Price Reform Research Articles

Water Resource Management Research in Benin: A Systematic Review

Benin has been the subject of numerous investigations in the complex realm of water resource management, encompassing hydrological, engineering, economic, ecological, and sociological facets. However, noticeable gaps exist, warranting a comprehensive review of the existing knowledge. This study offers a systematic review on the trends in water management research within Benin.
 Scholarly papers were carefully selected from reputable academic databases, including Web of Science, WorldCat, Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Science Direct, and Scopus. The selection criteria were stringent, focusing on English-keywords, journal articles and conference papers centered on water management or its associated challenges in the Benin context. The selection process entailed a two-phase screening protocol, commencing with an initial assessment based on titles, followed by subsequent screening based on abstracts and keywords. The chosen studies then underwent a thorough bibliometric analysis.
 The findings of this review reveal a noticeable surge in research activity related to water resource management in Benin in recent decades. These studies predominantly concentrate on rural areas. The breadth of research topics covers a wide spectrum, including water pricing reform, water policy formulation, water-related conflicts, the application of integrated water resource management, agro-dam management, challenges inherent in water resource management, water quality assessment, agricultural water usage, assessment of water availability, utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS), and the development of basin information system platforms. A majority of the examined articles emphasize water management and water availability.
 This review underscores the growing interest within the scientific community in exploring water resource management issues in rural Benin. Ineffective water management in Benin can be attributed to various factors, including inadequate financial support, deficient coordination among stakeholders in the water sector, a lack of transparency, suboptimal management of hydraulic infrastructure, inadequate dissemination and implementation of established legal and institutional frameworks, overlapping roles among actors involved in water resource management, and a notable scarcity of data.
 These findings highlight the urgent need for further research initiatives and policy interventions in these domains, with the overarching goal of enhancing the state of water management in Benin.

Capitalizing on H2o: Examining the Potential Risks of Privatizing Puntland's Water Supply Companies

This research delves into the intricate dynamics of water supply management in Puntland, exploring the potential risks and benefits associated with the privatization of water supply companies. The study is situated in a context where the government, once holding full control over water supply, now owns less than 20% of the industry. Rapid urbanization in Puntland presents a significant challenge, with a projected 67% of the population concentrated in urban centers within the next thirty years. The paper investigates the adherence of private water supply companies to international standards for water quality, addressing concerns about equitable access and profit-driven motivations. Advocating for a government-led strategic plan, the research proposes water pricing reforms to enhance efficiency and affordability. Set against the unique geographical and sociopolitical landscape of Puntland, the study evaluates the current state of water supply industries, shedding light on revenue disparities, household connections, pricing strategies, asset ownership, and reticulation costs.

Evaluation and Power Grid Investment Efficiency under High Quality Development

In the context of the reform of transmission and distribution prices, how to improve the investment efficiency of power networks is a noteworthy issue. This article constructs a transmission and distribution price system under the electricity market price system from the perspective of efficiency, and evaluates the effectiveness of each indicator based on the upper limit, benchmark, and profit criteria of transmission and distribution prices. It establishes evaluation methods for investment efficiency of power grids in various regions and provides the optimal solution based on gross profit margin. Through example analysis, the relationship between transmission coefficient, asset return rate, and investment and energy utilization rate was obtained, which is an important basis for making safe and reliable investment decisions. The experiment shows that the accuracy of the three stage DEA method based on the dataset is higher than 89%, which is higher than other algorithms.

Value, Price, and Economic Reform in the Polish People's Republic

AbstractMarxists have long argued about the viability of “market socialism.” That model was dominant among professional economists in the Polish People’s Republic after the fall of Stalinism in 1956, even though they were never able to fully implement its principles. This article explores the debates over this concept in communist Poland, identifying the central issue as an attempt to combine socialist goals with neoclassical methodological principles and theoretical assumptions, particularly regarding price formation. Advocates of central planning always claimed that this mixture was unsustainable, destined to slide towards a restoration of capitalism. They were probably right.

