmeadow which in conjunction with the royal bank of canada set up a microlending project in rural nova scotia canada using hirschman s analysis of exit and voice we show that while socially responsible investors may make market based returns for their investments in stocks traded on major exchanges they have no effect on corporate behaviour because their action consists of exit and they are easily replaced by other investors they attain their first goal but not their second on the other hand in the calmeadow royal bank of canada case we see that those who lend money to microenterprises can more easily use voice the relative power difference between the lender and the microentrepreneur enables the lender to make the microentrepreneur act in a more socially responsible way although only marginally but because of the market imperfections existing in this case the very high transactions costs associated with administering small loans the lender concluded it could not attain a market rate of return in this case then the lender attained its second goal but not its first

the role of transnational dimensions in emerging economy technological innovation systems for clean tech the technological innovation system tis framework and its system functions have become a popular analytical tool for the study of clean tech innovation there is increasing attention for the role of emerging economies in global clean tech innovation but the applicability of tis to emerging economies cases is not entirely straightforward a key issue is the limited geographical considerations in particular transnational dimensions in tis whereas earlier perspectives on innovation in emerging economies have stressed the role of such transnational dimensions this paper elaborates transnational tis actor networks and institutions categorizes these in relation to tis functions and describes their potential to induce or block tis development in emerging economies we draw on insights from the perspectives of national learning systems international technology transfer and global production networks for this purpose we conclude that the potential effects of these transnational dimensions may be accurately grasped by the existing list of system functions lending credence to its further application of the tis framework on emerging economy case studies policy makers in emerging economies should recognize these transnational dimensions and seek to optimize their potential effect on domestic tis development taking in to consideration a realistic assessment of its role in the global tis

group loyalty and the taste for redistribution interpersonal preferences preferences that depend on the characteristics of others are typically hard to infer from observable individual behavior as an alternative approach this paper uses survey data to investigate interpersonal preferences i show that self reported attitudes toward welfare spending are determined not only by financial self interest but also by interpersonal preferences these interpersonal preferences are characterized by a negative exposure effect individuals decrease their support for welfare as the welfare recipiency rate in their community rises and racial group loyalty individuals increase their support for welfare spending as the share of local recipients from their own racial group rises these findings help to explain why levels of welfare benefits are relatively low in racially heterogeneous states

comparing systems approaches to innovation and technological change for sustainable and competitive economies an explorative study into conceptual commonalities differences and complementarities this paper makes a distinction between three theoretical frameworks that have been highly influential in the discourse on innovation competitiveness and sustainability sectoral systems of innovation ssi technological innovation systems tis and socio technical systems st systems these frameworks share a common systems approach to innovation but are often positioned as different bodies of literature that correspond to different epistemic communities this paper is explorative and conceptual in nature it presents a systematic comparative review of ssi tis and st systems based on the following analytical dimensions 1 system boundaries 2 actors and networks 3 institutions 4 knowledge 5 dynamics and 6 policy approach in the concluding section commonalities and differences of the three approaches are presented and suggestions for complimentarily are made c 2010 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

renewable energy finance and project ownership the impact of alternative development structures on the cost of wind power abstract this paper uses traditional financial cash flow techniques to examine the impact of different ownership and financing structures on the cost of renewable energy specifically wind power most large non hydroelectric renewable energy projects are developed owned and financed by private non utility generators recently however us utilities have begun to consider owning and financing their own wind power facilities rather than purchasing power from independent renewable energy suppliers utilities in other countries have also expressed interest in direct renewable energy investments a primary justification for utility ownership of wind turbine power plants is that utility self financing and ownership is cheaper than purchasing wind energy from non utility renewable energy suppliers the results presented in this paper support that justification although some of the estimated cost savings associated with utility ownership are a result of suboptimal utility analysis procedures and implicit risk shifting financing terms and variables are shown to significantly impact wind power costs

financial services for microenterprises principles and institutions abstract this article argues for the use of a financial systems approach in the provision of financial services to the poor the experience of the last decade has produced a successful technology for credit delivery that utilizes sound financial principles as its basis that is understanding the needs of the client increasing efficiency by cutting administrative costs and using various techniques to motivate repayment savings receives equal emphasis as a financial service and several principles for its provision are discussed the institutional dimensions behind this approach focus on the need to achieve self sufficiency which the article frames as a four stage process finally the article outlines various factors related to creating financial institutions that reach the poor and the policy implications that these suggest

