Effects of the tax on retail sales of some fuels on a regional economy: a computable general equilibrium approach

This study simulates the effects on the economy of Extremadura that are produced by a new tax on retail sales of some fuels. A computable general equilibrium model involving various labour market scenarios is employed as a modelling framework. Model parameters are obtained by calibration, using a social accounting matrix for Extremadura updated to the year 2000. Further, we also include an additional simulation in which a hypothetical regional tax rate, to finance environmental policies, is considered. This second simulation assumes constant fiscal revenues. The results of the first simulation show that the effects of this tax are modest. The simulation shows household welfare losses, decreasing activity levels and generalised price reductions, except in production sectors more directly linked to the oil products sector. In addition, we also observe that this hypothetical additional regional fuel tax rate would reinforce the effects produced by the national tax rate. This work has been supported by the Spanish Institute for Fiscal Studies. The first author also acknowledges the financial support by Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (SEC2003-06080) and by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2004XT00095). The second author thanks SEC2003-05112 from Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and XT0095-2004 from Generalitat de Catalunya. Finally, we also thank Antonio Manresa, Ferran Sancho and two anonymous referees their useful comments. All errors are our responsibility.     

The insufficiency of Pigouvian taxes in a spatial general equilibrium model

The paper considers, in a spatial general equilibrium setting, the pollution externality problem caused by a competitive industry. It is shown that the pollution control instrument supporting the optimum is a two-part Pigouvian tax–emission rights scheme in which the polluter pays only for the emissions which exceed its initial emission rights. The optimal level of the emission rights depends on the nature of pollution. In the global pollution case they are zero, whereas in the local pollution case they are equal to the firm's emissions at the optimum. In general, the optimal initial emission rights are between these values, but they may also be negative. In the latter case the firm pays for a greater amount of emissions than it emits. The emission tax proceeds, if there are any, must be distributed to the victims (households) as compensation. Received: December 1998/Accepted: May 2000     

Impacts of regional development strategies on growth and equity of Korea: A multiregional CGE model

This paper is concerned with the assessment of major regional development strategies such as the three Coastal area development strategies (East Coast Development, South Coast Development, and West Coast Development) and the Seoul-Pusan development corridor strategy in terms of efficiency and equity. Multiregional Computable General Equilibrium for Korea is developed to capture the economic impact of regional investment expenditures, estimating the time-series influences of regional development alternatives on economic growth, inflation, welfare, income distribution, and interregional economic inequality for ten periods. In a sense that the main point of concern in the national development planning of Korea is with the question of improvement of national competitiveness with more equitable interregional income distribution, it is necessary to promote the West Coast region rather than the Seoul-Pusan development corridor. The West Coast regional development can lead to substantial gain in GDP and reduction in regional income disparity. In a multinational economic perspective, this regional development is expected to contribute to the economic cooperation of Northeast Asia and to enhancing the joint comparative advantages between China and Korea. However, it might worsen the income inequality in the long run. Received: September 1999/Accepted: September 2001     

Estimating the impacts of regional business assistance programs: alternative closures in a computable general equilibrium model

Multipliers derived from regional Keynesian models are often used to justify regional business assistance programs. Econometric evidence on the efficacy of such programs is inconclusive. A regional, computable, general equilibrium model of key agricultural and energy-producing states was implemented to study the sensitivity of predicted impacts of regional business assistance programs to alternative model closures. The closures fall into two broad categories: Keynesian and neoclassical. The model also improves upon current methods used to evaluate regional business assistance programs.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 37th North American Meetings, Boston, November 1990.     

A note on the equilibrium and optimum of a transitional urban economy: The case of China

This research note presents a simple urban model of the Chinese two-tier plan/market economy, and investigates the equilibrium and optimum by comparison with a standard urban model of the market economy. We show that the Chinese urban economy has a possibility of being out of equilibrium and becoming unstable when the amount of land assigned by the government to firms is too much relative to the labor assigned to them. Furthermore, the model indicates that, while the Chinese urban economy would have a greater total differential land rent than the market economy, the Chinese urban residents would be worse off in terms of their earned wage income. Received: 2 April 2001 / Accepted: 2 March 2002 RID="*" ID="*" The author is grateful to Eric J. Heikkila, Koichi Mera, John M. Quigley, and Komei Sasaki for their valuable comments. Special thanks are also due to Jacques Poot, Pacific Editor of this journal, and three anonymous referees, who gave very useful suggestions to improve this note. The author alone is responsible for any remaining errors.     

