地勘单位改革之路

地勘单位改革的真正难题在于难以找到地勘单位改革的有力规制支持、难以准确区分公益性地质工作和商业性地质工作、难以把握地勘单位改革的时机、难以弥补文化大革命后三十年的地勘工作滞后损失、难以统筹地勘单位改革的声音等.对地勘单位改革的走向判断及政策建议:(1)地勘单位改革不能是全部企业化;(2)地勘单位改革需要循序渐进进行,不宜下猛药;(3)地勘单位改革要有明确的时间表;(4)地勘单位的优惠政策要具有可操作性;(5)允许大型矿山企业和地勘单位互相购并,允许资本入股地勘单位.     

地勘单位的改制,改组,改造

地勘单位的改制、改组、改造关于地勘单位改组、改造的思考（冶金部中南地质勘查局冯日新）：１．对地勘单位企业化进程不利因素的分析。将地勘单位置于当前迅速发展的市场环境中，并与同规模国有企业相比较，可以更加清晰地透视地勘单位在企业化进程中特点。①地勘单位事...     

地勘单位改制转企分配制度改革的探讨

地勘单位改制转企并逐步建立现代企业制度 ,分配制度的改革是其重要的组成部分。传统的地勘单位分配制度已经明显不适应地勘单位改革与发展。加深对地勘单位分配制度的认识 ,探索建立一套适应时代要求的、符合地勘单位特点的、科学合理的分配制度 ,对于进一步推进地勘单位改革具有事半功倍的效果。     

地勘单位企业化改量的政策支持

地勘单位企业化改革需要国家、地方的政策支持,地勘队伍“属地化”管理以来的改革情况,地勘单位企业化改革面临的形势和条件揭示和决定了支持政策的重要性和必要性。地勘单位企业化改革需要的支持政策包括：切实保障现有的地勘企事业单位人员的切身利益和妥善解决历史遗留问题的政策;为地勘单位今后的生存与发展提供支持的政策。地勘单位要努力争取政策,积极稳妥地推进改革,国土资源部在指导新一轮地勘单位改革时应把主要精力放在如何为地勘单位争取政策上;地方政府要加强对地勘单位改革发展的领导和支持,相关部门要切实加大对地勘单位改革的支持力度。     

试论地勘单位企业化改革的政策支持

地勘单位企业化改革需要国家、地方的政策支持,地勘队伍"属地化"管理以来的改革情况,地勘单位企业化改革面临的形势和条件揭示和决定了支持政策的重要性和必要性。地勘单位企业化改革需要的支持政策包括:切实保障现有的地勘企事业单位人员的切身利益和妥善解决历史遗留问题的政策;为地勘单位今后的生存与发展提供支持的政策。地勘单位要努力争取政策,积极稳妥地推进改革,国土资源部在指导新一轮地勘单位改革时应把主要精力放在如何为地勘单位争取政策上;地方政府要加强对地勘单位改革发展的领导和支持,相关部门要切实加大对地勘单位改革的支持力度。     

加强文化建设提升地勘单位核心竞争力

地勘文化是地勘单位长期工作实践所形成的独特文化,是地勘工作人员所遵循的共同理念、价值观念、地勘精神、行为规范和准则的总和。文化建设的过程,就是地勘单位核心能力的培育过程。随着地勘单位改革与发展的不断深入,只有大力加强地勘文化建设,才能更深层次地促进单位核心竞争力的提升。     

地勘单位改革成效的衡量标准及其定位研究

以地勘单位实践活动及其在国民经济中的重要作用和地位,作为衡量地勘单位改革成效的标准,并进一步分析今后地勘单位企业化市场经营的要件,则地勘单位应定性为既长期保持事业身份,又不断按企业化的经营理念去运营。使地勘单位长期保持事业单位企业化管理状况,这是国家宏观经济发展对地矿行业的依存关系、地勘单位在国家产业链条中的重要作用决定的地勘单位应有的待遇和发展定位。     

地勘单位应收账款管理问题及对策

地勘单位应收账款指地勘单位因提供劳务而形成的应收款项，它属于地勘单位的债权，是地勘单位流动资产的一部分。应收账款数额的遽增，降低了地勘单位的资金使用效率，使地勘单位效益下降，应收账款过大容易产生资金链断裂的风险，因此，地勘单位必须加强对应收账款的管理。     

对地勘单位企业化过程中一些基本问题的认识与对策

地勘单位企业化是整个地勘行业改革的核心。作者从地勘单位企业化的概念和内涵的理解考虑，提出要正确处理好地勘单位企业化与地勘本业的关系，地勘单位企业化与地勘费的关系，并提出了与此相关的各项政策和措施     