brazilian biofuels and social exclusion established and concentrated ethanol versus emerging and dispersed biodiesel increasing interest in biofuels trade between developed and developing countries has spurred worldwide discussions on issues such as subsidies and the food for fuel crisis one issue missing in recent discourse is the pressure exerted on developing countries to adopt large scale mechanized farming practices to increase economic efficiencies such approaches often exclude small scale farmers from participating in the emerging biofuels market thus exacerbating poverty and social exclusion drawing on both qualitative and technical data we discuss such pressures using brazilian ethanol and biodiesel production pressure from international markets to become more economically efficient may contribute towards the erosion of recent schemes to encourage social benefits for small farmers in biodiesel production we conclude with trade and policy implications

global developments in the competition for land from biofuels the potential global demand for biofuels and the implications of this for land use and its interaction with food agriculture is reviewed it is expected that biofuels will form an important element of global transport energy mix in the order of 20 30 of total requirement over the next 40 years and beyond over this time there will be a transition from so called first generation biofuels based on commodity agricultural crops with food feed uses to advanced biofuels sometimes called second and third generation biofuels based primarily upon lignocellulosic feedstocks it remains unclear whether these advanced biofuels based on lignocellulosic materials will entirely replace first generation or if second generation will be supplemental to first generation this expansion in biofuels will be coupled to a substantial increase in alternative fuels electricity hydrogen biogas and natural gas and modal shifts biofuel production from agricultural commodity crops that exhibit strong sustainability criteria will remain important e g sugarcane with supportive and competitive aspects for food security land requirement projections estimated for a range of potential biofuel development trajectories range widely and are inherently uncertain under the most active scenario that delivers substantive greenhouse gas reductions in transport by 2050 relative to 2005 levels approximately 100 mha of additional land is projected in the business as usual scenario in which transport energy demand rises by 80 by 2050 from present levels a land use requirement of 650 mha is projected significant potential exists for producing biofuels that possess high productivity and sustainability profiles through continued research development and demonstration policy and regulation at a global level that focuses biofuel development on these goals in ways that are synergistic with food agriculture will simultaneously help to decarbonise transport and maintain a diverse and financially robust agricultural and forestry sector

how to lend like mad and make a profit a micro credit paradigm versus the start up fund in south africa in current debates about micro credit joint liability schemes are often viewed as the only viable way to non collateralised lending and are thus seen as almost synonymous with micro credit this article reports about an alternative non participatory approach to micro credit prompted by the apparent inability of group credit schemes to reign in lending costs the article sets out the institutional requirements for cheap mass produced credit it argues that such credit can be viable if mechanisms are in place enforcing the self selection of potential borrowers and self motivation of existing borrowers the analysis of a mass minimalist micro credit institution from south africa supports the argument

individual morality and reputation costs as deterrents to tax evasion abstract empirical evidence suggests some taxpayers never evade evasion increases with the tax rate and evasion decisions are interdependent these findings are not easily explained by the existing theory which models evasion as an independently made amoral gamble this paper uses nonpecuniary costs of evasion to reconcile theory with evidence once individuals are assumed to differ by an honesty characteristic taxpayers dichotomise into groups the more honest of which responds to a tax change as the evidence suggests a further extension is to introduce an endogenous reputation cost this suggests a positive relationship between the number of evaders and the tax rate

enforcement socioeconomic diversity and tax filing compliance in the united states in this article we examine the determinants of tax filing compliance in the united states we use county level data on non filing rates for the tax year 2000 obtained directly from the internal revenue service we include explanatory variables identified in the rational compliance framework including an enforcement index against identified non filers the audit rate of filers and the average penalty rate for both filers and non filers we also examine the role of socioeconomic diversity on tax compliance testing whether within county heterogeneity in household income language race and religion can help explain variation in non filing rates we find that non filing is increasing with heterogeneity by race although not by income or language and that non filing is decreasing with heterogeneity by religious membership as for enforcement variables we find that non filing rates tend to fall with the enforcement index other variables have somewhat mixed results

biofuels and the role of space in sustainable innovation journeys this paper aims to identify the lessons that should be learnt from how biofuels have been envisioned from the aftermath of the oil shocks of the 1970s to the present and how these visions compare with biofuel production networks emerging in the 2000s working at the interface of sustainable innovation journey research and geographical theories on the spatial unevenness of sustainability transition projects we show how the biofuels controversy is linked to characteristics of globalised industrial agricultural systems the legitimacy problems of biofuels cannot be addressed by sustainability indicators or new technologies alone since they arise from the spatial ordering of biofuel production in the 1970 80s promoters of bioenergy anticipated current concerns about food security implications but envisioned bioenergy production to be territorially embedded at national or local scales where these issues would be managed where the territorial and scalar vision was breached it was to imagine poorer countries exporting higher value biofuel to the north rather than the raw material as in the controversial global biomass commodity chains of today however controversy now extends to the global impacts of national biofuel systems on food security and greenhouse gas emissions and to their local impacts becoming more widely known south south and north north trade conflicts are also emerging as are questions over biodegradable wastes and agricultural residues as global commodities as assumptions of a food versus fuel conflict have come to be challenged legitimacy questions over global agri business and trade are spotlighted even further in this context visions of biofuel development that address these broader issues might be promising these include large scale biomass for fuel models in europe that would transform global trade rules to allow small farmers in the global south to compete and small scale biofuel systems developed to address local energy needs in the south

