The Emergence of Market Power in Emission Rights Markets: The Role of Initial Permit Distribution

This paper offers an analytical model of emission permit markets in which a large number of regulated emitters participate, and derives formulae that estimate the degree of market distortion. These formulae clearly show the entire dependence of the ratio of market prices to competitive levels on the permit initial distribution as well as the existence of a threshold for effective market power. While the findings challenge a well-known conception of the Coase Theorem, they have significant policy implications vis-à-vis the Kyoto Protocol and the related policy debates on excess emission rights known as hot air.     

Impact of wireless telecommunications standards and regulation on the evolution of wireless technologies and services over Internet protocol

Beginning with the historical role and importance of multi-physical standards in wireless telecommunications for the future in the US, Japan and Europe, this paper provides a cohesive vision of how wireless communication, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is likely to develop. Also covered in this paper are its benefits, the technical and regulatory support required to realize this vision and an assessment of its potential impact on the structure of the telecommunications industry. Although the competitive structure of the Internet is relatively open, several factors, such as frequency allocation policy and radio interface standards, could block the efficient evolution of wireless services to an IP platform. The paper proposes two major technical requirements to enable effective competition in wireless VoIP and achieve greater technical productivity.     

Is Aging Harmful to the Environment?

How does aging affect the environment? We analyze this question using anoverlapping generations model featuring uncertain lifetimes andenvironmental externalities. We show that whether aging is harmful to theenvironment depends on the curvature of utility function, which ismeasured by the degree of relative risk aversion. We also explore theimplication of the results for environmental policy in an aging society.     

Development of a critical appraisal tool for assessing the reporting quality of qualitative studies: a worked example

Quality & Quantity - Conducting a critical appraisal is considered as one of the essential steps in any type of qualitative synthesis. While various appraisal tools are available in the...     

Setting trigger price in emissions permit markets equipped with a safety valve mechanism

This study develops an analytical model of emissions markets equipped with a safety valve mechanism. It examines how a regulator can control emission reductions by emitters by setting two policy parameters: emission targets and trigger prices. I demonstrate that the capabilities of these two policy parameters are greatly affected by uncertainty regarding unconstrained aggregate emissions. I also show that there exists a specific combination of target and trigger-price settings that eliminates the need to consider uncertainty regarding unconstrained aggregate emissions when regulators set emission reduction goals. The model and its findings identify a rule for setting trigger prices with respect to the total design of tradable permit systems and thus offer practical guidance in designing a permit market.