New development: China renews reform of central–local fiscal relations and provides for basic national public services

China’s reform on central–local fiscal reform has slowed down in recent years. The appointment of a new finance minister experienced in local government affairs is expected to renew the reform affirmed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress in late 2017. China has unprecedentedly identified a comprehensive list of 81 national basic public services as entitlements. Eighteen of them are subject to national and local standards, and co-financed by central and local governments. A new cost-sharing method for 10 of these services classifies sub-national jurisdictions into five tiers, in which the central government’s share declines from 80% to 10%. These measures, effective in 2019, aim at creating a ‘harmonious and moderately prosperous society’.     

森林食品产业减贫的作用机理及效应分析

首先,介绍森林食品产业减贫的作用机理,主要包括解决资源落后与发展滞后的矛盾;促进贫困地区收入增长;注重多方交流互动。其次,将森林食品产业的减贫效应分为社会减贫效应、经济减贫效应、生态减贫效应这3个部分。最后,提出加强基础设施建设与品牌宣传;增加产业联动效应;持续带动地区增收等建议,以期为政府相关部门制定政策提供决策依据。     

桑叶配方颗粒物质基准研究

桑叶配方颗粒迄今尚没有统一的质量标准。为提升桑叶配方颗粒的内在质量,对其物质基准评价方法进行了研究。选取具有代表性产地的15批桑叶制备物质基准,采用高效液相色谱法,以芦丁、异槲皮苷、紫云英苷作为评价指标,确定桑叶物质基准的出膏率范围、标志性成分含量及转移率范围,采用超高效液相色谱法,建立物质基准UPLC特征图谱,并对其主要成分进行指认。结果表明:15批物质基准中,芦丁转移率为19.94%～34.05%,异槲皮苷转移率为11.67%～43.58%,紫云英苷转移率为10.73%～43.05%;物质基准特征图谱中,标定了14个共有峰,指认出7个色谱峰,分别为新绿原酸、绿原酸、咖啡酸、芦丁、异槲皮苷、槲皮素-3-O-(6″-O-丙二酰基)-β-D-葡萄糖苷、紫云英苷。所建立的基准评价方法为桑叶配方颗粒质量标准的制定及其后续大规模生产提供了数据基础。     

Exploring the male Chinese tourists’ motivation for commercial sex when travelling overseas: Scale construction and validation

Sex and tourism has long been understudied. Little is known about tourists' motivations for consuming commercial sex while travelling, and even less, if indeed anything, is known about that of Chinese outbound tourists in particular. Based on twenty interviews and two surveys with a sample of 534 male Chinese tourists who had engaged in commercial sex when travelling overseas in the previous 12 months, this study aimed first to explore why male Chinese tourists travelled overseas and purchased commercial sex, and second to construct a comprehensive scale for measuring male tourists’ motivations for overseas commercial sex. With acceptable reliability and validity, the measurement scale yielded in this study consisted of eight motivation dimensions labelled as socialisation, relaxation and escape, travel-related novelty, sexual desire fulfillment/excitement seeking, sex-related learning, sexual mastery, social prestige, and business/pragmatic purpose. Both the theoretical and methodological implications related to the developed scale are also discussed.     

基于个性化的江西省乡村旅游空间分布及评价

［目的］通过对个性化的江西省乡村旅游区的空间分布进行研究，并对个性化的红色旅游资源进行评价，以期对乡村旅游的发展提供新的思考路径，建立具有个性化的乡村旅游体系。［方法］运用GIS102操作平台对江西省119个红色乡村旅游区的空间分布情况进行研究，通过计算最临近点指数、地理集中指数和核密度计算分析其空间分布特征。以资源要素价值、开发价值和社会效益组成评价层，下分14个指标，对江西省红色旅游资源进行评价研究。［结果］(1)江西省红色旅游区分布类型为集聚型，分布不均衡； (2)在评价准则层中，旅游资源要素价值权重最大，为0647 9，其次为社会效应，权重为0229 9，开发条件权重最低，为0122 2； (3)指标层权重排名前三位的依次为资源完整性、教育性和组织管理，权重值分别为0162 0,0116 5和0111 7。［结论］江西省乡村红色旅游区数量较多，但整体呈集聚型分布特点； 旅游资源要素价值权重最高，且整体资源禀赋较强，社会带动效应明显，具有极强的开发价值。     

