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This paper provides a perspective on the potential of Chinese ecological agriculture to address sustainable human–environmental interactions. As Chinese agriculture is increasingly challenged by the constraints of population, resources and environment emerging from its modern development, it is imperative to explore a sustainable agricultural paradigm that could accommodate economic and socio-cultural needs within an already stressed natural resource base. The rise of ecological agriculture is suggested as a workable alternative that has the potential to mitigate negative impacts of modern conventional agriculture and at the same time, to overcome limitations of traditional agriculture in meeting the needs of China''s growing population. Ecological agriculture represents a site-specific manifestation of the application of ecological economics, among others, to agricultural practices. Some challenges being experienced in translating this rhetoric into practice are identified and discussed. Highlighted is the view that sustainable agricultural development is meaningful only when it is tailored to specific ecological, economic, political and socio-cultural settings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Population growth and resource scarcity have remained major constraints on China''s development for several decades. Under conditions of resource limitations, utilization efficiency is a key concern for Chinese scientists and decision-makers. Based on forest production and trade data for China, we present a conceptual framework for resource flow analysis, calculate the quantities and analyze the characteristics of flows of forest resources (primarily wood and wood byproducts) during the critical early economic development of China (from 1953 to 2000) by converting the forest resource flows into log equivalents (i.e., the quantity of logs required to generate a unit of each type of product). The consumption of forest resources has accelerated throughout the study period, and the structure and efficiency of forest resource utilization have both improved. The proportion of forest resource flows obtained from outside China has increased, and most of this wood was consumed by wood-processing industries. Over time, consumption has shifted from logs and lumber to the pulp and paper and artificial board industries. To improve the economics and sustainability of its use of forest resources, China should increase consumption of forest resources by its pulp and paper industry, more fully utilize forest resources obtained from outside China, and weaken the dependence on these foreign forest resources by promoting increased utilization efficiency and structural readjustment of the forest industry. Therefore, improved forest management is an effective mean of weakening the dependence on foreign forest resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Swine manure has become rural China's primary source of agricultural non-point pollution. Various sustainable manure management practices (SMMPs) have been promoted in rural areas. Although SMMPs are becoming more popular, little evidence exists regarding their ex-post impacts. Using survey data from 710 swine breeding households in rural Hubei, China, this paper estimates the adoption and impacts of SMMPs on household income and happiness. This paper discusses the use of an endogenous switching regression model to solve the endogeneity problem that arises from both observable and unobservable factors. The results showed that 48.5% of farmers sampled adopted SMMPs. Furthermore, on average, the adoption of SMMPs was associated with a 28.7% increase in household income per capita and a 22% improvement in happiness. Then robustness tests were conducted to verify these results. Several factors influence the adoption of SMMPs, including health, swine breeding scale, swine breeding experience, technical training, internet, waste management facility and previous adoption experience. These findings highlight the importance of promoting SMMPs in rural areas to increase farmer income and enhancing their perceived happiness, and measures should be taken to scale up their adoption of SMMPs. • Adoption of SMMPs positively influences swine breeding farmers' household income. • Adoption of SMMPs significantly enhances swine breeding farmers' happiness. • Less than half of the sampled swine breeding farmers adopted SMMPs. • Endogenous switching regression model is employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether environmental regulation incentivizes green technology innovations is debated in the literature. The potential endogeneity of environmental regulation is the major empirical challenge for identifying the causal effect of environmental regulation on green technology innovations. To address this issue, we use the quasi-natural experiment of China's Total Emission Control Policy as exogenous shocks of environmental regulation. Specifically, we construct a new dataset of the city-level emission reduction mandates and employ the difference-in-difference-in-differences estimation to explore how stringency of environmental regulation affects green technology innovations. The empirical results show that environmental regulation promotes green innovations. Further mechanism analysis shows environmental regulation can attract "new entrants" to join the green technology market and launch more green innovations. This paper further explores the significance of environmental regulation in narrowing the gap between green and non-green technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental justice is a more sustainable constraint on polluting behavior than administrative instruments. Previous literature has explored the impact of various administrative instruments applied to environmental regulation on green innovation but has neglected the possible role of environmental justice. This paper examines the effect of environmental justice on green innovation using the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) approach by taking the establishment of the Chinese environmental court as a policy shock, thus filling the gap in previous studies. We conclude that: first, the establishment of environmental courts significantly contributes to the level of green innovation. This finding holds after a series of robustness tests. Second, environmental justice pushes polluters to engage in green innovation through the mechanism of pollution control. Third, the effect of environmental courts on green innovation is not significant in resource-based cities, which depend more on high-polluting industries for development. Fourth, a better legal environment can help improve the effectiveness of environmental justice in promoting green innovation. This paper not only supplements the existing literature on the factors influencing green innovation and explains the operational mechanisms and effects of environmental justice, but also provides theoretical support for promoting green innovation in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between intergenerational altruism, pessimism bias, and grassland use among rural households in the pastoral region of northwest China. By designing a series of hypothetical questions, we develop measures of intergenerational altruism and pessimism bias, and examine their impact on actual grazing behavior. Our analysis reveals that households with weaker intergenerational altruism and stronger pessimism bias tend to increase their livestock scale without a corresponding increase in supplementary feeding, suggesting that our measures can serve as reliable predictors of grassland overuse. Furthermore, to investigate whether the grant of long-term land rights to rural households mitigates the negative impact of pessimism bias on grassland management, we employ panel data collected before and after a land reform in China. Our results demonstrate that the reform weakens the adverse effects of pessimism bias and promotes the sustainable use of grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To secure effective and sustainable climate change policies, it is of the utmost importance to create synergies between socioeconomic and environmental development goals. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs are being promoted as a suitable mechanism furthering, among others, carbon offsetting and poverty reduction in ecologically fragile areas of developing countries. Rural households are compensated for the loss of property and business income through income transfers and potential job opportunities connected to environmental programs. While the potential pro-poor effects of such policies are well recognized, the impact of PES on extremely poor households has not been systematically reviewed. Drawing on a pooled cross-sectional dataset of 5225 households in the Province of Sichuan, this paper analyzes the income and distributional effects among poor households in rural China participating in a forest carbon sink (FCS) program. To be able to make causal inferences, we employ an Instrumental Variable (IV) approach to control for potential endogeneity and self-selection. Our results indicate a strong need to adjust the PES program: While moderately poor rural households benefit from program participation, extremely poor rural households, in fact, suffer net losses. The main reason is that income reduction resulting from limited access to forest resources is compensated mainly via wage income from participating in forest tending work. Extremely poor households with low labor ability cannot make use of these job opportunities, and thus they'll not only fail to benefit but even incur losses from a PES program. While PES programs can be a viable tool for poverty reduction in underdeveloped regions due to their overall pro-poorness, they need to be accompanied by additional benefits for extremely poor rural households to avoid net losses among marginalized population groups especially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy poverty is a serious problem worldwide that negatively impacts the subjective well-being of elderly residents. This paper aims to explore this relationship. Firstly, based on 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) launched by Peking University for 125 prefecture-level cities, representing 32,490 observations, this paper effectively and multidimensionally measures the level of individual energy poverty. Secondly, a mediating model is adopted to study the causal effect between energy poverty and subjective well-being through the OLS and 2SLS methods using carefully selected instrumental variables to overcome potential endogeneity. Finally, through a variety of robustness tests, the stability of the above causal effects is verified. The results show that energy poverty negatively affects senior citizens' subjective well-being. Health, depression level, and household food expenditure level can be used as the micro mechanism between the two variables. The above factors have a greater impact on those senior citizens with low educational backgrounds, from relatively low-income families, living alone, and having an urban household registration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data collected from the 2012 and 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) surveys, this paper measures household carbon footprints and assesses wealth-related effects on household carbon emissions. We find that housing wealth has an evidently larger impact on household carbon emissions, almost twice as large as that of financial wealth. The larger effect is likely attributable to the fact that Chinese households have limited investment channels, and the overwhelming proportion of household wealth is tied up in housing. We also find that housing wealth effects on household carbon emissions vary across different types of homeownership. Renters, who do not own their homes, produce higher carbon emissions than do homeowners, on average. In terms of emission elasticity, households with sole homeownership have the strongest and most positive emission response to housing wealth appreciation. The significant impacts of housing wealth offer essential and useful information for predicting China's future emission trajectory and point to the potential impact of housing policy as an effective tool for reducing carbon emissions. • Household carbon emissions increase with housing wealth. • The impact of housing wealth on emissions is almost twice that of financial wealth. • Renters have the highest emission propensity. • Households with sole homeownership have the highest emission elasticity. • Housing policy can be considered as a tool for reducing carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been recognized as a significant progress in regional economic integration for member countries. While the existing literature has widely studied the trade effects of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), it remains unclear how it affects environment-related input use. This paper examines the impacts of agricultural trade liberalization on the domestic fertilizer use following the CAFTA. Using a combined dataset consisting of country- and product-level fertilizer use and predictors over the period 1995–2015, this paper empirically examines the impact of CAFTA on the domestic fertilizer use for the exported fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) from China to ASEAN members. We use the synthesis control method to identify the aggregate impacts of CAFTA on the domestic fertilizer use, followed by the propensity score matching difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) method to examine the mechanism through which fertilizer use is increased. We find that the total volumes of the domestic fertilizer use for Chinese exported FFV increased significantly following the implementation of the Early Harvest Program under CAFTA in 2004. This impact is more evident for exports to the initial ASEAN members compared to the new members. The PSM-DID results suggest that CAFTA increased the degree of export concentration on ASEAN members. The evidence is consistent with the export diversion effect of a customs union instead of the export creation effect due to trade liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy (GECP) is a large-scale program in which China has invested since 2011 to alleviate grassland degradation and increase herders' income. Although the amount invested in the program has increased each year, little research has been conducted to evaluate the impacts of the program; as such, this study examines such impacts on livestock production, grazing intensity, and structure using panel data from a herders' field survey conducted in 2015 in Inner Mongolia, China. Results from the econometric models show that the forage-livestock balance, which is one sub-policy of the GECP, had incentivized large farms to reduce their total number of sheep, but the implementation of the GECP could not greatly influence the reduction in the number of cattle present on any farm size. This study also reveals that herders made their livestock production and grazing decisions in response to market prices and that herder households that also had off-farm jobs raised fewer livestock and grazed lighter. Several policy implications are discussed in this paper. • We evaluate the impacts of grassland conservation subsidy on livestock. • Herders' survey and econometric models are used. • Subsidies were found to be more effective for larger farms. • Herders make livestock production decisions in response to livestock market prices. • Herder households with off-farm jobs raised fewer livestock and grazed lighter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the late 1990s, China initiated the Conversion of Croplands to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) based on the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) principle. Positive socioeconomic outcomes of the programs are essential for the long-term success of eco-environment conservation. However, there is lack of understanding of their longer-term (over 10 years) impacts on rural livelihoods. In this paper, we examine income distribution and inequality of rural households under CCFP and EWFP in rural Anhui, China after 12 years of program implementation. Results show that CCFP-participating households have higher income inequality than non-participants, while the EWFP does not have a significant effect. Local off-farm work and out-migration with remittances are the two principal income sources and both add to inequality. A regression-based decomposition of inequality shows that the CCFP indirectly alters livelihoods by increasing out-migration with remittances, but it also adds to inequality from shifting livelihoods to non-agricultural activities. Meanwhile, EWFP payments positively affect agricultural incomes and contribute 16% to agricultural income inequality. Finally, human capital, natural capital and physical capital all play important roles in generating income and inequality, but the factors affecting inequality from agricultural and non-agricultural activities are different. Highlights • We examine rural household income distribution under two concurrent PES programs. • CCFP positively affects non-farm income via out-migration followed by remittances. • EWFP positively affects agricultural income and adds slightly to inequality. • Factors affecting agricultural and non-agricultural income distributions differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Household carbon emissions account for a significant proportion of the national total emissions. Using a unique nation-wide survey data, this paper investigates the impact of different subjective measures of social awareness on household carbon emissions in China. Subjective variables are found to have significant impacts on household carbon emissions. Feeling secure, compliance with rules, and happiness have negative and significant effects on household carbon emissions, whereas the impact of interest in social issues is positive, which indicates the existence of a gap between awareness and behavior. The impacts of consumer lifestyles on the relationship between awareness and household emissions are also explored and are found to play a significant role in the relationship between awareness and emissions. People