Differential Provision of Solid Waste Collection Services in the Presence of Heterogeneous Households

A model of household refuse production is presented in which individuals differ in their distaste for the waste stock and the supply of waste collection services is continuous in pick-up frequency. The inclusion of pick-up frequency into household solid waste management analyses has already been shown to have policy implications. In fact, even in the absence of the waste stock externality, a system of uniform consumption taxes and legal (or curbside) disposal and recycling subsidies has been found to be necessary (and sufficient) to induce households to socially optimally allocate their resources when illegal disposal (or simply dumping) incentives exist but a per unit punishment system for dumping is lacking. This policy is here concluded to be no longer feasible; instead, a system of differential consumption taxes and recycling subsidies and uniform legal disposal subsidies is found to be optimal (but possibly nonimplementable). In the presence of heterogeneous households, which are however identifiable on the basis of their relative location to the landfill site, an optimal and implementable policy is then shown to require a differential provision of collection services.     

Resource and Waste Taxation in the Theory of the Firm with Recycling Activities

The management of solid waste has become an urgent problem in nations with a great population density. Accordingly, waste reduction through source reduction and recycling has become increasingly important. Our purpose is to show how prevention, recycling and disposal of waste could be part of a theory of the firm. We first derive efficient production functions from production processes with waste as a by-product. Waste obtained as new scrap can partially be recycled by using additional inputs in order to cut back the purchase of virgin material. Waste not completely recyclable will leave the firm as disposal which also entails cost to the firm. We use the dual cost function approach to develop a theory of the firm under solid residual management.Since the producer does not bear the full cost of disposal, there will be a bias toward virgin materials and away from recycling. The goal of the government is to stimulate the firms to recycle with respect to the preservation of exhaustible resources. An incentive to recycle is a tax on resources or on waste. In order to determine the tax levels the government maximizes welfare subject to the dynamic constraint for decumulation of land fill for waste deposits. This gives the user cost and its time profile for taxing waste disposal or virgin material.In a comparative statics analysis we compare the effect of taxes on waste vs. virgin material on effort to produce in a resource saving manner, on the quantity of recycled material, on output, and on the reduction of waste. Since the impact of environmental regulation on employment is important, our model detects seven effects on labor demand as part of resource conservation policy. We finally carry out a comparative statics analysis of waste intensive firms operating in different market structures. Of interest is the impact of a resource or waste taxation on market volume, on the number of firms, on resource saving effort, and on profit.     

Recycling and Waste Diversion Effectiveness: Evidence from Canada

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between recycling policy options and recycling behavior to study the most effective methods of diverting post-consumer waste from landfills. We employ data from a unique, micro-data set collected from households in communities across Ontario, Canada. We estimate the relationships between several commonly recycled materials (newsprint, glass, plastics, aluminum cans, tin cans, cardboard, and toxic chemicals) and individual household characteristics, recycling program attributes, and garbage collection financing methods. We find that user fees on garbage collection have significant impacts on recycling levels for all materials except toxic chemicals, and mandatory recycling programs on particular items have significant effects on recycling for almost all materials. Limits on the amount of garbage that can be placed at the curb, and providing free units under user fee systems, however, generally have a negligible or detrimental impact on recycling.JEL classification: D10, H23, Q28     

中国经济开放度与货币政策有效性研究

在Hau(2000)模型中引入工资交错调整和交易成本假设,以此构建开放经济条件下货币政策有效性分析基础模型,并通过一般均衡分析后发现,经济开放对货币政策的最终目标——价格稳定和产出增长都会产生影响。贸易开放程度和金融开放程度的加深,将增强货币供给对短期汇率调整的影响;而经济开放度的加深,虽然在短期内会削弱货币政策对产出的影响,但从长期来看,将会对产出调整起积极作用。同时,运用校准法模拟分析后发现,随着我国经济开放度的提高,货币政策调节短期消费和产出的能力将会下降,特别是宽松的货币政策将更多地表现在汇率波动上。     

废电池回收利用研究

废电池随意丢弃可造成对环境的污染和人体健康的危害以及资源的浪费,因此,应回收利用。但我国作为电池最大生产和消费国,回收利用率很低,且回收上来的也无法处理,存在诸多矛盾和问题。国外的经验值得我国借鉴。在此基础上,文中提出了提高认识,建立健全的废电池全回收利用网络和管理体系以及政策法规等对策与建议。     

A Comparison of Household Recycling Behaviors in Norway and the United States

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of household recycling in Norway and compares the results with a similar, recently published, study of households in the United States. The comparison focuses on the relative importance of user fees on waste disposal, community recycling programs, and socioeconomic factors. Both data sources are nationwide, material-specific, and at the household level. One major finding is that a disposal fee provides a significant economic incentive to Norwegian households, whereas its effectiveness in the United States is still up for debate. Providing households with convenient recycling options, such as curbside and drop-off recycling, appears generally effective, but less so in Norway than in the United States. Socioeconomic characteristics are less important predictors of behavior in Norway than in the United States. Qualifications on the comparison are provided throughout and two extensions for future research are suggested at the end.     