India's Economic Reforms: Achievements and Next Steps

This paper reviews the impact of India's reforms since 1991 on the performance of the Indian economy. It shows that the reforms definitely achieved a significant acceleration in growth and they also succeeded in reducing poverty. However, they have been less successful in generating good quality jobs. There was progress in providing better access to education, health services ,and clean drinking water and sanitation, but less than was hoped. The area where performance has been most disappointing is environmental sustainability. The paper concludes by identifying some of the critical policy challenges in the years ahead.     

Taxation and the Environment–Health–Poverty Trap: A Policy Experiment Perspective

Under pressures related to economic growth and environmental protection, China is facing an increasingly severe “environment–health–poverty” trap risk. Fuel taxation is generally considered an effective policy to counter such a risk. Since 2009 China has raised the fuel tax rate many times to enhance tax reform. However, the effects of this policy remain unknown. Therefore, it is vitally important to estimate the impacts of China's current fuel taxation policy on environment, public health and the national economy. As the first attempt in existing literature on China, this paper builds a general equilibrium framework with the feedback effect of public health on economy. We find that that the fuel tax policy benefits the adjustment of the economic structure and improves human health; however, it is detrimental to economic growth, public welfare and price stability. In this sense, it plays a limited role in reducing the trap risk and might not be sustainable in the long term.     

The development trinity: How regional integration impacts growth,inequality and poverty

Developing countries today have become more active participants in regional trade agreements. This raises questions about how the benefits of integration are distributed, and the extent to which lower‐income countries are able to capture development gains. Historically, such impacts have been difficult to identify with precision. This paper seeks to address this gap by empirically analysing the impact of regional integration on development, particularly the effects on growth and welfare. Using both bilateral and regional integration measures, we show that the ability to capture gains from integration varies across developing country regional groups, with developing Asia benefiting on par with developed countries. The findings in the paper indicate that trade and trade policy play an important role in reducing inequality and poverty in developing countries. It also shows that regionalism can function as a channel to make multilateralism a more adept way of addressing national challenges.     

高端乡村旅游产业与生态环保基础设施协同发展研究——以天津蓟州区为例

在经济新常态下积极推动发展高端乡村旅游产业已经成为我国建设美丽乡村的重要着力点,与此同时"反生态"问题的不断显现已成为阻碍我国乡村旅游经济实现可持续发展的掣肘,因此,高端乡村旅游产业的发展模式向生态化转型势在必行。以天津市蓟州区乡村旅游景区的环保基础设施为研究对象,从环境情况、设施配备和从业人员3个方面确定了20个影响因素,通过向游客发放问卷进行满意度调查,从游客感知角度的基础上采用IPA模型分析游客对景区环保基础设施的重要性和满意度。结果表明,准则层及指标层感知均值都为游后感知实绩(满意度)<游前期望(重要性),在此基础上提出用冲突协同理论来指导蓟州区高端乡村旅游产业发展中的环境管理工作,实现高端乡村旅游产业与环保基础设施的协同发展,也能为今后的相关研究奠定基础。     

Where to donate: The geographical distribution of corporate philanthropy in China

An emerging body of literature has demonstrated that corporate philanthropy can be an important part of a company’s business strategy. However, we know relatively little about how companies allocate philanthropic resources to achieve their strategic targets. Using geographical distribution data on corporate philanthropy in China from 2009 to 2016, we provide robust evidence of companies’ revenue-driven regional favoritism. Specifically, companies donate more to regions where they obtain revenue than to other regions. Further evidence suggests that this revenue-driven regional favoritism may have both reputational and political motivations. Further analysis suggests that China’s targeted poverty alleviation policy has compromised revenue-driven regional favoritism while increasing the amount of money donated to poor regions. Overall, we enrich understanding of decision-making on corporate philanthropy. We also demonstrate that companies can use the geographical distribution of corporate philanthropy strategically to obtain consumer and government favor in regions where they operate. The results also provide evidence at the micro company level of the effect of China’s implementation of a targeted poverty alleviation policy.