Andreas A. Andrikopoulos

Cost structure and productivity growth in European railway systems

The purpose of this paper is threfold: first, to empirically investigate the cost-structure of railway systems in the ten European Countries of the European Union. second to provide measures of economies (diseconomies) of scale and fully investigate the manner by which economies of scale have effected the cost structure of the system and have been affected by the growth in input prices and technology, and third to measure economic efficiency and identify its sources.

Energy and environment: Reducing CO2 emissions from the electric power industry

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to (1) investigate the production (cost) structure of electric power generation in view of CO 2 emissions reduction policies; (2) empirically analyze the role of uncontrolled CO 2 emissions in shaping the production structure of the industry; and (3) explore long-run strategies for reducing CO 2 emissions generated by the industry. For the implementation of our purpose, two methodological approaches were used: the econometric approach and the economic-engineering approach. The econometric approach, based on the translog production technology, focuses on issues relating to cost structure of the industry, input relationships (i.e., substitutability vs. complementarity), and related CO 2 policy issues. On the other hand, the economic-engineering approach, which is a synthesis of a probabilistic simulation and a dynamic programming model, develops least-cost expansion plans aimed at reducing CO 2 emissions to desired levels. The estimates obtained from the econometric model reveal that the production (cost) structure of the electricity industry in Greece has become heavily reliant on a high-carbon fuel technology (i.e., lignite generation of electricity). However, the estimated partial elasticities of substitution suggest that carbon taxes will induce a shift away from lignite to oil and hydro technologies, and energy conservation. On the other hand, the findings supplied by the economic-engineering model suggest policy options, which are not presently in use, to reduce CO 2 emissions. Specifically, the findings indicate that lignite generation can be replaced by natural gas, coal, or lignite technologies with CO 2 removal capabilities, hydro and other renewable generating technologies. Effective carbon tax policies leading to least-cost expansion plans depend on the size of the target and its timing.

Taxation and political business cycles in EU economies

This paper examines whether incumbent national governments of 11 member states of the European Union manipulated the tax policy instruments at their disposal in order to create national political business cycles, opportunistic or partisan. The empirical evidence, based on data concerning the 1965 to 1997 period, does not support this hypothesis. Rather, it appears that governments have pursued stabilization policies.

Using Intellectual Capital Statements to Determine Value Drivers and Priorities for Organizational Change: A Portfolio Selection Approach

Ex post examination of a firms performance in key intellectual capital indicators can demonstrate the value-creating potential and the organizational change aspect of intellectual capital reporting and management. These insights form the basis of an intellectual capital portfolio selection problem. Portfolio selection takes place in two stages. First, we calculate mean returns and variances for each market-valued portion of intellectual capital. Based on these estimations, we set up a portfolio selection problem. The solution to this portfolio selection problem provides priorities for organizational change. In this framework, the portfolio weights stand for organizational priorities, the weight constraints represent organizational barriers for change and the correlation of returns stands for the organizational interdependence of the intellectual capital components.

Electoral and Partisan Cycle Regularities: A Cointegration Test

Abstract This paper presents a methodology for identifying electoral and partisan cycle regularities in target variables and policy instruments. Our approach consists of the following steps: (1) examines the time series employed for the presence of a unit root in their individual autoregressive representations, and cointegration; (2) derives the growth component and constructs the cycle component of each time series; and (3) estimates regression equations of the cycle components of the series in terms of political and nonpolitical regressors. The empirical analysis refers to Greece and provides significant support of electoral cycles in economic outcomes and mixed evidence of electoral and partisan cycles in policy instruments.

Global warming: least-cost electricity planning to meet CO2 emissions limits

This paper explores least-cost strategies for reducing CO2 emissions from the electric power industry. It uses an economic-engineering model for electric generation capacity expansion to investigate expansion plans which meet alternative CO2 emissions constraints in the lowest cost. The model selects the mix of various energy technologies, which are either presently in use or will possibly be in use in the future, to meet a specific carbon emissions limit and, furthermore, estimates the optimal tax required to achieve the least-cost strategy for reducing emissions to the desired level. Using Greece as a case study, the study suggests that to stabilize CO2 emissions at their 1990 level by the year 2005 and thereafter, the industry should move away from lignite generation to hydro and renewables and to coal or lignite technologies with CO2 removal capabilities. An optimal tax of

Fiscal policy and political business cycles in the EU

105 per ton of carbon is required to achieve this target in the lowest cost.