Use Of Economic Incentives Research Articles

Democracy and free market? Doubtful conditionality of U.S. economic incentives toward sub-Saharan Africa (2018-2021)

Background This article examines the use of economic incentives by the United States to support its main foreign policy objectives in sub-Saharan African countries. It offers an empirical survey based on available data on US foreign aid and grants awarded by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Prosper Africa initiative. The research questions are as follows: 1) Can we observe the stated conditionality of applying economic incentives to countries making progress in the process of democratisation and increasing economic freedom? 2) Which U.S. foreign policy objective is most supported by the economic incentives offered to sub-Saharan African countries? Methods I examine whether countries that are the main recipients of US economic incentives show progress in terms of democracy and economic freedom. I did this based on the data of Freedom House and Heritage Foundation. I also assess whether the US is taking up competition with China in these countries, as well as their importance in US security policy. I did this based on the data from official websites. The starting point of the analysis is 2018, when then-President Donald Trump launched programs to increase economic cooperation with sub-Saharan African countries. The end date is 2021, which includes the last full data available on all US economic incentives under consideration. Results Security cooperation is a priority goal in U.S. policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa supported by economic incentives, and the conditionality associated with democratisation and economic reform is much less important. Conclusions The lack of consistency in declared conditionality and in the application of economic incentives is striking. U.S. policy towards Sub-Saharan African states lacks a coherent strategy and actions are taken ad hoc in times of crisis. Furthermore, the development programmes proposed by successive administrations are merely an attempt to improve existing ones.

Rudi Kundini, Pamoja Kundini (RKPK): study protocol for a hybrid type 1 randomized effectiveness-implementation trial using data science and economic incentive strategies to strengthen the continuity of care among people living with HIV in Tanzania

BackgroundEconomic incentives can improve clinical outcomes among in-care people living with HIV (PLHIV), but evidence is limited for their effectiveness among out-of-care PLHIV or those at risk of disengagement. We propose a type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study to advance global knowledge about the use of economic incentives to strengthen the continuity of HIV care and accelerate global goals for HIV epidemic control.MethodsThe Rudi Kundini, Pamoja Kundini study will evaluate two implementation models of an economic incentive strategy for supporting two groups of PLHIV in Tanzania. Phase 1 of the study consists of a two-arm, cluster randomized trial across 32 health facilities to assess the effectiveness of a home visit plus one-time economic incentive on the proportion of out-of-care PLHIV with viral load suppression (< 1000 copies/ml) 6 months after enrollment (n = 640). Phase 2 is an individual 1:1 randomized controlled trial designed to determine the effectiveness of a short-term counseling and economic incentive program offered to in-care PLHIV who are predicted through machine learning to be at risk of disengaging from care on the outcome of viral load suppression at 12 months (n = 692). The program includes up to three incentives conditional upon visit attendance coupled with adapted counselling sessions for this population of PLHIV. Consistent with a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study design, phase 3 is a mixed methods evaluation to explore barriers and facilitators to strategy implementation in phases 1 and 2. Results will be used to guide optimization and scale-up of the incentive strategies, if effective, to the larger population of Tanzanian PLHIV who struggle with continuity of HIV care.DiscussionInnovative strategies that recognize the dynamic process of lifelong retention in HIV care are urgently needed. Strategies such as conditional economic incentives are a simple and effective method for improving many health outcomes, including those on the HIV continuum. If coupled with other supportive services such as home visits (phase 1) or with tailored counselling (phase 2), economic incentives have the potential to strengthen engagement among the subpopulation of PLHIV who struggle with retention in care and could help to close the gap towards reaching global “95–95-95” goals for ending the AIDS epidemic.Trial registrationPhase 1: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05248100, registered 2/21/2022.Phase 2: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05373095, registered 5/13/2022.

