Water Trade in the Southern Murray–Darling Basin

In this paper, we use TERM-Water, a bottoms-up regional computable general equilibrium model of the Australian economy, to examine the regional effects of expanding trade of irrigation water in the southern Murray–Darling basin. We find that water trading dampens the impact of water allocation cuts on gross regional product (GRP). The benefits of introducing trading within irrigation districts are greater than those of a further expansion of trade between regions. Permitting trade of seasonal allocations allows irrigators to reallocate water in reaction to climatic conditions and water availability; and it is this flexibility that enables GRP reductions to be minimised.     

Property rights imperfections and asset allocation: Co-ownership in Bulgaria

This paper analyzes how imperfections of property rights affect households’ allocation of assets using micro-survey data from Bulgaria. Co-ownership of assets is widespread in many countries due to inheritance. Central and Eastern Europe offers an interesting natural experiment to assess the effects of this type of property rights imperfection because of the asset restitution process in the 1990s. In Bulgaria, where co-ownership is very prominent and land is strongly fragmented, the land reform and inheritance legislation allows identifying the impact of co-ownership by taking advantage of a discontinuity created by a minimum plot size law. We find that land in co-ownership is more likely to be used by less efficient farm organizations or to be left abandoned, and that it is related to significant welfare losses. The paper hence provides evidence of sub-optimal land allocation following a privatization that established formal but imperfect property rights.     

Biodiversity value and the optimal location of forest conservation sites in Southern Finland

Safeguarding biodiversity has been one of the most important issues in environmental and forest policies since the 1990s. In Southern Finland, decisions concerning further actions for the preservation of forest biodiversity will be made in the coming years. To support policy making, we present a multi-regional model that is applicable in determining the economically optimal regional allocation of conservation sites. Three habitat quality models are evaluated to calculate habitat quality indices used as a surrogate for a biodiversity value in a forest sector model. The scenarios presented provide information about the economic impacts of conservation choices on the forest sector. The overall economic impacts of conservation depend on its scale and regional allocation. Conserving land with high biodiversity value can have less adverse impact on the forest sector than conservation of typical commercial forest sites. When optimizing conservation set-asides, we found that set-asides targeted to certain regions possessing higher/lower than average relative share of ecologically valuable land, caused lower/higher adverse economic impacts on the forest sector. Because it is expensive to search land suitable for conservation, these regions could be respectively favoured/avoided when asking forest owners to offer their land for the new conservation program in Southern Finland, which will be based on voluntariness.     

The Economics of Forest Land Use in Temperate and Tropical Areas

This paper presents economic rules for harvest timing when timber and nontimber goods, services, and ecological functions are produced from forest stands. Forests include stands that are heterogeneous in age, land quality, and distance to market. Rules for allocating land between forest and nonforest use are developed. Key land use margins are identified that are important to land use allocation in temperate and tropical regions (e.g., between unmanaged forest, forest management, and forest conversion). Processes that can change key land use margins are discussed and used to organize recent empirical and theoretical studies of regions where forest land use is in transition, such as where forest land is being converted to alternative nonforest land uses.     

去工业化、经济增长与区域协调发展——基于土地资源错配的视角

针对我国近年来的“去工业化”现象，本文通过280座城市的面板数据，以及城市地形和省级审批建设用地占比构造的工具变量，从土地资源错配视角考察了去工业化对经济增长和区域协调发展的影响。实证结果发现，在当前经济发展阶段工业化对经济增长仍然具有显著的积极影响，过快、过早地去工业化不利于保持经济持续增长和实现区域协调发展，而土地资源在地区间和部门间的双重错配是导致我国出现过早去工业化的重要原因。进一步的分析表明，较高的城镇化水平以及发达的生产性服务业有助于增强工业化对经济增长的推动效应。本文为新时期保持制造业比重基本稳定，推动我国经济持续稳定增长，推进区域协调发展以及促进土地资源优化配置提供了经验证据。     

Price discovery and intermediation in linked emissions trading markets: A laboratory study

