基于经济学视角的职业健康规制问题研究

用经济学分析工具对现有的职业健康规制进行探讨,研究规制机构、企业和劳动者三方行为主体的博弈,通过分析存在的问题,提出解决职业健康规制的对策。在理顺职业健康规制体制,健全机构的同时不断完善法规体系。同时,加强对劳动者职业健康的保障,完善第三方介入机制,并且加大对违规企业的处罚力度,提高对劳动者的赔偿。不断强化企业作为职业健康责任主体的意识,推进职业危害防治技术创新,培养"以人为本"的职业健康安全文化观念。     

中国经济发展产生的能源和环境效应研究

为揭示中国经济持续增长对能源依靠程度、能源利用效率提高程度及环境污染改善水平,统计了2006年-2014年GDP、工业增加值、能耗、SO2和NOx排放量数据,计算得到单位能耗GDP和单位能耗污染物排放量,对比分析单位能耗GDP和单位能耗污染物排放量,前者持续增长,后者呈波动时下降,表明能源利用效率逐步提高,污染物排放得到有效控制.主要城市NOx和PM10浓度出现升高趋势,SO2浓度明显下降.NOx和PM10成为中国未来大气主要污染物,应采取措施控制,同时应注重对非工业源的控制.     

可持续转型与延伸生产者责任制度

本文采用多层次转型理论的分析框架,回顾了国内外延伸生产者责任(EPR)制度的理论和实践进展,对比了EPR制度倡导者最初提出的创新导向的制度设计,与当前各国实践中基于成本—效益平衡所开展的政策评估研究,指出两者在是否应该将激进的可持续转型作为EPR基本政策目标上观点不同,其原因在于政策的技术创新激励效果难以通过可测量的政策评估方法进行有效考察,由此造成两者在EPR政策调整方向上的分歧:前者坚持EPR制度设计应该进一步完善个体责任原则,以激励生产者创新和采纳绿色技术,推进生产消费模式的系统转型;而后者则强调在现有管制框架下简化制度设计,重点完善循环处理基础设施及其管理效率。这种分歧不仅影响到发达国家EPR制度的演化,也深刻影响了发展中国家EPR制度的移植和建构。结论以中国电子废物管理实践为例,提出构建包含三个层次的演化经济学分析框架,考察EPR制度建构过程中,微观层次的企业技术选择,中观层次的供应链治理结构变动,和宏观层次的再生资源产业转型,以系统考察制度发展对技术创新的激励效果。     

Comparing Costs of Onsite Best Management Practices to Nutrient Credits for Stormwater Management: A Case Study in Virginia

Best management practices (BMPs) are widely used to mitigate impacts of increased impervious surfaces on stormwater runoff. However, there is limited detailed and up‐to‐date information available on the cost of designing, constructing, and maintaining BMPs over their lifetime. The objective of this study is to analyze BMPs recently constructed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to quantify their total cost per pound of phosphorus removed annually. A motivating factor for the study is recent changes to regulatory guidelines in Virginia which allow for full or partial substitution of purchased nutrient credits in lieu of constructing onsite BMPs to achieve compliance with stormwater quality regulations. Results of the analysis of nine BMPs found their cost ranged from $20,100 to $74,900, in 2014 dollars, per pound ($44,313‐$165,126 per kg) of phosphorus removed. Based on these results and assuming current credit prices procured by VDOT, purchasing nutrient credits is a cost‐effective option for the agency, especially when factoring in the cost of additional right of way for the BMP. Based on this finding, we expect compliance with stormwater quality regulations through credit purchases to become more widely used in Virginia. Moving forward, we suggest more direct tracking of BMP costs to support comparisons between BMP costs across a range of types and conditions to credit purchases for meeting stormwater regulations.     

Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It?1

Kenney, Melissa A., Peter R. Wilcock, Benjamin F. Hobbs, Nicholas E. Flores, and Daniela C. Martínez, 2012. Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It? Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 603-615. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00635.x Abstract: Public investment in urban stream restoration is growing, yet little has been done to quantify whether its benefits outweigh its cost. The most common drivers of urban stream projects are water quality improvement and infrastructure protection, although recreational and aesthetic benefits are often important community goals. We use standard economic methods to show that these contributions of restoration can be quantified and compared to costs. The approach is demonstrated with a case study in Baltimore, Maryland, a city with a legal mandate to reduce its pollutant load. Typical urban stream restoration costs of US$500-1,200 per foot are larger than the cost of the least expensive alternatives for management of nitrogen loads from stormwater (here, detention ponds, equivalent to $30-120 per foot of restored stream) and for protecting infrastructure (rip-rap armoring of streambanks, at $0-120 per foot). However, the higher costs of stream restoration can in some cases be justified by its aesthetic and recreational benefits, valued using a contingent valuation survey at $560-1,100 per foot. We do not intend to provide a definitive answer regarding the worth of stream restoration, but demonstrate that questions of worth can be asked and answered. Broader application of economic analysis would provide a defensible basis for understanding restoration benefits and for making restoration decisions.     

