scholarly journals Análisis del efecto de los mercados de agua sobre el beneficio de las explotaciones, la contaminación por nitratos y el empleo eventual agrario

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Calatrava Leyva ◽  
Alberto Garrido Colmenero
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Water Markets ◽  
Water Market ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
External Effects ◽  
Income Effects ◽  
Negative Income ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cost

The evidence available about the external effects of functioning water markets is ambiguous. While some authors have shown that water exchanges diminishes the polluting effects of irrigated agriculture, others conclude otherwise. The joint use of contaminant input taxes and the establishment of water markets gives rise to ambiguous results, because water and fertilisers are not substitutes. The objective of this paper is to examine the joint effects of establishing an hypothetical spot water market among farmers and a nitrogen tax on irrigators’ benefits, nitrogen pollution and hired external labour. Two non-linear models are formulated and developed that simulate irrigators’ behaviour and the functioning of inter-district water markets in the Guadalquivir basin. Results show that water markets would increase hired farm labour and irrigators’ surplus, though at the cost of increasing nitrates pollution. The reduction of nitrates contamination achieved by the tax is attenuated as a result of water exchanges, which in turn contribute to reduce the negative income effects caused by the nitrates tax. Water markets increase unambiguously the social benefits resulting from increasing hired labour.

scholarly journals The costs of icebreaking services: an estimation based on Swedish data

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Lindborg ◽  
Peter Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
External Effects ◽  
Marginal Costs ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Pricing Schemes ◽  
Swedish Data

AbstractIn winter, the sea around Sweden and Finland as well as parts of the waters around Canada, Russia and the USA become ice covered, and ships may require assistance from icebreakers to proceed to their destinations. This paper accordingly analyses the cost structure and estimates the cost of icebreaking operations at sea, including the costs of external effects of the icebreakers’ emissions, and analyses the consequences of different pricing schemes for financing icebreaking services. A regression analysis was carried out based on data from icebreaking services in Sweden over 14 winters from 2001/2002 to 2015/2016. The social marginal cost of an average assistance operation (which may involve more than one ship) is estimated at EUR 6476 and for each assisted ship EUR 5304. The same cost is EUR 907 per running hour for the icebreakers and EUR 1990 per hour a ship is assisted. Each additional nautical mile sailed by an icebreaker costs society EUR 141 and each assisted nautical mile EUR 234. The marginal cost is found not to be related to winter severity. Despite the significant social marginal costs, not including large fixed costs, icebreaking in Sweden and Finland is free of charge. The advantages and disadvantages of four pricing models that can be applied to cover at least parts of the costs to society are discussed. All models could create new distortions, but a price per assisted hour may be worth applying in practice.

scholarly journals Assessing Retail Biomass Electricity Efficiency in Japan: Focus on Average Cost and Benefit

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12274
Author(s):  
Noriko Irie ◽  
Naoko Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Resource Usage ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Comparative Cost ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biomass Resource ◽  
The Cost

Biomass utilisation has been one of the most pertinent topics in the field of sustainability. An example of biomass resource usage is renewable electricity (REL) using bioresources (Bio-REL). Although Bio-REL is widely disseminated globally, existing research suggests that it may be less economically efficient than other REL sources. The cost of Bio-REL has not changed in recent years, but the cost of solar or photovoltaic (PV) REL has been significantly reduced. Some studies also assert that retail Bio-REL is preferred less than PV-REL. As this is not well established in the literature, this study analysed the average levelised costs of energy (LCOE) and preferences for retail Bio-REL and PV-REL while focusing on the case of Japan. The results indicate that the average LCOE of retail Bio-REL was 1.4 times greater than that of PV-REL, while the willingness to pay (WTP) for Bio-REL was about half. The analysis has considerable relevance for countries other than Japan with comparative cost and preference for both REL sources. The research raises an important issue regarding the efficiency of the strategy of REL dissemination and proposes that a comprehensive economic analysis of the social benefits of Bio-REL be conducted.

Is the Minimum Wage Detrimental to the Economy?

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-330
Author(s):  
Anna Krajewska ◽  
Stefan Krajewski
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Average Salary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Consequent Increase

The minimum wage in Poland is relatively low. It amounts only 1,600 PLN in 2013. Therefore, it is no surprise that the trade unions have been making efforts to have it raised to the level of 50% of the average salary. However, this has been met with staunch resistance from employers. The liberal model of the economy, which dominates in Poland, favours employers. Moreover, the attitude of the government, politicians, the media, as well as many scientists towards this is not favourable. These are the objections usually raised against the increase of minimum wage: - raising the minimum wage entails unemployment growth; - an increase in the minimum wage entails an increase in the average pay, with a consequent increase in the inflation rate; - the amount of the minimum wage and its growth rate is frequently the basis for an index-linked pay increase in the budget institutions and some social benefits, which results in an increase in fixed budget spending, which is not justified economically; - the minimum wage level, regarded by employers as too high, results in the practice of paying workers outside the official payroll, thereby extending the grey area; - an increase in the minimum wage is a threat to businesses, especially to micro-enterprises, which operate on the brink of insolvency and may face bankruptcy; - an increase in the minimum wage raises the cost of labour and makes businesses less competitive. This paper, in its later part, provides arguments against the allegations. There is a one-sided view of the issue of the minimum wage in Poland. Wages are regarded exclusively as an element of the cost of labour and, as such, they should not increase as this is detrimental to entrepreneurs and to the economy. Such analyses disregard the social and economic (in a broad context) aspects of having a minimum wage. 

scholarly journals Sensuator: A Hybrid Sensor–Actuator Approach to Soft Robotic Proprioception Using Recurrent Neural Networks

Actuators ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Pornthep Preechayasomboon ◽  
Eric Rombokas
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Recurrent Neural Networks ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
State Estimator ◽  
Loop Control ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
The Cost

Soft robotic actuators are now being used in practical applications; however, they are often limited to open-loop control that relies on the inherent compliance of the actuator. Achieving human-like manipulation and grasping with soft robotic actuators requires at least some form of sensing, which often comes at the cost of complex fabrication and purposefully built sensor structures. In this paper, we utilize the actuating fluid itself as a sensing medium to achieve high-fidelity proprioception in a soft actuator. As our sensors are somewhat unstructured, their readings are difficult to interpret using linear models. We therefore present a proof of concept of a method for deriving the pose of the soft actuator using recurrent neural networks. We present the experimental setup and our learned state estimator to show that our method is viable for achieving proprioception and is also robust to common sensor failures.

