Free Market Regime Research Articles

New Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming Formulations for the Unit Commitment Problems with Ramping Constraints

Mixed-Integer Formulations for Power Production Problems The unit commitment problem is a complex mixed-integer nonlinear program that originates in the field of power production. Although it arises in a monopolistic system, there is still great attention to this problem even in a free-market regime, where it constitutes only a subproblem of larger ones. Historically, it was usually solved by Lagrangian relaxation methods. However, the advances achieved by commercial solvers of mixed-integer (linear and convex) programming problems have made such approaches an attractive option. T. Bacci, A. Frangioni, C. Gentile, and K. Tavlaridis-Gyparakis present the first mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulation with a polynomial number of both variables and constraints that describes the convex hull of the feasible solutions of the unit commitment problem with a single thermal generation unit, comprising all typical constraints and convex power generation costs. Proving that the formulation is exact requires a new result about the convex envelope of specially structured functions that can have independent interest. This new formulation for a single power generation unit is used to derive three new formulations for the general unit commitment problem whose effectiveness has been tested against the state-of-art formulation.

Financial Service Technology in Indonesia: Between Free Market Regime and Consumer Protection

The free market era provided uninterrupted traffic in goods and services throughout the world, and was initially formed to offer benefits. Although there were still protests in technical problems and rising disputes that led a sue to legal institutions, countries agreed to maintain the free market. As a counterpart, the free market cannot ignore consumer’s protection as a standard of service. The liability development between consumer and producer relationship arranged from caveat emptor, to caveat vendor and finally to strict liability in the consumer protection system, implies disclosure of information on products and services. This research faces the legal theory of a free market regime with the theory of consumer’s protection law. This research proceeds to discuss two main issues. The first issue is an essential of Financial Technology or Fin-tech of services. The second issues is the influence of Fin-tech on the free market and consumer protection. Research uses a normative legal research method and the data obtained are secondary data from literary sources such as literature, articles and internet sites. Results of the analysis shows; first, the free market regime is both an opportunity as well as a challenge, therefore it is still worth to maintain. The consumer protection’s regime is the balance point of the free market’s regime. Theoretically, consumer’s protection must be used as a tool to protect the consumer’s interests. Moreover, it could manage the behaviour of service providers. Secondly, the role of the Financial Services Authority is a key to ensuring that balance is still on maintained. Supervision and determination of financial service providers broadly provide information for the public to choose carefullyof their necessity financial services

Efficiency and sustainability of public service obligations on scheduled air services between Almeria and Seville

The objective of this paper is to examine how the imposition of Public Service Obligations (PSO) on certain routes may affect the transportation sector, with a focus on aviation in the European Single Market. Thus, this research investigates how this form of public intervention can be useful to access adequeate transport system in remote and peripherical regions. Subsequently, this paper intends to display that the imposition of PSO on aviation routes should be considered as a unique mean of market intervention on behalf of territorial cohesion. To accomplish this, an analysis of the economic impact in terms of efficiency and sustainability in the case of the scheduled air route between Almeria and Seville in addition to other transportation alternatives such the bus or train was conducted. Additionally, this research attempts to shift the research focus away from PSO routes in order to determine the convenience of administrative concession as a way to foster the creation of specific routes, which furthermore cannot be covered by the entrepreneurship of private initiative in a free market regime. Consequently, this approach recognises that this form of public intervention is a way of correcting particular market failures, such as the lack of the adequate transportation.

Optimal Timing of Onshore Wind Repowering in Germany under Policy Regime Changes: A Real Options Analysis

In this paper, we investigate capacity expansion, the technological development of wind turbine generators, and the merits of onshore wind repowering in Germany. We analyze the regulatory framework that is presently in place and its impact on the profitability of the onshore wind parks commissioned under previous regulatory frameworks. The optimal timing of repowering under today’s market premium model is scrutinized. Repowering in a market without subsidies for onshore wind energy is also evaluated. In the two cases (regimes) investigated, the electricity price is modeled stochastically as a geometric Brownian motion process. More specifically, using a real options modeling framework for investments under a free market regime, we analyze how the regime change affects the optimal timing of repowering. Further, we check the results for their robustness via a sensitivity analysis for both analyzed regimes. We find that repowering well before the plant’s expected end of life (‘early repowering’) can be economically preferable under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act 2017 remuneration scheme and that, due to the electricity spot market price development, repowering under the market premium regime is more profitable than it is under the free market regime. The economic viability is strongly influenced by the duration of the initial tariff granted to the old installation, the expected digression factor of the future reference tariff, and the increase in electricity generation achieved through repowering.

