城镇居民不同收入阶层的基本需求及边际消费倾向研究

扩大城镇居民消费需求是推动我国经济发展方式转变的重要途径。了解城镇居民不同收入阶层的消费特征,有助于制定针对性的激励措施,改善政策的实施效果。本文采用2000-2009年中国城镇居民按收入水平分组的38项消费支出数据,运用改进后的扩展型线性支出模型,对不同收入水平的城镇居民基本需求、边际消费倾向及相关影响因素进行分析。结果显示:中低收入城镇居民的基本需求消费占其可支配收入的较大比重;食品和衣着是其基本需求消费的主要方面;并且在食品、衣着、交通通讯和居住上表现出较大的边际消费倾向。较高收入城镇居民的基本需求支出主要集中于享受型消费;在交通、在外用餐、文化娱乐、文娱用耐用消费品和住房上表现出较大的边际消费倾向。发展和享受型消费品的价格变动对中低收入居民的消费支出影响较大;收入水平的提高有利于城镇居民消费结构的升级。最后,针对不同收入水平的城镇居民,本文提出了刺激消费的差别化政策建议。     

地方政府竞争与环境规制:基于区域开放的异质性研究

随着全球化推进,各国开始不断消减贸易壁垒,环境规制程度跟着提升,各级地方政府作为环境规制相关政策执行者,国家的环境治理直接受到其环境规制策略影响。论文围绕地方政府恶性竞争导致的环境规制失灵问题,采用变截距GLS方法和Hansen提出的"门槛回归"模型,并利用我国29个省级单位2000-2013年面板数据,将地方政府竞争作为门槛变量,分析在不同门槛值下地方政府竞争、区域开放对工业环境规制的影响,并进一步研究财政收支分权和贸易政策对这种影响是否存在积极或恶化作用,力求从根本上解决地方政府恶性竞争,实现环境有效规制。研究表明:在样本期间内,财政收入分权度较低、财政支出分权度较高、贸易开放度高、金融开放度高和制度环境不完善的地区,地方政府竞争对工业环境规制的促进作用更加凸显。全国和东部地区地方政府竞争对工业环境规制呈边际递减的促进作用,中部地区表现出地方政府竞争对工业环境规制非单调性,西部地区存在对工业环境规制呈边际递减的抑制作用。总之,样本期间内地方政府竞争程度有助于全国和东部地区环境进行有效规制,中部地区跨越门槛值后环境规制失灵,西部地区则存在较严重环境规制失灵问题。为了规避环境规制失灵,我们应提高外商投资的进入环境门槛,地方政府在治理环境时,应削减对自己地区的行政垄断,推动各级地方政府跨区域环境保护合作,并由较高层级的政府来承担环境规制的财政支出责任,不断降低地方政府恶性竞争导致的环境规制失灵。     

我国生态保护与建设支出账户框架构建研究

生态保护与建设是我国生态文明建设的重要任务,生态保护与建设支出账户核算是环境经济核算的重要内容,但我国目前尚未开展系统的生态保护与建设支出核算。本文首先梳理了生态保护与建设支出核算的国际经验,指出我国生态保护与建设支出账户核算面临统计口径不完善、统计体系尚未建立、统计主体和对象仍不完整、统计数据呈部门化和分散化等问题。在此基础上,本文从生态保护与建设支出主体、支出分类、支出资金来源等方面初步构建了支出账户核算体系,并以2013年为例进行了初步估算。结果表明,我国财政资金用于生态保护与建设的支出总量不足,仅占当年GDP的0.25%。为推动生态保护与建设支出账户核算工作,建议应从预算科目、统计口径、统计主体、统计对象等方面不断完善生态保护与建设统计体系,加快推进生态保护与建设支出账户的构建与核算,并争取尽快纳入国民经济核算体系,以推进生态文明体制改革与制度建设的进程,促进我国生态保护与经济社会的协调发展。     

Re-examining the water affordability: A comparison of alternative measures

Water affordability is determined by the percentage of income households that must allocate to municipal water services, while factoring in essential or basic needs water use. With the rise in water prices reported in most areas of the country along with somewhat stagnant income growth—a combination that suggests ceteris paribus—more of a household's disposable income is being spent on water services. This paper adds to the discussion in three ways. First, given the lack of a consistent definition for “affordability” and the subjective connotation associated with such a term, we develop and compare five different water expenditure ratios, including two different measures of water for essential needs, as well as measures for indoor, efficient, and actual water use. Second, because of the granularity of our data, we illustrate how such “affordability” measures can vary significantly within a water district and thus highlight how using district- or county-level income measures can mask the degree to which affordability is an issue for households living in low-income block groups. Our results indicate that the choice of income measure and type of water service use can influence affordability measures substantially.     

The Pattern of Govemment Health Expenditure in China

For a while since the inception of economic system re- form programs in 1980s, China's government investment in health was weakened. This resulted in healthcare provider's increasing re- liance on user...     

