Dutch Market Research Articles

Influence of Climate Policy and Market Forces on Coal-fired Power Plants: Evidence on the Dutch market over 2006-2014

Many governments aim to reduce the dependence on coal-fired generation to decrease carbon emissions. At the same time power markets with competition between independently operating power firms have been created which leave the actual decisions concerning electricity production to these firms. This paper analyzes the interaction between climate policies and policies to foster power markets. Using hourly plant-level data on the Dutch power market over 2006-2014, we find that the dispatch of fossil-fuel power plants is strongly influenced by relative fuel prices, despite the existence of several climate policy measures. Coal-fired power plants have become more important in the Dutch market since 2006, not only in share of total production, but also as provider of flexibility. Examining the short-term dispatch decisions and the past volatility in relative fuel prices, the maximum CO2 price which was needed to provide incentives for power producers to dispatch a gas-fired plant instead of a coal-fired plant was 43 euro/ton. We conclude that internalizing the external (CO2) costs by raising the CO2 price is a more appropriate measure than a forced closure of coal-fired power plants to align the principles of a market-based power industry and the wish to implement effective climate-policy measures at relatively low costs.

Is there still collusion in the Dutch waste collection market?

ABSTRACTConcentration indexes based on regional markets show that the Dutch market for refuse collection is highly concentrated in 2002 and 2010. Similar to earlier work in 2007, the results indicate some evidence that high concentration increases costs and therefore (partly) offsets the advantage of contracting out. In 2002, results with respect to concentration are somewhat less robust. In 2010, the cost-advantage effect of private provision becomes smaller. However, for this year, we have a stronger indication that the cost advantage of private provision depends negatively on regional concentration measured by the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index.

Perfluoroalkylated substances in edible livers of farm animals, including depuration behaviour in young sheep fed with contaminated grass

Perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs) present a potential health risk for consumers. In animals these compounds are known to accumulate in livers. In order to determine potential PFASs contamination in commercially available livers, samples from farmed sheep, horses, cows, pigs and chicken were collected from the Dutch market. PFOS was the only detectable PFAS and its concentration was higher in free ranging animals like cows and sheep. The detected levels of PFOS in the liver samples were very low (up to 4.5 ng g−1 ww).To further study the kinetic behaviour in foraging animals, samples from a study in which sheep were fed with grass obtained from a river floodplain, were examined. PFOS was the only detectable PFAS in the contaminated grass pellets, showing a level of about 0.5 μg kg−1. Young blackhead sheep were fed with either clean or contaminated grass for a period up to 112 days. A time-dependent increase in liver PFOS concentrations was observed from 2.4 to 10.9 ng g−1 ww after 8 and 112 days respectively. A time-dependent depuration was observed in livers of animals switched to clean grass after 56 days of exposure, from 9.2 to 4.7 ng g−1 ww after 64 and 112 days respectively. The percentage of PFOS ingested from the grass and retained in the liver was estimated to be 12% at day 56, and decreased gradually to 6% after 56 days on clean grass, showing that the decrease in levels is not only caused by an increase in liver weight.Levels detected in commercial livers but also those in the sheep study would not lead to exceedance of the current TDI for PFOS set by EFSA. Therefore, it can be assumed that they do not present a risk for human health.

Factors contributing to the variation in the volatile composition of chocolate: Botanical and geographical origins of the cocoa beans, and brand-related formulation and processing

