Direct Subsidies Research Articles

Can Direct Subsidies or Tax Incentives Improve the R&D Efficiency of the Manufacturing Industry in China?

The understanding of the impact of different government support methods on R&D efficiency is of great significance for evaluating the performance of innovation policies in various countries. We selected 31 manufacturing industries in China from 2009 to 2015, used the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method to measure R&D efficiency, and used tobit regression method to examine the relationship between direct government subsidies and preferential tax policies and manufacturing R&D efficiency. The results reveal that the overall R&D efficiency of China’s manufacturing industry was low, but it has been steadily increasing, and the R&D efficiency of emerging industries was significantly higher than that of traditional industries. Tax incentives played a stable and significant role in promoting R&D efficiency in manufacturing. Affected by factors such as the government’s long-term preference and information asymmetry, direct subsidies had no significant impact on the current R&D efficiency of the manufacturing industry, and began to play a positive role after a two-year lag. Based on the above research findings, this paper suggests that progressive preferential tax rates can be designed according to the “base + increment” approach for tax preferential policies. At the same time, different proportions of tax cuts should be set for enterprises of different sizes and levels of innovation, and the focus should be on small and medium-sized enterprises and emerging industries. In terms of direct funding subsidies, the government should not only increase the support for basic research, but also give more preference to enterprises that receive tax incentives for research and development, so as to enhance the complementary effect of the two types of subsidy policies. The marginal contribution of this paper mainly includes three aspects: First, based on the Chinese situation, the impact of direct government subsidies and tax incentives on the R&D efficiency of the manufacturing industry is tested. Second, we present the evidence that direct government funding subsidies “crowd out” enterprise R&D funds. Thirdly, we describe the influence of enterprise scale, innovation level, ownership, and management ability on R&D efficiency of the manufacturing industry, and put forward the possible influence mechanism.

Retailer's willingness to adopt blockchain technology based on private demand information

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>This paper considers a supply chain that includes one supplier and one retailer, in which the retailer has a more accurate demand forecast. The blockchain technology can verify the authenticity of the information, then the retailer can choose to truly share the demand information with the supplier by adopting such a costly technology. We discuss three scenarios based on signaling game: the retailer bears all the cost (no subsidy), the supplier bears part of the cost by providing direct subsidy or wholesale discount, respectively. Specifically, in a demand information asymmetric setting, we mainly focus on exploring the conditions of retailer adopting blockchain technology and the supplier's subsidy strategy choice, and further verify the robustness of the model by considering the retailer's risk aversion or multiple suppliers. In all scenarios, we find that the retailer will apply threshold strategy to adopt blockchain technology. The retailer's willingness to adopt blockchain technology is negatively correlated with the corresponding adoption cost, the supplier's profit level, and positively correlated with the number of suppliers. Additionally, we find the supplier can profit from providing subsidies when the cost of adopting blockchain technology is around a medium level, and the direct subsidy is superior to wholesale discount. More surprisingly, we find subsidies may work to the disadvantage of the subsidized party. Specifically, compared to no subsidy, we find the direct subsidy and the wholesale discount can increase the retailer's willingness to adopt blockchain technology, but hurt the retailer's as well as the supply chain's profits.</p>

How to carry out technological innovation in the rare earth industry?

As an important strategic industry in China, the rare earth industry needs to extend its industrial chain to the high-end by carrying out technological innovation. This paper discusses the dynamics of technological innovation in rare earth enterprises and how local governments regulate the behaviors of these enterprises. First, we establish an evolutionary game model between local governments and rare earth enterprises, considering direct and indirect factors of policy regulations regarding the rare earth industry. Second, we analyze the mechanism and evolution process of governance strategy selection and explain the efficiency and evolution path of the local governance system under different policy orientations by finding the stable point of the replication dynamic process. Finally, we use numerical simulation to analyze the impacts of initial willingness and direct and indirect factors on the dynamic evolution process. The results demonstrate that (1) the regulation cost of local governments and subsidies have negative impact on local government decisions and rewards generated by enterprises' technological innovation have positive impact on local government decisions; (2) benefits, direct subsidies from local governments, and indirect performance rewards from the central government have positive impact on enterprises' technological innovation decisions. Based on the empirical results, we recommend that to promote enterprises' participation in technological innovation, central and local governments should create policy for rules and regulations for rare earth enterprises by comprehensively considering the technological risks and spillover effects rather than increasing subsidies. Moreover, based on their characteristics, rare earth enterprises should create an environment for technological innovation and integrate into regional technological innovation platforms.

ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ПОДДЕРЖКА КАК МЕХАНИЗМ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИМИ ПРОЦЕССАМИ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ С ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕМ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫХ ПРОГРАММ

In this article, the authors explore the issue and problems of state support for enterprises and its impact on the economic system. The authors analyze various methods of government intervention, such as financial assistance, soft loans and direct subsidies, and their distribution between financially distressed enterprises and industry leaders. We highlight the complex direct and indirect effects of such assistance, including its impact on a state’s economic and industrial productivity. In addition, the authors consider examples of the experience of various countries, both with transition and developed economies, and analyze the results of their support policies.

Directions of the hotel, restaurant and tourist business development under transformation processes

The article is devoted to the study of the hotel, restaurant and tourism business, which is currently in the phase of the beginning of a radically new cycle of development, because under the influence of modern socio-economic transformations, the hospitality industry needs other management levers in order to develop an effective strategy for sustainable development. It is proven that the hotel, restaurant and tourism industry development in Ukraine is a promising direction due to the favorable conditions and rich recreational resources. However, there are still many problems in the field of the legislative framework and the unstable economic and political situation in the country, which inhibits the development of the hotel, restaurant and tourism business. It is necessary to develop and implement into the practice of management special organizational and economic measures of state support for hotel, restaurant and tourist business enterprises. The following measures are to be undertaken: easing taxation, direct subsidies, employment support or payments to workers who have lost their jobs; activation of employment centers for employment, etc. The necessity to reform the organizational approaches to the functioning of the hotel, restaurant and tourism business, which has an opportunity to become one of the leading multiplier factors of national income growth, is proven as well as the necessity to contribute to the employment increase and the local infrastructure development, to raise the standard of living of the population and to act as an effective mechanism for the redistribution of funds between sectors of the economy. It is emphasized that the main issues to be solved remain stabilization and adjustment of the economic and political situation, renewal and improvement of the legislative framework, management of the hotel and restaurant business. It is substantiated that the hotel, restaurant and tourism business can act as a stimulus for sustainable socio-economic regional development, which in turn will increase revenues to the budgets of all levels, contribute to improving the image of regions, create additional jobs, and act as a factor in the activation of inbound and foreign tourism.

ОЦІНКА ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ ВИРОБНИЦТВА БІОГАЗУ ОСОБИСТИМИ СЕЛЯНСЬКИМИ ГОСПОДАРСТВАМИ

The purpose of this article is to assess the potential of biogas production by individual peasant farms. The relevance of the study lies in the need to assess the potential of biogas production by individual peasant farms from the waste products of animal husbandry and crop production. A set of general scientific and special methods was used in the research process: economic analysis; analysis and synthesis; graphic; deductive; inductive. It was established that biomass is a powerful source of available renewable energy, which makes its use in Ukraine extremely promising. The obtained results represent an informational basis for the development of waste processing of personal peasant farms into biogas and digestate. An analysis of the dynamics of waste generation of animal husbandry products in personal peasant farms was carried out. It was established that the main raw material for biogas production should be considered livestock waste, and the most productive raw material is bird droppings. The expediency of processing household waste into biogas has been proven. The need for development and improvement of biogas production technologies using raw materials from personal peasant farms was established, which should become a strategic priority of the post-war reconstruction of the state. It has been proven that the use of the existing potential will make it possible to produce more than 4.2 billion m3 of biomethane for the self-sufficiency of personal peasant farms with hot water supply and organic fertilizer (digestate) for fertilizing homestead plots. In order to popularize this type of production among the population, it is advisable to direct subsidies from the state budget to the purchase of appropriate equipment by individual peasant farms. It was established that the main restraining factor for the development of biogas production in private peasant farms is primarily the high cost of the relevant installations and related equipment (storage containers). When implementing programs of state subsidies for interested households, it is possible to achieve a solution to their energy independence issues in the short term.

