Moral hazard and Marshallian inefficiency: Evidence from Tunisia

We formalize the link between optimal cost-sharing contracts and the production technology in the presence of moral hazard by appealing to several well-known results from duality theory. Building on intuitions from the interlinkage literature, we show that optimal contractual structure is determined by the (i) substitution possibilities that exist between different observable factor inputs, as well as (ii) between these inputs and unobservable effort. We endogenize contractual choice using landlord characteristics as instruments, exploiting the fact that, in our dataset, landlords interact with several tenants and vice versa. The approach is applied to an unbalanced plot-level panel of cost-sharing contracts in a Tunisian village, using a translog representation of the restricted profit function. Contractual terms are found to be a significant determinant of input use and therefore lead to Marshallian inefficiency, while the optimality of the underlying contractual structure is rejected.     

How well do tree plantations comply with the twin targets of the Clean Development Mechanism? — The case of tree plantations in Tanzania

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is supposed to provide both carbon mitigation and poverty reduction. This article reports from a model based study of market related carbon leakage and poverty reduction in the wake of a CDM tree-planting project in Tanzania. A tree plantation was incorporated in a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with income differentiated household segments. The study focused on sensitivity of carbon leakage and income distribution to different project ownerships and carbon premium allocations. It turned out that the project value in terms of carbon premium has clear shortcomings as indicator of induced GDP growth and poverty alleviation. The non-poor rural and urban households benefit considerably more than the poor households. However, rising household income in all domestic project ownership arrangements increases demand for food, raises use of fertilizer and crop yields. A carbon cycle module for agricultural land use was incorporated in the CGE model, showing an increased carbon sequestration in agricultural soil, representing a negative leakage through markets in the range of 60-120% of the certified emissions reductions as registered in the CDM tree plantation project.     

Information age to genetic revolution: Embodied technology transfer and assimilation — A tale of two technologies

In this paper, a fifteen regions-fifteen sectors global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is calibrated. It offers quantitative enumeration of 5% exogenous biotechnological invention in USA in genetically modified crops namely, maize grains and soybean. Consequently, it results in endogenously transmitted productivity gains via traded intermediates in user sectors in donor and recipient regions. Sustained absorption and domestic usability of transgenic varieties depend on constellation of: human capital-induced absorptive capacity, governance, and structural congruence between source and recipients contingent on technology infrastructure and socio-institutional parameters. Such innovations result in higher production, welfare and global trade. Also, concomitant 4% exogenous productivity shock in information technology along with 5% productivity growth in the agro-biotech sectors further enhances such simulated impacts on global production and welfare. Regions with larger extent of technology capture aided by higher human capital, better governance, conducive institutional-structural features, and superior technological expertise perform better.     

The econometric critique of computable general equilibrium modeling: the role of functional forms

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are among the most influential tools in applied economics. However, some serious questions have been raised about the empirical validity of these models. The core of the critique is that the parameter selection criteria are unsound and the use of first-order (CES class) functional forms imposes influential restrictions on the model's structure. A formal summary of the case against standard CGE modeling is presented, as is an alternative econometric-based modeling strategy which answers the critique. We then present a comparative CGE modeling experiment designed to assess the role of function forms. It is found that choice of functional forms affects not only industry-specific results, but aggregate results as well, even for small policy shocks.     

The sensitivity of climate-economy CGE models to energy-related elasticity parameters: Implications for climate policy design

A dynamic climate-economy CGE model based on the GTAP framework is used to analyse how sensitive simulation results are to alternative values assumed by several types of elasticity of substitution in energy-related linkages. Input substitutability in the production function is also tested for the relationship between capital and energy in different manufacturing sectors. The simulation exercise reveals that the model produces highly differentiated results when different sets of elasticity parameters are adopted. As a general result, lower substitutability values correspond to a reduction in the flexibility of energy substitution possibilities, making carbon abatement efforts more expensive. Moreover, this restriction generates changes in the distribution of costs associated with abatement efforts across regions. This brings to severe implications on international competitiveness especially for energy-intensive industrial sectors. The direct implication derived from this work is that in order to use CGE models to assess the amount and distribution of mitigation costs and to inform the international community involved in discussing the feasibility of climate policies, the use of empirically estimated behavioural parameters at the highest possible disaggregation level is highly recommended.     

Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the U.S. Economy: A Structural Decomposition Analysis

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of various influences on carbon dioxide emissions. It incorporates methodological refinements of input-output structural decomposition analysis, which is the examination of economic change by means of a set of comparative static variations in key parameters of I-O tables. The analysis is performed using a two-tiered KLEM model, which allows for estimation of substitution and technological change effects within and between input aggregates. The model is used to decompose the sources of change in CO₂ emissions in the U.S. over the 1972–82 timeframe using hybrid energy/value tables for the initial and terminal years. Results show the significant effect of substitution within the energy sector and between energy and other inputs as the leading causes of the decline in carbon dioxide emissions.     

