Vista Analysis has contributed to the new scientific publication titled "Nonparametric estimation of allocative efficiency using indirect production theory: Application to container ports in Norway". The article is published in the acknowledged Springer journal "Journal of Productivity Analysis." It sheds light on the optimal and actual capital composition in Norwegian container ports, including the composition of quay cranes, cargo handling equipment, quay length, and port areas.

“The study demonstrates Vista's solid expertise in efficiency analysis, fixed capital, and the maritime sector. We are pleased to further delve into port efficiency with solid co-authors”, says partner Rasmus Bøgh Holmen, who has represented Vista Analysis in the study.

The article is written in collaboration with Halvor Schøyen at the University of South-Eastern Norway, Kenneth Løvold Rødseth at the Institute of Transport Economics, and Timo Kuosmanen at the University of Tartu.

“The study has practical implications for Norwegian port management. Among other things, we show that port areas and quay length are limiting factors for the efficiency of Kristiansand container port but to a lesser extent for the other major Norwegian container ports”, Holmen notes.

For those technically interested, it can be mentioned that the researchers in the study use the efficiency estimation procedure “StoNED” (“Stochastic Nonparametric Envelopment of Data”), which allows both non-parametric technology front and stochastic residual. In the study, the researchers integrate new elements into the StoNED framework, including the measurement of allocative efficiency based on indirect production theory and capital services based on the literature on real capital measurement.

The article may be downloaded here.

The study is one of several conducted by researchers on port efficiency. Previously, the researchers have published an article on how market access by land and sea affects port efficiency and how market access can best be measured through instrumentation. The researchers also have an article on measurement challenges associated with the mutual dependency relationship between capital and production in port efficiency analyses in the peer review process.

Orvika Rosnes has, in cooperation with Brita Bye, Kevin R. Kaushal and Hidemichi Yonezawa at Statistics Norway and Karen Turner at Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde, published a new article in Environmental and Resource Economics: «The Road to a Low Emission Society: Costs of Interacting Climate Regulations».

Transportation is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Climate regulations on transportation are often a mix of sector-specific regulations and economy-wide measures (such as emission pricing). We consider how these partly overlapping climate regulations interact, and what are the effects on economic welfare, abatement costs and emissions. Our focus is on Norway, where high taxation of conventional fossil-fuelled cars has paved the floor for another pillar of climate policies: promotion of electric vehicles (EVs) in private transport.

We combine the modelling and features of increasingly ambitious EV and climate policies (exemplified by the Norwegian policy), detailed modelling of EV technologies in private transportation and overall electrification of the economy, in an economy-wide consistent framework.

We find that, for the case of Norway, combining a specific EV target with a cap on emissions through a uniform carbon more than doubles the welfare costs, compared to only capping emissions by a uniform carbon price. As the total cap for emissions from the non-ETS sectors is the same in both cases, less abatement is needed from other non-ETS sectors when households contribute more to emission reduction through increased use of EVs. Hence, the most expensive abatements in other sectors can be avoided. This transforms into a lower emission price for the whole non-ETS segment: the carbon price is about half of that in the cap-only scenario. In short, the lower emission price benefits all other non-ETS sectors at the expense of households. Yet, the total costs to the society are greater due to high costs in private transport, even though the most expensive emission abatements in the non-ETS production sectors are avoided. The welfare cost more than doubles and the GDP loss is twice as large as that observed in the cap-only scenario. This implies that the economy becomes less efficient in reducing the emissions with overlapping policies.

Until now, Norway has been an international leader in decarbonising private transportation, with its generous support schemes and relatively high share of EVs. Our findings suggest that the cost of interacting and partly overlapping regulations in electrification of Norwegian private transportation is high, but the costs may be even higher or potentially lower in another national context. The effects of the interacting regulations and especially the EV policies depend on a range of factors and conditions prevailing in the national context: the degree of the initial electrification of the society, the share of electricity in household energy use, the electricity production and grid capacity and investment needs.