Macroeconomic and Institutional Reforms of Energy Pricing Policies in Nigeria; How Effective?

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of institutional reforms in Nigeria on energy pricing policies, energy supply, and fossil fuel subsidy initiatives, comparing them with global practices. This assessment scrutinizes Nigeria’s commitment to its predetermined goals by evaluating how these policies influence socioeconomic welfare, consumer productivity, and empowerment. Furthermore, the study reviews the primary challenges facing Nigeria’s energy sector, examining their macroeconomic dimensions and the impact of governmental institutional reforms. By utilizing variance decomposition (VDC) within the vector error correction model (VECM), the paper tests the influence of energy pricing and various reforms on key macroeconomic variables. This analysis is complemented by Granger causality tests to explore long-term cause-and-effect relationships among the variables. Additionally, the assessment employs inverse roots of AR to estimate the marginal social cost of reduced energy subsidies. The investigation also extends to using impulse response function techniques to explore the economic and environmental implications of energy subsidies and carbon emissions in Nigeria. The study highlights limitations such as technological constraints and inadequate regulatory or market-based policies, which diminish policy effectiveness. Consequently, the study recommends the development of more robust energy conservation policies, emphasizing the need for well-coordinated frameworks addressing climate change. It also calls for diversification in energy mixes.”

Spatiotemporal Variability and Impact Factors of Domestic Water Prices in China

Given China’s status as one of the most water-scarce countries globally, its rapid development of urbanization and sustained economic growth have led to increasing pressure on the urban water supply. Water pricing is also receiving increasing attention as an important tool for water resource management. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal characteristics of domestic water prices in China and their drivers. To this end, domestic water price data from 285 cities in China were collected. Spatial statistical analysis and geodetector were used to examine the spatial distribution and temporal patterns of domestic water prices from 2007 to 2020, as well as to identify the primary factors influencing these prices. The following results are noted: (1) The national average domestic water price has increased from 2 RMB/m3 to 3.12 RMB/m3, where the northeast and eastern regions have higher prices than the national average, while the central and western regions have lower prices. (2) The spatial distribution of urban domestic water prices presents clear differences characteristic of north–south and spatial agglomeration effects; the high-value area of domestic water prices is mainly concentrated in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei. (3) On a national and regional scale, the price of domestic water is closely related to economic development, water resources, and resident’s income level. Furthermore, this study revealed that the interaction between pairwise factors played a more significant role in influencing domestic water prices compared with the individual impact of each factor. This finding contributes to a deeper understanding of the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in domestic water pricing and offers valuable insights and guidance for water pricing reform in China.

The impact of tax and price reforms on companies’ prices in a complex cigarette tax system

ABSTRACT This study analyzes how changes in various aspects of excise tax systems, including minimum price laws and differential price tiers for excise taxation jointly rather than independently, influence firms’ pricing decisions. We apply our model to Indonesia, where the tobacco excise tax system is complex, with several excise tax tiers within and across cigarette types. We use a comprehensive database of prices over the past decade for all cigarettes manufactured and sold in Indonesia, obtained from Indonesian Customs. We find that the impact of excise taxes on prices hides important effects of other pricing policies that are typically ignored in research, which either focus on the independent impacts of excise tax or do not distinguish between cigarette types. Specifically, minimum price policies have a larger impact than excise taxes on pricing decisions for machine-made clove cigarettes (kretek), while excise tax changes have a larger effect on prices for machine-made, non-clove (white) cigarettes. For cigarette types and brands that are more likely to feature a relatively more elastic demand (hand-rolled kretek), companies keep prices close to the minimum price. The results imply that a multi-tiered tobacco excise tax system likely generates distortions that limit government policies’ effectiveness in reducing tobacco consumption.

