Is there a material Kuznets curve for aluminium? evidence from rich countries

The paper tests the material Kuznets Curve (MKC) hypothesis with regard to aluminium consumption for 20 high-income countries over the period 1970 to 2009. The test is based on the suggestion of Narayan and Narayan (2010). Various unit root and cointegration tests are applied. The aluminium and GDP series are found to be integrated of order one and cointegrated. Additionally, the Blundell–Bond system generalized methods-of-moments (GMM) is employed to conduct a panel causality test in a vector error-correction mechanism (VECM) setting. Unidirectional causality running from real per capita GDP to the aluminium intensity is uncovered in both the short-run and long-run. While controlling for structural shocks, the MKC hypothesis is found to hold at individual levels for Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Japan, and United Kingdom as well as for the whole panel. A 1% increase in GDP generates an increase of 0.87% in metal intensity in the short-run and a fall of 0.82% in the long-run for the panel.     

The global partnership for sustainable development

This paper examines whether foreign aid, together with other economic, social and environmental factors, contributes to sustainable development. It starts with an illustrative theoretical growth model where foreign aid promotes sustainable development by protecting the environment. Using factor analysis and newly developed estimation methods for a dynamic panel data model with endogenous regressors, the empirical section of the paper finds evidence that foreign aid has had a significantly positive influence on sustainable development in aid recipient countries. This effect is very likely to go through channels related to growth and resources as well as a technology channel with respect to energy intensity. This research has important implications for a post‐2015 development framework on international collective action with regard to a sustainable future.     

Effect of working time on environmental pressures: empirical evidence from EU-15, 1970–2010

There is growing interest in the correlation between working time and environmental pressures, but prior empirical studies mostly focused on static methodologies. This article used dynamic panel regression approaches to examine and compare the relationship among western, southern, and northern European countries over the period 1970–2010, and proved the existence of strongly significant relationships in all models. Furthermore, this article detected the relationship between working hours and environmental indicators (carbon emission and energy use) at different phases. We contribute to a further understanding of the environmental effects of the working time reduction policy by comparing the differences among various periods and country groups in a system generalized method of moments (GMM) dynamic framework.     

市场激励型环境规制工具对中国资源型城市高质量发展的影响

基于中国114个地级资源型城市2011—2018年的面板数据,采用熵权法测算各资源型城市的高质量发展指数,并利用系统GMM模型、静态面板门限模型和动态面板门限模型,探讨市场激励型环境规制工具对中国资源型城市高质量发展的影响及其作用机制。结果表明：（1）2011—2018年中国资源型城市高质量发展水平在总体向好的同时也存在一定程度的极差扩大现象,且在空间上呈现出“东高西低”的分布态势;（2）市场激励型环境规制工具对资源型城市高质量发展指数存在显著的正向影响;（3）市场激励型环境规制工具对资源型城市高质量发展的促进作用受到城市低碳生活基础设施水平的调节和制约,存在门限效应。基于实证研究结果进一步分析了相应的政策含义。     

中国环境税费政策的双重红利效应——基于系统GMM与面板门槛模型的估计

基于庇古理论征收环境税是解决环境污染外部性的规制手段,构建环境税费的动态面板模型和面板门槛模型,检验环境税费政策是否能产生降低污染又能激励绿色技术创新的双重红利.研究发现：我国环境税费政策的实施存在双重红利,地区高人口密度并未成为环境红利的制约因素,产业结构和能源结构需进一步优化调整才能促进双重红利效应.环境税费政策对环境污染、绿色技术创新存在非线性时变特征,只有在适宜的环境税费区间才能更好地实现双重红利效应;经济发展水平越高,环境税费的双重红利作用越明显.因此,以2018年开始征收环境税为契机,基于地区经济发展异质特征制定全方位的环境税体系是打赢环保攻坚战的重点.     

