Taxable treatment of the subsistence level of income in German Natural Law

Natural Law has influenced German tax theories up to the present day. It has also influenced the request for the subsistence level exemption and the granting of a basic allowance, which only developed their full persuasiveness when derived from Natural Law. This paper shows that Natural Law tax theory (mid 1600s to early 1800s), based the subsistence level tax exemption on the right to live, the individualistic state contract theory and the ability-to-pay principle. It also reveals that Adam Smith's view regarding ability-to-pay as a basis for taxation was already contained in British Natural Law and in older German traditions.     

新疆发展国际旅游服务贸易的思考

新疆发展国际旅游服务贸易可以充分发挥其资源优势,促进新疆产业结构升级,促进新疆经济资源的优化配置,因而应大力推进。但当前新疆发展国际旅游服务贸易存在的问题亦不容忽视,可通过加快研究和制定旅游服务贸易政策,改善旅游基础设施,优化旅游产业结构,提高旅游行业素质来提升新疆旅游服务贸易竞争力。     

Biodiversity,natural resource accounting and ecological monitoring

The role that natural resource accounting and ecological monitoring can play in conserving biological diversity is discussed. There exists a widespread view that modifications to national income accounting procedures are crucial to the pursuit of sustainability and particularly the protection of biodiversity. However, we argue that the availability of biologically-adjusted national income figures would not, of itself, be likely to contribute significantly to the protection of biological resources. The conservation of biodiversity requires, among other things, a significantly improved understanding of the nature of environmental changes arising from imposed management regimes and the effects that these changes have on the persistence of biodiversity. On this basis, and in the context of sustainable development, we suggest that ecological monitoring should take priority over the generation of economic data.In many regions of the world sufficient ecological knowledge is available to design and implement integrated monitoring networks that can be used to track the status of many components of biodiversity and inform decisions taken over their management. We outline how this might be undertaken using a hierarchical and prioritised approach aimed, pragmatically, in the first instance at helping to preserve those ecosystems, communities and species which are perceived to be most threatened. Some emphasis is given to the Australian situation because it is the only rich megadiversity nation and it is at the forefront of the development of scientific techniques that can be used to help design soundly-based and cost-effective monitoring programs.We acknowledge the useful comments of two referees, and claim exclusive property rights in remaining errors.     

改善东川市生态经济现状之探讨

本文对云南东川市生态经济系统现状进行了较为全面的分析,指出该市脆弱的生态经济系统会诱发自然灾害,最后提出结合长防林工程并辅之一系列措施能逐步改善该市生态经济现状。     

中国天然气供给预测及价格改革

中国近几年天然气消费增长较快,并且已经成为天然气净进口国。作为一种可耗竭资源,天然气产量也存在峰值,根据本文预测,中国的天然气产量将大约在2018年达到峰值。而中国仍处于工业化城市化进程中,能源需求刚性增加,天然气消费仍旧会有较大的增加,因而在产量达到峰值之后,将面临大量进口的局面。作为最大的发展中国家,中国天然气的大量进口,将会对国际天然气市场产生一定的影响。更为重要的是,中国的天然气价格仍旧以政府指导为主,大量的进口不仅直接威胁中国的能源安全,价格改革也将面临更大的压力。本文还进一步使用宏观政策工具(CGE)模拟天然气提价的宏观经济影响,研究发现:由于在能源消费中比重较小,因而对宏观经济各变量的影响较小,但由于主要消费部门是居民部门,因此对居民尤其是城市居民影响较大,因而需要采取渐进的改革方式,同时配合一定的补贴政策。     

ETHNIC DIVERSITY,PROPERTY RIGHTS,AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Countries rich in natural resources constitute both development failures and successes depending on their underlying socioeconomic fundamentals. Recent empirical evidence and theoretical work provide support for a resource-curse hypothesis based on ethnic fractionalization. There is also increasing empirical evidence suggesting that ethnic heterogeneity based on polarization is a strong deterrent of economic growth. In this paper, we explore the interlinkages between natural resource abundance and both measures of ethnic heterogeneity. In a two–simultaneous equation system, we assess the effects of fractionalization and polarization on property-rights protection, and thereby on growth, both directly as well as in interaction with our resource-abundance proxy. We find that ethnic polarization is more likely to have a direct negative impact on the effectiveness of property rights in a resource-rich context, which as we explain may suggest that different ethnic groups treat the contestable resource base as a semi-public good.     

谈伊春实施天然林保护工程的意义

森林不仅为人类提供资源,而且还具有涵养水源、保持水土、防风固沙等多种作用,给人们提供了一个优美、安逸的生活环境。然而,随着人类贪婪的破坏,森林以惊人的速度减少,已严重危及人类的生存环境,同时也制约了经济的发展。     

重大社会环境事件与人口健康的实证分析和思考——“事件人口学”在我国的创建和完善发展

社会发展进程中,自然和社会环境的重大改变会对人口数量和结构产生近期和远期效果,其对人口健康的影响效应则有更多证据。对重大社会环境事件的定义、基于重大社会环境事件的人口与健康研究的主要发现和存在问题进行了系统的梳理分析,并概要介绍了相关的研究,发现重大社会环境事件作为一种外生冲击和自然实验,为开展人口与健康的因果关系和相关关系等都提供了独特的研究机会和范式,有效弥补了已有人口与健康研究方法学的不足,也使得我们可以更加理性看待重大社会环境事件对人口与健康影响的"双面效应"。在全球化视角下加强基于重大社会环境事件的人口与健康研究,将为制定促进人口健康与社会政策提供重要参考,并以此为线索,可进一步拓展重大社会环境事件与人口数量、结构、分布、变动等人口效应的影响,进而建立事件人口学的研究体系、方法和内容。     

资源性国有资产的资产化管理

对自然资源实施资产化管理是顺应市场经济体制要求的必然趋势.本文在综合介绍近年来我国资源性国有资产管理现状和存在问题的基础上,分析了资产化管理的必要性和实施中的主要障碍,并提出了完善资产化管理的思路和方法.通过对自然资源分类研究和对其公共物品属性的分析,提出应当根据自然资源的不同特点采取不同的产权安排方式和资产化程度管理,建立起资产化管理的体系框架,探索出一条具有中国特色的资源性资产管理模式.     

新疆自然资源与人口发展的互动关系研究——基于相对资源承载力的分析

本文以新疆的历史数据为基础,采用相对自然资源承载力的研究方法,对新疆自然资源与人口发展之间的互动关系进行了深入分析,发现新疆的人口虽还没达到自然资源承载力指数的上限,但是自然资源的相对承载压力度却出现了不断上升的趋势。