The objective of this paper is to combine a real options framework with portfolio optimization techniques and to apply this new framework to investments in the electricity sector. In particular, a real options model is used to assess the adoption decision of particular technologies under...

This paper deals with a special type of voluntary approach to protect the environment, for example, that we would like to term voluntary commitment. Its major characteristic is that it represents a unilateral declaration without a decisively active role of regulators. In other words, voluntary...

In this paper we reexamine the Feldstein-Horioka finding of limited international capital mobility by using a broader view (i.e., including human capital) of investment and saving. We find that the Feldstein-Horioka result is impervious to this change.

This paper proposes a new analytical framework with which to analyze the determinants of global CO2 emissions. It contributes to the existing literature by examining the determinants of CO2 emissions using a flexible functional form (transcendental logarithmic model), taking into account the...

The rapidly growing literature on the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth has not univocally identified the real causal relationship yet. We argue that bivariate models, which analyze the causality at the level of the total economy, are not appropriate - especially in...

This paper proposes a new analytical framework with which to analyze the determinants of global CO2 emissions. It contributes to the existing literature by examining the determinants of CO2 emissions using a flexible functional form (transcendental logarithmic model), taking into account the...

The demand for air quality depends on health impacts and defensive investments that improvehealth, but little research assesses the empirical importance of defenses. We study the NOxBudget Program (NBP), an important cap-and-trade market for nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions,a key ingredient in...

We estimate three different models of speculative behaviour using oil price data. There are two major results: (i) The three-regime model of Brooks and Katsaris (2005) and a three-regime variant of van Norden and Schaller (2002) fit the oil price data reasonably well; and (ii) Both models show...

The role of speculators in the oil markets has been vastly investigated during the last few years. Several authors focused on the definition of speculation while others examined the relationship between oil prices and the behavior of trading actors. In this paper, we formulate a new theory able...

In order to mitigate climate change, several countries around the world have introduced or are planning a CO2 tax on energy consumption. The effectiveness of such a tax depends on the level of the short- and long-run price elasticity. Moreover, acceptance of a CO2 tax by a society depends on...