Search Results (24)

As carbon taxes gain traction in climate policy, public support remains limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate how different mineral oil tax designs, particularly those combining rebates and earmarking, affect public acceptance, and whether the effects are monotone. The data were based on an online survey that was conducted in 2022 in Austria (n = 1216). It was found that a tax increase of EUR 25-cents per liter is politically feasible if revenues are earmarked for public transport or climate protection and paired with moderate rebates. Other uses of revenue, especially the general budget, fail to achieve majority support, regardless of tax level or compensation. To capture non-monotonic and heterogeneous preferences, an adaptive-choice-based-conjoint experiment with hierarchical Bayesian estimation was employed. Rebates were modeled as a stand-alone attribute, allowing for the identification of non-monotonicities for this attribute. The findings show deviations from widespread monotonicity assumptions: a moderate tax increase (EUR 10-cent/liter) was preferred over no increase, even in the absence of earmarking. Similarly, larger annual rebates (EUR 200–300) reduced support compared to a EUR 100 rebate, which was most popular. Full article

This study analyzes the influence of natural resource rents, governance indicators, and their interactions on economic growth in twelve oil-producing countries in the MENA region from 2002 to 2021. Various versions of a panel ARDL model are estimated using PMG, MG, and DFE estimators. The results suggest that natural resource rents in MENA oil-producing countries positively affect long-term economic growth when accompanied by good governance. Government effectiveness and control of corruption also contribute positively to economic growth in the long run. Furthermore, financial development is found to enhance long-term economic growth. These findings highlight the potential of natural resources to drive economic growth when supported by strong institutions. To maximize natural resource rent benefits, MENA countries should improve governance indicators such as government effectiveness, control of corruption, and rule of law. This includes enhancing civil service competence, decision implementation, and managing political pressure. Key factors include revenue mobilization, infrastructure quality, policy consistency, and penalties for corruption. Ensuring equality under the law, transparent legal processes, an independent judiciary, and access to legal remedies are crucial for effective rule of law. Additionally, MENA countries should prioritize developing non-oil sectors like tourism, industry, technology, entertainment, transportation, and communication. Full article

This study investigates the impact of Government Consumption (GC) on Saudi Arabia’s GDP during major economic crises from 1969 to 2022, focusing on periods marked by fluctuations in oil and non-oil revenues. By integrating these revenue streams, the research provides a more comprehensive analysis of fiscal policy effectiveness during economic downturns. Using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, the study reveals the complex role of Government Consumption (GC) in stabilizing and stimulating the Saudi economy amidst revenue volatility. Key findings indicate that while GC does not significantly influence GDP in the short term, its long-term effectiveness varies across different crises. Specifically, GC has acted as a buffer against immediate economic shocks during certain crises while providing a stimulus for economic recovery in others. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, timely fiscal measures significantly boosted GDP, underscoring the importance of adaptive and proactive fiscal policies. Conversely, the 2014–2016 oil price collapse demonstrated that GC alone was insufficient to counteract economic downturns, emphasizing the need for diversified revenue strategies. These findings underscore the dual role of GC in economic stabilization and recovery. During the COVID-19 pandemic, GC played a crucial role in both mitigating negative economic impacts and supporting recovery efforts, showcasing its effectiveness in times of global disruptions. This demonstrates GC’s capability as an immediate buffer against economic shocks and a stimulus for economic recovery. In contrast, during the 2014–2016 oil price collapse, GC was less effective, indicating the limitations of relying solely on government spending without broader economic diversification. This highlights the necessity of diversified revenue strategies to complement fiscal measures for long-term economic resilience. The robustness of the findings was ensured through various diagnostic tests, including checks for autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity, and stationarity of residuals. The absence of significant autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity, along with the stationarity of differenced variables, confirms the validity of the econometric models used. The study contributes to the discourse on fiscal policy in oil-dependent economies by illustrating the critical role of diversified revenue strategies and adaptive fiscal measures in enhancing economic resilience. Recommendations are offered for policymakers to optimize fiscal strategies, ensuring robust economic recovery and long-term stability in volatile markets. This research highlights the necessity for Saudi Arabia to refine its fiscal policies towards greater economic diversification and stability. Full article

