scholarly journals Ecolabeling as a Policy Instrument for More Sustainable Development: The Evidence of Supply and Demand Interactions from Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9581
Author(s):  
Svetlana Ratner ◽  
Konstantin Gomonov ◽  
Svetlana Revinova ◽  
Inna Lazanyuk
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Consumer Awareness ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Environmental Labels

Ecolabeling can complement more conventional policy instruments such as taxes and subsidies to stimulate more sustainable development of the economy. However, in practice, ecolabels may not always comply with legal requirements in terms of reliability, accuracy and clarity, and sometimes deliberately mislead the consumer. In Russia and many other developing countries, the problem of inaccurate information on the environmental properties of goods and services is still not recognized. The only regulatory document that currently defines the basic principles for developing and using environmental labels and declarations is the national versions of international standards ISO 14020/14021/14024/14025-Environmental Labels Package. This paper contributes to the literature in two main dimensions. It assesses the degree of prevalence of ecolabeling in the Russian market of everyday goods and the reliability and informational content of frequently used labels (supply-side research). Second, it estimates the consumers’ awareness and reaction to ecolabeled products (demand-side research). The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that low consumer awareness keeps the level of greenwashing low, but at the same time does not stimulate eco-innovations. We suggest developing smartphone applications that allow buyers to check the compliance of ecolabels on a product with ISO standards directly during the shopping process. We propose to use this approach as a cost-effective and straightforward way to simultaneously raise consumer awareness of ecolabeling and reduce the likelihood of greenwashing.

scholarly journals Improving poverty reduction in Europe: What works best where?

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrysa Leventi ◽  
Holly Sutherland ◽  
Iva Valentinova Tasseva
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Income Poverty ◽  
Child Benefits ◽  
What Works ◽  
Effective Instrument

This article examines how income poverty is affected by changes to the scale of tax-benefit policies and which are the most cost-effective policies in reducing poverty or limiting its increase in seven diverse EU countries. We do that by measuring the implications of increasing/reducing the scale of each policy instrument, using microsimulation methods while holding constant the policy design and national context. We consider commonly applied policy instruments with a direct effect on household income: child benefits, social assistance, income tax lower thresholds and a benchmark case of rescaling the whole tax-benefit system. We find that the assessment of the most cost-effective instrument may depend on the measure of poverty used and the direction and scale of the change. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the options that reduce poverty most cost-effectively in most countries are increasing child benefits and social assistance, while reducing the former is a particularly poverty-increasing way of making budgetary cuts.

scholarly journals Gridlock and inefficient policy instruments

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1483-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Austen-Smith ◽  
Wioletta Dziuda ◽  
Bård Harstad ◽  
Antoine Loeper
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Stochastic Game ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Technology Standards ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Legislative Veto ◽  
Shed Light

Why do rational politicians choose inefficient policy instruments? Environmental regulation, for example, often takes the form of technology standards and quotas even when cost‐effective Pigou taxes are available. To shed light on this puzzle, we present a stochastic game with multiple legislative veto players and show that inefficient policy instruments are politically easier to repeal than efficient instruments. Anticipating this, heterogeneous legislators agree more readily on an inefficient policy instrument. We describe when inefficient instruments are likely to be chosen, and predict that they are used more frequently in (moderately) polarized political environments and in volatile economic environments. We show conditions under which players strictly benefit from the availability of the inefficient instrument.

scholarly journals The Efficacy of Monetary Policy Variables in Reducing Unemployment Rate in Nigeria

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amassoma D ◽  
Francis Oluwatosin Esther
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Unemployment Rate ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Policy Variable ◽  
Monetary Authorities ◽  
Sustainable Investment ◽  
Using Data

The main purpose of embarking on this study is to ascertain the effectiveness of monetary policy in reducing unemployment rate in Nigeria using data spanning from 1970-2013. Despite the inconsistences in monetary policy instruments in Nigeria over the years there had not been much concrete evidence from theoretical and empirical literatures, regarding whether or not monetary policy is an effective tool that can be used to achieve key macroeconomic objective in the country vis-a-vis unemployment rate. The aforementioned as made this current study to be inevitable in terms of ascertaining whether monetary policy instrument in form of contractionary monetary policy exhibits the tendency to reduce unemployment rate in the country which is a topical issue around the globe. In order to achieve the above goals, the study utilized multiple regressions (OLS) approach and error correction modelling was used to examine the effect of some key monetary policy variables on unemployment in Nigeria. Evidence from the result shows that exchange rate and consumer’s price index are the only monetary policy variables that influence unemployment rate while others do not. The results equally x-rayed that there is a unidirectional causality between monetary policy variable and unemployment rate which runs from exchange rate to unemployment. Owing from the above, the study therefore recommends that, the monetary authorities via central bank of Nigeria should ensure some reasonable monetary policy stands that would be suitable in reducing interest rate in the economy. Furthermore they should ensure relatively stable prices of goods and services which would guarantee sustainable investment that can enhance employment opportunities in the country.