impact of microfinance on schooling evidence from poor rural households in bolivia summary channels for the influence of microfinance programs on a rural household s demand for schooling are identified income growth risk management child labor demand gender empowerment and parent information within a random utility framework a model of household consumption investment in education and borrowing suggests determinants at the individual household and regional levels of the probability of schooling gaps using data from two surveys of households of clients of microfinance organizations in bolivia regression models examine determinants of schooling gaps inferences about otherwise positive microfinance impacts identify potential negative effects of increased child labor demand which challenge usual assumptions and pose dilemmas for policymakers

carbon pricing and the diffusion of renewable power generation in eastern europe a linear programming approach the purpose of this paper is to analyze the costs for reducing co2 emissions in the power generating sectors in croatia the european part of russia macedonia serbia and the ukraine in 2020 by using a linear programming model the model takes into account the impact of technology learning and is based on the underlying assumptions of the so called rains model frequently used to assess the potential and the costs for reducing air pollution in europe the results based on an exogenously given 15 percent reduction target for co2 emissions show that the marginal cost for switching from a carbon intense fuel to either a low carbon or to a renewable energy source differs significantly among the countries the marginal costs range from 4 to 90 per ton co2 and are mainly due to country differences in the availability of renewables existing technologies and costs the results also indicate that although it is clear that the eastern european countries are not homogeneous in terms of co2 abatement potential and costs no general conclusions can be made of the region this may have important implications for future ji cdm activities for instance risk factors such as policy uncertainty and institutional obstacles may become crucial in determining the future allocation of ji cdm projects across the region

ethnic diversity social sanctions and public goods in kenya abstract this paper examines ethnic diversity and local public goods in rural western kenya the identification strategy relies on the stable historically determined patterns of ethnic land settlement ethnic diversity is associated with lower primary school funding and worse school facilities and there is suggestive evidence that it leads to poor water well maintenance the theoretical model illustrates how inability to impose social sanctions in diverse communities leads to collective action failures and we find that school committees in diverse areas do impose fewer sanctions on defaulting parents we relate these results to the literature on social capital and economic development and discuss implications for decentralization in less developed countries

income distribution and equilibrium multiplicity in a stigma based model of tax evasion abstract this paper incorporates continuous income distribution into the stigma based model of tax compliance the paper investigates the effect of income distribution on the existence of multiple equilibria and characterizes the conditions under which multiple equilibria emerge precisely multiple equilibria exist if taxpayer incomes are sufficiently homogeneous because the social coordination effect dominates the individual characteristics effect numerical simulations show that the main proposition is robust to allowing two step audit policies on the part of the tax agency under the presumption that the best or good equilibrium is selected whenever there are multiple equilibria as a byproduct the effect of various forms of tax reforms on the optimal two step audit policy the equilibrium compliance and fiscal revenue is analyzed

community composition and collective action analyzing initial mail response to the 2000 census this paper analyzes how community heterogeneity influences resident decisions to undertake actions generating public benefits the decision in question is completing and returning the 2000 census questionnaire an action which secures a significant amount of federal grants for the community the model developed to explain this action allows members of societal groups to differentially value public benefits that accrue to other group members racial generational and socioeconomic class heterogeneity all predict significantly lower response rates at the county level the potential for endogenous sorting into heterogeneous counties implies that the magnitude of true behavioral effects exceeds these estimates

policies for a solar economy abstract punctuated by oil shocks and ultimately limited by environmental concerns the fossil fuel age may be nearing its close while the renewable technologies are now available to make the transition away from today s coal and oil based energy system existing energy policies do little to accelerate the commercial development of renewable energy this paper examines some of the policy reforms needed to make the transition to a renewable energy economy beginning with a change in energy pricing that internalizes the environmental and security costs of fossil fuels utility reform a major shift in current energy research and development spending and the creation of an international renewable energy agency are among the key elements of a sound energy policy that will allow the 60 80 reduction in carbon emissions needed to stabilize atmospheric co 2 concentrations

