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on Regulation |
| By: | Hulshof, Daan; Jepma, Catrinus; Mulder, Machiel (Groningen University) |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gro:rugsom:2018005&r=reg |
| By: | Ak{\i}n Ta\c{s}cikarao\u{g}lu; Ozan Erdin\c{c} |
| Abstract: | In this study, an optimization problem is proposed in order to obtain the maximum economic benefit from wind farms with variable and intermittent energy generation in the day ahead and balancing electricity markets. This method, which is based on the use of pumped-hydro energy storage unit and wind farm together, increases the profit from the power plant by taking advantage of the price changes in the markets and at the same time supports the power system by supplying a portion of the peak load demand in the system to which the plant is connected. With the objective of examining the effectiveness of the proposed method, detailed simulation studies are carried out by making use of actual wind and price data, and the results are compared to those obtained for the various cases in which the storage unit is not available and/or the proposed price-based energy management method is not applied. As a consequence, it is demonstrated that the pumped-hydro energy storage units are the storage systems capable of being used effectively for high-power levels and that the proposed optimization problem is quite successful in the cost-effective implementation of these systems. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1806.05211&r=reg |
| By: | Rinne, Sonja |
| Abstract: | Are nuclear power plant outages in France contagious to the German electricity price? In the case of the extensive inspections from October 2016 to February 2017 in 12 French nuclear power plants: Yes. This capacity shock increased the French electricity spot market price by 14.15 Euros per MWh. The German-Austrian electricity spot market price was affected, with an increase of 1.72 Euros per MWh through cross-border trade. Hence, the current market integration between France and Germany to balance supply and demand in times of capacity shocks is limited. These results derive from a quasi-experimental approach based on coarsened exact matching. Thereby, the exogenous nature of the capacity shock is exploited as a random treatment in order to identify causal effects. |
| Keywords: | electricity price,electricity trade,nuclear power,market integration |
| JEL: | C21 F15 L94 Q41 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ciwdps:32018&r=reg |
| By: | Schleich, Joachim |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the adoption of high-cost, medium-cost, and low-cost ener-gy-efficient technologies (EETs) by income categories across eight European Union countries. The statistical-econometric analyses allow the effects of in-come to differ by income quartiles and across countries. They rely on demo-graphically representative household surveys carried out simultaneously among about 15,000 households in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in 2016. For retrofit measures, the findings suggest that homeowners falling into the lowest income quartile exhibit lower adoption propensities than those falling into the highest income quartile. These findings provide support for policies targeting "poor homeowners", particularly in lower-income countries with a high share of owner-occupiers such as Poland and Romania. Further, differences in adoption propensities across income quar-tiles also exist for medium- and low-cost EETs such as appliances and light bulbs. Finally, analyzing factors related to homeowners' receiving financial sup-port from governments or utilities for retrofit measures suggests that differences in implementation rates between the highest and lowest income quartile would likely have been higher without such support schemes in place. For the United Kingdom (but not for other countries) these schemes appeared to have had a progressive effect. |
| Keywords: | energy poverty,energy efficiency,adoption,poor homeowners,subsidies,econometrics |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s122018&r=reg |
| By: | Newbery, D.; Reiner, D.; Ritz, R. |
| Abstract: | The EU carbon price lies well below estimates of the social cost of carbon and “target-consistent” carbon prices needed to deliver ambitious targets such as the 40% reduction target for 2030. In light of this, the UK introduced a carbon price floor (CPF) for its electricity sector in 2013 and the new Dutch Government has recently made a similar commitment, while successive French Governments have called for an EU-wide CPF. This paper analyzes the impacts and design of a power-sector CPF, both at the EU and national level, using a political-economy approach. We find a good case for introducing such a price-based instrument into the EU ETS. We suggest that a CPF should be designed to “top up” the EUA price to €25–30/tCO2, rising annually at 3–5% above inflation, at least until 2030. We argue that the new EU Market Stability Reserve enhances the value of a CPF in terms of delivering climate benefits, and discuss the potential for a regional CPF in North-West Europe. We also review international experience with price floors (and ceilings). |