The supply and demand of preventive goods and services and the need for economic analysis

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-52
Author(s):  
Seow Tien Yeo ◽  
Huw Lloyd-Williams ◽  
Rhiannon T. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Allocative Efficiency ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Monetary Benefit ◽  
Net Monetary Benefit

Chapter 2 introduces readers to micro-economic theory of utility, rational choice, and demand and supply. This chapter explains to readers why markets for healthcare goods and services fail and why this failure is so spectacular in the case of preventive goods and services. The chapter introduces readers to the need for economic evaluation in public health to guide the allocation of scarce public resources towards cost-effective prevention initiatives. This chapter goes on to explain the purpose of economic evaluation and its relationship to key concepts such as scarcity, choice, allocative efficiency, technical efficiency, and opportunity cost in health economics. With relevance to public health, readers are introduced to incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs), cost-effectiveness planes, and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEACs), net monetary benefit (NMB), and their relationship to payer thresholds.

scholarly journals Diversification as a tool for sustainable development of rural areas in the con-text of decentralization

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (96) ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
N. Khomiuk ◽  
N. Pavlikha ◽  
I. Voronyj
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Environmental Safety ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Goods And Services

The article substantiates diversification as a tool to ensure sustainable development of rural areas in decentralization, which contributes to increasing incomes of the rural population, increasing gross agricultural and non-agricultural products, ensuring the competitiveness of rural areas, achieving economic, food and environmental safety, rational use, protection and reproduction of natural resources. In the process of researching the level of sustainable development of rural areas, monographic and graphic methods and scientific generalization were used. The study identified internal factors that affect the sustainable development of rural areas. Social factors include living conditions, the situation on the labor market, the state of social infrastructure. Economic factors should include the provision of agricultural land, the state of diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities, the amount of investment in economic development, the level and structure of household income in rural areas. Environmental factors include the level of air pollution, the situation with waste, the use of freshwater, the application of fertilizers to soils, the production and restoration of forests, the level of investment in environmental protection. External factors influencing the sustainable development of rural areas include the political situation in the country and the world; decentralization process; state programs to support rural development and agriculture; the level of supply and demand for goods and services produced in a particular area, etc. It is substantiated that diversification is a tool to ensure sustainable development and strengthen the competitive advantages of rural areas. It is stipulated that attracting investments in rural development and diversification of economic activity will contribute to job creation; income growth of rural residents; the revival of local crafts, customs and crafts, improvement of villages and change of consciousness of villagers. Further research should be carried out in the direction of calculating the integrated index of sustainable development of rural areas in Ukraine to identify regional disparities in the social, economic and environmental spheres of the functioning of these areas in the context of decentralization.

The role of standardization as a key Tool of Quality Economics in the development of integration of the Eurasian Economic Union

2019 ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
V. V. Okrepilov ◽  
A. G. Gridasov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Member States ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Union

The presented study examines the experience of forming a regulatory framework for the integration of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states through the example of standardization as one of the key tools of quality economics.Aim. The study analyzes the major solutions of the EAEU authorities and member countries aimed at increasing the role of standardization in the economic integration of the Union over five years of its existence.Tasks. The authors identify efficient methods for developing standardization for the integration of the EAEU states as well as the most problematic aspects in this field that need to be taken into account in the qualitative strengthening of the Union’s economy.Methods. This study uses general scientific methods of cognition to examine the activities of the EAEU authorities and member states aimed at creating a system for the economic integration of the Union during a period of its transition from separate national markets towards a single (common) market.Results. Over five years of operation in the field of stadardization, the Eurasian Economic Union has created the necessary organizational and legal framework to ensure the successful development of integration processes. The national legislation on standardization has been modernized with allowance for the harmonization of these laws. In the next five-six years, the development of international standards for 40 technical regulations is expected to be completed, which would create a regulatory framework for unhindered interaction between all participants of the single (common) EAEU market. Conclusions. The analysis of activities in the field of standardization reveals a sufficiently thought-out and coordinated policy of the EAEU states in creating the necessary conditions for overcoming legal and administrative barriers in the movement of goods and services within the common economic space of the EAEU.