strategic choices for renewable energy investment conceptual framework and opportunities for further research this paper introduces the special issue on strategic choices for renewable energy investment which is a collection of best papers presented at an international research conference held in st gallen switzerland in february 2010 substantial private investment is needed if public policy objectives to increase the share of renewable energy and prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change are to be achieved the aim of this paper and the entire special issue is to draw scholarly attention to the processes underlying strategic choices for renewable energy investment and how they are influenced by energy policy we disentangle the role of risk return perceptions portfolio effects and path dependence in explaining energy investment decisions and suggest that the heterogeneous universe of investors requires a segmentation of policies the paper outlines some of the rich opportunities for further research in this emerging area

review of barriers to the dissemination of decentralized renewable energy systems abstract this paper reviews the available literature dealing with the barriers to the dissemination of decentralized renewable energy systems decentralized renewable energy systems may face a range of technical economic institutional socio cultural and environmental barrier to their dissemination in the paper barriers impeding the dissemination of decentralized renewable energy systems have been identified and assessed in addition appropriate remedial measures and corresponding responsibility centers as reported in the literature have also been discussed inappropriateness of technology unavailability of skilled manpower for maintenance unavailability of spare parts high cost lack of access to credit poor purchasing power and other spending priorities unfair energy pricing lack of information or awareness and lack of adequate training on operation and maintenance of decentralized renewable energy systems are found to be the most critical barriers long term conducive policies appropriate regulatory framework financial incentives capital subsidies and soft loans to users technology and skill development internalization of externalities in the cost of energy withdrawal of subsidies presently being given to fossil fuels development of specialized institutions cooperation with international agencies participation of local community and awareness generation have been recommended for increased dissemination of decentralized renewable energy systems

financing investments in renewable energy the impacts of policy design abstract the costs of electric power projects utilizing renewable energy technologies rets are highly sensitive to financing terms consequently as the electricity industry is restructured and new renewables policies are created it is important for policymakers to consider the impacts of renewables policy design on ret financing this paper reviews the power plant financing process for renewable energy projects estimates the impact of financing terms on levelized energy costs and provides insights to policymakers on the important nexus between renewables policy design and financing we review five case studies of renewable energy policies and find that one of the key reasons that ret policies are not more effective is that project development and financing processes are frequently ignored or misunderstood when designing and implementing renewable energy policies the case studies specifically show that policies that do not provide long term stability or that have negative secondary impacts on investment decisions will increase financing costs sometimes dramatically reducing the effectiveness of the program within u s electricity restructuring proceedings new renewable energy policies are being created and restructuring itself is changing the way rets are financed as these new policies are created and implemented it is essential that policymakers acknowledge the financing difficulties faced by renewables developers and pay special attention to the impacts of renewables policy design on financing as shown in this paper a renewables policy that is carefully designed can reduce renewable energy costs dramatically by providing revenue certainty that will in turn reduce financing risk premiums

the cinderella options a study of modernized renewable energy technologies part 2 political and policy analysis abstract many factors contribute to the low status of renewable energy the scepticism engendered by their apparently poor track record during the 1980s is compounded by various limitations in the available data a reluctance or inability to project technical developments and a failure to transfer the results of technical assessments to the policy community in ways which influence energy projections and policy the speed and extent to which the large potential for renewables can be realized will depend upon how rapidly the resulting dismissive attitudes change and upon policy developments in response to this removing existing market obstacles increasing r d expenditures and various forms of support including institutional reforms can all be clearly justified and they could make a large impact on renewable energy developments

transport energy in australia policy problems issues and alternatives abstract the thesis held by the australian government that the projected shortfall in indigenous crude oil supply can be met by enhanced exploration and or demand conservation is appraised in the light of current economic incentives for exploration and the motorist s sentiment towards demand conservation the paper establishes that the thesis is false and that australia is faced with a massive transport fuel import bill unless it finds alternative energy forms the paper identifies potential alternative transport fuels that could be made available from indigenous energy resources whatever alternative fuel is to be used it would need to conform to a variety of economic social are environmental criteria before it would be accepted the paper raises a set of general criteria with which to appraise various alternative transport fuels given that the use of petroleum products is environmentally degrading the various alternative transport fuels are primarily assessed on environmental criteria the paper finds that on environmental criteria only ethanol and natural gas have merit as suitable alternative fuels however with the addition of social and economic criteria it is natural gas which could provide a solution to the problem of the projected indigenous crude oil shortfall such a solution may in fact enhance the quality of life for australians especially those living in urban areas with deteriorating air quality

