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,

NATURE OF THE FIRM: A STUDY ON DEVELOPERS IN CHINA AND HONG KONG

In Hong Kong, dwellings are fitted with neat and tidy paintings, well decorated floor and wall tiles. Equipped with world�renowned kitchen and bathroom appliance, housing owners can move in with a bag of cloths. Builders in China, however, only provide fundamental elements such as windows, doors, ironmongery and grayish wall. By the time home purchasers receive their dwellings, they need to do a lot of shopping before they can move in. They need to buy water closet, tiles, towel rings and so on. Scope of services provided by Hong Kong developers is much wider than those in China�s. Ronald Coase, Nobel economist 1991 addresses two questions in his 1937 paper: why firms exist and what determines their scale and scope. What are the major determining factors which affect the size of the developers and their scope of services? Few or even no paper has studied this issue. This paper reviews that unpredictable rules and regulations couple with poor law drafting decrease firms� incentive in vertical integration.firm, developers, Hong Kong, China

Trade Costs and the Gains from Trade in Crop Agriculture

Forthcoming in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.geography, grains, trade costs, trade liberalization, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q17, Q54, F18,