Финансовые инструменты обеспечения эффективности трансформационных процессов развития сельскохозяйственной отрасли

Ensuring the effective development of transformational processes in the agricultural sector is currently one of the key tasks of the socio-economic policy of the Russian Federation. The processes of systemic transformation of the market agro-economy are aimed at ensuring a stable and balanced growth in agricultural production in the country as part of the implementation of the doctrine of food security. Using modern financial mechanisms for preferential lending to agricultural producers should contribute to the dynamic development of the industry by ensuring sufficient investment in fixed capital and timely provision of agricultural enterprises with short loans, the purpose of which is to support farmers “in the moment” taking into account a seasonality factor. Based on the analysis of the dynamics of agricultural production for 1990-2022 the distinctive features of the stages of transformation of the agricultural industry of the Russian Federation are determined. In the course of assessing the level of digitalization of the agricultural industry at the present stage of development it was revealed that the digitalization index and the intensity of the use of digital technologies in agriculture are the lowest among all leading industries, as well as due to the low level of investment activity. Main tools of state support for enterprises of the agro-industrial complex are the direct subsidies and subsidies for preferential loans to ensure the stable functioning of the industry. Analysis of the needs of agricultural producers in preferential loans and the percentage of their satisfaction indicates the insufficient development of the mechanism for preferential lending to agricultural producers on the part of all its subjects. According to the results of the analysis, recommendations were developed to improve the efficiency of the mechanism for preferential lending to the industry, which are designed to ensure the availability of this type of lending for all forms of business, simplify the procedure for issuing preferential loans, reduce the time for filing and considering applications, and increase the percentage of their approval

Sustaining New England's iconic tourism landscapes: An exploratory study to examine perceptions of value from farmers and fishermen

Tourism generates billions of dollars in New England. Maine and Vermont rely heavily on the iconic imagery of lobstering and dairy farming to attract visitors to their states. The collapse of either industry would not only deal a direct economic and cultural blow to their respective states but be compounded by their impact on the tourism industry. How do these industries work in symbiosis with tourism? From the biological world, symbiosis is the close interaction of two different species in a mutually beneficial or parasitic relationship. To what extent do these primary sector industries benefit from tourism and how might the benefits of tourism be more effectively shared with farmers and fishermen? Using in-depth interviews, this exploratory study captures perceptions of tourism’s value to farmers in Vermont and fishermen in Maine as a place to start this important conversation. While tourists consume less than 10% of the bounty from Vermont dairy farmers and Maine lobstermen, producers capture a variety of other benefits from tourism, including such economic benefits as the opportunity to promote their company or industry brand, attract new customers, generate supplemental income, and create employment opportunities, along with non-economic benefits such as the opportunity to provide authentic experiences, create great places, showcase their conservation efforts, and highlight their family’s pride and heritage. Public policy could redistribute the benefits of tourism to facilitate a more mutually beneficial symbiosis, including direct subsidies to producers, preservation of working landscapes, marketing and branding activities, and investment in cooperative infrastructure.

Study on Evolutionary Game of Rural E-Commerce Entrepreneurship Ecosystem with Governmental Participation

