Geospatial-Based Analysis of Balance in Elementary Education—Taking Elementary Schools in Changsha Five Core Districts as Examples

The balanced development of the elementary education sector has been a long goal pursued by the education departments of various places, and is also an outcome expected by the people. Based on a study of the equilibrium of the spatial distribution of the capacity saturation models of all the primary schools in Changsha’s (China) five core districts, the results show that the overall geographical distribution of the primary schools in Changsha is relatively balanced, based on the natural characteristics of Changsha, such as human geography, and the moderate gradient between the central urban area and the primary schools in the suburbs and outer suburbs. Then the Theil index model was introduced, and the results of the model analysis show that the differences between elementary schools in Changsha urban area are relatively small, and the main differences originate from between districts rather than within districts, and subtle differences among regions mainly reflect in the teacher strength.

Vulnerability of Water Resources and Its Spatial Heterogeneity in Haihe River Basin, China

To manage water resources effectively, a multiscale assessment of the vulnerability of water resources on the basis of political boundaries and watersheds is necessary. This study addressed issues on the vulnerability of water resources and provided a multiscale comparison of spatial heterogeneity under a climate change background. Using improved quantitative evaluation methods of vulnerabil- ity, the Theil index and the Shannon-Weaver index, we evaluated the vulnerability of water resources and its spatial heterogeneity in the Haihe River Basin in four scales, namely, second-class water resource regions （Class II WRRs）, third-class water resource regions （Class III WRRs）, Province-Class II WRRs, and Province-Class III WRRs. Results show that vulnerability enhances from the north to south in the different scales, and shows obvious spatial heterogeneity instead of moving toward convergence in multiscale assessment results. Among the Class II WRRs, the Tuhai-Majia River is the most vulnerable area, and the vulnerability of the Luanhe River is lower than that of the north of the Haihe River Basin, which in turn is lower than that of the south of the Haihe River Basin. In the scales of Class III WRRs and Province-Class III WRRs, the vulnerability shows obvious spatial heterogeneity and diversity measured by the Theil index and the Shannon-Weaver index. Multiscale vulnerability assessment results based on political boundaries and the watersheds of the Haihe River Basin innovatively provided in this paper are important and useful to characterize the real spatial pattern of the vulnerability of water resources and improve water resource management.

R/S AND WAVELET ANALYSIS ON EVOLUTIONARYPROCESS OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN CHINA DURING PAST 50 YEARS

This paper shows the dynamic process of regional disparity of economic development in China in the past 50 years from a new insight by using the rescaled range statistic (R/S) analysis and wavelet analysis of the Theil index sequence with different time scales. The main conclusions are: 1) The regional disparity of economic development in China, including the inter-provincial disparity, inter-regional disparity and intra-regional disparity, has existed for many years. Theil index by the comparative price has revealed the true trend for comparative disparity of regional economic development from 1952 to 2000. 2) Decomposition of Theil index indicates that the dynamic trend of comparative inter-provincial disparity in the coastal region is in line with dynamic trend of inter-provincial disparity in the whole China. 3) The R/S analysis results tell us that during 1966-1978, the Hurst exponent H=0.504 approximate to 0.5, which indicates that in that period the evolution of comparative inter-provincial disparity of economic development showed a random characteristic, and in the other periods, i.e. 1952-1965, 1979-1990 and 1991-2000, the Hurst exponent H>0.5, which indicates that in those periods the evolution of the comparative inter-provincial disparity of economic development in China had a long-enduring characteristic. 4) By using wavelet analysis at different time scale, we arrived at a conclusion that the evolutionary process of the disparity of economic development of China is not a simple inverted U shape but a compound of several U shapes. The result tells us that the evolutionary plot of inter-provincial disparity in China follows the inverted U on the whole at the higher scale, 24 ( 16 years). That is to say, the disparity tends to rise in the first stage of economic development, and fall slowly over the peak in the second stage of economic development. However, if we shorten the time scale to 23 ( 8 years), then a link of several U shapes will appear.

Do rural highways narrow Chinese farmers'income gap among provinces?

