In recent years, Bitcoin has gained global mass adoption as an asset class. However, due to its characteristics of peer-to-peer direct borderless payment, anonymity and limited supply, Bitcoin has a special application in regions experiencing political and economic turmoil. It serves two functions: store of value and secure channel of transferring assets abroad. In this paper, I will only investigate the correlation between Bitcoin adoption and fiat default in Venezuela due to a limitation on empirical data. Time series FGLS regressions are employed to examine such correlation. The two Bitcoin metrics, Real Bitcoin Price in Venezuelan Bolivar (VEF) and Real Bitcoin Trading Volume in VEF, are included as independent variables. The two economic indicators, the Black Market Exchange Rate (VEF/USD) and Monthly Moving Inflation Rate, are included as explanatory variables. I find a relatively weak correlation between Bitcoin adoption and the well-being of the Venezuelan Economy. The Black Market Exchange Rate has a stronger positive impact on Real Bitcoin Price and Real Bitcoin Trading Volume while Inflation Rate has little impact. In addition, Real Bitcoin Volume responses to the changes the Venezuelan Economy approximately one week slower than Real Bitcoin Price.
Bitcoin emerged as a cryptocurrency relying on new blockchain technology in 2009, but how to regulate it was not immediately clear. The recent emergence of bitcoin futures poses a new level of risk to the economy, again raising questions of regulation. This is the first law review article to examine the potential regulatory regime for bitcoin futures.
Bitcoin is a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer payment system managed by an open source software and characterized by lower transaction costs, greater security and scalability than fiat money and no need of a central bank. Despite criticisms about illegal uses and social consequences, it is attracting the interest of the scientific community. The purpose of this work is to define and evaluate the current trends of the literature concerned with the sustainability of bitcoin, considering the environmental impacts, social issues and economic aspects. From the analysis it emerges that the transition of the whole monetary system in the new cryptocurrency will result in an unacceptable amount of energy consumed to mine new bitcoins and to maintain the entire virtual monetary system, and probably bitcoin will remain a niche currency. Blockchain, which is the base for a distributed and democratically-sustained public ledger of the transactions, could foster new and challenging opportunities. Sharing the framework of medical data, energy generation and distribution in micro-grids at the citizen level, block-stack and new state-driven cryptocurrencies, may benefit from the wide spread of blockchain-based transactions. Under the perspective of its being a driver of social change, bitcoins and related blockchain technologies may overcome the issues highlighted by numerous detractors.
J. Alejandro F. Castellanos, D. Coll-Mayor, Jose Antonio Notholt
The diversity of energy prosumer types makes it difficult to create appropriate incentive mechanisms that satisfy both prosumers and energy system operators alike. Meanwhile, European energy suppliers buy Guarantees of Origin (GoO) which allow them to sell green energy at premium prices while in reality delivering grey energy to their customers. Blockchain technology has proven itself to be a robust paying system in which users transact money without the involvement of a third party. Blockchain tokens can be used to represent a unit of energy and, just as GoOs, be submitted to the market. This paper focuses on simulating marketplace using the Ethereum Blockchain and Smart Contracts, where prosumers can sell tokenized GoOs to consumers willing to subsidize renewable energy producers. Such markets bypass energy providers by allowing consumers to obtain tokenized GoOs directly from the producers, which in turn benefit directly from the earnings. Two market strategies where tokens are sold as GoOs have been simulated. In the Fix Price Strategy prosumers sell their tokens to the average GoO price of 2014. The Variable Price Strategy focuses on selling tokens at a price range defined by the difference between grey and green energy. The study finds that the Ethereum Blockchain is robust enough to functions as a platform for tokenized GoO trading. Simulation results have been compared and the results indicate that prosumers earn significantly more money by following the Variable Price Strategy.
We study the relationship between Bitcoin and commodities by assessing the ability of Bitcoin to act as a diversifier, hedge, or safe haven against daily movements in commodities in general, and energy commodities in particular. We focus on energy commodities because energy, in the form of electricity, is an essential input in the Bitcoin production. For the entire period, results show that Bitcoin is a strong hedge and a safe-haven against movements in both commodity indices. We further examine whether that ability is also present for non-energy commodities and our analysis show insignificant results when energy commodities are excluded from the general commodity index. We also account for the December 2013 Bitcoin price crash and our results reveal that Bitcoin hedge and safe-haven properties against commodities and energy commodities are only present in the pre-crash period, whereas in the post-crash period Bitcoin is no more than a diversifier. In addition to uncovering the time-varying role of Bitcoin, we highlight the dissimilarity in the dynamic correlations between the extreme downward and extreme upward movements.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, the internet disrupted the world and started a new era of technological supremacy. Today, with the rise of cryptocurrencies and its underlying technology we stand at the helm of another such revolution. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are peer-to-peer decentralized systems of digital currencies which operate without the need for a third-party intermediary like RBI. Coupled with lack of regulatory guidance, its unique technical aspects create huge complications in its taxation. While much ignorance still prevails in respect of cryptocurrencies, countries around the world have finally started taking notice and act upon it. This paper overviews the complete landscape of taxation of bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies. In this paper, an attempt is made to explain the indirect as well as direct tax structure concern cryptocurrencies, particularly after the implementation of Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017. The paper explains what bitcoins are, why are they important and whether it is necessary for the Government to regulate it. In addition, it discusses the prevailing regulatory structure as well as issues concerning evasionary practices in digital currencies. The findings help assess regulatory aspects in light of technological, economic, social and financial forces and establishes a set framework for taxation of cryptocurrencies.
