Multinational corporations and the EU Emissions Trading System: The specter of asset erosion and creeping deindustrialization

This study seeks to investigate the causal effect of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on firms' holdings of fixed assets as an early indicator of industrial relocation, exploiting installation level inclusion criteria of the regulation. To single out companies with particularly low relocation costs, global multinational enterprises (MNEs), we identify ownership structures for the full sample of EU ETS-firms. Matched Difference-in-Differences estimates provide robust evidence that contradicts the specter of an erosion of European asset bases. Baseline results for the manufacturing sector indicate that the EU ETS led to an on average increase of treated firms' asset bases of 12,1%. However, for a particular subgroup of MNEs, this increase is a mere 2.1%. For these companies, the EU ETS may have induced a shift in investment priorities.     

Disentangling the effects of policy and payment consequentiality and risk attitudes on stated preferences

Incentivizing respondents to truthfully reveal their preferences in stated preference surveys requires that they believe their survey responses can influence decisions related to the outcome in question (policy consequentiality) and that they will have to bear their share of the coercive cost if the outcome is implemented (payment consequentiality). We investigate the effects of these two aspects of perceived consequentiality on stated preferences in a field survey concerning renewable energy development in Poland. We find that beliefs in policy and payment consequentiality strengthen the respondents’ interest in having the project implemented. However, policy consequentiality decreases and payment consequentiality increases their sensitivity to the project cost, which, respectively, increases and decreases their willingness-to-pay for the project. We conclude that the two aspects of consequentiality should be addressed separately. Additionally, we inquire the theoretically speculated links between the respondents’ perceptions of policy and payment consequentiality and their risk attitudes, and we find no significant relationship.     

A behavioral rebound effect

Pro-environmental behaviors are an important avenue for mitigating environmental impacts. Technological improvements are also a vital tool for reducing environmental damage from consumption. However, their benefits are partially offset by the direct rebound effect, whereby a consumer rationally responds to an increase in resource use efficiency by consuming more. This paper investigates whether technological improvement might also reduce behaviorally motivated mitigation of environmental damage. A behavioral rebound effect operates through two channels. First, pro-environmental effort is reduced after a decrease in marginal environmental damage. Second, moral licensing reduces pro-environmental effort further when technological change is endogenous. I develop a novel real effort laboratory experiment to identify these behaviors. I find a positive behavioral rebound effect. I also find evidence consistent with moral licensing, which is strongest among subjects with a higher degree of pro-environmental attitudes and beliefs. Subjects’ baseline level of pro-environmental effort is driven by beliefs about social norms.     

The Antiquities Act,national monuments,and the regional economy

Large, landscape-scale national monuments have long been controversial. It has been claimed that large monuments harm local economies by restricting growth of the grazing, timber, mining, and energy industries. Others have asserted that large monuments aid economic growth by reducing reliance on volatile commodity markets and fostering tourism growth. In this study, we use a synthetic control approach to measure the average causal effect of nine national monument designations on county-level per capita income. We find no evidence that monument designation affected per capita income in any of 20 counties hosting nine large (>50,000 acres) national monuments established under the Antiquities Act (six monuments) or by legislative action (three monuments). The broad economic claims of both advocates and critics of large national monuments have little empirical support. The absence of a designation effect for large national monuments is likely due to the attributes of federal land and the legal constraints under which it is managed.     

Prospect theory and energy efficiency

Investments in energy efficiency entail uncertainty, and when faced with uncertainty consumers have been shown to behave according to prospect theory: preferences are reference-dependent and exhibit loss aversion, and probabilities are subjectively weighted. Using data from a choice experiment eliciting prospect theory parameters, I provide evidence that loss-averse people are less likely to invest in energy efficiency. Then, I consider policy design under prospect theory when there are also externalities from energy use. A higher degree of loss aversion implies a higher subsidy to energy efficiency. Numerical simulations suggest that the impact of prospect theory on policy may be substantial.     

Does subway expansion improve air quality?

Major cities in China and many other fast-growing economies are expanding their subway systems in order to address worsening air pollution and traffic congestion. This paper quantifies the impact of subway expansion on air quality by leveraging fine-scale air quality data and the rapid build-out of 14 new subway lines and 252 stations in Beijing from 2008 to 2016. Our main empirical framework examines how the density of the subway network affects air quality across different locations in the city during this period. To address the potential endogenous location of subway stations, we construct an instrument based on historical subway planning, long before air pollution and traffic congestion were of concern. Our analysis shows that an increase in subway density by one standard deviation improves air quality by two percent and the result is robust to a variety of alternative specifications including the distance-based difference-in-differences method. The total discounted health benefit during a 20-year period from reduced mortality and morbidity as a result of 14 new subway lines amounts to $1.0–3.1 billion, or only 1.4–4.4 percent of the total construction and operating cost.     

