Is there a material Kuznets curve for aluminium? evidence from rich countries

The paper tests the material Kuznets Curve (MKC) hypothesis with regard to aluminium consumption for 20 high-income countries over the period 1970 to 2009. The test is based on the suggestion of Narayan and Narayan (2010). Various unit root and cointegration tests are applied. The aluminium and GDP series are found to be integrated of order one and cointegrated. Additionally, the Blundell–Bond system generalized methods-of-moments (GMM) is employed to conduct a panel causality test in a vector error-correction mechanism (VECM) setting. Unidirectional causality running from real per capita GDP to the aluminium intensity is uncovered in both the short-run and long-run. While controlling for structural shocks, the MKC hypothesis is found to hold at individual levels for Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan, and United Kingdom as well as for the whole panel. A 1% increase in GDP generates an increase of 0.87% in metal intensity in the short-run and a fall of 0.82% in the long-run for the panel.     

The Potential of Using Solar Energy to Process Full-Fat Soybeans (Glycine max) to Reduce Urease Activity

The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of panel solar cookers in reducing urease activity in full-fat soybeans (Glycine max). Changes in urease activity of soaked (SM), coarse-milled (CM) and whole dry (WM) full fat soybeans were investigated by roasting for 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min in multiple reflector panel solar cookers, in a 3 3 3 factorial experiment. Soaking soybeans for 14 h reduced (p<0.05) ^{1 1}P < 0.05 means that the probability (p) of falsely concluding significant difference between values obtained after statistical analysis was less than 5% (0.05). urease activity by 9%, from 6.58 meqNH₃/g DM to 5.98 meqNH₃/g DM. After 180 min of solar roasting, urease activity levels had declined by 81%, 67% and 23% in soaked, milled and whole dry soybeans respectively. Full fat soybean urease activity can be reduced faster in soaked than in dry soybeans. Findings suggest that there is potential in using multiple reflector panel solar cookers to reduce urease activity in full fat soybeans.     

The impact of the BP Baker report

Introduction

This study examined the impact of the British Petroleum (BP) Baker Panel Report, reviewing the March 2005 BP-Texas City explosion, on the field of process safety.

Method

Three hundred eighty-four subscribers of a process safety listserv responded to a survey two years after the BP Baker Report was published.

Results

Results revealed respondents in the field of process safety are familiar with the BP Baker Report, feel it is important to the future safety of chemical processing, and believe that the findings are generalizable to other plants beyond BP-Texas City. Respondents indicated that few organizations have administered the publicly available BP Process Safety Culture Survey. Our results also showed that perceptions of contractors varied depending on whether respondents were part of processing organizations (internal perspective) or government or consulting agencies (external perspective).

Conclusions

This research provides some insight into the beliefs of chemical processing personnel regarding the transportability and generalizability of lessons learned from one organization to another.

Impact on Industry

This study has implications for both organizational scientists and engineers in that it reveals perceptions about the primary mechanism used to share lessons learned within one industry about one major catastrophe (i.e., investigation reports). This study provides preliminary information about the perceived impact of a report such as this one.     

中国经济增长与环境污染关系的再检验——基于全国省级数据的面板协整分析

运用面板协整工具和动态最小二乘法（DOLS）对我国1985-2007年间30个省级行政区环境污染变量与经济增长变量的关系进行了实证检验,与以往研究相比,该方法的检验结果具有更高的势值（power）和稳健性。结果显示我国工业废气污染、工业废水污染和工业固体废弃物污染变量与经济变量之间存在长期协整关系,且变量间均呈现出显著的环境库兹涅茨曲线(EKC)关系,而EKC转折点并没有出现在过低的水平上。目前我国仍面临巨大的环境压力,在减排方面需要花费巨大的经济成本,中国在应对环境变化领域将面临巨大的挑战,必须深入探索经济增长方式转变路径,努力施行减物质化的生态经济发展模式。     

Good deposits are not enough: Mining labor productivity analysis in the copper industry in Chile and Peru 1992–2009

Chile and Peru produce almost 45% of world’s mine copper output. This situation reflects their natural endowment and mining tradition, but is also the result of development processes undertaken over the last decades. As a result, both countries multiplied its mine copper production in more than 3 times in the last 20 years. Mining labor productivity played a central role achieving these amazing growth rates. Although there is a consensus about the relevance of this variable for the mining industry, the specific factors behind labor productivity changes are not completely understood.     

