Much has been reported about the adverse effects of crude oil exploration as being an indispensable source of degradation in the environment of the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria. While the logical substance of such argument is not being contested, it is instructive to observe the existence of...

This paper presents the model of an economy subject to the mass conservation principle. The economic system is related to the environment by a flow of virgin materials into the economy, and by the diffusion of waste into the environment. Ecoefficiency contributes to reducing material waste in...

This paper presents the model of an economy subject to the mass conservation principle. The economic system is related to the environment by a flow of virgin materials into the economy, and by the diffusion of waste into the environment. Ecoefficiency contributes to reducing material waste in...

Food is one of the most primal ways to transmit culture and traditions and thus has vital and even cross-generational importance for us. Nevertheless, many of us have gone beyond relating to food as a primal need. So, in this age of abundance, food is either under-appreciated as epitomized by...

At the beginning of 1990s land reform was carried out in Russia. After long and very heated debates private ownership of land was permitted giving start to its privatization. Mainly lands of agricultural destination and lands of settlements were transferred to private ownership. As of January 1,...

At the center of the devolution debate are issues of spatial and territorial organization, natural resources management and fiscal resource allocation. Devolution protagonists argue for space for increased popular participation and substantive powers to the local people in their quest for...

The new Basel III regulations are likely to make long-term financing more expensive, which will affect the financing of capital-intensive renewable energy technologies, because they typically rely on long-term financing. In addition, the capital and liquidity requirements of Basel III are likely...

We construct a Malmquist productivity index based on stochastic non-parametric envelopment of data (StoNED) method, and we study how the distributional assumptions in the second StoNED stage affect productivity change and its decompositions. Our discussion show that the distributional...

In a recent paper Johnson and Kuosmanen (2011) propose a new, semi-parametric, general cost-frontier model, the stochastic nonparametric envelopment of data (StoNED). The model is semi-parametric in the sense that the cost function is estimated nonparametrically, while the functional form of the...

We study returns to scale in Norwegian electricity distribution companies. The scale issue of this sector has become an important political question, and it was for instance discussed by the Reiten commission (OED, 2014) in a study about the future structure and organization of the Norwegian...