Comparing Environmental Policy Instruments in the Presence of Imperfect Compliance – A Case Study

In this paper, we aim to include rule making, implementation, monitoring and enforcement costs into the cost comparison of policy instruments. We use a simple partial equilibrium model and apply it to the textile industry. The model includes discrete abatement functions and costly monitoring and enforcement. The case study uses individual firm data to simulate the differences in abatement costs and compliance decisions between firms. We compare combinations of regulatory instruments (emission taxes, emission standards and technology standards) and enforcement instruments (criminal fines, civil fines and transaction offers). We show that the inclusion of information, monitoring and enforcement costs indeed alters the relative cost efficiency of the different instruments.     

Household Waste Management in a Swedish Municipality: Determinants of Waste Disposal, Recycling and Composting

This paper analyzes waste disposal, recycling and composting in a municipality in southwest Sweden. In 1994, Varberg introduced a weight-based billing system for household waste charging 1 kr/kg of waste and at the same time recycling centers were set up and a green shopping campaign was launched. This led to a significant reduction in waste collected and increased recycling. This study had access to actual measured data on waste disposal at the household level for a residential area called Tvååker, in addition to survey data for the same households. This makes it possible to carry out a more reliable and more detailed analysis than has been previously possible, particularly with respect to attitudinal variables. The most important determinants of each individual household's waste were composting of kitchen waste, living area, age and attitudes concerning the difficulty of recycling various materials. Separate sections look at composting behaviour, at willingness to pay for sound waste management and for the sake of comparison three other municipalities are also studied. The main finding is that economic incentives, although important, are not the only driving force behind the observed reduction in municipal waste: Given the proper infrastructure that facilitates recycling, people are willing to invest more time than can be motivated purely by savings on their waste management bill.     

电子废弃物资源化共生网络生成机理分析

文章将电子废弃物(E-waste)作为一种资源来研究,并提出了由E-waste生产者、回收者、分解者、吸收者组成的E-waste资源化共生网络的简单资源循环模型。在此基础上,从内因和外因两方面重点分析了电子废弃物资源化共生网络的生成机理,主要包括成本推动机理、效益拉动机理、环境取向机理和协同作用机理。使我国电子废弃物资源化共生网络中的相关企业能够进一步认识共生网络中各种资源循环利用的闭环系统,保障共生网络的稳定健康发展,最终在提高经济效益的前提下,保护生态环境和节约资源能源。     

城市典型废弃物循环利用体系建设——日本的实践与启示

日本是循环经济管理理念和发展水平较为领先的国家之一,也是我国发展循环经济的一个重要借鉴和国际合作对象.文章从立法、全流程管理、分类管理和市场机制四个方面,系统而扼要地介绍了日本建设城市典型废弃物循环利用体系的主要做法和成效,包括:逐步推进建立和完善废弃物循环利用法律体系;结合责任分担制和延伸生产者责任制,实施全流程链条式管理;针对性地建立废弃物循环利用体系和处理方法,实现资源效用最大化;政府立法和规划引导,逐步形成以市场机制为主的废弃物循环利用体系.在此基础上,文章有针对性地提出了建立和完善我国城市典型废弃物循环利用体系的若干启示和建议,主要包括:理顺管理体制、完善现有体系、加大薄弱环节工作力度和调动利益相关者积极性四方面.     

关于建立城市循环经济体系的思考

建设城市循环经济体系是全人类在21世纪努力追求的一个重要目标。本文在比较分析传统经济与循环经济的基础上,重点讨论了城市循环经济体系的基本特征和构建内容,并提出了我国建设城市循环经济体系的思路与对策。     

On the Dynamics of Recycling and Natural Resources

We study the dynamic impact of recycling through its effect on the production set of the economy and its relationship with natural resources. The contribution of renewable and recyclable resources for sustainability is studied. Although in the short run recycling may alleviate resource scarcity, in the long run it is not enough to compensate for the exhaustibility of non-renewable resources and the possibility of obtaining non-decreasing output paths crucially depends on the extent to which production rests on renewable resources. Furthermore, recycling interacts with natural resource growth, surprisingly not always favoring sustainability. The Production and Recycling Function is a generalization of the traditional production function, providing an integrated view of regular production and recycling and representing the production set of the economy when a recycling technology is available.     

