地震的社会经济影响

在查阅前人研究成果的基础上,分析了地震造成社会灾害严重、影响地区经济发展的现象,认为地震灾害对一个地区所造成的影响程度与该地区的承灾力有关,并影响地区经济的可持续发展.     

我国证券市场体制性缺陷与投资风险分析

与国民经济长期高增长相背离,证券市场出现了深幅下跌,投资者承受了巨大的投资风险,究其原因,体制性缺陷是重要因素之一。笔者认为,我国证券市场的体制性缺陷主要表现在市场经济环境不够完备、法律法规体系不十分健全、监管体制不力、证券市场的功能定位扭曲、股权分置问题久拖难决等方面。目前该体制性缺陷是导致我国证券市场长期下跌的重要原因,也给证券投资者带来了巨大的投资风险。只有加快改革、完善法律和监管体制,我国证券市场才能具有投资价值并健康发展。     

云天化3#循环流化床锅炉项目技术经济分析

云天化股份公司在2004年建造了3#循环流化床锅炉，以煤代气。它可以缓解公司原料天然气的紧张状况，并能带来很大的经济效益。从技术经济的角度对该项目的技术先进性、可靠性及内部收益率、投资回收期、净现值等技术指标进行了分析。     

ARE RURAL RESIDENTS WILLING TO PAY ENOUGH TO IMPROVE DRINKING WATER QUALITY?1

ABSTRACT: The concentrations of iron and sulfate in community water supplies are a concern for a number of areas in southwestern Minnesota. This study used the contingent valuation method to determine how much consumers would be willing to pay to improve their drinking water quality. On average, individuals were willing to pay US$5.25 per month (in 1995 U.S. dollars) to reduce the level of iron and US$4.33 per month to reduce the level of sulfate in their water to the USEPA's secondary standards for drinking water quality. Respondents with negative perceptions of their drinking water quality were willing to pay more to improve water quality. The aggregate annual willingness to pay (WTP) for all consumers in community water systems in southwestern Minnesota that were out of compliance with water quality standards were estimated to be US$2.4 million and US$2.0 million (in 1995 dollars) for reducing the levels of iron and sulfate, respectively. Yet the total WTP of consumers who use small community water systems may not be enough to pay the full cost of providing improved water in those systems. Economies of scale in water treatment and difficulties in financing improvements mean that technical innovation, government assistance, or institutional changes may be needed to improve water quality in these areas.     

Discussing why population growth is still ignored or denied

Due to a number of factors outlined in this article, the issue of population growth is excluded from the sustainability discussion. In this article, we explore some of the ethical presumptions that underlie the issues linking population growth and sustainability. Critics argue that action to address population creates social and economic segregation, and portray overpopulation concerns as being “anti-poor,” “anti-developing country,” or even “antihuman.” Yet, de-linking demographic factors from sustainability concerns ignores significant global realities and trends, such as the ecological limits of the Earth, the welfare and long-term livelihood of the most vulnerable groups, future prospects of humanity, as well as the ecosystems that support society.     

Discounting in the presence of scarce ecosystem services

The discount rate for cost-benefit analysis has to take account of future scarcity of ecosystem services in consumption and production. Previous literature focuses on the first aspect and shows the importance of the relative price effect, for given growth rates of consumption and ecosystem services. This paper focuses on intermediate ecosystem services in production and shows that for limited substitutability and a low growth rate of these ecosystem services, the growth rate of consumption, and thus the discount rate, declines towards a low value. Using a Ramsey growth model, the paper distinguishes three cases. If ecosystem services can be easily substituted, the discount rate converges to the usual value in the long term. Secondly, if ecosystem services can be easily substituted in production but not in consumption, the relative price effect is important. Finally, and most interestingly, if ecosystem services cannot be easily substituted in production, the discount rate declines towards a low value and the relative price effect is less important. Another part of the previous literature has shown that a declining discount rate is the result of introducing several forms of uncertainty, but this paper reaches that conclusion from an endogenous effect on the growth rate of the economy.     

