the production of public goods like amenity value of the landscape, food security, preservation of rural communities and rural lifestyle, by agricultural sector is a subject that has been widely accepted by experts. however, in many policies and political analyses carried out, solely the production of private goods by the agricultural sector is paid attention and the important function of publi...

Can self-selection of subsidized commodities be used as a mechanism to transfer income to the poor? Evidence from two self-targeting programs, one in South Africa and one in Tunisia, shows that although self-targeting can clearly improve the distribution of food subsidies to the poorest members of society, its power to alleviate poverty and reduce income disparities is limited by preference pat...

This paper has a specific objective of being useful for showing how the advances in mobile technologies can help for solving social and political aspects involved in the reform of subsidies in developing countries. It describes the work done to build a mobile-based supportive network that integrates all subsidies partners: governmental, non-governmental organizations, merchants, and beneficiari...

In 2013, around 121 billion US-Dollar have been spend worldwide to promote the investment into renewable energy sources. The most prominent support scheme employed is a feed-in tariff, which guarantees a fixed price for electricity produced by renewable energies sources, usually for around 15 years after the installation of the plant. We study the incidence of wind turbine subsidies due to a fe...

Despite increasing calls for reform many countries continue to provide subsidies for gasoline and diesel. This paper quantifies the external costs from global fuel subsidies using the latest available data and estimates from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Under preferred assumptions about supply and demand elasticities, current subsidies cause $44 billion in external costs annu...

In 2006, Massachusetts passed health care reform legislation designed to achieve nearly universal coverage through a combination of insurance market reforms, mandates, and subsidies that later served as the model for national reform. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we provide evidence that health care reform in Massachusetts led to better overall self-assessed he...

The Massachusetts health reform, implemented in 2006 and 2007, reduced the uninsurance rate for working-age people with disabilities by nearly half Enrollment in Medicaid and subsidized insurance accounted for most of the gain in insurance coverage. The reduction in uninsurance was greatest among younger adults. The reform also reduced cost-related problems obtaining care; however, cost remains...

A core element of the recent Common Agricultural Policy reform is to decouple payments that are merely linked to production from 2005 on. These subsidies are classified as environmental harmful by OECD. An agricultural sector model, using a modified version of the positive mathematical programming method, depicts the political, natural, and structural complexity of Austrian farming. Environment...

Policy analysts consider the Netherlands health system a possible model for the United States. Since 2006 all Dutch citizens have to buy standardized individual health insurance coverage from a private insurer. Consumers have an annual choice among insurers, and insurers can selectively contract or integrate with health care providers. Subsidies make health insurance affordable for everyone. A ...