Stanford University

International Development

FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.

They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.

FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.

FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.

PESD Research Informs 2011 World Energy Outlook

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The International Energy Agency has released its flagship publication on global energy markets. PESD research directly contributed to a special section in this year’s outlook focusing on coal.

PESD Working Papers that helped inform the analysis include:

  1. Industrial Organization of the Chinese Coal Industry by Kevin Tu
  2. The Future of South African Coal: Market, Investment, and Policy Challenges by Anton Eberhard
  3. Remaking the World’s Largest Coal Market: The Quest to Develop Large Coal Power Bases in China by Dr. Huaichuan Rui, Richard K. Morse, and Gang He
  4. The World’s Greatest Coal Arbitrage: China’s Coal Import Behavior and Implications for the Global Coal Market by Richard K. Morse and Gang He

 

For more information: http://www.iea.org/weo/

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China in the Global Manufacturing Ecosystem

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PESD associate director Mark Thurber addressed MBA students in the Stanford-Tsinghua Exchange Program (http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/cgbe/globalexperiences/step.html) on the global manufacturing ecosystem and China’s niche within it.

 

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Mark C. Thurber

Program on Energy and Sustainable Development
616 Jane Stanford Way
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Mark C. Thurber is Associate Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) at Stanford University, where he studies and teaches about energy and environmental markets and policy. Dr. Thurber has written and edited books and articles on topics including global fossil fuel markets, climate policy, integration of renewable energy into electricity markets, and provision of energy services to low-income populations.

Dr. Thurber co-edited and contributed to Oil and Governance: State-owned Enterprises and the World Energy Supply  (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and The Global Coal Market: Supplying the Major Fuel for Emerging Economies (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He is the author of Coal (Polity Press, 2019) about why coal has thus far remained the preeminent fuel for electricity generation around the world despite its negative impacts on local air quality and the global climate.

Dr. Thurber teaches a course on energy markets and policy at Stanford, in which he runs a game-based simulation of electricity, carbon, and renewable energy markets. With Dr. Frank Wolak, he also conducts game-based workshops for policymakers and regulators. These workshops explore timely policy topics including how to ensure resource adequacy in a world with very high shares of renewable energy generation.

Dr. Thurber has previous experience working in high-tech industry. From 2003-2005, he was an engineering manager at a plant in Guadalajara, México that manufactured hard disk drive heads. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.S.E. from Princeton University.

Associate Director for Research at PESD
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Symposiums

California's Carbon Policy –2011 Silicon Valley Energy Summit

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Richard Morse joined Michael Gibbs of the Cal EPA and Larry Goulder and Jim Sweeny of Stanford to discuss key issues in California’s carbon market and remaining challenges at the 2011 Silicon Valley Energy Summit.

 

The Silicon Valley Energy Summit is a signature event of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Stanford University Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, attracting a broad range of executives and representatives from influential Silicon Valley companies and organizations. Practical and inspirational, this "action conference" serves as a manual for sustainable business by combining current best practices with a guide to upcoming technologies and government regulations.

Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center

Michael Gibbs Panelist Cal EPA
Larry Goulder Panelist Stanford University
Richard K. Morse Panelist
Jim Sweeney Moderator Precourt Energy Efficiency Center
Conferences

Energy Working Group: Supply Function Equilibrium and its Policy Implications for Wholesale Electricity Markets

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PESD visiting scholar Pär Holmberg from the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm led this Energy Working Group talk.

Holmberg discussed (1) the multi-unit auction used in wholesale electricity markets where producers sell their electricity to retailers and large consumers, (2) a theoretical model of producers' strategic bidding behavior and (3) how bids are influenced by contracts and the market design.

The presentation was based on his paper "The Supply Function Equilibrium and its Policy Implications for Wholesale Electricity Markets", which was co-authored with David Newbery (University of Cambridge, UK).

 

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Pär Holmberg is an Associate Professor in Economics and has a PhD in Electric Power Engineering. He is working at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm, and is an associate of the Electricity Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge. Pär's research focuses on wholesale electricity markets, especially strategic bidding behavior in electricity auctions.

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Pär Holmberg Speaker Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm
Seminars

Strategic Alliances Between National and International Oil Companies

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Oil companies owned by national governments (“NOCs”) and oil companies with extensive international operations owned by diverse private investors (“IOCs”) constitute some of the largest and most important economic organizations on the planet. Individually and collectively, they command vast amounts of capital and have large potential impacts on macroeconomic conditions and global-level environmental policies.  Security concerns, at the local, national and international levels, are tied more to their activities and assets than to those of other types of firms.

A number of authors have examined NOCs and IOCs as separate classes of entities and in individual case studies.  This paper considers how and why NOCs and IOCs deal with one another, given their respective capabilities, constraints and ambitions.  Written from the perspective of a contract lawyer with extensive experience working with both NOCs and IOCs, the paper concentrates on the possibility of structural and transactional alternatives to the current roles.  In particular, it focuses on the potential for partial integration between NOCs and IOCs in the form of strategic alliances, taking advantage of the strengths of both while coping with the limitations of each.  It then offers predictions of where the sweet spot for such alliances might be located.

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PESD study assesses cookstove business models in India

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A PESD study just released in Energy Policy found that stove businesses are challenging but feasible with deep financial backing and managerial acumen. However, such businesses struggle to make a serious dent in the household-level indoor air pollution problem that motivated many to pursue improved biomass stoves in the first place.
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