Energy technologies interact with the economic, social and environmental systems, and do so not only directly but indirectly as well, through upstream and downstream processes. In addition, the interactions may produce positive and negative repercussions. To make informed decisions on the selection of energy technologies that assist a nation in reaping the socio-economic benefits of power generation technologies with minimal effects on the natural environment, energy technologies need to be understood in the light of the multifaceted system in which they function. But frequently, as disclosed by the literature review conducted in this research, the evaluation of energy technologies lacks clear benchmarks of appropriate assessments, which has resulted in difficulty to compare and to gauge the quality of various assessment practices. The assessment methods and tools tend to be discipline specific with little to no integrations. Parallel with the tools, the technology assessment studies offer piecemeal information that limits deeper understanding of energy technologies and their consequent socio-economic-environmental repercussions. Improved energy technology assessment requires the use of a holistic and integrative approach that traverses the disciplinary nature of energy technology assessment tools, examines the long-term implications of technologies while at the same time embracing energy technologies’ positive-and-negative interactions with the economic, social and environmental systems and in this manner offering economic, social and environmental indicators to assist decision makers in the decision-making process. Accordingly, this study focuses on improving the assessment of energy technologies through the application of a holistic and integrative approach, specifically system dynamics approach along a life-cycle viewpoint. Precisely, focus is on coal-based electricity generation and in particular, the Kusile coal-fired power station near eMalahleni as a case study. A COAL-based Power and Social Cost Assessment (COALPSCA) Model was developed for: (i) understanding coal-based power generation and its interactions with resource inputs, private costs, externalities, externality costs and hence its consequent socio-economic, and environmental impacts over its lifetime and fuel cycle; (ii) aiding coal-based power developers with a useful tool with a clear interface and graphical outputs for detecting the main drivers of private and externality costs and sources of socio-environmental burdens in the system; (iii) aiding energy decision makers with a visual tool for making informed energy-supply decisions that takes into account the financial viability and the socio-environmental consequences of power generation technologies; and for (iv) understanding the impacts of various policy scenarios on the viability of coal-based power generation. The validation of the COALPSCA Model was also conducted. Five structural validity tests were performed, namely structure verification, boundary adequacy, parameter verification, dimensional consistency and extreme condition tests. Behavioural validity was also conducted which included an analysis of the sensitivity of the model outcomes to key parameters such as the load factor, discount rate, private cost growth rates and damage cost growth rates using univariate and multivariate sensitivity analysis. Finally, while attempts were made to incorporate most of the important aspects of power generation in a coal-fired power plant, not all intrinsic aspects were incorporated due to lack of data, gaps in knowledge and anticipated model complication. The shortcomings of the model were highlighted and recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / tm2015 / Economics / PhD / Unrestricted

[pt] O sistema alimentar global que conhecemos não consegue prover a segurança alimentar para todos. A regulamentação não é suficiente para garantir o acesso econômico a alimentos pela população. Somadas as pressões de crescimento populacional até 2050, a disponibilidade de alimentos pela expansão da produção é uma questão-chave. O Brasil é um país central por ser um grande produtor e exportador de alimentos e insumos e possuir terras e água que subsidie a expansão. Entretanto, a produção de alimentos gera muitas externalidades. As ações de prevenção e mitigação das externalidades negativas ambientais são fundamentais, especialmente nos países onde a produção ocorre. A contínua disponibilização de alimentos e o próprio setor agropecuário dependem do meio ambiente para se reproduzir no tempo. Este trabalho analisa os mecanismos de planejamento e avaliação existentes no Brasil de modo a garantir que as externalidades diretas e indiretas do desmatamento para produção de alimentos sejam tratadas. Entende-se, ao fim, que apesar da diversidade e número