Prices In Europe Research Articles

A Ten-Year Study on Alkali Content of Coal Fly Ash

After years of decline, coal consumption has risen significantly in the last year (2021), driven mainly by the ever-increasing demand in fast-growing Asian countries and fostered by rising gas prices in Europe and the United States. Coal is both the largest electricity production source and the largest source of carbon dioxide emission. Coal-fired plants produce electricity by generating steam by burning coal in a boiler, but also large amounts of coal fly ash. Coal fly ash contains essential constituents for cement production, such as Ca, Si, Al, and Fe. Application of coal-fired ash to produce clinker at high doses may reduce the limestone content in the raw mix. Furthermore, coal fly ash is one of the industrial source materials utilized in the development of low-carbon cements and concretes on account of its chemical characteristics. The monitoring methodology is based fundamentally on the analysis of a set of variables (Na2Oe, Na2O, K2O, free CaO, and reactive silica content and fineness) over time. Weak relations between Na2O and K2O, and Na2Oe, and reactive silica content were found. This applied research has been done to verify previously done research. The scope of this paper is to assess the alkaline content of coal fly ash over a period of 10 years. The Na2O-equivalent of coal fly ash ranged from 0.35% to 2.53%, with an average value of 0.79%. These values should be taken into account producing concretes made with potentially reactive aggregates in order to mitigate the alkali–silica reaction (ASR).

Distributionally Robust Optimal Bidding of Energy Hubs in the Joint Electricity and Carbon Market

To realize the lower carbon and more efficient operation of energy hubs in the joint electricity and carbon market, a day-ahead bidding strategy is proposed for the energy hub operator (EHO). Considering the uncertainties of prices, demands, and renewable energy sources, this strategy is formulated as a novel two-stage distributionally robust joint chance-constrained optimization problem. A total distance-based ambiguity set is proposed to preserve the mean value of uncertain factors. By introducing this indicator function, this problem is further reformulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem. Simulations are performed based on the electricity and carbon prices in Europe, and the relation between the carbon emission and operational cost is further investigated in the case studies.

Europe in World Natural Gas Market: International Transmission of European Price Shocks

The paper applies the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) framework with 250 days rolling window to the analysis of the interconnectedness of regional markets for natural gas in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and the US. Transmission of European gas market fundamentals to other regional gas markets is assessed by using carbon price in the EU Emissions Trading System and European gas storage capacity utilization. The latter is proven to be a significant component in the cointegrating equation that links natural gas prices in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It is shown that gas prices in all three regional markets are pairwise cointegrated while cointegration between gas and oil prices is absent in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and weak in the US. It is also concluded that fundamental factors of the European gas market influence gas price dynamics not only in Europe, but also in the Asia-Pacific region and, to a lesser extent, the US. In sum, the increasing importance of LNG import in European natural gas consumption has given a strong impetus to the formation of the global natural gas market.

Pharmaceutical pricing in Europe: time to take the right direction.

A price stems from the intersection between supply and demand curves in any common market. However, there are special markets where consumers do not pay for goods directly, and prescription drugs are a well-known example in healthcare. Drugs are mainly funded by public expenditure in well-established welfare systems like those of the Western European countries. However, the present era of austerity in public funding has made financial resources scarce in most European nations. Currently, the leading tendency for pharmaceutical pricing in Europe is direct negotiation with pharma companies. However, these negotiations are administratively burdensome, with costs not necessarily offsetting savings. Moreover, since any trade negotiation implies some degree of confidentiality to be effective these strategies are scantily transparent. When prices are set for many products through unavoidably arbitrary decisions, the final consequence is an irrational allocation of financial resources. Here, we raise a proposal to restore a reasonable balance between public equity objectives of health authorities and private profit incentives of the pharma industry in Europe, switching from pricing to budgeting. The underlying rationale of our proposal is to stop setting arbitrary prices in a context of market failure.

Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe

Welfare and Distributional Impact of Soaring Prices in Europe

Gas Costs in Increasing Electricity Prices in Europe Is Only Half the Story. Taxing Windfall Profits Better Than Regulatory Changes in a Rush

Gas Costs in Increasing Electricity Prices in Europe Is Only Half the Story. Taxing Windfall Profits Better Than Regulatory Changes in a Rush

Rising Electricity Prices in Europe: The Impact of Fuel and Carbon Prices

Rising Electricity Prices in Europe: The Impact of Fuel and Carbon Prices

Релевантність цінності оцінок ESG: дані європейських фондових ринків

The research is analyzing the value relevance of other comprehensive income and the environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores in regard to the share price in Europe (Italy, France, Germany and Spain). As part of the international and continuous developing capital markets, the disclosure of comparable financial information, based on global and quality standards, such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is a key aspect for capital providers (investors, banks and other creditors) in making their investment decisions or management risk assessment. Depending on the category of financial information users, the relevance of the information provided by comprehensive income and other comprehensive income can be perceived differently, and thus managers are interested in overall performance, while investors are interested in return on investment and creditors in the company's performance from a solvency perspective. In the last years, the evolution of capital markets proved that besides the companies’ performance respectively financial information provided, an important role in stakeholders’ decisions is performed by the non-financial information, respectively ESG performance. The association between ESG, other comprehensive income, and share price was analyzed through the Ohlson price model, considering the impact of financial and non-financial information. The sample analyzed is through a period of 5 years 2017- 2021 and the data was collected through Thomson Reuter’s Eikon Database. The research has concluded that there is a positive and significant influence of main ESG scores on the share price but not in the case of other comprehensive income. And the value relevance of ESG scores is reflected on the investors’ behavior and their vision over sustainable investments.

The political consequences of housing (un)affordability

The enormous growth in house prices in Europe since the 1990s has led to increasing concerns about the affordability of housing for ordinary citizens. This article explores the relationship between housing affordability – house prices relative to incomes – and the demand for redistributive and housing policy, using data drawn from European and British social surveys and an analysis of British elections. It shows that, as unaffordability rises, citizens appear in aggregate to become less supportive of redistribution, interventionist housing policy and left-wing parties. However, this aggregate rise, driven by the predominance of homeowners in most European countries, masks a growing polarization in preferences between renters and owners in less affordable regions.

Disaggregating the impact of oil prices on European industrial equity indices: a spatial econometric analysis.

This study investigates the relationship between daily returns of oil and ten European industrial equity indices for the period 2008–2017 using the spatial econometric technique. In our settings, the historical co-movements of sectoral returns are incorporated while modelling the contemporaneous relationships between oil and European sectoral returns. After controlling for regional and global equity risk factors, we find that oil returns pose a significantly positive effect on sectoral indices’ returns in line with previous studies. However, the magnitude of economic impact found mostly by earlier studies was largely underestimated without considering the co-movements of sectoral indices. The use of spatial econometric technique allowed us to disaggregate the total impact into a direct (due to oil price) and an indirect (due to spillover effect because of intra-industry co-movements) effect of oil price changes. Our results indicate that the direct economic impact of changes in oil prices on industrial returns is almost 31% more than what has been found by earlier studies. The negative spatial dependence among sectoral indices provides a useful tool to identify the source of the indirect impact of oil on overall equity prices in Europe that in turn explains the overestimation of direct impact by 31%.

Comparison of Prices and Affordability of Cancer Medicines in 16 Countries in Europe and Latin America.

BackgroundThere are concerns that high prices of cancer medicines may limit patient access. Since information on prices for cancer medicines and their impact on affordability is lacking for several countries, particularly for lower income countries, this study surveys prices of originator cancer medicines in Europe and Latin America and assesses their affordability.MethodsFor 19 cancer medicines, public procurement and ex-factory prices, as of 2017, were surveyed in five Latin American (LATAM) countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru) and 11 European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). Price data (public procurement prices in LATAM and ex-factory prices in Europe) in US dollar purchasing power parities (PPP) were analyzed per defined daily dose. Affordability was measured by setting medicines prices in relation to national minimum wages.ResultsThe prices of cancer medicines varied considerably between countries. In European countries with higher levels of income, PPP-adjusted prices tended to be lower than in European countries of lower income and LATAM countries. Except for one medicine, all surveyed medicines were considered unaffordable in most countries. In European countries of lower income and LATAM countries, more than 15 days’ worth of minimum wages would be required by a worker to purchase one defined daily dose of several of the studied medicines.ConclusionsThe high prices and large unaffordability of cancer medicines call for strengthening pricing policies with the aim of ensuring affordable treatment in cancer care.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40258-021-00670-4.

Patients' access to drugs with rebates in Switzerland - Empirical analysis and policy implications for drug pricing in Europe.

