How efficient are national environmental standards? A benefit-cost analysis of the United States experience

This paper summarizes the results of the first systematic, geographically-specific efficiency assessment of the U.S. experience with national environmental standards and with alternative approaches to establishing those standards. This ex-post evaluation assessed the net benefits that resulted from EPA's regulation of conventional air and water pollutants from the pulp and paper industry between 1973 and 1984. The paper compares the benefit-cost efficiencies of the three dominant regulatory approaches: technology, ambient, and benefits. Unlike previous studies, which assessed benefits and costs on a national basis, the study estimates both costs and benefits on a facility-by-facility basis. The analysis shows how the efficiency of national environmental regulations can vary dramatically at local levels. The authors conclude that the technology-based standards for water pollution management failed as an efficient environmental strategy. The costs clearly exceeded the benefits in the aggregate, as well as in the specific in most situations. Benefits exceeded costs at only 11 of the 68 mills investigated. The ambient based standards for air pollution management succeeded as an environmental strategy in the aggregate, but succeeded in the specific for only one-third of the mills (22 of 60 mills). The benefits-based standards for air pollution management also succeeded in the aggregate as well as in the specific for about one-half of the mills. Benefits exceeded costs at 29 of the 60 mills investigated. The results of the study point to two major conclusions. First, a regulatory policy that is based on some measure of environmental results, either ambient-based or benefits-based, will be more efficient than a policy that ignores environmental results. Second, truly efficient policies for reducing environmental risks require pollution mitigation decisions that take into account local conditions. These include not only the changes in local ambient conditions, but also the number of people who will benefit from pollution reduction decisions. This latter conclusion suggests that national environmental standards per se may be inefficient.Dr. Luken is currently Senior Environmental Advisor to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria. He is on leave from the U.S. EPA where he was Chief of the Economic Analysis and Research Branch of the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation (OPPE). Mr. Clark is President of Environmental Economics Associates of Traverse City, Michigan. He was formerly Chief of EPA's Cost and Economic Impact Analysis Branch in OPPE. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.     

供应链金融利益主体的多阶段博弈研究

现代经济中,金融在资源配置方面发挥的作用明显不足,出现严重的资源浪费和供需错配现象,加剧了中小企业面临的融资难问题.本文从供应链金融的内涵切入,建立以利益相关者为主体的融资量化模型,利用多阶段博弈理论对企业不同模式下的成本收益进行检验,结果表明:供应链金融在实现上、下游各利益相关者个体的最优化的同时,也可有效促使供应链整体的利益最大化、实现高效运作和价值增值,全面实现链上企业间的资源共享、互利共赢.     

上市公司现金持有:权衡理论还是啄食理论

本文根据2000—2005年沪深股市586家A股上市公司的数据,考察了上市公司现金持有比率的决定因素。实证发现投资水平、资产负债率、现金替代物与现金持有比率负相关,债务期限结构和每股股利与现金持有比率正相关,现金流、企业规模、现金流波动率和财务实力的影响随不同的成长性而不同。实证结论更多地支持了啄食理论。     

Equity and efficiency as components of a social welfare function

An income distribution-based abbreviated social welfare function is an increasing function of equity and efficiency. When inequality is of relative type, we characterize variants of the Atkinson–Kolm–Sen and the Shorrocks abbreviated welfare functions, where the variation results from the existence of a corresponding trade-off parameter, and in each case if the parameter becomes one the two forms coincide. When the value of the parameter increases, equity gains more weight in the equity–efficiency trade-off. For absolute inequality, we characterize the Blackorby–Donaldson–Kolm welfare function. Some implications of the lexicographic-type equity used in the paper are also considered.     

The Role of Inflation Target Adjustment in Stabilization Policy

How and under what circumstances can adjusting the inflation target serve as a stabilization-policy tool and contribute to welfare improvement? We answer these questions quantitatively with a standard New Keynesian model that includes cost-push-type shocks. Our proposed inflation target rule calls for the target to be adjusted in a persistent manner and in the opposite direction to the realization of a cost-push shock, which is essentially a makeup strategy. The inflation target rule, combined with a Taylor-type rule, significantly reduces inflation fluctuations originating from cost-push shocks and mitigates the stabilization trade-off, resulting in a similar level of welfare to that associated with the Ramsey optimal policy.     

Optimal investment strategies in an international economy with stochastic interest rates

We investigate how investors should optimally choose to invest in a dynamically complete international market. We find closed-form solutions for the optimal investment strategy and for the wealth loss an investor suffers from not investing internationally. Theoretically, we show that the gain from international investment is due to the speculative investment only, and why it is important for an investor from a large economy to invest in a small economy. In a numerical example we compare the wealth losses investors from Denmark and the U.S. suffer due to home bias.     

基于成本——效益分析的安徽农村生物沼气发展研究

生物沼气为生物质能源中最为普及的一种,由于其分散性、小型化和就地取材适合农村发展。文章运用成本——效益函数,通过将农村沼气发展具有代表性地区的实地调研情况与函数的理论前提进行对比分析后发现,发展大中型沼气项目更适合农村实际,从而提出下一阶段农村沼气的发展模式。     

利益集团、行为偏好与黄宗羲定律——中国封建王朝更替动因的经济学分析

中国封建社会特殊的社会结构下,封建王朝在其演进过程中,农民集团和官僚集团之间的利益博弈对税赋改革的影响会导致＂黄宗羲定律＂的形成。税赋愈改愈重使得农民在当朝所能获得的效用随时间的推移而降低,从而导致农民预期起义成本的降低,当这种预期成本下降到一定水平后,农民集团会采取有效的集团行动并转向对新的政治体制的寻求,最终完成朝代的更替。这一过程可以运用经济学的基本理论,并建立适当模型,从而对中国社会特有的王朝更替现象进行解释。     

美国社会规制研究的三种路径

当西方社会规制研究兴起于20世纪70年代初,除了规制经济学中的公益理论和规制捕获理论影响到社会规制研究外,经济学的成本效益分析、公共选择、政治学的制度主义都渗入到社会规制的研究中.本文主要介绍这三种分析路径在西方社会规制研究中运用,并作出简要的评论.     

反倾销制度的法律经济分析

我国正处在加入WTO后过渡时期,贸易摩擦和纠纷频频发生。同时,我国也开始逐渐完善自身的反倾销制度,以保护因开放市场而受冲击的产业。文章主要从法律经济学的角度．触及反倾销制度的法律供求、法律效益和均衡,指出反倾销法律制度在正义和效率方面有待探讨。在进出口公平贸易中应当注意对倾销的衡量和控制．从而达到社会福利的最大化。