Subsidy Systems Research Articles

Network Usage Tariff (NUT) structure and vision in Hungary in consideration of renewable generation trends

The consumption behaviour focus points are changing nowadays: in certain areas start industrial developments where entirely different needs were common, creation the new consumer design of multi-directional connections generate pressure to loosen regulations; climate change is changing malfunctions impact; widespread use of renewable energy sources; etc. Beyond the global trends there are huge facilitators in Hungary which can basically act to regulation, pay-off and supplying methods. In the paper one really important and sensitive cost element will be investigated – the Network Usage Tariff (NUT) – and its influential elements: governmental overhead reduction, increasing renewable penetration, changing subsidy systems. After introducing the existing business case and the possible trends, affecting regulation and market changes, the scenarios will be analysed and results summarized. At the end as an outcome a proposal will be presented.

Optimising Express Packaging Recycling: A Tripartite Evolutionary Game Modelling Government Strategies under Extended Producer Responsibility

This study presents a tripartite evolutionary game model examining the interplay among government, producers, and recyclers within the express packaging recycling network. Emphasizing the government's role as an endogenous variable under the extended producer responsibility framework, our study elucidates the behavioural evolution and stability of network subjects under distinct government mechanisms. Leveraging MATLAB simulations, we analyse subject behaviours to validate the model, revealing insightful contrasts between static and dynamic subsidy mechanisms. Our findings highlight that in the context of a static subsidy mechanism, equilibrium among the three subjects remains elusive. Recyclers' disposal fees show an inverse correlation with subsidy limits, yet an enhanced recycling rate directly corresponds to subsidies. However, excessive subsidies risk triggering adverse government regulations. Thus, we advocate for refined punitive policies alongside judicious, moderate subsidy systems to optimize recovery rates and social welfare. Conversely, a dynamic subsidy mechanism drives all subjects towards a stable equilibrium point, demonstrating optimal incentive effects. This study underscores the importance of government policy refinement and moderation in subsidy systems for achieving sustainable express packaging recycling, emphasizing the delicate balance between incentivization and regulatory intervention within the recycling network.

What is the role of institutional quality in health outcomes? A panel data analysis on 158 countries from 2001-2020

Our study investigated the impact of institutional quality on health system outcomes, utilizing worldwide governance indicators and analyzing data from 158 countries between 2001 and 2020. We employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to create a composite index of institutional quality and conducted various tests to select the appropriate econometric model. The role of institutional quality, along with other variables, in health outcomes was estimated using fixed effects and generalized method of moments (GMM) models. High-income and low-income countries were analyzed separately. The results of our study revealed that institutional quality, as measured by Control of Corruption, Voice and Accountability, Political Stability, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality, and Government Effectiveness, had a negative impact on infant mortality rates and a positive impact on life expectancy. Similarly, variables such as GDP, mean years of schooling, total health expenditure, and urbanization rate showed a negative association with infant mortality rates and a positive association with life expectancy. Conversely, the logarithm of CO2 emissions exhibited a positive effect on infant mortality rates and a negative effect on life expectancy. These findings highlight the crucial role of institutional quality in determining health outcomes. Improving institutional quality contributes to the development of democratic and meritocratic systems, infrastructure enhancement, efficient tax and subsidy systems, optimal budget allocation, improved public education, and enhanced access to primary healthcare services. The influence of institutional quality is particularly significant in high-income countries compared to low-income countries. In conclusion, our study emphasizes the importance of institutional quality in shaping health system outcomes. Enhancing institutional quality is essential for the overall advancement of healthcare systems, encompassing governance, infrastructure, education, and access to healthcare services. It is crucial to prioritize efforts to improve institutional quality, especially in high-income countries, to achieve better health outcomes for populations worldwide.

Towards sustainable and accountable subsidy design: Identifying effective subsidisation systems for forest stands

Governments often subsidise forest stands to ensure a sustainable supply of wood and environmental services. Governments need to design subsidy systems to effectively achieve policy goals with less government expenditure. This study explored effective subsidy systems for forest stands by comparing four subsidy systems using a simple forest resource model. Although a system formulated with minimal constraints required minimum government expenditure in all cases, the rotation age in a stand could change cyclically with the target supply. Assuming that forest owners cooperate with the government, the maximisation of a cost-effectiveness index in each stand could provide the second-lowest government expenditure for almost all cases. However, when we assumed that forest owners were economically rational and strived to maximise their land expectation values, the optimality of this system was disturbed. In this situation, alternate optimisations of rotation ages by forest owners and subsidy rates by the government converged on the subsidy system with the third-lowest government expenditure. The system adjusts the subsidy rate so that the maximum land expectation value is zero, which is the pure-strategy Nash equilibrium between the forest owners and the government.