Rural e-commerce has become an effective measure for rural economic development under the background of digital transformation. Governmental participation is an important driving force to encourage the formation of rural e-commerce entrepreneurial ecosystems. From the perspective of bounded rationality, this paper establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model of a rural e-commerce entrepreneurial ecosystem among e-commerce platform, entrepreneurs and government, and systematically analyzes the evolutionary stability of each participant’s strategic choice. The initial intention of the three parties and the coefficient of governmental reward and punishment are introduced into the model design. Through numerical simulation, the influence of different parameters on the strategic selection of the three parties and the evolution path are analyzed, further implying the complexity of the strategic selection process in the reality. The results show that subsidies for e-commerce platforms are more conducive to the evolution of entrepreneurs and e-commerce platforms in a positive direction than direct subsidies for entrepreneurs by the government. In the early stage of development of the rural e-commerce entrepreneurial ecosystem, the government behavior strategy evolved to be one of active participation. After the system matured, the government behavior turned toward the negative direction. Compared with governmental reward and punishment, the initial willingness of each subject has more significant influence on the evolution of the tripartite behavior strategy. Finally, this paper proposes some countermeasures and suggestions to optimize the game relationship among the main bodies in the rural e-commerce entrepreneurial ecosystem from the perspective of a government subsidy mode, effective government intervention and the promotion of the initial willingness of the three parties. The research ideas and conclusions of this paper are enlightening to the academic research and corporate practice related to rural e-commerce.

Assessment of the level of state support for the agrarian sector in Russia and the European Union

The article provides the research of the state support for agriculture in Russia using the methodology of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The overall estimation of support for agricultural producers in Russia, considering not only budget transfers but also price support in 2020 amounted to 749 billion rubles or 12 % of gross revenue. At the same time, budgetary transfers account for 31.9 %. A significant amount is accounted for by the support of the market price, which is estimated through the difference between domestic and reference prices (prices "at the border") by the types of agricultural products. In the case of Russia, pork, poultry and beef producers received more than 655 billion rubles in 2020 as a result of price support. On the contrary, hidden taxation is typical for crop producers; about 308 billion rubles were withdrawn from them because of the pricing policy. However, the high overall market price support for agricultural producers in Russia in 2020 suggests that transfers from consumers exceed transfers in the form of subsidies. For comparison, price support in Russia and the EU on average for 2013-2020 was 44 % and 17 %, respectively. It is shown that in the EU 75% of the total support for agriculture is provided through the least market-distorting forms (support for general services, creation of state reserves to ensure food security), in Russia – 27 %. From the point of view of the sustainability of agriculture, the measures to support general services (infrastructure, science and education, innovation support) have the greatest impact on the volume of gross value added of the industry in Russia. The correlation coefficient for this type of support is the highest - 0.93, while the coefficient of determination is high – 86 %. This leads to the main recommendation on the adjustment of the agrarian budget in favor of supporting general services, which, in addition to the high positive effect on agricultural production, refers to least market-distorting measures and does not have the disadvantage of unequal access to agricultural producers, in contrast to, for example, direct subsidies and concessional loans.

On the Relationships among Nurse Staffing, Inpatient Care Quality, and Hospital Competition under the Global Budget Payment Scheme of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance System: Mixed Frequency VAR Analyses

Background: Time series analyses on the relationship between nurse staffing and inpatient care quality are rare due to inconsistent frequencies of data between common observations of nurse-staffing (e.g., monthly) and inpatient care quality indicators (e.g., quarterly). Methods: In order to deal with the issue of mixed frequency data, this research adopted the MF-VAR model to explore causal relationships among nurse staffing, inpatient care quality, and hospital competition under the global budget payment scheme of Taiwan’s healthcare system. Results: Our results identified bi-directional causation between nurse staffing and patient outcomes and one-way Granger causality running between nurse staffing and reimbursement payments for inpatient care services. Impulse-response analyses found positive (negative) effects of the patient-to-nurse ratio on adverse patient outcomes (reimbursement payments) in all types of hospitals and detrimental effects of adverse patient outcomes on the patient-to-nurse ratio in medical centers and regional hospitals across a 12-month period. Conclusions: These findings suggest that nurse staffing is an essential determinant of both patient outcomes and reimbursement payments. Strategic policies such as direct subsidy and hospital accreditation for appropriate nurse staffing levels should be implemented for medical centers and regional hospitals to mitigate the harmful effects of adverse patient outcomes on nurse staffing.

