低碳经济释疑

低碳经济将碳排放权的争夺提到资源争夺的制高点,谁掌握、谁控制了零碳和低碳技术,谁就处于低碳经济的高端地位。故释疑低碳经济,要破解下列三个不等式:一是低碳经济≠"三低"经济;二是低碳经济≠"低消"经济;三是低碳经济≠"低效"经济。     

基于经济学视角下的低碳旅游概念体系研究

低碳旅游是低碳经济的一种形式,引领着世界旅游产业发展的总体趋势。低碳经济主要包括三种:宏观层面的低碳决策、微观层面的低碳生产和低碳消费。基于低碳经济的"三分法",对低碳旅游的概念进行了重新界定,分析了低碳旅游、生态旅游和可持续旅游的内在联系。     

低碳经济与低碳城市

在全球应对气候变化的背景下,低碳经济和低碳城市的概念应运而生.其核心为降低能源消耗、减少二氧化碳排放,揭示低碳经济是世界发展的趋势,低碳城市是低碳经济发展的必然过程.说明低碳城市的构建途径:新能源技术应用、清洁技术应用、绿色规划、绿色建筑和低碳消费.并阐述了低碳城市在中国的实践.     

武汉市低碳经济发展中产业结构优化分析

低碳经济是社会经济可持续发展的必然选择,而产业结构优化是发展低碳经济的核心问题。本文从低碳角度对武汉国民经济发展现状、产业结构、工业能源消耗等入手,分析武汉市低碳经济发展在产业结构调整方面的情况,并在第二产业结构优化、第三产业深入发展和节能减排三个角度上对武汉武汉低碳经济发展中产业结构优化进行论述。     

试论低碳经济与会计应对

低碳经济已经成为全球主导性思维.低碳经济给传统会计学带来一定的冲击,应该从碳减排会计准则体系完善、碳减排会计管理及相关问题三个方面应对.碳排放水平将成为未来企业新的评价标准,构成企业新核心竞争力.低碳经济、碳排放会计准则、成本竞争优势构建形成了企业完整的环境战略经营工具.文章最后对我国正在研究制定的全国统一产品成本核算制度给予了建议.     

我国服装低碳消费方式研究

“低碳”已成为全球瞩目的焦点话题,发展“低碳经济”成为人类社会的共识.低碳经济以低能耗、低排放、低污染为基础,其实质是提高能源利用效率和创建清洁能源结构,核心是技术创新、制度创新和发展观的改变.发展低碳经济是一场涉及生产模式、生活方式、价值观念和国家权益的全球性革命.基于此,在阐述服装低碳消费的重要性,分析服装低碳消费现状的基础上,提出改善服装低碳消费方式的策略.     

低碳经济评价指标体系研究综述

从低碳经济的概念及其内涵到低碳经济评价指标的选取方法及中国发展低碳经济的政策考虑三个方面对我国学术界对低碳经济的研究进行了文献综述。低碳经济是指在可持续发展理念指导下,通过技术创新、制度创新、产业转型、新能源开发等多种手段,尽可能地减少煤炭石油等高碳能源消耗,减少温室气体排放,达到经济社会发展与生态环境保护双赢的一种经济发展形态。如今,完善低碳经济整个理论体系显得势在必行。     

低碳经济是生态文明建设的必然选择

低碳经济是以低能耗、低污染、低排放为特征的经济模式,它的提出是人类应对气候变化的必然产物.应该看到,发展低碳经济是一项长期的、艰巨的、复杂的系统工程.从短期来看,低碳经济与陕西"十一五"期间能源强度下降目标是一致的;从长期来看,低碳经济与陕西强调经济、社会、环境协调发展的可持续发展战略是一致的.     

低碳审计的动因、目标和内容

低碳经济在全球仍处于起步阶段,低碳行为以政府引导与企业自愿参与为主,缺乏约束力,低碳经济的第三方监督保障机制尚未形成。本文阐述了低碳经济的概念和发展模式,探讨了国内外发展低碳经济的政策和措施,指出了我国低碳经济存在的问题,进而分析了低碳审计两方面的动因,确立了低碳审计的总体目标和具体目标,分析了低碳审计的三方面的主要内容,以期对低碳审计的开展有所裨益。     

发展低碳经济的思考

正当我们已经知道了什么生态经济、绿色经济、循环经济、节能减排、建设节约型社会等,并采取行动大力发展生态经济、绿色经济、循环经济、实施节能减排、建设节约型社会的时候,伴随着世人对全球气候变化的关注,又飘来了低碳经济,大家感觉到很茫然.究竟什么是低碳经济,它和生态经济、绿色经济、循环经济是什么样的关系,到底为什么要发展低碳经济,发展低碳经济的途径有哪些.正如一些学者讲到的,在高碳化难以为继的大背景下,全球低碳化发展已呼之欲出,低碳经济将是全球经济发展"第四次浪潮"的起爆点.因此说,低碳经济既是我们不得不面对的现实问题,又是必须认真做好的事情.     

Is economic efficiency the driving force behind mergers?

Some economists routinely argue against government regulation that limits the number of mergers and acquisitions. They believe that, as a matter of empirical fact, almost all mergers enhance economic efficiency. The possibility that some mergers do not create wealth but merely redistribute it is ignored. We study all companies delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for reason of merger since 1926. We find that economic efficiency cannot easily explain merger waves. Contrary to the disciplinary hypothesis, acquisition targets are not, in large majority, poor stock market performers. We also report evidence consistent with stock market undervaluation as a merger motive.     

