Fine-scale conservation planning outside of reserves: Cost-effective selection of retention patches at final harvest

Retaining forest patches at final harvest is a key conservation measure in boreal forests, but guidelines for how to increase its cost-effectiveness are lacking. In a study in boreal Sweden, we compared the cost-effectiveness of three different approaches a forest owner may use to select patches: selection based on the conservation value of patches alone, economic cost alone or both of them combined. We also compared the cost-effectiveness of six different common types of patches. Conservation value was measured as species richness of bryophytes and lichens and as structural characteristics of patches. Compared to the selection approach in which both conservation value and cost were used, cost-effectiveness was 5-14% lower when only conservation value was used, depending on how conservation value was measured. On the contrary, using only the economic cost decreased the cost-effectiveness by only 1-2%. Among the patch types, swamp forest areas and deciduous tree groups were cost-effective types to retain. However, the patch types were complementary in their species composition and all hosted unique species. We argue that, ideally, assessments of both conservation values and economic costs of retaining patches should be made prior to harvest to enable planners to make well-informed and cost-effective decisions.     

Rank, income and income inequality in urban China

While some workers in China attain senior professional level and senior cadre level status (Chuzhang and above), others attain middle rank including middle rank of professional and cadre (Kezhang). This aspect of the Chinese labour force has attracted surprisingly little attention in the literature, a fact which this paper aims to rectify. We define various segments of the urban population in work-active ages and use data from the Chinese Income Project (CHIP) covering eastern, central and western China for 1995 and 2002. For 2002, persons of high rank make up 3% and persons of middle rank make up 14% of persons in work-active ages.Factors that affect a person's likelihood of having high or middle rank are investigated by estimating a multinomial probit model. We find that education, age and gender strongly affect the probability of being employed as a worker of high rank. There is relatively little income inequality among workers of high rank as well as among workers of middle rank. Mean income and household wealth per capita of highly-ranked workers developed more favorably than for other segments of the population studied, and personal income is more polarized by segment in 2002 than in 1995. Workers of high rank, and to a lesser degree, workers of middle rank, are among the winners in economic terms while the increasingly large category of non-workers is the losers. Rates of return to education have increased but income function analysis indicates that this provides only a partial explanation for the increased favorable income situation for workers of high and middle ranks.     

TYPES OF INCOME AND INEQUALITY IN CHINA AT THE END OF THE 1980s

Using a nationwide household income survey, different types of income in the People's Republic of China at the end of the 1980s is analysed. The results show that various income types play quite different roles in rural and urban areas. Subsistence income makes up about half of the total income in rural China. Money income makes up about two-thirds of total income in urban China and is the major contributor to inequality in the entire country. In kind income, of which highly subsidized housing is the single most important category, is highly concentrated in urban areas and contributes greatly to inequality.     

Public pension policy and the equity–efficiency trade-off∗

This paper illustrates that the equity–efficiency trade-off between a redistributive, Beveridgean, pension system and an earnings-based, Bismarckian, scheme can collapse when accounting for labor supply effects on the extensive margins. I introduce a general equilibrium overlapping generations model with endogenous savings, human capital formation, and labor supply. The model is calibrated to an average OECD economy. The results suggest that allocating funds towards a Bismarckian pension system always reduces earnings inequality – and, in some cases, lifetime inequality – when compared with a Beveridgean scheme. However, the Bismarckian scheme crowds out more human capital in the economy following a higher steady-state interest rate.