Price Cap Research Articles

Petrodollar and De-dollarization: A Survey from OAPEC Countries

The study investigates reducing dependence on the dollar as a supreme currency for oil trade and the basis of the global monetary system and analyses the state of the dominance of the US dollar as an exchange currency in the global oil market. According to an exploration of AOPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries’ views on the petrodollar after the second shock of globalization, since the second quarter of 2022, with the start of the war in Ukraine, the world order has witnessed an economic war alongside a conventional war. The study created a questionnaire in Arabic for professionals and academics in several Arab oil-exporting countries in the first quarter of 2023. According to the results of the questionnaire analysis, participants hold differing opinions. The global oil market is ready to abandon the petrodollar; the weight of giving up the petrodollar will be more than 50% of the oil market; it will most likely take three to five years. Russia and China are attempting to undermine U.S. control over the global monetary system for political reasons; US efforts to impose the Russian oil price cap are a source of systematic risk to them; Russia’s and China’s governments employ a wide range of strategies to stop that; on the other hand, the currency diversification policy that oil-exporting countries follow in order to preserve their oil revenues has become a necessity to avoid or reduce the risks of imported inflation and additional fluctuations in the value of the US dollar.

Fuel Price Caps in the Australian National Wholesale Electricity Market

Fuel Price Caps in the Australian National Wholesale Electricity Market

Exiting the Energy Crisis: Lessons Learned from the Energy Price Cap Policy in France

Exiting the Energy Crisis: Lessons Learned from the Energy Price Cap Policy in France

A Theory of Price Caps on Non-Renewable Resources

A Theory of Price Caps on Non-Renewable Resources

Hold-up Problem in Price Cap Regulation with Limited Ability of Commitment in High Inflation

In this study, we examine the hold-up problem under price cap regulation in developing economies characterised by high inflation that have a limited ability to commit. The governments of developing countries are unable to modify the exact inflation rate. If high inflation is brought about by unexpected monetary expansion after the initial average price is fixed, the insufficient ability to show exact inflation causes a lack of commitment to adjust the initial fixed price to the modified price. The study’s findings show that those that have a limited ability to commit cause a hold-up problem if inflation is sufficiently high for a firm to stop production at the initial price, while the hold-up problem does not occur if inflation is lower and the initial fixed price generates a sufficient profit for the first-best investment for the firm. JEL Classification: D86, L14, L43,L51 Keywords: Price Cap Regulation, Hold-up Problem, Limited Ability of Commitment, Inflation Adjustment

Millions Depend on Our Support for Insulin Price Capping

The last time I went on my monthly journey to the local pharmacy to pick up my insulin, the kind face behind the register asked, “Ma’am, are you aware of the price of your order today?” Caught off guard, I dismissively replied, “Yeah, it’s usually $50, it’s fine.” I have had type I diabetes for the last 25 years, so I am accustomed to my insulin not being a $4 garden-variety generic. She turned the screen around to reveal an $800 total.

Integrated pricing mechanism of China Railway Express whole-process logistics based on the Stackelberg game

China-Railway Express(CRE), an important product to promote the “Belt and Road”, has a far-reaching significance for the economic and trade cooperation of countries along the route. However, in the early stage, it relies on subsidies to attract supplies, resulting in higher freight rates in some sections. Also, there are many transportation participants and complex transaction entities, resulting in an improved trade cost. These issues have affected the strategic CRE pricing decisions. Integrated decision-making is important to reduce transaction costs, and improve decision-making efficiency. This thesis adopts game theory to research the whole-process integrated pricing mechanism of CRE with multi-agent interaction. Considering transaction costs and pricing dominance, a distributed, horizontal, and vertical integration Stackelberg pricing game model for CRE is established and it compares the Nash equilibrium solutions of 9 pricing models. By discussing the form of the equilibrium solution, it is concluded that the larger the number of participants in the alliance and the longer the coverage mileage, the higher profit the alliance will be obtained. At the same time, numerical experiments and sensitivity analysis of key parameters are carried out by taking the China Railway Express (CY) as an example. Results show that the gross profit of CRE is the lowest under the decentralized decision-making mode, and it is the highest under the vertical integration alliance decision-making mode. If the price cap is abolished, carriers with shorter segment mileage will raise prices, leading to higher costs for CRE, while forcing carriers with longer segment mileage to cut down prices, so overall profits will suffer. This research promotes establishing a more reasonable pricing mechanism for CRE and achieving global Pareto optimality. It helps CRE get rid of subsidy dependence and achieve sustainable development.