Price volatility and the political economy of resource-rich nations

This paper attempts to understand how price volatility affects the political transition of a resource-rich nation. Two states reflect price volatility: ‘high prices’ and ‘low prices’. We argue that whether or not political transition (i.e., a switch from one regime to another) will take place in a particular state depends critically on the kind of goods a country produces. If the main economic activity in a country is the extraction of “point-source” resources such as oil that demands capital-intensive production, the opportunity cost of switching the existing regime does not alter if the price of the resource changes but the benefit becomes more lucrative. Therefore, the incumbent group is most vulnerable during ‘high prices’. If the main economic activity of the nations is the production of “diffused resources” such as coffee that requires labor, prices do affect the opportunity cost. Nations concentrating in these commodities face acute political crisis during downturns.     

Evaluating the conditionality of judgmental forecasts

We propose a framework for evaluating the conditionality of forecasts. The crux of our framework is the observation that a forecast is conditional if revisions to the conditioning factor are incorporated faithfully into the remainder of the forecast. We consider whether the Greenbook, Blue Chip survey and Survey of Professional Forecasters exhibit systematic biases in the manner in which they incorporate interest rate projections into the forecasts of other macroeconomic variables. We do not find strong evidence of systematic biases in the three economic forecasts that we consider, as the interest rate projections in these forecasts appear to be incorporated efficiently into the forecasts of other economic variables.     

The economic evolution of democracy

Using a variant of the Ramsey growth model, we explore the relationships between economic growth and the emergence of democracy. We argue that democracy acts as a commitment device to economic reforms favored by an elite under the threat of rebellion. Consistent with British economic history we model liberalizing reforms of the labor market as the mechanism by which the elite redistribute resources to the poor. We find that if democracy emerges it is preceded by a period of growth, however the emergence of democracy will only encourage further growth if the redistributions it entails do not significantly hamper capital accumulation.      

中国城市化水平之国际比较

本文首先确立了进行国际比较应该奉行的原则,在此原则下,许多有关城市化与经济发展,产业结构的观念必须做大幅修正.我们发展,中国的城市化仅仅略微滞后于经济发展;中国的城市化并非严重滞后于工业化进程,长期较高的积累率导致了城市化/工业化比率的居高不下;中国应该更加重视大城市的作用.     

The Economic Impact and Civic Pride Effects of Sports Teams and Mega‐Events: Do The Public and the Professionals Agree?

Often sports leagues, organising committees, and team owners justify the use of public funds to build sports stadiums by the perceived economic impacts and civic pride generated by the teams or mega‐events. Since the 1980s many economic studies have examined the economic impact and civic pride created by professional sports teams. Most of the economic literature finds sports teams or mega‐events have little or no economic impact, but there are mixed findings on the magnitude of civic pride. Overall, most of the economic literature suggests that the benefits created by sports teams or events do not outweigh the cost of public subsidies provided. We conduct a survey of public opinion on US residents’ perceptions of economic impacts and civic pride benefits from mega‐events such as the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. Our study asks the question: Do residents believe that mega‐events and sports teams generate positive economic impacts and civic pride or not? We find that, like economists, the public doubts that public funding of mega‐events is a good idea.     

Economic systems in developing countries – A macro cluster approach

This study is an attempt to close a gap in the comparative capitalism literature. Studies in that field focus mostly on industrialized countries, discuss economic systems in developing regions separately, and do not provide evidence based on a worldwide sample. We use an established macroeconomic cluster approach to identify economic systems in a worldwide sample of 115 developing and industrialized countries. We use an innovative approach to correct for income-related differences that would otherwise distort the cluster results. The major results are (1) that two broad categories of economic systems exist in developing countries (liberal and coordinated), which mirrors the results for industrialized countries, and (2) that economic systems in developing countries are apparently determined by a mixture of colonial heritage—with the transfer of more liberal institutions in the case of British colonialization—and regional affiliation, which explain differences within continents and between continents.     

Explaining the Reactions of Swiss Municipalities to The ‘Amalgamation Wave’: At the crossroad of institutional,economic and political pressures

Abstract

Public sector organizations are simultaneously subject to three types of environmental pressure: institutional, economic and political. How do these pressures influence the strategic behaviour of public organizations when confronted with efficiency-oriented reforms? We focus on the strategic behaviour of Swiss municipalities facing the amalgamation wave: a reform characterized by a strong economic rationale. Results confirm that the success of reforms depends not only on its matching with economic underpinnings. It is also necessary to take the political leadership and the responsibility of reform implementation.     

Do Elections Matter for Economic Performance?

In mature democracies, elections discipline leaders to deliver good economic performance. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, most developing countries also hold elections, but these are often marred by illicit tactics. Using a new global data set, this article investigates whether these illicit tactics are merely blemishes or substantially undermine the economic efficacy of elections. We show that illicit tactics are widespread, and that they reduce the incentive for governments to deliver good economic performance. Our analysis also suggests that in societies with regular free and fair elections, leaders do not matter for economic growth.     

DETERMINING MINIMUM WAGES IN CHINA: DO ECONOMIC FACTORS DOMINATE?

We analyze the determinants of minimum wages in China at the regional level. We include a broad set of economic variables and consider the role of spatial spillovers, which reflect the geographical pattern of regions and can arise for several reasons, including competition between local policymakers. The analysis primarily reveals the existence of strong regional ties in the development of minimum wages. Once these spatial effects are considered, the role of economic variables in the determination of minimum wages declines, and their impact is lower than initially thought. Whereas consumption per capita and consumer prices remain significant, regular wages lose their importance when controlling for reverse causation. Although minimum wage regulation stresses the relevance of economic factors in the determination of appropriate levels, actual development is largely driven by regional dependencies. As minimum wage standards set by local officials do not fully reflect regional economic conditions, further reform should be on the agenda.