Design Of Policy Instruments Research Articles

Choice heuristics and livestock farmers' preference heterogeneity for Rift Valley fever vaccines in Uganda

Rapid spread and erratic outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) disease across the African continent continues to pose serious threat to animal, public health, and regional livestock trade. Failure to institute timely control measures will have serious implications on food security and livelihoods. Among existing control options for the disease, vaccines are reported to be the most cost-effective. However, no RVF vaccines are currently registered for use in Uganda. Prior to approval, reservations exist concerning the uptake of vaccines by farmers as they have to weigh in several features and associated risks before acceptance. This study utilizes data from 444 livestock farming households in Uganda to elicit farmers’ preference heterogeneity and the influence of choice heuristics on their preferences for RVF vaccines. The empirical results reveal that two livestock farmer segments exist with respect to RVF vaccine preference. The single dose vaccine attribute is the most highly valued by farmers. Further, livestock farmers’ conditional perceptions and risk attitudes play a major role in vaccine choice decisions. The paper highlights the need for careful consideration of livestock farmers’ preference heterogeneities and intrinsic motivations such as risk attitudes and conditional perceptions when designing policy instruments for the promotion of RVF vaccination programmes.

Characterising innovation policy mixes in innovation systems

Along with the rising economic relevance, scope, and complexity of innovation policy, attention to the concept of the innovation policy mix has surged. Yet, knowledge about how innovation policy mixes relate to innovation systems is limited. Drawing on expert survey data on 4710 policies, this paper uses natural language processing to map innovation policy mixes and represent them as mixtures of 25 distinct topics whose proportions vary across countries. It identifies research, innovation in firms and supporting coordination in the innovation system as key focal areas in these mixes and analyses how these focal areas vary in relation to different performance aspects of innovation systems as well as structural and institutional country characteristics. The results indicate that policymakers design policy instruments supporting innovation in firms to mitigate comparative weaknesses of the innovation system, while they design policy instruments supporting research to complement comparative strengths of the innovation system. The results also indicate that the design of policy instruments strengthening coordination in the innovation system is partly shaped by factors unrelated to innovation. These findings illustrate the utility of a novel dataset and natural language processing methods for innovation policy studies and advance the debate about the determinants of innovation policy design.

Integrating irrational behavior into flood risk models to test the outcomes of policy interventions.

Householders are increasingly responsible for managing residual flood risk at property level. Yet, consumers are observed to adopt irrational behaviors under scenarios of risk, often making suboptimal decisions. Therefore, the question is raised, if householders are required to manage flood risk at household level, how can this be made fair and efficient? Policy instruments often incorporate "fairness" by subsidizing the costs of mitigation options, assuming a linear relationship between available finances and the uptake of risk mitigation measures. To integrate behavior into the assessment of policy instruments, this article develops a method to compare the uptake of flood mitigation between agents following models of Expected Monetary Value (EMV) and Prospect Theory (PT). An agent-based model is created, offering the option to apply either EMV or PT frameworks. EMV represents a rational gamble, determining whether an agent "should" invest in insurance or property-level protection. On the other hand, the PT option incorporates behavioral aspects to examine how agents are likely to respond to investment decisions in flood risk environments. The models are applied to Flood Re, a policy aimed at ensuring affordable insurance access for all individuals in flood risk areas. The results demonstrate that PT models exhibit greater similarity to observed behavior compared to models based on EMV. These findings emphasize the importance of accommodating "irrational" behaviors within the design of policy instruments, promoting fairness and efficiency. Overall, this research provides insights into the integration of behavior in policy assessments and highlights the benefits of considering PT frameworks alongside traditional rational models. By understanding and accounting for human behavior in decision-making processes, policymakers can design more effective and equitable policy instruments for managing flood risk.

Determinants of the adoption of energy efficient water heaters in the residential sector: Evidence from a survey in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants that promote the replacement of water heaters with more energy efficient models (e.g., gas or electricity-based energy efficient water heaters). By using survey data on Japanese households' water heater choice collected from an online questionnaire, this paper examines the effect of peers, choice context, and households’ perception of energy sources. The following results are obtained: First, households tend to choose gas or electricity-based energy efficient water heaters which, at the point when the households start to consider replacement, are known to have been used by peers (peer effect). Second, households are more likely to choose a gas or electricity-based energy efficient water heater in the context where they simultaneously replace their water heater and other home facilities (context effect). Finally, as for electricity-based energy efficient water heaters, households with a positive (negative) perception of electricity are more (less) likely to choose an electricity-based energy efficient water heater (perception of energy sources). These results imply the importance of considering these factors when designing policy instruments to promote the adoption of energy efficient water heaters in the residential sector.

