Patent indicators for monitoring convergence - examples from NFF and ICT

The blurring of boundaries between hitherto distinct scientific disciplines, technologies or markets is a common and powerful phenomenon. Concentrating on monitoring convergence through patent indicators, we discuss convergence with examples from the area of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (NFF)/Cosmeceuticals as well as information technologies, consumer electronics, and telecommunications (ICT). We analyze 7455 scientific and patent references on phytosterols with the aid of SciFinder Scholar and 3836 documents employing STN AnaVist. Furthermore, we test an IPC co-classification based approach on 859,469 ICT-related and 341,846 NFF-related patents. Our results show clear indications for convergence and a proof of principle for our monitoring concept. Academics may better evaluate environmental parameters, like cases of convergence, influencing companies' actions. Implications for practitioners are based on a more reliable assessment prior to the forming of strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions. This could help avoid costly adventures such as the mergers and acquisitions seen in ICT.     

Measuring economic ill-being using objective and subjective indicators: evidence for the Philippines

The mismatch between a country’s macroeconomic performance and the people’s economic well-being represents the overall economic ill-being in a society. This mismatch is measurable using objective indicators such as the inflation rate and the joblessness rate as well as subjective indicators such as personal evaluations on the inflation and joblessness rates. That is, the inflation rate shows the affordability of goods and services; and the subjective evaluation indicates whether people see the goods and services as affordable or not. In addition, the joblessness rate indicates the portion of the labor force that does not enjoy gainful employment; and the subjective evaluation indicates whether people see themselves as jobless or not. The results for the Philippines show a high-level of overall economic ill-being especially in the decade covering 2005 to 2014. This finding unveils a different scene from what the mainstream discourses are portraying as the current state of the Philippine society.     

Environmental regulation and safety outcomes: Evidence from energy pipelines in Canada

This paper investigates the effects of more stringent environmental regulation—specifically, paying amortized abandonment fees as accrued and absolute liability for adverse events—on the safety performance of Canadian oil and gas pipelines. We construct a comprehensive dataset that includes pipeline adverse events, throughput, and regulatory intensiveness for fourteen federally-regulated energy pipelines in Canada. We find that abandonment fees are significantly and positively associated with pipeline events. On average, a 1% increase in abandonment fees is associated with 1.3 more events per month. In contrast, establishing absolute liability is associated with significant decreases in the number of pipeline events: on average, absolute liability is responsible for eliminating 80% of quarterly events for Canadian major oil pipelines and 20% for smaller pipelines.     

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.     

EMU fiscal indicators: a misleading compass?

The effectiveness of any device for fiscal discipline crucially depends on the indicators it refers to. This paper assesses the indicators adopted for fiscal rules in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) with respect to their relevance for EMU’s objective of fiscal soundness and to the adequacy of the underlying statistical framework in providing conditions for enforcement. The paper argues that EMU’s deficit and debt indicators present several shortcomings with respect to both sustainability analysis and monitoring requirements. The debt indicator allows the achievement of targets via operations that do not improve fiscal sustainability and tends to underestimate overall outstanding liabilities. The deficit indicator cannot be monitored in a timely manner, allows too much room for discretion, and is subject to significant revisions. While acknowledging that any single indicator can be distorted when used as a policy target, the paper argues that the weaknesses of EMU’s indicators would be much reduced if consistency cross-checks played a larger role than they currently do.The authors wish to thank Claudia Braz, Carlo Cottarelli, Jorge Cunha, Mark De Broek, Albert␣Jaeger, Mohan Kumar, Joao Nogueira, Ethan Wiseman and the anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

环保产业发展与区域环境质量改善——来自省级面板数据的证据

环保产业能够通过技术效应、替代效应、直接效应、环保意识和环境管制标准提升等途径来改善环境质量。对我国30个省份的面板数据进行的实证研究发现,环保产业发展确实能够改善区域环境质量,但是目前其对不同污染物排放有着不同的影响力度,其对整体环境质量和工业废水排放的改善作用较为明显,但对固体废物和废气排放的影响并不显著。环保产业改善环境质量的力度和广度都还没有充分展示出来,这与其目前的总体规模和水平相称。     

环境不确定性、市场导向与企业绩效——基于嵌入性视角的关系重构及实证检验

本文以嵌入性视角取代原子主义思维方式,重构环境不确定性、市场导向与企业绩效三者之间的关系,并运用结构方程模型进行了实证检验。研究结果表明,环境不确定性的三个构面中,技术变革与市场导向、企业绩效正相关,而竞争强度与市场导向及企业绩效负相关。     

新疆工业增长与环境污染关系的计量研究

通过对国内外经济增长与环境污染关系文献的梳理,可以发现很多学者在研究二者之间关系时都是通过拟合EKC曲线来说明,用单一指标来测量环境的污染程度,选取指标过于主观;且在进行协整检验时,数据过少却没有对检验的临界值进行修正。本文采用改进熵值分析方法对工业废水排放量、工业二氧化硫排放量、工业烟尘排放量、工业粉尘排放量、工业固体废物排放量五类环境指标进行客观赋权构建工业环境综合指标,以克服单一指标无法代表环境整体的缺点;引入小样本DF蒙特卡罗模拟的临界值,以克服数据不足的问题,进行协整检验研究新疆工业增长和环境污染的关系;同时进行线性、U型和N型三种模型的拟合。研究结论为：新疆工业增长与环境污染之间存在长期均衡关系,同时新疆存在具有自身特点的U型特征的EKC曲线。新疆应按照＂共同但有区别＂的原则制定发展规划,逐步转变发展方式,实现工业与环境的协调。     