de mecanismos, estes não possuem a escala, complexidade e integração necessárias para o ordenamento da contínua produção de carne bovina e soja no Brasil até 2050 e da proteção dos biomas. Os mecanismos não consideraram as externalidades diretas e indiretas do desmatamento de modo satisfatório. Recomenda-se integrar indicadores das externalidades diretas e indiretas do desmatamento nos mecanismos de avaliação e planejamento; que crie se e faça cumprir o Zoneamento Econômico Ecológico no Brasil incluindo zonas de não desmatamento; e que se estabeleça um Fórum multi-setorial para criar as condições de governança necessárias para realização das recomendações anteriores. / [en] The current global food system cannot provide food security for all. Its regulatory framework is not enough to guarantee economic access to food to all people. This coupled with the pressures of population growth up to 2050 puts the availability of food as key issue. Brazil is a key country on this issue country for being a major producer and exporter of food and inputs, and owning land and water to subsidize expansion. However, food production generates many externalities. Actions to prevent and mitigate negative environmental externalities are critical, especially in countries where production occurs. The continuous availability of food and the agricultural sector itself depend on the environment for reproduction over time. This thesis analyzes the existing planning and evaluation mechanisms in Brazil to ensure that the direct and indirect externalities of deforestation for food production are addressed. In the end, it is understood that despite the diversity and number of mechanisms, these do not have the scale, complexity and integration needed for territorial organization of the continuous production of beef and soybeans in Brazil up to 2050 and the protection of biomes. The analyzed mechanisms did not consider the direct externalities of deforestation in a satisfactory way. Recommendations are: to integrate indicators of the direct and indirect externalities of deforestation in evaluation and planning mechanisms; to create and enforce the Ecological Economic Zoning in Brazil including zones of no deforestation; and that a multi-sectoral Forum be established to create governance conditions for the implementation of the previous recommendations.

市場失靈往往是政府介入干預的主要理由，一般常見的干預方法為正向的誘因激勵與負向的懲罰手段。就農地而言，因其所能提供的生態或環境的功能係屬公共財性質，具有無排他性、無敵對性、聯合消費的性質，市場上缺乏私人主動提供農地環境效益的經濟誘因，使得政府基於全民福祉之理由而介入農地保護，以提升外部效益。又為防患於未然，乃訂定管制規則予以規範違規使用行為，以降低外部成本。台灣的農地管理兼採補貼給付、賦稅減免與使用管制之政策措施，其實施經年究竟有無缺失？如何加以改進？適逢台灣主管當局刻正研擬國土計畫法（草案）且需要檢視之際，益發突顯本文研究此課題之重要性。 新古典經濟學者主張以課稅的方式消弭外部成本、以給予補貼的方式鼓勵外部效益的產生；新制度經濟學者主張透過界定財產權，經由利害關係人協商，最後達到社會整體最適生產水準，兩者各有所長，於實際適用時尚須截長補短綜合考量。本文從上述理論基礎切入，採用文獻分析法與焦點人物訪談法來檢討現行農地管理機制不足之處。基於損益均衡的補貼理念，我們意圖將正向誘因、使用市場機制引進農地管理機制中，並改進以往偏重於農地違規使用負向處罰的管理方式，以期健全農地管理，落實農業永續發展目標。 關鍵字：農地管理、誘因機制、公共財、外部性 / Market failure is often the main reason of government intervention. Generally, intervention methods always include positive incentive measures and passive punishment means. From viewpoint of farmland, it serves as biological and environmental functions with the character of public goods, which possesses features of non-exclusion, non-rival and jointly-consume. However, there is lack of economic incentives to provide environmental benefits of farmland by private market, government intervene shall be needed in farmland protection on basis of entire people welfare. Besides, the land use control regulations shall be stipulated to reduce external cost. In Taiwan, incentive programs include incentive payments, tax exemption or reduction and land use control mechanism. Do these programs manipulate efficiently? If not, how to improve them in the future? Discussion of these issues shall play an important role while the draft of National Territory Planning Act is drawn up by the Planning Authority and more examinations are necessary in Taiwan. Neoclassical economists suggest that external costs can be prevented by taxation, and external benefits shall be encouraged by offering subsidy. Neo-institutional economists argue that the problem can be solved through defining property rights, and stakeholders shall negotiate with one another to achieve optimum of social production. This article bases on exploring those theories and takes positive and negative factors into account in practice. The main research methods are literature review and focal person interview to investigate insufficiency of current incentive mechanism in farmland management. Based on concept of benefit-cost equilibrium, we intend to provide positive incentives, and include market approach into incentive mechanism of farmland management and improve passive way of punishing illegal farmland use. Through formulation of these incentive tools, farmland management mechanism shall be established soundly so as to achieve the goals of agricultural sustainable development. Keywords：Farmland Management, Incentive Mechanism, Public Goods, Externality

