|
on Regulation |
| By: | Pierre Pinson |
| Abstract: | Should the organization, design and functioning of electricity markets be taken for granted? Definitely not. While decades of evolution of electricity markets in countries that committed early to restructure their electric power sector made us believe that we may have found the right and future-proof model, the substantially and rapidly evolving context of our power and energy systems is challenging this idea in many ways. Actually, that situation brings both challenges and opportunities. Challenges include accommodation of renewable energy generation, decentralization and support to investment, while opportunities are mainly that advances in technical and social sciences provide with many more options in terms of future market design. We here take a holistic point of view, by trying to understand where we are coming from with electricity markets and where we may be going. Future electricity markets should be made fit for purpose by considering them as a way to organize and operate a socio-techno-economic system. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.02833&r=reg |
| By: | Ryan A. Decker; Jacob Williams |
| Abstract: | Industry concentration—the share of sales or output accounted for by the largest firms within an industry—has received widespread attention recently, in part because concentration has generally risen in recent decades (figure 1). Measurement challenges are at the core of concentration-based inquiry: industry sales concentration is one of the lowest-frequency business statistics produced by the U.S. statistical agencies, with concentration data being released only twice per decade as part of the Economic Censuses. |
| Date: | 2023–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2023-02-03&r=reg |
| By: | Lingens, Jörg; Werthschulte, Madeline |
| Abstract: | Der russische Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine hat nicht nur direktes Leid verursacht, sondern auch die europäischen Energiemärkte beeinträchtigt. Die Kostenexplosionen sowohl im Gas- als auch im Strommarkt stellen eine massive Belastung der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher in Deutschland dar. Die Großhandelspreise für Gas sind in der Spitze um 400%, für Strom um 200% gestiegen. Um diese Kostensteigerungen abzufangen, hat die Bundesregierung die Gas- und Strompreisbremse auf den Weg gebracht. Kern dieser ist die Kompensation der gestiegenen Kosten, ohne die Sparanreize höherer Preise zu verdrängen. Zur direkten Entlastung wurde weiterhin die Dezemberhilfe umgesetzt. Mit dieser Maßnahme wurde der Abschlag für Gasverbrauch im Monat Dezember bezahlt. Welche Erwartungen haben deutsche Haushalte bezüglich der gestiegenen Energiekosten, und wie werden die Maßnahmen der Bundesregierung eingeschätzt? Diese Fragen untersuchen Forschende von der Westfälischen-Wilhelms Universität Münster und dem ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung in Mannheim. Dazu wurden im November 2022 etwa 400 Kundinnen und Kunden des Stromvergleichsportals Stromauskunft.de hinsichtlich ihrer Einschätzungen der Entwicklungen im Energiemarkt und ihrer geplanten Reaktionen befragt. Die Umfrage zeigt ein problematisches Gleichgewicht. Die befragten Haushalte unterschätzen die gestiegenen Kosten und werden somit möglicherweise ihren Energieverbrauch nicht ausreichend einschränken. Dieses Ergebnis ist insbesondere mit dem Einsparen von Gas als zentralen Baustein der Strategie der Bundesregierung sehr bedenklich. Auf der anderen Seite haben die Haushalte wenig Zutrauen in die Wirksamkeit der Maßnahmen der Bundesregierung. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewpbs:12023&r=reg |
| By: | Behr, Sophie M.; Kucuk, Merve; Neuhoff, Karsten |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esrepo:268533&r=reg |
| By: | Da Silva, Filipe |
| Abstract: | Debido a las características técnico-económicas de los nuevos modelos de negocio en la economía digital, la regulación actual sobre competencia muestra cierta insuficiencia para prevenir y corregir las prácticas reñidas con la competencia en estos mercados. Como consecuencia, expertos han recomendado la adopción de regulación innovadora ex ante para complementar las herramientas tradicionales en mercados digitales. Salvo en el caso de control de concentraciones, la utilización de herramientas ex ante no es tan frecuente y muchas autoridades han emitido algunas reservas en cuanto a su uso en la región y en el mundo. Este documento busca relevar la información sobre cómo se están preparando las autoridades de competencia de América Latina y el Caribe para enfrentar los desafíos que plantean los mercados digitales, mapeando herramientas ex ante y capacidades frente a la presencia de prácticas anticompetitivas desplegadas por plataformas digitales. |
| Keywords: | ECONOMIA BASADA EN EL CONOCIMIENTO, TECNOLOGIA DIGITAL, COMPETENCIA, REGULACION ECONOMICA, ENCUESTAS, ESTUDIOS DE CASOS, KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, COMPETITION, ECONOMIC REGULATION, SURVEYS, CASE STUDIES |
| Date: | 2022–12–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col026:48633&r=reg |
| By: | Kevin Lee; Michael J Mahony; Paul Mizen |