Handel międzynarodowy a koncepcja zrównoważonego rozwoju

We współczesnych rynkowych systemach gospodarczych zrównoważony rozwój kraju oraz wzrost poziomu dobrobytu jego mieszkańców powinny być nadrzędnymi celami polityki ekonomicznej rządów. Rozwój ten nie jest jednak możliwy bez dynamicznego i stabilnego wzrostu gospodarczego, gwarantującego stałe dochody indywidualne i budżetowe. Nieodłącznym elementem nowoczesnej gospodarki jest również jej otwarcie na wymianę i kontakty międzynarodowe, które umożliwiają nie tylko stały wzrost dochodu narodowego, lecz również napływ bezpośrednich inwestycji zagranicznych i nowoczesnych technologii oraz optymalne wykorzystanie zasobów dzięki wykorzystywaniu komparatywnych przewag w handlu. Przedmiotem rozważań tego artykułu jest kwestia powiązań między zrównoważonym rozwojem kraju a jego wzrostem gospodarczym oraz niezbędnym czynnikiem tego wzrostu, jakim jest efektywny handel międzynarodowy.

ESG practices and the cost of debt: Evidence from EU countries

Using legitimacy and institutional theories, this study investigates whether lending institutions reward firms in 15 EU countries for their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and disclosure in terms of lowering their cost of debt capital. Our study distinguishes between ESG performance that is used to indicate an effective commitment to ESG strategies, and ESG disclosure that represents an effort to construct an image of commitment designed to positively influence stakeholders’ perceptions. Supporting a version of legitimacy theory, we find that lending institutions value both ESG performance and disclosure and integrate ESG information in their credit decisions – in that firms with stronger ESG performance have a lower cost of debt, and ESG disclosure has an equal impact on the cost of debt as ESG performance. Although these findings suggest that the market (in context) can engender more desirable social outcomes by rewarding ESG practices, it fails to distinguish between ESG performance and disclosure (which may be contrasted as the more substantive and the more symbolic). Moreover, our results also reflect upon the importance of the role that civil society and the state play in addressing and exploring the limitations of free-market regimes. Specifically, we provide evidence that the impact of ESG performance and disclosure on the cost of debt is more dominant in the stakeholder-oriented countries (where the community is more prevalent). Our main findings are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, including an alternative measure of the cost of debt, model specifications, and different approaches to address endogeneity. We acknowledge limitations in our research method but point nevertheless to its value in supporting a critical perspective and make suggestions for future research.

Carrying Capacity Dynamics, Livestock Commercialisation and Land Degradation in Mongolia's Free Market Era

The dramatic consequences of the severe winters and droughts between 1999 and 2002 drew world-wide attention to Mongolia's important livestock sector and its extensive - and growing - nomadic pastoralists. Much of the focus in this regard was put on the impacts of the change from communist rule to a free market regime. In a recent section of the journal 'Development and Change' 35(1), co-ordinated by Robin Mearns, these consequences are discussed extensively. However, concepts likenature´, ´market´, anddegradationare used as container concepts, without much empirical specificity. A recent research project run by Mongolian and Dutch re- searchers applied models of carrying capacity dynamics, and caloric terms of trade, to better un- derstand the relationships between the dynamics of nature and the dynamics of the market in this volatile environment. The project applied these models to Mongolia as a whole, and to two case study areas: Ugtaal in the north, and Gurvansaikhan in the south. The analysis shows the impor- tance of policy attention for livestock commercialisation. A large majority of herders simply do not have enough animals to sustain themselves in the traditional way. They are either forced to combine subsistence livestock-keeping with a variety of other jobs, or they can choose to become more market-oriented herders. If they do this wisely, they can increase their incomes, improve their health, and maintain the pastures. However, this depends on renewed forms of land and wa- ter management institutions preventing the few rich (and partly absentee) herders from over- utilising the pastures to the detriment of their poorer, and more market-oriented, fellow pastoral- ists. PREM Working Paper: 05/10

