Environmental Taxation and Vertical Cournot Oligopolies: How Eco-industries Matter

This article specifies what an optimal pollution tax should be when dealing with a vertical Cournot oligopoly. Polluting firms sell final goods to consumers and outsource their abatement activities to an environment industry. It is assumed that both markets are imperfectly competitive. Thus, the tax is a single instrument used to regulate three sorts of distortions, one negative externality and two restrictions in production. Consequently, the optimal tax rate is the result of a trade-off that depends on the firms’ market power along the vertical structure. A detailed analysis of Cournot-Nash equilibria in both markets is also performed. In this context, the efficiency of abatement activities plays a key-role. It gives a new understanding to the necessary conditions for the emergence of an eco-industrial sector.      

Air Afrique: the demise of a continental icon

Although the rationale for multi-flag airlines' formation is rooted in contemporary strategic thinking, our understanding of their emergence and subsequent mass disappearances in the twentieth century remains an elusive issue. This article seeks to fill this void by examining the emergence, ascendency and demise of Air Afrique, an airline once seen as a symbol of regional integration in Africa. This examination takes a historical perspective and covers the period from 1961 to 2002. On the basis of this historical analysis, five distinct stages have been identified reflecting the firm's glorious days, precipitous decline and subsequent collapse. These are: the golden age; Africanisation; escalating indecision, escalating commitment and dissolution phases. Each phase provides insights into the deterministic and voluntaristic perspectives of organisational failure. The implications of the findings of this research for theory and practice are discussed.     

中国经济增长与环境污染之间关系的理论解释与贝叶斯回归分析

环境污染在两个方面改变了经济增长模型,一方面它是产出的联合产品,另一方面它给消费者带来负效用。我们分析了以下几个问题：环境保护与经济增长是否相容;长期来看无污染积累的可持续增长是否可能;环境对经济增长的影响;如果引入环境因素,我们关注的关键变量如：收入、消费、资本以及环境污染的最优路径如何变化,据此可以推出哪些可驳斥的推断;观测数据与环境库茨涅茨曲线的理论推断特征是否相符。文章根据标准的经济学理论基础假设构建了一个理论模型,在设定了偏好、技术、禀赋、信息后,求出动态一般均衡解路径。使用环境污染的观测数据,附加关键参数的先验分布,运用贝叶斯推断求出参数的后验分布对理论模型的推断进行验证。文章的主要贡献是对环境库茨涅茨曲线采用了不同于传统回归分析的贝叶斯回归技术,并得出了有意义的分析结果。     

如何发挥产业转移的雾霾治理效应?——基于长三角地区的实证研究

为探究如何借助产业转移实现雾霾污染的有效治理,文章以长三角地区内各城市 PM2.5 日均浓度为样本,在运用 Hsiao 格兰杰因果检验等计量方法揭示了区域内城市间雾霾污染溢出效 应具体特征的基础上,指出了怎样的产业转移才能实现雾霾治理的效果。实证结果表明:(1)区 域内各城市雾霾污染的溢出效应是普遍存在的;(2)各城市雾霾溢出效应的强弱与其地理位置有 关;(3)污染程度较高的城市并不一定呈现出更强的溢出效应。故结合产业现状来看,现行的产 业转移并不能有效缓解长三角地区的雾霾污染问题,必须结合雾霾污染及溢出特征调整产业转移 政策、优化产业转移方向,实施区域协同治理、集中化高效治理。     

省直管县改革与区域空气污染——来自卫星反演数据的实证证据

从政府治理结构改革的角度探讨如何推进环境污染治理是一种有益的尝试。从理论上来说,省直管县改革作为一种重要的政府治理结构改革,能够通过简化政府治理级次来改变政府治理效率,影响诸如环保等公共产品和服务的供给。本文采用卫星反演的PM2.5数据检验了省直管县改革前后县级区域空气污染的变动趋势。发现“财政省直管县”改革能显著降低地区空气污染水平,“强县扩权”改革则显著加剧了地区空气污染。稳健性检验、进一步的分析结果均支持上述结论。机制检验发现,“财政省直管县”主要体现为财力保障水平提升导致的治理变化,而“强县扩权”则主要体现为地方政府竞争行为改变导致的空气污染治理变化。总之,单纯的政府级次减少可能并不必然利于地方公共服务的提供,良好的财力保障为地方污染治理服务提供了支撑,竞争行为变化带来的改革效应则会受到政府对环境污染重视程度的显著影响。     

Analyzing air cargo flows of international routes: an empirical study of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Air cargo demand is an important aspect of the operation and planning of private and public agencies responsible for airports. While most existing studies in this field include only geo-economic characteristics of airports and their hinterlands as explanatory variables, this study develops a gravity model of air cargo flows by trying to incorporate more factors that might influence international air cargo flows of an airport. The model is developed based on the panel data of air cargo services on scheduled routes at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport during the years 2004-2007. The results indicate that population, air freight rate and three dummy variables, including the regional economic bloc of the “Chinese Circle”(an informal partnership between Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and mainland China), the Open Sky Agreements and long established colonial links, are key determinants of international air cargo flows from/to Taiwan. These results suggest a wider array of factors needs to be considered in policy.     

中越共建跨境旅游区探讨

中越跨境旅游资源丰富,德天-板约瀑布是跨越中国和越南国境的统一旅游景区。进一步建设中国与越南德天-板约瀑布跨境旅游区有利于吸引旅客,扩大两国开放程度,提高边境少数民族收入水平和治理环境污染。通过建立两国政府合作机构,实行相对特殊的边界管理政策,共同申请世界自然遗产,加快推进德天-板约瀑布跨境旅游区的建设。     

大气污染对人体健康影响的经济损失研究

采用修正人力资本法,分析大气污染对人体健康影响的经济损失的影响因素,估算大气污染引起的过早死亡人力资本损失和大气污染造成的慢性支气管炎发病人力资本损失,并以广东省为例,估算出大气污染对人体健康影响的经济损失约为112.1亿元。     

宽松的环境政策能吸引更多的外商直接投资吗——基于中国工业省级面板数据的分析

利用我国1997~2009年的工业省级面板数据和动态面板GMM估计方法,考察了相对宽松的环境政策是否是吸引FDI的主要原因。研究发现,环境政策较宽松的地区能够吸引更多的外资流入,但这种影响并不大,所以,以降低环境标准、牺牲环境为代价来吸引FDI不是明智之举;与东、中部地区相比,西部在吸引FDI上处于明显劣势,这在一定程度上加剧了我国经济结构的失衡。     

Economies of traffic density and scale in the integrated air cargo industry: The cost structures of FedEx Express and UPS Airlines

This paper examines the cost structures of the leading integrated air cargo carriers, FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. A total cost model is estimated for the two carriers using quarterly data on domestic operations and costs over a nine-year period (2003–2011). The estimated model indicates that the integrated industry exhibits increasing returns to traffic density and constant returns to scale. Accounting for carrier-specific differences in cost structure and network size, FedEx Express is found to be more cost-efficient than UPS Airlines. Looking at the carriers individually, UPS Airlines exhibits substantial economies of traffic density and constant returns to scale while FedEx Express' cost structure is characterized by weak economies of density and constant returns to scale. The combined effect of returns to density and returns to scale on the cost structures of integrated carriers is captured by economies of size. Both FedEx Express and UPS Airlines exhibit economies of size, indicating that carriers in the integrated industry can be more cost efficient by making appropriate adjustments to their network size as their output grows. Moreover, the relative cost-efficiencies of the carriers are reversed when their network-size differences are not controlled.