This thesis contains three essays on topics in agricultural economics. The research is focused on the economic effects of different trade policies applied within the US, Canada and the European Union. <p>Essay one evaluates the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the single EU common market. The degree of integration of these three countries in agricultural trade in the EU has not previously been evaluated. Trade theory suggests that one of the outcomes resulting from a regional trade agreement is increased market integration among markets in member states. The cointegration of the commodity prices across countries is tested using time-series techniques. This method is important as it can be applied to questions relating to globalization. <p>Essay two examines the biofuel industry in Canada and US from a trade perspective. The development of a large market for biofuels is judged to have two main benefits for North America: environmental benefits in Canada and energy security in the US. A theoretical model is developed using the option value theory to determine whether the two distinct motivating factors can lead to different levels of optimal subsidies in each country. While the development of a biofuel industry is viewed as extremely important in a number of countries, the trade laws on subsidies with respect these products lacks clarity. This research represents an important step in understanding the economics of biofuels and the situations where trade disputes can be expected to appear in the future.<p>Dumping is the subject of the third essay where the strategies of firms in the face of an anti-dumping action are examined using game theory. The possibility of free riding in case of an anti-dumping petition is investigated in two situations: the benefits of the anti-dumping case are considered either a public good or a joint product. The second situation can be applied only for US, because of so-called Byrd Amendment. The theoretical model developed represents an important contribution to trade policy and it can be easily applied when examining the effects of other trade or domestic policies.

This thesis contains three essays on topics in agricultural economics. The research is focused on the economic effects of different trade policies applied within the US, Canada and the European Union. <p>Essay one evaluates the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the single EU common market. The degree of integration of these three countries in agricultural trade in the EU has not previously been evaluated. Trade theory suggests that one of the outcomes resulting from a regional trade agreement is increased market integration among markets in member states. The cointegration of the commodity prices across countries is tested using time-series techniques. This method is important as it can be applied to questions relating to globalization. <p>Essay two examines the biofuel industry in Canada and US from a trade perspective. The development of a large market for biofuels is judged to have two main benefits for North America: environmental benefits in Canada and energy security in the US. A theoretical model is developed using the option value theory to determine whether the two distinct motivating factors can lead to different levels of optimal subsidies in each country. While the development of a biofuel industry is viewed as extremely important in a number of countries, the trade laws on subsidies with respect these products lacks clarity. This research represents an important step in understanding the economics of biofuels and the situations where trade disputes can be expected to appear in the future.<p>Dumping is the subject of the third essay where the strategies of firms in the face of an anti-dumping action are examined using game theory. The possibility of free riding in case of an anti-dumping petition is investigated in two situations: the benefits of the anti-dumping case are considered either a public good or a joint product. The second situation can be applied only for US, because of so-called Byrd Amendment. The theoretical model developed represents an important contribution to trade policy and it can be easily applied when examining the effects of other trade or domestic policies.

This thesis consists of four essays, mainly related to the fields of industrial organization and political economy. The focus is on deregulation of electricity retail markets and on the continued regulation of parts of such markets after the introduction of competition. The first essay is an empirical essay on the causes of deregulation. The timing of implementation of competition in retail electricity markets in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand is studied. One conclusion is that there exist important qualitative differences between the United States and Europe. While deregulation in the United States to a large extent seems to have been driven by consumer interest concerns, the influence from interest groups is more pronounced in Europe.The second (theoretical) and third (empirical) essays deal with the interaction between the regulation of distribution networks and the retail market. When the regulated and unregulated operations are conducted within vertically integrated companies the regulation may not only have an effect on the regulated market, but also affect the behavior in the unregulated market. In the third essay a test that uses prices to detect patterns of cross-subsidization is developed and used on Norwegian data. Especially the effects of a regulatory change on cross-subsidization behavior are analyzed. The results both highlight the importance of a well-designed regulation of the regulated market and give support to requirements of vertical separation between regulated and unregulated operations.The fourth essay is a study of domestic electricity demand. It is thus somewhat different than the other papers since it is not directly connected to the issue of electricity market deregulation. Since the energy sector is an essential part of any modern economy and energy production has considerable environmental effects, the sector has for a long time been subject to political interventions. To some extent the policy instruments available to the legislator are reduced by deregulations. The use of taxes to affect prices and thus the demand for electricity may at the same time become an even more important policy instrument and more difficult to implement due to the internationalization of the electricity market. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2003

