Exploring users inter-temporal preferences for measuring transport social equity effects

There exist different ways for defining a welfare function. Traditionally, welfare economic theory foundation is based on the Net Present Value (NPV) calculation where the time dependent preferences of considered agents are taken into account. However, the time preferences, remains a controversial subject. Currently, the traditional approach employs a unique discount rate for various agents. Nevertheless, this way of discounting appears inconsistent with sustainable development. New research work suggests that the discount rate may not be a homogeneous value. The discount rates may change following the individual’s preferences. A significant body of evidence suggests that people do not behave following a constant discount rate. In fact, UK Government has quickly recognized the power of the arguments for time-varying rates, as it has done in its official guidance to Ministries on the appraisal of investments and policies. Other authors deal with not just time preference but with uncertainty about future income (precautionary saving). In a situation in which economic growth rates are similar across time periods, the rationale for declining social optimal discount rates is driven by the preferences of the individuals in the economy, rather than expectations of growth. However, these approaches have been mainly focused on long-term policies where intergenerational risks may appear. The traditional cost-benefit analysis (CBA) uses a unique discount rate derived from market interest rates or investment rates of return for discounting the costs and benefits of all social agents included in the CBA. However, recent literature showed that a more adequate measure of social benefit is possible by using different discount rates including inter-temporal preferences rate of users, private investment discount rate and intertemporal preferences rate of government. Actually, the costs of opportunity may differ amongst individuals, firms, governments, or society in general, as do the returns on savings. In general, the firms or operators require an investment rate linked to the current return on savings, while the discount rate of consumers-users depends on their time preferences with respect of the current and the future consumption, as well as society can take into account the intergenerational well-being, adopting a lower discount rate for today’s generation. Time discount rate of social actors (users, operators, government and society) places a lower value in a future gain, but the uncertainty about future income strongly determines the individual preferences. These time and uncertainty depends on preferences and should be integrated into a transport policy formulation that may have significant social impacts. The discount rate of a user cannot be the same than the operator’s discount rate. The preferences of both are different. In addition, another school of thought suggests that people, such as a social group, may have different attitudes towards future costs and benefits. Particularly, the users have different discount rates related to their income. Some research work tried to modify user discount rates using a compensating weight which represents the inverse of household income level. The inter-temporal preferences are a proxy of the willingness to pay during the time. Its consideration is important in order to make acceptable or not a policy or investment

Modelos de asociación público-privada en la provisión de infraestructura: la experiencia internacional y el desarrollo de las autopistas en México

Análisis de los modelos de asociación público-privado utilizados en la construcción de autopistas en México en los últimos 25 años. Existen estudios que respaldan la opinión de que los niveles de competitividad están estrechamente relacionados con el desarrollo de la infraestructura de los países. La baja competitividad de México debido a la mala calidad de su infraestructura, pone en evidencia la necesidad del mejoramiento y provisión de la misma en un marco de escasez de recursos fiscales. Esta argumentación, sustenta la intervención del sector privado para apoyar el financiamiento de infraestructura mediante nuevos mecanismos de asociación público privada (APP). En el artículo se describen: el desarrollo de la infraestructura carretera de México, la forma en que ésta fue financiada en el pasado con modelos de concesión para la construcción de carreteras de alta calidad y los modelos de APP que el país está utilizando para atraer la inversión privada en el actual programa mexicano de autopistas. Se muestran los beneficios del empleo de estos esquemas de financiamiento y se ofrece una serie de recomendaciones para transparentar el uso de estos modelos. There are studies that support the view that the competitiveness levels are closely related to the development of the country’s infrastructure. The low competitiveness of Mexico due to the poor quality of its infrastructure, underscores the need for improvement and provision of the same in a context of scarce fiscal resources. This argument supports the intervention of the private sector to finance infrastructure through new mechanisms for public private partnership (PPP). The article describes the development of the Mexico road infrastructure, the way in which it was funded in the past by models of concession for the construction of high-quality roads and models of app that the country is using to attract private investment in the current Mexican highways program. The benefits of these funding schemes are displayed and recommendations are offered for transparent use of these models

Memo to Merkel: Post-election Germany and Europe. Bruegel Policy Brief 2013/05, 24 September 2013

Recent economic data points to the seeds of an economic recovery in the European Union. However, significant risks remain and bold policies are still needed. There are three central risks. Competitiveness adjustment is incomplete, casting doubt on the sustainability of public debt. Banking remains unstable and fragmented along national lines, resulting in unfavorable financial conditions, which further erode growth, job creation and competitiveness. Rising unemployment, especially among the young, is inequitable, unjust and politically risky. Germany has a central role to play in addressing these risks. The new German government should work on three priorities: Domestic economic policy should be more supportive of growth and adjustment, with higher public investment, a greater role for high-value added services, and more supportive immigration policy. Germany should support a meaningful banking union with a centralised resolution mechanism requiring a transfer of sovereignty to Europe for all countries including Germany. The establishment of a private investment initiative combined with a European Youth Education Fund and labour market reforms should be promoted. Building on these priorities, a significant deepening of the euro area is needed, with a genuine transfer of sovereignty, stronger institutions and democratically legitimate decision-making structures in areas of common policy.

