A distributional synthetic control method for policy evaluation

We extend the synthetic control method to evaluate the distributional effects of policy intervention in the possible presence of poor matching. The counterfactuals (or intervention effects) are identified by matching a vector of pre-intervention quantile residuals of the treated unit and a convex combination of its potential-control counterparts. The residuals are orthogonal to a set of observable common factors that control for the potentially poor matching. We also apply our method to a set of case studies that explore the distributional effects of state-level minimum-wage hikes in the USA.     

Optimal pollution control with distributed delays

We present a model of optimal stock pollution control with general distributed delays in the stock accumulation dynamics. Using generic functional forms and a distribution structure covering a wide range of distributions, we solve analytically the complex dynamic system that arises from the introduction of these distributed delays. From a theoretical standpoint, our contribution extends the dynamic optimization literature that focused on single discrete delays and develops an original method to address control problems written as mixed type functional differential equations with general kernels. Our results show the qualitative impact of acknowledging these distributed delays on the optimal pollution paths dynamics. We study analytically the properties of the dynamics and we identify the conditions for the occurrence of limit cycles. This theoretical work contributes to the design of efficient environmental policies in the presence of complex delays.     

Integrated environmental policy instruments driven river water pollution management decision system

Market-based approaches and command and control regulations are the two main tools that policy/decision makers use to implement environmental protection goals; however, these alone have proven to be somewhat ineffective or counterproductive in some cases. Therefore, this study proposes a hybrid environmental policy tool to guide river basin environmental management decisions. The river basin authority and regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the two leading decision makers, and policy makers and implementers of river basin management, make decisions sequentially in a process similar to a Stackelberg game. This decision making can be mathematically represented using a bi-level optimization model. The proposed model addressed the conflicting equitable resource allocation and economic efficiency objectives to achieve coordinated development of the whole river basin. To verify the model effectiveness, the most considerable pollutant emissions limits and water quality standards were set, and incentive measures (pollution chargers and subsidies) were applied to assess these hybrid instruments' impact on the decision outcomes. The results from a Minjiang river basin case further illustrated that the trade-off between social equity and cost-efficient environmental goals could efficiently achieve, proving that a combination of instruments could be influential in pollution decision-making and delivery of environmental policy. Given the model's proven effectiveness, several proposals are given for solving complex pollution problems that also need to consider the related socioeconomic issues.     

Optimal fiscal policy with robust control

This paper analyzes how consumer uncertainty affects optimal fiscal policy in the Lucas and Stokey (1983) framework. The consumers, lacking confidence in their knowledge of the stochastic environment, endogenously tilt their subjective probability model away from an approximating probability model. The government, though, is confident that the approximating probability model characterizes the stochastic environment. This confidence dichotomy reveals a range of possible objective functions for an altruistic government. I assume that the government maximizes the consumers' expected utility under the consumers' own subjective probability model. It is found that this government relies less heavily on labor taxes to absorb the fiscal shock than would be optimal if consumers were fully confident in their probability model. This policy helps mitigate the direct welfare cost associated with consumer uncertainty. I compare this policy to the one implemented by a government that maximizes the consumers' expected utility under the approximating probability model.     

Non-cooperative pollution control in an inter-jurisdictional setting

This paper examines various circumstances under which decentralized pollution policies can be efficient both in federal settings and in multi-region settings with labor mobility. We consider a model in which pollution control policies are set by regional governments non-cooperatively and pollution damages are borne by the residents of all regions. We characterize the efficiency of pollution policies, and of population allocation among regions, in a variety of scenarios, including when pollution policies are enacted before interregional transfers are determined by the federal government and before migration occurs; when migration decisions are taken before policy decisions; in the absence of a central government if regional governments can make voluntary interregional transfers; when decisions over pollution control policies are followed by voluntary contributions by regions to a national public good; when regions can commit to matching the abatement efforts of each other; and when regions can commit to specific levels of abatement contingent on the emissions of other regions not exceeding some maximum level.     