with a frugal lifestyle not only associate with lower emissions but also reinforce the role of social awareness. Furthermore, substantial differences are found across rural/urban areas and regional and income groups in China. The government should further promote a green lifestyle and give households more incentives to engage in green consumption behavior. Highlights • Household emissions are studied based on China Household Finance Survey. • Subjective factors are found to have significant impacts on household emissions. • Lifestyles matter in the relationship between awareness and household emissions. • Regional and income differences are considered in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive review of ecosystem services and their economic valuation in China. The main objective of this review is to introduce the findings of the various valuation studies, and explore the challenges that emerged in these studies. This paper shows that ecosystem services research in China went through four stages covering all the main ecosystem types and multi-scales. These studies have raised public awareness of the value of ecological and bio-resource issues, and promoted the establishment of eco-compensation mechanisms in China. However, there are still many controversies and challenges that have emerged from current ecosystem services research. We propose that future ecosystem services research focuses on i) the corresponding definition and classification systems for all ecosystems; ii) the observation and establishment of the relationship between ecosystem structures and corresponding functions; iii) the improvement and normalization of valuation methods; and iv) the exploration and analysis of the spatial and temporal variations of ecosystem services. Furthermore, it is important to improve the accessibility of ecosystem services valuation in environmental decision-making. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes the theoretical foundations and development of a multidimensional, water-focused, thematic indicator of rural poverty: The Water, Economy, Investment and Learning Assessment Indicator (WEILAI). The WEILAI approach was specifically designed for application in rural China, to support poverty alleviation project planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as targeting and prioritization. WEILAI builds primarily on the basic needs framework of poverty alleviation, and on the methodological structure of the Water Poverty Index, to provide a proxy measure of an area's poverty by assessing eight key poverty sectors, with a strong focus on the components of water-poverty. The WEILAI approach was piloted and implemented in 534 households in China's mountainous southwest. This paper describes the indicator construction, weighting schemes, methodology, field sites, and statistical validation of the results. In addition, we discuss the results, feedback from in-country project staff, and the likely utility of the tool for project planning, monitoring and evaluation support. The paper concludes with a discussion of WEILAI's overall utility and ongoing development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With rapid economic development, higher income levels, urbanization and other socio-economic drivers, people's lifestyles in China have changed remarkably over the last 50 years. This paper uses the IPAT model (where I =Impact representing CO2 emissions, P =Population, A =Affluence, and T =emission intensity) to analyze how these main drivers contributed to the growth of CO2 emissions over this time period. Affluence or lifestyle change has been variously recognized as one of the key factors contributing to CO2 emissions. Through comparative analysis of the development of five regions in China, we trace lifestyle changes since the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 until 2002. We find that household consumption across the five regions follows similar trajectories, driven by changes in income and the increasing availability of goods and services, although significant differences still exist between and within regions due to differential policies in China and different possibilities for social mobility. There are considerable differences between the southeast and northwest and between urban and rural areas. We also found that technological improvements have not been able to fully compensate for the increase of emissions due to population growth and increasing wealth, which is also in line with results from other studies. Finally, this paper emphasizes that developing countries such as China, which is home to 22% of the world population and a growing middle class, and which is on a fast track to modernization, need to ensure that people's lifestyles are changing towards more sustainable ways of living. China has been investing heavily in infrastructure and thus creating the emissions of tomorrow. Thus investing, for example, in public transport and low energy building today will help reduce emissions in the future and will support more sustainable lifestyles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a decomposition analysis of energy-related CO2 emission in China for the period 1991–2006 divided into three equal time intervals. The complete decomposition method developed by Sun is used to analyze the nature of the four factors: CO2 intensity, energy intensity, structural changes and economic activity. The results show that economic activity has the largest positive effect in CO2 emission changes in all the major economic sectors and China has achieved a considerable decrease in CO2 emission mainly due to the improved energy intensity. However, the impact of CO2 intensity and structural changes is relatively small. Structural changes only exhibit positive effect to the CO2 mitigation in agricultural sector, and CO2 intensity also contributes to the decrease of CO2 emission in transportation sector. Moreover, a formula about CO2 mitigation is presented in this paper, which shows that China has made a significant contribution to reducing global CO2 emission. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With the deterioration of China's ecological environment, technological innovation (TI) has become an important method of green transformation and upgrading Chinese steel enterprises (CSEs) under the constraint of environmental regulation (ER). Based on environmental protection panel data of 86 CSEs from 2005 to 2014, this paper first analyzes the direct effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation (HER) on TI and then studies the indirect effects of HER on TI through factors such as enterprise size, human capital, enterprise profit margin and executive environmental awareness. Based on a high-dimensional fixed effects model, the results show that (1) command-control environmental regulation (CCER) and voluntary environmental regulation (VER) have direct and positive effects on the TI of CSEs, while market-incentive environmental regulation (MIER) does not; and (2) the indirect effect of human capital is positively regulated by CCER and VER and that of enterprise size is negatively regulated by MIER, while all of the types of HER regulate the negative indirect effect of profit margin and the positive indirect effect of executive environmental awareness. It is necessary that combined and unified policy tools be implemented in the iron and steel industry (ISI) nationwide to coordinate the effects of HER. • This paper analyzed the dual effect of HER on TI of 86 CSEs with a high-dimensional fixed effects model. • Only CCER had the direct and positive effect on TI, whileMIER did not. • CCER had the indirect effect on TI through human capital, enterprise profits, and executive environmental awareness. • MIER had the indirect effect on TI through enterprise size, enterprise profits, and executive environmental awareness. • The robustness test by SYS-GMM verified the above results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Currently, traditional development issues such as income inequality, depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution as well as retardation of infrastructure have occurred in China. In the future, more pressures would be imposed on China by the continuous fast development of industrialization, and with transfer of the world manufacture center to China. Sustainable development, including its economic, environmental and social elements, is a key goal of decisionmakers. This paper develops a methodology on cost benefit analysis of economic growth at macroscopic level to identify issues of China''s sustainability. In order to address some important issues on how to make policies to improve the quality of economic growth, the CBA framework developed in this study analyses economic–ecological–social interaction, building three accounts that reflect three dimensions of sustainable development that includes 26 sub-models in all, and finally is integrated into an index as Net Progress Proceeds (NPP). The estimation methods of these submodels, such as cost of environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources and defensive expenditures are described in detail. Based on the framework and methods, this paper