Suchergebnisse

Billions in corrupt assets, complex money trails, strings of shell companies and other spurious legal structures. These form the complex web of subterfuge in corruption cases, behind which hides the beneficial owner- the Puppet Master and beneficiary of it all. Linking the beneficial owner to the proceeds of corruption is notoriously hard. With sizable wealth and resources on their side, they exploit transnational constructions that are hard to penetrate and stay aggressively ahead of the game. Nearly all cases of grand corruption have one thing in common. They rely on corporate vehicles- lega

This report explores the potential financing mechanism options that can be employed to catalyze more private sector investment in clean energy (renewable energy and energy efficiency) in the small island developing states (SIDS). Various financial instruments that have been used successfully to date are described and placed in the context of the issues and constraints of the SIDS, with suggested options for discussion and follow up. Green infrastructure finance, as defined in the report, makes the important point that is the combination of financial and nonfinancial interventions and instruments that can make green investments in infrastructure more affordable and less risky to private sponsors, financial markets, and governments. The objective of this report is to identify and assess options that can help increase investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in SIDS through the adoption and funding of financing mechanisms by SIDS and development partners with special attention given to the role that the private sector can play. Many renewable energy technologies are characterized by high initial capital costs with relatively low operating costs compared to thermal alternatives. By providing an analysis of options for a financing facility to catalyze renewable energy and energy efficiency, this work is intended to inform the discussions among SIDS and development partners interested in actions to stimulate investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency. This report summarizes the results of the two stages. The assessment and selection of options identifies a number of measures that will be needed to stimulate increased private sector participation - project sponsors and developers, equity funds, lending institutions - for energy efficiency and renewable energy. The background material reviewed for this report has been summarized in the annexes.

Southeast Sulawesi is one of Indonesia's developing provinces and over the past five years has achieved one of the country's highest growth rates. In 2010, Southeast Sulawesi's economy grew at 8.2percent the third fastest in Indonesia. The poverty rate has declined significantly in the past 10 years and the unemployment rate is one the lowest in Indonesia. Per capita expenditure in Southeast Sulawesi has increased nine-fold compared to pre decentralization rates Southeast Sulawesi's consolidated per capita expenditure now falls in the top 10 in Indonesia. However, Southeast Sulawesi is still facing a range of challenges. The Human Development Index (HDI) has continued to lag at 25th in Indonesia over the past five years. Although regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown rapidly, in real per capita terms it is still far below the national provincial average. Southeast Sulawesi' poverty rate also remains above the national average. It will be important for the high and growing rate of per capita expenditure to be matched with improvements in public financial management capacity within the local government. In the context of overcoming these challenges and capitalizing on expanding opportunities, the local governments in Southeast Sulawesi and in particular the provincial government need to work harder to make the most of its budgetary resources. The development agenda and programs must be sharpened and budget allocations must be optimized to achieve development targets, especially in the strategic sectors of education, health, infrastructure and agriculture. This report contains findings and recommendations intended to support sub national governments in Southeast Sulawesi province to enhance their public financial management performance; improve the quality of evidence based planning and budgeting; and accelerate the achievement of existing development targets.

