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Most evidence for the resource curse comes from cross-country growth regressions suffers from a bias originating from the high and ever-evolving volatility in commodity prices. This paper addresses these issues by providing new cross-country empirical evidence for the effect of resources in income per capita. Natural resource dependence (resource exports) has a significant negative effect on income per capita, especially in countries with bad rule of law or bad policies, but these results weaken substantially once we allow for endogeneity. However, the more exogenous measure of resource abundance (stock of natural capital) has a significant negative effect on income per capita even after controlling for geography, rule of law and de facto or de jure trade openness. Furthermore, this effect is more severe for countries that have little de jure trade openness. These results are robust to using alternative measures of institutional quality (expropriation and corruption instead of rule of law).

We study the optimal oil extraction strategy and the value of an oil field using a multiple real option approach. The numerical method is flexible enough to solve a model with several state variables, to discuss the effect of risk aversion, and to take into account uncertainty in the size of reserves. Optimal extraction in the baseline model is found to be volatile. If the oil producer is risk averse, production is more stable, but spare capacity is much higher than what is typically observed. We show that decisions are very sensitive to expectations on the equilibrium oil price using a mean reverting model of the oil price where the equilibrium price is also a random variable. Oil production was cut during the 2008–2009 crisis, and we find that the cut in production was larger for OPEC, for countries facing a lower discount rate, as predicted by the model, and for countries whose governments’ finances are less dependent on oil revenues. However, the net present value of a country’s oil reserves would be increased significantly (by 100 percent, in the most extreme case) if production was cut completely when prices fall below the country's threshold price. If several producers were to adopt such strategies, world oil prices would be higher but more stable.

The paper proves the existence of equilibrium in nonrenewable resource markets when extraction costs are non-convex and resource storage is possible. Inventories flatten the consumption path and eliminate price jumps at the end of the extraction period. Market equilibrium becomes then possible, contradicting previous claims from Eswaran, Lewis and Heaps (1983). We distinguish between two types of solutions, one with immediate and one with delayed build-up of inventories. For both cases we do not only characterize potential optimal paths but also show that equilibria actually exist under fairly general conditions. It is found that optimum resource extraction involves increasing quantities over a period of time. What is generally interpreted as an indicator of increasing resource abundance is thus perfectly compatible with constant resource stocks., Economics Working Paper Series, 14/203

This paper deals with three aspects of spectacular oil price episodes such as the one witnessed in 2008. First, the concept of temporary explosiveness is proposed as an empirical method for capturing this type of behavior. The application of a recently proposed recursive unit root test shows that phases of explosive behavior occurred in 1990/1991, 2005/2006, and 2007/2008. Second, the underlying causes of the observed behavior are discussed. The prevailing opinion in the literature is that fundamental factors are the main explanation for the 2007/2008 oil price hike, but that in 1990/1991, speculative demand shocks also played a role. Third, it is shown that temporary oil price hikes influence economic decisions that are based on oil price information. For this purpose, a real options model on the oil field development decision is reconsidered. The mechanism behind this is an increase in the profitability of the oil field development project. In sum, the key contributions of this paper are to highlight a new empirical feature in oil prices and to show that economic effects of speculative demand shocks can emerge that to date appear to have been overlooked.

A conservation good, such as the rainforest, is a hostage: it is possessed by S who may prefer to consume it, but B receives a larger value from continued conservation. A range of prices would make trade mutually beneficial. So, why doesn't B purchase conservation, or the forest, from S? If this were an equilibrium, S would never consume, anticipating a higher price at the next stage. Anticipating this, B prefers to deviate and not pay. The Markov-perfect equilibria are in mixed strategies, implying that the good is consumed (or the forest is cut) at a positive rate. If conservation is more valuable, it is less likely to occur. If there are several interested buyers, cutting increases. If S sets the price and players are patient, the forest disappears with probability one. A rental market has similar properties. By comparison, a rental market dominates a sale market if the value of conservation is low, the consumption value high, and if remote protection is costly. Thus, the theory can explain why optimal conservation does not always occur and why conservation abroad is rented, while domestic conservation is bought.

