Equilibrium Perspective Research Articles

How Clean Can We Get? Technological Change and Renewable Energy Use in Mexico, A General Equilibrium Perspective

This study explores the impact of technological change and renewable energy adoption on Mexico's economy using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. As global concerns about climate change intensify, reducing carbon emissions has become a priority, but traditional CGE models often predict significant economic costs associated with fossil fuel restrictions. In this analysis, we modify the conventional CGE framework to incorporate increasing returns to scale and endogenously modeled technological change, reflecting the real-world diffusion of renewable energy technologies in developing countries like Mexico. By accounting for these factors, our model demonstrates that a combined policy of carbon taxation and renewable energy subsidies can achieve significant CO2 reductions without negatively impacting economic welfare. However, while the environmental benefits—such as reduced emissions of particulates, SO2, and NOx—are substantial, the overall welfare gains remain modest, and the policy's success depends on effective government implementation and potential trade impacts. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers in Mexico and other developing nations seeking to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability through strategic carbon emission reduction policies.

Research on the Interaction Mechanism between Farmland Circulation and Non-Agricultural Industry from the Perspective of Equilibrium

The “three rights division” is a major innovation in China’s land system. Under the framework of “three rights division”, there are corresponding policy constraints on the circulation of management rights of different types of land. This paper constructs a dynamic equilibrium model of farmland management right transfer from the macro level, and studies the economic connection between farmland circulation and non-agricultural sectors. The results show that there is an obvious economic interaction mechanism between the circulation of agricultural land and the development of regional non-agricultural industries, and circulation is a channel to communicate the flow of factors between the agricultural sector and the non-agricultural sector, and its flow trend is significantly affected by policies. There is a certain threshold for the start of agricultural land circulation, and the critical condition is that the industrial capital stock of the non-agricultural sector reaches a certain level. Therefore, to effectively promote the circulation of agricultural land, we cannot completely rely on the market, and the government’s action is crucial. Based on the analysis, this paper puts forward corresponding policy suggestions on guiding the circulation of farmland and better playing the role of circulation in promoting industrial development.

Financial Openness and Trade (Real) Openness: Should We Open up Both Markets?

This study examines the 'interdependence' between financial openness and trade (real) openness, as well as the macroeconomic determinants of such relationship from a general equilibrium perspective (viz. the balance of payments constraint). The macroeconomics factors are national income, exchange rate, and interest rate. The data cover 124 countries over a period spanning between 1970 and 2019. The 'interdependence' between financial and trade openness is captured by a positive Pearson correlation in most of the countries (i.e. between 60% and 79% of the countries). However, a more precise measure of a bidirectional causality between both openness exists in only 35% (44 countries) of 124 countries. The empirical results show that exchange rate explains negatively the estimated correlation coefficients between financial and trade openness, as well as for low income countries. While, the interest rate increases the likelihood of their bidirectional causality results. This study provides policy insights related to both the financial and real markets.

Measuring Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture: An Equilibrium Perspective on Supply-Side Approaches

Measuring Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture: An Equilibrium Perspective on Supply-Side Approaches

Short- and long-term effects of domestic tourism promotion in Argentina after COVID-19

At the beginning of 2020, the world experienced the COVID-19 pandemic in which several countries all around the world closed their borders and established isolation measures. These types of measures, in line with the spread of the virus, mainly affected those sectors where face-to-face interaction and mobility were central, as it was the case in the tourism sector. As a response to this crisis, some countries implemented policies to promote tourism within the same country. In this paper, we study the case of a tourist program applied in Argentina and estimate its effects on the tourism sector and the overall economy with a general equilibrium perspective addressing its implications in a context where government’s budget constraints are binding.

Dynamic nonreversibility view of intrinsic brain organization and brain dynamic analysis of repetitive transcranial magnitude stimulation.

