Measuring Interactions among Urbanization, Land Use Regulations, and Public Finance

This article presents a polychotomous choice-selectivity model to estimate the interactions among urbanization, land use regulations, and public finance in five western states (California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington). Land use regulations in these five states reduced the total developed area by an estimated 12.2% from 1982 to 1992, but increased housing prices between 1.3% and 4.7%, depending on the intensity of land use regulations in a county. Land use regulations also reduced public expenditure and property tax in the long run by 5.6% and 8.4%, respectively, but increased public expenditure and property tax in the short run by 9.8% and 12.6%.     

Perceptions of impacts,public participation,and learning in the planning,assessment and mitigation of two hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand,India

The hydropower potential of the state of Uttarakhand, in the Indian Himalaya, is an estimated 20,000 MW, of which approximately 3200 MW have been developed. In conjunction with the central government, Uttarakhand is pursuing a policy of rapidly developing its remaining potential. The necessity for careful planning, assessment and mitigation of this development is paramount, requiring meaningful and effective public participation. This study examined two hydropower projects in Chamoli District. Our purpose was to investigate how stakeholders viewed the projects’ impacts, how local residents were involved in planning, assessment and mitigation, and what the residents learned from their involvement. We used a qualitative methodology involving a document review, participant observation, and semi-directed interviews. Local residents and nongovernmental organizations emphasized adverse social and environmental impacts. They thought the way of life and social fabric of affected villages were significantly altered and future sustainability was uncertain. Industry respondents emphasized the economic benefits. Government officials were relatively balanced in their perceptions. In one project, the only formal participation opportunity occurred during mitigation: development of the catchment area treatment plan. In the other, opportunities were available during assessment (e.g., hearings) and mitigation (e.g., advisory committees). Both projects involved multiple informal efforts at participation (e.g., legal petitions and public protests). Among local residents, there were notable instances of sustainability-oriented learning. The development of hydropower projects in Uttarakhand can become more participative, to improve decision making, promote equity, and create opportunities for sustainability learning.     

Protecting Quality of Wine Exports to China: Barriers and Bridges

There is a great potential for wine to deteriorate during shipment and storage of wines being exported from the United States to China. Certification of storage conditions such as that provided by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) is a key bridge to protecting quality and maintaining value in the auction market there. A literature review and semistructured interviews with winery managers, freight forwarders, transportation experts, and representatives of HKQAA provide qualitative analysis of barriers and bridges to protecting quality. The article presents a strong case for the adoption of storage and transportation standards for wine, such as the Wine Storage Management System implemented by HKQAA. Looking at wine exports through the lens of Total Quality Management provides the basis for recommending formal certification.     

The Need for a Marketing Reform: The Wines of the Loire Region

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on how the French wine industry and, in particular, the wine-producing Loire region in France is affected by global and domestic factors. An overview of some of the vast regulations prevailing in the French wine industry that prohibit the wine producers to compete efficiently, especially with the wines from the “new world,” is provided. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis is used as the tool to study the competitiveness of the French wine industry in general and the Loire region in particular. The French wine industry is too fragmented and subjected to too many controls and, as a result thereof, is not flexible enough to respond to market opportunities. French wines have the unique blend of “historical intangibles” of romance and mystery that have been part and parcel of wine for many centuries. This advantage is no longer a major competitive advantage, and the time has come to make decisions on which of the vast range of regulations are worthwhile to maintain to contribute positively to the best interests of the French wine industry.     

Port wine landscape: railroads, phylloxera, and agricultural science

It is easy to understand why regions that produce very fine goods such as port wine tend to conceal technological and scientific inputs and praise the uniqueness of the terroir. This paper suggests that, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, viticulture in the Douro region of Portugal was as much a product of soil, local farming traditions, and individual entrepreneurship as it was of modern state science and national politics for agricultural improvement. the unprecedented public projects of building a railroad and fighting phylloxera permanently changed the land of port wine. Moreover, those engineering practices of rationalization, simplification, and standardization that were inscribed on Douro's landscape proved essential for the Portuguese experience of modernization and nation-building.     

