Papers by James Roumasset
The Simple Economics of Optimal Generation, Transmission, and Electricity Use
This chapter provides a framework for determining optimal investments in electricity generation. ... more This chapter provides a framework for determining optimal investments in electricity generation. Optimal investments for the Philippines in 2025 depend on the future profile of demand and on factors that affect annual cost as it relates to capacity utilization. If there were no generation assets in place, most of the residual demand after deducting projected renewable supplies should be satisfied by coal generation, and the rest by natural gas. Taking existing generation into account, however, we find that there is already enough coal to satisfy baseload demand, and that the rather small excess demand projected for the Luzon and Visayas grids should be satisfied by new investments in Combined-Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT), both because of the load profile of excess demand and of lower pollution costs from using natural gas. Only in the case of the Visayas grid considered unconnected to Luzon is there a need for additional coal investments, and these are very small. We also find that the gains from expanding transmission capacity to facilitate a complete integration of the Luzon and Visayas grids would be quite small, primarily because the grids have similar load profiles
A mOdel is developed that describes formal and in-Formal rural credit markets in terms of transac... more A mOdel is developed that describes formal and in-Formal rural credit markets in terms of transaction costs of lenders. Stimulating agricultural investment with subsidized , formal loans is shown to incur signi.ficant efficiency costs by drawing credit away from high productivity investments in -the unsubsidized sector.
Optimal Management of a Renewable and Replaceable Resource: The Case of Coastal Groundwater
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2018
The nonrenewable-with-backstop model of resource management is extended to cover renewables and a... more The nonrenewable-with-backstop model of resource management is extended to cover renewables and applied to the case of coastal groundwater. In the optimal management trajectory, efficiency price exceeds extraction cost by the sum of scarcity rent and “drawdown” cost, the latter remaining large even after the backstop price is reached. In the case of rising demand, optimal management may call for a stage of conservation followed by a stage of drawdown. Copyright 1997, Oxford University Press.
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2018
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2018
An internal solution to an optimal control problem involving conjunctive-use of surface and groun... more An internal solution to an optimal control problem involving conjunctive-use of surface and groundwater may be inapplicable if water is not sufficiently fungible across space and time. We provide a more general solution and apply it to the problem of allocating a limited amount of water from the Ko'olau mountains to two Oahu water districts separated by those mountains. The solution involves initially allocating all of the mountain water to the district supplied by groundwater but eventually allocating all of the water to the district supplied by surface water. The conditions for an internal solution hold only in the intervening years when some mountain water is allocated to each district.
The Economics Of Cooperation
Routledge eBooks, Jul 11, 2019
Part 1 Pro-market planning: theory - government facilitation of a planning conglomerate, Ashok Ko... more Part 1 Pro-market planning: theory - government facilitation of a planning conglomerate, Ashok Kotwal Japanese economics - the theory and practice of investment co-ordination, Keizo Nagatani the government of financial system in the economic development of Korea, Chung Lee industrial and agricultural investment co-ordination under "plan" and "market" in China, Louis Putterman decentralization. Part 2 Guiding financial deepening - the evolution of capital market: banks versus markets as mechanisms for allocating and co-ordinating investment, Joseph Stiglitz institutional arrangements to facilitate international financial co-operation, Brian Wright. Part 3 Promoting technological progress: intellectual property rights for appropriate invention, Robert Evenson the political economy of intellectual property rights, Sumner La-Croix. Part 4 Facilitating development: the role of financial institutions in industrial restructuring and investment co-ordination, Ira Lieberman the economics of co-operation - Hawaiian style, James Roumasset.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2006
Agricultural development thinking has gone through several stages of fad and fancy, often without... more Agricultural development thinking has gone through several stages of fad and fancy, often without an understanding of previous fallacies. Its current doldrums are unfortunate given the unrivaled importance of agricultural development for poverty reduction in most development countries. After reviewing several policy and program areas, lessons are synthesized, and a forward-looking research framework suggested, especially regarding role of specialization in the evolution of economic organization. The corresponding role of government is seen to be the facilitation of economic cooperation, rather than social engineering.
Elsevier eBooks, 2015
There is a persistent tendency in economic development circles to jump to policy conclusions with... more There is a persistent tendency in economic development circles to jump to policy conclusions without entertaining more fundamental explanations of empirical patterns. After reviewing several examples in the field of agricultural development, I provide an alternative paradigm for understanding behavior and organization. Despite the increased sophistication and vast access to data, modern theories and empirical methods have yet to focus adequately on developing fundamental methods for advancing policy analysis through the nature, causes and consequences paradigm. This assessment points to promising avenues for future research. Two such areas singled out for further attention are black hole economics and the coevolution of specialization and economic development.
(DP 1972-03) Choice of Techniques by Lexicographic Safety First for Peasant Agriculture and Reswitching of Risky Techniques
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Sep 2, 2010
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1997
Positive methods of agricultural decision analysis
2. Integrated Watershed Management: Trees, Aquifers, Reefs, and Mud
ISEAS Publishing eBooks, Dec 31, 2010
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2018
In the presence of conveyance losses, the efficient quantity of water applied falls with distance... more In the presence of conveyance losses, the efficient quantity of water applied falls with distance from the water source, but the amount of water "sent" (including conveyance losses) actually increases with distance from the source, except toward the tail end of the inigation system. This implies that if marginal cost pricing were implemented, farmers at the middle and lower reaches of the system would have to pay more money for less water received. The model is illustrated and alternative financing schemes compared for an empirically derived demand function for imgation water.
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Oct 1, 2007
1. From Agriculture to Competition: Overview and Lessons from the Philippines and Asia for Pro-poor Development
ISEAS Publishing eBooks, Dec 31, 2018
The contribution of the environmental-resource sector to national well-being is the sum of natura... more The contribution of the environmental-resource sector to national well-being is the sum of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation. Inasmuch as existing resource stocks are below efficient levels, better enforcement of existing laws as well as policies that incentivize sustainable use are needed. Similarly, progressive royalty assessment of mineral resources can incentivize exploration without transferring the bulk of resource rents to private interests. In the case of pollution, the key is to face firms with the full costs of their production, e.g. through emission taxes and/or cap and trade systems. Calculating total depletion and degradation (TDD) will facilitate the calculation of green national income (GNI), a more inclusive metric of national well-being. In the same way, simultaneous optimization of disaster management policies in the face of climate change can facilitate a further improvement in national well-being, this time measured as comprehensive national income (CNI).
What Influences Adoption of Competition Law? The Case of Asean Economies
The Singapore Economic Review, Jul 30, 2021
We investigate the factors that influence adoption of competition law using a panel of countries ... more We investigate the factors that influence adoption of competition law using a panel of countries from 1970 to 2015. We find that in addition to development level, trading arrangements and peer pressure have also influenced adoption. The spread of competition laws adopted from Western precedents left a question regarding the extent they have been tailored to the diverse circumstances of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries. We document the nature, structure, conduct and scope of competition laws by comparing and contrasting the experience of the Philippines and Thailand. Our descriptive analysis reveals that the force and influence of the law are not entirely dependent on early adoption.
18. Adopting and Adapting Competition Policy: Asian Illustrations
Biological Technology and Agricultural Policy: An Assessment of Azolla in Philippine Rice Production
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Nov 1, 1985
... Mark W, Rosegrant is a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, W... more ... Mark W, Rosegrant is a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC; James A. Roumasset is a research ... Phosphorus is essential in order to achieve biomass growth rates such as assumed here (Watanabe, Berja, and del Rosario). ...
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Papers by James Roumasset