Coal gasification: An economic evaluation

Political interest in developing the capability to produce gaseous fuel from coal in the United States has been cyclical in nature, depending primarily upon the security of the international market for oil and public attitudes toward nuclear power. Interest in coal gasification technology by private investors, however, depends primarily on the economic and technological considerations analyzed in this paper. A cost forecasting model is developed with the capability to take into account future economic and technological uncertainties associated with producing high BTU gas (a substitute for natural gas) from coal. The cost forecasting model incorporates probabilistic information on key economic and technological parameters subject to future uncertainty and simulates, by Monte Carlo methods, the costs which private investors would incur over the life of a commercial size coal gasification plant. The results suggest it is highly unlikely that the coal gasification process could produce high BTU gas more cheaply than the price at which natural gas is likely to be available.The cost forecasting model is also modified to compare the cost per kilowatt–hour of generated electricity when fueling a 1,000 Mw power plant with oil versus high BTU gas from coal. Again, based upon the costs to private investors, the simulation results indicate a very low probability that high BTU gas from coal would prove the least costly fuel for generating electricity.The implied economic infeasibility for private investment in coal gasification does not necessarily provide a basis for public policy to abandon the technology. Public policy recommendations must consider social costs as well as private costs. Possibly the greatest social cost associated with abandoning coal gasification is the risk of a significant energy supply interruption. A diversified national energy policy including coal gasification may in fact be less costly if relevant social costs are included in the calculations. Results from the cost forecasting model indicate the size and type of public subsidies that may be necessary to support a diversified energy industry which would include coal gasification.     

‘A judicious and industrious compiler’: Mapping Postlethwayt's Dictionary of Commerce

ABSTRACT

This paper takes as its guide the largest compilation of commercial knowledge of the mid-eighteenth century in the English language, Malachy Postlethwayt's Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (1751–1755). Using network analysis, the many cross-references between entries in this work allow one to identify clusters of themes and literatures within the mass of materials. Pictures are presented that can be interpreted as ‘mind maps’ grouping the commercial literature by various topics and themes. The paper then focuses on one novel aspect of Postlethwayt's work, i.e., his inclusion besides entries on ‘practical’ topics of ‘political’ discussions, and identifies his sources.     

The Normative Problem of Merit Goods in Perspective

Abstract

In his Theory of Public Finance (1959), Musgrave invented the concept of merit wants to describe public wants that are satisfied by goods provided by the government in violation of the principle of consumer sovereignty. Starting from Musgrave’s mature discussion (1987), I construct two categories to classify the explanations of merit goods. The first strand of thought attempts to justify merit goods within the New welfare economics, by modifying its assumptions to accommodate irrationality, uncertainty, lack of information, and psychic externalities. The second category encompasses more radical departures from consumer sovereignty, drawn from philosophical critiques of economics. In the third part of the paper, I argue that the two strands might be represented by a non-individualistic social welfare function. I also show how this solution echoes Musgrave’s early views on public expenditures before he coined the concept of merit wants. From an historical perspective, the survival of the concept highlights the persistence of a social point of view in welfare economics.     

尼采、瓦格纳与纳粹文化的非理性主义

纳粹文化最基本的特点是狂热崇尚暴力和强权,煽动极端种族主义和军国主义,盲目崇拜独裁者。纳粹文化根植于德意志文化中的非理性主义,尤其深受尼采的超人哲学和瓦格纳过分渲染激情和雅利安种族主义音乐的影响。尼采和瓦格纳都对当时颓废的自由主义持激烈的批判态度,渴望建立起一个全新的强力的思想文化体系以拯救德意志。由于尼采和瓦格纳的种族主义思想和其他过于极端的非理性思想被纳粹所利用,加之他们某些作品中的思想被纳粹歪曲来美化自己的罪行,以至于二人后来被染上“纳粹思想家”的污名,甚至被某些学者称之为法西斯文化的先驱。     

Purchasing's role in computer buying: A comparative study

The sale of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) equipment represents a large and growing market both in number of dollars and products. This article analyzes the purchaser's perceived role in the EDP acquisition process from both public and private sector perspectives. Major public and private sector purchasing differences are discussed in terms of their implications for improving EDP marketing success. Differences discussed include: purchaser influence in the EDP decision process, necessity of seller-buyer interface, method of purchase, and purchasing's organization structure for buying EDP equipment.     

Agency costs in banking firms: An analysis of expense preference behavior

Behavioral approaches to the theory of the firm contend that the agency relationship that must develop when a separation exists between management and ownership may have various agency costs. One such cost is the cost of monitoring managers to avoid expense preference behavior on their part. Managers may engage in expense preference behavior any time they manage firms in noncompetitive markets and ownership of the firm is dispersed enough to put control in the hands of management. This research reports on an analysis of the existence and influence of expense preference behavior on the salaries of chief operating officers of banks. Various studies have resulted in conflicting conclusions about the effect of expense preference behavior on various input costs facing banks. Only the study by Hannan and Mavinga (1980) includes an explicit measure of the separation of ownership from control of the firm. However, that study does not analyze executive compensation. Using such a measure, this study reports that the salaries of chief operating officers in banks are significantly higher if both the necessary and sufficient conditions for expense preference behavior are satisfied.     

Cooperation and conflict between industrial sales and production

This study examines the potential for cooperation between the sales and production functions in the composite can and tube industry. The interfunctional communications perceptions, role-partner choices, and personal value attributions of incumbents in four key positions are examined. While perceptions, choices, and attributions are found to interact differently in different positions, the overall effect suggests a greater potential for conflict and dominance than for cooperation.     

Information processing analysis of a stochastic model of brand choice

A formal and detailed comparison between Morrison's brand loyal model and its information processing counterpart reveals serious internal inconsistencies and other shortcomings of this stochastic model.     

The organizational control structure

This paper introduces a special topic section of five papers on organization control. Organizational control is conceived of in a broad sense to include such factors as leadership, formalization, reward systems and the like. In this paper, it is proposed that the control structure varies by type of organization, and that the control structure has differential effects on (1) predictability and (2) organization effectiveness.