Trade Liberalization and Environmental Taxation in Federal Systems

The literature on trade liberalization and environment has not yet considered federal structures. In this paper, we show how the design of environmental policy in a federal system has implications for the effects of trade reform. Trade liberalization leads to a decline in pollution taxes, regardless of whether pollution taxes are set at the federal (centralized) or local (decentralized) level, and it increases social welfare. The effect under a decentralized system is smaller than if these taxes are set by the federal government, and pollution emissions therefore decline in this case. Moreover, majority bias interacts with trade liberalization if federal taxes are used.     

发展农村经济应当加强生态环境保护

近年农村生态环境问题日益突出,直接影响新农村建设和农村社会稳定。农村群众生态环境保护意识薄弱、乡村生态环境管理机制不畅、生产经营方式粗放、畜禽养殖排污等因素是导致农村生态环境恶化的主要原因。应当加大宣传力度,增强农村群众的生态环保意识;切实转变农村经济增长方式;建立和完善农村生态环境保护法律、法规,理顺农村生态环境管理机制,标本兼治,解决农村生态环境保护问题。     

中小企业发展财务战略问题探讨

中小企业的发展不仅需要科学、精细的日常管理,更需要高瞻远瞩的战略眼光和战略思想。财务战略就是其要考虑的一个重要方面。本文从中小企业的经营能力、外部环境和财务特征的分析入手,探讨中小企业发展财务战略的基本思路。     

自然资源资产化管理初探

自然资源资产管理可从宏观、微观两个层次进行核算。管理的重点应放在微观企业。自然资源的价值、价值组成及耗减的核算。自然资源资产的计价方法及核算。     

环保约谈能否促进企业绿色投资

环保约谈制度是提高环境治理水平所实行的环境执法监督新方式,对于破解环境治理难题,提高环境治理绩效至关重要。本文利用环保约谈所产生的准自然实验变化,以2013—2019年我国重污染行业上市公司为研究样本,考察环保约谈对企业绿色投资的影响。双重差分法的检验结果表明：在环保约谈所涉及城市的上市公司中,环保约谈促进了企业绿色投资。在此基础上,进一步检验发现,环保约谈对绿色投资的促进效果较为明显的企业主要来自于全要素生产率较高,行业市场竞争程度低及融资约束低的企业。研究结论从企业加强环保绿色投资决策的角度为环保约谈的经济后果提供了微观的证据,这不仅对于我们了解环保约谈这一政策对微观主体企业的影响效应具有一定意义,同时,对国家在经济发展中,如何实施更好的环境治理政策具有一定的指导意义。     

How efficient are national environmental standards? A benefit-cost analysis of the United States experience

This paper summarizes the results of the first systematic, geographically-specific efficiency assessment of the U.S. experience with national environmental standards and with alternative approaches to establishing those standards. This ex-post evaluation assessed the net benefits that resulted from EPA's regulation of conventional air and water pollutants from the pulp and paper industry between 1973 and 1984. The paper compares the benefit-cost efficiencies of the three dominant regulatory approaches: technology, ambient, and benefits. Unlike previous studies, which assessed benefits and costs on a national basis, the study estimates both costs and benefits on a facility-by-facility basis. The analysis shows how the efficiency of national environmental regulations can vary dramatically at local levels. The authors conclude that the technology-based standards for water pollution management failed as an efficient environmental strategy. The costs clearly exceeded the benefits in the aggregate, as well as in the specific in most situations. Benefits exceeded costs at only 11 of the 68 mills investigated. The ambient based standards for air pollution management succeeded as an environmental strategy in the aggregate, but succeeded in the specific for only one-third of the mills (22 of 60 mills). The benefits-based standards for air pollution management also succeeded in the aggregate as well as in the specific for about one-half of the mills. Benefits exceeded costs at 29 of the 60 mills investigated. The results of the study point to two major conclusions. First, a regulatory policy that is based on some measure of environmental results, either ambient-based or benefits-based, will be more efficient than a policy that ignores environmental results. Second, truly efficient policies for reducing environmental risks require pollution mitigation decisions that take into account local conditions. These include not only the changes in local ambient conditions, but also the number of people who will benefit from pollution reduction decisions. This latter conclusion suggests that national environmental standards per se may be inefficient.Dr. Luken is currently Senior Environmental Advisor to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria. He is on leave from the U.S. EPA where he was Chief of the Economic Analysis and Research Branch of the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation (OPPE). Mr. Clark is President of Environmental Economics Associates of Traverse City, Michigan. He was formerly Chief of EPA's Cost and Economic Impact Analysis Branch in OPPE. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.     