The Socioeconomic Impacts of Emergent Biotechnology on the Next Human Age

Modern biotechnology has progressed to unforeseeable heights, from genetic engineering to radical life extension. The rapid advent of this technology has enforced upon us a duty to contemplate the ethics surrounding it to inform our decisions. One pressing aspect of contemporary bioethics lies in medical developments that have become widely consumed resources. In modern society, big pharmaceutical companies dominate the healthcare industry, which makes them uniquely positioned to introduce new-age biotechnology as consumer resources. A "big pharma" future exemplified by the emergence of revolutionary new-age biotechnology presents severe ethical concerns. This paper describes potential scenarios where emergent biotechnology becomes a consumer resource as a result of aggressive marketing, indirect coercion, and monopoly of the "big pharma" companies. Chasing higher profitability and benefiting from their monopoly position, big pharmaceutical companies can price new biotechnologies at excessive levels, resulting in new biotechnology proliferating along socioeconomic lines. Such a development threatens to create an elite genetic class and destroy social mobility. In order to mitigate such consequences, this paper proposes a price cap mechanism to improve equal access to emerging biotechnology and promote innovations in breakthrough treatments.

Deregulation on branded and generic drugs price and its effect: a study of Chinese pharmaceutical market

PurposeThis research studies the effect of deregulation of price cap in pharmaceutical market. Price regulation (either through price cap or reference price) is common practice in the pharmaceutical market but recently there are increasing voices calling for deregulation claiming that deregulation could help in lowering drug price and increase revenue of pharmaceutical firms. Upon those callings, Chinese government removed the price cap regulation in June 2015. The author uses this natural policy experiment to study this effect.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the author applied the interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) on the revenue data of nine categories of both generic and branded drugs in China from March 2011 to August 2016 (the time frame includes both before and after of the initialization of the deregulation) and analyzed the effect of deregulation.FindingsThe results showed that, whether the revenue of drugs will increase or decrease after the deregulation of price cap depends on the level of competition and the change of patterns of the branded and generic drugs are different. When HHI (Herfindahl–Hirschman index) is sufficiently low (competition is high), revenue does not change as a result of deregulation, when HHI is moderately low (moderate competition), revenue from generic drugs will decrease significantly and revenue from branded drugs will increase significantly, and when HHI is high (low competition), revenue from generic drugs will increase significantly and revenue from branded drugs will decrease significantly.Originality/valueThis is a unique study with a unique data set. Most previous studies focus on regulation of drug price and analyze how this may affect drug revenue; however, this is a natural policy experiment of de-regulation. Moreover, previously most studies focus on reference pricing regulation and this is price-cap, a different mechanism that is rarely studied. The originality/value is high of this article.

Pricing strategy for household energy-saving option (HESO): A novel option-based intervention for promoting household energy efficiency

Household energy-saving interventions are essential in reducing energy consumption in residential buildings. One of the effective interventions is Household Energy-Saving Option (HESO). However, the pricing strategy of this innovative intervention has not been explored. This study aims to establish a feasible valuation strategy for HESO to facilitate the application of market-based energy-saving interventions among households. This study first provides a pricing strategy of HESO from a market zero-profit perspective. It continues by developing a price cap and floor for HESO's market price. The theoretical pricing model was validated by a field experiment consisting of two-tiered HESO trading among 67 households in Singapore. The results revealed decisive implications for both environmental policymakers and HESO suppliers. Policymakers are suggested to launch HESO in countries or regions with stable and relatively high electricity prices and low discount rates. HESO suppliers may choose to adjust rewards and duration accordingly when the market price deviates from the zero-profit equilibrium price of HESO. The valuation strategy of HESO also helps quantitative estimation of households' perceived value of HESO.

