Policy options for afforestation in Flanders

This paper analyses current and alternative afforestation policy instruments in Flanders. First we select forest sites that maximize net social benefits given a constraint on the total area of new forests and then we select policy instruments that yield this optimal combination of sites. For each policy option, we calculate the associated costs for landowners and government as well as net social benefits for society. Our empirical illustration shows that the welfare gain is considerable if the afforestation subsidy is conditioned on an objective criterion rather than a case-by-case approach. Our results also show that it is worthwhile to consider alternative policy instruments, such as auctions, not previously used in Belgian legislation.     

Assessing Voluntary Programs to Improve Environmental Quality

The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the use of voluntaryapproaches (VAs) to environmental protection, which has spurned agrowing literature on the relative merits of voluntary vs. mandatoryapproaches. This paper draws on that literature to discuss both thetheoretical and empirical issues that arise in the evaluation orassessment of a particular VA. We consider both the environmentaleffectiveness and the efficiency of this policy approach. Our aim is toaid policymakers in evaluating a specific program or in thinking aboutthe use and design of a VA. We identify some key features that arelikely to increase both the effectiveness and the efficiency of VAs.     

经济全球化进程中城市群发展的制度创新

从我国城市群目前的发展现状来看,影响城市群发展的主要因素是制度障碍:城市群跨界需求与行政区分割的障碍、缺乏城市群一体化发展的协调政策、没有形成有效的空间管理机制。因此,制度创新应是发展我国城市群的关键所在,重点是在法律制度、空间规划和管理制度等方面的创新。     

天山北坡经济带绿洲生态经济脱钩分析

本文根据脱钩理论与模型的基本思想,引入转移投入概念,建立了绿洲脱钩分析模型,对"七五"以来四个五年计划期间GDP快速增长的天山北坡绿洲经济带的生态—经济关系进行了分析,提出了经济带脱钩关系特点,进一步提出了绿洲经济优化调控的建议。     

中国产业结构变迁与经济增长的实证分析

本文对我国1978～2002年产业结构变化状况和产业结构变化趋势进行定量分析,考察产业结构变动引起各产业部门对经济增长的贡献和作用的相应变化.实证检验表明,这一时期我国产业结构变动基本符合工业化发展的演变规律,但从我国经济发展的要求看,产业结构转换仍滞后于总量增长的要求;进一步优化产业结构,需要着力解决"三农"问题、提升企业的国际竞争力、加快发展第三产业.     

中美公众对收入差距的反应差异探讨

中美的基尼系数如实地反映了两国的收入差距。中美两国民众对收入差距反应有差异的原因是因为两国的收入分配形状、社会保障水平、经济发展水平、非法收入的社会影响不同。由此可得出这样一个结论：要缩小我国收入差距，就必须在农村实行规模经济，完善社会保障，加大打击非法收入的力度。     

Régulation School and environment: Theoretical proposals and avenues of research

The article explores the relevance of a particular approach of the institutionalist movement, régulation theory, to deal with the relationship between the economy and the environment. Régulation theory, which appeared in France at the end of the 1970s, is mainly interested in macroeconomic issues. In contrast, until now it has tended to neglect environmental questions. By taking several key concepts of this theory (accumulation regime, mode of régulation, institutional forms), we have sought to assess its significance vis-à-vis the environmental field. More precisely, from the perspective of establishing an environmental regulationist theory, we propose considering the economic relation to the environment as the articulation of three forms: a transhistorical form, a general capitalist form and a specific capitalist form, the latter being variable in capitalist time and space. We give several illustrations of the variability of the relation to the environment, depending on the different accumulation regimes and the different modes of régulation. Two principal avenues of research are proposed: historical analyses for given economic areas, and comparative analyses relating in particular to different capitalist areas.     

地方官员与经济增长——来自中国省长、省委书记交流的证据

通常认为地方官员在我国经济发展中扮演着积极角色,近来国家也有意通过干部交流促进省区平衡发展,但国内还没有定量识别地方官员影响经济增长的文献。本文基于1978—2005年间省长(书记)交流样本构造了省长(书记)与省区相匹配的面板数据,系统地实证分析省长(书记)交流对流入省区经济增长的影响(即省长交流效应),结果发现,整体而言,省长交流能够使流入地的经济增长速度提高1个百分点左右;这种省长交流效应是通过在流入地采取大力发展二产、重视一产、忽视三产的产业发展取向实现的。本文的发现是稳健的,有助于增进对加强干部交流破解省区发展不平衡的理解。     

中国经济学研究与教学存在的基本问题与解决思路

当代中国经济学教学与研究面临的主要矛盾,是社会主义市场经济实践对经济理论提出的高要求与现有经济学研究与教学的相对低水平之间的矛盾。核心问题是应该如何在坚持马克思主义经济学指导地位的前提下,构建符合社会主义市场经济实践的经济理论;关键是要坚持用发展中的马克思主义经济学作为中国经济学的指导思想;重点是在辨证扬弃的基础上,大胆借鉴和充分利用西方市场经济经济学理论,将发展了的马克思主义经济学与辨证扬弃了的西方市场经济理论有机结合起来。     

Industrial revolution and mortality revolution: Two of a kind?

In little more than a century life expectancy has doubled in most parts of the world. Neither facts nor theory support the view that this Mortality Revolution is due to the Industrial Revolution and the era of rapid economic growth that ensued. Rather, both revolutions mark the onset of accelerated and sustained technological change in their respective areas. They occur largely independently of each other, the later occurrence of the Mortality Revolution being due to the later development of biomedical vis-a-vis physical knowledge. Comparative study of the two should prove fruitful. Although entrepreneurship is important in each, there appear to be differences in the underlying motivations and the role of private property and other institutions. Links between technological change, on the one hand, and scale of operation, capital inputs, and education, on the other, also offer promising possibilities for comparative study.The author is grateful to Donna Hokoda Ebata and Christine M. Schaeffer for excellent assistance, the University of Southern California for financial support, and to Eileen M. Crimmins, Samuel H. Preston, Morton O. Schapiro, Roger S. Schofield, and two referees for helpful comments.