Recycling plastics on an industrial scale is a key approach to the circular economy. This study presents a techno-economic analysis aimed at recycling polypropylene waste, one of the main consumer plastics. Specifically, it evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of achieving a large-scale cracking process that converts polypropylene waste into an alternative fuel. Pyrolysis is considered as a promising technique to convert plastic waste into liquid oil and other value-added products, with a dual benefit of recovering resources and providing a zero-waste solution. This study concerns a fast catalytic pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor, with the presence of a fluid catalytic cracking catalyst of low acidity for high heat transmission, for an industrial plant with a capacity of 1 t/h of polypropylene waste provided by the Greek Petroleum Industry. From the international literature, the operational conditions were chosen pyrolysis temperature at 430 °C, pressure at 1atm, heating rate at 5 °C/min, and yields of products to 71, 14, and 15 wt.%, for liquid fuel, gas, solid product, respectively. The plant design includes a series of apparatuses, with the main one to be the pyrolyzer. The catalytic method is selected over the non-catalytic because the presence of catalyst increases the quantity and quality of the liquid product, which is the main product of the plant. The energy loops of recycling pyrolysis gas and char as a low-carbon fuel in the plant were considered. The production cost, annual revenue, for 2023, are anticipated to reach €13.7 million (115 €/t) and €15 million (15 €/t), respectively, with an estimated investment equal to €5.3 million. The Payback Time is estimated to 2.4 years to recover the cost of investment. The endeavor is rather economically sustainable. A critical parameter for large scale systems is securing feedstock with low or negligible price. Full article

During the mid-2000s to the early 2010s, the domestic ethanol industry witnessed substantial growth, with ethanol coproducts emerging as vital elements for plant profitability and livestock feeding. Initially serving as supplementary revenue streams, coproducts from ethanol production have evolved into diverse value-added offerings, bolstering revenue streams, and sustaining profit margins. This study reviews existing economic research on ethanol coproducts, detailing methodologies, product focus, and research locations. Initially gathering 972 articles from 9 databases, 110 articles were synthesized. We find that most studies primarily examined the growth and future of the ethanol industry with a limited focus on specific coproducts. Feed-use distillers’ grains, especially dried distillers’ grains, were the most widely published while newer coproducts like pelletized, de-oiled, and high-protein distillers’ grains were relatively understudied. Non-feed-use products were notably overlooked, highlighting the need for exploration beyond conventional applications. The evolving market landscape for ethanol co-products has surpassed published academic understanding of the economic tradeoffs necessitating further research into product dynamics, pricing, marketing, market structures, and regulatory frameworks. This highlights and underscores the importance of investigating value-added grains across diverse commodities and geographic contexts to inform strategic decision-making and policy formulation. Full article

Palm oil production in Southeast Asia often occurs on nutrient-poor, acidic soils converted from primary forest. Both the agricultural conversion and the production of oil palm are subsidised in Indonesia. As well as depleting soil organic C and plant nutrients, agricultural production on these soils can result in the accumulation of trace elements (TEs)—including micronutrients and non-essential trace elements—from the use of TE-containing agrichemicals including phosphate fertilisers and Cu fungicides. We tested the hypothesis that palm soils will have lower C concentrations than forest soils, as well as accumulation of TEs including Cu, Zn and Cd. Soil samples from active and abandoned oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia, were analysed for general soil properties as well as TE concentrations. Soils were acidic and low in key nutrients, with production likely to be limited by deficiencies of N, P, K, Mg and Mo, present at some sites in mean concentrations as low as 0.021%, 118 mg kg⁻¹, 778 mg kg⁻¹, 1023 mg kg⁻¹ and 0.095 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. Mean organic C was lower (2.0–3.3%) than reported values in nearby forest soils (7.7%). Soils under palm production contained elevated levels of Cu, Zn, As and Pb up to 38, 91, 9.0 and 28 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, likely due to agrichemical use. The correction of nutrient deficiencies in palm production would require significant fertiliser inputs, which would exacerbate TE accumulation and reduce the net economic revenue from oil production. Our data have shown that in the plantations we have sampled, soils have become degraded. These tropical, weathered, and naturally nutrient-poor soils are ill suited to intensive production that requires high ongoing nutrient inputs. These findings have implications for the sustainability of a regionally significant production system across Southeast Asia. Full article

This work aims to study the selective catalytic hydrogenation of vegetable oils to maximize oleic acid content and expand the range of non-edible uses. Oleic acid (C18:1) is suitable for use as a biodegradable lubricant and is a building block in producing polymers and plastics from renewable resources. The challenge is the synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts, allowing for a maximum yield of C18:1 and low formation of the corresponding saturated acid (stearic acid). New copper-based catalysts on silica were synthesized via two synthesis methods: hydrolysis precipitation and ammonia-evaporation. Experimental tests were carried out at a lab scale operating in a semi-batch mode. The best conversion reached 90% for C18:3 and 80% for C18:2 HP Cu-silica catalyst results, the best candidate for an industrial case study. Good results were obtained in the selectivities of oleic acid production and cis/trans isomers ratio. The modified return on the investment of the designed hydrogenation plant provides the revenues of the capital costs in less than one year. Full article