This research considers the relationship between energy consumption and foreign direct investment (FDI) for the period 1990-2011. As econometric strategy, we use unit root test and panel data. The empirical results illustrate that the income per capita and political globalization present a positive impact on energy consumption. The selected components of globalization (cultural, social and political) show that these variables promote Portuguese foreign direct investment. The econometric models also considered two control variables, trade openness and exchange rate. These proxies are positively correlated with FDI. The variables of income per capita and the squared income per capita validate the environmental Kuznets curve assumptions. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Recent advances in drilling technology have led to profitable extraction of natural gas from shale gas formations. Shale gas has changed the economics of natural gas production in US as the sudden increase in supply has resulted in significantly lower gas prices. Starting 2008, the difference between gas prices in the United States and Europe has widened, with European gas prices even three times higher as compared to US ones. In North America, coal has been replaced by gas in the US electricity generating sector due to the sharp decrease of gas prices. Furthermore, coal reserves were partly exported to the EU, which has led to a decrease in prices in the EU and a replacement of gas by coal in the EU electricity sector. However, the effect cannot be entirely attributed to shale gas revolution, as other factors contributed such as minimum historical prices for carbon emission allowances in recent years and a decreasing consumption due to economic recession. The success of shale gas in the US has prompted companies and governments to assess the possibilities of replicating the shale gas production in Europe.

This paper considers economists’ treatment of problems related to the environment prior to the establishment of environmental economics as a separate field in the 1960s. In discussing the literature from the late 18th century onwards, it looks on the one hand for awareness in the work of the early economists of the effects of economic activity on the natural and social environment and of the feedback from the environment to the economy. On the other hand, it describes how economic theory developed in a way which made it increasingly relevant for the study of environmental issues and the design of economic policy.

In der Diskussion um die Nachhaltigkeit hat das Naturkapital von jeher eine besondere Rolle gespielt, allerdings bleibt die Abgrenzung dessen, was dem Naturkapital eigentlich zugerechnet wird und wie sein Wert gemessen werden kann, schwierig.

The investment in the Romanian food sector represents an opportunity for foreign companies due to the available natural resources, to the large number of consumers or to Romania’s European status. Agriculture, food processing and marketing are characterized by different percentages of foreign investment. Romanian agriculture is characterized by a continuous foreign capital infusion. The recent farmland purchase liberalization will constitute a supplementary motivation for foreign investors. The article proposes a short assessment of foreign investment in the local food retail sector and it highlights the main points of interest for foreign investment. The materials used were: statistical data, information from national and European databases, official statements made by community and national bodies, articles and scientific papers, specialized media information.

This chapter explores details behind the phenomenal increase in global crude oil production over the last century and a half and the implications if that trend should be reversed. I document that a key feature of the growth in production has been exploitation of new geographic areas rather than application of better technology to existing sources, and suggest that the end of that era could come soon. The economic dislocations that historically followed temporary oil supply disruptions are reviewed, and the possible implications of that experience for what the transition era could look like are explored.

The aim of this study is to investigate the long and the short-run relationships between disaggregate energy consumption (i.e. alternative and nuclear, fossil and renewable) and total factor productivity growth in the Turkish economy for the period 1970-2011. To this end, ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration and the Dolado and Lütkepohl’s Granger causality analyses were employed. Results showed that disaggregate energy consumption is cointegrated to total factor productivity growth and there exists bi-directional causal relationships among the variables in consideration. Besides, findings revealed that the share of renewable energy consumption in total energy consumption is the only energy type which positively affects total factor productivity growth in the Turkish economy. This result implies that an improvement in the share of renewable energy consumption in total energy consumption is crucial for economic efficiency.

Cieľom tohto článku je analýza energetickej bezpečnosti z pohľadu rôznych koncepcií a prístupov. Na základe kvalitatívnej analýzy dostupných zdrojov, vedeckých a odborných prác poskytujeme ucelený prehľad o kľúčových hodnotových prvkoch energetickej bezpečnosti na začiatku 21. storočia. Vymedzením tejto problematiky ako multifaktorovej veličiny sa snažíme dokázať, že energetická bezpečnosť predstavuje samostatný analytický rámec v rámci bezpečnostných štúdií.

