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Exploring the sensitivity of rural households’ livelihood strategies to livelihood capital is of great significance for improving rural households’ livelihood levels. This paper selects 23 livelihood capital measurement indicators and conducts an in-depth survey of rural households. In addition, the entropy method and a weighted comprehensive model are used to explore the basic characteristics of rural households’ livelihood capital in the upper reaches of the Min River, China, in 2017. Furthermore, econometric models are used to analyze the sensitivity of rural households’ livelihood strategies to livelihood capital. As indicated from the research, the livelihood capital levels of different types of rural households in the study area are not equivalent. The types of rural households with different livelihood strategies can be ordered in terms of quantity as follows: non-agricultural type > non-agricultural dominant type > agricultural dominant type > pure agricultural type. Livelihood strategies have different sensitivities to different livelihood capital measurement indicators. Among these indicators, cash income, the number of relatives and friends available for financial assistance, and the number of civil servants have positive effects on the livelihood strategy selection of non-agricultural dominant rural households and non-agricultural rural households. However, the average age of laborers, area of cultivated land and gardens, number of livestock and poultry, and present value of production tools have negative effects. These evaluation results can provide a scientific decision-making basis for the formulation of poverty alleviation policies by relevant government departments.

Abstract Although the “resource curse” hypothesis has been supported by many empirical studies focusing on the transnational and regional levels, there has always been a point of contention about the proper method of estimating and selecting natural resource indicators in literature. This paper proposes a mixed estimation method for panel data of 10 typical oil and gas resource-based cities in China from 1998 to 2015. The results show that resource industry agglomeration can mirror the distribution and dependence on the resource industry by location rather than by merely measuring the influence of the relative scale of resource extraction on economic growth. Using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable for regional economic growth verifies the resource curse hypothesis and shows the nonlinear characteristics of the negative correlation between resources and economic growth. Despite mostly similar indicator parameter estimates, marked differences exist in measured effects for material capital investments and technological innovation investments. The result of using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable is basically consistent with the economic theory and is more in line with observed reality than the alternative indicator. The research conclusions can provide evidence and data for index selection in the studies on the mediating effect of resource curse transmission and international comparison.

Abstract The transition of energy structure to renewable energy is a social and systematic engineering that requires complex regional power interconnection as a support. Thus, an assessment of the economic viability of infrastructure investments for supporting such transmission expansion is crucial. This study presents a multi-regional power system optimization model to evaluate the potential economic benefits of infrastructure investments for the national inter-regional electricity network in China under various scenarios in the context of low-carbon transformation. Key factors influencing economic benefits are analyzed specifically and regulation barriers associated with inter-regional electricity trade are given particular attention. The results show that approximately 140 Giga Watt (GW) of infrastructure construction for the inter-regional electricity trade network is economically viable during the planning horizon. These new interconnections would lead to 250–440 billion RMB of economic benefits. Regional electricity trade barriers caused by imperfect market mechanisms have a negative impact on the economic benefits of transmission infrastructure investments, although they promote scale and utilization efficiency in the power sector of electricity-importing regions. Improving the national grid coordination mechanism to break the grid isolation between the State Grid Corporation of China and the China Southern Power Grid is crucial, because a large number of transmission lines connecting these two national-level power grids are economically viable.

Two kinds of disparities pervade China and threaten its well-being. The first, regional disparities focus on levels of economic development, which vary considerably across China. The second is largely a corollary of the first, referring to mismatch in energy supply and demand, with some places suffering severe shortages while others are blessed with significant surpluses. Western China enjoys the dubious distinction of recording the country's lowest levels of economic development while, paradoxically, being blessed with plentiful reserves of energy and non-energy minerals. Turning those surplus resources to good account through transferring them to minerals and energy-hungry Eastern China is seen by policy-makers as something of a panacea. Not only will such a strategy significantly boost Western China's economic prospects, but it will eliminate the resource shortages currently constraining the East's vibrant growth. The issues of regional disparities, energy mismatches and transfers of these resources are discussed, with attention given to both spatial and time perspectives. The paper concludes with a cautious endorsement of the policy initiatives that promote the strategy of mineral transfers.

Urban and rural dual structure in Western China is obvious. The economic development of the central cities is relatively quick while that of the rural areas is lagging behind. The speeding up of urbanization contributes to the intensively uncoordinated development of urban and rural areas. Besides, the eco-fragile environment, shortage of available water resources, adverse geographic location, and relatively backward social economy restrict the development of urbanization in Western China. However, Western China also has the advantages of backwardness. This paper analyzes the present situation and development trend of urbanization in Western China. The results show that Western China has basically formed a development pattern with “industry promotes agriculture and urban leads to village”. Therefore, combined with the present situation of Western China, this paper describes and analyzes the opportunities and challenges that may appear in the process of urbanization in Western China, puts forward the devel...