| Keywords: | Carbon pricing, electricity markets, market failure, policy failure, political economy, price floor, price corridor |
| JEL: | H23 L94 Q48 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1833&r=reg |
| By: | Albert Banal-Estañol; Jo Seldeslachts; Melissa Newham |
| Abstract: | Common ownership - where two firms are at least partially owned by the same investor - and its impact on product market outcomes has recently drawn a lot of attention from scholars and practitioners alike. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that common ownership can lead to higher prices. This paper focuses on implications for market entry. To estimate the effect of common ownership on entry decisions, we focus on the pharmaceutical industry. In particular, we consider the entry decisions of generic pharmaceutical firms into drug markets opened up by the end of regulatory protection in the US. We first provide a theoretical framework that shows that a higher level of common ownership between the brand firm (incumbent) and potential generic entrant reduces the generic's incentives to entry. We provide robust evidence for this prediction. The effect is large: a one-standard-deviation increase in common ownership decreases the probability of generic entry by 9-13%. We extend our basic theoretical framework and allow for multiple entrants. Our model shows that for sufficiently high levels of common ownership, the classical idea of entry decisions being strategic substitutes can be reversed into being strategic complements. Our empirical results provide some support for these predictions. |
| Keywords: | market entry, ownership structure, pharma |
| JEL: | G23 K21 L11 L41 L65 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1042&r=reg |
| By: | Haris Tabakovic; Thomas G. Wollmann |
| Abstract: | Many regulatory agency employees are hired by the firms they regulate, creating a “revolving door” between government and the private sector. We study these transitions using detailed data from the US Patent and Trademark Office. We find that patent examiners grant significantly more patents to the firms that later hire them and that much of this leniency extends to prospective employers. These effects are strongest in years when firms are actively hiring, and these relationships hold for the intensive margin of intellectual property protection. Ultimately, this leads the agency to issue lower quality patents, which we measure in citations. Together with other supporting evidence, we argue these results are suggestive of regulatory capture. |
| JEL: | D72 K23 L51 O34 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24638&r=reg |
| By: | X. Galiègue (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - UO - Université d'Orléans - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); A. Laude (REGARDS - Recherches en Économie Gestion AgroRessources Durabilité Santé- EA - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - SFR Condorcet - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - UPJV - Université de Picardie Jules Verne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Combining geothermal energy and CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is a technological solution that uses the same aquifer to provide heat and to store CO2, after dissolving it into the brine, leading to a close loop, as proposed in the CO2-DISSOLVED concept. This technology is more relevant for small-scale emitters-such as biorefineries-than CCS with postcombustion and storage at a supercritical state, which requires larger scale effects i.e., most power generation plants using fossil fuels. Based on a techno-economic analysis, we provide insights on the role of CO2-DISSOLVED in the sustainable transition. Contrary to conventional CCS on fossil fuels, CO2-DISSOLVED appears as a bridge towards renewable energies, and acts as a complementary technology, enlarging the potential of CCS for small or medium industrial emitters. This innovation enriches the portfolio of CCS combinations with renewable energies, like BECCS (BioEnergies and CCS). It helps then to overcome the current debates CCS versus renewable energies, showing a large gradient of situations. According to the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) of sustainable transition, CO2-DISSOLVED could contribute to the transformation of the existing socio-technical system, and to its reconfiguration towards renewable sources of energy. As other competing technologies, it could play a rising role in the modification of the energy system. Then, focusing only on CCS implemented on large-scale emitters constitutes a narrow vision of CCS potential in the sustainable transition. |
| Keywords: | partial capture,Geothermal energy,Carbon Capture and Storage,CO2-DISSOLVED,Multi-Level Perspective |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:insu-01797599&r=reg |
