PUBLIC SERVICE PERSPECTIVES ON REFORMS OF ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY: A MODULAR ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT ** : This article analyzes organizational change in electricity distribution and retail businesses and its impact on public service issues. Organizational change has resulted from the European electricity directives, especially the EU Electricity directive 2003/54/EC , which has imposed major transformations on these activities, requiring legal unbundling of electricity distribution networks by 1 July 2007. Organizational change has also resulted from an adaptation of companies to the newly competitive environment. This has led to a diversity of organizational choices across Europe. We analyze this diversity by using a modular approach, which decomposes reforms in electricity distribution and retail into logical ‘blocks’. We then examine how European countries have dealt with two policy and regulatory issues related to customer protection in that new environment: the regulation of quality of distribution, which is a task of regulators, and energy affordability policies for vulnerable customers, which are a central aspect of public service policies in the electricity sector.     

财政纵向失衡、公共支出结构与经济增长*

全面深化财税体制改革释放体制红利是助推地方经济增长与民生福祉增进的关键所在。为此,本文首先从理论层面系统诠释财政纵向失衡对经济增长的作用机制,继而通过构建动态面板联立方程模型将财政纵向失衡、公共支出结构与经济增长同时纳入分析框架,实证探究财政纵向失衡对地方经济增长的影响效应,而后通过进一步标准化回归估计考察财政纵向失衡对经济增长的作用渠道与传导效应。研究发现财政纵向失衡不仅通过直接作用渠道显著降低经济增长,还通过作用于地方政府公共支出结构间接对经济增长产生负向抑制效应。     

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN MEXICO

This paper analyzes the impact on economic growth of public and private investment spending in Mexico. Public investment expenditures had a positive and significant effect on output growth. Public investment's impact on economic growth was statistically identical to the impact of private capital spending. The contribution of public investment to output expansion came at the expense of private investment as indicating a significant crowding out effect.     

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ASPECTS OF PETROLEUM AND MILITARY SECURITY IN THE PERSIAN GULF

Geologic estimates of remaining global petroleum resources place about 50% in the Persian Gulf. Production costs are estimated at $5 per barrel there and $15 per barrel in the North Sea and Alaska. According to mathematical results derived from depletion theory, the present value of economic rent from oil is on the order of $20 trillion. This article uses game theory to explain the $15–$20 per barrel price band that existed from 1986 to 1999. New economic forces have displaced this previously stable pattern; a new price range of $23–$30 is emerging. International trade in petroleum and conventional weapons are analyzed with econometric methods; the occurrence of nuclear weapons capability in the Persian Gulf region is explored.     

CRIME,DETERRENCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN ENGLAND AND WALES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS*

This paper uses aggregate data from 42 police-force areas over 12 years to test predictions of Becker's economic model of crime. The effects of measures for deterrence on the incidence of three types of acquisitive criminal activity (burglary, theft, robbery) in England and Wales are explored. Mixed support for the Becker model emerges. The growth in unemployment is seen to impact positively on two of the three types of criminal activity examined. Per capita household income is seen to have a negative effect on the recorded rates of burglary and theft, but there is some evidence that the income variable is a proxy for the effects of unemployment. Poor housing conditions and the relative youth of the population were also found to play a role in the determination of criminal activity.     

The ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISE IN BELGIUM

The economic importance of the public enterprises has been established on the basis of the following criteria: Own capital, personnel employed, gross added value and various factors giving rise to appreciation.
This survey is of a purely preliminary nature, since, in actual fact, given the present situation of the published data, it has not so far been possible to arrive at more precise figures, taking enterprise by enterprise according to a systematic plan.
Moreover, it would have been desirable to fill out the above-mentioned criteria by data concerning turnover and investment, As the data collected in the course of this study are so extremely fragmentary, we have been obliged to exclude any statement concerning these two factors.     

DYNAMIC INCONSISTENCY IN THE PUBLIC SUPPLY OF LIQUIDITY*

This paper analyses the optimal control of government securities. The special role of government securities under aggregate macroeconomic shocks results from the government's ability to collect taxes. Liquidity is loosened by an increase in the supply of government securities. The policy‐maker, however, faces a trade‐off between an ex ante incentive for entrepreneurs to expend effort and an ex post efficient utilization of investment opportunities.