Procure, Bank, Release: Carbon Removal Certificate Reserves to Manage Carbon Prices on the Path to Net-Zero

The European Union cap-and-trade emissions trading system (EU ETS) faces two challenges in the context of the European Green Deal. First, to meet the Paris temperature target, emissions in the energy and industrial sectors must fall to net-zero and then even become net-negative. Second, there is a concern that excessive CO2 price spikes and volatility on this path will jeopardize the political acceptance and support for emissions trading as a climate policy instrument. Conditional supply of carbon removal credits (CRCs) to support dynamic carbon price caps would make it possible to stabilize the market in the transition from positive to net-negative emissions trading while keeping the net-emissions path unchanged. CRCs would be assigned for carbon removal achieved for example with methods like Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage or Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage and would be used by companies under the EU ETS to compensate for their emissions. However, we suggest that there would be no direct exchange between emitting companies under the EU ETS and carbon removal companies, i.e., the demand and supply side of CRCs, during an initial phase. Instead, we suggest assigning an institutional mandate to for example a carbon central bank (CCB) to organize the supply of CRCs. Under this mandate, carbon removal would be procured, would be translated into a corresponding number of CRCs, and a fraction of it could be auctioned to the market at a later point in time, provided that market prices exceed a certain (dynamic) price cap.

Price cap regulation under duopoly

AbstractThis article captures price cap regulation under duopoly with game theory approaches. First, price cap regulation reduces price difference, output difference, and price dispersion under both Cournot and Stackelberg competition. Second, price cap regulation weakens the advantages of both costs and first‐mover. Third, price cap regulation reduces firms' profits while promotes consumer surplus. Finally, the relationship between the social welfare and price cap regulation is an inverse U‐shape. Therefore, optimal price cap regulation exists.

Designing the pricing mechanism of residents’ self-selection sales electricity based on household size

The current tiered electricity pricing (TEP) system for residents in China reflects neither the cost of electricity supply nor the real demand of residents of different household sizes; therefore, we design a classified self-selection sales electricity pricing (CSSSEP) mechanism for different household sizes in this paper. First, based on the log-log model and single threshold model, residential electricity demand models of different household sizes are constructed. Then, the combination of factors other than electricity price is regarded as the residential electricity consumption type, and on this basis, a residential electricity price information screening model is proposed. Finally, the model is empirically compared and analysed. The results indicate that (1) the optimal power supply and electricity charges increase with changes in the type of residents. In addition, (2) the CSSSEP mechanism is better than the self-selection sales electricity pricing (SSSEP) mechanism and the TEP system; i.e., the CSSSEP mechanism can not only save energy and increase the income of power suppliers but also reduce residents' electricity consumption. Furthermore, (3) the average electricity price under the TEP system is relatively low, and the power regulation department should greatly increase it to better realize the reasonable allocation of resources. Finally, (4) the price cap has a positive impact on total social welfare, total profit and average surplus, but the increased total social welfare is mainly manifested in the profit of the power supplier.

Evaluating the validity of the national list of essential medicines 2015 for medicines affecting blood in 2022: An observational cost analysis

Objectives: The study aims at evaluating the validity of the national list of essential medicines (NLEM) 2015 for medicines affecting blood in 2022. The study essentially aims at conducting a cost analysis that mainly compares the cost variation between the highest and lowest priced branded variants of the same. Material and Methods: The study takes into account the aforementioned two classes of “Medicines Affecting Blood,” which is 10.1–antianemia medicines and 10.2–medicines affecting coagulation. Data were collected from MedGuideIndia, a database of medicines marketed in India. Both cost ratio and percentage cost variations were calculated. Results: Under 10.1–Antianemia medicines, hydroxycobalamin 2 ml injection (500 mcg/1 ml) has the highest percentage cost variation at 1451.72% and folic acid 5 mg tablets have the lowest percentage cost variation at 20.45%. Under 10.2– medicines affecting coagulation, phytomenadione 1 ml injection (10 mg/1 ml) has the highest percentage cost variation at 3784.46% and heparin 2 ml injection (1000 IU) has the lowest percentage cost variation at 10.4%. Conclusion: This study essentially reasons the need for the central drugs standard control organization and NPPI to intervene and appropriately modify the NLEM 2015 and introduce stricter rules and regulations, while ensuring that the appropriate price caps are both enforced and maintained for essential medicines.