Under perioden 2000 till 2019 ökade priset för en 30-dagarsbiljett i Stockholms kollektivtrafik med 107 %. Den kraftiga prisökningen väcker frågan huruvida kollektivtrafiken i Stockholm i dagsläget är samhällsekonomiskt effektiv eller om den är för dyr? Vad beror den kraftiga prisökningen på, är den rimlig och hur påverkar den användandet av kollektivtrafiken? Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka utvecklingen av SL:s biljettpriser och kostnader ur ett samhällsekonomiskt perspektiv. Detta gjorde vi genom att kartlägga och sammanställa SL:s kostnader, intäkter och priser under tidsperioden för att avgöra vad som föranleder denna prisutveckling. Utifrån teori och tidigare litteratur diskuterade vi huruvida ökningen av biljettpriser skett utifrån en samhällsekonomisk grund eller inte och hur detta påverkar SL:s finansiering. Vi skattade ett flertal elasticiteter för att mäta effekten denna prisutveckling har på kollektivtrafikens efterfrågan och hur den skulle påverkas av ytterligare subventionering. Vi kom fram till att biljettpriset ökat på grund av kostnadsökning som främst berott på nya upphandlingar och avtal samt att prissättningen och subventioneringen sker på samhällsekonomisk grund men att den inte är optimal. Vi kommer även fram till att det finns andra argument till varför kollektivtrafiken borde subventioneras ytterligare. I det stora hela kan vi konstatera att kollektivtrafiken i Stockholm, som konsekvens av ökade kostnader hänförbara till trafikupphandlingar och en ej samhällsekonomisk optimal prissättning bidrar till en för dyr kollektivtrafik. / During the period from 2000 to 2019, the price of a 30-day ticket in Stockholm's public transportation increased by 107 %. The significant price increase raises the question of whether the current public transportation in Stockholm is efficient from an economic perspective or if it is too expensive. What is the cause of this substantial price increase, is it reasonable, and how does it affect the usage of public transportation? The purpose of this essay is to examine the development of SL's (Stockholm Public Transport) ticket prices and costs from an economic perspective. To achieve this, we conducted a mapping and compilation of SL's costs, revenues, and prices during the specified time period to determine the factors driving this price development. Based on theory and previous literature, we discussed whether the increase in ticket prices has occurred on an economic basis or not, and how it affects SL's financing. We estimated several elasticities to measure the effect this price development has on the demand for public transportation and how it would be impacted by additional subsidization. We concluded that the increase in ticket prices was due to cost increases primarily stemming from new procurement and agreements and that the pricing and subsidization are based on economic principles but are not optimal. We also found other arguments for why public transportation should be further subsidized. Overall, we can conclude that public transportation in Stockholm, as a result of increased costs related to traffic procurement and suboptimal pricing based on economic factors, contributes to an excessively expensive public transportation system.

We compare the effectiveness of different climate policies in terms of emissions abatement and costs in the British and German electricity markets. The two countries follow different climate policies, allowing us to compare the effectiveness of a relatively low EU ETS carbon price in Germany with a significantly higher carbon price due to a unilateral top-up tax (the Carbon Price Support) in the UK. We first estimate the emissions offsetting effects of carbon pricing and of subsidized wind and solar feed-in, and then derive the abatement costs of one tonne of CO2 for the different policies. We find that a reasonably high price for emissions is the most cost-effective climate policy, while subsidizing wind is preferable to subsidizing solar power. A carbon price of around EURO 35 is enough in the UK to induce vast short-run fuel switching between coal- and gas-fired power plants, leading to significant emissions abatement at low costs. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series