Innovators, followers and laggards in home solar PV: Factors driving diffusion in Finland

Generating electricity from solar energy is a way for households to participate in the ongoing transition to decarbonized and more decentralized energy systems. A large empirical literature has examined the drivers and barriers associated with household solar PV adoption. An emerging strand of this literature investigates what distinguishes earlier adopters from later adopters and non-adopters. However, there is yet limited understanding of the differences between earlier and later adopters, as few papers have applied formal statistical models to compare different customer segments. The present study addresses this gap. We examine how the factors that influence household solar PV choices differ between earlier adopters, potential adopters – households that have considered installing solar PV but have not yet done so – and non-adopters. We analyze these choices using rich data from a household-level survey conducted in Finland. The findings show that the adoption of solar PV is linked to a multitude of socio-demographic and financial factors and personal motivations. There are clear differences in the motives and perceptions of adopters, potential adopters, and non-adopters. Accounting for such differences between customer segments will help to better design and target public policy instruments and marketing campaigns that aim to incentivize and nudge households toward solar PV investments.

Innovation and performance in Peruvian manufacturing firms: does R&D play a role?

Purpose This paper aims to study whether Peruvian manufacturing firms that implement innovation have positive performance and whether R&D activities moderate these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using a data set of Peruvian manufacturing firms from the 2018 National Survey of Innovation, a LOGIT model analysis was applied to 774 companies. In addition, the authors fitted different models into subsamples to explore the moderating effects of R&D on manufacturing firms. Finally, the regression models were computed using R software. Findings The results indicate that product, service and marketing innovation are associated positively with an increase in market share, while process and organizational innovations are associated positively with productivity. Moreover, companies with R&D are more productivity-oriented than companies without R&D. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the literature on innovation management by supporting the assumption that innovation results in increased productivity and expands market demand. In addition, findings highlight that R&D is essential for boosting firms’ productivity. Practical implications Managers should consider an appropriate combination of the innovation portfolio and R&D investments to make progress and increase performance in the company. In addition, policymakers should consider that investments to promote the development of R&D activities in manufacturing companies will likely lead to médium- or long-term returns. Social implications The correct use of indicators to measure these relationships could help the policymaker to design and measure policy instruments more efficiently. Originality/value These results provide a deeper understanding of how the effects of innovations implemented by manufacturing firms, especially service and process innovation, improve their performance.

Social acceptance of policy instrument design during times of crisis

Social acceptance of policy instrument design during times of crisis

Farmers’ Attitudes toward the Future of Direct Payments: An Empirical Study from Germany

The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform has met with large-scale protests from farmers throughout Europe, intending to change one of the most controversial components: direct payments. We analyze German farmers' attitudes and understanding of direct payments. The study employs a survey of 435 farmers collected from January to February 2021. Using cluster analysis and quantitative content analysis, we identified three distinct groups: (1) The “Independents” (43.7%) are entrepreneurs and have a competitive mindset. They would prefer to abolish direct payments associated with more freedom from policy conditions. (2) The “Conservatives” (27.0%) advocate an income policy based on direct payments, and they reject higher environmental standards. (3) The “Environmentalists” (30.3%) emphasize a pronounced environmental awareness, fa-voring an environmentally performance-based approach. The results show that policies are often perceived differently than they are intentionally designed. Improving the effectiveness of the policy measure requires sufficient information about the CAP's objectives for farmers, focusing on more transparent communication strategies. From a policy perspective, a more differentiated design of policy instruments and longer transformation periods are needed to engage farmers in policy change.

The institutional design of agri-environmental contracts—How stakeholder attitudes can inform policy making

AbstractAgri-environmental climate measures (AECM) are considered a promising tool to achieve environmental policy goals. Not only farmers but also policy administrators and intermediaries are important actors whose attitudes and actions drive the success of these measures. To follow the idea of better stakeholder participation in the design of policy instruments, we analyse stakeholder viewpoints on the contract design of the AECM. We apply the Q methodology to 25 individuals from Brandenburg, Germany, who are from the farmer, policy administrator, and intermediary domains. We identify three distinct attitudinal profiles: the ‘planners’, the ‘cooperators’, and the ‘individualists’, which do not correspond to the three individual stakeholder groups. The results provide evidence that general differences in the viewpoints of policy designers and implementers on the one hand and farmers on the other hand are not a source of potential institutional mismatch. We further use the attitudinal profiles to develop three types of policy programmes with slightly different underlying rationalities. Policymakers could use such an approach to better develop target group-specific (sub)programmes in parallel. Our research strengthens the argument that multiple stakeholders should be involved in co-designing conservation measures. Moreover, behavioural factors should be considered in policy making processes.