This paper analyses the heterogeneity of household consumer preferences for electricity service contracts in a smart grid context. Platform pricing strategies that could incentivise consumers to participate in a two-sided electricity platform market are discussed. The research is based on original data from a discrete choice experiment on electricity service contracts that was conducted with 1,892 electricity consumers in Great Britain in 2015. We estimate a flexible mixed logit model in willingness to pay space and exploit the results in posterior analysis. The findings suggest that while consumers are willing to pay for technical support services, they are likely to demand significant compensation to share their usage and personally identifying data and to participate in automated demand response programs involving remote monitoring and control of electricity usage. Cross-subsidisation of consumers combining appropriate participation payments with sharing of bill savings could incentivise participation of the number of consumers required to provide the optimal level of demand response. We also examine the preference heterogeneity to suggest how, by targeting customers with specific characteristics, smart electricity service providers could significantly reduce their customer acquisition costs.
Although researchers have acknowledged the issue of commercial viability previously, it is only recently that they have laid emphasis on addressing the relative importance of commercial viability to catalyze the dissemination of decentralized sustainable energy systems to rural consumers in developing countries. A business enterprise is said to be commercially viable if its revenues are > costs. Here in this thesis these business enterprises or promoters of efforts are called as renewable energy companies (REC’s). Moreover researchers have failed to acknowledge or address the role of revenues even after acknowledging the merits of a market driven approach as opposed to donor driven approach. Given such a high relevance of revenues in a market approach to operate successfully and a lack of focus on the same by researchers, in this thesis we will analyze the practical issue of commercial viability of Indian REC’s through the lens of revenue model, while also addressing the literature gap on revenue drivers or revenue model components by exploring various relevant revenue drivers of commercially viable REC’s. This study takes an exploratory case study approach to enlist all the relevant revenue driver or revenue model components that are relevant for REC’s to attain commercial viability. This thesis primarily consists of three subsequent phases: first phase: theoretical gap identification. Second phase: identification of types and components of a revenue model and third phase: building a revenue driver – commercial viability framework. The aim of the first phase was to narrow in on the literate gap and also present relevant background literature. The first phase yielded the literature gap on revenue model components in addressing the practical issue of commercial viability. The aim of the second phase was to identify revenue model types and components. The result of which was that two types of revenue models namely: ownership and service revenue models was discovered. Most importantly six potential revenue drivers were also discovered. They are: consumer trust, pricing strategy, willingness to pay, flexibility of payments, number of users and revenue sharing. These six revenue drivers were derived on the premise that they would increase revenues such that REC’s attain commercial viability. This made up our initial conceptual model. Next, the aim of the third phase was to build a framework on revenue drivers or revenue model components – commercial viability of Indian REC’s. In order to do so firstly we analyzed cases where the initial conceptual model is leveraged into a more relevant context of Indian REC’s. The case studies were based on SIMPA Networks, Onergy, Rural Spark and MeraGao Power (MGP). All of these cases primarily are Indian companies exclusively catering to the Indian rural market otherwise also known as REC’s or Indian REC’s. The results of this section yielded us a relevant set of 12 revenue drivers i.e. six more in comparison to the initial set of 6 revenue drivers. They are consumer trust, supplier trust, pricing strategies, willingness to pay, flexibility of payments, number of users, revenue sharing, consumer financing, size of payments, service customization, after sales service/maintenance and discounts. Secondly, a cross case analysis was performed wherein findings from each case are pitched against each other to find the similarities and differences. The result of this section was firstly that, any sort of generalizations based on the type of revenue models was hard to come by and most importantly the type of revenue model only signified its affect on the source of financing and could play no role in explaining how and why commercial viability was being achieved. Moreover it also led to an inference that service revenue model poses more risk than ownership revenue model but however commercial viability was achieved by adopting both types of revenue model, which was quite the contrary to the outcome of literature survey. Secondly, list of revenue drivers was further narrowed to 10 from the previous list of 12. Basically willingness to pay was eliminated because it was already being considered in pricing strategies and number of users was also removed because it affected the commercial viability of REC’s in terms of both costs and revenues whereas the others only impacted only revenues. The final set of relevant revenue drivers are: consumer trust, supplier trust, pricing strategies, flexibility of payments, size of payments, revenue sharing, consumer financing, service customization, after sales service/maintenance and discounts. Lastly, a set of three factors was identified that actually contributed to the increase in revenues such that revenues were > costs. Or in other words served as a link between revenue drivers and commercial viability. They are namely: rate of adoption, recoupment of costs (regular payments) and retention. It is these afore mentioned revenue drivers that impact the three factors, which subsequently drive or increase revenues such that commercial viability can be attained. The ownership revenue model primarily derives its revenues from only the adoption factor, which subsequently brings in revenues to attain