Suchergebnisse

7 páginas, 1 figura. 1 tabulación, 17 referencias. ; Los diferentes sectores de la economía, y el sector forestal en particular, deben innovarse para sobrevivir y ser competitivos. El conocimiento científico debe introducirse e institucionalizarse en los procesos del bosque; pero también debe incorporarse el conocimiento proveniente de otras fuentes, como las relaciones usuario – productor. Vemos que un nuevo concepto está surgiendo y que la economía debe aprender del nuevo conocimiento científico y de los demás procesos. Este concepto es el Sistema Nacional de Innovación, creado en 1985 en los países escandinavos. En este trabajo, el concepto se amplía para crear Sistemas Sostenibles de Innovación. El enfoque de Sistemas Sostenibles de Innovación (SSI) considera que las fuentes de innovación para alcanzar el desarrollo –y en especial, el desarrollo sostenible- son las organizaciones formales (universidades, centros de investigación u otros), la estructura productiva (la economía), la base institucional (patrones de conducta), las relaciones economía – ecología (potencialidades y limitaciones del ecosistema para la producción) y las políticas del sector. Cada uno de esos factores interactúa con y alimenta a los demás; no son independientes ni estáticos, al contrario, son dinámicos y evolutivos, incluyendo sin duda alguna al ecosistema. Entonces, el proceso de aprendizaje a partir de todas estas fuentes –base del SSI- puede generar innovaciones, tecnologías e instituciones 'más verdes'. Una innovación en el servicio forestal de Costa Rica nos permitirá ilustrar estas ideas. En conclusión, es posible crear una 'economía del aprendizaje' para generar mayor competitividad y sostenibilidad tomando en cuenta las relaciones ambiente – economía, pero no basada en la idea tradicional de sustitución técnica e investigación científica, sino considerando muy seriamente los demás factores y sus interacciones e impactos ; The different sectors of the economy, and the forest sector in particular, must create innovations in order to survive and to be competitive. Scientific knowledge should be introduced and institutionalized into the forest processes, but also knowledge derived from other sources such as user producer relationships and others should be incorporated. A new concept is emerging that considers that the economy should also learn from the new scientific knowledge and the rest of the processes. This concept is National Systems of Innovation (created in 1985 in the Scandinavian countries), however here the concept is broadened of a Sustainable System of Innovation. This approach of S u s t a i n a ble Systems of Innovation (SSI), considers that the sources for innovation towards development, particularly sustainable development, are formal organizations (universities, research centers, or so), the productive structure (the economy), the institutional set-up (patterns of behavior), the economy-ecology relationships (potential and limitations of the ecosystem for production) and the policies of the sector. Each one of these factors interact and feed each other. They cannot be seen independently nor static; on the contrary, they are dynamic and e v o l u t i o n a r y, with out any doubt including the ecosystem. T h e n , the process of learning from all these sources, which is the base for SSI, may produce "greener" innovations, greener technologies and greener institutions. One innovation related to forest services from Costa Rica will illustrate these ideas. In conclusion, it is possible to create a "learning economy", to produce higher competitiveness and higher sustainability, taking into account the economy-environment relationships, but not based on the traditional idea of technical substitutability and scientific research, but very heavily considering the rest of the factors and its interactions and impacts. ; The different sectors of the economy, and the forest sector in particular, must create innovations in order to survive and to be competitive. Scientific knowledge should be introduced and institutionalized into the forest processes, but also knowledge derived from other sources such as user producer relationships and others should be incorporated. A new concept is emerging that considers that the economy should also learn from the new scientific knowledge and the rest of the processes. This concept is National Systems of Innovation (created in 1985 in the Scandinavian countries), however here the concept is broadened of a Sustainable System of Innovation. This approach of S u s t a i n a ble Systems of Innovation (SSI), considers that the sources for innovation towards development, particularly sustainable development, are formal organizations (universities, research centers, or so), the productive structure (the economy), the institutional set-up (patterns of behavior), the economy-ecology relationships (potential and limitations of the ecosystem for production) and the policies of the sector. Each one of these factors interact and feed each other. They cannot be seen independently nor static; on the contrary, they are dynamic and e v o l u t i o n a r y, with out any doubt including the ecosystem. T h e n , the process of learning from all these sources, which is the base for SSI, may produce "greener" innovations, greener technologies and greener institutions. One innovation related to forest services from Costa Rica will illustrate these ideas. In conclusion, it is possible to create a "learning economy", to produce higher competitiveness and higher sustainability, taking into account the economy-environment relationships, but not based on the traditional idea of technical substitutability and scientific research, but very heavily considering the rest of the factors and its interactions and impacts.

