Balance of payments

The benefits of alcohol fuels include increased energy diversification in the transportation sector, accompanied by some energy security and balance of payments benefits, and potential air quaUty improvements as a result of the reduced emissions of photochemically reactive products (see Air POLLUTION). The Clean Air Act of 1990 and emission standards set out by the State of California may serve to encourage the substantial use of alcohol fuels, unless gasoline and diesel technologies can be developed that offer comparable advantages. 

Balance-of-payments outlook Availability of semiskilled and unskilled labor... 

For the noble metals used in oxidation, the loading is about 0.1 oz per car, with calls for a million ounces per year. The current world production rates of platinum, palladium, and rhodium are 1.9, 1.6, and 0.076 million ounces respectively the current U,S. demand for platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium are 0.52, 0.72, 0.045, and 0.017 million ounces respectively (72, 73). The supply problem would double if NO reduction requires an equal amount of noble metal. Pollution conscious Japan has adopted a set of automobile emission rules that are the same as the U.S., and Western Europe may follow this creates a demand for new car catalysts approaching the U.S. total. The bulk of world production and potential new mines are in the Soviet Union and South Africa. The importation of these metals, assuming the current price of platinum at 155/oz and palladium at 78/oz, would pose a balance of payment problem. The recovery of platinum contained in spent catalysts delivered to the door of precious metal refiners should be above 95% the value of platinum in spent catalysts is greater than the value of lead in old batteries, and should provide a sufficient incentive for scavengers. 

Synthetic fuels may attract local government subsidies or sell at a premium because they offset imports and improve the country s balance of payments. Furthermore, strategic considerations related to energy security may play an important role in promoting investment in synthetic fuels production. 

Arms, economics and British strategy Table 2.4. Balance of payments on capyital account, 1914-18... 

Britain never again enjoyed the advantage of huge balance-of-payments surpluses that had marked the pre-1914 period. Victory had been achieved by a combination of Britain s traditional way of warfare -blockade, loans or subsidies to allies and maritime operations - and an unprecedented continental commitment, but it came at the price of a permanent weakening of British power. 

Table 3.4. Balance of payments, 1930-8 ( million at the end of calendar year)...

Why was defence expenditure a prominent target for economies from the mid-1950s The most obvious reason was that military personnel had to be maintained abroad and were a direct charge on the United Kingdom balance of payments. As table 6.4 shows, there was a marked reduction in the numbers of personnel overseas between 1955 and the... 

Table 6.4. D ence personnel overseas and balance-of-payments cost, 1955, 1961 and 1967...

Defence personnel COOO) Balance-of-payments cost (jCm.) ... 

Source Richard N. Cooper, The balance of payments , in Richard E. Caves and associates, Britain s Economic Prospects (Washington The Brookings Institution, 1968), p. 169. 

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