Pricing and assembly rate decisions for a prefabricated construction supply chain under subsidy policies

Prefabricated construction has attracted worldwide concern and promotion due to its environmental friendliness, high quality, and high efficiency. In China, the application of prefabricated construction still lags due to its high cost. To improve prefabricated construction development, the Chinese government and provinces have launched subsidy policies for different objects that offer subsidies to the assembler, the manufacturer, or consumers. Subsidy policies for different subsidy objects have different impacts on the manufacturer wholesale price and assembler retail price and assembly rate and make their decisions more complicated. Therefore, this study uses game theory and builds three models to analyze the effects of government subsidies on manufacturer pricing, assembler pricing, assembly rate decisions, and profit. We find that government subsidy policies can bring more profit to prefabricated construction enterprises, reduce their costs, and benefit the promotion of prefabricated construction. Through comparison and numerical analysis, we also find that when the government subsidizes enterprises more, it is better to subsidize the assembler, because it is good for all three parties. First, consumers can obtain a lower retail price. Second, enterprises can obtain more profits. Finally, for the government, this approach can increase the demand for prefabricated construction and increase the assembly rate, which is conducive to the promotion of prefabricated construction. When the government subsidizes customers more, it is better for the assembler and the manufacturer to subsidize customers, because they can obtain more profits. It is better for the government and customers to subsidize the assembler or the manufacture, because consumers can get the lower retail price. Although the assembly rate and enterprises’ profits are not optimal, they have also been improved. In addition, when the government directly subsidizes enterprises, the enterprises will actively cooperate with the subsidy policy and are more willing to adopt prefabricated construction. This approach will benefit the promotion of prefabricated construction.

Subsidy and Environmental Tax for Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling

In recent two decades, construction and demolition (C&D) waste is becoming a major source for municipal waste which causes serious damage to the environment. To solve the problem, waste recycling measures are gradually used to turn waste into treasures. Meanwhile, several kinds of policies such as waste disposal charging fees have been issued to stimulate stakeholders’ behavior to take waste recycling measures to promote the C&D waste recycling industry. However, the C&D waste recycling rate is still too low in China. In order to promote C&D waste recycling industrial development, this paper is aiming at introducing subsidy and environmental tax policies to promote C&D waste recycling. Based on system dynamics, this study establishes a model to determine the proper subsidy and environmental tax range. According to the simulation results, three kinds of incentive policies are obtained, namely, single subsidy policy, single environmental tax and combined incentive policies. Optimal single subsidy and environmental tax are in the interval [10, 30] and [20, 60], respectively. The best combination strategy is subsidy=10 yuan /ton and environmental tax=20 yuan/ton. The results from this paper could be a foundation for government to establish incentive policies to promote C&D waste recycling.

Ecodesign Strategy for Demand-Oriented Electrical and Electronic Products

Governments of various countries have formulated relevant EPR environmental regulations for environmental pollution caused by electrical and electronic products, and enterprises mainly respond to this regulation through product ecodesign strategies. In view of this, this paper takes a three-stage supply chain system composed of a manufacturer, a retailer and a third-party recycler as the research object, and develops a demand-oriented product ecodesign strategy for five scenarios under different environmental regulations, including eco-input subsidy, sales subsidy, consumption subsidy and recycling subsidy. This study finds that the manufacturer does not actively engage in product ecodesign if the government does not implement subsidy policies; when the government implements subsidy policies such as eco-input subsidy, sales subsidy, or consumption subsidy, the manufacturer will design a high-level ecological product. However, under the recycling subsidy policy, the manufacturer will design a low-level ecological product. These results suggest that different subsidy policies may lead to different eco-product strategies of the manufacturer. In particular, the recycling subsidy policy can encourage a recycler to recycle actively, thus reducing the environmental pollution cost of a manufacturer, but the manufacturer is reluctant to improve the ecological level of the finished product.

Towards a Systemic Assessment of Gendered Energy Transition in Urban Households

Assessment of gendered energy transition at an urban scale has emerged as a challenging issue for researchers, policy makers and practitioners. With municipalities becoming players in the energy markets, their involvement raises policy issues that need to be better assessed in supporting gendered energy transition. This paper, therefore, contributes to gendered energy transition assessments at urban household level from a policy maker perspective. We developed a system dynamics model to assess the effects of urban energy policy interventions on household energy consumption and gendered measures using Drakenstein Municipality as a case study. The study used secondary data from various sources for the model parameters. We tested three hypothetical policy scenarios: the business-as-usual, the energy subsidy policy and the energy efficiency policy. The results show that understanding the changes in urban household energy consumption and gendered measures due to energy transition interventions is essential for urban policy planning. The energy subsidy policy scenario was observed to increase total energy consumption but also resulted in socio-environmental impacts that might increase inequality and impair human health. Urban household energy transition interventions need to consider a systems approach to develop decision support tools that capture the cross-sector impacts and inform the development of interventions that promote gendered household energy transition.