establishing new markets for mature energy equipment in developing countries experience with windmills hydro powered mills and solar water heaters abstract this paper reviews some of the success stories in the diffusion of mature low technology energy equipment drawing on the experience of windmills in argentina hydro powered mills in nepal and solar water heaters in several countries the different stages of a diffusion framework are discussed these include demand management the different types of manufacturer and their access to design information and the distribution system of equipment from producers to consumers the paper concludes with a summary of government policy interventions and their implications

renewable energy and geopolitics a review this article reviews the literature on the geopolitics of renewable energy it finds that while the roots of this literature can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s most of it has been published from 2010 onwards the following aggregate conclusions are extracted from the literature renewable energy has many advantages over fossil fuels for international security and peace however renewable energy is thought to exacerbate security risks and geopolitical tensions related to critical materials and cybersecurity former hydrocarbon exporters will likely be the greatest losers from the energy transition many of the reviewed publications share some weaknesses a failure to define geopolitics an unwarranted assumption that very little has been published in the field previously limited use of established forecasting scenario building or foresight methodologies a lack of recognition of the complexity of the field a lack of theorisation most authors do not distinguish between the geopolitical risks associated with different types of renewable energy and only a few distinguish clearly between the geopolitics of the transitional phase and the geopolitics of a post energy transition world a disproportionately large part of the literature is dedicated to critical materials and cybersecurity while only a small part concerns the decline of former fossil fuel powers among those publications that do discuss the decline of fossil fuels there is also an over focus on oil producers and a lack of attention to the countries that rely heavily on coal for example australia china germany indonesia poland and the united states

trust social capital and economic development many argue that elements of a society s norms culture or social capital are central to understanding its development however these notions have been difficult to capture in economic models here we explore ap ossible role for trustworthiness as corresponding to social capital individuals are trustworthy when they perform in accordance with promises even if this does not maximize their payoffs the usual focus on incentive structures in motivating behaviour plays no role here instead we emphasize more deep seated modes of behaviour and consider trustworthy agents being socialized to act as they do to model this socialization we borrow from a process of preference evolution pioneered by bisin and verdier 2001 the model developed endogenously accounts for social capital and explores its role in the process of economic development it captures in a simple formal way the interaction between social capital and the economy s productive processes the results obtained caution against rapid reform and provide an explanation for why late developing countries may not easily be able to transplant the modes of production that have proved useful in the west

inequality and trust in sweden some inequalities are more harmful than others we present new evidence on the influence of income inequality on generalized trust using individual panel data from swedish counties together with an instrumental variable strategy we find that differences in disposable income and especially differences among people in the bottom half of the income distribution are associated with lower trust the relationship between income inequality and trust is particularly strong for people with a strong aversion against income differentials we also find that the proportion of people born in a foreign country is negatively associated with trust

comparison of renewable energy policy evolution among the brics abstract renewable energy policy evolution of the brics is analyzed and assessed quantitatively based on the bai and perron s structure breaks test results indicate no break for time series of renewable production in russia while series of renewable production and consumption are characterized as segmented trend stationary processes around one or two structural breaks in brazil india and china renewable policies in brazil and china have long term positive effects on renewable energy production and consumption improving the two variables growth rate the time series structure change of indian renewable energy production is complicated and the long term impact of energy policies on renewable production is contradictory at the two breakpoints russian renewable policies are not working reducing renewable energy consumption growth in the long term empirical analysis suggests policy implications that china should mandate the promotion of renewable energy develop biomass energy on the base of comparative advantage and enhance renewable energy industry chain integration

unwilling or unable to cheat evidence from a tax audit experiment in denmark this paper analyzes a tax enforcement field experiment in denmark in the base year a stratified and representative sample of over 40 000 individual income tax filers was selected for the experiment half of the tax filers were randomly selected to be thoroughly audited while the rest were deliberately not audited the following year threat of audit letters were randomly assigned and sent to tax filers in both groups we present three main empirical findings first using baseline audit data we find that the tax evasion rate is close to zero for income subject to third party reporting but substantial for self reported income since most income is subject to third party reporting the overall evasion rate is modest second using quasi experimental variation created by large kinks in the income tax schedule we find that marginal tax rates have a positive impact on tax evasion for self reported income but that this effect is small in comparison to legal avoidance and behavioral responses third using the randomization of enforcement we find that prior audits and threat of audit letters have significant effects on self reported income but no effect on third party reported income all these empirical results can be explained by extending the standard model of rational tax evasion to allow for the key distinction between self reported and third party reported income

