Water markets design and evidence from experimental economics

Market mechanisms are gaining increasing acceptance all over the world as a way of making more efficient use of scarce water resources. Designing regulatory frameworks that ensure both inter- and intra-temporal efficient allocations is a daunting task, especially if supply is stochastic and there is ample storage capacity. In addition to defining tradable rights, specific provisions must regulate the use of reservoirs. Commonly, water statutes include provisions that establish asymmetries regarding the allocation of water, and market restrictions that ban water trading across different users. In this article, we use data collected in a laboratory to test two specific market regulations included in the 1999 Water reform in Spain. First, junior right holders are not allowed to buy water from senior users. Second, the law does not explicitly define water rights over units left in reservoirs for the following season. Results suggest that trading restrictions among water right holders lead to welfare losses for senior users. It is shown that removing this restriction would increase senior right holders’ benefits, without reducing those of junior users. Results show that defining water rights over saved units across periods would increase the average stock levels of reservoirs, and reduce market price instability. The lessons learned from the Spanish experience are applicable to settings characterized by unstable natural water supply and the availability of large storage facilities.      

Water accounting in Australia

This paper introduces water accounting as produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It provides information about the ABS Water Accounts and highlights the many other organisations involved in the provision and use of water related data in Australia. The ABS Water Accounts have built upon previous reports on Australian water resources and the System of Environment and Economic Accounting [UN (United Nations) 2003. Draft Handbook Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting. Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 61, Rev. 1. United Nations, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank. New York.]. Information from the ABS Water Accounts is presented along with examples of their use in economic analyses designed to inform public debate and government decision-makers.A key feature of the Australian environment is that water is relatively scarce when compared with other inhabited continents. Rainfall displays a high level of spatial and temporal variability and droughts are common. In 2004 an Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative (NWI) was reached by Australia's national and eight state and territory governments. The NWI aims to address environmental, economic and social concerns about the current and future state of Australia's water resources. The NWI specifically calls for the preparation of annual water accounts, which clearly indicates the expected usefulness of national and regional water accounts.     

浅析我国区域经济发展失衡的原因及对策

改革开放以来,在国家政策和宏观条件的影响下,我国三大经济地带的经济发展不平衡,差距呈扩大趋势。本文从分析我国经济发展的现状阐明我国区域经济发展失衡的原因,并从我国国情出发提出缩小中西部地区与东部沿海地区经济发展差距的具体措施。     

Response to Shuklian

The Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) was enacted by the State of Alaska in 2007 in an attempt to progress the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the Alaska North Slope to North American markets. The Act conveys monetary inducements from the state to the exclusive licensee in exchange for certain performance requirements. The financing of any pipeline requires the contractual commitment from the shippers (producers) to pay to ship the gas over an extended period of time. However, many of the performance requirements of AGIA are antithetical to the commercial interests of the shippers. A flawed financial analysis of the project by the administration overstated the economic vitality of the project, and hence understated the severity of the commercial issues. Consequently, the prospects for success in getting a pipeline constructed appear doubtful.     

种质资源经济学的发展研究

种质资源经济学是以知识经济条件下的新资源观为基础,从经济上来分析种质资源开发利用的全过程,包括从宏观上研究种质资源的配置、保护与管理等各项活动对区域产业经济效率的提升、产业布局结构的优化,以及产业可持续发展的影响。借助交叉学科之间的知识关联,界定其研究边界,以此来探讨种质资源经济学发展历程。     

中国糖业发展循环经济的思考

本文首先介绍了中国糖业循环经济发展的现状，接着对目前糖业循环经济存在的不足进行分析，最后提出进一步发展中国糖业循环经济的思路。     

中国加快廉租住房建设的政策导向和发展对策

建设部等九部门联合发布的《廉租住房保障办法》已经开始实施,这为中国保障性住房的发展与建设奠定了坚实的法律基础。它将大大促进中国廉租住房和经济适用住房的开发与建设。研究表明,中国加快廉租住房建设工作,必须从基本国情、政策导向、资金来源、运作机制、发展对策等方面进行科学的阐述、论证和实施,才能确保廉租住房建设的顺利进行。     

A Dream Experiment in Development Economics

In this article, the authors discuss a unique project carried out by 13 teams of four students each in the undergraduate Development Economics class during the 2012 spring semester at a private liberal arts college. The goal of the “Dream Experiment” was to think of an idea that promotes development, employs concepts from development economics, uses a real-world situation from a developing country, and has implications for policy if the experiment goes ahead. The authors present details of the project's modus operandi, provide a case study as an example, and highlight lessons for economics pedagogy.     