7 páginas, 1 figura. 1 tabulación, 17 referencias. ; Los diferentes sectores de la economía, y el sector forestal en particular, deben innovarse para sobrevivir y ser competitivos. El conocimiento científico debe introducirse e institucionalizarse en los procesos del bosque; pero también debe incorporarse el conocimiento proveniente de otras fuentes, como las relaciones usuario – productor. Vemos que un nuevo concepto está surgiendo y que la economía debe aprender del nuevo conocimiento científico y de los demás procesos. Este concepto es el Sistema Nacional de Innovación, creado en 1985 en los países escandinavos. En este trabajo, el concepto se amplía para crear Sistemas Sostenibles de Innovación. El enfoque de Sistemas Sostenibles de Innovación (SSI) considera que las fuentes de innovación para alcanzar el desarrollo –y en especial, el desarrollo sostenible- son las organizaciones formales (universidades, centros de investigación u otros), la estructura productiva (la economía), la base institucional (patrones de conducta), las relaciones economía – ecología (potencialidades y limitaciones del ecosistema para la producción) y las políticas del sector. Cada uno de esos factores interactúa con y alimenta a los demás; no son independientes ni estáticos, al contrario, son dinámicos y evolutivos, incluyendo sin duda alguna al ecosistema. Entonces, el proceso de aprendizaje a partir de todas estas fuentes –base del SSI- puede generar innovaciones, tecnologías e instituciones 'más verdes'. Una innovación en el servicio forestal de Costa Rica nos permitirá ilustrar estas ideas. En conclusión, es posible crear una 'economía del aprendizaje' para generar mayor competitividad y sostenibilidad tomando en cuenta las relaciones ambiente – economía, pero no basada en la idea tradicional de sustitución técnica e investigación científica, sino considerando muy seriamente los demás factores y sus interacciones e impactos ; The different sectors of the economy, and the forest sector in particular, must create innovations in order to survive and to be competitive. Scientific knowledge should be introduced and institutionalized into the forest processes, but also knowledge derived from other sources such as user producer relationships and others should be incorporated. A new concept is emerging that considers that the economy should also learn from the new scientific knowledge and the rest of the processes. This concept is National Systems of Innovation (created in 1985 in the Scandinavian countries), however here the concept is broadened of a Sustainable System of Innovation. This approach of S u s t a i n a ble Systems of Innovation (SSI), considers that the sources for innovation towards development, particularly sustainable development, are formal organizations (universities, research centers, or so), the productive structure (the economy), the institutional set-up (patterns of behavior), the economy-ecology relationships (potential and limitations of the ecosystem for production) and the policies of the sector. Each one of these factors interact and feed each other. They cannot be seen independently nor static; on the contrary, they are dynamic and e v o l u t i o n a r y, with out any doubt including the ecosystem. T h e n , the process of learning from all these sources, which is the base for SSI, may produce "greener" innovations, greener technologies and greener institutions. One innovation related to forest services from Costa Rica will illustrate these ideas. In conclusion, it is possible to create a "learning economy", to produce higher competitiveness and higher sustainability, taking into account the economy-environment relationships, but not based on the traditional idea of technical substitutability and scientific research, but very heavily considering the rest of the factors and its interactions and impacts. ; The different sectors of the economy, and the forest sector in particular, must create innovations in order to survive and to be competitive. Scientific knowledge should be introduced and institutionalized into the forest processes, but also knowledge derived from other sources such as user producer relationships and others should be incorporated. A new concept is emerging that considers that the economy should also learn from the new scientific knowledge and the rest of the processes. This concept is National Systems of Innovation (created in 1985 in the Scandinavian countries), however here the concept is broadened of a Sustainable System of Innovation. This approach of S u s t a i n a ble Systems of Innovation (SSI), considers that the sources for innovation towards development, particularly sustainable development, are formal organizations (universities, research centers, or so), the productive structure (the economy), the institutional set-up (patterns of behavior), the economy-ecology relationships (potential and limitations of the ecosystem for production) and the policies of the sector. Each one of these factors interact and feed each other. They cannot be seen independently nor static; on the contrary, they are dynamic and e v o l u t i o n a r y, with out any doubt including the ecosystem. T h e n , the process of learning from all these sources, which is the base for SSI, may produce "greener" innovations, greener technologies and greener institutions. One innovation related to forest services from Costa Rica will illustrate these ideas. In conclusion, it is possible to create a "learning economy", to produce higher competitiveness and higher sustainability, taking into account the economy-environment relationships, but not based on the traditional idea of technical substitutability and scientific research, but very heavily considering the rest of the factors and its interactions and impacts.

El reciente acuerdo de París de 2015, enfatiza la necesidad de que todos los países lleven a cabo medidas para mitigar las emisiones de CO2. El consumo de energía se convierte en un factor clave de reducción de emisiones. Este consumo está vinculado a la actividad productiva y a su relación con otros factores productivos. En este trabajo, se analiza el efecto de la energía sobre el crecimiento económico en nueve países del norte de Europa entre los años 1990 y 2014 y las relaciones de complementariedad o sustituibilidad con otros factores productivos. 2 Para ello, se estima una función de producción translog mediante técnicas econométricas de datos de panel. A partir de los resultados de la estimación se obtienen las elasticidades output y marginales de cada uno de los factores productivos, lo que permite analizar las relaciones entre los factores productivos analizados. En el análisis, se añade además dos variables qué miden la influencia del gobierno y la regulación en la libertad económica y, por tanto, en la actividad productiva. Los resultados muestran un efecto positivo de la energía sobre el crecimiento económico, y relaciones de complementariedad con el capital humano y de sustituibilidad con el capital físico. El capital humano es el único factor que presenta rendimientos crecientes a escala. Adicionalmente, los resultados muestran una relación significativamente positiva entre la disminución de la intervención del gobierno y la regulación en la libertad económica y el crecimiento económico. ; The recent Paris agreement of 2015 points out the need of implementing policies to reduce CO2 emissions by all the countries in the world. Energy consumption is a key factor for this reduction. This consumption is related to productive activities and the relation between energy and other productive inputs. In this work, the effect of energy on economic growth is analysed in nine northern Europe countries between 1990 and 2014, as well as the kind of relation energy has with other factors. For that, a translog production function is estimated using panel data econometric techniques. From the results of the estimation we calculate the output and marginal elasticities of each productive input, which allow to analyze the relations explained above. In the analysis, two more variables are added to measure the influence of government and regulation in the economic freedom and therefore, in the productive activity. Results show a positive effect of energy in economic growth, complementarity relation with human capital and substitutability with physical capital. Human capital is the only factor that shows increasing returns. Additionally, results show a strong positive relation between the reduction of government and regulation intervention in economic freedom and economic growth. ; Universidad de Sevilla. Máster Universitario en Economía y Desarrollo

