The European Union has been experiencing the whole set of serious crises undermining European integration. The most important ones have been： financial and economic crisis, immigration crisis, crisis of nationalistic...The European Union has been experiencing the whole set of serious crises undermining European integration. The most important ones have been： financial and economic crisis, immigration crisis, crisis of nationalistic radicalization, Brexit, crisis of security caused by terrorism, strengthening of the Islamic State （ISIS）, and destabilization of regions around Europe （mainly in the Middle East）. The main thesis of this article is that all of them have weakened not only the EU as a whole but also the Member States. This has caused serious consequences being the main topics of this analysis, namely, （1） the value of solidarity lying upon the European integration concept being challenged by the crises; and （2） undermining by the crises the EU＇s pursuit of achieving the competitive advantage, stated in the strategy Europe 2020. The lack of solidarity is strongly visible in the EU Member States＇ differentiated attitudes towards the crises the EU has been facing. The paper will focus on analysis of solidarity in the light of intergovernmental approach supported by constructivism. The main research questions are： （1） To what extent have the EU crises strengthened the intergovernmental approach in the EU integration？ （2） How has the meaning and scope of the solidarity as the main EU value changed over time in the EU＇s citizens perception due to the EU crises？ （3） To what extent have strong intergovernmental approach and instrumentalization of the solidarity value influenced pursuit for competitive advantage in the EU？ （4） Does solidarity have a potential to contribute to efficient reform of the EU leading to strengthening its striving for competitive advantage in the future？ The main research approach is intergovernmentalism while the dominating methods are a process-tracing supported by a systemic method. The main conclusion of the article is necessity for redefining the rule of solidarity in order to efficiently strive for competitive advantage.展开更多
Although China＇s asymmetric fiscal decentralization system has been criticized for many years, there have been few studies giving direct evidence of its negative incentives on local government spending policies. By i...Although China＇s asymmetric fiscal decentralization system has been criticized for many years, there have been few studies giving direct evidence of its negative incentives on local government spending policies. By introducing the mechanism of asymmetric decentralization and fiscal transfers to the objective function of local government, this paper studies the incentive effects of asymmetric decentralization and fiscal transfers on spending policies of local governments, and uses the provincial panel data to carry out an empirical test. The conclusion shows that the asymmetric decentralization significantly weakens the incentives of local government to increase social expenditure, and as a solution to asymmetric decentralization, fiscal transfers fail to play a good role. Due to the relatively large income effect, the financing mechanism of fiscal transfers not only significantly reduces the incentives of local government to provide social public goods, but also weakens the constraint effect of fiscal competition on expenditure policies of local governments because of the increase in the relative cost. Although the distribution mechanism of fiscal transfers has a significant positive incentive to local government in regions where the net inflow of fiscal resources is more than zero, because of common pooling effects, the comprehensive effects of fiscal transfers in the distribution of incentives of local governments to provide social public goods are negative in all regions.展开更多
Universal access to China＇s social welfare system involves a process of diffusion from localities to the whole country on the basis of social policy innovations in which intergovernmental relations play a key role as...Universal access to China＇s social welfare system involves a process of diffusion from localities to the whole country on the basis of social policy innovations in which intergovernmental relations play a key role as a facilitator. The rapid establishment of the urban subsistence allowance system in more than 200 cities throughout the country in seven years （1993-1999） serves as a case for our empirical analysis of the diffusion mechanism of social policy innovations at different levels of government. Our findings show, firstly, that in adopting a new social policy, city governments have to respond to the social desire of local citizens while keeping fiscal constraints in mind; at the same time, they are affected by administrative orders from higher-level governments and the vertical fiscal relations between governments at different levels, and are also subject to competitive pressures from other cities at the same level. Secondly, city governments＇ policy innovations offer an opportunity for higher levels of government to learn from their experience. Thirdly, central government orders exert both a direct and indirect influence upon city governments, with provincial orders acting as intermediaries. And lastly, there is a clear difference in the time lag effect of orders from the central government and those at provincial level upon city governments＇ policy adoption.展开更多
Carbon footprint analysis is a method to quantify the life cycle Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions and identify the measure to reduce climate change impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has id...Carbon footprint analysis is a method to quantify the life cycle Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions and identify the measure to reduce climate change impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified that the global warming and climate change which is one of the most important issues in the domain of environment are caused by the excessive emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) mainly constituting Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous oxide (N2O). The municipal wastewater treatment plant receives wastewater for treatment and finally discharges the treated effluent. The emissions of GHG during the treatment of wastewater as well as during the treatment process of sludge and also for energy generation are known to be on-site GHG emissions. Off-site GHG emissions are generated due to transportation and disposal of sludge, off-site energy and chemical production. In Puducherry, the municipal wastewater is being treated using oxidation ponds, Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) and Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). Wastewater treatment using Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) technology is one of the state-of-the art wastewater management systems. In this technology equalization, biological treatment and secondary clarification are performed in a single reactor in a time control sequence. The emissions of GHG from the Oxidation ponds of 12.5 MLD, UASB reactor of 2.5 MLD and SBR of 17 MLD were assessed based on the IPCC guidelines and the total emissions of GHG in terms of equivalent of CO2 were compared. The performance of the SBR is more efficient and the emissions of GHG are less than the emissions in the UASB as well as in oxidation ponds. The emission of GHG in SBR is about 60% of the existing treatment systems of oxidation ponds and UASB thus a reduction of 40% GHG emission could be achieved.展开更多