Influence of Body Weight and Size on the Mode of Wintering in Hibernators of the Family Sciuridae in Northeastern Russia

Energy expenditures in the Siberian chipmunk (Tamias sibiricus jacutensis Ognev, 1935) and long-tailed ground squirrel Citellus undulates jacutensis Brandt, 1843 during hibernation were compared. Energy expenditures were assessed by analyzing changes in body weight and gas exchange rate. The animals were weighed either monthly throughout the winter (26 ground squirrels and 9 chipmunks) or continuously (four to six times a day) in five ground squirrels (395 h) and three chipmunks (696 h). At a constant ambient temperature, the body weight of animals in both species decreased almost linearly during the day. The decrease in the body weight of hibernating grounds squirrels and chipmunks over a single short hibernation cycle was also approximated by a linear function, irrespective of species, age, and sex.     

Improved source,improved quality? Demand for drinking water quality in rural India

This paper tests the hypothesis that the expansion of improved drinking water supplies in rural India reduced household expenditure on water quality, offsetting some of the quality benefits from source protection. I estimate demand for in-home treatment using geological characteristics to predict a household's drinking water source. The probability of treatment and in particular boiling reduces by 18–27 percentage points in response to source protection, offsetting 4% of the water quality gains and saving households 0.5–1% in monthly expenditure. Behavioral choices partly counteract the water quality gains from source protection.     

The real effect of legal institutions: Environmental courts and firm environmental protection expenditure

This paper evaluates the real effects of environmental justice reform on environmental governance at the firm level. Using the establishment of environmental courts in China as a quasi-natural experiment, our difference-in-differences estimation shows that: (1) environmental courts significantly enhance environmental investment by firms, and this relationship is robust to different specifications and alternative measures; (2) three possible channels are the improved levels of justice and enforcement of environmental protection, and the mitigation of local government intervention; (3) our findings are particularly pronounced in subsamples with severe local protectionism, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and non-SOEs with political connections; (4) at the city-level, environmental courts significantly increase air quality and promote cities to cross the inflection point of the environmental Kuznets curve earlier. Overall, this paper reveals the micro-mechanisms behind the real effects of environmental justice on firm environmental investment, thus providing timely implications for regulators concerned with environmental protection.     

Mechanisms enabling sperm economy in blenniid fishes

Sperm competition, cost of spermatogenesis and spawning frequency are known to influence ejaculate expenditure. Accordingly, males, particularly those with high reproductive costs, are expected to have evolved mechanisms enabling them to prudently allocate sperm, such as the fractioning of ejaculate expenditure or the semi-cystic type of spermatogenesis, hypothesised to favour the production of small ejaculates. In this study, we investigate sperm competition risk, ejaculate size and mode of ejaculate release in seven polygynous blenniid fish where males provide sole paternal care of eggs. In addition, we estimated the relative size of the two parts composing the male gonad, the strictly testicular (testicular lobules or testis) and the glandular (testicular gland), as the development of the latter is indicative of the level of semi-cystic spermatogenesis. In all the examined species, eggs were laid one by one, and the sperm expenditure at mating, evaluated as the total number of sperm released per mating, was parcelled out in several successive ejaculations, allowing males to adjust the release of sperm to the duration of egg deposition. In accordance with sperm competition theory, species experiencing higher sperm competition risk allocated more in sperm, both considering ejaculate size and ejaculate expenditure per mating. An increase in sperm expenditure was paralleled by the development of the testis at the expense of the testicular gland. Smaller species, whose males do not face sperm competition risk and fecundity is low, produced smaller ejaculates and exhibited a more developed testicular gland, supporting the hypothesis that a semi-cystic type of spermatogenesis is a mechanism allowing sperm economy.     

Evidence of equal maternal investment in the sexes in the polygynous and sexually dimorphic grey seal (Halichoerus grypus)

In polygynous and sexually dimorphic mammals, parents may be expected to bias their investment towards sons because variation in reproductive success is usually higher among males than among females. Moreover, male reproductive success often depends on adult body size, which, in turn, may depend on the level of parental investment. We therefore predicted that in the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), a polygynous and sexually dimorphic phocid seal, females should invest more in individual sons than in individual daughters. We found that male pups were born heavier than female pups, but that the growth rates and suckling behaviour were similar for the two sexes. The growth rates and the birth weights were not correlated for the pups of either sex. Mothers did not behave differentially towards offspring of the two sexes, except that mothers of male pups spent more time in visual contact with their pups. Male and female pups had similar activity levels and begged at similar rates. We argue that reports of equal expenditure on the two sexes can be accepted as evidence of equal investment, provided that three assumptions are fulfilled. First, parental care must be costly to the parent. Second, energy expenditure must be the most important component of parental investment. Third, there must be no negative correlation between maternal body condition and the ratio of sons to daughters produced. We argue that these assumptions are met in our study, and that our results provide evidence of equal maternal investment in the sexes in grey seals.