International trade is characterized not only by the flow of capital and goods, but also by theenergy and emissions embodied in goods during their production. This paper investigates the evolving rolethat Chinese trade is playing in the response to climate change by estimating the scale of emissions embodiedin China’s current trade pattern and demonstrating the magnitude of the difference between the emissions itproduces (some of which are incurred to meet the consumption demands of the rest of the world) and theemissions embodied in the goods it consumes. Estimating China’s emissions on a consumption rather thana production basis both lowers its responsibility for carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2006 from 5,500 to3,840mtCO2 and reduces the growth rate of emissions from an average of 12.5 per cent p.a. to 8.7 per cent p.a.between 2001 and 2006. The analysis indicates that a reliable consumption-based accounting methodologyis feasible and could improve our understanding of which actors and states are responsible for emissions.For example, recent emissions reductions by developed countries may lack credibility if production hasmerely been displaced to countries such as China. Moreover, in the current institutional context, productionmethodologies encourage leakages through trade that may do more to displace than to reduce emissions.Both equity and efficiency concerns therefore suggest that emissions embodied in trade should receive specialattention in the distribution of post-Kyoto abatement burdens.

Nigeria’s Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS) emerged out of (i) the backdrop of an inefficient and top-down public service in which citizens had for long periods lost confidence, (ii) the recognition of the central role of the country’s federal structure to public service delivery, and (iii) the opportunity provided by the debt-relief gains to scale-up funding towards the MDGs. By focussing on flexibility to States’ own priorities within national policy frameworks, comprehensive monitoring, and sensible conditionalities, the Scheme has recorded impressive achievements in the delivery of social infrastructure, in strengthening the partnership between the three tiers of government, in leveraging MDG investments, and in encouraging public expenditure reform. Going forward, the priorities are to extend the CGS to include a more prominent role for Local Governments, to deepen Public Expenditure Reform, and to integrate diverse investments into a system of public service delivery. This will ensure that all tiers and all agencies in subnational government are able to recognize and commit to the acceleration of progress towards the MDGs, which speak to the core of their constitutional mandate.

If NERICAs are to fulfil expectations of catalysing a Green Revolution in Africa, understanding their potential for diffusion and the barriers to adoption is critical. Applying program evaluation techniques to two datasets for Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria I derive estimates of current and long-run adoption rates that confirm NERICAs have potential coverage comparable to other innovations in historic Green Revolutions. Achieving this potential requires a better understanding of the distinct dynamics of awareness and adoption. By identifying the barriers to each I show that there are ‘quick wins’ for intervention that can boost NERICA adoption. More generally, adoption depends on both social learning and structural constraints. The analysis also clarifies a number of methodological issues and suggests non-parametric estimators may be more reliable than their parametric counterparts in studies of new technology adoption.

To deliver the aviation networks of the 21st century, it will be essential for regulators, airport operators and air navigation service providers to invest in both a timely and efficient manner. Yet applying the benchmarking and efficiency assessments that have helped yield improved operational performance poses a substantial challenge when those tools are applied to capital investment. This paper assesses four aspects important to meeting this challenge. First, the potential difficulties associated with efficiency assessment in the context of capital investment are identified. Second, developments in the methodologies and tools available to operators and regulators are outlined. Third, the experiences and lessons of applying these tools in the aviation sector are assessed. Finally, while the authors remain cautiously optimistic over the future possibilities for assessing capital efficiency in the aviation sector, they conclude by arguing that there is a significant role for regulatory incentives to complement efficiency assessments.

A recent High Court decision regarding the GB rail regulator's access charging regime supports the regulatory treatment of open access operators competing alongside franchisees. However, by suggesting the need for a level playing field for all operators seeking access, the decision arguably implies an effects-based test for price discrimination. This could potentially set a precedent for EU competition policy, which has to date tended to focus on the form of discrimination. Nonetheless, strict limits to the implementation by infrastructure managers of alternative forms of price discrimination are likely to remain.