Organic and plastic waste (OPW) is diverted from landfills in order to lower carbon emissions. Nevertheless, modern pyrolysis techniques are frequently utilized in laboratories (using feedstocks that weigh less than 1 kg), which employ costly pure nitrogen gas (N₂). This study developed a fast pyrolysis system to produce pyrolysis oil or liquid (PyOL) from OPW using flue gas as the pyrolysis agent. The added benefits included the efficient value-added chemical extractions and the non-thermal plasma reactor upgraded PyOL. OPW was also pyrolyzed at a pilot scale using flue gas fast pyrolysis in this study. In addition to lowering operational expenses associated with pure N₂, flue gas reduced the lifecycle carbon emissions to create PyOL. The results indicated that considerable material agglomeration occurred during the OPW pyrolysis with an organic-to-plastic-waste (O/P) ratio of 30/70. Furthermore, the liquid yields were 5.2% and 5.5% when O/P was 100/0 (305 °C) and 99.5/0.5 (354 °C), respectively. The liquid yields also increased when polymers (polypropylene) were added, enhancing the aromatics. Two cases were employed to study their techno-economic feasibility: PyOL-based production and chemical-extraction plants. The mitigated CO₂ from the redirected OPW and flue gas produced the highest revenue in terms of carbon credits. Moreover, the carbon price (from RM 100 to 150 per ton of CO₂) was the most important factor impacting the economic viability in both cases. Plant capacities higher than 10,000 kg/h were economically viable for the PyOL-based plants, whereas capacities greater than 1000 kg/h were financially feasible for chemical-extraction plants. Overall, the study found that the pyrolysis of OPW in flue gas is a viable waste-to-energy technology. The low liquid yield is offset by the carbon credits that can be earned, making the process economically feasible. Full article

As renewable energy (RE) costs decrease, private non-subsidized revenue sources, such as power purchase agreements (PPA), will increase in off-grid areas. This paper’s objective is to improve policymakers’ and utilities’ understanding of PPA’s role in mitigating private investors’ risks in off-grid areas to accelerate the energy transition. The paper built a PPA dataset for the largest off-grid area in the Philippines and developed novel and efficient techniques to evaluate the risk mitigation ability of a PPA. While oil-based technologies are expensive, they are low-capital-intensive, and the fuel, the bulk of the cost, is passed through to consumers and primarily funded by subsidies. In contrast, the most affordable energy source, RE, requires higher upfront capital investments, financed primarily with equity. Investors chose low-capital-intensive technologies (oil), rehabilitated power plants, and utilized old equipment, all investment decisions to mitigate residual PPA risks, i.e., distribution utilities’ low creditworthiness and capital recovery uncertainty. Presenting the investment as a PPA residual mitigation tool is one of the paper’s contributions to the literature. The distribution utility needs to reduce investors’ uncertainty by covering reasonable investors’ costs. Policymakers need to level the playing field between fossil fuels and RE by reducing subsidies and strengthening distribution utility creditworthiness. Full article

Economic diversification has been a cornerstone of the policy agenda of resource-rich countries, such as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, seeking sustainable economic development to avoid reliance on hydrocarbon revenues that cause significant vulnerabilities and economic, social, and political instability in the long term. GCC governments invest the proceeds from rich hydrocarbon exports to build a diverse local economy. However, it is unclear whether increased capital formation through public investments helps these economies diversify away from hydrocarbons. The main objective of this study was to determine whether GCC countries’ capital formation has appreciable impulse effects on response–economic diversification in the short or long term. A panel vector autoregression method describing the cause and effect or the dynamic relation between capital formation and economic diversification was used to attest to the success of economic diversification policies in resource-rich countries. The results show that a shock to real gross capital formation has a limited impact on economic diversification (the non-resource rent share) in the GCC economies. This could be attributed to these countries’ oil/gas-focused fixed investment build-up. Furthermore, an evaluation of the recursive relationship shows that the impact of growing non-hydrocarbon sectors on gross capital formation is limited. Full article

Tax revenue represents an essential budget source for most countries around the world. Accordingly, the modernization of relevant technological infrastructure has become a key factor of tax administration strategy for improving tax collection efficiency. In particular, the fiscal consolidation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been supported by considerable development in tax policy and administration, aimed at raising more taxes from non-oil activities. In fact, non-Saudi investors are liable for income tax in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, Saudi citizen investors (and citizens of the GCC countries) are liable for Zakat, an Islamic assessment. Typically, taxpayers are in charge of preparing and accurately reporting their Zakat declaration. This allows tax authorities to overview and audit their business activities. However, despite administration efforts to increase taxpayer compliance, considerable revenue remains at under-reporting risk. In this paper, we introduce a novel intelligent approach to support tax authority efforts in detecting under-reporting among Zakat payer declarations. In particular, the proposed solution aims at improving detection accuracy and determining the fraud cases that correspond to a higher revenue at risk. Specifically, we formulate Zakat under-reporting detection as a supervised machine learning task through the design of a deep neural network that performs simultaneous classification and regression tasks. In particular, the proposed network contains an input layer, five hidden layers, and two output layers for classification and regression. Zakat declarations are mapped into the predefined “under-reporting” or “actual declaration” classes. Moreover, the revenue at risk caused by the predicted fraud cases is learned by the designed model. This allows the proposed approach to prioritize the auditing of specific Zakat payers based on the corresponding predicted revenue at risk. A real dataset including 51,919 Zakat declarations was used to validate and assess the designed model. Further, the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) boosted the proposed model performance in terms of classification and prioritization. Full article

