“污染避难所”假说在中国的实证检验

"污染避难所"假说认为,发展中国家如果自愿实施较低环境标准,则将成为世界污染的集中地.本文通过建立FDI与环境标准的关系模型得出,环境规制对FDI的影响在统计上虽然显著但是程度很小,中国并末成为世界"污染避难所".     

The Missing Pollution Haven Effect

This paper examines the effect of recent increases inhazardous waste disposal taxes on employment growth inindustries that generate hazardous waste. Mostexisting literature has found that interjurisdictionaldifferences in environmental stringency havenegligible measurable economic consequences. Commonexplanations for this lack of effect include claimsthat (1) measures of environmental stringency arepoorly quantified, (2) compliance costs are modest,(3) variation in compliance costs among jurisdictionsis small, and (4) cross-section data are insufficientto explore the consequences of increasingly stringentstandards. This paper addresses these four concernsby quantifying hazardous waste disposal taxes,demonstrating that they are large and varied acrossjurisdictions in the United States, and showing thatthey have had a significant effect on hazardous wasteshipping among states. The paper then uses a panel ofstate and county-level data to show that despite thesefindings, state hazardous waste disposal taxes do notimpose large employment losses on industries thatgenerate waste.     

An Empirical Examination of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis for India: Towards a Green Leontief Paradox?

Using input–output analysis, we examine whether India can be regarded as a pollution haven. We calculate the extra CO₂, SO₂ and NO _x emissions induced by 1 billion rupees of additional exports. This is compared with the reduction of Indian pollution caused by an import increase of equal size. In contrast to what the pollution haven hypothesis states for developing countries, we find that India considerably gains from extra trade. Comparing 1996/1997 with 1991/1992, the gains have only increased, indicating that India has moved␣further away from being a pollution haven. The outcome is robust to changes in the underlying assumptions.      

Agglomeration Effects in Foreign Direct Investment and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis

Does environmental regulation impair international competitiveness of pollution-intensive industries to the extent that they relocate to countries with less stringent regulation, turning those countries into “pollution havens”? We test this hypothesis using panel data on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows of various industries in the German manufacturing sector and account for several econometric issues that have been ignored in previous studies. Most importantly, we demonstrate that externalities associated with FDI agglomeration can bias estimates away from finding a pollution haven effect if omitted from the analysis. We include the stock of inward FDI as a proxy for agglomeration and employ a GMM estimator to control for endogenous time-varying determinants of FDI flows. Furthermore, we propose a difference estimator based on the least polluting industry to break the possible correlation between environmental regulatory stringency and unobservable attributes of FDI recipients in the cross-section. When accounting for these issues we find robust evidence of a pollution haven effect for the chemical industry.     

外商直接投资对中国环境污染影响的实证分析——基于2004—2011年省际二氧化硫面板数据

外商直接投资如同一把双刃剑,在给东道国带来资金、技术的同时,会对东道国的环境产生不利影响。通过利用29个省,2004—2011年度的面板数据,研究外商直接投资对中国二氧化硫排放的关系。结果证实外商直接投资对中国环境产生了负面影响,并进一步证实,这种影响在东部地区小于中部和西部地区,然后就实证结果提出相关的政策建议。     

环境规制、外商直接投资与“污染避难所”假说——基于中国30个省份面板数据的实证研究

本文基于1998—2008年我国30个省份的面板数据对我国外商直接投资与环境规制之间的关联进行了实证研究。结果表明,环境规制对我国各个地区外商直接投资的流入存在一定的负面影响,但这种影响并不显著;相对而言,经济规模、基础设施状况和外资的集聚效应等对外商直接投资的影响更为显著。而且,环境规制和FDI的格兰杰检验结果表明,环境规制和FDI之间不存在因果关系。因此,可以认为,"污染避难所"假说在中国成立的证据不足。     

"污染天堂"假说与现实

以环境规制降低竞争力的推论为基础,一种假说提出环境标准低的国家会吸纳污染密集型产业集中,从而成为"污染天堂".一些实证研究并不支持环境规制降低竞争力的观点,没有完整的证据说明"污染天堂"的存在.发达国家在多边贸易谈判中不能以假说为依据要求发展中国家抬高环境标准.     

Choosing propensity score matching over regression adjustment for causal inference: when,why and how it makes sense

Summary

This study identified when regression adjustment fails to adjust adequately for differences in observed covariates and where propensity score matching is the only alternative.

Multivariate analysis might fail to adjust for observed confounders if:

• 1. The means of the propensity scores in the two groups are more than one-half a standard deviation apart unless distributions of the covariates in both groups are nearly symmetric, sample sizes of the two groups are approximately the same and distributions of the covariates in the two groups have similar variances;

• 2. The ratio of the propensity score variances in the two groups is significantly different from one;

• 3. The ratio of residual variances in the two groups after adjusting for the propensity score is significantly different from one.

Conducted retrospective analysis showed that the treatment effect would be an estimated $305 (or 26%) less if the misspecified outcome model had been chosen.     

从甲醛污染治理研究中引发的思考与探讨

This paper introduces the effect of economic, statute, environmental protection, and sustainable development of treatment of formaldehyde pollution.     

