DO HIGH DISCOUNT RATES DESTROY TROPICAL FORESTS

The short-term viewpoint implicit in high discount rates seems to favour immediate forest exploitation rather than conservation for perpetual benefits. However, the value of logging revenues increases with a lower discount rate, because of the greater weighting given to investible funds. Thus, in several theoretical models, net present value of logging increases as discount rate is lowered. In practice, however, long-term costs of logging may also incur the weighting appropriate to investment funds; reinvestment of logging revenues may not actually take place; and lower discount rates may be appropriate for costs but not revenues. These circumstances favour conservation, the more so at lower discount rates.     

Urban renewal: The case of Buffalo,NY

Scholars of urbanism have long been critical of America’s post-World War II efforts at urban renewal. What is generally less well understood is the theoretical context out of which urban renewal policy arose. This analysis sets forth the key precepts of modernist thinking in city planning as the explanation for urban renewal’s policy miscalculations. Data for Buffalo document the case, with emphasis upon the exclusion of blacks in the redevelopment process. Following three decades of failure, 1950 to 1980, a neighborhoodbased renewal project is now showing promise in meeting the housing needs of inner-city black households.     

Technology choice under changing peanut policies

The effect of marketing quotas and price supports on technology adoption are examined for peanut production in the southeastern United States using a real options model of investment with output price and yield uncertainty. The optimal choice of peanut production technology (dryland versus irrigated) in the southeast is shown to depend on price supports and how they change. The manner in which price supports change will have an effect on the choice and rates of abandonment or adoption of production technologies.     

Book notes

International Journal of Technology and Design Education -     

美日韩居民用电阶梯电价及其对我国的启示

20世纪70年代石油危机爆发后,美国、日本、韩国等开始对居民用电实行阶梯电价.尽管美日韩居民用电阶梯电价的用电量档次及其价格不同,但都遵循多用电者多付费的定价原则,在促进节约用电的同时,保障了低收入居民生活.我国应借鉴美日韩实行居民用电阶梯电价的做法,发挥居民用电阶梯电价引导居民家庭节约用电、促进社会公平、保障低收入居民生活的作用.