Rural Labor Absorption Efficiency in Urban Areas under Different Urbanization Patterns and Industrial Structures: The Case of China

In this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate how well China’s urban areas absorb migrant workers under the interaction of urbanization and industrialization. We applied an output-oriented BCC model to evaluate provincial and regional rural labor absorption efficiency in mainland China. It appears that 4 out of 31 provinces and municipals are efficient, and 2 out of 8 economic regions are efficient in absorbing migrant workers. In the southern and eastern parts of China, urban labor absorption efficiency is higher compared with the western and northern parts of China. Different urbanization patterns and industrial development strategies should be adopted in different economic areas to enhance labor absorption ability in these areas. Urban areas in many parts of China still have potential to accommodate rural migrant workers. The inter-regional flow of production factors would affect urban labor absorption efficiency.rural labor absorption in urban areas, urbanization, industry structure, DEA

Impact of contract farming on income: Linking small farmers, packers, and supermarket in China

"Contract farming is seen by proponents as a way to raise small-farm income by delivering technology and market information to small farmers, incorporating them into remunerative new markets. Critics, however, see it as a strategy for agribusiness firms to pass production risk to farmers, taking advantage of an unequal bargaining relationship. There is also concern that contract farming will worsen rural income inequality by favoring larger farmers. This study examines these issues in Shandong Province, China, using survey data collected from 162 apple and green onion farmers and interviews with four contracting firms in 2005. Using a probit model to estimate participation in a contract-farming scheme, we find little evidence that contracting firms prefer to work with larger farmers, though all farms in the area are quite small. Furthermore, using a Heckman selection-correction model to control for possible selection bias, we find that contract farmers earn significantly more than independent farmers after controlling for household labor availability, education, farm size, and other characteristics. Finally, we find that the way contracting contributes to farm income varies between commodities: contract apple growers benefit from higher yields (presumably due to technical assistance), while contract green onion growers receive higher prices (presumably due to better quality). These results suggest that contract farming can help small farmers raise their incomes and gain access to the growing urban and export markets. Questions remain regarding the number of farmers that are, or could be, brought into similar contract arrangements." from Authors' AbstractContract farming, Horticulture, exports, Small farmers, Supermarkets,

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationChina's reform and transition have dramatically accelerated the socioeconomic development in the last three decades. At the same time, the unequal distributions of wealth and social resources have been intensified. China's regional inequality has attracted more attention from both policy makers and researchers. The central government has listed "reducing regional inequality" as one important goal of national development. This dissertation research intends to quantify China's regional development during the reform era by detecting the multiscale variation of regional inequality, examining the spatial-temporal hierarchy and influence of multimechanisms, and exploring one consequence of regional economic disparity. First, this project investigates China's regional economic inequality from 1978 to 2007. I analyze the multiscalar spatial patterns of economic disparities with Coefficient of Variation (CV), Gini Coefficient, and Theil Index, and explore the spatial-temporal hierarchy of multimechanisms and their specific influences on regional economy through multilevel modeling. The results reveal the significant role of municipalities for shaping the spatial-temporal variation of China's economic development, and indicate the sensitivity of regional inequality to spatial scale. The analysis also illustrates that globalization has become the prominent mechanism of China's development in the recent decade. Second, this study examines health care and health inequalities as an important consequence of an unbalanced regional economy. I apply Geographic Information System (GIS)-based spatial statistical methods such as Coefficient of Variation and Moran's I to detect spatial-temporal patterns of health care, and use multilevel regression to examine the linkages between health care, mortality, and regional economic inequality. The analysis reveals that health care inequality is also sensitive to geographic scale, and demonstrates that the concurrent transitions of decentralization, marketization, globalization, and urbanization in China have interactively contributed to health care inequality and mortality. Third, this research conducts a case study in a less investigated agricultureoriented interior province, Henan Province. Such statistical and GIS methods as CV, Getis-Ord Gi*, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) are used to explore the disparities in economic development and health care level as well as to examine the effects of multiple transitions. The results uncover the significant core-periphery and urban-rural gaps in both economy and health care level

Spatial Variation of NO2 and Its Impact Factors in China: An Application of Sentinel-5P Products

As an important tropospheric trace gas and precursor of photochemical smog, the accumulation of NO2 will cause serious air pollution. China, as the largest developing country in the world, has experienced a large amount of NO2 emissions in recent decades due to the rapid economic growth. Compared with the traditional air pollution monitoring technology, the rapid development of the remote sensing monitoring method of atmospheric satellite has gradually become the critical technical means of global atmospheric environmental monitoring. To reveal the NO2 pollution situation in China, based on the latest NO2 products from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI, the spatial\u2013temporal characteristics and impact factors of troposphere NO2 column concentration of mainland China in the past year (February 2018 to January 2019) were analyzed on two administrative levels for the first time. Results show that the monthly fluctuation of tropospheric NO2 column concentration has obvious characteristics of \u201chigh in winter and low in summer\u201d, while the spatial distribution forms a \u201chigh in East and low in west\u201d pattern, bounded by Hu Line. The comparison of Coefficient of Variation (CV) and spatial autocorrelation models at two kinds of administrative scales indicates that although the spatial heterogeneity of NO2 column concentration is less affected by the observed scale, there is a \u201cdelayed effect\u201d of about one month in the process of NO2 column concentration fluctuation. Besides, the impact factors analysis based on Spatial Lag Model (SLM) and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) reveals that there is a positive correlation between nighttime light intensity, the secondary and tertiary industries proportion and NO2 column concentration. Furthermore, for regions with serious NO2 pollution in North China Plain, the whole society electricity consumption and vehicle ownership also play a positive role in increasing the NO2 column concentration. This study will enlighten the government and policy makers to formulate policies tailored to local conditions, to more effectively implement NO2 emission reduction and air pollution prevention