Still, even though the magnitude of the effects depends on country-specific conditions, the key conclusion remains: a combination of partly overlapping policies increases the abatement costs, since the additional EV policy puts the most efficient emission abatement policy—uniform carbon price—partly out of action.

The article is available here: The Road to a Low Emission Society: Costs of Interacting Climate Regulations | Environmental and Resource Economics (springer.com)

In collaboration with the Center for Applied Research (SNF) and the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI), Vista Analysis is publishing a new research report on "The Green Transition in Tourism in Vestland." The study systematically examines various trends in the tourism industry in the county related to the green transition, and how the industry and authorities should respond to these changes.

"It has been a pleasure to participate in this study and delve further into both tourism and the green transition. We look forward to building further on this and hope that others working in the tourism industry will benefit from our findings," says partner Rasmus Bøgh Holmen, who has represented Vista Analysis in the project.

In the project, researchers conducted 20 in-depth interviews with key informants from destination companies, tourism businesses, and nature interests in the county. The trends examined relate particularly to the industry's competitiveness, sustainability challenges, conflicts between nature and industries, and new technological opportunities.

The report is part of a pre-project funded by the Regional Research Fund Vestland. The project is led by researcher Endre Kildal Iversen at SNF. Holmen has also represented TØI in the project as an associated senior researcher. In addition, the researchers received valuable input along the way from a reference group consisting of representatives from Fjord Norway, the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) at Vestland county, the Norwegian Nature Center in Hardanger, Up Norway, and Vestland County Municipality.

"We want to express our sincere thanks to our reference group and our interviewees for their contributions to our research. I also want to thank Endre and SNF for excellent collaboration in yet another project," Holmen concludes.

The report may be downloaded here.

In a new research article in the journal “Data”, Vista and its partners publish regional accounts for the Baltics with an internationalization focus. The article is entitled “Internationalization in the Baltic Regional Accounts: A NUTS 3 Region Dataset”.

The publication includes a comprehensive dataset for the 21 Baltic NUTS-3 regions for use in analysis and research. The most unique feature of the associated dataset is that it contains internationalization data including variables related to trade, foreign direct investments, and migration. In addition, it is considerably more comprehensive than other regional datasets for the Baltics.

Partner in Vista Analyse, Rasmus Bøgh Holmen, has led the work. The project is carried out in collaboration with him Nicolas Gavoille at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Jaan Masso at the University of Tartu and Arūnas Burinskas at the University of Vilnius.

– We are pleased to work internationally with macro and industry statistics in collaboration with solid partners. The project contributes to Vista Analyse's portfolio within international and regional economics, Holmen comments.

Beyond internationalization, the dataset also covers a rich range of domestic fields, including fixed capital, labor participation, price developments, value added, generation and sharing of knowledge, demographics, the population’s well-being and physical settlement conditions. Many of the dataset's variables include more dimensions than time and regions, such as industries in the data on the production economy and demographic groups in the population data.

The research article describes how internationalization variables and fixed capital figures are estimated. Furthermore, it documents how data in the regional accounts have been collected, processed and cleaned, as well as approximated in cases with missing or not reliable observations.

The research article also provides an overview of descriptive conditions related to the Baltic economy. The descriptive analyses relate to internationalization seen in the context of the production economy, settlement patterns and knowledge generation.

– It is well known among economists that Estonia has somewhat higher income levels than Latvia and Lithuania. However, the major differences between the Baltic regions are not found between the countries, but along the urbanization scale, says Holmen.

Overall, direct foreign investment and trade tend to be strongly correlated with the indicators of economic performance, social development, and knowledge generation. The correlations between migration and the same indicators are generally considerably weaker.

The research article is linked to the research project “LIFT”, which stands for “Labor, Innovation, Foreign direct investments and Trade”. The project is about regional economic integration in Northern Europe and is carried out by researchers from Norway and the Baltic countries. It is funded by the EEA and Norway Grants through the Research Council of Lithuania.

