Environmental problems and technological opportunities

The argument of this article is that environmental problems are a direct consequence of a certain Weltanschauung Christianism brought into Western societies.Fairly simple solutions exist for the large ecological problems generated by the intrusion of humanity in the ecosphere, including at the extreme an almost complete withdrawal.Because cultural changes have long time constants, there is no hope of short-term application of the solutions. Ecologists have to learn to think in the long term and recognize that perseverance is more important than argument.     

Environmental problems and policy in the Single European Market

The paper analyzes the direct and indirect environmental impacts of the completion of the Single European Market, both internally and with respect to the Rest of the World. Moreover, the principles of environmental policy are described. The main conclusion is that if the European Community and the member states develop effective and efficient policy instruments the positive effects of the completion of the Single Market could substantially outweigh the negative impacts.     

Efficient assignment respecting priorities

A widespread practice in assignment of heterogeneous indivisible objects is to prioritize some recipients over others depending on the type of the object. Leading examples include assignment of public school seats, and allocation of houses, courses, or offices. Each object comes with a coarse priority ranking over recipients. Respecting such priorities constrains the set of feasible assignments, and therefore might lead to inefficiency, highlighting a tension between respecting priorities and Pareto efficiency. Via an easily verifiable criterion, we fully characterize priority structures under which the constrained efficient assignments do not suffer from such welfare loss, and the constrained efficient rule (CER) is indeed efficient. We also identify the priority structures for which the CER is singleton-valued and group strategy-proof.     

环境审计、环境信息披露与企业环境绩效

环境审计作为国家环境管理的重要手段,在关注环境治理与生态环境效益时也必定会对企业环境绩效产生一定影响。论文基于我国沪市A股工业企业2014—2017年的面板数据,实证检验了环境审计、环境信息披露与企业环境绩效之间的关系。结果表明:(1)环境审计与企业环境绩效显著正相关,且在不同的产权性质和法制环境下表现出一定的差异。(2)环境信息披露在环境审计对企业环境绩效的影响中呈正向调节作用。研究成果验证了环境审计对企业环境绩效的促进作用,一方面拓展了工业企业环境绩效的影响因素研究,另一方面为促进生态文明建设和企业绿色发展提供了重要的启示。     

Corporate Environmental Management and Environmental Efficiency

This paper examines the potential of environmental management systems (EMSs) to provide opportunities for reducing toxic releases cost-effectively and increasing environmental efficiency of a sample of S&P 500 firms. We use directional distance function to estimate firm-specific environmental efficiency. A truncated regression model with bootstraping is then estimated to analyze the determinants of the environmental efficiency of firms. The analysis shows that the comprehensiveness of an EMS, pressures to reduce toxic releases cost-effectively, innovativeness of firms and the threat of costly regulations in the future lead firms to become more environmental efficient. Regression results indicate that increasing the comprehensiveness of EMS by adopting one additional practice benefits the average firm by approximately US$ 35.5 million by increasing its environmental efficiency by 0.3%.     

Environmental Product Differentiation and Environmental Awareness

In this paper, we have considered a duopolistic model of environmental product differentiation with two types of consumers (green and brown) to analyze how environmental awareness affects the environment. “Green” consumers value the physical and environmental attributes of the good they purchase while “brown” consumers only value the physical attributes. We find that more environmental awareness may not be good news for the environment as the firm that produces the good without environmental attributes may increase its sales. The result depends on the degree of product differentiation and the cost to achieve it. Social welfare can also be inversely related to environmental awareness if the negative environmental effect dominates the positive market effect.      

欧盟“地平线2020”框架计划主要内容与制定方法

鉴于2008年以来国际金融危机引发了全球性的经济衰退,欧洲强烈意识到,促进经济和其他领域的增长是重中之重,惟有依靠科技创新实现可持续增长才能有效恢复信心、促进就业并化解债务.作为支撑“欧盟2020”战略科研与创新的主要政策工具,欧盟委员会于2011年11月30日公布了“地平线2020”科研与创新框架计划提案,以进一步整合提高创新效率,促进科技创新,推动经济增长和就业增加.本文主要介绍“地平线2020”框架计划内容与预算特征,并着重分析其制订计划的科学方法,以期为我国相关科技创新决策提供参考.     