The world market in 2012 was characterized by the persistence of high global oil and natural gas prices. The average price of Russian Urals crude oil on the European market, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to $ 110.3 per barrel, and that of Russian natural gas – to $ 418,2 per 1,000 m?, which translated into high profits of Russian oil and gas companies and considerable revenues of the state budget. Oil production in Russia in 2012 will amount to approximately 516m tons, which is the historic high of the last twenty-two years. Some additional tax measures designed to stimulate the development of new hydrocarbon deposits have been introduced.

Mankind has always relied on resources. The mineral resources represent an important part of the resources required by the society. But mining has its own specificities, not only from technical point of view, but from economic point of view, tool. Therefore, we consider that calculating the success rate is on special significance in the context of exploiting natural resources.

The main purpose of this paper is to review the evolution of OPEC models and to link this evolution to some key events in the oil market. Our main conclusion is that OPEC’s pricing power varies over time. There are many instances in which OPEC can lose the power to limit oil price movements – either up or down. Such changes in pricing power are brought about by market conditions and can occur both in weak and tight market conditions. Because of OPEC’s varying conduct, there is no single model that fits its behaviour and hence analysts have been forced to choose from a wide range of models to explain certain episodes. The empirical literature has not been successful in distinguishing between the various competing models, as these models offer very similar predictions. This paper is forthcoming in the Annual Review of Resource Economics.

The optimal management of a non-renewable resource extraction project is studied when input and output prices follow correlated stochastic processes. The decision problem is specified by two Bellman equations describing the project when it is currently operating or mothballed. Solutions are determined numerically using the Least Squares Monte Carlo methodology. The analysis is applied to an oil sands project which uses natural gas during extracting and upgrading. The paper takes into account the co-movement between crude oil and natural gas prices and proposes two price models: one incorporates a long-run link between the two while the other has no such link. Incorporating a long-run relationship between oil and natural gas prices has a significant effect on the value of the project and its optimal operation and reduces the sensitivity of the project to the natural gas price process.

ACL-1; International audience; When cheap fossil energy is polluting and pollutant no longer absorbed beyond a certain concentration, there is a moment when the introduction of a cleaner renewable energy, although onerous, is optimal with respect to inter-temporal utility. The cleaner technology is adopted either instantaneously or gradually at a controlled rate. The problem of optimum under viability constraints is 6-dimensional under a continuous-discrete dynamic controlled by energy consumption and investment into production of renewable energy. Viable optima are obtained either with gradual or with instantaneous adoption. A longer time horizon increases the probability of adoption of renewable energy and the time for starting this adoption. It also increases maximal utility and the probability to cross the threshold of irreversible pollution. Exploiting a renewable energy starts sooner when adoption is gradual rather than instantaneous. The shorter the period remaining after adoption until the time horizon, the higher the investment into renewable energy.

The main objective of this study was to identify the critical factors that affecting the implementation of environmental management systems (EMSs) of manufacturing SMEs in Sri Lanka. Out of twelve factors, management commitment, professional expertise, financial resources, stakeholders and environmental information are identified as key factors. Based on the survey results, it is proposed that the government should play an important role in promoting environmental management in SMEs. It is necessary for the government to provide active support in the aspects including mandatory policy, encouraging policy and supporting policy. &nbsp

Since the beginning of 2012, the situation in the oil and gas sector has been characterized by the persistence of high global oil and natural gas prices. According to preliminary estimates, the average price of Brent crude oil in January-September 2012 amounted to $ 112.4 per barrel, which translated into high profits of Russian oil and gas companies and considerable revenues of the state budget. Oil production and petroleum products exports have significantly increased. Russia’s authorities are planning to introduce additional tax measures designed to stimulate the development of new oil fields. At the same time, the tax burden on the gas sector is expected to be increased in order to enhance the capture of natural gas rent and to augment the revenues of the state budget.

Tourism, in its development, uses fragmentary, funds and natural constituents.Through its systematic approach, tourism can pollute, damage or devastate the environment. In this context responsible tourism comes as a viable solution that tries to have a minimal impact on the environment and local culture. All these have emerged as a result of the tourism industry, being quite difficult to control them in the case of a continuous trade flow. Responsible tourism offers a completely different system that aims to mobilize and educate people about the importance of environmental systems and leads us to focus on a truly significant change.