Holmen has led the project's work package on direct foreign investment and the Norwegian participation in the project on behalf of Institute of Transport Economics. He may be contacted in case of questions or inquiries about the project or the article.

You may download the article here and the dataset here.

On behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Vista Analyse will lead a new research project on productivity and efficiency in the police sector, across police districts and over time.

The project is conducted in collaboration with the Frisch Centre and the Institute of Transport Economics, as well as police experts with employment at Vista on a commissioned basis and from the Work Research Institute AFI at OsloMet. The project will commence in the autumn of 2023 and conclude in the autumn of 2025.

– We embark on this research assignment with great enthusiasm and commitment. It's also pleasing that we have excellent partners with us. We look forward to a strong and close collaboration with both them and the ministry throughout the project period, says project manager and partner at Vista Analyse, Rasmus Bøgh Holmen.

Aiming to Promote Agency Management and Policy Development within the Police

The goal of the assignment is to contribute to new knowledge that is relevant for agency management and policy development within the police sector. Furthermore, the project aims to increase understanding of efficiency trends and organizational learning within the sector. Knowledge is sought regarding general trends in police efficiency development and variations in efficiency within the organization.

This project is one of several major projects Vista Analyse has undertaken within the Ministry of Justice and Public Security sector recently. Other recent projects directly related to the police and crime prevention have included prisoner transport, the police's internal management systems, the correctional service, and economic crime. In addition, various emergency preparedness projects related to energy supply, defense, IT, and transportation have been conducted by Vista Analyse.

– Justice and public security constitute an important sector both for society and for us at Vista. We look forward to delving deeper into the sector in this project with focus on the police, says Holmen.

Few Previous Studies Have Assessed Police Efficiency

The police enforce and maintain law and order, and combat crime throughout Norway. The number of employees and total nominal expenditures in the police sector has increased since 2016. However, the actual economic flexibility has decreased with the Deregulation and Efficiency Reform. Additionally, both the number of reported cases and the number of cases prosecuted have decreased, as well as the overall clearance rate.

Tasks, service production, resource utilization, and the circumstances surrounding these factors vary among the country's twelve police districts. Previous investigations show that tasks are carried out in different ways with varying resource utilization and organization of task performance, even after the Near Police Reform.

Annual examinations of police resources and capacity are conducted. However, these examinations do not significantly connect resource allocation with the services they provide, especially not at the police district level. Overall, there are few studies that quantitatively and systematically assess differences in police efficiency over time and across police districts.

– We look forward to delving deeper into the police sector's efficiency, productivity and resource utilization in the coming two and a half years. Efficiency and productivity analyses cannot solve all mysteries of efficiency variations in the police, but it is undoubtedly suitable for bringing new knowledge to the forefront. Therefore, we share the department's view that such studies will be suitable for informing the discussion on police efficiency, says Holmen.

– A Powerful Methodological Toolbox

Traditionally, access to data has posed a challenge for efficiency measurements in the police. However, with today's data availability, there opportunities to conduct such analyses are improved, as long as the data is collected and processed in a sound and appropriate manner, according to Holmen.

The primary methodology in the study will be based on leading estimation procedures for efficiency and productivity analysis, such as data envelopment analysis (DEA), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and Stochastic Nonparametric Envelopment of Data (StoNED). Common to these procedures is that they estimate the sector's best practices in the form of production frontiers or cost frontiers, which has given these analyses the name "frontier analyses." For each decision unit, efficiency is then measured in relation to the best practice at any given time. Decision units can, for example, represent police districts.

Regression analyses is occasionally criticized for providing a narrow view of efficiency. Holmen explains that criticism of regression models in frontier analysis can actually work constructively and contribute to their improvement through the inclusion of new variables and methodological adjustments. This contrasts with more rigid analyses with partial efficiency indicators. The models are not only suitable for measuring service production against production resources but also for aspects related to circumstances and various forms of measurement issues, according to the partner.

