Urban water demand with fixed volumetric charging in a large municipality: the case of Brisbane,Australia*

This paper uses suburb‐level quarterly data to model residential water demand in Brisbane, Australia, from 1998 to 2003. In this system, residential consumption is charged using a fixed annual service fee with no water entitlement followed by a fixed volumetric charge per kilolitre. Water demand is specified as average quarterly household water consumption and the demand characteristics include the marginal price of water, household income and size, and the number of rainy and warm days. The findings not only confirm residential water as price and income inelastic, but also that the price and income elasticity of demand in owner‐occupied households is higher than in rented households. The results also show that weather, particularly summer months and the number of rainy days, exerts a strong influence on residential water consumption.     

Household size and residential water demand: an empirical approach*

The effectiveness of pricing policies depends on the price elasticity of consumption. It is well documented that residential demand for water is influenced by heterogeneity associated with differences in the size of the household and socioeconomic characteristics. In this paper, we focus on household size. Our initial hypothesis is that users’ sensitivity to changes in price is different depending on the number of household members. To this end, we carry out an empirical estimation of urban water demand in Zaragoza (Spain) distinguishing between households with different sizes using data at the individual level. As far as we are aware, this approach to urban residential water demand is new in the literature. The analysis suggests that all households are sensitive to prices regardless of size. A more relevant finding is that small households are more sensitive to price changes.     

城市居民用水需求影响因素研究

介绍城市居民用水需求影响因素研究的背景，定性分析城市居民用水需求的影响因素，分析城市居民用水量的影响因素计量模型。确定影响城市居民水资源需求的主要因素：水价的提高会对减少城市居民用水数量；水资源的短缺状况会显著降低城市居民用水量；城市居民家庭用水存在规模效应；城市用水人口素质越高，人均年用水量越多。得出结论：通过运用价格机制，改革用水制度，可以调动人们节约用水的积极性；采用更为节水的生产技术，会大大消除水资源供求缺口，其成本也可能大大低于调水方案。除此之外，城市居民的社会经济特征也会影响到城市居民用水量，例如家庭平均人口数以及受教育人口比例等。     

城镇化进程中水资源消耗的影响因素研究

在"多项连乘和加总"及向量扩展形式的LMDI模型基础上,构建城镇化进程中人口-居民消费-用水强度的分解框架,分析2003—2016年间水资源消耗的影响因素。研究表明:人口规模扩大和人口城镇化对用水量增长均为正向促进作用,且前者驱动力强于后者;居民消费水平提升是拉动用水量增长的主导因素,而居民消费结构优化升级和居民消费率上升均有效抑制了水资源的消耗,且前者更为显著;用水量的下降主要得益于产业技术进步,生活用水量的增长主要源于生活强度效应。进一步指出未来应合理控制我国人口规模和人口流动,加速居民消费结构的优化升级,注重强化产业技术创新,深挖农业节水潜力,提升居民消费率以实现既定经济规模下的相对节水。     

On the rebound: estimating direct rebound effects for Australian households

Reducing dependence on fossil fuels by decreasing energy consumption is a common environmental policy. One mechanism used to achieve this is to encourage increased energy efficiency. However, improving efficiency may have an opposing effect and cause an increase in energy consumption if the intensity of use changes. This phenomenon is known as the rebound effect. We estimate direct rebound effects for energy use in Australia based on both aggregate residential energy use data and on household energy expenditure data. Our approach implements a new methodology developed by Hunt and Ryan (2014, Catching on the rebound: Why price elasticities are generally inappropriate measures of rebound effects. Surrey Energy Economics Discussion Paper Series SEEDS 148; 2015, Energy Economics 50, 273) that explicitly relates energy service use with energy source demand and directly incorporates measures of efficiency changes. The results indicate that the rebound effect is relatively high for energy use by Australian households. Due to the unique nature of our household data set, we can examine the influence of demographic and housing characteristics. We find that low‐income households and households with vulnerable members have the largest rebound effects. The relatively large rebound effects found here suggest that consumers gain from efficiency by improved energy services, and thus, policy targeting energy efficiency is not likely to be successful at reducing energy consumption.     

Pseudo panel data estimation technique and rational addiction model: an analysis of cigarette,alcohol and coffee demands

We use a pseudo‐panel data approach to analyze the relationship between the consumptions of cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee in a rational addiction framework. We find that while cigarette and coffee demands fit well with the rational addiction model, alcohol demand conforms to a model with inventory effects. The results suggest that alcohol consumption increases the marginal utility derived from consumption of cigarettes. Increasing alcohol prices would decrease not only the consumption of alcohol, but also the consumption of cigarettes. On the other hand, increasing cigarette prices do not have the same effect on consumption of alcohol. The cross‐price elasticity of coffee with respect to cigarette price is positive and significant which suggests that coffee substitutes for cigarettes when cigarette prices increase. The cross‐price elasticity of alcohol with respect to coffee price is found to be negative and significant. On the other hand, Morishima elasticities of substitution indicate that cigarette, alcohol and coffee substitute each other along the indifference curve when relative prices change.     