A Post-Consumer Waste Management Model for Determining Optimal Levels of Recycling and Landfilling

The present study examines the optimal recycling rate for municipal solid waste. First, an optimal control model is developed to account for the physical costs of recycling, the social costs of landfilling, and consumers' environmental preferences. Second, an optimal solution is simulated using waste disposal data from the Helsinki region in Finland. The benefits from recycling are included in the simulation using the results of a recent contingent valuation study. The results of the present research suggest that mandates for achieving 50% recycling in municipalities are not far-fetched and are both economically and environmentally justified.     

经济政策选择的交易成本分析方法

经济发展在一定意义上是一系列经济政策选择的过程.在数学上,经济政策的选择与微观经济学消费者选择可以具有同样形式.然而,从内容上看,经济政策的选择无法直接应用消费者行为理论进行分析,因为前者没有市场价格.为了解决这个问题,需要引进交易成本的概念,经济政策的交易成本相当于市场价格.这样,一种经济政策选择的理性模式就可以建立起来.     

On the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy and of Fiscal Policy

There has been a major shift within macroeconomic policy over the past two decades or so in terms of the relative importance given to monetary policy and to fiscal policy in both policy and theoretical terms. The former has gained considerably in importance, with the latter being rarely mentioned. Furthermore, the nature of monetary policy has shifted away from any attempt to control some monetary aggregate (prevalent in the first half of the 1980s), and instead monetary policy has focused on the setting of interest rates as the key policy instrument. There has also been a general shift towards the adoption of inflation targets and the use of monetary policy to target inflation. This paper considers the significance of this shift in the nature of monetary policy. This enables us to question the effectiveness of monetary policy, and to explore the role of fiscal policy. We examine these questions from the point of view of the "new consensus" in monetary economics and suggest that it is rather limited in its analysis. When the analysis is broadened out to embrace empirical issues and evidence the clear conclusion emerges that monetary policy is relatively impotent. The role of fiscal policy is also considered, and we argue that fiscal policy (under specified conditions) remains a powerful tool for macroeconomic policy. This is particularly an apt conclusion under current economic conditions.     

科斯三定理的新表述与新证明

科斯第二定理指出,在交易费用大于零的现实世界,产权的不同界定会对资源配置效率产生影响。政府(或法院)的基本原则应该是把权利界定给能以较低交易费用解决外部性问题的一方。科斯第三定理的准确含义是,在交易费用大于零的现实世界,制度安排的生产本身是有成本的,净收益最大的制度安排就是最佳的选择。科斯第二、三定理为市场经济中普遍存在的外部性问题提供了新的解决措施和科学的决策原则,间接意味着科斯并非政府干预的完全反对者,科斯定理也不足以成为有些学者把新制度经济学定性为新自由主义的充分理由。     

Institutional Economics as Theory of Policy Change: Impact of Past Policy Failures on Present Policy

Social scientists have developed several theories for understanding or evaluating policy change over time. Since all costs or benefits are not internalized owing to positive transaction costs, policymaking is always implemented under cost underestimation conditions and, therefore, is imperfect. I call this trait policy failure in this article. Furthermore, I show that a new framework combining the social costs approach and the legal/economic approach in institutional economics is suitable and can be applied to evaluating how past policy failures affect present policy, providing as an example the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.     

论城市垃圾对策的演进与垃圾产业的再生

垃圾是放错地方的财富,全球各国却为之困扰。如何实现垃圾减量化、资源化、无害化和产业化,成为学术界关注的新焦点。本文通过浅析全球城市生活垃圾对策的演进过程,阐述垃圾资源回收利用产业已产生的必然,并以北京市垃圾资源回收利用产业为例,展示垃圾产业在我国的发展现状与前景,并就我国垃圾产业的建立、组织和发展提出建议,供决策部门参考。     

以循环农业模式破解"绿色贸易壁垒"的思考

With their advantages in the field of environmental protection, by means of combining trade in the WTO and environmental protection, many countries and territories have laid down the principle of “the green trade barrier ”, which constitutes a serious challenge against our produce export. It is hypothesized that the basic solution to the barrier is the replacement of the conventional agricultural mode with the recycling agriculture mode. whereby implementations and measures of the new mode are put forward.     

基于交易成本分析的茶企业B2C交易模式发展探讨

通过研究茶企业交易模式中的交易成本的构成,比较分析B2C交易模式对降低交易费用相对于传统的交易模式的优势和劣势,并从政府、茶企业、消费者三个角度对茶企业B2C交易模式健康发展提出建议。