Analysis of Tariffs and the Impact on Voltage Variations in Low-Voltage Grids with Smart Charging and Renewable Energy

The rapid increase in electric vehicles (EVs) and installed photovoltaic systems (PV) has resulted in new challenges for electric systems, e.g., voltage variations in low-voltage grids. Grid owners cannot directly control the power consumption of the end consumers. However, by the design of transparent tariffs, economic incentives are introduced for the end consumers to adjust their EV charging patterns. In this work, the main objective is to design a time-of-use pricing tariff to reduce the voltage variations in a low-voltage grid when introducing PVs and EVs with smart charging. Data from an existing low-voltage grid and hourly data from household power consumption, together with models of PV and EV charging, are used to simulate the voltage fluctuations based on the modified electric consumption. The results show that a time-of-use pricing tariff taking into consideration maximum peak power is important to reduce grid voltage variations. Another observation is that the use of economic incentives, such as subsidies when selling power from the household, combined with V2G technology can be economical for households but increases the voltage variations in the grid.

Economic Instruments and the Vision of Prosumer Energy in Poland. Analysis of the Potential Impacts of the “My Electricity” Program

Fossil fuels, which are widely used in Poland, have negative environmental and health consequences. Photovoltaics, used especially by households, contribute to a reduction in CO2 emissions and indirectly reduce the problem of smog. However, the high cost of photovoltaic installations forces the use of economic incentives, such as direct subsidies to the installation, under the “My Electricity” program (hereinafter referred to as the program). The development of photovoltaics is hindered by the ineffective functioning of transmission grids. In the current edition of the “My Electricity” program, the main emphasis was placed on the use of electricity at the place of generation through the use of energy storage facilities and the transition to a new billing system, so-called net billing. The program indirectly contributes to the growing popularity of heat pumps as an installation that uses electricity generated on-site. Significant changes in the program inspired the authors of the study to plan and conduct nationwide research; they assessed investment plans for energy storage and heat pumps by potential individual investors, i.e., owners of single-family houses. Based on the results obtained, the authors of the article concluded that the new version of the “My Electricity” program will almost exclusively affect the energy storage market. This impact will stimulate the development and application of this technology. In the case of the heat pump market, the current demand will remain at the same level. The program will contribute to achieving the assumed goals, especially energy consumption at the place of production and reducing so-called low emissions. The program will not affect the demand for heat pumps.

Decentralization of sustainable aviation fuel production in Brazil through Biomass-to-Liquids routes: A techno-economic and environmental evaluation

The present study evaluated the influence of three strategies to improve the economic feasibility of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production through gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (GFT) of lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks in Biomass-to-Liquids (BtL) plants. Apart from the integration with sugarcane ethanol production and the use of economic incentives by the carbon credits market, we evaluated the decentralization of the production chain with fast pyrolysis (FP) units to densify the biomass into bio-oil, aiming to reduce feedstock transportation costs for biofuel production. These analysis made use of process simulation coupled with techno-economic assessment (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA).Carbon credits commercialization alone is not enough to enable the standalone GFT scenario with current prices (up to 30 US$/tonne CO2 eq avoided). However, integration into a 1G mill can decrease SAF production costs to as low as 0.4–0.7 US$/L and achieve over 70 g of CO2 eq avoided/MJ of SAF. The addition of the FP process for decentralization is a better option than a centralized production only for distances above 1,000 km. This is due to expenses with feedstock bio-oil being from 2 to 5 times higher than with the direct use of solid biomass. In conclusion, the path to make SAF production feasible lies in the integration with more mature routes and by relying on incentives from environmental policies, while the decentralization could help markets with highly disperse biomass availability.