The intrinsic characteristics of chocolate and the complex technological process complicate the assessment of the typical features of this product and the verification of its authenticity. In this study, the influence of the botanical and geographical origin of the cocoa beans, as well as the impact of brand-related processing on the volatile organic compound (VOC) composition of the resulting chocolates was examined. A total of ninety dark chocolates available on the Dutch market were analysed using Proton-Transfer-Reaction-Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS). The VOC profiles generated by PTR-MS (136 masses per sample) were used as fingerprints and investigated using chemometric tools to elucidate information on production factors of cocoa and subsequent processing, in the finished product. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed some clustering of the chocolates according to the botanical and geographical origins of beans as well as according to the brand. Partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) further discriminated the samples according to the three classes (botanical origin, geographical origin, brand) and the models with the best classification results were used to investigate the relevant masses for each class. PCA clustering and PLS-DA classification highlighted that chocolate profiles are strongly affected by the processing applied by the different brands. However, reflection of the botanical and geographical origins of the beans was also mirrored in the VOC composition of the chocolates. PTR-Time of Flight-MS (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to tentatively identify the VOCs of the chocolates. These measurements allowed the identification of 36 spectrometric peaks which relate to the main classes of chocolate odorant compounds, in particular, aldehydes and pyrazines, products of Maillard reactions. Several compounds already present in unroasted beans were tentatively identified in the chocolates as well, such as, acetic acid, methylpropanoic acid, 2- and 3-methylbutanoic acid, 2-phenylethanol, and tetramethylpyrazine. The results of this study emphasize the impact of the brand-related formulation and processing on VOC profiles of dark chocolates. However, using chemometrics, VOC reflection of the botanical origin and geographical origin of the beans in the chocolates was revealed, which may be useful for a future cocoa/chocolate traceability.

Characterization and Exposure Assessment of Emetic Bacillus cereus and Cereulide Production in Food Products on the Dutch Market

The emetic toxin cereulide, which can be produced by Bacillus cereus, can be the cause of food poisoning upon ingestion by the consumer. The toxin causes vomiting and is mainly produced in farinaceous food products. This article includes the prevalence of B. cereus and of cereulide in food products in The Netherlands, a characterization of B. cereus isolates obtained, cereulide production conditions, and a comparison of consumer exposure estimates with those of a previous exposure assessment. Food samples (n = 1,489) were tested for the presence of B. cereus; 5.4% of the samples contained detectable levels (>10(2) CFU/g), and 0.7% contained levels above 10(5) CFU/g. Samples (n = 3,008) also were tested for the presence of cereulide. Two samples (0.067%) contained detectable levels of cereulide at 3.2 and 5.4 μg/kg of food product. Of the 481 tested isolates, 81 produced cereulide and/or contained the ces gene. None of the starch-positive and hbl-containing isolates possessed the ces gene, whereas all strains contained the nhe genes. Culture of emetic B. cereus under nonoptimal conditions revealed a delay in onset of cereulide production compared with culture under optimal conditions, and cereulide was produced in all cases when B. cereus cells had been in the stationary phase for some time. The prevalence of cereulide-contaminated food approached the prevalence of contaminated products estimated in an exposure assessment. The main food safety focus associated with this pathogen should be to prevent germination and growth of any B. cereus present in food products and thus prevent cereulide production in foods.

Paving the way towards circular consumption: exploring consumer acceptance of refurbished mobile phones in the Dutch market

In the transition towards a circular economy, refurbishment can be applied to regain value from used products, and to reduce waste. Refurbishment is a process in which a professional company collects and restores used products in order to resell these products to new consumers. Building on insights from the remanufacturing literature, this research is the first to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence consumer acceptance of refurbished products, and in specific refurbished mobile phones. We adopted a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with consumers (n = 20) of new and refurbished phones to gain rich insights into consumers' considerations that play a role in the choice of a refurbished product over a new product. This paper maps out the main factors that influence consumer acceptance of refurbished mobile phones. Our findings uncover that the majority of consumers do not take a refurbished product into consideration as a consequence of a lack of awareness and a misunderstanding of what refurbishment actually entails. In addition, refurbished products are often rejected as a consequence of a negative trade-off between perceived risks and benefits. Personal, contextual and product-related factors have been identified that influence consumers' assessment of a refurbished product's risks and benefits. Finally, the findings have been translated into practical guidelines for designers and marketers to positively steer consumer perception of refurbished products.