– Productivity and efficiency analysis is a powerful and versatile methodological toolbox. Like all other methods, these analyses have some weaknesses. However, many of them can be addressed through methodological adjustments or supplementary analyses. In this project, we look forward to applying productivity and efficiency analysis to a new sector and further developing our methodological expertise in this form of analysis, says Holmen.

– A Solid Foundation for Future Research

The study will consist of two sub-projects with corresponding reports and research articles. In the first sub-project of the study, we will contribute to a better quantitative knowledge base for evaluating resource utilization, efficiency, and priorities in police districts, including the prosecution authority. In the second sub-project of the study, we will analyze the reasons for cost and efficiency differences in the police, including both internal and external drivers of cost structure.

The subprojects will be summarized in a main report. The main report will also entail supplementary analyses to ensure that the project, as a whole, provides a broader and more comprehensive picture of resource utilization and efficiency in the police sector. In addition, a technical report with data and method documentation for the study will be provided.

– Overall, we believe that the study design – as outlined by the department and further detailed by us – is well-suited to shed light on efficiency and resource utilization within the police sector. Presumably, the documentation will also form a solid foundation for future research on the police sector and related methodological developments, Holmen concludes.

International evaluation methodology for measures for the transportation sector and other spatial measures touches on a wide range of impacts. These include direct and indirect impacts on the production sector, the household sector, the environment and public governance.

In an article in the latest issue of the “Journal of Transport, Economics and Policy”, partner Rasmus Bøgh Holmen presents a review of this research literature together with senior researcher Wiljar Hansen at the Institute of Transport Economics.

– Although the public evaluation guidelines for transportation and other spatial measures across countries are based on extensive research literature, this literature is seldom mapped systematically. In our article, we provide an overview of the scientific foundation for the presence and quantification of the significant effects of these measures, Holmen explains.

The study focuses on immature parts of the literature. The studies involved typically address impacts that are considered to be of potentially large magnitude, but which are omitted from cost-benefit analyses, partly due to their complexity and uncertainty.

– The application and development of evaluation methodology transportation measures and other spatial measures constitute a central part of Vista's portfolio. I am pleased that we at Vista continue to combine research and study assignments to contribute to high quality in our deliveries within these sectors, Holmen concludes.

The article is named“The Scientific Foundation for Impacts Estimation in Transportation Appraisal: A Literature Review”. It can be read here. Please contact partner Rasmus Bøgh Holmen if you have any questions.

This spring, Matilde Avdem Frankmo and Sunniva Heckel have written their master's thesis in collaboration with Vista Analyse.

Matilde analyzed household price elasticity in the power market, and her thesis is available here (in Norwegian). The background for the thesis is that the extraordinarily high power prices in the period 2020-2022 suggest that estimates from previous periods are not transferable. Through panel data analyses, Matilde finds that a spot price increase of one per cent results in a 0,03 per cent reduction in power consumption among households. This is in line with previous analyses and the thesis concludes that price elasticity is unchanged from previous periods.

Money laundering is the topic of Sunniva's master's thesis, and her thesis is available here (in English). Sunniva analyzes how sociodemographic variables and labour market characteristics are related to the probability of committing money laundering. She has analyzed a panel dataset for reported incidents in Norway between 2000 and 2019. One of several findings in her thesis is that older non-immigrants are more likely to commit money laundering, contradicting pattern for criminal offences in general, where young immigrants are most strongly represented.

We congratulate Matilde and Sunniva on completing their master's studies!

Partner Haakon Vennemo in Vista is a coauthor of the research paper "Prevent or Repair – Experimental Evidence from providing incentives for climate resilient housing in Vietnam". The paper is available here.

