Corporate environmental performance evaluation: a measurement model and a new concept

While many third‐party organizations are practically evaluating corporate environmental performance (CEP), few academic studies have paid attention to third‐party environmental performance evaluation (EPE). To answer the question of what should be measured for third‐party EPE, we develop an environmental performance measurement (EPM) model consisting of environmental management performance (EMP) and environmental operational performance (EOP), and hypothesize that EMP be measured by four management performance indicators (MPIs: organizational system, stakeholder relations, operational countermeasures and environmental tracking) and EOP be measured by two operational performance indicators (OPIs: inputs and outputs). Further, to answer the question of how to enable third‐party EPE comparable across companies from different (sub‐)sectors, we propose to use the environmental intensity change index (EICI) as a measure of OPIs. Empirical tests confirm that the EICI and the evaluation based on it are comparable across companies from different sub‐sectors. Empirical tests also support the existence of the MPIs and OPIs and the two‐dimensioned constructs of CEP. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

浙江出生性别比变动态势及有关问题的探讨

利用普查资料对浙江出生性别比变动特点进行统计事实描述,企图从中寻找出一些有意义的统计学规律。对浙江出生性别比的下降性质、评估标准和转变临界点作了探讨。     

参与和治理:中国社会安全网建设的战略选择

中国正处在社会经济转型时期，在此期间，社会安全网的建设完善与否不仅是保证经济持续增长的内在要求。更是保证社会稳定的关键。分析中国社会安全网的建设过程，评估社会安全网的状况，本文认为，中国社会安全网的未来走向或者战略选择应该以政府为主导力量，通过多元主体的互动逐步迈向善治，实现从政府管理到治理的转变，建立责任分担的社会风险防御机制，提升弱势群体的社会参与机会与能力，消除社会隔阂、实现社会整合。     

Analysis on structural changes in the macroeconomic data series with the empirical evidence from China

Analysis on structural changes in macroeconomic data series has been the key issue for studying data quality. This paper studies the structural changes in China’s 36 macroeconomic time series using joint estimation model, and we find out the characteristics and movement pattern for the outliers. Our results show that most outliers show up more or less in groups, indicating that there is a significant correlation between them. The isolated outliers are not the main characteristic of China’s macroeconomic time series. Nearly all the original series contain the obvious skewness and kurtosis; hence, the hypothesis of normality is significantly rejected. Most original and outlier correction series show the non-autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) characteristic, but the p value for ARCH2, ARCH4, and ARCH8 is very different. __________ Translated from Economic Research Journal (经济研究), 2005, (1) (in Chinese)     

论转型时期的社会分化与整合

我国当前正处于急速的社会转型时期,社会结构的快速分化对原有的整合方式提出了挑战,以至于在社会分化和整合之间出现了断裂,对我国的社会稳定产生了不可忽视的影响.在新形势下,我们必须建立一种新的社会整合方式以适应社会的急速分化,维护社会的稳定.     

Control of SO2 emissions from power plants: A case of induced technological innovation in the U.S.

This paper investigates how the details of government actions induce innovation—the overlapping activities of invention, adoption and diffusion, and learning by doing—in “environmental technology,” products and processes that either control pollutant emissions or prevent emissions altogether. It applies multiple quantitative and qualitative measures of innovation to a case subject to several “technology-push” and “demand-pull” instruments: sulfur dioxide control technology for power plants. The study employs analyses of public R&D funding, patents, expert interviews, learning curves, conference proceedings, and experience curves. Results indicate that: regulation and the anticipation of regulation stimulate invention; technology-push instruments appear to be less effective at prompting invention than demand-pull instruments; and regulatory stringency focuses inventive activity along certain technology pathways. Increased diffusion of the technology results in significant and predictable operating cost reductions in existing systems, as well as notable efficiency improvements and capital cost reductions in new systems. Government plays an important role in fostering knowledge transfer via technical conferences, as well as affecting the pattern of collaborative relationships within the technical research community via regulatory changes that affect the market for the technology. Finally, the case provides little evidence for the claim that cap-and-trade instruments induce innovation more effectively than other instruments.     

养老保险制度"划资偿债"战略研究

由于允许转制成本由制度内措施解决,加之制度设计不规范,当前我国基本养老保险制度已经陷入财务危机。本文认为通过“划资偿债”方式,做大全国社保基金事关我国基本养老保险制度改革成败,并提出了“划资偿债”的思路:划转中央企业和国家重点企业中地方企业国有资产;划转部分国有土地收益。     

The Unemployment Effects of Proposed Changes in Social Security's “Normal Retirement Age”

This paper identifies and analyzes an inherent conflict between some proposed U. S. Social Security reform measures, which would encourage delayed retirement decisions, and the objective of minimizing the economy's unemployment rate. Using recent demographic trends in the age composition of the U.S. labor force, the study suggests that such proposed U.S. Social Security reform measures may actually increase the economy's unemployment rate. It concludes that measures to encourage older workers would relieve labor market pressures (while also helping the Social Security system) if and only if unemployment was persistently near the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). However, in an economy with above NAIRU unemployment, which has been the case most often in recent years, the opposite Social Security policy logic would apply. JEL Classification H557     

社会建设与行政本位的战略视点

中国特色社会主义事业总体布局中“四位一体”的社会建设,可理解为包括社会事业体系、社会保障体系、社会管理体系、社会服务体系、社会指标体系等在内的社会建设。政府在社会建设中的职能,应是着重于这五大体系的建设,并从中形成行政本位的战略视点。     

悖论情境中的矛盾与解决方案——研读《管理悖论》后思考的三个问题

简单与复杂、变革与稳定、安全感与危机感是管理实务中管理者不可回避的三个棘手问题。正确理解事 物的悖论本质,处理好三个问题的相互关系,有助于找出最合理的解决问题的方法。