A causal analysis framework for land-use change and the potential role of bioenergy policy

We propose a causal analysis framework to increase understanding of land-use change (LUC) and the reliability of LUC models. This health-sciences-inspired framework can be applied to determine probable causes of LUC in the context of bioenergy. Calculations of net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for LUC associated with biofuel production are critical in determining whether a fuel qualifies as a biofuel or advanced biofuel category under regional (EU), national (US, UK), and state (California) regulations. Biofuel policymakers and scientists continue to discuss to what extent presumed indirect land-use change (ILUC) estimates should be included in GHG accounting for biofuel pathways. Current estimates of ILUC for bioenergy rely largely on economic simulation models that focus on causal pathways involving global commodity trade and use coarse land-cover data with simple land classification systems. This paper challenges the application of such models to estimate global areas of LUC in the absence of causal analysis. The proposed causal analysis framework begins with a definition of the change that has occurred and proceeds to a strength-of-evidence approach that includes plausibility of relationship, completeness of causal pathway, spatial co-occurrence, time order, analogous agents, simulation model results, and quantitative agent–response relationships. We discuss how LUC may be allocated among probable causes for policy purposes and how the application of the framework has the potential to increase the validity of LUC models and resolve controversies about ILUC, such as deforestation, and biofuels.     

Sharing the unearned increment: Divergent Outcomes in Toronto and São Paulo

Land value capture (LVC) refers to the public sector’s recovery of part or all of the land value increments (‘unearned’ income) generated by actions other than the landowner’s direct investment, including public investments in infrastructure or administrative changes in land use norms and regulations. LVC is increasingly used around the world as a tool to raise funds for urban development. This paper analyzes two LVC tools, one used in Toronto and the other in São Paulo, to show how different approaches produce divergent outcomes in practice. Expert interviews and an analysis of secondary quantitative data show that São Paulo’s formula-led approach is bureaucratized, compared with Toronto’s politicized process and that benefits from Toronto’s Section 37 are primarily located in the central wealthier neighbourhoods, while in São Paulo benefits are more dispersed. The comparison between the two cases highlights different approaches that reflect divergent values, rationales, socio-economic realities and political cultures which ultimately produce varied outcomes. The contrasting tools’ distributional and equity outcomes in Toronto and São Paulo raise questions about how cities can best share the benefits of urbanization to ensure equity and justice for all city residents.     

西气东输项目的社会评价——基于沿线11省市居民的问卷调查

西气东输项目作为国家重大的基础工程,必然会产生广泛的社会影响.通过对西气东输沿线11省市居民进行的问卷调查,探讨了西气东输项目的社会影响评价问题.研究结论:(1)沿线居民对于西气东输项目与经济发展、环境改善、民族团结等国家宏观战略相关性普遍认同、但对耕地流失及天然气管道的安全顾虑较多;(2)沿线居民对西气东输项目与当地文物建筑保护、风俗习惯尊重以及政府与群众的和谐关系持正面看法;(3)个体对西气东输项目管道重要性具有相当认知,普遍具有公众责任意识,对个体利益的损害要求补偿.     

The Payoff to Public Investments in Pest-Management R&D: General Issues and a Case Study Emphasizing Integrated Pest Management in California

Pest-management technologies have had to adapt to address evolving pesticide resistance problems and changes in regulations driven by environmental and human health concerns. Integrated pest management, founded in the University of California, is an important example. Using California as a case study, this paper describes the post–World War II history of agricultural pest-management technology, documents the development and use of chemical pesticides, describes the role of public research, and measures the benefits and costs for five important commodities, emphasizing integrated pest management.     

Anti-community state pesticide preemption laws prevent local governments from protecting people from harm

During the past 25 years, many state governments in the United States have adopted anti-community state preemption laws to preclude local governments from enacting ordinances regulating pesticides. In the absence of local controls, people and property are being adversely effected. The issue accompanying state preemption statutes is whether the laws constitute a reasonable resolution of the positive and negative externalities that accompany pesticide usage. Through a discussion of the tradeoffs involving pesticide preemption, we show that states having divergent agricultural, residential, commercial, and recreational activities might be better served by allowing local governments to govern selected matters involving pesticides. State pesticide preemption laws denigrate local governance and compromise public health and economic well-being. If legislators care about the health of their communities and citizens, they need to repeal preemption laws that prevent appropriate safety regulations by local governments.     

矿产资源开发的环境负外部性分析——一个新制度经济学的视角

矿业活动有着较强的负外部性,主要表现在对矿山生态环境、矿区地质环境的破坏上,直接对当地居民及经济发展造成损害,严重影响了矿业城市的可持续发展.从新制度经济学的视角来看,消除矿产资源开发中的环境损害实际上是一个将矿山企业的负外部性内部化的过程.理论上讲,在纠正矿产资源开发利用中的负外部性方面,"庇古税"和"污染物排放标准"因存在实施成本过大和缺乏有效监督而很难施行,应从环境共有产权的界定上纠正负外部性.消除矿产资源开发中负外部性的举措有:①将环境产权以共有权的形式赋予直接相关性群体;②首先界定受危害较大的环境权利,并逐步涵盖所有的环境权利;③要充分运用经济手段来保护矿山环境.     

