Assessing the impact of environmental pollution damage on the competitiveness of hydrogen as a motor fuel

This paper examines conditions for the competitiveness of hydrogen versus conventional hydrocarbon motor fuels. The economic efficiency of different alternative fuels is analyzed on the basis of specially designed models that can incorporate a broad variety of technical and economic parameters of fuel production, distribution and use. Main attention is paid to consequences of air pollutant emission, which stimulate interest in the use of alternative, in particular, hydrogen, technologies. The total, energy and environmental costs of conventional and hydrogen technologies of motor transport are calculated and parameters of hydrogen technologies at which they can become commercially attractive to users are evaluation.     

Energy consumption patterns and supply problems in underdeveloped areas in South Africa

Energy usage provides one striking example of processes and conditions of development and underdevelopment in South Africa and the concomitant inequalities in fulfilment of basic needs. Access to affordable and convenient fuels increases as households shift from underdeveloped rural and peri‐urban areas to the developed metropolitan centres. The form and quantity of fuels used by households is constrained by levels of urbanization, the availability and cost of fuels, and household income.

The energy supply problems in developing areas centre on two critical and immediate issues. Firstly, in rural areas the demand for fuelwood is exceeding supply with quite devastating social, economic and environmental consequences. A fuelwood supply and demand model has been developed which indicates the urgency for implementing afforestation programmes, although lack of sufficient suitable land implies that other energy supply strategies will also have to be considered. The second major problem is that the standard, most convenient and affordable domestic energy supply option, electricity, has still not been made available to many black townships and most peri‐urban areas. With increases in population and urbanization, the problem of adequate household energy supply is shifting to peri‐urban areas, which experience major social and economic costs as a result of dependence on costly and inconvenient fossil fuels and batteries. Electricity has been shown to be the most economical and preferred option.     

政府行为、市场化与城乡经济和谐发展——基于VAR模型的实证分析

城乡经济和谐发展是构建和谐社会的基本要求。本文以城乡收入差距为切入点,选取1978年—2011年的相关数据,运用VAR模型,从政府行为和市场化程度两个角度对城乡经济和谐发展程度进行研究。结果表明：政府行为、市场化程度与城乡经济和谐发展之间存在长期均衡关系;财政收支效率、国内经济市场化程度的提高有利于城乡经济的和谐发展,而财政分权、对外经济市场化程度的提高则不利于城乡经济的和谐发展。因此,可从协调财政收支比例,扩大财政支农规模;改进财政分权体制,优化地方政府财政支出结构;推进国内市场化进程,提高农村市场化水平;降低对外依存度,缩小城乡教育差距等途径来推进城乡经济的和谐发展。     

Interregional migration of labor in Ghana,West Africa: Determinants,consequences and policy intervention

This article examines the determinants, consequences and policy intervention measures of the movement of labor within Ghana’s administrative regions. The study concludes that the economic inequalities brought about by the uneven distribution of development projects in favor of urban areas causes depressed rural economic conditions, thus spurring rural to urban migration. Migration to the urban places of Ghana is therefore caused by individuals and families seeking better economic opportunities to improve the quality of their lives. Secondary determinants are varied, ranging from family obligations to the quest for adventure. The benefits of migration for the rural areas lie mainly in returned migrants’ contributions to the economic development of those areas. Migrants also contribute to the urban areas’ economic development, but their presence in large numbers has caused problems in the housing and in the delivery of social services. Rural development policies and land settlement schemes have been unsuccessful, due mainly to the lack of a comprehensive national development effort.     

Migration and the changing social economy of Windhoek,Namibia

This study focuses on the economic strategies employed by poor urban households in Windhoek, Namibia. It is based on the findings of a household questionnaire survey conducted in Windhoek and qualitative case studies collected in both Windhoek and the rural northern regions of Namibia. The central argument of this article is that rural–urban migration in Namibia is not unilinear but involves a complex relationship between rural and urban households that is fostered by high levels of personal mobility between the rural and urban settings. These close and complex social linkages between the rural and urban sectors make it possible for people to withstand the economic difficulties associated with limited employment in the formal urban economy. Further, this study shows that a key survival factor for urban households is in fact food that is produced in the rural areas.     

