Strategic Interaction in Spending on Environmental Protection： Spatial Evidence from Chinese Cities

In China, the responsibility of protecting the environment lies largely with local governments. Within the framework of spatial econometrics, we investigate empirically the consequence of such an institutional setting. Using city‐level data for China, the present study finds that city governments behave strategically in making spending decisions regarding environmental protection. This paper finds that a city government appears to cut its own spending as a response to the rise in environmental protection spending by its neighbors. Hence, environmental protection tends to be underprovided. As a result, we suggest that centralizing the environmental protection responsibility to a higher level of government would be beneficial in terms of controlling pollution in China.     

The impacts of environmental pollution and brain drain on income inequality

This paper establishes a two-sector general equilibrium model of a small open economy to examine the impact of environmental pollution on income inequality via brain drain. The results of the equilibrium modelling show that environmental pollution in the source country can widen the income gap between skilled and unskilled workers and that brain drain caused by environmental pollution will amplify this effect; furthermore, improving the environmental quality in the recipient country will widen the skilled-unskilled income gap in the source country. Our empirical results show that deteriorating the environmental quality in the source country increases income inequality and that brain drain caused by environmental quality will amplify the effect. Our sample is divided into four sub-samples: stage of national development, level of national income, status of environmental pollution and situation of brain drain. We find that environmental pollution has different effects on income inequality via brain drain in these sub-samples. Comparing the heterogeneous components of environmental quality, we find that brain drain caused by diminished ecosystem vitality and by air quality affecting human health will widen income inequality but that other factors related to environmental quality have no significant impacts on the effect of brain drain on income inequality. The results of a robustness test support these conclusions.     

Budget Structure and Pollution Control： A Cross-country Analysis and Implications for China

In the published literature, the differences in environmental performance across countries are typically explained using the Environmental Kuznets Curve. The Environmental Kuznets Curve states that pollution initially increases with economic growth. Once GDP per capita reaches a certain level, the relationship reverses. In the present paper, we provide an alternative hypothesis, where budget structure plays an important role in explaining the variations in pollution across the world.＂ the lower the business-related taxes as a share of total tax revenue, the higher the property tax in total tax revenue and the higher the ratio of public health expenditure in total expenditure, then the stronger the incentive of pollution control and the lower the pollution level. Our empirical findings reveal that the budget structure does have an important impact on pollution control. The policy implication of this research is that effective control of environmental pollution requires changes in tax structure and expenditure assignment. This research has important policy implications for China ＂s tax system reform and pollution control efforts.     

当前我国环境污染责任保险发展的主要问题及对策建议

我国环境污染责任保险的试点已取得较大进展,但其发展仍然十分滞后,在发展中还存在经营风险大、经营技术落后、法律法规建设缺位、政府支持不足等问题。环境污染责任保险要健康有序的发展,必须改进保险经营技术;建立有效的风险分散机制;加快法律法规建设,使环境污染责任保险走上规范化、制度化发展的轨道;发挥政府的主导作用,切实推动环境污染责任保险的发展。     

Measuring Green Productivity Growth for China's Manufacturing Sectors: 1991–2000*

Over the past two decades, China has sustained rapid economic growth of 8–10 percent, part of which is attributed to the positive total factor productivity (TFP) growth. However, this extraordinary economic performance has been accompanied by severe environmental pollution and associated health damage. The conventional TFP method is biased in interpreting the progress of technology change because it does not consider non‐marketable residues, such as environmental pollution, and, hence, efficiency improvements in terms of pollution abatement technology and environmentally friendly management are ignored. This bias might direct our attention to less efficient use of environmental friendly abatement technologies or send wrong signals to policy‐makers. To address this issue, the present paper applies a modified welfare‐based green TFP approach, treating environmental damage as non‐desirable (negative) residual output. Therefore, environmental efficiency is taken into account to accurately interpret technological progress from a social welfare point of view. Based on a national time‐series input–output table, historical capital and labor input data for China and sectoral level air pollution emission data from 1991 to 2000, the empirical results suggest that with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, many pollution intensive sectors, such as electricity, primary metal and chemical industries, improved their environmental efficiency in the late 1990s. However, because of the weak environmental regulations in construction and transportation, and in sectors primarily composed of small private or township and village industrial enterprises, firms within these industries contributed to increasing environmental degradation.     