Abstract South Korea initiated an emissions trading scheme (ETS) on January 1, 2015. Based on this environmental policy, at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) meeting, the Korean government announced that it would decrease carbon emissions 37% from business as usual (BAU) levels by 2030. Since this target is too ambitious for the Korean economy, a number of studies have analyzed the economic impacts of emissions trading in Korea, but few have distinguished between industries covered and not covered by the ETS, notwithstanding the lack of industry-level data on quotas and emissions. This study overcomes such shortcomings by converting a dataset of 525 firms covered by the South Korea ETS (SK-ETS) into a 28-sector database consistent with the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) classifications. We implement a simulation of the SK-ETS with a computational general equilibrium (CGE) model. Simulation results suggest that while SK-ETS has significant abatement effects (−2.56% from the base case), it only has mild negative impacts on GDP (0.41%) and household consumption (0.11%). Industry output on average falls by 0.54%, with the gas and air transport sectors most adversely affected. The most noticeable price changes are from the electricity sector, whose output price goes up by 3.75%. It is noteworthy that because of the export-oriented economy, many global business leaders and politicians have argued that the ETS will disadvantage exporting companies, while the simulation results showed a higher trade surplus based on enhanced competitiveness.

Abstract Coal resource tax reform from quantity-based collection to ad valorem collection has been implemented by the Chinese government in December 2014, to develop a low-carbon economy. This paper builds a multi-sectoral dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with a coal resource tax module, to study the general impacts of such reform policy on the Chinese economy and environment. Based on the proposed model, different policy designs with different ad valorem tax rates are simulated and further compared with the current quantity-based policy, and some interesting results can be obtained. As for the economic influence, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China would be somewhat negatively affected by the reform in terms of output shrinkage in most sectors, and the effect will be larger with a higher tax rate but decrease as time goes. From the environmental perspective, the energy structure would be improved by the reform policy, with a sharp decrease in coal consumption but increases in the consumptions of cleaner energy forms. Accordingly, the total carbon emissions and other main air pollutants (SO 2 and NO x ) would be significantly mitigated, which can effectively improve the environment and guarantee the achievement of China's promise in carbon emissions reduction.

Abstract This paper explores the quantile-specific short- and long-term impacts of political risk and crude oil on stock price, and tests whether the effects are different for China and the US. The recently developed method of the QARDL by Cho et al. (2015) is used to address this issue by considering any nonlinear, asymmetric and endogenous characteristics. Empirical results show that the impacts of political risk and oil price are heterogeneous across distinct stock market circumstances and economic development levels. Before 2008 crisis, Chinese stock performance is mainly positively affected by itself, whereas crude oil shock plays a vital role in the US stock in the short term; in the long term, the effects of crude oil and political risk on the Chinese stock market are significant at few quantile, while crude oil shock has an optimistic influence on the US stock when the market is bullish or bearish. After the crisis, the influence of political risk becomes more remarkable, especially for China. An interesting phenomenon is that the past performance of US stock negatively affects the current stock at medium and high quantiles. Besides, the impact mechanisms of political risk on these two stocks appear quite different characteristics. Almost all individual components can not do much on the US market. However, the effects of individual components on Chinese stock differ according to the market environments. In the pre-crisis period, the impacts of all components except government actions and investment profile abide by the classic risk-return relationship. Whereas, exactly the opposite happens after the crisis. A decrease in most of political risk components is associated with higher stock price, supporting the political risk paradox. These empirical evidences provide further insight into how political risk and crude oil shocks transmit to stock market.

Abstract Green electricity is an effective approach to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions without damaging economic development. One effective measure to boost its development is to increase the awareness of residents about sustainable development and to increase their willingness to pay (WTP). This study applies a contingent valuation method to investigate the WTP of residents in Tianjin, China for green electricity. It uses a logit model to test whether the respondents have WTP. In addition to the factors affecting the respondents’ viewpoints frequently discussed in previous studies, this paper has also considered the influence of high prevalence of respiratory disease. Furthermore, it employs a multiple regression model to identify the factors that significantly affected the WTP. According to a sample of 468 respondents, most residents have positive WTP with an average value of CNY 32.63 per month. The main driving factors for a positive WTP are knowledge of renewable energy, belief towards the government, behavior, education, history of respiratory disease and others. The factors affecting the value of WTP include income, belief, disease, gender and age, and the first three factors often have positive influences while the last one has negative impact. Furthermore, males tend to have a higher WTP than females.