John Anthony Spencer

For as long as he was a radiologist, John Spencer was a committed and dedicated teacher who exuded enthusiasm for his specialism. His gift was the ability to transfer that...

Distributed energy generation techniques and the competitive fringe effect in electricity markets

We analyse the impact of two different generation techniques used by fringe suppliers on the intensity of competition in the electricity wholesale market. For that purpose, we derive a Cournot model of this market taking into account long-term contracts, international trade and fringe suppliers using different energy generating technologies. We apply this model to the Dutch market and estimate the impact of fringe supply on the Lerner index. We find that the fringe supply coming from both intermittent wind generation and combined heat and power (CHP) plants operated by horticultural farmers increases competition, which leads to lower prices in the electricity market. However, this impact is relatively small. The effect per unit of intermittent wind electricity generation on competition and, therefore, prices is stronger than that of the CHP technology.

‘Evenknie van de buitenlandsche organen’: het (inter)nationale profiel van Critisch Bulletin (1930-1941)

At the time of its foundation in 1930, the periodical Critisch Bulletin (‘Critical Bulletin’) was presented as an alternative for the existing literary magazines on the Dutch market. Its founder Anthonie Donker (pseudonym of N.A. Donkersloot) drew his inspiration from foreign examples like The Times Literary Supplement (1902) and Die literarische Welt (1925) and wanted to create a comparable Dutch weekly, which was supposed to become an authority in the reviewing of national and foreign literature and culture. Despite this international perspective, the underlying objectives of Critisch Bulletin were of a rather national nature: Donker wanted to strengthen the Dutch national community by improving the Dutch readers’ knowledge of their own literature and culture. Furthermore, he wanted to improve the quality of Dutch literature by comparing it to international standards. In this paper I will examine the tension between national and international aspects underlying the foundation and critical profile of Critisch Bulletin. I will use the concept of middlebrow to give an explanation for this apparent discrepancy.

Comparison of commercial elm cultivars and promising unreleased Dutch clones for resistance to Ophiostoma novo-ulmi

Elms, and especially Ulmus × hollandica have been dominant and very much appreciated trees in cities and rural landscape for centuries in the Netherlands. As a result of two Dutch Elm Disease (DED) epidemics in the 20th century these trees largely disappeared from the landscape. Despite the introduction of new cultivars with increased levels of DED-resistance, by the end of the 20th century the elm had disappeared from the top 20 list of trees produced by Dutch nurseries. New cultivars with increased resistance to DED are used to a limited extent only. Apparently the lasting problems with DED in old cultivars has led to a lack of confidence in the resistance of these latest released cultivars among urban foresters and landscape managers. This paper reports on a study that aims at restoring the position of the elm as a street tree in the Netherlands by providing information on resistance to O. novo-ulmi causing DED of the currently available cultivars. All elm cultivars currently on the Dutch market were compared in an inoculation test. In 2007 a field experiment of 18 cultivars, one species and 10 non-released clones from the Dutch elm breeding program was established. Two cultivars were used as reference clones: “Commelin” (relatively susceptible) and “Lobel” (relatively resistant). In 2008 and 2009 the elms were stem-inoculated with Ophiostoma novo-ulmi and disease development was assessed throughout the summer and the following year. Clear differences in resistance to O. novo-ulmi were found between the cultivars, with “Columella”, “Sapporo Autumn Gold”’ and “Rebella” being highly resistant and significantly different from “Lobel” and “Regal”, “Urban”, “Belgica”, “Den Haag” and the U. laevis seedlings being the most susceptible and comparable to “Commelin”. The non-released clones performed comparable to “Lobel’”or even better. The ranking of the cultivars based on their level of resistance to O. novo-ulmi in this field test corresponds well with experience in urban green practice. Our conclusion is that there is a wide range of cultivars available with a good to excellent level of resistance. The available cultivars have a broad genetic base due to different parentage and use of exotic germplasm in the crossings. This broad genetic background may contribute to the stability of resistance in case new forms of the disease appear. The non-released clones performed well compared to the released cultivars and give good opportunities to further broaden the current range of cultivars on the Dutch and European market.

