Off-Balance Sheet Equity: The Engine for Energy Efficiency Capital Mobilization

The Equity/Efficiency Trade-off in Retrospect

Writing in 1975, Arthur Okun is generally credited with popularizing the idea of a “great tradeoff" between equity and efficiency. Indeed, a generation of economists has been brought up thinking that in the allocation of scarce resources to competing ends, the tradeoff between “equity” and “efficiency” is just another one of the many tough choices that economically rational individuals have to ...

Choice-Consistent Resolutions of the Efficiency-Equity Trade-Off

In a standard framework of choice theory, we formulate two contrasting principles for social choice under the efficiency-equity trade-off. The equity-first principle states that we should select from equitable allocations if any, but if the equity criterion is not at all effective for selection either because all the available allocations are equitable or because no allocation is equitable, we ...

Poverty Traps and Development: The Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off Revisited

The paper discusses some core reasons why poverty remains widespread in many developing countries: market failures combine with asset inequalities to result in poverty persistence, and often poverty traps from which the poor may not be able to emerge, even in a context of aggregate economic growth. As examples the paper discusses some theoretical implications and empirical evidence for three co...

The Technology Balance Sheet

Just as it is essential to understand an organization's financial health, it is equally necessary to understand and measure its technological health. The first section of the chapter describes the technology balance sheet, a useful approach to measuring a company's technology. The second section presents a number of classic technology-related flaws, ranging from requiring infinite technology (i...

Balance Sheet