Optimal Contracting of Separable Production Technologies

We analyze the class of agency problems with a risk-neutral principal and a risk-averse agent, in which hidden actions and hidden information (on the agent's efficiency) are jointly present. Technological assumptions such as monotonicity of likelihood are no longer sufficient for the optimal contract to be monotone in the sharing rule. We show that these regularity properties obtain for the rather wide class of production technologies that are separable in the agent's inputs. Together with ordinal properties such as monotone differences and affiliation of inputs, separability yields the monotonicity in efficiency of the agent's actions and indirect utility.     

The CES‐‐Translog Production Function, Returns to Scale and AES

The translog functional form imposes no a priori restrictions on the substitution possibilities between the factor inputs, by relaxing the assumption of strong separability, and the CES–translog cost function specification allows for testing homothetic technology with Hicks‐neutral technical change. In this paper an n ‐factor CES–translog production function is presented which develops the parameters to directly assess scale effects from those due to technology in the production structure. In addition, by applying Shephard's lemma it was possible to derive the input demand functions, as well as the partial elasticities of substitution and the cross‐partial price elasticities of demand for a generalized CES–translog production structure.     

能源税征收的劳动替代效应实证研究--基于上海市2002年大气污染的CGE模型的试算

作为政策分析的有力工具,可计算一般均衡(Computable General Equilibri-um,简称CGE)模型经过40多年的发展已在世界上得到广泛应用,并逐渐发展成为应用经济学的一个分支。目前,我国的CGE模型研究已取得了一些具有开拓性的成果,主要产生了有国务院发展研究中心的DRCCGE和中科院数量经济与技术研究所的PRCGEM两套CGE模型。在这些成果的基础上,文章首先分析了对煤征收能源税的重要性与必要性,随后详细介绍了采用由四大模块组成的CGE模型系统,并且给出了具体的求解处理过程。其次根据2002年上海市投入产出表数据,建立了一个地区性(上海市)可计算一般均衡(CGE)模型,结果表明能源税的征收有效地推动了劳动对能源的替代,促进了经济结构和能源结构的调整,导致大气污染物的减少,同时对实际产出的影响较小,表明对煤征收能源税的可行性和合理性。最后对模型的改进提出了一些建议,为日后地区CGE模型应用及政策分析提供了一些支持。     

Factor Substitutability in Australian Manufacturing with Emphasis on Energy Inputs*

In this paper a model of the production structure in the aggregate Australian manufacturing sector is estimated, emphasizing the use this sector makes of energy inputs. A translog cost function is estimated with time-series data for four inputs, capital services, labour services, energy and materials and likewise an energy submodel is estimated for solid fuels, oil, electricity and gas. The substitutabilily and the complementarity relationships between the various factor inputs and between the various fuels are examined: an interesting finding is that capital and energy are substitutes and labour and energy are complements. Factor price elasticities are calculated and turn out to be quite significant. The study concludes that rising energy prices will induce significant shifts in both the mix of fuel inputs and the level of aggregate energy utilization.     

Climate policy vs. agricultural productivity shocks in a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling framework: The case of a developing economy

The main objective of this paper is to compare the cost of climate policy consistent with the 2 °C global warming target (Paris Agreement target) with the cost of climate change induced agricultural productivity shocks, using a recursive dynamic CGE model for India. The social cost of carbon, in terms of loss in agriculture sector, is estimated to be about 2 percent of GDP, at zero rate of discount, under conservative forecasts of fall in agricultural productivity. In comparison, the cost of climate policy consistent with the Paris Agreement target of 2 °C is about 1 percent of GDP. Thus, there is a strong case for the adoption of ambitious climate policy in India, provided other countries also adhere to the same. Besides, revenues generated from the carbon tax and emission allowance could be a means to support the development and adoption of new energy and agricultural technologies, to increase social sector expenditure and to reduce abatement costs.     

The structure of production in urban housing: a multi-input cost function approach

This paper uses a two-stage cost function model to analyse substitution possibilities among inputs in the production of urban housing. Aggregate price indexes for groups of inputs are generated in the first stage, and then used in the estimation of the aggregate cost function in the second stage. The procedure is valid under the assumption of weak separability. The use of flexible functional forms at both stages allowed the analysis to be carried out by imposing fewer restrictions as a part of the maintained hypothesis than has been the case in the previous literature. The findings are consistent with the postulates of cost-minimising factor demand theory.     

METHODS OF ESTIMATING HOUSEHOLD EQUIVALENCE SCALES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

This paper presents empirical evidence regarding key assumptions of the Rothbarth and Barten methods of constructing household equivalence scales. The assumption of separability in the Rothbarth model is investigated by examining the implied intra-household allocation of specific goods and by examining studies of economies of scale in household consumption. The assumption of the exogeneity of the distribution parameters in the Barten model is related to the results of empirical studies of clothing expenditures. This paper suggests that empirical evidence fails to support the assumptions maintained in these theoretically sophisticated models of household income equivalence.     

Separability and public finance

In a second best environment, the optimal policy choice sometimes follows first best rules. This paper presents a formal general argument which allows to unify much of the literature. It lays down the information structure and separability assumptions under which the results hold in a variety of setups, with extensions to preference heterogeneity and individual production sets.     