Climate change has attracted significant attention due to its increasing impacts on various aspects of the world,and future climate projections are of vital importance for associated adaptation and mitigation,particul...Climate change has attracted significant attention due to its increasing impacts on various aspects of the world,and future climate projections are of vital importance for associated adaptation and mitigation,particularly at the regional scale.However,the skill level of the model projections over China in the past more than ten years remains unknown.In this study,we retrospectively investigate the skill of climate models within the Third(TAR),Fourth(AR4),and Fifth(AR5)Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)for the near-term projections of near-surface(2 m)air temperature changes in China.Those models are revealed to be skillful in projecting the subsequent climatology and trend of the temperature changes in China during 2002-2018 from several to ten years ahead,with higher scores for the climatology than for the trend.The model projections display cold biases against observations in most of China,while the nationally averaged trend is overestimated by TAR models during 2002-2018 but underestimated by AR4 models during 2008-2018.For all emission scenarios,there is no obvious difference between the equal-and unequal-weighted averages based on the arithmetic averaging and reliability ensemble averaging method respectively,however the uncertainty range of projection is narrowed after weighting.The near-term temperature projections differ slightly among various emission scenarios for the climatology but are largely different for the trend.展开更多
Grassroots-level government’s financial capability is crucial to the performance of financial functions of the whole country.How to adjust the intergovernmental vertical fiscal relations in order to improve grassroot...Grassroots-level government’s financial capability is crucial to the performance of financial functions of the whole country.How to adjust the intergovernmental vertical fiscal relations in order to improve grassroots-level government’s finance situation is important for accelerating the establishment of a modern fiscal system.In recent years,Province-Directly-Governing-County(PGC)fiscal reform has been an important attempt to straighten out vertical fiscal relations between governments,and thus has made it possible for studying the effects of vertical fiscal relations reform on grassroots-level government’s finance based on quasi-natural experimental analysis.Therefore,this article empirically analyzes the PGC fiscal reform based on nationwide county-level data applying Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Difference Method(PSM-DID),in order to investigate the effect of the reform on county governments’disposable revenue and identify the influence path.The results indicate that PGC fiscal reform has a significant effect on promoting fiscal disposable revenue of county governments.Furthermore,we find that the reform increased upper-government transfer payment more than county-level own revenue,which manifests the reform increase county governments’fiscal disposable revenue by means of restraining prefecture-level cities’from grabbing county-level transfer.展开更多
文摘The European Union has been experiencing the whole set of serious crises undermining European integration. The most important ones have been： financial and economic crisis, immigration crisis, crisis of nationalistic radicalization, Brexit, crisis of security caused by terrorism, strengthening of the Islamic State （ISIS）, and destabilization of regions around Europe （mainly in the Middle East）. The main thesis of this article is that all of them have weakened not only the EU as a whole but also the Member States. This has caused serious consequences being the main topics of this analysis, namely, （1） the value of solidarity lying upon the European integration concept being challenged by the crises; and （2） undermining by the crises the EU＇s pursuit of achieving the competitive advantage, stated in the strategy Europe 2020. The lack of solidarity is strongly visible in the EU Member States＇ differentiated attitudes towards the crises the EU has been facing. The paper will focus on analysis of solidarity in the light of intergovernmental approach supported by constructivism. The main research questions are： （1） To what extent have the EU crises strengthened the intergovernmental approach in the EU integration？ （2） How has the meaning and scope of the solidarity as the main EU value changed over time in the EU＇s citizens perception due to the EU crises？ （3） To what extent have strong intergovernmental approach and instrumentalization of the solidarity value influenced pursuit for competitive advantage in the EU？ （4） Does solidarity have a potential to contribute to efficient reform of the EU leading to strengthening its striving for competitive advantage in the future？ The main research approach is intergovernmentalism while the dominating methods are a process-tracing supported by a systemic method. The main conclusion of the article is necessity for redefining the rule of solidarity in order to efficiently strive for competitive advantage.
文摘Although China＇s asymmetric fiscal decentralization system has been criticized for many years, there have been few studies giving direct evidence of its negative incentives on local government spending policies. By introducing the mechanism of asymmetric decentralization and fiscal transfers to the objective function of local government, this paper studies the incentive effects of asymmetric decentralization and fiscal transfers on spending policies of local governments, and uses the provincial panel data to carry out an empirical test. The conclusion shows that the asymmetric decentralization significantly weakens the incentives of local government to increase social expenditure, and as a solution to asymmetric decentralization, fiscal transfers fail to play a good role. Due to the relatively large income effect, the financing mechanism of fiscal transfers not only significantly reduces the incentives of local government to provide social public goods, but also weakens the constraint effect of fiscal competition on expenditure policies of local governments because of the increase in the relative cost. Although the distribution mechanism of fiscal transfers has a significant positive incentive to local government in regions where the net inflow of fiscal resources is more than zero, because of common pooling effects, the comprehensive effects of fiscal transfers in the distribution of incentives of local governments to provide social public goods are negative in all regions.