Circular economy through waste reverse logistics under extended producer responsibility in Finland.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is commonly implemented as a strategy in waste management. The core of the concept itself is a waste reverse logistics (WRL), which dictates how the collection, inspection and processing of end-of-life products are performed. Existing studies of EPR mainly focused on single products instead of using broader perspective on national level. Its contribution towards circular economy through slowing and closing the loops also has not been widely discussed. This study examined the system architecture of the policy instruments used in the EPR and the similarities of the WRL networks across different products. A case study was used to investigate six products: portable batteries and accumulators, paper, packaging, vehicles, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and tyres. The study generated a WRL framework. It is also observed that closing the loop through recycling is the primary circular strategy and is found in all products, whereas closing and slowing the loop strategy through reuse/repair, remanufacture and repurposing is found in packaging, tyres, vehicles and EEE. This study shows that EPR can close the material loop, although improvement in design for the environment is necessary. It creates challenges and opportunities for the government, producer responsibility organization and producers to improve existing conditions by implementing new initiatives such as design for the environment indicators, standardization, tax and subsidy systems and tariffs for disposal fees.

Visual analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from sewage treatment plants based on CiteSpace: from the perspective of bibliometrics.

With the global reduction actions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental facilities, including sewage treatment plants (STPs), need to reduce pollutants while minimizing GHG emissions. Therefore, more and more publications revealed the formation mechanism of GHGs in STPs and committed to finding better reduction schemes. From the perspective of bibliometrics, this study used CiteSpace to conduct quantitative and visual analysis based on 1,543 publications retrieved from Web of Science between 2000 and 2021 around the world. We have systematically evaluated the structure, development trend, hot spots, and research frontier in the field of GHG emissions from STPs and compared with the contents of top journals to verify the scientificity of the analysis. The results show that the number of publications has increased year by year, and the networks of authors and institutions show a strong correlation. Among them, the clusters of nitrous oxide, anaerobic digestion, and life cycle assessment (LCA) started earlier and received extensive attention, which derived other clusters in the research process. With the development of the field, researchers have gradually changed from single water treatment facilities to multi-carriers that can realize energy regeneration and utilization simultaneously. Accordingly, the GHG reduction of STPs through energy regeneration and resource recovery has become a hot point and frontier direction, which also challenges the breakthroughs in relevant technologies. Furthermore, it provides scientific support for the formulation of relevant incentive policies and economic subsidy systems, so as to alleviate the pressure of global warming and realize the sustainable development of STPs concurrently.

공공임대주택 선발 국가들의 정책 경험과 우리나라의 정책 방향

Since the end of the World War II, many advanced countries have developed public rental housing not only as a residential safety net but also as an active welfare policy. However, after 30-40 years of expansion, most of the advanced countries have reduced or retreated from public rental housing policies due to the development of the private housing market and financial constraints. On the other hand, Korea started its public rental housing policy late compared to the advanced countries and is still expanding it. Korea's public rental housing policy differs from the advanced countries in that housing market instability and the mass supply of housing to resolve it are the most important policy drivers. This paper tried to consider Korea's position, characteristics, and policy tasks in light of the changes in public rental housing policy in the advanced countries. Considering the experiences of the advanced countries, it is reasonable to assume that the quantitative target of our public rental housing policy is 10% of all households, and it is necessary to maintain the Korean characteristic of diversifying the number of tenants. The relationship between housing benefits and public rental housing needs to be established urgently. In addition, pointing out that hasty expectations are reflected in the current public rental housing statistics in Korea, this paper proposed to classify Jeonse public rental as one of the rental subsidy systems.

