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The thesis evaluates three revenue neutral mixes of political measures aimed at the support of utilization of biofuels in the Czech Republic. The dynamic computable general equilibrium model with three aggregated sectors and two types of households is applied for evaluation of relevant environmental and economic impacts. The hypothetic price subsidy of utilization of energy biomass in production of the first generation biofuels fulfilling sustainability criteria is chosen as the basic supportive tool. The revenue neutrality is satisfied via adequate increase in tax rates in three different alternative scenarios (via labor tax, motor fuel tax, and standard value added tax). The results indicate that at the current price level of crude oil even relatively high level of price subsidy is not sufficient in fulfilling the emission and biofuel share targets presumed by European Commission. Therefore, for attaining the biofuel share target high percentage first generation biofuels and second and third generation biofuels have to be utilized. Furthermore, for the fulfilling of emission targets other alternative fuels have to be utilized as well. The results finally reveal that environmentally most efficient mix is the price subsidy compensated via an increase in the motor fuel tax, economically most...

The thesis evaluates three revenue neutral mixes of political measures aimed at the support of utilization of biofuels in the Czech Republic. The dynamic computable general equilibrium model with three aggregated sectors and two types of households is applied for evaluation of relevant environmental and economic impacts. The hypothetic price subsidy of utilization of energy biomass in production of the first generation biofuels fulfilling sustainability criteria is chosen as the basic supportive tool. The revenue neutrality is satisfied via adequate increase in tax rates in three different alternative scenarios (via labor tax, motor fuel tax, and standard value added tax). The results indicate that at the current price level of crude oil even relatively high level of price subsidy is not sufficient in fulfilling the emission and biofuel share targets presumed by European Commission. Therefore, for attaining the biofuel share target high percentage first generation biofuels and second and third generation biofuels have to be utilized. Furthermore, for the fulfilling of emission targets other alternative fuels have to be utilized as well. The results finally reveal that environmentally most efficient mix is the price subsidy compensated via an increase in the motor fuel tax, economically most...

Ethiopia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. This is because its important economic sector, agriculture, is virtually rain-fed. The role of the sector in the current economic structure and the potency of the anticipated biophysical impacts of climate change necessitates proactive adaptation in agriculture. This, however, breeds questions of adaptation costs and adaptation finance. This study attempts to derive plausible range of planned adaptation costs in agriculture along with their economy-wide and regional effects in Ethiopia. It also assess the economy-wide and regional effects of the likely options available to a government of a least-developed country to finance adaptation in agriculture. The results show that planned public adaptation in agriculture puts pressure on government surplus, impedes on manufacturing and private services, and GDP of urbanized regions. As such, it may strain the current macroeconomic endeavors of the country which puts government driven structural transformation and reducing fiscal deficit relative to GDP at the center. Government of Ethiopia may reconcile this by laying out incentives to urban agriculture and private investment in agriculture. Besides, foreign support in the form of biotechnology transfer and debt-relief may help to control the side effects of grants on foreign exchange market and trade balance.

Ethiopia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. This is because its important economic sector, agriculture, is virtually rain-fed. The role of the sector in the current economic structure and the potency of the anticipated biophysical impacts of climate change necessitates proactive adaptation in agriculture. This, however, breeds questions of adaptation costs and adaptation finance. This study attempts to derive plausible range of planned adaptation costs in agriculture along with their economy-wide and regional effects in Ethiopia. It also assess the economy-wide and regional effects of the likely options available to a government of a least-developed country to finance adaptation in agriculture. The results show that planned public adaptation in agriculture puts pressure on government surplus, impedes on manufacturing and private services, and GDP of urbanized regions. As such, it may strain the current macroeconomic endeavors of the country which puts government driven structural transformation and reducing fiscal deficit relative to GDP at the center. Government of Ethiopia may reconcile this by laying out incentives to urban agriculture and private investment in agriculture. Besides, foreign support in the form of biotechnology transfer and debt-relief may help to control the side effects of grants on foreign exchange market and trade balance.

Since its inception in 1995, more than 200 disputes have been raised under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). In spite of the obvious numerical success of the DS system of the WTO, in practice several shortcomings call for institutional and/or procedural change. This analysis deals with the economic aspects of the DS system. First, it turns out that the WTO DS system seems to be "biased". The larger and richer trading nations (USA, EU) are the main users of this system, either because of the larger involvement in world trade, or because the LDCs simply lack the legal resources. Second, in taking advantage of recent theoretical explanations of the WTO system in general (trade talks) and the DS system in particular (aberrations from WTO compliance can lead to trade wars) one can theoretically derive the relative robust result concerning the present practice of the WTO DS system: retaliation with tariffs is ineffective, distorts allocation and is difficult to control. This is also demonstrated in an CGE model analysis for the most popular disputes between the EU and the USA: the Hormones, the Bananas and the FSC cases. The major conclusion of our economic evaluation is that the DS system of retaliation should be changed towards a transfer-like retaliation system. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

