Is the environment‐friendly factor attractive to customers when purchasing electric vehicles? Evidence from South Korea

In a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, several countries worldwide are implementing policies to promote electric vehicles (EVs). However, contrary to expectations, the diffusion speed of EVs has been rather slow in South Korea. This study analyzes consumer preferences for the technological and environmental attributes of EVs and derives policy and environmental implications to promote market diffusion of EVs in South Korea. We conduct a choice‐based conjoint survey of 1,008 consumers in South Korea and estimate the consumer utility function using a mixed logit model considering consumer heterogeneity. Based on the consumer utility function, we analyze consumers' willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for EV attributes such as driving range, charging method, charging time, autonomous driving function, carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction rate, and purchase price. The results indicate that the current low acceptance of EVs is due to their relatively high price and lack of a battery charging technology that satisfies consumers' expectations of the charging method and time. One interesting finding is that Korean consumers have a relatively higher WTP for the CO₂ reduction rate of EVs than consumers in other countries; however, they do not consider CO₂ reduction over other technological attributes when choosing EVs. This implies that the rate of CO₂ reduction of EVs is not an important factor for South Korean consumers when buying EVs. We also calculate the effect of CO₂ reduction with the market penetration of EVs and find that CO₂ reduction through the diffusion of EVs depends on the country's electricity generation mix.     

The restructuring of Italian agriculture and its impact upon capital–labour relations: Labour contracting and exploitation in the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain of the Lazio Region,Central Italy

Labour contracting is anywhere on the rise globally, even in fully developed capitalist countries. Far from being an anomaly in the smooth everyday functioning of the economy, contractors are a crucial node in facilitating and ensuring global capital's control over local labour regimes. This article uses a global value chain perspective to investigate the re‐emergence of gangmasters and gang labour in the agricultural sector of Lazio, Central Italy. It analyses the fruit and vegetable supply chain formation and configuration in the Lazio Region with the aim of identifying the underlying processes leading to the creation of gangmasters by capital to have a cheap and disposable, especially migrant, labour force. It also intends to give a more nuanced understanding of labour contracting in this context.     

Modeling green vehicle adoption: An integrated approach for policy evaluation

This article employs an integrated discrete-continuous car ownership model to jointly forecast households’ future preferences on vehicle type, quantity and use, and to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The model system is estimated on a dataset collected from a web-based stated preference survey conducted in Maryland in 2014. The data contain vehicle purchase decisions and sociodemographic information of 456 households who were requested to state their future preferences over a 9-year period (2014–2022). In each time period, a respondent is faced to four alternatives that include the current vehicle, a new gasoline vehicle, a new hybrid electric vehicle, and a new battery electric vehicle. Intertemporal choices between conventional and “green” vehicles such as hybrid and electric cars capture dynamics in vehicle purchase decisions. Short run and medium-long run situations were predicted and compared based on the first 4-year data and the entire 9-year data of the dynamic panel. Vehicle GHG emissions were calculated correspondingly. We find the introduction of “green” vehicles makes a positive impact on car ownership and use, especially in a medium-long run. Two “green” taxation policies, gasoline tax and ownership tax, were proposed and their impact on vehicle use and emission reductions was evaluated. Results indicate that: (a) gasoline tax is a more effective way to reduce vehicle miles traveled and GHG emissions and (b) gasoline tax makes a higher impact on car use and emission reductions in the medium-long run, while ownership tax makes a higher impact in the short run.     

The environmental benefits of changing logistics structures for fresh vegetables

The transport phase is one of the crucial stages that can be improved to reduce the environmental impact of the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain. In this paper, we calculate the environmental impact of feasible logistic alternatives for the above-mentioned supply chain so as to identify the type of transportation that incurs the lowest environmental costs. Specifically, we consider the early potato supply chain as a case study, as it involves one of the main fresh vegetables exported from Italy. Consumers' willingness to pay for the environmental impact of different logistic chains was obtained through life cycle assessment. Our results show that rail transport could reduce environmental impact in terms of tons of oil equivalent, environmental loads, and fuel consumption while ensuring reasonable shipment times. Development of an efficient rail transport system would be positively considered by consumers, enhancing their preferences for Italian products.     

