The charges approach to the environmental policy in an economy with homogeneous jurisdictions

This paper investigates properties of an environmental policy based on the concept of a Lindahl equilibrium. Such a policy results in a system of effluent charges, if the economy is composed of homogeneous jurisdictions, each inhabited by a continuum of households. The supply of the environmental commodities in the jurisdictions generates spillovers, and consumption of the environmental commodities is subject to congestion. In such an economy, the set of equal treatment Lindahl equilibria coincides with the core, if congestion effects exhibit constant returns to group size locally in each jurisdiction. This is insofar important, since the federal government typically has the possibility to modify spillover effects and congestion effects by appropriate environmental regulations. Thus, there are policy implications which go beyond the recommendation of environmental policy instruments, and which also affect the design of an economically sound system of effluent charges.     

Evolutionary modelling in environmental economics

In this paper, we analyze some evolutionary models for the exploitation of renewable natural resources recently proposed in the specialized literature. The common feature shared by all these models is to consider the evolution of the resource, which is exploited by a population of heterogeneous interacting agents. We review several sources of agents’ heterogeneity: different attitudes towards exploitation (dynamics of cooperative vs. non-cooperative behaviours); harvesting in different patches where different rules are imposed (spatial heterogeneity); harvesting with different technologies (standard and ‘environmentally-friendly’ technologies); heterogeneity with respect to the targeted species.     

Sensitivity analysis of mixed integer programs: An application to environmental policy making

We consider a class of mixed integer programs in which the concave objective function and the constraint matrix are held fixed while some of the right hand side (RHS) coefficients are varied. An efficient iterative algorithm is developed for performing the above sensitivity analysis. A practical application of this class of programs is encountered in environmental policy making and accordingly it is used in illustrating the operation of the algorithm.     

An environmental input-output model with multiple criteria

It is often claimed that there is a trade-off between economic goals and the quality of the environment. For this reason, an environmental input-output optimization model with multiple objectives is formulated. The criteria are the minimization of factor costs to produce the Gross National Product and the minimization of net pollution for a given level of final demand. Using the LeChatelier-Samuelson principle, we analyze the changes in the production of the sectors and in the prices of the goods (described by the dual model) due to the change in the preferences of the decision makers. It can be shown that higher weights for the environmental objectives imply — in tendency —non-decreasing production of the sectors andnon-decreasing abatement activities. The changes of prices are ambiguous. The condition for increasing prices is given. To some degree, the opposite results can be achieved, if maximization of the value of final demand (or of private consumption) and minimization of net pollution under the constraints for primary input are taken as objective functions. In this case, increasing weights for environmental goals will leadin tendency tonon-increasing final demand and tonon-increasing net pollution. Under given conditions, higher environmental quality will be achieved bynon-increasing gross production and abatement activities.     

Induced effects and technological innovation with strategic environmental policy

This paper investigates an environmental policy designed to reduce the emission of pollutants under uncertainty, where the agents’ problem is formulated as an optimal stopping problem. We first analyze the single-agent’s case according to Pindyck [Pindyck, R.S., 2002. Optimal timing problems in environmental economics. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 26, 1677–1697]. We then extend the model to the case in which there are two competing agents. Therefore, we consider the external economic effects that are peculiar to an agent’s environmental policy decision. Finally, we consider the effect of technological innovation. The results of the analysis suggest that if there are two competing agents, they implement environmental policy simultaneously. Furthermore, the threshold for implementing environmental policy is higher when there are two agents, and how long these two agents take to implement environmental policy depends on the magnitude of the external economic effect. Furthermore, when we consider the effect of technological innovation, we show that the incentive to be the leader occurs if an additional condition is satisfied.     

Decision theoretic analysis of pollutant emission monitoring procedures

A decision theoretic problem is considered which arises in the context of monitoring point sources of pollution: The management of an industrial plant may be authorized to release per unit time some amount of pollutants into the environment, for example air or water. An environmental agency may control, i.e. decide with the help of randomly sampled measurements, whether or not the real releases are larger than the permitted ones. The analysis of the problem of determining the best inspection procedure is performed with the help of a non-cooperative two-person game and can be constructed as follows: For a given value of the false alarm probability, only a zero-sum game has to be considered, where the probability of detecting illegal behavior is the payoff to the inspector. The solution of this game, i.e. the best inspection procedure, is then determined by use of the Neyman-Pearson Lemma.     