经济增长、城镇化与环境污染——基于空间联立方程的经验分析

文章利用2003~2014年的全国253个地级城市的数据,建立空间联立方程模型,对经济增长、城镇化与环境污染之间的相互关系及空间溢出效应进行经验分析。实证发现：环境库兹列茨曲线客观存在,但不同城市不同污染物到达临界点时间并不一致;经济增长与环境污染相互影响,环境库兹列茨曲线（EKC）为双向的倒U型关系。城镇化与环境污染也相互影响,但城镇化只有处于较高水平时,环境污染才会阻碍其发展。经济增长、城镇化与环境污染均存在空间溢出效应。周边城市的经济增长与环境污染会加剧本地环境污染,周边城市的城镇化发展会降低本地的环境污染。     

临港经济发展中政府管制下的环境税收制度初探

临港经济的发展在取得巨大成就的同时也带了严重的环境污染问题,而环境的恶化必然阻碍临港经济的发展。环境税收制度作为解决环境污染的重要经济手段,已经初步显示出其优越性。如何更好地利用环境税收制度解决临港经济发展中带来的环境污染问题,对许多港口城市的经济发展都具有重要意义。     

Does environmental regulation affect firm exports? Evidence from wastewater discharge standard in China

This paper examines the effect of water pollution regulation on polluters' exporting decisions and exporting structure. Using a detailed firm-by-product level dataset, we employ a difference-in-differenceds model to identify the causal relationship between environmental regulation and firms' exporting performance. We find that stringent environmental regulation decreases both export likelihood and export values. Moreover, we examine the channels that the environmental regulation could affect firms' exporting performance through entry-exit of the export market, price transmission, adjustments of exporting destinations, and product switch. The tightening wastewater discharge standard appears to deter the new polluters rather than incumbents to enter the export market. Productive polluters could gain the relative larger export market by lowering down exporting prices and selling more products overseas. In response to this water pollution regulation, polluters would make substantial adjustments in their exporting destinations, exporting products, and exports value via different trade modes.     

Evaluating public participation impact on environmental protection and ecological efficiency in China: Evidence from PITI disclosure

The industrial pollution caused by China's unprecedent economic expansion seriously imperils public health, giving rise to public's high demand for better environmental quality. The paper employs the difference-in-differences (DID) methodology to conduct a quasi-natural experiment based on the Pollution Information Transparency Index (PITI) to evaluate the public participation impact on pollution emissions reduction and environment technology efficiency. The results show that PITI information disclosure has a positive influence on pollution emissions reduction, however, some existing literatures may overstate the effect of public participation on environment improvement in China, the empirical results show that government administrative measures still play essential role at current stage. The paper also finds that the influence of public participation exists in eastern China rather than in central and western China. In addition, the results of using environment technology efficiency as outcome variable show insignificant effect, but eastern China has positive environment technology efficiency, suggesting that economic development may increase enterprise technological input, hence achieving mutually beneficial achievements of economy and ecological efficiency.     

中国和印度尼西亚的贸易与环境问题分析

随着双边贸易规模的不断扩大,中国和印尼不可避免地承受着与之紧密相连的环境压力。以投资为主要纽带的环境保护合作,不仅可以带动双方环保产业的发展,促进清洁能源的开发与利用,还能够有效减缓与绿色壁垒有关的贸易摩擦,推动双方贸易的深化与拓展。     

Russia’s energy systems: Opportunities and prospects

The paper considers macroeconomic forecasts of the performance of Russia’s Fuel and Energy Complex (FEC) up to 2030–2040 based on projections of economic development (worked out at the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences), predictive assessments of the economic aspects of the production of major fuel types, Russia’s involvement in meeting the world’s demand for oil and gas, and the progress in the development of new energy sources. It is demonstrated that, according to the expected demand for energy carriers and the proposed changes in the FEC structure and technological base, carbon dioxide emissions by FEC facilities in the considered term will not exceed the 1990 level recorded in the Kyoto Protocol. It is shown that the annual volume of investment in the energy industry by 2030 should be at least double the level of the 2000–2010 requirements and by 2040 it is expected to increase by another 15–20%.     

