流域环境经济学:一个新的学科增长点

针对流域系统的整体性、地域分异性、准公共物品属性和外部性等特点,根据流域环境管理的市场失灵、政府失效的经济学分析,以及理性行为、非理性行为的多方博弈分析,提出流域环境经济学的概念,分析了构建流域环境经济学这一新学科的目的与意义。基于传统经济学和新的经济学理论,如机制设计理论、博弈论、行为经济学等理论工具,阐释了流域环境经济学的内涵及研究框架,力图从新视角、新思维提出解决流域环境问题的途径。     

生态食品:消费者的偏好选择及影响因素

频发的食品安全事件与持续恶化的生态环境日益受到社会各界关注,也使得生态食品逐步为消费者所认可,并引发广大学者的研究兴趣。该文基于山东省济南等城市827个消费者样本数据,以有机蔬菜为例,构建多重选择的综合评价指数研究消费者对生态食品不同价值属性的偏好选择,进而采用列联表分析及卡方检验筛选影响消费者偏好选择的关键因素,并运用多项Logit模型分析这些因素对消费者偏好选择的影响程度及显著水平。结果表明,消费者对"低药残"等食品安全价值属性和"美味"等享乐价值属性普遍较为偏好,而对"低污染"等生态价值属性的重要性评价则相对较低。年龄、受教育年限及对有机蔬菜的认知与信任等显著影响着消费者的偏好选择。政府应致力于提升消费者对有机蔬菜生态价值属性的认知与偏好,企业应针对不同顾客群,进行准确市场定位,实施差异化营销战略。     

环境决策的伦理向度

环境决策是指决策在环境领域中的具体应用,即依据需求、偏好和价值观等一系列因素对开发、利用和保护环境等多项行为进行思考和评估,进而选择出最优决策方案的过程。相比一般的公共政策决策,环境决策表现出高度的不确定性、在时间和空间维度上的延展性以及广泛的社会性等特点。其实质是解决利益冲突问题,实现经济、社会与环境利益的协调平衡与可持续发展。它的深层根源在于人与人以及人与环境之间的价值冲突,而化解这些多元价值冲突离不开伦理判断。在实际环境决策中,主要有功利主义、道义论和美德伦理三种伦理形式作为支撑,但是作为一种人际伦理,它们在处理环境决策问题时都表现出不同程度的局限与束缚。环境伦理是对人际伦理的一种深度融合,它关注人与自然、人与社会以及自然与社会等多个层次的关系,主张环境正义、代际平等、尊重自然和环境协同等多项原则。其优势在于,它纳入了对动物、植物、整个生态系统的道德关怀,力图通过对自然内在价值的确立去消除传统的主客二元对立,从而更能为化解多元价值冲突提供合理有效的判断标准和衡量尺度。因此,从人际伦理走向环境伦理,是应对环境决策困境的应然之路,也是其最终伦理归宿。环境决策需要环境伦理的指导,而环境伦理也必然要对当前的环境决策困境做出回应。     

环境问题的信息经济学分析

1　导致环境问题的经济原因 :市场失灵和政府　失效资源经济学和环境经济学将造成资源退化和环境恶化的经济原因归为两类 :市场失灵和政府失效。认为导致市场失灵的原因有 :资源产权不清晰、公共物品的非排他性和非竞争性、外部性、不完全竞争、短期行为和不确定性等 ;导致政府失效的原因有 :决策判断失误、利益集团的影响、决策信息不完全和体制不健全等。关于市场失灵和政府失效 ,主流经济学的解释是 :由于公共物品、外部性、市场竞争不充分、信息不完全和信息不对称的存在 ,使得市场不能依靠价格机制的调节实现资源的最优配置 ,因此 ,市…     

区域环境质量与经济发展关系模型研究

环境库兹涅茨曲线是目前环境经济领域被广泛引用的一个计量模型。针对当前人们大多通过实际观测资料,利用回归分析,估计环境质量转折点,而理论研究相对较少的现状,从社会福利最大化角度出发,通过设定物品消费偏好指数,建立了一个两物品模型。通过数学推理,首先推导出了区域环境最佳投资水平,在此基础上从理论上证明了环境库兹涅茨曲线存在的依据,以及在环境质量最低点和环境质量发生根本性好转的转折点的社会总投资水平。研究表明,环境质量演化过程曲线取决于社会经济发展状况,它与非环境物品生产函数和排污生产函数的技术参数,居民收入水平以及对环境物品和非环境物品的消费偏好,国民收入分配政策等有关,而非仅仅与经济增长状况有关。因此,在经济发展过程中适时地调整产业结构和国民收入分配政策、采用新技术、提倡合理的消费观念等是加速环境质量演化过程的重要措施。     