产业政策如何影响企业绩效：不同政策与作用路径是否存在影响差异?

文章将产业政策分成供给型、需求型与环境型,依托中国战略性新兴产业分析了不同政策通过政策资源的直接配置以及企业间配置两种作用路径对企业(产业)绩效的影响。研究发现：与供给型政策相结合的补贴行为通过以上两个路径抑制了企业绩效提升;产业政策对不同大小企业的影响存在差异,供给型政策资源的配置在小企业间并未呈现显著的集中特征,但在大企业间政策资源更为集中;供给型政策主要通过政策资源在企业间的配置路径降低大企业绩效,而通过补贴直接配置路径抑制小企业绩效提升;整体看环境型政策对投资、补贴等行为没有显著影响,但对大企业而言,其对政策资源在企业间的分散配置具有负向作用,而这一影响在小企业中则为促进作用。研究还发现,需求型政策有利于资源再配置,供给型政策则尚未显示出积极的资源再配置作用。     

中欧关系中的香港因素探析

在一个半世纪的英殖民统治时期．香港就逐渐成为中国与欧洲乃至西方交流的一座桥梁。自1997年主权回归后。香港在“一国两制”下的特殊地位以及欧盟对香港经济政治事务的密切关注使其在中欧关系中发挥着独特的影响。香港既可以成为中欧之间密切经贸联系的桥梁和纽带,也可能因其内部政治事务的发展而对中欧关系构成挑战。为此,我们在战略性地推动香港在中欧关系中的“门户”作用的同时,也不能忽视外来势力对中国主权与安全构成的潜在威胁。     

Buchanan on monetary constitutions

Buchanan’s reflections on monetary issues have been mostly neglected, despite their great interest both per se and for a deeper understanding of his general constitutional endeavour. We will thus propose a comprehensive assessment of Buchanan’s writings on this topic, focusing in particular on the different political models that have been developed to argue in favour of constitutional constraints on the governmental power to create money and on the implications that one can draw from our author’s monetary papers for the structure and the objectives of his constitutional discourse more generally.

Expanding the solution set: Organizational economics and agri-environmental policy

The market failure paradigm dominates agri-environmental research and policy. Organizational economics provides an alternative framework for analyzing agri-environmental problems and points to alternative solutions. In this paper, the traditional approach of creating markets for environmental goods and services is critiqued and set aside to provide space for an organizational analysis. From an organizational perspective, the relationship between the state and agricultural agents is viewed as grounded in an over-arching exchange relationship including elements of cooperation and trust. Such a collaborative exchange relationship may prove useful in supporting exchange between agricultural agents and the state leading to the provision of ecological goods and services. Highlighting the potential of organizational economics, the analysis suggests that agri-environmental research and policy go further in accounting for, and investigating, the unique organizational modes of exchange governing the production of food, fiber, and ecological goods and services.     

从自然资源经济学到可持续经济学

随着物质生活水平的快速提高,人类也面临着诸如森林退化、土地荒漠化、物种多样性丧失以及温室效应恶化等生存环境问题。可持续发展问题日益受到人们的关注,通过经济学的视角来研究可持续发展的可持续经济学得到了快速的发展。本文从经济学的角度界定了自然资源的概念,回顾了经济学对自然资源的研究历程,对自然资源经济学的起源、发展进行了评述;论证了自然资源经济学和可持续经济学的关系,指出在可持续发展问题研究中融合自然资源经济学和环境经济学的必然性,以自然资源经济学和环境经济学为重要元素的可持续经济学是可持续问题经济研究的高级阶段,文章进一步探讨了可持续经济学的分析框架、发展现状及存在的问题。     

Encouraging Environmentally Sustainable Growth: Experience in OECD Countries

This paper presents an overview of OECD analysis of progress and policies in ``enhancing environmentally sustainable growth' in a number ofcountries. The focus of the paper is on how countries succeed in conducting cost-effective and consistent policies in the environmental and natural resource areas, not on environmental policy or outcomes per se. The chapters were tailored to focus on a small number of interesting or important themes in each country, rather than aiming at a comprehensive coverage. Four common themes nevertheless emerged: a definite trend in recent years towards the use of market-based instruments; competitiveness and distributional issuesas obstacles to policy implementation; certain sectors where policies make environmental objectives harder or more costly to achieve; attempts to design institutions or processes to achieve co-ordination across policies and sectors. These arediscussed and illustrated in turn in the paper.