An industrial ecology virtual framework for policy making in China

ABSTRACT

This study develops a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) laboratory for policy-relevant applications in China. The Chinese IELab features unique flexibility and advances the previous state of the art in terms of three novel aspects. First, it can generate regionally and sectorally very detailed MRIO tables based on users’ own research questions. Second, it covers the entire territorial economic boundary and has the longest and most up to date annual time series from 1978 to 2015. Third, it can be used to provide insight to a wide range of research and policy questions including social, economic, and environmental issues, thus significantly improving all applications that rely on input–output tables. These features are illustrated by generating a Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei multi-regional supply and use table for 2014 at city level and applying it to the case study of transferring Beijing’s non-capital functions according to The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development Strategy set by the Chinese government.     

State-imposed solutions to negative externalities: employment impact of pollution abatement policy

Musgrave was acutely aware that many private activities, both consumption and production, generate negative externalities. Advocates for an active government rely on this concept to justify public sector regulation of private activities. Regulations and mandates, along with penalties for non-compliance, are the primary instruments used by government to bring about the “correct” level of output whenever private output gives rise to negative externalities such as environmental pollution. This study in effect offers a case study of the Clean Air Act on employment, i.e., it empirically investigates whether pollution abatement costs have had a negative impact on manufacturing employment in the U.S. Conventional microeconomic theory suggests that there is a trade-off between environmental protection outlays and manufacturing activity, i.e., higher pollution abatement compliance costs borne by industries may contribute to plant shutdowns, lower production levels and lay-offs, and/or lack of investment, thereby leading to diminished manufacturing employment. Existing studies fail to offer a clear conclusion as to the impact of existing environmental protection measures on manufacturing activity. Using state-level data for 2001, this study finds that government-imposed pollution abatement costs have had a statistically significant negative impact on manufacturing employment in the U.S. Richard J. Cebula, Shirley and Philip Solomons Eminent Scholar.     

我国会展物流高效运作的策略研究

在分析我国会展物流运作现状的基础上,指出当前运作过程中存在的效率不高等问题,有针对性地提出实现我国会展物流高效运作的措施,旨在为会展物流发展提供相关的建议。     

Effective HR implementation: the impact of supervisor support for policy use on employee perceptions and attitudes

Abstract

Effective implementation of human resource (HR) policies appears to depend on supervisors’ active involvement in the intervention process. Following recommendations of a recent intervention evaluation framework, we examine how perceived supervisor support during the implementation of a work-life intervention helps to change participants’ perceptions of organizational family supportiveness, and how this ultimately changes participants’ engagement and turnover intentions. A three-wave longitudinal study in a professional services firm (N = 434) that has formally involved supervisors in the process of a work-life intervention showed support for our study hypotheses. Supervisor support for policy use influenced employees’ positive work–home culture perceptions, which in turn strengthened employees’ work engagement and diminished their turnover intentions over time. We discuss practical implications and give recommendations on the future design of HR interventions and related policies.     

煤矿采掘机液压系统油液污染的危害与控制

文章从煤矿采掘机液压系统油液污染的原因出发,对其污染的危害进行分析,并针对采掘机的各个环节提出相应的控制污染措施,为合理运用煤矿采掘机提供一些可供参考的科学保证。     

Conflict Management for Effective Top Management Teams and Innovation in China*

abstract Top management teams may be critical for developing organizations that can keep abreast of marketplace changes and innovate. Several streams of strategy research have argued that conflict and diversity promote top management team effectiveness. This study proposes that how top management teams manage conflict can greatly contribute to their effective leadership of organizational innovation. A total of 378 executives from 105 organizations in China completed measures of conflict management (cooperative, competitive, and avoiding) and productive conflict (an outcome of conflict). Separately, 105 CEOs from these firms indicated their team's effectiveness and their organization's innovativeness. Results support the theory that conflict management can contribute to making top management teams effective. Structural equation analysis suggests that cooperative conflict management promotes productive conflict and top management team effectiveness that in turn result in organizational innovation. These results, coupled with previous research, were interpreted as suggesting that cooperative conflict management is an important contributor to effective top management teams even in the collectivist culture of China.     

