市场结构与环境污染外部性治理

本文运用产业组织理论分析环境污染所带来的福利影响,与传统经济理论形成鲜明的对照,为治理环境污染提供新的解决思路.虽然在大多数情况下完全竞争优于完全垄断,但是如果发生了市场失灵,对整个社会来说完全垄断就优于完全竞争.为此,本文针对不完全竞争市场结构的现实,进一步深入探讨环境污染外部性的福利效果,重新考察庇古税和科斯定理作用的约束条件.虽然我们依据完全竞争市场与负外部性会得到产生过多污染的结论,其解决方法是征收等于外部性的边际社会成本的税收,但这并不适用于不完全竞争市场,甚至是错误的.因此从负外部性角度看,我们发现不竞争市场结构可能产生高于或低于社会最优水平的产出和污染,虽然通过征税让企业负外部性内部化,竞争性市场的产量就是社会最优的水平,但这并不适合不完全竞争市场.因此,我们只有将市场势力、产权和庇古税有机结合起来,才能更现实地解决环境污染的负外部性问题,这对实现国民经济全面、协调与可持续发展具有非常重要的意义.     

基于Sen可行能力理论测度中国社会福利指数

本研究基于阿玛蒂亚·森(Sen)可行能力理论,运用2008-2013年中国31个省(市)面板数据,采取模糊数学理论与主成分因子分析法测度中国社会福利指数。通过理论与实证研究发现:第一,东中西部地区社会福利指数差异性较大,其波动呈不规则趋势,且社会福利与经济发展呈脱钩状况。第二,计算MI与GC指数发现,各地区社会福利指数之间存在正的空间相关性,且东中西部地区社会福利指数存在空间集聚与扩散现象。第三,利用动态空间面板模型实证检验发现,社会福利指数存在时滞性,且城镇化率与外贸出口占比越高,越有利于提高社会福利水平,而经济增长与工业化对社会福利影响力相对较低。鉴于此,为有效提高中国社会福利,使经济发展与社会福利二者相匹配,本研究提出以下政策建议:首先,学术界应改变传统的福利经济学思维体系,将更多的研究重点放在功能自由与能力自由两方面。其次,各地区应加强区域间交流合作,减少"以邻为壑"现象,促进区域发展一体化。最后,中央与地方政府应转变经济发展模式与理念,加大民生与环境保护方面投入,进而提高居民生活质量。     

Science, Pigs, and Politics: A New Zealand Perspective on the Phase-Out of Sow Stalls

Sows housed in stalls are kept insuch extreme confinement that they are unableto turn around. In some sectors of the porkindustry, sows are subjected to this degree ofconfinement for almost their entire lives(apart from the brief periods associated withmating). While individual confinement isrecognized by farmers and animal welfarecommunity organizations alike, as a valuabletool in sow husbandry (to mitigate againstaggression), what remains questionable from ananimal welfare point of view is the necessityto confine sows in such small spaces.In 2001, the Australian Journal ofAgricultural Research published a reviewarticle on the science associated with the useof the sow stall, and claimed that ``noscientific evidence to support therecommendation in the Code of Practice advisingagainst housing of sows in stalls followed byhousing in crates' (Barnett et al., 2001, p. 21).If all the available scientific publications onthe animal welfare implications of sow stallsare consulted (many of which did not feature inthe above review), then one will indeed findscientific evidence to support recommendationsagainst the housing of sows in stalls. Becausethere is science on both sides of this policydivide, the argument to defend the use of sowstalls, therefore, is not one of science vspublic opinion, but one of ethics.An analysis of the scientific argumentsagainst the use of the sow stall should be usedto encourage ethical debate on this issue. Asan ethical debate, the issue of the use of thesow stall can then focus on the degree ofsuffering we as a society are willing totolerate in agricultural practices, and theanimal welfare costs associated with extremeeconomies of scale in sow stocking rates,rather than get bogged down in red herringdebates over whether there is any suffering atall.     

Impact of climate change on food security of small islands: The case of Mauritius

This paper studies the implications of high food prices resulting from climate change on food security in small islands, using Mauritius as a case‐study. Climate change may adversely impact prices of agricultural commodities. The study derives and calculates the government costs and the welfare effects of an increase in the world price of rice on consumers in Mauritius. Using an equilibrium displacement model, this study finds that an increase in the price of rice by 35%, as predicted by the literature on climate change and rice prices, will result in an increase of 28.8% in government spending, representing the additional outlays to support the subsidy scheme for food security. Using 2012 as the baseline, the welfare analysis results suggest that consumer surplus for ration rice consumers increases by 626 million Mauritian Rupees (MUR) or US$18 million while consumer surplus decreases by MUR454 million (US$13 million) for basmati rice consumers.     

Measuring the welfare cost of air pollution in Shanghai: evidence from the housing market

The purpose of this study is to quantify the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for clean air in China. We provide the first estimate of MWTP for clean air by implementing a hedonic method using housing price and air quality data from Shanghai. Our estimates imply that air pollution has a significant and negative impact on housing price. We also find that the willingness to pay for better air quality varies significantly across different income groups. This paper helps to deepen our understanding of the economic impacts of air pollution in emerging Asian metropolises where residents are suffering from the most severe respiratory health problems.     

