Move fast,travel slow: the influence of high-speed rail on tourism in Taiwan

High-speed rail (HSR) and tourism are closely related economic activities because improved mobility is perceived to facilitate tourist behavioral changes. This study examines the influence of HSR on the travel patterns of individual tourists in Taiwan in relation to time, space and carbon emissions. A framework is first provided to discuss how changes in the speed of intercity transportation will affect visitors’ choice of the journey, behavior at destinations and trip quality. In addition, HSR is expected to influence five general aspects of travel decisions relating to mobility and trip emissions, including mode selection, travel distance, length of stay per trip, annual travel frequency and total travel days. In the example of Taiwan, information by onsite sampling of 400 domestic travelers found that HSR had a weak influence on travel distance and length of stay per trip, but was observed to facilitate extended time at each stop, a deeper engagement with the locality, and an approximate 10% reduction in transport carbon emissions through intermodal substitution. These phenomena are in line with the slow travel concept of sustainable tourism consumption.     

基于系统动力学的区域林业碳汇市场中三方主体利益行为演化博弈分析

分析影响三者策略行为的作用因素,构建区域林业碳汇市场的演化博弈模型。在此基础上,结合系统动力学理论,对广东省的碳汇发展状况进行仿真模拟,找出影响市场均衡发展的关键因素。结果表明:政府部门趋向于选择投入策略,其中提高市场碳交易额对拉动市场需求有显著影响,而增强对林农碳汇林的补贴力度难以解决市场当前供需问题。     

广东湖北碳排放权市场动态相依性分析与风险测度

选择具有代表性的湖北和广东碳排放权交易市场为研究对象,利用GARCH-POT-Copula模型对这两个市场的动态相依性与组合风险度量进行分析。研究结果表明:广东和湖北碳排放权市场之间的相依度较小,两个碳排放权市场价格波动不能给对方市场带来较大的影响,两市场近似于独立存在。提出了要从配额指标、基础设施建设、报送系统、市场交易主体等方面建立健全和完善全国统一的碳排放权交易市场的建议。     

关键驱动力作用下的新疆生态系统服务时空格局分析

[目的]恶劣的生态环境和有限的资源驱动着新疆特殊生态系统服务的形成,人类又通过对生态系统服务的消费来满足和提高自身福祉,需要研究其时空变化并辨识主要驱动因素,支持区域可持续发展。[方法]文章构建了融合不同土地利用类型生态系统服务的价值量排序及服务功能强度矩阵的生态系统服务评估体系,并耦合3种关键驱动因子以评估各个因子的驱动强度,实现对生态系统服务热点与冷点变化的驱动及迁移分析。[结果]2000—2010年全疆生态系统服务总体增加,这一时期生态系统服务的热点区大部分转变为2010—2015年的冷点区,且15年来生态系统服务总体呈现小幅下降趋势。3个时期北疆和南疆人为干扰强度均呈增加趋势,由其驱动的生态系统服务则相应减小;南疆地区植被覆盖范围极其有限,故对生态系统服务驱动强度低;降水在北疆和南疆都能够产生高生态系统服务,但降水量的不稳定性能够使生态系统服务产生较大波动。相比于南疆地区,北疆生态系统在外界干扰下能够体现出更强的抗性和整体性,从而实现相对高效的生态系统服务输出。[结论]对关键驱动因子作用下的生态系统服务进行时空变化分析,有助于理解当地生态系统产生变化的原因,从而为当地生态环境保护提供参考。     

How markets will drive the transition to a low carbon economy

This paper investigates the driving factors behind the transition to a low carbon economy. Here, we offer a two-part analysis: First, we examine the factors leading to the current level of cleantech development. To do so, we examine the impact of country-level economic variables (real GDP, market return, and turnover) and country-level institutional variables on patent intensity. Results from this analysis show that cleantech patenting activity is fostered by a supportive institutional environment that promotes innovation and low-carbon development through carbon pricing policies, country-level public R&D expenditure and human capital. Second, we extend the notion of ‘path creation’ to map out different pathways for cleantech development on a country-level within a real options framework, and offer a corresponding valuation of cleantech patents. Our estimates of total wealth creation through the development of cleantech patents by 2050 range from US$10.16 to US$15.49 trillion dollars (13%–20% of the world GDP in 2017) with investment growth from US$2.93 to US$3.71 trillion (3.7%–4.7% of the world GDP in 2017). The results from our analysis suggest that market forces will drive the transition to a cleantech economy.     

