Environmental regulations and industrial competitiveness: evidence from China

Economic activities are closely related to real-world environmental issues. Currently, more attention is paid to the association between environmental regulations and industrial competitiveness (IC) because of pressures on economic development and environmental protection. In this study, we identify and explain the association between environmental regulations and IC in China. As the largest developing country in the world, China has the unavoidable responsibility of protecting the environment and promoting global economic development. We analyse the mechanisms behind environmental regulations and industrial competiveness at the provincial level and conclude that the impact of environmental regulations upon IC is not a simple linear one, but a U-shaped relationship. It is argued that the crucial intervention to activate the U-shaped relationship, or Porter’s Hypothesis, is innovation, which can be triggered by stringent regulations and well-designed policies.     

Is the shadow economy a bane or boon for economic growth?

This paper uses the theoretical framework developed by Feder (1983) and Ram (1986) to examine interactions (i.e. externalities and intersectoral factor productivity differentials) between the official and unofficial sectors of the economy. Results from the empirical analysis, using data on over 100 countries from 1970 to 2008, suggest that the marginal externality effect of growth in the unofficial sector on the official sector is positive. Further, input productivities are higher in the unofficial sector relative to the official sector. These results are robust using alternate measures of the (unobserved) unofficial economy and across level of development.     

Heterogeneity risks and negative externality

Diversified institutions coexist in financial markets with different degrees of exposure and contribution to the systemic risk. Therefore, the identification and regulation of systemically important institutions are of great significance. This paper investigates the negative externality in a model where the heterogeneity risks of institutions interact and alienate the value of each other, with the bankruptcy risk acting as the kernel factor. The market negative externality increases when the bankruptcy risk is high. Furthermore, as an institution with a minimum tail index, the “first domino” dominates the bankruptcy risk of the market. The first domino accumulation and phantasm are prone to cause systemic crises. The market bankruptcy index decreases as the non-first domino participates in the risk sharing. Finally, we empirically study implications of the above findings for adjusting the market structure and managing risks, in the Chinese financial markets.     

Can voluntary environmental regulation promote corporate technological innovation?

The impact of environmental regulation on technological innovation has been widely discussed in the academic circle. Based on the panel data of 403 Chinese manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2015, this paper explored the role of voluntary environmental regulation in technological innovation. The results showed the following: First, both voluntary environmental information disclosure and environmental management system certification had a positive effect on corporate innovation investment. Second, compared with the impact of environmental information disclosure, the impact of environmental management system certification on corporate innovation investment was more significant. Third, there was a significant positive interaction between environmental information disclosure and environmental management system certification. Finally, the effect of voluntary environmental regulation on corporate technological innovation in heavily polluting industries was stronger than that in lightly polluting industries.     

Voluntary environmental regulation and firm innovation in China

Porter Hypothesis has evoked almost three-decade debate on whether environmental regulation can stimulate firm innovation. However, one missing component in this long stream of literature is the absence of voluntary environmental regulation when defining environmental regulation policy in the first place. We address this gap by examining the impact of the voluntary environmental certification of ISO 14000 on firm innovation. Adopting firm-level survey data, our results show that ISO 14000 certification leads to more innovation input and output in sampled Chinese firms. Therefore, our study sheds light to the debate on Porter Hypothesis and contributes to green innovation literature.     

Effects of education externalities on schooling

In some developed countries, such as Japan and Sweden, the number of years of education does not predict wage differences as opposed to in some countries such as the United States and Germany. To explain such seemingly contradictory observations, this study develops a simple model utilizing the ‘keeping up with Joneses’ effect regarding schooling decisions. The main result of this study is that the model can have multiple equilibria, which can explain the difference between the two groups of countries. Moreover, efficiency analysis reveals that changes in the strength of education reference and psychological cost parameters can alter the welfare ranking of multiple equilibria.     

Sectoral bubbles,misallocation, and endogenous growth

Stock price bubbles are often on productive assets and occur in a sector of the economy. In addition, their occurrence is often accompanied by credit booms. Incorporating these features, we provide a two-sector endogenous growth model with credit-driven stock price bubbles. Bubbles have a credit easing effect in that they relax collateral constraints and improve investment efficiency. Sectoral bubbles also have a capital reallocation effect in the sense that bubbles in a sector attract more capital to be reallocated to that sector. Their impact on economic growth depends on the interplay between these two effects. Bubbles may misallocate resources across sectors and reduce welfare.     

浦东新区极化开发的负社会外部性研究

当前中国正处于工业化和城市化加速发展时期,城市规模和数量在不断增长,对于城市未来和城市居民福利的关注,已经使人们在最近几年对于城市问题引发了许多的关注.过去人们只关注于极化开发的经济功能,而忽视极化开发造成人口大量流入、快速城市化造成的城市社会结构和城市功能结构转变引发的负社会外部性问题.本文探索了极化开发造成负社会外部性的机理,并利用人口普查资料及其它社会经济统计资料,分析浦东新区极化开发的集聚效应和负社会外部性.当前浦东新区极化开发引发的负外部性问题如社会极化、社区重组、社会隔离、就业压力已经开始显现,并对浦东新区的社会稳定和可持续发展产生一定的影响.浦东新区极化开发产生的负社会外部性问题在中国其它许多大城市也开始凸显,因此,如何最大限度地减少极化开发的负社会外部性问题应引起重视.     

British overseas retailing, 1900–60: International firm characteristics,market selections and entry modes

We examine the historical developments of the environmental adaptation process at one Swedish metal smelting firm, contrasting the result with cases in Canada. The findings suggest that the Swedish system in excluding stakeholders, focusing on plant emissions and stipulating pollution reduction at economically feasible costs mitigated risk which resulted in long-term contracts in a cooperative framework in which engineers were given a high degree of discretion. This enabled an ‘expansion-for-emission-reduction’ strategy which is consistent with the so-called Porter and van der Linde hypothesis. Moreover, the findings suggest that environmental management systems should be considered in the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) research.