ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE TAXATION OF DECONTROLLED NATURAL GAS
Bills to decontrol completely natural gas prices have been introduced. As a corollary, a "windfall profits tax" on the rise in price for those categories of gas not at market levels has been proposed. This paper uses a simulation of the natural gas market to estimate the effects of two types of natural gas windfall profits taxes under alternative assumptions concerning supply elasticities and the course of future prices. We estimate the induced changes in production, the division of incremental revenues and the welfare cost. We conclude that the defects of such taxes are likely to outweigh any advantages.
Modelling fuel-switching between natural gas and fuel oil in US manufacturing☆
Abstract This paper presents a model of short-run substitution between natural gas and fuel oil in US manufacturing. The model provides insight into how elasticity estimates depend upon the level of aggregation, even for two fuels that are close substitutes at the micro level. The model is estimated using US regional data for the period 1974–1981. The results suggest that there are significant regional differences in the premium users are willing to pay for gas. The model provides a framework for analysing future data on gas and oil consumption and technological capabilities in US manufacturing.
The development of biological systematics : Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, nature, and the natural system
A reevaluation of the history of biological systematics that discusses the formative years of the so-called natural system of classification in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Shows how classifications came to be treated as conventions; systematic practice was not linked to clearly articulated theory; there was general confusion over the "shape" of nature; botany, elements of natural history, and systematics were conflated; and systematics took a position near the bottom of the hierarchy of sciences.