Die vorliegende IAB-Stellungnahme fasst die mündliche Stellungnahme des Instituts im Rahmen der Anhörung am 16. August 2017 im Hessischen Landtag zum dringlichen Antrag der Fraktion der FDP betreffend 'Hessen 4.0 - Agenda Digitales Hessen' (Drucksache 19/4111) und zur Großen Anfrage der Fraktion der SPD betreffend der Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf Arbeit und Wirtschaft in Hessen (Drucksache 19/4357 zu Drucksache 19/2896) zusammen. Das IAB stellt eigene Forschungsergebnisse zum Thema 'Digitalisierung der Arbeitswelt' vor und geht dabei, soweit möglich, auf die Situation in Hessen ein. Im Anschluss daran werden einige Punkte des Antrags der FDP-Fraktion kommentiert. Das IAB hat für das Bundesgebiet und die einzelnen Bundesländer den Anteil der in Berufen ausgeübten Kerntätigkeiten berechnet, die bereits heute theoretisch durch Maschinen ersetzbar wären. Demnach beträgt in Hessen der Anteil der sozialversicherungspflichtig Beschäftigten in Berufen mit einem hohen Substituierbarkeitspotenzial 13,1 Prozent. Er liegt damit unter dem bundesweiten Schnitt von 14,9 Prozent. Auch wenn die Realisierung der Substituierbarkeitspotenziale aus organisatorischen, wirtschaftlichen oder auch ethischen Gründen gehemmt oder verhindert werden kann, wird es in Zukunft Veränderungen in der Arbeitswelt geben. Wirtschaftliche Anpassungsprozesse können zudem dazu führen, dass es zu erhöhtem Bedarf in Tätigkeitsbereichen kommt, die nicht durch Maschinen ersetzt werden können. Für die Politik und die Arbeitsmarktakteure wird es darauf ankommen, diesen strukturellen Wandel aktiv zu begleiten. Damit Beschäftigte den durch die Digitalisierung geänderten Anforderungen gerecht werden können, bedarf es gezielter Qualifizierung und Weiterbildung. Auch die grundlegende inhaltliche Ausrichtung der Schul- und Berufsausbildung sollte den Trend zur Digitalisierung berücksichtigen. Daher sind generell politische Initiativen zu begrüßen, die die Bewältigung des durch die Digitalisierung hervorgerufenen Wandels durch Information, Koordinierung oder Vernetzung unterstützen. ; This IAB statement summarizes the institute's oral statement in the context of the consultation in the Hesse Landtag on 16 August 2017 regarding the urgent request of the FDP fraction concerning 'Hessen 4.0 - Agenda Digitales Hessen' (printed matter 19/4111) and regarding the major interpellation of the SPD fraction regarding the im-pact of digitisation on labour and economy in Hesse (printed matter 19/4357 regarding printed matter 19/2896). The IAB statement presents IAB research results on the topic of 'digitisation of the working environment', responds to the situation in Hesse where possible, and com-ments some items of the application of the FDP.To this end, the IAB calculated the proportion of core activities exercised in occupa-tions which could, in theory, already be substituted by machines. In Hesse, the pro-portion of employees, subject to social insurance contributions, in occupations with a high substitutability potential is 13.1 per cent. This proportion is smaller than the av-erage proportion of 14.9 per cent for Germany. Though the unlocking of the substitut-ability potential could be at least partly prevented for organizational, economic or eth-ical reasons, there will be changes in the world of work in future. Furthermore, eco-nomic adjustment processes can lead to an increased demand in occupations which cannot be replaced by machines. We come to the conclusion that politics and labour market actors should actively sup-port this structural change. Targeted qualification and further training can promote employee's ability to meet the requirements that change due to digitisation. Also, the curricula of the general education system and of the vocational training should take the trend towards digitisation into account. More generally, political initiatives are rec-ommended that support the change management of the public and the private sector by information, coordination or networking.

A lot of cases had arouse in the past decade about agreements between regional airports and low-cost carriers. These agreement are challenged on the basis of the State Aids European control as they rise concerns not only about competition distortions between airlines but also about fiscal competition risks among Member States or local governments. Such phenomena could be expected as regional airports are characterized by significant overcapacities and overlapping inducing a substitutability for airlines. Surprisingly, the new 2014 guidelines on State Aids granted to airlines open the way to transitory operating aid schemes, an option apparently at odds with the European longstanding principles. Our purpose in this paper is to demonstrate that such agreements can make sense from the economic point of view provided that the relationship between the carrier and the airport is no longer analysed as a vertical chain, inducing an assessment in terms of economic dependence, but as a two-sided market. The favourable usage terms granted to low cost carriers generate additional flows on the other side, with commercial revenues from shops or parking. Consequently, subsidizing operating costs might be rational, even for a private investor in a market economy, and might be a perennial device. ; Un abondant contentieux concurrentiel a été suscité par des conventions liant des aéroports secondaires et des compagnies aériennes à bas coût. Ces dernières ont en effet été passées au crible de l'encadrement européen des aides publiques car elles risquaient de donner lieu tant à des distorsions de concurrence entre opérateurs qu'à des phénomènes de concurrence fiscales entre des infrastructures souvent en situation de surcapacités et entretenant des rapports de substituabilité. La Commission a modifié les lignes directrices en 2014 en ouvrant la possibilité d'aides à l'exploitation mais pour une durée limitée. Cette avancée semble s'inscrire en contradiction avec les principes de base de l'encadrement des aides publiques. Notre contribution montre néanmoins, à l'aide d'un modèle économique, que de tels dispositifs peuvent faire sens dès lors que la relation n'est pas conçue comme une chaîne verticale, induisant une dépendance économique de l'aéroport secondaire vis-à-vis de la compagnie aérienne mais comme s'intégrant dans un marché biface dans lequel il fait sens économiquement de subventionner des flux de passager sur l'une des faces pour maximiser d'autres revenus commerciaux (boutiques, parkings) sur l'autre face. Ce faisant, une aide publique à l'exploitation peut être justifiée économiquement et n'a pas obligatoirement à être transitoire. Ainsi, un soutien à une desserte (par exemple sous forme de réduction des redevances aéroportuaires) pourrait s'intégrer dans une logique d'investisseur privé en économie de marché.