Nudging Private Ryan: Mobile Microgiving under Economic Incentives and Audience Effects

Technology-augmented choice-making impacts many facets of business. The use of economic incentives under the ubiquitous mobile ecosystem for prosocial behavior has been shown to be particularly effective. We build on the previous work on this topic and study how mobile-based economic incentives and environments influence charitable giving behavior. In contrast to traditional fund-raising, we consider the use of mobile devices to generate giving in small denominations, which we term microgiving. In collaboration with a US-based mobile app provider, we incorporated a functionality that allowed users to contribute their in-app reward points to charity. To encourage donations, we used economic incentives in the form of monetary subsidies, i.e., rebates or matching grants, as well as digital nudges in the form of push notifications. We studied the effects of these factors on giving behavior across two large-scale field experiments. Focusing on the different aspects of smartphones that could differentially impact charitable giving behavior—namely the intensely private and personal nature of smartphones—we examined how the visibility of donation decisions affects giving behavior by toggling audience effects. Our results show that the effectiveness of incentives is contingent upon the magnitude of the incentive as well as the extent to which individual decisions are visible to others. To situate our results in relation to the traditional medium of charitable giving, we propose an analytical model that internalizes the subsidy rates and the audience effect. This study provides initial empirical evidence and an analytical model to advance technology-augmented charitable giving that can provide insights to organizations and service providers.

Theories and Practices on Deposit Bonds use for Environmental Management and Sustainable Development in Kenya’s Titanium Mining Projects

This article analyses the use of economic incentives, particularly the Environmental Performance Deposit Bonds (EPDBs) in enhancing sustainable environmentally sound mine operations and closure. This is through a review of the environmental challenges and management practices at the Kwale Mineral Sands Project which is Kenya’s ;largest mining project. The article reviews the legal challenges around the effective regulation and application of the bonds for environmental management in upstream mining, as well as how the titanium mining project is undertaking environmental management as the mine approaches its closure deadline in 2023. It is important to note that Base Titanium, the company undertaking this project voluntarily deposited environmental reclamation deposit bonds of USD 512,000 to the environmental regulator, as financial assurance for good environmental practices. The data used in the analysis is from literature review, key informant interviews, interview schedules, and focus group discussions. Results indicate that Base Titanium is working hard to comply to the environmental standards and practices, applying the mitigation hierarchy approaches, as well as a robust mine reclamation process. The lack of a proper legal and regulatory framework governing Environmental Performance Deposit Bonds (EPDBs), as well as a non-existent deposit bonds registry systems and guidelines is a challenge to their effective institutionalization. The public and key stakeholders are also unaware of the existence of the bonds, unlike the well-laid down public participation principles in the Environmental (and Social) Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and Environmental Audits (EAs). While the study acknowledges that Base Titanium is greatly expanding the discourse on sustainable finance models for environmental management in Kenya, the lack of legal clarity and coherence is a major impediment for progressive growth in this area.&#x0D; Keywords: Environmental Performance Deposit Bonds (EPDBs); Sustainable Development; Remediation; Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs).

АТЕСТАЦІЯ ПЕРСОНАЛУ ЯК ОСНОВНИЙ МЕТОД ОЦІНЮВАННЯ ЙОГО РОЗВИТКУ

Theoretical aspects of personnel certification are considered. The place of personnel certification among other functions of personnel management as the main method of assessment of its development is determined. It is stated that one of the main requirements of the certification program is the objectivity of employee evaluations, which is often opposed to subjectivity, which is often considered evil and leads to irreparable mistakes. The stages of attestation are indicated, namely: develop-ment of principles and methods of verification; registration of control documents and preparation of attestation materials; filling in the inspection form together with the staff; analysis of results; meeting of the attestation commission; analysis of personnel data; development of recommendations for working with staff. It is analyzed that certification allows managers to make appropriate personnel and organizational decisions, including further improvement of existing forms of employee motivation, career and career planning and career planning, improvement of existing systems of personnel selection and placement, forms and methods of employee training, etc. It is noted that one of the main requirements of the certification program is the objectivity of employee evaluations, which is often opposed to subjectivity, which is often considered evil and leads to irreparable mistakes. It is investigated that the certification is aimed at finding reserves to increase productivity, employees' interest in their work and organizational results, optimal use of economic incentives and social security, creating conditions for dynamic and comprehensive personal development. The function and content of the concept of attestation are studied, the importance of the process, the main methods, technologies, characteristics and main stages of implementation in enterprises are revealed. The importance of the process of attestation of employees at enterprises is proved. The necessity of introduction of modern automation systems at attestation of workers at the enterprises is analyzed. Types of certification are considered, which makes it possible to assess the wage rates of employees; staff training; identification of personnel problems and creation of a personnel reserve. The relevance of the introduction of modern automation systems during the certification of employees at enterprises is considered. Suggestions for the effectiveness of staff evaluation, methods and processes of staff development are provided.