BackgroundMany European countries introduced (confidential) rebates in the past years. Authorities and manufacturers argue that this strategy allows reduction of spending on high-cost drugs, and quick access of innovative drugs. We evaluated these arguments using Switzerland as an example, one of the last countries with transparent rebates.MethodsWe identified all drugs granted rebates in Switzerland and all new drugs without rebates between January 2012 and October 2020. We assessed the amount of introduced drugs with and without rebates over time, clinical benefit of drugs with rebates, and duration between approval and price determination.FindingsOur study cohort included 51 drugs with rebates, the majority were cancer drugs (32; 63%). 15/51 (29%) had high clinical benefit, 25/51 (49%) low benefit and for 11/51 (22%) benefit could not be assessed. The number of drugs with rebates increased in recent years. Time duration between approval and price determination was 302 days in median for drugs with and 106 days for drugs without rebates.InterpretationDrugs with rebates may hamper access to drugs and lead to overpayment. Improving transparency on actual drug prices and stronger cooperation between countries could help national authorities to make better informed pricing decisions, and improve access of innovative drugs to patients.FundingThis study was partially funded by the Swiss Cancer Research Foundation (Krebsforschung Schweiz) and the Swiss National Foundation (SNF).

On the effectiveness of restricted tendering as a form of policy intervention on agricultural land markets

The ongoing sharp rise in farmland prices in Europe has led to a discussion concerning the need for political intervention and stronger market regulation on agricultural land markets. In this context, restricted tendering for the privatization of agricultural land in post-communist countries is discussed and used as one form of political intervention. Only certain groups of bidders may participate in such tendering procedures in order to give them greater opportunities and to counteract effects such as land grabbing or structural change. Against this background this paper aims to answer the question, whether restricted tendering procedures allow structurally disadvantaged groups of bidders to buy at lower prices as is intended by the assessed policy intervention. A rich data set of over 12,000 first-price-sealed-bit auctions of agricultural land between 2005 and 2019 from Eastern Germany is analyzed using an auction theory individual private value framework and Propensity Score Matching. Results show that restricted tendering on agricultural land markets does not fulfill its intended purpose. Although the policy's intermediate aim of considerably reducing the number of bidders is achieved, the ultimate goal of lower purchase prices is missed. On the contrary, the findings indicate that restricted tendering actually leads to higher purchase prices for comparable farmland plots.

DRIVING FUNDAMENTALS OF NATURAL GAS PRICE IN EUROPE

This paper attempted to examine the factors driving the price development of the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) month-ahead contract using linear regression over the period 2016–2019 when the TTF market became the most liquid natural gas hub and primary reference source for gas prices in Europe. We examined the possible fundamentals and used OLS methodology to estimate the linear regression model, which explained the development of TTF MA. We concluded the price based on factors determining marginal demand and supply. The most significant factors seemed to be the variables representing the price of German power and the price of coal since the competition between coal and gas in power generation determines the marginal demand, which sets the price for gas. The change in total demand was another significant factor, although its impact was smaller. The significance of the LNG variable indicated the exposure of European natural gas price to the global supply and demand. The model also suggested the importance of storage capacity for the whole system.

The European gas market: new evidences

A single price for the European gas market has been the ultimate goal for European countries. Deregulation of the gas market started in Europe in the late 1990s and three European packages for the creation of a single market for natural gas and electricity have already been issued. The aim of this paper is twofold: to verify whether natural gas prices are converging into a single price in Europe and to identify the reference trading hub for the European market. We study the evolution of natural gas prices during the last decade (2007–2017) at various trading hubs with the goal of identifying their level of integration. We examine the integration by testing for the presence of a common stochastic trend among the prices reported at the hubs. In order to detect the reference hub we test for a lead lag relationship between each pair of trading hubs. Our results show a high level of integration among the European trading hubs with the Dutch hub, TTF, playing the role of the reference trading hub.

The impact of COVID-19 related 'stay-at-home' restrictions on food prices in Europe: findings from a preliminary analysis.

This study examines the impact of COVID-19 related ‘stay-at-home’ restrictions on food prices in 31 European countries. I combine the European Union’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) with the Stay-at-Home Restriction Index (SHRI) from the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) dataset for January–May 2020. The results of a series of difference-in-difference regression models reveal that the severity of stay-at-home restrictions increased overall food prices by 1% in March 2020, compared to January and February 2020. The price level for food continued to rise in the high stay-at-home restriction countries relative to thier counterpart in April but stabilised in May. The food categories that witnessed the most significant surges in prices were meat, fish & seafood, and vegetables. The prices of bread & cereals, fruits, milk, cheese & eggs and oils & fats were not significantly affected. The correlations between food prices and stay-at-home restrictions were significant after controlling for cross-country variations in COVID-19 affectedness and other mitigation and adaptation measures, such as international travel controls, road closures and the size of the economic stimulus packages. This study presents the first empirical evidence of food price inflation as an unintended consequence of COVID-19 pandemic containment measures in one of the most severely hit continents of the world.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12571-020-01082-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Launch prices and price developments of cancer drugs in the United States and Europe.