The process of developing a brand identity represent the first step in promoting Danube Delta like a destination dedicated to responsible tourism activities. In this paper the creation of this brand protype represents the stage of a creative marketing exercise. Danube Delta is considered a marketable product: it has tangible and intangible attributes, and is offering a series of emotional and rational benefits to the tourists.

Cultural tourism plays and important role in shaping the environment to meet the needs of consumers. The growth of cultural consumption (of art, fashion, music, history etc.) and the industries that cater to it has fuelled the "symbolic economy" of cities. Today, the attractiveness of a city becomes based, both on physical, tangible assets, and a series of experiences built around thouse assets, generally extending to the "living culture" and the local atmosphere. This paper focuses on the role of cultural tourism in the socio - economic development of urban areas, with some emphasis on marketing priciples and practices.

Tourism is considered a rapidly growing phenomenon and it has become one of the largest industries in the world and its impact is extremely varied. This paper presents the many aspects of responsible tourism considering the importance of this approach for the economic and social development

Wildlife - watching tourism from Romania starts to become more popular among foreign tourists, who want to see the large carnivores from Carpathians or the rare birds of the Danube Delta. The high biodiversity and the untouched habitats from these "sensitive" areas, makes the impact of the tourism to be more stronger, so it is required a sustainable management of this type of ecoturism. In order to have a healthy management of this tourism type, it is necessary to understand the behavior of species, habitat requirements of species and area limits where tourists can interract with certain species, so that neither species and nor tourists does not suffer.

The paper compares the effects of market-based and command-and-control climate policies on the direction of technical change and the prevention of environmental disasters. Drawing on the model proposed in Acemoglu et al. (2012, American Economic Review), we show that market-based policies (carbon taxes and subsidies towards clean sectors) exhibit bounded window of opportunities: delays in their implementation make them completely ine‚ective both in redirecting technical change and in avoiding environmental catastrophes. On the contrary, we find that command-and-control interventions guarantee policy ef‚effectiveness irrespectively on the timing of their introduction. As command-and-control policies are always able to direct technical change toward “green” technologies and to prevent climate disasters, they constitute a valuable alternative to market-based interventions.

In this paper we revisit the Dutch disease paying particular attention to the role of specific factors of production and capital stock dynamics. The main insight is that if the natural resource rich windfall is substantial but not large enough for the country to become a rentier, capital goods must be produced at home and adjustment to natural resource windfall takes time. It takes time to build this home-grown capital. Specific factors are crucial to explain the dynamic responses of the real exchange rate, capital intensities and wages in response to a natural resource windfall. If a country is small and the windfall is large, it may be able to import capital and migrant labour in which case the Dutch disease can be avoided.

Strom als eine in Deutschland besonders CO2-intensive Energieform spielt beim Klimaschutz eine herausragende Rolle. Im Jahr 2009 war die Stromerzeugung für fast die Hälfte der deutschen CO2-Emissionen des Energiebereichs verantwortlich. Die Erzeugung von Energie basiert nach wie vor in allen Bereichen im Wesentlichen auf dem Einsatz fossiler Rohstoffe, im Strombereich in Deutschland vorzugsweise auf Kohle. Für den Stromsektor sind technologische Alternativen bereits vorhanden oder befinden sich in der fortgeschrittenen Entwicklungsphase. Martin Faulstich, Michael Weber, Christian Hey, Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen, und Matthias Herms, Technische Universität München, zeigen die zwei aus Sicht des Sachverständigenrats für Umweltfragen möglichen Lösungsansätze zur Erreichung einer dekarbonisierten Stromerzeugung auf: die Steigerung der Energieeffizienz und den Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien. Die Reduzierung der Stromnachfrage durch Steigerung der Effizienz sei zunächst eine entscheidende Voraussetzung für die Transformation der Stromerzeugung. Viele Möglichkeiten, Energie zu sparen, seien zudem kostengünstig und relativ einfach umzusetzen. Andererseits sei die Nutzung der erneuerbaren Energien die einzig nachhaltige Form der Stromerzeugung. Die zu bewerkstelligende hundertprozentige Umstellung sei jedoch so grundlegend struktureller Natur, dass ihre Umsetzung staatliche Eingriffe in den Energiemarkt benötige.