事业单位财政违法行为的表现形式、原因和对策

事业单位财政违法行为的主要表现有:①违反规定使用和骗取财政资金;②违反国有资产管理规定的行为;③违反国家建设投资项目管理规定的行为;④将财政资金或者其他公款私存私放的行为。其产生的原因主要包括:认识偏差、利益驱动、制度弱化、体制缺陷、监督乏力。减少事业单位财政违法行为的对策:①深刻认识财政违法行为的危害性;②强化单位主要负责人对财务管理工作的责任;③加大财经法规的宣传教育力度;④充分发挥内部审计的监督作用;⑤齐抓共管,综合治理。     

Assessing the returns to R&D on perennial crops: the costs and benefits of Pierce's disease research in the California winegrape industry

Several complicating issues arise in evaluating the returns to research into varietal improvements for perennial crops compared with annual crops. We elucidate and address these issues in the context of a case study of research aiming to develop varieties that are resistant to Pierce's disease (PD) of grapevines. PD imposes costs of over $100 million per year on the California grape industry, even with public PD control programs in place. Research projects to develop PD resistant varieties of grapevines are at various stages of completion. We describe the economic problems posed by PD, document the research programs undertaken to address the disease and present an economic assessment of the returns to the investment, which are conditional on other policies. Using a simulation model of the market for California winegrapes, we estimate the benefits from research, development and adoption of PD‐resistant vines as ranging from $4 million to $129 million annually over a 50‐year horizon, depending on the length of the R&D lag and the rate of adoption. In addition to these specific quantitative results the paper offers insight into the broader question of economic evaluation of damage‐mitigation technology for perennial crops.     

洪湖湿地综台评价研究

从生态、社会经济和有效管理三个方面对洪湖湿地保护区进行评价,认为洪湖湿地具有较强的代表性,拥有较为丰富的物种多样性,但受人类活动影响,自然性有所降低,呈现出脆弱性和退化特征.洪湖湿地在水产、航运和旅游等方面具有较高的经济价值,在美学、文化教育、科研等方面拥有较大的社会价值.洪湖湿地建立管理机构、制订管理和保护规划、加强科研支撑、促进公众参与,为有效管理湿地打下良好基础.     

Qualifying tradition: Instituted practices in the making of the organic wine market in Languedoc‐Roussillon,France

Within France, the Languedoc‐Roussillon region (now part of Occitanie) is home to about one third of the nation's area of certified organic vineyards. Each year, the world's largest organic wine fair, Millésime Bio, takes place in the city of Montpellier. This trade fair is an important site where organic wine is not only sold but also given meaning in the market, and importantly, differentiated from but made commensurate with conventional wine. In this paper, we examine processes and practices of ‘qualifying’ organic wine, including by means of relational processes of association and dissociation. Drawing on collaborative event ethnography and other qualitative methods, we focus on individual and institutional actors engaged in creating forms of commodified meanings that circulate with organic wine. In Languedoc‐Roussillon, these meanings reflect and reinforce a longer‐term so‐called shift to quality in wine production, yet also emphasize continuity over change, particularly through emphasis on ongoing role of artisanal, independent growers. We argue that qualification thereby works not only through association with independent growers but also by dissociation, specifically from Languedoc‐Roussillon's agrarian tradition of generic wine production and from the central role played by wine cooperatives in the social reproduction of the region's small‐holding grower class.     

New uses for old traditional farm buildings: The case of the underground wine cellars in Spain

Traditional buildings are important features of the rural landscape and a valuable documental source about rural technology and ways of life in the countryside. For the last 60 years many traditional farm buildings have lost their original function because of the great changes in the European agricultural sector. Their respectful conversion to adopt new activities provides economic, socio-cultural and landscape benefits for promoters and the whole rural community. Traditional wine caves used for the production and storage of wine are particular good examples of redundant rural buildings needing for viable new uses. The aims of this paper are to present the architectural features of these agro-industrial spaces and to discuss suitable new uses for them. The technical, socioeconomic and legal contexts of the reuse are also examined in the paper. The use of traditional wine cellars in the production of high-quality artisanal wines, cheeses and cured meats, for cultural activities, as restaurants, or in the production of mushrooms, among others, are viable reuse proposals according to the current needs in the Mediterranean rural areas. Nevertheless, special care must be taken when restoring these spaces in order to respect the identity and the aesthetic appeal of the ancient cellars and not to come into conflict with the planning and building regulations.     