低碳经济的理论基础及其经济学价值

低碳经济是世界关注焦点,低碳经济逐步成为发展模式主导.然而,理论界对低碳经济研究主要集中在意义和途径,没有对低碳经济理论进行探讨.没有完善低碳经济理论会导致对实际指导失误.构建低碳经济理论体系,夯实理论基础是发展低碳经济的关键.本文首先从经济史中探寻低碳经济理论根基,“世界主义经济学”认为经济学是以造福人类为使命的科学和个人福利是完全依存于全人类福利的,这些经济学思想中全世界思维可以作为低碳经济思想源头.通过与生态经济、循环经济、绿色经济、气候经济学和资源环境经济学等相关学科比较,借鉴和吸取其理论.最后,对低碳经济理论对经济学影响价值进行探讨,这些价值主要表现在提供经济发展新模式理论基石,引导消费方式转变,化解国际经济合作困境,完善国际经济学体系,拓宽了环境问题解决途径,丰富了相关经济学研究内容等方面.本文研究从理论上肯定了低碳经济有经济学理论来源,有经济学理论价值,不仅仅是经济发展新模式.     

滨海旅游活动的经济价值评价——以大连为例

人类的滨海旅游活动改变了滨海旅游资源的原生态,本文用福利经济学社会效用最大化原理分析旅游活动的经济价值,反应出人类改变滨海自然旅游资源的价值补偿。这种非市场社会公共品环境资源的价值通常用消费者剩余反应,可以通过从一种质量状态改善到另一种状态时的最大意愿支付(WTP)测量,WTP直接表现旅游者对承载旅游活动的环境资源的假想购买意愿。文中提出采用单解释变量对数效用差函数的离散条件评价法分析九类旅游活动的经济价值,得到大连滨海各种旅游活动的每人WTP为38-125元,在分析WTP和解释变量关系后发现偏好于更亲近海水和沙滩活动的旅游者愿意花费更大的个人意愿支付。旅游活动的经济价值分析从技术上增加了旅游资源管理的内涵,有利于实现旅游活动和旅游资源管理从粗放型向集约型的转变;旅游活动的经济价值评价研究也将为旅游景区提供适合的定价机制。     

农户商品有机肥投入的市场激励研究——基于农地确权调节效应的分析

基于新古典经济学利润最大化原则,采用黄土高原苹果优势区771个苹果户样本,分析农户商品有机肥投入的市场激励效应及其农地确权在激励效应中的调节作用。研究发现:(1)农户商品有机肥投入同时受农产品市场和农地市场的双重激励,黄土高原苹果优势区苹果市场和农地市场均对苹果户的商品有机肥投入具有有效的激励作用;(2)苹果市场对苹果户商品有机肥投入的市场激励效应高于农地市场;(3)农地确权在农地市场对农户商品有机肥投入的激励效应中具有正向调节作用。该研究在一定程度延展了新古典经济学对农户农地保护性投资行为的理论解释,并为如何有效激励农户增施商品有机肥提供参考。     

资源环境生态经济价值综论

本文在回顾经济学资源环境观的基础上 ,系统分析了资源环境生态经济价值的内涵 ;并进一步对生态学、环境经济学与可持续发展等相关研究进行分析和总结。     

黄河三角洲湿地主导生态服务功能价值估算

黄河兰角洲湿地是全球暖温带最典型的河口三角洲湿地,具有多种生态服务功能.本文依据每种生态功能的特点和作用机理,分别运用生态经济学、环境经济学或资源经济学的方法对各主导生态服务功能的价值进行了量化估算.结果表明:在黄河三角洲湿地10项主导生态服务功能中,蓄水调洪和降解污染物的功能价值最大;黄河三角洲湿地单位面积价值大约是全国湿地平均单位面积价值的10倍,其中自然湿地的单位面积价值远高于人工湿地的单位面积价值.本研究结果使人们直观地看到了湿地给人类带来的福利,为湿地生态资源的合理定价、有效补偿提供了科学依据.     

Combining Stated Preference and Revealed Preference Methods for the Valuation of Non-market Goods

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce the combining stated preference and revealed preference methods which is the state-ofthe- art method for the valuation of non-market goods. Revealed preference methods and stated preference (SP) methods have both been applied by economists in valuing non-market goods; however both methods have inherent weaknesses. In order to exploit the strengths of the various approaches while minimizing their weaknesses, combining the two methods has become an important methodological option. Up to now, a growing number of literatures of studying combing the two types of data have evolved, and researchers developed three types of models to estimate combining revealed preference and stated preference data in academic fields: discrete choice model, continuous choice model and mixed choice model. Combining stated and revealed preference methods have been developed fast especially in the transport study field in which ideas could also be leant for environmental economic studies.     