a review of renewable energy investment in the brics countries history models problems and solutions abstract this paper reviews the history of renewable energy development in the brics countries the financing models for renewable energy development of brics countries include bank financing institutional loans industry funds and international financing this paper identified several problems with financing in brics countries including a lack of financing channels investment shortage for small and medium sized enterprises and imperfect government policies the solutions to these problems include expanded capital markets the financing of leasing services and build operate transfer and build own operate projects further a financial citizen participation model should be employed similar to that as germany and european union emissions trading system eu ets a financial citizen participation model means that legal entities private individuals and agricultural enterprises invest in renewable energy infrastructure through equity a regional reserve ratio monetary policy is suggested to allow regions to develop renewable energy

renewable energy in russia markets development and technology transfer abstract five potential markets in russia offer commercial opportunities for renewable energy that are nearly cost competitive with conventional forms of energy grid connected electricity from wind power electricity for villages and small settlements from hybrid wind diesel and biomass district heating for buildings from biomass hot water for buildings from solar thermal and electricity and heat from geothermal over the last several decades the soviet union conducted research and development on several forms of renewable energy technological infrastructure scientific and technical knowledge engineering and technical skills and factories and equipment are all well developed assets but the translation of these assets into commercial renewable energy technologies and markets is a problem because associated market oriented skills and institutions are still lacking many barriers also exist including lack of information and demonstration experience lack of long term commercial financing a perceived climate of high investment risk technology acceptance some direct and indirect energy price subsidies most energy prices have risen to market levels utility monopolies and the absence of operational regulatory frameworks for independent power producers and historical enterprise specialization market intermediation is very important for renewable energy investments and technology transfer providing the knowledge information skills services financing and analysis that is necessary to overcome barriers joint ventures with foreign multinational corporations represent another important means for overcoming barriers one that takes advantage of russian technological capabilities four case studies illustrate the most prominent examples of renewable energy technology transfer with russia ukraine and the baltic states during the period 1992 1996

renewables and the privatization of the uk esi a case study abstract the privatization of the uk electricity supply industry esi was expected to be likely to improve the commercial prospects of at least some renewable energy technologies especially given the introduction in parallel of a protected market cross subsidy for renewables via the non fossil fuel obligation although some projects have benefited from the new arrangements this paper suggests that on balance the institutional and strategic uncertainties and the tight contract conditions imposed had a negative impact at least initially alternative more interventionist support policies are discussed drawing on examples from the usa and denmark

historic paths and future expectations the macroeconomic impacts of the offshore wind technologies in the uk abstract offshore wind power osw plays a key role within the uk strategy for a transition towards a low carbon economy offering vast potential for establishing a high tech manufacturing industry previous experiences in the onshore sector owp suggest the uk might fail in fully capturing these macroeconomic benefits in this work we investigate the history of uk renewable policies comparing its national strategy to those of other major osw export countries through the use of a numerical general equilibrium model we quantify the macroeconomic impacts under three scenarios a baseline which relies on previous estimates and foresee limited local content a contamination scenario where the uk content reaches the same levels of owp and a non myopic scenario where investors expect governmental support to decrease or disappear replicating a common path of past renewable policies we identify the uk as a fdi oriented country our results suggest that increasing the share of locally sourced capital goods in osp to owp level could generate larger income and employment effects in the uk economy we find that under forward looking investors the economic benefits are significantly lower than the case of myopic agents our results show an inherent conflict with stated purposes of uk policy for osw

is economics useful for public policy economists have always played an important role in major public policy debates even so i believe that the role of economists in these public policy discussions has often been misguided because it has typically relied upon best practices stated in the form of general guidelines or even universal principles however best practices are not best if the specific situation does not conform with the assumptions that underlie the advice so my first conclusion is a cautionary and negative one specific circumstances differ so profoundly across individuals firms markets countries and time that most any attempt to define best practices that apply in all circumstances will lead to profoundly misleading public policy recommendations however even if economics cannot identify the truth it can often identify a truth so my second conclusion is a more positive one economists should continue to develop multiple theories that inform public policies but we should also focus our efforts on identifying and testing the critical assumptions that drive the results of these theories recognizing that the validity of any assumptions will depend intimately on specific circumstances i illustrate these two main conclusions with specific examples from my own work i conclude with some best practices recommendations of my own recognizing the obvious irony of such an effort

outreach sustainability and leverage in monitored and peer monitored lending abstract i study the contract design problem facing microfinance lending organizations mfos that want to maximize the impact and outreach of their lending activities to a target population of poor borrowers while remaining financially sustainable tradeoffs between outreach sustainability and financial leverage are shaped by the endogenous monitoring and delegation costs that arise within a chain of agency relationships subject to moral hazard between borrowers loan staff mfo equity owners and outside investors all else equal sustainable mfos that target poorer borrowers must charge higher interest rates have higher staff costs per dollar loaned and are less leveraged analysis of data for 72 mfos tends to support the findings

