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Rice is a staple food in the West African nation of Sierra Leone with little difference in consumption between poor and wealthy households. Rice production is also an important source of livelihood with half of all households, three-quarters of rural households and about two-thirds of poor households grow rice. The final price of rice in the domestic market is an important policy issue. The policy challenge is complicated by the fact that poor households, which earn the bulk of their income from rice production, also purchase rice when own production is inadequate. Under the broad assumption that money income is a reasonable measure of well-being, this paper develops a simple model of the Sierra Leone rice sector and applies procedures to determine key outcomes in terms of domestic production, imports, and exports under conditions that maximize consumer's and producer's surplus. The paper finds that the rice sector is operating at a suboptimal level. In addition, simulations suggest that an optimal policy path to balance consumer and producer welfare and meet the higher societal objective of creating jobs requires a moderate level of tariff on imported rice, combined with structural policies to improve the productivity of the sector.

Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agriculture --- Consumer Surplus --- Demand Elasticity --- Food Security --- Producer Surplus --- Rice Price --- Supply Elasticity --- Supply Response --- Welfare

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This paper reviews resource sector developments in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that made their first (major) petroleum discoveries during the most recent commodity boom. The analysis, which goes back to 2001, looks at sector forecasts of international organizations, governments, and companies and compares them with the results that emerged. The paper finds that a third of the countries did not make any commercially viable discoveries. Among those that potentially had commercial finds, the latest timelines from discovery to production are 73 percent longer on average than initially expected. In the six countries for which there are comparable data, revenue collected thus far or the most recent revenue projections for countries yet to reach production are 63 percent lower on average than the initial forecasts. All 12 countries experienced a disappointment in at least one of the three dimensions analyzed-and these disappointments are likely to be exacerbated by the recent price crash. The paper also documents the various policies adopted in response to the discoveries and - with the benefit of hindsight - finds that, in some cases, this over optimism contributed to the presource curse: suboptimal policymaking that did not align with the new realities. Some recommendations are provided on how better to navigate the inherent uncertainties in developing the sector.

Commodities --- Economic Growth --- Energy --- Exhaustible Resource --- Inflation --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Natural Resources --- Oil --- Oil and Gas --- Oil Price --- Petroleum Producer --- Presource Curse --- Public Sector Development --- Resource Curse

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Ministries of finance are often asked to guarantee a state-owned electricity utility's payments to an independent power producer under a power-purchase agreement. To decide whether to grant the guarantee, the ministry should have at least a rough estimate of the guarantee's expected cost. Making use of an analogy between a power-purchase agreement and a debt contract, this paper shows how the ministry can get such an estimate by applying a method developed to estimate the expected cost of debt guarantees. An estimate of the probability of the utility's not being able to meet its obligations under the power-purchase agreement can be derived from the utility's actual or estimated credit rating in the absence of government support. The government's expected payments under the guarantee can then be estimated by multiplying the utility's payments under the power-purchase agreement by this probability. The estimates produced by the method will be imprecise, but the method may be easier to apply than alternative methods, and an imprecise estimate may be better for policy makers than no estimate.

Electric Power --- Electric Utilities --- Electricity --- Energy --- Energy Policies and Economics --- Fiscal Policy --- Fiscal Risk --- Guarantees --- Independent Power Producer --- Power Purchase Agreement --- Public Guarantee --- Public Sector Development --- State-Owned Enterprises --- Utilities

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La microeconomía suele ser vista por los estudiantes como una materia de alta complejidad y difícil compresión, razón por la cual este libro apunta a ofrecer las herramientas necesarias y suficientes para abordarla con mayor facilidad, con explicaciones en un lenguaje claro y con la práctica a través del desarrollo de ejercicios, paso a paso, que el estudiante podrá seguir y verificar con sus respuestas. En el primer capítulo se presentan los conceptos básicos de economía que le permitirán al lector contar con una contextualización general de esta ciencia. En el segundo capítulo se aborda el concepto de mercado, con sus diferentes elementos. En el tercero se abarca la elasticidad, concepto importante en el estudio de la microeconomía. El cuarto capítulo aborda —de manera básica, por tratarse de un libro introductorio— el comportamiento del consumidor desde el enfoque de la utilidad marginal, asociado al estudio del corto plazo. Por último, el quinto capítulo trata la teoría del productor, y se finaliza con el sexto capítulo, referido al análisis de costo.

Teachers' classroom resources & material --- Educational: Business studies & economics --- Microeconomics --- Universities --- consumer theory --- marginal utility --- producer theory --- marginal product --- cost theory --- marginal cost --- variable cost --- Capitalism. --- Costs, Industrial. --- Economics. --- Microeconomics. --- Supply and demand. --- Costos de producción. --- Economía de mercado. --- Economía. --- Microeconomía. --- Oferta y demanda. --- Demand and supply --- Industrial production --- Law of supply and demand --- Economics --- Competition --- Exchange --- Overproduction --- Prices --- Value --- Price theory --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man --- Costs of production --- Industrial costs --- Industries --- Production costs --- Cost --- Market economy --- Profit --- Capital --- Costs

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Renewable energy deployment as an alternative to traditional energy sources is the cornerstone of the emission-reduction energy policies that aim to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy. This transition poses risks and opportunities for companies with business models that rely directly or indirectly on renewables, which will be reflected in the revaluation of assets and in the reallocation of private and public financial investments from carbon-intensive to low-carbon energies. In a series of selected articles, this book addresses current challenges and opportunities for renewable energies from technological, economic and financial perspectives.

Research & information: general --- day-ahead market --- balancing market --- gate closure --- forecast uncertainty --- wind power forecast --- agent-based simulation --- the MATREM system --- drying --- solar energy --- sustainable processing --- energy efficiency --- global heat production --- energy market --- energy conversion --- electricity --- carbon trading --- palm oil producer --- renewable energy --- economy --- sustainable development --- clean development mechanism --- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) --- Malaysia --- energy planning --- Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) --- Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) --- low-carbon economy --- renewable energy deployment --- environmental efficiency --- pumped hydro storage --- wind farm --- simulated annealing --- genetic algorithm --- pattern search --- Matlab optimization toolbox --- economic and environment feasibility --- renewables --- low carbon --- interdependence --- copulas --- conditional quantiles --- liquefied natural gas --- cold energy --- regasification --- chilled water --- techno economic --- coevolution --- the fuel ethanol industry --- history-friendly model --- entry regulation --- ethanol mandate --- production subsidy --- R&amp --- D subsidy