Growth for Europe – Is the Juncker Plan the answer? EPC Discussion Paper, 20 March 2015

Executive Summary. The euro area is still suffering from low growth and high unemployment. For the recovery to become a reality, there needs to be a balance between fiscal discipline, supply side improvements and actions aimed at stimulating demand and growth. Increasing investment, both private and public, are important components in overcoming the recession. This becomes especially clear when comparing investment dynamics during the crisis with pre-crisis levels. Total investment is still much lower than before the crisis and public investment is well below its pre-crisis peak as well. In late November 2014, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker submitted a long-awaited proposal for a European Investment Plan that aims to stimulate private investment. Apart from the creation of the new European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), through which private investors will receive public guarantees, the investment plan also aims to provide project assistance and improve the Single Market by removing sector-specific or other financial barriers to investment. While generally perceived as a first positive step towards increasing private investment, some commentators have expressed reservations about the plan. These include, among others, the lack of fresh money for the initial contributions to EFSI. Since a substantial amount of these contributions is reshuffled from other places in the European budget, the question was raised whether EFSI can fund additional projects or just replicates investment projects that would have happened without the plan. Other criticism relates to the high estimate of the expected leverage ratio of 1:15, and to the risk that the plan will only have a limited impact on stressed economies. The Juncker Plan addresses private investment, but so far there really is no clear strategy to stimulate productive public investment on the European and national level. Countries with fiscal space are reluctant to engage in higher spending, while those willing and in need of it the most are restricted by the rules. Member States and the Commission should therefore discuss options for further improving the euro area's economic governance. In addition to urging countries with fiscal space to increase investing in national public goods, investment could be treated with budget flexibility. One could, for instance, upgrade the importance of public investment in the European Semester. Additional deficit granted for public investment purposes could be attached to certain Country-Specific Recommendations. Another solution would be to allow some form of budget flexibility, such as the formulation of a new Golden Rule for productive public investment becoming part of the Stability and Growth Pact's application. Besides relying on a larger amount of flexibility in the rules, the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) could be another solution to fund investment in European public goods. It will also be necessary to overcome the mistrust among Member States that is preventing further action. The political bargain of stronger conditionality, such as through contractual arrangements, could improve the situation. Increased trust will also be an important condition for tackling long-reaching economic governance reforms such as the creation of a Fiscal Capacity, which could take the form of a macroeconomic shock insurance. Such a Fiscal Capacity could make a real difference in providing the necessary funding to maintain productive public investment, even in times of deep recessions. The proposals presented do not attempt to be conclusive, but shall rather be an input for a wider debate on how to increase growth and employment in Europe. The paper draws heavily on the discussion of a Workshop on Growth and Investment, which the European Policy Centre (EPC) hosted on 10 December 2014 under Chatham-House Rule, with a group of economists and representatives from the European institutions.

Contributos para implementação de um serviço de Imagiologia no Huambo, Angola

O Governo angolano tem realizado investimentos para a aquisição de tecnologias e incentivado investimentos privados no país para melhor tratar os problemas de saúde pública. Na província do Huambo o número de serviços de imagiologia é relativamente baixo, tendo em conta o número de habitantes. Dentre os serviços existentes, grande parte não possui uma estrutura funcional com a proteção radiológica recomendada, contam com poucos profissionais qualificados e os equipamentos não recebem uma manutenção adequada. Neste contexto, o Huambo representa uma região recetiva à instalação de um novo serviço de imagiologia, com capacidade de atender as necessidades dos utentes e profissionais. O presente trabalho objetiva contribuir para a implementação de um serviço de imagiologia no município do Huambo, a ser desenvolvido consoante às recomendações de boas práticas e normas de proteção radiológica, apoiado pela Lei do Investimento Privado.

Annual report /

Mode of access: Internet.

Topics.

Mode of access: Internet.

The U.S. trade finance agencies : a special report by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee.

"Export-Import Bank of the United States, The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) are small, highly specialized government agencies which ensure that U.S. firms have access to trade and investment finance."--P.1.

Foreign operations, export financing, and related programs appropriations for 2006 : hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, first session /

Shipping list no.: 2005-0187-P (pt. 1A), 2005-0195-P (pt. 1B), 2005-0178-P (pts. 2-3), 2005-0204-P (pt. 4), 2006-0101-P (pt. 5).

Foreign operations, export financing, and related programs appropriations for 2007 : hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, second session /

Shipping list no.: 2006-0243-P (pt. 1A), 2006-0276-P (pt. 1B), 2006-0329-P (pt. 2), 2006-0315-P (pt. 3), 2007-0101-P (pt. 4).