prospects for jatropha biofuels in tanzania an analysis with strategic niche management the paper reports on research in tanzania about the scope for developing biofuels from an oil seed bearing plant called jatropha curcas linnaeus the plant is widely seen to have potential to help combat the greenhouse effect help to stop local soil erosion create additional income for the rural poor and provide a major source of energy both locally and internationally the principal analytic tool is strategic niche management snm an approach rooted in evolutionary innovation theory we analyse how the scope for an energy transition is influenced by factors at three societal levels the overarching landscape the sectoral setting or regime and the niche level where the innovation develops and diffuses valuable niche processes were found in a few areas especially in cultivation but we conclude that there are still many obstacles in tanzania s prevailing energy regime the development of jatropha biofuels is still in an early phase we list policy recommendations and discuss some methodological issues arising from the use of snm

how to promote clusters policy experiences from latin america abstract in this paper we propose to differentiate between three types of clusters when it comes to formulating cluster oriented policies in latin america survival clusters of micro and small scale enterprises owe their existence more to unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and less to entrepreneurial competence and dynamism their competitive potential is limited support measures should mainly aim at improving the conditions for survival since these clusters are important in creating employment opportunities the impetus should be to break through the low skills low investment vicious circle more advanced and differentiated mass producers have been flourishing in the import substitution era but are coming under enormous pressure with the transition to open economies in these clusters the main challenge is to create an environment that stimulates and supports learning innovation and constant upgrading clusters of transnational corporations are typically dominated by foreign firms not only at the final assembly stage but also in parts production these clusters often are showcases of best practice manufacturing this can be used to stimulate the upgrading of domestic firms notably by involving them in the supply chain of transnationals

lessons from first generation biofuels and implications for the sustainability appraisal of second generation biofuels the emergence of second generation 2g biofuels is widely seen as a sustainable response to the increasing controversy surrounding the first generation 1g yet sustainability credentials of 2g biofuels are also being questioned drawing on work in science and technology studies we argue that controversies help focus attention on key often value related questions that need to be posed to address broader societal concerns this paper examines lessons drawn from the 1g controversy to assess implications for the sustainability appraisal of 2g biofuels we present an overview of key 1g sustainability challenges assess their relevance for 2g and highlight the challenges for policy in managing the transition we address limitations of existing sustainability assessments by exploring where challenges might emerge across the whole system of bioenergy and the wider context of the social system in which bioenergy research and policy are done key lessons arising from 1g are potentially relevant to the sustainability appraisal of 2g biofuels depending on the particular circumstances or conditions under which 2g is introduced we conclude that sustainability challenges commonly categorised as either economic environmental or social are in reality more complexly interconnected so that an artificial separation of these categories is problematic

policy measures to promote the widespread utilization of renewable energy technologies for electricity generation in the maldives abstract this study adopts a stakeholder based approach to understand the size and nature of the market and financial barriers to the widespread utilization of renewable energy technologies rets in the maldives in light of these barriers and the interests of relevant stakeholders this study evaluates different policy options in terms of their suitability to develop a domestic market for rets in the maldives evaluating the different policy instruments it was found that pricing laws that regulate market access are more suitable than quota systems provided that the current subsidies for conventional energy are removed or shifted towards rets as for the other financial incentives rebates on investments and low interest loans should be provided to ret project developers to overcome the high initial project costs in addition to these measures the limited institutional capacity suggests that policy support should also focus on enabling the steady development of regional institutions rather than on supporting individual ret projects these institutions should enable islands in each atoll to take advantage of efficient management and access to financial capital this will allow the development of sustained renewable energy projects that in turn will result in increased renewable capacity and decreased costs

the cinderella options a study of modernized renewable energy technologies part 1 a technical assessment abstract this paper examines the status of and prospects for renewable energy technologies it is argued that the prospects for obtaining large scale supplies are good especially in the industrialized countries and that sufficient evidence exists for them to be taken much more seriously in the energy policy process reasons for their low status include inadequate data and a scepticism born of past disappointments however a failure to transfer existing knowledge to the policy community and well documented institutional and psychological processes are probably more important a major change of attitudes is required and is in the long run inevitable but the process will not be easy together with energy efficiency and natural gas renewable sources will then emerge as the third leg of the triad which will lead the way out of the growing energy environmental impasse however the changes involved could either deepen or alleviate political conflicts a great deal will hinge upon the timing and path of the changes