Agricultural and medical insect pests are damaging edible crops, spreading diseases, and harming non-target fauna and flora. Prominent polyphagous insect pests harass farmers in the agronomy sector, causing uncountable revenue corrosion. Ecofriendly phytopesticides can avoid the consequences of the bulk usage of synthetic chemicals. In this study, the toxic effect on third-instar larvae of four different insect species (Spodoptera litura, Helicoverpa armigera, Aedes vittatus, and Anopheles subpictus) and the bio-toxicity on non-target fauna (NTF) (Stegodyphus sarasinorum and Gambusia affinis) were evaluated using Matricaria chamomilla (Mc) essential oil (EO) and its major phytoconstituents (Mc-MPCs). GC–MS analysis of the studied M. chamomilla EO gathered 39 constituents, with (E)-β-Farnesene (24.3%), Germacrene D (9.4%), and α-Bisabolol oxide A (10.2%) accounting for the major constituents. Remarkable larval death was seen in H. armigera and Ae. vittatus. In addition, (E)-β-Farnesene, Germacrene D, and α-Bisabolol oxide A exhibited a relevant maximum toxic effect on the target pest’s third-instar larvae. The bio-toxicity of M. chamomilla EO and Mc-MPCs was tested on terrestrial and aquatic NTF. The LC₅₀ values for S. sarasinorum and G. affinis ranged from 922.65 to 1750.49 µg/mL. M. chamomilla EO and its MPCs evidenced prospective phytopesticidal efficiency on selected agricultural and medical insect pests. Full article

The energy security of each country is one of the main factors of its proper functioning. Currently, in the era of problems related to energy security resulting from, among other things, the war in Ukraine, this topic is particularly important. This article presents issues related to Poland’s energy security, understood as the financial and economic stability of enterprises operating in the energy industry. This stability is considered in two aspects: macroeconomic, where the focus is mainly on the aspect of state intervention in market processes; and microeconomic, where factors determining the financial security of energy enterprises were identified, including internal and external factors affecting the functioning of these entities. In order to achieve the assumed research goals, the analysis of the indicated problems was based on non-reactive research, consisting in the assessment of the available information. It included studies of normative acts, official statistical data, industry reports and analyses, as well as data obtained in the form of a public information request. Two basic research methods were used in the work—dogmatic–legal and comparative analyses. The identification of factors affecting the security of companies in the sector was carried out on the basis of data on the entire energy sector in Poland for the years 2015–2021 on a semi-annual basis. Vector-autoregressive models were used for the analysis. As a result of the analyses, it was established that market failures and public safety are the premises justifying the public financing of enterprises in the electricity generation, transmission, distribution and trade sectors. At the same time, the conducted research showed that the level of financial security of energy enterprises in Poland was affected by the ratio of the value of goods and materials sold to net sales revenue, as well as the level of EBIT (earnings before deducting interest and taxes) margin, and among external factors, the level of GDP (gross domestic product), CPI (consumer price index) and Crude Oil were important. Full article

This paper presents an estimation of the fiscal multipliers for Saudi Arabia, conducted by applying the local projection (LP) method. It also presents an exploration of the non-linear features of fiscal multipliers. The findings showed that (i) consistent with earlier studies, fiscal multipliers are generally moderate; (ii) the investment spending multiplier is larger in magnitude than the current spending multiplier; (iii) the non-oil revenue multiplier is negative; (iv) the output response to fiscal shocks is larger during expansions; and (v) fiscal multipliers are stronger during a contractionary fiscal policy phase. Full article

In this research, we aimed to model the impact of world oil prices on the gross domestic product of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The objective of the study was to determine the transmission mechanism of the influence of the changing oil price within the macroeconomic indicators of the UAE. In this study, we analysed the impact of world oil prices and the crude oil sector on economic growth in the UAE for the period of 2001–2020 by applying ADF, OLS, ARDL, and Granger causality techniques. The results also showed the direct impact of the changes in oil prices on the GDP of the UAE in the short and long terms; in other words, a decline in oil prices could pose a threat to the economic security of the UAE in the long term if appropriate corrective measures are not taken. In order to avoid these negative consequences of the oil price crisis, in this study, we emphasize that the only alternative to exporting oil is to diversify economic sources for long-term development and increase the efficiency of non-oil sectors. Full article