Generous Subsidies Research Articles

Effect of Seed and Fertilizer Subsidies on the Technical Efficiency of Rice Farmers in Senegal

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of seed and fertilizer subsidies (NPK and urea) on the technical efficiency of rice farmers in Senegal. Using data from the Annual Agricultural Survey (EAA) of the Directorate of Analysis, Forecasting and Agricultural Statistics of Senegal (DAPSA), the results of Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) revealed that rice farmers in Senegal have on average a technical efficiency level of 0.545. This suggests that they could increase their current production by 45.5% while using the same level of inputs. Estimation of an SFA model for technical inefficiency revealed that seed and urea subsidies have a significant effect on reducing technical inefficiency. A farmer using subsidized seed saw a reduction in technical inefficiency level by 10.5% and using urea was associated with a 5.1% decrease in inefficiency. In contrast, the model showed no association between the use of subsidized NPK or the use of herbicides and technical inefficiency. And use of organic fertilizer was estimated to worsen technical inefficiency by 4.4% (perhaps reflecting greater reliance on lower-cost inputs among less productive farm households in Senegal). With regard to socio-demographic factors, the results further revealed older respondents experienced more severe technical inefficiency, and that women on average were 9.6% more inefficient than men. These barriers to improved efficiency among older farmers and women suggest targeted supports may be necessary alongside general subsidy programming.

How Not to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions: An Unbalanced Focus on Energy Efficiency in Germany’s Building Rehabilitation Policies

Germany needs to reduce CO2 emissions from space heating in its old buildings to net zero by 2045 to fulfil its climate goals. However, direct CO2 reduction measures in existing buildings receive relatively little subsidy support from the federal government’s German Development Bank, compared to generous subsidies for energy efficiency measures. This interdisciplinary paper evaluates this phenomenon by comparing costs and CO2 abatement effects of ever higher energy efficiency measures, alongside the costs of direct CO2 reduction through heat pumps and onsite photovoltaics. It uses a set of carefully selected reports on the costs and benefits of renovation to a range of energy efficiency standards in three common types of multi-apartment buildings in Germany, updating these for 2024 construction, energy, and finance costs. The cost of the CO2 saved is extremely high with energy efficiency measures and absurdly high with the highest energy efficiency standards, up to 20 times the cost of CO2 abatement through other means, such as offsite renewables. This reduces markedly with onsite CO2 reduction measures. This paper sets this analysis in the context of asking what social, cultural, and discursive factors extol energy efficiency so highly that policy tends to thwart its own stated goal of deeply reducing CO2 emissions.

THE SIGNALING EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF R&D GRANTS ON CORPORATE EXTERNAL FINANCING: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE LISTED FIRMS

In this study, we investigate the heterogeneous signaling effects of government research and development (R&D) grants on corporate bank financing regarding various types of grants. While the literature primarily focuses on the information asymmetry between banks and receivers, this study focuses on the more fundamental aspect of disparate signals sent from various types of subsidies. We categorize public R&D subsidies into three types: project-based, special grants and general subsidies. By using data from Chinese listed firms between 2008 and 2018, we find that R&D projects have positive certification effects on corporate external financing, special funds do not have significant effects, and general subsidies send negative signals regarding firm quality, resulting in the reduction of long-term bank loans of recipients. However, the negative signaling effects of general subsidies are found to be counteracted by political connections, suggesting that the signal associated with political capital could be greater than that associated with firm quality.

The political economy of financing climate policy — Evidence from the solar PV subsidy programs

We analyze the political impact of a generous solar panel subsidization program. Subsidies far exceeded their social benefit and were partly financed by new taxes on adopters and by electricity surcharges for all consumers. We use local panel data from Belgium and find a decrease in votes for government parties in municipalities with high adoption rates. This shows that the voters’ punishment for a costly policy exceeded the potential reward by adopters who received generous subsidies. Further analysis indicates that punishment mainly comes from non-adopters, who change their vote towards anti-establishment parties.

