Why we need an allocative (and resourceful) welfare state

ABSTRACT In this essay, I propose an agenda for the welfare state of the 21st century that emphasizes its role as a mechanism of resource allocation. Since social and environmental problems are getting out of hand, the time for mere compensation is over: we need a mechanism for directly influencing systems of production and patterns of consumption in the direction of addressing those problems. This partially translates into a decisive sectoral shift towards public social services led by the welfare state. Among the advantages of this move, in addition to more socially balanced outcomes, are quality jobs and fulfillment of social needs in an environment-friendly way. The allocative task which gives the welfare state a constitutive role in shaping the socioeconomy complements its classic function as problem fixer. The allocative welfare state must be prepared to limit the domain of market allocation.

Sustainable Energy Policies and Equality: Is There a Nexus? Inferences From the Analysis of EU Statistical and Survey Data

Energy Justice (EJ) and particularly Energy equality (EE), arguably a radical conceptualization of energy justice, advocated for distributional justice and policies addressing distributional inequalities. Distributional policies are known to be contentious and often raise debates on the opportunity to interfere with the free-market allocation of goods in capitalistic economies. Whether EE inspired policies might be considered implementable or not depends on their social acceptability. Therefore, holding on to previous research findings pointing to the higher acceptability of equitable climate policies and the relationship between economic inequality and environmental degradation, we analyse EU data regarding income and income and wealth inequality and data from the H2020 ECHOES project, which consists of an extensive European survey of household energy consumption attitudes. We found that economic equality accounts for 41% of the variance explained at the country level of our sustainable energy care index (SECI), accounting for sustainable energy attitudes. We conclude that the interplay between economic equality and sustainable energy attitudes deserves further attention and might warrant a broader discussion about distributive policies within and beyond the energy sector.

TRANSACTION COSTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE SIZE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY

The paper presents a discursive analysis of the use of the category of “transaction costs”. The similarity of the concepts of “transaction costs’ and “costs of the marketing” by E. Chamberlin is demonstrated. However, in the original discourse of R. Coase, transaction costs are considered as the costs of using the price mechanism associated with the market allocation of resources. The firm, as a hierarchical economic system, was an alternative allocation mechanism to the market. The factors that influence the value of transaction costs in O. Williamson’s contract theory are almost unrelated to sales and the marketing. In the discourse of J. Buchanan and M. Olson transaction costs are costs arising in the political market. For J. Buchanan, these are the “positive” costs of creating new laws that reduce the social costs associated with the production and distribution of public goods. M. Olson’s discourse addresses not only the “positive” but also the “negative” costs associated with dividing markets through government regulation. In turn, R. Coase himself, investigating the problem of social costs associated with external effects, in fact got rid of transaction costs, equating them to zero. It is this situation of “Coase’s theorem” that began to be used in the framework of the analysis methodology of the discipline “Economics and Law”. The paper proposes an interpretation of transaction costs as costs of overcoming the boundaries between heterogeneous systems, based on the discourse of E. de Soto. In this case, the prices of legality/illegality can be viewed as the transaction costs of using different economic systems.

Analysis of Energy Crisis, Energy Security and Potential of Renewable Energy: Evidence from Pakistan

Over the last thirty years, Asian countries have become a chief player in the worldwide scene. Pakistan is facing an acute energy disaster since last decade that impacts on social and economic development. Sustainable energy supply is an essential feature for the economic growth of any society. From the last five years, Pakistan is facing a shortfall between 4,000-5,000 megawatt. This study inspects the association between energy security, energy crisis, energy demand, energy supply, and renewable potential in Pakistan. It also evaluates the final energy demand-supply gap, provincial renewable energy distribution, sectorial distribution, and policy recommendation for future energy. For this study, we applied renewable and non-renewable energy scenarios during 2014-2035 and Market-Allocation method to prove the energy situation in Pakistan. The outcomes show that renewable resources are the best option in reducing energy risk, import cost, and enhance environmental and economic sustainability. With the objectives of our key findings, targeted suggestions and policies are given.

Family Background, Educational Qualifications, and Meritocratic Labor Market Allocation: Evidence from Danish Siblings

A prominent strand of research in sociology analyzes how family background affects labor market outcomes among offspring with similar formal educational qualifications. Yet, previous studies are limited either by the way in which they measure family background or by the detail level by which they measure educational attainment. To address these two limitations, we develop a novel approach based on sibling similarities in labor market outcomes. Applying the approach to data on all Danes born 1965–1971, we examine the direct effect––other than through extremely granular education measures––of all combined effects of family background on occupational and income destinations. Our analyses show that the extremely fine-grained education measures can account for more than 90 percent of the total family background effect on occupational destinations, leaving little room for the processes associated with the direct effects of social origins to operate. For income destinations, however, the extremely fine-grained education measure accounts for merely three-quarters of the total family background effect. Roughly half of this direct effect on income destinations can be explained by sibling similarities in occupational choice, suggesting that family background affects income destinations through processes that operates equally within and between occupations. We discuss different mechanisms that may account for these results.

A Contract Coordination Model of Dual-Channel Delivery between UAVs and Couriers Considering the Uncertainty of Delivery for Last Mile

For the traditional last-kilometer delivery, commodities are sent from the distribution center to the distribution transfer station, which are then delivered by the couriers from the distribution transfer station to the consumers. This single distribution channel cannot prioritize services for consumers closer to the distribution center, resulting in a waste of distribution resources. To deal with the last-kilometer delivery problem, this paper attempts to build a dual-channel distribution system consisting of UAVs and couriers. And the impact of the market allocation proportion on the expected profit of the last mile service through the two different distribution channels is discussed and analyzed. It is proved that the improved revenue sharing contract can realize the coordination of the dual-channel distribution between UAVs and the couriers. The numerical examples verify the effectiveness of the model and contract coordination. According to the research, first, with the increase in the uncertainties of the delivery quantity, the profit of the UAV channel shows a downward trend, while the profit of the courier channel remains basically the same. This is because the labor cost of the courier channel is relatively stable. Second, with the increase in the market allocation proportion of the last-kilometer delivery, the optimal delivery quantity of the UAV channel and the optimal order quantity of the courier channel are both increasing, while the overall profit of the last-kilometer is first rising and then decreasing. Third, the expected profit of the UAV channel and the courier channel can achieve Pareto improvement through the improved revenue sharing contract.

Structural Holes in the Multi-Sided Market: A Market Allocation Structure Analysis of China’s Car-Hailing Platform in the Context of Open Innovation

Car-hailing platform governance is an emerging topic of research and practice. The governance of the data-driven platform economy is challenging the research paradigm of competition regulation in the context of open innovation. This research is trying to reveal the market allocation structure of China’s online car-hailing industry from the perspective of personal data allocation by the study of Application Programming Interface (API) of sample platforms. On the basis of the networked nature of personal data allocation via APIs, this research constructs a mathematical model of the edge weight of data resource connections between platforms. Furthermore, this research optimises the structural hole analysis of complex networks to discuss the state of personal data resource allocation in China’s car-hailing industry. Results reveal that there are obvious structural holes within the sample network. When compared with related indicators, we found that accessing personal data resources is an essential component of the sample network competition capability and sustainable innovation. Social media platforms and online payment platforms more greatly impact car-hailing platform competition than other types of platforms within the multi-sided market context. This research offers a research perspective of personal data allocation for further study of competition, regulation and sustainable innovation of data-driven platform economies.