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This paper investigates the efficiency in the Swedish pulp and paper industry using national account data. By using a directional distance function approach we are able to investigate different aspects of efficiency relating to the direction of scaling. In the first analysis, desired output (pulp and paper) and undesired output (pollution) are considered equally important. This analysis shows that there is a 12% potential to simultaneously reduce pollution and increase the production of pulp and paper. In the second analysis, only undesired output is considered. The analysis shows an average potential reduction in pollution of 22%. If, on the other hand, this potential is computed in terms of desired output, keeping undesired output constant, the average potential increase in desired output is 14%. In a fourth analysis we discuss the potential to evaluate the costs of environmental regulations using the DEA methodology. Finally, our paper demonstrates that data from national accounts can be used to investigate different aspects of environmental efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global energy security is a growing worldwide concern in the presence of high economic policy uncertainty (EPU) that can be addressed by advancing sustainable energy diversification (ED) practices. Energy security can be estimated by combining ED and EPU indices; hence, this study uses a dataset covering three continents and 26 countries from 1995 to 2023 to measure energy security employing this approach. The study employs quantile regression and panel data analysis, finding a positive relationship between EPU and ED. The results reveal that when EPU increases, the spectrum of energy sources declines, negatively impacting energy security. Other factors of globalization, Gross Domestic Product, gross capital formation, and the labor force also have an impact on the spectrum of energy sources. To obtain a sustainable level of ED, policymakers should increase investment in gross capital formation because economic growth and openness via pro-global policies have less impact on ED. This study also demonstrates that labor capital shifts have a significant effect on ED. The quantitative results reveal the importance of clear and precise economic policies for increasing investment in carbon-free energy security. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Japan and the United States fit into each other’s grand strategies? A grand strategy is one that relates means and ends, resources and objectives, economics and national security. The National Security Archive’s Project on U.S.–Japanese Relations Since 1960 is probing these issues through a major program of research and study into policymaking by both governments across a wide spectrum of diplomatic, security, and economic issues. This project has brought together scholars and officials (see Appendix) from both countries to discuss new studies, based on newly released official U.S. documents and interviews with former officials, that shed light on the policymaking and implementation processes in both governments.This essay provides an interim report on the project, which is based on a series of four conferences. The first conference, held in March 1996 and co-hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution, focused on key turning points in U.S.–Japanese relations during the Nixon/Ford–Sato/Tanaka period. The second, held in La Jolla, California, in March 1997 and cosponsored by the National Security Archive and the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, focused on background studies and detailed policy case studies from the post-Nixon era. The third will take place in August 1998 at the East–West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The capstone conference will be held in Japan in 1999. The participants of an informal policy roundtable (see Appendix), which followed the project’s second conference, included officials from both governments who discussed the full range of security, economic, and diplomatic issues addressed by the Research Fellows and fulfilled the objective of promoting dialogue

In this article, Maryland's non-legal-tender paper money emissions between 1765 and 1775 are reconstructed to determine quantities outstanding and redemption dates, providing a substantial correction to the literature. Over 80 per cent of this paper money's current market value was expected real asset present value and under 20 per cent was liquidity premium. It was primarily a real barter asset and not a fiat currency. The liquidity premium was positively related to the amount of paper money per capita in circulation. This paper money traded below face value due to time-discounting, rather than depreciation. Past scholars have simply confused depreciation with time-discounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The action required to stem the environmental and social implications of climate change depends crucially on how humankind shapes technology, economy, lifestyle and policy. With transport CO2 emissions accounting for about a quarter of the total, we examine the contribution of CO2 output by scientific travel. Thankfully for the reputation of the scientific community, CO2 emissions associated with the trips required to present a paper at a scientific conference account for just 0.003% of the yearly total. However, with CO2 emissions for a single conference trip amounting to 7% of an average individual’s total CO2 emissions, scientists should lead by example by demonstrating leadership in addressing the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]