Thought and Discussion from the Treatment of Formaldehyde Pollution

I.The State of Indoor air pollutionIndoor air pollution has got much attention nowadays.This pa-pertalks about indoorair pollution in the field of statute,economy,environmental protection,conservation and sustainable utiliza-tion of natural resources.Pres…     

产业转移对承接地与转出地的环境影响研究--基于皖江城市带承接产业转移示范区的分析

有关产业转移对承接地和转出地环境影响的研究一直存在较大争议。以皖江城市带承接产业转移示范区为分析对象,采用倾向得分匹配法评估、分析示范区建立对承接地和转出地的生态环境影响,实证得出结论：产业转移示范区的建立对承接地（皖江区域）的环境影响显著为正,而对主要转出地（长三角地区）的环境影响部分显著为正。因此,实施产业转移并不一定会使承接地的环境恶化,只要加强转移进入门槛和环境管制,承接地和转出地通过科学有效的产业转移可以实现环境“双赢”。     

The effects of exchange rate regimes on real exchange rate misalignment

The literature on exchange rate regimes has paid little attention to the effects of exchange rate policies on real exchange rate misalignments. This paper contributes to filling that gap by exploring such relation empirically. Because the underlying model is probably not linear and the treated individuals differ from non-treated individuals, we rely on Matching models rather than on standard regressions. Our main finding is that pegs are associated with more overvaluation. The results are robust to different exchange rate regime classifications, misalignment indexes, and matching estimators. The evidence presented suggests that policy-makers concerned with overvaluation should avoid sticking with rigid arrangements for too long.     

The implications of the US renewable fuel standard programme for farm structure

We investigate the impact of the 2005 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on farm structure, particularly farm size. We rely on the salience of a new ethanol plant in a farmers’ local neighbourhood to identify the impact of the RFS mandate on these spatially advantaged farms. To control for the nonrandom selection of ethanol production facilities, we utilize a propensity score matching estimator, and to remove impact of farm-level or market shifting unobservables resulting from shifts in commodity prices we employ a difference-in-difference (DD) matching approach. We estimate the treatment effect of an ethanol production facility on farm size prior to the RFS mandate and after the RFS programme. The effect of the RFS policy on farm size is obtained as the difference between these two DD matching estimators. Overall, our results suggest that the RFS programme raised the probability of farm size increase by roughly 12–18%, on average, for farms located within a 30-mile radius of new ethanol plants. In addition, the programme contributed to a net increase in farm size of 25–32%, on average, for those spatially advantaged farms.     

The value of health interventions: evaluating asthma case management using matching

Despite large public investments in asthma interventions, there are few rigorous assessments of these programmes and little understanding of what comprises an effective intervention. There is a lack of appropriate data, little technical support is provided, and the programs themselves have little incentive to conduct these analyses. In this study, we apply optimal full matching using propensity scores to estimate the impact of an asthma intervention programme across a range of health outcomes. Our participation model is derived using the Deletion, Substitution and Addition (DSA) algorithm, a method used in epidemiology for model selection. We find that the asthma programme in question has no significant effect on participants that distinguishes them from matched nonparticipants, but it is not clear whether this is due to the effectiveness of the programme, heterogeneity of effects or barriers outside the programme's control. Our findings do show how current programmes could be modified to increase their effectiveness and better inform future research.     

经济增长与环境污染——环境库兹涅茨曲线假说的中国检验

本文运用1996-2002年我国省际面板数据,对我国经济增长与包括水污染、大气污染与固体污染排放在内的6类环境污染指标之间的关系进行了实证检验.实证结果发现,环境库兹涅茨倒U型曲线关系很大程度上取决于污染指标以及估计方法的选取.就本文选取的部分污染指标(工业废水排放、二氧化硫排放)而言,也存在以相对低的人均收入水平越过环境倒U型曲线转折点的可能.并且,包括人口规模、技术进步、环保政策、贸易开放以及产业结构调整等在内的污染控制变量分别对环境库兹涅茨曲线关系起着重要影响.     

Analysis on the Environmental Pollution Problem of China

The paper introduces the basic environmental pollution situation of China and points out that environmental pollution is bottleneck of China＇s economy development. Then it puts forward the main environmental pollution problems of China. At last, it brings forward the countermeasures to environmental pollution.     

The economic policy uncertainty and firm investment in Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the Australian firm investment activity. We find a significant positive relationship between the EPU and the firm investment over 2002 to 2017 period. Our main results remain unchanged after several endogeneity tests. Further analysis reveals that this relationship becomes pronounced for firms if their headquarters located in small states, firms with more tangible assets, higher operating cash flows and cash holdings, higher profits and leverage, but firms with fewer dividend payouts. Our paper sheds lights on the unique attribute of the impact of the EPU on the Australian firm investment activity and offers important policy and managerial implications.     

农村环境污染的网络治理研究

随着工业化和城镇化进程加快,农村环境污染问题日益凸显。如何有效治理农村环境问题已成为社会普遍关注的焦点。与科层治理模式和市场治理模式比较,网络治理具有的多元主体平等、协同治理的独特自在性更契合农村环境污染治理的内在要求。论文首先阐释了农村环境污染网络治理的内涵及框架设计,进而针对农村环境污染网络治理面临的价值目标异化、治理主体权力结构失衡、治理层级结构单一和运行机制形式化的困境进行解构。最后从培育合作治理理念、明确治理权责、构建以政府为主导的多元治理网络结构和建设网络化治理机制提出对策。     

Comparing private and government schools in India: the devil is in the maths

Recent research shows that the gap in learning achievement between private and government schools in India can be explained away by self-selection. Analysing four rounds of panel data and distinguishing between ‘knowing’ and ‘applying’ dimensions of maths learning, I find that there is no private school advantage in the applying domain but that there is an advantage in the knowing domain.     

The spillover effects of United States foreign trade zones

This article empirically tests the geographic and economic spillover effects of foreign trade zones (FTZs) in the United States by utilizing propensity score matching and the geographic rules of the programme. While these FTZ sites are designed to support manufacturing, we find that ZIP codes that receive FTZ sites experience growth in new and existing non-manufacturing establishments. Our results also show that FTZs spillover into nearby ZIP codes. We find that ZIP codes that border FTZ ZIP codes also experience positive effects on non-manufacturing establishments and these spillovers are strongest within a 5-mile radius of an FTZ.