Vietnam is exposed to storms and typhoons, and the frequency may increase in the years ahead as climate change intensifies. Low-income households have poor housing with low resilience to storms. The paper discusses a randomized control trial (RCT) in the city of Danang. The participants were low-income households, and were divided into three groups. All groups received architectural help and advice on how to build storm-proof homes. Group two also received a loan on relatively favourable terms. Group three had part of the loan converted into grants. The analysis shows that grants are needed to sufficiently motivate households. However, the grants are not large, and the signal effect may be the most important factor in converting parts of loans into grants.

The article is entitled Agglomeration Benefits and Costs of Investing in Urban Transport Infrastructure and it is written by professor and partner in Vista Analyse Haakon Vennemo. The article is freely available and can be found here.

The foundation of the article is that the inhabitants of a city benefit from each other without them taking it into account. As such, the city is a center of positive external effects between residents. The positive externalities are a fundamental reason for living in cities despite high housing costs and the negative externalities that also exist in cities: congested traffic, pollution and higher crime rates.

The exacts mechanisms of external impacts in cities remain a mystery, but researchers have long pointed out that investing in better roads and railways in an urban area reduces travel costs and reinforces the area's urban character. This reinforcement of the urban character of the area has been omitted from ordinary cost-benefit analyses. The article points out how cost-benefit analysis can be expanded to take into account the contribution to the urban character of the area and the positive and negative externalities that accompany cities.

The article is titled The cost to households of a large electricity outage, and it is written by Haakon Vennemo, Orvika Rosnes and Andreas Skulstad.

A large electricity outage is costly for households both directly and indirectly. The direct cost is the disutility from lacking electricity at home. The indirect cost is the disutility from lacking access to infrastructure services that depend on electricity, such as internet and mobile phones, public transport, shops and restaurants. Using a sample of nearly 5000 Norwegian households we estimate the direct and indirect cost of an electricity outage. We find that the indirect cost adds about 50% to the direct cost: households' willingness to pay (WTP) for a major electricity outage that hits several infrastructure services is about 50% higher than their willingness to pay for an outage that hits only their home.

This information is important for investments in electricity networks. A high expected cost of outages indicates that additional investment into electricity reliability will be optimal.

The article is available here.

Martin Ørbeck of Vista Analyse recently presented a research paper at the annual conference organized by the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). This year's conference was held in Rimini, Italy, from 28 June to 1 July.

He presented "Temporal Dynamics of Willingness-to-pay and Environmental Preferences: Oil spill prevention in the Oslo fjord", a research paper he has written in collaboration with the three co-authors Henrik Lindhjem, Gorm Kipperberg and Maria Loureiro. The paper investigates developments over time in willingness-to-pay and underlying preferences for the environment and ecosystem services, using data from a contingent valuation study conducted in both 2015 and 2020 on oil spill prevention in the Oslo fjord.

The research paper has not yet been finalized, but will be made available on Vista's website upon publication.

Andreas Skulstad, Haakon Vennemo and Orvika Rosnes of Vista Analyse have written an article that is published in the latest issue of Samfunnsøkonomen (no. 3, 2022). The article analyses benefits from establishing a new testing center for oil spill protection technology, that the Norwegian Coastal Agency is advocating for.

The article is available to read here.

Andreas Stranden Hoel-Holt and Kristin Mjølnerød have written their master's theses at Vista this spring. Andreas has investigated the effects of technology diffusion from rich to poor countries in an integrated assessment model (IAM). Kristin has studied changes from 2017 to 2020 in household willingness-to-pay to avoid power outages.

Both theses have now been defended in the oral exam with flying colours.

We congratulate Andreas and Kristin with completing their studies!

This master thesis written by Mina Mariussen and co-financed by Vista Analyse study the effect of drought on educational attainment in ten countries south of Sahara. Climate change will probably intensify drought in areas that already are dry. It is important for adaptation and mitigation to assess and understand the impact of drought. Using econometric methods this thesis estimates the impact of drought on educational attainment in Sub-Saharan Africa, using geocoded data on climate and households across a time span of seventy years.