Cox Point Processes: Why One Realisation Is Not Enough

We review a rich class of point process models, Cox point processes, and illustrate the necessity of more than one observation (point patterns) in performing parameter estimation. Furthermore, we introduce a new Cox point process model by treating the intensity function of the underlying Poisson point process as a random mixture of normal components. The behaviour and performance of the new model are compared with those of popular Cox point process models. The new model is exemplified with an application that involves a single point pattern corresponding to earthquake events in California, USA.     

Corporate commitment to climate change action,carbon risk exposure,and a firm's debt financing policy

Motivated by the rising consensus that corporate engagement in climate change actions holds the key for society's transition into environmentally resilient economy, the study examines whether a firm's commitment to climate change action and its carbon risk exposure shape the firm's debt financing policy. Based on insights drawn from signaling, corporate reputation, and agency theories, we develop models that link corporate commitment to climate change actions and a firm's carbon risk exposure with its debt financing decisions. Using data drawn from S&P 500 companies, for years 2015 to 2019, we find a robust evidence that firms that engage in higher levels of commitment to climate change actions issue a higher proportion of debt with longer terms to maturity, even after controlling for their carbon risk exposure. However, we do not find a robust evidence corroborating an association between firms' carbon risk exposure and their debt financing policy. These findings are consistent with arguments that high-commitment firms enjoy positive reputation, better credit rating, and reduced agency and information asymmetry costs, allowing them to gain easier access to long-term debt markets.     

环境公平感知、社会信任与农户低碳生产行为*——以农膜、秸秆处理为例

［目的］研究旨在探讨环境公平感知和社会信任与农户低碳生产行为之间的关系，为促进农户生产行为向低碳化方向转变提供对策建议。［方法］基于陕西和甘肃两省的村域调查数据，以农膜和秸秆处理为例，运用二元logistic模型探讨环境公平感知和社会信任对农户低碳生产行为的影响，并结合分层回归分析了社会信任在环境公平感知和农户低碳生产行为间的调节效应。［结果］（1）在环境公平感知维度中，人际公平感知正向影响农户的农膜和秸秆处理行为； （2）对社会信任来讲，人际信任对农户农膜和秸秆处理行为均有显著的促进作用，而制度信任仅对农户秸秆处理行为具有正向影响； （3）人际信任在种际公平感知和农户农膜处理行为之间具有显著的正向调节效应，而制度信任在两者之间具有显著的负向调节效应； 同样，人际信任在人际公平感知和农户秸秆处理行为之间具有正向调节效应，而制度信任弱化了人际公平感知对农户秸秆处理行为的影响。［结论］环境公平感知和社会信任是影响农户低碳生产行为的关键因素，且社会信任在种际公平感知和农户农膜处理行为之间以及在人际公平感知和农户秸秆处理行为之间具有显著的调节作用。     

Beyond symbolic and substantive: Strategic disclosure of corporate environmental information in China

Under increasing regulatory pressure to disclose environmental impacts, corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) is becoming more prevalent. However, the motives for EID and disclosure approaches (i.e., symbolic or substantive) remain controversial. Using a sample of data for 742 listed manufacturing firms in China across 3 years, we provide evidence to show that the level of EID is significantly positively associated with a firm's advertising intensity and that firms in moderately competitive industries have a higher propensity for adopting an EID‐based differentiated strategy than firms in stronger or weaker competitive industries. We also find that firms that are more sensitive to environmental issues strategically understate their environmental impact when directly facing consumers. Our results suggest that the implementation of corporate EID is strategic and that firms have strong market motives, even under regulatory pressure to demonstrate legitimacy. We discuss this study's contributions to research on EID theory and implications for strategic EID management.     

Size and value effects in high-tech industries: The role of R&D investment

We use monthly US stock data over 55 years from 1962 to 2017 to show that the R&D intensity at firms adds another important dimension to the size and value effects in describing stock returns, especially for small high-tech firms. A trading strategy that double sorts on R&D intensity and size or book-to-market ratio outperforms a simple small-minus-big (SMB) or high-minus-low (HML) strategy in producing higher and more significant portfolio returns. The most profitable schemes involve triple sorts by size, BM, and R&D intensity: the payoffs of buying high-BM/R&D-Active portfolio and selling low-BM/R&D-Inactive portfolio in the small-size/high-tech group and that of buying high-tech/high-BM and selling low-tech/low-BM in the small-size/R&D-active group generate a return of more than 2% on a monthly basis. Our results are robust to alternative classification method of assigning stocks in portfolios.