examines the costs and benefits of economic growth in three aspects of economy, ecology and society. The results illustrate that NPR of China''s economic growth had been negative for a long time and has just became positive since year 2000 but was quite low. Even the best was only 1.6% in 2002 (the worst was −24.2% in 1982). Based on the comparison between three accounts, we can draw a conclusion that ecological cost is the dominant factor that affects China''s NPR. The empirical results show that if no other innovative measures or policies are taken in the future the costs of growth would outweigh its benefits, resulting in un-sustainability. Basically, the long-term economic growth would be unsustainable due to increasing environmental damage and depletion of natural resources. There are a few limitations that we consider need to be improved in our CBA framework and method, nevertheless they have many options that can be explored by policy makers, to make the development path more sustainable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Existing literature has carried out fruitful research on the effects of environmental regulation policies. Due to differences in policies, regions, and data analysis methods, however, the previous studies have not reached a consensus on the effects of environmental regulation policies, especially on the effects of environmental regulation policies of developing countries from the perspective of environmental justice. This paper takes the establishment of the environmental court in China's intermediate people's court as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the multi-period difference-in-differences method to examine the effect of the establishment of the environmental court on environmental governance and economic performance, based on the panel data of 284 cities in China from 2003 to 2019. The results show that the establishment of the environmental court can significantly reduce the emission intensity of industrial SO 2 in the short term. This reduction effect is resulted from the joint emission reduction effect of the establishment of the environmental court on local cities and adjacent cities. The mechanism analysis shows that the establishment of the environmental court has the dual effect of emission reduction without hindering economic growth. This effect is mainly achieved by improving energy efficiency, stimulating green technology innovation, increasing environmental investment, and improving the green finance level. Furthermore, the emission reduction effect of the establishment of the environmental court shows differential effects under the constraints of regional rule-of-law level, environmental awareness, fiscal pressure, and level of innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition, the establishment of the environmental court can facilitate the achievement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. • Evaluated the impact of the improvement of judicial quality on environmental governance and economic performance. • The establishment of the environmental court would reduce the emission intensity of industrial SO 2. • The establishment of the environmental court would not compromise regional productivity. • There is heterogeneity in the policy effects of the establishment of the environmental court. • Effects are achieved via energy efficiency, green technology innovation, environmental investment, and green finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experimented with a wide range of policies to encourage firms to improve their environmental performance, often with mixed results. This paper investigates the effectiveness of combining two different policies at the same time: (1) a more centralised environmental inspection process and (2) new rules on the public disclosure of policy compliance for firms wanting to undertake an initial public offering (IPO). A theoretical framework predicts that a more centralised inspection and public disclosure should improve both a firm's environmental performance and profitability. The results of instrumental variable estimations for 536 listed Chinese firms for the period 2009 to 2019 confirm the theoretical predictions although the positive effect on profitability only lasts for two years after compliance with the IPO requirements. An investigation into possible mechanisms shows that the joint policy promotes investment in green projects while also increasing demand for the firm's products. The findings highlight greater regulatory complexity may be needed if a country wishes to change the behaviour of firms in a manner that is consistent with overcoming environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Agenda 2030 poses critical elements regarding the transition towards a more sustainable development. This paper aims at exploring and comparing the path of sustainable development within the United States and China at the subnational level. An index of Integrated Sustainable Development is introduced to measure local sustainable development on an internationally-comparable scale. This Index is computed both at the national and subnational level and the resulting scores are compared within and across the two countries, also through the adoption of convergence and cluster analysis, allowing to answer four questions: Are the US and China moving towards a sustainable development agenda? Are the current achievements uniformly distributed within the two countries? Are states/provinces converging towards a more uniform level of sustainable development? Do the existing differences and analogies between states and provinces give rise to common clusters across the two countries? The results lead to one robust conclusion: while the US can claim a better result in the national and subnational rankings of sustainable development, China exhibits a more balanced achievement in terms of synergies across Goals and spatial distribution. Nonetheless, both countries are characterized by subnational disparities and scarce achievements of Planet-related Goals. Policy recommendations are discussed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a first step towards articulating a Chinese version of ecological economics. Over the last decade ecological economics has attracted increasing attention in the West. Similarly, since the early 1980s scholars in China have undertaken specific research on existing ecological economic issues in accordance with Chinese political, economic, socio-cultural and ecological conditions. However, this endeavor is hardly known in the West and little attention has been given so far to the potential role of Chinese attitudes in the international ecological economics movement. This paper is designed to make up for that neglect and attempts to address the following questions: What social and cultural traditions are required for Chinese ecological economics to operate? What are the political and institutional implications of ecological economics in China? Will Chinese ecological economists feel comfortable in a society where open debate is viewed as unacceptable behavior? In order to clarify the Chinese interpretation of ecological economics and its impact on the policy-making process, a preliminary overview of its emerging background, evolutionary history, key viewpoints and theories, nature and policy influence is presented. Three major intellectual sources of Chinese ecological economics are identified and the theoretical applications are emphasized. Then, some theoretical and practical issues that may arise in future research are discussed, along with implications of Chinese ecological economics for the international community. In addition to biophysical functions and ecological conditions, socio-political structures and processes need to be explicitly addressed in extending the research agenda of ecological economics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Porter hypothesis asserts that well-designed regulations can foster innovation for a "win-win" solution, but it requires environmental regulations to be strict but flexible, which is impractical for most developing countries. This paper explores how environmental regulations in a developing country can spur corporate innovation. Using the geographic distribution of wars during 1644 and 1911 as an instrument, we document that the stringency of environmental regulations in China promotes corporate innovation only when interacted with a region with high corruption. We further identify that the causal effect of the stringency on corporate innovation is mediated by bribery expenditures statistically and economically, and all the corresponding direct effects are insignificant. Ultimately, this paper confirms that corruption is the key mechanism in the Porter effect in a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the premise that the total emissions of PM (particulate matter) of air pollution is established, the allocation of PM emission rights in various provinces of China is the feasible way to governance the ash haze. In this paper, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model that takes into account the objectives of efficiency and equity is constructed. On the basis of evaluating