David Hawdon

Input-output simulations of energy, environment, economy interactions in the UK

This paper shows how a number of the complex interrelationships between energy, environment and economic welfare can be investigated with the aid of a 10-sector input-output (I-O) model of the UK, with pollution emission coefficients and a European sulphur deposition vector. The paper reviews relevant past applications of I-O analysis in the energy-environment area and describes the ENDAM program and its operation. It is used to simulate the effects of a variety of policies and possibilities, not only through changes in exogenous variables (final demand and income taxes and transfers) but also through changes in the structural matrices and their coefficients. In each case the full effects, direct, indirect and income induced, can be traced and the changes in comparative static equilibrium values discovered. In this way, policy issues connected with energy use and environmental impacts, employment and economic welfare have been investigated.

Efficiency, performance and regulation of the international gas industry--a bootstrap DEA approach

Abstract Natural gas has become increasingly important as a source of energy in recent years. It is widely viewed as an attractive means of realizing environmental objectives post Kyoto, and individual country gas industries have been extensively restructured to encourage investment from the private sector. Barriers to international trade in gas have fallen particularly in areas such as Europe and Asia as pipeline facilities have expanded and trading systems have become established. An important question for policy makers concerns the use of scarce resources by this expanding industry. Regulatory authorities increasingly use efficiency comparators to incentivise minimum cost use of resources by price cap methods, yardstick competition and other techniques. This paper explores some of the policy developments, which affect efficiency of resource use in the gas industry, and uses data envelopment analysis to measure relative performance at the individual country level. Recent developments in bootstrapping techniques are used to correct efficiency estimates for bias and to assess the uncertainty surrounding such estimates. The implications of these results for regulatory authorities are then explored.

The efficiency of the National Electricity Board in Malaysia: An intercountry comparison using DEA

One of the most pressing questions facing developing countries and the international agencies that finance their economic programmes is the appropriate way in which to operate and manage their power industries. This paper focuses on one aspect of economic performance, namely the efficiency with which electricity is generated. Evidence suggests that changes in the organization of electricity generation can be justified on efficiency grounds. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to compare the performance of Malaysias National Electricity Board with those of other countries in a similar stage of development, as well as with that of the UK.

Improving the Performance of Electricity Industries in Developing Countries: is World Bank Policy on Deregulation the Way Forward?

Investment in power sector development has played a large role in international assistance to developing countries in the post war era. According to the [World Bank Development Report (1994)], p. 149, power sector loans headed total sectoral lending by the World Bank in 22 out of the 44 years between 1950 and 1993. Even in 1993 such loans amounted to 29% of total identified sector World Bank IBRD and IDA commitments. World Bank lending rose from

Efficiency and performance in the gas industry

768 million per year in the 1970s to

Oil Prices — A Conflict of Views

2363 million in the 1980s and to over

The future of UK final user energy demand

2500 million in the 1990s. In a study of its role in the electric power sector ([World Bank (1993)], p. 34) the Bank indicated that it had financed 7% of total power investments in developing countries during the 1980s, although its promotion of co-financing makes this an underestimate of its impact. The World Bank was not the only supporter of power development but it was by far the most influential. It is an important question, therefore, as to whether the direction of international policy has been helpful overall to the recipients of loans, and whether recent changes in policy are well founded. The objective of this paper is to analyse the performance of developing country power sectors over the period focusing on the role played by the World Bank in its programme of loan assistance.

Estimating the Demand for Energy in Jordan: A Stock-Watson Dynamic OLS (DOLS) Approach

This fine collection of original essays is in recognition of Colin Robinson, who has been at the forefront of thinking in energy economics for over 30 years. Energy in a Competitive Market brings together both prominent academics and practitioners to honour his outstanding and unique contribution. The authors cover a wide and fascinating selection of topics incorporating the whole spectrum of energy economics. In doing so, they examine the belief that markets are the key to the effective allocation of resources, a notion which arguably applies as much to energy as it does to any other commodity.

Regulatory reform in the UK gas market: the case of the storage auction

In this chapter we include three shorter presentations which formed part of the original conference discussion of oil prices. The first, by Mr Eric Price of the UK Department of Energy, is interesting because it gives an indication of changing perceptions within official circles as to future price developments. The second, by Professor Colin Robinson of the University of Surrey, gives an assessment by an academic economist of the major issues and uncertainties surrounding all attempts at forecasting oil prices whilst coming to the view that they may well rise in the long run. The third, by Professor John Surrey of the University of Sussex, emphasises the impact of conservation and the irreversibility of investment decisions embodying current best practice technology.