The quality of electricity infrastructure and supply to a nation is seen as vital for the development of the local and regional economy. In recent times, electricity generation industries worldwide have undergone significant changes pertaining to the kind of technologies used. These changes were made in order to address concerns related to energy security and sustainability. South Africa has been identified as a carbon-intensive economy, with the electricity sector being at the high end of the carbon intensity spectrum. The need to analyse the socio-environmental impacts of existing electricity generation techniques becomes vital when taking into account the transitions in the South Africa electricity industry. Socio-environmental impacts are categorised into public, environmental and occupational impacts, based on the point of impact. The methodology used to quantify these impacts is based on the Impact Pathway Approach used in the Externalities of Energy study. The Externalities of Energy study was devised in Europe and has gained prominence particularly in developing countries because of its ability to adapt to local conditions. Since South Africa is a developing country, the methodology is suitable for the quantification of externalities when analysing scenarios that have a dearth of local data. iii South Africa historically focused on non-renewable electricity generation mechanisms. This was done primarily because of the abundant supplies of coal and secondly because of the need to provide electricity at affordable prices to the masses. The focus of the analysis is set on impacts caused by coal and nuclear electricity in South Africa, since these two technologies together contribute to more the 95% of the electricity generated. The impacts in each category are identified, prioritised, analysed and quantified. Once impacts are quantified, monetary costs are attributed to the impacts. The aggregation of the costs caused by the impacts results in determining the damages associated with the quantified impacts. Monetary damages individually are not of much use, and therefore the significance of such damages are underlined once calculated. Determined monetary damages are interpreted in average and total terms relative to the total electricity generated with the intention of highlighting the significance of the costs. The average damage costs are compared to existing electricity prices, which enables policy- and decision-makers to segregate the damages relative to electricity prices. The results of this analysis should enable policy-makers to prudently make decisions about the significance of the social and environmental impacts associated with the dominant non-renewable electricity generation technologies in the country while prioritising the sustainability of the society and environment. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / cp2013 / Graduate School of Technology Management / PhD / Unrestricted

Cette thèse propose de formuler le taux d’escompte comme fonction du revenu individuel et classifie cette spécification comme les externalités de revenu dans le taux d’escompte. La justification de cette relation est trouvée dans la théorie de la hiérarchie des besoins humains par Abraham Maslow (Maslow (1943)) : plus le revenu d’un individu, interprété comme le pouvoir économique à consommer, est élevé, plus l’individu a tendance à penser à des besoins supérieurs, associés à une plus grande patience. Ensuite, la présente étude s’intéresse aux implications des externalités pour deux phénomènes macro-économiques : les fluctuations endogènes, et la convergence/polarisation des revenus par tête entre les pays. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que les externalités de revenu dans le taux d'escompte constituent un mécanisme qui génère des fluctuations endogènes dans une économie fermée. L’extension de ce modèle à une configuration 2x2x2 dynamique permet de conclure qu’en fonction des technologies et des préférences des consommateurs, l'intégration commerciale d'une économie volatile avec une économie stable peut avoir un effet stabilisant ou, au contraire, peut engendrer des fluctuations macro-économiques dans toute la région. Enfin, cette thèse démontre que la libéralisation des échanges commerciaux peut avoir, comme effet de long terme, soit la convergence soit la divergence des revenus par habitant. Pour un certain nombre de paramètres, les externalités génèrent la divergence. Ce résultat est compatible avec les observations empiriques et met en évidence l’importance des interventions politiques pour bénéficier de la libéralisation commerciale. / This dissertation proposes a new formulation of time discounting: discount factor as a function of individual income, referred to as income externalities in discounting. The rationale for this relationship is found in the theory of hierarchy of human needs by Abraham Maslow (Maslow (1943)): the greater is income, interpreted as economic power of individuals to consume, the higher layers of needs, associated with greater patience, individuals seek to satisfy. Then, the thesis entails an examination of the linkage between the externalities and two macroeconomic phenomena: endogenous fluctuations and convergence/polarization of per capita incomes across countries. It is established that income externalities in discounting could be a vehicle for endogenous fluctuations in an autarkic economy. In the extension of the autarkic model to a dynamic 2x2x2 framework, it is found that trade integration of a volatile economy with a stable one can make fluctuations to evanesce or, on the contrary, propel them to the whole region depending on technologies and consumer preferences. Last, it is shown that trade liberalization can result in convergence or divergence of long run per capita income. For some range of parameters, externalities produce divergence. The result is consistent with empirical observations and emphasizes the importance of policy interventions for reaping benefits from free trade.