Constructing Images of Deviance: A Look at State Intervention into the Problem of Wife-Battery

1983 ◽  
Vol 31 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Social Problem ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Wife Battering ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class Context ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cost

Patricia Morgan's paper describes what happens when the state intervenes in the social problem of wife-battering. Her analysis refers to the United States, but there are clear implications for other countries, including Britain. The author argues that the state, through its social problem apparatus, manages the image of the problem by a process of bureaucratization, professionalization and individualization. This serves to narrow the definition of the problem, and to depoliticize it by removing it from its class context and viewing it in terms of individual pathology rather than structure. Thus refuges were initially run by small feminist collectives which had a dual objective of providing a service and promoting among the women an understanding of their structural position in society. The need for funds forced the groups to turn to the state for financial aid. This was given, but at the cost to the refuges of losing their political aims. Many refuges became larger, much more service-orientated and more diversified in providing therapy for the batterers and dealing with other problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse. This transformed not only the refuges but also the image of the problem of wife-battering.

Reading a water menu: Bottled water and the cultivation of taste

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Biro
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Water Market ◽  
Anthropogenic Influence ◽  
Social Character ◽  
The Social

The market for bottled water is growing and increasingly segmented. How do we explain not just the willingness to pay for a substance (water) that is almost free but also the increasing discernment in a drink generally considered tasteless? We argue that bottled water market segmentation is a leading edge of processes of water commodification, associated with the crisis of Fordism and rise of consumerist capitalism, where the assertion of status through commodity consumption is increasingly necessary. The extensive Ray’s & Stark water menu is analyzed to show how the taste for bottled waters is cultivated. In the menu, references to gustatory sensation are limited. Instead, the tastefulness of water inheres in the distance from anthropogenic influence, made visible through scientific (geological) discourses. The tension between the desire to consume unmediated nature and the scientific abstraction necessary to recognize it reveals the social character of the taste for bottled waters. The highly refined sense of taste that the water menu’s readers are presumed to have is a reflection of consumerist capitalism’s distinctive ways of reproducing socio-economic inequality and metabolizing non-human nature.

THE CONTROL OF CHILD-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION: A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH TO ACCIDENT OCCURRENCE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 799-805
Author(s):  
Byron W. Wight
Keyword(s):  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Remedial Program ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Childhood Accidents ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Cost

Two decades ago, in a pioneering study, the Canadian psychiatrist John Tillmann demonstrated that drivers with a record of repeated automobile accidents did not confine their "accident" behavior to the highway. They were—to a substantially greater extent than accident-free drivers— "in trouble" in various aspects of their lives. Their records in a variety of social and legal agencies documented widespread pathology—economic, social, psychological, physical. Tillmann's conclusion, "You drive as you live," has achieved wide currency, but it has taken almost two decades for his conceptual framework to be applied to nonvehicular accidents—and especially to childhood accidents. Where such attempts have been made—where the investigator has broadened his focus on the "mechanics" of the accident to include a view of the personal and social characteristics of the individuals involved—the findings have been striking. Waller's unpublished study of shooting accidents demonstrates, for example, that those who have such accidents are quite different from gun owners who are accident-free. The paper that follows demonstrates some significant differences between mothers suspected of physically abusing their children and mothers of children whose accidents do not involve the suspicion of abuse. Perhaps because the early, largely discredited, concept of "accident proneness" was fundamentally a psychological one, there remains a tendency in many investigators to seek out psychological characteristics that distinguish child-abusing parents from those who do not abuse their children. Since the significant distinguishing psychological variables usually involve unusual sensitivity to social stresses or a general deficiency in coping ability, a remedial program may attempt either psychotherapy of the individual or a general alleviation of the social stresses. The social approach offers a practical alternative to the cost and uncertainty of the psychotherapeutic approach.

scholarly journals The global value of water in agriculture

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (36) ◽  
pp. 21985-21993
Author(s):  
Paolo D’Odorico ◽  
Davide Danilo Chiarelli ◽  
Lorenzo Rosa ◽  
Alfredo Bini ◽  
David Zilberman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shadow Price ◽  
Water Markets ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Market Prices ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Water Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Value Of Water

Major environmental functions and human needs critically depend on water. In regions of the world affected by water scarcity economic activities can be constrained by water availability, leading to competition both among sectors and between human uses and environmental needs. While the commodification of water remains a contentious political issue, the valuation of this natural resource is sometime viewed as a strategy to avoid water waste. Likewise, water markets have been invoked as a mechanism to allocate water to economically most efficient uses. The value of water, however, remains difficult to estimate because water markets and market prices exist only in few regions of the world. Despite numerous attempts at estimating the value of water in the absence of markets (i.e., the “shadow price”), a global spatially explicit assessment of the value of water in agriculture is still missing. Here we propose a data-parsimonious biophysical framework to determine the value generated by water in irrigated agriculture and highlight its global spatiotemporal patterns. We find that in much of the world the actual crop distribution does not maximize agricultural water value.

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