Who Will Feed China in the 21st Century? Income Growth and Food Demand and Supply in China

This study uses resource‐based measures to explore the evolution of China's demand and supply for food. China's dietary shift from plant to animal‐based foods, induced by its income growth, is likely to impose considerable pressure on agricultural resources. China's demand for food on this measure appears consistent with global trends, while China is an out‐performer on the supply side, producing much more food than its income level and land endowment would predict. China's current per capita income is in a range where consumption growth is high and in excess of production growth, but the gap between supply and demand is likely to diminish as population and per capita consumption growth decelerate. Continuing agricultural productivity growth and sustainable resource management will be important influences on the growth of China's future net import demand for food.     

One Man's Meat … 2050? Ruminations on Future Meat Demand in the Context of Global Warming

This Address considers a range of issues relating to the contribution of meat consumption and livestock production to global warming, given the need highlighted by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) to reduce global GHG emissions by over 50% by 2050. The IPCC Climate Change 2014 report recognised that demand oriented measures may also contribute to GHG mitigation. The paper reviews a number of studies which examine demand‐led mitigation potentials, and concludes that such estimates ignore the market effects of changes in meat consumption habits or demand oriented policies. A simple partial equilibrium model of beef, poultry, pig and ovine meats is developed for the major regions of the world to explore the impact of a range of scenarios which might reduce meat consumption and GHG emissions. These include emissions taxation, long‐term trends in reduction of red meat consumption in developed economy regions, and supply side improvements in livestock emissions intensities. The paper discusses problems associated with many published demand elasticities suitable for incorporation into a market model, problems of selection from widely varying published estimates and their appropriateness for longer‐run projections. The dearth of published supply elasticity estimates is also highlighted. The modelling concludes that economic and population growth to 2050 without any mitigation measures will lead to a 21% increase in per capita meat consumption and a 63% increase in total consumption and GHG emissions by 2050. However, the mitigation projections from the scenarios explored only generate a 14% reduction in cumulative emissions from the baseline 2050 projections, insufficient to meet the CCC target.     

Critical issues suggested by trends in food,population, and the environment to the year 2020

This article reviews the emerging trends in global food supply and demand up to 2020, and discusses policy challenges and obstacles to meeting this demand. Data were obtained from the International Food Policy Research Institute's International Model for Policy Analysis of Commodities and Trade (Rosegrant et al.). The country-specific data pertains to 37 countries and regions and 17 food commodities and prices in the world market. Cereal prices are expected to decline by about 11% by 2020; meat prices may decline by 6%. After 2010, cereal prices are expected to dramatically decline. Cereal demand will change with changes in income and urbanization. Maize and coarse grains will be replaced by wheat and rice. Life style changes may lead to a switch from rice to wheat. Growth in food consumption in developed countries will slow. A projected 82% of growth in global cereal consumption and almost 90% of increased global meat demand will occur in developing countries during 1993-2020. Asia alone will account for 48% of increased cereal consumption and 61% of increased meat consumption. 88% of food production growth will occur in developing countries through increased yields and 94% in developed countries. World trade in cereals will increase from an estimated 185 million metric tons annually to 328 million during 1993-2020. Food security for the poor and child malnutrition will remain unimproved. Yield growth is affected by agricultural research, fertilizer and energy use, land degradation, water scarcity, and bad policy. Water scarcity is the most limiting on yield growth. Malnutrition problems present multiple challenges.     

The dynamics of household beef consumption in Cameroon

Recent changes in economic conditions have introduced notable changes in household beef consumption patterns in Cameroon. While consumers are concerned about the short- and long-run effects of these factors on beef consumption habits, policy makers are more worried about the appropriate period necessary for households to make complete adjustments in consumption since this information is vital for planning production. Static and dynamic demand frameworks involving the Nerlovian partial adjustment (PA) model are used to capture the dynamic nature of beef consumption parameters. Maximum likelihood estimates of the PA model reveal that the conditioning variables explain 79% of the variation in beef consumption. Income, previous consumption, own-price and prices of fish and pork are jointly important in explaining beef consumption habits. Beef is a normal good with pork and fish as substitutes and chicken as a complement. Long-run price and income elasticities are greater than but not significantly different from their short-run values, suggesting that adjustment in consumption is fast with about 80% of the difference between actual and ‘desired’ consumption being completed in about 2 years. Projections show that demand for beef will reach 109620 t by the year 2000. giving an incremental total and per capita demand of 31 730 tons and 1.84 kg, respectively.     