Unveiling the trajectory of corporate green innovation: The roles of the public attention and government

In the ongoing pursuit of establishing a diversified environmental governance system, individuals, businesses, and various social groups are increasingly articulating their ecological demands in a conscious and organized manner. Recognizing the pivotal role of public attention (PA) in shaping business behavior is imperative for advancing a sustainable and environmentally friendly economy. Consequently, this study delves into the relationship between PA and corporate green innovation (CGI) by analyzing data from A-share industrial listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen spanning the years 2011–2020. The analysis employs fixed effects and a mediation model to provide a nuanced understanding of the dynamics involved. The study's findings underscore the following key points: (1) Elevated levels of public attention significantly influence CGI. (2) Government research and development (R&D) subsidies assume a regulatory role in the interplay between PA and CGI, particularly within state-owned enterprises, as well as the mining and manufacturing industries. However, it is noteworthy that an overly generous subsidy policy may inadvertently stifle corporate R&D innovation. (3) Government environmental regulations and corporate social responsibility indirectly shape the association between PA and corporate R&D innovation. Consequently, a fundamental strategy for fostering corporate green development lies in the effective management of government R&D subsidies and environmental regulations. Striking the right balance in these aspects while urging businesses to augment their sense of social responsibility is vital. This approach will pave the way for an efficient and enduring interaction system among the public, government, and companies, ultimately facilitating sustainable development and contributing to the realization of a beautiful China.

Interrogating “Marginality” in Bombay Cinema: An Exhaustive Historiography

Interrogating “Marginality” in Bombay Cinema: An Exhaustive Historiography

Evaluating the impact of lifelong education on older adults: A case study from Hong Kong

In light of its low fertility rate and long life span, Hong Kong is facing the challenge of a rapidly ageing population. To foster successful ageing, learning throughout life regardless of age is promoted as lifelong learning. A total of 20 older adults who are studying the Diploma in Active Ageing at the School of Professional Education and Executive Development of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University participated in a questionnaire survey while 16 older adult students participated in individual in-depth interviews in the present study. The results show that those who have received both informal and formal learning opportunities experienced positive changes to their physical, psychological and social health. The participants reported that the current lifelong learning policy provides insufficient financial support and insufficient promotion of formal education for older adults. For older adults to pursue further education, there is a need to provide more generous subsidies and relax age eligibility restrictions. To sustain lifelong learning, both informal and formal education for older adults should be promoted equally in order to meet the diverse interests and ability of older learners.

Impacts of Tariffs on Energy Conscious Behavior with Respect to Household Attributes in Saudi Arabia

Historically, the combination of generous subsidies along with extreme climate has led to unsustainable domestic electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia. The residential sector constitutes a significant portion of this consumption. Amid the economic challenges, the country enforced a new electricity tariff for residential consumers in 2018. This study thus leverages change in 2018–2020 by collecting and analyzing the electricity consumption data of 73 households in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The energy consumption is modeled based on the households’ attributes (e.g., dwelling type, ownership, number of residents, rooms, ventilation type, etc.) and applied tariffs using a machine learning technique. The extreme learning machine (ELM) is employed in solving the overfitting problem due to low-volume data. The correlation matrix is also constructed to determine the relationship between the household attributes. The ELM model developed in this study extracts the correlation between the input variables in determining energy consumption and also predicts the energy consumption related to low consumption data. The findings indicated that the electricity consumption between the pre-revised tariff year and the revised tariff enforcement year saw a reduction which was consistent in the subsequent years. This was also validated by the paired sample t-test, which showed a significant decrease in electricity consumption for the study period. The analysis also revealed that several household attributes had a relatively high impact on the reduction in the electricity consumption level following the revised tariffs, whereas the majority of the attributes had a moderate impact. In addition to these key findings, the demonstrated pathway adopted in this study is itself a methodological contribution that provides critical information about the sensitivity of the impacts of tariffs on energy consumption with respect to different household attributes. Economic factors being the critical stress need to be blended with existing energy consciousness for positive changes in favor of energy-saving behavior of the household members. The study does not attempt to represent the population of concern, but demonstrates a methodology that would help unleash inherent energy consciousness in favor of sustainable and energy-efficient behavior.

OPERATING SURPLUS OF LGUS IN THE CONTEXT OF LEGAL CHANGES RESULTING IN A DECLINE OF LGUS' CURRENT INCOME FROM PIT

The issue of an operating surplus of local government units (LGUs) is gaining significance due to, inter alia, the enactment of legal changes resulting in a decline in the current income of LGUs from PIT. The purpose of the research is evaluation of the development of the LGUs' operating surplus in the context of legal changes (enacted in 2019-2022) causing the said decline as well as the evaluation of the mechanisms compensating LGUs for that decline. The following were applied to accomplish the research objective:(1) quantitative analysis, taking into consideration the data of the Ministry of Finance presented in the reports on LGUs' budget implementation for 2020-2021 and multi-annual financial forecasts for the LGUs’ budget plan for 2022; (2) review of source literature and legislation related to the research subject. The analysis performed for the years 2020-2022 shows that the period of growth in the value of the operating surplus in all types of LGUs in 2021 in comparison to 2020 is followed by a significant decline in its value in 2022 (as planned). Across Poland, this applies to: municipalities, cities with county rights and voivodeships. Whereas, in the case of counties (on a Poland-wide scale), no operating surplus has been planned at all for 2022. The above situation may result not only in a decline in the capacity to finance investments from the operating surplus in LGUs, but also in the differentiation of these capacities within specific LGU types. Increased differentiation of this phenomenon in specific local governments may be affected by, inter alia, the adopted system of criteria of distribution of funds as part of the compensation for the decline in current income from PIT (especially in the development part of the general subsidy).