我国创新驱动发展战略长效机制的构建研究

创新驱动发展战略是全球化与第三次工业革命背景下经济可持续发展的必然选择。通过对中国创新体系现状与问题的分析,从要素与空间维度研究创新驱动发展战略的体制与机制问题:一方面,从创新主体、创新能力与吸收能力角度,研究创新驱动发展体制机制改革中的关键要素、核心层面与制约条件;另一方面,以创新在产业与区域层面的异质性特征,探讨创新驱动发展的协调机制。     

Determining the optimal scheme of zoned effluent charges for the control of air pollution

A minimum costly zoned effluent charge program for the control of air pollution is considered paying attention to the general situation where polluters' cost functions of treating pollutant are unknown to the policy authority, and an iterative procedure by which the authority can attain a set of optimal charges is presented. The algorithm consists of steps of estimating the unknown treatment cost functions by observing polluter behavior and steps of revising charges based on the estimated cost functions. In the latter steps, a newly developed solution procedure for the zoned charge programming problem is involved. Simulated use of the algorithm indicates that the iterative charge revision procedure proposed in this paper can effectively provide the optimal scheme of zoned effluent charges.     

Electoral control over policy-motivated candidates and their policy biases

We present an election model employing candidates with policy preferences, and show how re-election pressure induces candidates to keep their campaign promises in finitely repeated competitions. The game consists of two periods, each of which comprises an election followed by the winner’s policy implementation. Following the first election, the incumbent may signal his dishonesty by implementing a policy different from his campaign promise. If the citizens care about political honesty, this choice reduces the incumbent’s probability of re-election. An equilibrium is derived which demonstrates that even with term limits, an elected candidate’s deviation from his campaign promise is controlled by the citizens’ monitoring of his performance. Strong public response to the dishonesty of politicians thus serves as a commitment device. The author is grateful to anonymous referees and to the editor of the journal for many valuable comments and suggestions. The author also thanks Masaki Aoyagi, Motonari Kurasawa, Yukihiro Nishimura, Shigehiro Serizawa, Takashi Ui, and participants in the seminars held by the Institute of Statistical Research, Meikai University, Osaka University, University of California, Irvine, and Yokohama National University for their insightful comments.     

Conditions for policy implementation via co-production: the control of dengue fever in Brazil

In this paper, we identify the conditions that must be present for effective policy implementation using co-production. To this end, we investigated five cases in which co-production was used to combat the vector of dengue, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, in Brazil. Data were analysed using content analysis and crisp-set QCA methods to identify the combination of conditions that explain successful outcomes. Five conditions were found to be necessary for effective implementation via co-production: technical, economic, normative, cognitive and structural. The contribution of this study is to provide empirical evidence with respect to the conditions that effectively lead to successful outcomes.     

“污染天堂假说”在中国的检验

外商投资于我国污染产业的分布结构表明外商投资我国污染产业规模较大,有向我国大量转移污染产业,实现本国产业升级换代的倾向。但通过构建产业竞争力系数比值分析,外商清洁密集型产业较污染密集型产业的生产能力更强,比较优势更明显。同时,外商投资污染密集型产业分布结构优于我国整体污染密集型产业分布结构,外商投资对我国整体污染产业具有拉升效应。可见,中国在吸收国外直接投资的过程中并没有成为许多人所认为的“污染天堂”。     

The use of control groups in evaluating regional economic policy

A major difficulty in measuring the impact of regional policy is the identification of what would have happened in the absence of the policy. Regional science may benefit from the use of quasi-experimental approaches. The specific method presented here combines the concept of control groups with the widely used shift-share framework for evaluating regional policy. Control areas are selected on the basis of their similarity to the aided region in the pre-policy period. The resulting method is sensitive to changing cyclical conditions and other exogeneous factors and traces out the time pattern of impacts.     

Effective Japanese leadership in China: co-operative goals and applying abilities for mutual benefit

In the global marketplace, managers and employees must work together even though they may have suspicions based on their different countries' historical rivalry. Social psychological research suggests that co-operative goals and applying abilities for mutual benefit can strengthen the leader relationship between Japanese managers and their Chinese employees. Working in Japanese enterprises in Shanghai, China, 100 employees in private Japanese companies in China indicated their goal interdependence with their Japanese and Chinese managers, their applying abilities for mutual benefit and their conclusions that their manager had valuable abilities and was an effective leader. Structural equation analysis suggested that applying abilities for mutual benefit mediates the relationship between goal interdependence and leader resourcefulness and effectiveness, especially when the manager is Chinese and less so when their manager is Japanese. These results, coupled with previous research, were interpreted as suggesting that co-operative goals and applying abilities for mutual benefit contribute to effective leadership even when managers and employees have different nationalities.