Friday, November 3, 2011
Room 204 of the Distance Learning Center Wing of the Urban Center on the Portland State University campus

Speaker: Wesley W. Wilson, University of Oregon

Topic: Coal, Trains and the Clean Air Act: Demand Analysis of the Ohio River Basin

Abstract: Coal-fired electricity plants account for over 50 percent of the nation’s electricity.  These plants can purchase coal from a large number of different locations and, often, can have a number of different transportation options.  Normally, however, from the array of different options, they use only a handful.  We frame the model as that of a cost-minimization with a large number of input choices, characterized by standard Kuhn-Tucker conditions.  Empirically, we estimate a system of input decisions that contain both zero and non-zero levels, using a Multiple Discrete/Continuous Extreme Value model.  The payoffs from each choice are a function of costs, coal attributes, and unobserved modal attributes, as well as the increased regulation under the Clean Air Amendment Act of 1990