Oil price distortion and its impact on green economic efficiency in China’s transportation: A spatial effect perspective

China's oil prices have been supervision for a long time, which has led to oil price distortion (OPD) to some extent. To figure out whether OPD will impede the sustainability of energy, economy, and environment (measured by green economic efficiency (GEE)), this research first estimates OPD from 2003 to 2019. Then, using a non-radial direction distance function under nonconvex technology assumptions, this research calculates the provincial GEE by incorporating capital, labor, energy, and environment efficiencies into a unified framework. Furthermore, the OPD-GEE nexus and their influencing channels are analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. The results indicate that there are serious OPD and the average GEE in the transportation is relatively low. Local OPD correction can improve local GEE but OPD correction in spatially related regions will cause local GEE loss. The heterogeneity analysis implies that the GEE promotion effect resulting from local OPD correction is greater in oil-rich regions, new energy vehicle pilot regions, and regions with water transport. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis implies that OPD correction can improve local GEE through optimizing energy structure, mitigating resource mismatch, and promoting green technological progress; meanwhile, OPD correction in spatially adjacent regions can cause local GEE losses by exacerbating their resource mismatch. This study offers a new understanding of the impact of OPD on GEE and contributes to the promotion of sustainable development through market-oriented price reforms.

OP27 Impact Of Generic Entry Of Pharmaceuticals On Drug Prices In Australia

IntroductionPolicy makers are keen to introduce cost containment measures in medicine spending due to aging populations and fiscal pressure. A major price reform was applied to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in 2014. This aimed to stimulate price reductions by increasing competition among generics, amidst growing evidence at the time of unnecessarily high generic medicine prices in Australia. The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of patent expiration and generic competition on drug prices, while controlling for other determinants of drug prices in Australia.MethodsA dataset from publicly available sources was constructed using monthly data on the price of drugs listed on the PBS from October 2014 to July 2022. The information included the generic drug name, item code, date, approved ex-manufacturer price, dispensed price per maximum quantity, and brand names. This was supplemented with monthly government spending and number of prescriptions filled per item code. A fixed effects regression model was used to estimate the effect of patent expiration and generic competition on dispensed drug prices.ResultsThe model estimated that introducing generics in Australia led to an 18 percent decrease in prices, excluding further decreases resulting from other controlled variables. The price elasticity of total prescriptions filled was estimated to be -0.6, suggesting that a one percent increase in prescriptions filled resulted in drug prices being lowered by 0.6 percent. This reflects the fact that, on average, firms reacted by reducing prices to increase market share when faced with an increase in quantity demanded. Each extra competitor was estimated to result in a reduction in prices of roughly 1.8 percent.ConclusionsThese results show that entry of generics into the Australian pharmaceutical market resulted in a significant reduction in drug prices. However, this alone does not provide empirical support for the effectiveness of these price reforms in generating savings by inducing generic competition, especially over other forms of pharmaceutical regulation.

Urban‒rural disparities in household energy and electricity consumption under the influence of electricity price reform policies

The gap in electricity consumption between urban and rural households under the influence of electricity price reform policies remain largely unexplored. We construct a mechanistic framework for the impact of the electricity price reform policy on the electricity consumption behaviour of urban and rural residents, and evaluates the carbon reduction effect of the policy guidance through data obtained from a large-scale household energy consumption survey from January 2020 to May 2021. The results of the study show the followings: (1) The daily electricity consumption of rural households is larger and more volatile than that of urban households. However, the growth rate of household electricity consumption of urban residents is larger than that of rural residents. (2) The electricity price reform policy mainly influences urban and rural residents' household electricity consumption behaviour by driving demand motives and comfort motives. (3) Under policy intervention, rural residents’ household energy consumption will decline at a faster rate, and urban residents' total household energy consumption will decline faster before 2025 and then remain in a stable state. To achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals of the energy system, the low-carbon energy use behaviour of residents can be guided by differentiated policies.