环境规制、政治关联与环境信息披露质量--基于重污染上市公司经验证据

以2010—2012年沪市重污染行业上市公司为样本,实证检验环境规制与环境信息披露质量的相关性,并进一步探讨政治关联对环境规制实施效果的影响。研究结果表明：上市公司环境信息披露质量总体偏低,行业、地区差异显著;环境规制对环境信息披露质量的影响存在“区间效应”,且因产权性质而异,其中,环境规制与国有企业环境信息披露质量呈“U”型关系,民营企业环境信息披露质量呈倒“U”型关系;政治关联会对环境规制与环境信息披露质量的关系产生调节作用,相比于一般民营企业,高政治关联民营企业环境信息披露质量对环境规制的敏感性更强（倒“U”型曲线更陡峭）、容忍度更弱（倒“U”型曲线更早出现拐点）。     

环保补贴与企业绿色转型：“环境导向”抑或“效率至上”

大量研究显示,作为促进企业绿色转型最主要的激励政策,环保补贴无助于提升企业的绿色创新,这或因为环保补贴中存在“偏环保绩效轻创新绩效”的结构性矛盾。为证明以上观点,本文利用2011-2019年A股上市公司数据,使用文本分析方法将环保补贴结构分解为环保研发补贴与环保非研发补贴进行研究,结果显示:第一,具有短期“环境导向”特征的非研发补贴挤占了企业研发投入,而兼具“环保基因”和“研发基因”的环保研发补贴可通过缓解内外源融资约束提升企业的创新绩效,从而促进企业绿色创新。第二,异质性分析发现,环保研发补贴在制造业和重污染行业样本中激励作用最强,而企业的政治关联及规模大小也会影响环保补贴政策的作用效果。第三,环保补贴政策设计应兼顾“环境”与“效率”,将短期环境保护与构建企业绿色创新转型的长效机制相结合,实现长期环境友好型增长。     

Environmental compliance and human capital: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms

By using a unique cross-sectional dataset of Chinese industrial firms, this paper investigates the external and internal effects of human capital on firms’ environmental performance. The result shows that firms have better environmental compliance because they are ‘pushed’ into compliance by the internal driver of human capital and ‘pulled’ to be environmental friendly by the external force of social human capital stock. This finding is robust when we take into account the possible endogeneity of human capital. In addition, evidence from this study suggests that the current situation of weak implementation of environmental supervision and evasion of environmental monitoring could be improved by promotion of internal and external human capital.     

环境技术转移的最优社会福利选择——以发展中国家为视角

本文以发展中国家为视角,构建一个基本的双寡头Cournot模型,来分析环境技术从发达国家转移至发展中国家,对发展中国家商品生产和社会福利产生的影响.本文认为环境技术从发达国家无偿转移至发展中国家,对发展中国家社会福利的影响具有不确定性.通过引入福利函数并求解最优的社会福利,发现对发展中国家而言,最优的社会福利选择是:当国内企业生产成本等于国外企业生产成本与环境技术的产量溢出之差时,环境技术的完全转移才是发展中国家的最优社会福利选择.并据此推导出社会福利最优的环境技术转移路径.     

Environmental compliance and human capital: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms

By using a unique cross-sectional dataset of Chinese industrial firms, this paper investigates the external and internal effects of human capital on firms’ environmental performance. The result shows that firms have better environmental compliance because they are ‘pushed’ into compliance by the internal driver of human capital and ‘pulled’ to be environmental friendly by the external force of social human capital stock. This finding is robust when we take into account the possible endogeneity of human capital. In addition, evidence from this study suggests that the current situation of weak implementation of environmental supervision and evasion of environmental monitoring could be improved by promotion of internal and external human capital.     

Alternative indicators for predicting the probability of declining inflation: evidence from the US

The performance of inflation indicators for predicting the probabilityof inflation falling inside constant and moving targets is consideredwith a probit model using US data. Given the Federal ReserveSystem's emphasis on achieving price stability, particular attentionis given to the target that future inflation will be below recentinflation. In contrast with earlier years, the unemploymentand capacity utilisation rates do not perform well in forecastingthe direction of inflation in the mid and late 1990s. We suggestthat extending the Keynesian Phillips curve analysis to considerchanges in labour market conditions, technological advance andworker skills, and openness will increase understanding of theseissues.     