Are China's trade interests overestimated? Evidence from firms’ importing behavior and pollution emissions

Importing is an important driving force for a country's economic growth. While importing promotes the expansion of economic scale, does it also lead the increase of pollution emissions in production? In this paper, we establish a micro theoretical model to analyze the impacts of importing on firms’ environmental performance, and then use the data of China's manufacturing firms for empirical tests. We show that the importing of intermediate goods or capital goods will lead to the increase of firms’ production scale, and thereby increasing their total emissions, which suggests that China's environment will be deteriorated by importing. On the other hand, importing also has some positive environmental effects that firms will increase their abatement investment after importing intermediate goods or capital goods, thus firms’ emission intensity can be effectively reduced. Altogether, this paper provides important evidence on the impacts of importing on pollution emissions at product-level. We suggest that when analyzing China's interests in trade, the environmental effects of trade should be taken into consideration, otherwise China's gains from trade will be overestimated. This paper also has important implications that while developing the economy through international trade, the government should strengthen environmental protection and advocate green trade.     

Air pollution and mental health: Evidence from China Health and Nutrition Survey

Using the mental health data of the elderly in China Health and Nutrition Survey and city-level air pollution data, this paper empirically analyzes the influence of air pollution on the mental health of the elderly. Results show that with the aggravation of air pollution, the mental health of the elderly decreases significantly. Specifically, a 10 μg/m³ increase in air pollution causes a decrease of 2.43 points in mental health. Air pollution has a greater effect on males, rural residents, and low-income and low-education groups. In addition, this paper tests two mechanisms, namely, health status and individual activity, and finds that air pollution can reduce mental health by increasing the incidence and severity of disease. Moreover, the intensification of air pollution leads the elderly to prefer indoor activities. Based on individual data, this paper estimates the health effects of air pollution, which provides a basis for the formulation of environmental and health policies.     

经济增长与雾霾污染治理:空间环境库兹涅茨曲线检验

文章在对国内外与经济增长、环境污染及环境库兹涅茨曲线（EKC）相关的文献进行述评的基础上，构建了中国经济增长与雾霾污染治理的理论分析框架，利用ArcGIS软件将NASA提供的2003-2016年全球遥感地图年均PM_2.5浓度栅格数据值解析为中国281个地级及以上城市具体的数值，采用探索性空间数据分析（ESDA）方法与动态空间杜宾面板数据模型（SDDPDM）对中国经济增长与雾霾污染之间是否存在EKC曲线以及引致雾霾污染空间溢出的因素进行了经验识别。结果发现，中国（整体）、东部地区及中西部地区均存在雾霾污染EKC曲线（中西部地区没有通过显著性检验）且处于雾霾污染随着经济增长而加剧的EKC曲线第一阶段（拐点为第二阶段）。这与区域经济发展水平，特别是与区域经济发展水平离雾霾污染EKC曲线拐点的距离有关。区域经济发展水平离雾霾污染EKC曲线拐点越近，该区域雾霾污染EKC曲线越显著；反之，则越不显著。中国（整体）、东部地区及中西部地区经济发展水平离各自雾霾污染EKC曲线拐点的距离分别为中等、较近及较远，故，在上述三种情况下，雾霾污染EKC曲线的显著性会出现差异。交通运输对中国雾霾污染治理起到了消极作用；科技水平、产业结构合理化及教育水平对雾霾污染治理均能起到积极的促进作用。中西部地区FDI对中国雾霾污染治理所起的作用是积极的，而东部地区FDI则相反。     

隐性经济视角下环境规制对中国城市环境污染的影响——基于地级市经验证据的分析

在已有关于环境规制强度对环境污染的影响研究中,鲜有考虑隐性经济这一重要因素,而隐性经济本身不仅会带来环境污染,也会削弱环境规制的实际绩效。因此,纳入隐性经济这一重要因素,从隐性经济的视角出发,以中国245个地级市为研究对象,分别采用多指标多原因法和熵值法测算中国2007—2017年245个地级市的隐性经济规模和环境规制强度综合指数,运用静态面板数据模型就环境规制强度在隐性经济视角下对环境污染的影响进行实证检验。实证结果显示,环境规制强度会对环境污染产生显著的负向效应,而环境规制强度和隐性经济规模的交互项会对环境污染产生显著的正向效应,环境规制对环境污染的总效应则取决于直接的负向效应和间接的正向效应的净效应。隐性经济会对环境污染产生显著的正向影响,表明隐性经济规模扩大会进一步恶化环境污染状况。     

