The rapid growth of China's demand for grains is expected to continue in the coming decades, largely as a result of the increasing feed demand to produce protein-rich food. This leads to a great concern on future supply potentials of... more
The rapid growth of China's demand for grains is expected to continue in the coming decades, largely as a result of the increasing feed demand to produce protein-rich food. This leads to a great concern on future supply potentials of Chinese agriculture under climate change and the extent of China's dependence on world food markets. While the existing literature in both agronomy and climate economics indicates a dominance of the adverse impacts of climate change on rice, wheat, and maize yields, there is a lack of study to assess changes in multi-cropping opportunities induced by climate change. Multi-cropping benefits crop production by harvesting more than once per year from a given plot. To address this important gap, we established a procedure within the agro-ecological zones (AEZ) modeling framework to assess future spatial shifts of multi-cropping conditions. The assessment was based on an ensemble of five general circulation models under four representative concentrat...
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The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) on a large scale is crucial for meeting the desired climate commitments, where affordability plays a vital role. However, the expected surge in prices of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, four... more
The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) on a large scale is crucial for meeting the desired climate commitments, where affordability plays a vital role. However, the expected surge in prices of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, four critical materials in EV batteries, could hinder EV uptake. To explore these impacts in the context of China, the world’s largest EV market, we expand and enrich an integrated assessment model. We find that under a high material cost surge scenario, EVs would account for 35% (2030) and 51% (2060) of the total number of vehicles in China, significantly lower than 49% (2030) and 67% (2060) share in the base-line, leading to a 28% increase in cumulative carbon emissions (2020-2060) from road transportation. While material recycling and technical battery innovation are effective long-term countermeasures, securing the supply chains of critical materials through international cooperation is highly recommended, given geopolitical and environmental fragil...
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Uncertainty in sea level rise and future extreme climate events presents a great planning challenge for flood defence in coastal mega cities like Shanghai. While academic literature has largely focused on uncertainty analysis, engineering... more
Uncertainty in sea level rise and future extreme climate events presents a great planning challenge for flood defence in coastal mega cities like Shanghai. While academic literature has largely focused on uncertainty analysis, engineering solution design requires effective uncertainty management. Here we incorporate the regret theory of economics and decision science into the dynamic-adaptation-pathways framework and assess the impacts of high rates of changes on the flood defence systems in Shanghai. Specific options are developed to manage flooding on the Huangpu River from tidal water levels, river flows, rainfall, drainage inflows and combinations of these flood sources including sea level rises of up to 3 m. Dynamic adaptation pathways are developed where the timing of tipping points from one intervention to the next depends on the actual changes in sea level, rainfall and other variables that affect the future design. This framework is potentially applicable for planning ‘no r...
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No abstract available.
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This paper establishes a theoretical framework for the ongoing research project of UNU/WIDBR on Property Rights Regimes, Microeconomic Incentives and Development. It identifies the major research interests, questions, and focuses. The... more
This paper establishes a theoretical framework for the ongoing research project of UNU/WIDBR on Property Rights Regimes, Microeconomic Incentives and Development. It identifies the major research interests, questions, and focuses. The theoretical emphasis is on the very relevance of concrete institutional context, development stages, and technological environment to the determination of ownership and governance structures of the firm, and on the rationality behind the emergence of unconventional ownership and governance structures of the firm in the industrial sector. Four types of examples are presented to show the characteristics of major emerging unconventional ownership forms, which include the rise of institutional ownership in large publicly traded corporations in the US and UK; the expansion of employee stock ownership in the US; the emergence of joint- stock co-operatives on a large scale in China; the famous Mondragon co- operative group in Spain and Italian co-operatives i...
This paper examines the nature of the unorthodox ownership and governance structures that are emerging among firms and the way these structures are supporting the remarkable economic growth in the transition economies of East Asia, as... more
This paper examines the nature of the unorthodox ownership and governance structures that are emerging among firms and the way these structures are supporting the remarkable economic growth in the transition economies of East Asia, as represented in particular by China and Vietnam. These economies are embarked on a distinctive process of property rights reform that resists widespread privatization in favour of evolutionary transformation. From the perspective that organizational innovation is an adaptive recombination and ownership is a bundle of rights, this paper focuses on an evaluation of the extent and consistency of property rights reform in the state-owned enterprise sector of these economies. It reveals the features of the ownership and governance structures of Chinese township-village-enterprises and their consequences for liability and incentives and justifies the fact that private entrepreneurs are typically willing to include community authority as an ambiguous owner or ...
