Will Higher Industry Concentration Promote Food Safety?

Given the serious situation of food safety in China, the Chinese government has followed the policy of diverting resources to certain competitive firms and thus increasing market concentration as a means to improve food safety. This policy departs from the common practice in advanced economies of encouraging competition and restraining excessive corporate expansion. Based on the theoretical analysis framework of game theory, this paper investigates the impact of increased industry concentration on food safety. Our study finds that in a market environment where quality food enjoys a high premium, greater evenness of corporate size across firms will be conducive to mutual cooperation among firms for the provision of quality and safe food. Yet if the market is less sophisticated and the premium for quality food is low, it will be difficult to form mutual cooperation among firms and easier for low quality food manufacturers to take a free ride. In these circumstances, the larger size of quality food firms will make them less vulnerable to be affected by free rides and more motivated to manufacture quality and safe food. The latter scenario is consistent with China's market reality. Hence, increasing industry concentration in the current stage is conducive to mitigating the food safety crisis. Yet with the gradual improvement in market conditions, a competitive policy will be a better option in the long run.

Spatial-temporal Pattern Evolution of Manufacturing Geographical Agglomeration and Influencing Factors of Old Industrial Base:A Case of Jilin Province,China

The primary object of this paper is to examine the spatial-temporal pattern evolution of manufacturing geographical agglomeration of the old industrial base.Industrial spatial agglomeration index and concentration ratio are used in this paper.Multiple linear regression models are also applied to try to explore the internal driving mechanisms on manufacturing geographical agglomeration.The results show that:1) the manufacturing agglomeration degree of Jilin Province is increasing gradually.The spatial polarization structure is visible;and the central region is the agglomeration area,in addition,the manufacturing industries of Changchun Proper present a trend of dispersion;2) the structure of manufacturing industries has changed,and the concentration ratio of labor-intensive manufacturing industry is declining,while the proportions of technology-intensive and capital-intensive manufacturing industry are relatively rising;3) marketing level,location accessibility,labor resources,capital,science and technology innovation capability,scale economy and the level of globalization affect manufacturing agglomeration with different degree.There are significant differences of the effects about employment,technology,the quality of residents and the export-oriented market on the industrial concentration ratio;4) in the future,the impact of policy and institution,export-oriented market and quality of resident on manufacturing geographical agglomeration pattern will be more profound.

Analysis of OPEC’s Monopoly in Crude Oil Market

This article briefly and historically reviews the polices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries （OPEC） and analyzes the factors that facilitate or hinder OPEC＇s monopoly in the crude oil market. The industrial concentration ratio is chosen to measure OPEC＇s monopoly power based on the data from 1986 to 2004. It is concluded that OPEC possesses a long-standing cartel foundation and a rather strong monopoly in the world crude oil market. At the same time, there are unstable factors that influence and even weaken OPEC＇s monopoly.

Optimizing Urban Spatial Structure of Lanzhou Based on Geographic Concentration Method of Industries

Geographic concentration of industries is the regional- ized distribution of some industries in certain areas, which focuses on the ratio of a certain industry to the whole industries (He and Liu, 2006). In this paper we explore the improved M function of geographic concentration that adds the parameter of the number of firms according to the definition of geographic concentration of industries. The spatial distribution of the main manufacturing industries of Lanzhou urban area is evaluated based on it. The results of the evaluation imply that the spatial distribution of the main manufacturing industries is more concentrated than that of others in Lanzhou and it can absorb lots of labor forces. But the incidence, competition ability and density of the distribution of enterprises are different for each single sector, and enterprises with different production features are located closely. And three main problems are discovered. Finally, three countermeasures are put forward: locating the industrial enterprises in urban areas in a proper way through planning and policies; adjusting the industrial structure of the inner city; strengthening the local rearrangement of the existing industrial concentration areas.

Study on Treatment Technologies of High Concentrations of Industrial Organic Wastewater

The characteristics and harm of high concentrations of organic wastewater were introducecl firstly, and then several treatment processes and effects of high concentrations of organic wastewater were summarized, which can provide theoretical references for the choice of wastewater treatment process.

The Concentration Degree of Nationwide Rare Earth Industry Increased Significantly

Since the'Twelfth Five Year Plan'period,China has made considerable progress in the organization and setup of large rare earth groups,layout of rare earth industry has become more rational,the concentration degree has increased significantly,the previously small,scattered,and chaotic situation has basically been reversed.