Expenditure Inequality in Indonesia, 2008–2010: A Spatial Decomposition Analysis and the Role of Education

Based on the 2008–2010 Susenas panel data, this study examines expenditure inequality from spatial perspectives in Indonesia, using three decomposition methods: (i) a conventional Theil index decomposition; (ii) an alternative Theil index decomposition proposed by Elbers et al. (2008); and (iii) the Blinder?Oaxaca decomposition. Our results show that overall inequality in per capita expenditure increases between 2008 and 2010, which coincides with a rising trend in the official Gini coefficient. The contribution of inequality within urban and rural areas to total inequality is larger than that of inequality between urban and rural areas. Looking within urban and rural areas, urban inequality is significantly higher than rural inequality. Java‐Bali in particular records very high urban inequality. Overall, urban inequality increases, urban–rural inequality remains stable, rural inequality decreases, and inequality at the national level increases. Although urban–rural inequality has a relatively low share in overall inequality, the share is not small enough to ignore its impact. Furthermore, when using the alternative decomposition method, the contribution of urban–rural inequality increases substantially. The present study also found that educational differences appear to have played an important role in expenditure inequality within urban areas and between urban and rural areas.     

Poverty incidence and economic growth in Southeast Asia

The countries of Southeast Asia have achieved very large reductions in absolute poverty incidence over recent decades. This paper examines the relationship between this accomplishment and the rate of economic growth. It develops a time series of available data on the headcount measure of poverty incidence for Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines over the period from the 1960s to 1999, in aggregate and in both rural and urban areas. It then uses this pooled data set to analyze the economic determinants of poverty incidence, the impact of the 1997 economic crisis and the degree to which poverty will be affected by alternative hypothetical recovery paths.     

“站-城”融合视角下的大城市中心城区高铁设站分析

城市社会和经济的不断发展对城市运行效率提出了更高的要求。当前高铁的快速发展不仅加强了城市间的交通联系,也促进了城市与区域的经济发展。尤其在大都市区乃至城市群内部高铁出行日常化、公交化的背景下,城市内高铁站点的选址对于提升城市效率往往有重大影响。文章通过对我国历史上铁路站点的选址进行了回顾,分析了历史条件下的高铁站点选址远郊的现实原因和当前存在的问题。同时,结合目前城市发展和高铁出行不断增加的现状,讨论了大城市中心城区建设高铁站点的必要性,并以新经济地理学理论为基础,分别从"站"和"城"两维度对中心城区高铁设站的效益(交通网络效益和经济集聚效益)进行分析,结合对重庆北站和重庆西站为实证案例的成本分析,探讨"站-城"融合视角下的中心城区高铁设站的可行性。     

Economic efficiency of synthetic motor fuels from natural gas

In this paper we study alternative ways to meet the demand for motor fuels growing in connection with the inevitable rise in oil prices over the next decade or two. One of these is to use natural gas as a motor fuel and as a raw material for synthetic motor oils. Calculation results of the comparative effectiveness of the gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology of motor fuel production from natural gas are presented. It is shown that these technologies look economically promising in countries, which have their own sources of natural gas, especially in small and remote gas fields.     

Has China run out of surplus labour?

Many recent studies claim that China has reached a Lewisian ‘turning point’ in economic development, signalled by rising wages in urban areas and the exhaustion of rural surplus labour. In this paper we show that despite some evidence of rising nominal urban unskilled wages between 2000 and 2009, there is little in the data to suggest that this wage increase has been caused by unskilled labour shortages. China still has abundant under-employed workers with very low income in the rural sector. We argue that China's unique institutional and policy-induced barriers to migration have both prevented many rural workers from migrating to cities and also reduced the migrants' length of stay. We project that under alternative institutional settings, the migrant stock could easily be doubled from the current 150 million to 300 million by increasing either the average length of migrant stay, or the migrant inflow, or both.     

Blacks in rural America: Socioeconomic status and policies to enhance economic well-being

This research documents the disadvantaged status of rural blacks. Many indicators of economic well-being reveal that rural blacks lag behind both urban blacks and rural whites. Investments in human capital are critical for improving the economic status of rural blacks; public assistance and equal opportunity policies are also important. Financing alternative policies remains a major constraint to reducing the disparity between the economic well-being of rural blacks and their white counterparts and between blacks in rural and urban communities.     

Reparations and the competitive advantage of inner cities

Summary Michael Porter adds weight to disparate attempts to stimulate and accelerate investment, business development, and job creation in chronically distressed urban areas. But his discussion of the problems and his proposed alternative policy have two important defects. First, the paper fails to appreciate the powerful role of nationalism in promoting economic development as a collective enterprise with overarching goals. Second, it fails to acknowledge the full thrust of economic history in white-black relations. Hence, it misunderstands the fundamental problem that gives rise to the economic stagnation described. That means the paper avoids the issue of reparations. And it shows no grasp of the restitution principle. Without that, public policy on race-related distributive justice issues will continue to stumble.     