Die Dissertation handelt über Wettbewerbsökonomie. Kapitel 1 betrachtet eine Fusion zwischen zwei regulierten Firmen, die in getrennten Märkten agieren und jeweils mit unregulierten Firmen konkurrieren. Die optimale Fusionspolitik für regulierte Firmen hängt von der Intensität des Wettbewerbs zwischen den unregulierten Firmen ab, verschärfter Wettbewerb zwischen den unregulierten Firmen induziert eine mildere Fusionspolitik. Das Gegenteil gilt, wenn die regulierten Firmen in ein wettbewerbsfähiges Marktsegment expandieren und die regulierten und unregulierten Waren komplementär sind. Kapitel 2 untersucht die optimale Fusionspolitik zwischen zwei wettbewerbsfähigen Firmen. Unter den strukturellen Auflagen, die sich am effektivsten herausgestellt haben um einen wirksamen Wettbewerb wiederherzustellen, gibt es eine die sich stark hervorhebt, nämlich die Veräußerung von differenzierten Marken an andere Wettbewerber. Dies ist eine effektive Möglichkeit, um die Marktmacht der neuen Firma zu verringern und sie kann die Möglichkeiten für privat und sozial wünschenswerte Fusionen erhöhen. Vor allem wenn die Güter annähernd perfekt substituierbar sind, ist der Bereich der Effizienzgewinne, die eine Fusion unter Auflagen erlauben, größer. Kapitel 3 untersucht die allgemein etablierte Feststellung, dass Einzelhandelspreise sich schneller anpassen, wenn Input Preise steigen, als wenn sie fallen. Durch die Anwendung eines dynamischen zwei Perioden Preiswettbewerb Modells zeigt sich das Folgende für die Angebotsseite für asymmetrische Preisanpassung: die Existenz von profitablen Lagerungsmöglichkeiten ermöglicht es wettbewerbsfähigen Firmen sich glaubhaft zu verpflichten, ihre Preise umgehend über die marginalen Kosten zu setzen, wenn sie höhere Input Preise antizipieren. Dies lockert den Wettbewerb sodass Firmen positive Gewinne erzielen. Wenn erwartet wird das Input Preise sinken, landen die Firmen im Bertrand Paradoxon und die Preisanpassung erfolgt langsamer. ; This thesis is about competition economics. Chapter 1 considers a merger between two regulated firms operating in two separate markets, and in each market there are unregulated competitors. The optimal merger policy for regulated firms depends on the intensity of competition between unregulated firms, fiercer competition between unregulated firms induces a more lenient merger policy. These results are reversed if the regulated firms expand into a competitive segment of the market and the regulated and unregulated goods are complements. Chapter 2 studies the optimal merger policy between two competitive firms. Among the structural remedies which have being treated as the most effective manners to restore effective competition, there is one relevant type, namely, the divestiture of differentiated brands to other competitor(s). It is a powerful tool to lessen the merged entity''s market power and can increase the scope for privately and socially desirable mergers. In particular, when goods are closer to perfect substitutability, the range of the efficiency gains which allows the merger with remedies to be approved is larger. Chapter 3 investigates the well-established observation that retail prices adjust faster when input costs rise than when they fall. From the supply side to asymmetric price adjustments, using a model of two-period dynamic price competition, it shows that the presence of profitable storing allows competitive firms to credibly commit to immediately increase their prices above current marginal costs when they anticipate higher input costs. This relaxes competition and firms earn positive profits. If input costs are expected to decline, the firms are trapped in the Bertrand paradox and price adjustment is slower.

This thesis consists of three separate, but interlinked chapters on national fiscal policy in a monetary union. Throughout, I employ new Keynesian models that are augmented by the introduction of overlapping generations of the Blanchard-Yaari type. The first chapter presents an analytically tractable two-country model of a currency union, which abstracts from distortions other than sticky prices in the goods market and failures of the Ricardian equivalence. Here, the government chooses a certain level of public spending. The government's options of financing its public spending are limited to public debt or taxation. I find that, depending on the financing decision of the government, fiscal policy measures can have very different effects on key macroeconomic variables. The spillovers of national fiscal policy depend on the composition of government spending, the type of the fiscal measure and the cross-country substitutability between goods. The second chapter restricts the attention to a new Keynesian closed economy model that features public as well as private investment. The government is in a position to employ either spending-side measures, i.e. cuts in public consumption, or improve public revenues in order to finance a temporary fiscal expansion. Both, the financing decision as well as possible failures of the Ricardian equivalence have a large impact on how fiscal measures affect key macroeconomic variables. The results suggest that a single deviation from the standard model, e.g. failures of the Ricardian equivalence, is not sufficient to reconcile theory and empirical evidence. The last chapter builds on these findings and develops the issue further by extending the model of chapter 2 to a two-country model of a currency union. I focus on fiscal measures that are frequently employed in practice. When assessing the impact of central components of the European Economic Recovery Plan on the economy of the implementing country, I look also at the implied spillovers. Finally, a brief summariy of some major results of the three chapters: Failures of the Ricardian equivalence enable theoretical models to yield predictions that are close to empirical evidence. However, this comes at the price of deviating from the Ricardian equivalence in a way which cannot be confirmed empirically. The introduction of a more complex fiscal sector and the assumption that fiscal policy is endogenous, allows for moving theoretical predictions closer to the empirical evidence without having to rely crucially on deviations from Ricardian behavior. My results suggest that focusing on distortions in intertemporal optimization is a too narrow approach to tackle with research questions related to the conduct and effects of fiscal policy in theoretical models.