Cette thèse décrit de façon précise les éléments techniques et les fondements économiques qui permettent de caractériser la problématique de la contrainte de capacité ferroviaire dans son ensemble. Jusqu’à présent, la question de la contrainte de capacité ferroviaire a principalement été étudiée d’un point de vue ingénierie, dans un univers monopolistique où la répartition de la capacité et les ajustements en cas de conflit étaient gérés par des processus internes. Néanmoins, compte tenu d’une ouverture progressive à la concurrence du monde ferroviaire, analyser économiquement cette question devient un enjeu clé pour le gestionnaire d’infrastructure, dans un contexte de plus en plus régulé.Ce manuscrit aborde dans un premier temps, la définition de la contrainte de capacité selon la perspective de l’ingénieur, à travers la conception de l’horaire, un élément majeur de la rencontre entre l’offre et la demande pour les transports programmés. Une meilleure connaissance des méthodes de construction horaire a permis de mettre en évidence les arbitrages implicites entre la capacité offerte et la qualité de service en termes de fiabilité. La vision technique de l’ingénieur combinée à la vision économique développée dans les autres modes de transport, nous a permis d’élaborer dans un second temps, un modèle microéconomique du coût généralisé de l’usager, considérant les spécificités ferroviaires de la construction horaire. Cette modélisation a mis en évidence le double effet d’une fréquence ferroviaire supplémentaire, d’une part sur le coût de « deshorage » (effet Mohring) et d’autre part sur l’espérance du coût du retard, lié à un usage intensif du réseau. Une fois la fonction de coût généralisé spécifique au ferroviaire déterminée, nous avons construit un modèle d’équilibre offre-demande, en considérant le comportement des usagers ainsi que les coûts des opérateurs. Ce modèle décrit les interactions entre l’offre et la demande selon les différentes structures de marché. L’analyse développée démontre que sous certaines conditions, le régulateur peut être amené à valider une tarification de la contrainte de capacité, afin d’internaliser les effets externes générés et d’envoyer les bons signaux-prix aux agents économiques. Néanmoins, dans certains cas, une fréquence additionnelle génère une externalité positive (effet Mohring), justifiant ainsi une subvention pour intensifier l’usage de la ligne et non une tarification complémentaire. / This PhD dissertation addresses the foundations of a detailed characterisation of rail capacity constraints from an economic perspective.Traditionally, railway capacity has been studied from the standpoint of engineering in a monopolistic world where capacity choices were considered as an organisational issue and set out in internal procedures. However, there is now a growing interest in analysing this issue from an economic perspective, specially regarding the ongoing deregulation tendency.Firstly, the definition of railway capacity constraints is presented from an engineering perspective via timetable design, a key element in matching supply and demand for planned transport services. A better understanding of timetable construction methods led to highlighting the implicit trade-offs between the capacity supplied and service quality in terms of reliability in the current graphic timetable construction processes in European infrastructure managers. Secondly, this technical vision of the engineer is combined with the economic vision developed for other modes of transport. It allows us to formulate a microeconomic model of the consumer generalized cost function, specific to the railway services. This model highlights the dual effects for the users of a higher frequency of rail traffic. It impacts the expected scheduled delay cost (Mohring effect) on the one hand, and a congestion effect linked to the intensive use of the network on the other. Once the detailed generalised cost function for train users has been determined, we develop an equilibrium model, by considering users’ behavior, operators’ costs and by describing how supply and demand interact under different market conditions. We analyse the interactions between demand and supply and show that, under some conditions, it is optimal from a welfare point of view to charge the cost of capacity constraints in order to internalize the negative external effects generated, and send the right price signals to economic operators. Nevertheless, in certain cases, an additional frequency generates a positive externality (Mohring effect), thereby justifying a subsidy to encourage using the railway line rather than increases access charges.