Scope for feed-in tariff in a hydro-rich energy market−a case of Bhutan

To promote the use of renewable energy (RE), several types of RE policies have been implemented globally. Among these, feed-in tariff (FiT) is one of the most accepted mechanisms of pricing policy. However, choosing the best policy for a market with a high RE penetration is a challenge. A case of Bhutan is considered in this paper as the source of electrical energy is predominantly hydropower. Additionally, a generous subsidy is provided by the government to keep the electricity tariff to a minimum. Recently, there has been an increase in the advocacy and motivation for other forms of RE sources (RES) to supplement hydropower and increase energy security in Bhutan. Bhutan aims to achieve a total of 20 MW of non-hydro RES by 2025 as per the RE policy of Bhutan. However, Bhutan still does not have an RE pricing policy, and therefore, there is a need to institute a suitable pricing mechanism to accommodate the penetration of the planned non-hydro RES. This paper discusses the challenges in introducing FiT for non-hydro RES in an electricity market dominated by hydropower in Bhutan. Subsequently, recommendations are made in the wake of subsidised electricity tariff, which is the lowest in the region at 0.0171 USD/kWh for low voltage customers. FiTs for solar photovoltaic based on different categories of customers have been computed and proposed.

Iranian Household Electricity Use Compared to Selected Countries

Buildings account for nearly 40% of energy use in global contexts and climatic conditions tend to contribute to consumption. Human activities are also influential in energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that lead to global warming. Residential buildings are responsible for a considerable share. There are countries aggravating this situation by heavily relying on fossil fuels. Oil-rich countries are allocating an energy subsidy to the public, making energy cheaper for their consumers. This may result in negative consequences, including households’ inefficient energy use behaviours in countries such as Iran. Beyond the impact of energy subsidy allocation, this study aims to explore the climatic and non-climatic factors that affect the increase in domestic electricity use, particularly in Iran. For this purpose, this study begins with a comparative analysis between countries with and without the energy subsidy to examine the trends in domestic electricity use. Afterwards, the tendency of households’ electricity use in Iran will be analysed in consideration of climatic and non-climatic factors among several provinces in Iran. This study exploited published statistical data for the analysis. The results indicate the tendency of increased domestic electricity use due to the country’s generous subsidy offered to the public as well as climatic and non-climatic factors in Iran. These results may provide an opportunity for future studies regarding building occupants’ inefficient energy use behaviours for policy enactment in Iran and other oil-rich countries.

Do heterogenous subsides work differently on environmental innovation? A mechanism exploration approach

Understanding the relationship between subsidies and environmental innovation, while accounting for the heterogeneous impacts of subsidies on different types of firms, can help to evaluate the impact of existing subsidy policies and provide suggestions for future policies. In this paper, we construct a listed-firm-level panel database for China, which contains fundamental information and data on environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) for the period 2013–2019. In addition, we explore how government subsidies and environment-oriented subsidies impact environmental innovation and the mechanisms involved. We find that the subsidies have significant and positive impacts on green innovation for all our research samples; however, cleaner production firms receive significantly greater benefits from subsidies than heavily-polluting firms. Besides, environment-oriented subsidies have a significant and positive effect on both heavily polluting and cleaner production firms. In addition, general subsidies and environment-oriented subsidies both improve environmental innovations for cleaner production firms regardless of the level of financial constraints, while they only help alleviate financial constraints and contribute to environmental innovation for heavily-polluting firms that are highly financially constrained. Moreover, we uncover the greenwashing mechanisms that conceal the impact of environmental subsidies and help explain the low efficiency of usage of subsidies for environmental innovation.

Constitutional Conditions of Financial Correctional Mechanism for SelfGovernment Voivodeships

Correctional and compensatory mechanism that complements own revenues as the main source of financing own tasks and allowing correction of unequal, on a country scale, distribution of potential of self-government’s own revenues, is an element of the system of selfgovernment income, including own revenues, general subsidy and grants from the state budget. The elements of this mechanism at the level of self-governing voivodeships are voivodeships’ contributions that gain a high level of own incomes from taxes and regional part of subsidy that is financed by the contributions. Fulfillment of the duty of making contributions limits autonomy of disposing own revenues by the self-government of the voivodeship. It is noteworthy, then, that shifting of financial resources between units of self-government of the same level, which is allowed by correctional and compensatory mechanism, is justified by such values and principles that are base to legal system and expressed in Constitution as justice, subsidiarity and solidarity. They cannot therefore be put aside when assessing legal regulation of voivodeship’s self-government income system.

