Investment Promotion for Development Zones in China:Underlying Rationale and Policy Options

Development zones(DZs)have emerged as a significant policy initiative for promoting regional coordination and facilitating resources allocation.They serve as an organizational framework for fostering industrial agglomeration and driving high-quality development.DZs attract and accommodate resource factors,firms,and projects,thereby functioning as a central catalyst for economic growth.This study utilizes data collected at the“DZ,City and Countrycountry”levels through manual compilation,textual analysis,and innovation measurement.It aims to empirically examine the theoretical rationale and practical preferences for promoting business and investment in China’s DZs.This study considers several factors such as industry attribute,firm attribute,agglomeration theory,and industrial chain layout.Based on our research findings,DZs exhibit distinct preferences.First,industry attribute:DZs align with both national and regional strategic planning and adhere to the industrial endowments of the respective areas.Second,firm attribute:DZs prioritize attracting firms that are productive and innovative,and have an international presence,rather than those that primarily contribute to taxes and job creation.Third,DZs are guided by the agglomeration theory,which suggests that they prefer firms that generate strong agglomeration externalities.Lastly,DZs also consider the industrial chain layout,aiming to attract firms that not only align with their existing industrial strengths but also extend to the upstream and downstream supply chain links.These conclusions are substantiated by the performance of robustness test.The success of DZs in China can be attributed to the five key principles:Adherence to national and regional strategic planning,prioritizing the actual industrial foundation,incorporating the theory of agglomeration externalities,strengthening corporate competitiveness,and expanding industrial chains.

Extent and Consequences of Tropical Forest Degradation： Successive Policy Options for Bangladesh

This paper is conceived at a time when new paradigms are sought for the development of a framework to deal with the problem of forest resources degradation. Deforestation in Bangladesh, has reached an alarming rate in recent years. The forest coverage of Bangladesh is one of the lowest and the deforestation rate is the highest of any country in the world. Coupled with the process of deforestation, flawed afforestration programmes have seriously exposed Bangladesh to environmental vulnerability. Considering this situation various strategies should be taken at different levels. The main objective of this paper is to suggest the possible steps that Bangladesh could halt and reverse the trend of deforestation. An extensive literature review and structured interviews of key informants have been used to collect relevant information to understand the reasons and consequences of forest degradation in the country. Based on the information gathered, this paper suggests some positive steps where the Government could be the main mitigating actor by implementing integrated programmes, which will also ensure mass awareness and wider impact.

Deleveraging： Definition, Priorities and Policy Options

Dividing aggregate liabilities by GDP is not an appropriate method for calculating the leverage ratio, and may mislead deleveraging operations. In terms of an intrinsic mechanism, an appropriate measure of leverage ratio should be the liability/asset ratio. In their business operations, it is inevitable for real-economy enterprises to incur liabilities arising from business and financial transactions. Therefore, the significance of deleveraging operations is to reduce the leverage ratio below a certain threshold to effectively prevent risks arising from an excessive leverage ratio, rather than to reduce the liability ratio of real-economy enterprises to zero. For real-economy enterprises, a key question is how to adjust their debt structure by reducing current liabilities and increasing mid-and long-term liabilities. The debt structure of real-economy enterprises is primarily determined by their financial structure. Hence, it is essential to adjust the financial structure in order to improve the debt structure of real-economy enterprises and increase the share of direct finance. Various risks exist in the combination of shares and bonds within the banking system, investment-lending linkage and market-based debt-to-equity operations, which are options in reducing the leverage ratio for real-economy enterprises. From the standpoint of giving play to capital market functions, it is advisable to increase the issuance of midand long-term corporate bonds and preferred stock, restrict non-financial listed companies from engaging in financial operations and the shareholders of listed companies from selling shares, encourage equity investment institutions to enhance equity investment in realeconomy enterprises, and further develop the financing function of the stock market.

Policy Options for China's Bio-ethanol Development and the Implications for Its Agricultural Economy

The present paper analyzes the potential impacts of bio-ethanol expansion on agricultural production, food prices and farmers＇ incomes in different regions of China. The results show that increase in demand for feedstock to produce bio-ethanol will lead to large increase in the prices of agricultural products. The increase in prices will trigger a significant rise in the production of feedstock at the cost of lower rice and wheat production. The study also reveals that the impacts of bio-ethanol on farmers＂ incomes vary largely among regions and farmer groups. Given the expected expansion of bio-ethanol production in the future, and the limited land resources for feedstock production in China, the viability of different crops as feedstock for bio-ethanol requires careful analysis before a large-scale expansion of China＇s bio-ethanol program. Bio-ethanol production in China should be relying more on the second generation of bio-ethanol technologies （i.e. using celluloses to produce bio-ethanol）, and China＇s government should increase research investment in this field.