To achieve complete poverty alleviation,the improvement of infrastructure and living conditions is fundamental.Promoting the flow of factors through infrastructure investment,thereby reducing the income gap among residents,has become an important focus of poverty alleviation.Because of the high amount of investment in transportation infrastructure,greater attention has been paid to the income distribution effect it brings,but few studies have analysed the effect of rural highways on the income gap of farmers.Based on the panel data pertaining to 30 provinces in China from 1993 to 2013,this paper uses a fixed-effect model to test the impact of rural highways supply on the income gap of farmers.The empirical results show that:(1)The effect of Chinese rural highways on the farmers'income gap among provinces is"U-shaped".(2)Chinese national and provincial trunk highways are helpful in narrowing the farmers'income gap among provinces.(3)The level of education,household productive fixed assets investment,level of urbanization,and level of regional economic development have multiple effects on the farmers'income gap among provinces.Then,based on the empirical analysis,the paper analyzes the mechanism of rural highways affecting the income gap of farmers from a theoretical perspective and focuses on the causes of the"U-shaped"relationship between rural highways supply and farmers'income gap.

The impact of industrial distribution on the distribution of pollution:Evidence from China

This study aims to investigate the effect of industrial development strategies on the distribution of pollution in China.For this purpose,it uses the Theil index to measure the degree to which pollution was concentrated in particular areas of China from 2003 to 2015.Using chart analysis,it shows that industries became more widely spread out over time,and finds water-polluted cities but no air-polluted cities in areas of high industry concentration.Employing estimates from the Theil indices,I find that,while the within-region and between-region imbalances of industrial output were both reduced by the strategic plan,the speed of water pollution diversion does not align with the overall movement of industries,and there is not much between-region movement in wastewater pollution.The distribution of soot emissions is found to differ significantly from that of industrial output,with negligible initial levels and subsequent changes in the between-region concentration of soot emissions.Most of the initial concentration and changes in concentration are within region,suggesting that industrial development strategies have helped spread industries out more evenly.Meanwhile,the distribution of industries is found to have changed the distribution of water pollution,but it did not have any impact on the concentration of air pollution.

Systematic measurement and spatiotemporal evolution of agricultural versatility in China

In this study,the entropy weight method was used to measure the agricultural versatility of 30 provinces in China(excluding Tibet,Hong Kong,Macao,and Taiwan)from 2008 to 2019.In addition,the Theil index method and kernel density estimation were used to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the agricultural versatility in each province.The results show that the agricultural product supply and social security functions rapidly developed,but the economic development was weak.From 2008 to 2019,the total functional index of agriculture increased by 6.74%;the functional index of the agricultural product supply,social security,and ecological services increased by 12.72%,5.53%,and 2.05%,respectively;and the functional index of economic development decreased by 1.32%.The development of agricultural multifunctions in China is regionally heterogeneous.Based on the Theil index method,the differences in the agricultural functions of the three regions are mainly due to intragroup differences.The contribution of intragroup differences of the eight economic regions is significantly lower than that of the three regions.However,intragroup differences dominate the agricultural product supply,economic development,and social security functions and intergroup differences control the ecological service function.The kernel density estimation curve shows that the overall agricultural functional evaluation index increased,among which the agricultural product supply function increased the most.

Difference of Life Expenses among Rural Residents——A Case of Anhui Province,China

Literature review on the status of consumption difference of rural residents and its causation analysis is carried out.Most researches introduce the status and causation of consumption cap in rural residents from different aspects,which mainly analyze the obsolete data from the macroscopic angle by measuring methods.Only a few researches analyze the data in recent years from the provincial angle by using Theil index as the analysis index.Therefore,taking Anhui Province as an example,Theil index is selected to calculate the consumption gap of rural residents in Anhui Province in the years 2003-2008,according to the sample survey of rural households in Anhui Province in the years 2004-2009.Through the analysis of living consumption expenditure of rural residents,consumption change and its various internal causes are studied.Result shows that differentiation change of food and residence consumption expenditure is the major reason for the differentiation change of living consumption expenditure.Proportions of other expenditures are relatively small,having little impact on the living consumption of rural residents.Based on this,suggestions are put forward in order to minimize the difference in living consumption expenditure in rural areas,such as enhancing the income level of middle and low-income family in rural areas,improving the reform of education and health care,and strengthening the construction of rural road.