Defense date: 24 May 2010 ; Examining Board: Prof. Giancarlo Corsetti, EUI, Supervisor; Prof. Andrew Bernard, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth; Prof. Russell Cooper, EUI; Prof. Jonathan Eaton, New York University ; Countries are increasingly linked internationally. The three models developed in this thesis shed light on how firms and governments respond to the increasing interconnectedness of the world economy, analyzing profit taxation, trade finance and government intervention in the event of a contagious banking crisis. They can help understand in how far integration is beneficial or harmful and what optimal policies might be. My first paper, which is joint work with Sebastian Krautheim, is based on the finding that larger firms are more likely to use tax haven operations to exploit international tax differences. We study a tax game between a large country and a tax haven modeling heterogeneous monopolistic firms, which can shift profits abroad. We show that a higher degree of firm heterogeneity increases the degree of tax competition, i.e. it decreases the equilibrium tax rate of the large country, leads to higher out flows of its tax base and thus decreases its equilibrium tax revenue. Similar effects hold for a higher substitutability across varieties. My second paper takes a first step towards building a theory of trade finance. Cross border transactions are conducted using different payment contracts, the usage of which varies across countries and over time. I build a model that can explain this observation and study its implications for international trade. In the model exporters switch between payment contracts optimally, trading of differences in enforcement and efficiency between financial markets in different countries. I find that the ability of firms to switch contracts is key to understand how trade flows respond to variations in financial conditions. Numerical experiments with a two-country version of the model suggest that limiting the choice between payment contracts reduces traded quantities by up to 60 percent. The third paper, which is joint work with Friederike Niepmann, analyzes ex-post intervention by governments in response to international banking crises under different cooperation regimes. Financial institutions are increasingly linked internationally and engaged in cross-border operations. As a result, financial crises and potential bail-outs by governments have important international implications. Extending Allen and Gale (2000) we provide a model of international contagion allowing for bank bail-outs financed by distortionary taxes. We single out inefficiencies due to spillovers, free-riding and limited burden-sharing. When countries are of equal size, an increase in cross-border deposit holdings improves, in general, the non-cooperative outcome. For efficient crisis management, ex-ante fiscal burden sharing is essential as ex-post contracts between governments do not achieve the same global welfare.

The growing attention to global warming due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the process of fossil fuel-based energy production is expressed in the Kyoto Protocol, which prescribes, on average, a 7 percent reduction in GHG emissions for developed countries. Although Israel was not included in the list of the obligated countries ('Annex A'), it should consider the economic implications of participating in the emission reduction effort, as such a commitment becomes highly feasible following the Bali roadmap which oblige a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to launch negotiations including all parties to the UNFCCC on a future framework, stressing the role of cooperative action and of common though differentiated responsibility. This study aimed to quantify the economy-wide consequences for Israel of meeting the targets of the Kyoto Protocol, employing a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of the Israeli economy. Initially, to this end, we constructed a social accounting matrix (SAM) to serve as a benchmark by combining physical energy and emission data and economic data from various sources. The efficacy of decentralized economic incentives for CO2 emission reduction, such as carbon taxes on emissions and auctioned emission permits, was assessed in terms of their impact on economic welfare. In addition, we tested for the ensuing so-called double dividend. Two distinct cases were analyzed. In the first one, we tested a revenue-neutral environmental policy which proportionally cut pre-existing taxes. Labour supply was assumed to be exogenously fixed. The results showed that, although significant CO2 emission reduction can be achieved, followed by modest economic cost, no double dividend could be discerned. Next, in order to check for the employment double dividend (lower CO2 emissions and lower unemployment), we introduced labor market imperfections, with the aim of cutting income tax. The results of this case indicate that an employment double dividend is possible under a rather standard set of assumptions. Moreover, for higher substitutability between the energy composite input and the labor-capital one, an even 'strong' form of double dividend can be obtained. We performed several sensitivity analyses with respect to the modeled production function, which re-confirmed the finding that higher substitution possibilities lead to lower welfare costs 3 associated with a given emission reduction target. We qualify this general result by also showing that the opposite holds when the emission tax rate is held constant, rather than reduced. It may be concluded on the basis of this analysis that a double dividend may be an achievable goal under a GHG emission reduction policy in the case of economies such as Israel. The CGE approach applied in this research is adopted for the first time to the Israeli economy and should contribute to better informed debate on environmental policy in Israel.