the PM emission performance of various provinces in China, the corresponding allocation steps are put forward. Then, the results of the DEA model and information entropy are compared. The research shows that: (1) under the same constraint conditions, the emission right of PM is allocated with DEA model, which leads to lower cost, less fluctuation of distribution amount and higher overall national performance. (2) the population Gini coefficient method is used to evaluate and it is found that the Gini coefficient value is smaller according to the distribution results of DEA model, indicating that the PM emission right amount is more fairly distributed among provinces. The functions of this paper are as follows: (1) a new double-objective DEA model is constructed, which is suitable for multi-agent performance evaluation with multiple objectives; (2) a scheme to allocate PM among provinces is proposed, which can provide reference for the practice of haze reduction in China [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes both value-added trade and trade-implied CO 2 emission reduction responsibility into account, which constructs a unified conceptual framework to recalculate CO 2 emission reduction responsibility from the perspective of value-added trade. This allows policymakers to trace worldwide CO 2 emissions at multiple levels of trade, production, consumption, and shared principle alongside the world trade network. This paper employs the gross export decomposition methodology and the World Input-Output Database for calculations. Firstly, compared with traditional trade statistics, measuring embedded emissions in value-added trade can deduct the double-counted terms of CO 2 emissions due to intermediate products crossing several borders repeatedly. Secondly, the worldwide inter-country CO 2 emission footprints embedded in exports, imports, and net flows of value-added trade are traced in a geographical world map. It occurs that, China, the USA, Russia, and the EU are the top four largest emitters. Thirdly, network analysis is further utilized to capture bilateral implicit CO 2 emission relationships, e.g., the EU members' environmental impacts depend on intra-regional trade within the union. Finally, a comparison is made under three burden-sharing principles based on value-added trade. The shared responsibility offers a compromise between the producer's and the consumer's principle, which is considered to be fairer and more effective. • This paper calculates trade-implied CO 2 emission reduction responsibility from the perspective of value-added trade. • A gross export decomposition model is applied to deduct double-counted terms of implicit carbon embedded in traditional trade. • The worldwide inter-country CO 2 emission footprints are visualized. • Network analysis is conducted to identify the major carbon emitters and their complex relations. • Three burden-sharing criteria are computed through the statistics of value-added trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious goals to limit global warming can only be reached with a broad acceptance and participation of the general public. This paper relies on surveys among citizens in China, Germany and the U.S. and investigates the determinants of the acceptance of national and international adaptation and mitigation efforts. The empirical findings indicate that specific beliefs and environmental awareness are important drivers in all three countries, while political attitudes and socio-economic characteristics are the main sources of cross-country heterogeneity. The study thereby points at important starting points and target groups for raising the acceptance of national and international climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent academic endeavours have questioned whether the rapidly unfolding Payments for Environmental Services (PES) may have profound influence on land tenure which would in turn impact the conservation efficacy of PES. This paper developed a game-theory model in the context of rural China, which describes the endogenous formation of land rights as a bargaining process between ordinary villagers and village leaders. This model gave rise to theoretical predictions pertaining to the implications of two PES schemes in China for land tenure, namely the Sloping Land Conversion Programme (SLCP) and the Ecological Public-Benefit Forest Compensation Programme (EPBFCP). The theoretical predictions were tested using primary data collected through large-scale field surveys. These data were analysed using the Propensity Score Matching method and panel data models. Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical results find that the SLCP has likely enhanced land tenure security by increasing the bargaining costs of village leaders' attempts to reallocate SLCP lands to other households. On the other hand, villagers tend to have less motivation to de-collectivise those forest lands enrolled in the EPBFCP, which somewhat stands in the way of the country's agenda to further de-collectivise communal forests and allocate them to individual households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some local governments in China have implemented mandatory environmental regulation policies to address severe pollution problems due to expanding pig production, whether such executive policies conform to the objective development law of pig production and are capable of effectively reducing pollution emissions is a pending issue. In this paper, we establish a theoretical model to illuminate the potential effects of the scale and agglomeration of pig production on the pollutant treatment rate and propose four theoretical hypotheses. Furthermore, we use survey data collected from Jiaxing city – the largest pig supply base in China's Yangtze River Delta region – and employ both linear and nonlinear models to empirically test the theoretical hypotheses. The results show that the rate of faeces applied to the fields as manure decreases with the scale of pig production, while the rate of other harmless modes of pollutant treatment increases with the scale of production, resulting in a U-shaped relationship between the pollutant treatment rate and the scale of pig production. In addition, the total pollutant treatment rate increases with the agglomeration of pig production. We suggest that effective environmental regulation of pig production should differentiate between the types of pollution emissions generated by pig producers; according to their scale of production, pig producers should be classified as point or nonpoint sources of pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household consumption has great potential to reduce CO 2 emissions from the demand side which is an important way to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. However, the shrinking household size will have a significant impact on household carbon emissions. In this paper, we have investigated the impacts of the decrease in Chinese household size on the direct and indirect household carbon emissions by using the input-output model and the bidirectional fixed-effect model, based on China's Urban Household Income and Expenditure Survey dataset. Results have shown that household size has a significant negative effect on household carbon emissions per capita, and such a negative effect on indirect carbon emissions is much greater than that on direct carbon emissions in China. Reducing the average household size by one has led to an increase of 0.128 t of the direct household carbon emissions per capita and 1.344 t of indirect household carbon emissions per capita, respectively. We also projected the potential change of household carbon emissions by 2030 under scenarios of increasing total population and shrinking household size and found that there may generate a 15.3%–18.8% growth in household carbon emissions compared to that in 2012, with other demographic characteristics unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the monetary value of cutting PM2.5, a dominant source of air pollution in China. By matching hedonic happiness in a nationally representative survey with daily air quality data according to the dates and counties of interviews in China, we are able to estimate the relationship between local concentration of particulate matter and individual happiness. By holding happiness constant, we calculate the tradeoff between the reduction in particulate matter and income, essentially a happiness-based measure of willingness-to-pay for mitigating air pollution. We find that people on average are willing to pay ¥258 ($42, or 1.8% of annual household per capita income) per year per person for a 1% reduction in PM2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper links theoretical perspectives from energy efficiency economics with those observed from corporate environmental strategy to develop a framework for explaining energy efficiency strategies by firms in response to national policies and local regulations in China. The framework is refined through analytic generalization of 20 cases from four industries and four cities in Jiangsu Province, and reveals two strategies: 1) firms with moderate institutional pressure