"Assessment of Spatial Differentiation of Financial Independence of Poviats in Poland (2007–2019)"

A poviat is an independent entity with autonomy in the use of resources in the process of carrying out public tasks. Its local economic, financial and social resources, as well as information resources, determine the level of development. The basis for the proper and effective operation of poviats is the provision of appropriate financial resources. They consist of both the so-called own income as well as transfers from the state budget in the form of, inter alia, general subsidies and targeted subsidies. The main aim of the article is to assess the spatial differentiation of the level of financial independence of poviats in Poland in 2007-2019 using a synthetic measure. The empirical data on poviats in Poland was collected through information available from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office. The financial independence of poviats is radically diversified. There are significant differences regarding its level between the east and west of Poland. The western part of the country is characterized by better independence and financial situation. The study showed that the level of financial independence was shaped primarily by own income, income from PIT (personal income tax) and CIT (corporate tax), transfers from the state budget, and investment expenditure. The development of poviats depends on financial independence. The possessed financial resources are the basis for the operation and the condition for the implementation of its current and investment tasks. The potential of the poviat is built, among others, by professional activity of inhabitants, local labor market, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, condition of the natural environment, financial situation, increase in the quality and scope of public services and investments. Financial independence is correlated with the level of local development. It translates into disproportions in terms of the possibilities of meeting

Effects and Appraisal of Grain Subsidy Policy Based on Statistical Analysis

At present, the grain subsidies in China are mainly in forms of technical subsidies, like subsidies for superior seed varieties and general subsidies for agricultural production supplies and grain purchase prices. However, the purpose of the paper focuses on whether these subsidy policies can cause good effects and encourage farmers to grow grains and what impact these subsidy policies have on farmers’ income. The paper takes a specific area as a research object and sorts the data using the statistical analysis put in the paper. Considering the current agricultural production conditions, the paper studies the content and structure of grain subsidy policy and the changes in grain growing acreage, farmers’ income, and agricultural power machinery under the implementation of grain subsidy policy. In the end, the paper makes a research into the effect of implementing the grain subsidy policy, uses the statistical analysis to empirically analyze the impact the grain subsidy policy has on grain growing acreage, and draws a conclusion.

Kuwait Economy: Opportunity, Potential, Recovery (Expectation vs Reality)

Kuwait is a fairly rich country in which citizens have a very high per capita income. After a modest recovery in 2018, Kuwait’s economic growth slowed to 0,4% in 2019 as oil production declined and global hydrocarbon prices fell as a result. In 2020, the country’s economic growth falls to the mark (–8,1%), while IMF analysts predict a recovery in growth to 0.7% in 2021 and to 3,2% in 2022.Years of low oil prices have forced the government of Kuwait to almost use up its cash reserves, while the brewing political standoff has prevented it from borrowing on international markets. Kuwait provides a comfortable existence for 90% of local citizens who receive government wages, along with generous benefits and subsidies, from cheap electricity and gasoline to free health care and education. However, the COVID–19 pandemic, falling oil prices and a liquidity crisis forced the government to speak seriously about the crisis in the country for the first time. Thus, the Minister of Finance of Kuwait announced that soon the government would not be able to pay salaries, and the Central Bank of Kuwait in its reports indicated that the country’s budget deficit could reach 40% of GDP, which is the highest since financial losses as a result of Iraq’s invasion in 1990 and the subsequent Gulf War.

Benefits of electrifying app-taxi fleet – A simulation on trip data from New Delhi