Social partnership as an imperative of socio-economic development of Ukraine

Introduction. An important prerequisite for the successful implementation of the social state concept in the country is the effective development of social partnership. Firstly, within the framework of partnership interaction of social subjects the social dialogue is provided, secondly, the social responsibility of business structures and financial institutions is activated, and thirdly, certain social problems and conflicts are leveled. Therefore, the issue of activation of social partnership in Ukraine as an attribute of a developed state and the introduction of an effective mechanism for its development is one of the primary ones, requiring special attention and determination of the ways of solution.Purpose. The goal of the research is to outline the role of social partnership in ensuring the social and economic progress of the state and to outline the practice and problems of its implementation in Ukraine.Methods. Research is based on the dialectical method of scientific knowledge and a systematic approach to the study of the ideology of social partnership and its role in socio-economic development of the state, using the methods of scientific abstractions and analogies, analysis and synthesis.Results. The nature of social partnership is considered and the main arguments and conditions that ensure its existence in the state are defined. The key tasks that are achieved through the effective implementation of the mechanism of partnership interaction in terms of solving a number of social problems and ensuring socio-economic development of the state are highlighted. The index of social development of countries of the world is investigated and the place of Ukraine in the global social space is analyzed. The most important social problems that have arisen in the domestic social sphere and the features of the current system of social partnership have been identified. The necessity of the development of social responsibility in corporate management, social dialogue and the use of economic incentives for the activation of entrepreneurship to ensure the priorities of socio-economic growth of the state has been argued. Prospects. Further research is important to focus on improving the effectiveness of social responsibility management of business as a condition for enhancing its competitiveness and ensuring sustainable development.

Weight-based pay-as-you-throw pricing model: Encouraging sorting in households through waste fees

Municipal solid waste is associated with different systemic challenges, such as climate change, resource scarcity, and ocean plastic pollution. European countries are striving towards more circular material use and the European Commission has advocated the use of economic incentives to boost recycling. The pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) scheme is an economic instrument that applies the ‘polluter pays’ principle by charging for waste according to the actual amount of generated waste. Volume-based PAYT fees have shown to be potentially less effective in waste prevention and recycling than weight-based fees. This paper illustrates how waste management operators can price residual waste with weight-based fees that encourage recycling, are fair with respect to service levels, and cover the current income for municipal waste operators. The result, obtained by forming equations satisfying the above conditions, is a model with a linear, discrete price function, where the price of the residual waste generated by the citizen is a function of the service level. This model encourages efficient source separation through internal subsidies, wherein a citizen can decrease the price of household waste by 32% if they increase the sorting efficiency from a default of 40% to 80% efficiency. The application of the model was illustrated in a case example. The model developed in this study can be used to implement weight-based PAYT schemes locally, thereby supporting the formulation of waste management systems that facilitate waste reduction and recycling.

Chemistry or Service? Sugar Daddies’ (Re)quest for Mutuality within the Confines of Commercial Exchange

ABSTRACT With the emergence and global proliferation of “sugar dating” websites, the phenomenon of sugar dating is gaining increased attention. Sugar dating is described by these websites as arrangements based on an exchange of financial or other forms of support for intimacy and companionship. The framing of sugar dating as something in between a business transaction and mutually enjoyable dating serves as the point of departure of this article, which draws on semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire with “sugar daddies” engaged in heterosexual sugar dating in Sweden. We examined how the tension between economic instrumentality and the ideal of mutual enjoyment is played out in “sugar daddies’” accounts of their sugar dating experiences. We demonstrate that the participants desire encounters with “sugar babies” to be based on both sexual and relational mutuality, i.e., they want the women to enjoy being with them beyond the economic rewards. We show that the men’s use of economic incentives to gain access to “sugar babies” stands in a relationship of tension with their desire for interactions to be based on mutuality. However, through various mechanisms they still manage to reap the fruits of the experience of mutuality offered in sugar dating encounters.

