This paper verifies the robustness of Dixit's claim that common agency problems in the public sector can be solved by restrictions on the incentive schemes that government agencies can develop for the subordinates of other departments. In our model, the outside principal (for instance, an...

In the Auto-Oil Programme, the European Commission looks for emission limits for cars such that the urban air quality targets are reached at minimum cost. This optimisation problem was solved by Degraeve et al. (1998). In this paper we deal with two methodological problems in this cost...

In this paper we investigate the EU Burden Sharing Agreement on the distribution of the Kyoto emission reduction target over the EU member states. We use an inverse welfare optimum approach to compute the implicit weights making the Burden Sharing Agreement a welfare optimum for the EU. This...

Previous studies of transport tax reform have typically assumed that the reform itself does not affect the marginal value of time. In this paper we consider a model of urban transport with two trip purposes, commuting and non-commuting, to analyse the effects of transport tax reform on the value...

This paper studies the welfare implications of using market mechanisms to allocate transmission capacity in recently liberalized electricity markets. It questions whether access to this essential facility should be traded on a market, or whether the incumbent should retain exclusive usage...

In this paper we analyse the gap between present transport prices and efficient transport prices. Efficient transport prices are those prices that maximise economic welfare, including external costs (congestion, air pollution, accidents). The methodology is applied to six urban and interregional...

The European electricity sector is facing substantial structural changes. An issue of primary interest in this regard is the interaction of environmental problems and liberalisation. This paper will illustrate the most relevant issues that compound the task of providing a reliable framework for...

In this paper we study the problem of a city with access to two subcentres selling a differentiated product. The first subcentre has low free flow transport costs but is easily congested (near city centre, access by road). The second one has higher free flow transport costs but is less prone to...

This paper discusses the stranded cost concept. Stranded costs have to do with the transition from a regulated to a more competitive market. The aim of the paper is threefold. First, the paper discusses the place of the stranded cost concept in the variety of costs concepts encountered in the...

In this paper we show how cost-benefit analysis can be used as a decision support mechanism for the location of new (urban) forest land, starting from the multifunctional role of these new forests. We start with a simple presentation of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) technique. Key features of...