Price Formation and Multi-Market Synergistic Strategies for Renewable Electricity under the Concept of Life Community

Abstract This paper constructs the price formation mechanism of renewable electricity with three pricing mechanisms, namely, system marginal price (SMP), zonal marginal price (ZMP) and nodal marginal price (LMP), on the basis of electricity price location signal. Through the objective function of the constructed optimal dispatch model of renewable energy power, we calculate the minimum operating cost of each power plant under multi-market synergy and use the C&CG column constraint method to solve the price fluctuation caused by the uncertainty of wind and light. Finally, the multi-market synergy rate of the model is estimated by combining the 500 kV, 300 kV and 200 kV unified wind turbines invested by a provincial grid company in China. The results show that the multi-market coordination coefficients α of wind power and photovoltaic projects are 0.1148 and 0.2849, respectively, and the renewable electricity decreases from 0.355 Yuan/kWh to 0.298 Yuan/kWh in 2025 under the optimal dispatch model of electricity. This paper has certain theoretical value and practical reference significance for future renewable energy power price reform.

Greening the G7 economies

Abstract Despite some progress, the Group of 7 (G7) have yet to act collectively to foster a low-carbon transition of their economies. This paper outlines such a strategy, which would also encourage other economies to follow suit. This strategy has three elements: fossil fuel pricing reforms; recycling revenues to fund green innovation and to offset any adverse income or employment impacts; and developing the proposed G7 Climate Club to promote compliance by other countries. This must be accompanied by comprehensive assistance to emerging market and developing economies to help accelerate their clean energy transition, facilitate their participation in the Climate Club, and attain climate, poverty and development goals.

Extending the resource curse hypothesis to sustainability: Unveiling the environmental impacts of Natural resources rents and subsidies in Fossil Fuel-rich MENA Countries

The resource curse hypothesis (RCH) has been extensively studied in various domains, including economic growth, democracy, and financial development. However, the relationship between RCH and environmental degradation has been largely overlooked. In this study, drawing on the experience of the MENA region, we aim to extend the RCH to environmental degradation and hypothesize that the resource curse also affects the environment. Applying the resource curse framework, we investigate the effects of natural resource rents (NRR), fossil fuel subsidies (FFSs), and Gross National Income (GNI) on the transition from fossil fuels consumption (FFC) to renewable energy consumption (REC), a critical aspect of achieving sustainability. Using the PMG ARDL panel cointegration technique and panel data from 2009 to 2021 for nine fossil fuel-rich MENA countries, which are among the top 20 most heavily subsidized fossil fuel markets globally, we provide a comprehensive analysis. Our findings confirm the existence of the resource curse, as both NRR and subsidies have negative effects on the transition to REC, while GNI positively influences REC. We further support these results by employing the FMOLS panel cointegration approach as a robustness check. The study highlights the necessity of implementing various policy interventions, such as diversifying energy sources, undertaking energy pricing reforms, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and promoting renewable energy adoption.

Approval and therapeutic value of gene therapies in the US and Europe.

Gene therapies are a fast-growing area of innovation and hold promise for the treatment of many diseases currently with unmet medical need. To better understand the clinical importance of the current landscape of approved gene therapies, we conducted a systematic analysis of the approved gene therapies and their addedtherapeutic value. Through December 2022, 13 gene therapies have been approved in the US, 15 in the EU, and 9 in Switzerland. Nine gene therapies have been approved in all three jurisdictions, and 11 in both the US and EU. Among the 11 gene therapies approved in more than one jurisdiction, there were differences in the approved indications among the regulatory agencies, mostly the European drug agencies (EMA and Swissmedic) being more restrictive. Among the gene therapies with available therapeutic ratings, approximately two-thirds had high added therapeutic value, which is substantially higher than the average prevalence of high added therapeutic value ratings among new drugs and biologics (approximately one-third). However, therapies with high added therapeutic value will not be useful for patients if excessive prices limit access to them. Drug pricing reforms should address gene therapies to ensure access to new gene therapies that can offer important therapeutic value to patients.