Policy design for a multifunctional landscape

Landscapes consisting of several elements, such as wetlands and forests, are multifunctional in nature and produce both market and non-market goods. The need for policies arises from the existence of non-market ecosystem services that are not traded and thereby generally not subject to economic trade-offs in landowner decision making. An efficient incentive scheme for producing both types of goods would require policy designed for each non-market good. However, this may result in high transaction costs, possibly giving second-best solutions a comparative advantage when only one non-market good is regulated. This paper demonstrates that in the Hovran catchment area in mid Sweden, which produces the non-market goods water quality, biodiversity, and scenic beauty, compensation payments for biodiversity production alone provide almost maximum total net value of all market and non-market goods. On the other hand, payments for providing scenic beauty in the form of open landscape may result in lower total net value than no compensation payment at all, due to a negative impact on water quality.     

Institutions, Forest Management, and Sustainable Human Development – Experiences from India

New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods. The Government of India introduced a non-market community-based institution, known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), for forest management and protection in 1990. JFM is a sharing mechanism for forest planning and management based on sharing of rights and duties, control and decision-making authority over forestlands, between forest departments and local user groups. By 2001, 42 000 Village Forest Committees established under JFM were managing over 11.5 million ha forestland. These institutions have proved very useful, and have contributed to forest management as well as four aspects of sustainable human development (SHD) – ecological output, income generation, village infrastructure development, and community empowerment. In the long-term, community-based institutions will prove to be a foundation of SHD and participatory democracy.     

Could we remain simply applying discount rate to evaluate the life quality of our future generations?

When we try to estimate future environmental costs resulting from our current economic activities,we usually calculate the present value of the consequences for our future generations by utilizing a discount rate as a standard economic procedure.The popularity of this procedure is solely supported by its simplicity which assumes:(1)a perfect financial market over even 100 years,and(2)existence of a stable time preference between two consecutive periods for an individual consumer.An apparent deficiency of this approach is that the present value of life quality of future generations varies to a large extent along an arbitrarily chosen discount rate.As a matter of fact,the discount rate,which could reflect the time preference as2%or 5%,matters when we predict current strategies of environmental protection for future generations.Simply applying a discount rate to evaluate the quality of our future generation,without clarifying the actual production mechanism behind this,is almost to the same as ignoring the fact that all of the goods are produced through an actual production process and that environmental degradation reduces the efficiency of that process.The greatest concern for our future generations should not be given by an assumed discount rate,since the discount rate itself is determined by financial market conditions at certain points in time.     

Economic valuation of Shadegan International Wetland,Iran: notes for conservation

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on the earth. They produce various market and non-market goods and services, which have a significant role in human welfare. Despite the great opportunities from sustainable development, wetlands all over the world are under serious threat from a diverse range of non-sustainable activities. One of the major reasons for excessive depletion and the conversion of wetland resources is due to underestimating the non-market values of wetlands during development decisions. Shadegan International Wetland (SIW) in southern Iran is one of these wetland areas that is threatened by undervaluation and overexploitation from commercial activities. This study utilizes the contingent valuation method to estimate the economic benefits of SIW from the view point of peoples’ willingness to pay (WTP). The logit model was defined based on dichotomous choice to measure individuals’ WTP. The estimated mean WTP was US$ 1.74 per household as a onetime donation. This study concludes that the benefits of SIW to society could encourage managers to set priorities to ensure that the health of the ecosystem, its integrity, and its uniqueness would be conserved in a proper manner.     

Using ecosystem services valuation to measure the economic impacts of land-use changes on the Spanish Mediterranean coast (El Maresme, 1850–2010)

Over the last few decades, Mediterranean coastal areas have experienced profound land-use changes due mainly to urban sprawl and reforestation at the expense of former traditional agrarian mosaics and natural resources, such as beach areas or freshwaters streams. These changes have had severe negative consequences on the biodiversity and ecological state (i.e. function) of the territory. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the economic impacts of these consequences on ecosystem services (ES). By reconstructing the landscape of El Maresme County (Barcelona Province, Spain) for three historical points in time (1850, 1954 and 2010), we were able to assess how these land-use changes have affected the total ecosystem value (TEV) by estimating the ES non-market and market values provided by each land-use through market prices and benefit transfer methods. Results show an important decrease in the value of TEV since the 1950s (23.6 million Euros per year) due to urban sprawl. Despite the major changes occurring between the 1850s and 1950s, non-market values did not alter very much due to the type of agricultural practices. Our results show the necessity to take into account the value of non-market ES when designing land planning policies, and especially those concerning beaches and coastal systems to fully integrate the contribution on natural systems into decision-making processes.     