Cold homes and mental health harm: Evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Cold homes are associated with a range of serious health conditions as well as excess winter mortality. Despite a comparatively mild climate cold homes are a significant problem in the UK, with a recent estimate finding that over one-quarter of low-income households had been unable to adequately heat their home in winter 2022. The magnitude of cold housing in a country that benefits from a mild climate indicates indifference towards, or acceptance of, a significant minority of people living in inadequate conditions on the part of policy makers. Cold homes are therefore a source of social harm. Recent changes to the household energy price cap, the rising cost of living, the ongoing effects of the benefit cap, and below inflation uprating to social security benefits is likely to greatly exacerbate this issue. In this research we use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study to explore whether living in a cold home causes mental health harm. We control for mental distress and housing temperature on entry to the survey in order to account for the potentially bi-directional relationship. Multilevel discrete-time event history models show that the transition into living in a home that is not suitably warm is associated with nearly double the odds of experiencing severe mental distress for those who had no mental distress at the beginning of the survey; and over three times the odds of severe mental distress for those previously on the borderline of severe mental distress. These results show the significant costs of failing to ensure that people are able to live in homes in which they are able to live comfortably by even the most basic standards. These costs will be felt not just individually, but also more broadly in terms of increased health spending and reduced working.

Medicine Affordability and Accessibility: A Case of Low and Middle-Income Group of Gujranwala District

In Pakistan, around two-thirds population is away from essential medicines because of the higher prices prevalent in the private sector and the low availability of medicines in the public sector (WHO, Health profile of Pakistan). High out-of-pocket payments on medicines increase the burden on poor households. Using the World Health Organization and Health Action International methods, a survey of 50 medications was undertaken in District Gujranwala of the Punjab, Pakistan, to assess drug availability and affordability status. The findings reveal that medicine availability is deficient in public sector hospitals, which are the primary source of free medicines for the public, while the availability is high in the private sector. Poor households have to face serious financial issues because of the higher prices. Therefore, the government needs to ensure the availability of medicines in the public sector through efficient procurement. To reduce the prices of medicines in the private sector, the government must promote low-price generic medicines and set a price cap for essential medicines.

Measuring the role of consuming natural resource domination and social media for green economic recovery

Natural resource and economic development have been linked for more than three decades, and the dispute continues. The volatility of natural resource pricing has become more important since natural resource prices and media economy play a critical role in economic development, which is comparatively understudied. Researchers and scholars see new tendencies in the natural resources price volatility, media economy and productivity growth nexus. Natural resource volatility might negatively influence a country's or region's economic growth and media economy is positively correlated with development of green economic recovery. As a result, the present research tries to determine the link between natural resources, media economy while evaluating the importance of green innovation in European Union economies between 1990 and 2021. CS-ARDL findings showed that natural resource volatility, oil rents, gas rents, media economy (entertainment, advertising, social media, music, games, internet media, theatre and art) and green innovation had a favorable impact on economic efficiency in both the short and long term. According to the long-run estimator enhanced mean group, these findings are well supported (AMG). In addition, the Granger panel causality heterogeneity test conducted by Dumitrescu and Hurlin reveals a bidirectional causal relationship between the variables under consideration and economic growth. As a result of the results, it is suggested that green marketing, price caps, and hedging of natural resources might all be effective ways to enhance financial efficiency and decrease the unpredictability of natural resource prices in the area.

Fuel poverty: not a new phenomenon

Practice NursingVol. 33, No. 10 EditorialFuel poverty: not a new phenomenonKelly Nickalls HillKelly Nickalls HillEditorSearch for more papers by this authorKelly Nickalls HillPublished Online:7 Oct 2022https://doi.org/10.12968/pnur.2022.33.10.397AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Heatable. History of Ofgem's Energy Price Cap - a Timeline. 2022. https://heatable.co.uk/boiler-advice/history-of-ofgems-energy-price-cap (accessed 26 September 2022) Google ScholarInstitute of Health Equity and Public Health England. Fuel poverty and cold home-related health problems. 2014. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355790/Briefing7_Fuel_poverty_health_inequalities.pdf (accessed 26 September 2022) Google ScholarLee A, Sinha I, Boyce T, Allen J, Goldblatt P. Fuel poverty, cold homes and health inequalities. London: Institute of Health Equity. 2022. https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fuel-poverty-cold-homes-and-health-inequalities-in-the-uk/read-the-report.pdf (accessed 26 September 2022) Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 October 2022Volume 33Issue 10ISSN (print): 0964-9271ISSN (online): 2052-2940 Metrics History Published online 7 October 2022 Published in print 2 October 2022 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