Intrinsic neural activities are characterized as endless spontaneous fluctuation over multiple time scales. However, how the intrinsic brain organization changes over time under local perturbation remains an open question. By means of statistical physics, we proposed an approach to capture whole-brain dynamics based on estimating time-varying nonreversibility and k-means clustering of dynamic varying nonreversibility patterns. We first used synthetic fMRI to investigate the effects of window parameters on the temporal variability of varying nonreversibility. Second, using real test-retest fMRI data, we examined the reproducibility, reliability, biological, and physiological correlation of the varying nonreversibility substates. Finally, using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation-fMRI data, we investigated the modulation effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on varying nonreversibility substate dynamics. The results show that: (i) as window length increased, the varying nonreversibility variance decreased, while the sliding step almost did not alter it; (ii) the global high varying nonreversibility states and low varying nonreversibility states were reproducible across multiple datasets and different window lengths; and (iii) there were increased low varying nonreversibility states and decreased high varying nonreversibility states when the left frontal lobe was stimulated, but not the occipital lobe. Taken together, these results provide a thermodynamic equilibrium perspective of intrinsic brain organization and reorganization under local perturbation.

Service equilibrium of urban transportation energy supply station based on cooperative game

PurposeAs of December 2022, there were 119,000 gas stations, 10,800 gas stations and 4,488,000 charging piles nationwide, while the number of vehicles reached 312 million, including 11.49 million new energy vehicles. The imbalance between transportation energy supply and energy replenishment demand leads to crowded queues of vehicles at some stations and idle resources in others. How to reduce the phenomenon of large queues and improve the utilization rate of idle resources is the key to alleviating the imbalance between supply and demand.Design/methodology/approachTherefore, from the perspective of spatio-temporal equilibrium of urban transportation energy supply stations, multi-energy supply station cooperation is established in view of the phenomenon of large spatio-temporal differences among different energy supply stations, and corresponding inducing strategies are adopted for energy supplement vehicles in the road network, so that part of queued users go to energy supply stations with fewer vehicles, so as to balance the supply and demand of transportation energy in the region. On this basis, the income distribution of urban transportation energy supply station is discussed.FindingsThe total revenue after the cooperation was 13,095, an increase of 22.9%. Secondly, in terms of distribution rationality, three impact factors are selected and Shapley correction value is used to distribute the total income. Compared with independent operation, both sites have a certain degree of increase.Originality/valueTraffic congestion at energy supply stations is closely related to the number, location and number of vehicles at energy supply stations. Therefore, using a cooperative approach of energy trading cannot solve the queuing problem. In addition, there are a few research results on the equalization of energy supply station services considering time-of-use pricing. However, these studies do not consider the vehicular grooming at congested stations. As far as the authors know, there are no relevant research results in the research on the service equilibrium of energy supply stations based on cooperative games.

Household behavior and the rebound effect

This paper studies the rebound effect from a dynamic general equilibrium perspective, where how household’s decisions about consumption, investment and labor supply change in response to energy efficiency gains are crucial for assessing their effects on energy demand. The paper considers three types of energy efficiency gains: In the production of energy, in the energy consumed by households, and in the use of energy as an input by firms. A clear and significant rebound effect in the long-run is observed following an efficiency improvement in the production of energy, and in a lesser extent, in the case of the use of energy as an input in the final goods production sector. By contrast, in the case of the consumption of energy by households, the effect depends on the elasticity of substitution between energy services and the rest of goods. Finally, the paper also studies the dynamics of energy demand over the business cycle by considering stochastic energy efficiency shocks.

SOCIAL INEQUITIES AND THE IMPAIRMENT PARADOX IN LATER LIFE

Abstract Research on health across the life course consistently documents widening racial and socioeconomic disparities from childhood through adulthood, followed by stabilization or convergence in later life. This pattern appears to contradict expectations set by cumulative (dis)advantage (CAD) theory. Informed by the punctuated equilibrium perspective, we examine the relationship between midlife health and subsequent health change and mortality and consider the impact of earlier socioeconomic exposures on observed disparities. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we characterize the functional impairment histories of a nationally representative sample of 8464 older adults between 1994 and 2016. We employ nonparametric and discrete outcome multinomial logistic regression to examine the competing risks of mortality, health change, and attrition. As expected, exposures to disadvantages are associated with poorer functional health in midlife and mortality. However, we find that a higher number of functional limitations in midlife is negatively associated with the accumulation of subsequent limitations for White men and women and for Black women, and the impact of educational attainment, occupation, wealth, and marriage on later-life health differs across race and gender groups. We conclude that the observed stability or convergence in later-life functional health disparities is not a departure from the dynamics posited by CAD, but rather a result of the differential impact of racial and socioeconomic inequities on mortality and health at older ages. Higher exposure to disadvantages and a lower protective impact of advantageous exposures lead to higher mortality among Black Americans, a pattern which masks persistent health inequities later in life.

