A Framework for Analyzing Tariffs and Subsidies in Water Provision to Urban Households in Developing Countries

This paper aims to present a basic conceptual framework for understanding the main practical issues and challenges relating to tariffs and subsidies in the water sector in developing countries. The paper introduces the basic economic notions relevant to the water sector; presents an analytical framework for assessing the need for and evaluating subsidies; and discusses the recent evidence on the features and performance of water tariffs and subsidies in various regions, with a special focus on Africa. The discussion is limited to the provision of drinking water to urban households in developing countries.water, access to water, tariffs, subsidies, urban development

The third pillar in Europe: institutional factors and individual decisions

This paper studies and documents household participation in voluntary individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in eleven European countries. Using recently available, internationally comparable data of households aged 50+, we calculate country-by-country average marginal effects of the probability to save in IRAs. We link the evidence from the micro data to the institutional differences in pension systems that prevail across the countries in our sample. Our results indicate that households' participation in the 'third pillar' varies substantially across countries, both due to institutional differences and household characteristics. Higher education is crucial for participation in countries with shorter traditions of IRAs where awareness matters most. Background risk due to expectations of future pension reforms as well as experience with occupational pensions increase voluntary retirement savings additionally for the currently employed individuals in our sample. --individual retirement accounts,pension reform,consumption and saving over the life-cycle

Estimating the Amount of a Global Feed-in Tariff for Renewable Electricity

We present a simple model to estimate the subsidy cost embedded in a global feed-in tariff (GFIT) to simultaneously stimulate electrification and the take-up of renewable energy sources for electricity generation in developing countries. The GFIT would subsidize developing countries for investments they make in generation capacity for renewable electricity up to a threshold level of electricity consumption per capita. Between 2010 and 2025, countries below this threshold strive to bridge the gap by 2025, when subsidies—based on the difference between the costs of renewable technologies and conventional energy sources-end.feed-in tariff, renewable energy, electrification, low-carbon development

Some variance reduction methods for numerical stochastic homogenization

We overview a series of recent works devoted to variance reduction techniques for numerical stochastic homogenization. Numerical homogenization requires solving a set of problems at the micro scale, the so-called corrector problems. In a random environment, these problems are stochastic and therefore need to be repeatedly solved, for several configurations of the medium considered. An empirical average over all configurations is then performed using the Monte-Carlo approach, so as to approximate the effective coefficients necessary to determine the macroscopic behavior. Variance severely affects the accuracy and the cost of such computations. Variance reduction approaches, borrowed from other contexts of the engineering sciences, can be useful. Some of these variance reduction techniques are presented, studied and tested here

Se masquer à la mi-carême : perspectives de renouveaux communautaires

La communauté acadienne de la région de Chéticamp en Nouvelle-Écosse a conservé la mi-carême, tradition qui a été amenée par les premiers migrants français dans leurs bagages culturels. La mi-carême, exemple d’un transfert culturel de l’Europe à l’Amérique, est une fête qui utilise le pouvoir du masque dans un rituel collectif de dérision. Pendant cette fête le masque protège, libère, garantit l’anonymat, transforme, épouvante et autorise la confusion. Nous voyons des exemples de fêtes semblables au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde, comme la mi-carême au Québec, le Mummering à Terre-Neuve, le mardi gras en Louisiane, dans les Antilles et au Brésil, et le carnaval en Europe. Nous proposons d’explorer les raisons pour lesquelles ces traditions ont pu traverser le temps et l’espace tout en se maintenant et en se renouvelant. Nous regarderons les éléments que ces célébrations ont en commun, comme la nourriture, la boisson, la musique, la chanson, la danse et le masque. L’étude des changements et de la continuité de ces traditions nous amène à conclure que ces fêtes ont su résister parce qu’elles permettent une ouverture à l’imagination et à la créativité. Cette ouverture permet aux groupes de répondre à certains besoins universels de l’être humain. De plus, ces groupes ont su partager ces expériences de dérision et de célébration communautaire dans le cadre du phénomène du tourisme culturel. Grâce à la force vive de ces fêtes, l’écho puissant du rire du Moyen-Âge vit dans le monde contemporain

De la délinquance juvénile à la criminalité adulte

Quelle est la continuité entre la conduite délinquante durant l'adolescence et l'activité antisociale des jeunes adultes? Nous servant d'un échantillon d'adolescents conventionnels et d'un échantillon déjeunes délinquants, nous analysons la stabilité de la conduite délinquante durant l'adolescence : sa précocité, sa durée, son aggravation, son activation et sa diversité. Par la suite, nous montrons que la nature de l'activité illicite à l'adolescence est directement prédictive de l'ampleur et de la nature de la criminalité adulte.Where is the continuity between the conduct of delinquent adolescents and the antisocial behavior of young adults ? In examining a sample of conventional teenagers with a sample of young delinquents, the pattern of the delinquent behavior during adolescence is analyzed: its precocity, duration, aggravation, activity and diversity. It is there shown that the nature of the illicit activities during adolescence is directly predictive of the extent and nature of the adult criminal behavior

Observing the sky at extremely high energies with the Cherenkov Telescope Array: Status of the GCT project

The Cherenkov Telescope Array is the main global project of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy for the coming decades. Performance will be significantly improved relative to present instruments, allowing a new insight into the high-energy Universe [1]. The nominal CTA southern array will include a sub-array of seventy 4 m telescopes spread over a few square kilometers to study the sky at extremely high energies, with the opening of a new window in the multi-TeV energy range. The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is one of the proposed telescope designs for that sub-array. The GCT prototype recorded its first Cherenkov light on sky in 2015. After an assessment phase in 2016, new observations have been performed successfully in 2017. The GCT collaboration plans to install its first telescopes and cameras on the CTA site in Chile in 2018-2019 and to contribute a number of telescopes to the subsequent CTA production phase.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, ICRC201