A panel study on the relationship between biofuels production and sustainable development

Biomass is one of the renewable energy sources on which policy makers are greatly dependent on since it is a flexible feedstock capable of conversion into electricity, transport liquid fuels and heat by chemical and biological processes on demand. Though numerous publications have examined the relationship of economic growth with renewable energy and other parameters, biomass energy has never been included in these studies. Then, this study examines the causal relationship within a multivariate panel cointegration/error correction framework which combines the cross-section and time series data while allowing for heterogeneity across different provinces. After employing panel data regression model ranging from 2003 through 2012 to examine the relationships of biofuels production with sustainable development in China, the paper concludes that the development of biofuel energy production integrated with the consideration of the improvement of income per capita, and the attraction of more capital investment, does make a significant contribution to economic growth. However, some negative side effects including the increase of greenhouse emissions and the decrease of marginal land still coexist with the economic development. Of course, the importance of these findings lies on their implications and their adoption on strategic policies.     

土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性和互动关系

土地城镇化与人口城镇化失调是我国目前城镇化进程中的一个突出问题。但对各地区土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性进行全面系统分析的研究相对较少。此外,鲜有研究对土地城镇化与人口城镇化之间的互动关系进行实证检验。本研究利用我国2005—2013年间的省级面板数据考察各省级行政区土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性,并通过构建和估计面板向量自回归模型探究土地城镇化与人口城镇化之间的互动关系。研究发现,土地城镇化与人口城镇化的非协调性存在着显著的时空差异。在样本期的后半段(2009—2013年),多个省级行政区人口城镇化滞后于土地城镇化的程度有所加深。根据全样本期内土地城镇化与人口城镇化非协调性的严重程度,可将各省级行政区划分为5个等级。城镇常住人口变化对建成区面积变化具有显著的正向影响;建成区面积变化对城镇常住人口变化的影响方向虽然为正,但该影响不具有统计显著性。从而表明人口城镇化对土地城镇化起到了推动作用,但土地城镇化却未能有效地带动和促进人口城镇化。此外,第二、三产业增加值变化对城镇常住人口变化具有显著的正向影响。研究从改革新增建设用地指标分配方式、抑制城市空间粗放扩张及推动户籍制度改革和基本公共服务均等化等方面提出了促进土地城镇化和人口城镇化协调发展的政策建议。     

中国环境质量拐点:基于EKC的实证判断

促进环境质量改善是"十三五"时期实现绿色发展和最终全面建成小康社会的重要目标和任务。随着经济进入新常态和环境治理政策的强势推进,中国环境质量是否已经跨越峰值和进入持续改善的通道?本文基于环境库兹涅茨曲线这一理论工具,依据环境统计数据和国际经验事实判断中国是否到达环境库兹涅茨曲线的拐点和具备促使环境质量持续改善的经济特征。首先,应用中国各省份1998—2013年的面板数据,对人均收入水平与主要大气污染物排放的关系进行回归拟合发现,人均烟粉尘排放自1998年以来持续下降,人均二氧化硫、氮氧化物排放均在"十二五"中前期到达峰值。大部分东部省份已经越过环境库兹涅茨曲线的拐点,但环境质量改善仍然缓慢。多数中部省份处于峰值阶段,而西部省份大都处于经济增长与环境质量恶化的矛盾阶段。其次,基于污染物排放的驱动因素框架,将中国当前的经济特征与美、日、韩三国跨越环境库兹涅茨曲线拐点的经验进行比较,结论表明中国目前已基本具备了跨越环境库兹涅茨曲线拐点的经济驱动条件,但是相对滞后的城镇化进程将会导致污染物排放峰值的扁平化和波动性。以主要污染物排放在2014年的基础上削减30%—40%作为环境质量全面改善的转折点判断,中国环境质量将在2025年左右趋于全面改善。最后,为了促进环境质量全面改善,认为应该根据各地区经济发展与环境污染形势的不同,实施差别化环境治理政策。同时积极防范新一轮城镇化过程中的环境风险,进一步强化区域环境污染的协同治理。     