Strategic investment planning in regional deployment of telecommunication services: a real options approach

In this paper we perform an empirical study to create an optimal investment strategy for the regional deployment of IMT-2000, a next-generation telecommunication service in Korea. We develop a multiple real option model using a binomial lattice, to evaluate managerial flexibility. Managerial flexibility is evaluated specifically in terms of its decision-making ability, when considering two deferral options and a sequential compound option for investment. Using the model, we evaluate the IMT-2000 project and find the optimal investment strategy for the three regions of Korea, depending on the annual market situation.     

Labor market behavior in Washington: A cointegration approach

This study found a long run equilibrium relationship among population, labor force participation rate and employment, in which population is positively related to employment and negatively related to labor force participation rate. We proved that employment growth from new business investment causes increase in population in the state of Washington in spite of its beautiful environment and amenities. The causality does not operate in reverse way. We decomposed the time series into stationary components and non-stationary components and interpreted each component on the basis of historical economic condition of Washington. The response of the labor force participation rate to an impulse in employment supports Bartik's (1993) and Yeo and Holland's (2004) findings. Obviously the result is the opposite of Blanchard and Katz's (1992) finding that the long-run effect of job growth on the labor force participation rate is negligible. With regard to the party who benefits from job growth, we suspect that most of new jobs are captured by in-migrants because the pattern of the stationary component of employment and net migration is quite similar and the impulse response of population is significantly higher than that of employment.     

Financing road infrastructure by savings in congestion costs: A CGE analysis

Division of labor, outsourcing in manufacturing and just-in-time production require the provision of a good and sufficient road infrastructure system. The society is used to mobility, preference for it even increases, and the full benefit of competition can only be realized if special distances can be overcome at low cost of transportation. Since the 1970's, however, the negative aspects of an intensive extension of road infrastructure has dominated the political decision process in Germany.  The objective of this paper is to model the aspects of bottlenecks in road infrastructure, of congestion costs and of the effect of investment in infrastructure in a computable general equilibrium framework. A long-run “business as usual” simulation will show how congestion and its cost will develop over time. The increasing costs of congestion indicate a necessity to act. We will therefore raise the fuel tax to partly finance infrastructure investment. We will then compare the cost of the addition in infrastructure with the savings in congestion costs in order to see whether this policy measure is self-financing. Received: April 2000/Accepted: August 2001     

Regional variations in the price of building land: a spatial econometrics approach for West Germany

In this paper, we analyze the enormous variation in the price of building land across West German regions. We outline a theoretical model that ties a household’s willingness to pay for building land to the inter-temporal value of employment. Using data for NUTS 3 regions the theoretically derived impact of labor market variables and other influences is investigated. We show that spatial dependence through spatially lagged variables plays a crucial role. According to our findings, the variation in the price of building land can be explained reasonably well if one adequately takes into account the specific patterns of spatial interaction.     

The effects of fiscal equalisation in a model with endogenous regional governments: an analysis in a two-region numerical model

This paper is concerned primarily with the economic and welfare consequences of federal redistributive grants. We use a model which has two regions, each with households, firms and regional governments as well as a federal government. Private agents are (utility and profit) maximisers and we assume that regional governments are empire-builders in that they choose their expenditure and tax levels so as to maximise total expenditure—the size of their empire. Labour is free to move between regions in response to utility differences and does so until such differences have been eliminated. Inter-regional migration, inter-regional trade flows and federal government redistribution are the main sources of interconnectedness between the two regions. The model is linearised in log-differences and simulated using a calibration based on Australian state-level data. We find that the welfare effect of intergovernmental transfers is trivial but that all other variables of interest change substantially—consumption, employment, prices, taxes, wages, output and government expenditure. Finally, the signs of the effects of a federal transfer are not affected by the empire-building behaviour of regional governments although the magnitude of the effects is generally dampened.     