[Introduction .] The aim of this paper is to discuss this issue in the light of recent experience. It is divided into five sections. In section 2, we briefly discuss the economic benefits of macroeconomic stability and the rationale for government policies playing an active role in delivering it. Section 3 reviews the economic literature on the determinants of output volatility and its link with government size. Two separate strands of the literature are surveyed: cross-country studies focusing on OECD members and time-series studies of a single country, typically the United States. The cross-section studies confirm that countries with large governments tend to enjoy less output volatility, but also that there may be a threshold level beyond which the negative relationship disappears or even reverses. The studies that focus on the United States show, however, that the country has recently experienced an important reduction in output volatility, despite probably lying below this threshold and having witnessed a less pronounced increase in government size than most OECD countries. This suggests that something other than automatic stabilisation has been at work: an exogenous fall in volatility, an increase in market-based stabilisation, or an improvement in monetary policy. Section 4 shows descriptive evidence on the size of government, macroeconomic volatility and the role of fiscal stabilisation policies in supporting consumption smoothing in the OECD countries, including 11 euro area members. The evidence confirms the contrast between time-series and cross-sectional studies. The main finding, however, is that the negative correlation between government size and output volatility, which is a major finding of the literature, seems to vanish for more recent cross-country data. In the traditionally volatile, small government countries, volatility has decreased substantially while government size has grown less than elsewhere. Section 5 builds on these stylised facts to present new econometric estimates of the relationship between government size and output volatility using both time-series and cross-country information. We first confirm that the traditional link between government size and macroeconomic volatility disappeared during the 1990s. We then explore possible reasons for this breakdown, focusing on the role of improvements in the quality of monetary policy and on progress in financial development. The evidence suggests that monetary policy and financial development can both be substitutes for government size as a stabilising force, and that once this substitutability is taken into account, the relationship between government size and macroeconomic stability remains strong, though non-linear: the marginal effect of an increase in government size on output volatility is found to be negligible for public expenditure levels above 40 percent of GDP. Conclusions and policy implications are given in Section 6.

Sustainable development in Caribbean Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) is difficult to obtain because of their economic and social vulnerabilities. This thesis examines the sustainable resource allocation and economic growth of Caribbean SIDS using theoretical and numerical methods, and focusing on interactions between demographic and environmental dimensions. Due to their regional importance, I examine the effects of migration and remittances while taking into account local pollution and climate change.First, I describe the impacts of remittances on savings, fertility and education, with a special focus on intergenerational strategies. I show that potential positive effects from migration or remittances depend strongly on its positive effect on human capital accumulation, i.e. whether it is larger or not than the population growth.Because human capital accumulation also depends on the environment, in the second chapter I study the potential interactions between migration gains and environmental quality. If pollution exposure during childhood harms the human capital process, first there are new conditions for gains from migration which can decrease the demographic pressure on natural assets, second an environmental policy is beneficial.Finally, Caribbean SIDS cannot reduce the extent of climate change, leaving them no choice but to adapt to its effects, however this is costly and difficult to implement. The third chapter of this thesis addresses the use of migration, which leads to remittances that can fund adaptation measures. Therefore, I test whether there is a complementarity or a substitutability between the two strategies and show that it depend on the fundamentals of the economy. ; Les Petits Etats Insulaires en Développement (PEID) des Caraïbes font face à des défis pour soutenir leur croissance, du fait de leurs vulnérabilités économiques et environnementales. En mobilisant des analyses théoriques et numériques, cette thèse examine la situation de ces PEID en se concentrant sur les interactions entre démographie et limites environnementales. Ici la migration et les rémittences, qui sont centrales pour ces pays, sont étudiées avec les pollutions locales et le changement climatique.Premièrement, j'étudie l'impact des rémittences sur les choix d'épargne en intégrant les stratégies familiales en termes de fertilité et d'éducation. Je démontre que l'impact positif de transferts intergénérationnels ou de rémittences dépend de l'accumulation du capital humain qui doit être plus rapide que l'accroissement de la fertilité généré par la migration.Deuxièmement, l'acquisition de capital humain dépend aussi de l'environnement dans lequel les agents évoluent. J'étudie donc les interactions entre exposition à la pollution durant l'enfance, accumulation de capital humain et gains de la migration. Ici, une forte migration peut réduire la pression démographique sur l'environnement et générer des gains économiques sous des conditions qui diffèrent du cas sans pollution. Dans tous les cas, il est aussi souhaitable de mettre en place une politique environnementale.Enfin, les PEID doivent s'adapter au changement climatique pour assurer leur développement, ce qui est coûteux. J'étudie alors la migration comme méthode alternative pour l'adaptation au changement climatique. Les rémittences générées par la migration pouvant financer l'adaptation conventionnelle, il s'agira d'établir à quelles conditions il y a substituabilité ou complémentarité entre les deux.