| By: | Psarras, Peter C. (Colorado School of Mines); Comello, Stephen (Stanford University); Bains, Praveen (Stanford University); Charoensawadpong, Panunya (Stanford University); Reichelstein, Stefan J. (Stanford University); Wilcox, Jennifer (Colorado School of Mines) |
| Abstract: | The fabrication and manufacturing of industrial commodities such as iron, glass and cement is carbon-intensive. A major reason capture of carbon dioxide from flue gases of industrial processes has not been widely adopted as a climate mitigation strategy is due to the lack of economic incentives for capturing CO2 on a scale that will impact climate. Yet, abatement opportunities do exist for the industrial sector, provided the scale of such processes is aligned well with CO2 utilization. This is important given that this sector accounts for 23% of total global emissions. This work develops a model that examines the full cost of separating, compressing and transporting CO2 of various industrial processes (sources), and pairing them with appropriate utilization opportunities (sinks). We find that--given the relatively higher concentrations of CO2 in flue gases from industrial processes--the full cost of abatement is lower than that of the power sector. Further, we find truck transportation is generally the low-cost alternative compared to pipeline transport for small volumes indicative of this kind of capture activity (100 kt CO2/a). We apply this methodology to a regional case study, which shows steel and cement manufacturing as having the lowest levelized cost of abatement. |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:repec:ecl:stabus:3493&r=reg |
| By: | Fanti, Luciano; Buccella, Domenico |
| Abstract: | In this paper the authors investigate whether and how, in a network industry, the intensity of network effects affect the total pollution under the presence of a union interested to "local" environmental damages (e.g. polluting production processes damaging workers' health and the local environment where workers live). Under monopoly, it is shown that network effects tend to increase, on the one hand, the investments in the cleaning technology but, on the other hand, the polluting output, so that their effects on the total pollution are theoretically ambiguous. In particular, the authors find that total pollution is reduced (resp. increased) with increasing network effects intensity if the market is sufficiently large (resp. small). Moreover the pollution-reducing result of the increasing network effect is more likely when the existing network effects, the union's environmental concerns and the technological efficiency are sufficiently large. These findings are qualitatively confirmed also under different union's preferences, Government's environmental standard and Cournot duopoly, and thus offer interesting empirical as well as policy implications. |
| Keywords: | network goods,cleaning technology,pollution production,green unions,monopoly,Cournot duopoly |
| JEL: | J51 L12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201840&r=reg |
| By: | Lars Vandrei |
| Abstract: | We analyze the extent to which sales prices for residential housing react to rent-price regulation. To this end, we exploit changes in apartment prices across the regulation treatment threshold. We examine a quasi-natural design in the German federal state of Brandenburg using transaction price data provided by the committee of evaluation experts. Brandenburg introduced both a capping limit for existing rental contracts as well as a price ceiling for new contracts for municipalities with tight housing markets in 2014. Whether or not a municipality falls under this classification is based upon a municipality’s housing market characteristics, which are translated into a specific score. This allows us to employ a regression discontinuity design with a sharp cutoff point. We compare sales prices in municipalities that are located marginally above the assignment threshold with the prices in those slightly below. Our results suggest that the regulations reduced sales prices for affected apartments by 20–30 %. |
| Keywords: | Housing rent controls, sales prices |
| JEL: | D04 R31 R52 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_262&r=reg |
| By: | Romanyuk, Gleb; Smolin, Alexey |
| Abstract: | Short-lived buyers arrive to a platform over time and randomly match with sellers. The sellers stay at the platform and sequentially decide whether to accept incoming requests. The platform designs what buyer information the sellers observe before deciding to form a match. We show full information disclosure leads to a market failure because of excessive rejections by the sellers. If sellers are homogeneous, then coarse information policies are able to restore efficiency. If sellers are heterogeneous, then simple censorship policies are often constrained efficient as shown by a novel method of calculus of variations. |
| Keywords: | cream skimming, matching markets, market failure, information design, calculus of variations |
| JEL: | C73 C78 D82 D83 |
| Date: | 2018–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86713&r=reg |