The energy crisis in Europe 2022: new challenges ahead for rehabilitation

International Journal of Therapy and RehabilitationVol. 29, No. 10 EditorialThe energy crisis in Europe 2022: new challenges ahead for rehabilitationMassimiliano PolastriMassimiliano PolastriCorrespondence to: Massimiliano Polastri; E-mail Address: [email protected]Department of Continuity of Care and Integration, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorMassimiliano PolastriPublished Online:31 Oct 2022https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2022.0134AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Chamber. The UK's first hospital to be completely powered by solar energy. 2022. https://tinyurl.com/5n962ws7 (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarEuronews. UK consumers face 80% rise in energy bills from October as regulator raises price cap. 2022. https://tinyurl.com/3srpxu7x (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarEuropean Central Bank. Natural gas dependence and risks to Euro area activity. 2022. https://tinyurl.com/5n7pmr75 (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarEuropean Commission. New solar energy system at Potenza's San Carlo hospital. 2017. https://tinyurl.com/jmwxd9tw (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarEurostat. Natural gas price statistics. 2022a. https://tinyurl.com/2f849ja4 (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarEurostat. Electricity price statistics. 2022b. https://tinyurl.com/2md5ksv5 (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarNHS England. Solar power sparks an electrical future for Milton Keynes University Hospital. 2021. https://tinyurl.com/mr32mead (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarÖnal G, Güney G, Gün F, Huri M. Telehealth in paediatric occupational therapy: a scoping review. Int J Ther Rehabil. 2021;28(7):1–16. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2020.0070 Link, Google ScholarPanda S, Bali S, Kirubakaran B, Hagenberg A. Telerehabilitation and total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Int J Ther Rehabil. 2015;22(Suppl 8):S6. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2015.22.Sup8.S6 Link, Google ScholarPolastri M. Telerehabilitation in patients with COVID-19. Int J Ther Rehabil. 2022;29(5):1–3. https://doi.org/10.12968/ijtr.2022.0065 Google ScholarSkalamera M. The Ukraine crisis: the neglected gas factor. Orbis. 2015;59(3):398–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orbis.2015.05.002 Crossref, Google ScholarTrading Economics. EU natural gas. 2022. https://tinyurl.com/584rj6j (accessed 4 October 2022) Google ScholarWorld Health Organization. Joint statement: working together towards COVID-19 and seasonal influenza vaccinations for this winter. https://tinyurl.com/4ezajy6u (accessed 24 October 2022) Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byThe ongoing energy crisis and the provision of electrophysical therapiesMassimiliano Polastri, Maurizio Borsari, Luca Macrelli25 January 2023 | International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, Vol. 30, No. 1 2 October 2022Volume 29Issue 10ISSN (online): 1759-779X Metrics History Published online 31 October 2022 Published in print 2 October 2022 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Gas price caps and electricity production effects in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War: modeling and new policy reforms

AbstractThe merit-order approach in the electricity market, which is in widespread use across the EU27 and the UK, has proven to be somewhat economically problematic in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The massively increased gas prices since summer 2022—in the context of Russian supply cuts to the EU—has led to an abnormally high electricity price. Using the merit order approach, the price of electricity increases enormously if, as is often the case, gas is the last type of energy still realized in power generation; this leads to artificial increases in returns for all other types of energy providers whose output is used in power generation. Gas price increases by Russia or Russian supply cuts to the EU can increase the price of electricity and also the rate of inflation, as well as depress real income. The electricity price shock can be countered by switching—temporarily—to a modified regulation of the electricity market for a few years with a gas price subsidy in the electricity market. In a macroeconomic analysis, we identify both the output losses and adverse distributional effects of a gas price hike and find that a gas price subsidy is superior in stabilizing output and employment compared to a transfer; it also at least partially addresses certain distributional issues by reducing windfall profits in the electricity market. The study advocates a combination of gas price subsidies only in the electricity market and targeted transfers to households to meet both efficiency and distributional targets. The macro-analysis findings presented herein should be considered carefully, as they could minimize the welfare losses in the EU and the UK. As regards the expansion of renewable energy-based electricity, it is shown herein that the cost-differential between gas-fired power stations and renewable electricity is critical—large cost differentials imply barriers for the expansion of electricity generation from renewables unless there is a price regulation of electricity. There is the potential for an inefficient adjustment path due to nonlinearities. With a proposed narrow gas price cap for the electricity market only, the associated initial deficit related to necessary subsidies is, of course, much smaller than in the case of a general gas price cap.