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Word Account: 10,284 (including notes, references, figures and tables).
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In the 1990s, a new ownership form called ‘joint-stock co-operative ’ (gufen hezuozhi) became widely adopted in China’s township and village enterprise sector. The promising dynamics and high adaptive ability of the new ownership form is... more
In the 1990s, a new ownership form called ‘joint-stock co-operative ’ (gufen hezuozhi) became widely adopted in China’s township and village enterprise sector. The promising dynamics and high adaptive ability of the new ownership form is in contradiction with the conclusions suggested by the existing literature on industrial co-operatives and other types of employee ownership. To show the adaptive efficiency feature of the new form, this paper identifies and analyses the mechanisms that are developed by China’s joint-stock cooperatives to avoid excessive costs of collective decision making, to check insider control, to mobilize internal and external finances, to diversify risk, and to facilitate further evolving. By this way, the paper also sheds light on the roles that an alternative form of ownership and governance can play in an alternative institutional environment.
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Indonesia has been the largest supplier of palm oil since 2007, and now supplies around 56% of the global market. While the existing literature has paid serious attention to the diverse impacts of oil palm plantation on socioeconomic... more
Indonesia has been the largest supplier of palm oil since 2007, and now supplies around 56% of the global market. While the existing literature has paid serious attention to the diverse impacts of oil palm plantation on socioeconomic factors and the environment, less is known about the joint role of biophysical and socioeconomic factors in shaping the temporal and spatial dynamics of oil palm expansion. This research investigates how the benefits and costs of converting other land use/ land cover (LULC) types to oil palm plantation affects these expansion patterns. We employ a spatial panel modeling approach to assess the contributions of biophysical and socioeconomic driving factors. Our modeling focuses on Sumatra and Kalimantan, two islands which have accounted for more than 90% of oil palm expansion in Indonesia since 1990, with Sumatra holding the majority of the country’s plantations, and Kalimantan having the highest growth rate since 2000. The results show that the expansion...
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We study the structure of inter-industry relationships using networks of money flows between industries in 45 national economies. We find these networks vary around a typical structure characterized by a Weibull link weight distribution,... more
We study the structure of inter-industry relationships using networks of money flows between industries in 45 national economies. We find these networks vary around a typical structure characterized by a Weibull link weight distribution, exponential industry size distribution, and a common community structure. The community structure is hierarchical, with the top level of the hierarchy comprising five industry communities: food industries, chemical industries, manufacturing industries, service industries, and extraction industries.
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It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change (Darwinian proverb).
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Energy and transport have long been considered the two major bottleneck constraints to China’s economic development. This chapter examines the extent to which investment expansion and economic development have been constrained by... more
Energy and transport have long been considered the two major bottleneck constraints to China’s economic development. This chapter examines the extent to which investment expansion and economic development have been constrained by shortfalls in energy supplies. It highlights the close linkage between effective energy supply and long-distance transport, particularly railway freight transport. Energy in this research refers to primary modern (commercial) energy, which includes coal, crude oil, natural gas and hydro-power, as opposed to traditional (noncommercial) fuel such as crop by-products, firewood, grass, and dung.
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There is an extensive body of literature promoting the conventional paradigm that private investors should own the firm and that the existence of well-defined, personalized property rights is a basic precondition for the proper... more
There is an extensive body of literature promoting the conventional paradigm that private investors should own the firm and that the existence of well-defined, personalized property rights is a basic precondition for the proper functioning of a market economy. The intuition underlying this wisdom is that placing property under the exclusive control of private owners makes them liable for the consequences of bad decisions but also entitles them to the rewards of good ones, thus making them more willing to motivate managers and workers.
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This paper argues that the deeply rooted cause of poor corporate governance practices in China’s state-owned banks is the discretion enjoyed by policy makers to re-optimise their policy choices when they deem necessary and the consequent... more
This paper argues that the deeply rooted cause of poor corporate governance practices in China’s state-owned banks is the discretion enjoyed by policy makers to re-optimise their policy choices when they deem necessary and the consequent moral hazard leading to opportunistic behaviours of bank managers. By examining the case of Bank of China Hong Kong (BoCHK), the paper suggests that international listing can provide an effective mechanism to mitigate the consequence of discretionary policies and managerial opportunism at home because the company is now disciplined and regulated by a more developed capital market outside the home jurisdiction. It shows that BoCHK’s IPO preparation and first two years of listing on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) have induced in-depth corporate restructuring and noticeable improvement in governance practices.
