Partial Equilibrium Method Research Articles

Measuring the Costs of Protection in Europe: European Commercial Policy in the 2000s

Trade protection costs the European Community between 6 and 7 percent of its gross domestic product, or the equivalent of the annual economic output of Spain. Continuing the Institute's series on trade protection in major countries (which already includes the United States, Japan, Korea, and China), this study by Patrick A. Messerlin is the first attempt to measure the impact of all types of protection in the European Union.Messerlin uses partial equilibrium methods to assess the costs to consumers and to evaluate the political economy of European protection. He also examines in detail the intricate relations between the major EC domestic policies--from the Common Agricultural Policy to the Single Market in services--and EC commercial policy. He aims to assess their dynamic evolution for the decade to come, which will be marked by the first accessions of Central European countries to the EC and by the debate on the European political union. The study provides a valuable agenda for the upcoming round of WTO negotiations and underlines their role as a support for domestic reforms that the EC should undertake for its own benefit.

Oxygen–atom concentrations measured in flames: a method to improve the accuracy of laser-induced fluorescence diagnostics

A procedure is proposed, denoted as the corrected laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) method, that reduces the error associated with the unavoidable photodissociation of O(2) molecules that has limited the measurement of oxygen-atom concentrations in the past. Two different laser intensities are employed, and the two signals that are obtained with two-photon LIF diagnostics are used to correct for the photolysis error. We measured oxygen-atom concentrations using this method at 33 locations in lean and rich flames. Results are compared with values determined by use of two independent techniques: the partial equilibrium method and equilibrium calculations. The measurements also quantify the shot noise, the photolysis errors, and the critical laser intensity required to avoid photolysis errors.

Method to estimate bioenergy crop feedstock supply curves

This paper describes a partial equilibrium method that has been used to estimate national bioenergy crop supply curves in the US. The method requires information about the number of hectares (acres) suitable for bioenergy crop production by land type and region, bioenergy crop yields and production costs for the corresponding land types and regions, and the profitability of the land in alternative uses. We describe how this information can be integrated to create supply curves and discuss the limitations and weaknesses of the approach.

Sector-Specific Factor Subsidies and Employment in a Regional Price-Endogenous Export-Base Model

In this paper we use a variant of the 1–2–3 trade-focused general-equilibrium model to calculate the employment effects of factor subsidies applied to the regional export base. Analytical expressions are derived for the change in basic employment and the export-base employment multiplier. These expressions are compared with the conventional hybrid approach where the impact on the recipient sectors is analysed by using a partial-equilibrium method and the effect on other sectors is calculated through some form of demand-driven multiplier. The conventional hybrid procedure fails to capture fully displacement in the regional labour market. If we use the general-equilibrium results as a benchmark, numerical simulation suggests that the hybrid approach substantially overestimates the employment effects of the subsidies. Similar problems are likely to apply to the evaluation of all supply-side policies targeted on the regional export base.

Experimental studies of alunite: I. 18O- 16O and D-H fractionation factors between alunite and water at 250–450°C

We have determined oxygen and hydrogen isotope fractionation factors between alunite and water over a temperature range of 250–450°C by reacting synthetic natroalunite with 0.7 m K 2SO 4 −0.1 to 0.65 m H 2SO 4 solutions to produce K-rich alunite. From 88 to 95% alkali and isotope exchange were observed in most of these experiments, and the partial equilibrium method was used to compute equilibrium fractionation factors. Least-squares fits of the data give 10 3 In α alunite(so 4)-H 2O = 3.09 ( 10 6 T 2 (K)) − 2.94 and 10 3 In α alunite(OH)-H 2O = 2.28 ( 10 6 T 2 (K)) − 3.90 . The intramineral 18O- 16O fractionation factor 10 3 In α alunite( so 4- OH site) is given by the expression 0.8 ( 10 6 T 2 (K)) + 0.96 . The alunite-water D-H fractionation factor ranges from −19 at 450°C to −6 at 250°C and does not appear to be strongly dependent on temperature. Runs with alkali exchange in the opposite direction were used to obtain 18O- 16O and D-H fractionation factors between natroalunite (mol% Na = 70–75) and water at 350–450°C. These indicate that mol% Na has negligible effect on the fractionation factors over this temperature range. Measured 18O- 16O and D-H fractionation factors between alunite and 1.0 m KCl −0.5 m H 2SO 4 fluids also agree within 2σ with the values obtained from the K 2SO 4-H 2SO 4 fluids. However, experiments with alunite and distilled water at 400°C gave a value of 10 3 In α alunite( SO 4)- H 2 O of 0.0, compared with a value of 3.9 obtained at this temperature with K 2SO 4- and H 2SO 4-bearing fluids. This suggests that changes in fluid composition can affect alunite-water 18O- 16O fractionation factors. Reconnaissance experiments with fine-grained natural natroalunite demonstrate that alunite-water D-H exchange can occur by hydrogen diffusion, although this process is generally not significant in the experiments with coarser grained synthetic alunites.

Reduction of oxides of nitrogen in diesel exhaust with addition of partially decomposed ammonia.