seek incremental competitiveness by adopting energy-saving technologies, which is reinforced by their informational, organizational, and financing capabilities, and facilitated by voluntary policies and industrial competition; 2) firms with survival risk or development constraints under regulation seek a position favored by local governments by replacing old plant and equipment with larger, more efficient ones and contributing to the local community. The Chinese case studies reveal a strong institutional impact on firms' choice of business strategies and particularly the positioning strategy. The identified business strategies shed additional light on the effectiveness and implications of different policy instruments for energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to examine if the “strong” version of Porter Hypothesis is supported in China by investigating how different regulatory instruments and the relative stringency impact “green” productivity. We use a slacks-based measure (SBM) and Luenberger Productivity Index, accounting for undesirable outputs, to evaluate the industrial “green” productivity growth rates of China's 30 provinces. The estimates imply an unsustainable development model in China with significant regional differences. By employing a panel threshold model and a province-level panel dataset during 2000–2012, empirical results show that both command-and-control and market-based regulation have a non-linear relationship with and can be positively related to “green” productivity but with different constrains on regulation stringency: there are double thresholds with the command-and-control and exists an optimal range of stringency for productivity improvement; while a single threshold has been found with the market-based regulation and its current stringency is reasonable for most of provinces. Moreover, based on China's reality, the productivity effect driven by market-based regulation is much stronger than that of the command-and-control. The mechanism of informal regulation is much more complicated. Consequently, we find evidence to support the “strong” Porter Hypothesis that reasonable stringency of environmental regulations may enhance rather than lower industrial competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding inter-industrial carbon emission transfers and their economic effect informs approaches to achieve emission reduction objectives and promote industrial economic development. This paper applies input-output theory to explore ways to optimize carbon emission transfers between industrial sectors. First, China's inter-industrial carbon emission imports and exports were measured for years 2002, 2005, 2007, and 2010. Next, the economic effects of inter-industrial carbon emission transfers were assessed. Finally, strategies to optimize the carbon emission transfer structure were proposed, with the goal of achieving a win-win between industrial carbon emission reduction and economic development. Key study conclusions are as follows. (1) Inter-industrial carbon emission imports and exports in China are significant, and are increasing each year. Traditional energy industries have high carbon emission imports; processing and manufacturing industries have high carbon emission exports; and most light industries have relatively low levels of both carbon emission imports and exports. (2) Carbon emission transfer imports or exports can promote industrial development; combining both imports and exports leads to variable economic effects within specific industries. (3) To achieve the dual goals of carbon emission reduction and economic development, four strategies are proposed to optimize carbon emission transfer structures in different industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms investing in environmental issues often suffer from increased operating costs and reduced profits. Therefore, rigorous environmental legislation is required to motivate firms to conduct more green innovations. This paper takes the promulgation of China's New Environmental Protection Law as an ideal quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect of rigorous environmental legislation on corporate green innovations. By reconsolidating the "compensation effect" and the "crowding-out effect", we find that China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. The potential mechanisms regarding green innovation quantity and quality are strikingly different. China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes green innovation quantity mainly through alleviating government favoritisms and increasing the risk of environmental litigations. However, since high-quality innovations require higher investment costs and greater tolerance for failure, China's New Environmental Protection Law also tightens financing constraints and exacerbates managerial myopia, which crowds out high-quality green innovations. Moreover, China's New Environmental Protection Law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. Our results are crucial to comprehensively understand the effectiveness of environmental legislation and provide policy inspirations for the government concerning the environment. • Based on China's New Environmental Protection Law, we test the effect of environmental legislation on quantity and quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations by alleviating government favoritisms and increasing environmental litigation risks. • The law inhibits the quality of green innovations by tightening financing constraints and exacerbating managerial myopia. • The law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms investing in environmental issues often suffer from increased operating costs and reduced profits. Therefore, rigorous environmental legislation is required to motivate firms to conduct more green innovations. This paper takes the promulgation of China's New Environmental Protection Law as an ideal quasi-natural experiment to investigate the effect of rigorous environmental legislation on corporate green innovations. By reconsolidating the "compensation effect" and the "crowding-out effect", we find that China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. The potential mechanisms regarding green innovation quantity and quality are strikingly different. China's New Environmental Protection Law promotes green innovation quantity mainly through alleviating government favoritisms and increasing the risk of environmental litigations. However, since high-quality innovations require higher investment costs and greater tolerance for failure, China's New Environmental Protection Law also tightens financing constraints and exacerbates managerial myopia, which crowds out high-quality green innovations. Moreover, China's New Environmental Protection Law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. Our results are crucial to comprehensively understand the effectiveness of environmental legislation and provide policy inspirations for the government concerning the environment. • Based on China's New Environmental Protection Law, we test the effect of environmental legislation on quantity and quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations, but inhibits the quality of green innovations. • The law promotes the quantity of corporate green innovations by alleviating government favoritisms and increasing environmental litigation risks. • The law inhibits the quality of green innovations by tightening financing constraints and exacerbating managerial myopia. • The law causes short-term corporate performance losses, but it indeed promotes environmental performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the motivational crowding effects of a traditional monetary incentive – fines – and a relatively new nonmonetary incentive – a public revelation mechanism – on the conservation of common pool resources. Previous literature largely examines the crowding effects of instruments that include both moral suasion and monetary incentives. This paper examines the crowding effects of these incentives beyond moral suasion. We achieve these purposes by implementing a lab experiment in China. We find that, contrary to much of the previous literature, monetary incentives in the form of high penalties crowd in intrinsic motivation. This effect is primarily observed in individuals with the lowest initial extraction levels. Finally, we find that the public revelation mechanism crowds out intrinsic motivation; this crowd-out effect falls primarily on a specific sub-population, conditional cooperators. The debriefings suggest one possible reason for the crowd-out effects: While the public revelation mechanism pressures subjects to not over-harvest, it also reveals others' extractions, which happens to be higher than expected. This crowds out the conservation effort of conditional cooperators. This informational function of the public revelation mechanism is generally overlooked in previous literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent decades, the Chinese government has invested heavily in improving the country's forest tenure system through the Collective Forest Tenure Reform. This reform has primarily focused on privatization of