| Abstract: | This technical note provides new economic measures of the flexible price level, flexible output level and marginal costs for the UK. Using a straightforward decomposition from first principles this technical note shows that the flexible price level in period t is a weighted average of the period t and t -1 price levels - where the weights are determined by the proportion of firms adjusting their price. Similarly, the flexible output level in period t is a weighted average of the period t and t - 1 output levels - where the weights are determined by the proportion of firms altering their production plans. For the proportion of firms which do not alter their production plans, straightforward calculus shows their change in average costs is proportional to marginal costs. Using a unique dataset (of firm-level survey responses on changes in price and output), this technical note constructs flexible price indices, flexible output indices and marginal cost indices for the UK. |
| Keywords: | flexible prices, flexible output, marginal costs, Calvo staggered pricing |
| JEL: | C80 E31 E32 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:escoed:escoe-dp-2023-01&r=reg |
| By: | Bruno Pellegrino |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theory of oligopoly and markups in general equilibrium. Firms compete in a network of product market rivalries that emerges endogenously out of the characteristics of the products and services they supply. My model embeds a novel, highly tractable and scalable demand system (GHL) that can be estimated for the universe of public corporations in the USA, using publicly-available data. Using the model, I compute firm-level markups and decompose them into: 1) a new measure of firm productivity that accounts for product quality; 2) a metric of network centrality, which captures the extent of competition from substitute products. I estimate that, in 2019, public corporations produced consumer surplus in excess of 10 US$ trillions (against $3 trillions of profits). Oligopoly lowers total surplus by 11.5% and depresses consumer surplus by 31%. My analysis also suggests that both numbers were significantly lower in the mid-90s (7.9% and 21.5%, respectively). These results should be interpreted with care due to data limitations. |
| Keywords: | competition, concentration, general equilibrium, market power, markups, mergers, monopoly, networks, oligopoly, text analysis |
| JEL: | D20 D40 D60 E20 L10 O40 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10244&r=reg |
| By: | Jangho Lee; Lily Wu; Andrew E. Dessler |
| Abstract: | The use of energy by cryptocurrency mining comes not just with an environmental cost but also an economic one through increases in electricity prices for other consumers. Here we investigate the increase in wholesale price on Texas ERCOT grid due to energy consumption from cryptocurrency mining. For every GW of cryptocurrency mining load on the grid, we find that the wholesale price of electricity on the ERCOT grid increases by 2 per Cent. Given that todays cryptocurrency mining load on the ERCOT grid is around 1 GW, it suggests that wholesale prices have already risen this amount. There are 27 GW of mining load waiting to be hooked up to the ERCOT grid. If cryptocurrency mining increases rapidly, the price of energy in Texas could skyrocket. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.02221&r=reg |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu |
| Abstract: | In the presence of markup differences, externalities and other social considerations, the equilibrium direction of innovation can be systematically distorted. This paper builds a simple model of endogenous technology, which generalizes existing comparative static results and characterizes potential distortions in the direction of innovation. I show that empirical findings across a number of different areas are consistent with this framework's predictions and I use data from several studies to estimate its key parameters. Combining these numbers with rough estimates of differential externalities and markups, I provide suggestive evidence that equilibrium distortions in the direction of technology can be substantial in the context of industrial automation, health care, and energy, and correcting these distortions could have sizable welfare benefits. |
| JEL: | C65 J23 J24 L65 O14 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30922&r=reg |
| By: | Radchenko D.M. (The Russian Presidential Academy Of National Economy And Public Administration); Rostislav K.V. (The Russian Presidential Academy Of National Economy And Public Administration); Ponomarev Y.Y (The Russian Presidential Academy Of National Economy And Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The transport industry is one of the key components of the Russian economy, not only generating a substantial amount of gross value added, but also ensuring the spatial connectivity of the country's territories. Acceleration of technological progress, introduction of new technologies in various industries require corresponding increase in cargo and passenger transportation, which implies speeding up the development of high-speed transportation, following the path most intensively developing countries took