The purpose of an entrepreneurship is to build and scale a sustainable business model through an enterprise. The lack of tangible and intangible resources is often at this very early stage. According to previous studies, new ventures could overcome the lack of resources -key to their success- forming relationships with partners (networking) through open innovation (OI) processes. However, the structure of each network affects their own processes and outcomes; the innovation processes and the network structure mutually shape each other. Opening up the innovation process implies the involvement of startups in relationships with different typologies of actors: Incubators, Large corporations, Higher education institutions, among others. Understanding the role, relation, position and power of each actor in the ecosystem allow us identify its network position which is critical for resource access. In order to determine the level of ecosystem maturity and its interactions is necessarily to analyze the entrepreneurship context. According to the Ecuadorian Entrepreneurship Profile (GEM, 2019) Ecuador has a strong position related to physical infrastructure, cultural and social norms and entrepreneurial education at post-school stage comparing with the media of the World. However, indicators like entrepreneurial finances, taxes and bureaucracy, government support, R&D transfer and entrepreneurship programs are quite far from the global average. Utilizing the newly publish Ecuadorian Organic Law for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Official Registry No. 151, 2020) which aims to provide a normative framework that encourages the entrepreneurship, innovation and technological development this article analyzes startup's network centrality elements focusing on: Main actors and the nature of these relations; Institutions which hold the central position in the network; Partnerships and networks to support innovation processes and outcomes;Financial mechanisms to support entrepreneurship and innovation; and, Education to carry out partnerships.As a consecuence, the main actor determined by law is CONEIN as a ruling body and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council. The presence of individual entrepreneurs is scarce. Although, CONEIN holds the central position in the network, in that aspect is a vast opportunity for Entrepreneurship Advisory Council to boost participation among private sector members and be a higher influence in the public policy making. By law, partnerships and networks to support innovation processes and outcomes are not clear, but entrepreneurs acquire greater centrality in the ecosystem than before, which could privilege their access to resources and knowledge especially from Higher education institutions. Financial mechanisms to support entrepreneurship and innovation are established, but will be necessary to allocate budget for this instrument, as well as for the entrepreneurship national strategy. The private investment is mentioned, nevertheless deep legal reforms are demanded in order to incentive its presence. Education regulation is incorporated in the law to carry out entrepreneurship and innovation. In the hereafter, will be necessary to incorporate partnership and financial education programs.The conception of adequate articulated programs for entrepreneurship, management, research and development, transfer, R&D funding, networking and human capital strengthen could favor open innovation. However, other instruments are necessary in terms of information release, taxability, bureaucracy, labor and direct investment that allows open innovation appear. The purpose of the Government is key to ensure governance, rule of law, and accountability of itself and entrepreneurship actors to ensure stability and economic prosperity. KEY WORDS: Entrepreneurship, open innovation, networking, networking structures, performance, rule of law. JEL CODE: K, L25, L 26 ; ABSTRACTThe purpose of an entrepreneurship is to build and scale a sustainable business model through an enterprise. The lack of tangible and intangible resources is often at this very early stage. According to previous studies, new ventures could overcome the lack of resources -key to their success- forming relationships with partners (networking) through open innovation (OI) processes. However, the structure of each network affects their own processes and outcomes; the innovation processes and the network structure mutually shape each other. Opening up the innovation process implies the involvement of startups in relationships with different typologies of actors: Incubators, Large corporations, Higher education institutions, among others. Understanding the role, relation, position and power of each actor in the ecosystem allow us identify its network position which is critical for resource access. In order to determine the level of ecosystem maturity and its interactions is necessarily to analyze the entrepreneurship context. According to the Ecuadorian Entrepreneurship Profile (GEM, 2019) Ecuador has a strong position related to physical infrastructure, cultural and social norms and entrepreneurial education at post-school stage comparing with the media of the World. However, indicators like entrepreneurial finances, taxes and bureaucracy, government support, R&D transfer and entrepreneurship programs are quite far from the global average. Utilizing the newly publish Ecuadorian Organic Law for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Official Registry No. 151, 2020) which aims to provide a normative framework that encourages the entrepreneurship, innovation and technological development this article analyzes startup's network centrality elements focusing on: Main actors and the nature of these relations; Institutions which hold the central position in the network; Partnerships and networks to support innovation processes and outcomes;Financial mechanisms to support entrepreneurship and innovation; and, Education to carry out partnerships.As a consecuence, the main actor determined by law is CONEIN as a ruling body and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Council. The presence of individual entrepreneurs is scarce. Although, CONEIN holds the central position in the network, in that aspect is a vast opportunity for Entrepreneurship Advisory Council to boost participation among private sector members and be a higher influence in the public policy making. By law, partnerships and networks to support innovation processes and outcomes are not clear, but entrepreneurs acquire greater centrality in the ecosystem than before, which could privilege their access to resources and knowledge especially from Higher education institutions. Financial mechanisms to support entrepreneurship and innovation are established, but will be necessary to allocate budget for this instrument, as well as for the entrepreneurship national strategy. The private investment is mentioned, nevertheless deep legal reforms are demanded in order to incentive its presence. Education regulation is incorporated in the law to carry out entrepreneurship and innovation. In the hereafter, will be necessary to incorporate partnership and financial education programs.The conception of adequate articulated programs for entrepreneurship, management, research and development, transfer, R&D funding, networking and human capital strengthen could favor open innovation. However, other instruments are necessary in terms of information release, taxability, bureaucracy, labor and direct investment that allows open innovation appear. The purpose of the Government is key to ensure governance, rule of law, and accountability of itself and entrepreneurship actors to ensure stability and economic prosperity. KEY WORDS: Entrepreneurship, open innovation, networking, networking structures, performance, rule of law. RESUMEN:El propósito de un espíritu empresarial es construir y escalar un modelo de negocio sostenible a través de una empresa. La falta de recursos tangibles e intangibles se encuentran a menudo en esta etapa muy temprana. Según estudios previos, los nuevos emprendimientos podrían superar la falta de recursos, clave para su éxito, formando relaciones con socios (networking) a través de procesos de innovación abierta (OI). Sin embargo, la estructura de cada red afecta sus propios procesos y resultados; los procesos de innovación y la estructura de la red se moldean mutuamente. Abrir el proceso de innovación implica involucrar a las startups en relaciones con diferentes tipologías de actores: Incubadoras, Grandes corporaciones, Instituciones de educación superior, entre otros. Comprender el papel, la relación, la posición y el poder de cada actor en el ecosistema nos permite identificar la posición de su red que es fundamental para el acceso a los recursos.Para determinar el nivel de madurez del ecosistema y sus interacciones es necesario analizar el contexto del emprendimiento. Según el Perfil de Emprendimiento Ecuatoriano (GEM, 2019) Ecuador tiene una posición fuerte relacionada con la infraestructura física, las normas culturales y sociales y la educación emprendedora en la etapa post-escolar en comparación con los medios del mundo. Sin embargo, indicadores como las finanzas empresariales, los impuestos y la burocracia, el apoyo gubernamental, la transferencia de I + D y los programas de iniciativa empresarial están bastante lejos del promedio mundial.Utilizando la recién publicada Ley Orgánica de Emprendimiento e Innovación (Registro Oficial No. 151, 2020) que tiene como objetivo proporcionar un marco normativo que fomente el emprendimiento, la innovación y el desarrollo tecnológico, este artículo analiza los elementos de centralidad de la red de startups enfocándose en:Principales actores y naturaleza de estas relaciones;Instituciones que ocupan una posición central en la red;Alianzas y redes para apoyar los procesos y resultados de innovación;Mecanismos financieros para apoyar el espíritu empresarial y la innovación; y, educación para realizar alianzasEn consecuencia, el actor principal que determina la ley es el CONEIN como órgano rector y el Consejo Asesor de Emprendimiento. La presencia de empresarios individuales es escasa. Si bien el CONEIN ocupa la posición central en la red, se presenta una gran oportunidad para que el Consejo Asesor de Emprendimiento impulse la participación de los miembros del sector privado y tenga una mayor influencia en la formulación de políticas públicas. Por ley, las alianzas y redes para apoyar procesos y resultados de innovación no son claras, pero los emprendedores adquieren una mayor centralidad en el ecosistema que antes, lo que podría privilegiar su acceso a recursos y conocimientos, especialmente de las instituciones de educación superior.Se establecen mecanismos financieros de apoyo al emprendimiento y la innovación, pero será necesario asignar presupuesto para este instrumento, así como para la estrategia nacional de emprendimiento. Se menciona la inversión privada; sin embargo, se demandan profundas reformas legales para incentivar su presencia. La regulación educativa está incorporada en la ley para llevar a cabo el emprendimiento y la innovación. En lo sucesivo, será necesario incorporar programas de asociación y educación financiera.La concepción de programas articulados adecuados de emprendimiento, gestión, investigación y desarrollo, transferencia, financiamiento de I+D, networking y fortalecimiento del capital humano podría favorecer la innovación abierta. Sin embargo, son necesarias otros instrumentos en términos de divulgación de información, tributación, burocracia, mano de obra e inversión directa que permitan que surja la innovación abierta. El propósito del Gobierno es clave para garantizar la gobernanza, el estado de derecho y la rendición de cuentas de sí mismo y de los actores empresariales para garantizar la estabilidad y la prosperidad económica. CÓDIGO JEL: K, L25, L26 ; Le but d'un entrepreneuriat est de construire et de faire évoluer un modèle commercial durable à travers une entreprise. Le manque de ressources matérielles et immatérielles est souvent à ce stade très précoce. Selon des études antérieures, les nouvelles entreprises pourraient surmonter le manque de ressources, clé de leur succès, en établissant des relations avec des partenaires (mise en réseau) grâce à des processus d'innovation ouverte (IO). Cependant, la structure de chaque réseau affecte leurs propres processus et résultats ; les processus d'innovation et la structure du réseau se forment mutuellement. L'ouverture du processus d'innovation implique l'implication des startups dans des relations avec différentes typologies d'acteurs : Incubateurs, Grandes entreprises, Établissements d'enseignement supérieur, entre autres. Comprendre le rôle, la relation, la position et le pouvoir de chaque acteur dans l'écosystème nous permet d'identifier sa position dans le réseau qui est critique pour l'accès aux ressources.Déterminer le niveau de maturité de l'écosystème et ses interactions passe nécessairement par l'analyse du contexte entrepreneurial. Selon le Profil de l'entrepreneuriat équatorien (GEM, 2019), l'Équateur a une position forte en ce qui concerne les infrastructures physiques, les normes culturelles et sociales et l'éducation entrepreneuriale au stade post-scolaire par rapport aux médias du monde. Cependant, des indicateurs tels que les finances entrepreneuriales, les impôts et la bureaucratie, le soutien gouvernemental, les transferts de R&D et les programmes d'entrepreneuriat sont assez éloignés de la moyenne mondiale.En utilisant la nouvelle loi organique équatorienne pour l'entrepreneuriat et l'innovation (registre officiel n° 151, 2020) qui vise à fournir un cadre normatif qui encourage l'entrepreneuriat, l'innovation et le développement technologique, cet article analyse les éléments de centralité du réseau de startups en se concentrant sur:Acteurs principaux et nature de ces relations ;Les institutions qui occupent la position centrale dans le réseau;Partenariats et réseaux pour soutenir les processus et les résultats d'innovation;Mécanismes financiers pour soutenir l'entrepreneuriat et l'innovation; et,L'éducation pour réaliser des partenariats.En conséquence, le principal acteur déterminé par la loi est le CONEIN en tant qu'organe dirigeant et le Conseil consultatif de l'entrepreneuriat. La présence d'entrepreneurs individuels est rare. Bien que CONEIN occupe la position centrale dans le réseau, dans cet aspect, il s'agit d'une vaste opportunité pour le Conseil consultatif sur l'entrepreneuriat de stimuler la participation des membres du secteur privé et d'avoir une plus grande influence dans l'élaboration des politiques publiques. Selon la loi, les partenariats et les réseaux pour soutenir les processus et les résultats de l'innovation ne sont pas clairs, mais les entrepreneurs acquièrent une plus grande centralité dans l'écosystème qu'auparavant, ce qui pourrait privilégier leur accès aux ressources et aux connaissances, en particulier des établissements d'enseignement supérieur.Des mécanismes financiers pour soutenir l'esprit d'entreprise et l'innovation sont mis en place, mais seront nécessaires pour allouer un budget à cet instrument, ainsi qu'à la stratégie nationale pour l'esprit d'entreprise. L'investissement privé est évoqué, néanmoins de profondes réformes juridiques sont demandées afin d'encourager sa présence. La réglementation de l'éducation est incorporée dans la loi pour mener à bien l'entrepreneuriat et l'innovation. Dans l'au-delà, il faudra intégrer des programmes de partenariat et d'éducation financière.La conception de programmes articulés adéquats pour l'entrepreneuriat, la gestion, la recherche et le développement, le transfert, le financement de la R&D, la mise en réseau et le renforcement du capital humain pourrait favoriser l'innovation ouverte. Cependant, d'autres instruments sont nécessaires en termes de diffusion d'informations, de fiscalité, de bureaucratie, de main-d'œuvre et d'investissements directs qui permettent l'innovation ouverte. L'objectif du gouvernement est essentiel pour assurer la gouvernance, l'état de droit et la responsabilité de lui-même et des acteurs de l'entrepreneuriat afin d'assurer la stabilité et la prospérité économique. MOTS CLÉS: Entrepreneuriat, innovation ouverte, mise en réseau, structures de mise en réseau, performance, État de droit. CODE JEL: K, L25, L26 ; Lo scopo di un'imprenditorialità è costruire e scalare un modello di business sostenibile attraverso un'impresa. La mancanza di risorse materiali e immateriali è spesso in questa fase molto precoce. Secondo studi precedenti, nuove iniziative potrebbero superare la mancanza di risorse -chiave per il loro successo- formando relazioni con i partner (networking) attraverso processi di innovazione aperta (OI). Tuttavia, la struttura di ciascuna rete influisce sui propri processi e risultati; i processi di innovazione e la struttura di rete si plasmano reciprocamente. L'apertura del processo di innovazione implica il coinvolgimento delle startup nelle relazioni con diverse tipologie di attori: incubatori, grandi imprese, istituti di istruzione superiore, tra gli altri. Comprendere il ruolo, la relazione, la posizione e il potere di ciascun attore nell'ecosistema ci consente di identificare la sua posizione di rete che è fondamentale per l'accesso alle risorse.Per determinare il livello di maturità dell'ecosistema e le sue interazioni è necessario analizzare il contesto imprenditoriale. Secondo l'Ecuadorian Entrepreneurship Profile (GEM, 2019) l'Ecuador ha una posizione forte in relazione alle infrastrutture fisiche, alle norme culturali e sociali e all'educazione imprenditoriale nella fase post-scolastica rispetto ai media del mondo. Tuttavia, indicatori come le finanze imprenditoriali, le tasse e la burocrazia, il sostegno del governo, il trasferimento di ricerca e sviluppo e i programmi di imprenditorialità sono piuttosto lontani dalla media globale.Utilizzando la Legge organica ecuadoriana per l'imprenditorialità e l'innovazione di recente pubblicazione (Registro ufficiale n. 151, 2020) che mira a fornire un quadro normativo che incoraggi l'imprenditorialità, l'innovazione e lo sviluppo tecnologico, questo articolo analizza gli elementi di centralità della rete di startup concentrandosi su:Attori principali e natura di queste relazioni;Istituzioni che detengono la posizione centrale nella rete;Partnership e reti a supporto dei processi e dei risultati dell'innovazione;Meccanismi finanziari per sostenere l'imprenditorialità e l'innovazione; e,Educazione alla realizzazione di partenariati.Di conseguenza, l'attore principale determinato dalla legge è il CONEIN come organo di governo e il Consiglio consultivo per l'imprenditoria. Scarsa la presenza di imprenditori individuali. Sebbene CONEIN ricopra la posizione centrale nella rete, in questo aspetto rappresenta una vasta opportunità per il Consiglio consultivo per l'imprenditorialità per aumentare la partecipazione tra i membri del settore privato e avere una maggiore influenza nell'elaborazione delle politiche pubbliche. Per legge non sono chiari partenariati e reti a supporto dei processi e degli esiti dell'innovazione, ma gli imprenditori acquisiscono maggiore centralità nell'ecosistema rispetto a prima, che potrebbe privilegiare il loro accesso a risorse e conoscenze soprattutto da parte degli Istituti di istruzione superiore.Sono stati istituiti meccanismi finanziari per sostenere l'imprenditorialità e l'innovazione, ma sarà necessario stanziare budget per questo strumento, nonché per la strategia nazionale per l'imprenditorialità. Si parla dell'investimento privato, tuttavia si richiedono profonde riforme giuridiche per incentivarne la presenza. La regolamentazione dell'istruzione è incorporata nella legge per esercitare l'imprenditorialità e l'innovazione. In seguito, sarà necessario incorporare programmi di partenariato e di educazione finanziaria.La concezione di adeguati programmi articolati per l'imprenditorialità, la gestione, la ricerca e sviluppo, il trasferimento, il finanziamento di R&S, il networking e il rafforzamento del capitale umano potrebbe favorire l'innovazione aperta. Tuttavia, sono necessari altri strumenti in termini di rilascio di informazioni, tassazione, burocrazia, lavoro e investimenti diretti che consentono l'innovazione aperta. Lo scopo del governo è fondamentale per garantire la governance, lo stato di diritto e la responsabilità di se stesso e degli attori imprenditoriali per garantire stabilità e prosperità economica. PAROLE CHIAVE: Imprenditorialità, innovazione aperta, networking, strutture di rete, performance, stato di diritto. CODICE JEL: K, L25, L26 ; O objetivo de um empreendedorismo é construir e dimensionar um modelo de negócios sustentável por meio de uma empresa. A falta de recursos tangíveis e intangíveis costuma ocorrer nesse estágio inicial. De acordo com estudos anteriores, novos empreendimentos poderiam superar a falta de recursos-chave para seu sucesso- formando relacionamentos com parceiros (networking) por meio de processos de inovação aberta (OI). No entanto, a estrutura de cada rede afeta seus próprios processos e resultados; os processos de inovação e a estrutura da rede se moldam mutuamente. A abertura do processo de inovação implica o envolvimento das startups nas relações com diferentes tipologias de atores: Incubadoras, Grandes empresas, Instituições de Ensino Superior, entre outros. Compreender o papel, a relação, a posição e o poder de cada ator no ecossistema nos permite identificar sua posição na rede que é crítica para o acesso aos recursos.Para determinar o nível de maturidade do ecossistema e suas interações é necessário analisar o contexto do empreendedorismo. De acordo com o Perfil de Empreendedorismo Equatoriano (GEM, 2019), o Equador tem uma posição forte em relação à infraestrutura física, normas culturais e sociais e educação empreendedora na fase pós-escolar em comparação com a mídia do mundo. No entanto, indicadores como finanças empresariais, impostos e burocracia, apoio governamental, transferência de P&D e programas de empreendedorismo estão muito longe da média global.Utilizando a recém-publicada Lei Orgânica de Empreendedorismo e Inovação do Equador (Registro Oficial No. 151, 2020), que visa fornecer uma estrutura normativa que incentiva o empreendedorismo, a inovação e o desenvolvimento tecnológico, este artigo analisa os elementos de centralidade da rede de startups com foco em:Principais atores e a natureza dessas relações;Instituições que ocupam a posição central na rede;Parcerias e redes para apoiar processos e resultados de inovação;Mecanismos financeiros de apoio ao empreendedorismo e à inovação; e,Educação para realizar parcerias.Como conseqüência, o principal ator determinado por lei é o CONEIN como órgão regulador e o Conselho Consultivo de Empreendedorismo. A presença de empreendedores individuais é escassa. Embora o CONEIN detenha posição central na rede, nesse aspecto é uma grande oportunidade para o Conselho Consultivo de Empreendedorismo aumentar a participação dos membros do setor privado e ter maior influência na formulação de políticas públicas. Por lei, as parcerias e redes de apoio a processos e resultados de inovação não são claras, mas os empreendedores adquirem maior centralidade no ecossistema do que antes, o que poderia privilegiar seu acesso a recursos e conhecimentos, especialmente de instituições de ensino superior.Estão estabelecidos mecanismos financeiros de apoio ao empreendedorismo e inovação, mas serão necessários para alocar orçamento para este instrumento, bem como para a estratégia nacional de empreendedorismo. O investimento privado é mencionado, mas profundas reformas legais são exigidas de forma a incentivar a sua presença. A regulamentação da educação está incorporada na lei para realizar o empreendedorismo e a inovação. No futuro, será necessário incorporar programas de parceria e educação financeira.A concepção de programas articulados adequados para o empreendedorismo, gestão, pesquisa e desenvolvimento, transferência, financiamento de P&D, networking e fortalecimento do capital humano poderia favorecer a inovação aberta. No entanto, outros instrumentos são necessários em termos de divulgação de informações, tributação, burocracia, mão de obra e investimento direto que possibilitem a inovação aberta. O objetivo do Governo é fundamental para garantir a governança, o Estado de Direito e a responsabilidade de si mesmo e dos atores do empreendedorismo para garantir estabilidade e prosperidade econômica. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Empreendedorismo, inovação aberta, networking, estruturas de networking, desempenho, Estado de Direito. CÓDIGO JEL: K, L25, L26

