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on Regulation |
| By: | Pelkmans, Jacques; Renda, Andrea |
| Abstract: | One frequently hears the question posed in the title to this report, but there is little systematic analytical literature on the issue. Fragmented evidence or anecdotes dominate debates among EU regulatory decision-makers and in European business, insofar as there is a genuine debate at all. This CEPS Special Report focuses on the multi-faceted, ambiguous and complex relationship between (EU) regulation and innovation in the economy, and discusses the innovation-enhancing potential of certain regulatory approaches as well as factors that tend to reduce incentives to innovate. It adopts an 'ecosystem' approach to both regulation and innovation, and study the interactions between the two ecosystems. This general analysis and survey are complemented by seven case studies of EU regulation enabling and disabling innovation, two horizontal and five sectoral ones. The case studies are preceded by a broader contextual analysis of trends in EU regulation over the last three decades. These trends show the significant transformation of the nature as well as improvement of the quality of EU regulation, largely in the deepened internal market, which tend to have a favourable and lasting effect on the rate of innovation in the EU (other things being equal). Among the findings include the following: Regulation can at times be a powerful stimulus to innovation. EU regulation matters at all stages of the innovation process. Different types of regulation can be identified in terms of innovation impact: general or horizontal, innovation-specific and sector-specific regulation. More prescriptive regulation tends to hamper innovative activity, whereas the more flexible EU regulation is, the better innovation can be stimulated. Lower compliance and red-tape burdens have a positive effect on innovation. The authors recommend incorporating a specific test on innovation impacts in the ex-ante impact assessment of EU legislation as well as in ex-post evaluation. There is ample potential for fostering innovation by reviewing the EU regulatory acquis. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:cepswp:9822&r=reg |
| By: | Steve Charnovitz; Carolyn Fischer |
| Abstract: | In the first dispute on renewable energy to come to WTO dispute settlement, the domestic content requirement of Ontario’s feed-in tariff was challenged as a discriminatory investment-related measure and as a prohibited import substitution subsidy. The panel and Appellate Body agreed that Canada was violating the GATT and the TRIMS Agreement. But the SCM Article 3 claim by Japan and the European Union remains unadjudicated, because neither tribunal made a finding that the price guaranteed for electricity from renewable sources constitutes a ‘benefit’ pursuant to the SCM Agreement. Although the Appellate Body provides useful guidance to future panels on how the existence of a benefit could be calculated, the most noteworthy aspect of the new jurisprudence is the Appellate Body’s reasoning that delineating the proper market for ‘benefit’ analysis entails respect for the policy choices made by a government. Thus, in this dispute, the proper market is electricity produced only from wind and solar energy. |
| Keywords: | renewable energy, subsidies, environment, WTO, dispute settlement |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2014/109&r=reg |
| By: | Alessandra Cataldi; Stefano Clò; Pietro Zoppoli |
| Abstract: | Italy promoted one of the most generous renewable support schemes worldwide which resulted in a high increase of solar power generation. We analyze the Italian day-ahead wholesale electricity market, finding empirical evidence of the merit-order effect. Over the period 2005-2013 an increase of 1 GWh in the hourly average of daily production from solar and wind sources has, on average, reduced wholesale electricity prices by respectively 2.3 €/MWh and 4.2 €/MWh and has amplified their volatility. The impact on prices has decreased over time in correspondence with the increase in solar and wind electricity production. We estimate that, over the period 2009-2013, solar production has generated higher monetary savings than wind production, mainly because the former is more prominent than the latter. However, in the solar case, monetary savings are not sufficient to compensate the cost of the related supporting schemes which are entirely internalized within end-user tariffs, causing a reduction of the consumer surplus, while the opposite occurs in the case of wind. |
| Keywords: | Renewables, electricity price, merit-order effect, feed-in tariff, Italian wholesale power market |
| JEL: | Q41 Q42 Q48 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:itt:wpaper:2014-9&r=reg |
| By: | Jean-Marc Fournier; Aurore Domps; Yaëlle Gorin; Xavier Guillet; Délia Morchoisne |
| Abstract: | Gravity models are used to explore the determinants of trade, making use of fixed effect linear estimators and a Poisson estimator (as in Santos Silva and Tenreyro, 2006) with fixed effects. Beyond usual determinants of trade such as GDP, distance, contiguity, free trade areas and language, this analysis mainly focuses on the role of product market regulation stringency and heterogeneity, and on the role of employment protection. The Single Market has a large positive impact on trade. A broad reform package that would align Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators to the average of the top half of the best performers and would cut regulatory heterogeneity by one fifth could increase trade intensity within the EU by more than 10%. This analysis also makes use of subcomponents of the PMR indicator (by field of regulation) and the OECD Energy, Transport and Communications Regulation (ETCR) indicator (by sector) to focus on elements on the regulatory issues that matter most for trade. In particular, the stringency of airline and telecom regulations has an adverse effect on trade intensity. Empirical findings on the impact of employment protection legislation on trade intensity are somewhat mixed. This Working Paper relates to the 2014 OECD Economic Survey of the European Union (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-european-union.htm).