治理环境污染的经济制度安排

环境问题的外部性和环境资源的公共财产属性,决定了解决环境污染问题不能单纯依靠市场机制,需要政府的必要调控和干预,政府干预包括有关法规的制定和经济制度的安排。经济制度具有不可替代的效率作用,且应针对不同的情况安排与市场机制相沟通的不同制度形式,如“排污收费”,“治污收费”,“开征环境税”和“排污权交易”等,将环境保护由过去的政府行为转变为一种由政府调控与经济利益机制驱动相结合的市场行为和企业行为。     

On the Use of Exchange Rates as Trading Rules in a Bilateral System of Transferable Discharge Permits

The use of a system of transferable discharge permitsto control the harmful effects of non-uniformly mixedpollutants requires the application of trading rulesin order to prevent permit trading among sources fromviolating environmental standards. The elements andproperties of bilateral trading rules can be analyzedmore easily once formulated as exchange rates, whichwould convert, in a cost-effective way, the emissionright potentially given up by the seller into an offsetting emission right acquired by the buyer. Inthis article, a new expression for such exchange ratesis proposed and then analyzed to infer someunexplored properties of the system.     

Joint Implementation under the Second Sulfur Protocol: Analysis and Simulation

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the possibility of introducing a system of transferable discharge permits (TDP) to develop the joint implementation procedure conceived in the Second Sulfur Protocol. The analysis is performed considering not only the European countries that have agreed emission reductions in the Protocol, but also a group of non-signing countries that could possibly abate their emissions and alleviate the reduction burden agreed by the former, presumably receiving certain compensation from them in return. The theoretic elements of the system are analyzed and then a simulation software – the program ATLAS – is developed and applied to study the effects of choosing among the possible implementation parameters. In contrast to other simulation programs developed with a similar aim, ATLAS can simulate multilateral permit trades, which are closer than bilateral ones to the concept of joint implementation conceived in the Protocol. The use of this program anticipates that the amount of feasible and profitable transfers would be much higher if a set of European countries which are not Parties to the Protocol were allowed to take part in the system as permit sellers.     

New directions in emissions trading: the potential contribution of new institutional economics

Once an arcane topic even among environmental economists, emissions trading systems have substantially increased during this past decade in the USA. Moreover, the implementation of these systems has necessitated increased involvement of professionals in many fields besides economics. This paper reviews the practical experience of the six major types of emissions trading systems, focusing on credit market development, participation and results, including transaction costs. Five more recent applications of emissions trading also are considered, as well as the possibility of inter-pollutant trading. While inter-pollutant trading has been successfully used for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the applicability of this experience is probably very limited. Additionally, it would be highly premature to attempt an evaluation of these newer emissions trading systems, some of which have yet to be even partially implemented. In order to improve these latter and future programs, the paper considers the potential contribution of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) to emissions trading. The NIE is used to develop theoretical insights and a series of predictions about the performance of a range of emissions trading systems.     

Environmental Financing in European Economies in Transition

The paper offers a perspective on environmental predicament of economies in transition. Emphasis is put on how these economies finance their environmental needs. It is observed that the demand for environmental financing can be affected both by environmental policy measures (such as internalization of externalities) and by other factors (such as the softness of budget constraints faced by firms). The role of subsidies – in many countries of the Central and Eastern European region provided through special purpose ‘environmental funds’ – is then scrutinized. In particular the question is asked whether such funds crowd out commercial capital from the market. Conditions are discussed that would allow the funds to play their constructive environmental roles without crowding out private financing.     

Technology adoption decisions under a mixed regulatory system of tradable permits and air pollution fees for the control of Total Suspended Particulates in Taiwan

By using a newly proposed tradable permit system built under the current air pollution fee regulation for the control of Total Suspended Particulates in Taiwan as an example, a mixed-integer non-linear programming model that minimizes the total regulatory costs of firms is applied to investigate how different permit trading ratios and the design of banking might affect firms’ technology adoption decisions and permit trading behavior. By incorporating binary variables in the model to represent firms’ decisions as to whether or not to install new control equipment, the results show that when the unit air pollution fee rate is higher than the firms’ abatement costs, the design of banking causes many firms to install new control equipment that results in an over-reduction of emissions. If no air pollution fee is imposed, the trading ratio plays a more important role than the reservation rate for banking in determining the firms’ emission reduction strategies under a pure permit trading scheme. While the conclusion from this study that uses a non-uniformly mixed pollutant as an example may hold only when certain conditions are met, the framework can be applied to other uniformly mixed pollutants through parameter changes without any limitation. In addition, the modeling technique presented here offers policy-makers a very convenient approach to empirical analysis.      

Pollution Permits: A Discussion of Fundamentals

The author provides an economic analysis of tradable pollution permits by clarifying the derivation of permit supply and demand relationships and connecting those concepts to permit trading for the case of two polluters. Using the standard comparison of costs and benefits, he makes the marginal cost of emission reduction of a typical polluter the basis of the derivation of its permit supply and demand schedules. Developing these relationships for both polluters allows the creation of market schedules for permit supply and demand. He demonstrates equilibrium in the market for permits and the corresponding trading of permits. He discusses the satisfaction of the equi-marginal principle, which ensures that pollution reduction is achieved efficiently. The author concludes by considering the consequences of the presence of a third polluter in the market for permits.     