Many new and proposed emissions trading systems involve multiple countries and regions. The introduction of interregional trading raises questions about how flexible state- or national-level authorities should be in allowing individual firms to trade with firms or authorities in other states or countries. This paper uses laboratory methods to evaluate the efficiency and pricing performance of linking trading across regions at the firm-to-firm level. In one treatment, individual firms trade directly with firms or authorities in other regions. We compare performance in this treatment to an intergovernmental trading treatment, where emissions trading is restricted to occur only between intermediaries. A baseline treatment of autarky, where firms only trade with other firms in their country or region, provides a benchmark to assess the efficiency benefits of allowing linking. Although efficiency and price discovery are both improved by allowing intermediation in linked permit markets, we find that further gains can be realized through direct firm to firm trading. Buyers in high cost regions and sellers in low cost regions benefit the greatest from linking.     

Effects of the Chinese arable land fallow system and land-use change on agricultural production and on the economy

This study focuses on economic effects of arable land fallow system and land-use change in China using a dynamic single-country, multi-regional computable general equilibrium model. Land supply is adjusted endogenously in our model. Land use in each of 31 provinces is tracked by a land-use change module, which is calibrated with satellite data. Our results reveal that the expansion of real output can be attributed to the increase in capital stock as a result of the growth of investment due to the imposition of the arable land fallow system in China. And the growth of investment is caused by the release of labor from agriculture The reduced supply of arable land in agricultural land contraction regions is partially offset by the increasing arable land in agricultural land expansion regions. Rural households benefit more than urban households from the arable land fallow policy due to relatively higher income and lower rural CPI.     

Inter‐regional competition,comparative advantage and environmental federalism

In this paper, we compare endogenous environmental policy setting with centralized and decentralized governments when regions have comparative advantages in different polluting goods. We develop a two‐region, two‐good model with inter‐regional environmental damages and perfect competition in product markets, where both regions produce both goods. Despite positive spillovers of pollution across regions, the model predicts that decentralization may lead to weaker or stricter environmental standards or taxes, depending on the degree of regional comparative advantage and the extent of transboundary pollution. This suggests that federalism can lead to either a “race to the bottom” or a “race to the top,” without relying on inefficient lobbying efforts or capital competition.     

Groundwater management under heterogeneous land tenure arrangements

We develop a groundwater extraction model that considers the Marshallian inefficiency associated with sharecropping and use data from Pakistan to simulate the impact of an open access regime and of optimal management on groundwater extractions, the state of the aquifer, and annual net benefits through time. We also evaluate a price instrument as a mechanism of inducing optimal extractions. Under both open access and optimal management, we observe notable differences in groundwater extractions and the water table level between the tenure model (which considers the behavior of both owner cultivators and sharecroppers) and the baseline model (which includes the behavior of only owner cultivators). We also find a modest difference in the aggregate net benefits generated by the two models. The results offer new insights—vis-à-vis land tenure heterogeneity—into the evaluation of more effective policies for groundwater management and aquifer sustainability.     

农地流转对土地使用权分配的影响研究

本文利用2006年中国综合社会调查问卷中的农户数据分析了农地流转对土地使用权分配的影响。通过计算农地流转前后的土地分配基尼系数,测度了农地流转影响土地使用权分配的结果,研究显示:农地流转促进了土地使用权的集中,但集中的速度并不快,各区域之间存在差异。在市场化农地流转中,土地较少而又贫穷的农民缺乏能力和优势转入土地,导致土地使用权集中。农地流转难以解决公平问题,农民获取土地仍然主要依靠村组集体的初次分配和二次调整。在符合农民认同、规则明确稳定的条件下,村组内部的土地调整能做到公平与效率相容。因此,村庄集体需要积极培育民主、发展农民自治组织;基层政府需要抑制自己调整土地的冲动,同时在一定程度上认同、支持和监督村组内部的土地调整。     

Home-market vs. vote-market effect: Location equilibrium in a probabilistic voting model

This paper considers the location of manufacturing activities when regional policies are endogenous. We find that once the political economy of regional policy is explicitly taken into account, regional population size has an ambiguous effect on the level of regional subsidy, even though it plays a key role in determining the equilibrium spatial allocation of industry. In particular, the final allocation of firms depends both on the relative economic strengths of the two regions, as predicted by more orthodox economic geography models, as well as by their relative political strengths.     