Finding the right hip implant for patient and surgeon: the Dutch strategy--empowering patients.

We describe the implementation process of hip prostheses selection in the Netherlands. The recent problems with large head metal-on-metal hip prostheses resulted in substantial damage to the surgeons' credibility and reputation in the media. This led to a true sense of urgency among orthopaedic surgeons to increase their activities to secure patient safety. The board of the Dutch Orthopaedic Association (NOV) in the Netherlands established a Dutch Hip Task Force (DHTF) with the explicit assignment of formulating criteria to classify the quality of total hip implants on the Dutch market based on survivorship. The aim was to offer unequivocal information enabling a balanced choice of total hip prosthesis. The ultimate goal of the NOV is that all implanted total hip prostheses implanted in the Netherlands are based on reliable clinical evidence. The DHTF decided to adapt the principles of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, UK) (www.nice.org.uk). The taskforce uses data from the registries as well as the Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel (ODEP). If the ODEP guidelines had been chosen as standard alone, one quarter of our listed hip components would not have been included. In our view this underlines the strength in the Dutch approach where high quality registry data and ODEP ratings are complementary and result in a list of reliable hip prostheses. Most importantly we offer patients insights into the known quality of the implants by sharing the results of our implant review. This will facilitate shared decision making by empowering patients in their knowledge on available hip arthroplasties.

The Deployment of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems in Europe

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) are expected to significantly enhance driving safety, comfort and efficiency. This paper analyses the deployment of the ADASs in EU 28, in relation to the countries GDPs and fatalities. In addition, we explored the relation of ADASs sold with vehicle price and mass. For the analysis two sets of data were used. The first was obtained from the iMobility 2013 iCar implementation status survey, on the EU 28 ADASs deployment rates for vehicles sold in 2012. The second was derived from of a Dutch leasing company and contains information on the number and type of ADASs ordered for the Dutch and German market in 2013-2014. Results show that the deployment rate averaged over EU 28 is 2.7-12.6% for five safety related ADASs and 23% for eco driving support. At country level, results indicate that in richer countries the ADAS deployment rates are significantly higher (ρ = .758, p The leasing company data showed significant correlations between the price of vehicles and type of ADASs on board. Premium vehicles are significantly more equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control and Emergency Braking, compared to the mass market vehicles, with correlations ρ = .585 (p

Dispatches

Dispatches

Literary Transfer between Peripheral Languages: A Production of Culture Perspective

Literary translations from Hebrew into Dutch and vice versa between 1991 and 2010 are examined as a test case for cultural transfer between two peripheral languages, using a production of culture perspective (Peterson and Anand 2004). The findings show 138 Dutch books translated from Hebrew against 52 Hebrew books translated from Dutch. The data are analyzed by genre, translator’s productivity, and number of books per author. The analysis reveals that both directions were similar in distribution of genres, but differed significantly in translator’s productivity (the productivity of the average Dutch translator is more than twice as high as that of his or her Hebrew counterpart) and in the number of translated titles per author (twice as many in the Dutch market). The discussion traces these differences to the different structure of the translation labour market in Israel as compared to that of the Netherlands and Belgium and to the dominance of Dutch state subsidy and Flemish Community subsidy in both directions of the transfer, however with a different policy of subsidy in each direction. It seems that significant conclusions can be reached by examining such factors as size and distribution of the corpus on the backdrop of labour conditions and state subsidy.

Insurance Search, Switching Behavior and the Role of Group Contracts

This paper considers consumer behavior in the Dutch market for health insurances, which is characterized by managed competition. We observe substantial price dispersion for the same basic insurance package. We describe the market by a simple consumer search model, which we empirically test using data from the Dutch Health Care Consumer Panel. We argue that insurers use group contracts to target discounts to better informed consumers, reducing their incentives to search. Since search is essential for competition, this increases premiums and premium dispersion.