资源产业空间集聚与区域经济增长:“资源诅咒”效应实证

针对"资源诅咒"研究中自然资源度量指标选取存在的科学性问题,利用资源产业空间集聚代替自然资源丰裕度和资源产业依赖度作为自然资源丰裕程度的解释变量。首先,在Krugman空间基尼系数的基础上,构建适用于测度资源产业空间集聚的计算公式,基于我国30个省(区、市)层面的数据,量化1999—2013年间资源产业的空间集聚程度,分析其排名情况和分布格局。研究显示:我国有15个省(区、市)存在资源产业空间集聚现象,这些地区大多位于长江以北,且均为自然资源富集地区。其次,构建经济增长计量模型,选取存在资源产业空间集聚现象的省(区、市)作为样本空间,并采用多种计量分析和检验方法考察资源产业空间集聚度与区域经济增长之间的直接和间接关系,分析"资源诅咒"的传导机制。研究显示:1在模型整体估计中,资源产业空间集聚的系数符号均为负,且在5%的水平上显著,说明资源产业空间集聚与区域经济增长间的关系呈现负相关,符合"资源诅咒"的基本假设。2在模型分步估计中,人力资本投资、技术创新投入和制造业发展与区域经济增长正相关,符合经典经济增长理论的逻辑关系;物质资本投资与区域经济增长负相关,可能是由于当地经济主体的消费跨期替代弹性较小,导致物质资本投资对经济增长的直接增益效应小于其对社会人力资本积累的负向效应,进而阻碍区域经济增长;政府干涉程度越高越不利于经济增长。根据研究结果,建议应明确市场调节为主、政府调控为辅的导向机制,进一步提升资源产业空间集聚程度,强化行业人员素质与技术水平匹配,逐步提高自然资源生产和利用效率,从而实现加快地区经济转型,有效促进经济可持续发展的全面提升。     

中国经济发展方式的转变动力及其作用途径

以全要素生产率增长动力作为经济发展方式的转变动力,本文采用1989-2013年4组省际面板数据经由可行广义最小二乘法实证估计了10个动力因素对全要素生产率增长率的贡献水平与作用途径。研究发现:技术创新水平、市场化水平、人力资本存量水平、异质性企业集聚水平和对外开放度的综合指数对中国全要素生产率增长率的回归估计系数分别为0.575 7,0.212 5,0.136 8,0.064 4和0.018,表明技术创新、市场化改革、人力资本积累、异质性企业集聚和对外开放是促进中国经济发展方式转变的直接动力因素。进一步的研究结果显示:技术创新和异质性企业集聚通过提高前沿技术进步率和生产效率变化率以及规模报酬收益率途径,市场化改革通过提高前沿技术进步率途径,人力资本积累与对外开放通过提高前沿技术进步率和规模报酬收益率途径,促进了中国全要素生产率增长。虽然产业结构变迁、城市化、基础设施建设、区域经济政策实施和金融发展对中国全要素生产率的增长表现为负向或拖累作用,但是,产业结构变迁与城市化能够提高前沿技术进步率,基础设施建设和区域经济政策能够提高规模报酬收益率,金融发展能够提高生产效率增长率和规模报酬收益率,这5项动力因素对促进中国全要素生产率增长的正向贡献有待提高。依据上述研究结论,本文提出尽快攻克制约生产率增长的核心技术,统筹考虑产业结构升级、城市化、基础设施建设和区域经济政策实施以及加快金融领域改革等政策建议,以期加快我国经济发展方式转变进程。     

基于面板数据的土地投入对经济增长的影响-以浙江省为例

采用生产函数与面板数据回归模型相结合的研究手段,以地处经济发达地区的浙江省为实证研究区域对土地要素投入对经济增长的影响进行了定量的研究。研究结果表明：(1)就规模效应而言,浙江省的经济增长处于规模报酬不变的发展阶段;(2)浙江省经济增长对劳动力要素的投入最为敏感,其中土地要素、劳动力要素和资本要素增加1个单位的投入量对经济增长的推动为 0.247 3、0.538 5 和 0.321 6;（3）固定资产投入在研究期间是浙江省经济增长的主要推动力,其贡献率达到6823%,而劳动力要素与土地要素则分别为2346%和625%;(4)浙江省土地利用不够集约,在研究期间土地要素对经济增长的影响能被资本要素与劳动力要素有效替代,而劳动力要素则难以被资本投入与土地投入有效替代,劳动集约型产业应该成为浙江省未来发展方向之一。     

Evaluating the role of environmental quality in the sustainable rural economic development of England

The issue of the sustainable development of rural economies in England has recently received considerable attention. This is because many of the poorest areas in the country are rural, often of high environmental quality, but suffering from high unemployment and a lack of services and facilities. The rapid decline in agricultural incomes and in-migration of affluent urban workers since 1990 has exacerbated economic inequality in such areas. A number of factors have the potential to drive rural development and this paper applies, and considers, the feasibility of a method from the USA for combining economic and environmental variables in a regional growth model to examine the hypothesis that environmental quality is an important determinant of sustainable rural development in England. The model output suggests that, although environmental quality does play a role in sustainable rural development in England there are other, more important, factors driving development. These include business and communications infra-structure, the degree and opportunities for commuting and underlying employment prospects. The robustness and limitations of the method for combining economic and environmental variables is discussed in relation to the spatial interrelatedness of Local Authority Districts in England, and conclusions are drawn about areas for refinement and improvement of the method.