Agri‐environmental Instruments for an Integrated Rural Policy: An Economic Analysis

The new Rural Development Regulation of the EU reflects the shift of attention within rural areas from agricultural production towards rural development and embraces both farmers and non‐farm residents. While agricultural production is required to comply with environmental standards, rural areas also have to fulfil the growing demand for landscape, outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation. This paper develops a model of a rural area where farmers and non‐farm residents live together. A central government uses a combination of two‐policy instruments ‐ direct compensation payments and public services ‐ aimed at encouraging farmers to adopt environmentally beneficial practices and at the same time to increase the provision of countryside amenities and the sustained vitality of the rural area. The optimal mix of the policy instruments is evaluated under various governmental objectives. The analysis suggests that a combination of direct payments to farmers with the supply of local public services is a promising tool for rural policy development initiatives in the EU.     

我国小城镇基础设施规模经济效应研究

本文在对我国小城镇基础设施存量综合评价的基础上,通过建立收益函数和成本函数经济模型,测算我国小城镇基础设施规模经济净收益变化情况。研究表明,伴随着小城镇基础设施存量的增加,基础设施规模收益不断增加,政府支出成本呈下降趋势,而居民生活成本规模效应呈上升趋势,最终小城镇基础设施规模净收益曲线呈倒U型。中西部地区小城镇基础设施政府支出成本较高,而东部地区小城镇居民生活成本支出较高。由此本文建议提高中西部地区小城镇基础设施政府支出经济效率,降低东部地区小城镇居民生活成本支出,以增强我国小城镇基础设施规模净效益。     

乳山市发展葡萄酒产业的思考

[目的]在简要回顾世界葡萄酒产量波动和国内葡萄酒市场发展空间的基础上,认真分析总结台依湖国际酒庄、烟台时代酒业、烟台张裕、蓬莱和甘肃武威等发展葡萄酒产业的成功经验,提出未来乳山发展葡萄酒产业的对策建议,为在具有自然优势的地区推广适宜的葡萄酒特色产业模式提供参考和借鉴。[方法]结合文献资料及实地调研,运用归纳演绎方法系统阐述乳山市发展葡萄酒产业的优势条件,运用实证分析方法探讨研究乳山市发展葡萄酒产业存在技术支撑力度不到位、缺少相应公共服务平台及产业协调发展力度不够等问题及发展葡萄酒产业的对策建议。[结果]乳山市要发展葡萄酒产业唯有整合优势资源,实施供给侧结构性改革,满足生产高质量的葡萄和葡萄酒、尊重人和环境、保证葡萄与葡萄酒长期的经济效益3方面的要求,充分发挥政府的引导作用,科学规划转型发展个性化强和性价比高的葡萄酒庄,拓展葡萄酒与文化的多样性融合发展,形成多核驱动格局。[结论]研究结果为探讨在具有自然优势的地区推广适宜的葡萄酒特色产业模式提供了一定依据,葡萄酒产业的发展过程中应充分考虑地域的优势资源和市场供需,因地制宜,科学规划,从实际出发,立足当地特色,从资源、生态及文化因素等多方面融合分析、相互配合,最终促进具有自然优势的地区发展个性化强和性价比高的葡萄酒产业。     

Disaggregated econometric estimation of consumer demand response by alcoholic beverage types

The paper presents estimates of price elasticities of demand for 12 disaggregated alcoholic beverages in Australia: premium beer, full strength beer, low alcohol beer and mid‐strength beer; red bottled wine, white bottled wine, sparkling wine, cask wine; dark and light ready‐to‐drink (RTD); and dark and light spirits. These disaggregated categories correspond closely to the commodities of interest to public policymakers with respect to taxation and health policies. The system of demand equations is estimated with Nielsen's data using a semiflexible Almost Ideal Demand System model in order to impose negative semi‐definiteness on the demand parameters. Results indicate elastic own‐price elasticities for virtually all commodities. Cross‐price elasticities suggest that beverages most linked with negative externalities, namely full strength beer, dark RTD and dark spirits, may need to be taxed jointly. Any proposed tax increase to cask wine may also result in consumers shifting demand to more undesirable beverages. The elasticity estimates are used to illustrate the effect of a hypothetical change towards taxation equalisation based on alcohol content. These elasticities offer crucially needed inputs for analysing any tax change policies.