<P>Barrières réglementaires implicites dans le marché unique de l'UE : Nouveaux résultats de modèles de gravité<BR>Les modèles de gravité sont utilisés pour explorer les déterminants du commerce, avec des estimateurs linéaires avec effets fixes et un estimateur de Poisson (comme dans Santos Silva et Tenreyro, 2006) avec des effets fixes. Au-delà des déterminants habituels du commerce tels que le PIB, la distance, la contiguïté, les zones de libre-échange et la langue, cette analyse se concentre principalement sur le rôle de la réglementation des marchés de produits et de son hétérogénéité, et sur le rôle de la protection de l'emploi. Le marché unique a un impact positif important sur le commerce. Un ensemble large de réformes qui alignerait les indicateurs de réglementation des marchés de produits (RMP) à la moyenne de la moitié des pays les plus performants et qui réduirait l'hétérogénéité des réglementations par un cinquième pourrait augmenter l'intensité des échanges au sein de l'UE de plus de 10%. Cette analyse utilise également des sous-composantes de l’indicateur RMP (par domaines de réglementation) et de l’indicateur OCDE de la réglementation dans les secteurs de l'énergie, des transports et des communications (ETCR) (par secteur) pour se concentrer sur les éléments de réglementation qui comptent le plus pour le commerce. En particulier, la rigueur de la réglementation aérienne et des télécommunications a un effet négatif sur l'intensité des échanges. Les résultats empiriques sur l'impact de la législation de protection de l'emploi sur l'intensité des échanges sont quelque peu mitigés. Ce Document de travail a trait à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de l’Union européenne, 2014 (www.oecd.org/fr/eco/etudes/etude-econom ique-union-europeenne.htm). |
| Keywords: | product market regulation, trade, gravity model, EU single market, marché unique de l’UE, réglementation des marchés de produits, commerce, modèle de gravité |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F15 K20 |
| Date: | 2015–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1181-en&r=reg |
| By: | Joseph A. Cullen; Erin T. Mansur |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how much carbon emissions from the electricity industry would decrease in response to a carbon price. We show how both carbon prices and cheap natural gas reduce, in a nearly identical manner, the historic cost advantage of coal-fired power plants. The shale revolution has resulted in unprecedented variation in natural gas prices that we use to estimate the short-run price elasticity of abatement. Our estimates imply that a price of $10 ($60) per ton of carbon dioxide would reduce emissions by 4% (10%). Furthermore, carbon prices are much more effective at reducing emissions when natural gas prices are low. In contrast, modest carbon prices have negligible effects when gas prices are at levels seen prior to the shale revolution. |
| JEL: | Q4 Q5 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20795&r=reg |
| By: | Florian Ziel; Rick Steinert; Sven Husmann |
| Abstract: | In our paper we analyze the relationship between the day-ahead electricity price of the Energy Exchange Austria (EXAA) and other day-ahead electricity prices in Europe. We focus on markets, which settle their prices after the EXAA, which enables traders to include the EXAA price into their calculations. For each market we employ econometric models to incorporate the EXAA price and compare them with their counterparts without the price of the Austrian exchange. By employing a forecasting study, we find that electricity price models can be improved when EXAA prices are considered. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1501.00818&r=reg |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Holger Graf (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Johannes Herrmann (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena); Martin Kalthaus (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) |
| Abstract: | Technological change and gains in efficiency of renewable power generation technologies are to a large extent driven by governmental support. Various policies that can broadly be categorized as technology push, demand pull or systemic constitute a policy mix for renewable energies. Our goal is to gain insights on the influence of this policy mix on the intensity and organization of inventive activities within the technological innovation systems for wind power and photovoltaic in Germany since the 1980s. We examine the effect of different instruments on the size and structure of co-inventor networks based on patent data. Our results indicate notable differences between the technologies: The network size for wind power is driven by technology push and systemic instruments, while in photovoltaic demand pull is decisive for network growth. The instruments complement each other and form a consistent policy mix. The structure of the networks is driven by demand pull for both technologies. Systemic instruments increase interaction especially in the wind power network and are complementary to demand pull in fostering collaboration. |
| Keywords: | Renewable Energy, Inventor Network, Policy Mix, Systemic Instrument, Technology Push, Demand Pull |
| JEL: | Q42 Q55 L14 O38 |
| Date: | 2014–12–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2014-034&r=reg |
| By: | Alexander Kihm; Nolan Ritter; Colin Vance |
| Abstract: | We explore whether non-competitive pricing prevails in Germany’s retail gasoline market by examining the influence of the crude oil price on the retail gasoline price, focusing specifically on how this influence varies according to the brand and to the degree of competition in the vicinity of the station. Our analysis identifies several factors other than cost – including the absence of nearby competitors and regional market concentration – that play a significant role in mediating the influence of the oil price on the retail gas price, suggesting price setting power among stations. |
| Keywords: | Panel data; quantile regression; spatial competition; gasoline market |
| JEL: | C33 Q41 R41 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0522&r=reg |