collectively-owned forests, which has been perceived to improve effective forest management by providing incentives to farmers. This paper documents results of the Collective Forest Tenure Reform and the factors that have shaped these results through a multi-level analysis: at the national, regional, community and individual levels. It was found forest privatization implemented through the tenure reform was much less than what government expected. Instead, as shown in illustrative case-studies, people intend to retain the forest as common property in a way that creates a complex communal forest management system. The paper argued that while it is good the government is willing to improve forest tenure security for local people, there is a need to better consider the local perceptions of the tenure reform policy's effectiveness and efficiency, and justice in forest management, and to understand the complexity of the pre-existing communal forest management system that exists throughout the country. Changes in forest property regimes across four regions of China. Unlabelled Image • China's collectively-owned forests account for the largest share of the world's community forests. • Chinese government forest tenure reform has primarily focused on privatization of collectively-owned forests. • Forest privatization implemented through the tenure reform was much less than what government expected. • There is a need to better consider the local perceptions of the tenure reform policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing decoupling trend between welfare and wealth, alleviating the decoupling trend has become a key issue on the agenda of sustainable development. This paper verifies the existence of the decoupling and examines the effects of legislation on the trend. By conducting an analysis on China's 31 provinces from 1986 to 2018, we find that legislation improvement can notably alleviate the decoupling trend. The effects vary across legislation characteristics as well as across socioeconomic circumstances. First, legislations of high legal validity have long-term alleviation effects, and legislations of lower validity have immediate benefits. Second, legislations issued by higher authorities take effect in a larger jurisdiction scope, while those by lower authorities can tailor the legislations to satisfy local needs. Third, the effects of environmental legislations on remedying the decoupling trend are significantly greater than those of non-environmental legislations. Fourth, as an economy develops and the role of law steps up, the marginal effects of legislation on alleviating the decoupling show a generally diminishing trend, so the legislations should give priority to emerging sectors. This study offers the first quantitative evidence of the effects of legislation on human welfare. We offer suggestions on legislation system to improve human welfare. • The decoupling trend between welfare and wealth is statistically verified for China. • Legislation improvement can notably alleviate the decoupling trend. • The effects vary across legislation characteristics and socioeconomic circumstances. • Environmental legislations have greater effects than non-environmental ones. • Legislations have diminishing marginal benefits, so they should prioritize emerging sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying environmental load displacement from developed countries (the North) to developing countries (the South) is of particular importance for understanding the environmental implications of consumption in the North and global sustainability. Based on a global input–output model, this paper estimates emissions transfers between the North and the South for eight types of air pollutants from a consumption perspective, with a focus on emissions transfers between the North and China. The results show that 14%–30% of air pollutant emissions in the South were caused by consumption in the North in 2007. There is a large ‘pollution deficit’ between the North and South, which significantly increased during the period 1995–2007, that favors the theory of ecologically unequal exchange. Although the emissions per capita of the North from production for most air pollutants decreased over this period, the emissions per capita from consumption increased or decreased more mildly. The decomposition of emissions transfers further shows that South–South trade in intermediates has played an increasingly important role in environmental load displacement from the North to the South. It is important to assess the sustainability of so-called ‘weightless economies’ in the North from a global perspective that takes environmental load displacement into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the socioeconomic drivers of environmental pressures in cities is vital for national and global environmental management. The unique features of the mega-city of Chongqing make it a valuable case study to examine environmental pressures from rapid economic development at the city level. This paper reveals the socioeconomic drivers of environmental pressures in Chongqing during the period of 2000–2010 for energy consumption and air, water, and land emissions. Results indicate that Chongqing's environmental pressures increased for energy consumption and CO 2 emissions while decreased for SO 2 , soot, waste water, and solid waste discharge. The main direct contributors, from the producer perspective, to the overall change of environmental pressures were the manufacturing, electricity and water, and construction sectors. From the consumer perspective, the most significant contributors were gross fixed capital formation and net export. In general, changes of per capita final demand and environmental pressure intensity were the most prominent drivers for increasing and reducing environmental pressure. Final demand structure and final demand composition also contributed towards stabilizing environmental pressures while production structure and residential population had a negligible effect. In this light, we suggest approaches for policymakers to systemically balance between different drivers and to reduce environmental pressures in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid waste can cause serious environmental and ecological damage. However, the capital market attitude towards solid waste treatment policies remains unclear. Using an event study method, this paper examined the stock price reactions in Chinese listed firms in pilot construction and demolition waste (C&DW) treatment cities after the policy implementation and found that the pilot city firm stock prices were significantly and negatively affected, with this response being more negative when the firm had not previously been under environmental policy supervision. The cross-sectional analyses indicated that pilot city C&DW stock and treatment capacities, the proportion of state-owned shares, and the firms' political connections all negatively affected market reactions. The study of the capital market signaling effects towards solid waste policies can provide timely assistance to firms that need to adjust their strategic deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of distributive justice with regard to energy hold that every household has the right to affordable access to energy. However, when passively participating in clean energy reform policies, households, and especially low-income households, are often forced to use energy beyond the scope of affordability, resulting in distributive injustice. However, research on the quantitative estimation of injustice in energy distribution is still rare. In this paper, an evaluation model of energy vulnerability and distributive justice is established through the "reverse deduction method," and the change value of energy vulnerability before and after energy reform is used to calculate the loss value of distributive justice, which is used as the basis for energy policy evaluation. Taking the policy of replacing coal with natural gas for rural heating in Gaocheng District, Hebei Province, China as a case study, the value of lost distributive justice is calculated. The results show that 34.51% of households experienced distributive injustice after the energy reform, while 19.34% of households improved their energy vulnerability and achieved energy justice through energy subsidy policies. However, 46.15% of households were able to adapt to the energy reform independently without subsidies, which indicates a waste of resources in the energy subsidy policy. The policy implication of these results is that differentiated energy subsidy policies should be implemented according to household energy vulnerability, so as to maximize the policy benefits on the premise of ensuring justice in household energy distribution and minimizing injustice. The empirical study proves that the method of assessing injustice in energy distribution based on the "reverse deduction method" of energy vulnerability is feasible and a new attempt. • The passive participation of low-income households in clean energy reform policies results in distributive injustice. • Apply the vulnerability framework to calculate energy distribution injustice. • The implementation of differentiated subsidies can effectively improve the vulnerability of rural households energy poverty. • It is feasible and a new attempt to measure energy distributive injustice by using the "reverse deduction method". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent and the determinants of global climate change beliefs. In contrast to former studies for the U.S. and other western countries, we focus on China due to its crucial role in international climate policy in conjunction with its vulnerability to global warming. The empirical analysis is based on unique data from a survey among more than 1000 adults in five Chinese cities. In line with former studies, our results reveal that the vast majority of almost 90% of the Chinese respondents believes in the existence of global warming. This seems to be a convenient and necessary basis for the support of costly public adaptation activities in China. Our econometric analysis reveals that already perceived experiences with extreme weather events (and particularly heatwaves) alone are strongly correlated with climate change beliefs and that physical or financial damages due to these events lead to even stronger relationships. Our estimation results additionally suggest females as well as people with a lower education, in medium ages, with higher household incomes, and from Chengdu or Shenyang to be more skeptical toward the existence of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unilateral tightening of environmental regulation is often considered to cause regulated industries to locate at places with lower compliance cost. The pollution haven effect may be offset, however, when endogenous technical change and factor reallocation can compensate increased compliance cost. This paper identifies the overall effects on industrial activities from provincially differentiated regulation of energy saving in China. Econometric specifications take into account the workings of different policy instruments, quantity and revenue-based measurement of output, policy-induced price effects, and alternative measurement of productivity and competitiveness. Results indicate that an introduction of energy-saving policies leads to loss of output and productivity in energy-intensive industries initially, which is passed on to other industries via markets of capital and energy-intensive goods. Under higher regulation, energy-intensive industries become more capital-intensive, regain productivity more quickly, and increase export rates; other industries become more labor-intensive, recover more slowly, and decrease export rates. Through capital investment and factor reallocation, China's policy has been effective in improving industrial energy efficiency without causing competitive loss or carbon leakage. An incentive-based instrument of differential electricity prices leads to similar effects on industries, implying the possibility for more efficient policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although green growth has become the economic development strategy of many countries in the world, and studies have analyzed the influencing factors of green growth from multiple angles, there are few literatures devoted to the impact of fintech and green finance on green growth. From the perspective of fintech development, this paper tries to construct a comprehensive index to evaluate the green growth of regional economy based on the in-depth analysis of the influence mechanism of green finance on green growth. At the same time, China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2018 are selected to test the impact of fintech innovation and green finance on green growth, and its mechanism. It turns out that fintech and green finance significantly promotes green economic growth. At the same time, the impact of fintech and green finance on green growth has obvious regional heterogeneity, that is, the impact in eastern China is significantly stronger than that in central and western China. Further research shows that fintech innovation mainly promotes green economic growth through green credit and green investment. Therefore, fintech innovation can promote green economic growth by improving the development level of green finance, which has great reference significance for most countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China's booming economy has brought increasing pressures on its water resources. The water scarcity problem in China is characterized by a mismatch between the spatial distributions of water resources, economic development and other primary factors of production, which leads to the separation of production and consumption of water-intensive products. In this paper, we quantify the scale and structure of virtual water trade and consumption-based water footprints at the provincial level in China based on a multi-regional input–output model. We found that virtual water withdrawals and consumption embodied in domestic trade amounts to 184billionm3 and 101billionm3 in 2007, respectively, which is equivalent to 38% and 39% of national total fresh water withdrawals and consumption, respectively. Virtual water trade embodied in domestic trade is about two times as much as virtual water embodied in China's international exports. Water footprint in all four municipalities, i.e., Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, depends heavily on virtual water inflow from other provinces. China has a north-to-south net VWT pattern which is roughly the opposite of the distribution of its water resources. In addition to water efficiency improvement measures, re-shaping the water-trade nexus can be a significant complementary tool to address local water scarcity problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Traditional irrigation water management systems in China are increasingly replaced by user-based, participatory management through water users associations (WUAs) with the purpose to promote, economically and ecologically beneficial, water savings and increase farm incomes. Existing research shows that significant differences exist in the institutional setup of WUAs in China, and that WUAs have not been universally successful in saving water and improving farm incomes. This paper aims to examine the underlying causes of differences in WUA performance by analyzing the impact of WUA characteristics on the productivity of irrigation water. Explanatory variables in our analysis are derived from Agrawal's user-based resource governance framework. Applying a random intercept regression model to data collected among 21 WUAs and 315 households in Minle County in northern China, we find that group characteristics, particularly group size and number of water users groups, and the existing pressure on available water resources are important factors in water productivity. Resource characteristics, i.e. resource size and degree of overlap between the WUA boundaries and natural boundaries, do not significantly affect water productivity in our research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though surface water has been polluted almost everywhere in China, few economic valuation studies have been conducted to value water quality changes. This paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in Yunnan, China, which estimates the total value of a real investment project to improve the water quality of Lake Puzhehei by one grade level. Located in Qiubei County far from big cities, the lake has been experiencing rapid water quality deterioration in past several years. Based on the multiple bounded discrete choice approach, an average household in Qiubei County is estimated to be willing to pay 30 yuan per month continuously for 5 years for the water quality improvement by one grade level, roughly equivalent to 3% of the average household income. The elasticity of willingness-to-pay with respect to income is estimated to be 0.21. The economic rate of return of the proposed project is estimated to be 18%, indicating an economically favorable investment in water quality improvement. This study also demonstrates that the previous knowledge about the water quality changes and about the project can have significant positive impacts on people's willingness to pay, whereas the interviewer effect on valuation can be negative. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores the process and practices of policy mobility for the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in China's Xin'an River Basin Eco-compensation Pilot, through the lens of assemblage and performativity. We argue that various practices of assemblage create the possibility for PES policy mobility, while the actualization of PES policy mobility also depends on local institutional and political support, for which performativity can help justify the economic rationality and channel PES technologies. PES policy mobility can trigger power reconfigurations between governments at different levels, and between the government and the market. Moving beyond the Western-centric interpretation of policy mobility, our detailed empirical study also reflects China's adaptive ecosystem governance in practicing PES policy mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]