Forest governance and economic values of forest ecosystem services in Vietnam

Forest ecosystems deliver valuable services to humanity. However, many forests are being degraded and their services have been undervalued. The main problem lies in the inadequate institutional arrangements for forest governance. This paper aims to assess the effects of alternative forest governance arrangements on the provision and economic values of forest ecosystem services (FES) in Vietnam. The study presents a framework for mapping land use and land cover (LULC) change stemming from actual and hypothetical changes in forest governance regimes, quantifies the resulting changes in the provision of FES, and estimates the associated economic values. In the context of the study site in the North Western uplands of Vietnam, we test three alternative forest governance scenarios: business as usual, with a dominant government role; a community-based governance regime; and a private, individual-based forestry governance regime. Scenarios are based quite closely on the way these regimes are (or might be expected to be) implemented in Vietnam. For each forest governance scenario, we map LULC changes based on land suitability analysis and transition likelihood for the period 2010 − 2020. The resulting maps are used as inputs into the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) model, which is used to estimate the quantity of three specific FES: carbon storage/sequestration, sediment yield, and water yield. We apply economic valuation methods to value these services: the social cost of carbon is used to estimate the economic values of carbon storage/sequestration; the cost of removing sediment deposited in reservoirs is applied for valuing the reduction of sediment yield, and the residual value of water supply for hydropower generation is used for valuing water yield. The results show that forest governance regimes have a significant effect not only on forest LULC, but also on the quantity and values of FES derived from forests. The FES are differentially affected by alternative forest governance regimes: some FES increase in quantity and value under some governance regimes and decrease under others. Of the three forest governance regimes examined, there is no one regime that will always be ‘better’ than the others in terms of provisioning all considered FES. For the specific context of Vietnam, we find that the private forest governance scenario is inferior to the community-based governance scenario, as an alternative to the current state-based governance. Because our results pertain to the scenarios as constructed, rather than generally to broad categories of governance regimes, there remains the possibility that regimes can be constructed that outperform all of those examined here.     

中华人民共和国成立70年来生态文明体制变迁的内在逻辑与实践启示

中华人民共和国成立以来,中国共产党带领中国人民不断探索实践生态文明建设。随着人民环境偏好的增强,中国的生态文明体制不断变迁以满足人民日益增长的美好生态环境需要。通过对中国环境管理机构、环境保护政策变迁历程的梳理,可以探析其变迁的内在逻辑和动力机制。中国的生态文明体制变迁始终坚持以人民为中心的发展思想,以适应人民群众环境偏好变化为逻辑起点,并不断通过体制改革来提高环境治理效率和改善环境治理效果。中华人民共和国成立以来生态文明体制的变迁为新时代生态文明建设奠定了基础、指明了方向,在未来建设美丽中国过程中要坚持以人民为中心的发展思想以满足人民环境偏好变化、完善生态文明制度建设为增强环境治理的效果和效率提供保障、以综合治理的思路构建中国特色社会主义生态文明建设的治理体系。     

When natural resources run out,market knowledge steps in: Lessons on natural resource deployment from a longitudinal study in a resource-scarce region of Ethiopia

With the increasing scarcity of natural resources, the ability to maintain quality standards during resource-scarce times becomes more critical for business performance. Theories on managing resource scarcity cannot be easily tested in contexts where resources are still abundant. This study therefore turns to an emerging market context in which natural resource availability naturally varies strongly between seasons, namely, that of Ethiopian pastoralists who for many generations learned to adapt to natural resource scarcity. Central to our theory is the natural resource deployment capability, which is the ability of a business to make efficient and effective use of available resources to maintain business performance during resource-scarce times. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 120 pastoral family-based livestock businesses, the study shows that when resources are scarce or extremely scarce, market knowledge helps to better deploy the scarce natural resources, leading to higher product quality. The findings imply that businesses with a better understanding of markets have stronger natural resource deployment capability. The lesson for businesses that are confronted with approaching resource scarcity is therefore to strengthen their ability to deploy resources efficiently and effectively by strengthening their market knowledge in which such capability is rooted.     

Independent director compensation,corruption, and monitoring

We find that independent directors in more corrupt countries receive greater pay. This relation could reflect outside directors in corrupt countries expropriating firm value, or it could reflect higher compensation for the additional effort required to lessen the negative effects of corruption. Acquirer acquisition announcement returns are lower in more corrupt countries, and this relation is mitigated by higher director pay. Higher director pay is also associated with greater sensitivity of CEO turnover to firm performance and moderates the negative effects of country‐level corruption on firm value. This evidence is consistent with higher director pay in corrupt countries incentivizing effort.     