Active pharmaceutical ingredients detected in herbal food supplements for weight loss sampled on the Dutch market

Herbal food supplements claiming to reduce weight may contain active pharmacological ingredients (APIs) that can be used for the treatment of overweight and obesity. The aim of this study was to determine whether herbal food supplements for weight loss on the Dutch market contain APIs with weight loss properties. Herbal food supplements intended for weight loss (n = 50) were sampled from August 2004 to May 2013. An HPLC-DAD-MS/MS method was used to screen for the presence of the APIs in herbal supplements. In 24 samples the APIs sibutramine, desmethylsibutramine (DMS), didesmethylsibutramine (DDMS), rimonabant, sildenafil and/or the laxative phenolphthalein were identified 41 times. The presence of these APIs was, however, not stated on the label. The potential pharmacological effects of the detected APIs were estimated using data from reported effective doses of approved drugs. Use of 20 of the 24 herbal food supplements may result in potential pharmacological effects. Furthermore, risk assessment of phenolphthalein, a suspected carcinogen and found to be present in 10 supplements, based on the margin of exposure (MOE) approach, resulted in MOE values of 96–30 000. MOE values lower than 10 000 (96–220) were calculated for the daily intake levels of four out of these 10 supplements in which phenolphthalein was found. However, taking into account that weight loss preparations may be used for only a few weeks or months rather than during a lifetime, MOE values may be two to three orders of magnitude higher. The current study shows that the use of food supplements with sibutramine, DMS, DDMS and/or phenolphthalein could result in pharmacological effects.

Cross-border constraints, institutional changes and integration of the Dutch–German gas market

We evaluate the contribution of nine institutional changes to the integration of the Dutch and German gas markets. We analyse this contribution through the impact of bottlenecks in the cross-border infrastructure on the absolute value of cross-border price differences. In the period 2007–2013, the absolute value of the differences in price levels between the Dutch and the German NCG market decreased, indicating more integration. We find evidence that the improved connections within the German networks as well as between the Dutch and the German network contributed to this. The strengthening of the connections with the UK market and the Russian supply, however, had a negative effect on market integration between the Dutch and the German NCG market. The liquidity-enhancing changes within the Dutch market had a negligible effect.

A cocktail of synthetic stimulants found in a dietary supplement associated with serious adverse events.

Food supplements are regularly found to contain pharmacologically active substances. Recently, the food supplement Dexaprine was removed from the Dutch market because it was associated with severe adverse events. Reports to the Dutch Poisons Information Center (DPIC) showed that ingestion of as little as half a tablet caused several cases of nausea, agitation, tachycardia, and palpitations and even one case of cardiac arrest. The remaining tablets of four patients were sent in by different healthcare professionals. Analysis by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass-spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) confirmed the presence of synephrine, oxilofrine, deterenol, yohimbine, caffeine, and theophylline. Two more compounds were found which were tentatively identified as β-methyl-β-phenylethylamines. This incident is only the next in a series of similar incidents involving dietary supplements with (undeclared) active substances that are either unsafe or have no known safety profile.

Gains and losses of exclusivity in grocery retailing

Conventional wisdom dictates that convenience goods should be distributed as intensively as possible. Still, exclusivity arrangements are rapidly gaining way in grocery retailing. We discuss the possible performance outcomes of exclusivity deals, and propose a unified framework (i) to quantify the gains and losses of such arrangements in consumer-packaged-goods markets, and (ii) to decompose the total monetary gains and losses into a variety of sources. Our framework considers both the manufacturer and the retailer granted the exclusivity right, and accounts for the fact that both dyad parties may be active in multiple, inter-related, categories.We illustrate the proposed approach in the context of Unilever‟s decision to limit the distribution of five of its (sub-)brands to a single retailer in the Dutch market, and derive the sales and profit implications for the parties involved. In all instances, we find that intensive distribution generates higher sales for the manufacturer than the exclusive arrangement, while such an arrangement is typically appealing for the retailer granted exclusivity. To come to a win-win situation, a variety of compensatory arrangements are considered. While manufacturers should not try to have leading incumbent products de-listed, we show how extra feature support for the exclusive brand may make an otherwise harmful arrangement beneficial for the manufacturer. In addition, we show how, in a number of instances, the total dyad profitability increases under exclusive arrangements, which offers rooms for margin re-negotiations.