Analysis of China&#39;s Forest Protection Policy from the Perspective of Policy Tools

From the perspective of policy tools, this paper using content analysis to analyze 43 central-level policy texts related to forest protection from 1990 to 2016, and divides forest protection policy tools into 16 items and 4 major types. Research conclusion: Among the four policy tools, command-and-control policy tools are used the most, followed by economic incentives, and the use of information disclosure and voluntary participation policy tools is relatively inadequate. Based on the above conclusions, this paper makes the following suggestions: To increase the use of economic incentives, information disclosure and voluntary participation policy tools, it is also possible to strengthen the use of information disclosure and voluntary participation policy tools through reasonable system design. In the newly implemented forestry ecological poverty alleviation field, explore and introduce new forestry ecological poverty alleviation policies and new mechanisms based on public participation, and comprehensively enhance the policy demonstration role of forestry in building a long-term poverty alleviation mechanism.

Nudging contributions in crowdsourced public transport technologies

Transport data is crucial for transport planning and operations. Collecting high-quality data has long been challenging due to the difficulty of achieving adequate spatiotemporal coverage within a representative sample. The increasingly integrated use of communications technology in transport systems offers an opportunity to collect data using non-traditional methods. Crowdsourcing applications are an example. Users share information about their travel experience, informing planners and operators about the perceived quality of service. However, crowdsourcing applications depend on a critical mass of users providing feedback. We examine the use of economic incentives (a lottery for free trips) and prosocial messages (asking users to help the community) as nudges to encourage users to share reports about bus stop conditions using a crowdsourcing app in order to increase coverage of the bus stop network. We conducted a large-scale field experiment in which users received push notifications. We found that offering an economic incentive increased the participation rate almost three times compared to a control group, which did not receive any message. This positive effect lasted for several weeks but decreased over time, especially for users who had not made reports prior to the experiment. This incentive also increased the amount of reports shared by users as well as the spatial coverage of bus stops. Using a prosocial message, with or without the economic incentive, also increased the participation rate compared to the control group, but adding a prosocial message decreased the effect of a standalone economic incentive.

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002–2016

Background: A national database of work-related injuries has been established in Italy since 2002, collecting information on the injured person, his/her work tasks, the workplace and the risk factors contributing to incident dynamics, according to a model called Infor.Mo. Methods: A descriptive study of occupational fatal injuries, excluding work-related fatal traffic injuries, that occurred in Italy from 2002 to 2016 (15 years) was performed. Results: Among 4874 victims involved, all were males, mainly >51 years of age (43.2%), predominantly self-employed (27.8%) or workers with non-standard contracts (25%). About 18.4% and 17.3% of fatal events occurred in micro-enterprises belonging to, respectively, construction and agriculture. A wide range of nationalities (59 countries in addition to Italy) was identified. Overall, 18.9% of work-related fatal injuries were due to some form of hazardous energy—mechanical, thermal, electrical or chemical—that was normally present in the workplace. Workers’ falls from height (33.5%), heavy loads falling on workers from height (16.7%) and vehicles exiting their route and overturning (15.9%) were the events causing the greatest proportion of occupational fatal injuries in the present study (from 2002 to 2016) and in the initial pilot phase, focused on years 2002–2004, with a similar distribution of fatal events between the two time periods. The activity of the injured person made up 43.3% of 9386 risk factors identified in 4874 fatalities. Less common risk factors were related to work equipment (20.2%), work environment (14.9%), third–party activity (9.8%), personal protective equipment/clothing (8.0%) and materials (3.7%). The activity of the injured person remained the most relevant contributing factor even when the incident was caused by two or more risk factors. Discussion: Occupational fatal injuries occurred mainly in small size firms (up to nine employees) in hazardous workplaces. Small companies, which account for 68% (2888/4249) of all firms in the present study, generally have fewer resources to remain current with the continuously evolving health and safety at work regulations; moreover, these firms tend to be less compliant with health and safety at work regulations since they are less likely to be inspected by occupational vigilance services. Perspectives: An approach being introduced in Italy relies on the use of economic incentives to promote safe and healthy workplaces. The comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention rates of work-related injuries by means of interrupted time series analyses could detect whether the intervention will have an effect significantly greater than the underlying secular trend.