It is widely recognized that broadband is of fundamental importance to the social and economic development of a nation. The focus of the paper is on infrastructure-related actions; measures to stimulate demand for broadband are, therefore, only marginally addressed. This paper aims to provide a platform for debate with the Russian counterparts in the sector, and to discuss the measures needed to develop broadband in support of actions aimed at economic growth. This paper examines the broadband market in Russia and preconditions for its sustainable development. It begins by presenting arguments demonstrating the importance of broadband to the overall economic development of Russia, including from the perspective of diversification of the economy and new job creation. The paper benchmarks Russia s broadband performance with Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comparators, as well as with other nations leading the way in broadband diffusion. The paper takes stock of the existing broadband market structure in Russia and its main players as they stand today, including the regulatory and legal environment of the market for both fixed and mobile broadband. Finally, the paper provides a set of recommendations that addresses the issue of sustainability in Russian broadband delivery, and how it can continue its acceleration in the years to come.

The corporate scorecard provides information on the Bank's overall performance and results achieved by its clients against the backdrop of global development progress. The scorecard facilitates dialogue between management and the board on progress made and areas that need attention. The four-tier scorecard covers the full spectrum of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) activities. The corporate scorecard uses an integrated results and performance framework, which is organized in a four-tier structure that groups indicators along the results chain Two of the tiers track elements of development results (tiers one and two), and the other two capture elements of performance (tiers three and four). As the summary shows, the corporate scorecard monitors, at an aggregate level, whether the Bank is functioning efficiently and adapting itself successfully (tier four), and whether it is managing its operations and services effectively (tier three) to support countries in achieving results (tier two) in the context of global development progress and priorities (tier one). It presents a high-level view and is not intended to provide country or activity-level information.