[pt] Arquitetura entre Escultura: uma reflexão sobre a dimensão artística da paisagem contemporânea busca uma aproximação entre as obras de escultores e arquitetos após os anos 1960, no âmbito internacional, com o objetivo de traçar possíveis caminhos de diálogo entre ambas as disciplinas diante do desafio de se inserirem na multiplicidade da Paisagem contemporânea. A reflexão parte da noção de campo ampliado, da historiadora Rosalind Krauss, em que as fronteiras entre escultura, arquitetura e paisagem se tornam flexíveis, delineando, através de combinações e exclusões, possibilidades múltiplas para a arte ao lidar com o espaço real. Na mesma vertente, o historiador da arquitetura Anthony Vidler sustenta que, se para criticar os termos tradicionais da escultura os artistas se apropriaram das questões da arquitetura, por sua vez os arquitetos teriam buscado o experimentalismo da escultura a fim de escapar da rigidez funcionalista e dos modelos tipológicos. Na produção dos artistas Richard Serra, Christo, Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, Claes Oldenburg e Vito Acconci e dos arquitetos Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind e Rem Koolhaas foram selecionadas obras que poderiam ser descritas como entre - partícipes do campo formado por arquitetura e escultura e paisagem. A partir deste campo são identificadas questões sobre: externalidade, relação com o sítio, monumentalidade, experiência da obra no espaço-tempo do percurso, forma e anti forma, performance e uso dos espaços, público e privado, imagem, ficção e história. Observa-se a deflagração de um processo, ao mesmo tempo, experimental e autocrítico desses campos de atuação, através de uma abordagem que pontua relações entre Moderno, Pop, Minimal, Land Art, performances, Desconstrutivismo e novas topologias e programas arquitetônicos. / [en] Architecture between Sculpture: an approach to the artistic dimension of contemporary landscape searches for an approach to works of sculptors and architects, since 1960, in the international circuit, in order to analyze to what extent possible affinities can be traced out between both artistic fields, while facing the challenge in the multiple features of contemporary landscape. The discussion is based on the historian Rosalind Krauss notion of expanded field in which the limits among sculpture, architecture and landscape become flexible, delineating by means of combinations and exclusions, the multiple possibilities of art in dealing with real space. On the same ground, Anthony Vidler, historian of architecture, sustains that while criticizing the traditional matters of sculpture, artists have internalized the issues of architecture themselves, and architects, on the other hand, have searched for the artistic experimental processes to escape from the rigidity of functionalism and typological models. Works by the artists Richard Serra, Christo, Robert Morris, Robert Smithson, Claes Oldenburg and Vito Acconci and by the architects Robert Venturi, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and Rem Koolhaas, among others, can be described as between and studied as participants in the scope architecture and sculpture and landscape. On such basis one can identify issues such as: externality, relation with the site, monumentality, space-time experience, form and anti form, performance and use of spaces, notions of public and private, image, fiction and history. There occurs the deflagration of a process, both experimental and selfcritical, on the part of each artistic means, through an analysis that interpunctuates the relationship among Modern, Pop, Minimal, Land Art, performances, Deconstructivism and new topologies and architectural programs.

The work deals with the critical assessment of the requirement of Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste for a gradual reduction in landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW). The aim of this work was to evaluate this requirement in terms of economic efficiency using the meta-analysis of selected complex studies based on cost-benefit analysis. Studies focused on natural and technical parameters and available specific data for Czech Republic of particular ways of processing BMW were also used for finding of private and social costs and benefits balance. Based on the results of this balance is not possible to decide whether fulfillment of the requirement will increase economic efficiency. Results are calculated from large number of input values, some of which shows significant variability. Oxidation rate of uncaptured CH4 in the process of landfilling BMW is characteristic example. This parameter varies between values 10 % and 90 %. While for value 10 % would separate collection of biowastes and its composting presented option with higher economic efficiency, for value 90 % is the result opposite.