论地勘财务风险管理

地勘财务风险指地勘单位财务活动中因各种不确定因素影响,使地勘单位的财务收益与预期收益发生偏离,从而使地勘单位有蒙受经济损失的机会和可能。财务风险作为一种信号,能够全面综合地反映地勘单位的经营状况。文章从地勘单位的外部原因和内部原因两个方面对地勘单位财务风险的成因进行了分析,并对如何防范地勘单位经济活动过程中的地勘财务风险提出了建议:应当根据地勘单位自身实际情况,进行适当财务风险决策,以达到降低风险,改善经营管理,提高地勘单位效益的目的。     

Price transmission between products at different stages of manufacturing in forest industries

The theory of demand and supply implies a positive relationship, or “price transmission” between the prices of products at different stages of manufacturing. This relationship was investigated with quarterly prices of softwood stumpage in the US South, and national prices of forest products, from 1977 to 2002. All prices, net of inflation, were found to be nonstationary and there was no evidence of co-integration between prices. Vector autogressive models, augmented by Granger causality tests and multiplier analysis showed that there was a one-to-one permanent positive response of the southern sawtimber stumpage price to a permanent change in the national lumber price. There was also a one-third permanent positive response of the national paper price to a permanent change in the national pulp price. There was no relation between regional pulpwood prices and national pulp or paper prices. When price transmission was significant, the full adjustment took about 2 years.     

Application of an ecosystem function framework to perceptions of community woodlands

Owners, local residents, government, and conservation organisations can express divergent preferences in the development and management of local woodlands. The perceptions of these four groups were examined, in the context of three community woodlands in Eastern England, using an ecosystem function framework. In a pilot study, residents were able to allocate a relative importance to woodland ecosystem services which were then related to “regulation”, “habitat”, and “production” or “information” functions. However residents also placed importance on negative services or “dis-services” associated with the woodland ecosystem. Therefore a fifth category of “dis-services” was included in the main survey which included 84 local residents, three woodland owners, three government institutions, and six representatives from conservation groups. Each of the four groups placed greatest importance on services associated with habitat (16–39% of the total importance) and information (30–50%) functions suggesting, in this example, mutual interest in the use of woodlands as a habitat or recreational resource. By contrast a potential area of difference was the particularly high importance placed by one owner on dis-services such as fly tipping. In addition the woodland owners placed higher importance (10–20%), than local residents and conservation groups (7–9%), on the productive services of the wood. This suggests a need for communication when production-related operations affect recreation. The ecosystem function framework appears to be a useful approach for highlighting potential tensions and areas of mutual interest in the management of semi-natural ecosystems.     

In Vino ‘No’ Veritas: impacts of fraud on wine imports in China

China is one of the largest wine importing countries in the world and is poised for continued import growth in the future. Increased wine purchases throughout China have given rise to persistent fraud where fake wines are packaged and sold with counterfeit contents and labels. For exporting countries like France, counterfeit wines displace market share, damage foreign brand reputation, and cause distrust in consumers who are aware of counterfeiting problems throughout the country. We examine the impact of fraudulent wine events (as measured by negative media reports) on Chinese wine demand differentiated by supplying country. We employ the Rotterdam demand system and a switching regression procedure to estimate import demand and compare results across different media variable specifications. Results consistently show that negative reports disproportionately affect French wine regardless of how the media variable is specified. This is not surprising because most fraudulent events involve French wine counterfeits.     

An evaluation framework for earthquake-responsive land administration

In recent years earthquakes and their secondary hazards have claimed the largest number of lives of all large natural disasters. Some of the world’s most earthquake-prone zones are also areas of high population density. The impact is magnified by vulnerability factors including non-enforcement of building codes, knowledge gaps, urban poverty and poor governance capacity to manage and reduce earthquake risks. Poor security of land tenure and property rights increases the vulnerability of people and affects their ability to respond to natural disasters.Earthquake recovery and reconstruction provides very significant challenges for land agencies, with these challenges differing from one country to the next due to differences in the local context. Drawing on contrasting case studies in Haiti, Nepal and New Zealand this paper identifies the common post-earthquake land administration functions and challenges that may apply to many contexts. These lessons provide land agencies and other key stakeholders with a summary of the challenges an earthquake poses for land administration at different post-disaster stages. We also discuss the policy and regulatory, institutional, operational and preparedness lessons for land administration. From these lessons we propose a framework for evaluating the earthquake-responsiveness of a land administration system. This framework can be used by a land agency in an earthquake prone region, or where an earthquake has recently occurred, to assess what challenges to land administration might occur in the event of an earthquake, and the preparedness of their land administration system.     