As Russian forces steadily advance in the Kharkiv region, it is becoming ever more clear that the Ukraine war has been a disaster for the U.S. defense machine, and not just because our aid has failed to save Ukraine from retreat and possible defeat. More importantly, the war has pitilessly exposed our defense system's deep, underlying, faults.Critics have long maintained that our obsession with technologically complex weapons inevitably yields unreliable systems produced in limited numbers because of their predictably high cost. They are furthermore likely to fail in combat because of the military's lack of interest in adequate testing (lest realistic tests reveal serious shortcomings and thereby threaten the budget.) The unforgiving operational test provided by the Ukraine war has shown that the critics were absolutely right. Successive "game changing" systems - such as the Switchblade drone, the M-1 Abrams tank, Patriot air defense missiles, the M777 howitzer, the Excalibur guided 155 mm artillery round, the HIMARS precision missile, GPS-guided bombs, and Skydio drones endowed with artificial intelligence, were all dispatched to "the fight," as the military like to call it, with fanfare and high expectations. All were destined to fail for reasons rooted in the fundamental problems cited above. The $60,000 Switchblade drone, produced in limited numbers due to cost, proved useless against armored targets and was quickly discarded by Ukrainian troops in favor of $700 Chinese commercial models ordered online. The $10 million Abrams tank not only proved distressingly vulnerable to Russian attack drones but in any case broke down repeatedly and was soon withdrawn from combat, though not before the Russians put several out of action and captured at least one, which they took to Moscow and added to a display of Nato weaponry in a Moscow park that included an M777 howitzer and other items of NATO hardware. The M777 cannon, though touted for its accuracy, has proved too delicate for the rough conditions of sustained combat, with barrels regularly wearing out and requiring replacement in Poland far from the front lines . Notoriously, its 155 mm ammunition has been in short supply. Thanks to the consolidation of the U.S. defense industry into a small number of monopolies, an ill-judged policy eagerly promoted since the Clinton Administration, U.S. domestic production of 155 mm shells is reliant on a single aging General Dynamics plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is struggling to meet its targets. President Zelensky has been loudly demanding more Patriot launchers and missiles to defend Kharkiv, which is curious, given the apparent ease with which the Russians have targeted Patriots defending Kyiv, and the system's declining effectiveness against Russian ballistic missiles. HIMARS long range missiles indeed had a deadly effect on high value Russian targets, such as ammunition dumps, but the Russians adapted by dispersing and camouflaging such dumps and other likely targets.Take it from a Ukrainian: Western Systems "Worthless."Strikingly, many of the failures of U.S. weapons, including the HIMARS, in Ukraine have been due to their reliance on a highly vulnerable guidance system: GPS. The Russians, who have long devoted intense care and attention to electronic warfare, have proven increasingly adept at jamming GPS. This has been most witheringly expressed by Maria Berlinskaya, a pioneer in Ukraine's use of drones and head of the country's aerial reconnaissance support center, who recently stated that "most Western systems have proven to be [worthless]" thanks to Russian jamming. Her gloomy assessment was confirmed in April by none other than William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, who told a CSIS conference how a company (Boeing, though he did not name it) had proposed adapting their small diameter GPS guided bomb as a warhead for the HIMARS. It had been accordingly rushed through development and into production, with little or no testing, and shipped off to Ukraine. "It just didn't work," admitted LaPlante, thanks to Russian GPS jammers that threw it off course and caused it to miss. The same sad fate seems to have befallen the Skydio drone, product of an eponymous Silicon Valley startup, whose AI features trumpeted by the company - "Skydio drones have the compute capacity to see, understand, and react in real time" - did not prevent it from being driven off course by Putin's jammers.Sullivan and His Pals Drank the Kool Aid the Military Poured for Them.Needless to say, none of these assorted failures were anticipated by the U.S. military high command, few of whom would be eager to denigrate the wares of contractors with lucrative post-retirement board seats on offer. We might hope that our senior civilian leadership would be aware of such biases and temper their expectations accordingly. Unfortunately, they drank the Kool Aid, as evidenced for their high expectations for the 2023 Ukrainian counter-offensive. Despite high hopes and lavish supplies of weapons, including tanks, ammunition, drones, intensive training on the territory of NATO allies, and a grounding in U.S. command and control doctrine, the counter-offensive was an immediate and total failure. Planners were apparently caught by surprise by the depth of Russia's (easily visible) defensive fortifications, especially minefields and the effectiveness of its electronic jamming. Ever since then, Ukraine has been steadily retreating, losing in the process its reserves of military manpower.Then There's Corruption.Not all of Ukraine's dire situation can be blamed on the military deficiencies of its major Nato ally. The country's infamous corruption, well known to western governments but generally ignored in the western press, is currently highlighted by its crumbling defenses around Kharkiv. According to an exemplary report by Ukrainian anti-corruption researcher Martyna Boguslavets, published in the Kyiv-based Ukraina Pravda, the huge sums appropriated for building fortifications around the city have simply been stolen. Here is her report (machine translated.)Martyna BoguslavetsChairman of the Anti-corruption Center "Mezha"Where are the fortifications? Kharkiv OVA paid millions to fictitious companiesMONDAY, MAY 13, 2024,Hundreds of millions of hryvnias have probably been stolen from the construction of fortifications in the Kharkiv region, where the [Russians are] now actively advancing. Multi-million dollar contracts for the construction of fortifications, for which a total of 7 billion hryvnias [$173 million] were spent there, were transferred by the Kharkiv OVA [regional military adminsitration] to front companies of avatars.In particular, the Department of Housing and Communal Services (ZhKG) and the fuel and energy complex of Kharkiv OVA concluded direct contracts for the supply of wood for fortifications with companies with signs of fictitiousness.For 270 million [approx $6 million] for wood, information about which is classified, contracts were concluded with FOP Chaus I.O., LLC "Hertz Industry", LLC "Satisbud", LLC "ATT BUILD" and LLC "DEREVOOBROBNE PIDPRIEMSTVO VOSHOD".All of them started making millions immediately within a few months of signing up. Classic - under direct contracts and without competitive procurement.It so happened that the department of the Kharkiv OVA for defense procurement chose newly registered anonymous firms and private enterprises. Moreover, the owners of these firms do not resemble successful businessmen and businesswomen - they have dozens of court cases, from whiskey theft to domestic violence against a husband and mother, some of them are deprived of parental rights and have had enforcement proceedings for bank loans.Another interesting detail - it seems that these beneficiaries do not even know that they are millionaires. After all, they continue to work in shifts "in the fields" and factories.Once again: in OVA, direct contracts for wood for fortifications have been concluded with companies whose "owners" do not even know that they are making millions. This is how military information is classified."Secret" avatars of Kharkiv OVAIt is obvious that contractors for military deals were carefully sought - people who are not rich, with a number of court cases and debts. Some of them are even related to each other.The scheme started with FOP Chaus Ihor Olegovych. Three months after registration, the OVA department concludes direct contracts with him for the supply of wood worth millions of hryvnias.It is interesting that in July 2023, when Chaus just registered the FOP, he had enforcement proceedings for a fine from the police. Earlier, he was found guilty of stealing a pint of Jack Daniels from ATB. He served 100 hours of community service for the stolen whiskey. A successful businessman from the bad 2010sThe "successful businesswomen" scheme was continued. Both are from the city of Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk region.The first is Victoria Smolyak, owner of Hertz Industry LLC. The company was registered in June 2023, and within a few months it began to earn millions from wood. Again, under direct contracts. In less than a year, the company changes four managers, which is also a sign of fictitiousness.Mrs. Smolyak has not only a limited liability company, but also 5 enforcement proceedings for recovery from banks, courts for evasion of parental duties. A drunk woman committed domestic violence against her mother. Currently, she works at the Dnipro metallurgical plant.Not very similar to the owner of a successful company that earned 116 million [$2.9 million] from the OVA department in 9 months?Send feedbackThe second businesswoman is Natalia Koval. LLC "Satisbud" is registered on it three days after the registration of "Hertz Industry". Another successful company, through which more than [$1.3 million] are finnele.The owner of the company also has a bunch of court cases, in particular, regarding the deprivation of parental rights, being in a public place in a drunken state, committing domestic violence against her husband. As we learned, the woman now works in shifts in the fields.It is interesting that both "Hertz Industry" LLC and "Satisbud" LLC have the same director - Dmytro Knorozov. It is expected, and he also has enforcement proceedings, where he acts as a debtor.Through the following companies - "ATT BUD" and "WOOD PROCESSING ENTERPRISE VOSHOD" the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the Kharkiv Oblast is chasing away millions. Their owners and managers are connected to more than 30 more recently established companies with a wide range of activities.According to this scheme, the naked eye can see how someone, being a member of the government offices, mercilessly registers new companies, using for this purpose people who, due to the circumstances, may not be aware of this. And this someone continues to make money on blood.Ideally, this should become useful information for law enforcement agencies and further exposure of fictitious companies that steal millions from the Armed Forces. After all, most of these dozens of companies are currently dormant and are probably standing by for further participation in schemes for withdrawing funds into the shadows and tax evasion.Notably, Boguslavets' report is based on public documents, available to anyone who cared to probe, which did not apparently include the host of U.S. correspondents covering the war.This article has been republished with permission from Andrew Cockburn's Spoils of War

The Biden Administration is proposing major changes to cost-benefit analysis used in all regulations. The preamble here, and the full text here. It is open for public comments until June 20. Economists don't often comment on proposed regulations. We should do so more often. Agencies take such comments seriously. And they can have an afterlife. I have seen comments cited in litigation and by judicial decisions. Even if you doubt the Biden Administration's desire to hear you on cost-benefit analysis, a comment is a marker that the inevitable eventual Supreme Court case might well consider. Comments tend only to come from interested parties and lawyers. Regular economists really should comment more often. I don't do it enough either. You can see existing comments:  Search for Circular A-4 updates to get to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OMB-2022-0014, then select "browse all comments." (Thanks to a good friend who sent this tip.) Take a look at comments from an MIT team led by Deborah Lucas here and by Josh Rauh. These are great models of comments. You don't have to review everything.   Make one good point. Cost benefit analysis is useful even if imprecise. Lots of bright ideas in Washington (and Sacramento!) would struggle to document any net benefits at all. Yes, these exercises can lie, cheat, and steal, but having to come up with a quantitative lie can lay bare just how hare-brained many regulations are. Both Josh and the MIT response focus on the draft proposal's use of ultra-low discount rates, ranging from historic TIPS yields to arguments for zero or negative "social" discount rates. Josh emphasizes a beautiful compromise: always show the annual stream of costs and benefits. Then it's easy enough to apply different discount rates. No Black Boxes. Discount rates seem like a technical issue. But they matter a lot for climate policies, or for policies with substantial cost but putatively permanent benefits, because of the long horizons. For example, climate change is alleged to create costs of 5% of GDP in 100 years. So, let's assume a 0% discount rate -- treat the future just like the present. How much is it worth spending this year to eliminate additional climate change in 2100? Spend means real spending, real reductions in everyone's standard of living, not just funny money billions on twitter. If you answered "5% of GDP" (roughly $3,500 per person) that's wrong, for two crucial reasons. First, the economy grows over time. At a modest 2% real growth, US GDP will be 7.4 times as large in 100 years as it is today, or 640% greater. (e^2=7.4). Thus, 5% of GDP in 100 years, discounted at 0%,  is 7.4 x 5% or 37% of today's GDP, or $17,500 per person today. Second, the gain is forever -- 5% of 2123 GDP, but 5% of 2124 GDP, and so on. Discounted at a zero rate, 5% of 2123 forever after that is worth... an infinite amount today. But GDP keeps growing after 2123. If you discount at anything less than the growth rate of GDP -- 2% in my example -- 5% of (growing) GDP forever is worth an infinite amount!  So what if $250 billion subsidizing huge battery long range electric cars made by union labor in the USA from hypothetical US made lithium mines might, all in, save a thimbleful of carbon per car (is it even positive?), if the benefits are infinite, go for it. If you discount by a low, but somewhat more reasonable number like 7%, then a dollar in 100 years is worth 0.09 cents today (100 x e^-7). Now you know where to put your thumb on the climate scales! You might be wondering, if our great grandchildren are going to be so fantastically better off than we are, let them deal with it. Or you may be wondering that maybe there are other things we could do with money today that might speed up this magical growth process and do 5% better. For an infinite amount of money, is there nothing we can do to raise the growth rate from 2% to 2.05%? The latter opportunity cost question is, I think, a good way to think of discount rates. The average real return on stocks is something like 5%, at least. The average pre-tax marginal product of capital is higher; pick you number but it's in the range of 10% not 1%. The right "discount rate" is the rate of return on alternative uses of money. Josh and the MIT team are exactly right to point out that using the rate of return on risk free government bonds is a completely mistaken way to discount the very risky costs of climate damage -- that 5% is a very poorly known number -- and the even riskier benefits of the government's shifting climate policy passions. But I think phrasing the experiment in terms of opportunity costs rather than proper discounting of risky streams makes it more salient, despite the decades I have spent (and an entire book!) on the latter approach. Businesses can take $1 today and turn it in to, on average, $1.07 next year. Why take away that money for a project that yields $1.00 or $1.01 next year? The former question has a deeper consequence. Why should we suffer to help people, even our grandchildren, who will be on average 7.4 times better off than we are? How much would you ask your great grandparents to sacrifice to make you 5% better off than you are today? Here the low discount rate clashes interestingly with another part of the proposal: equity and transfers. From the preamble p. 12: A standard assumption in economics, informed by empirical evidence (as discussed below), is that an additional $100 given to a low-income individual increases the welfare of that individual more than an additional $100 given to a wealthy individual. Traditional benefit-cost analysis, which applies unitary weights to measures of willingness to pay, does not usually take into account how distributional effects may affect aggregate welfare because of differences in individuals' marginal utility of income. Related to the topic of distributional analysis is the question of whether agencies should be permitted or encouraged to develop estimates of net benefits using weights that take account of these differences.26 The proposed revisions to Circular A-4 suggest that agencies may wish to consider weights for each income group affected by a regulation that equal the median income of the group divided by median U.S. income, raised to the power of the elasticity of marginal utility times negative one.Now wait a darn-tootin' minute. The "standard" doctrine in economics is that you cannot make intra-personal utility comparisons. Utility is ordinal, not cardinal. Here cardinal-utility utilitarianism with equal Pareto-weights is about to be carved into federal stone. (To decide social benefit of taking from A and giving to B, you construct a social welfare function \(u(c_A) + \lambda u(c_B)\). This needs you to use the same \(u()\) for A and B, and agree on a Pareto-weight \(\lambda\) implicitly one here.) Imagine a simple regulation: take a dollar from Joe ($100,000 income) and give it to Kathy ($50,000 income). By this standard such a straightforward transfer passes a cost-benefit test.  But this does not get applied over time. Taking a dollar from you and me, and at a discount rate of 0% giving it to our great grandchildren who will be 7.4 times better off should set off massive inequity alarm bells. Nope. Indeed, you can deduce a discount rate from the inequality goal. Pure undiscounted intergenerational equity requires a discount rate proportional to the economic growth rate. (With power utility, an intervention that costs A $1 to give B $\(e^{rt}\) just passes a cost-benefit test if \[c_A^{-\gamma} = e^{rt} (c_B)^{-\gamma}.\]  If B is \(e^{gt}\) times as well off as A, \(c_B=e^{gt} \times c_A\) then we need  \(r=\gamma g\). \( \gamma\) is usually a number a bit bigger than one.  The preamble's discussion of \(\gamma\) values is pretty good, settling on a number between one and two. However, they haven't really heard of the finance literature: Evidence on risk aversion can be used to estimate the elasticity of marginal utility. In a constant-elasticity utility specification, the coefficient of relative risk aversion is the elasticity of marginal utility. There are numerous different estimates of the coefficient of relative risk aversion (CRRA), using data from a variety of different markets, including labor supply markets,29 the stock market,30 and insurance markets.31 Relevant estimates vary widely, though assumed values of the CRRA between 1 and 2 are common.3230 Robert S. Pindyck, "Risk Aversion and Determinants of Stock Market Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics 70, no. 2 (1988): 183-90 uses stock market data and estimates the CRRA to be "in the range of 3 to 4"Since then, of course, the whole equity premium literature sprang up with coefficients 10 to 50. Shh. That would justify insane levels of equity. The draft also encourages all sorts of unquantifiable non-economic "benefits," but I'll leave that for another day. Read and comment. BTW, despite my negative tone and picking on these elements, much of the draft is quite good. Here is a particularly nice piece, from p. 26 of the full text j. A Note Regarding Certain Types of Economic RegulationIn light of both economic theory and actual experience, it is particularly difficult to demonstrate positive net benefits for any of the following types of regulations: price controls in well-functioning competitive markets; production or sales quotas in well-functioning competitive markets; mandatory uniform quality standards for goods or services, if the potential problem can be adequately dealt with through voluntary standards or by disclosing information of the hazard to buyers or users; or controls on entry into employment or production, except (a) where needed to protect health and safety (e.g., Federal Aviation Administration tests for commercial pilots) or (b) to manage the use of common property resources (e.g., fisheries, airwaves, Federal lands, and offshore areas).Well, FAA tests and rules for commercial pilots is not actually quite so obvious and really needs a cost benefit test. "Commercial pilot" does not mean "airline pilot," it means can you do anything in an airplane and get money for it. But leave that for another day, these principles if applied could clean out a lot of mischief. Well, I guess many on the progressive left or nascent national-conservative right would deny there is such a thing as a "well-functioning competitive market." Update: I should have added: It's insane to make a once and for all cost benefit analysis, especially for projects with 100 year horizons. All regs should be re evaluated every 5 to 10 years, and use experience to update costs and benefits.     