Findings suggest that in the presence of drought, individuals attain around a quarter of a year less education, and the probability of having any education is reduced by roughly three percent. This effect is mainly driven by an adverse effect for females. This heterogeneous effect on genders seems to be reversed when comparing subsamples of those born in the 1950s and 1990s, indicating a shift in gender norms with regards to education across time. The thesis is part of Vista Analyses´ research program in environment and development.

Vista partner Orvika Rosnes has together with Brita Bye, Kevin R. Kashual and Hidemichi Yonezawa in Statistics Norway and Karen Turner by the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde published a ny reserach paper «The road to a low emission society: Costs of interacting climate regulations».

Transportation is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. In Norway, emissions from transport make up around a third of total greenhouse gas emissions. Climate regulations on transportation are often a mix of sector-specific regulations and economy-wide measures (such as emission pricing). We analyze the costs of such overlapping climate regulations: the cap on domestic non-ETS emissions and the goal of all new cars for private households being electrical vehicles by 2030.

The analysis shows that welfare costs to achieve an emission target is tripled when climate policies overlap (compared to the same decrease in emissions achieved through a uniform price on emissions in 2030). To reach the goal of all new private cars being electrical by 2030, current lucrative policies for electrical vehicles must be considerably strengthened. Society in general will profit from a larger share of the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions being taken in other sectors, with not everyone buying electrical vehicles.

Steinar Strøm and Bjørnar Andreas Kvinge of Vista Analyse has together with Pernille Parmer, Helge Sandvig Thorsen og Inger Ubbe published an article in CESifo. The article is an empirical analysis of investments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The article extends on a project that Vista Analyse completed on behalf of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

In this article we analyze which factors that have influenced investments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. We have utilized data for all oil and gas fields from 1970 to 2016. We find a strong and statistically significant effect of lagged oil prices on investments. The estimated model performs very well compared to actual data, except for the years 2012-2015. This was a period with large oil price fluctuations, where investments in the periods when the price peaked may have been limited by supply-side capacity restrictions.

Read the article here.

With Ewelina Siwiec of Institute of Environmental Protection in Poland, Vista researchers Anne Erlandsen and Haakon Vennemo have published a paper on costs and benefits of creating rain gardens in urban areas. The paper, which appears in the journal Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, is based on the joint IEP-Vista project on climate adaptation in Poland that was conducted in 2017.

From the introduction: In urban areas, the most pressing adaptation challenges are associated with the problem of poor retention of rainstorm water. Hence, recommended actions focus on improving rainwater retention in the landscape. The article attempts to show the costs and benefits of one of the solutions – a green garden. When analysing the cost of green garden implementation, account should be taken of the cost of investment and upholding, as well as the alternative cost of land use. Then again, the benefits of the rain garden comprise the losses avoided by limiting the effects of rainstorm as well as improving the quality and quantity of water in the urban landscape. The cost and benefit monetization makes it possible to decide on the financial viability of implementing rain gardens in the city. The paper is available here.

Partner and professor Haakon Vennemo at Vista has contributed to the Palgrave Handbook of Sustainability, which was published recently at Palgrave Macmillan. The title of his contribution, with professor Kristin Aunan of Cicero, is titled Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China: An Unsustainable Situation in Search of a Solution. The Palgrave handbook is available here.

June 12th, Nina Bruvik Westberg and Sofie Waage Skjeflo presented the paper Demand for climate resilient housing – Experimental evidence from Vietnam, at the 16th Nordic Conference in Development Economics, an annual conference with around 80 participants.

The paper presents preliminary results from a field experiment in Vietnam, where we have randomly assigned offers of two different packages of microcredit, grants and technical assistance to support poor households who want to upgrade their houses to improve resilience to storms. The paper is written as part of the project Implementing incentives for climate resilient housing among the urban poor in Vietnam, and is co-authored with Haakon Vennemo, Henrik Lindhjem, Tuan Huu Tran, Phong Van Giai Tran and Tuan Tran Anh. A draft version of the paper can be downloaded here.