Using Multi-destination ZTCM to Evaluate the Recreational Values of Cultural Sights: An Application to Jiayuguan,China

Abstract

This study explained the importance of environmental protection in tourism development and illustrated the relationship between recreational resource valuation and environmental consideration. We compare different models of travel cost method and reiterates long-time existing problems of multi-destination and treats of time opportunity cost (TOC). Taking Jiayuguan’s cultural sights as an example, we establish an updated method called multidestination zonal tourism cost method to evaluate the recreational values (RVs) of selected three cultural sights. We divide trip packages of Jiayuguan’s tourists into 11 portfolios. Each portfolio can be seen as a separate commodity, and each commodity has its own demand curve. According to demand curves we can calculate consumer surplus (CS) of different portfolios of tourist destinations and later we sum up the total travel costs (including travel expenditure and TOC) and CS to come to the RVs of each portfolio. We then apply suitable proportions to calculate the RVs between different destinations in the portfolio. In the end, we add up all the RVs calculated for the objective destination. Using this method, we draw conclusions that Jiayuguan’s RV in 2006 includes national and international values, summing up to 738.4762 million yuan. The tourist expenditure, CS and TOC of Jiayuguan is proportionating 62.96, 32.28 and 4.76%, respectively. This study is also an example of non-market valuation of cultural tourism resources.     

The environmental potential of reuse: an application to used books

Reuse is generally considered to have environmental benefits, but it has not yet been widely adopted in environmental policy or strategy. In this paper, a simple model of second-hand markets is explored with a case study of used books that illustrates the behavior of the model and shows that such a model is consistent with the data. Three questions of the dynamics of reuse are addressed: (1) If it becomes easier to buy and sell used goods (via Internet markets or other means), by how much will sales of used goods increase? (2) When sales of used goods increase, by how much will sales of new goods decrease? (3) When is reuse better than recycling? Expanding from the case study, the model is used to examine how reuse affects the consumption of new goods, and the relative merits of reuse versus recycling. When the used goods market is small, the ratio of the price of used and new goods, an observable quantity, is approximately equal to the fractional decrease in sales of new goods that will result from increased sales of used goods. A formulation of the environmental impact of reuse and recycling is developed that includes the market impact of reuse. Illustrating this formulation for books with a simplified analysis, reuse of books through sales in a second-hand market is estimated to save more than twice as much energy, with considerable uncertainty, than making books from recycled paper. The formulation provides a basis for identifying products and markets for which reuse can be an effective environmental strategy.     

Environmental accounting of natural capital and ecosystem services for the US National Forest System

The National Forests of the United States encompass 192.7?million acres (78?million hectares) of land, which is nearly five percent of the total land area of the nation. These lands are managed by the US Forest Service (USFS) for multiple uses, including extraction of timber, production of fossil fuels and minerals, public recreation, and the preservation of biodiversity, clean air, water, and soils. The USFS is interested in valuing the natural capital within, and the ecosystem services provided by, their lands. This is in part to justify expenditures in a time of limited resources. We used emergy and an environmental accounting approach, to quantify the ecosystem services, the exported environmental goods and information provided by National Forest System (NFS) lands, and the natural capital residing on those lands. Environmental accounting using emergy provides a method to value these flows of services and storages of capital using a common biophysical unit, the solar emjoule and its monetary equivalent the emdollar. We compare emdollar values to economic values gleaned from the literature. In 2005, the ecosystem services provided by USFS lands were equivalent to 197?billion emdollars, and the value of NFS natural capital was 24.3?trillion emdollars. Our evaluation suggests that the Federal Government budget allocation for the NFS ($5.55E+09 in 2005) was well spent, protecting 24.3?trillion emdollars in natural capital and insuring annual ecosystem services totaling 197?billion emdollars. Monetary values for some natural capital and ecosystem services are similar to emergy-derived values (resources like fish, wildlife, water, and firewood extracted from forests), and others are widely different (biodiversity, fossil, and mineral resources). There is large uncertainty associated with computing the environment’s contributions to society whether using emergy or accepted economic techniques; yet, the magnitude of these emergy-derived estimates suggests that even with the uncertainty, the values are significant and monetary expenditures for the Forest Service are justified.