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It has been recognized that climate change has significant impacts on agro-climatic resources over China. The objective of the present study was to evaluate regional scale effects of climatic change on agro-climatic resources across... more
It has been recognized that climate change has significant impacts on agro-climatic resources over China. The objective of the present study was to evaluate regional scale effects of climatic change on agro-climatic resources across China, so as to provide a comprehensive assessment of China’s potential thermal regime and aridity-humidity conditions under climate change scenarios. Projections of future climate during 2071-2100 from a high-resolution regional climate model-PRECIS (Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies) under two emission scenarios, SRES A2 (medium-high GHG emission pathway) and B2 (medium-low), were used to drive the agro-ecological zones (AEZ) model to assess potential impacts of climate change on China’s thermal regime, reference evapotranspiration, humidity index, and length of growing period. Results show that the maximum air temperature and precipitation will increase by 4.26℃ and 14.81%, respectively, under A2 scenario at the end of 21st century. The ...
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Abstract Massive out-migration of rural labor force brings both challenges and opportunities to crop-livestock integrated production system (crop-livestock system) in smallholder economy. Compared with previous researches that have paid... more
Abstract Massive out-migration of rural labor force brings both challenges and opportunities to crop-livestock integrated production system (crop-livestock system) in smallholder economy. Compared with previous researches that have paid major attention to the effect of labor migration on either crop production or livestock husbandry, this study considers the mediating role of crop production in predicting the effect of labor migration on livestock raising. Our econometric estimation based on a 2012 survey of 974 rural households in Chongqing, a mountainous region of China, showed the following. (1) The massive migration of rural labor force had led to significant increase in farmland abandonment and considerable changes in the pattern of livestock raising. (2) The livestock raising number per household began to differentiate, with the livestock system separating from the traditional crop-livestock system and becoming a specialized business. (3) In terms of the pathways through which rural labor migration exerts impact on livestock raising number, though the increased opportunity costs of rural labor greatly reduced farmers’ willingness to raise livestock, the decoupling of the crop-livestock system partly alleviated the declining trend in the livestock raising number because of the availability of household labor force freed from cropping via farmland abandonment. These findings have important policy implications for rural development and agricultural restructuring in mountainous areas of China, and provide references for other developing countries.
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Climate change leads to sea level rise worldwide, as well as increases in the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones (TCs). Storm surge induced by TC’s, together with spring tides, threatens to cause failure of flood defenses,... more
Climate change leads to sea level rise worldwide, as well as increases in the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones (TCs). Storm surge induced by TC’s, together with spring tides, threatens to cause failure of flood defenses, resulting in massive flooding in low-lying coastal areas. However, limited research has been done on the combined effects of the increasing intensity of TCs and sea level rise on the characteristics of coastal flooding due to the failure of sea dikes. This paper investigates the spatial variation of coastal flooding due to the failure of sea dikes subject to past and future TC climatology and sea level rise, via a case study of a low-lying deltaic city- Shanghai, China. Using a hydrodynamic model and a spectral wave model, storm tide and wave parameters were calculated as input for an empirical model of overtopping discharge rate. The results show that the change of storm climatology together with relative sea level rise (RSLR) largely exacerbates the co...
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As population and consumption grow, so does crop production and its residue. Crop residue is traditionally burned in developing countries, which impacts environment, economy, society and health. Thailand faces similar challenges as it is... more
As population and consumption grow, so does crop production and its residue. Crop residue is traditionally burned in developing countries, which impacts environment, economy, society and health. Thailand faces similar challenges as it is among the largest producers of rice paddy and sugarcane in the world with 83% of its total burnt residue coming from these crops. To address this problem, the Government of Thailand has implemented some policies (e.g. Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) and zero burning policy for sugarcane) targeting both, the use of residue, and the practice of burning. While these policies appear to control residue burning to some extent, there are still challenges, especially for poorer farmers, who rely on manual harvesting practices. The paper looks into the current status of rice and sugarcane residue burning, its impacts on the environment, existing policies, current challenges, and future solutions through sustainable management practices. To achieve reduction in residue burning, the best possible solution is to use residue for alternative purposes. Some sustainable management practices include use of residue for energy production, green harvesting to improve soil nutrients, biochar production and composting. Thailand can also learn from solutions implemented in other countries, to reduce some of the impacts of crop residue burning.