commercial viability. That said the adoption of DSE’s by the rural consumers is contingent or dependent on revenue drivers like consumer financing and size of payments among others. The revenues of REC’s employing service revenue model primarily depended on all the three factors like rate of adoption, recoupment of costs and retention. More specifically the revenue drivers should be conducive to rural customers such that they firstly adopt the product and/or service and most importantly make regular payments, which translates to revenues while retaining the existing customers. Moreover the retention factor only applies to REC’s that adopt a service revenue model with only a service platform like MGP unlike other REC’s, which adopt a only a product platform like Onergy or both product and service platform like in the case of SIMPA and Rural spark. In the backdrop of afore mentioned scientific implications several managerial implications can also be derived. Among many the key take away for incumbent managers and future potential entrants will be to look at each of the revenue drivers and adopt them carefully such that commercial viability can be attained contingent on the his/her appetite for risk and most of all focus less on the type of revenue model because that is not going to help achieve commercial viability. Future research should be aimed at firstly developing a more elaborate revenue driver- commercial viability framework. After which each of the revenue driver’s true affects on each of the factors should be quantitatively determined. This further helps to gain greater generalizability. That said the key limitation of this thesis is that it focuses only on one country i.e. India among other developing countries.
India’s government has a bold goal for deploying renewable energy: 175 gigawatts of electricity-generating capacity by 2022, including 100 gigawatts of solar power. The country has a history of promoting renewable energy and a rapidly growing portfolio of solar and wind projects, but meeting the solar target alone will require a growth rate equivalent to doubling India’s installed solar capacity every 18 months. It will also require a clear understanding of the three factors that drive energy demand in India (access, security, and efficiency); new federal and state policies and incentives; innovative financing for capital investments estimated at $100 billion or more; and additional funding for manufacturing, training, and job creation. Project developers will have to grapple with the cost and availability of land, grid connections, and backup power. To meet the electricity needs of the poor and encourage rural entrepreneurship, India’s energy policies should aim for a mix of grid-connected and decentralized renewable energy sources.
As the global population heads toward 9 billion by 2050, decisions made today will lock countries into growth patterns that may or may not be sustainable in the future. Care must be taken to ensure that cities and roads, factories and farms are designed, managed, and regulated as efficiently as possible to wisely use natural resources while supporting the robust growth developing countries still need. Economic development during the next two decades cannot mirror the previous two: poverty reduction remains urgent but growth and equity can be pursued without relying on policies and practices that foul the air, water, and land. Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development makes the case that greening growth is necessary, efficient, and affordable. Yet spurring growth without ensuring equity will thwart efforts to reduce poverty and improve access to health, education, and infrastructure services. Countries must make strategic investments and farsighted policy changes that acknowledge natural resource constraints and enable the world's poorest and most vulnerable to benefit from efficient, clean, and resilient growth. Like other forms of capital, natural assets are limited and require accounting, investment, and maintenance in order to be properly harnessed and deployed. By maximizing co-benefits and avoiding lock-in, by promoting smarter decisions in industry and society, and by developing innovative financing tools for green investment, we can afford to do the things we must.| The poor health of today's roads--a subject close to the hearts of motorists, taxpayers, and government treasurers around the world--has resulted from faulty incentives that misdirect government decision-makers, according to the contributors to Street Smart . During the 1990s, bad government decision-making resulted in the U.S. Interstate Highway System growing by only one seventh the rate of traffic growth. The poor maintenance of existing roads is another concern. In cities around the world, highly political and wasteful government decision-making has led to excessive traffic congestion that has created long commutes, reduced safety, and caused loss of leisure time. Street Smart examines the privatization of roads in theory and in practice. The authors see at least four possible roles for private companies, beyond the well-known one of working under contract to design, build, or maintain governmentally provided roads. These include testing and licensing vehicles and drivers; management of government-owned facilities; franchising; and outright private ownership. Two chapters describe the history of private roads in the United Kingdom and the United States. Contemporary examples are provided of pricing, privatizing, and contracting out are evident in environs as diverse as Singapore, Southern California, and Scandinavia, and cities as different as Bergen, Norway, and London, England. Finally, several chapters examine strategies for implementing privatization. The principles governing providing scarce resources in free societies are well known. We apply them to such necessities as energy, food, and water so why not to road space? The main obstacle to private, or semi-private, ownership of roads is likely to remain the reluctance of the political class to give up a lucrative source of power and influence. Those who want decisions about services to be controlled by the interplay of consumers and suppliers in free markets, rather than by politicians, will have to explain the need for change. Street Smart makes a powerful case for the need for change and sheds light on the complex issues involved. Gabriel Roth is a transport and privatization consultant and a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California.