基于乡村振兴战略的湖南省乡村治理体系研究

［目的］乡村治理有效作为实施乡村振兴战略的五大战略总要求之一和重要组成部分，对其进行分析有利于完善农村现代化建设以及促进乡村振兴战略的实施。［方法］文章以湖南省为例，采用问卷调查法和Logistic回归模型法对乡村治理体系进行分析，探讨影响区域乡村治理体系的主要因素。［结果］被调查农户的年龄主要集中在30~60岁，年收入主要集中在1万元以上。进而结合Logistic回归模型可知：社区生活组织、村规民约、农村养老服务设施、留守儿童之家、集中性治丧场所以及村务公开等6个变量对乡村治理体系的开展实施正向显著影响，而年龄对乡村治理体系的开展负向影响。［结论］基于乡村振兴战略发展乡村治理体系主要在于创新乡村治理体系，通过分析影响湖南省乡村治理体系的因素，为乡村有效治理提供参考意见，同时充分发挥乡村治理功能实现乡村振兴战略的全面实施。     

数字贸易政策国际比较、发展趋势及启示

随着信息通讯技术的发展,数字贸易作为一种新兴的国际贸易形式得以快速发展,在拓展国际贸易范围和边界的同时,也对全球贸易规则提出新的挑战。本文在分析全球数字贸易发展现状的基础上,重点梳理了美国、欧盟、日本等国家数字贸易政策发展脉络,以及数字贸易的未来发展趋势。然后,本文从中小企业的发展、平台企业的作用、数字贸易规则制定等方面提出对中国数字贸易发展的启示。本文认为,中国作为极具潜力的数字贸易大国,在数字经济发展的驱动下参与并推动建设国际数字贸易治理体系势在必行。     

Beyond the community in participatory forest management: A governance network perspective

Governance of the environment and natural resources involves interests of multiple stakeholders at different scales. In community-based forest management, organisations outside of communities play important roles in achieving multiple social and ecological objectives. How and when these organisations play a role in the community-based forest management process remains a key question. We applied social network analysis to a case study in Indonesian Borneo to better understand the evolution of interactions between organisational actors, and with communities. NGOs featured most prominently in initiating the permit process, implementing management, and providing other support activities, while also being well-connected to donors and government actors. The network configurations indicated significant cooperation among organisations when initiating the community forest process, while bridging between village and organisational levels characterised all stages of the community forest process. While community-based forest management often evokes images of grassroots efforts and broad local capacity to manage forests, reality shows a more dynamic and heterogeneous picture and broader involvement of different actor types and motivations in Indonesia. These findings can be applied to other countries implementing and expanding their decentralised forest policies.     

Individual Investors' Attention to Accounting Information: Evidence from Online Financial Communities*

Online financial communities provide a unique opportunity to directly examine individual investors' attention to accounting information on a large scale and in great detail. I analyze accounting-related content in large samples of Yahoo! message board posts and StockTwits and find investors pay attention to a range of accounting information, fixating particularly on earnings, cash, and revenues. Consistent with the expectation that investors react to relevant information events, I find accounting-related discussion elevated around the filings of earnings releases and 8-K reports, but the reaction to periodic reports is confined to small firms. I also find investors expand their acquisition of accounting information and processing efforts in poor information environments. Greater attention to accounting information at earnings releases does not appear to be meaningfully associated with better information processing.     

The Effects of M&A on Corporate Performance in Japan:DID Analysis in the Era of Corporate Governance Reform

This study analyzes how mergers and acquisitions (M&A) affect the performance of acquired companies in Japan. The sample period includes the era in which the government of Japan promoted a series of corporate governance reforms. A difference-in-differences analysis is implemented to eliminate the endogenous effects of a corporate acquisition. Choosing a control group by propensity score matching, we find that acquisitions have significantly negative effects on employment but no significant effects on labor productivity. For acquisitions by Japanese companies, we also find no significant improvement in ROA but significant improvement in Tobin’s q. The results are consistent with the zombie company theory, which indicates that an M&A prolongs the life of an insolvent company. Acquisitions by Japanese companies are in contrast with those by foreign companies, which have positive effects on ROA.