Forest subsidy distribution in five European countries

Forest subsidies are widely used to achieve policy objectives aimed at maintaining and supporting the provision of the various ecosystem services provided by forests. In the European Union, an important instrument is the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) within the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), but countries also have national subsidy systems. In both cases, individual countries determine which objectives they want to achieve with the subsidy schemes and which measures are supported. In this comparative study, we investigate which forest-related measures are subsidized across Europe and which forest owners, representing a very heterogeneous group, are involved in the activities of the subsidy systems.We collected data on subsidies paid out for forest-related measures from Austria, Finland, Germany, Slovenia and Sweden from the EAFRD funding period 2014–2020 for a comparison of the funded activities. Further, we analysed how subsidies were distributed among private forest owners with forest holdings of different sizes by performing G-tests to compare the observed with the expected subsidies received by forest owners in the different size categories.The results show that through the flexibility given by the CAP for countries to adjust their subsidy programmes to the specific national needs, EAFRD funds and equivalent national subsidies are indeed used for a wide range of activities instead of only a few following one common European goal. Reflecting the different needs and various forest functions, the subsidized activities range from the more ecology-oriented “investment to increase resistance and the ecological value of forests” to the more management-oriented “purchase of new machinery and new equipment for forestry operations”.In all five countries, small-scale forest owners with holdings smaller than 200 ha are the largest owner group and manage a large share of the forest area in private hands (from 47% in Austria to 97% in Slovenia). However, especially owners of the smallest holdings (< 20 ha) rarely use the funding scheme of the EAFRD framework and thus receive a disproportionately low share of subsidies. There might be several reasons for this. Small-scale forest owners are generally less involved regarding policy issues (including subsidy schemes) than owners of larger forest holdings and may not be aware of all funding opportunities. In addition, the considerable effort to apply, including project preparation, administration and documentation may be perceived as a barrier.It became clear that the current subsidy systems of the countries focus on different forest policy objectives. Our study further revealed that the documentation of subsidy distribution is partly unclear and inconsistent across countries hampering European comparisons. However, understanding current subsidy distribution is urgently needed for increasing the effectiveness of subsidy systems to achieve European policy goals of vital multifunctional forests.

Strategies of property developers and governments under carbon tax and subsidies

Implementing low-carbon houses is inseparable from the carbon tax and subsidy policies. Appropriate carbon taxes and subsidies can help to reduce household carbon emissions. This study aims to identify a suitable carbon tax and subsidy policy and investigate how this policy will affect the adoption of low-carbon housing. We classify programs including carbon taxes and subsidies into four categories: static carbon tax static subsidy, static carbon tax dynamic subsidy, dynamic carbon tax dynamic subsidy, and dynamic carbon tax static subsidy. Additionally, under various carbon tax and subsidy systems, the evolutionary stability strategies (ESS) of real estate developers and governments will be examined using evolutionary game theory. The case simulation results show that static carbon tax and dynamic subsidies are the best strategies. Government regulation is essential for the implementation of low-carbon housing. The higher the carbon tax and the property developer’s profit, the higher the willingness of property developers to implement low-carbon houses and the higher the willingness of government regulation. Appropriate low-carbon subsidies will help property developers implement low-carbon houses. However, after reaching a certain point, low-carbon subsidies will make property developers less inclined to build low-carbon houses. The higher the cost of government regulation, the lower the probability of the low-carbon strategy of property developers, but the cost of government regulation has little impact on the government’s regulation strategy.

Current Status and Challenges of Education and Medical expense subsidy systems for Children with Medical Care

Current Status and Challenges of Education and Medical expense subsidy systems for Children with Medical Care

Foreign experience of innovative development of the agro-industrial complex.

The relevance of the topic of the article - the issues of innovative development of agroindustrial complex of Kazakhstan, which provides large-scale production, require detailed study. The goal - is to consider the positive aspects of the best practices of foreign countries regarding this problem and develop practical recommendations. Methods - generalization, quantitative and qualitative analysis, abstract logical. Results - in order to apply high technologies in agricultural sector, economically developed countries use subsidy systems, price support (USA), government assistance in obtaining income per hectare and payments for livestock (EU countries), income support through payments (Canada) and concessional lending (Brazil). In addition to financial assistance, agricultural producers in the USA, Canada and other countries are provided with information, legal, innovation, marketing, insurance and other types of support. Conclusions - innovative processes, expansion of the competitive environment in the AIC presuppose the effective use of scientific and technical potential, integration of science, education and production, technological modernization of the economy based on progressive methods. Innovation is reflected in the implementation of the strategic objectives of ensuring food security and effective regulation of the domestic food market in order to stimulate labor productivity in agriculture, increase export potential of agricultural sector. It is necessary to combine innovative activity in domestic agro-industrial production with international practice, which will increase production capacity of agrarian sector of the republic. The development trends of the world market convincingly show that there can be no other way in Kazakhstan than the formation of a new type of economy, widespread innovation.