Container shipping: A market equilibrium perspective on freight rates formation post-Covid-19

The unprecedented container shipping freight rate levels post-Covid-19 are studied in a stochastic dynamic partial equilibrium framework. The proposed container marked model is calibrated on annual aggregate data from the two recent decades. The observed freight rate levels in 2021 and 2022 match a switch of competitive equilibria from Bertrand to Cournot competition. Whereas increased costs and reduced productivity play a role in explaining freight rates, these factors alone appear not to be able to justify the high post-Covid-19 freight rate levels.

Analysis of regional resilience network from the perspective of relational and dynamic equilibrium

In the context of frequent crises and increasing levels of connectivity across areas, regional resilience networks have gained widespread attention as a novel form of organization and paradigm of regional resilience research. The majority of recent research examines the resilient structure of regional networks from a single static perspective, ignoring the related feature of regional resilience and its evolving reality. This study aims to propose a method for quantifying the strength of related resilience in the relational perspective as a rule for constructing multidimensional regional resilience networks. On this basis, the structure and node characteristics of the regional ecological, economic, and social resilience network are investigated from the dynamic equilibrium perspective by applying network analysis methods and node disruption simulation. The results show that, in terms of structure, the ecological resilience network has superior connectivity, is undergoing a transition toward a resilient structure, and performs moderately under deliberate attacks. The economic resilience network has the best resilient structure, and it has shown the greatest susceptibility to deliberate threats. Despite having the least resilient structure, the social resilience network has the highest level of robustness. The node characteristics investigation reveals the similarity between the significant nodes identified by the modified multivariate characteristic model and those with substantial impacts on network efficiency, as revealed by sequential attack simulation. Furthermore, optimization methodologies and policy suggestions are given following the characteristics of the networks. This study can provide scientific references for the planning and policy formulation of synergistic development of regional resilience.

The Financial Sustainability of Retail Food SMEs Based on Financial Equilibrium and Financial Performance

The aim of this study was to investigate the financial sustainability of retail food SMEs for the 2016–2021 period, in Romania, from the perspective of financial equilibrium and performance. A multivariate analysis was used, including a correlation analysis, a principal component analysis (PCA), and a cluster analysis. The empirical results show a positive link between the financial performance and financial equilibrium indicators. We employed the PCA in order to build a composite financial index using financial equilibrium indicators (ratios of liquidity, solvency, collection, and payment period) and financial performance indicators (Return on Assets and Return on Equity). The results show that financial equilibrium and performance are the two main dimensions which the financial sustainability index (FSI) was constructed on. Taking into account the dimensions of financial sustainability, the analyzed SMEs were clustered in four homogeneous clusters. The research findings clearly demonstrated that the retail food SMEs with a good/acceptable financial sustainability also have a good/acceptable financial balance and performance situation. Furthermore, a significant part of the analyzed SMEs faces difficulties regarding financial sustainability, being characterized by the lowest values of FSI, determined by both an uncertain situation in terms of liquidity, leading to a financial disequilibrium, and a negative financial performance. Therefore, this research emphasizes some specific measures that need to be taken to boost financial sustainability of these businesses in the retail food sector.

Location of transit-oriented development stations based on multimodal network equilibrium: Bi-level programming and paradoxes

The unique relationship between the value capture mechanism (VCM) and transit-oriented development (TOD) stations and their peripheral areas, which progressively develops an expanded multimodal network, is well acknowledged in the transport industry. However, in regards to the location of TOD stations, insufficient attention has been paid to user travel behaviours and the operating mechanism of the multimodal network. To bridge this research gap, we develop a bi-level programming model for the location of TOD stations that analyses user travel behaviour in the multimodal network. The VCM and transit priority are the objectives of the upper level of this multi-objective optimization model. And the lower level of the model is a modified multimodal network equilibrium based on the Davidson function. Using a simple numerical simulation, this study proposes explanations for some traffic paradoxes from the perspective of a multimodal network equilibrium. We also illustrate competition and collaboration between rail and bus transport systems. Finally, this study uses an empirical case to describe the feasibility and applicability of the model. The results demonstrate that the location of TOD stations is not only one of the keys to the competitiveness of public transport but is also relevant to implementing its VCM.