Mobility-as-a-Service and the role of multimodality in the sustainability of urban mobility in developing and developed countries

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging framework that integrates multiple transport services into a single and intuitive platform. This paper contrasts the urban passenger transport markets in developed versus developing economies to understand the challenges of integrating mobility services using the MaaS framework, with a focus on decarbonization and sustainability as societal goals. In addition, we conducted a Life Cycle Assessment of carbon emissions and energy requirements of travel alternatives in the city of Santiago, Chile, to shed light on the effects of multimodality as an environmental tool. A summary of findings follows. Data sharing and open data are new in developing countries, and thus more investment in data infrastructure is required so that MaaS can leverage digital technology and network optimization. If the scalability of MaaS is an open question in developed countries, it is more so in developing countries, owning to institutional and financial constraints that are present in the latter. The lack of public subsidies to support formal public transport is a key limitation for the implementation of MaaS schemes and multimodal frameworks in the developing world. Regarding formality, in countries with an informal public transport sector, a potential implementation of MaaS will be spatially constrained to those locations where public transport operates formally and frequently (BRT and rail lines), limiting its spatial coverage and posing social equity issues. In countries with scarce or no public funds available for the transport sector, MaaS could be used as a catalyst for a broad environmental and equity-seeking transport pricing reform which requires a direct involvement of public sector in both regulation and financial backing. We conclude that the formalization and general improvement of the public transport sector, the regulation of shared-mobility platforms including the formalization of the work of drivers, and the setting of proper pricing and subsidization instruments in the direction of internalizing the social costs of motorized traffic, are all prerequisites for any MaaS system that aims to improve economic efficiency, social equity, and sustainability.

Utilizing a combined Delphi-FAHP-TOPSIS technique to assess the effectiveness of the water supply service in Algeria

The sustainable management of drinking water supply services (WSS) is essential to ensure continuous supply to all citizens. In this paper, a combined approach between the Delphi method and two Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods has been developed to assess the performance of WSS. The suggested methodology is composed of three phases divided into twenty-one steps. The first phase is the application of the Delphi method to select the evaluation criteria and the alternatives based on the responses of a group of experts. A total of 12 criteria and 6 alternatives are identified from past studies and expert opinions. The second phase is the use of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method to calculate the relative weights of the criteria. Then, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to rank the alternatives according to their performance. Finally, an application of the developed framework was established for a case study of Souk-Ahras city (Algeria). The results from FAHP indicate that the financial autonomy and the technical performance criteria are of paramount importance WSS performance evaluation with weights (19.5%) and (19%) respectively. The two alternatives (reduced water loss and water price reform) are the best solutions to have a sustainable WSS. This study presents an effective decision support tool allowing decision makers and WSS managers to better assess performance criteria and the best alternatives.

Development of proposals for improving the pricing of construction products

The purpose of the article is to explore the current situation in the pricing reform as of the 2nd quarter of 2023 using the example of costing for operating machines and mechanisms in calculating the estimated cost on the basis of the resource-and-index method. The methodological basis of the study is represented by economic and statistical analysis, systemic approach, systematisation of theoretical and practical material. The analysis of estimated prices for operation of machines and mechanisms is made on the basis of the ones posted in the Federal State Information System of Construction Pricing as of the 2nd quarter of 2023 and calculated in current prices with the use of estimated cost change indices relative to a group of homogeneous resources. Most of the reviewed examples for basic machinery and mechanisms used in construction show a negative deviation when calculated using the estimated cost change index. The use of prices for the operation of machinery and mechanisms, obtained using the estimated cost change index, can lead to underestimation of costs required for construction and, as a consequence, emergence of obstacles to successful realisation of a construction project. Based on the results of the analysis, proposals have been made to improve the construction products pricing on the basis of due costing for operation of machinery and mechanisms. It is necessary to envisage a number of measures aimed at successful realisation of investment and construction projects and due development of the construction sector as a whole.