Trends in Marketing of New Insurance Schemes and Distribution: An Empirical Study on Indian Life Insurance Sector

Insurance has been an integral part of financial services system and recognised as a cornerstone of a country’s financial health and symbol of progress. Insurance provides for the financial security of citizens and their families. The present paper discusses the role of marketing in insurance distribution of life insurance sector in India as insurance offers a valuable investment advices and serves as an effective step towards both individual and national financial stability. The waves of globalisation have deeply influenced the insurance sector worldwide. Financial globalisation has been strongly supported by globalisation of insurance. With the increase in trade, direct investment and portfolio investment, there has been an ever growing demand for insurance services particularly in the emerging markets. Globalisation of insurance market, as a part of the overall process of liberalisation in emerging and other countries enabled the foreign insurance companies to enter in those countries and benefited both. Triggered by the sound fundamentals in global economy and internationalisation of world markets, several countries turned towards free market regimes in banking and insurance, putting an end to several decadeold state-owned controlled markets. There was a remarkable progress in the Indian insurance industry soon after the acceptance and adaptation of LPG in the year 1991. After 1991, the Indian life insurance industry has geared up in all respects, as well as it has been forced to face a lot of healthy competition from many national as well as international private insurance players. It is also reported by Swiss Re and Munich Re that there would be 20-25 percent growth in life and health insurance market by 2015, particularly in India and China. In this paper an effort is made to study the current status and challenges faced by the life insurance business houses in India.Journal of Business and Technology (Dhaka) Vol.9(2) 2014; 61-81

The Level of Euroization of Albanian Economy

The use of foreign currency is a widespread phenomenon in all post-communist countries of Eastern Europe including here Albania. Relatively long transition caused the loss of trust of individuals in local currency and also in domestic monetary regime. Foreign currency is perceived as a kind of "protection" from the uncertainties caused by macroeconomic instability that characterizes in general countries that pass from a totalitarian regime to a free open market regime. The realities of these transition years have indicated an increasing preference on the use of strong European currency, which, to a certain extent, has led to a partial euroization of the economy. The predominant opinion, in academic and political circuit, is that the advantages of Euroization, at least for a short period of time are profoundly evident especially in developing countries where the aspiration on EU accession is great. When we analyze euroization as a phenomenon, except for the advantages, we have to examine in detail even the other side of the coin, its costs on the economy and monetary system of a country. Since the beginning of the global crises the amount of deposits in foreign currency, mainly euro, compared to the total amount of deposits has increased. How does the euroization affect the Albanian economy? There are three types of euroization and each has its own relevant measure. First of all there is the euroization of assets of the economy, which is measured by the ratio of foreign currency deposits to local currency deposits . Secondly there is the euroization of the liabilities of an economy, which is measured by the ratio of loans in foreign currency to loans in local currency. Thirdly, there is the euroization of transactions, which is measured by the degree of currency transactions against local currency transactions. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n1s2p231

Labor coercion and the accumulation of human capital

This paper examines the effect of labor coercion on human capital accumulation. We use micro data from Puerto Rico, where unskilled laborers were forced to work for landowners during 1849–1874. Using variation in municipality-level suitability for coffee cultivation and international coffee prices, we estimate the response of schooling to exogenous increases in relative demand for unskilled labor in regimes with and without forced labor. During the coercive regime, increased coffee prices had no effect on individuals' literacy rates in coffee growing regions. Following the abolition of forced labor in 1874, similar changes in coffee prices reduced literacy rates by 12%, consistent with a diminished skill premium in the free labor market regime relative to the coercive period.

