Regional Science Inquiry

Yuzuru MIYATA

Graduate School of Architecture and Civil Engineering,
Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan
miyata@ace.tut.ac.jp

Any WAHYUNI

Graduate School of Environment and Life Science Engineering,
Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan
anywahyuni@hotmail.com

Hiroyuki SHIBUSAWA

Graduate School of Architecture and Civil Engineering,
Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan
hiro-shibu@tut.jp

Abstract

Makassar is the capital of South Sulawesi and the largest metropolitan city in eastern Indonesia. This city is an established of economic development for eastern Indonesia, which is characterized by a high degree of industrial development. Therefore, the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions generated in the city will increase. However, the government has attempted to maintain environmental quality to ensure a livable and healthy city. Unfortunately, the government’s budget to support the economic development is limited, despite the increased level of economic activity in the city. As a result of these conditions, the government has elected to economize resource use by improving the efficiency of resource allocations. To this end, the government imposed a carbon tax in the city.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impacts on the economy in Makassar resulting from the introduction of carbon taxes to reduce energy consumption in all sectors of the economy that generate CO₂ emissions. The imposition of a carbon tax is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions and to improve the city’s economic potential. The study investigates the possibility of transferring carbon tax revenue to transfer to household to generate increased household income. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was the primary analytical methodology employed to measure the impact of the imposition of a carbon tax across all sectors of the economy. The model examined the impact of the carbon tax based on the 2006 input-output (I-O) table for Makassar City and estimated of a social accounting matrix (SAM) table the same year. In CGE models, general equilibrium is achieved via the price mechanism. The model assumes a static economy with no time-related elements. A total of twenty eight industrial sectors and two production factors, labor and capital, are used in this study. The model economy contains a single representative household that sets its consumption to maximize its utility subject to its budget constraint. The utility function used is  the constant elasticity of substitution (CES) type, where the household maximizes utility subject to a budget constraint. Every industry uses an intermediate input to produce one commodity for each sector without commodity by-product. The firms are assumed to maximize their profits by managing inputs and outputs subject to their production technology. Firms are assumed to be perfectly competitive and to achieve equilibrium in 2006 through flexible price adjustments.

The carbon tax policy is assessed in two simulations. In the first simulation, a carbon tax is imposed on all industries without household transfer, and in the second simulation, the tax revenue is transferred to households. The government transfers funds to household in amount equal to the carbon tax revenue. In theory, the implementation of a carbon tax will reduce CO₂ emissions and increase government revenues. Furthermore, household welfare will also increase, output prices will increase, and the household will reduce its consumption.

The results of all simulations of the CGE model indicated that a carbon tax can reduce the volume of CO₂ emissions by 8 %. In general, output prices and production volumes decline. The demand for capital tendeds to be fixed, and labor demand declined after tax revenues were transferred  to the representative household. Household consumption declined following the imposition of carbon taxes but increased in response to the transfer of carbon tax revenues. Therefore, household welfare increased after receiving transfers from the government.

It is crucial to effectively manage efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions. The such management involves not only production-side efforts concerning environmental-friendly technology; but prevention of a decline in commodity consumption preferences.

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Anastasia Stratigea

Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering

National Technical University of Athens, E-mail: stratige@central.ntua.gr

Abstract

The issue of stakeholders’ and citizens’ engagement in policy decisions is nowadays at the forefront of participatory planning efforts at the various spatial levels. Involving stakeholders and citizens in participatory planning is always a challenge for planners, which stresses the need for effective tools, capable of dealing with respective planning efforts. The focus of the present paper is on the development of a methodological framework, which builds upon the integration of an analytical scenario planning model – the LIPSOR model, in support of future anticipation and structuring of scenarios, with a tool supporting stakeholders’ and citizens’ engagement – the Focus Group methodology, which aims at the support of planners in structuring the context of the participatory process and producing the necessary qualitative information, used in the scenario planning process. The use of the proposed framework can guide the efforts of planners to incorporate views and visions of a range of local actors, when exploring future development paths of a region/problem at hand. The experience gained from the application of this framework in a specific case study at the regional level is also presented, drawing upon the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach, while finally some conclusions are drawn.

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Chrysanthi Balomenou

Hellenic Open University,

e-mail: hjlp6543@hol.gr, balomenou@tutors.eap.gr

Marianthi Maliari

Hellenic Open University,

e-mail: mmaliari@otenet.gr, mmaliari@ate.gr

Abstract

This work attempts to examine the consequences of the crisis on enterprises and on banks, to study enterprises’ problems related their access to fundsability, to examine the phenomenon of corruption in Greece especially in state banks, to highlight the problems and inefficacies of local enterprises and finally to focus on the economic lag and underdevelopment in all the local economic sectors in Regional Unity of Serres. As regard as the empirical research, it deals with the data extracted from a questionnaire addressed to local entrepreneurs. The results are analysed with the help of the methods of descriptive statistics and correlations. The research main conclusion is that the reduction of the funds provided by the banks to the market resulted in the deterioration of the recession. It is worth referring to the fact that the statistical data extracted from the empirical research are similar to those deduced from the results of the researches that have been referred to in bibliography.

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