Relationship between Monetary Policy Instruments and Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

This paper examined the relationship between monetary policy instruments and financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The study was anchored on Keynesian theory and employed causal research design. The Nigerian banking populace is 21 commercial banks, so census approach was adopted. Panel data was utilized and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the data. The result of regression analysis showed that open market operations had a coefficient of β = 4.851167, ***p = 0.000 implying that it had positive and significant effect on the earning performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. The results also show that monetary policy reforms had positively and significantly intervened on the relationship between open market operations and financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria of a most distinctive finding of the study. The study concluded that monetary policy instruments as adopted by Central Bank of Nigeria are critical and heavily influenced the performance of banking sector players in Nigeria. The study recommends that Central Bank of Nigeria should be meticulous and involve management of commercial banks when designing policy instruments to enhance the earnings of the commercial banks in Nigeria.

Consolidating a research agenda for vaccine mandates

A workshop on mandatory vaccination was pitched to the World Public Health Congress in 2019 and the resultant special issue was pitched to Vaccine in 2020. During this project, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed vaccine policy to the forefront of global public health policy, and the imposition of vaccine mandates prompted a new wave of scholarship in the field. This introductory article employs the heuristic of Lasswell’s (1956) policy cycle to synthesise the findings of the articles in the special issue. It considers the temporal lifetime of mandates and highlights findings regarding: the emergence of mandates as a policy option, public support and policy instrument design, what matters in the implementation of mandates, and what we can learn from evaluating them. The second half of the paper categorizes the included papers in terms of what aspects of mandates they study and the methods they employ to do so, in order to formulate a guide for future researchers of vaccine mandates. Scholars study either speculative or existing mandates – research can address several stages of the policy cycle or just one of them, ranging from attitudinal research to implementation studies and impact studies. Historical and contextual studies that take deep dives into a particular mandate are a much needed resource for studying emerging mandates, too, and scoping and framework- building work will undoubtedly be valuable in understanding and appreciating the wealth of knowledge production in this growing field. This special issue can serve as a roadmap for a consolidation of this interdisciplinary research agenda, and provide a helpful resource for decisionmakers at this historical juncture.

The challenge of integrating subnational governments in multilevel climate governance: the case of Mexico

ABSTRACT Climate change (CC) actions need to happen at multiple scales, with coordination between horizontal and vertical levels of governance. Achieving national determined contributions signed as part of the Paris Agreement depends on the power of national and subnational governments to implement effective CC policies. Using a framework based on three power categories: power by design, pragmatic power, and framing power, we analyse how different types of power across multiple levels of government entities operate within various sectors in an emerging economy. Specifically, we analyse the multilevel governance in Mexico’s federal system. Our sample comprises six states (out of 32) and 18 municipalities and considers two mitigation sectors (transport and urban solid waste) and the adaptation domain. We find evidence of more robust climate policy at the state level delivered through power by design (policy instruments) and pragmatic power (to implement actions), but weak power performance at the municipal level. The sectoral analysis shows more consistent adaptation policies than mitigation policies. The power imbalances across the three categories are relevant because the quantity and coherence of designed policy instruments and actions can be contrasted with the capacity to implement actions, which depends on the availability of resources and political will.

Freight Traffic Impacts and Logistics Inefficiencies in India: Policy Interventions and Solution Concepts for Sustainable City Logistics

Freight traffic fulfils not only the business needs of a region to move goods between producers, manufacturers, and end consumers, but also creates a host of unintended environmental, social, and economic impacts. Despite its importance, freight traffic impacts and associated logistic inefficiencies are largely overlooked in the urban transport discussions in developing economies like India. This paper addresses this research gap by outlining the research progress related to freight transport in India and discusses the key problems related to freight system performance. The published literature in the last three decades (1990–2020), policy briefs and institutional reports are explored to summarize key findings and uncover thematic linkages. We categorize the inefficiencies in the freight system into four aspects: (i) long-haul trucking, (ii) last-mile logistics, (iii) freight distribution (inventory level), and (iv) policies and regulations. Apart from identifying the limitations in policy discourse, this paper also explores the possible solution concepts to improve efficiency in freight transport and mitigate the unintended negative externalities in urban areas. The overall conclusion is that increasing and improving infrastructure and equipment, technology and operations, and policy and regulations will go some way towards making freight more efficient in India and reducing congestion and emissions of air pollutants and GHG. The present paper can be expected to promote further freight research and effective policy instrument design in India.