The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating: Net Neutrality in Practice, the Dutch Example

The Netherlands is among the few countries that have put specific net neutrality standards in place. It was the first country to do so in the European Union. Contrary to the original European Union approach, which lacks a material implementation of net neutrality principles, the Dutch parliament decided to take a firmer position and introduced a quite detailed regimen on net neutrality. Providers of public electronic communications networks via which Internet access services are delivered and providers of Internet access services shall not hinder or slow down applications or services on the Internet. There is a limited group of exceptions to this rule. Hindering and slowing down Internet traffic is allowed a) to minimise the effects of congestion, whereby equal types of traffic must be treated equally, b) to preserve the integrity and security of the network and service of the provider in question or the end-user’s terminal, c) to restrict the transmission of unsolicited communication (spam) to end-users, provided that the end-users have given their prior consent for this to be done, and d) to implement a legislative provision or court order. Another very important net neutrality principle was based on incidents of blocked applications such as Skype and WhatsApp on the announcement by mobile operators that they would start charging for applications. The Dutch net neutrality article also forbids providers of Internet access services to charge for Internet access services dependent on the services and applications which are offered or used via these services. The newly proposed European rules on net neutrality (as part of the new regulatory package) have borrowed heavily from the Dutch example. However, are the Dutch rules a success? The no-blocking/no-charging restriction had an immediate effect on the market, in particular on the mobile one. Originally, the mobile providers intended to block or to charge for specific services (Skype, WhatsApp), but they had to abandon the idea due to the new net neutrality rules. This led to a new subscription structure, with a substantially increased emphasis on data traffic. Data bundles are priced more specifically, and existing packages with unlimited data access have been replaced by packages with a specific size (data caps) and specific speeds. In fact, voice is no longer a dominant factor in the pricing models. But how did these changes affect the consumer? The no-blocking/no-charging rule more or less killed traditional texting (SMS), but it is too early to tell whether net neutrality has had an effect on the overall costs for mobile broadband. There are some indications that the overall price levels and options in the Dutch market are (still) in line with the prices in other European countries. The new neutrality rules had no effect on the fixed market. Internet service providers on cabled networks have no history of blocking traffic. Only one incident with the slow-down of traffic was reported but turned out to be a ‘misunderstanding’. One should keep in mind that the Dutch fixed broadband market is very competitive with the incumbent operator offering high-speed DSL or fibre and the cable television network operators offering high-speed broadband via their coaxial networks. The Netherlands belongs to the top broadband countries in the world. The regulator in charge - the Authority for Consumers and Markets - took a first decision on applying the new rules in a case where Internet access in trains was blocked for congestion reasons. In another case, a service similar to WhatsApp was inaccessible via wireless networks. In two cases, the Authority investigated the bundling of data packages with free services (i.e. a mobile subscription with ‘free’ access to Spotify). To deal with these cases, a new guideline has been drafted by the ministry involved. The consultation process on the guideline has recently ended. The conclusion of the paper is that putting net neutrality into more material regulation is much more complicated than defining it in a more abstract sense. Putting the rules into practice is even more challenging. In our view, the Dutch example shows that if regulation is too detailed, the development of services might be hampered and might to some extent ridicule the true objectives of net neutrality. The focus should be on a dynamic and evolutionary approach, offering the opportunity to adapt interventions quickly, depending on the specifics of the case. In order to establish such a more flexible framework, the present provision needs to be amended.