How crop insurance influences agricultural green total factor productivity: Evidence from Chinese farmers

As an effective risk guarantee mechanism, crop insurance can not only disperse agricultural operation risk, but also guide the agricultural green development. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2002 to 2015, this paper uses SBM-GML (Global-Malmquist-Luenberger) index model to measure agricultural green total factor productivity and systematically examines the impact of crop insurance on agricultural green total factor productivity as well as its mechanism. This study supplements the determinants of agricultural green total factor productivity. It is found that crop insurance has a significant positive impact on agricultural green total factor productivity. The promotion effect of crop insurance on agricultural green total factor productivity increases with the expanded use of agricultural green technologies such as precision sowing, deep fertilization, subsoiling and no-tillage. Moreover, our results show that the role of crop insurance in promoting agricultural green total factor productivity increases with the increase in operational scales. In addition, compared with food crops, the promotion effect is stronger for cash crops. Therefore, the Chinese government should continue to support the implementation of crop insurance policy. It is necessary to not only increase crop insurance subsidies, but also set up differentiated subsidy systems in different operational scales and planting structures to promote agricultural green development.

Unravelling the interplay between water and food systems in arid and semi-arid environments: the case of Egypt

Food system analysis in arid and semi-arid countries inevitably meets water availability as a major constraining food system driver. Many such countries are net food importers using food subsidy systems, as water resources do not allow national food self-sufficiency. As this leaves countries in a position of dependency on international markets, prices and export bans, it is imperative that every domestic drop of water is used efficiently. In addition, policies can be geared towards ‘water footprints’, where water use efficiency is not just evaluated at the field level but also at the level of trade and import/export. In this paper, Egyptian food systems are described based on production, distribution and consumption statistics, key drivers and food system outcomes, i.e., health, sustainable land and water use, and inclusiveness. This is done for three coarsely defined Egyptian food systems: traditional, transitional and modern. A water footprint analysis then shows that for four MENA countries, differences occur between national green and blue water volumes, and the volumes imported through imported foods. Egypt has by far the largest blue water volume, but on a per capita basis, other countries are even more water limited. Then for Egypt, the approach is applied to the wheat and poultry sectors. They show opportunities but also limitations when it comes to projected increased water and food needs in the future. An intervention strategy is proposed that looks into strategies to get more out of the food system components production, distribution and consumption. On top of that food subsidy policies as well as smart water footprint application may lead to a set of combined policies that may lead to synergies between the three food system outcomes, paving the way to desirable food system transformation pathways.

Uwarunkowania nieetycznego zachowania wobec środowiska w organizacjach

The objective of the paper is to identify and classify the conditions for unethical environmental behaviour. It has been shown that the primary condition for unethical environmental behaviour is the level of environmental ethics dominant in a community and the observed inconsistency between the declared level of this ethics and the practice of business, institutional (including legal), social, market, etc. behaviour towards the environment. The observed axiological inconsistency generates numerous external and internal phenomena (factors, conditions) that create fertile ground for unethical activities leading to environmental degradation. The external conditions comprise, among others, complicated tax systems, subsidy and subvention systems and prices of emission allowances. The short term perspective of enterprises, the decreasing average working time of managers, a crisis of ethical leadership and a low level of responsibility for the environment have been identified as the most important internal conditions. Unethical environmental behaviour is further intensified in the absence of control and external reaction to its occurrence.

Comprehensive Reform of Agricultural Water Price

Agricultural water price reform is the need of social stable development and one of the main means to promote the rational use of water resources. At present, there are some cognitive problems in the comprehensive reform of agricultural water price, such as insufficient awareness of water price reform by cadres, unclear indicators of agricultural water consumption and low level of service for irrigation management. This paper analyses the situation of agricultural water use in some areas of Wulian County and determines the initial agricultural water rights. Secondly, the agricultural cost water price and farmers’ water price bearing capacity of the main irrigation areas in the region are calculated. At the same time, relevant reward and subsidy systems and sound agricultural water management system are established. The result of the reform is conducive to the formation of a good water price mechanism, while improving the water-saving efficiency of the project area.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to housing first in Metro Vancouver

ObjectivesTo understand the experience of Metro Vancouver’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy-funded Housing First program and how it is functioning from the perspective of a representative sample of providers and clients who deliver and receive HF services. MethodsThirty-four clients and providers who currently or formerly delivered HF in Metro Vancouver participated in one-on-one interviews (n = 26) or focus groups (n = 8) between March and April 2017 and data were thematically analyzed. ResultsStrengths of the HF program included: the ability to transition persons from the street into housing with individualized service supports and, in certain cases, with 12-month rent subsidies, household goods, and connection to community resources. Identified program weaknesses were: eligibility criteria, limited rent subsidy funds, limited provider capacity, and workload burden. Suggested opportunities to improve HF were: streamlining federal and provincial reporting and rent subsidy systems and building friendly landlord networks. Potential threats to HF described were: limited affordable housing, stigma and discrimination toward clients, inadequate income assistance, and limited opportunity for cross-sector collaboration. ConclusionsThe delivery of HF in regions that have limited affordable housing presents unique challenges. Recommendations are provided to improve HF practice and policy in these contexts.

