This paper analyses the performance of a multi-attribute auction for securing agri-environmental outcomes and cost-effective agri-environmental payments (AEPs). We set up a discriminatory price ...auction model in which farmers make an offer based on two attributes (i.e. the AEP and a proxy of environmental outcome). We provide a numerical simulation for a hypothetical agri-environmental scheme (AES) in Italy using FADN data 2011 for the Emilia-Romagna region (E-R). In three implementation scenarios, we compare the Budgetary cost-effectiveness (BCE), the Economic cost-effectiveness (ECE) and Information rent (IR) of the auction with that of two alternative policy instruments (i.e. uniform payment and marginal flat rate payment). Due to the heterogeneity in bidders' opportunity costs, the auction is more cost-effective than a uniform payment in delivering the target outcome. The performance indicators are sensitive to the farmers' expectations about the bid caps, revealing the opportunity of using both competition effect and information leverage associated with the implementation mechanism to increase the auction outcome when the budget is limited.
•Reviews agri-environmental auction designs.•Simulates the performance of a multi-attribute auction for securing agri-environmental outcomes.•Applies an empirical methodology to derive farmers' compliance costs.•Analyses budgetary cost-effectiveness, economic cost-effectiveness and the information rent•Introduces independent bidders’' expectations and the joint acceptance probability rule.
Payoff of the Grain for Green policy Cao, Shixiong; Xia, Chengqi; Xian, Junli ...
The Journal of applied ecology,
June 2020, 2020-06-00, 20200601, Letnik:
57, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
To protect the global ecological environment and prevent threats to human safety and property, nations around the world have invested heavily in ecological restoration programmes. However, we do not ...know whether these investments have been repaid by the resultant benefits.
To answer this question, we developed an improved method of quantifying costs and benefits that accounts for more of the costs associated with ecological restoration, thereby letting us calculate the net benefit.
To demonstrate this method, we analysed the Grain for Green Program (GGP), which is the world's largest ecological restoration programme. We found that the increase in net benefits amounted to a total of 530.1 × 109 RMB/year in 2017. However, 11 of China's 25 provinces have incurred net losses due to high cost increases and low increases in benefits under the GGP.
Synthesis and applications. Because compensation payments to farmers and herders whose livelihoods were disrupted by implementation of the Grain for Green Program only accounted for 0.8% of the programme's cost, improving compensation payments will be essential to its success. Assessing Grain for Green Program the largest ecological restoration programme in the world will provide guidance for ecological protection and restoration policies around the world.
Because compensation payments to farmers and herders whose livelihoods were disrupted by implementation of the Grain for Green Program only accounted for 0.8% of the programme's cost, improving compensation payments will be essential to its success. Assessing Grain for Green Program the largest ecological restoration programme in the world will provide guidance for ecological protection and restoration policies around the world.
•Cost-benefit can reveal the real benefits of an ecosystem.•The net benefit provides stronger support for decision-making for ecological conservation.•The net benefit is more practical than the ...payment for ecosystem services.
Land degradation, soil erosion by water, and desertification caused by deforestation are serious problems around the world. To counteract the effects of these problems, China’s government implemented the world’s largest and most comprehensive ecological restoration program: the Natural Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). However, it’s not yet known how well the program has succeeded because no one has performed a comprehensive cost–benefit analysis. To provide the missing information, we developed an improved cost–benefit analysis approach that accounts for as many benefits and costs (including opportunity costs) as possible given the current availability of data. Our analysis revealed a net benefit of 6.029×1012 RMB per year for the NFCP. The net benefit (after subtracting the costs) was highest for protection of natural vegetation to allow recovery, but was lowest for afforestation by planting. We found significant differences between regions of China, suggesting that governments of these regions should adjust the balance among their ecological restoration measures to account for unique local conditions and maximize the net benefit. In addition, governments should increase subsidies to the residents of program areas to compensate them for the costs imposed on them by the NFCP.
Zusammenfassung
Der Bund hat in den letzten Jahren mehrmals einen Bonus aus Mitteln der Lohn- und Einkommensteuer für jedes Kind gezahlt, was aufgrund der prozentualen Beteiligung an diesen Steuern ...zu Mindereinnahmen bei Ländern und Gemeinden geführt hat. Die Bundesländer inklusive ihrer Gemeinden sind unterschiedlich von den Mindereinnahmen betroffen. Dies liegt einmal daran, dass sich die Zahl der Kindergeldkinder zwischen den Bundesländern unterscheidet. Es liegt aber auch daran, dass der Kinderbonus wie Kindergeld behandelt wird und somit die steuerliche Entlastungswirkung der Kinderfreibeträge mindert. Die Wirkung der Kinderfreibeträge ist wiederum von der Einkommenshöhe abhängig, die ebenfalls zwischen den Bundesländern differiert.