Border pollution reduction in China: The role of livestock environmental regulations

This paper studies the effect of environmental regulations on border pollution reduction in developing countries' rural areas by taking livestock environmental regulations (LERs) in China as a quasi-natural experiment. Applying the generalized difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) method, we find that LERs are effective in reducing border pollution: the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₃−N) of the border counties are 21.78% and 39.51%, less than that of the interior counties. We document that the effectiveness of LERs in reducing border pollution can be attributed to the fact that LERs require local governments to make collective decisions in fighting livestock pollution. Further heterogeneity analysis finds that the reduction effect of LERs on border pollution is greater in the downstream border and underdeveloped areas. Our paper implies that the externality of border pollution can be internalized through collective decision-making between local governments.     

基于政府间博弈竞争的越界流域水污染治理困境分析

论文基于政府间博弈竞争的分析框架,分析中央和地方政府间、同级地方政府间博弈竞争在越界流域水污染治理中的策略性行为,通过对双重博弈竞争模型均衡结果的分析,发现地方政府对辖区流域水污染治理的概率取决于中央政府的监管成本和处罚力度,而在缺乏有效监督和处罚的情况下,地方政府的"理性"选择是不治理,地方政府间的"囚徒困境"导致流域水污染越来越严重。首先,要构建强有力的流域组织协调机构;其次,要建立科学的地方政府绩效评估体系;第三,要构建流域水污染治理生态补偿机制。     

Energy,environment and the rural poor in South Africa

The lack of adequate energy services imposes heavy social and environmental costs on poor rural households. The rural energy‐environment interface, however, is prone to oversimplistic analyses, especially in the case of the ‘fuelwood problem’, and to a lack of research. International experience suggests that deforestation is not necessarily an ‘energy problem’ resulting from the cutting of trees for fuelwood ‐ and therefore that it may not have an energy solution, like planting more trees for firewood. Instead, wood scarcity must be understood under multiple use of wood resources, and policies need to be multifaceted if they are to succeed. South African studies show that wood is becoming increasingly scarce in many areas; here fuelwood collection may contribute to deforestation more than suggested by international experience. In addition to the environmental effects of increasing wood scarcity and its social costs, borne largely by women, another serious problem arises from indoor air pollution caused by wood fires with social and health costs largely unaccounted for to date.     

“对症下药”还是“避重就轻”:环境违规企业补救行为研究

在践行绿色发展理念的背景下,研究环境违规企业补救行为对加强环境治理具有重要意义。文章采用印象管理理论将企业环境违规后用来修复组织形象的策略分为"对症下药"（积极进行绿色创新实现绿色转型）和"避重就轻"（实行其他社会责任转移公众注意力）两方面,将"避重就轻"分为外部社会责任与内部社会责任,利用2013-2017年中国A股上市的制造业企业数据,实证检验环境违规的经济后果以及企业的后续补救方式,并进一步探究其补救行为地区异质性。研究结果表明：环境违规行为会降低企业价值,说明投资者进行投资决策时已逐渐将企业的环境表现纳入考量;但违规企业没有通过绿色创新实现绿色转型,告知公众有关公司环境表现和行为的改变,而是通过加强其他社会责任以转移公众注意力,且更偏向于加强外部社会责任,内部社会责任反而降低了。进一步研究表明环境违规企业"对症下药"行为在西中东三个地区之间并无明显差异,但"避重就轻"行为存在地区异质性,即主要发生在经济较为发达的东部地区。文章提供了环境违规企业重获合法性的可能途径,发现面临合法性压力,企业会选择性参与社会责任。这为深化环境管制成效提供了指引,并在一定程度上揭示了企业社会责任的"伪善"。     

The global economic crisis and the impact on children in Sri Lanka

By the 1970s, Sri Lanka had already achieved a high level of mass well-being, literacy and labour force skills, making it possible to mount a massive investment programme in the late 1970s. Measures taken in 1977 to open the economy emphasized foreign investment and expansion of production, export promotion and employment. Because structures and levels of outlays on essential social welfare were maintained and external resource flows increased, Sri Lanka's economic and health indicators over the 1970s show on balance an improvement in living conditions although pockets of disadvantaged households exist.