区域发展中地理势能的初步研究

从区域发展的各个主要相关要素，初步探讨区域发展的地理势能。把地理区域作为一个系统，当一个区域相对于其它区域在地理位置、区际差异、区域结构和环境质量等方面，所显示出发展的综合优势即是该区域在这一系统中的地理势能。这种地理势能的大小受自然环境基础的深刻影响，并可随着不同的历史阶段、科学技术的发展而转化。一个地区的地理位置对比优势的态势为地理位置势能。地理位置和区位在自然条件上的势能促使其获得政策上的势能，并直接影响到产业结构的形成。地域间环境条件、生态功能、产业优势的潜在影响力为地理区际势能，如各种环境条件以及这些条件合理匹配的所谓地理地带性规律，决定了传统的农业生产。区际的差异还体现在区域发展的历史过程上，历史悠久的区域往往具有较高的地理区际势能。区域自然环境结构对于区域发展优势的影响力为区域结构势能。环境质量势能是环境质量对于区域发展优势的态势。生态环境脆弱、土地退化、自然灾害、环境污染等，大大减弱了区域环境质量势能。地理势能遵循能量守恒定律，势能转化的动力来源于自然与社会两方面。     

Ecosystem services and regional development: An application to Sweden

This study carries out interregional comparisons of development and sustainable use of natural capital with and without inclusion of non-marketed ecosystem services. A simple dynamic model of an open economy shows that appropriate adjustment of conventional income accounts includes flow and stock components, but excludes explicit entrance of pollution. Calculations are made for Swedish regions and for two types of ecosystem services — pollution sequestration and recreational services — provided by three types of ecosystems: forests, agricultural landscape and wetlands. When comparing the adjusted and non-adjusted regional income accounts it is shown that the two measurements generate significantly different pictures of regional income and growth; regions that are traditionally considered as relatively less growth promoting are shown to hold important sources of wealth from natural capital, while counties that are rich in conventional accounts fall behind when adjusting for values of changes in natural capital.     

The impact of fiscal policies on agricultural household decisions

This paper provides a comparative static analysis of farm household's production, consumption, and labor market decisions under alternative tax policies. We explore the implications of non-separable household decisions caused by widespread non-participation in labor, land, financial and/or food markets, as is typical of low income economies. The analytical results indicate that when labor market imperfections occur, most tax-induced responses are ambiguous, mainly due to shadow price effects. This is particularly the case for the labor market and production responses to most tax tools under study, while a decreasing demand for consumption goods appears to be the result in several cases. Furthermore, tax-induced allocation effects may differ between the non-separable and the separable model versions, indicating the potential impact of labor market constraints on farm household responses to tax policies. In particular, standard taxes as well as a land tax may imply production adjustments in the case of non-separability.     

A study of benefits compensation mechanism for agricultural water rights trading under the restriction of ecological reconstruction: case study of Shiyang River basin

Agricultural water allocation system based on priority rights has caused regional conJtiets and downstream ecological degradation.It is the urgent need to introduce the concept of the initial water rights and establish benefits compensation mechanism to resolve such problems.This paper takes the Shivang River basin as an example to calculate the opportunity cost of 0.97×108m3 of agricultural water encroached by the middle reach based on initial water right allocation system under which water is allocated in accordance with the ratio between agricultural population of two different regions concerning the downstream ecological reconstruction needs with Bio-economic model (BEM).The results suggest that the total economic loss of Minqin County for ecological econstruction amounts to 2.57×108 yuan,of which 1.68×108 yuan is ecological compensation,representing the economic loss Minqin suffered for ecological reconstruction which should burden beneficial groups of eeological reconstruction and 0.89×108 yuan is the economic loss Minqin suffered due to Liangzhou's encroachment behavior which should be compensated by Liangzhou.     

