Energy-biased technical change in the Chinese industrial sector with CES production functions

We develop a theoretical framework to study energy-biased technical change considering capital, labor and energy as inputs. The framework involves a first order condition estimation of elasticity and technical change parameters for a three factor-nested Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function. Technical change parameters, elasticities and time derivatives of marginal products are combined to compute technical change bias. Conceptually, we introduce total bias in order to estimate the direction without requiring a direct comparison with another factor. For Chinese industries from 1990 to 2012, the optimal structure is capital and energy to be combined at the composite level and then with labor to form total output. Technical change is found to be unambiguously energy biased, it increases in every year, and the bias is predominately away from labor. The results show that Chinese industrialization was fuelled by fossil fuels and energy-intensive technologies. Nonetheless, the growth rate of energy-biased technical change decreased during the 2000s that may result from more energy efficient development.financial support provided by the China Natural Science Funding No. 71673134, Qing Lan Project

Sound-localization-related activation and functional connectivity of dorsal auditory pathway in relation to demographic, cognitive, and behavioral characteristics in age-related hearing loss

BackgroundPatients with age-related hearing loss (ARHL) often struggle with tracking and locating sound sources, but the neural signature associated with these impairments remains unclear.Materials and methodsUsing a passive listening task with stimuli from five different horizontal directions in functional magnetic resonance imaging, we defined functional regions of interest (ROIs) of the auditory “where” pathway based on the data of previous literatures and young normal hearing listeners (n = 20). Then, we investigated associations of the demographic, cognitive, and behavioral features of sound localization with task-based activation and connectivity of the ROIs in ARHL patients (n = 22).ResultsWe found that the increased high-level region activation, such as the premotor cortex and inferior parietal lobule, was associated with increased localization accuracy and cognitive function. Moreover, increased connectivity between the left planum temporale and left superior frontal gyrus was associated with increased localization accuracy in ARHL. Increased connectivity between right primary auditory cortex and right middle temporal gyrus, right premotor cortex and left anterior cingulate cortex, and right planum temporale and left lingual gyrus in ARHL was associated with decreased localization accuracy. Among the ARHL patients, the task-dependent brain activation and connectivity of certain ROIs were associated with education, hearing loss duration, and cognitive function.ConclusionConsistent with the sensory deprivation hypothesis, in ARHL, sound source identification, which requires advanced processing in the high-level cortex, is impaired, whereas the right–left discrimination, which relies on the primary sensory cortex, is compensated with a tendency to recruit more resources concerning cognition and attention to the auditory sensory cortex. Overall, this study expanded our understanding of the neural mechanisms contributing to sound localization deficits associated with ARHL and may serve as a potential imaging biomarker for investigating and predicting anomalous sound localization

Energy biased technology change: Focused on Chinese energy-intensive industries

Technical change bias has predominately been measured through two-factor models. Resulting from the rising importance of energy we devised a framework to estimate technical change bias for three input factors. The framework involves an estimation of elasticity and technical change parameters for a constant elasticity of substitution function with capital, labour and energy, which is derived from the elasticities and marginal output. We apply the framework to investigate eleven Chinese energy-intensive industries. The optimal nested structure for eight Of the industries is for capital and energy to be combined first at the composite level and then with labour to form total output. Between 1990 and 2012, six of the industries were energy biased, three were towards capital, one towards labour and one mixed. The results show that recent Chinese energy intensity reduction programs are not sufficient to induce energy efficient development. The policy recommendations target specifically the energy biased industries to achieve desired energy savings in the future.The authors are also grateful to the financial support provided by the China Natural Science Funding No. 71673134, Qing Lan Projec

Energy-biased technical change in the Chinese industrial sector with CES production functions

We develop a theoretical framework to study energy-biased technical change considering capital, labor and energy as inputs. The framework involves a first order condition estimation of elasticity and technical change parameters for a three factor-nested Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) function. Technical change parameters, elasticities and time derivatives of marginal products are combined to compute technical change bias. Conceptually, we introduce total bias in order to estimate the direction without requiring a direct comparison with another factor. For Chinese industries from 1990 to 2012, the optimal structure is capital and energy to be combined at the composite level and then with labor to form total output. Technical change is found to be unambiguously energy biased, it increases in every year, and the bias is predominately away from labor. The results show that Chinese industrialization was fuelled by fossil fuels and energy-intensive technologies. Nonetheless, the growth rate of energy-biased technical change decreased during the 2000s that may result from more energy efficient development.We are grateful to the comments from David I. Stern and financial support provided by the China Natural Science Funding No. 71673134, Qing Lan Projec