企业的环境责任与环境绩效评估

企业相关的利益团体越来越重视企业的环境责任。环境绩效评估系统可以通过企业经营者、投资人与政府等相。关利益团体的不同角度,以系统的和整体的方法体现企业可持续发展的架构。本文探讨了环境绩效评估的意义和方法,分析了环境绩效评估对企业环境责任实施的作用。     

环境美学与环境伦理学的关系

在中国伦理型文化精神的影响下,美学与伦理学关系密切。但是时下的部分学者无形中却在环境问题上将美学与伦理学相割裂。在他们看来,环境美学关注的是美化问题,而环境伦理学关乎的是功用。环境美学与环境伦理学相关吗？环境美学与环境伦理学关系密切,不仅环境美的存在离不开环境伦理学的理论支持,而且环境伦理学的拓展也离不开环境审美而来的感性冲动。在环境问题的解决中,环境美学与环境伦理学必须联手。环境美学与环境伦理学建立联系意义重大：有助于克服传统美学中美善相分的形式主义倾向;通过环境审美伦理学的建立,实现环境伦理学与环境美学的双向拓展。环境美学与环境伦理学的汇通之处在于敬畏、同情与体验性参予。     

财政分权、环境分权与环境污染

利用中国30个省(市、区)2000-2015年省级面板数据,采用系统广义矩方法探究了财政分权和环境分权的减排效应,结果显示,财政分权和环境分权加剧了中国环境污染水平,意味着财政和环境的分权治理并不利于中国生态环境优化。引入财政分权和环境分权交互项的回归结果则表明,交互项系数显著为负,表明财政分权和环境分权对我国环境污染的影响具有替代关系,即中国式财政分权背景下环境分权有利于降低中国环境污染水平。     

The incentive effects of plan targets and priorities in a disaggregated model

Most models of the Soviet firm assume that it produces just one output. These models are unsuited for studying the effects of taut planning on the product mix. The objective of the firm's manager in the present two-product model is to obtain a bonus that is conditional upon the fulfillment of stochastic final targets affected by priorities as well as by the initial target. The main result is that an increase in tautness, i.e., an increase in the targets, has an expansion and a substitution effect. While the former will usually increase output in the desired direction, the latter will deflect it away from the desired mix.     

Environmental Appraisal and Environmental Policy in the European Union

Revisions to the European Treaty of Union require some form of environmental appraisal – primarily risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis – of regulatory initiatives by the European Commission. A retrospective look at the emergence of environmental appraisal also shows that, while the Commission has made great advances in introducing cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness appraisals in recent years, past environmental decisions and overall environmental policy have not been informed by systematic appraisal techniques. Nor is it clear what role is now being played by risk assessments. While it is impossible to gauge the extent to which systematic appraisal procedures will save on regulatory and compliance expenditures, some indications are provided of the costs of past neglect of these procedures.     

企业环保投入与环境绩效——机理与实证分析

基于2014-2018年A股上市公司的数据,采用多元线性回归方法,检验企业环保支出是否有效提高了企业环境绩效.实证结果表明:企业环保投入与环境绩效正相关,但相关性不显著.环保投入对公司环境绩效的作用受公司规模的影响,公司规模较大的企业能够通过规模效应提高企业环保投入的环境治理绩效,而规模较小的公司受限于自身资源条件,未能充分发挥环保投入的环境治理作用.进一步研究发现,企业内控显著提高了环保投入对环境绩效的正向影响;而外部治理强度对环保投入与环境绩效的影响作用不显著.研究结论有利于企业因地制宜,提高企业的环保投入治理水平.     

Additivity in bankruptcy problems and in allocation problems

We study the property of additivity in bankruptcy problems and in allocation problems. In bankruptcy problems we use this property to characterize the Talmudic rule proposed by Rabbi Ibn Ezra. Moreover we generalize this rule to every bankruptcy problem. Again, using additivity we characterize the rights egalitarian solution in allocation problems.     

企业环境责任与企业识别系统中的环境形象设计

在可持续发展思想和社会市场营销观念的指导下,企业必须自觉、主动地关注环境问题,遵循环境道德伦理,履行应尽的环境责任,并融入、体现在企业识别系统设计中,塑造良好的企业环境形象,才能赢得市场竞争优势,实现可持续发展的目标。