Environmental impact of household activity in Spain

The objective of this paper is to analyse the environmental impacts of the Spanish economy by way of water and atmospheric pollution on the basis of a Spanish Accounting Matrix for 1999. Only households were taken as an exogenous account. The pollution measures are estimated for seven categories of pollution: three atmospheric pollutants (CO₂, NO_x and SO_x) and four indicators for water (waste water, nitrogen, metals and biological oxygen demand (BOD)). The environmental data base was obtained from the Spanish Statistical Institute.The analysis reveals that pollution in Spain is closely linked to food production, energy, extractive industries and paper manufacturing. We show that services, taken as a whole, are major polluters, though this is due to the volume of household expenditure they represent rather than their pollution potential as such. We also show that the Spanish economy avoids a great deal of pollution by importing inputs, which pollute where they are produced. Finally, the study also provides per capita pollution values for the aforementioned seven pollutants.     

Are Armington elasticities different across countries and sectors? A European study

CGE models are widely used for policy evaluation and impact analysis especially with respect to trade reforms, tax reforms, energy sector reform and development policy analysis. However, the results of such models are often argued to be sensitive to the choice of exogenous parameters such as trade elasticities. Several authors show that the choice of the so-called Armington elasticities in the demand function has a strong influence on the simulation results. Most existing estimates of Armington elasticities are only for the US. The few studies for other countries find substantially differing results. Nevertheless, many CGE modelers simply adopt the elasticities from other studies disregarding specific country and model characteristics. This paper aims at providing estimated elasticities based on recent data for a larger group of European countries. Using cointegration and panel fixed effects analyses we estimate the first order condition resulting from cost minimization or utility maximization subject to the CES utility or cost function in imports and domestic goods. The results show a rather large variation across sectors and countries and the magnitude is only partly comparable to the US elasticities. Moreover, in a small CGE application we are able to show that changing the elasticity set has a quantitative and even qualitative impact on CGE model results, which confirms the concern that one might end up with biased results due to a misspecification of the elasticities.     

Validation of an R&D-based computable general equilibrium model

A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is useful for the calculation of macroeconomic effects caused by policy impacts, but it has been considered a sticking point to evaluate how well the CGE model describes the real economy. Among various possible reasons for the difference between the standard CGE model and the real world, this paper focuses on a limited number of primary input factors and a fixed figure for the calibrated coefficient. A CGE model incorporating research and development (R&D) activity is suggested as an alternative to address the problems with the standard CGE model. The proposed model includes the following two setups: (1) a sector's own knowledge is adopted as a production factor, and (2) others' knowledge is regarded as a source of spillover effect to increase the total factor productivity (TFP) coefficient. This R&D-based CGE model is evaluated on whether its correspondence with reality is better than the standard model that omits the two setups. The two models compute baseline scenarios of South Korean economic growth from 1995 to 2010, and these results are compared to actual data. The results show that the R&D-based model fits better than the standard model in cases where the country has high TFP growth.     

Separability and capital aggregation in sectoral models of US production

Separability plays a fundamental role in applied studies of production inasmuch as it provides for consistent aggregation and allows multi-stage estimation of models with many inputs. This paper examines whether two types of capital, structures and equipment, are weakly separable from labour and energy and materials in sectoral models of US production, and provides an assessment of the effects of maintaining capital separability. The study focuses on the elasticity of substitution as a measure of input association and associated standard errors and confidence intervals based on bootstrapping. Elasticity estimates and tests indicate that capital separability is generally inconsistent with data representing sectoral US production. Elasticity sign, however, appears robust to capital aggregation and performs especially well as an indicator of input association.     

The elasticity of substitution in India's manufacturing sector

Using cross-section data and the translog cost function this paper examines the substitution possibilities between capital and materials and labor and materials since raw materials might be used to overcome the bottlenecks caused by shortages of physical capital and skilled labor. Three significant conclusions are: (a) Since materials are substitutable for both capital and labor to a considerable extent, capital and skilled labor may not be a binding constraint on growth. Agricultural materials expansion may substitute for these inputs and lead to expansion in the industrial sector. (b) Fixed proportion models are not warranted in India without modification, and (c) separability tests showed that materials must be included in the production function.     

Heterogeneous technology and panel data: The case of the agricultural production function

Economic growth involves reallocating resources from traditional to new techniques of production, creating new relationships between particular resources and productivity. The paper analyzes the implications of this process on the estimation of agricultural production functions using a panel of countries. The data includes a measure of capital in agriculture absent from most studies. We employ a heterogeneous technology framework where implemented technology is chosen jointly with inputs to interpret information obtained in the empirical analysis of panel data. In this framework, estimates depend upon the economic environment, which is represented by state variables. It turns out that the old problem of identifying the production function cannot be resolved through the use of instrumental variables, but can be resolved using the allocation error. The paper discusses the scope for replacing country and time effects by observed state variables. The empirical results differ from those reported in the literature for cross-country studies, largely in augmenting the elasticities of capital and land and reducing those of fertilizer and labor. The evaluation of the marginal value productivity accounts for the flow of capital and fertilizer to agriculture and the flow of labor to other sectors, thereby contributing to overall economic growth.