Pocs incendis grans i destructius representen els impactes més negatius en els valors socioeconòmics i naturals de les zones mediterrànies. Com a conseqüència de l'augment de l'acumulació de biomassa en els paisatges culturals prèviament elaborats, aquests esdeveniments no característics que es produeixen en condicions meteorològiques extremes són resistents als esforços de supressió a causa de les brases massives de dutxa, les intensitats de foc aclaparadores i les taxes d'expansió molt elevades. D'altra banda, l'augment de les àrees d'interfície de zones silvestres-urbanes representa un factor condicionant que exigeix protecció i augmenta substancialment la complexitat de la gestió d'emergències. Les polítiques de prevenció d'ignició i de supressió d'incendis només resulten ineficaces per mitigar les pèrdues dels focs contemporanis. En aquesta tesi he implementat un marc analític a escala múltiple per informar sobre la presa de decisions d'una estratègia de gestió de riscos d'incendis forestals amb l'objectiu de crear paisatges resistents al foc, restaurar el règim de foc cultural, donar suport a la supressió d'incendis segura i eficient i crear comunitats adaptades al foc. En descompondre el risc d'incendis forestals en els principals factors causals a les escales relacionades amb les capacitats de gestió dels diferents agents, des dels propietaris individuals fins als governs regionals, aquesta tesi intenta proporcionar una solució integral per aconseguir aquests objectius bàsics a mig termini a la Unió Europea del sud regions. Es va implementar un model de simulació contra incendis per obtenir els factors causals de risc requerits o els indicadors d'exposició. La propagació del foc i el comportament en grans àrees es van modelar tenint en compte els règims de bombers variables en termes d'estacionalitat, gran nombre de focs i distribució espacial. Les relacions de susceptibilitat definides per experts o models de mortalitat es van utilitzar per avaluar els efectes de foc com a possibles pèrdues econòmiques en valors de risc. A més, vam utilitzar una anàlisi de transmissió per definir els incendis de la comunitat i avaluar l'intercanvi de foc entre els municipis veïns. La gestió de combustibles és la principal estratègia de mitigació de riscos d'incendis forestals a escala paisatgística i s'han utilitzat models d'optimització espacial per ajudar en el disseny del tractament del paisatge estratègic i explorar les oportunitats de col·locació sota restriccions pressupostàries. Els resultats es van proporcionar a les escales operatives adequades per informar de diferents estratègies de gestió d'incendis forestals. Els perfils d'exposició i l'avaluació de riscos a escales finals per a les estructures d'habitatges individuals i els valors dels boscos de fustes intenten promoure la participació dels propietaris i exigir les bones pràctiques dels gestors forestals amb l'objectiu de mitigar les pèrdues derivades dels incendis en el mateix lloc (unitats de tractament) i les terres veïnes. Els esforços de gestió dins de les àrees de planificació articulats com a projectes de planificació col·laborativa entre diversos agents socioeconòmics inclouen tractaments sobre el combustible del paisatge en llocs estratègics que redueixen la probabilitat general d'incendis forestals i la intensitat del foc, la planificació del paisatge per excloure àrees perilloses per al desenvolupament urbà, la preparació de la comunitat reduint la vulnerabilitat social i les ordenances del municipi a reduir la vulnerabilitat de l'habitatge. La producció conjunta de tractaments representa una oportunitat en ecosistemes forestals mediterranis multifuncionals per organitzar solucions complexes. La formulació de polítiques a escala regional dóna prioritat a nivell municipal a les diferents estratègies de gestió, com ara programes de prevenció d'ignició, pre-posicionament de recursos, assignació de subvencions per a tractaments de combustible i aplicació de la llei per a la gestió de combustibles en comunitats d'interfície de zones silvestres-urbanes amb major risc. Els diferents treballs es van desenvolupar en diverses àrees mediterrànies per ressaltar l'aplicabilitat del marc en altres llocs. ; Pocos incendios grandes y destructivos representan la mayoría de los impactos negativos sobre los valores socioeconómicos y naturales en las áreas mediterráneas. Como resultado de la creciente acumulación de biomasa en los paisajes culturales que antes eran de grano fino, estos eventos no característicos que ocurren en condiciones climáticas extremas son resistentes a los esfuerzos de supresión debidos a las brasas de lluvia masiva, las intensidades de fuego abrumadoras y las tasas de propagación muy altas. Además, el aumento de las áreas de interfaz urbano-forestal representa un factor de condicionamiento que exige protección y aumenta sustancialmente la complejidad de la gestión de emergencias. Las políticas de prevención de ignición y extinción de incendios por sí solas resultan ineficaces para mitigar las pérdidas de incendios contemporáneos. En esta Tesis, implementé un marco analítico de múltiples escalas para informar la toma de decisiones de una estrategia de gestión de riesgos de incendios forestales con el objetivo de crear paisajes resistentes a incendios, restaurar el régimen cultural de incendios, apoyar la supresión segura y eficiente de incendios y crear comunidades adaptadas a incendios. Al disolver el riesgo de incendios forestales en los principales factores causales en escalas relacionadas con las capacidades de gestión de los diferentes agentes, desde los propietarios individuales hasta los gobiernos regionales, esta tesis intenta ofrecer una solución integral para lograr esos objetivos centrales a medio plazo en el sur de la Unión Europea regiones. Se implementó un enfoque de modelado de simulación de incendios para obtener los factores causales de riesgo requeridos o las métricas de exposición. La propagación y el comportamiento de los incendios en grandes áreas se modelaron teniendo en cuenta los regímenes de incendios variables en términos de estacionalidad, gran número de incendios y distribución espacial. Las relaciones de susceptibilidad definidas por los expertos o los modelos de mortalidad se utilizaron para evaluar los efectos del fuego como posibles pérdidas económicas a valores en riesgo. Además, utilizamos un análisis de transmisión para delimitar las cuencas comunitarias y evaluar el intercambio de incendios entre los municipios vecinos. La gestión de combustibles es la principal estrategia de mitigación del riesgo de incendios forestales a escala del paisaje, y se utilizaron modelos de optimización espacial para ayudar en el diseño estratégico del tratamiento del paisaje y explorar oportunidades de colocación bajo restricciones presupuestarias. Los resultados se proporcionaron en escalas operativas apropiadas para informar diferentes estrategias de manejo de incendios forestales. Los perfiles de exposición y la evaluación del riesgo a escalas finas para las estructuras de viviendas individuales y los valores forestales de los bosques de madera intentan promover la participación de los propietarios y demandan las buenas prácticas de los administradores forestales con el objetivo de mitigar las pérdidas por incendios encendidos en el mismo sitio (unidades de tratamiento) y las tierras vecinas. Los esfuerzos de gestión dentro de las áreas de planificación articulados como proyectos de planificación colaborativa entre diversos agentes socioeconómicos incluyen tratamientos de combustible de paisaje en lugares estratégicos que reducen la probabilidad general de incendios forestales y la intensidad de incendios, la planificación del paisaje para excluir áreas peligrosas para el desarrollo urbano, la preparación de la comunidad para reducir la vulnerabilidad social y las ordenanzas municipales para reducir la vulnerabilidad de la vivienda. El tratamiento conjunto de la producción representa una oportunidad en los ecosistemas forestales mediterráneos multifuncionales para organizar soluciones complejas. La formulación de políticas a escala regional prioriza a nivel municipal las diferentes estrategias de manejo, como los programas de prevención de ignición, el posicionamiento previo de recursos de supresión, la asignación de subsidios para tratamientos de combustible y la aplicación de la ley para el manejo de combustibles en comunidades de interfaz urbano-forestal en mayor riesgo. Los diferentes documentos se desarrollaron en varias áreas mediterráneas para resaltar la aplicabilidad del marco en otros lugares. ; Few large and destructive fires account for most negative impacts on socioeconomic and natural values in Mediterranean areas. As a result of an increasing amount of biomass accumulation on the previously fine-grained cultural landscapes, these uncharacteristic events occurring under extreme weather conditions are resistant to suppression efforts due to massive showering embers, overwhelming fire intensities, and very high spread rates. Moreover, increasing wildland-urban interface areas represent a conditioning factor demanding protection and substantially increasing emergency management complexity. Ignition prevention and fire suppression policies alone result ineffective to mitigate losses from contemporary fires. In this Thesis I implemented a multiple-scale analytical framework to inform the decision-making of a wildfire risk management strategy aiming at creating fire resilient landscapes, restoring the cultural fire regime, supporting safe and efficient fire suppression, and creating fire-adapted communities. By decomposing wildfire risk into the main causative factors at scales related to management capabilities for the different agents, from the individual homeowners to Regional Governments, this dissertation attempts to provide a comprehensive solution to achieve those core goals on the mid-term in southern European Union regions. A fire simulation modeling approach was implemented to obtain the required risk causative factors or exposure metrics. Fire spread and behavior in large areas were modeled accounting for variable fire regimes in terms of seasonality, large fire number, and spatial distribution. Expert-defined susceptibility relations or mortality models were then used to assess fire effects as potential economic losses to values at risk. Moreover, we used a transmission analysis to delineate community firesheds and assess fire exchange among neighboring municipalities. Fuels management is the main wildfire risk mitigation strategy at the landscape scale, and spatial optimization models were used to help in strategic landscape treatment design and explore collocation opportunities under budgetary restrictions. Results were provided at appropriate operational scales to inform different wildfire management strategies. Exposure profiles and risk assessment at fine scales for individual housing structures and timber stand forest values attempt to promote homeowners' involvement and demand forest managers' good practices aiming at mitigating losses from fires ignited on the same site (treatment units) and the neighboring lands. Management efforts within Planning Areas articulated as collaborative planning projects among various socioeconomic agents include landscape fuel treatments on strategic locations reducing overall wildfire likelihood and fire intensity, landscape planning to exclude hazardous areas for the urban development, community preparedness reducing social vulnerability, and municipality ordinances to reduce housing vulnerability. Treatment joint-production represents an opportunity in multi-functional Mediterranean forest ecosystems to arrange complex solutions. Regional scale policy-making prioritizes at municipality level the different management strategies such as ignition prevention programs, suppression resource pre-positioning, assignation of subsidies for fuel treatments, and law enforcement for managing fuels in wildland-urban interface communities at highest risk. The different papers were developed in various Mediterranean areas to highlight the applicability of the framework elsewhere.

