Contenu du sommaire : Mélanges

Economic Analysis of the Benefits of Installing Particule Filters on New Diesel-Engined Vehicles Diesel engines emit particules into the atmosphere at the time of combustion. The inhalation of these particules leads to an increase in the incidence of cardio-respiratory disease and reduces life expectancy. For some years now, several car makers have developed technologies to limit the particle emissions from diesel-engined vehicles. This study shows that the health benefits substantially outweigh the costs involved in the installation of particule filters on new vehicles. It would therefore be of benefit to society if it were made compulsory to equip all new vehicles with particule filters, with priority given to heavy goods vehicles.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of the EU Regulation Tightening the Conditions for Maritime Transport of Hydrocarbons This study assesses the impact of EU regulation 1726/2003 restricting the use of single-hull tankers in favour of double-hull tankers, seen as being safer, by comparing the additional economic costs induced and the expected diminution in the number of oil spills. It emerges that this regulation is of positive benefit for Europeans but results in shifting the risk of catastrophe onto the other regions of the world. Worldwide application of this regulation would permit a significant reduction in the risk of oil spills by 2015. However the net social economic impact would be negative and would probably remain so even if the valuation attached to the average damage caused by oil spills adopted in this study (euros 700 million and euros 1,5 billion) were significantly increased.

An Evaluation of Regulatory Systems: Transport and the Environment On the basis of two case studies, we try to identify the obstacles to the adoption of environmental policy instruments more efficient than the regulatory approach in the field of transport. Noise regulation at Charles de Gaulle Airport illustrates the economics of the problem and allows us to weigh up the gains that could be obtained by economic instruments. The case of control of urban sprawl highlights the role of pre-existing distortions in sectoral regulations, which act as subsidies harmful to the environment, and above all the need to improve their quality.

Adoption of the Internet and Its Utilization for Commercial Purposes: an Econometric Study Using Data from Brittany What are the forces driving or curbing Internet use in the home? Agrowing number of surveys have been carried out to address this question. In this vein, this article focuses on the decisions whether to have an Internet access in the home and whether to buy online, using the results of a survey carried out in Brittany at the end of 2002. The econometric results of this study, the first of its kind using French data, highlight the role of socio-economic factors (age, education, occupation), but also the positive impact of experience and neighbourhood influences on Internet use. For example, a person will be more likely to buy on the Internet if a large proportion of those in his neighbourhood are accustomed to buying online. This finding gives support to the idea that individual choices regarding online are often taken in interaction with people's immediate circle or with social networks.

National Policies for Pricing of Household Waste Disposal Services in the Presence of Heterogeneous Municipal Policies. This article describes the situation in which municipalities are responsible for selecting the instruments for downstream pricing of household waste disposal services – incentive pricing system or flat-rate tax–while at the same time a national regulator may be in a position to impose an upstream tax on the intrinsic waste content of products. The model incorporates the possibility that households may dispose of their waste illegally in order to avoid the incentive payments. The starting point of the analysis !, which is realistic, ! is to assume that a number of municipalities will apply inefficient flat-rate taxes. In these circumstances, what constitutes an efficient national policy as regards upstream taxation? We show that it includes an upstream tax whose rate declines as the number of municipalities adopting an incentive payment system increases. Moreover, we establish the fact that failure to allocate the total receipts of the upstream tax to the municipalities leads to a distortion of their choices regarding pricing. Finally, we show that the illegal disposal of waste poses a problem of efficiency only when the incentive payment systems have been adopted by a sufficient number of municipalities.

Impact of a Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy via Uncoupling The reduction of the distortions to trade launched in 1992 and 1999 has led the CAP to systematise the uncoupling of agricultural aids from agricultural production. This analysis, focused on the price effect, makes it possible to assess the expected advantage to society, by means of model simulations under an assumption of constant European budgetary expenditure. Depending on the level of the uncoupling premium offered in substitution for existing aids, there is a change in the numbers of “losers” and “winners”, in their location, in the variation of the surplus, with the advantage as between producers and taxpayers for the 15-member EU compared with Agenda 2000 unchanged at euros1,8 billion. The figure would be euros 0,8 billion in the case of partial uncoupling similar to that contained in the 2003 Luxembourg agreement.