SABIIA - Sistema Aberto e Integrado de Informação em Agricultura (Sabiia)

Walls, Margaret; MacAuley, Molly K.; Anderson, Soren T..

We study determinants of market organization of local public services by an empirical examination of one of the most visible municipal services, residential waste management. Using a multinomial logit model and data for 1,000 U.S. communities, we explore the effect of political influence, voter ideology, environmental constraints, production costs (i.e., "economies of density"), and contracting transaction costs on a community's choice of market arrangement for waste collection and recycling. We find that cost factors are a significant determinant of service delivery method. In contrast, few of the political variables are statistically significant. These results hold for our models of both waste and recycling, lending further evidence to the conclusion...

Issues at the Forefront of Public Policy for Environmental Risk: Comments for the American Meteorological Society's Annual Policy Colloquium

Palavras-chave: Market organization; Solid waste management; State and local government; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q20; H70.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10892

The lay of the policy land for addressing and managing environmental risk includes the hillock of the precautionary principle, the mountain of the practice and ethics of monetary valuation, and the tectonic plates of real-world innovations in markets and trading exchanges for nonmarketed environmental goods. This paper offers an overview of these contemporary and as yet unresolved issues and asks how each might be addressed in disparate environmental risks such as lightning, climate change, and severe weather. The overview focuses on issues that may be of interest to the American Meteorological Society's annual policy colloquium.

Estimating Future Consumer Welfare Gains from Innovation: The Case of Digital Data Storage

Palavras-chave: Risk; Environment; Public policy; Economics; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q00; D89.

Ano: 2006

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10494

Austin, David H.; MacAuley, Molly K..

We develop a quality-adjusted cost index to estimate expected returns to investments in new technologies. The index addresses the problem of measuring social benefits from innovations in service sector inputs, where real output is not directly observable. We forecast welfare gains from two U.S. Advanced Technology Program innovations equaling 25%-50% of expected price, and aggregate consumer benefits of $1-$2 billion, relative to trends in existing technologies. Our model's probabilistic parameters reflect uncertainty about prospective outcomes and in our hedonic estimates of shadow values for selected product attributes. The index can be readily adopted by research and development (R&D) managers in industry and government.

A Quality-Adjusted Cost Index for Estimating Future Consumer Surplus from Innovation

Palavras-chave: Quality-adjusted cost index; Consumer surplus; Innovation; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies; O32; H43; D60.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10814

Austin, David H.; MacAuley, Molly K..

This paper describes a model for estimating, in a probabilistic framework, expected future consumer surplus from planned new product innovations. The model has been applied to estimations of taxpayer benefits from NASA's New Millenium Program (NMP), which develops new technologies for space science, and to the digital data storage technologies being supported by the Department of Commerce's Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The model uses cost index methods based on consumers' estimated marginal valuation for quality improvements in the technology. Probabilistic values for performance increases are taken from the innovators' own expectations. The analysis reveals the sensitivity of welfare increases to these values, which are assumed to be biased upward....

The Value of Information: A Background Paper on Measuring the Contribution of Space-Derived Earth Science Data to National Resource Management

Palavras-chave: Quality-adjusted cost index; Consumer surplus; Innovation; Environmental Economics and Policy; O32; H43; D60.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10655

This study, prepared at the request of the Office of Earth Science at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), describes a general framework for conceptualizing the value of information and illustrates how the framework might be used to value information from earth science data collected from space. The framework serves two purposes. One purpose is provision of a common basis by which to conduct and evaluate studies of the value of earth science information that serves a variety of uses, from improving environmental quality to protecting public health and safety. The second purpose is to better inform decision-makers about the value of data and information. Decision-makers comprise three communities: consumers and producers of...

An Economic Assessment of Space Solar Power as a Source of Electricity for Space-Based Activities

Palavras-chave: Value of information; Earth science; Natural resource economics; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; O32; O38; Q28.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10839

MacAuley, Molly K.; Davis, James F..

We develop a conceptual model of the economic value of space solar power (SSP) as a source of power to in-space activities, such as spacecraft and space stations. We offer several estimates of the value based on interviews and published data, discuss technological innovations that may compete with or be complementary to SSP, and consider alternative institutional arrangements for government and the private sector to provide SSP.

Competition and Car Longevity

Palavras-chave: Innovation; Government policy; Environmental Economics and Policy; O33; O32; L98.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10794

Hamilton, Bruce W.; MacAuley, Molly K..

We examine determinants of the nearly 30 percent increase in the average age of domestically produced, registered automobiles since the mid-1960s. We find that very little of the increase in car longevity is attributable to improvements in the inherent durability of cars. Rather, we find that the temporal pattern of longevity improvement is highly correlated with the level of market concentration in the auto industry. In particular, we argue that the arrival of competition in the industry led to an increase in longevity largely by forcing a reduction in the price of auto maintenance and repair, which in turn induced consumers to maintain their cars into older age.

Earth Science Remote Sensing Data: Contributions to Natural Resources Policymaking

Palavras-chave: Market concentration; Automobile industry; Scrappage models; Public Economics; L1; L9.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10581

MacAuley, Molly K.; Vukovich, Fred M..

This paper traces the evolution of space-derived remote sensing data and data products from their initial dissemination to their impact on public policy related to climate change. We focus on the examples of renewable energy, public health, and ecosystem assessment. Our approach differs from previous studies that have characterized the value of data in terms of the fundamental scientific phenomena they describe. In our research we have sought to identify contributions of space-derived earth science in "making a difference" beyond scientific understanding, thereby providing at least a partial answer to questions about the utility of research posed by Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, managers at the National Aeronautics and Space...