A chemical process capable of reducing nitric oxide from the diesel engine exhaust is studied. In this process, an amidogen (NH2) -containing ammonia gas is mixed with the exhaust gas to ensure destruction of NO by NH2 at a relatively low temperature level. Theoretical predictions based on the rate-controlled partial equilibrium method show that the addition of only a small amount of NH2 may effectively reduce nitric oxide in the exhaust gas. The feasibility of the proposed process is demonstrated on a miniature system consisting of an NH2 producer and a mixing chamber into which a part of exhaust gas from a diesel engine is introduced. Results show that a significant reduction of nitric oxides is achieved at a mixing-chamber temperature higher than 750 K. Furthermore, the practical feasibility in controlling NOx is compared with that of the cianuric-acid method proposed by Perry and Siebers.

Issues relating to agricultural pricing policies and their analysis in developing countries

Agricultural pricing policies in developing countries are often the result of complex interactions between producer, consumer and merchant groups and their relative effectiveness in influencing government decision making. Even within governments, various ministries often have opposing views. In this environment one of the contributions a policy analyst can make is to attempt to quantify the effects of different policy options. This permits a more informed discussion which hopefully leads to better decision-making and an improved incentive environment. Many analyses of agricultural pricing policies have used the standard partial equilibrium analysis where no linkages between commodity markets were considered. In this paper we have considered cross-price effects. Also, we have discussed issues relating to other adjustments/refinements of the standard method so that a practitioner not familiar with the various methods can form an opinion of what the options are and what adjustments may be appropriate for a particular case in question. The adjustments relate to overvaluation of currencies, input price distortions, differences in the degree of distortions between producers and consumers, and variability of border prices. The inclusion of cross-price elasticities was important for assessing production, consumption and trade effects for Argentina, but for the other countries it resulted in only somewhat improved accuracy. The adjustment for exchange rates had a large impact in Egypt and was important for other countries as well. This underlines the importance of exchange rates as key variables for agricultural pricing policies in general. The numbers show that the traditional taxation policies of agricultural products in the sample of developing countries is somewhat less widespread than in the past. These policies, however, continue to favor consumers over producers, with significant losses for some of the latter. The large size of welfare losses, especially compared to efficiency losses, highlights the importance of correcting distorted prices that adversely affect the poorest sections of society. Also, the usual government objective of taxing producers to raise revenues is frequently defeated by the large subsidies provided to consumers. For the partitioner, for whom time is often of the essence, the assessment of welfare effects using the partial equilibrium method may provide reasonably good ‘first cut’ estimates of the order of magnitude of the impact of distortions. But often, these ‘base case estimates’ can and should be adjusted for a number of possible factors. The analyst needs to determine how important accurate estimates of key variables are to the policy makers; he or she then needs to compare the costs involved in generating or gathering the data and doing the calculations with the benefits of a broader and more accurate analysis of the distortionary effects of the particular case in question.

The Incidence of Water Pollution Control Costs: Partial vs. General Equilibrium Computations

A comparison of two computations of the distributional effects of a fully implemented federal water pollution control policy, one based on an extreme partial equilibrium method and one on a computable general equilibrium model, finds some differences that show the importance of the general equilibrium computations. The application, however, only demonstrates the feasibility of the approach and illustrates the importance of the general equilibrium analysis. It is not necessarily designed for immediate policy purposes. Real-world application will require a number of extensions, such as more detailed treatment of the government sector or international trade, of the model in its present form. 17 references, 3 tables.

Oxygen isotope fractionation factors between anhydrite and water from 100 to 550°C

Oxygen isotope exchange between anhydrite and water was studied from 100 to 550°C, using the partial equilibrium method. The exchange rate was extremely low in NaCl solution. In the lower-temperature range, acid solutions were used to produce sufficient reaction to determine the oxygen isotope fractionation factors. The fractionation factors obtained in the present study are definitely different from those given by Lloyd [8]. They are similar to those for the HSO 4 −-water system studied by Mizutani and Rafter [19], and are consistently 2‰ higher than those of the barite-water system by Kusakabe and Robinson [5]. The temperature dependence of the oxygen isotope fractionation factors was calculated by the least squares method in which the weight was taken to be inversely proportional to the experimental error. The fractionation is given by: 10 3lnαanhydrite-water=3.21×(10 3/T) 2−4.72 Available δ 18O values of natural anhydrite were used to test the validity of this expression. It is shown that this newly revised geothermometer can be successfully applied to natural hydrothermal anhydrite.

Nitric Oxide Formation from Fuel and Atmospheric Nitrogen

Abstract —Atmospheric and subatmospheric pressure CH4/air and C3H8/air flames stabilized on a flat flame burner at equivalence ratios of 0.8 and 1.25 were probed for profiles of temperature and stable reaction products. Via the Fristrom and Westenberg (1965) technique, these data were converted to local reaction rates for comparison with predictions of the H2/O2 (Thompson et al., 1972) partial equilibrium method. Thermal NO formation rates calculated from the H2/O2 method gave good agreement after the flame zone with the experimental rates. Profiles in the rich flames show that the region of rapid NO formation (associated with Fenimore's “prompt” NO) occurs approximately 2 mm behind the visible flame.

Rate-controlled partial-equilibrium method for treating reacting gas mixtures

A rate-controlled partial-equilibrium method for treating reacting gas mixtures has been developed that is very much simpler than the usual technique of integrating the full set of rate equations. The method is based on the observation that a rate-controlling reaction is equivalent to a “passive constraint” on the gas, so that the corresponding partial-equilibrium state can be calculated by minimizing the appropriate free energy function. An example illustrating the application of the method to the “freezing” of threebody reactions in an internal combustion engine is given.