Government involvement in environmental technology development: a critical analysis

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc E. Norman

SummaryThis paper analyzes the justifications for governmental involvement in the development and commercialization of environmental technologies. To do so, a list of ‘generic’ rationales for government R&D involvement is extracted from various literature sources. Each rationale is discussed theoretically, and then analyzed in terms of its possible application to the environmental field. The intended contribution of the paper is to provide a theoretical background concerning the proper role of government in the development of environmental technologies. By determining the circumstances under which government involvement is justified, the groundwork is laid for the development of appropriate governmental policies.The paper argues that there are several salient features of the environmental field which may justify governmental involvement. The increasingly high degree of environmental regulation has already caused indirect market failures that hinder private R&D efforts. Potential technologies to counter environmental externalities represent public goods which have social benefits for which there are no incentives in the private market. Uncertainty due both to our lack of understanding of the complexities of the natural environment and to shifting environmental regulations and policies may cause a risk aversion in the private sector against developing technologies. Imperfect public knowledge concerning environmental issues leads to less than optimal demand for new environmental technologies. All of these features generate market distortions which cause private R&D to deviate from what is socially optimal. As a result, governmental involvement in environmental technology development may well be warranted.

Author(s):  
Rutenis Jancius ◽  
Gintare Vaznoniene ◽  
Algirdas Gavenauskas ◽  
Juozas Pekarskas

Ecological challenges encourage thinking about the quality of education, the need to develop a person who is responsible and able to live in harmony with the environment and is distinguished by ecological competences. The purpose of the research is to identify the ecological consciousness of pupils and values of pupils, which are developed based on the ‘Concept of the development of ecology and environmental technologies’. For the purpose of the research, a case study was applied, a quantitative research was carried out—the first school in Lithuania was analysed, where the concept of ecology and environmental technology development has been implemented since 2015. The research involved 11thand 12th grade pupils (N = 80). The results of the research were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlation analysis and comparison method.Keywords: Ecologic education, pupils, values, ecologic consciousness


Impact ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (6) ◽  
pp. 15-17
Author(s):  
Shigeru Yao ◽  
Patchiya Phanthong

Professor Shigeru Yao and Dr Patchiya Phanthong are conducting highly collaborative research that is focused on improving mechanical technology for recycling plastics, as well as extending the shelf life of plastics, thus reducing plastic waste. The researchers are based at the Yao Laboratory, in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Fukuoka University, Japan. Phanthong is a Project Research Assistant Professor from the Research Institute for the Creation of Functional and Structural Materials working under the supervision of Yao. In addition to heading up the lab, Yao is also the lead for the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) Advanced Research Program for Energy and Environmental Technologies. In their work, the researchers are collaborating with both industry and academia which is essential to its progression.


2021 ◽  
pp. 95-121
Author(s):  
Lourdes Casanova ◽  
Anne Miroux ◽  
Diego Finchelstein

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 1083-1084
Author(s):  
Barbara R. Bergmann

There are four important, interrelated issues in child-care policy, on which economists can make contributions. One is the adequacy of the supply of "affordable" child care. A second is the proper role of government, if any, in providing or paying for child care. A third is whether the public could afford to have the government provide child care, assuming that such provision was deemed appropriate and desirable. A fourth is the standards of quality that should be mandated by the government for federal or private-sector child-care facilities. The standard literature tends to be scant on all of these topics.1,2 Economists are seldom unanimous in their opinions, and they certainly do not agree on child-care issues. The now-sizeable school of economists led by Milton Friedman, whose members have staffed the administrations of the last two US presidents, believe that, with very few exceptions, government interventions into the economic functioning of the citizens and their businesses are pernicious. Economists faithful to this tradition argue that parents should buy child care out of their own incomes from nongovernmental providers and that those providers should be regulated minimally if at all. An opposing point of view is that child care is different in important ways from such commodities as shoes and strawberries. Children are the direct consumers of child care, and government intervention in protection of their interests is justified because they lack abilities that can be assumed to reside in the usual participants in the economy. Further, child care provided by or subsidized by government is an indispensable ingredient of any program aimed at bringing about the rescue of the 20% of American children who are officially designated as poor, who are living in conditions that should not be tolerated by a rich and civilized country.1