The present thesis studies the diffusion of energy efficiency (EE from now on) in the residential sector using an economic perspective. The research is concentrated on the analysis of the Energy Efficiency Paradox and on the evaluation of EE policies. The thesis consists of five independent chapters (including this chapter), some of which have been already published in specialized journals. Although increasing EE in the residential sector has been for long time one of the targets of many governments, several reasons have led governments to intensify their efforts in this area. The negative effects generated by climate change, urban pollution and fuel poverty, together with the growing political instability in energy-producer countries, are some of the reasons that are behind this renewed interest both in developed and developing countries. Moreover, engineering studies have identified the residential sector as the one with the largest potential for cost-effective energy-savings. Despite the fact that mathematical models have identified "win-win" situations for households if they adopt EE measures, and the large number of public initiatives to promote EE applied by public institutions, the diffusion rate of EE continues to be lower than expected. Thus, this field of research has gained much attention, not only from policymakers but also from the society and academics. Despite the fact that engineering models have identified "win-win" situations for households if they adopt EE measures, and the large number of public initiatives to promote EE applied by public institutions, the diffusion rate of EE continues to be lower than expected. Thus, this field of research has gained much attention, not only from policymakers but also from academics and other stakeholders. Up to now, most of the interventions were oriented to internalize the negative externalities of energy through the use of price instruments (e.g. through Pigouvian taxes) or codes and standards that ensure a minimum level of energy performance. However, the empirical evidence has shown important limitations associated with such policies. They could be partly given by the general assumptions about perfect information and rationality that these models use. Indeed, much attention has been recently given to the ideas of behavioral economics, which has identified several situations when consumers systematically deviate from the rationality assumptions. The inclusion of behavioral economics approaches in the field of EE has opened the door to new interpretations of the Energy Efficiency Paradox but also to non-price interventions as an important complement to promote EE. Additionally, the development of experimental techniques has allowed researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of non-conventional public interventions. Therefore, the present thesis has the double objective of understanding household decisions regarding EE and of evaluating novel instruments to promote EE. On the one hand, with this research I tried to contribute by providing new academic evidence on the factors driving consumers' choices. This first step is essential to explain the divergence between the level of investment in EE predicted by engineering models and the real level of EE (previously mentioned as the Energy Efficiency Paradox). Besides that, given that EE in the transport sector presents several parallels with dwellings, this thesis also analyses consumer's decisions related with vehicles' energy efficiency. By doing so, I verify whether the results can be applied to other fields of consumer decision related with EE. On the other hand, my research tries to evaluate the results of informational instruments, in particular energy performance certificates or labeling systems, now a widely-used tool to promote EE that has experienced a rapid diffusion in the last few decades. In this sense, Chapter 2 can be seen as an introduction to this thesis. The objective of this chapter was to acquire the necessary knowledge that provided me with a complete overview of the field of EE. This task consisted of the revision of a large number of studies and reports from different research lines: energy demand, fuel poverty, behavioral economics, electricity markets, environmental economics, etc. Furthermore, this chapter works as an introduction and serves as a guideline for the rest of the doctoral thesis. Firstly, it contextualizes the research on EE in the residential sector from an economic point of view. It updates the current debate about the Energy Efficiency Paradox with special attention to the growing role that informational and behavioral failures play in explaining this gap. Secondly, the core of the chapter is a review of the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the informational instruments that have been rapidly adopted by many governments during the last decade. In particular, the chapter focuses on energy certificates, feedback programs, and energy audits. As far as I know, this is the first study that gathers together the results from economic research in all the existing informational instruments. Results show that energy certificates and feedback programs can be effective, but only if they are carefully designed: yet energy audits seem to have little effect on efficiency. In addition, the chapter points out the large potential for new instruments as well as for combinations of existing ones. Finally, it identifies the experimental techniques implemented in the last few years, highlighting the robust approach that use large and random samples and have a large potential in for future policy evaluation in this field. Chapter 3 empirically evaluates the determinants that drive household decisions regarding EE adoption in Spain. The objective of this chapter is to get insights into EE in Spanish households. Several studies have previously evaluated the factors that determine households' choices. However, Spain presents some specific characteristics that demand for ad hoc analysis: an aged population, a remarkable increase of purchasing power, ownership status or the size and composition of the stock of buildings, among others. Using information from a large and representative official survey, in this chapter I focused on the effects of socio-economic characteristics on the probability to adopt EE measures or energy-saving daily habits. By doing so I was able to identify the barriers that prevent consumers from taking EE measures, and the characteristics that make them favorable to invest. Since EE measures can show different up-front costs, I used information on well-differentiated measures: from energy-saving habits, such as lowering indoor heating temperatures, to low cost measures, such as low consumption bulbs, and higher cost measures, such as energy efficient appliances or double glazing. When dealing with the Energy Efficiency Paradox, there is a general concern with the heterogeneity present among households. In this chapter, I focused on the effects of household environmental attitudes and behavior as a potential explanation for differences in the rate of EE adoption. The chapter shows that households with eco-friendly behaviors are more likely to investment in well-differentiated EE measures as well as to steer daily habits towards energy savings. However, no effects were found for households with environmental attitudes based on stated willingness to pay to protect the environment. In addition to this, households belonging to higher income groups and education levels are more likely to invest in EE but not to adopt energy-saving habits; while households with older members are less likely to invest in EE and show fewer eco-friendly habits. In sum, this chapter provides the first empirical results for Spain on the factors driving household choices regarding EE. Moreover, it contributes to the existing literature by giving insights on pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. One of the justifications for the use of command-and-control policies is the hypothesis that consumers do not value EE. Hence, the objective of Chapters 4 and 5 was to study consumers' willingness to pay for EE and their valuation for EE labels or certificates in dwellings and light duty vehicles, respectively. This is particularly relevant because EU legislation has introduced the mandate to apply labeling systems to differentiate products based on their level of EE. The objective of those regulations is to help consumers to take efficiency decisions in a market with imperfect information. In Chapter 4 I estimate the implicit price of EE vehicles, measured as those with label A or B. I have used two samples, one with all vehicles on sale in Spain containing official information on attributes and commercial prices of vehicles, and another where a subsample of these vehicles was selected and matched with the price of retailers. For this subsample, the method of "mystery shopping" was carried out by a specialized company. This approach consists in asking directly the retailer about the price of certain vehicles as if this process was part of a real acquisition. A main objective of the chapter was to test the hypothesis of changes in willingness to pay for EE using official prices and retailer prices. Additionally, I used the European labelling system for light vehicles, which classifies automobiles according to their relative fuel consumption levels, as a novel and alternative indicator for EE. The results of this chapter indicate that vehicles labelled A and B are sold at prices 3 to 5.9% higher than those with similar characteristics but lower energy-efficiency labels, using official commercial prices and retailer prices, respectively. By comparing this results with the present value of the energy savings, it can be seen that the use of retailer prices overestimates the value of EE. Although, there is sizeable research on this field, as far as I know this is the first evidence for the Spanish car market. Furthermore, our results fall in the range of magnitudes previously found. Finally, in Chapter 5 I estimate the implicit price of Portuguese dwellings rated as A, B, or C, keeping constant the rest dwelling attributes. Given the lack of official and complete databases for the stock of buildings, I have downloaded the information on dwelling sales from the web page of one of the largest real estate companies in Portugal, and constructed a unique database with complete information of dwelling attributes. This database includes general dwelling attributes but also information on the level of EE of the dwelling and its energy performance certificate. Moreover, since location is one of the most important factors when purchasing a dwelling, I have used spatial economic techniques to control for the exact location of each housing unit. The results show that Portuguese consumers positively value high certified dwellings. Despite the fact that the database used for this study includes information on a larger number of dwelling attributes than in previous studies, reported values are higher. This suggests that the valuation for energy performance certificates is higher in the Portuguese residential sector than that in other European countries. Yet, it can also be the case that our model cannot control for unobservable factors related with energy performance certificates, and this overestimates the results. Indeed, as other researchers have pointed out, there could be effects such as reputation or status that models cannot control. Thus, the chapter highlights the need for further research in this area even though there is an unfortunate lack of official information.