Cost‐effectiveness of conservation payment schemes for species with different range sizes

Payments to compensate landowners for carrying out costly land‐use measures that benefit endangered biodiversity have become an important policy instrument. When designing such payments, it is important to take into account that spatially connected habitats are more valuable for many species than isolated ones. One way to incentivize provision of connected habitats is to offer landowners an agglomeration bonus, that is, a bonus on top of payments they are receiving to conserve land if the land is spatially connected. Researchers have compared the cost‐effectiveness of the agglomeration bonus with 2 alternatives: an all‐or‐nothing, agglomeration payment, where landowners receive a payment only if the conserved land parcels have a certain level of spatial connectivity, and a spatially homogeneous payment, where landowners receive a payment for conserved land parcels irrespective of their location. Their results show the agglomeration bonus is rarely the most cost‐effective option, and when it is, it is only slightly better than one of the alternatives. This suggests that the agglomeration bonus should not be given priority as a policy design option. However, this finding is based on consideration of only 1 species. We examined whether the same applied to 2 species, one for which the homogeneous payment is best and the other for which the agglomeration payment is most cost‐effective. We modified a published conceptual model so that we were able to assess the cost‐effectiveness of payment schemes for 2 species and applied it to a grassland bird and a grassland butterfly in Germany that require the same habitat but have different spatial‐connectivity needs. When conserving both species, the agglomeration bonus was more cost‐effective than the agglomeration and the homogeneous payment; thus, we showed that as a policy the agglomeration bonus is a useful conservation‐payment option.     

Integration of ecological–biological thresholds in conservation decision making

In the Anthropocene, coupled human and natural systems dominate and only a few natural systems remain relatively unaffected by human influence. On the one hand, conservation criteria based on areas of minimal human impact are not relevant to much of the biosphere. On the other hand, conservation criteria based on economic factors are problematic with respect to their ability to arrive at operational indicators of well‐being that can be applied in practice over multiple generations. Coupled human and natural systems are subject to economic development which, under current management structures, tends to affect natural systems and cross planetary boundaries. Hence, designing and applying conservation criteria applicable in real‐world systems where human and natural systems need to interact and sustainably coexist is essential. By recognizing the criticality of satisfying basic needs as well as the great uncertainty over the needs and preferences of future generations, we sought to incorporate conservation criteria based on minimal human impact into economic evaluation. These criteria require the conservation of environmental conditions such that the opportunity for intergenerational welfare optimization is maintained. Toward this end, we propose the integration of ecological–biological thresholds into decision making and use as an example the planetary‐boundaries approach. Both conservation scientists and economists must be involved in defining operational ecological–biological thresholds that can be incorporated into economic thinking and reflect the objectives of conservation, sustainability, and intergenerational welfare optimization.     

Defining the Impact of Non‐Native Species

Non‐native species cause changes in the ecosystems to which they are introduced. These changes, or some of them, are usually termed impacts; they can be manifold and potentially damaging to ecosystems and biodiversity. However, the impacts of most non‐native species are poorly understood, and a synthesis of available information is being hindered because authors often do not clearly define impact. We argue that explicitly defining the impact of non‐native species will promote progress toward a better understanding of the implications of changes to biodiversity and ecosystems caused by non‐native species; help disentangle which aspects of scientific debates about non‐native species are due to disparate definitions and which represent true scientific discord; and improve communication between scientists from different research disciplines and between scientists, managers, and policy makers. For these reasons and based on examples from the literature, we devised seven key questions that fall into 4 categories: directionality, classification and measurement, ecological or socio‐economic changes, and scale. These questions should help in formulating clear and practical definitions of impact to suit specific scientific, stakeholder, or legislative contexts. Definiendo el Impacto de las Especies No‐Nativas     

水稻不同生育期根际与非根际土壤胞外酶对施氮的响应

与稻田土壤碳氮循环(矿化、转化等)密切相关的酶活性可以反映微生物的生长和代谢过程.为明确水稻不同生育期根际与非根际土壤胞外酶对施氮的响应,采用根际袋法区分水稻根际和非根际土壤,利用96微孔酶标板荧光分析法,测定其碳氮过程关键酶β-1,4-葡萄糖苷酶(BG)和β-1,4-N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖苷酶(NAG)活性,探讨根际效应、施氮和生育期对土壤酶活的影响及其调控机制.结果表明,施氮使拔节期土壤BG酶活性相对于不施氮处理降低了7.4~13.5 nmol·(g·h)~(-1),而使成熟期BG酶活性增大了7.0~31.4 nmol·(g·h)~(-1),同时根际与非根际土壤中BG酶活性也随水稻的生育期而发生相应的变化.与不施氮处理相比,施氮使水稻成熟期非根际土壤NAG酶活性增加了1.1倍,根际土壤降低了0.3倍.施氮和生育期显著影响土壤BG酶活性,而水稻生育期、施氮和根际效应及其交互作用均对NAG酶活性有极显著影响.RDA分析表明土壤微生物生物量碳(MBC)和可溶性有机碳(DOC)含量主要影响水稻根际土壤胞外酶活性;而非根际土壤中酶活性的变化主要受微生物生物量氮(MBN)和铵态氮(NH_4~+-N)的影响.土壤酶活性与多种因素存在复杂关系,需要综合考虑植物生理特征、土壤酶活性和土壤特征,分析N添加对微生物群落组成的影响.