Chinese Policy Options on International Capital Flow after WTO Accession

I. IntroductionThere have been numerous studies on free capital mobility, its management and impact on developing countries’ economy during the past decades. International capital flows create opportunities for portfolio diversification and risk sharing. In classical cases, capital mobility permits a more efficient global allocation of savings and directs resources toward their most productive uses (Fischer, 1998, etc.). However,

Analysis of China's Overheated Economyand Macroeconomic Policy Options

Based on macroeconomic analysis since 2003, this article holds that a trend towardsoverheating has surfaced in Chinas economy. Chinas rapid economic expansion hasaffected the quality of its growth, with rising material and energy consumption and imbalancedeconomic structure as the main manifestations. Regarding macroeconomic policy options in2004, decision-makers should shift the policy focus from control of deflation to preventionof inflation; the pace of economic growth should be properly set; a balance betweenconsumption and investment should be strengthened by controlling excessive expansion ofinvestment, and industrial restructuring should be conducted in a coordinated manner onthe basis of properly controlling the overly rapid industrial growth; policies should becontinued to boost exports and sustainable growth of foreign investment; and more effortsshould be made to accelerate the change in the mode of economic growth.

Credit Systems for the Rural Poorin the Economic Transition of China:Institutions, Outreach, and Policy Options

Siniceundertakingmarket-orientedreformsinthelate1970s,Chinahasenjoyedrapideconomicgrowthandasubstantialreductioninpoverty.Asaresultthecountry’sfinancialsystemisunderincreasingpressuretoadjusttotheneweconomicoutlook.RuralChina,forinstance,lacksacompre...

Sustainability policy considerations for ecosystem management in Central and Eastern Europe

Here I discuss Central and Eastern European(CEE)countries as a region undergoing rapid change,resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union and admission of some of the states into the European Union.These events brought changes in governance and ecosystem management,triggering impacts on land use and biodiversity.What are some of the policy options toward sustainability in the face of these political,governance,and socioeconomic changes?Some policy considerations for ecosystem management and sustainability include taking a social-ecological systems approach to integrate biophysical subsystems and social subsystems;paying attention to institutions relevant to shared resources(commons)management;and using resilience theory to study change and guidance for governance.Documented experience in CEE seems to indicate shortcomings for both the centralized state management option and the purely market-driven option for ecosystem management.If so,a“smart mix”of state regulations,market incentives,and self-governance using local commons institutions may be the most promising policy option to foster ecosystem stewardship at multiple levels from local to international.

Where Should the Start Zone Be Located for Xiong'an New Area? A Land Use Perspective

China announced plans on April 1,2017 to create Xiong＇an New Area,a new economic zone about 110 km southwest of Beijing.The new area of national significance covers the three counties of Xiongxian,Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei Province,and is home to Baiyangdian,a major wetland in northern China.It will cover around 100 km2 initially（called ＂Starting Zone＂） and will be expanded to 200 km2 in the mid-term and about 2000 km2 in the long term.In this context,it is important to assess the land use pattern for the new area＇s planning and development.Based on remote sensing interpretation of Landsat OLI images,we examine the current land use features,the potential for built-up land saving and intensive use,and the spatial variation of arable land quality.The results indicate that the arable lands,built-up lands and wetlands account for around 60%,20% and 10%,respectively.The potential for rural built-up land saving and intensive use is quite large.The arable land quality and use intensity in Rongcheng and Anxin counties are much better than that of Xiongxian.The pros and cons for three potential options for the Starting Zone are listed and compared.The eastern area of Rongcheng county,to the north of Baiyangdian,is believed to be the most suitable Starting Zone.Policy recommendations for built-up land expansion,farmland saving and flood risk mitigation for Xiong＇an New Area are also proposed in this paper.

Variable retention harvesting: conceptual analysis according to different environmental ethics and forest valuation

Background:Conceptual clarity is important to attain precise communication of scientific knowledge and to implement appropriate technological and policy actions.Many concepts referring to forest management are widely used by decision-makers,regardless of their complexity.Although the scientific and methodological issues of forestry practices are frequently discussed in the literature,their normative dimensions are rarely treated.Thus,linguistic uncertainty increases when different environmentally ethical perspectives and ways of valuing forests are considered.The objective was to compare different conceptualizations on the silvicultural systems suggested for forest management and the implications they have for conservation.We have conceptually contrasted highintensity forestry practices with variable retention harvesting,considering different environmentally ethical perspectives and forest valuation alternatives.Results:Clear boundaries between clear-cutting,selective logging,and variable retention harvesting can be evidenced when different ethical points of view and alternatives in the human-nature relationships are considered.We have found a variety of definitions of variable retention harvesting that can be analyzed under different ethical positions.Sharply contrasting views on variable retention harvesting can be evidenced if nature is considered to be purely at human’s service or if it is conceptualized as humans co-inhabiting with nature.The latter position implies that the maintenance of ecological,evolutionary,and historical processes supported by unmanaged forest stands is a crucial step for forest management proposals based on variable retention harvesting.Conclusions:Forestry practices that are focused on forest yields and that misinterpret functional uncertainty of forest functioning would be risky.Moreover,forestry with variable retention harvesting could imply good yields with reasonable conservation management in some contexts,while it could be unacceptable in other socioecological contexts.The improvement of conceptual clarity on the different meanings of variable retention harvesting and the development of indicators for forest management based on the variations of this concept can reduce controversies.