模拟酸雨对北亚热带天然次生林土壤呼吸的影响

于2009年3月～2010年1月在南京市郊龙王山北亚热带天然次生林进行模拟酸雨试验,以便携式土壤CO2通量观测仪对不同酸雨强度处理下的林地土壤呼吸速率进行原位测定,研究酸雨对森林土壤呼吸的影响.结果表明,在本试验阶段,4个酸雨强度处理CK(pH值6.4,去离子水)、T1(pH值4.5)、T2(pH值3.5)、T3(pH值2.5)的平均土壤呼吸速率分别为(3.20±0.21)、(3.34±0.30)、(3.51±0.06)、(2.99± 0.23)μmol/(m2·s),酸雨各处理的土壤呼吸季节变化规律显著.由于森林植被生长期季节变化明显,将其分为非生长季1(2~4月)、生长季(5~10月)、非生长季2(11月~次年1月)3个阶段.配对t检验分析各阶段土壤呼吸速率的结果表明,在非生长季1,模拟酸雨未抑制土壤呼吸作用,T1和T2酸雨处理反而促进了土壤呼吸作用;在生长季,高强度模拟酸雨T3显著抑制了土壤呼吸作用;在非生长季2,也出现了模拟酸雨促进土壤呼吸作用的现象;对于整个观测阶段而言,低强度模拟酸雨处理未显著改变北亚热带天然次生林的土壤呼吸,仅高强度模拟酸雨T3显著抑制了土壤呼吸作用.不同酸雨强度处理下的土壤呼吸速率与土壤温度的指数回归关系均达显著水平(P<0.01),CK、T1、T2、T3处理的Q10值分别为3.04,2.73,2.83,2.51,模拟酸雨处理降低了北亚热带天然次生林土壤呼吸的温度敏感性.     

30种离子液体对青海弧菌Q67的毒性效应

应用微板毒性分析法系统地考察了30种具有不同烷基链长度、阴离子基团和阳离子骨架(甲基咪唑、二甲基咪唑和吡啶)的“绿色溶剂”离子液体(ionic liquids,ILs)对一种新型淡水发光菌青海弧菌Q67 (Vibrio qinghaiensis sp. Q67)的毒性效应.非线性拟合结果表明,Logit或Weibull函数可有效地表征30种ILs的剂量-效应曲线,其相关系数R>0.98,均方根误差RMSE<0.053;30种ILs对Q67的毒性差异很大,pEC₅₀值在1.01～5.48之间;ILs对Q67的毒性具有烷基链效应,且烷基链上每增加2个碳原子,其pEC₅₀值增加近1倍;ILs的阴离子基团、阳离子骨架及ILs本身的吸光性不显著影响ILs对发光菌Q67的毒性.     

变性高效液相色谱在大通量筛查基因突变中的应用

应用变性高效液相色谱(DHPLC)对已知序列的含外显子7的斑马鱼p53基因片段PCR产物进行突变检测,结果表明,通过克隆测序方法检测出的点突变,用DHPLC同样可以检出.且对该片段的最优化检测柱温为60℃,其特异性很好,敏感性大于95%.     

DNA聚合酶对PCR方法检测基因点突变的干扰分析

以野生型斑马鱼p53基因外显子7为目的片段,运用变性高效液相色谱(DHPLC),比较分析三种常用的商品DNA聚合酶对聚合酶链式反应(PCR)技术检测基因点突变的影响.DHPLC检测结果显示,Promega Shanghai公司Taq DNA聚合酶,Promega公司Taq DNA聚合酶和BD Biosciences公司高保真酶Advantage-HF2的分子突变频率分别为14.3%,5.95%和0.76%.通过DNA直接测序法确认表明,Promega公司Taq DNA聚合酶和BD Biosciences公司高保真酶Advantage-HF2的碱基突变频率分别为3.61×10-4和7.69×10-5.研究表明,不同的DNA聚合酶对PCR技术的检测结果有明显影响,高保真酶Advantage-HF2所造成的碱基错配率明显低于其它两种商业化Taq酶.