Effects of tree size and spatial distribution on growth of ponderosa pine forests under alternative management scenarios

Forest ecosystems may be actively managed toward heterogeneous stand structures to provide both economic (e.g., wood production and carbon credits) and environmental benefits (e.g., invasive pest resistance). In order to facilitate wider adoption of possibly more sustainable forest stand structures, defining growth expectations among alternative management scenarios is crucial. To estimate the effect of tree size and spatial distributions on growth for forest structures commonly considered in uneven-aged forest stand management, large (0.2 ha+) plots were established in 14 uneven-aged ponderosa pine stands in eastern Montana. All study trees were stem-mapped and measured for diameter and 10-year sapwood and basal area increment. A generalized growth model was developed to predict both total and merchantable 10-year basal area increment for nine hypothetical stand structures [three diameter distributions (reverse-J, irregular, flat) × three spatial distributions (clumpy, partial clumpy, uniform)]. Results indicate that the size and spatial distributions of individual trees have a considerable effect on overall stand growth. The greatest total stand growth was in stands with reverse “J” shaped tree size distributions, while the greatest merchantable stand growth was in stands with “flat” diameter distributions and uniform spatial distributions. Through better comprehension of generalized uneven-aged stand growth dynamics, forest managers may better assess the effects of alternative stand structures on stand growth while providing forest stand structures that may be more resilient in a changing climate.     

Urbanization and its impact on groundwater: a remote sensing and GIS-based assessment approach

The perils of unplanned urbanization and increasing pressure of human activities on hydro-geomorphologic system often result in modification of the existing recharge mechanism, which leads to many environmental consequences. In the present research, an attempt has been made to investigate the applicability of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) in dealing with spatial and temporal variability of dynamic phenomena, like urbanization and its impact on groundwater. This paper covers primarily, quantitative and qualitative impacts of urban growth on the behavior of aquifer in Ajmer city (India). Urban growth of the Ajmer city in last 17 years has been estimated from the satellite images. Database related to urbanization and groundwater has been created in GIS. Groundwater recharge has been computed using a water balance approach known as Water Level Fluctuation Methodology. Recharge estimation methodology has been implemented in GIS to introduce the spatial variability of hydro-geological characteristics. Further, temporal and spatial variations in groundwater quality and quantity have been correlated with urban growth using overlay analysis in GIS. The study reveals a general decline in water table and quality with urbanization. Further, remote sensing and GIS technologies have been found useful in assessment of spatial and temporal phenomena of urbanization and its impact on groundwater system.     

Reclamation and revegetation of fly ash disposal sites - Challenges and research needs

Coal-fired power generation is a principal energy source throughout the world. Approximately, 70-75% of coal combustion residues are fly ash and its utilization worldwide is only slightly above 30%. The remainder is disposed of in landfills and fly ash basins. It is desirable to revegetate these sites for aesthetic purposes, to stabilize the surface ash against wind and water erosion and to reduce the quantity of water leaching through the deposit. Limitations to plant establishment and growth in fly ash can include a high pH (and consequent deficiencies of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn and P), high soluble salts, toxic levels of elements such as B, pozzalanic properties of ash resulting in cemented/compacted layers and lack of microbial activity. An integrated organic/biotechnological approach to revegetation seems appropriate and should be investigated further. This would include incorporation of organic matter into the surface layer of ash, mycorrhizal inoculation of establishing vegetation and use of inoculated legumes to add N. Leaching losses from ash disposal sites are likely to be site-specific but a sparse number of studies have revealed enriched concentrations of elements such as Ca, Fe, Cd, Pb, and Sb in surrounding groundwater. This aspect deserves further study particularly in the longer-term. In addition, during weathering of the ash and deposition of organic matter during plant growth, a soil will form with properties vastly different to that of the parent ash. In turn, this will influence the effect that the disposal site has on the surrounding environment. Nevertheless, the effects of ash weathering and organic matter accumulation over time on the chemical, physical and biological properties of the developing ash-derived soil are not well understood and require further study.