The landscape of scholarly book publishing in Croatia

Even though open access to scholarly works is globally recognized as a goal to be achieved as soon as possible, it is far clearer how to achieve this for journals than for books. Even organizations firmly oriented towards open access to all results of publicly funded research, such as Coalition S, acknowledge the complexity of book publishing and recognize that open access to books will require more complex models of realization over a longer period (COAlition S Statement on Open Access for Academic Books, 2021). In recent years, the academic community has recognised the central role of books in scholarly communication in social sciences and humanities (SSH) and intensified discussions about possible roads to open access, especially within organizations such as OPERAS (Stone et al., 2021), Science Europe (Briefing Paper on Open Access to Academic Books, 2019), SPARC Europe or Open Access Book Network (A Plan S for Books?, 2021). These documents and discussions portray European book publishing as a fragmented space, with many smaller nationally oriented markets in which there is no domination of large publishers. It is clear that the models of transition to open access will not be unique for the whole European area. Diverse mechanisms and sustainable business models will be appropriate to different contexts. In considering the most appropriate models of transition, an accurate and detailed insight into individual national and regional specifics can be of great importance. The aim of this research is to show the current state of scholarly book publishing in SSH in Croatia: who are the key stakeholders, what are their characteristics, and what is the current level of open access to scholarly books? To answer these questions we rely on data from two different sources. The main source of funding to cover the costs of scholarly book publishing in Croatia are the direct subsidies from the Ministry of Science and Education. Given that data on grant recipients are publicly available, it is possible to see what types of books are being published by what types of publishers (research performing institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, scholarly societies, and other types of organizations). The analysis will be based on data from 2018 to 2021 and will also use the insights from an earlier analysis of the same funding scheme by F. Horvat and Z. Velagić (2020). The second source is the Croatian Scientific Bibliography (CROSBI), and our review will include data on SSH books (monographs and edited books) published over the same period (2018–2021). CROSBI provides information about active book publishers in Croatia, but also about e-editions, especially those in open access. Particularly useful is the information about OA books on publisher platforms (“gold” model) and in open repositories (“green” model), which gives an insight into preferred OA models for different types of publishers. In addition, publisher platforms provide info about standards used in digital publishing (quality assurance, standardized metadata and discoverability, licensing, indexing, and preservation). These two sources give us a pretty accurate idea of the current state of SSH book publishing in Croatia and a good starting point for creating a national open science plan for book publishing.

Strategic Investment Packages

Regional disparities are still growing in many countries, both developed and underdeveloped, despite significant effort made. It seems a standard approach based on direct subsidies or project-type support is insufficient. Recently, new schemes have appeared, based on the place based approach. These schemes are many times referred to as integrated territorial investments, which replace classic individual projects. Integrated approach not just combines intervention from different fields but also yields in higher rentability of investments. Higher level of integrated territorial investments is represented by strategic investment packages, which combine the advantages of large infrastructure projects and smaller regional projects. However, this type of investments require high level of co-ordination and scientific and political effort.

“GREENING” AND INTELLECTUALIZATION OF TRANSPORT IN THE CONTEXT OF ENSURING ECONOMIC SECURITY OF TRANSPORTATION ENTERPRISE

Goal. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the necessity of “greening” and intellectualization of transport for ensuring the economic security of transportation enterprises. Method. This paper uses the following research methods: dialectical method, systematic approach, comparative and economic analysis, and models of discriminative analysis (five-factor model of E. Altman, Konan Golder’s model, and Lis’s model). Results. The research on the foreign experience with “greening” and intellectualization of the transport system has shown that developed EU countries are actively investing in “green” transport with the goal of minimizing adverse effects on the environment. There are systemic principles of government stimulus for “greening” the transport, which are used in different countries. It is concluded that some countries use methods of fiscal stimuli and direct subsidies for the popularization of “green transport”. It is concluded that “greening” and intellectualizing the transport have drastic ecological and economic advantages, hence they are the focus areas of transport infrastructure development. The diagnostics of economic security of urban Municipal enterprise “Khersonelectrotrans” are concluded by utilizing the following models of discriminative analysis: five-factor model of determining the Z index (E. Altman’s model); Konan Golder’s model; Lis’ model. The results illustrate a high probability of bankruptcy for urban Municipal enterprise “Khersonelectrotrans”. It is determined that ensuring the economic security of the enterprise is impossible without launching an innovative investment plan and a radical increase in investments for an innovative development. Practical importance. The proposed method is to determine economically justified tariffs on the services of urban enterprises that provide electric transport. This will ensure adequate financing for systemic modernization of these enterprises, resulting in “greening” and intellectualization of transport and increased quality of transport services.