Decomposing regional business change at plant level in Italy: A novel spatial shift‐share approach

In this paper, spatial shift‐share decomposition is analysed when applied to Italian data on regional business change at plant level, over the period 2004–2009. A new type of spatial decomposition, which looks more effectively at neighbourhood influence, is introduced here. Notable results emerge from the empirical investigation. First, it can be seen that the spatial level of aggregation greatly affects results. Second, evidence of neighbourhood advantage in the Southern NUTS 3 regions is found, together with opposite results for the Central‐Northern NUTS 3 regions. Finally, evidence of positive industrial mix effects is only found in Central‐Northern Italy.     

A CGE approach to measuring the impacts of EU structural funds in a small open economy

The present paper analyses the impact of the EU funds, for the European region of Azores, as they affect GDP, employment, and the wellbeing of families in different income levels, using a dynamic, multi‐sector, computable general equilibrium model (CGE) – AzorMod. Simulating the impact of a total cut in transfers and comparing with a base business as usual scenario, it is concluded that the elimination of the EU transfers could cause a sharp permanent fall on public demand and an immediate 2 per cent fall in GDP. The fall in public demand causes a fall in consumer and investment prices which will foster a sharp increase in investment demand that gradually causes GDP to grow back to its initial levels within a ten year period.     

A natural neighbour meshless method with a 3D shell-like approach in the dynamic analysis of thin 3D structures

This work presents the dynamic analysis of three-dimensional plate and shell structures based on an improved meshless method, the Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Method (NNRPIM) using a shell-like formulation. In the NNRPIM, the nodal connectivity is imposed using the natural neighbours concept. An integration background mesh is constructed, totally node-dependent, and used in the numerical integration of the NNRPIM interpolation functions, which possess the delta Kronecker property. Several dynamic plate and shell problems are studied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.     

Differentiation and identification of Shigella spp. and enteroinvasive Escherichia coli in environmental waters by a molecular method and biochemical test

Both Shigella spp. and enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) are important human pathogens that are responsible for the majority of cases of endemic bacillary dysentery. However, they are difficult to identify and differentiate by biochemical tests or molecular methods alone. In this study, we developed a procedure to detect Shigella spp. and EIEC from environmental water samples using membrane filtration followed by nutrient broth enrichment, isolation using selective culture plates, and identification of the invasion plasmid antigen H (ipaH) gene by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing. Finally, we used a biochemical test and a serological assay to differentiate between Shigella and EIEC. Among the 93 water samples from nine reservoirs and one watershed, 76 (81.7%) water samples of culture plates had candidate colonies of Shigella and EIEC and 5 water samples were positive (5.4%) for a Shigella- and EIEC-specific polymerase chain reaction targeting the ipaH gene. Guided by the molecular method, the biochemical test, and the serological assay, 11 ipaH gene-positive isolates from 5 water samples were all identified as EIEC.     

A comprehensive approach in green space site planning: an application of a three-stage multi-criteria decision support system

ABSTRACT

To green space site planning, this paper deals with ‘Regional Park site planning’, and presents a concept of ‘criteria screening and selection’. Through a three-stage decision support system, this paper, firstly, identifies general criteria for green space site planning and then comes up with specific criteria for Regional Park site planning within Shiraz metropolitan area. The paper contributes to the literature by improving the existing approaches of criteria selection, and points out that the list of selection criteria aggregated from literature should be adapted to case specific characteristics before being used to select a new location for public green spaces.     

