The anatomy of institutions: diagnosing the formation of legal rules

ABSTRACT

The explanation for the outcomes of environmental policies is often sought either in policy design or in the behaviour of street-level bureaucrats, thus tending to examine only one level of the policy process and neglecting its multi-level nested nature. Specifically, most of the studies omit addressing policy specification, which is located between design and adoption of primary legislation and the actions of public service workers. Considering the policy process as a multi-level nested process of shaping and carrying out legal rules, this paper uses an institutional economics approach and the institutional grammar tool for its analysis. Using the example of the Ukrainian soil protection policy, it examines the way legal rules are being co-created and the policy objectives shaped at the policy specification stage and discusses the implications for the discretion of street-level bureaucrats, behaviour of the policy target group, and soil protection. The results of the study reveal that the desired outcomes of the Ukrainian soil protection policy are undermined because many institutional statements written in primary legislation are not supported by the expectation of remedy in case of non-compliance and are therefore dysfunctional.     

Radiative Forcing Due to Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Finland: Methods for Estimating Forcing of a Country or an Activity

The objective of this study was to assess the radiative forcing due to Finnish anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in three scenarios. All the Kyoto Protocol gases, i.e., CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, and fluorinated gases, were included. The calculations showed that forcing due to Finnish emissions will increase in the case of all gases except methane by the year 2100. In 1990, radiative forcing due to Finland's emission history of all Kyoto Protocol gases was 3.2 mW/m², of which 71% was due to carbon dioxide, 17% to methane, and the rest to nitrous oxide. In 1990 the share of fluorinated gases was negligible. The share of methane in radiative forcing is decreasing, whereas the shares of carbon dioxide and of fluorinated gases are increasing and that of nitrous oxide remains nearly constant. The nonlinear features concerning additional concentrations in the atmosphere and radiative forcing due to emissions caused by a single country or activity are also considered. Radiative forcing due to Finnish emissions was assessed with two different approaches, the marginal forcing approach and the averaged forcing approach. The impact of the so-called background scenario, i.e., the scenario for concentration caused by global emissions, was also estimated. The difference between different forcing models at its highest was 40%, and the averaged forcing approach appeared to be the more recommendable. The effect of background concentrations in the studied cases was up to 11%. Hence, the choice of forcing model and background scenario should be given particular attention.     

Cross-Boundary Cooperation in a Watershed Context: The Sentiments of Private Forest Landowners

Ecosystem management and sustainable forestry on mixed ownership landscapes will require some level of cross-boundary coordination or management. Oregon's experiment with local, voluntary, collaborative forums, called watershed councils, is one mechanism to foster cross-boundary management. Fifty qualitative, in-depth interviews in three study areas were conducted with nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) landowners, watershed council members, and agency employees to learn how and why landowners participate (or not) on watershed councils. Study areas were located in three different areas of the state to reflect different ecological and organizational settings. Our case study identified three themes—stewardship ethic, property rights amid uncertainty, and action orientation—that were most salient among landowners when deciding to participate in their local watershed council. Other factors related to competing opportunities were also identified. Our results relate to the social psychological antecedents to cooperation of perceived consensus, group identity, and legitimacy of authority as well as to applied situations where cross-boundary coordination and management are goals.     

ASSESSING CHANGES IN WATERSHED FLOW REGIMES WITH SPATIALLY EXPLICIT HYDRAULIC MODELS1

ABSTRACT: Urbanization, farming, and other watershed activities can significantly alter storm hydrographs and sediment erosion rates within a watershed. These changes routinely cause severe economic and ecological problems manifested in the form of increased flooding and significant changes in channel morphology. As the activities within a watershed influence the hydrologic, hydraulic, and ecological conditions within a river, interdisciplinary approaches to predict and assess the impacts that different land uses have on streams need to be developed. An important component of this process is ascertaining how hydrologic changes induced by specific watershed activities will affect hydraulic conditions and the accompanying flood levels, sediment transport rates, and habitat conditions within a stream. A conceptual model for using spatially explicit (two‐dimensional) hydraulic models to help evaluate the impacts that changes in flow regime might have on a river is presented. This framework proposes that reproducing and quantifying flow complexity allows one to compare the hydraulic conditions within urban, urbanizing, and non‐urban streams in a more biologically and economically meaningful way. The justification, advantage, and need for such a method is argued through the results of one‐ and two‐dimensional hydraulic model studies. The implementation of this methodology in watershed urbanization studies is described.     