governance and legitimacy aspects of the uk biofuel carbon and sustainability reporting system biofuel policy has become highly contentious in europe in this paper we discuss the governance and legitimacy aspects of the carbon and sustainability system of the uk renewable transport fuel obligation rtfo both before and after implementation of the renewable energy directive rtfo certification is of a meta type being built upon existing certification and labelling schemes each of which are more or less contested by ngos despite the rtfo being based on these non state initiatives so far the concerns of environment and development ngos and others have not been given serious expression in regulatory terms indeed biofuel policy development in the uk has arguably been unduly non responsive to critical opinion given the limited scientific base on biofuel impacts and the reliance of rtfo sustainability certification on non state actors and schemes drawing on documentary evidence interviews and three sets of literatures co production of regulation post normal science and legitimacy of non state certification and labelling processes we suggest that until concerned voices are given a stronger expression in uk and ec biofuel policy development the policy cannot yet be said to have achieved a wide social mandate

searching for ghosts who are the nonfilers and how much tax do they owe this paper is about ghosts individuals who fail to comply with their income tax filing requirements as their name suggests the identities and characteristics of these individuals are shrouded in mystery in this paper we attempt to de mystify the issues surrounding ghosts and examine their role in the compliance process we begin by extending a standard model of tax evasion to account for the existence of ghosts we then examine the empirical significance and policy relevance of our extension using a unique data set containing detailed tax and audit information for both filers and nonfilers of u s federal income tax returns 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

managing credit for the rural poor lessons from the grameen bank abstract this paper based on a detailed study of the grameen bank in bangladesh suggests that the credit policies of the bank do not constitute a sufficient explanation for the bank s success and that its acclaimed policy of replacing individual collateral with group guarantee is in fact not practiced the paper presents an alternate explanation for the success of the grameen bank in addition it explains how the grameen bank has been able to overcome typical problems of implementing development programs by sustaining good performance from its large work force and keeping to a minimum the tendency of a few target beneficiaries to corner program benefits and flout organizational norms for their personal benefit

tax evasion and social interactions the paper extends the standard tax evasion model by allowing for social interactions in manski s manski c f 1993 identification of endogenous social effects the reflection problem review of economic studies 60 3 531 542 nomenclature our model takes into account endogenous interactions i e social conformity effects exogenous interactions i e fairness effects and correlated effects our model is tested using experimental data participants must decide how much income to report given individual and group tax rates and audit probabilities and given a feedback on the other members reporting behavior myopic and self consistent expectations are considered in the analysis in the latter case the estimation is based on a two limit simultaneous tobit with fixed group effects a unique social equilibrium exists when the model satisfies coherency conditions in line with brock and durlauf brock w a durlauf s n 2001b interactions based models in j heckman and e leamer eds handbook of econometrics 5 elsevier science b v 3297 380 the intrinsic nonlinearity between individual and group responses helps identify the model our results provide evidence of fairness effects but reject social conformity

innovation in rural finance indonesia s badan kredit kecamatan program abstract donor agencies and governments are committing increasing resources to microenterprise credit programs much as they earlier funded rural credit yet few programs embody the lessons from this earlier experience central java s badan kredit kecamatan program shows considerable promise in providing the access convenience and flexibility desired by poor borrowers while assuring the financial viability of the credit institution by minimizing administrative costs and imposing interest rates sufficient to cover costs and prevent capital erosion recent progress has also been made in mobilizing voluntary savings strong political support from the government has been crucial to the program s success

biofuel v fossil fuel economics in developing countries how green is the pasture abstract as relative fuel prices change the attractiveness of biofuels and fossil fuels to different sectors of the economy alters significantly given the volatility of oil prices and the subsequent intense attention to biofuel technologies over the previous decade in developing countries many questions still remain regarding actual financial and economic performance of these fuels this paper explores sectoral differences between biofuel and fossil fuels with regard to production costs economies of scale subsidies and other economic incentives in developing countries

middle income classes and food crises the new food feed competition famine was averted the novelty was that a 3 shortfall in grain production led to a 250 price increase this specific manifestation of the food crisis was the result of the congruence of an old force population pressure with new ones the income explosion and income inequality in a world in which the economic distance between the rich and the poor grows ever greater even minor food shortages are likely to assume major proportions the agricultural price instability that will ensue represents a major threat to the food security of less developed countries examination of the ingredients of modern food crises can help explain some of the new ramifications of the age old problem of world hunger the three elements that are reflected in the food demand situation are population incomes and prices to avoid needless complexity i will reserve my examination of prices to the end population and incomes deserve more detailed analysis