Haakon Vennemo in Vista held Monday a guest lecture at NHH’s course in natural resource and environmental economics for master students. Vennemo was invited by professor Gunnar Eskeland. The topic for Vennemo’s presentation was “Environmental risk in China: Theory meets reality”.

Henrik Lindhjem is appointed, together with Professor Rauli Svento at the Oulu Business School, to the PhD committee of Heini Ahtiainen at the Universitetet i Helsinki, Finland. The topic of the dissertation is ”Benefits of reduced eutrophication for policy making - evidence from Finland, the Baltic Sea area and Europe”. The topic fits well into the methodological work that Vista has undertaken on valuation and management of ecosystem services from inland and coastal waters in recent years, including for the Norwegian Coastal Administration.

Haakon Vennemo from Vista is presently guest researcher at The University of California, Berkeley. 30th of April, Haakon held a scientific seminar in applied economics and social research with participatns from Vista Analysis and The Norwegian Center at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Ma Guoxia of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP) has finalized a research mission in Norway to study economic models including environmental effects. The goal is to use Norwegian experience to better incorporate environmental considerations in environmental planning in China. The research mission is part of a three-year bilateral project on environmental risk reduction between CAEP and Vista Analysis. The photo shows Ma Guoxia (CAEP) with Norwegian colleagues (Statistics Norway).

Vista Analysis, CICERO and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning (CAEP) carried out a workshop on environmental risk in Tongling, Anhui province, 28-29 May. The aim of the workshop was to transfer knowledge of international best practise and apply this knowledge in training exercises. The participants were from the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in Beijing as well as the Environmental Protection Bureaus in Jiangsu and Guizhou provinces and the cities Anshun, Chengdu and Tongling. The workshop is part of a bilateral cooperation project, supported by the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing and MEP.

Annegrete Bruvoll and Haakon Vennemo have contributed to a chapter on environmentally harmful subsidies in the Edgar Elgar book Paying the Polluter. The financial means embedded in subsidies for unsustainable systems of production and consumption are increasingly well studied and reported. This has led to policy recommendations (e.g. OECD, EU) on how to reform subsidy systems in support of the necessary transitions to a low carbon and ecosystem resilient society based on a strong resource efficient economy. The authors in this book contribute to the debate based on recent, high quality and policy relevant research. It is a timely contribution to a pressing financial issue in environmental policy.

In an article in European Union Politics, Vibeke Wøien Hansen studies voting bahaviour in the EU. Politics in the Council is Janus-faced. There is bargaining with identifiable winners and losers, yet the voting records show high levels of agreement. These two sides have almost exclusively been studied in isolation even though standard theoretical models of voting typically assume that actors’ behaviour is guided by their positions relative to the proposal and the status quo. By combining positional data and voting data, we evaluate to what extent voting is driven by salience-weighted issue-specific positions. Our results show that governments’ voting behaviour is guided by their issue-specific positions. The relationship between preference-based positions and votes is stronger when we impute values for the missing positions in the positional data. This illustrates the importance of cautious treatment of missing data in EU decision-making.

Michael Hoel, partner in Vista, is the winner of the 2011 edition of the EAERE European Lifetime Achievement Award in Environmental Economics. More information here.

Congratulations!!

Henrik Lindhjem and Simen Pedersen in Vista Analysis has published in Review of Network Economics. The publication builds on a study the authors conducted for the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority in 2010-2011, and contains a Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Universal Service Obligation in Norway. Read the publication here

We conduct, to our knowledge, the first cost-benefit analysis of the universal service obligation (USO) in the postal sector. Three alternatives are analysed that reduce delivery frequency and/or delivery speed, with particular emphasis on quantifying the potential loss of consumer benefits. Social cost savings are analysed for the service provider, for the environment and for the government through lower levels of distortionary taxes. Although there are challenges involved in measuring the net welfare change, especially loss in consumer benefits, our results suggest that only the largest reduction in the USO may be justified on social efficiency grounds.