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Abstract To solve the energy crisis and protect the ecological environment has been the central concern of the sustainable development debate. The reproducibility and lower environmental impacts of bioenergy have attracted increasing... more
Abstract To solve the energy crisis and protect the ecological environment has been the central concern of the sustainable development debate. The reproducibility and lower environmental impacts of bioenergy have attracted increasing attention in the debate. This research investigates the potentials of growing rapeseed in winter fallow fields across the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) to serve the goal of boosting bioenergy production and improving edible oil security in China. It first quantifies the extent of winter fallow fields in the Basin and identifies the accurate starting and ending dates of the fallowing at the grid-cell level. It then matches the fallowing periods with the growing period grid-by-grid and assesses the current and future potentials of rapeseed production across the matched grid-cells in the region. The assessments take into consideration of climate change adaptations on sowing dates and on the choice of varieties with suitable growth cycle length. Finally, by coupling the Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) model and CHINAGRO-II economic model, this research simulates economically meaningful levels of rapeseeds production and trade for 2020 and 2030. A 60% realization of the production potential would increase total rapeseed supply by 9.1 million tons, reduce China's rapeseed import to zero and further reduce soybean import by 8.1 million tons in 2020. In 2030, the import of rapeseed would be reduced from 15 million tons under baseline to 7.3 million tons.
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ABSTRACT Stubbs, Q.; Yeo, I.-Y.; Lang, M.; Townshend, J.; Sun, L.; Prestegaard, K., and Jantz, C., 2020. Assessment of wetland change on the Delmarva Peninsula from 1984 to 2010. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(3), 575–589. Coconut Creek... more
ABSTRACT Stubbs, Q.; Yeo, I.-Y.; Lang, M.; Townshend, J.; Sun, L.; Prestegaard, K., and Jantz, C., 2020. Assessment of wetland change on the Delmarva Peninsula from 1984 to 2010. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(3), 575–589. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The decline in wetland extent and condition emphasizes the need for sound wetland restoration and conservation policies, which require baseline information on wetland status, change, and change drivers. Multiple wetland maps are available, but they can be quite inconsistent bcause of different input and generation techniques, dates, and objectives. Moderate-resolution (30 m2) regional land-cover data sets (LCDs) were analyzed to (1) quantify historical wetland changes on the Delmarva Peninsula at multiple spatial scales between 1984 and 2010, (2) identify differences in the spatial area of wetland change and discuss the source of and implications for these differences, and (3) investigate the extent to which drivers of wetland change can be identified using existing LCDs. The following regional LCDs were considered: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Chesapeake Bay Land Cover Data Series (CBLCD), and the USGS National Land Cover Database. The C-CAP and CBLCD had the highest spatial agreement at 97%, and an average of 76% spatial agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory. The highest percentages of net wetland loss occurred between 1992 and 2001, whereas net wetland gain occurred between 2001 and 2010. Wetlands were predominantly converted (e.g., lost) to croplands/grass/shrubs (67%) and water (11%), which could be linked to drivers such as agriculture and sea-level rise.
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Chinese Medicinal Yam (CMY) has been prescribed as medicinal food for thousand years in China by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners. Its medical benefits include nourishing the stomach and spleen to improve digestion,... more
Chinese Medicinal Yam (CMY) has been prescribed as medicinal food for thousand years in China by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners. Its medical benefits include nourishing the stomach and spleen to improve digestion, replenishing lung and kidney, etc., according to the TCM literature. As living standard rises and public health awareness improves in recent years, the potential medicinal benefits of CMY have attracted increasing attention in China. It has been found that the observed climate change in last several decades, together with the change in economic structure, has driven significant shift in the pattern of the traditional CMY planting areas. To identify suitable planting area for CMY in the near future is critical for ensuring the quality and supply quantity of CMY, guiding the layout of CMY industry, and safeguarding the sustainable development of CMY resources for public health. In this study, we first collect 30-year records of CMY varieties and their corre...
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This paper proposes an index-based assessment tool to consolidate diverse opinions of various stakeholders on their assessments of sector-specific risks posed by climate change, and to aggregate these opinions into intuitive and... more
This paper proposes an index-based assessment tool to consolidate diverse opinions of various stakeholders on their assessments of sector-specific risks posed by climate change, and to aggregate these opinions into intuitive and comparable graphs. This tool enables cities to measure and monitor the multiple factors that contribute to their resilience towards climate risk and hazard in the long term. We applied this tool to five key infrastructure sectors in six representative cities in the Yangtze River Delta region. The graphs generated provide for the first time first-hand insights into the aggregative understanding of various stakeholders with regard to the current and future climate risk in their concerned sectors and cities. Our results indicate that a high level of exposure is not automatically associated with a high level of vulnerability across our selected cities. While all cities need to make efforts to reduce their vulnerability towards climate hazards, those characterize...