Urban traffic congestion is recognised as a major problem by most people in world cities. However, the implementation of congestion reducing measures on a wide scale eludes most world cities suffering from traffic congestion, as many oppose the notion of road pricing and despite economists and transportation professionals having advocated its benefits for a number of decades. The effects of road pricing have attracted considerable attention from researchers examining its effects, as it is thought to hold the key in understanding and overcoming some inherent obstacles to implementation. Unfortunately, many of the attempts consider the effects in isolation and with hypothetical, idealised and analytical tools, sometimes loosing sight of the complexities of the problem. This research empirically investigates the effects of road pricing in London, and identifies factors, which may prove to sustain it as a traffic reduction instrument. The results indicate that an integrated approach has to be developed and implemented, based upon the recognition of local perceptions, concerns, aspirations and locally acceptable solutions, if the acceptance of road pricing is to be improved. The key to dealing with the effects of road pricing, is to encourage a concerted effort by various stakeholders developing strategies considering a range of differing initiatives, coordinating and managing them in the realm of the political-economic context in which they exist. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional Planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Urban traffic congestion is recognised as a major problem by most people in world cities. However, the implementation of congestion reducing measures on a wide scale eludes most world cities suffering from traffic congestion, as many oppose the notion of road pricing and despite economists and transportation professionals having advocated its benefits for a number of decades. The effects of road pricing have attracted considerable attention from researchers examining its effects, as it is thought to hold the key in understanding and overcoming some inherent obstacles to implementation. Unfortunately, many of the attempts consider the effects in isolation and with hypothetical, idealised and analytical tools, sometimes loosing sight of the complexities of the problem. This research empirically investigates the effects of road pricing in London, and identifies factors, which may prove to sustain it as a traffic reduction instrument. The results indicate that an integrated approach has to be developed and implemented, based upon the recognition of local perceptions, concerns, aspirations and locally acceptable solutions, if the acceptance of road pricing is to be improved. The key to dealing with the effects of road pricing, is to encourage a concerted effort by various stakeholders developing strategies considering a range of differing initiatives, coordinating and managing them in the realm of the political-economic context in which they exist. / Thesis (M.Art. et Scien. (Town and Regional Planning))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The diploma thesis deals with the assessment of investment "Finalization of waterway of Vltava in section České Budějovice {--} Týn nad Vltavou" in the South Bohemia region. The aim of this work is the analysis of the impact of this investment on region from macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. The other aim of work is basic presentation of the investment, the progress of cost benefit analysis and identification of benefits, which will be brought by the investment to South Bohemia region.

[pt] Esta tese avalia políticas de conservação adotadas no âmbito do plano de ação federal para combate ao desmatamento na Amazônia brasileira. O Capítulo 1 descreve as principais mudanças institucionais e discute suas avaliações de efetividade. A revisão de literatura corrobora a eficácia das medidas para a redução do desmatamento, mas indica também que efeitos indiretos das políticas de conservação foram pouco estudados. Os demais capítulos conduzem análises empíricas sobre efeitos diretos e indiretos dessas políticas, utilizando um painel de dez anos de dados georreferenciados para contemplar dinâmicas espaciais ao longo do tempo. O Capítulo 2 testa se proteção territorial legal confere real proteção contra desmatamento. Tomando a intensidade do desmatamento no entorno de uma área como uma medida do risco de desmatamento local, o estudo compara a perda florestal em territórios protegidos e não protegidos sujeitos a riscos de desmatamento equivalentes. Aproveitando o formato raster dos dados, a estratégia empírica inclui efeitos fixos de célula para mitigar preocupações sobre possível viés oriundo de não-observáveis. Os resultados documentam a eficácia da proteção: células protegidas tiveram significativamente menos perda florestal do que células não protegidas, mesmo quando expostas ao mesmo risco de desmatamento. Contudo, ainda que o território protegido sirva como um escudo contra o avanço do desmatamento, a perda florestal por ele desviada parece seguir para áreas não protegidas. A proteção, portanto, afeta a dinâmica regional do desmatamento, mas não seu nível agregado. O Capítulo 3 investiga