Search Results (5)

Emissions trading schemes (ETSs) are effective measures that facilitate economic growth and carbon mitigation, especially for developing countries such as China. These schemes can further affect the cash flow, production, and investment decisions of regulated companies. However, few empirical studies have explored how ETSs promote companies’ market value. We systematically evaluate the influence of the carbon emission trading (CET) policy on companies’ market value and explore the influential mechanism. We use the data of listed companies from the Chinese stock “A” markets and employ the difference-in-difference method to account for the unobserved cause of the CET policy regarding companies’ market value. Robust benchmark regression results reveal that the CET policy promotes companies’ market value significantly. The mechanism analysis reveals that the CET policy can improve the market value of listed companies by influencing the carbon price, innovative activities, and carbon disclosure. The results of the heterogeneity analysis show that the CET policy’s impact on companies’ market value is heterogeneous in terms of marketization degree, industry, firm ownership, and different regions. We suggest that the carbon pricing mechanism, degree of market perfection, carbon disclosure policy, and carbon finance should be optimized to improve the efficiency of ETSs. Full article

Although most micro-level studies show the positive impact of adaptation on food security and household income, these are only a few of the outcomes adaptation is intended to achieve. Farmers’ livelihoods function in complex ways such that an understanding the multidimensional outcome of adaptation is important. These necessitate the use of multiple indicators in the evaluation of the impact of adaptation. Based on data collected from 810 randomly selected households in central Ethiopia, this study investigates the impacts of adaptation strategies on the sustainability of the livelihoods of farmers. The economic, social, and environmental outcomes were integrated to construct the Livelihood Sustainability Index. The endogenous switching regression model, which accounts for unobserved heterogeneity and possible endogeneity, was used to examine the impact of using adaptation strategies. With a mean score of 41, the farmers had lower levels of livelihood sustainability. Farmers switching crop type, diversifying crops, planting improved seeds, engaging in land management activities, and using irrigation had a higher livelihood sustainability index compared to the counterfactual case in which they did not use them. Non-farm employment and migration significantly increased livelihood sustainability for the using households. However, had these factors been used by the non-users, it would have resulted in reduced livelihood sustainability. Farmers using more than four adaptation strategies had more sustainable livelihoods than using fewer strategies. The findings affirm that adaptation contributes to livelihood improvement. However, since the farmers are far from achieving a higher level of sustainable livelihoods, policies shall focus on maximizing the returns to be obtained from using adaptation strategies. This includes improving access to ecosystem services through environmental protection measures, increasing production efficiency through improved access to and proper utilization of farm inputs, expanding irrigation facilities, creating decent employment opportunities, and enhancing farmers’ skills through entrepreneurial training. Full article

The structure of modern cities is characterized by the uneven spatial distribution of people and activities. Contrary to economic theory, it is neither evenly distributed nor entirely monocentric. The observed reality is the result of various feedbacks in the context of the interactions of attraction and repulsion. Heretofore, there is no agreement concerning the means to measuring the dimensions of these interactions, nor the framework for explaining them. We propose a simple model and an associated method for testing the interactions using residential land values. We claim that land values reflect the attractiveness of each location, including its observable and unobservable characteristics. We extract land values from prices of residences by applying a dedicated hedonic model to extensive residential real estate transaction data at a detailed spatial level. The resulting land values reflect the attractiveness of each urban location and are an ideal candidate to measure the degree of centrality or peripherality of each location. Moreover, assessment of land values over time indicates ongoing centralization and peripheralization processes. Using the urban structure of a small and highly urbanized country as a test case, this paper illustrates how the dynamics of the gap between central and peripheral urban areas can be assessed. Full article

Existing methods of combating the shadow economy do not always give reliable results. This is particularly true for the illegal use of renewable natural resources. In some parts of the Northwest Pacific basin, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has become an issue of growing concern for the sustainability of resource management, ecology, and the social environment. Many factors combine to produce these harmful phenomena. The complex legal rights for shared natural marine resources, the weak capacity of state institutions, and the lack of international cooperation between exporters and importers are all relevant. These factors can be eliminated by supplementing the “traditional” analysis of the shadow economy with new data mined from the media. For the crab harvesting regions of Russia, long-lasting benefits can be achieved through improvements in governance, accountability, and public awareness, or more specifically, through extensive mass media coverage of relevant topics. We argue that in the Russian Pacific, levels of illegal crab harvesting and smuggling correlates closely to the frequency of media references. The results suggest possible applications of mass media analysis: developing additional metrics for the dynamics of shadow economies; and the formulation of effective policy recommendations for sustainable fishing. Full article

This article analyzes the moderating effect the degree of economic growth has on the relationship between the development of the financial system and the microfinance industry activity. The hypotheses proposed establish that the influence of the development of the financial system on the activity of the microfinance sector will be different depending on the level of economic growth. The estimates were made using the System-GMM methodology for panel data, which allows controlling the unobservable heterogeneity and the problems of endogeneity. We find that the degree of economic growth affects the relationship between the financial sector development and microfinance activity. Under negative economic growth conditions, the development of the financial sector has a negative impact on the activity of the microfinance sector, but when economic growth is high, the development of the financial sector positively influences the activity of the microfinance sector. Full article