A punctuated equilibrium analysis of the climate evolution of cenozoic exhibits a hierarchy of abrupt transitions

The Earth’s climate has experienced numerous critical transitions during its history, which have often been accompanied by massive and rapid changes in the biosphere. Such transitions are evidenced in various proxy records covering different timescales. The goal is then to identify, date, characterize, and rank past critical transitions in terms of importance, thus possibly yielding a more thorough perspective on climatic history. To illustrate such an approach, which is inspired by the punctuated equilibrium perspective on the theory of evolution, we have analyzed 2 key high-resolution datasets: the CENOGRID marine compilation (past 66 Myr), and North Atlantic U1308 record (past 3.3 Myr). By combining recurrence analysis of the individual time series with a multivariate representation of the system based on the theory of the quasi-potential, we identify the key abrupt transitions associated with major regime changes that separate various clusters of climate variability. This allows interpreting the time-evolution of the system as a trajectory taking place in a dynamical landscape, whose multiscale features describe a hierarchy of metastable states and associated tipping points.

Review of the Researches on China􀆳s Ecological Environment Governance from the Perspective of Political Economics

The issue of ecology and environment is not only a technical and economic issue, but also a political one. The literature on environmental governance from the perspective of political economy can be divided into four categories: the perspective of governance capabilities of local government, the perspective of local government competition, the perspective of “government-enterprise collusion”, and the perspective of power balance. These four types of literature generally show a change from the benevolent government hypothesis to a self-interested government, from a holistic methodology that takes local governments as the unit of analysis to an individualist methodology that takes individual officials as the object of research, a change from a focus on the superficial reasons such as the government's ability to governance and the effectiveness of the policy to deep-seated reasons such as the power structure of the pluralistic subjects of society. This paper argues that ecological environmental protection involves the interests of multiple subjects, but the imbalance in the distribution of power and the pattern of interests among the subjects, and the excessive power of local government to speak and the insufficient ability of the public to participate in society, has led to the distortion of the environmental protection system in its implementation. This is why there local government has been behind all the major environmental pollution incidents in the country in recent years, and why almost all environmental pollution problems are obvious violations of existing laws and regulations, rather than a lack of institutions. The “interest-power-institution” equilibrium perspective provides a powerful theoretical framework for a comprehensive understanding of the prevention and control of ecological damage.

Gyroscopic effect evaluation and resonance speed prediction of complex high-speed rotor system based on energy

Making full use of gyro effect to adjust resonance speed distribution is of great significance for avoiding resonance design of high-speed rotor system. Existing rotor dynamics research often regards gyro effect term as an implicit quantity to be solved in dynamic equation of complex rotors, but does not carry out quantitative evaluation on its gyroscopic effect. Therefore, this paper decomposes kinetic energy components of the rotor, deduces equilibrium relationship between modal kinetic energy and potential energy of the rotor system at a specific speed, defines the ratios of gyro kinetic energy to lateral vibration energy/elastic potential energy in modal vibration as parameters to evaluate the degree to which the gyro effect affects resonance characteristics. Based on this, the gyro effect of a typical complex high-speed rotor system is evaluated. The derivation process also shows that, modal shape directly determines the gyro energy ratios, ultimately determines the change amplitude of resonance speed. Then a method to predict resonance speed under gyro effect based on modal shape is proposed, and experimental verification is carried out. The results show that, it is feasible and concrete to understand gyroscopic effect from the perspective of system energy equilibrium and transformation.