天津设施蔬菜种植户的生产决策行为及其影响因素分析

[目的]目前我国蔬菜已经超过粮食总产值,成为我国第一大农产品。蔬菜产业对促进农民增收,提高国民生活质量具有重要的战略意义。天津把"减粮增菜"作为"十三五"现代都市农业发展的重要目标之一,这一目标实现的关键是设施蔬菜种植户的经营决策行为。通过对天津32个村的223户设施蔬菜种植户的实地调研,掌握了天津设施蔬菜经营现状。[方法]构建了农户生产经营决策的评价指标体系,运用有序Logistic回归模型,分析蔬菜种植户的经营决策行为,并得出各影响因素的重要程度。[结果]农户年龄、生产年限、技术培训和政府的农业规划对农户设施生产决策行为具有显著性影响,而其他因素均不显著。[结论]文章得出政府应在农业技术培训、新型农业经营主体培育、财政支农政策、蔬菜产业发展规划等方面加大投入力度,以期推进设施蔬菜的规模化、科技化和专业化,从而促进农民增收、农业增效。     

区域产业发展视角的农业综合开发影响评估——基于对蔬菜产业的干预效应分析

【目的】通过定量方法准确评估农业综合开发对区域优势产业发展的影响有重要意义。【方法】从农业综合开发对蔬菜产业的项目干预效应入手,以县级为单位,将当年农业综合开发项目扶持内容包括蔬菜产业的县级单位划分为干预组,其他为控制组。采用可以有效解决样品选择偏差的倾向得分匹配方法,通过引入协变量、平衡检验、匹配等步骤,在控制组中找到与干预组成员单位特征相似的成员,构建反事实研究框架。【结果】结果得出,项目干预组比控制组区域的蔬菜播种面积占比高出1~3个百分点,说明农业综合开发项目对蔬菜产业的扶持对蔬菜播种面积的扩大有促进作用,利于蔬菜产业壮大。通过协变量影响力分析得出,地区的蔬菜生产优势是最重要的影响因素,从侧面证明了农业综合开发项目的扶持方向紧跟区域优势的政策宗旨。【结论】可见,通过有方向性的农业综合开发项目实施扶持特定产业对促进区域优势产业发展和实现农业结构优化是有效的。     

Impact of foreign direct investment on greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture of developing countries

This research analyses the impact of foreign direct investment on greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector of developing countries. Panel data from 63 developing countries for the period 2005 to 2014 was used to estimate a dynamic econometric model by applying a system‐generalised method of moments. The empirical results indicate a positive impact of foreign direct investment in agriculture on the carbon dioxide equivalent emission intensity in developing countries. The results provide weak support for the pollution havens hypothesis and imply the importance of coordination between foreign direct investment and environmental policies.     

基于Flexsim的社区蔬菜直销配送流程仿真优化研究

文章以乌鲁木齐沙依巴克区社区蔬菜直销配送流程为仿真对象,运用Flexsim仿真软件对其进行模拟,对配送流程涉及到的关键设备利用率、人员空闲率等数据比较分析,提出社区蔬菜直销配送流程合理的运营模式。     

When nutritional guidelines and life collide: family fruit and vegetable socialisation practices in low socioeconomic communities

Abstract

Parents play a critical role in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption, for eating patterns established early in life tend to persist into adulthood. Despite this, the factors that facilitate or inhibit parents’ capacity to socialise fruit and vegetable consumption into their children’s daily diets remain poorly defined. Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews with residents, allied healthcare professionals, community leaders, community programme leaders and a local government leader living or working in two low socioeconomic suburbs were consequently conducted to ascertain factors exogenous and endogenous to the family unit that shaped parental food socialisation practices. Budgetary and time constraints emerged as exogenous factors that constrained fruit and vegetable socialisation. Constraining effects were also found for a range of endogenous factors, including commensal experiences, children’s food fussiness and the feeding styles employed by parents. As such, while many caregivers may wish to socialise fruit and vegetable consumption into their children’s daily diets, their capacity to do so is often inhibited by factors beyond their volitional control. Failure to take heed of these factors could therefore result in the development of social marketing campaigns that are ineffective at best or give rise to unintentionally harmful outcomes at worst.     

再论我国蔬菜出口现状及策略

加入WTO后，当我们的出口产品在比较顺利地通过关税壁垒时，进口国为保护本国市场，将以技术壁垒阻弱势企业的加入。而与国际标准相比，我国蔬菜质量标准普遍偏低，向质量要效益是蔬菜行业的当务之急。