Economic Incentives as Tools of Foreign Policy: Polish Engagement in Ukraine

In 2014, the new Ukrainian authorities decided to adopt a pro-Western foreign policy course. The EU supported this ambition: an Association Agreement with Ukraine was signed. This paved the way for the use of economic incentives, conditioned by the introduction of specific reforms. Besides acting within the EU, the Polish government also proposed independent support, mainly in the form of development assistance. Thus, this article aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Polish economic incentives, as well as to identify the factors that either strengthen or weaken such effectiveness. In this process, multiple variables are applied in the contexts of Polish policy goals and the situation in Ukraine. The article concludes that the applied incentives are properly aligned with the objectives that have been set. They could be effective despite the political obstacles in both Poland and Ukraine.

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002-2016

Background. A national database of work related injuries was established in Italy since 2002, collecting information on the injured person, his/her work tasks, the workplace as well as risk factors contributing to accident dynamics, according to a model called Infor.Mo. Methods. The present is a qualitative description of occupational fatal injuries, excluding work-related fatal traffic injuries, that occurred in Italy from 2002 to 2016 (15 years). Results. Among 4,874 victims involved, all were males, mainly of >51 years of age (50.5%), predominantly self-employed (27.8%) or workers with non-standard contracts (25%). About 18.4% and 17.3% of fatal accidents occurred in micro-enterprises belonging to, respectively, Construction and Agriculture. A wide range of nationalities (59 countries in addition to Italy) was identified. 18.9% work related fatal injuries were due to some form of dangerous energy ‒ mechanical, thermal, electrical, chemical ‒ freely present in the workplace. Workers’ falls from height (33.5%), heavy bodies falling on workers from height (16.7%) and vehicles exiting their route and overturning (15.9%) were the accidents causing the greatest proportion of occupational fatal injuries either in the present study (from 2002 to 2016) and in the initial pilot phase, focused on years 2002-2004, with a similar distribution between the latter two time periods. The activity of the injured person made up 43.3% of 9,386 risk factors identified in 4,874 fatalities. Less common risk factors were related to: work equipment (20.2%); work environment (14.9%); third parties’ activity (9.8%); personal protective equipment/clothing (8.0%) and materials (3.7%). The activity of the injured person remained the most relevant contributing factor even when the accident was caused by two or more risk factors. Discussion. Occupational fatal injuries occurred mainly in small size firms featured by deteriorated workplaces and undocumented workers. Small companies generally have less resources to catch up with the continuously evolving health and safety at work regulations; moreover, they tend to be less compliant with occupational health and safety regulations since are less likely to be inspected by occupational vigilance services. As a result, the enforcement of regulations to control the occupational risk factors of occupational injuries is seemingly costly and scarcely effective. Perspectives. An approach that is being introduced in Italy rely on the use of economic incentives to promote safe and healthy workplaces. Randomization of firms to intervention companies and “waiting list” controls could allow an unbiased evaluation of financial incentives to prevent work related injuries.