Despite abundant studies of the application of pension systems in developed countries, little work has been done on how to apply a sustainable pension system in developing countries. The set-up of pension systems in developed countries and developing countries are expected to be different because in developing countries, labor is concentrated in the informal production sectors, while labor in developed countries is concentrated in the formal production sectors. Informal production sectors are sectors where the government, either central or local government, has little access to implement fiscal policies (taxes and subsidies) on firms and labor. This research develops a comprehensive system on how to set-up pension policies generally in developing countries and specifically in Indonesia. The basic set-up of the pension system suggested in this dissertation is as follows: a short run consumption tax policy to finance a defined benefit plan to support minimum physical needs of the older population, a medium run labor income tax policy to finance individuals' defined contribution fully funded savings plan, and a long run skilled labor creation through university education so that individuals are able to self-finance their own pension savings through the fully funded savings plan. The defined benefit plan is important because it can serve as a societal redistribution tool, while the defined contribution plan serves as a household savings tool. In addition, the skilled labor creation serves as a supporting tool so that the pension program is sustained in the long run. A theoretical model is developed from Auerbach and Kotlikoff overlapping generation (OLG) computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and specified for the Indonesian economy by introducing heterogeneity in households, where skilled and unskilled labor exist. In writing the model in terms of computer language, we apply an approach named mathematical programming system for general equilibrium analysis (MPSGE), developed by Thomas Rutherford. Some parameters used in the model are estimated by using econometric methods. The OLG-CGE model is applied in order to analyze the impact of consumption taxes and pension taxes on labor supply and also to calculate the equivalent variation of the distribution of consumption taxes burden across generations. Meanwhile, the impact of skilled labor creation on economic growth is calculated by applying linear algebra. The main macroeconomy data is taken from the Indonesian social accounting matrix (SAM) year 2000. Meanwhile, labor data are taken from the Indonesian labor conditions 1998-2003. The findings in this dissertation are as follows: for the equivalent variations, the consumption taxes for USD 1, USD 2, and USD 3 cash transfers per day person gave more benefit to the skilled labor than to the unskilled ones. In the meantime, the consumption taxes for USD 1 cash transfer gave incentives to the highest amount of labor, both skilled and unskilled labor, to work in the formal sector. The amount of labor after the consumption taxes for USD 1 cash transfer is higher than the initial condition. Increasing the consumption taxes for the USD 2 cash transfer only decreased the amount of labor work in the formal sector, with the amount of skilled labor decreased more than the unskilled labor. In addition, increasing the consumption taxes for the USD 3 cash transfer would also decrease the amount of labor work in the formal sector, with the amount of unskilled labor decreased more than skilled labor. We also find that the elasticity of government education expenditures on skilled labor creation is roughly 0.3. This means that if the Indonesian central government would like to eliminate the informal sector by 25 percent within 20 years, or an average 1.25 percent annually, they should increase the government education expenditures to 8 percent of total annual government budget. Other findings are that the increase of skilled labor would contribute positively to Indonesian economic growth, while the consumption taxes and the fully funded pension taxes would be likely to reduce current economic growth but increase the future one. Finally, these are the theoretical contributions to public finance literature: first, given dual formal and informal labor sectors present in an economy, where the latter is dominant, taxation of expenditures is preferred to taxation of income because the first may induce labor to work in the formal sector; second, given dual formal and informal labor sectors present in an economy, where the latter is dominant, there exists an optimal rate of consumption taxes that provides incentives for the highest amount of labor, skilled and unskilled labor, to work in the formal sector.

This paper analyzes the effects of the liberalization and/or exclusion of the agricultural sector in the integration processes in which are immersed the Latin American Countries from the comparison of four different ways from liberalization. The central objective consists of determining if it is necessary that this sector receives a special treatment in comparison with the rest of economic sectors, or if the complete liberalization is more/less favorable than the exclusion of the agriculture in the integration processes. We used a static CGE model, multisectorial, multicountry of short and long term that has a predominantly agricultural aggregation. Between the main results we found that although the four types of liberalization generate positive results in the Latin American economies; for Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador-Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay the multilateral strategy that excludes the agricultural sector generates greater benefits than the net tariff liberalization. Despite if we compare the tariff liberalization versus the total liberalization (one that includes export subsidies elimination and band of prices), all the countries with exception of Peru and Venezuela register greater benefits with the total liberalization. / El presente documento analiza los efectos de la liberalización y/o exclusión del sector agrícola en los procesos de integración en los que se encuentran inmersos los países latinoamericanos a partir de la comparación de cuatro diferentes modos de liberalización. El objetivo central consiste en determinar si es o no necesario que este sector reciba un tratamiento especial en comparación con el resto de sectores económicos, o si es más favorable la liberalización completa o la exclusión del agro en los procesos de integración. Para ello, empleamos como herramienta un modelo EGC estático, multipaís y multisectorial de corto y largo plazo, el cual cuenta con una desagregación predominantemente agrícola. Entre los principales resultados encontramos que si bien los cuatro tipos de liberalización generan resultados positivos en las economías latinoamericanas, para el Perú, Venezuela, Ecuador-Bolivia, Argentina y Uruguay la estrategia multilateral que excluye al sector agrícola genera mayores beneficios que la liberalización netamente arancelaria. No obstante, si se compara la liberalización netamente arancelaria versus la total (que incluye eliminación de los subsidios a la exportación y franja de precios), todos los países, con excepción de Perú y Venezuela, registran mayores beneficios con la liberalización total.

This study analyzes the trade war between the United States (US) and China using the GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model. Five scenarios focused on economic decoupling are ana- lyzed: 1. Mutual tariff levels increased to 25%, 2. Mutual tariff levels increased to 45%, 3. Bilateral export levels decreased by 25%, 4. Bilateral export levels decreased by 45%, and 5. Trade efficiency decreased by 10%. The analysis shows both the US and China's consumer welfare and GDP decreased across all scenarios, with a larger decrease in China. In addition, when exports from China and the United States decrease, there is an increase in exports from the ASEAN region. JEL Classification C68, F13, F11, Keywords Trade war, CGE, General Equilibrium Title Measuring the Welfare Effects of the US-China Trade War Using a Computable General Equi- librium Model Author's e-mail hehaeunk@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail vilem.semerak@fsv.cuni.cz

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第19087号 / エネ博第311号 / 新制||エネ||64(附属図書館) / 32038 / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 手塚 哲央, 教授 宇根﨑 博信, 准教授 MCLELLAN Benjamin / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DFAM