Der beschlossene Ausstieg aus der Kernenergie und die ehrgeizigen Klima-schutzziele erfordern einen Umbau des Stromerzeugungssystems in Deutschland. Rainer Friedrich, Universität Stuttgart, geht der Frage nach, welche Stromerzeugungstechniken in einem zukünftigen Stromerzeugungssystem eingesetzt werden sollten, wobei nicht nur die Stromerzeugungskosten, sondern auch externe Effekte mit zu berücksichtigen sind. Seiner Ansicht nach sind Laufwasser, gefolgt von Braunkohle, Wind, evtl. Wellenenergie und Steinkohle, die Optionen mit den niedrigsten sozialen Kosten. Aber da das Potenzial von Wind und Laufwasser begrenzt sei, Wind und Wellenenergie Reserve- oder Speicherkapazität benötigen und On-shore-Windkraft nicht überall akzeptiert sei, erweist sich vor allem Braunkohle als günstig.

gienachfrage bei und verursachen damit 57% der anthropogenen Treibhausgasemissionen. Eine Abkehr von der fossilen Energie ist nicht in Sicht. Im Gegenteil, die weltweite Abhängigkeit von fossilen Energieträgern nahm in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten enorm zu, und dieser Trend wird voraussichtlich auch weiter anhalten. Sollte der schwere Atomunfall in Japan weltweit ein grundlegendes Umdenken im Hinblick auf die Bewertung der Atomkraft bewirken, kann dies sogar zu einer verstärkten Hinwendung zu fossilen Energiequellen führen. In dieser Situation erscheint die Idee, den Einsatz fossiler Brennstoffe klimaneutral gestalten zu können, nur allzu bestechend. Eine Technologie, die dies ermöglichen soll – die sog. Kohlenstoffsequestrierung (Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS) –, wird weltweit bereits seit geraumer Zeit erprobt. In diesem Beitrag werden die technologischen Möglichkeiten und ihr jeweiliger Entwicklungsstand näher erläutert.

According to the European Commission decision N 239/2007 the Romanian coal industry will receive state aid by the end of 2010. After this period public companies in this sector will finance the costs of current production and investment entirely by their revenue. This article presents a short literature review regarding the subsidization of coal industry, shows the evolution of the mining industry in Romania so far, and identifies opportunities for continuing coal production after December 31, 2010 without state aid. The paper concludes that the abolition of subsides in is a positive measure but it must be taken gradually and responsibly, in order to ameliorate the negative effects on social end natural environment.

Most of the people have an idea of what renewable energy sources are and what they can offer us. The majority of people are also very aware of the impact that non-renewable energy is having on the environment. The adage reduce, reuse, recycle is commonly recited today by adults and children alike. We have started to see an increase in the reduction of waste and consumption of energy and the recycling and reuse of products we use. It is time to see an increase, however, in the use of renewable energy.

The complexity of economic life in the competition imposed by the market economy requires a continuous search and use of the most rational and efficient organizational forms and methods of managerial accounting and therefore of production cost calculation. The implementation of such method must consider both the specific of companies where it will be used and the requirements of a modern information system, able to respond at any time to the continuous pressure exerted by external factors of the company.

Der Einsatz fossiler Energieträger hängt in entscheidendem Umfang von den Kosten ihrer Bereitstellung ab. Unter diesen Kosten nehmen die Aufwendungen für die Förderung der Energierohstoffe einen wesentlichen Stellenwert ein. Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist die Bestimmung der Stückkosten der Förderung von Erdöl, Erdgas und Steinkohle aus den derzeit genutzten Lagerstätten und eine Abschätzung der Stückkosten der Gewinnung aus künftig zu erschließenden Lagerstätten.

Rund 80% der weltweiten Energienachfrage werden derzeit aus Erdöl, Kohle und Erdgas gedeckt. Der Anteil nichtfossiler Energieträger – die Summe aus erneuerbaren Energien und der Atomkraft – am Gesamtenergieverbrauch von 135 Ländern ist immer noch gering. Im Jahr 2007 deckten nur 22 Länder ihren Energiebedarf zu 20% oder mehr aus nichtfossilen Energieträgern, weitere 18 zu 10 bis 20%. Der Beitrag stellt einige Alternativen der Energieversorgung vor.