Agrarian Poverty,Nutrition and Economic Class – A Study of Gujarat,India

This paper analyses poverty and calorific undernourishment in the Indian state of Gujarat, where high and market‐led industrial growth has resulted in rapid economic improvement. The study is carried out through a combination of secondary and survey‐based data. We conclude that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward‐looking growth has not resulted in significant reduction of poverty or malnourishment in rural areas. Furthermore, while land ownership is officially used as a proxy for wealth distribution, class position appears a better predictor of poverty status in the rural areas than landownership per se. At the policy level, there is a need to revive the agrarian economy and create new non‐agricultural assets, and the primary focus in the state must shift to the distribution of created assets rather than a single‐minded focus on growth.     

Does sustainable agricultural growth require a system of innovation? Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso

This paper tests the ‘systems of innovation’ hypothesis for a selection of crops in Ghana and Burkina Faso that have shown significant growth in production over an approximately 20-year period. The question is whether such growth can only occur if supported by a system of innovation. Using two indicators (a common understanding on objectives and priorities, and a high level of interactivity), we find little evidence for the existence of anything that might be considered a high functioning system of innovation.     

Local impacts of industrial tree plantations: An empirical analysis in Indonesia across plantation types

The values ascribed to industrial tree plantations are often controversial. Hence knowledge of their perceived impacts is important for improving their integration in rural landscapes. In 2016 we conducted household surveys with 606 respondents living in villages adjacent to acacia, teak and pine plantations across three islands in Indonesia (Java, Borneo, Sumatra). Results show that perceptions toward pine and teak plantations tend to differ from those toward acacia pulpwood plantations in several ways. Pine and teak plantations are perceived to have a higher number and variety of benefits and services, a higher number of positive impacts, a better environmental record, and to present more opportunities to local people for use of plantation land and products for improving rural livelihoods. In addition, we find that villagers around acacia pulpwood plantations tend to seek economic development and infrastructure to open up remote areas, yet their expectations were often only partially met. Recommendations from our analysis include: the role of the State in plantations must be clarified and potentially reinforced; the role of institutions as intermediaries is fundamental; and contributions by communities to design of management plans should be accommodated.     

Upstream demand for water use by new tree plantations imposes externalities on downstream irrigated agriculture and wetlands*

Large‐scale tree plantations in high rainfall upstream areas can reduce fresh water inflows to river systems, thereby imposing external costs on downstream irrigation, stock and domestic water users and wetland interests. We take the novel approach of expressing all benefits and costs of establishing plantations in terms of $ per gigalitre (GL) of water removed annually from river flows, setting upstream demands on the same basis as downstream demands. For the Macquarie Valley, a New South Wales sub‐catchment of Australia’s Murray‐Darling Basin, we project changes in land and water use and changes in economic surpluses under two policy settings: without and with a policy requiring permanent water entitlements to be purchased from downstream parties, before plantation establishment. Without the policy, and given a high stumpage value for trees ($70/m³), upstream gains in economic surplus projected from expanding plantations are $639 million; balanced against $233 million in economic losses by downstream irrigators and stock and domestic water users for a net gain of $406 million, but 345 GL lower mean annual environmental flows. With the policy, smaller gains in upstream economic surplus from trees ($192 million), added to net downstream gains ($138 million) from sale of water, result in gains of $330 million with no reduction in environmental flows. Sustaining the 345 GL flow for a $76 million (406–330) reduction in gains to economic surplus may be seen to cost only $0.22 million/GL; but this is much lower than the market value of the first units of that water to agriculture and forestry.     

Underpayment of Small Producers of Coffee and Cocoa in Sierra Leone

Fieldwork shows that many Sierra Leonean producers do not receive the official producer price for their coffee and cocoa, due to the concentration of buying stations, credit relations, the small quantities offered for sale, and the lack of marketing knowledge of the numerous and unorganized farmers. To the traders underpayment may seem economically justifiable to a certain extent, but to the farmers it means poverty and debt. A new village marketing centre project aims at remedying this situation and has already led to higher prices. Although no longer allowed to take their "just" share from the producers, traders are still willing to deal with the new centres.     

Malaria incidence and agricultural efficiency in Uganda

The cost of accessing healthcare can be a major determinant of disease prevalence, which in turn has short‐ and long‐term welfare implications on poor households. In response, governments in developing countries often resort to subsidizing the cost of drugs, which, while perhaps easier to administer, may not always be the most effective way of addressing healthcare cost. In this regard, we analyze the impact of different types of household level health expenses on disease incidence and agricultural production efficiency. We use data from the 2006 Uganda National Household Survey, which covered approximately 7,400 households. The results suggest that a 10% increase in consultation, medicine, and hospitalization expenses would reduce malaria incidence respectively by 35.6%, 20.5%, and 21.3 %, which translates into a 1.1%, 0.6%, and 0.6 % decrease in agricultural inefficiency, respectively. The results indicate that helping poor households meet expenses for consultation through subsidies or eliminating consultation fees has a larger impact on malaria incidence and agricultural productivity among poor rural households than subsidizing the cost of medical drugs, the most common avenue chosen by developing country governments in the fight against the disease.