Designing education for life on earth

Designing, viewed broadly as the human capacity to link thought and action, has meaning and value in the world that transcends its material associations. Given the nature and urgency of current socioeconomic and ecological problems, the creative, generative concept of design must be made more accessible and useful. Accordingly, my intent is to dispel prevailing, narrow, specialist impressions of design and to advance in the public mind a larger concept that can influence deliberations and behavior in society-at-large. One of today's most critical areas of need, and one where I think design can make a particularly significant contribution, is education. A critical task for such design-based education is enabling people to design an ecologically and economically sustainable future.     

Regulatory ‘Balancing’ and the Efficiency of Green R&D

We identify and analyse several dynamic implications of setting environmental standards such as to balance marginal costs and benefits. The adoption of such a regulatory approach is shown to effect (i) the speed of improvement of abatement technologies; (ii) the direction (in a sense to be defined) of that improvement; (iii) its source and the distribution of the rents from it; and (iv) the rate of development of defensive (averting) technologies. Existing views are thoroughly synthesised in the context of a simple diagrammatic model, several new results are derived and at least one conventional wisdom questioned. The message of the analysis for legislators and regulators is that cost–benefit balancing should be done with care.     

Policy instruments for curbing CO2 emissions: The case of the Netherlands

Taxes may seem to be the most attractive instrument for curbing the emissions of carbon dioxide. This paper, however, argues that environmental taxes involve a number of serious complications — especially in an open economy riddled with market imperfections like the Netherlands. Therefore, a wide-ranging policy mix is called for. As far as households and sheltered sectors are concerned, regulation can continue to play a major role. Within the context of unilateral policies aimed at exposed sectors, the combination of subsidies and voluntary agreements may be more cost effective than the tax instrument.This paper was prepared for a conference on Energy Taxation in Europe organized by the Stichting voor Economisch Onderzoek (SEO) and held on December 13, 1991 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The author would like to thank Sijbren Cnossen, Jarig van Sinderen and one anonymous referee for helpful comments on an earlier draft.     

Pollution Externalities in a Model of Endogenous Fertility and Growth

An endogenous growth model with human capital formation, pollution caused by production of consumption goods, and endogenous fertility decisions made by altruistic agents with infinite horizons is presented. Consequences for optimal policy of modelling fertility as an explicit decision variable are examined. Because ordinary lump-sum transfers to individuals are no longer neutral, either revenue from a pollution tax must be redistributed to dynasties (working as an implicit tax on child births), or lump-sum transfers must be supplemented with an explicit fertility tax. Alternatively, the government can avoid distortions of the fertility decisions by maintaining an appropriate public debt. When abatement is highly productive, it can be optimal to subsidize fertility in order to increase total production.     

论入世后我国税收优惠政策的完善

WTO作为政府间国际组织 ,既建立了法律框架 ,又确立了监督实施机制 ,因此 ,入世后首当其冲受到冲击的是政府的行为方式及其所制定的各项政策。本文从正反两方面初步剖析入世后我国税收优惠政策的自我完善与自我保护。     

环境分析中沾污与损失的来源及相应对策

将环境污染分析的全过程中沾污的来源归纳为实验室空气、实验用容器、实验设备、实验试剂、实验用溶剂以及工作人员等 6个方面 ;将损失的来源归纳为容器吸附和挥发损失两方面 ,同时给出了减轻沾污与损失的对策     

Disclosure of Private Information and Reduction of Uncertainty: Environmental Liabilities in the Chemical Industry

We investigate the potential uncertainty-reducing role of accounting information in the context of contingent Superfund liability valuation. We first develop theoretical arguments for the way reduction of uncertainty regarding these contingent liabilities is expected to affect security prices. Empirical proxies are developed for two types of uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities: site uncertainty and allocation uncertainty. In a valuation framework, we then investigate whether financial statement disclosures and accruals reduce uncertainty and thereby affect security valuation. Specifically, we analyze the interaction of private information contained in firm disclosures and accruals with inherent uncertainty surrounding contingent Superfund liabilities. Results suggest that in a regulatory environment allowing substantial reporting discretion, firm-provided financial statement information affects valuation of contingent Superfund liabilities by reducing uncertainty. Further, we find that information revealed through accruals versus disclosures is differentially effective at reducing site and allocation uncertainty.     

建立和完善环境管理体系实现企业可持续发展

针对加入WTO后石油天然气行业所面临的形势，从国际、国内、行业三个方面进行了详细分析，找出了我国石油行业之间的差距以及自身存在的问题。只有巩固与完善石油行业HSE管理体系，建立并实施加14000环境标准管理体系，正确处理好HSE管理体系与ISO 14000环境标准管理体系间的关系，才能最终实现我国环境标准与国际环境标准接轨。同时还要积极推行清洁生产，使企业从传统的由资源到产品再到污染物排放的线型经济模式中解脱出来，实现由资源到产品最终到再生资源的循环经济模式。只有这样，企业才能做到环境与经济的融合，才能提高企业市场竞争力，最终实现可持续发展。     

税收优惠对外商投资影响的研究综述

税收优惠是各国政府用来吸引外商投资的常用手段。但是,税收优惠如何影响外商投资历来就是一个充满争议的话题。早期国际上关于税收优惠对外商投资影响的经典理论主要有庇古的福利经济学理论、“双缺口”模型和邓肯的国际折衷理论,而近来也有不少国内外学者分别从区位选择、融资来源、投资类型和投资形式等角度论证了税收优惠的作用。     

中国企业技术创新成功的环境条件分析

企业技术创新成功的环境条件分为四个不同的层次和五个不同的维度。由于我国企业环境建设不系统,因此我国企业没有成为技术创新的主体。正确认识我国企业技术创新环境问题是十分必要的。