This short article, "The Appalachian Forest Reserve" was written for the "Manufacturers' Record." The article argues for support of Senate bill 5228, which "provides for the purchase of a national forest reserve in the Southern Appalachian mountains." Concerned about the destruction of forests, the article states that the bill would "prevent the destruction of the forests on the lands which should never be cleared." The article was penned by Chase P. Ambler (1865-1932), a founding member and long-time secretary of the Appalachian National Park Association ; p*Y- H°l 434 MANUFACTURERS' RECORD. THE APPALACHIAN FOREST RESERVE. By Dk. 0. P. Amblek of Asheville, N. 0., Secretary of the Appalachian National Park Association. [Written for the Manufacturers' Record.] During the past thirty years there has probably been no legislation in Congress which more materially affected any section of the Southeastern States than the passage of the Senate bill No. 5228 on the 24th of June. This bill provides for the purchase of a national forest reserve in the Southern Appalachian mountains, to be known as the "National Appalachian Forest Reserve." The measure has been agitated both before the public and before Congress by an association which was formed for this purpose three years ago, and has reached a point where the prospects are that the same will become a law before many months. This bill, now passed by the Senate, has also been favorably reported by the House committee on agriculture, and the friends of the measure claim that they have sufficient strength in the House to carry the same with an overwhelming majority when the opportune time arrives for bringing the matter up. The appropriations made by the present session of Congress have already reached such magnitude that the many supporters of the bill doubt the propriety of pushing the matter to a vote before the adjournment this month, but claim that as the measure has now passed the o,.,.,i" ,.,. ti,. T>,;r,c.;,1"n+ J,ns SPI,f a sro. cial message to Congress endorsing the Ji. eWEHEHSHt agriculture has favorably reported the bill, it certainly has the best possible chance at the coming short session. The benefit to the South which will follow this legislation will be far-reaching in its character, and will be felt alike by the rich and the poor, by the mechanic and the agriculturist, by both the cotton manufacturer and the cotton planter. This measure will insure for all time to come the protection of the water supply of the Southeastern lowlands, which lands during the past ten years have been threatened with destruction, both by the failure of their water supply in summer and floods in winter. Senator Pritchard of North Carolina, in his speech before the Senate on this subject, made April 26, produced government statistics showing that since April 45-*&-Ajm4LV1002, there had been a joss Ttr~"^ju5jutKt,"voo try flood along—tirrrr course of the rivers which have their headwaters in the region where it is now proposed to establish this national forest reserve. Senator Pritchard showed most conclusively that these floods were due to the denudation of the forests on the steep mountain lauds, both by the lumbermen and the agriculturalist. The purpose of this bill is to prevent the destruction of the forests on the lands which should never be cleared. As lumber and agricultural lands have advanced in price during the past few years, many thousand acres on these steep lands have been cleared, with the result that only two or three crops could be raised on the lands cleared before the soil has been washed into the streams and valleys and the mountainsides rendered a waste. It is the purpose of this bill to reforest such wasted and abandoned lands, as well as to also prohibit the carrying out of such destruction. During the past fifteen years thousands of acres of the river bottoms and valley lands along the foot of the Southern Appalachian mountains have been abandoned on account of the floods which sweep these valleys; thousands of acres which were formerly the best cotton lands are now buried under sands and detritus from the mountain country. If the next decade is to see these floods increased in proportion in their destructiveness as they have in the past few years, the fairest portion of many of our Southern States will be practically ruined. The passage of this act at this time is urged by the promoters of this cause for the purpose of preventing an increase in the volume of these floods, and with the hope that when such mountain-sides as have already been cleared have been reforested, that this terrible destroyer of flood and sand may be stayed. The experience of France, Spain and Switzerland proves that it is only by such measure that the destruction of the lowlands may be prevented. Senator Pritchard in this speech above- mentioned produced government statistics showing that the water-power of the streams flowing out of these mountains where it is proposed to establish the national forest reserve had available 1,000,- 000 horse-power, and that up to the present time only 00,000 horse-power had been developed. A few years ago North Carolina had never been heard of as a manufacturing State; today she takes the lead in the number of cotton mills, and many of these manufacturers are preparing at tliis time to equip their plants with water- power, while some others hesitate against __ ; agaijts —o --"= v^y, j.or tne reason mat they are fearful both of the floods and the low waters which appear concomitant with the destruction of the forests in the mountains above. The past few years have clearly shown that the South has before it a great manufacturing future, and that this 1,000,000 horse-power flowing out of the mountains in the Southern Appalachian region (if the streams are protected by government supervision at the headwaters) will/during the next few years, to a great extent be harnessed and producing the bulk of cotton goods which go to supply the demand of the world. In the lowlands of North Carolina, where over one-half of the surface has been cleared and is now under cultivation, there have for many years back been many water-powers in use for manufacturing purposes. During the past few up, these water-powers have failed; and, whereas, in the past these water-powers have been on comparatively small streams, the same reasoning holds true as to the larger rivers in the future. The gathering of tanbark has grown to immense proportions throughout the hardwood regions of the South. Almost every side-track in the entire hardwood region of the Southern Appalachian mountains contains box cars, which are being loaded with tanbark. This tanbark is bringing from $8 to $0 per cord, while the trees from which it has been stripped are rotting on the ground where they were felled. The government proposes that this wholesale waste shall not go unchecked. As the larger forests in the North and Northeast have disappeared the lumbermen have turned their attention to the Southern hardwood forests. The largest operations being carried on in these mountains today are being done by foreign capital. These corporations are now in the field for the money there is in it; they have no thought and care nothing for the future of these mountains. If by stripping the land absolutely bare they are increasing their proceeds, then that is the policy. The bill which is now under consideration in Congress does not necessarily work any hardship for any lumber corporation, but it provides that the lumber operator shall carry out his work on a scientific basis and under government supervision. It provides that the young and growing timber shall not be destroyed in marketing the mature and ripe trees; it also provides that any person owning timber lauds shall be allowed to carry on lumber operations, provided he conducts these operations under government supervision and sanction. It is the purpose of the government that this great garden spot and recreation ground of the South; this region which has probably the finest climate to be found anywhere in the whole Southeastern section, shall not become a region of stumps, as has been produced by the selfish short-sighted lumbermen of the Northern States, particularly iu Michigan. The government takes the position that this destruction and. devastation should be prevented for the benefit of the people of the whole Southeastern section, and, if necessary, would even condemn the land and seize it for the purpose needed in cases where the owner persists in the wanton destruction of the mountain forests, and refuses to sell to the government at a reasonable figure. The Appalachian National Park Association, with headquarters in Asheville, N. 0., has been instrumental in having this matter brought to the attention of Congress, and has also secured special legislation in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and '" ^J—•—r*a—«—c—*--—tri. mmmavn Trrvrn— ment the right to acquire title to such lands as are desired and exempting the same from taxes. This means that all these States thoroughly understand the gravity of their present position, and while any State should hesitate toward ceding a large track of its territory to the national government and exempting the same from taxation, these States have, nevertheless, realized that it is only by doing this that they will be able to protect themselves from their own destruction, which now stares them in the face, both in the mountains and in the agricultural lands. The final passage of this act by Congress will certainly stimulate and encourage the manufacturers who are locating their plants along the rivers which rise in the Southern Appalachian mountains to equip the same with water-power. It will also encourage not only those who have already located their ruttoiiea^ but will stimulate others to locate on these streams where water-power is available. For years back it has been one of the cherished dreams of every citizen living in the extreme South to spend at least a portion of the hot months in some part of the Appalachian mountains. Here they find an ideal climate, fishing, hunting, camping and scenery which compares favorably with any to be found in the world. These mountains are the recreation grounds of the Southern people. Every Southern man should endorse the present administration for its effort toward guarding this great section of beautiful country against the inroads of the lumber vandals from other sections who have not a care for the future of our country, and every person who is engaged in agriculture south of the Mason and Dixon line, from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, should realize that this pending legislation will indirectly affect every crop that he plants, and as time goes on will still be far-reaching in its benefits to all Southern people, both those of today and their descendants. If we destroy the timber in our mountains we also cripple the agricultural low lands both by flood and drought.