The impact of European Regional Development Fund on separate waste collection: Evidence from Italian regions

We analyze the impact of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 on separate collection rate of Italian regions. We exploit longitudinal data for 20 NUTS-2 Italian regions and eighteen years (from 1996 to 2013). We identify regions which are exposed to “Convergence” objective as the treatment group and regions which are not exposed to this objective as the control group and use a Difference in differences estimation. The estimates suggest that the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 has not influenced the convergence process among the Italian regions. The main policy implications are discussed.     

Application of non-market valuation to the Florida Keys marine reserve management

The quality of the coral reefs in the Florida Keys is essential to sustain nature-based tourism in the Keys. The recently established marine reserves (MR) are expected to improve the reef environment, particularly coral and fish abundance and diversity. In this paper, a combined model of travel cost and contingent behavior was estimated in order to measure the non-market recreational benefits of reef quality improvements. The results indicated that an average visitor would undertake 43-80% more number of trips to the Florida Keys and experience a 69% increase in the use values per trip, as a result of the MR-induced reef quality improvements. The above non-market value estimates were further applied to evaluating alternative management proposals for funding the MR program. It was found that the annual management costs of the MR program would constitute an insignificant portion--only around one to 2%--of the annual recreational benefits that the MR would generate. The results provide a strong economic justification for designing user-based funding mechanisms in order to make the MR program self-sustaining in the future.     

Sources of productive efficiency: International comparison of iron and steel firms

Using a time-varying stochastic frontier model, this paper examines the technical efficiency of firms in the iron and steel industry to try to identify the factors contributing to the industry's efficiency growth. Industry observers and policymakers tend to cite most frequently three possible sources of efficiency growth: privatization; economies of scale; and vintage of equipment. Our study corroborates these factors. Based on our findings, which pertain to 52 iron and steel firms over the period of 1978–1997, privatization is likely to improve the efficiency of iron and steel firms to a great extent as evidenced in various industries. This study also provides systematic evidence that iron and steel production shows economies of scale. In addition, newer vintages of equipment are found to be closely correlated with higher levels of efficiency. This clearly indicates that investment in new plants and equipments is critical in pursuit of efficiency in the iron and steel industry.     

Does industrial waste taxation contribute to reduction of landfilled waste? Dynamic panel analysis considering industrial waste category in Japan

Waste taxes, such as landfill and incineration taxes, have emerged as a popular option in developed countries to promote the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle). However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of waste taxes. In addition, quite a few studies have considered both dynamic relationships among dependent variables and unobserved individual heterogeneity among the jurisdictions. If dependent variables are persistent, omitted variables cause a bias, or common characteristics exist across the jurisdictions that have introduced waste taxes, the standard fixed effects model may lead to biased estimation results and misunderstood causal relationships. In addition, most existing studies have examined waste in terms of total amounts rather than by categories. Even if significant reductions in total waste amounts are not observed, some reduction within each category may, nevertheless, become evident.Therefore, this study analyzes the effects of industrial waste taxation on quantities of waste in landfill in Japan by applying the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable (LSDVC) estimators; the general method of moments (difference GMM); and the system GMM. In addition, the study investigates effect differences attributable to industrial waste categories and taxation types. This paper shows that industrial waste taxes in Japan have minimal, significant effects on the reduction of final disposal amounts thus far, considering dynamic relationships and waste categories.     

Analyzing the safety impact of longer and heavier vehicles circulating in the European market

Introduction: The European Union (EU) has developed different strategies to internalize the costs of excessive motor traffic in the road freight transport sector. One of these is a relaxation of restrictions on the size and load capacity of trucks that circulate between member States and a proposal has been made for Longer and Heavier Vehicles (LHVs) to be allowed to circulate across borders. LHVs are the so-called “megatrucks” (i.e., trucks with a length of 25 meters and a weight of 60 tonnes). Megatrucks have allowed to circulate for decades in some European countries such as Norway, Finland, and Sweden, world leaders in traffic accident prevention, although the impact that cross-border traffic would have on road safety is still unknown. Methods: This article provides an econometric analysis of the potential impact on road safety of allowing the circulation of “megatrucks” throughout the EU. Results: The findings show that countries that currently allow megatrucks to circulate present lower traffic accident and fatality levels, on average. Conclusions: The circulation of this type of vehicle is only advisable in countries where there is a certain degree of maturity and demonstrated achievements in the field of road safety. Practical applications: European countries that have allowed megatruck circulation obtaining better road safety outcomes in terms of accidents, although the accident lethality rate seems to be higher. Consequently, introducing megatruck circulation requires a prior proper preparation and examination.