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) appear integral to improving urban air quality, especially in less-wealthier countries whose cities rank amongst the most polluted and fastest growing. But despite steep declines in battery prices and generous subsidies, BEV adoption in such countries is weak. Here, the tremendous growth of app-taxi and retail delivery vehicles presents a massive new opportunity. Since they register several-fold greater utilization relative to the average pure private-use vehicle, electrifying such vehicles could deliver rapid financial payback and much greater economic and pollution benefits. A general framework for spatially-detailed estimation of charging infrastructure, and the economic and environmental benefits of commercial fleet electrification was developed and applied to a dataset comprising ∼ 730,000 app-taxi trips spanning ∼ 15 million kilometers (km) in Delhi, India, which shows: i) ∼ 23000 BEVs with 200 km range and a network of 3000 50 kilo-Watt chargers could satisfy 100% of Delhi’s daily app-taxi demand, and relative to a compressed natural gas (diesel) fleet eliminate 180 (7 0 0) and 0.14 (70) metric tonnes of vehicle tail-pipe NOX and particulate matter emissions respectively annually and reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 15% (27%) per km. Cost savings are sensitive to retail BEV price and government subsidies, which are not indicative of future prices given the infancy of BEV industry. Under current prices and subsidies in India, BEVs reduce levelized cost per km 21% and 37% relative to CNG and Diesel vehicles respectively. Electrification of taxi fleets increases aggregate electricity consumption 2% with insignificant increase during daily peak demand hours. Therefore, ambitious zero emissions vehicle targets for commercial light duty vehicle fleets appear environmentally, economically and socially sound.

“Polish Deal” and financial autonomy of communes in Poland

Purpose – The article aims to present the main changes in the financing of municipalities in Poland resulting from the implemented “Polish Deal” and “Polish Deal 2.0” programs and to assess the consequences of their introduction for the financial autonomy of municipalities. Research method – The article will use methods typical of social sciences, i.e. the method of empirical cognition, in particular observation, comparison, and measurement. The authors will compare the amount of loss of revenue of municipalities resulting from the reduction of their revenue from share in PIT with the amount of “compensation” in the form of a development part of the general subsidy and will assess their impact on the financial autonomy of municipalities. Results – A significant loss of own revenue from the share of municipalities in PIT is to be compensated by revenue under the development part of the general subsidy. However, even the cumulative equalised compensation, which is unlikely to occur, will lead to a reduction in the financial autonomy of municipalities. The proposed construction of the development part of the subsidy will favour units with funds for the implementation of property expenditures, and at the same time, the upper limits of its allocation will restrict the acquisition of funds by the largest units in terms of investment potential. Although shares in taxes constituting central budget revenue are not a source of revenue that clearly has a positive impact on the financial autonomy of municipalities, their replacement with an additional part of the general subsidy will contribute to further limitiations of this autonomy, which should be the foundation of the local government. Originality/value/implications/recommendations – It seems necessary to undertake a broad discussion on the reconstruction of the system of financing municipalities and other local government units in Poland. The system does not currently provide an appropriate revenue structure for the entities and does not favour the sustentation of one of the basic principles of operation – financial autonomy.

The Adoption of Electric Vehicles in Qatar Can Contribute to Net Carbon Emission Reduction but Requires Strong Government Incentives

Electric mobility is at the forefront of innovation. Cutting down greenhouse gases when low-carbon electricity sources are maintained has answered the concerns of skeptics when switching to electric mobility. This paper presents a life-cycle-based comparative study between the electric and conventional gasoline vehicles with respect to their environmental performance, taking the case of Qatar. A well-to-wheel life cycle assessment is used to understand the carbon footprint associated with the use of alternative mobility when powered by non-renewable energy sources such as natural gas for electricity production. A survey was also conducted to evaluate the economic and practical feasibility of the use of electric vehicles in Qatar. The analysis showed that electric vehicles (EVs) have passed conventional gasoline vehicles with a minimum difference between them of 12,000 gCO2eq/100 km traveled. This difference can roughly accommodate two additional subcompact electric vehicles on the roads of Qatar. Even though Qatar is producing all of its electricity from natural gas, EVs are still producing much less carbon footprint into the atmosphere with the results showing that almost identical alternatives produce triple the amount of GHG emissions. The results of the survey showed that, despite promising results shown in switching to carbon-neutral mobility solutions, a lack of willingness prevails within the State of Qatar to incline towards electric mobility among users. This implies that Qatar has to spend a lot of time and resources to achieve its ambitious goal to decarbonize mobility on roads with 10% electric vehicles by 2030. This research highlights the need for more practical incentives and generous subsidies by the government of Qatar on e-mobility solutions to switch the transportation system into an eco-friendly one.

Solar rebound: The unintended consequences of subsidies

Many jurisdictions use net metering to record power exchanges between residential solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and the grid, thus valuing solar power at the electricity retail rate. However, if over the billing period, production exceeds consumption, the surplus remains freely available for consumption. In Wallonia (Belgium), the combination of net metering and generous subsidies for rooftop PV installation encouraged households to set-up large systems, possibly exceeding their consumption needs. We test this potential rebound effect with a large sample of residential PV installations. We observe that a large proportion of households oversize their installation to benefit from the subsidies and, later consume most of their excess production. The effect is econometrically highly significant. There is thus evidence of a strong increase in energy consumption by residential PV owners, which runs counter to the original policy design.