基于GMM模型的山东省能源消费主要驱动因素分析研究

山东省是中国的经济大省和人口大省,更是能源消费最大的省份.本文运用广义矩阵模型(GMM)对2000-2014年间山东省能源消费的驱动因素进行分析,结果表明:山东省能源消费总量呈不断上升趋势,各驱动因素中人口规模影响最大,其次为城市化水平和第二产业比重,对外贸易与GDP增长影响较小且都为负效应.因此,依靠相关法律法规合理控制人口增长和城市化进程有利于减少能源消费水平.本文根据最新统计数据深入研究山东省能源消费的主要驱动.     

金融发展、环境质量对中国经济增长的影响研究

基于1996年-2015年省际面板数据,对金融发展、环境质量与经济增长之间的影响机理进行分析.计量结果显示出以下三个基本结论:第一,金融发展、环境质量均与经济增长之间存在显著的"倒U型"关系,即存在特定的门槛值,使得经济增长速度先上升后减缓;第二,中国金融发展与环境质量均能够有效的促进经济增长,但金融发展在不同地区存在区域差异性,其中东部地区的金融发展对经济增长的影响最强.此外,金融发展与环境质量之间存在相互促进和加强的关系.     

城市水价预测长期边际成本模型的GMM参数估计

论文介绍了GMM方法原理,应用GMM估计方法对城市水价预测长期边际成本数学模型的参数估计进行了研究,通过用水人数、用水量、用水结构、可变成本及固定成本等水价相关因子的参数估计,实现水价长期边际成本的预测,并以苏州市为实例进行了案例研究。研究结果表明:应用GMM的样本估计解决了长期边际成本数学模型需求数据量较大的要求,提高了水价长期边际成本预测模型的实用性。     

Environmental policies,competition and innovation in renewable energy

We investigate the effect of environmental policies on innovation under different levels of competition. Using information regarding renewable energy policies, competition and green patents for OECD countries since the late 1970s, we develop a pre-sample mean count-data econometric specification that accounts for the endogeneity of policies. We find that renewable energy policies are more effective in fostering green innovation in countries with liberalized energy markets. We also find that environmental policies are crucial only in the generation of high-quality green patents, whereas competition enhances the generation of low-quality green patents.     

城市规模、集聚与空气质量

在STIRPAT模型的基础上,通过加入能源消费需求、工业化水平和产业集聚度变量,建立了拓展的STIRPAT模型,并使用动态面板GMM方法,分析了我国30个省会城市和直辖市2003-2012年间的面板数据,指出不同的城市规模与集聚程度会对空气质量有不同的影响。首先。从总体上来说,城市人口规模、富裕程度和技术水平是影响城市空气质量的主要因素,其中人口规模和技术水平对空气质量的影响均为正效应,而富裕程度对空气质量的影响呈现出倒N型EKC曲线形状;较高的能源消费需求和工业化水平会恶化空气质量,而较高的技术水平和产业集聚度会改善空气质量,这表明相关部门可以从不断提高科技水平和产业集聚度入手,通过各种方法减少能源消费需求、降低工业化水平。来达到改善空气质量的目的。其次,在总体回归的基础上,本文重点按照人口规模、经济规模和经济集聚度、人口集中度分析了城市规模与集聚对空气质量的影响情况。结果表明:欠发达城市和大中城市的回归结果与总体回归结果一致,而经济发达城市和特大城市的回归结果与总体回归结果有一定差异,本文认为导致这些差异的主要原因是科学事业费支出方向、社会消费品结构以及工业清洁能源利用及其利用效率等因素;低产业集聚度和低人口集中度城市的情形与总体较为相近,而高产业集聚度和高人口集中度城市的EKC曲线形状与工业化水平系数与总体结果相反,这两种差异分别与城市的发展阶段和城市的人口素质有关。因此,城市的相关部门在追求规模经济的同时应该注重科技投入结构的改善,注重提高能源使用效率和清洁能源的使用率,并且在不断提高产业集聚度与人口集中度的同时追求绿色GDP的实现,注重人口的文化教育以提高人口素质,从而提升公众的环保意识,以抵消随人口集中度提高带来的环境压力。