The changing United Kingdom residential real estate market

Summary

The residential property market is dependent upon the overall well‐being of the economy, with movements of the residential property prices following a cyclical movement over time. The macro‐economic factors that influence prices are studied for the United Kingdom and compared with results from other countries. In the United Kingdom's case interest rates, building costs, the number of new housing starts, disposable income, investment in other assets, inflation and expectations play important roles in the determination of residential price movements.

In addition, the numbers of new housing developments that are started are determined by interest rates, disposable income, building costs and expectations of property price rises. The building costs are also determined by wage rates, interest rates and the rate of inflation.     

Decompositions of corn price effects: implications for feed grain demand and livestock supply

This article examines how corn prices affect the demand for feed grains and the supply of livestock outputs. The differential approach to the theory of the multiproduct firm is employed to examine ex ante decisions about feed grain demand and livestock supply. The estimation results suggest that livestock producers have little flexibility in adjusting the demand for corn in response to an increase in corn prices. The substitutable relationship between corn and distillers’ grains contributes to alleviating pressures on feed costs in response to high corn prices. In addition, the estimation results highlight that the composition of livestock supply can be altered by changes in livestock prices. On the basis of the estimated elasticities, the decompositions of profit‐maximizing input demand are conducted to examine the effects of changes in corn prices on feed grain demand and livestock supply. The decomposition results reveal that an increase in corn prices reduces corn demand but raises the demand for distillers’ grains mainly due to the substitution effects of corn price changes. The decomposition results also show that an increase in the price of corn reduces cattle supply but raises the supply of chicken and pork due to the output relationships in supply.     

Modeling the demand for alcoholic beverages and advertising specifications

In this paper, the demand for beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks in Ontario is modeled in two parts: an equation is specifiec to endogenize group expenditures and a demand system is set up to allocate budgeted group expenditures across types o beverages. Advertising is allowed to influence both the level of group expenditures and its allocation. Three popula advertising specifications are compared using theJ‐test and the likelihood dominance criterion. Even though all threi specifications fitted well according to standard criteria, the calculated expenditure, price and advertising elasticities wen sensitive to the manner with which advertising is specified. This clearly highlights the need to rely on a sound criterion t< identify a dominant specification. From the identified dominant specification, we found that advertising has very subtle effect on expenditures on alcoholic beverages (group and individual beverages). Thus, advertising is not effective in enlarginj markets and this suggests that firms (especially breweries) use advertising to compete in zero‐sum market share games. From i public policy perspective, our results are comforting but future research should investigate whether the neutral effect o advertising on aggregated expenditures hide substantial offsetting changes in the drinking habits of individuals.     

基于不同住房属性视角的土地供应规模对房价的影响

研究目的：基于住房消费品和投资品的双重属性视角分析住宅用地供应规模对房地产市场的差异化影响。研究 方法：理论分析、固定效应面板回归模型、门槛回归模型。研究结果：（1）上一年住宅用地供应面积增加 1% 可使当年 住房竣工面积显著增加 0.17%，弱于房地产投资资金对住房竣工面积所产生的 0.25% 的提升作用，该结果一定程度上 验证了住宅用地供应与住房供给之间存在生产函数渠道的影响路径；（2）基于实际房价与租金还原房价的偏离程度测 算，发现不同房地产市场投资热度下，住宅用地供应对房价影响存在双重门槛效应，门槛值分别为 2.05 和 2.92；（3）低 投资热度下，上一年住宅用地供应规模的增加可显著降低当年的房价，而高投资热度下则会起到推高房价的作用。研 究结论：住房作为消费品和投资品，存在不同的价格机制和供求规律。当住房市场以投资品属性为主导时，需求曲线 向上的刚性走势违反了一般的商品需求规律，供给曲线的右移将导致均衡价格越来越高。     

国内外城市居民生活水价及可承受能力分析

水价作为重要的经济杠杆对促进节约用水具有重要意义。通过分析国内外典型城市现状居民生活水价及水价承受能力,得出3方面结论:国内外城市一般采用全成本水价定价方法,考虑供水的资源成本、工程成本和环境成本,发达国家城市居民水价明显高于国内城市,我国东部城市水价高于中西部,北方城市水价高于南方;计价模式主要有单一制水价和固定费用与可变费用相结合的模式,国内城市和东京、新加坡均实行阶梯水价;国内外水价差异较大,各城市居民人均月水费支出占可支配收入的比值(R值)均偏低,我国R值明显低于国际城市R值,不利于发挥节水激励作用。建议根据实际情况合理调整水价,支撑节水型社会建设。     