Assessing Farmer Incentives for Transitioning Toward Sustainable Agriculture and Provisioning of Clean Water

Farms are a major source of water pollution in the form of nutrient run off that cause harmful algal blooms and anoxia, both signs of deteriorating water quality. Current policies that incentivize the adoption of nutrient management practices (NMPs) are insufficient, especially as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of flooding. To evaluate the incentives of current policy designs, we implemented a conjoint analysis on survey data collected in the Missisquoi and Lamoille watersheds of Lake Champlain Basin in three waves (2013, 2015, 2020). Using panel and cross-sectional observations over the three waves, we investigate farmers' willingness to accept (WTA) payment for NMPs that improve soil health and reduce nutrient runoff. We identified farmers' WTA for the adoption of three NMPs, cover cropping, conservation tillage, and buffer strips. The approach quantifies gaps between the incentives offered by the current federal conservation programs and payments preferred by farmers as well as the relative importance of NMP attributes. The influence of the payments decreased over the course of the three survey waves, suggesting the characteristics of NMPs are driving farmers' preferences for them. Our analysis shows farmers WTA is 1.13–6 times higher than what existing incentive programs offer. The incentive gaps between WTA and the cheapest of NMPs offered by EQIP are $55.61 for tillage, $103.60 for cover crop and $37.62 for buffers. Designing policy instruments to reduce this gap, the federal programs and policies will be more effective at scaling up the adoption of NMPs by farmers as a tool for sustainable watershed management.

Beyond innovation and deployment: Modeling the impact of technology-push and demand-pull policies in Germany's solar policy mix

Governments around the world try to accelerate sociotechnical change toward sustainability by introducing policy mixes that combine technology-push and demand-pull instruments. Beyond innovation and deployment, other objectives, such as domestic job and industry creation, are usually part of these policy mixes. However, little is known about how policy mixes should be designed and interactions between policy instruments considered when governments try to achieve multiple objectives simultaneously. We address these questions using an agent-based model of the sociotechnical system for solar photovoltaics in Germany that simulates technology adoption, industry dynamics, international spillovers and trade. By changing public spending on research and development and the solar feed-in tariff, forty-five variations of the historical policy mix in Germany are systematically evaluated. The results show that a narrow focus on innovation and deployment outcomes by academic researchers can lead to recommendations for the design of policy mixes that compromise key dimensions of sociotechnical change, such as job creation. Moreover, the simulations reveal that, because of path-dependent interactions between policy instruments, minor changes in the design of policy instruments can lead to vastly different policy outcomes. These findings have important implications for the literature on policy mixes, technology-push and demand-pull instruments, and sociotechnical transitions.

Designing policy instruments for regional floodplain management in Austria: the role of effectiveness and legitimacy

ABSTRACT This article explores the issue of regional floodplain management in Austria from a policy design perspective. Austria has experienced a series of major floods in recent years. In response to these flood events a range of policy instruments at the land–water nexus were developed. Three policy instruments were selected as case studies to represent this policy shift toward integrated flood risk management: (a) regulatory spatial planning, (b) water associations and (c) financial compensation schemes for flood storage. The main objective of our article is to build a better understanding of the interlinkage of effectiveness and legitimacy in the process of policy formulation. The analysis draws on a review of policy documents and expert interviews with core decision-makers. Our analysis shows that the main challenge in the selection process is not the issue of effectiveness, but rather the acceptance of the policy instrument by target groups. Stakeholder participation increases the legitimacy of the instrument design and minimizes conflicts in the following implementation, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the policy instrument. In contrast to the assumptions prevailing in the current policy design literature, our empirical analysis does not support the common preposition that participatory processes result in inferior forms of policy design.

Biogas policies and production development in Europe: a comparative analysis of eight countries

This paper compares and analyzes the relations between the biogas development and the national policy frameworks for biogas solutions in eight European countries. The policy frameworks are compared using a biogas policy model, comprising five dimensions: type of policy; administrative area; administrative level; targeted part of the value chain; and continuity and change over time. The studied countries show examples of both increasing and stagnating biogas production, all of which can be associated with changes in national policy frameworks. Many different policy tools—particularly economic instruments—have proven successful for stimulating biogas production, but changing a well-functioning framework risks impeding the development. Therefore, predictability and relevance for targeted actors are key in policymaking. Targeting specific parts of the value chain can however be required to integrate all the benefits of biogas solutions, such as agricultural methane emissions reduction. Moreover, it can be challenging to design policies and policy instruments that are both effective and sustainable over time, without needs for modifications or adjustments. Finally, biogas policies and policy instruments that are effective in one country would not necessarily lead to the same outcome in another country, as they are dependent on the broader context and policy and economic framework.