BIOSOCIAL COMPARISON OF MID-UPPER ARM CIRCUMFERENCE IN THE TWO KOREAS

Anthropometric differences between the two Koreas are of considerable public and scientific interest given the unique socio-political status of North Korea and the fact that the nations share the same genetic ancestry. This study provides new biosocial evidence on these differences by analysing mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) as a human welfare indicator. This is the first study to compare the nutritional status of adults surveyed inside North Korea with South Koreans. The MUAC measurements of 2793 North Korean women obtained through a household survey conducted in 2002 were compared with those of 1428 South Korean women surveyed around 2003. Comparative analysis was conducted by plotting centiles and calculating mean differences in MUAC by age. This paper finds that the MUAC of the South Koreans was on average 2.8 cm greater than that of their North Korean peers, with MUAC gaps ranging from 1.6 cm to 3.9 cm and becoming more pronounced with age. This research confirms previous studies on height and weight in the two Germanies and in the two Koreas that have shown that biosocial performance is worse in socialist economies as compared with free-market regimes.

Double movements and pendular forces: Polanyian perspectives on the neoliberal age

In the neoliberal era, Karl Polanyi’s notion of the ‘double movement’ has been widely deployed by social scientists as a critique of the prevailing order and a predictor of its demise. This article presents the double movement theorem, drawing upon Polanyi’s published and unpublished writings. It explores parallels between his explanation of the advent of the 19th-century free-market regime in Britain and recent Polanyian accounts of the rise of neoliberalism. Following an analysis of the ‘pendular’ refunctioning of Polanyi’s thesis, it closes by asking whether the recent global financial crisis heralds a pendulum swing from neoliberalism (or ‘market fundamentalism’) towards a form of socially coordinated capitalism, or towards ‘more of the same’. As of 2011, it appears that neoliberal policy and ideology remain hegemonic, not in reinvigorated form but as an ‘undead’ policy regime, one that has spawned a burgeoning literature on ‘zombie capitalism’ and ‘zombie neoliberalism’.

Addis Ababa as Modernist Ruin

Keeping in mind that Addis Ababa translates to mean flower, I want to appropriate some of the sights and sounds of this relatively new city in order to rub it against the land- scape of transformation, and reinscription (modernism), that has characterized Addis Ababa since its founding in the late 1800s (Holston 5). I am particularly interested in Addis Ababa's transition from the Socialist oriented military junta known as the Derg (1974-1991) to a city governed by a post-communist, free market regime. Under the Derg, Scientific Socialism was adopted as the country's method of governance. On the basis of this new method, the military junta introduced across the country—but particularly in Addis Ababa—a public culture of signs and symbols that represented various aspects of the new regime. Monuments to Lenin were erected, as were numerous billboards of Marx, Lenin, and Engels. In 1991, along with all the other countries behind the iron curtain, the military junta fell. The public billboard culture, however, did not disappear; rather the billboards were replaced by ones produced by private companies. I understand Addis Ababa's latest transformation as being more of the same, whereby the city's public space is organized under both regimes with the same aesthetic-politico sensibility—a sensibility that is grounded in a certain ease with both erasure and reinscrip- tion. I also view the very public nature of the billboards under both regimes and the way they have come to dominate the Addis Ababa landscape as serving as a useful heuristic device to get at both the tactics served up to, as well as deployed by, Addis Ababa's resi- dents so as to cope with everyday life.

21ST Century Democratic Capitalism

Starting on September 11, 2001, and following both actions and reactions around the world, it may well be that we have arrived at a major tipping point in terms of socio-economic development, political reform, as well as many other global issues - from financial and economic coordination to climate change as well as hunger and disease challenges in the developing world. On November 9, 1989 (more than 20 years ago), the world watched as the Berlin Wall was tumbling and with it the Cold War was slipping into memory as the morning fog. During the last two decades, progress was accomplished on many fronts but great opportunities were also missed or wasted both within the US (for instance, health care and social security reforms) as well as around the world where the Washington Consensus mantra of privatization and unbridled globalization led to the socioeconomic polarization of many former Warsaw pact countries as well as former parts of the Soviet Union and in effect made many people around the world cynical as to the capacity of free market regimes to allow for equitable and sustainable economic development along civic renaissance.