蔗渣作为火力电厂传统替代燃料的成本分析

随着传统燃料储量的下降及价格的攀升,传统火力电厂寻找替代燃料的需求越来越迫切。文章首先分析了甘蔗渣作为火力电厂替代燃料的结渣、高水分和低热值问题,阐述了在应用甘蔗渣作燃料时需要注意的问题,并结合一些实际电厂的运行改造案例对其经济性进行分析,阐明了甘蔗渣作为替代燃料的优越经济性。文章认为,甘蔗渣作为火力电厂替代燃料具有广阔的前景,但也存在运输成本和原料供应的季节性问题。     

农村劳动力迁移为什么没有缩小城乡收入差距——以广东为例

广东经济发展过程中出现农村劳动力迁移量和城乡收入差距同时扩大的现象,本文从农村迁移劳动力在城市劳动力市场上的就业分布和农村劳动力迁移对城乡人力资本差距的影响两方面对此与传统经济学理论相悖的现象进行了分析.本文认为农村劳动力迁移没有缩小城乡收入差距一方面因为农村劳动力在城市劳动力市场受到歧视,一般在城市次要劳动力市场就业;另一方面因为农村劳动力迁移扩大了城乡人力资本差距,从而扩大了城乡收入差距.     

城乡统筹发展与普惠金融体系构建

＂十二五＂规划中把城乡结构列为优先解决的结构问题之一,统筹城乡经济发展是解决我国＂三农＂问题的根本途径。而金融作为支持农村经济发展的重要力量不容忽视。本文认为,大力推进普惠金融体系的构建,加大金融强农惠农力度,是提高农民收入,缩小城乡收入差距,统筹城乡发展,实现包容性增长的必要举措。     

Population and Urbanization Trends in Post‐war Japan

This paper analyses the population change and urbanization process in post‐war Japan. We trace the process of population concentration into urban areas, in parallel with economic development after the war. The concentration of population into urban areas can be characterized by three major metropolitan regions: Tokyo, Keihanshin (Kyoto‐Osaka‐Kobe) and Nagoya. We also show that the urbanization process of Japan in the period from 1965 to 1985 can be characterized by two spatial phenomena; firstly, the suburbanization of the existing metropolitan areas and, secondly, the spatial dispersal of urbanized areas.     

Population and Urbanization Trends in Post-war Japan

This paper analyses the population change and urbanization process in post-war Japan. We trace the process of population concentration into urban areas, in parallel with economic development after the war. The concentration of population into urban areas can be characterized by three major metropolitan regions: Tokyo, Keihanshin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) and Nagoya. We also show that the urbanization process of Japan in the period from 1965 to 1985 can be characterized by two spatial phenomena; firstly, the suburbanization of the existing metropolitan areas and, secondly, the spatial dispersal of urbanized areas.     

Leave behind or migrate? Evidence from a field experiment in China concerning the impact of being left behind/migrating status on children's behaviour and preferences

With the great economic and social development achieved in China in the past 40 years of reform and opening up has come the extensive flow of China's very large rural labour force between urban and rural areas and among regions, as well as populations of left-behind children and migrant children who cannot be ignored. In this paper, four populations—non-left-behind children in rural areas, left-behind children in rural areas, migrant children in urban areas, and local children in urban areas—were recruited in a large-scale field experiment that included the dictator game, ultimatum game, trust game, public goods game, coin-tossing task, intertemporal choice task, a calculation contest task, and a gambling task. Both being left behind and migrating had a negative effect on the children's prosocial behaviour (including fairness, trust, trustworthiness, cooperation, and honesty) and economic decision-making (including time and competition preferences). Moreover, the effect on migrant children was relatively greater, but this effect dissipated progressively as time since migration increased. Additionally, shorter migration distances were associated with a decreased effect of migration on migrant children, and having access to one parent had a positive effect on left-behind children.     

我国东部地区城乡一体化探索与实践

推进城乡一体化对于落实科学发展有着重要意义,我国东部地区经济发达,具备推进城乡一体化所必需的经济基础,并且较早开始探索城乡一体化方法,有着较为丰富的实践经验。结合我国东部地区———上海、浙江、江苏和山东的城乡一体化建设实践情况,总结出四种推进城乡一体化的模式。     

Renewable energy and local development: Seven lessons from the mining industry

Having long depended on fossil fuels for energy generation, South Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications. Renewable energy companies are therefore required by government to engage with communities to contribute to socio-economic development. We present seven lessons we believe the renewable energy sector can learn from the mining industry. We argue that the new industry must: manage social disruption, understand community complexities, create responsive institutions and the capacity to support industry practice, employ trained community practitioners, be clear about the aims of local development, encourage economic diversification in remote areas and, importantly, in view of problems caused by downscaling in the mining industry, plan for the possible closure of projects. Renewable energy projects could then serve and shape local development.