Some environmental and attitudinal characteristics as predictors of mathematical creativity

There are many things which can be made more useful and interesting through the application of creativity. Self-concept in mathematics and some school environmental factors such as resource adequacy, teachers’ support to the students, teachers’ classroom control, creative stimulation by the teachers, etc. were selected in the study. The sample of the study comprised 770 seventh grade students. Pearson correlation, multiple correlation, regression equation and multiple discriminant function analyses of variance were used to analyse the data. The result of the study showed that the relationship between mathematical creativity and each attitudinal and environmental characteristic was found to be positive and significant. Index of forecasting efficiency reveals that mathematical creativity may be best predicted by self-concept in mathematics. Environmental factors, resource adequacy and creative stimulation by the teachers’ are found to be the most important factors for predicting mathematical creativity, while social–intellectual involvement among students and educational administration of the schools are to be suppressive factors. The multiple correlation between mathematical creativity and attitudinal and school environmental characteristic suggests that the combined contribution of these variables plays a significant role in the development of mathematical creativity. Mahalanobis analysis indicates that self-concept in mathematics and total school environment were found to be contributing significantly to the development of mathematical creativity.     

Innovation as a policy strategy for natural resource protection

Growing global food demands place major strains on water resources, including quality impairments and increased water scarcity. Drawing on the largely separate bodies of literature on externalities and technological innovation, this article develops a dynamic framework to explore the long‐term impacts of alternative policy approaches to the agricultural impacts on water resources. Environmental policies, which focus on correcting environmental externalities, lead to an overall gain because costs to farmers are more than offset by reduced environmental damages. Technology policies, which direct public investments into agricultural eco‐innovations, lead to benefits for farmers as well as the environment. Joint implementation of both types of policies leads to the largest overall gain. In principle, a technology policy alone could have greater environmental benefits than an environmental policy alone. This outcome is most likely in cases where the productivity effect of new technology is large and the cost of research is low. Recommendations for research managers

• As an alternative to traditional environmental policy, investments in research can provide win–win solutions that benefit the environment and agricultural producers.
• Conceivably, eco‐innovations could lead to environmental conditions that are better than those achieved by environmental policy alone.
• Adding research investments to existing environmental policy would lead to further improvements in environmental quality while also benefitting farmers.
• Unlike environmental policies that are perceived to impose costs on agriculture, technology policies impart benefits to farmers and are less likely to face political opposition from industry.
• Technology policies are likely to be the most effective when eco‐innovation leads to technologies that meaningfully reduce environmental impacts and also raise farm productivity.

     

基于网络均衡的电力市场排污权交易政策研究

本文构建了电力供应链网络均衡模型,网络中包含三级决策主体,分别是:发电厂、电力服务商和用电市场.在分析各级决策者行为的基础上,得到了基于变分不等式的均衡条件,研究了针对发电厂的排污权交易政策设计问题.研究发现:排污交易政策实施后,总排污量不会超过给定的排污权总量;发电厂清洁生产能力的差异对排污权交易政策影响显著.     

Optimal investment policy: An application of Stokes' theorem

An application of the Stokes' theorem is illustrated by solving the two-state problem, with inequality constraints, of Dobell and Ho concerning the optimal investment of resources. Whenever applicable, the Stokes' theorem approach seems to be elegant and parsimonious.     

Feasible directions in economic policy

Zoutendijk's method of feasible directions is used in this paper to derive numerical control strategies for the United Kingdom economy. The way in which the algorithm permits an examination of the sensitivity of the optimum short-term economic policy to changes in various assumptions demonstrates the versatility of the algorithm. Examined are the implications of different forms for the social welfare function; altering the length of the planning horizon, varying the magnitude of the terminal capital constraint, reducing the maximum permitted level of unemployment, changing the initial endowment of foreign currency reserves, fixing the interest rate for the whole planning period, and imposing a minimum growth rate for public expenditure.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. GK-10656X7.     

Effects of pollution restrictions on dynamic investment policy of a firm

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of different pollution standards on the firm's resource allocation decisions. To do so, a dynamic model of the firm is developed in which it is assumed that production causes pollution as an inevitable byproduct. Concerning its investment policy, we suppose that the firm can choose between investing in productive capital goods and investing in abatement efforts.It is shown that, in some cases, future abatement expenses have a negative impact on the present level of productive investment, even if the pollution standard is not binding at the moment. This implies a really dynamic optimal investment policy for the firm, which cannot be obtained within a comparative static analysis.This research has been made possible by a fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Comments by Frank van der Duyn Schouten and Piet Verheyen (Tilburg University) and by Raymond Gradus (Dutch Ministry of Finance, The Hague) are gratefully acknowledged.     