社会认同理论视角下的企业创新绩效前因组态研究

创新是企业竞争优势的重要来源,也是企业可持续发展的关键动力。探究企业创新的影响因素及其作用机制对于企业创新发展具有理论价值和现实意义。基于社会认同理论,本研究建立包含团队断裂带、团队异质性、环境不确定性以及企业声誉等要素在内的企业创新影响机制模型。通过对66家电子信息企业样本进行模糊集定性比较分析,本研究探究企业内部结构与外部环境的各个要素对于企业创新的协同效应与联动关系。研究发现: 高企业创新绩效的驱动路径有三条,路径1强调在高环境不确定性、高企业声誉情境下,低高管团队学术背景异质性及低断裂带距离有利于实现高企业创新绩效;路径2强调在高环境不确定性、高企业声誉情境下,高团队学历异质性与低断裂带强度有利于实现高企业创新绩效;路径3强调在高环境不确定性、低企业声誉情境下,高团队断裂带强度与低团队断裂带距离有利于实现高企业创新绩效。研究结果拓展了社会身份理论在企业创新领域的应用,也为企业创新绩效的提升提供了新的思路。     

It is not easy being a Green party: Green politics as a normal good

An extensive body of literature shows that voters often credit or blame ruling political parties for economic successes and failures, respectively. This paper presents a related, but new possibility: whether local economic conditions impact Green party electoral outcomes. According to the environmental Kuznets curve, high-income countries will see decreased environmental degradation as they become wealthier, but it is yet to be seen whether this relationship is carried over to environmentally friendly political parties. Using a panel data set that includes over 250 elections from 26 European countries, we find that elections held during times of economic growth increase the vote share that Green parties win. This effect is especially robust for national elections, as opposed to elections for the European Parliament. The magnitudes are large enough to potentially alter the number of seats Green parties have in national legislatures. This provides evidence that Green parties are most likely to gain seats when the economy is growing, and support for the existence of an environmental Kuznets curve.     

Decentralization and local pollution activities: New quasi evidence from China

Traditional fiscal federalism theory holds that decentralization may improve the provision of public goods and services. However, the social welfare field with strong externalities may face different incentives and behavioural logics. This paper provides novel empirical evidence for the causal relationship between decentralization and local pollution. In this paper, we focussed on China's widely spread decentralization reform, which substantially expanded the economic and social management autonomy of county governments. Using the difference-in-differences method and a panel dataset from 1998 to 2007, we found that the reform would compel affected counties to loosen environmental regulation, adopt financial and fiscal policies that would actually support heavy-pollution industries' rapid economic growth. Overall, the reform led to a significant increase in local pollution, thus worsening the overall environmental quality. Moreover, cost-benefit analysis indicated that the reforms generated net gains in social welfare, but the substantial environmental costs cannot be ignored.     

Analysis of space–time variability in agriculture and the environment with geostatistics

This paper gives an overview of space–time variability in agriculture and the environment. Analysis is based upon geostatistics in the framework of linear regression theory. Common procedures for spatial data are extended towards the space–time domain. Several practical studies are presented. The first study describes the use of REML to estimate semi-variogram models within the presence of trends. The second study describes the use of probability maps in an environmental statistical study. The third study describes the use of geostatistics in modelling the development of a disease in cabbage. Studies are evaluated using quadratic scoring rules.