This thesis contributes to the modelling of intergovernmental cooperation for global biodiversity conservation and analyses multilateral cooperation on the genetic resource market. The inter- and transdisciplinary research consists of game theoretic modelling, economic analyses, the study of political and legal documents, as well as the conduct of expert interviews. The game theoretic biodiversity conservation model developed in this thesis considers countries that are heterogeneous in ecosystems and wealth. The ecosystems are characterised by imperfect ecosystem substitutability as well as an ecosystem resilience threshold and provide local as well as global benefits. One of the main findings of the numerical appraisal is that cooperation improves upon the conservation share in the Nash equilibrium and optimal transfers facilitate a large stable coalition. Moreover, it is evinced that established 'per-member partition functions' are currently not applicable to the biodiversity conservation game. Based on expert interview results and technical feasibility and political economy considerations, an alternative benefit-sharing rule is derived. It is shown how this rule can be incorporated into the standard game-theoretic framework once countries have gained sufficient information to form expectations about biodiversity benefits. The main finding on multilateral cooperation on the market for physical genetic resources is that eco-regional cooperation and, even more so, a comprehensive global mechanism have the potential to significantly reduce transaction costs for both supplying countries and customers. They can thereby decrease prices for customers and increase demand, conservation levels and providers' benefits. A case study of the Andean Community's joint access legislation shows that the member countries realise few of their potential cooperation advantages. Collusion on the physical genetic resource market will not lead to high benefits as market power is limited by substitutes in form of ex-situ resources and freely available genetic information. The economically preferable instrument of a comprehensive global mechanism, in turn, is politically not feasible any time soon due to path dependencies and an arguably narrow understanding of national sovereignty. ; Diese Dissertation erweitert bestehende Ansätze zur Modellierung von zwischenstaatlicher Kooperation für den globalen Biodiversitätsschutz und analysiert multilaterale Kooperation auf dem Markt für genetische Ressourcen. Die inter- und transdisziplinäre Forschung beruht auf spieltheoretischen Methoden, ökonomischen Analysen, der Auswertung politischer und juristischer Dokumente sowie der Durchführung von Experteninterviews. Das in dieser Dissertation entwickelte spieltheoretische Biodiversitätsschutz-Modell berücksichtigt Länder, die heterogen in Ökosystemen und Wohlstand sind. Die Ökosysteme sind durch imperfekte Substituierbarkeit sowie Resilienzschwellen charakterisiert und stiften lokalen wie auch globalen Nutzen. Eines der zentralen Ergebnisse der numerischen Abschätzung ist, dass Kooperation zu einer Verbesserung des Schutzniveaus im Vergleich zum Nash-Gleichgewicht führt und optimale Transferzahlungen eine große stabile Koalition begünstigen. Außerdem zeigt sich, dass etablierte `per-member partition functions' (spieltheoretisch begründete Ausgleichszahlungen) zurzeit nicht auf das Biodiversitätsschutz- Spiel anwendbar sind. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der Experteninterviews und unter Berücksichtigung der technischen Realisierbarkeit sowie polit-ökonomischer Erwägungen wird ein alternativer Bestimmungsfaktor für den Vorteilsausgleich entwickelt. Dabei wird herausgearbeitet, wie diese Verteilungsregel in den spieltheoretischen Standardmodellrahmen integriert werden kann, sobald die Länder ausreichende Kenntnisse erworben haben, um den Nutzen der Biodiversität zu bewerten. Das Hauptergebnis zu multilateraler Kooperation auf dem Markt für physische genetische Ressourcen ist, dass ökoregionale Kooperation und vor allem ein umfassender globaler Mechanismus das Potential haben, die Transaktionskosten sowohl für Anbieterländer als auch Nutzer signifikant zu verringern. Dadurch können sich die Preise für die Nutzer reduzieren und die Nachfrage, das Schutzniveau und die Gewinne der Anbieterländer erhöhen. In einer Fallstudie zur Andengemeinschaft wird aufgezeigt, dass die Mitgliedsländer wenige ihrer potenziellen Kooperationsvorteile realisieren. Kollusion auf dem Markt für physische genetische Ressourcen wird keine hohen Gewinne erzielen, da die Marktmacht durch Substitute in Form von Exsitu Ressourcen und frei erhältlicher genetischer Information limitiert ist. Das aus ökonomischer Sicht vorzuziehende Instrument eines umfassenden globalen Mechanismus wiederum ist politisch in absehbarer Zeit aufgrund von Pfadabhängigkeiten und einem wohl engen Verständnis nationaler Souveränität nicht durchsetzbar.

Employing a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Spanish economy, this study explicitly aims to characterise the potential impact of Kyoto and European Union environmental policy targets on specific agricultural activities up to 2020. The model code is modified to characterise the emissions trading scheme (ETS), emissions quotas and carbon taxes, whilst emissions reductions are applied to all six registered greenhouse gases (GHGs). Compared to a 'business-as-usual' baseline scenario, by 2020, GDP and employment fall 2.1% and 2.4%, respectively, whilst the retail price index rises 3.4%. In agriculture, the indices of output (4.3% fall), and supply price (7.7% rise) perform relatively worse, whilst there is a concomitant cumulative fall in aggregate farm incomes of €1,510 million by 2020. The more notable impact in agriculture is attributed to its relatively higher emissions intensity. Consequently, we record an agricultural marginal abatement cost estimate of €86 ton-1 of CO2 equivalent by 2020, which is consistent with other estimates in the literature. In addition, we find that the optimal mix of emissions reductions across specific agricultural sectors is a function of the degree of substitutability of their emitting activities. In light of estimated income losses within the strategically important farm sector, a final simulation contemplates an 'agricultural cost-neutral' emissions reduction policy akin to a cross compliance payment between 2013 and 2020. This is found to reduce food price rises, whilst altering the optimum mix of agricultural emissions reductions across specific agricultural activities. ; Empleando un modelo dinámico recursivo de equilibrio general computable (EGC) de la economía española, este estudio analiza el impacto de las políticas medioambientales de Kioto y de la Unión Europea (el acuerdo '20/20/20'), sobre distintas actividades agrarias hasta 2020. En comparación con el escenario de referencia, se pronostican caídas en el PIB y el empleo de un 2,1% y 2,4%, respectivamente, en 2020, mientras que el índice de precios al consumo sube un 3,4%. En agricultura, el índice de producción (que cae un 4,3%) y el de precios (aumenta un 7,7%), empeoran y además los ingresos acumulados de los agricultores bajan 1.510 millones de euros en 2020. El impacto más acusado en el sector agrario se atribuye a la mayor intensidad de sus emisiones donde se estima un coste marginal de reducción de 86 € t-1 de CO2 equivalente para 2020, lo cual es consistente con las estimaciones existentes en la bibliografía. Además se observa que la combinación óptima de reducción de emisiones en los diferentes sectores agrarios depende del grado de sustitución de las actividades emisoras. A la vista de las pérdidas de ingresos observadas en el sector agrario, se contempla un escenario de mitigación de coste-cero para los agricultores, semejante a un pago de condicionalidad, entre 2013 y 2020. Los resultados señalan una mitigación en el incremento de los precios de los alimentos y una redistribución en la combinación óptima de las emisiones en los sectores agrarios.