基于水质的水资源模型与水质经济学初探

在对传统的以水量为核心的水资源模型理论与实践矛盾的分析基础上,阐述了水资源社会及自然循环规律,提出城市-流域系统中水资源利用的水质自然与人工再生过程和自然、人工修复的双要素.提出水质再生和水量循环的水资源模型及其假设和约束条件,确定了模型适用的边际条件和范围,据此进一步辨析了城市污水回用与再生水的异同,将再生水置于流域尺度的城市群上下游用户层面,提出污水回用(包括中水利用)是降低需求,再生水是增加总量的基本结论.在以水质为核心的水资源模型基础上,对现有水资源经济学定义进行了修正和补充,提出了水质经济学的基础概念,并讨论了水质经济学指导下的供水服务和价格模型结构,重新定位了再生水的战略并提出以流域水体的净化成本和人工水质改善成本共同形成的全成本高低来表征流域水资源短缺程度的缺水等级划分新思路.     

Biodiversity Conservation, Ecosystem Functioning, and Economic Incentives under Cocoa Agroforestry Intensification

Abstract:  World chocolate demand is expected to more than double by 2050. Decisions about how to meet this challenge will have profound effects on tropical rainforests and wild species in cocoa-producing countries. Cocoa, "the chocolate tree," is traditionally produced under a diverse and dense canopy of shade trees that provide habitat for a high diversity of organisms. The current trend to reduce or eliminate shade cover raises concerns about the potential loss of biodiversity. Nevertheless, few studies have assessed the ecological consequences and economic trade-offs under different management options in cocoa plantations. Here we describe the relationships between ant ecology (species richness, community composition, and abundance) and vegetation structure, ecosystem functions, and economic profitability under different land-use management systems in 17 traditional cocoa forest gardens in southern Cameroon. We calculated an index of profitability, based on the net annual income per hectare. We found significant differences associated with the different land-use management systems for species richness and abundance of ants and species richness and density of trees. Ant species richness was significantly higher in floristically and structurally diverse, low-intensity, old cocoa systems than in intensive young systems. Ant species richness was significantly related to tree species richness and density. We found no clear relationship between profitability and biodiversity. Nevertheless, we suggest that improving the income and livelihood of smallholder cocoa farmers will require economic incentives to discourage further intensification and ecologically detrimental loss of shade cover. Certification programs for shade-grown cocoa may provide socioeconomic incentives to slow intensification.     

Prymnesium parvum: The Texas Experience1

Southard, Gregory M., Loraine T. Fries, and Aaron Barkoh, 2010. Prymnesium parvum: The Texas Experience. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(1):14-23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00387.x Abstract: Golden alga Prymnesium parvum was first identified in Texas during a fish kill investigation on the Pecos River in 1985. Since then golden alga kills occurred sporadically in a variety of waters in the western part of the state until 2001 when the alga became endemic in the Brazos, Canadian, Colorado, Red, and Rio Grande river systems, including the water supplies of two public fish hatcheries, the Possum Kingdom and Dundee state fish hatcheries. The increasing area adversely affected by the alga and frequent massive fish kills heightened public and political awareness and concerns regarding the ecological and economic impacts of P. parvum blooms. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the wildlife conservation agency of the state, responded to these concerns with a program to assess the ecological and economic impacts and to develop management options. To date 33 water bodies have been affected and losses are conservatively estimated at 34 million fish valued at US$13 million. Several sport fisheries, including smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, striped bass Morone saxatilis, channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, and blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus, have been severely affected. Additionally, 26 imperiled fish species occur in the affected water basins and some have been adversely affected. Economic losses associated with reduced fishing and other water-based recreational activities appear considerable. The combined economic losses to three counties (Palo Pinto, Stephens, and Young) surrounding Possum Kingdom reservoir for 2001 and 2003 were estimated at US$2.8 million and US$1.1 million, respectively. This paper describes how the TPWD responded to public and political concerns relative to the emergence of golden alga, its harmful effects to fisheries, and its historic and current statewide distribution.     

CHARGES FOR URBAN RUNOFF: ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION1

ABSTRACT: Maryland officials have identified stormwater utilities as a potential method of financing programs to control nutrients in urban stormwater runoff that are proposed in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Reduction Plan. This paper reviews a number of issues related to the equity, efficiency and acceptability of user charge schemes. Overall, charges are found to be preferable to property taxes from both equity and efficiency perspectives. In addition, evidence suggests that elected officials will support creation of utilities. Obstacles to the implementation of utilities are identified.