Protecting our prairies: Research and policy actions for conserving America’s grasslands

Grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world. They supply vital resources for society, support an abundance of wildlife species, and store rich carbon reserves beneath their surfaces. Despite this, only a fraction of original grasslands in the United States now remains, and their rate of conversion to cropland has recently reaccelerated. This paper discusses opportunities that are immediately available to reduce the loss of U.S. native grasslands (i.e., prairie) and advance toward collective goals in grassland conservation. Potential solution-oriented actions include inventorying and monitoring remaining prairie, reconsidering public and private incentives for conversion and conservation, and establishing an industry-led moratorium on natural ecosystem loss. There is also a need among the engaged communities to develop unified messaging and a shared vision for grassland conservation in the U.S., such as “no prairie conversion” or “zero net loss of grasslands.” Additional tangible steps for action are outlined across the science, policy, and public-driven support arenas and offered for multiple stakeholder groups, including agricultural producers, policymakers, academics, and conservation organizations.     

Investigating exchange rate shocks on agricultural trade balance: The case of Tunisia

The paper studies the impact of changes in Tunisia's exchange rate on the net external position of the agricultural sector. It shows that substitutability on production and consumption among domestically produced goods leads to an ambiguous impact for reasons that go beyond the Marshall-Lerner condition. Using cointegration techniques to disentangle the long and short-run impact of changes in the exchange rate on the net agricultural trade balance, we find that the depreciation of the domestic currency leads to a deterioration of the net external position of Tunisia's agricultural sector in the long-run.     

中国货币政策工具调控信贷：实证新观点

文章通过构建包含流动性因素的货币信贷模型，以研究中国的货币政策工具调控信贷的动态影响机制，并结合中国的相关季度数据，构建时变参数状态空间模型进行实证分析。研究结果表明：信贷利率、法定存款准备金率、再贴现率和银行间同业拆借利率对中国信贷调控的影响与理论模型分析得到的动态影响机制比较一致；由于中国金融市场的特殊性，使得债券利率在调控信贷中的作用在2010年后出现失效的现象。建议中国在调控信贷方面还应以贷款利率、法定存款准备金率、再贴现率和银行间同业拆借利率的综合手段为主。     

The impact of national traditions and cultures on national foresight processes

This paper addresses the influence of national traditions, styles or culture on the use of foresight in decision-making processes. Inspired by sociologists’ contributions on national culture, the paper demonstrates that two dimensions of national culture, power distance and uncertainty avoidance, are useful in the characterisation of the context in which national foresight exercises are carried out. The paper is based on two Danish cases: The Danish Government's Globalisation Strategy, from 2005, and the Danish Research 2015 process, from 2008, which focus on priority settings for strategic research.     

Can distortions in agriculture support structural transformation? The case of Uzbekistan

The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the development process of a country. However, the tools used to trigger economic development are objects of controversy in theory and practice. While neoclassical theory contends that state interventions and protectionism create inefficiencies and sub-optimal allocation of resources, heterodox authors argue that those measures can be instrumental in fostering growth. Uzbekistan has applied heterodox distortive measures in agriculture. This paper investigates the implications of those distortions for the Uzbek economy. I argue that state interventions in agriculture, through surplus extraction and economies of scale, have facilitated investments in added-value industries, driving national structural transformation.     

财政政策对军民融合创新协同度的影响——以电子及通讯设备制造业为例

军民融合创新是军民融合战略与创新驱动发展战略的深化和结合，对于推动国防科技工业和民用科技工业发展至关重要。以电子及通讯设备制造业为例，基于创新协同视角，主要考察财政政策对军民融合创新协同的影响。通过构建复合系统协同度模型，分类并量化军民融合创新协同指标体系，在此基础上通过实证回归方法考察财政政策对军民融合创新协同的影响效应。研究发现，目前我国军民融合创新协同度整体上仍属于低度协同，还有很大提升空间；财政支持在一定程度上能够促进军民融合创新协同水平提高。为进一步促进军民融合创新发展，需要政府对该领域实施相应的干预与扶持。     

Exploring the adoption of precision agricultural technologies: A cross regional study of EU farmers

Precision agricultural technologies (PATs) allow more detailed management of in-field variability. Policy and advisory communities have championed PATs as a route to preserving natural capital whilst increasing productivity from agricultural land. A range of PATs are currently available for the agricultural producer but uptake varies by the type of technology and region. Whereas most studies on uptake have focused on US or Australia we empirically examine uptake of machine guidance (MG) and variable rate nitrogen technologies (VRNT) within European farming systems. Using primary information from 971 arable crop growers across five countries: Belgium, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the UK, a multilevel random intercept regression estimated a) the differences between adoption and non-adoption and b) the differences between VRNT and MG adoption. We find, aside from size and income differences, which reflect the economic cost barrier to adoption, an attitudinal difference, in terms of optimism towards the technology’s economic return leading to more probability of uptake. Moreover innovative and information seeking behaviour also proved significant when upgrading from machine guidance to variable rate technologies. Subsidy and taxation were considered positive drivers of uptake within the community. However, results suggest that more indirect interventions, such as informational support to counteract industry bias, and demonstration to prove the viability of economic return may be effective at meeting land manager and policy expectations towards PATs.     

国家中心城市建设的绿色发展效应研究——基于285个城市的准自然实验

基于2004-2018年中国内地285个城市面板数据，构建倾向得分匹配双重差分模型，评估国家中心城市建设对绿色发展的政策效应，并对地区间发展差异进行拓展性分析。研究发现：国家中心城市建设能够有效促进城市绿色全要素生产率提升。其中，在地区层面，东部地区国家中心城市建设的政策效应保持稳健，中西部地区的政策效应尚未凸显；工业发展、教育水平和外资引入是现阶段国家中心城市建设发挥绿色效应的关键路径，而经济发展则是重要的潜在渠道。据此提出全方位深入推进国家中心城市建设，发挥其引领绿色发展的整体驱动效应和示范效应，同时，兼顾城市综合发展异质性特征，注重国家中心城市建设有序推进的对策建议。     

The Credit View, Old and New

Recent writings in the so-called 'credit view' focus on binding finance constraints of macroeconomic activity which arise from the incomplete substitutability of bank credit and from changes in borrowers' net worth. They criticize the standard approaches in the 'money view' for not taking full account of the observable effects of monetary restrictions on real activity. In this paper, the 'new credit view' is contrasted with older macroeconomic theories that placed special emphasis on the banks' systemic potential to expand credit beyond planned saving. The comparative discussion of the underlying arguments about bank behaviour, about the non-neutrality of credit money, and about the transmission of monetary policy impulses reveals some shortcomings in the new view. History helps, moreover, to set the conventional confrontations of the 'credit view' and the 'money view' in perspective. JEL-classification: B22, E32, E44, E51, E52     

我国公共农业R&D投资变化及其国际比较研究

研究了我国公共农业RD投资现状及其变化趋势,并从全球各地区、金砖国家及新兴国家层面进行了国际比较。结果表明,我国公共农业RD投资增长迅猛,投资总额位居金砖国家及新兴国家之首,但投资稳定性不容乐观且投资强度明显不足;公共农业RD投资以政府部门为主,重点扶持农业和农、林、牧、渔服务业。政府应提高公共农业RD投资强度,确保投资稳定性,使资金适量向林业、畜牧业及渔业倾斜,同时鼓励私人部门对公共农业RD进行投资。