Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance-issues and Practice, Jan 1, 2000
The liability of operators of nuclear power stations for off-site damage done by accidents is cap... more The liability of operators of nuclear power stations for off-site damage done by accidents is capped by the Price-Anderson Act in the U.S. and the Nuclear Liability Act in Canada. Such capping constitutes a subsidy to nuclear vis-á-vis other sources of energy. We report the results of analyses aimed to estimate the size of that implicit subsidy. The Geneva Papers
Michael Porter, the influential Harvard management guru, has promoted the idea that compliance wi... more Michael Porter, the influential Harvard management guru, has promoted the idea that compliance with stricter environmental regulations can afford ‘secondary’ benefits to firms through improved product design, innovation, corporate morale and in other ways. Once these secondary benefits are factored, the net cost of compliance is argued to be lower than conventionally thought and may even be negative. Whilst environmental economists have rejected the ‘Porter Hypothesis’ as being based on excessively optimistic expectations of the likely size of such secondary benefits the underlying ideas do enjoy significant credence in the business community. In the context of a lobbying model of regulatory policy-making we argue that the EPA should change the way it conducts regulatory policy to take account of Porter's views – even if it knows those views to be misguided. The model serves to illustrate the more general point that ‘fashions’ in management thinking can be expected to impact the optimal conduct of regulatory policy.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Jan 1, 2001
Firms are frequently in conflict with environmental groups over planning and other decisions. Sta... more Firms are frequently in conflict with environmental groups over planning and other decisions. Standard contest models assume that stakes are exogenously defined which is inappropriate in settings (such as application for building permission) in which one player also acts as proposer. Assuming that proposers foresee environmental opposition they will adjust their proposals strategically. By introducing an additional stage to the lobbying game the full impact of the dispute process can be reckoned. The structure of the game—the order in which the players move—is shown to have a significant impact on social welfare and may warrant intervention. Among other things, there may be social gains to forcing the developer to move last in planning disputes.
Dubin and Rothwell (1990) use details of insurance premiums to develop a methodology for inferrin... more Dubin and Rothwell (1990) use details of insurance premiums to develop a methodology for inferring the value to nuclear operators of the Price-Anderson liability limit from but misinterpret the terms of the insurance contracts for which the premiums are paid. This leads them to overstate the subsidy due to the limit by a factor of between four and ten.
The travel cost method (TCM) is commonly used by Government agencies to evaluate the benefits use... more The travel cost method (TCM) is commonly used by Government agencies to evaluate the benefits users derive from access to parks and other recreational sites. The results of such studies can provide useful input into policy-design, in informing park designation decisions and in helping guide management on issues such as visitor access. The authors investigate various aspects of the application of the methodology in the context of a case study of the Dartmoor National Park in England.
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Jan 1, 1999
Abstract: For the past 20 years, the field of production and operations management (POM) has trie... more Abstract: For the past 20 years, the field of production and operations management (POM) has tried to establish itself as a discipline distinct from operations research (OR), management science (MS) and industrial engineering (IE). Sceptics argue that POM has failed to develop its own body of literature, lacks a distinct intellectual structure and that there is little appreciation of what it stands for. In this paper we use bibliometric techniques (a factor analysis of co-citations) to investigate the intellectual pillars of the POM literature ...
A simple model of the taxi industry suggests that deregulation of fares and entry may not be opti... more A simple model of the taxi industry suggests that deregulation of fares and entry may not be optimal. the conditions of competition do not hold in the industry, even approximately. A model of search, where drivers and riders search for each other, is presented for the cruising-taxi market. This indicates that equilibrium of a deregulated industry does not exist. Price regulation is essential, and entry regulation may be useful. In addition, viewing the medallion as a bond for appropriate performance provides another possible rationale for regulation.
Rate-of-return regulation has been criticized for providing inappropriate incentives to regulated... more Rate-of-return regulation has been criticized for providing inappropriate incentives to regulated firms and for being costly to administer. An alternative is price-cap regulation, by which ceilings (“caps”), based on indices of price and technological change are imposed, below which the regulated firm has full pricing freedom. The differences and similarities of the two are reviewed herein in the light of recent literature. In practice, price-cap is not distinct from rate-of-return regulation. Especially for the multiproduct firm, information requirements—the ultimate source of problems with rate-of-return regulation—are comparables. Price-cap regulation fails to address the real regulatory issue of whether an industry is, in whole or in part, a natural monopoly.
Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance-issues and Practice, Jan 1, 2000
The liability of operators of nuclear power stations for off-site damage done by accidents is cap... more The liability of operators of nuclear power stations for off-site damage done by accidents is capped by the Price-Anderson Act in the U.S. and the Nuclear Liability Act in Canada. Such capping constitutes a subsidy to nuclear vis-á-vis other sources of energy. We report the results of analyses aimed to estimate the size of that implicit subsidy. The Geneva Papers
Michael Porter, the influential Harvard management guru, has promoted the idea that compliance wi... more Michael Porter, the influential Harvard management guru, has promoted the idea that compliance with stricter environmental regulations can afford ‘secondary’ benefits to firms through improved product design, innovation, corporate morale and in other ways. Once these secondary benefits are factored, the net cost of compliance is argued to be lower than conventionally thought and may even be negative. Whilst environmental economists have rejected the ‘Porter Hypothesis’ as being based on excessively optimistic expectations of the likely size of such secondary benefits the underlying ideas do enjoy significant credence in the business community. In the context of a lobbying model of regulatory policy-making we argue that the EPA should change the way it conducts regulatory policy to take account of Porter's views – even if it knows those views to be misguided. The model serves to illustrate the more general point that ‘fashions’ in management thinking can be expected to impact the optimal conduct of regulatory policy.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Jan 1, 2001
Firms are frequently in conflict with environmental groups over planning and other decisions. Sta... more Firms are frequently in conflict with environmental groups over planning and other decisions. Standard contest models assume that stakes are exogenously defined which is inappropriate in settings (such as application for building permission) in which one player also acts as proposer. Assuming that proposers foresee environmental opposition they will adjust their proposals strategically. By introducing an additional stage to the lobbying game the full impact of the dispute process can be reckoned. The structure of the game—the order in which the players move—is shown to have a significant impact on social welfare and may warrant intervention. Among other things, there may be social gains to forcing the developer to move last in planning disputes.
Dubin and Rothwell (1990) use details of insurance premiums to develop a methodology for inferrin... more Dubin and Rothwell (1990) use details of insurance premiums to develop a methodology for inferring the value to nuclear operators of the Price-Anderson liability limit from but misinterpret the terms of the insurance contracts for which the premiums are paid. This leads them to overstate the subsidy due to the limit by a factor of between four and ten.
The travel cost method (TCM) is commonly used by Government agencies to evaluate the benefits use... more The travel cost method (TCM) is commonly used by Government agencies to evaluate the benefits users derive from access to parks and other recreational sites. The results of such studies can provide useful input into policy-design, in informing park designation decisions and in helping guide management on issues such as visitor access. The authors investigate various aspects of the application of the methodology in the context of a case study of the Dartmoor National Park in England.
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Jan 1, 1999
Abstract: For the past 20 years, the field of production and operations management (POM) has trie... more Abstract: For the past 20 years, the field of production and operations management (POM) has tried to establish itself as a discipline distinct from operations research (OR), management science (MS) and industrial engineering (IE). Sceptics argue that POM has failed to develop its own body of literature, lacks a distinct intellectual structure and that there is little appreciation of what it stands for. In this paper we use bibliometric techniques (a factor analysis of co-citations) to investigate the intellectual pillars of the POM literature ...
A simple model of the taxi industry suggests that deregulation of fares and entry may not be opti... more A simple model of the taxi industry suggests that deregulation of fares and entry may not be optimal. the conditions of competition do not hold in the industry, even approximately. A model of search, where drivers and riders search for each other, is presented for the cruising-taxi market. This indicates that equilibrium of a deregulated industry does not exist. Price regulation is essential, and entry regulation may be useful. In addition, viewing the medallion as a bond for appropriate performance provides another possible rationale for regulation.
Rate-of-return regulation has been criticized for providing inappropriate incentives to regulated... more Rate-of-return regulation has been criticized for providing inappropriate incentives to regulated firms and for being costly to administer. An alternative is price-cap regulation, by which ceilings (“caps”), based on indices of price and technological change are imposed, below which the regulated firm has full pricing freedom. The differences and similarities of the two are reviewed herein in the light of recent literature. In practice, price-cap is not distinct from rate-of-return regulation. Especially for the multiproduct firm, information requirements—the ultimate source of problems with rate-of-return regulation—are comparables. Price-cap regulation fails to address the real regulatory issue of whether an industry is, in whole or in part, a natural monopoly.
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