Da der Bund sich bereit erklärt hat, diese Kinderbonuszahlungen in voller Höhe zu tragen, wurden Kompensationsgelder gezahlt, mit denen die Mindereinnahmen von Ländern und Gemeinden nahezu vollständig kompensiert wurden. Für die Verteilung dieser Kompensationsmittel auf Länder und Gemeinden sind zwei verschiedene Mechanismen angewendet worden. Diese beiden Ansätze führen zu unterschiedlichen Verteilungseffekte, wobei zwischen direkten Effekten (Verteilungsmechanismen der Mittel auf die Gebietskörperschaften) und indirekten Effekten (Länderfinanzausgleich) zu unterscheiden ist. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, welcher der beiden Ansätze zu einer genaueren Kompensation bei den Bundesländern inklusive der jeweiligen Gemeindeebene in dem Sinne führt, dass die Differenz bei den Einnahmen je Einwohner im Vergleich zur Situation ohne Kinderbonus gering gehalten wird.
There are some serious issues with the recruitment and motivation of the faculty in the publicly-funded higher education of the Russian Federation. They are a significant reduction in the number of ...teaching staff, a substantial part of the old-age staff, an increase in the total workload and extracurricular work. The most important reason of the described problems is the issue of remuneration. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to suggest some directions for the development of the material remuneration systems for the employees in the publicly funded higher education. The methodological basis of the research are such methods as analysis and synthesis, as well as abstraction and a structurally systematic approach. As a result, it was determined that: 1) unreasonably low official salaries established by professional qualification groups do not provide the reproduction function of wages in full; 2) the differentiation of official salaries for the lecturers of the same qualification level and the position held, due to the size of the financing of budgetary institutions and the remuneration policy of the university, leads to a violation of the principle of “an equal pay for an equal work”; 3) the presence of a large number of incentive payments in the salary structure leads to the “opacity” of wages. The following recommendations are formulated: the salary structure considering the specifics of the publicly funded higher education is justified, methodological approaches to the structure of the official salaries, as well as the incentive and compensation payments are developed.
The article considers the regulatory mechanism of remuneration of teachers, the specifics of the economic component of remuneration in higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation. The ...fundamental differences between economics and legal regulation of incentive payments to teachers of higher education have been investigated, aspects of compensation payments have been analysed. A number of problems of an economic, regulatory and law enforcement nature have been identified, which can reduce the motivation of the pedagogical community and negatively affect the quality of training of graduates of higher school. For each problem area, proposals have been developed to improve the provision of incentive and compensation payments in higher education institutions. The proposals are designed to increase the demand for pedagogical work and the competitiveness of domestic universities and enterprises.
Our objective was to describe a comprehensive obstetric patient safety program and its effect on reducing compensation payments and sentinel adverse events. From 2003 to 2009, we implemented a ...comprehensive obstetric patient safety program at our institution with multiple integrated components. To evaluate its effect on compensation payments and sentinel events, we gathered data on compensation payments and sentinel events retrospectively from 2003, when the program was initiated, through 2009. Average yearly compensation payments decreased from $27,591,610 between 2003-2006 to $2,550,136 between 2007-2009, sentinel events decreased from 5 in 2000 to none in 2008 and 2009. Instituting a comprehensive obstetric patient safety program decreased compensation payments and sentinel events resulting in immediate and significant savings.
The Borana cattle in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya have unique traits that make them suitable for the harsh environment in the lowlands and have long formed a part of their livestock-keepers' ...cultural identity. However, genetic erosion of this important cattle breed has been occurring at an accelerating rate for the last few decades. Conservation initiatives for the Borana breed are required and in this context, this study provides empirical evidence for the high economic value of the Borana breed and its different subtypes, measured by their distinct attributes. This evaluation, firstly, strengthens conservation justification and provides guidance regarding cost-efficient conservation approaches and, secondly, provides a better understanding of breeding values. The analysis presented is based on a choice model (CM) with 370 local livestock-keepers. The results of the CM indicate that the preferences for some cattle attributes (in particular for cultural traits such as body size and horn conditions) and Borana subtypes vary largely between Kenya and Ethiopia and that high monetary values are placed on adaptive traits, fertility and traction suitability. We further conclude that it is most cost-effective to conserve
in-situ the Ethiopian Borana subtype in Ethiopia and the Somali Borana subtype in Kenya.
•North-South climate funding requires enough public support in donor countries.•We identify support-increasing design elements through conjoint experiments.•No effect on support of recipient ...countries’ vulnerability, income, emission levels.•Balanced burden, joint decision making, use for mitigation increase public support.•Pure compensation mechanisms not feasible, need to contribute to global public good.
The adoption of the Warsaw mechanism on loss and damage has again highlighted the North-South divide in those parts of UNFCCC negotiations dealing with international climate finance. Current estimates put required funding from rich countries at 50–100 billion Euros per year to induce non-Annex I countries to take on greenhouse gas limitation commitments and to assist highly vulnerable countries. Results from survey-embedded conjoint experiments can help policy-makers anticipate opportunities and pitfalls in designing large-scale climate funding schemes. We implemented such experiments in the United States and Germany to better understand what institutional design characteristics are likely to garner more public support for climate funding among citizens in key developed countries. We find that climate funding receives more public support if it flows to efficient governments, funding decisions are made jointly by donor and recipient countries, funding is used both for mitigation and adaptation, and other donor countries contribute a large share. Contrary to what one might expect, climate change damage levels, income, and emissions in/of potential recipient countries have no significant effect on public support. These findings suggest that finance mechanisms that focus purely on compensating developing countries, without contributing to the global public good of mitigation, will find it hard to garner public support.
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