Thank you Chairman I would like to extend a warm welcome to our keynote speakers, David Byrne of the European Commission, Derek Yach from the World Health Organisation, and Paul Quinn representing Congressman Marty Meehan who sends his apologies. When we include the speakers who will address later sessions, this is, undoubtedly, one of the strongest teams that have been assembled on tobacco control in Europe. The very strength of the team underlines what I see as a shift – a very necessary shift – in the way we perceive the tobacco issue. For the last twenty years, we have lived out a paradox. It isnÃ'´t a social side issue. I make no apology for the bluntness of what IÃ'´m saying, and will come back, a little later, to the radicalism I believe we need to bring – nationally – to this issue. For starters, though, I want to lay it on the line that what weÃ'´re talking about is an epidemic as deadly as any suffered by human kind throughout the centuries. Slower than some of those epidemics in its lethal action, perhaps. But an epidemic, nonetheless. According to the World Health Organisation tobacco accounted for just over 3 million annual deaths in 1990, rising to 4.023 million annual deaths in 1998. The numbers of deaths due to tobacco will rise to 8.4 million in 2020 and reach roughly 10 million annually by 2030. This is quite simply ghastly. Tobacco kills. It kills in many different ways. It kills increasing numbers of women. It does its damage directly and indirectly. For children, much of the damage comes from smoking by adults where children live, study, play and work. The very least we should be able to offer every child is breathable air. Air that doesnÃ'´t do them damage. WeÃ'´re now seeing a global public health response to the tobacco epidemic. The Tobacco Free Initiative launched by the World Health Organisation was matched by significant tobacco control initiatives throughout the world. During this conference we will hear about the experiences our speakers had in driving these initiatives. This Tobacco Free Initiative poses unique challenges to our legal frameworks at both national and international levels; in particular it raises challenges about the legal context in which tobacco products are traded and asks questions about the impact of commercial speech especially on children, and the extent of the limitations that should be imposed on it. Politicians, supported by economists and lawyers as well as the medical profession, must continue to explore and develop this context to find innovative ways to wrap public health considerations around the trade in tobacco products – very tightly. We also have the right to demand a totally new paradigm from the tobacco industry. Bluntly, the tobacco industry plays the PR game at its cynical worst. The industry sells its products without regard to the harm these products cause. At the same time, to gain social acceptance, it gives donations, endowments and patronage to high profile events and people. Not good enough. This model of behaviour is no longer acceptable in a modern society. We need one where the industry integrates social responsibility and accountability into its day-to-day activities. We have waited for this change in behaviour from the tobacco industry for many decades. Unfortunately the documents disclosed during litigation in the USA and from other sources make very depressing reading; it is clear from them that any trust society placed in the tobacco industry in the past to address the health problems associated with its products was misplaced. This industry appears to lack the necessary leadership to guide it towards just and responsible action. Instead, it chooses evasion, deception and at times illegal activity to protect its profits at any price and to avoid its responsibilities to society and its customers. It has engaged in elaborate Ã'´spinÃ'´ to generate political tolerance, scientific uncertainty and public acceptance of its products. Legislators must act now. I see no reason why the global community should continue to wait. Effective legal controls must be laid on this errant industry. We should also keep these controls under review at regular intervals and if they are failing to achieve the desired outcomes we should be prepared to amend them. In Ireland, as Minister for Health and Children, I launched a comprehensive tobacco control policy entitled "Towards a Tobacco Free Society". OTT?Excessive?Unrealistic? On the contrary – I believe it to be imperative and inevitable. I honestly hold that, given the range of fatal diseases caused by tobacco use we have little alternative but to pursue the clear objective of creating a tobacco free society. Aiming at a tobacco free society means ensuring public and political opinion are properly informed. It requires help to be given to smokers to break the addiction. It demands that people are protected against environmental tobacco smoke and children are protected from any inducement to experiment with this product. Over the past year we have implemented a number of measures which will support these objectives; we have established an independent Office of Tobacco Control, we have introduced free nicotine replacement therapy for low-income earners, we have extended our existing prohibitions on tobacco advertising to the print media with some minor derogations for international publications. We have raised the legal age at which a person can be sold tobacco products to eighteen years. We have invested substantially more funds in health promotion activities and we have mounted sustained information campaigns. We have engaged in sponsorship arrangements, which are new and innovative for public bodies. I have provided health boards with additional resources to let them mount a sustained inspection and enforcement service. Health boards will engage new Directors of Tobacco Control responsible for coordinating each health boardÃ'´s response and for liasing with the Tobacco Control Agency I set up earlier this year. Most recently, I have published a comprehensive Bill – The Public Health (Tobacco) Bill, 2001. This Bill will, among other things, end all forms of product display and in-store advertising and will require all retailers to register with the new Tobacco Control Agency. Ten packs of cigarettes will be banned and transparent and independent testing procedures of tobacco products will be introduced. Enforcement officers will be given all the necessary powers to ensure there is full compliance with the law. On smoking in public places we will extend the existing areas covered and it is proposed that I, as Minister for Health and Children, will have the powers to introduce further prohibitions in public places such as pubs and the work place. I will also provide for the establishment of a Tobacco Free Council to advise and assist on an ongoing basis. I believe the measures already introduced and those additional ones proposed in the Bill have widespread community support. In fact, youÃ'´re going to hear a detailed presentation from the MRBI which will amply illustrate the extent of this support. The great thing is that the support comes from smokers and non-smokers alike. Bottom line, Ladies and Gentlemen, is that we are at a watershed. As a society (if youÃ'´ll allow me to play with a popular phrase) weÃ'´ve realised itÃ'´s time to Ã'´wake up and smell the cigarettes.Ã'´ Smell them. See them for what they are. And get real about destroying their hold on our people. The MRBI survey makes it clear that the single strongest weapon we have when it comes to preventing the habit among young people is price. Simple as that. Price. Up to now, the fear of inflation has been a real impediment to increasing taxes on tobacco. It sounds a serious, logical argument. Until you take it out and look at it a little more closely. Weigh it, as it were, in two hands. I believe – and I believe this with a great passion – that we must take cigarettes out of the equation we use when awarding wage increases. I am calling on IBEC and ICTU, on employers and trade unions alike, to move away from any kind of tolerance of a trade that is killing our citizens. At one point in industrial history, cigarettes were a staple of the workingmanÃ'´s life. So it was legitimate to include them in the Ã'´basketÃ'´ of goods that goes to make up the Consumer Price Index. It isnÃ'´t legitimate to include them any more. Today, IÃ'´m saying that society collectively must take the step to remove cigarettes from the basket of normality, from the list of elements which constitute necessary consumer spending. IÃ'´m saying: "We can no longer delude ourselves. We must exclude cigarettes from the considerations we address in central wage bargaining. We must price cigarettes out of the reach of the children those cigarettes will kill." Right now, in the monthly Central Statistics Office reports on consumer spending, the figures include cigarettes. But – right down at the bottom of the page – thereÃ'´s another figure. Calculated without including cigarettes. I believe that if we continue to use the first figure as our constant measure, it will be an indictment of us as legislators, as advocates for working people, as public health professionals. If, on the other hand, we move to the use of the second figure, we will be sending out a message of startling clarity to the nation. We will be saying "We donÃ'´t count an addictive, killer drug as part of normal consumer spending." Taking cigarettes out of the basket used to determine the Consumer Price Index will take away the inflation argument. It will not be easy, in its implications for the social partners. But it is morally inescapable. We must do it. Because it will help us stop the killer that is tobacco. If we can do it, we will give so much extra strength to health educators and the new Tobacco Control Association. This new organisation of young people who already have branches in over fifteen counties, is represented here today. The young adults who make up its membership are well placed to advise children of the dangers of tobacco addiction in a way that older generations cannot. It would strengthen their hand if cigarettes move – in price terms – out of the easy reach of our children Finally, I would like to commend so many public health advocates who have shown professional and indeed personal courage in their commitment to this critical public health issue down through the years. We need you to continue to challenge and confront this grave public health problem and to repudiate the questionable science of the tobacco industry. The Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society represents a new and dynamic form of partnership between government and civil society. It will provide an effective platform to engage and mobilise the many different professional and academic skills necessary to guide and challenge us. I wish the conference every success.

This study was undertaken under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) to assess fiduciary risks in using country financial management (FM) systems in full, or in part, for implementing Donor and Bank-financed investment projects in Zimbabwe and to identify risk mitigation measures required for such use. Fiduciary risk is the risk that Bank funds (or donor funds) will not be used for their intended purposes or that they will be used without due attention to economy and efficiency. In projects using country FM systems, Bank funds are potentially commingled with the country's own funds; therefore, a fiduciary risk assessment also needs to consider broader country PFM risks that could affect the fiduciary risk. This assessment uses a risk-based approach consistent with the interim guidance note issued by the FM Sector Board in 2009, entitled 'assessment of fiduciary risks in the use of country FM systems in bank-financed investment projects'; and supplemented by the framework methodology for channeling investment lending projects through country financial management systems and the approach used for regular FM assessments. The risk-based approach provides a ranking of the fiduciary risks to be managed as high, substantial, moderate, or low. The decision to use country systems for a specific project then rests with the project's task team, guided by the country management team, after taking into account this fiduciary risk assessment and other factors such as the nature and complexity of the project and an assessment of implementing entities.

In mid-2014, the Government of Ukraine (GoU) requested technical assistance and financial support from the inter¬national community to assess and plan priority recovery and peacebuilding efforts in the conflict-affected regions of eastern Ukraine. Following these requests, and within the framework of the 2008 Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning, the EU, UN, and WBG agreed to support the government in undertaking a Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPA). This assessment follows the Post-Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA) methodology. In view of the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine, it was decided to undertake an initial rapid assess¬ment as a first phase of activity, which would provide an analytical and programmatic baseline for recovery efforts to inform urgent interventions and provide a basis for scaling up recovery plan¬ning and responses as the situation and needs evolve on the ground. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the first phase of the RPA, which was undertaken in the period November 2014 to February 2015. In light of the dynamic and fluid nature of the situation in eastern Ukraine, these findings should be considered as a snapshot in time. In particular, the assessment of infrastructure damage is limited to the damage that occurred on or before November 2014. Furthermore, the number of registered internally displaced persons (IDPs), utilized as a reference to estimate the needs of this affected population, corresponds to the official government estimates as of February 2015.

With the Caribbean Catastrophe Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the Micro-insurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO), and the Alternative Insurance Company (AIC), Haiti has world champions of catastrophe insurance at the macro and micro level. Nonetheless, there are various opportunities to help scale up the impact they currently have. The CCRIF has found it more difficult than anticipated to adapt its excess rainfall model to Haiti, and the existing earthquake and tropical cyclone cover could be increased meaningfully by paying higher premium. AIC has substantially promoted property micro-insurance in their partnership with Fonkoze, and wants to reach larger populations with other products and additional distribution partnerships. One way to do this might be to retail a catastrophe property insurance based on the CCRIF parameters. The insurance sector in Haiti, however, is generally weak and poorly supervised. Ongoing projects by the development partners are addressing this but advance slowly, and could benefit from more focus, urgency and top level support. Possible incentives could be the outlook to insure public assets, which deserves to be discussed with the government and would provide a powerful demonstration case. Possibilities for mandatory catastrophe insurance like in Turkey should also be considered. Both require a strong professional insurance sector. A further motivation for strengthening the insurance sector is the untapped potential for agriculture (index) insurance that has already attracted projects. Social protection has become a priority of the government, and can be further strengthened with market-mediated insurance mechanisms, like for example cash transfers that increase in amount or outreach based on specific populations' needs approximated by disaster loss indices. Haiti can benefit from a growing body of evidence that shows how public private partnerships and the use of insurance related principles benefit low income households.