We contrast structural and reduced form empirical studies in environmental and resource economics. Both methodologies have their own context-specific advantages and disadvantages, and should be viewed as complements, not substitutes. Structural models typically require a theoretical model and explicit assumptions about structural errors in order to recover the parameters of behavioral functions. These estimates may be required to measure general equilibrium welfare effects or to simulate intricate feedback loops between natural and economic processes. However, many of the assumptions used to recover structural estimates are untestable. The goal of reduced form studies is, conversely, to recover key parameters of interest using exogenous within-sample variation with as few structural assumptions as possible—reducing reliance on these assumptions assists in establishing causality in the relationship of interest. Reduced-form studies do, however, require assumptions of their own, e.g., the (quasi) randomness of an experiment with no spillover effects on the control group.

Many of the main scientific challenges in the fields of development, environment, and resource economics have a microeconomic foundation wherein behavioral elements play a significant role. Preferences with respect to risk, time, societal others, and the environment shape the decision-making processes of individuals. Economic experiments have been extensively carried out in the lab and in the field to test the predictions of behavioral theories; some have had a particular focus on development and environmental issues. Random interventions have also proven to be an important source of information with respect to experimentation in development and policy design. This article identifies the contributions of experiments and random interventions and reflects on the value of having a productive dialogue—in connection with said experiments—with the main stakeholders regarding the problems being studied.

We review the empirical literature that extends and tests the Hotelling model of the optimal depletion of an exhaustible resource. The theory is briefly described to set the stage for the review of empirical tests and applications. Those tests can be roughly divided into two broad categories—descriptive and structural—and we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each before presenting the empirical studies of optimal extraction under conditions of exhaustibility. We also discuss some econometric pitfalls that applied researchers face when attempting to test the model.

Time and uncertainty constitute essential ingredients to many of the most challenging resource problems. With respect to the time dimension, agents are generally assumed to have a pure time preference as well as a preference for smoothing consumption over time. With respect to risk, agents are generally assumed to be Arrow-Pratt risk averse. The discounted expected utility model assumes that aversion to risk and aversion to intertemporal fluctuations coincide. This review discusses models and concepts that aim at disentangling time and risk attitude and briefly sketches a generalization of risk attitude to situations where uncertainty is not captured by unique probability measures. This paper reviews resource economic applications and relates the concepts to the debate on the social discount rate.

Este estudio se realizó en el laboratorio de Fitopatología de la Universidad de Kobe, Japón, evaluándose el efecto de dos factores físicos (superficies hidrofóbicas e hidrofílicas) y dos factores químicos (Adenosin Monofosfato cíclico (cAMP) y colagenasa) sobre la capacidad de adhesión y producción de apresorios de Magnaporthe grisea sobre superficies hidrofóbicas e hidrofílicas. En este estudio la concentración de conidias fue ajustada a 1x104 conidias/mililitro y se utilizó plástico Gelbond™ Film. Los resultados indican que sobre superficies hidrofóbicas el 78% de conidias produjeron apresorios, reduciéndose este porcentaje a cero cuando fueron colocadas sobre una superficie hidrofílica. Sin embargo, la adición de cAMP a las conidias creciendo sobre superficies hidrofílicas les restituyó la capacidad de producir apresorios hasta 69%. Cuando se aplicó colagenasa a la solución de conidias después de 6 horas de incubación su capacidad de adhesión se redujo hasta 61% en comparación con el tratamiento testigo sin colagenasa. Esta reducción fue más evidente cuando la solución de conidias se incubó por 6 horas junto con la colagenasa, reduciéndose el número de conidias adheridas a 97% en comparación con el testigo. La colagenasa también redujo la severidad de los síntomas de M. grisea en plántulas de arroz. La formación de estructuras infectivas de M. grisea se ve favorecida por superficies hidrofóbicas y la presencia de cAMP, en cambio, las superficies hidrofílicas y la colagenasa las inhiben.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/universitas.v2i1.1641