A decision support approach for financial policy measures selection

PurposeBusiness research and development (R&D) is of critical importance for innovation and economic growth. The purpose of this study is to present an application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to select the most appropriate policy measure to support the business expenditure on R&D (BERD).Design/methodology/approachAHP method adopts a multi-criteria approach that can be used to analyse and prioritize the policy measures based on pairwise comparisons between several attributes that affect the selection of a policy tool. The model formulated in this study is applied to a real case of supporting decision-makers in some high-tech sectors in Iran.FindingsThe results highlight the four main financial policy measures implemented in Iran to enhance the BERD; those are, public procurement for R&D, direct subsidies for R&D, grants for R&D and income tax credit for firms have the priority values of 0.280, 0.260, 0.249 and 0.211, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are based on subjective evaluation of policy measures by experts of designing policy measures. Objective assessment of policy measures is important too because the preferences of policy interventions change during the time. Another significant point is that the priorities of specific policy measures depend on the effectiveness of their implementing arrangement and the previously successful experience of firms in receiving them.Originality/valueThis paper presents an application of the AHP to select the most appropriate policy measure to support the BERD. This method could be used to prioritize the policies and interventions that governments implement to solve different problems, especially at the innovation system level.

Does electric vehicle promotion in the public sector contribute to urban transport carbon emissions reduction?

China issued a major policy in 2009 to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption in public sectors (i.e., public transit and public services), which are in the form of EV purchase subsidies and EV-related infrastructure investment. This is one of the world's largest scales of EV promotion in the public transport sector, instead of the private car sector. This policy is of great significance given that the acceptance of EVs by the public can speed up the replacement of existing gasoline vehicles. Based on the panel data of 80 prefecture cities in China, this study applies a multi-stage PSM-DID model to quantify the effects of this policy on reduceing urban transport emissions. The empirical results show that the policy is effective in lowering urban transport emissions by an average of 16.3%. Annual per capita emissions from urban transport were also reduced by an average of 28.87 kg. Our DID models are also adapted to estimate the time-varying policy effects for heterogeneous cities. The mechanism of the policy's effect is also investigated. The policy is found to increase both the EV penetration in the public sector and the overall scale of urban passenger traffic, with countervailing effects on urban transport emissions. The overall reduced emission suggests that the benefits of higher emission efficiency brought by high EV adoption outweigh the negative effect of an increasing urban traffic scale. Our robustness checks also demonstrated that the direct subsidy of EV purchases for the public sector, not for the private cars, seems more effective in reduceing urban transport emissions. Our empirical results thus advocate the government's support of EV promotion in public sectors to reduce urban transport emissions, although the private EV purchase appears to receive more favors under existing policies.

Estimation of marginal abatement subsidization cost of renewable energy for power generation in Thailand

Thailand has steadily increased the use of renewable energy as a result of the Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP), intends to promote renewable energy production and consumption in all sectors which caused impacts to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation, in addition to reducing the fossil energy imports from other countries. Renewable energy accounts for 15.51% of total final energy consumption in Thailand in 2020, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 36.73 million tons. It is commonly used in the form of electricity, which is accounted for 24.2% of total renewable energy consumption, second only to heat. However, because renewable energy power generation has a relatively high cost, the Thai government has designed subsidization schemes to increase financial interest. This research focuses on estimating the marginal abatement costs (MAC) of subsidizing power generation from renewable energy in Thailand, through Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) and direct subsidy schemes, which includes (i) natural type (solar energy, wind power, and hydro energy), and (ii) bio-renewable type (biomass, biogas, and MSW) from 2013 to 2018. MAC is widely-recognized as an important economics instrument for policymakers to prioritize greenhouse gas mitigation measures and shape up the policy decision to set up appropriate relevant mechanisms in the medium and long term. We found that MAC results are ranging from 5,740.19 to 8,472.59 THB/tCO 2eq for solar energy, from 6,437.66 to 6,979.21 THB/tCO 2eq for wind power (all scale), from 4,415.00 to 4,786.39 THB/tCO 2eq for small hydro energy, from 4,862.13 to 7,820.28 THB/tCO 2eq for biomass, from 3,050.92 to 8,087.03 THB/tCO 2eq for biogas, and from 5,635.57 to 10,682.50 THB/tCO 2eq for MSW while the actual GHG mitigation from those activities were 19.84 MtCO 2eq in 2019, mainly from bio-renewable type.