in the last decade. On the global scale, high-speed rail transport is confidently occupying a niche in the range of 400-800 km when organizing mass transportation and ensuring the shortest travel time. In Russia, high-speed rail service is just beginning to develop as part of the goals and objectives set forth in Presidential Decree No. 204 of May 7, 2018 and the Comprehensive Plan for the Modernization and Expansion of Mainline Infrastructure, the Program for organizing high-speed and high-speed rail service in the Russian Federation. At the same time, despite numerous studies of the quantitative effects of investment in transport infrastructure, the effects of high-speed rail service development have not been studied in practice in the domestic economic literature. This determines high relevance of such a study, as well as an assessment of the positive effects of the development of high-speed rail communication in Russia within the framework of scenario analysis. The purpose of the study is to develop an approach and conduct scenario assessments of the socio-economic effects of the development of high-speed railway communication in Russia. Main goals: a review of approaches to assessing the effects of HSR, analysis of strategic plans for the development of HSR in Russia, two-ways effects assessment: at the country panel and at the regional level in a simulation model. The research methods include economic and mathematical modeling and economic analysis based on model complexes built at RANEPA, particularly a prototype spatial simulation model of the Russian economy. The object of the research is the effects of the development of high-speed railway communication in Russia. Key results: based on cross-country data, it is shown that the development of both high-speed and express rail service contributes significantly to economic growth: the elasticity of GDP per capita for the length of high-speed and express rail lines is 0.029–0.036 and 0.042-0.048 respectively, for the presence of HSR - 0.125. Scenario analysis based on a simulation model also demonstrates an increase in population mobility, cost of living, and other indicators in the regions where HSR is projected to be built. |
| Keywords: | spatial development, high-speed rail traffic, transport, rail transport, high-speed rail traffic, high-speed railways, high-speed traffic, high-speed rail. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:w2022019&r=reg |
| By: | Mr. Serhan Cevik |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the connection between climate change and energy security in Europe and provides empirical evidence that these issues are the two faces of the same coin. Using a panel of 39 countries in Europe over the period 1980–2019, the empirical analysis presented in this paper indicates that increasing the share of nuclear, renewables, and other non-hydrocarbon energy and improving energy efficiency could lead to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and improve energy security throughout Europe. Accordingly, policies and reforms aimed at shifting away from hydrocarbons and increasing energy efficiency in distribution and consumption are key to mitigating climate change, reducing energy dependence, and minimizing exposure to energy price volatility. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; energy security; carbon emissions; energy efficiency; Europe; transition economies; mitigating climate change; energy dependence; climate change adaptation; financing climate change mitigation; Greenhouse gas emissions; Energy conservation; Carbon tax; Global; Baltics |
| Date: | 2022–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/174&r=reg |
| By: | Bohn, Lorenz; Schiereck, Dirk |
| Date: | 2022–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:136463&r=reg |
| By: | Jordi Jofre-Monseny (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Rodrigo Martínez-Mazza (Research, Uppsala Unversity and IEB); Mariona Segú (CY Cergy Paris Université) |
| Abstract: | Concerns related to housing affordability are widespread in cities worldwide, and discussions about adopting rent control policies abound. This paper studies the effects of a rent control policy adopted in Catalonia in September 2020 that applies to some but not all municipalities. The policy virtually covers all the rental market and forces ads and tenancy agreements to specify the applicable rent cap to ensure enforcement. In order to identify the causal effect of the rent control regulation, we implement difference-in-differences regressions and event-study designs and analyze average rents and the number of tenancy agreements signed. Our results indicate that the regulation reduced average rents paid by about 6%. However, this price drop did not lead to a reduction in the supply of housing units in the rental market. We implement several robustness tests to address several identification concerns related to Covid-19. Our results suggest that rent control policies can be effective in reducing rental prices and do not necessarily shrink the rental market. |
| Keywords: | Rent Control, Housing, Public Policy Evaluation, Event Study |
| JEL: | R52 R31 H70 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2022-02&r=reg |