Economic theories of managing renewable resources, such as fisheries and forestry, traditionally assume that individual harvesters are perfectly rational and thus able to compute the harvesting strategy that maximizes their discounted profits. The current paper presents an alternative approach based on bounded rationality and evolutionary mechanisms. It is assumed that individual harvesters face a choice between two harvesting strategies. The evolution of the distribution of strategies in the population is modeled through a replicator dynamics equation. The latter captures the idea that strategies yielding above average profits are demanded more than strategies yielding below average profits, so that the first type ends up accounting for a larger part in the population. From a mathematical perspective, the combination of resource and evolutionary processes leads to complex dynamics. The paper presents the existence and stability conditions for each steady-state of the system and analyzes dynamic paths to the equilibrium. In addition, effects of changes in prices are analyzed. A main result of the paper is that under certain conditions both strategies can survive in the long-run.This discussion paper has resulted in a publication in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2003, 13(2), 183-200.

Zur Beurteilung der Innovationsfähigkeit eines Landes ist nicht nur seine aktuelle Position im internationalen Vergleich interessant, sondern auch die Entwicklung über längere Zeiträume hinweg. Um die mittelfristige Dynamik des deutschen Innovationssystems im internationalen Vergleich zu untersuchen, wurde ein Vergleich des Innovationsindikators für das Jahr 2007 mit dem auf derselben Bauweise basierenden Indikator für das Jahr 1995 vorgenommen. Im Jahr 2007 hat Deutschland gegenüber 1995 zwar die Niederlande und Kanada überholt und sich so um zwei Rangplätze verbessert, nimmt jedoch nach wie vor nur eine mittlere Position ein. Das Mittelfeld ist allerdings näher zusammen- und auch dichter an die Spitzengruppe herangerückt. Der weiterhin deutliche Abstand Deutschlands zur Spitzengruppe ist nicht zuletzt auf die negative Entwicklung in den beiden zentralen Subindikatoren "Bildung" und "Forschung" zurückzuführen.

Starting from the crisis on the real economy in 2008 it has been developed an intense discussion, supported by a number of declarations on the global scale, about the need for changes in the economy. A huge impact on this state of affairs was the analysis of the causes and effects of the economic downturn and the challenges of the future. As a result, some states have taken action to remedy the situation. Many of them were aimed at structural changes in production, consumption and environmental friendly investment. At the same time gained in importance the concept of "low carbon economy" and "green economy". The aim of this paper is to present the role of the state in the economy in terms of creating conditions for a green economy. The thesis of publication is: implementation of structural changes connected with creating a green economy requires the involvement of the state.

US policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions is currently driven, in part, by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which seeks a drop in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil-fueled power plants—a “downstream” approach to regulation. Here, we consider an alternative, or possibly complementary, regulatory perspective - What is the legal and economic feasibility of imposing an “upstream” CO2 charge on coal production at its extraction site? Specifically, our focus is on leased coal from federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Such a carbon charge is designed, in principle, to embody the cumulative “lifecycle” externalities from coal mining to combustion (or other “downstream” utilization). Our legal analysis concludes that BLM has the statutory and regulatory authority to impose such a charge and that it would be best to add it to the royalty rate. But a large fee that would dramatically reduce revenues could invite judicial concern. The economic case is weaker than the legal case because production on state, private, and tribal lands (60 percent of total production) would not be subject to the charge and so could ramp up in response to the economic disadvantage the charge would cause for coal on federal lands, among other reasons. Best would be a comprehensive set of charges on royalties for all fossil fuels, irrespective of ownership.

Access to electricity is vital for economic development. Developing countries around the world have made various effort to improve electrcity access. In order to improve electrcity access, the obstacles need to be properly identified. Nigeria’s electrcity access have been low for a very long time with no improvement in sight. This paper examined the obstacles hindering the improvement of electricity access in Nigeria. The obstacles identified includes; low efficiency and performance, security of fuel source for power generation, data inadequacy, regulatory barriers, lack of institutional arrangement, poor grid structure, delapidated transmission and distribution network, low financial investment, lack of policy and project continuity. A way forward was presented in order to improve electricity access in Nigeria.

