EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND THE STRATEGY ‘EUROPE 2020’

Olga Gioti Papadaki

Associate Professor

Department of Economic and Regional Development

Panteion University

opapadak@panteion.gr

Abstract

The evolution of European environmental policy is examined in this paper in conjunction with the objectives of developmental strategy ‘Europe 2020’. The possibility of being mutually supportive with the objectives of environmental policy is a key issue in this paper. It might be argued that the current economic crisis has negative impacts upon the overall achievements of the European Union. In this light, the success of the implemented strategy can be said to be a necessity. The approach in this paper is based on the contention that adopting environmental protection objectives, apart from moral and sustainable reasons, is amongst the most important apparatus for overcoming economic downturn, given that the European Union is able to reduce its dependence on imported energy resources and take advantage of its leadership on environmental technology.

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CGE Analysis of Transportation Cost and Regional Economy: East Asia and Northern Kyushu

Hiroshi SAKAMOTO

Research Associate Professor

The International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development (ICSEAD)

11-4 Otemachi, Kokurakita, Kitakyushu, 803-0814 JAPAN

Tel: +81 93 583 6202; Fax: +81 93 583 4602

E-mail address: sakamoto@icsead.or.jp

Abstract

This study develops a multi-region computable general equilibrium model (CGE model), which analyzes the influence on a regional economy of a reduction in the transportation cost. The reduction in transportation cost is, in a word, reduction of the logistics cost. Logistic competition has accelerated with recent economic development. The Northern Kyushu region, which is the focal region of this study, is located near East Asian countries, including China and South Korea, but this area has fallen behind in the logistic competition. Therefore, immediate countermeasures are needed.

This study analyzes the economic effect on the Northern Kyushu region and on surrounding regions of the cost reduction caused by the logistic policy of the Northern Kyushu region. To achieve this purpose, several assumptions were made in the CGE model. First, the study analyzes 10 regions, namely Fukuoka City, Kitakyushu City, the rest of Fukuoka Prefecture, and Yamaguchi Prefecture (the northern Kyushu area consists of these regions), the rest of Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, ASEAN countries, and the USA. Second, in the production system, the transportation industry engenders transportation costs and these are added to the price of the commodity. Third, increasing returns to scale which Fujita et al. (1999) suggest was utilized for the manufacturing industry. Fourth, the number of firms belonging to industries with increasing returns was calculated endogenously based on the above assumption.

As a result, the logistic improvement will be shown to have had an economic effect, including an increase in the number of firms in the Northern Kyushu region.

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A MULTICRITERIA DECISION SUPPORT FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING ALTERNATIVE WIND PARK LOCATIONS: THE CASE OF TANAGRA – BOIOTIA

Anastasia Stratigea and Elias Grammatikogiannis

National Technical University of Athens, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Iroon Polytechniou 9, Campus Zografou, 15780 Athens, Greece, Tel.: +30 210 7722749

E – mails: stratige@central.ntua.gr, egrammis@survey.ntua.gr

Abstract

The focus of the present paper is on the development of a decision support framework for assessing alternative wind park locations using MCA tools. In the first part, it elaborates on the development of such a framework, with emphasis placed on the evaluation stage. More specifically, two multicriteria evaluation techniques are used (ELECTRE I and REGIME) as tools that can relief ‘method uncertainty’ and deal with conflicts and different perspectives in the decision making process. In the second part, this decision support framework is applied in a real world decision problem, namely the selection of wind park location in a Greek region (Tanagra-Boiotia) for the installation of a wind park that will partly serve the energy demand of a newly planned industrial area. Finally, some conclusions are drawn as to the empirical results obtained by the two multicriteria methods as well as their capacity to deal with multiobjective evaluation problems.

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