The graduation thesis concerns on questions of financial management of municipal waste in municipality Dacice. Profits and costs, related to waste management, are analyzed. Relevant economic theories are presented in the first chapter. Consequent chapters describe economic instruments and legislative regulation of waste policy in Czech Republic. The practical application of the theoretical findings is presented in the final chapter. Pursuant to analysis of waste management the deficiencies are mentioned and recommendations are given.

The thesis aims to describe main relationships between road traffic and its environmental impact. It has to explain general concept, definition of basic negatives and disadvantages of the road traffic environmental influence and ways how to face up to them. One of fundamental components of the thesis is represented by an chapter about road traffic's external costs and possible approaches of their elimination. It pushes ahead the internalizing externalities. Analytic part of the thesis refers to one concrete traffic fabric situated in the centre of medium-sized city with a view to changes of environment characteristics of the whole territory and to changes of traffic situation in the city. The fabric is monitored in the course of all phases -- from first suggestions for the final commissioning.

No description available.

Hydraulic fracturing has been increasingly used in the USA to economically extract natural gas and oil from newly discovered shale plays. Despite new, more severe, and long term impacts of hydraulic fracturing compared to conventional drilling, regulatory practices are mostly implemented by states that regulate with older regulations that were were written before the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing. This dissertation presents three essays on the economics of hydraulic fracturing. A standard renewable lease in hydraulic fracturing runs for a five-year primary term. The first essay examines the effect of initial contract length on extraction behavior and social costs. It finds that the rate of extraction decreases over time for both, the social planner and the private extractor. In addition, the social planner has a more stable extraction path compared to the private extractor. Holding other things equal, if the social planner seeks to induce a private extractor to leave a higher in situ stock un-extracted, then the optimal contract duration is longer. Simulations illustrate the magnitude of social costs inherent in hydraulic fracturing and non-optimal fixed contract lengths. The second essay investigates the impact of the significantly increased bonding requirements for horizontal wells introduced in West Virginia in December, 2011, on the probability of violation committed by those wells. Results suggest that the increased bonding requirement has reduced the probability of violation by 2.6 to 3.2 percentage points. Moreover, it slightly reduces the number of violations done by horizontal wells. Finally, the third essay explores several aspects of Act-13, introduced on February 14, 2012, by Pennsylvania. This act imposes new fees that are assessed annually for fifteen years, on all unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania. This chapter explores the impacts of Act-13 on the likelihood of an unconventional well's shut-down, rate of extraction, and probability of violation. Results suggest that wells incurring this increased fee schedule have a significantly higher likelihood (more than three times) of shut-down. Also, Act-13 have reduced the extraction rate, and the probability of violation committed by unconventional wells in Pennsylvania. / Ph. D.

This research analyzes the long-lived public good/bad. The public good/bad is defined to ‘live long’ in the sense that the external effects of an action persist beyond the decision horizon of the actor. Thus, a very simple overlapping generations economy is modeled in which the agent lives for two periods while the public durable good/bad lasts indefinitely with deterioration/amelioration. Pareto optimality, the Lindahl equilibrium, and the theory of voluntary provision for this overlapping generations model are contrasted with those of the atemporal model. / Ph. D.

This study surveys the theoretical literature dealing with the behavior of technology suppliers in the presence of network externalities with a focus on economies of compatibility setting and promotional pricing. Positive network externalities arise when a good is more valuable to a user because more users adopt the same good or compatible ones. There are two issues with network externalities: demand side and supply side. This paper focuses on the supply side, and it relates the way that technologies are chosen and promoted. On the supply side, product compatibility choice, technology sponsorship, penetration pricing, and product pre-announcement are the competing strategies of firms operating in a market with network externalities. Among these strategies, compatibility choice decisions and promotional pricing are presented in the two different subsections, which follows. / Master of Arts

