Financial Sector Development, FDI and Economic Growth in China.

The economics-literature, drawing on endogenous growth theory, suggests that the level of financial sector development may influence foreign direct investment and its impact on the diffusion of technology in the host country, thereby increasing the rate of economic growth. Little attention, however, has been devoted to confirm or reject this link for China. This paper fills the gap by including measures of financial sector development in this growth regression. The Generalised Method of Moments system estimation is applied to data for 28 Chinese provinces over the period 1986-2003. We show that the interaction between foreign direct investment and indicators measuring the degree of market oriented financing enhance economic growth.financial development, foreign direct investment, economic growth, China

Predicting China’s Land-use Change and Soil Carbon Sequestration under Alternative Climate Change Scenarios

This paper examines and predicts the effects of climate change and climate extremes on China’s land use conversion and soil carbon sequestration under two alternative climate change scenarios. It intends to investigate the following three questions. 1) How did climate factors affect land-use conversion in China from 1988 to 2000 and what was the relative importance of these factors? 2) How would the predicted future climate change pattern affect land-use choice under alternative climate change scenarios? 3) How would the predicted future climate pattern change the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon in China? The study makes two contributions to the literature. First, it integrates climate change, land use conversion, and soil carbon sequestration into a whole model, which facilitates a comprehensive, systematic analysis. Second, it employs a unique dataset, consisting of high-quality Geographic Information System (GIS) data on climate, land use, and soil properties. To the best of our knowledge, no one has used such detailed Chinese data for economic research.Land-use change, soil carbon sequestration, climate change, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

On the Performance of Turbo Signal Recovery with Partial DFT Sensing Matrices

This letter is on the performance of the turbo signal recovery (TSR) algorithm for partial discrete Fourier transform (DFT) matrices based compressed sensing. Based on state evolution analysis, we prove that TSR with a partial DFT sensing matrix outperforms the well-known approximate message passing (AMP) algorithm with an independent identically distributed (IID) sensing matrix.Comment: to appear in IEEE Signal Processing Letter

Variational approach to renormalized phonon in momentum-nonconserving nonlinear lattices

A previously proposed variational approach for momentum-conserving systems [J. Liu et.al., Phys. Rev. E 91, 042910 (2015)] is extended to systematically investigate general momentum-nonconserving nonlinear lattices. Two intrinsic identities characterizing optimal reference systems are revealed, which enables us to derive explicit expressions for optimal variational parameters. The resulting optimal harmonic reference systems provide information for the band gap as well as the dispersion of renormalized phonons in nonlinear lattices. As a demonstration, we consider the one-dimensional \phi^?4 lattice. By combining the transfer integral operator method, we show that the phonon band gap endows a simple power-law temperature dependence in the weak stochasticity regime where predicted dispersion is reliable by comparing with numerical results. In addition, an exact relation between ensemble averages of the \phi^?4 lattice in the whole temperature range is found, regardless of the existence of the strong stochasticity threshold.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Unintended effects of urbanization in China: Land use spillovers and soil carbon loss

This paper uses a national-level geographic information system database on land use, weather conditions, land quality, soil organic carbon (SOC), topographic features, and economic variables to analyze the major drivers of land use change and the resulting impact on soil carbon storage in China. The framework developed in this study includes two main components. One is a spatial panel multinomial logit land use model that takes into account the spatial and temporal dependence of land use choices explicitly. The other is a statistical causal evaluation model that estimates the effect of land use change on SOC density. Results indicate that local economic growth, as measured by county-level gross domestic product, was a major cause of urban development and grassland conversions. Rapid expansion of road networks, promoted by massive public investment, increased the conversion of forests, grassland, and unused land to crop production and urban development. Urbanization had significant secondary ripple effects in terms of both indirect land use change and soil carbon loss. Some of the soil carbon loss may be irreversible, at least in the short run.Land use, propensity score-matching, road density, soil organic carbon, spatial panel,

Empirical Analysis of Land-use Change and Soil Carbon Sequestration Cost in China

This project examines the driving forces behind the land-use change and evaluates the effects of land-use transition on soil organic carbon density and sequestration cost in China. It contributes to the literature in three aspects. First, it applies a discrete choice method to model multiple land-use options with a unique set of high-quality data. Second, it conducts a comprehensive analysis of biophysical characteristics and changes in soil carbon storage caused by land-use change. Third, it examines the economic efficiency of alternative land use policies as instruments for carbon sequestration in China.carbon sequestration, land-use, soil organic carbon density, China, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,