2006 Background: Cancer drug costs are rising in the US and Europe. While drug manufacturers set prices without restriction in the US, European countries have regulations that allow national authorities to directly negotiate drug prices at launch and over time. We analyzed and compared the launch prices and price developments of cancer drugs in the US, Germany, Switzerland and England. Methods: We identified new drugs indicated to treat solid tumors in adults that were FDA-approved between 2009 and 2019 and had also been approved by the EMA and Swissmedic by 31 December 2019. Launch prices and post-launch price changes as of 1 January 2020 were extracted and adjusted to average sales prices for monthly treatment costs in the US and compared to comparable currency-adjusted ex-factory monthly treatment costs in Germany, Switzerland, and England. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to infer yearly trends in launch prices and post-launch price changes across the countries. Results: The study cohort included 42 drugs for solid tumors, of which 40 (95%) drugs were first approved in the US compared to Germany and England, and 41 (98%) to Switzerland. Average launch prices for monthly treatment costs per patient were $15,178 in the US vs $7,049 in Germany, $7,421 in Switzerland and $8,176 in England, i.e., 215% (interquartile range [IQR] 263%-187%), 205% (IQR 202%-185%) and 186% (IQR 166%-189%) higher in the US compared to Germany, Switzerland and England respectively. Post-launch prices of 36 (86%), 40 (95%), and 38 (90%) drugs decreased over time with total savings of monthly treatment costs for all drugs in the study cohort of $86,744, $44,936, and $1744 in Germany, Switzerland, and England respectively. By contrast, prices of 8 (19%) drugs decreased, while 34 (81%) increased post-launch in the US with total additional expenses of $128,192 for monthly treatment costs. Conclusions: Launch prices for cancer drugs are far higher in the US than in Germany, Switzerland, or England. These price disparities continue to increase substantially after market entry since cancer drug prices, in general, decrease over time in Europe and increase in the US. Spending on cancer drugs could be reduced in the US if it adopted the principles used to more effectively negotiate drug prices in Europe.

Exchange rate pass-through to import prices in Europe: a panel cointegration approach

This paper takes a panel cointegration approach to the estimation of short- and long-run exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to import prices in the European countries. Although economic theory suggests a long-run relationship between import prices and exchange rate, in recent empirical studies its existence has either been overlooked or it has proven difficult to establish. Resorting to novel tests for panel cointegration, we find support for the equilibrium relationship hypothesis. Exchange rate pass-through elasticities, estimated by two different techniques for cointegrated panel regressions, give insight into the most recent development of the ERPT.

Artificial intelligence in process control applications and energy saving: a review and outlook

AbstractThis work summarizes selected applications of artificial neural networks and related solutions such as neuro‐fuzzy within different control loops such as the network predictive control regarding energy saving. It also shows such applications in the chemical industry and points out why further research on these applications regarding the control of distillation columns might be economically promising, as the world market in the chemical industry is expected to grow from 3.47 trillion euro in 2017 to about 6.6 trillion euro in 2030, the energy consumption might also rise. As not only companies in the chemical industry set up energy saving programs to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases, the consumption of energy decreased since 1990 in Europe. Compared to other countries like China, the energy prices in Europe – especially in Germany – have the highest prices due to taxes and governmental issues. Thus, research about applications with artificial intelligence in energy saving holds the promise of economic gain. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mobile Market Performance and Market Structure in Europe During the 4G Era

This study evaluates the impact of competition on quality, innovation and price in Europe’s mobile communications market during the 4G era (2011-18). Our results indicate that European mobile users in more concentrated markets benefitted the most from higher network quality, particularly with regard to download speeds. We find that dispersion of fixed costs and assets among a greater number of players can result in diseconomies of scale and a less efficient use of resources, which translates into lower network performance, to the detriment of consumers. We also find evidence of investment per operator being greater in markets with higher profit margins, which are also typically more concentrated markets.