Expressing agency in antagonistic policy environments

ABSTRACTStudies have shown how centralized institutions in resource management lead to adverse impacts on communities. However, important questions remain about the mechanisms through which people thrive under unfavorable policy environments. This paper examines how locals around the Mount Cameroon National Park (MCNP) carve space for articulating their agency despite unsympathetic management initiatives. Using focus group discussions and thematic analysis of data from 17 villages, the results identified arrangements that do not entirely solicit local consent in natural resource management. In this context, locals express their agency holding onto cultural traditions through religious engagement and the use of economic incentives to enhance livelihoods. They do so with the aid of traditional institutions, awareness of system challenges, acting more wisely, and initiating constructive needs in remote areas.

China’s principal–agent problem in the Czech Republic: the curious case of CEFC

Although it appears that China’s state capitalism model means that state-owned and private companies are utilised in the service of foreign policy goals such as international investments under the umbrella of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the reality is more complex. The behaviour and interests of Chinese commercial actors do not always correspond with the stated aims and strategy of government officials. The article examines Chinese economic diplomacy in the Czech Republic from 2015 to 2018, assessing the extent to which the private company CEFC China Energy acted as an agent of the Chinese state as part of a coordinated strategy designed to increase Chinese economic and political influence via the use of economic incentives. CEFC was at the forefront of Chinese investments in the Czech Republic during this period but CITIC, a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE), took over these in May 2018 while the head of CEFC was reportedly being detained in China. The research is theorised in terms of the principal–agent problem, which posits that conflicts of interest and asymmetries of information affect coordination between principals (such as Chinese leaders) and agents (such as private companies). Since the case study reveals conflicts of interest between principals and agents in Chinese state-led economic diplomacy in the Czech Republic, it has implications for understanding the characteristics and practical implications of BRI-framed investment drives in the remainder of the Central and Eastern Europe region.

Heterogeneous demand for ecologically sustainable products on ensuring environmental sustainability in South Africa

There is an urgent need for the development of environmentally sustainable products market in developing economies, particularly in South Africa due to increasing ecological externalities and risk. We use a stated preference method to examine the heterogeneous demand for ecologically sustainable products. A hybrid latent class model was employed to account for the inclusion of attitudinal information, potential endogeneity and measurement errors. The empirical estimates demonstrate that majority of the respondents attach significant monetary values to meat products with minimal environmental impacts in terms of water and carbon footprint values. We found three heterogeneous consumer segments, with distinct utilities and monetary values attached to water and carbon footprint attributes. Furthermore, the findings show that consumers’ choice and valuation of the sustainability attributes significantly relate to their fundamental attitudes towards the environment and sustainable practices, as well as their knowledge towards environmental sustainability. The use of economic incentives as a mechanism to ensure environmental sustainability is feasible in South Africa. The empirical framework used offered a theoretical advantage in terms of endogeneity bias and measurement error, relative to the traditional latent class model.

Paris is not enough: Toward an Information Technology (IT) enabled transnational climate policy

The 2015 Paris Agreement was undoubtedly an important diplomatic achievement. Organizations and experts have rallied around it, all the more since the attack against the agreement by the current US administration. This rally has led to a collective unwillingness to acknowledge what the evidence already tells us: the Paris Agreement and the currently dominant, international approach to climate change policy will not work. Much faster and more decisive change is needed; a paradigm shift. We need a policy which provides for a realistic yet rapid transition from our dependence on cheap fossil fuels to deep decarbonization and a sustained reliance on renewable sources of energy. We argue in this paper that, thanks to advances in Information Technology (IT) and social media, viable options exist for an alternative global, transnational climate policy. Three key principles have to be followed: (i) gradual expansion across boundaries; (ii) use of economic incentives to compel behavioral change; and (iii) a close link between the price of carbon and the use of raised funds. The funds from the climate risk surcharge collected on fossil fuels at the source, a central piece of the proposal, are to be used for subsidizing adaption to and insurance against damage from climate change. The paper argues that the challenges in terms of information requirements and institutional resistance can be overcome if IT solutions are deployed within a public-private governance framework that protects the public interest.