Implications of error and uncertainty for an environmental planning scenario: A sensitivity analysis of GIS-based variables in a reserve design exercise

The creation of a protected area network is used as an example to demonstrate the potential effects of uncertainty and error in geographic information systems (GIS) data on our ability to make reliable land planning decisions. A graph-based model of the landscape was employed where nodes represent habitat patches, edges represent inter-node paths, and inter-node distance is measured as the least-cost path according to a resistance surface. Optimal reserve networks were generated by considering the trade-offs between area and connectivity, as measured according to correlation length. A “base case” network was first created and then varied according to the land cover categorical definitions used to extract the patch map, the resistance surface, and the cell size used to represent the raster patch and resistance surfaces. The largest recommended network was over 101% larger than the smallest recommended network. The identity of the small patches predicted to be critical stepping stones and the projected effectiveness of the alternative network configurations was widely disparate. Our results support the need for a precautionary approach to compensate for data uncertainties. Through sensitivity analysis, alternative scenarios can be created for decision-makers that highlight the most conservative options and emphasize the potential uncertainties surrounding the outputs.     

Dissipation of insecticides in a Mediterranean soil in the presence of wastewater and surfactant solutions. A kinetic model approach

The simultaneous disappearance of four organophosphorous insecticides in a Mediterranean calcareous soil was evaluated in the presence of surfactant solutions and municipal wastewater. A cationic, an anionic and a non-ionic surfactant were used at a low (0.75 mg L⁻¹) and at a high (twice the critical micelle concentration) concentration level. The cationic surfactant was also studied at a higher concentration. Dissipation in control soil was rapid for malathion (half-life 4 days), intermediate for dimethoate and methidathion (ca. 6 days) and slow for diazinon (29 days). Wastewater did either not modify (diazinon, dimethoate and methidathion) or slightly enhance (malathion) insecticide decay. The increase in concentration of the non-ionic surfactant Tween 80 resulted in enhanced dissipation rates for all the pesticides except diazinon. The addition of the anionic surfactant did not show a clear trend. At the highest cationic surfactant concentration a reduction of pesticide disappearance occurred linked with a reduced availability, since the insecticides were retained on the surfactant-modified soil (final residual concentration of 85% for diazinon and ≈55% for methidathion and dimethoate). Soil microbial activity, estimated by measuring dehydrogenase activity, was low in wastewater- and surfactant-treated soil at the high levels. Fitting of the experimental data to commonly used mathematical models was poor and alternatives were looked for.     

A new approach for simulating aerodynamic vibrations of structures in a wind tunnel—development of an experimental system by means of hybrid vibration technique

The present paper describes a newly proposed technique for simulating aerodynamic vibration of structures, which is referred to as the hybrid vibration technique or HVT. This technique is a combination of step-by-step computer calculation and measurement of the aerodynamic force acting on a model structure in a wind tunnel test. Even though the HVT can be applied effectively, problems still exist with respect to obtaining accurate simulations. These problems include response delay in controlling the model behavior and the inertia force component present in the measured aerodynamic force. Techniques for compensating for response delay and for eliminating inertia force from measured aerodynamic force are applied to a developed system based on HVT simulations of aerodynamic vibration of elastic structures and structures exhibiting elasto-plastic behavior are performed by means of the newly developed system. The effectiveness of the techniques for compensating for the response delay and eliminating the inertia force can be confirmed from the results of the simulations. In addition, the possibility and applicability of HVT is indicated.     

A cellular automaton based model simulating HVAC fluid and heat transport in a building. Modeling approach and comparison with experimental results

A discrete model characterizing heat and fluid flow in connection with thermal fluxes in a building is described and tested against experiment in this contribution. The model, based on a cellular automaton approach, relies on a set of a few quite simple rules and parameters in order to simulate the dynamic evolution of temperatures and energy flows in any water or brine based thermal energy distribution network in a building or system. Using an easy-to-record input, such as the instantaneous electrical power demand of the heating or cooling system, our model predicts time varying temperatures in characteristic spots and the related enthalpy flows whose simulation usually requires heavy computational tools and detailed knowledge of the network elements. As a particular example, we have applied our model to simulate an existing fan coil based hydronic heating system driven by a geothermal heat pump. When compared to the experimental temperature and thermal energy records, the outcome of the model coincides.