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erisher Woyo

This chapter analyses the role of government initiatives in tourism competitiveness, using data collected from suppliers operating in a distressed tourist destination. The government’s involvement in the process of tourism development, especially in developing countries, is critical. The role and participation of governments in tourism development vary from minimal to a high level of involvement. Developing economies with ongoing political and economic challenges like Zimbabwe have not been comprehensively researched, especially on the nexus between competitiveness and government initiatives. Using qualitative data from a convenience sample of 15 hospitality and tourism managers in Zimbabwe, it was found that the role of government is important for enhancing tourism competitiveness. The study concludes that a higher level of government involvement is needed for Zimbabwe to enhance competitiveness. The government should play a greater role, especially in providing an enabling environment for improved competitiveness while reducing corruption.


Author(s):  
Ana-Maria Pascal

This chapter explores the moral aspects of commercial deals that allegedly democratic governments enter into with foreign investors. These are discussed against a twofold theoretical background – where the philosophical ideal of public ethics based on truth and transparency meets business ethics theories. The Kantian ethics of duty proves to be the key link between these, as particularly relevant for cases where the impact on a wide range of stakeholders is considerable. The main case under consideration is the controversial USD $2 billion Romanian mining project at Rosia Montana, which highlights the need for accountability mentioned above and lends itself well to a multi-fold business ethics analysis. The role of the civil society in effectively stopping the project is a good illustration of the stakeholder theory. The chapter concludes with the thesis that a high degree of socio-political responsibility may be best achieved when trying to combine principle-based and utilitarian thinking.


2019 ◽  
Vol 974 ◽  
pp. 362-366
Author(s):  
Svetlana V. Samchenko ◽  
Olga V. Aleksandrova ◽  
Anna A. Zaitseva

The possibility of using technical glasswork with liquid glass to produce aerated concrete using low-energy technology was considered in the paper. The unsorted technical glass cullet use as a part of aerated concrete will allow the non-decomposing industrial wastes disposal, which makes it possible to speak about the environmental technology development, while reducing the cost of producing effective heat-insulating materials considers its economic efficiency. The optimum liquid glass density was established upon aerated concrete mix receipt, which should be at least 1.23 and not more than 1.35 g / cm3. The technical characteristics of aerated concrete based on cullet and liquid glass obtained in this work are determined. Thermal conductivity of aerated concrete with its density of 150-400 kg / m3 is 0.06 W/m°C. The resulting aerated concrete is recommended for thermal insulation of pipelines both during construction and during their repair.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (07) ◽  
pp. 2050047 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL SCHATZ ◽  
DIDIER SORNETTE

At odds with the common “rational expectations” framework for bubbles, economists like Hyman Minsky, Charles Kindleberger and Robert Shiller have documented that irrational behavior, ambiguous information or certain limits to arbitrage are essential drivers for bubble phenomena and financial crises. Following this understanding that asset price bubbles are generated by market failures, we present a framework for explosive semimartingales that is based on the antagonistic combination of (i) an excessive, unstable pre-crash process and (ii) a drawdown starting at some random time. This unifying framework allows one to accommodate and compare many discrete and continuous time bubble models in the literature that feature such market inefficiencies. Moreover, it significantly extends the range of feasible asset price processes during times of financial speculation and frenzy and provides a strong theoretical background for future model design in financial and risk management problem settings. This conception of bubbles also allows us to elucidate the status of rational expectation bubbles, which, by design, suffer from the paradox that a rational market should not allow for misvaluation. While the discrete time case has been extensively discussed in the literature and is most criticized for its failure to comply with rational expectations equilibria, we argue that this carries over to the finite time “strict local martingale”-approach to bubbles.


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