se variações na regeneração tropical configuram uma externalidade de medidas de aplicação da lei voltadas para o desmatamento. A vegetação secundária esteve vulnerável durante a primeira década do plano de ação, que não direcionou esforços para a promoção da regeneração tropical e tampouco para a conservação de vegetação secundária existente. Além disso, a regeneração permaneceu invisível ao sistema de monitoramento da floresta. Mesmo assim, a área de vegetação secundária na Amazônia aumentou em 7 milhões de hectares durante esse período. A última parte desta tese averigua se a aplicação da lei contribuiu para esse fenômeno, ainda que não intencionalmente. Os resultados são robustos à inclusão de uma série de controles em nível da célula, que mitigam preocupações sobre viés de variável omitida. A análise indica que uma maior intensidade de aplicação da lei no entorno de um local está associada a maior probabilidade de expansão da vegetação secundária e também maior área por ela coberta naquele local. Isso apoia a hipótese de que infratores ambientais, diante dos maiores custos associados à atividade ilegal, abandonaram as regiões onde operavam e, assim, permitiram que ocorresse um processo natural de regeneração. A força dessa externalidade varia conforme o grau de desmatamento local: regiões mais desmatadas provavelmente abrigam atividades não florestais mais consolidadas, dificultando o ressurgimento da floresta; regiões menos desmatadas ainda oferecem uma área relativamente pequena para regeneração em escala. Exercícios contrafatuais ilustram a magnitude desse efeito, mostrando que melhorias no sistema de monitoramento do desmatamento resultariam em quase 300 mil hectares adicionais de vegetação secundária. / [en] This dissertation assesses policy effects of conservation efforts adopted within the scope of the federal action plan to combat Amazon deforestation in Brazil. Chapter 1 provides a description of key policy changes and surveys the associated effectiveness literature. It finds evidence that supports the action plan s efficacy in reducing aggregate deforestation levels, but notes that indirect impacts of conservation policies have received little attention. The remaining chapters explore direct and indirect impacts of action plan policies using a georeferenced ten-year panel dataset to account for spatial dynamics. Chapter 2 tests whether legal territorial protection grants actual protection against advancing deforestation. Using a measure of neighboring clearing activity to capture local deforestation risk, the analysis compares forest clearing outcomes in unprotected and protected territory under equivalent deforestation pressures. The empirical strategy draws on the dataset s raster structure to mitigate concerns of potentially confounding unobservables via the use of raster cell fixed effects. Results document protection s efficacy in a high-risk context, with significantly less forest being cleared in protected cells than in unprotected ones. Yet, although protected territory effectively shields vegetation under its domain from advancing deforestation, it appears to deflect clearings to unprotected areas. Protection therefore affects regional forest clearing dynamics, but not the overall level of deforestation. Chapter 3 investigates whether changes in tropical regeneration constituted a spillover effect from law enforcement targeting forest loss. Secondary vegetation was vulnerable during the first decade of the action plan, which neither promoted tropical regeneration nor sought to conserve existing secondary vegetation. Moreover, regeneration remained undetected in satellite-based forest monitoring systems. Still, during this period, the extent of Amazon secondary vegetation increased by nearly 7 million hectares. The final part of this dissertation examines whether law enforcement contributed to this growth, albeit unintentionally. The empirical strategy uses a ten-year cross-sectional difference in observed regeneration outcomes to address the intrinsically time-consuming nature of this phenomenon. Results are shown to be robust to the inclusion of a host of raster cell-level controls, mitigating concerns about omitted variable bias. Findings indicate that the intensity of enforcement in a location s close surroundings is associated with both increased probability of secondary vegetation expansion and increased area of secondary vegetation in that location. This lends support to the hypothesis that environmental offenders, once faced with a higher perceived cost of engaging in illegal deforestation, abandoned the area they were operating in and thereby allowed a natural process of forest regrowth to occur. The spillover effect of enforcement on regeneration appears largest in places that have undergone neither too much nor too little deforestation: in the former, forest clearings and non-forest land use are probably more consolidated, and regrowth is therefore less likely; in the latter, there is still relatively little area for the forest to grow back in. Counterfactual exercises shed light on the magnitude of this effect. An enhanced satellite-based monitoring system for targeting enforcement would have resulted in nearly 300 thousand additional hectares of secondary vegetation.