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on China |
| By: | Sylvie Démurger (GATE CNRS); Yang Weiyong (University of International Business & Economics, Beijing, China); Hou Yuanzhao (Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China) |
| Abstract: | Using the latest forest inventory, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of China’s forest sector by focusing on new forest trends, forest policy changes and challenges to achieve a sustainable forest management. We analyze the dynamics of forest resources and provide an impact assessment of forest policies on China’s forestry development over the last decades. Moreover, the analysis of the forest market highlights substantial disequilibria marked by a limited domestic supply potential and a growing demand for forest products satisfied by increasing imports. Internal and external solutions are explored and their implications for China and supplying countries are assessed. |
| Keywords: | China - Forest management - Forest resources |
| JEL: | O13 O53 Q23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0712&r=cna |
| By: | Li Cui; Jahangir Aziz |
| Abstract: | The Chinese government has recently focused on the need to increase consumption to rebalance the economy. A widely held view is that despite China's remarkably high growth, the share of consumption in total expenditure has been low and declining due to high and rising saving rate of Chinese households as uncertainty over provision of pensions, and healthcare and education costs have increased since the mid-1990s. This paper finds that the rise in saving rate has been a minor factor. Much larger has been the role of the declining share of household income in national income, which has occurred across-the-board in wages, investment income, and government transfers. The paper finds that financial sector weaknesses, by restricting firms' access to bank financing for working capital, have played quantitatively a major role in keeping wage and investment income shares low and on a declining trend. |
| Keywords: | Working Paper , China, People's Republic of , |
| Date: | 2007–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:07/181&r=cna |
| By: | Douglas Almond; Lena Edlund; Hongbin Li; Junsen Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of maternal malnutrition exploiting the 1959-1961 Chinese famine as a natural experiment. In the 1% sample of the 2000 Chinese Census, we find that fetal exposure to acute maternal malnutrition had compromised a range of socioeconomic outcomes, including: literacy, labor market status, wealth and marriage market outcomes. Women married spouses with less education and later, as did men, if at all. In addition, maternal malnutrition reduced the sex ratio (males to females) in two generations -- those prenatally exposed and their children -- presumably through heightened male mortality. This tendency toward female offspring is interpretable in light of the Trivers-Willard (1973) hypothesis, according to which parents in poor condition should skew the offspring sex ratio toward daughters. Hong Kong natality micro data from 1984-2004 further confirm this pattern of female offspring among mainland-born residents exposed to malnutrition in utero. |
| JEL: | I10 I12 J12 J13 J16 J24 P2 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13384&r=cna |
| By: | Sylvie Démurger (GATE CNRS); Martin Fournier (GATE CNRS); Yang Weiyong (University of International Business & Economics, Beijing, China) |
| Abstract: | This article illustrates the impact of changes related to market reforms and environmental policies on the economic structure in rural China by providing a comparative analysis of several villages in a poor township in Beijing municipality. Two main concomitant phenomena are affecting agricultural and non-agricultural choices in the studied area. First, the introduction of market mechanisms is encouraging local population to engage in new activities that are closer to local comparative advantages. Second, rural households are facing new constraints in the form of environmental protection measures, which have weakened traditional insurance channels provided by forest resources and cattle stock. Drawing on household-level survey data and interviews with village heads conducted in ten villages of Labagoumen township in December 2003, this article analyzes households decisions in response to market reforms and environmental constraints. We find large disparities both between villages and households in the diversification process and discuss the reasons of observed inertia in the region, most households still heavily relying on corn production. |
| Keywords: | agrarian change, Environmental protection, Income-source diversification, rural China |
| JEL: | O18 O53 Q10 R20 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0711&r=cna |
| By: | Yang, H.; Pollitt, M. |
| Abstract: | In this article we examine the effects of undesirable outputs on the Malmquist TFP indices. Our empirical work uses an unbalanced panel which covers 796 utility and non-utility coal-fired power plants in China during 1996-2002. In order to meet the requirement of a balanced panel for calculating the Malmquist indices, an innovative fake unit approach has been introduced. Our final results show that (1) the growth of the Chinese electricity heavily depends upon an increase of resource input; and (2) huge potential remains with regards to the efficiency improvement and emissions control in Chinese coal-fired power plants. Key words: Malmquist indicies, total factor productivity, Chinese electricity, power plant efficiency. |
| JEL: | D24 L94 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:0740&r=cna |
| By: | Giulio PALOMBA ([n.a.]); Caterina LUCARELLI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the Chinese mainland Stock Exchanges and their following;interconnecting features: savers' attitude towards stock investments,;investors' trading behaviour and stock returns explanations. We evaluate;the eectiveness of the recent eorts made by the Chinese authorities to;improve the level of legal protections for shareholders and the opening-up;of the Chinese Stock Markets to foreign investors. The whole analysis is;carried out through a system of simultaneous equations. The main results;are that Chinese shareholders and stock markets are mostly driven by emotional;behaviour. Stock market returns are barely influenced by the overall;chinese economic booming, but reveal the presence of speculative influences.;Investors' behaviour, as well as general trading activities, hardly seems to;be aected by the legal framework introduced by the national Authorities. |
| Keywords: | chinese stock exchanges, corporate governance, investors' behaviour, shareholders' rights, system of simultaneous equations |
| JEL: | C30 F30 G18 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:297&r=cna |
| By: | Yang, H.; Pollitt, M. |
| Abstract: | Different from traditional efficiency research and previous studies considering undesirable outputs, this paper proposes models which distinguish weak and strong disposability features among various undesirable outputs based on the technical nature of the undesirable outputs. The paper illustrates the approach using a research sample covering 582 base-load Chinese coal-fired power plants in 2002. Our final results show that (1) imposing the technically correct disposability features on undesirable outputs makes a significant difference to the final efficiency evaluation. This suggests the necessity of properly distinguishing disposability features among undesirable outputs in efficiency models; (2) compared to their US and European counterparts, Chinese power plants relatively waste more resources. This suggests a great urgency for the Chinese electricity industry to improve its efficiency in coal-fired electricity generation sector. Key words: Economics: input-output analysis; Environment; Government: energy policies; Industries: electric; Statistics: nonparametric. |
| JEL: | D24 L94 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:0741&r=cna |