| By: | Arik Levinson |
| Abstract: | Construction codes that regulate the energy efficiency of new buildings have been a centerpiece of US environmental policy for 40 years. California enacted the nation’s first energy building codes in 1978, and they were projected to reduce residential energy use—and associated pollution—by 80 percent. How effective have the building codes been? I take three approaches to answering that question. First, I compare current electricity use by California homes of different vintages constructed under different standards, controlling for home size, local weather, and tenant characteristics. Second, I examine how electricity in California homes varies with outdoor temperatures for buildings of different vintages. And third, I compare electricity use for buildings of different vintages in California, which has stringent building energy codes, to electricity use for buildings of different vintages in other states. All three approaches yield the same answer: there is no evidence that homes constructed since California instituted its building energy codes use less electricity today than homes built before the codes came into effect. |
| JEL: | Q48 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20797&r=reg |
| By: | Nicolò Barbieri (University of Bologna, Italy; Ingenio CSIC-UPV, Valencia, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | Using patent data on 355 applicants patenting to the European patent offices from 1998 to 2010 on environmental road transport technologies, we investigate under what conditions the European environmental transport policy portfolio and the intrinsic characteristics of assignees’ knowledge boost worldwide green patent production. Our findings suggest that post-tax fuel prices, environmental vehicle taxes, CO2 standards and European emission standards, introduced in the empirical model through an innovative methodology based on Self-Organising Maps (SOM) (Kohonen, 1990; 2001), positively influence the creation of environmental inventions. Most importantly, we advocate that assignees anticipate the introduction of those emission standards, filing patents before the effective implementation of regulations when legislations are announced. Furthermore, we provide evidence that in a technological space (which measures the applicants’ technological proximity), closely located organisations enhance their patent output through the exploitation of technological knowledge produced by others. This means that the greater the proximity between assignees, the higher their likelihood of taking advantage of the knowledge produced by others. Finally, we observe that dynamic changes (both in quantity and in the number of technological fields engaged) in assignees’ patent portfolios spur inventive performances. |
| Keywords: | Environmental patents, environmental policies, Self-Organising Maps, road transport technologies, European emission standards, fuel prices |
| JEL: | O31 O38 Q55 L62 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:3114&r=reg |
| By: | Marie Delaplace; Frédéric Dobruszkes |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/185809&r=reg |
| By: | Bengt Kriström; Chandra Kiran |
| Abstract: | This report focuses on demand for renewable energy and energy efficiency. It presents the results of follow-up of econometric analysis of the 2011 OECD Survey on Environmental Policy and Individual Behaviour Change (EPIC). The report complements the overview of the survey data provided in the 2014 OECD publication “Greening Household Behaviour: Overview from the 2011 Survey”...<BR>Ce rapport porte sur la demande d’énergie renouvelable et d’efficacité énergétique. Il présente les résultats de travaux d’analyse économétrique qui s’inscrivent dans le prolongement de l’enquête sur la politique de l’environnement et le comportement individuel (EPIC) réalisée par l’OCDE en 2011. Ce rapport complète la synthèse des données de l’enquête présentée dans l’ouvrage « Vers des comportements plus environnementaux: vue d'ensemble de l'enquête 2011 », OCDE (2014). |
| Date: | 2014–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:78-en&r=reg |
| By: | Alberto Bagnai (Department of Economics, Gabriele d'Annunzio University); Christian Alexander Mongeau Ospina (Italian Association for the Study of Economic Asymmetries) |
| Abstract: | Using monthly data from 1994 to 2012 we study the long-run relation between the pre-tax retail prices of petrol and heating gasoil with crude price and the nominal exchange rate. We find a strongly significant long-run relation. We then use the nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model to assess the asymmetries on both the short- and long-run elasticities. The estimation results confirm the presence of a strong asymmetry in the long-run elasticities. |
| Keywords: | energy prices, asymmetric cointegration. |
| JEL: | C53 F32 H62 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ais:wpaper:1407&r=reg |
| By: | Francesco Rotoli (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Panayotis Christidis (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Elena Navajas Cawood (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Héctor Guillermo LÓPEZ RUIZ (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Lorenzo VANNACCI (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The report addresses passenger rail transport and its main purpose is to evaluate if and to what extent, reductions of the travel times or increases in train frequency in the European Railway System may lead to an increase in accessibility for users and a reduction of costs, resulting in an increase of consumer's surplus. Various scenarios considered. Two scenarios simulating increases of all speed to 90 km/h and 200km/h, one scenario assuming a decrease to 45 km/h and a scenario of increasing train frequency by 20% have been tested. The results provide insight into which parts of the rail network can provide higher benefits to the users through the improvement of quality of service. |
| Keywords: | transport, railway, accessibility, welfare |
| JEL: | R00 R28 R49 L92 L98 O18 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc85894&r=reg |