scholarly journals A RECONSIDERATION OF THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF MONETARY POLICY RULES: FISHER VERSUS CHICAGO

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-82
Author(s):  
George S. Tavlas
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Price Level ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Policy Rule ◽  
Policy Rules ◽  
Monetary Policy Rules

There has long been a presumption that the price-level stabilization frameworks of Irving Fisher and Chicagoans Henry Simons and Lloyd Mints were essentially equivalent. I show that there were subtle, but important, differences in the rationales underlying the policies of Fisher and the Chicagoans. Fisher’s framework involved substantial discretion in the setting of the policy instruments; for the Chicagoans the objective of a policy rule was to tie the hands of the authorities in order to reduce discretion and, thus, monetary policy uncertainty. In contrast to Fisher, the Chicagoans provided assessments of the workings of alternative rules, assessed various criteria—including simplicity and reduction of political pressures—in the specification of rules, and concluded that rules would provide superior performance compared with discretion. Each of these characteristics provided a direct link to the rules-based framework of Milton Friedman. Like Friedman’s framework, Simons’s preferred rule targeted a policy instrument.

scholarly journals Transformation of Sociocultural Integration Policy and Inherent Political Theories in the United Kingdom: A Way Forward

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110074
Author(s):  
Samiul Parvez Ahmed ◽  
Sarwar Uddin Ahmed ◽  
Ikramul Hasan
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Integration Policy ◽  
The United Kingdom

The contemporary integration policies (Community Cohesion Agenda [CCA]) of the United Kingdom have been criticized for their foundational weaknesses, conceptual inadequacies, myopic views with regard to the complexity of the issue, lack of evidence, and so on. Vast majority of the studies conducted to verify this discourse have been done in the line of theoretical arguments of diversity management rather than exploring their connections to a target community in reality. This study aims at establishing a linkage between the growing theoretical arguments of the integration discourse with empirical data in light of the policy framework of the CCA. We have selected the fastest growing Bangladeshi community of the CCA-adapted Aston City of Birmingham as the representative group of the ethnic minority communities of the United Kingdom. Qualitative data collection approach has been followed, where primary in-depth interviews were conducted on various policy actors, social workers, faith leaders, and Bangladeshi residents of Aston. The entire policy instrument, starting from its broad purposes to operational strategies, has been severely challenged by both residents of the community and relevant policy-implementing bodies in Aston. CCA policies appear to be largely inclined toward the interculturalism/communitarianism ideology rather than to multiculturalism. However, the empirical evidence shows that the need for multiculturalism, to be more specific—Bristol School of Multiculturalism, as a political theory remains in the integration discourse in the context of the United Kingdom. Findings are expected to have implications on practitioners and policy makers in designing diversity management policy instruments by having a wider synthesized view on both theoretical argument and empirical data.

scholarly journals Towards a Circular Economy Taxation Framework: Expectations and Challenges of Implementation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonidas Milios
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Material Resource ◽  
Waste Hierarchy ◽  
Tax Relief

AbstractThe transition to a circular economy is a complex process requiring wide multi-level and multi-stakeholder engagement and can be facilitated by appropriate policy interventions. Taking stock of the importance of a well-balanced policy mix that includes a variety of complementing policy instruments, the circular economy action plan of the European Union (COM(2020) 98 final) includes a section about “getting the economics right” in which it encourages the application of economic instruments. This contribution presents a comprehensive taxation framework, applied across the life cycle of products. The framework includes (1) a raw material resource tax, (2) reuse/repair tax relief, and (3) a waste hierarchy tax at the end of life of products. The research is based on a mixed method approach, using different sources to analyse the different measures in the framework. More mature concepts, such as material resource taxes, are analysed by reviewing the existing literature. The analysis of tax relief on repairs is based on interviews with stakeholders in Sweden, where this economic policy instrument has been implemented since 2017. Finally, for the waste hierarchy tax, which is a novel proposition in this contribution, macroeconomic modelling is used to analyse potential impacts of future implementation. In all cases, several implementation challenges are identified, and potential solutions are discussed according to literature and empirical sources. Further research is required both at the individual instrument and at the framework level. Each of the tax proposals needs a more detailed examination for its specificities of implementation, following the results of this study.

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