Dynamics of land use and land cover changes in China

A key contribution of environmental economics to policy making has been to provide empirical indicators of sustainable economic development. An economy is (weakly) sustainable if it saves more than the combined depreciation of its stocks of natural capital and produced capital. Thus, these indicators allow trade-offs where, for example, natural capital might be depreciated in order to build up other forms of capital, such as in the built environment or in the form of human capital. As an application of this general idea, this thesis focuses on the trade-offs between ecosystem services, provided by natural capital, and certain land use and land cover changes (LUCC) in China. With better understanding of these trade-offs, this thesis contributes to optimum management for sustaining ecosystem services and supporting socio-economic development. The three case study areas are Hebei, Qinghai and Shandong provinces. I study trade-offs between landscape diversity and crop production, between grassland quality and livestock production, and between net primary productivity (NPP, a measure of the energy that enters ecosystems) and urbanization. After reviewing trade-off analyses of ecosystem services for sustainable land-use management (Chapter 2), the case studies are presented, with two chapters on Hebei, one on Qinghai, and three on Shandong. These chapters have econometric models for monitoring and assessing LUCC-induced ecosystem service changes, to enable quantitative analysis of the mechanisms available for policy-oriented optimum land-use management. The case study areas each have different policy interventions that are designed to preserve or restore natural capital. For example, Hebei has ecological restoration programs, such as the Green for Grain program, that are implemented in an attempt to conserve landscape diversity. Qinghai province has policies of enhancing ecological restoration for grassland conservation, in order to improve livestock production. Shandong province has enforced a prime cropland preservation policy in order to ensure high cropland productivity. Collectively, the case studies add to the literature on the use of sustainable land-use management strategies, while helping to illustrate some of the trade-offs that are central to environmental economics. The results highlight issues created by conversion of cultivated land to urban use, in both Hebei and Shandong. In Qinghai province, grassland degradation, livestock production and farmers’ income interact and affect LUCC and changes in ecosystem services. Restorative interventions, such as nature reserves, seem to have a positive effect on NPP, as a measure of ecosystem productivity. On the other hand, in Shandong province there is relatively low land productivity, as measured by the NPP, in regions covered by built-up area. While this thesis does not calculate a value for the produced capital and human capital in built-up areas, the reduction in the value of natural capital as a result of urbanization highlights the potential trade-offs and the need for careful measurement to help whether China is on a sustainable development path. In summary, the research in this thesis examines various land-use practices and management regimes for conserving ecosystem services, and contributes to the literature on how management of land use change and land cover change can influence ecosystem services in rapidly urbanizing China

統合的な水資源管理のための水環境に対する社会的・経済的影響の分析

The water environment faces a terrible vulnerability trend. This study focused on the evaluation of the water environment in China and identified the effects of social-economic factors using recent statistical methods. Chapter 1 is the introduction. Chapter 2 is the literature review. Chapter 3 introduces water vulnerability in urban areas. The fluctuation of the indicators across provinces was larger than in previous studies that used province-level data in China. Chapter 4 used indicators that considered both development pressure and management capability. Four province-level municipalities and their neighboring provinces were studied. Vector autoregression models were used for analyzing spatial-temporal characteristics. Chapter 5 showed results from analyses of agricultural water indicators, its influencing factors, and the influence of urbanization. The study areas consisted of 30 cities in four provinces in North China. Spatial agglomerations of urban and agricultural activities affected agricultural water stress. Chapter 6 is the conclusion.北九州市立大

Interprovincial Migration and the Stringency of Energy Policy in China

Interprovincial migration flows involve substantial relocation of people and productive activity, with implications for regional energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In China, these flows are not explicitly considered when setting energy and environmental targets for provinces, and their potential impact on the effectiveness of policy alternatives is ignored. We analyze how migration affects outcomes under energy intensity targets and energy caps. While both policies are part of the nation’s Twelfth Five Year Plan (2011–2015) and imposed at the provincial level, only the intensity targets are binding at present. We estimate a migration model, integrate it into a general equilibrium model that resolves each province in China, and simulate the effect of migration on energy use and economic activity. We find that although both types of policies are affected by uncertain migration flows, energy intensity targets (energy use indexed to economic output) are more robust than absolute caps. They are also more cost-effective, placing less burden on the relatively clean in-migration provinces. Our findings also underscore the value of moving from provincial targets to an integrated national emissions trading system, given that the choice of abatement strategies will adjust endogenously to labor relocation.The authors thank Eni S.p.A., ICF International, Shell International Limited, and the French Development Agency (AFD), founding sponsors of the China Energy and Climate Project. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy. We are also thankful for support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, and Rio Tinto China. We further gratefully acknowledge the financial suppo rt for this work provided by the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change through a consortium of industrial sponsors and Federal grants. This work is also supported by the DOE Integrated Assessment Grant (DE-FG02-94ER61937)