乡镇企业环境问题的经济学分析及环境保护手段的选择

乡镇企业的发展一方面给我国农村劳动力提供了大量的就业机会,加快了我国的城市化进程,为我国的经济做出了重要的贡献;另一方面,由于生产要素、利益驱动等众多因素的影响,乡镇企业给资源和环境造成了巨大的耗竭和破坏。本文主要从经济学的角度来探究乡镇企业发展带来的环境问题的根源,进而选择一套适合我国乡镇企业特点的环境保护手段。     

Institutional frameworks to direct development and implementation of great lakes remedial action plans

Locally designed, institutional frameworks are being used to develop and implement remedial action plans (RAPs) to restore beneficial uses in 43 Great Lakes areas of concern. A 1993 Canada-United States roundtable was convened to learn from case studies and to develop recommendations regarding essential characteristics of RAP institutional frameworks, guidance to ensure linkages to other related plans, and ways of embracing new institutional frameworks from RAP development to implementation. Major roundtable recommendations are: (1) RAP institutional frameworks should be empowered to pursue their mission of restoring uses. Empowerment would be demonstrated by: a watershed focus, inclusive and shared decision-making, clear responsibilities and sufficient authority, creative funding capability, flexibility and continuity in the process, an iterative process of continuous improvement, and commitment to education and outreach. (2) RAP institutional frameworks should be used as mechanisms to coordinate programs at the local level. Such local coordination should be complemented with governmental commitments to intra- and interagency coordination in work plans. (3) RAP institutional frameworks can help build the capacity of governments to achieve their goals. Therefore, governments must adopt long-term, visionary goals and commit to a customer-driven RAP process of continuous improvement.     

灾害发生期的犯罪预防

本文探讨了灾害发生期的犯罪预防对策,认为在灾害发生期的不同时间进程中,犯罪预防工作有不同的重点和策略。灾害预报已经发出,灾害破坏作用尚未显露时,防范的重点是造谣惑众及封建迷信活动。灾害爆发时,对犯罪的首次打击效应十分重要。灾害爆发后,一定要迅速恢复和强化政法机关的职能活动,组织群众开展群防群治。随着灾害的持续或衰减,财产类犯罪开始抬头,且暴力倾向明显,此时应采取坚决措施,从重从快予以打击。     

人的生命价值评估方法述评

评估生命价值最常用的两种方法是人力资本法和支付意愿法。用人力资本法评估生命价值的前提是人的生命可以用一个人未来的生产能力来计量,而用支付意愿法评估生命价值的前提是人的生命可以用一个人为降低死亡风险而愿意支付的货币金额来计量。支付意愿法又包括工资—风险法、消费市场法和条件价值法3种类型。工资—风险法通过分析一个人的工资与其工作风险之间的关系来估算生命价值;消费市场法关注的是人们在其进行消费决策时,在风险与价格之间的权衡;而条件价值法则是给定一个假定情景,请被访者对货币和风险进行直接权衡来估算生命价值。笔者对国内外生命价值评估研究进行述评,指出了各种评估方法的优缺点。支付意愿法已成为国外学者评估生命价值的主流方法,学习借鉴国外的研究经验,将这一方法运用于我国的生命价值评估研究是今后国内研究的一个方向。     

几种降低有机样品分析系统误差的方法

有机痕量分析的样品处理包括从样品采集直到最终分离测定的全过程,在有机痕量分析中,必须严格防止所用器皿、化学试剂、溶剂等污染,减少系统误差。     

污水处理厂节能减排的实现途径分析

引用清洁生产审核机制,结合国内部分污水处理厂实际情况,通过对污水处理厂各环节能源消耗情况、产物排放情况和影响因素的详细分析,将节能减排理念融入到污水处理的系统、设备、原料、产物和管理5个方面,提出了降低污水处理厂的运行成本、减少排放污染物的切实可行途径的建议。