Impacts of an EC carbon/energy tax and deregulating thermal power supply on CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions

Emission of CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x are all closely linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Here we report on simulations done by linking a Sectoral European Energy Model (SEEM), covering energy demand in nine Western European countries, with the emission-transport-deposition model RAINS developed by IIASA. The study analyses emissions of CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x, deposition of sulphur and nitrogen and the extent of areas where the critical load for sulphur is exceeded in year 2000 under four different energy scenarios. Two different sets of future behavioural patterns for the thermal electric power production sector are considered. In one regime, called the plan-efficient regime, the sector is assumed to follow official plans with regard to investment in new capacity. In the other regime, called the cost-efficient regime, the thermal power sector is assumed to behave in a cost minimizing manner. The effects of the proposed EC carbon/energy tax are studied under both regimes, giving rise to altogether four scenarios.In both regimes the effect of the EC tax is to reduce emissions by between 6 and 10 per cent in year 2000 relative to the scenarios without the tax. A change of regime, from the regulated, plan-efficient regime to the market-based, cost-efficient regime, will, by itself, reduce emissions of CO₂ and NO_x by approximately 3 per cent, while SO₂ emissions are reduced by 13 per cent. The EC tax will reduce sulphur deposition by more than 5 per cent in the nine model countries under the plan-efficient regime. A change of regime further reduces the total deposition by 9 per cent. The area where depositions exceed the critical load is reduced by approximately 6 per cent in year 2000 by the tax in both regimes. Changing from the plan-efficient to the cost-efficient regime has a similar impact.Although the emission reductions due to the EC tax may seem modest, they are shown to have a sizeable effect on the technological abatement costs of reaching targets like those prescribed in the Sofia protocol on the stabilisation of NO_x emissions, and the Helsinki protocol on SO₂ emission reductions. This is part of what can be considered to be secondary benefits of the EC carbon/energy tax.     

高尔夫球场扩增的环境生态效应

近年来．国内修建高尔夫球场有愈演愈烈之势．这与我国的国情不符。本文从高尔夫球场的群落生态学特征出发．对高尔夫球场在土地资源、水资源、环境污染、生物多样性破坏、城镇生态系统稳定性及生态承载力等六个方面的影响进行论述，分析了高尔夫球场扩增的环境生态效应．在此基础上提出了相应的减负对策。     

我国城镇居民平均消费倾向与收入分配状况关系的实证研究

中国的有效需求不足现象近年来成为一个被普遍关注的问题,而居民消费需求不足更是成为关注的焦点。本文在前人研究的基础上,从标准的消费者预期效用最大化模型出发,推导出中国城镇居民的个体"短视"消费模型和总量消费模型;运用我国1985～2004年城镇居民消费、收入及其他相关数据,通过误差修正模型和对数线性模型分别对数据进行了计量分析,发现在我国现阶段,城镇居民收入分配差距的扩大引起了居民平均消费倾向的减小,且其长期影响尤为显著。在对计量结果进行分析的基础上,本文给出了若干政策建议。     

论企业核心竞争力的文化根基

企业核心竞争力是最近几年来影响较大也是很重要的一个企业战略管理概念。文章从企业文化、创新、信息化建设、品牌、人才战略、价值观和企业理念等方面探讨企业核心竞争力形成的文化根源。     

日化用品行业的品牌扩散与市场进入壁垒

当前,品牌扩散战略己成为许多企业谋求成长、增强市场势力、遏制竞争者进入的重要手段。本文基于中国日化用品行业应用扩展的Hotelling模型分析了在位企业可以利用品牌扩散战略在获取经济利润的同时,成功阻止潜在竞争者的进入。     

Nonlinear IV unit root tests in panels with cross-sectional dependency

We propose a unit root test for panels with cross-sectional dependency. We allow general dependency structure among the innovations that generate data for each of the cross-sectional units. Each unit may have different sample size, and therefore unbalanced panels are also permitted in our framework. Yet, the test is asymptotically normal, and does not require any tabulation of the critical values. Our test is based on nonlinear IV estimation of the usual augmented Dickey–Fuller type regression for each cross-sectional unit, using as instruments nonlinear transformations of the lagged levels. The actual test statistic is simply defined as a standardized sum of individual IV t-ratios. We show in the paper that such a standardized sum of individual IV t-ratios has limit normal distribution as long as the panels have large individual time series observations and are asymptotically balanced in a very weak sense. We may have the number of cross-sectional units arbitrarily small or large. In particular, the usual sequential asymptotics, upon which most of the available asymptotic theories for panel unit root models heavily rely, are not required. Finite sample performance of our test is examined via a set of simulations, and compared with those of other commonly used panel unit root tests. Our test generally performs better than the existing tests in terms of both finite sample sizes and powers. We apply our nonlinear IV method to test for the purchasing power parity hypothesis in panels.     

我国会计准则与国际会计准则的趋同分析

上市公司执行新准则标志着我国会计准则的国际趋同。我国会计准则和国际会计准则是否存在着差异及差异存在原因是什么,本文对此进行了探讨。对投资业务、固定资产业务和无形资产、存货业务的具体准则进行对比,分析其中差异,并结合我国会计环境对差异存在的原因进行了分析,同时提出对策建议。     

上海世博会的乘数效应

本文主要运用投资乘数模型,对世博会为上海GDP的贡献进行了分析和预测,并对理论乘数效应在举办世博会中的制约因素进行了讨论,为上海市政府的宏观调控提出建议。     

Productivity Growth, Efficiency and Outsourcing in Manufacturing and Service Industries

This paper is a survey of recent contributions to, and developments of, the relationship between outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in manufacturing and services. The objective is to provide a thorough and up–to–date survey that provides a significant discussion on data, as well as on the core methods of measuring efficiency and productivity. First, the readers are introduced to the measurement of partial and total factor productivity growth. Different parametric and non–parametric approaches to the productivity measurement in the context of static, dynamic and firm–specific modelling are discussed. Second, we survey the econometric approach to efficiency analysis. The issues of modelling, distributional assumptions and estimation methods are discussed assuming that cross–sectional or panel data are available. Third, the relationship between outsourcing and productivity growth in manufacturing and services is discussed. The correspondence between a number of hypotheses and empirical findings are examined. Examples of varieties of relevant empirical applications, their findings and implications are presented. Fourth, measurement of inputs and outputs in manufacturing and services are discussed. Finally, to promote useful research, a number of factors important to the analysis of outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in the service sector are summarised.     

Volatility in the knowledge economy

Summary. We seek to explain the economic volatility of the last 6 years, in particular the rapid expansion and contraction of the knowledge sectors. Our hypothesis is that these sectors amplify the business cycle due to their increasing returns to scale, growing faster than others in an upswing and contracting faster in a downswing. To test this hypothesis we postulate a general equilibrium model with two sectors: one with increasing returns that are external to the firm and endogenously determined - the knowledge sector - and the other with constant returns to scale. We introduce a new measure of volatility of output, a real beta, and derive a resolving equation, from which we prove that the increasing return sectors exhibit more volatility then other sectors. We validate the main results on US macro economic data of real GDP by industry (2-3 digits SIC codes) of the 1977-2001 period, and provide policy conclusions.Received: 18 March 2002, Revised: 16 February 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D5, D58, E10, L50, L52, O38, O51.Correspondence to: Graciela Chichilnisky