Taxation of agricultural incomes in Pakistan: Conceptual issues, data challenges and empirical estimates

There is considerable diversity and variation in the land-based and agricultural income tax rates across the provinces in Pakistan. The annual land-based tax revenues from the cultivated land, including orchards, are estimated at Rs. 5 billion in Punjab, 2.5 billion in Sindh, one billion in KP, and less than half a billion in Baluchistan. Based on the 2017-18 GDP estimates from crops, two sets of income tax revenues were estimated: one at the provincial rates and the other at the FBR tax rates for non-salaried persons. Tax revenues from crop income, at the current provincial rates, work out to Rs. 34 to 37 billion in Punjab, 7 to 8 billion in Sindh, 7 to 9 billion in KP, and 4 to 5 billion in Baluchistan. Revenue estimates at the FBR rates are Rs. 112 to 134 billion in Punjab, 25 to 30 billion in Sindh, 9 to 10 billion in KP and 21 to 24 billion in Baluchistan. These estimates are indicative of the revenue potential from taxation of crop incomes and need to be kept in perspective along with the cost of tax collection while designing policy instruments for taxing agricultural incomes.

Comparing the implicit valuation of ecosystem services from nature-based solutions in performance-based green area indicators across three European cities

Performance-based green area indicators are increasingly used as policy instruments to promote nature-based solutions in urban property development. We explore the differences and parallels of three green area indicators: Berlin’s Biotope Area Factor (BAF), Stockholm’s Green Area Factor (GYF) and Oslo’s Blue Green Factor (BGF). As policy instruments they vary in their complexity and goals for green and blue structures. The urban planning literature devotes increasing attention to urban ecosystem services (ES) and its potential for utilitarian valuation including assigning preference weights, valuation and pricing of green and blue characteristics of urban development projects. Our comparison shows, however, that nature-based solutions in urban development projects in these three cities are largely planned, designed and implemented without using an explicit ES approach. Nevertheless, the choices of green structures and weighting of areas and structures in each city’s performance-based index constitute implicit valuation of bundles of ecosystem services. By investigating how the three indicator systems’ scores vary in parcel-scale development projects, we identify which ecosystem services each system implicitly promote and neglect. We discuss how variation in the systems’ complexity is the result of policy instrument design trade-offs between comprehensiveness and implementation costs. We argue that using physical proxies of performance in lieu of valuation of ecosystem services lowers site-specific information costs of green area indicators at property level. In the absence of an explicit ES approach, performance-based green area indicators in the three cities have been encouraging nature-based solutions in urban development without pricing of ecosystem services, without apologies.

The regulatory governance conditions that lead to food policies achieving improvements in population nutrition outcomes: a qualitative comparative analysis.

To identify the regulatory governance factors that lead to food policies achieving improvements in food environment, consumer behaviour and diet-related health outcomes. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) was used to investigate the relationship between regulatory governance conditions and population nutrition outcomes. The regulatory governance conditions examined entailed: high industry involvement in the policy process, regulatory design, policy instrument design, policy monitoring and enforcement. n 29 policy cases in the policy areas of food reformulation, nutrition labelling, food taxation and food marketing. Policies implemented in thirteen countries. Comprehensive monitoring was identified as a necessary regulatory governance condition for food policies to have an impact and was present in 94 % of policy cases that had a positive impact on nutrition outcomes. We identified two sufficient combinations of regulatory governance conditions. The first sufficient combination of conditions comprised an absence of high industry involvement in the policy process, combined with the presence of strict regulatory design, best-practice instrument design, and comprehensive monitoring and enforcement. Ninety-six percent of policy cases with positive impacts on nutrition outcomes displayed this combination. The second sufficient combination of conditions comprised an absensce of high industry involvement in the policy process, best practice instrument design and comprehensive monitoring. Eighty-two percent of policy cases with positive impacts on nutrition outcomes displayed this combination. These findings show the importance of regulatory governance on policy outcomes. They suggest a need for more government-led nutrition policy processes and transparent monitoring systems that are independent from industry.