Public receptiveness to policies promoting plant-based diets: framing effects and social psychological and structural influences

Governmental and non-governmental organizations, social movements, and academics have called for reductions in meat consumption due to the environmental, animal welfare, and public health consequences of industrial animal agribusiness. An impactful move toward plant-based diets would require changes in public policy. First, we assess if there are different social and structural factors that influence support for policies that promote plant-based diets. We look at four categories of policies (action frames) that will likely reduce meat consumption: environmental, animal welfare, public health, and direct meat reduction. Second, we use a manipulation rhetorical frame to see if support can be altered by providing individuals with information about meat reduction, framing the issue in terms of environmental protection, animal welfare, or public health. Different social and structural factors predict support for different policy groupings, meaning that it matters how policies are enclosed in action frames. However, providing information to individuals about a particular impact (rhetorical frame) has limited influence on policy support.     

Do Regulators of Animal Welfare Need to Develop a Theory of Psychological Well-Being?

The quest for a ``theory of nonhuman minds' to assessclaims about the moral status of animals is misguided. Misframedquestions about animal minds facilitate the appropriation ofanimal welfare by the animal user industry. When misframed, thesequestions shift the burden of proof unreasonably to animalwelfare regulators. An illustrative instance of misframing can befound in the US National Research Council's 1998 publication thatreports professional efforts to define the psychologicalwell-being of nonhuman primates, a condition that the US 1985animal welfare act requires users of primates to promote. Thereport claims that ``psychological well-being' is a hypotheticalconstruct whose validity can only be determined by a theory thatdefines its properties and links it to observed data. Thisconception is used to contest common knowledge about animalwelfare by treating psychological well-being as a mentalcondition whose properties are difficult to discover. Thisframework limits regulatory efforts to treat animal subjects lessoppressively and serves the interests of the user industry.A more liberatory framework can be constructed by recognizing thecontested nature of welfare norms, where competing conceptions ofanimal welfare have implications about norm-setting authority, asit does in other regulatory contexts, e.g., food safety. Properlyconceptualized welfare should include both the avoidance ofdistressful circumstances and the relationship between ananimal's capacities to engage in enjoyable activities and itsopportunities to exercise these capacities. This conception ofanimal welfare avoids appropriation by scientific experts.The development of the psychological well-being regulation is agood illustration of how social norms are contested and thenappropriated, and a critique of this appropriation shows how itcan be challenged.     

福建省生态福利绩效影响因素研究

生态福利是进入新时代以来备受关注的议题,是影响区域可持续发展的重要因素。文章基于DEA方法构建生态福利绩效指标体系,采用考虑非期望产出的两阶段Super-NSBM模型评估福建省2012—2019年生态福利绩效水平,并进一步构建Tobit回归模型检验生态福利绩效的影响因素。结果表明：（1）福建省整体生态福利绩效较高,但区域间差距较大;（2）经济规模、产业结构、人口密度、森林资源对福建省生态福利绩效产生负向作用;（3）森林生态补偿的不足阻碍了生态福利绩效的提升,绿色发展技术创新的薄弱也导致科技进步对生态福利绩效的提升作用未能发挥。提出对策建议如下：（1）强化绿色发展模式,优先推动绿色创新;（2）优化生态补偿机制,推动海陆协同发展;（3）加快公共服务体系建设,因地制宜推动城市扩张;（4）持续有效强化环保投入,深化对外经贸技术交流。     

Alternative transportation fuel standards: Welfare effects and climate benefits

This paper develops an integrated model of the fuel and agricultural sectors to analyze the welfare and greenhouse gas emission (GHG) effects of the existing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and a carbon price policy. The conceptual framework shows that these policies differ in the incentives they create for the consumption and mix of different types of biofuels and in their effects on food and fuel prices and GHG emissions. We also simulate the welfare and GHG effects of these three policies which are normalized to achieve the same level of US GHG emissions. By promoting greater production of food-crop based biofuels, the RFS is found to lead to a larger reduction in fossil fuel use but also a larger increase in food prices and a smaller reduction in global GHG emissions compared to the LCFS and carbon tax. All three policies increase US social welfare compared to a no-biofuel baseline scenario due to improved terms-of-trade, even when environmental benefits are excluded; global social welfare increases with a carbon tax but decreases with the RFS and LCFS due to the efficiency costs imposed by these policies, even after including the benefits of mitigating GHG emissions.     

Consumer Attitudes Towards the Development of Animal-Friendly Husbandry Systems

Recent policy developments in the area of livestock husbandry have suggested that, from the perspective of optimizing animal welfare, new animal husbandry systems should be developed that provide opportunities for livestock animals to be raised in environments where they are permitted to engage in “natural behavior.” It is not known whether consumers regard animal husbandry issues as important, and whether they differentiate between animal husbandry and other animal welfare issues. The responsibility for the development of such systems is allocated jointly between farmers, regulators, different actors in the food chain, and consumers. This research focuses on understanding consumer attitudes and preferences regarding the development and introduction of such systems, to ensure that they are acceptable to consumers as well as producers, regulators, and scientists. Consumer perceptions of animal welfare and animal husbandry practices were evaluated using quantitative consumer survey, which focused on two animal husbandry issues – farmed pigs and farmed fish. Following pilot work, 1000 representative Dutch consumers were sampled about their attitudes to either pig or fish husbandry. The results indicated that consumers think about animal welfare in terms of two broad categories related to their health and living environment, but do not think about welfare issues at a more detailed level. Greater concern was expressed about the welfare of pigs compared to fish. Consumer trust in labeling also emerged as an important issue, since consumers need to trust different food chain actors with responsibility for promoting animal welfare, and are reluctant to consider the details of animal husbandry systems. As a consequence, a transparent, enforceable, and traceable monitoring system for animal welfare friendly products is likely to be important for consumers.