Reforming Undergraduate Instruction in Russia,Belarus, and Ukraine

The authors deal with the restructuring of undergraduate economics instruction at Moscow State University (MSU) since 1989. They examine how closely the reforms at MSU are mirrored by changes at Belarus State University in Minsk and at Kiev State University. They also consider, and often offer an “insider's” perspective on, several issues related to curriculum reform that go beyond what can be determined from published curriculum guides. Specifically, they consider such issues as the training and retraining of faculty members who teach courses in these departments, the use of translated Western textbooks versus locally developed textbooks, and problems that arise in departments where some faculty members teach Western economics but others continue to teach Soviet-style economics.     

SME Support in Post-Communist Countries: Moving from Individual to Cooperative Approaches (Reflections on the Polish Case)

In the most advanced post-Communist countries of Europe, including Poland, the dynamic growth of the small business sector has been the chief factor driving economic growth since 1992, and has been accompanied by a number of public programs supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) development. However, I argue that something crucial is generally missing from these programs; namely, an attempt to go beyond the problems of individual businesses to approaches based on forms of association and cooperation which preserve, and even enhance, the overall competitiveness of the economy. As a result, while the Visegrad countries are doing well on numbers of SMEs, they are lagging behind in the development of those firms. While proponents of such cooperative arrangements in Poland usually meet the argument that Polish culture does not provide fruitful soil for them, one can point to a handful of experiments in the area of small business finance which prove that this is not necessarily so. This paper presents reflections on the problems and potential of public SME support programs based on case studies of two mutual loan guarantee funds, an enterprise incubator, and various types of business supports centers in one region.     

How reliable and consistent are subjective measures of welfare in Europe and Central Asia?

This paper analyses the reliability and consistency of subjective well‐being measures, using the Life in Transition Survey. Drawing on two life satisfaction questions with alternative scales, our results do not reveal substantial biases in accounts of life satisfaction due to framing. Subjective individual assessments of household relative income position, on the other hand, do not appear to be reliable predictors of objective poverty or wealth. We find that subjective relative income position is only weakly correlated with objective welfare measures. There are differences in evaluations of the household's relative standing across different household members, and these differences are correlated with respondent characteristics.     

基于Internet的排污权交易平台分析与设计

利用现代信息技术进行排污权交易平台的开发是河南省排污权交易体系的一个重要组成部分,也是排污权交易发展的必然趋势。排污权交易平台的开发以排污权交易为核心,基于B/S三层体系架构,实现排污权总量控制、申购、交易、跟踪预警、信息管理、平台维护和信息发布等为一体的系统功能,为更好地实现排污权交易提供了系统性的支持平台和有力的实施保障。     

On the dynamics of inequality in the transition

Inequality has increased in many of the transition economies. At the same time, spending on education has declined. In this paper we survey the factors driving these changes. We then set up a small general equilibrium model to simulate the effect of different policy choices on the path of inequality over the transition. We show that the policies selected in Central Europe engender a relatively rapid spike in inequality but with a Kuznets curve. In the simulations that broadly capture features of the policy regime dominating in Russia and the FSU, we find no Kuznets curve. We then turn to the longer run and look at the way in which both trade liberalization and technological and organizational change are likely to affect the relative demand for types of labour. We show how substantial technological and organizational change - obvious features of transition - can result in raising inequality. Persistence in inequality can be expected to depend critically on the pace at which the acquisition of skills takes place in the economy - and, hence, on the evolution of the educational system. As such, policies aimed at raising adaptability - such as quality educational systems - can be expected to dampen the increase in wage inequality.     

Regulatory reform in telecommunications in Central and Eastern Europe

In this paper we discuss public policy towards the telecommunications sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), focusing primarily on the need to ensure adequate capital investment. The analysis falls into two main parts: the regulation of monopoly, and policy on liberalization. Concerning regulation, we discuss how policy credibility is likely to be a problem in the region, and how reputational considerations, the design of regulatory institutions, and methods of price control can help to ameliorate this problem. Concerning liberalization, we consider the effects of potential competition on investment incentives, and construct a simple model to analyse the different effects of liberalization and regulatory risk on investment. Some preliminary policy conclusions are drawn, and we argue that in the CEE region – in contrast to more well developed countries – a reasonable case can be made for allowing a temporary period of monopoly for basic services.     

Tradeable permits for pollution control when emission location matters: What have we learned?

Our knowledge about tradeable permit approaches to pollution control has grown rapidly in the two decades in which they have received serious analytical attention. Not only have the theoretical models become more focused and the empirical work more detailed, but we have now had over a decade of experience with them in the U.S. This article draws upon economic theory, empirical studies, and actual experience with implementation to summarize what we have learned about applying tradeable permits to air pollution control in the special circumstance where the spatial aspects of the problem are a prime consideration.     

Valuing Air Quality in Poland

In this study we estimate how much Polish citizens would be willing to pay to harmonize Polish air pollution standards with EU standards. We conduct a contingent valuation of all damage components using a system of dichotomous choice questions. This system approach helps to avoid embedding problem and to identify protest voters. We compare estimates from a set of single logit models with a generalized estimating equations (GEE) model, which provides more parsimonious and efficient estimates. Although, health remains very important, our respondents valued mortality less than the literature but morbidity much more. Damages to ecosystems and cultural heritage compose 13–16% of the total value and their omission by the literature seriously underestimates total benefits. Overall, the results suggest that Poland values the benefits of pollution control much less than the wealthier EU suggesting harmonization should be postponed and conditioned on economic prosperity.P28, Q51, Q53 standard harmonization, system valuation