Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable...

The EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force in 1997 foresees the possible establishment of a free trade area (FTA) between the parties. The aim of our study is to evaluate the possible economic, social and environmental impact of such a free trade agreement...

Current report aims to identify major existing gaps in the five socio-economic dimensions (economic, human, openness, environmental, and institutional) and to reveal those gaps which could potentially hinder social and economic integration of neighbor states with the EU. To achieve this, the...

In this paper, we examine new Internet ecosystem strategies through comprehensive OECD PATSTAT patent data analyses focusing on mobile operating system software firms. We also describe current patent disputes between mobile hardware firms and mobile operating system software firms in the US and...

Livelihoods of the rural poor in developing countries are critically dependent on the health of the local ecosystems. In this paper we examine the various mechanisms through which globalization can lead to ecosystem degradation, and consequently poverty. Models on ecosystem dynamics from ecology...

This paper proposes a general formulation of a nonparametric frontier model introducingexternal environmental factors that might influence the production process butare neither inputs nor outputs under the control of the producer. A representation isproposed in terms of a probabilistic model...

It is often contended that there is a sharp conflict between the economist's and the ecologist's approach to the question of sustainability. This paper takes the opposite view. The paper attempts to show that both views can be formulated in a common analytical framework and that carried to its...

In an integrated dynamic general equilibrium model of the economy and the ecosystem humans and wildlife species compete for land and prey biomass. We introduce a competitive allocation mechanism in both submodels such that economic prices and ecosystem prices guide the allocation in the economy...

Understanding the economic value of nature and the services it provides to humanity has become increasingly important for local, national and global policy and decision making. However, problems arise in that it is difficult to obtain meaningful values for goods and services that ecosystems...

This paper reports an original economic valuation of the impact of climate change on the provision of forest regulating services in Europe. To the authors' knowledge the current paper represents the first systematic attempt to estimate human well-being losses with respect to changes in...