Cascading failure in guarantee networks from the perspective of equilibrium

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the invulnerability of the guarantee network at the equilibrium point.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces a tractable guarantee network model that captures the invulnerability of the network in terms of cascade-based attack. Furthermore, the equilibrium points are introduced for banks to determine loan origination.FindingsThe proposed approach not only develops equilibrium analysis as an extended perspective in the guarantee network, but also applies cascading failure method to construct the guarantee network. The equilibrium points are examined by simulating experiment. The invulnerability of the guarantee network is quantified by the survival of firms in the simulating progress.Research limitations/implicationsThere is less study in equilibrium analysis of the guarantee network. Additionally, cascading failure model is expressed in the presented approach. Moreover, agent-based model can be extended in generating the guarantee network in the future study.Originality/valueThe approach of this paper presents a framework to analyze the equilibrium of the guarantee network. For this, the systemic risk of the whole guarantee network and each node's contribution are measured to predict the probability of default on cascading failure. Focusing on cascade failure process based on equilibrium point, the invulnerability of the guarantee network can be quantified.

The Spatio-Temporal Evolution of Food Production and Self-Sufficiency in China from 1978 to 2020: From the Perspective of Calories.

Ensuring national food security is an eternal topic. We unified six categories of food with calorie content including grain, oil, sugar, fruits and vegetables, animal husbandry, and aquatic products on the basis of provincial-level data, and we dynamically evaluated caloric production capacity and the supply-demand equilibrium under the increase in feed-grain consumption as well as the food losses and waste in China from 1978 to 2020 at four different levels. The results show that: (1) From the perspective of food production, the total national calorie production showed a linear growth trend, with a growth rate of 31.7 × 1012 kcal/year, of which the proportion of grain crops has always exceeded 60%. Most provinces showed significant increasing trends in food calorific production, except for Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang, which showed slightly decreasing trends. The distribution pattern of food calories and their growth rate were high in the east and low in the west. (2) From the perspective of the food supply-demand equilibrium, the national food calorie supply has been in surplus since 1992, but significant spatial heterogeneity is detected, with the Main Marketing Region changing from a tight balance to a short surplus, North China always remaining in calorie shortage, and 15 provinces still presenting supply and demand gaps up to 2020, necessitating the establishment of a more efficient and faster flow and trade system. (3) The national food caloric center has shifted 204.67 km to the northeast, and the population center has shifted to the southwest. The reverse migration of the centers of food supply and demand will further aggravate the pressure on water and soil resources and cause higher requirements for ensuring the circulation and trade system of food supply. The results are of great significance for the timely adjustment of agricultural development policies, making rational use of natural advantages and ensuring China's food security and sustainable agricultural development.

BRATRA: Balanced Routing Algorithm With Transmission Range Adjustment for Energy Efficiency and Utilization Balance in WSNs

In traditional wireless sensor networks (WSNs), packets are mainly transmitted in a multihop routing manner. The multihop transmission, however, leads to a hotspot problem in the sink connectivity area (SCA), and the overall network efficiency is reduced due to the quick battery power exhaustion of nodes in that area. This article proposes a novel balanced routing algorithm with transmission range adjustment (BRATRA) to address the network efficiency problem, including the energy efficiency and utilization issues. First, a balanced routing strategy is designed to deal with the SCA load imbalance problem. With the shortest balanced path, the amounts of forwarding packets for the nodes in the SCA and all the other intralayers become more even. From the perspective of power equilibrium in each routing path, each node then determines its accurate transmission radius according to the derived formula and performs power control to realize the even power utilization between interlayers, thereby prolonging the overall network lifetime. Performance evaluation validates that the proposed BRATRA strategy can achieve efficient power utilization in each intralayer and double the network lifetime as compared to the Dijkstra routing strategy. Additionally, it yields better power utilization fairness among nodes, and on average only 5% of battery power is unused for all network nodes, resulting in a network lifespan ten times larger than that using a conventional strategy.

On the neutrality of socially responsible investing: The general equilibrium perspective

This paper investigates the conditions under which socially responsible investment (SRI) is neutral from the viewpoint of general equilibrium theory. Three conditions are jointly sufficient for neutrality of SRI. First, the financial market is complete and SRI does not compromise the spanning opportunities it provides. Second, consumers' rankings of consumption bundles are unaffected by their asset holdings. Third, firms maximize shareholder value. Under an additional assumption that is satisfied, e.g., if SRI takes the form of negative screening, the taxes and transfers needed to implement a Pareto‐optimal allocation are the same as in the absence of SRI. SRI is neutral despite financial market incompleteness if there are perfect substitutes for targeted stocks.