环境知识学习、绿色创新行为与环境绩效

基于长三角地区367家制造企业有效样本,分析环境知识学习、绿色创新行为与环境绩效三者之间的内在关联。结果表明,环境知识学习对绿色创新行为和环境绩效均具有正向影响;绿色创新行为对环境绩效具有正向影响;绿色创新行为在环境知识利用性学习与环境绩效间发挥完全中介效应,而在环境知识探索性学习与环境绩效关系间发挥部分中介效应。结论揭示了环境知识学习与环境绩效之间的内在作用机制,拓展了组织学习与环境管理等领域的理论空间,对企业实施绿色发展战略具有启示意义。     

从开放宏观的视角看环境污染问题:一个综述

在全球化背景下,伴随着国际间的要素流动,环境问题越来越多地被赋予了全球化的内容。本文将环境与增长、环境与贸易、环境与就业、环境与人口迁移等研究文献纳入到一个开放宏观分析框架中,通过文献研究发现,国际分工使"南—北"之间存在了多纬度的"环境不平等":首先,环境与经济增长问题先后经历了三个发展阶段,即罗马俱乐部提出的"增长极限说"、环境库兹涅茨曲线假说、贸易与环境库兹涅茨曲线假说相关性的争论。随着研究的推进,环境与增长问题越来越类似于一枚硬币的两面,难以同时兼得,但是,由于国际分工模式的差异,发展中国家却为发达国家提供了"污染储藏地"。其次,虽然环境规制使企业损失了部分"棕色"就业,但是环境保护同样能够创造"绿色"就业,然而,在国际分工背景下,环境保护是否有利于发展中国家的整体就业还存在着争议。最后,环境恶化已经导致一些国家出现了"环境难民"以及随之而来的人口迁移。到2050年,全世界由气候变化引起的人口迁移很可能达到5千万至7亿。然而,穷国和富国的环境压力和迁移能力却不尽相同,从某种程度上,这也是国际分工产生的间接影响,但是,关于这一问题的研究还十分有限。     

Environmental regulation: choice of instruments under imperfect compliance

Compliance is an important issue in environmental regulation. We discuss some of the key elements of the problem and analyze a situation where emissions are not random and firms are risk-neutral. We study the firm’s decision on emissions and compliance when the environmental regulation is based on standards and the enforcement agency audits the firm with a certain probability. We compare total emissions when environmental regulation is based on different instruments: standards, taxes, and tradable permits. We show that when compliance is an issue, environmental taxes are superior to the other instruments, and we analyze the (static) efficiency of the solution. This paper originated from the AEE/REE presidential address for the XXX Simposio de Análisis Económico (Murcia 2005). It builds on the research project on optimal enforcement in environmental problems done in collaboration with David Pérez-Castrillo. I would like to thank David Pérez-Castrillo and Pau Olivella for their useful comments. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (BEC2003-01132) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Barcelona Economics - CREA and 2005SGR-00836).     

环境规制、能源要素价格与绿色创新效率 ——以长江经济带为例

以“共抓大保护、不搞大开发”为导向推动长江经济带发展,需掌握不同环境规制类型与能源要素价格对长江经济带绿色创新的影响。本文运用面板门槛回归模型聚焦讨论能源要素价格与不同环境规制类型对长江经济带绿色创新效率的影响。研究结果表明:命令控制型环境规制和市场激励型环境规制显著抑制了长江经济带绿色创新效率,不支持“波特假说”;自愿型环境规制显著提高了长江经济带绿色创新效率,验证了“波特假说”。环境规制对长江经济带绿色创新存在显著的空间异质性,且在能源要素价格的不同区间下环境规制带来的影响具有明显差异。不同环境规制下的能源要素价格指标函数均不一致,但存在交叉区间,而在主要环境规制类型下能源要素价格对长江经济带绿色创新效率的影响显著为负。控制变量的研究表明,产业结构和产业规模均在一定程度上显著地积极影响长江经济带绿色创新效率,而社会购买力在一定程度削减了长江经济带绿色创新效率。因此,政府需要进一步深化能源价格市场化改革,多角度、差异化实施环境规制行为,共同发挥社会团体对绿色创新的影响。     

Mergers,Privatization and Environmental Considerations

The purpose of this paper is to analyze both merger sustainability and optimal privatization decisions, in an international mixed oligopoly model when it is explicitly assumed that firms’ production pollutes the environment. Contrary to traditional theory it is shown that both a merger between private firms and between one private and one public firm could be sustainable. Furthermore, the effects of environmental considerations on mixed firms’ optimal degree of privatization are analyzed.     

Openness and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the relationship in China between trade, growth and emissions using provincial-level data for water (chemical oxygen demand: COD) and air (sulphur dioxide: SO₂). It analyses the period 1990–2007 in three steps. First, the income ‘turning point’ of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) has been estimated using quadratic log function and obtained a turning point consistent with existing studies. Second, adopting Dean's (2002) simultaneous equations system, the relationships between trade, growth and emissions has been estimated and the results confirm the dominance of scale effects over technique effects. Third, the estimated per capita turning point for EKC is used to split the provincial industrial database into two groups (below and above turning point income) and simultaneous equations are estimated separately for them. The split sample provided limited support for the trade-induced emissions hypothesis for COD, but not for SO_2. At the provincial level rising incomes via increased levels of international trade were associated with falling COD due to the technique effect, so that rising incomes among the provinces tended to be associated with lower emissions. Stricter environmental regulations are required for growing incomes because they may encourage better production techniques.