The Economics of Child Labor

In this dissertation, we first develop a simple two-period model to examine the parent\u27s optimal choice of children\u27s time. We identify factors such as wage rate, school fees, education returns, degree of children\u27s altruism toward their parents and the parents\u27 discounting rate that influence the parents\u27 optimal choice, and discuss their impacts on the optimal choice. Children\u27s time is an important resource for rural households in developing economies, and it is typically allocated by the parents. Two basic uses for this resource are: working in the labor market and attending schools. Schooling today may make children more productive in the future. The opportunity cost of schooling is the forgone wage rate in the labor market. Allocation of children\u27s time is therefore mainly determined by education return, wage rate in labor market and school fees. Many existing models in the literature cannot explain the coexistence of schooling, poverty and the coexistence of child labor and affluence. We extend our basic model to explain the above two paradoxes. We show that, when education return is high and the household is willing to endure extra hardship caused by the child attending school, the coexistence of schooling and poverty can emerge. On the other hand, when the wage rate for child labor and schooling fees are higher than education return, affluence and child labor can co-exist. Governments have adopted various policy tools to fight against child labor, among which the compulsory education law and free education programs stand out. Our basic model is then extended to examine how these two types of government policies may impact child labor. We show the relative performance of the two policies depend crucially on several factors, including the enforcement and the costs to the household of the compulsory education law. We use the recent Chinese experience in changing the compulsory education law to free education plan to illustrate and verify our theoretical prediction

Selected Papers from the 8th Annual Conference of Energy Economics and Management

This collection represents successful invited submissions from the papers presented at the 8th Annual Conference of Energy Economics and Management held in Beijing, China, 22–24 September 2017. With over 500 participants, the conference was co-hosted by the Management Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Society of Energy Economics and Management, and Renmin University of China on the subject area of “Energy Transition of China: Opportunities and Challenges”. The major strategies to transform the energy system of China to a sustainable model include energy/economic structure adjustment, resource conservation, and technology innovation. Accordingly, the conference and its associated publications encourage research to address the major issues faced in supporting the energy transition of China. Papers published in this collection cover the broad spectrum of energy economics issues, including building energy efficiency, industrial energy demand, public policies to promote new energy technologies, power system control technology, emission reduction policies in energy-intensive industries, emission measurements of cities, energy price movement, and the impact of new energy vehicle

Identifying the determinants and spatial nexus of provincial carbon intensity in China: A dynamic spatial panel approach

Is emission intensity of carbon dioxide (CO2) spatially correlated? What determines the CO2 intensity at a provincial level? More importantly, what climate and economic policy decisions should the China’s central and local governments make to reduce the CO2 intensity and prevent the environmental pollution given that China has been the largest emitter of CO2? We aim to address these questions in this study by applying a dynamic spatial system-GMM (generalized method of moment) technique. Our analysis suggests that provinces are influenced by their neighbours. In addition, CO2 intensities are relatively higher in the western and middle areas, and that the spatial agglomeration effect of the provincial CO2 intensity is obvious. Our analysis also shows that CO2 intensity is nonlinearly related to GDP (gross domestic product), positively associated with secondary-sector share and FDI (foreign direct investment), and negatively associated with population size. Important policy implications are drawn on reducing carbon intensity

In Search of Fiscal Interactions: A Spatial Analysis of Chinese Provincial Infrastructure Spending

Using a dataset for 31 Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2006, this paper provides a spatial Durbin panel analysis to test for fiscal interactions among China's provinces in their public spending on infrastructure. We find significant positive interactions across Chinese provincial governments. Further analysis attempting to distinguish between the possible sources of such fiscal interactions reveals evidence of expenditure competition instead of yardstick competition

Central Government's Infrastructure Investment across Chinese Regions: A Dynamic Spatial Panel Data Approach

This study employs spatial panel techniques to examine determinants of regional allocation of infrastructure investment made by the central government. Using a sample of 31 Chinese provinces over the 2001-2008 period, we derived four major empirical findings. First, there exist substantial spatial interactions of central government's investment across regions. Second, the central investment exhibits a highly persistent effect. Third, the central government attempts to balance equity and efficiency in its decision-making. Last, the political factor plays a significant role in the regional infrastructure investment

On the supply of China's healthcare resources in a decentralized healthcare system

The structure of China’s current governance bears prominent features of fiscal decentralization. The supply of healthcare resources in China has clearly witnessed slower growth in the last two decades during which the fiscal decentralization process has taken place. Using China’s provincial panel data, we examine the determinants of healthcare resource supply while paying particular attention to the role of fiscal decentralization. We find that the supply of healthcare resources is inversely related to the degree of decentralization, which, using spatial econometrics, is attributed to the presence of strategic substitutes in healthcare spending across city governments. These findings have important implications for policy makers in making fiscal arrangements among different government tiers

In Search of Fiscal Interactions: A Spatial Analysis of Chinese Provincial Infrastructure Spending

Using a dataset for 31 Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2006, this paper provides a spatial Durbin panel analysis to test for fiscal interactions among China's provinces in their public spending on infrastructure. We find significant positive interactions across Chinese provincial governments. Further analysis attempting to distinguish between the possible sources of such fiscal interactions reveals evidence of expenditure competition instead of yardstick competition

On the supply of China's healthcare resources in a decentralized healthcare system

The structure of China’s current governance bears prominent features of fiscal decentralization. The supply of healthcare resources in China has clearly witnessed slower growth in the last two decades during which the fiscal decentralization process has taken place. Using China’s provincial panel data, we examine the determinants of healthcare resource supply while paying particular attention to the role of fiscal decentralization. We find that the supply of healthcare resources is inversely related to the degree of decentralization, which, using spatial econometrics, is attributed to the presence of strategic substitutes in healthcare spending across city governments. These findings have important implications for policy makers in making fiscal arrangements among different government tiers

Consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounting with capital stock change highlights dynamics of fast-developing countries.

Traditional consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions accounting attributed the gap between consumption-based and production-based emissions to international trade. Yet few attempts have analyzed the temporal deviation between current emissions and future consumption, which can be explained through changes in capital stock. Here we develop a dynamic model to incorporate capital stock change in consumption-based accounting. The new model is applied using global data for 1995-2009. Our results show that global emissions embodied in consumption determined by the new model are smaller than those obtained from the traditional model. The emissions embodied in global capital stock increased steadily during the period. However, capital plays very different roles in shaping consumption-based emissions for economies with different development characteristics. As a result, the dynamic model yields similar consumption-based emissions estimation for many developed countries comparing with the traditional model, but it highlights the dynamics of fast-developing countries