One of the main issues in natural resource economics is estimating the amount of stock and the biological growth functions of renewable natural resources. Since the stock level is not directly observed the usual econometric approaches cannot be employed for this purpose. The maximum entropy approach has been suggested as a useful alternative to estimate the dynamic model of natural resource use. This study estimates the stock and the growth function of Korean anchovy using the data for yield and yield efforts. The results show that the current level of anchovy yield exceeds its maximum sustainable yield, which implies that the stock will decrease substantially over time.

The main aim of this paper is to estimate the change in the quantity demanded of public water when the economic factors such as income and water price are changed. The privious methods to estimate the quantity of public water demanded has been usually based on the LPCD(liter per capita per day). Implicitly, this method regards the price of water as given. If the water price and income elasticities of water demand are estimated using the time-series and pooled data analysis. In the second step, the quantity demanded of public water are forecasted using the estimated elasticities. The results show that we can reduce the quantity demanded of residential water considerably when the water price is changed.

We employed various econometic methods to estimate the production index elasticity and the price elasticity of elecricity demand in Korea and compared the forecasting power of those methods. Cointegration models (ADL model, Engle-Granger model, Full Informtion Maximum Likelihood method by Johansen and Juselius) and Dynamic OLS by Stock and Watson were considered. The forecasting power test shows that Dynamic OLS has the best forecasting power. According to Dynamic OLS, the production index elasticity and the price elasticity of electricity demand in Korea are 0.13 and -0.40, respectively.

Data Envelopment Analysis model is a linear programming based technique for measuring the relative performance of organizational units where the presence of multiple inputs and outputs makes comparison difficult. A common measure for relative efficiency is weighted sum of outputs divided by weighted sum of inputs. DEA model allows each unit to adopt a set of weight that shows it in the most favorable light in comparison to the other unit. In this paper, we present the mathematical background and characteristics of DEA model, and give a short case study where we apply the DEA model to evaluate the relative efficiencies of 51 global electricity companies. The technical efficiency and scale efficiency are also to be investigated. Generating capacity and the number of employees are used for input data, and revenue, net profit and electricity sales are used for output data. We find that the companies with 100% relative efficiency are only 9 among 51 electricity companies. And the technical and scale efficiency of KEPCO is 98.7% and 78.89%, respectively. This means that the inefficiency of KEPCO is caused by the scale inefficiency. The analysis shows that the employees should be decreased by 15% at minimum to get the 100% efficiency. The result suggests that KEPCO needs the structural reform to improve the efficiency.

This paper investigates the existence of a long-run relationship between world oil price and consumer price index for Korea during 1983~1999. The cointegration and error correction modelling approaches have been applied. Empirical results suggest that there exists a long-run relationship among world oil prices. consumer prices, M2 and a production gap variable. The dynamic behavior of the relationship has been investigated by estimating a error correction model, in which the error correction term have been found significant. The error correction model has also been found to be robust as it satisfy almost all relevant diagnostic tests.

Since the transportation taxes were imposed on gasoline and diesel in 1994 for the purpose of financing the special projects, such as the construction of highways or railroads, the rates have been frequently and rapidly changed in case of need to stabilize prices or secure public fund, contrary to its own purpose. This paper presents a theoretical model for a special purpose tax based on the minimization of the dead weight los incurred by the imposition of the tax. A computable static model for the tax rate is developed and estimated for a various range of target level of total tax rebenue. The results shows that, under tax revenue of 40 trillion won, the rates for the year of 1999 are 385.2 won for one liter of gasoline and 198.4 won for one liter of diesel. The estimated gasoline rate is no more than about 59% of the current rate. However, the rate for diesel turns out to be 24% higher than the current level.

The objective of this paper is to examine whether it is feasible to introduce an crude oil futures contract on domestic commodity exchange in order to minimize the price risks of imported crude oil. In addition. this study suggests the policy issues to promote futures trading and the alternatives to use foreign energy compares the five criteria to evaluate the feasibility of crude oil futures trading on the domestic exchange. Related to the possibility of successful futures trading of imported crude oil on the domestic exchange, they are evaluated as follows: it is highly possible to succeed for the aspects of price volatility, potential market size or liquidity, and commodity homogeneity; but it is inappropriate for the aspects of deliverable amounts and market power or market structure. Therefore, it is concluded that trading a new futures contract for the underlying imported crude oil on the domestic exchange is inappropriate. For the policy issues and the hedging alternatives, first, it is urgent to establish an atmosphere for futures trading by promoting spot trading. Second, for the case of futures trading on the domestic exchange it is important to consider the simultaneous hedging of crude oil price and foreign exchange risks and mutual offsetting mechanism with major foreign exchanges. Third, for the case of futures trading on foreign exchanges it is reasonable to regard cooperation among concerned companies, government support for futures trading and direct participation into futures trading by the government.