American insurers are designing products to contain healthcare costs by making consumers financially responsible for their choices. Little is known about how consumers will view these new designs. Our objective is to examine consumer preferences for selected benefit designs.Methods: We used the...

This study summarizes research on farm-, local-, regional-, and macro-level economic effects of ethanol production. Given current production levels, the ethanol production industry annually employees approximately 3,500 workers, pays out nearly $132 million in worker salaries, generates over...

A carbon tax would penalize carbon intensive fuels like gasoline and shiftfuel consumption to less carbon intensive alternatives like biofuels. Since biofuelproduction competes for land with agriculture, a carbon tax could raiseland rents, divert land towards fuel production, and raise...

We employ an open economy general equilibrium model to investigate the effects of government energy policy, with emphasis on corn-based ethanol, on the U.S. economy. The model specification incorporates world and domestic markets, assumes pollution costs from fuel consumption, and allows...

This paper derives a method to quantify the short- to medium-run impact of biofuel on fuelmarkets, assuming that these markets are dominated by cartel of oil-rich countries, and that pricesin these countries are set to maximize the sum of domestic consumer and producer surplus, leadingto a wedge...

We examined four evolution paths of the biofuel sector using a partial equilibrium worldagricultural sector model in CARD that includes the new RFS in the 2007 EISA, a two-wayrelationship between fossil energy and biofuel markets, and a new trend toward corn oilextraction in ethanol plants. At...

A grande necessidade de diminuir a dependência em relação ao petróleo devido aos seus preços em constante elevação, a preocupação com o meio ambiente (protocolo de kyoto) e a crescente demanda por carros flex tem colocado o etanol - uma energia totalmente renovável - em papel de...

Thailand’s economy is susceptible to global energy crises because about half of its energy supplies are sourced from overseas. Consequently, in January 2009, the National Energy Policy Council approved a 15-year renewable energy development plan (2008-2022) focusing on increasing the use of...

This dissertation draws on the burgeoning field of innovation of low carbon technologies. Using the functions of innovation systems, this study explores the process of innovation of biofuel ethanol in the U.S. and in Brazil. It uses "process theory" to build a narrative of historical events that...