This dissertation consists of three chapters and analyzes individuals' and firms' response to tax and government spending policies.The first chapter focuses on the economic incidence of a large value added tax (VAT) cut in the restaurant industry in France. In particular it estimates the share of the tax cut falling on workers, firm owners and consumers by analyzing the VAT cut applied to French sit-down restaurants -- a drop from 19.6 percent to 5.5 percent -- in July 2009. Theoretically, we develop a standard partial equilibrium model of consumption tax incidence that includes consumption substitutability between the taxed good and an untaxed good, and markets for production inputs, which we allow to vary with the tax. Empirically, we use firm-level data and a difference-in-differences strategy to show that the reform increased restaurant profits and the cost of employees, and aggregate price data to estimate the decrease in prices produced by the reform. We compare sit-down restaurants to (a) non-restaurant market services and (b) non-restaurant small firms, and find that prices decreased by around 2 percent, the cost per employee increased by 3.9 percent and the return to capital increased by around 10 percent. Using these reduced-form estimates we conduct a welfare analysis and find that (1) the effect on consumers was limited, (2) employees shared around 20 percent of the benefit eighteen months after the reform, and 29 percent thirty months after the reform, and (3) the reform mostly benefited capital owners, who received around 50 percent of the tax cut, both in the short-run and in the long-run.The second chapter derives a more general result on the price effect of VAT changes. It shows that prices respond asymmetrically to increases and decreases in VAT. We combine monthly commodity price data with information on value added tax (VAT) rates across several European countries for the period 1996-2015 and show that prices respond more to VAT increases than to VAT decreases. We explain this asymmetric pass-through to prices with a simple fairness argument developed in the behavioral economics literature. Our finding cautions against using incidence estimates derived in previous studies without accounting for the direction of the tax change and questions the effectiveness of reductions in VAT to achieve redistribution or stimulate economic growth.The third chapter of the dissertation focuses on a major government spending program in the United States: unemployment insurance (UI). Specifically, I use data on geographic mobility from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and state-year variation in unemployment insurance (UI) laws to evaluate the link between unemployment benefit generosity and mobility decisions of unemployed workers in the United States in the period 2001-2012. My empirical strategy uses a proportional hazard model to study whether the probability of moving during the unemployment spell depends on UI benefit generosity. I find that (1) higher UI weekly benefit amounts increase unemployed workers' geographic mobility, (2) the effect is stronger for more liquidity constrained unemployed workers (3) UI weekly benefit amounts are a stronger determinant of unemployed workers' geographic mobility than UI duration. Theoretically, I develop a spatial equilibrium model with risk-averse and liquidity constrained unemployed workers, and explain the empirical findings with the presence of high monetary moving costs.

The system of cereal grain production in Ethiopia has been stratified into private, cooperative and state farms since the 1975 land reform. The private farms are being gradually replaced by the cooperative farms while the state farms are receiving increased technical and budgetary assistance by the Ethiopian government. lt is, however, not clear if these policies are consistent with the technical characteristics of these three modes of production. This study, therefore, evaluated technical efficiency, impacts of known and latent input factors, and returns to scale parameters for each farm type. Sample data were collected from Ethiopia on five cereal crops, namely, barley, com, sorghum, teff and wheat and several input factors, including labor, land, oxen, traditional farm implements, tractors, machinery services, modern yield·increasing inputs, livestock, education and rainfall over 77 awrajjas for the 1980-1986 production period. A covariance regression model was applied with these data to determine an appropriate functional form between the Cobb-Douglas and translog production functions. The Translog functional form was selected for the analysis on the basis of statistical tests. Results of the analysis suggest that the producer cooperatives collectively appear to have a potential to generate increased gross income per hectare at a declining rate with respect to an equiproportionate increase in all inputs, except land, upon an increasing average cost of production per unit of cereal output. The private and state farms appear to be operating with a close to fixed proportions type of production technology with a constant average cost of production per unit of cereal output per hectare. Moreover, the range of substitutability between input factors tends towards a complementary relationship as the institutional transformations and management techniques of the cereal producing farms shift from the traditional to a more advanced and centrally managed state mode of production. Partial income elasticity parameters suggest that (a) the private sectors gross income per hectare is most responsive to traditional hand tools, fertilizer, labor, human capital at primary level of education, and rain in August and September; (b) the cooperative sectors gross income per hectare is most responsive to the use of tractors and September rain; whereas (c) gross income per hectare of the state farms is most responsive to the use of traditional labor, machinery services and rain in June and August. Thus, Ethiopias agricultural income production per hectare is likely to be revitalized by: (a) qualitative changes in the traditional inputs, water management, and introduction of modem technical inputs such as fertilizer and farmer education in the private sector; (b) increased traditional labor employment, improved management of water, machinery and modem yield-increasing inputs on the state farms; and (c) a better usage of tractors and collaborative input factors, improved water management, and a substantial increase in capital investment to achieve full employment of the seemingly redundant labor and oxen input factors on the cooperative farms. It seems unlikely that the producer cooperatives will achieve the goal of maximum cereal output per hectare with the most prevalent composition of the redundant traditional input factors which contribute insignificantly at the margin without a major change in the current production techniques and structural policies of the sector. ; Ph. D.