Patterns of multi-agent land conservation: Crowding in/out,agglomeration, and policy

Private agents make large contributions to networks of conserved land, but little is known about how private agents’ decisions might be altered by government actions. This paper explores the impact of public conservation and public policy on the quantity and configuration of private land conservation and the extent to which the social optimum is reached. Because land conservation benefits often have thresholds and spatial characteristics, we consider the impact of different land conservation benefit functions on the patterns of conservation created by the interaction of private and public agents. We find that public conservation crowds private conservation in or out depending on whether marginal conservation benefits increase or decrease with total acreage, and crowding out is mitigated by the presence of budget constraints. We show how land conservation agents might interact strategically in space depending on preferences over fragmentation, and we explore that spatial strategic interaction in a case with a regional land trust and a case with hot-spot parcels. We identify when government policies, such as agglomeration bonuses and mitigating coordination costs, are most likely to increase the social benefits provided by private land conservation agents.     

The cost of natural capital consumption: Accounting for a sustainable world economy

The System for integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) has been criticized in this journal for ignoring the benefits of ecosystem services for human well-being. This paper argues that extended national accounts should not attempt measuring economic welfare. Rather, they could and should assess the environmental sustainability of economic activity as the cost of natural capital consumption. The global application of SEEA concepts and methods demonstrates the feasibility of international green accounting. For the world economy, sustainability costs run to about 3 trillion US$ or 6% of world GDP. Large variations at national and regional levels suggest that conventional economic indicators may significantly overstate economic progress in some parts of the world. Data gaps and lack of data comparability affect these first estimates. National and international statistical services should be more aggressive in greening the national accounts. More prudent and more sustainable economic policies might be the result.     

Inequality,Community Participation,and the Allocation of Collective Profits

This study analyzes the relationship between inequality in land holdings and participation in community assemblies in Mexican villages. Our identification strategy is unique in that it exploits contemporaneously exogenous variation in inequality due to historic and legal restrictions on the subdivision and sale of parcels in the communities we study. The data show that at an aggregate level, villages with more inequality in land holdings have lower participation rates. Individuals with greater land holdings relative to other community members are more likely to participate. This relationship intensifies with increasing inequality. We also consider how participation influences the allocation of public funds. We find greater investment in public goods where inequality is lower and participation higher. Finally, we demonstrate that those who are less likely to attend meetings are also less likely to receive government subsidies and benefits.     

Evaluating the economy embedded in the Brazilian ethanol–gasoline flex-fuel car: a Real Options approach

The introduction of the flex-fuel cars in the Brazilian market in 2003 changed considerably the consumer decision-making process. Prior to this date, it was necessary to choose the automobile type only by gasoline or by ethanol fuel; today it is possible to choose a car type with both fuel options. This flexibility generates economic advantages for his owner, but what are the financial benefits of a flex-fuel car in comparison with a car using only gasoline? Geographically, where is the owner of the benefits from this flexibility located? This article presents an empirical application of the Real Options Theory in the analysis of the flex-fuel car option for five geographic Brazilian regions: Northern, Northeastern, Central-Western, Southeastern and Southern. The regional price differences as well as the consumer preferences of these regions were met. For this purpose, historical fuel prices were considered stochastic and following a Mean Reverting Stochastic process. The prediction and option values were generated by a Monte Carlo simulation. The results indicated that the option embedded on the Brazilian flex-fuel car adds considerable value to the owner in all regions and car models considered, with the Southeastern Region receiving most benefits by the flex option.     

Regional economic growth disparities: A political economy perspective

Regional differences in economic growth have been observed within many countries. Our story emphasises three region-specific factors driving growth—capital, labour and political factors. Conditional on differences in production factor (i.e., labour and capital) variations across democratic states, what role do differences in underlying “political factors” across regions play in accounting for regional growth disparities? We build a political economy model of endogenous growth where regions have the same political institutions, but experience different (and estimable) distributions over voter political biases (i.e., our “political factors”). In our model, political factors affect regional productivity as a consequence of politico-economic equilibrium. We discipline our regional growth accounting exercises by calibrating/estimating each model to American state-level economic and political-survey data. We show that the capital factor is the predominant driving force behind growth in American states. Nevertheless, regional variations in distributions of voter's political biases also account a great deal for regional growth disparities. We also evaluate how much politics would have distorted agents' welfare and regional growth, were regional economies given the opportunity to live under an efficient social planner's allocation system; and, if agents were to live under the same democratic system but where all voters have equal voting influence.