MODELING OF A BLOCK TARIFF SYSTEM FOR GROUNDWATER REGULATION

The block tariff system is widely used by public utility companies and governments. Because the unit rate is determined at the same time as are choice variables, the resulting endogeneity has been the subject of studies on residential water demand and in labor economics. Without discussing any mechanism that helps people come to their final decisions, these studies rely on observed data and econometric tools to estimate parameters in demand or supply functions. Because their main concern is the amount of resources devoted to a prespecified activity, their methodologies cannot analyze problems in which resources could flow to more than one outlet. This study constructs a computable framework that can deal with the endogeneity issue and help allocate scarce resources to mutually exclusive activities. Using a block tariff system for regulating groundwater extraction by aquaculture farmers in Taiwan as an example, we will show how the government and farmers can rely on the proposed framework to meet their interests.     

CONTROLLING GROUNDWATER QUALITY WITH ENDOGENOUS REGULATORY INSTRUMENTS

ABSTRACT. This research presents a competitive dynamic model that endogenously evaluates the economics of regulatory tax-policy options. This model is then applied to an irrigated corn production area west of Kearney, Nebraska, where the average groundwater contamination level from nitrates is reported to be 8.7 parts per million (ppm). Results indicate that no regulatory policies are necessary for maintaining potable groundwater quality with either a surge-flow irrigation system or a sprinkler irrigation system. In areas where conventional furrow irrigation technology is being used, higher net economic benefits result from the adoption of a variable-tax on nitrogen fertilizer use, followed by a constant-unit tax and a pollution tax.     

GLOBAL DYNAMICS OF AN SEIR EPIDEMIC MODEL WITH IMMIGRATION OF DIFFERENT COMPARTMENTS

The SEIR epidemic model studied here includes constant inflows of new susceptibles, exposeds, infectives, and recovereds. This model also incorporates a population size dependent contact rate and a disease-related death. As the infected fraction cannot be eliminated from the population, this kind of model has only the unique endemic equilibrium that is globally asymptotically stable. Under the special case where the new members of immigration are all susceptible, the model considered here shows a threshold phenomenon and a sharp threshold has been obtained. In order to prove the global asymptotical stability of the endemic equilibrium, the authors introduce the change of variable, which can reduce our four-dimensional system to a three-dimensional asymptotical autonomous system with limit equation.