Optimal ordering policy of a sequencing model

In this note, we are concerned with the study of a sequencing problem applicable to situations where the optimal choice amongn! sequences is sought. A class of sequencing problems is proposed. Based on the adjacent pairwise interchange of two objects, necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimal ordering policy are given. Examples from the literature are considered and shown to be special cases of the proposed model. The results of this paper improve recent results given in Refs. 1 and 2.The author would like to thank a referee for comments that improved the presentation of the paper. He also thanks Professor R. Combs of West Texas A&M University for comments.     

Interacting environmental influences: Concepts of synergism,antagonism, and superposition

Since an enormous number of different pollutants is usually simultaneously present in a certain environmental area, it must be expected that interactions between these pollutants may occur frequently. Nevertheless, not very much is known about the combined impact of several pollutants and the environmental policy ignores these effects in defining pollution standards and limits just for single pollutants. Moreover, it is not at all clear how these effects should precisely be described. Starting from definitions of interactions between different environmental influences introduced by Ott [7] and one of the present authors [8], new concepts of synergism (and antagonism and superposition) in a deterministic context will be presented. It is analyzed which properties an environmental quality index has to have in order to describe such interactions.     

Optimal self-diagnosis policy for FADEC of gas turbine engines

FADEC (full authority digital engine control) is widely adopted for gas turbine engine controllers. The advancement of microelectronics produces high speed general purpose programmable logic controllers (PLC) with low price. When they are adopted for FADEC, we can expect high cost performance engine controllers. However, these PLCs were originally developed for ordinary industrial machinery controllers and PLC makers prohibited their use as gas turbine controllers because of their low reliability. Engine makers should give some measures to hold enough reliability when they apply PLCs for FADEC. In this paper, a FADEC is self-diagnosed at the n^th control calculations. Introducing an expected cost until self-diagnosis and an expected cost per unit time, optimal policies which minimize them are discussed. Numerical examples are finally given.     

Evaluating efficacy of environmental education programming

The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP) goals are: (a) increasing students’ understanding of the nature of ecological impacts within their watershed as related to historic mining damage; and (b) increasing students’ sense of stewardship of newly restored landscapes. Data from 2012 to 2016 were evaluated for student knowledge gains (46 trials representing 2,395 student pre‐surveys; 2,409 student post‐surveys). Data from 2013 to 2016 were evaluated for students’ attitudes toward science and disposition toward caring for the environment (38 trials representing 1,479 pre‐surveys; 1,460 post‐surveys). The results of this study support that the program’s goals are being achieved. Students achieved statistically significant gains on knowledge surveys with a 33.4% overall gain pre‐ to posttest (p < 0.0001). Students also moved toward greater positive responses in both attitudes toward science and disposition toward caring for the environment with Cohen’s d effect sizes of “medium effect” for caring toward the environment (d = 0.52) and “small effect” of positive disposition toward science (d = 0.24).     

Computation of Characteristic Function Values for Linear-State Differential Games

This paper addresses the issue of computation of the characteristic function values in a n-player linear-state cooperative differential game. One shows that the characteristic functions coincide under two different definitions of the strategic strength of coalitions. An illustrative example drawn from environmental economics is provided.     

Optimal policy for minimizing risk models in Markov decision processes

We consider the minimizing risk problems in discounted Markov decisions processes with countable state space and bounded general rewards. We characterize optimal values for finite and infinite horizon cases and give two sufficient conditions for the existence of an optimal policy in an infinite horizon case. These conditions are closely connected with Lemma 3 in White (1993), which is not correct as Wu and Lin (1999) point out. We obtain a condition for the lemma to be true, under which we show that there is an optimal policy. Under another condition we show that an optimal value is a unique solution to some optimality equation and there is an optimal policy on a transient set.     

国际环境公约稳定性的重复博弈分析

国际环境公约的有效性包括减排有效性与社会福利有效性两个方面,强调一个有效的国际环境公约在减排的前提下提高社会福利的功能。然而,基于Carraro & Siniscalco 1993和Hoel 1992的同时博弈模型,本文发现全合作是有效的却是不稳定的。将他们的模型拓展为无限期的重复博弈后,发现基于远期收益考虑的情况之下,一个全合作的国际环境公约是可以被子博弈完美均衡所支持的。另外,在证明中,本文也给出了折现因子的下界。     

An optimal repair policy for systems with a limited number of repairs

Traditionally in reliability literature, the repair facilities are always available. This work considers a more general case in which the repair facilities are not always available, but are available only until a fixed number of repairs have been completed. Different assumptions are made to analytically determine an optimal repair policy maximizing the expected reward.