Categorising virtual water transfers through China's electric power sector

Water consumption in thermoelectric and hydropower plants in China increased from 1.6 and 6.1 billion m3, respectively, to 3.8 and 14.6 billion m3 from 2002 to 2010. Using the concept of virtual water, we attribute to different electricity users the total water consumption by the electric power sector. From 2002 to 2010, virtual water embodied in the final consumption of electricity (hereinafter referred to as VWEF) increased from 1.90 to 7.35 billion m3, whilst virtual water in electricity used by industries (hereinafter referred to as VWEI) increased from 5.82 to 11.13 billion m3. The inter-provincial virtual water trades as a result of spatial mismatch of electricity production and consumption are quantified. Nearly half (47.5% in 2010) of the physical water inputs into the power sector were virtually transferred across provincial boundaries in the form of virtual water embodied in the electricity produced, mainly from provinces in northeast, central and south China to those in east and north China. Until 2030, VWEF and VWEI are likely to increase from 5.27 and 14.89 billion m3 to 7.19 and 20.33 billion m3, respectively. Climate change mitigation and water conservation measures in the power sector may help to relieve the regional pressures on water resources imposed by the power sector

Spatial Distribution of PM\u3csub\u3e2.5\u3c/sub\u3e-Related Premature Mortality in China

PM2.5 is a major component of air pollution in China and has a serious threat to public health. It is very important to quantify spatial characteristics of the health effects caused by outdoor PM2.5 exposure. This study analyzed the spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration (45.9 μg/m3 national average in 2016) and premature mortality attributed to PM2.5 in cities at the prefectural level and above in China in 2016. Using the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM), the total premature mortality in China was estimated to be 1.55 million persons, and the per capita mortality was 11.2 per 10,000 persons in the year 2016, resulting in higher estimates compared to the integrated exposure-response model. We assessed the premature mortality attributed to PM2.5 through common diseases, including ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (CEV), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer (LC), and lower respiratory infections (LRI). The premature mortality due to IHD and CEV accounted for 68.5% of the total mortality, and the per capita mortality (per 10,000 persons) for all ages due to IHD was 3.86, the highest among diseases. For the spatial distribution of disease-specific premature mortality, the top two highest absolute numbers of premature mortality associated with IHD, CEV, LC, and LRI, respectively, were found in Chongqing and Beijing. In 338 cities of China, we have found a significant positive spatial autocorrelation of per capita premature mortality, indicating the necessity of coordinated regional governance for an efficient control of PM2.5. Plain Language Summary Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations have increased in general, in most developing countries in recent decades. In China, PM2.5 pollution has become a major component of air pollution and has serious health impacts. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the national health impacts of PM2.5 in China, we have used the Global Exposure Mortality Model (GEMM) to estimate the premature mortality associated with PM2.5 exposure in 338 cities in China at the prefectural level and above. In addition, we analyzed the spatial distribution of premature mortality attributed to PM2.5 for five diseases, including ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (CEV), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer (LC), and lower respiratory infections (LRI). Our study finds that the total premature mortality associated with PM2.5 exposure in China for 2016 was 1.55 million persons. The top two highest absolute numbers of premature mortality associated with IHD, CEV, LC, and LRI, respectively were found in Chongqing and Beijing. Furthermore, cities with high per capita premature mortality tended to be spatially connected with other cities with high per capita premature mortality, indicating the coordinated regional governance should be adopted to reduce the impact of PM2.5 on human health

Fiscal Decentralization and Interregional Capital Misallocation: Evidence from China

Misallocation of factors of production has been recently viewed as a promising explanation accounting for the large difference in total factor productivity (TFP) across countries. This paper differs from previous studies by concentrating on interregional capital misallocation and by focusing on the role of fiscal decentralization in shaping misallocation. Using a city-level panel data set, we measure intra-provincial and inter-municipal capital misallocation in China over 2003-18. The empirical results based on provincial-level panel data suggest that fiscal decentralization can lower inter-municipal capital misallocation while revenue decentralization performs better than expenditure decentralization. We further find that this positive effect is more significant and much larger when the market rather than government intervention is driving the flow of capital. The results are robust to subsample regressions, IV estimations, spatial autoregressions and alternative measurement of interregional misallocation. Our study complements the literature on the causes of misallocation and enriches the understanding of the consequences of fiscal decentralization, especially in terms of economic growth and interregional inequality