Economic Potential of Biomass Based Fuels for Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation

Use of biofuels diminishes fossil fuelcombustion thereby also reducing net greenhousegas emissions. However, subsidies are neededto make agricultural biofuel productioneconomically feasible. To explore the economicpotential of biofuels in a greenhouse gasmitigation market, we incorporate data onproduction and biofuel processing for thedesignated energy crops switchgrass, hybridpoplar, and willow in an U.S. AgriculturalSector Model along with data on traditionalcrop-livestock production and processing, andafforestation of cropland. Net emissioncoefficients on all included agriculturalpractices are estimated through crop growthsimulation models or taken from the literature. Potential emission mitigation policies ormarkets are simulated via hypothetical carbonprices. At each carbon price level, theAgricultural Sector Model computes the newmarket equilibrium, revealing agriculturalcommodity prices, regionally specificproduction, input use, and welfare levels,environmental impacts, and adoption ofalternative management practices such asbiofuel production. Results indicate no rolefor biofuels below carbon prices of $40 perton of carbon equivalent. At these incentivelevels, emission reductions via reduced soiltillage and afforestation are more costefficient. For carbon prices above $70,biofuels dominate all other agriculturalmitigation strategies.     

Could the Faustmann model have an interior minimum solution?

The growth of an even-aged stand usually follows a S-shaped pattern, implying that the growth function is convex when stand age is low and concave when stand age is high. Given such a growth function, the Faustmann model could in theory have multiple optima and hence an interior local minimum solution. To ensure that the rotation age at which the first derivative of the land expectation value equals zero is a maximum, it is often assumed that the growth function is concave in stand age. Yet there is no convincing argument for excluding the possibility of conducting the final harvest before the growth function changes to concave. We argue that under normal circumstances the Faustmann model does not have any interior minimum. It is neither necessary nor proper to assume that the growth function is concave in the vicinity of the optimal rotation age. When the interest rate is high, the optimal rotation may lie in the interval on which the growth function is convex, i.e. before volume or value growth culminates.     

Official rotation and corporate innovation: Evidence from the governor rotation

Rotation is a practice whereby officials are regularly moved between equally ranked positions. Focusing on governor rotation, this paper examines the effect of official rotation on corporate innovation in China. First, we find that official rotation significantly promotes corporate innovation, including enterprises’ innovation investment, quantity, and quality. Second, we find that the effect of official rotation on corporate innovation varies because of official and regional heterogeneity. Officials rotating from other provinces significantly stimulate corporate innovation, but officials rotating from the central government have an insignificant influence on corporate innovation. In addition, officials rotating to non-eastern regions significantly enhance corporate innovation, while officials rotating to eastern regions have a negligible impact on corporate innovation. We further examine the driving mechanism behind the effect of official rotation on corporate innovation and find that officials rotating from eastern regions to non-eastern regions can significantly promote corporate innovation, but officials rotating from non-eastern regions to eastern regions do not boost corporate innovation. These findings imply that the different effects of official rotation on corporate innovation are due to the official experience effect. We also find that official rotation can promote corporate innovation through reducing corporate charitable donations and increasing corporate innovation subsidies. In a supplementary analysis, we find that GDP-oriented performance appraisal pressure weakens the effect of official rotation on corporate innovation. The lower the pressure on officials regarding their performance, the more significant the effect of official rotation on corporate innovation. In addition, official rotation can significantly promote the development of the regional economy and improve the GDP growth rate via corporate innovation, which is a micro-level economic growth effect of official rotation. Overall, our findings further verify the economic effect of official rotation and extend our understanding of the influencing factors of corporate innovation from the perspective of the official governance system. Our findings also have clear policy implications for how the government can improve the official governance model to promote corporate innovation during the transition period of the national innovation system.     

How local leaders matter: Inter-provincial leadership transfers and land transactions in China

We study how local leaders matter for economic growth by examining the impacts of exogenous transfers of leaders across China’s provinces on land transactions in the primary market. We find that new provincial leaders attract investment in industrial land from the provinces of their previous positions. The leaders’ impacts are greater when their freedom to deploy their business connections in the land market is greater. More importantly, we find evidence of positive impacts of land transactions on economic growth, which should bode well for the careers of the local leaders, albeit there is some evidence of rent seeking among officials especially when they are too old for further promotion.     

输液生产后设备清洗残留物质监测方法的探讨

文章探讨大容量注射剂生产设备清洗后残留物质检查的方法,使用输液生产常用的原辅料及清洗剂,配制一定浓度,根据其化学性质分别采用测定pH值、电导率、旋光度、鉴别反应等方法,确定检测方法数据,从而控制残留物限度。     

东北地区粮食储备安全问题研究

从生产和流通环节入手,对东北地区粮食安全的影响因素进行分析.在生产环节,着重分析了制约东北地区粮食生产数量和质量的影响因素;在流通环节,着重分析了设施设备、物流瓶颈、信息化建设等东北地区粮食流通环节的约束问题.针对存在的问题,提出了保障东北地区粮食安全的措施.     

贵州省县域经济的综合评价

运用因子分析法可对贵州省2003年县域经济的综合指标进行评价.其过程是:通过SPSS统计软件进行计算和分析,以斜交旋转后的综合因子得分作为县域经济综合实力的度量,给出贵州省2003年各区县的综合实力排序以及等级划分情况并做出相应的评价.     

加强干部管理 提升企业核心竞争力

本文从岗位轮换、团委讲堂、拓展训练、公推直选、技术论坛几个方面论述了新桥煤矿干部管理的实际做法。     

谈“3＋1”信用管理模式在中储粮轮换贸易中的运用

随着中储粮深度介入粮食市场经济的大潮,信用管理模式的推行呼之欲出。信用管理在中央直属粮库还是一个新课题。中央直属粮库需要运用信用评估机制、债权保障机制、帐款管理和债权追讨机制以及构架信用管理组织结构等方式来实现良好的信用管理模式。     

Economic contribution of French serradella (Ornithopus sativus Brot.) pasture to integrated weed management in Western Australian mixed‐farming systems: an application of compressed annealing*

Sowing phases of French serradella (Ornithopus sativus Brot.) pasture between extended cropping sequences in the Western Australian wheatbelt can sustain grain production through restoring soil fertility and reducing selective herbicide use. The objective of this article is to investigate the profitability of rotations involving this pasture under a variety of weed management scenarios to obtain greater insight into its value for mixed farming systems in this region. A stochastic search procedure, compressed annealing, is used to identify profitable sets of weed management strategies in a simulation model representing a large number of potential combinations of chemical and non‐chemical forms of weed control. In contrast to a continuous‐cropping sequence, the inclusion of a serradella phase in a rotation is profitable at high weed densities and with increasing levels of herbicide resistance. A single year of pasture in the rotation is optimal if resistance to Group A selective herbicides is present at the beginning of the planning horizon, but a three‐year phase is required if resistance to multiple herbicide groups is observed. Sowing a serradella pasture twice over a two‐year phase is also shown to be economically attractive given benefits of successive high weed kills.