Enforcing Environmental Regulation: Implications of Remote Sensing Technology

Palavras-chave: Natural resources; Climate change; Space; Data; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; Q2; O38.

Ano: 2005

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10446

MacAuley, Molly K.; Brennan, Timothy J..

We review economic models of environmental protection and regulatory enforcement to highlight several attributes that are particularly likely to benefit from new enforcement technologies such as remote sensing using satellites in space. These attributes include the quantity and quality of information supplied by the new technologies; the accessibility of the information to regulators, regulatees, and third parties; the cost of the information; and whether the process of information collection can be concealed from the observer. Satellite remote sensing is likely to influence all of these attributes and in general, improve the efficacy of enforcement.

Measuring the Contribution to the Economy of Investments in Renewable Energy: Estimates of Future Consumer Gains

Palavras-chave: Environmental regulation; New technologies; Remote sensing; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q2; Q28.

Ano: 1998

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10464

MacAuley, Molly K.; Shih, Jhih-Shyang; Aronow, Emily; Austin, David H.; Bath, Tom; Darmstadter, Joel.

In this paper we develop a cost index-based measure of the expected consumer welfare gains from innovation in electricity generation technologies. To illustrate our approach, we estimate how much better off consumers would be from 2000 to 2020 as renewable energy technologies continue to be improved and gradually adopted, compared with a counterfactual scenario that allows for continual improvement of conventional technology. We proceed from the position that the role and prospects of renewable energy are best assessed within a market setting that considers competing energy technologies and sources. We evaluate five renewable energy technologies used to generate electricity: solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, geothermal, wind, and biomass. For each, we...

Can Power from Space Compete?

Palavras-chave: Energy economics; Technical change; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy; Q4; O3.

Ano: 2002

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10588

MacAuley, Molly K.; Darmstadter, Joel; Fini, John N.; Greenberg, Joel S.; Maulbetsch, John S.; Schaal, A. Michael; Styles, Geoffrey S.W.; Vedda, James A..

Satellite solar power (SSP) has been suggested as an alternative to terrestrial energy resources for electricity generation. In this study, we consider the market for electricity from the present to 2020, roughly the year when many experts expect SSP to be technically achievable. We identify several key challenges for SSP in competing with conventional electricity generation in developed and developing countries, discuss the role of market and economic analysis as technical development of SSP continues during the coming years, and suggest future research directions to improve understanding of the potential economic viability of SSP.

Effects of Carbon Policies and Technology Change

Palavras-chave: Energy economics; Solar power; Space; Satellites; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy.

Ano: 2000

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10542

MacAuley, Molly K.; Shih, Jhih-Shyang.

We develop and estimate an index-based measure of expected consumer welfare under various carbon emissions control policies in the electricity generation sector. This approach estimates welfare effects by a somewhat less data intensive methodology than econometric approaches or more complex modeling. We include anticipated technological change in the production of renewable and nonrenewable power generation during the next two decades. We estimate welfare improvements from 2000 to 2020 as renewable energy technologies continue to be improved and gradually adopted, compared with a counterfactual scenario allowing for continual improvement of nonrenewable generation technology. We formally incorporate uncertainty. We evaluate the model under alternative...

Modeling the Costs and Environmental Benefits of Disposal Options for End-of-Life Electronic Equipment: The Case of Used Computer Monitors

Palavras-chave: Carbon emissions control; Electricity generation; Technological change; Consumer welfare; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q40; Q42; O33.

Ano: 2003

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10620

MacAuley, Molly K.; Palmer, Karen L.; Shih, Jhih-Shyang; Cline, Sarah A.; Holsinger, Heather.

Managing the growing quantity of used electronic equipment poses challenges for waste management officials. In this paper, we focus on a large component of the electronic waste stream computer monitors-and the disposal concerns associated with the lead embodied in cathode ray tubes (CRTs) used in most monitors. We develop a policy simulation model of consumers- disposal options based on the costs of these options and their associated environmental impacts. For the stock of monitors disposed of in the United States in 1998, our preliminary findings suggest that bans on some disposal options would increase disposal costs from about $1 per monitor to between $3 and $20 per monitor. Policies to promote a modest amount of recycling of monitor parts, including...

Allocation of Orbit and Spectrum Resources for Regional Communications: What's at Stake?

Palavras-chave: End-of-life electronics; Waste stream; Cost-benefit analysis; Environmental Economics and Policy; Q2; Q0; H8.

Ano: 2001

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10901

Contentious debate surrounds allocation of the geostationary orbit and electromagnetic spectrum, two resources used by communications satellites. An extensive economics literature alleges that the nonmarket administrative allocative procedures now in place are highly inefficient, but no research has empirically estimated the welfare loss. This paper develops a conceptual framework and a computerized model to estimate the economic value of the resources, the size and distribution of welfare costs associated with the present regulatory regime, and the potential gains from more market-like allocation.

A Herculean Task? Economics, Politics, and Realigning Government in the Case of U.S. Polar-Orbiting Weather Satellites

Palavras-chave: Outer space; Communications satellites; Pricing natural resources; Community/Rural/Urban Development; H4; Q2.

Ano: 1997

URL: http://purl.umn.edu/10746

In 1994 one of the most radical institutional restructurings in the U.S. government's provision of critical weather information took place after eight unsuccessful attempts. A presidential decision directive merged weather data collection by satellites operated by the Department of Defense for military operations and satellites operated by the Department of Commerce for civilian weather forecasting. Such radical restructuring involving government agencies with different objectives, economic constraints, and operating cultures is rare. This paper reviews the decision that led to "convergence," discusses economic arguments advanced for the merger, and finds that the problem of an incomplete contract, from the perspective of contract theory, is the...