We address the issue of emission tax harmonization in a model featuring two representative firms located in two countries. Firms are subject to an international emissions trading system and to domestic emissions taxation; the latter generates public revenue but also implies implementation costs. Decentralized tax setting causes a spillover across countries via the permits price. Nonetheless, harmonization might imply a lower aggregate social welfare. This happens when uniform taxation prevents the exploitation of significant differences across countries in terms of costs and benefits of taxation. Finally, we identify cases where harmonization implies larger aggregate social welfare but lacks unanimous consent . [JEL numbers: Q58, H23].
Synopsis: Concern over emissions and climate change has led over half of the states to enact portfolio (RPS) legislation requiring regulated electric utilities to obtain some fraction of their power requirements from sources defined as Legislation to institute a federal RPS may follow. In reality, RPS is a policy in search of a rationale, at odds with principles of efficient environmental regulation and poorly suited to promote other policies favored by its supporters. The actual record of state implementations has been largely symbolic. Very few states with binding RPS requirements are currently in compliance with their own programs, and a federal RPS will be subject to the same forces that have led to state-level failure. The recent history of renewables leads to a conclusion that existing and proposed mandates are better viewed as special interest legislation than as rational responses to climate change and fossil-fuel power plant emissions. I. INTRODUCTION Electricity from renewable sources is fast becoming a multipurpose remedy that will alleviate energy scarcities, abate air pollution, and mitigate climate change. As of July 2007, over half of the states had enacted portfolio standards (RPS) requiring electric utilities to obtain portions of their power from sources legislatively defined as renewable. ' On August 4, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a national RPS, but the Senate failed to pass a comparable provision.2 Supporters of a national RPS have long viewed it as an environmental measure that can also slow the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG).3 They have more recently argued that it is, among others, an industrial policy to manufacturing jobs and declining regions, a market intervention that could lower energy prices, a stimulus to development of new technologies, an instrument for risk management, a trade policy initiative, and a weapon in the war on terrorism.4 In reality, a national RPS is singularly ill-suited for any of these tasks. It will be an inefficient and inequitable environmental policy that reduces emissions at higher cost than necessary and is largely incompatible with existing air quality regulations. Some of the non-environmental rationales are elementary economic fallacies and others are at best conjectures. Worse yet, the record of state-level RPS compliance and enforcement strongly suggests that the effects of a federal program will be either minimal or perverse. Psychologically and politically satisfying, a national RPS is likely to obstruct the development of efficient policies. The range of public figures and distinguished commissions favoring a national RPS may indicate no more than an expectation that it will provide a new forum for interest-group politics.5 We begin with data on renewables which suggests that a federal RPS will bring little diversity in generation resources and few environmental benefits. The next sections examine advocates' claims for it, finding them inadequate at best. As environmental policy, an RPS is inefficient by every economic standard. It is a costly measure whose effects on emissions are uncertain, difficult to integrate with existing environmental regulation, and needlessly disruptive of generation investments intended to comply with anticipated emissions rules. Other purported consequences are also questionable. As macroeconomic or industrial policy, a national RPS cannot possibly create net increases in employment and rural areas that it will revitalize seldom need the help. Claims that it is necessary to stimulate reductions in production cost lose their force in a global economy, as do expectations that it will position the U.S. to dominate the world renewables market. Rather than facilitating risk management, standard renewables contracts only transfer it from utilities to captive customers. National security is better advanced through direct policies instead of compulsory investment in renewables. …
This article examines the broad spectrum of public policies and their outcomes in Western Europe and North America, in order to identify sources of success and failure, and thus determine ways of improving the effectiveness of transit subsidization. Empirical evidence suggests that decentralization of transit finance and decision making may enhance the effectiveness of subsidies. Transit subsidies are as important as government policies affecting the costs of auto ownership and use. In the United States large transit subsidies have led to negligible ridership growth and no increase in the proportion of tripmaking by mass transit. Greater decentralization of decision making and financing might be an approach to increasing its effectiveness.