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on Regulation |
| By: | Francesco Nicolli (Università di Ferrara); Francesco Vona (OFCE Sciences Po, Skema Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically the effect of market regulation and renewable energy policies on innovation activity in different renewable energy technologies. For the EU countries and the years 1980 to 2007, we built a unique dataset containing information on patent production in eight different technologies, proxies of market regulation and technology-specific renewable energy policies. Our main findings show that lowering entry barriers is a more significant driver of renewable energy innovation than privatisation and unbundling, but its effect varies across technologies, being stronger in technologies characterised by the potential entry of small, independent power producers. Additionally, the inducement effect of renewable energy policies is heterogeneous and more pronounced for wind, which is the only technology that is mature and has high technological potential. Finally, the ratification of the Kyoto protocol – determining a more stable and less uncertain policy framework - amplifies the inducement effect of both energy policy and market liberalisation. |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1415&r=reg |
| By: | Karen Maguire (Oklahoma State University); Abdul Munasib (University of Georgia) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether state level Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) influence prices in the electricity market. While vital environmental goals underlie the rationale for RPS there exists a potential for negative welfare impacts through increased costs of electricity generation forcing consumers to allocate a larger portion of their income to energy consumption. We employ the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) for comparative case study and focus on Texas, an early adopter of RPS and arguably a success story. We find that RPS increased residential, industrial and total electricity prices while commercial prices were unaffected. |
| Keywords: | Renewable portfolio standard, electricity price, synthetic control method |
| JEL: | Q4 Q42 Q48 H7 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:okl:wpaper:1403&r=reg |
| By: | Minamihashi, Naoaki; Wakamori, Naoki |
| Abstract: | We estimate an investors’ demand model for hedge funds to analyze the potential impact of leverage limits in the industry. Our estimation results highlight the importance of heterogeneous investor preference for the use of leverage, i.e., 20% of investors prefer leverage usage while others do not. We then conduct a policy simulation in which regulators put a cap on allowable leverage, as proposed by the Financial Stability Board in 2012. Simulation results suggest that the 200% leverage limit would lower the total demand (assets under management) for hedge funds by 10%. In particular, the regulation would lead to lower investments in highly leveraged funds and to lower investments in risky strategies, which, in turn, would reduce systemic risk. |
| Keywords: | hedge funds; demand estimation; leverage; regulation; systemic risk |
| JEL: | G38 G23 L52 |
| Date: | 2014–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:473&r=reg |
| By: | Juan Carmona Pidal; Markus Lampe; Joan R. Rosés |
| Abstract: | During the decades previous to the Civil War, Spain experienced a rapid process of urbanization, which was accompanied by the demographic transition and sizeable rural-urban migrations. This article investigates how urban housing markets reacted to these far-reaching changes that increased demand for dwellings. To this end, we employ a new hedonic index of real housing prices and construct a cross-regional panel dataset of rents and housing price fundamentals. This new evidence indicates that rents were not a significant financial burden on low-income families and, hence, housing was affordable for working classes. Also, we show that families' access to new homes was facilitated by a sizable growth of housing supply. Substantial investments in urban infrastructure and the institutional framework enabled the construction of new homes at affordable prices. Our results suggest that housing problems were not pervasive during the urban transition as the literature often seems to claim. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Supply of Housing, Regulation in Housing Markets, Urban growth, Spain |
| JEL: | N93 N94 R30 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp14-05&r=reg |
| By: | Matthieu Crozet (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, IUF - Institut Universitaire de France - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales); Emmanuel Milet (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Daniel Mirza (CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales, GERCIE - Université François Rabelais - Tours) |
| Abstract: | In order to promote international trade in services, the WTO-GATS aims at progressively eliminating discriminatory regulations, which apply to foreign suppliers, byguaranteeing equal national treatment. This paper looks instead at the trade effect of domestic regulations, which apply to all firms indifferently and do not intend to exclude foreign suppliers. We propose a theory-based empirical test to determine whether or not these domestic regulations affect foreign suppliers more than local ones. We take this test to the data by using French firm-level exports of professional services to OECD countries. Our econometric results show that domestic regulations in the importing markets matter significantly for trade in services. They reduce both the decision to export and the individual exports. These results tend to prove that domestic regulations are de facto discriminatory even if they are not de jure. |
| Keywords: | Trade in services; domestic regulations; firm heterogeneity |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00801398&r=reg |
| By: | Alexander Ballantyne (Reserve Bank of Australia); Jonathan Hambur (Reserve Bank of Australia); Ivan Roberts (Reserve Bank of Australia); Michelle Wright (Reserve Bank of Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the Australian experience of domestic financial deregulation, capital account liberalisation and the float of the exchange rate, and provides a comparison to China's current efforts to reform its own financial system. In doing so, it considers similarities and differences in the circumstances facing the two economies. Australia's financial reforms were essential, in the longer term, for building a stronger economy and more robust financial system, but the paper does not interpret the Australian experience as a prescription for financial reform in China. Indeed, the specific sequencing of deregulation that occurred in Australia might not be optimal in a Chinese context, although it is likely that the reforms themselves, pursued with appropriate caution, would have long-run benefits for the Chinese economy. |
| Keywords: | financial deregulation; financial development; China; Australia |
| JEL: | E44 G18 O53 O56 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2014-10&r=reg |