Study on Agricultural Product-coupled Subsidy Policy Considering Output Uncertainty and the Development of Tobacco Agriculture

Objectives: The health and well-ordered development of tobacco agriculture is very important. The incentive effects of plant-coupled subsidies and output-coupled subsidies on farming decisions with the consideration of uncertainty are investigated. The study shows that if the same unit subsidy is adopted, the incentive effect of the two policies will be determined by the expected output. When the expected output is higher, the incentive effect of the output-coupled subsidy is better than that of the plant-coupled subsidy. And when the expected output is lower, the incentive effect of the plant-coupled subsidy is better. If the implementation scheme limits the total amount of subsidies, it is better to determine subsidy policy by optimal output. The higher the optimal output is, the better the plant-coupled subsidy is. And when the optimal output is relatively low, the output-coupled subsidy shows a better incentive effect. Meanwhile, the study results also show that the incentive effects of the two coupled subsidy policies for increasing production and income are consistent, and the advantages of the policy with better incentive effects increase as the amount of subsidies increases.

Behavioral Pattern of Rent Distribution of Subsidized Fertilizer)

The subsidized fertilizer policy is the government's effort to increase agricultural production and productivity in general. However, in the distribution process, there are still various distribution problems that lead to rent-seeking behavior. The purpose of this research is to describe the behavior of rent-seekers in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers. The research method used is focus group discussion (FGD) involving various stakeholders including (1) government, (2) academics, (3) associations, (4) farmer groups, (5) government-owned enterprises, and fertilizer distributors. The results showed that there had been a pattern of rent-seekers distributing subsidized fertilizers to farmers. The behavior of these rent-seekers includes fertilizer prices exceeding the Highest Economic Price (HET), transaction costs, fertilizer distribution that is not on target until there is a shortage of fertilizer. The government needs to develop a new strategy to optimize the distribution of subsidized fertilizers to farmers. The strategy is to change the subsidy policy to a direct subsidy to farmers. Furthermore, the government needs to optimize investment in the agricultural sector in the form of technology, human resources, electricity, and road infrastructure.

Simulating the Effect of Mixed Subsidy Policies on Urban Low-Value Recyclable Waste in China: A System Dynamics Approach

Low-value recyclable waste accounts for a large portion of urban waste output in many modern cities. The improper management and disposal of LVRW result in environmental pollution and a waste of resources. Given the characteristics of a high recovery cost and low recovery income of low-value recyclables, it is difficult to obtain a satisfactory waste disposal effect by completely relying on the market mechanism. It is thus necessary for the government to implement effective subsidies for multiple subjects in the urban waste recycling system (UWRS). This study examines the independent roles of four subsidy policies—subsidy to the third-party waste disposal institutions, subsidy to a state-owned waste disposal institution, R&D subsidy for green technology, and subsidy for government publicity—and develops a system dynamics model to verify the performance of the UWRS under different combinations of subsidy-based policies under multiple scenarios. Data on urban waste disposal for Guangzhou from 2019 and 2020 were used to validate and simulate the model. A sensitivity analysis of the main exogenous variables was carried out, and the conclusions are as follows: (1) On the premise of a fixed subsidy capital pool, a mixed subsidy policy produced the best impact on the UWRS. (2) The total subsidy needed to reach a certain threshold; otherwise, the mixed subsidy policy did not improve the UWRS. The total subsidy produced diminishing returns once it had exceeded the threshold. (3) Appropriately reducing subsidies for the third-party waste disposal institutions within a reasonable range does not affect the performance of the UWRS. (4) The effect of government publicity has short-term advantages, while the long-term potential of green technology is greater. Multi-agent coordination and the guidance of the market mechanism are important priorities in the design of subsidy-based policies. In addition, the trade-off between subjects needs attention, and a plan for mixed subsidy policies needs to be designed and implemented according to the response periods of different policies. The research here provides theoretical support for the government for designing subsidy-based policies.