Grid Investment and Support Schemes for Renewable Electricity Generation

The unbundling of formerly vertically integrated utilities in liberalized electricity markets led to a coordination problem between investments in the regulated electricity grid and investments into new power generation. At the same time investments into new generation capacities based on weather dependent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy are increasingly subsidized with different support schemes. Against this backdrop this article analyzes the locational choice of private wind power investors under different support schemes and the implications on grid investments. I find that investors do not choose system optimal locations in feed-in tariff schemes, feed-in premium schemes and subsidy systems with direct capacity payments. Consequently, inefficiencies arise if transmission investment follows wind power investment. A benevolent transmission operator can implement the first-best solution by anticipatory investment behavior, which is however only applicable under perfect regulation. Alternatively a location dependent network charge for wind power producers can directly influence investment decisions and internalize the grid integration costs of wind power generation.

Elementary School Planning in Japan: A Historical Study for Regulations

This article surveys the history, laws, and social background of elementary school facility planning in Japan and proposes a planning method for elementary school facilities in a society with an aging, decreasing population and lower birthrate. The mass construction of schools began before the 1980s and many of the current elementary school facilities were constructed around this period. The study is based on the surveys regarding history and laws related to the planning of elementary school facilities in Japan. The history was divided into six periods and the planning characteristics of each period were discussed. The first period was the initial development of laws and standards and the second period was the emergency steps after World War II. In the third and fourth periods many subsidy systems were established for the mass development of schools. The fifth period was for qualitative development, where various subsidies began to support school quality improvement. The sixth period was a stage where schools were closed and surplus spaces occurred due to the recent low birthrate. The elementary school planning theory before 2000 was for new construction of schools, but in recent years a planning theory for the renewal of school buildings such as renovation or conversion of the buildings has become necessary.

System design to reduce disaster risks by installing distributed power resources

Subsidy and social systems should be designed to effectively promote, for example, the introduction of a mechanical system. For an effective subsidy distribution, developing evidence-based decision-making methodologies is essential. We developed a tool that minimizes an objective function includes economic costs, environmental cost, and disaster risk to determine the amount of energy distributed by the equipment when installing in hospitals against disasters. Open data available on the Internet are used as simulation values herein. This simulation model optimizes six design values using a genetic algorithm based on the values (business site area, demand for heat and electricity, and maximum allowable loss) input by customers for their construction and visualizes the total cost. The tool allows to quantitatively assess the changes in the initial and running costs owing to equipment installation and the avoidable losses related to $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ emission reductions and disaster risks. In addition, the net present value (NPV) can be calculated using the obtained values for initial and running costs, thereby allowing to clearly estimate the return on investments after equipment installation. The opportunity profit can be calculated based on the difference between the NPV after 15 years assuming no risk and with disaster risks. A method to set this opportunity profit as a calculated subsidy amount is proposed herein. Decision support can be provided via these simulations to the customers and government subsidy system design engineers.

Integrated planning of low-voltage power grids and subsidies toward a distributed generation system – Case study of the diffusion of photovoltaics in a Japanese dormitory town

This study proposes a novel approach for a local society to design effective diffusion scenarios for distributed energy systems, namely, the integrated planning of two design problems: the design of low-voltage power grid systems and the design of subsidy systems for the introduction of photovoltaic systems. In particular, a household photovoltaic system is considered to be a distributed generation system. Integrated planning comprises (1) upgrading of power grids and the installation of the photovoltaic system supported, at least in part, by a local government, (2) controlling the timing of photovoltaics installation and the upgrading of the power grid section by section, and (3) increasing the distributed generation capacity in low-voltage grids by upgrading a pole transformer to an auto-adjusting transformer. This study focuses on a case study of rooftop photovoltaics in a Japanese town. The proposed concept is verified through a multi-agent simulation, which supports quantitative evaluation of the proposed plans. The input data of the simulation for the behaviors and interactions of stakeholders are obtained through a questionnaire survey. A voltage analysis of a power grid is included in the multi-agent simulation. The analyses reveal that integrating the two planning problems provides synergic effects toward advancing the diffusion of photovoltaic systems.