Sustainability Assessment of Electricity Generation Development under the Implementation of Support Policies with Endogenous Financial Resources Using a Hybrid Decision Support Model

Sustainable electricity development is one of the requirements for achieving sustainable development in global communities. However, due to barriers, especially in less developed countries, there is little incentive to invest in the development of sustainable electricity technologies. Therefore, there should be a change in market mechanisms, and broad support policies have to be implemented for the sustainable development of electricity. In the long run, these policies must lead to the sustainable development of energy systems. To evaluate the efficiency and effects of the proposed support policies on the sustainability of electricity generation development, this study intends to analyze the multiple and complex dimensions of the problem using a hybrid decision support model. Moreover, by defining an indicator to assess the electricity generation expansion sustainability, this study assists policymakers in making logical decisions about sustainable support programs for the electricity development based on the characteristics of the electricity market of each country. Despite uncertainties in the electricity market, simulations show that the results of this hybrid model have approximately 88% conformance with historical data. Consequently, the model can evaluate the sustainability of the system under the implementation of the proposed support programs and compare them to select the most effective one. The results show that by assuming a competitive market and rational behavior and implementing support programs with endogenous financial resources, the installed renewable capacity can be improved by up to 70.4% compared with the direct subsidy policies. Regardless of the financial burden of policies (e.g., direct subsidies) and the possibility of facing a budget deficit, these programs can be up to 79.2% more effective in the sustainability of the energy system compared with the direct subsidy policy.

Feeding the Leviathan: political competition and soft budget constraints. Evidence from Argentine subnational districts

This paper presents evidence of the influence of political competition on the behavior of fiscal policy in Argentine provinces from 1987 to 2015. Contrary to the predominant theory and empirical evidence from subnational districts my estimations of a dynamic panel data show that political competition is associated with increases in public outlays and changes in its composition. This finding is strongly related to the large vertical fiscal imbalances that characterize the Argentine fiscal federalism. I conjecture that governors use the additional low-cost spending power given by federal transfers to feed clientelistic networks, increase public employment and direct subsidies to constituencies, thus enhancing their chances to remain in office.

Subsidy and pricing strategies of an agri-food supply chain considering the application of Big Data and blockchain

Based on the advantages of Big Data and blockchain in food traceability area and information sharing area, it has attracted widespread attentions. However, it is not so popular in agricultural field, a vital reason is the scarcity of effective incentives. Government incentive as an important incentive measure is thought to be useful. To study the subsidy rules in the new background, we chose an agri-food supply chain with one producer and one retailer as research object and divided government incentive into direct incentive and indirect incentive. Then, considering the changes of consumer perceived safety on agri-food in the new environment, the demand function was revised. Furthermore, we proposed and analyzed three subsidy models and their benefit functions considering the information service inputs based on Big Data and blockchain (BBIS). Findings: (1) The subsidy models will not change the variation tendency of prices and benefits with the BBIS optimization coefficient, the BBIS investment costs from the producer and the retailer, the ascension of the unreliability coefficient of quality safety and the agri-food quality level. (2) When the subsidy coefficients about direct and indirect subsidies can meet a relationship, benefits of chain members in the indirect subsidy model are higher than them in the direct subsidy model. Findings offer a theoretical guidance for government departments to make and implement the subsidy strategies. In addition, for company, it can provide a theoretical guidance on setting pricing strategies in the new technology background.