Airport planning in free market regimes

Airport planning in free market regimes

Airport planning in free market regimes

The ongoing liberalisation of air transport and increasing commercialisation of the airport industry results in a more competitive environment and growing uncertainty with regard to what kind and size of airport facilities are required and when. This means an increased risk of capacity mismatches and destruction of economic value. At the same time, the changing airport ownership models require maximal value creation while airlines expect airport efficiency. Due to changing air transport and airport market regimes, physical planning of airports must be (more) adaptive. In unpredictable commercial markets, company plans must also be proactive and aimed at value creation. The authors conclude that an integrated approach between physical planning and strategic and business planning is practically non-existent. They illustrate strong interdependencies between separate planning disciplines and propose a more integrated, value-based planning approach, which addresses economic choices embedded in master planning.

Finance and Growth: A Survey of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on links between domestic financial development and economic growth. It starts with the pioneers in this field and then classifies two main schools favouring liberal financial regimes. First McKinnon and Shaw advocated financial liberalization in a period of widespread government intervention in credit markets. After that a period of criticism of free market regimes followed, partly based on unsuccessful policies. The literature on financial development and endogenous growth pushed the discussion back into the direction initially advocated by McKinnon and Shaw. We review a huge body of empirical literature, which generally finds positive associations between domestic financial development and economic growth. The evidence suggests, however, enormous heterogeneity across countries, regions, financial factors, and directions of causality.

Industrial symbiosis: the case for market coordination

Despite the fact that all successful, documented cases of industrial symbiosis to this day have been self-organizing, some authors and development officials have suggested that increased public planning might deliver better results in this respect than spontaneously evolved market coordination. This paper takes an historical approach to suggest that comprehensive planning is unlikely to live up to the expectations of its proponents. The essay is structured as follows. The first section provides short case studies of industrial symbiosis in highly different economic and institutional settings, the essentially free-market regime of Victorian England and communist Hungary (1948–1989). The available evidence suggests that market coordination proved much more favorable to the emergence of industrial symbiosis, despite the elaboration of a comprehensive policy to that effect in Hungary. Insights derived from the so-called “Austrian” critique of central planning are then used to explain this paradox. The analysis presented suggests that the Hungarian planners’ failure was not so much the result of the bad implementation of sound policies, but the logical outcome of a top-down approach’s shortcomings. Policy implications for the public planning of industrial symbiosis in a mixed economy are then derived and the case for self-organization is found more compelling. The creation of more innovative institutions that will force firms to “internalize their externalities” while leaving them the necessary freedom to innovate is viewed as an urgently needed and promising path towards increased, sustainable reuse of industrial by-products.

The British production regime: a societal-specific system?

The ’Hoover‘ affair has reawakened interest in Europe in the British production regime as the closest to a free market regime in Europe. This paper argues that in fact the British production regime is another example of a societal-specific system in which institutions and social arrangements are central to the specific characteristics of the British system. The low-skilled, low-wage employment system, with high shares of long and part-time employment emerges out of the interaction of institutional and social arrangements, including family and distribution systems as well as the institutions of labour market and industrial organization. This interaction creates both internal coherence and internal conflicts, but adjustment to internal conflicts does not necessarily result in escape from the vicious circle. Similarly the impact of international integration is not necessarily convergence of notional models, for, as in the British case, ‘internationalization’ takes effect through institutions, sometimes resul...

Enter the Dragon: Lessons for Australia from Northeast Asia?

The 1980s saw a conscious restructuring of economic life in Australia. The direction of that restructuring was derived partly from prescriptions about the virtues of free trade and government deregulation. Another influence has been the view that the economic success of Japan and the Asian ‘dragons’ is because of their adoption of free trade and liberal market regimes. In this paper, evidence from Korea and Taiwan is used to show that this interpretation is seriously flawed. The growth of the dragons was not driven by comparative advantage. Rather, the industries of the dragons were set up independently of their competitiveness; some became competitive by exporting. Industrialisation in the newly industrialised countries (NICs) exemplifies a variety of forms of local initiative by a state: how does it have the will and power to create industrial policy? The development of state policy depends on local class structures and perceptions of the global political and economic environment that nullify attempts simply to copy policy into different social and economic circumstances. The lessons of the economic success of the Northeast Asian NICs are improperly drawn in two respects: these are dirigiste, not free market, economies; and even if that intervention has been for the good it does not follow that similar policies could be applied, much less be successful, in the different place that is Australia. This is the geographic lesson: places differ, and so, therefore, must policies.