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-04-12T16:45:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabrício Eidelwein_.pdf: 3923548 bytes, checksum: 36d9c55f73c9e8e15962e851d07db5c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-12T16:45:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabrício Eidelwein_.pdf: 3923548 bytes, checksum: 36d9c55f73c9e8e15962e851d07db5c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / Os negócios e a natureza estão intimamente conectados e o desenvolvimento humano depende de uma relação harmoniosa entre ambos. Enquanto a disponibilidade de recursos naturais é pressionada pelo crescimento populacional, por níveis crescentes de poluição e por padrões de consumo inadequados, as organizações procuram referências para crescer de modo sustentável. Tendo em vista a dependência que os negócios têm da natureza, a busca por soluções de menor impacto ambiental é, além de uma boa prática, uma condição sine qua non para a manutenção da competitividade. O atual formato de avaliação dos resultados econômicos nas empresas é incompatível com a mensuração do real valor gerado. Além de estimular ações de curto prazo que, muitas vezes, geram impactos ambientais no longo prazo, a Demonstração de Resultado do Exercício (DRE) desconsidera uma série de efeitos ambientais externos gerados pelas organizações, os quais impactam a sociedade sem que ela seja recompensada. Estes impactos são conhecidos como externalidades ambientais, as quais podem ser positivas, embora sejam, majoritariamente, negativas. No Brasil, a indústria petroquímica é rigidamente controlada pela legislação ambiental e pela ação das comunidades com as quais se relaciona. Ainda assim, é um ramo industrial sujeito à geração de externalidades. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um método para a elaboração da Demonstração do Resultado Econômico-Ambiental (DREA), a qual internaliza as externalidades ambientais, bem como a aplicação em uma empresa do setor petroquímico. Para tanto, o método de pesquisa utilizado foi o Design Science Research (DSR). Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que as externalidades ambientais presentes planta fabril avaliada são predominantemente negativas. A internalização destes custos externos impactaria o resultado econômico consolidado da empresa em valor correspondente a 12,5% do Lucro Líquido do exercício considerado. Além disso, é possível concluir que o método desenvolvido é adequado para a elaboração da DREA e configura-se em um passo importante no avanço da contabilidade. / Business and nature are closely connected and human development depends on a harmonious relationship between them. While the availability of natural resources is pressed by population growth, by increasing levels of pollution and inadequate consumption patterns, organizations seek drivers to grow sustainably. Given the dependence that businesses have of nature, the search for lower environmental impact solutions is, besides a good practice, a sine qua non condition for maintaining competitiveness. The current format for evaluating economic results in companies is inconsistent with the measurement of the real value generated. Besides stimulating short-term actions, which often cause environmental impact in the long term, the traditional Income Statement disregards a series of external environmental effects generated by organizations, which affect the society without a compatible reward. These impacts are known as environmental externalities, which can be positive, although they are mostly negative. In Brazil, the petrochemical industry is tightly controlled by the environmental legislation and by the action of the communities with which it interacts. Even so, it is an industry subject to the generation of externalities. In this sense, this research aimed to develop a method for the preparation of the Economic and Environmental Income Statement (EEIS), which internalize environmental externalities, and test this method in a petrochemical company. To support this study, the research method used was the Design Science Research (DSR). The results of this research indicate that environmental externalities present in the assessed petrochemical plant are predominantly negative. The internalization of the relative external costs would impact the consolidated economic results of the company in an amount equal to 12.5% of net profit for the year considered. In addition, it can be concluded that the developed method is suitable for the preparation of EEIS and sets up an important step in advancing the accounting.

The thesis consists of four papers. The first two essays deal with entry externalities, the third studies the Law of One Price (LOP), while the last essay examines average profits for a monopolist under uncertainty. In the first essay, entry externalities in the form of information and positive payoff externalities are studied. When a firm enters a market, it often imposes externalities on existing firms and/or future potential entrants. If products are substitutes, these externalities are typically negative; if products are complements, the externalities are typically positive. Externalities related to substitution or complementarities between products are called payoff externalities, since entry by one firm has a direct effect on the other firms' payoff. Another type of externality arises when firms have private information about the profitability of entry. In this case, the entry decision of one firm potentially reveals that firm's private information. The focus of the paper is on the scope for intervention for an uninformed social planner, when firms privately know the profitability of entry and moreover, the firms have an option to delay their entry. The main result is that there is insufficient entry, since firms delay too much in equilibrium and further, the social planner can increase welfare by subsidizing early entry. Continuing on this theme, the second essay has the same focus, but instead takes the time of entry as fixed, while generalizing the analysis of payoff externalities also to the case of negative payoff externalities. The main contribution is the characterization of equilibria under both positive and negative payoff externalities and the implications for public policy. Here, the scope for intervention will, in contrast to the results in the first essay, be low, when entry is profitable for uninformed firms. In the third essay (joint with Richard Friberg), deviations from the LOP are studied in the presence of transport costs, under the assumption that firms can endogenously choose to segment markets in order to prevent arbitrage by consumers. It is shown that the deviation from LOP can increase as transport costs fall between countries. The last essay (joint with Richard Friberg), studies the problem facing a monopolist when the cost of inputs is uncertain. The main result is that the monopolist can gain from this uncertainty, in the sense that average profits are increasing in the variability of costs. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001