文摘Universal access to China＇s social welfare system involves a process of diffusion from localities to the whole country on the basis of social policy innovations in which intergovernmental relations play a key role as a facilitator. The rapid establishment of the urban subsistence allowance system in more than 200 cities throughout the country in seven years （1993-1999） serves as a case for our empirical analysis of the diffusion mechanism of social policy innovations at different levels of government. Our findings show, firstly, that in adopting a new social policy, city governments have to respond to the social desire of local citizens while keeping fiscal constraints in mind; at the same time, they are affected by administrative orders from higher-level governments and the vertical fiscal relations between governments at different levels, and are also subject to competitive pressures from other cities at the same level. Secondly, city governments＇ policy innovations offer an opportunity for higher levels of government to learn from their experience. Thirdly, central government orders exert both a direct and indirect influence upon city governments, with provincial orders acting as intermediaries. And lastly, there is a clear difference in the time lag effect of orders from the central government and those at provincial level upon city governments＇ policy adoption.
文摘Carbon footprint analysis is a method to quantify the life cycle Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions and identify the measure to reduce climate change impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified that the global warming and climate change which is one of the most important issues in the domain of environment are caused by the excessive emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) mainly constituting Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous oxide (N2O). The municipal wastewater treatment plant receives wastewater for treatment and finally discharges the treated effluent. The emissions of GHG during the treatment of wastewater as well as during the treatment process of sludge and also for energy generation are known to be on-site GHG emissions. Off-site GHG emissions are generated due to transportation and disposal of sludge, off-site energy and chemical production. In Puducherry, the municipal wastewater is being treated using oxidation ponds, Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) and Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). Wastewater treatment using Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) technology is one of the state-of-the art wastewater management systems. In this technology equalization, biological treatment and secondary clarification are performed in a single reactor in a time control sequence. The emissions of GHG from the Oxidation ponds of 12.5 MLD, UASB reactor of 2.5 MLD and SBR of 17 MLD were assessed based on the IPCC guidelines and the total emissions of GHG in terms of equivalent of CO2 were compared. The performance of the SBR is more efficient and the emissions of GHG are less than the emissions in the UASB as well as in oxidation ponds. The emission of GHG in SBR is about 60% of the existing treatment systems of oxidation ponds and UASB thus a reduction of 40% GHG emission could be achieved.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41991284)the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(2019QZKK0101)+1 种基金the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2018YFA0606501)the National Key Scientific and Technological Infrastructure Project“Earth System Science Numerical Simulator Facility”(Earth Lab)。
文摘Climate change has attracted significant attention due to its increasing impacts on various aspects of the world,and future climate projections are of vital importance for associated adaptation and mitigation,particularly at the regional scale.However,the skill level of the model projections over China in the past more than ten years remains unknown.In this study,we retrospectively investigate the skill of climate models within the Third(TAR),Fourth(AR4),and Fifth(AR5)Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC)for the near-term projections of near-surface(2 m)air temperature changes in China.Those models are revealed to be skillful in projecting the subsequent climatology and trend of the temperature changes in China during 2002-2018 from several to ten years ahead,with higher scores for the climatology than for the trend.The model projections display cold biases against observations in most of China,while the nationally averaged trend is overestimated by TAR models during 2002-2018 but underestimated by AR4 models during 2008-2018.For all emission scenarios,there is no obvious difference between the equal-and unequal-weighted averages based on the arithmetic averaging and reliability ensemble averaging method respectively,however the uncertainty range of projection is narrowed after weighting.The near-term temperature projections differ slightly among various emission scenarios for the climatology but are largely different for the trend.
文摘Grassroots-level government’s financial capability is crucial to the performance of financial functions of the whole country.How to adjust the intergovernmental vertical fiscal relations in order to improve grassroots-level government’s finance situation is important for accelerating the establishment of a modern fiscal system.In recent years,Province-Directly-Governing-County(PGC)fiscal reform has been an important attempt to straighten out vertical fiscal relations between governments,and thus has made it possible for studying the effects of vertical fiscal relations reform on grassroots-level government’s finance based on quasi-natural experimental analysis.Therefore,this article empirically analyzes the PGC fiscal reform based on nationwide county-level data applying Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Difference Method(PSM-DID),in order to investigate the effect of the reform on county governments’disposable revenue and identify the influence path.The results indicate that PGC fiscal reform has a significant effect on promoting fiscal disposable revenue of county governments.Furthermore,we find that the reform increased upper-government transfer payment more than county-level own revenue,which manifests the reform increase county governments’fiscal disposable revenue by means of restraining prefecture-level cities’from grabbing county-level transfer.