Urban and tourist land use patterns and water consumption: Evidence from Mallorca,Balearic Islands

The island of Mallorca is the main Balearic resort and sustainable water management is a key challenge for the economic and ecological sustainability of tourism as the main economic activity. The critical water supply situation on the island is being exacerbated by the extension of the tourist base to so-called “quality tourism”. Since the mid 1990s, low-density residential tourist land uses associated with second homes and more affluent urban dwellers have spread around existing mass tourist urban centres. Increasing water consumption for outdoor uses (gardens, swimming pools) is a direct consequence of this development. Available water consumption data mask the impact of residential tourism on water consumption levels. The objective of the present paper is to compare per capita water consumption in quality tourist, mass tourist and residential urban areas, and to provide quantitative information on the magnitude of water consumption by gardens and swimming pools as water-related leisure structures. The analysis combines water consumption data with a land use geodatabase at the sub-parcel scale, a detailed population inventory, and an estimate of pool water use. The results show that quality tourism produces higher water consumption levels per capita than mass tourism. Garden irrigation is the single main cause of the high water consumption in quality tourist areas and accounts for more than 70% of these areas’ total consumption in summer. But even in mass tourist and residential areas, garden irrigation accounts for up to 30% and 20%, respectively, of total water consumption in summer. Individually owned swimming pools cause an additional average water consumption of 22 litres/person/day. The proliferation of swimming pools and lavish ‘Atlantic’ gardens may turn out as one of the biggest threats to sustainable water management on the island of Mallorca and in other tourist destinations adapting the quality tourist model.     

四川秦巴山区水资源分布特征及平衡分析

四川秦巴山区是长江上游地区重要的生态屏障,也是国家重要的生物多样性和水源涵养生态功能区。在掌握该区域水资源分布特征的基础上,分析了区域内水资源的开发利用现状,并进行了水资源量的平衡分析,结合区域水资源分布特征和利用现状,提出了水资源可持续利用的对策建议。结果表明:四川秦巴山区的水资源量呈现分布不均匀的特性;区域水资源利用水平还较低,用水量在水资源总量中所占的比例还较小,从总量上看还有较大的利用空间;现状条件下,各分区供水量和用水量是平衡,但2020年,各市均存在月可供水量不能满足用水需求的情况,必须采取管理和工程综合措施对水资源进行合理配置,减缓缺水影响。     

Competitive Storage,Biofuels and the Corn Price

The use of corn as an ethanol feedstock has been stimulated by US biofuels policy. This has changed both the position and the slope of the corn demand curve and increased the pass-through from crude oil to corn prices. The principal constraints on ethanol consumption and production have been regulation (the biofuels mandate), capacity constraints in ethanol refining and the blend wall, which puts a ceiling on the ethanol content of gasoline. The incidence of these constraints has varied over time. We model these impacts within the competitive storage model using structural break regression analysis. Our analysis shows that the pass-through has varied over time in relation to the share of ethanol in total US corn use. Our analysis provides robust empirical evidence of an increase in the pass-through from crude oil to corn prices over the period from the start of the century to a high level over 2004–2008 when corn use in ethanol was growing very fast. This enhanced sensitivity was driven by competition for corn as an ethanol feedstock with stock demand exerting strong upward pressure on the corn price.     

Flood prone risk and amenity values: a spatial hedonic analysis

This study examines the impact of flood‐hazard zone location on residential property prices. The study utilises data from over 2000 private residential property sales occurred during 2006 in North Shore City, New Zealand. A spatial autoregressive hedonic model is developed to provide efficient estimates of the marginal effect of flood prone risks on property prices. Results suggest that the sale price of a residential property within a flood prone area is lower than an equivalent property outside the flood prone area. The flood plain location discount is reduced by the release of public information regarding flood risk.     

基于农户意愿的农村宅基地集约面积估算——以渝东北11区县为例

研究目的：选取地处三峡库区腹地且生态环境脆弱的渝东北11区县为研究区域,从农户意愿角度揭示满足宅基地需求最大化时的人均宅基地集约用地面积,为农村宅基地集约利用乃至农村建设用地集约利用提供建议。研究方法：农户调查法,消费效用函数计算,K值聚类分析法。研究结果：农户宅基地用地需求与农户建房支出水平、农村房屋建造单价、农户消费偏好、房屋需求强度等存在依赖关系;在满足宅基地需求最大化时的最佳户均宅基地面积为122.14 — 140.06 m2/户,最佳人均农村宅基地面积为31.32 — 35.91 m2/人。研究结论：渝东北地区农村宅基地的集约利用潜力巨大,农村建设用地集约利用潜力挖掘具有极强可行性,应扎实推进宅基地内部挖潜,着力探索农村宅基地集约利用新机制。