Multinational corporations and United States foreign policy : hearings before the Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-third - [Ninety-fourth] Congress.

Hearings held March 1973-Sept. 1976.

Africa and the challenge of development : hearings before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 25, 1967 and April 24, May 8 and 14, 1968.

Examines health and medical facilities in Africa south of Sahara and considers needs and opportunities for U.S. private investment in Africa.

Mixed communities: a new approach to spatially-concentrated poverty in England

This article examines the adoption, by the New Labour government, of a mixed communities approach to the renewal of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England. It argues that while there are continuities with previous policy, the new approach represents a more neoliberal policy turn in three respects: its identification of concentrated poverty as the problem; its faith in market-led regeneration; and its alignment with a new urban policy agenda in which cities are gentrified and remodelled as sites for capital accumulation through entrepreneurial local governance. The article then draws on evidence from the early phases of the evaluation of the mixed community demonstration projects to explore how the new policy approach is playing out at a local level, where it is layered upon existing policies, politics and institutional relationships. Tensions between neighbourhood and strategic interests, community and capital are evident as the local projects attempt neighbourhood transformation, while seeking to protect the rights and interests of existing residents. Extensive community consultation efforts run parallel with emergent governance structures, in which local state and capital interests combine and communities may effectively be disempowered. Policies and structures are still evolving and it is not yet entirely clear how these tensions will be resolved, especially in the light of a collapsing housing market, increased poverty and demand for affordable housing, and a shortage of private investment.

Konjunktúraingadozások az Egyesült Államokban 1970-2010 - Értelmezési nehézségek = Business cycles and recession patterns in the US economy and in the G7

Lehet-e beszélni a 2011-ig felgyülemlett empirikus tapasztalatok tükrében egy egységes válságlefolyásról, amely a fejlett ipari országok egészére általában jellemző, és a meghatározó országok esetében is megragadható? Megállapíthatók-e olyan univerzális változások a kibocsátás, a munkapiacok, a fogyasztás, valamint a beruházás tekintetében, amelyek jól illeszkednek a korábbi tapasztalatokhoz, nem kevésbé az ismert makromodellek predikcióihoz? A válasz – legalábbis jelen sorok írásakor – nemleges: sem a válság lefolyásának jellegzetességeiben és a makrogazdasági teljesítmények romlásának ütemében, sem a visszacsúszás mértékében és időbeli kiterjedésében sincsenek jól azonosítható közös jegyek, olyanok, amelyek a meglévő elméleti keretekbe jól beilleszthetők. A tanulmány áttekinti a válsággal és a makrogazdasági sokkokkal foglalkozó empirikus irodalom – a pénzügyi globalizáció értelmezései nyomán – relevánsnak tartott munkáit. Ezt követően egy 60 év távlatát átfogó vizsgálatban próbáljuk megítélni a recessziós időszakokban az amerikai gazdaság teljesítményét azzal a célkitűzéssel, hogy az elmúlt válság súlyosságának megítélése kellően objektív lehessen, legalább a fontosabb makrováltozók elmozdulásának nagyságrendje tekintetében. / === / Based on the empirical evidence accumulated until 2011, using official statistics from the OECD data bank and the US Commerce Department, the article addresses the question whether one can, or cannot, speak about generally observable recession/crisis patterns, such that were to be universally recognized in all major industrial countries (the G7). The answer to this question is a firm no. Changes and volatility in most major macroeconomic indicators such as output-gap, labor market distortions and large deviations from trend in consumption and in investment did all, respectively, exhibit wide differences in depth and width across the G7 countries. The large deviations in output-gaps and especially strong distortions in labor market inputs and hours per capita worked over the crisis months can hardly be explained by the existing model classes of DSGE and those of the real business cycle. Especially bothering are the difficulties in fitting the data into any established model whether business cycle or some other types, in which financial distress reduces economic activity. It is argued that standard business cycle models with financial market imperfections have no mechanism for generating deviation from standard theory, thus they do not shed light on the key factors underlying the 2007–2009 recession. That does not imply that the financial crisis is unimportant in understanding the recession, but it does indicate however, that we do not fully understand the channels through which financial distress reduced labor input. Long historical trends on the privately held portion of the federal debt in the US economy indicate that the standard macro proposition of public debt crowding out private investment and thus inhibiting growth, can be strongly challenged in so far as this ratio is neither a direct indicator of growth slowing down, nor for recession.

The beginning of tourism in La Palma Island: Sixty years of the XX century

The sixties was a time of great interest for tourism development on the La Palma island. Various actions of public and private, as the policy of building a new airport, various tourist resorts, the tourism plan of 1968 or insular government also creating public entity "La Palma, Tourism SA” in 1969, will be the basis for future development of tourism on the island and will result push for private investment in this economic sector. Indeed, in the sixties, private investors had opened two hotels, while at least three others over a hundred beds each, weren´t finished.