Cash transfers in the context of carbon pricing reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean

One reason carbon prices are difficult to implement is that they might imply high additional costs on poor and vulnerable households. In response, studies often highlight that recycling revenues through cash transfers can render carbon pricing reforms progressive. This neglects that existing cash transfer programs target households from low-income groups imperfectly and that impacts of a carbon price are heterogeneous within income groups. In this study, we analyze if existing cash transfer programs can help to alleviate distributional effects of carbon pricing in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries. We find that carbon pricing is regressive in 11 countries and progressive in 5. Most importantly, differences within income groups exceed differences between them. Beyond total household expenditures, car ownership and cooking fuel usage explain the variance in carbon pricing impacts. We show that households who are most affected by carbon pricing, some of them poor, do not necessarily have access to existing cash transfer programs. We suggest that governments aiming to compensate households should consider broadening the coverage of existing cash transfer programs, utilizing in-kind transfers or removing other distortionary taxes.

Assessing the Impact of Different Agricultural Irrigation Charging Methods on Sustainable Agricultural Production

China is currently experiencing severe water scarcity issues in its agricultural production sector. To address this challenge, the Chinese government has taken steps towards implementing a nationwide reform in agricultural water pricing to accelerate the more sustainable management of the agricultural water resources sector. The present study adopted a multiple regression model to test four alternative irrigation water charging methodologies (charges based on ladder pricing, time, land area, and electricity) accompanied by supportive agricultural pricing policies to address the inherent conflicts between water conservation and agricultural development goals. This study focused on the Wei River Basin, which is recognized as a highly water-stressed region in China. This basin was chosen as a pilot area for comprehensive reform initiatives related to agricultural water pricing and served as the geographical scope for our research. Between June and July of 2022, we conducted comprehensive field surveys within the Wei River Basin, accumulating a dataset of 415 data points pertaining to the crop year of 2022. Our results showed that the ladder water price-based method exhibited remarkable potential in achieving substantial savings, with a minimum of 60.5239 m3/mu of irrigation water conserved for food crops and an impressive 67.8090 m3/mu for cash crops. However, regarding water-saving irrigation technologies, the estimation results indicated that electricity-based charging outperformed the other methods, resulting in an impressive 55.22% increase when ladder pricing served as the benchmark. In addition, regarding agricultural green production, the results for food crops and cash crops are different, with food crops being more sensitive to the ladder water price policies. Moreover, the results suggested that different water charging methods have significant heterogeneity effects from the perspective of the farmers’ scale, land fragmentation, and water price awareness capacity. This study forges an innovative path for water-stressed nations to execute agricultural water pricing reform and enhance agricultural production’s sustainable growth.

Water Valuation in Urban Settings for Sustainable Water Management

This study examines water scarcity and quality deterioration in various components of the urban setting, including agriculture, manufacturing, construction, residential buildings, and the recreational industries. This paper also analyzes various measures that can be used as valuation matrices to assess the quality and quantity of water consumption, as well as conservation practices and sustainable management strategies. The aim of this work is to enhance and encourage an increase in the value of consumed water through economistic, efficient, and sustainable approaches. The analysis includes the evaluation of measures such as price reform, adoption of efficient appliances, implementation of effective utilization techniques, reduction in water waste, treatment of wastewater, and employment of reuse and reclamation techniques. This article further discusses the multifaceted costs associated with the acquisition of water, emphasizing the need to consider not only economic factors but also environmental and social implications. This study examines the potential adverse effects of introducing value-added measures, specifically focusing on the impact of water pricing reforms on farmers and industrial manufacturers. The analysis highlights the potential increase in costs that these stakeholders may face as a result of such reforms. This study suggests that the implementation of subsidies can be an effective measure to mitigate the negative effects discussed. This article highlights the urgent global need for governments and international organizations to implement strict policies and regulations in order to preserve water resources and protect their inherent value and, also, emphasizes the importance of consumers understanding the true value of water in order to grasp its significance and scarcity.