The aim of this paper was conceptual analysis of the determinants of household energy choice and consumption in order to provide information on current understanding of the pattern of household energy consumption behaviour in developing countries. Data for this study was obtained from existing literatures on household energy demand and the economic impact of energy as well. The methodology heavily relied on existing previous literatures on the subject being dealt with. The paper showed that previous studies (individually) used various but limited econometric models for analysing household energy consumption behaviour which limit the scope of their analysis. Variables like; degree days, electric water heater, electric clothes dryer, dish washer, number in house, family income, age of respondents, nature of employment, municipality of residence, expenditure per capita, private water connection, age of household head, were found to be positively significant related to household energy choice and consumption. The paper concluded that, not all factors are equally important in explaining household consumption behaviour for different areas. Finally, the paper pointed out three important aspects to be covered by future studies on household energy, choice, and consumption.

Whilst most countries have drafted energy policies, the desired goals of these policies are not met. One reason may be the failure to distinguish between renewable and non-energy. The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of economic and non-economic factors on renewable and non-renewable energy demand. The Structural Time Series Model is applied to renewable studies for the first time. The findings indicate that productivity growth and income are the major drivers of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in Ghana. It is recommended that there should be more investments in productivity to help control non-renewable energy demand.

Australia has sustained a relatively high economic growth rate since the 1980s compared to other developed countries. Per capita CO2 emissions tend to be highest amongst OECD countries, creating new challenges to cut back emissions toward international standards. This study explores the dynamics of economic growth, CO2 emissions (including energy consumption), population growth and globalisation (an index of openness). Our contributions toward the literature in an Australian context are the following. First, we employ a newly developed cointegration test by Bayer-Hanck (2013) to establish the long- term dynamics between CO2 emissions and growth in the presence of population growth and trade openness. Second, we find economic growth is not emissions intensive, while energy consumption is emissions intensive. Third, in an environment of increasing population, Australia needs to be energy efficient at the household level, creating appropriate infrastructure for sustainable population growth. Finally, open trade environments have been conducive to combating emissions. Our findings advocate for continued investment in alternative energy sources, particularly renewables and green technologies, as well as the development of proper infrastructure to reduce per capita energy consumption.

In this paper, we analyze the optimal energy transition of a two-sector economy (energy and final goods) with exhaustible oil reserves, a renewable source of energy and a pollution threat. The latter corresponds to a pollution threshold above which a part of the capital is lost (following flooding for instance). We show that the optimal energy transition path may correspond to a corner regime in which the economy starts using both resources, then crosses the pollution threshold and therefore loses a part of its capital. At the end, the sole adoption of the renewable energy is optimal only in the long run. This result is in line with the asymptotic energy transition arguments stating that the transition to "clean" energy may happen only in the long run. We also show that economy reduces the use of energy resource as long as the productivity of capital and energy services is high. Therefore , public policies should promote investments in energy innovation that targets productive sector, home appliances and buildings and helps to save both money and energy. We extend the present model to allow for additional investment in energy saving technologies. Our main results show that this additional investment favours the energy transition in the sense that it increases the time within which the economy may experience the catastrophe and the welfare of the society. For policy implications, economic instruments such as taxes on "dirty" energy, subsidies on "clean" energy or incentives for energy saving technologies need to be implemented in order to promote the energy transition. This is particularly important for developing countries that mostly rely on polluting energy resources and are the most vulnerable to climate change. But those economic instruments should be carefully designed in line with the asymptotic energy transition result.

We study the transition between non renewable and renewable energy sources with adjustment costs over the production capacity of renewable energy. Assuming constant variable marginal costs for both energy sources, convex adjustment costs and a more expensive renewable energy, we show the following. With sufficiently abundant non renewable energy endowments, the dynamic equilibrium path is composed of a first time phase of only non renewable energy use followed by a transition phase substituting progressively renewable energy to non renewable energy before a last time phase of only renewable energy use. The investment into renewable energy may either begin before actual production of renewable energy or be delayed until the energy price achieves a sufficient gap with respect to the renewable energy cost. With an initially abundant non renewable resource, the features of the transition between non renewable and renewable energy do not depend upon the initial resource stock.