Regional Disparities of China's Economic Development during 1992-2013——Based on DMSP/OLS Nighttime Lights Data of Cities

Balanced regional development is essential to China's economic stability and efficiency and achievement of the goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Based on the DMSP/OLS nighttime lights data of 291 cities at or above prefecture level during 1992-2013, this paper examines the regional disparities and trends of Chinese mainland's economic development. The findings are as follows:(1) During sample observation period, China's overall regional disparities generally declined despite some volatility; China's intra-regional disparities have been curbed yet a consistent framework for inter-regional economic coordination is lacking.(2) Southern coastal region contributes a significant share to China's overall regional disparities as the developed cities of Guangdong Province did not create a significant spatial spillover effect on neighboring regions.(3) According to the result of spatial Markov transition probability estimation, spatial factor has played a remarkable role in the evolution of China's regional economy and proximity to high-level regions will accelerate a region's transition toward higher levels.

Spatial Analysis of the Evolvement of Urban and Rural Economic Disparity in Yunnan Province,China

The per capita disposable income of urban households and the per capita net income of rural households in Yunnan Province are selected as the variable indices.Data are from the Yunnan Statistical Yearbook and the Yunnan Statistical Yearbook.Theil index and RHL value are used to carry out quantitative research on the occurrence,development and change of urban and rural economic disparity in Yunnan Province,China.Regression analysis on the evolvement trend of urban and rural economic disparity and spatial analysis on the convergence and divergence of urban and rural disparity caused by economic growth in Yunnan Province are carried out.Result shows that cities in Yunnan Province show a downward convergence;while rural areas show a downward divergence in the years 1978-2007,causing the economic disparity between urban and rural areas.Therefore,urban and rural disparity increases in Yunnan Province and the development of rural areas lags far behind the development of urban areas.Urban and rural economic disparity in Yunnan Province shows an inverted "U" shape of Kuznets Curve.In order to promote the coordinated development of urban and rural economy,suggestions are put forward,such as adopting the unbalanced development strategy,accelerating the overall economic development,promoting the development of small and medium-sized cities,enhancing the integration of urban and rural economics,appropriately supporting rural areas under poverty,and fully exerting the comparative advantage.

Trends and Regional Variations in Carbon Productivity across China

This paper utilizes the Theil and decoupling indices to analyze variation in carbon productivity as well as the factors that influence regional carbon productivity in China and proposes carbon emission reduction countermeasures. The authors conclude that most provinces exhibit year-on-year rising carbon productivity, a trend which decreases moving from east to western China. When applied to carbon productivity, the Theil index presents distinct regional differences. Moreover, the regional variance in carbon productivity is consistently reduced in eastern China and becomes smaller in central China. The difference, however, grows in western China. Carbon productivity grows with the highest speed in central China and the lowest speed in western China. Overall variation in carbon productivity mainly arises from intra-regional difference, whereas inter-regional difference mainly contributed by eastern China. In recent years; both the decoupling index, a dynamic value equal to the rate of change rate in carbon emissions divided by the rate of change in GDP during a given period of time, and carbon productivity vary in different economic development stages. Even if under the same decoupling state, carbon productivity remains different in three regions, i.e., that of the eastern region is higher than the other two regions .

Spatiotemporal changes and influencing factors of the intensity of agricultural water footprint in Xinjiang, China

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,the largest agricultural high-efficiency water-saving arid area in China,was adopted to explore the coupling relationship between agricultural water consumption and economic benefits,which is of great significance to guiding the efficient utilization and sustainable development of agricultural water resources.This study utilizes an indicator,termed the Agricultural Water Footprint Intensity(short as AWFI,which means the amount of water resource consumed per unit of agricultural GDP),to study the economic benefits of agricultural water in Xinjiang from 1991-2018.In addition,the Theil index,a measure of the imbalance between individuals or regions,was used to study the evolution in the spatial differences in water efficiency,and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index(LMDI)method was applied to quantify the factors driving the AWFI.The results showed that AWFI in Xinjiang has experienced three stages:obvious decline,stable and slow decline,which decreased from 16114 m^(3)/10^(4) CNY to 2100 m^(3)/10^(4) CNY,decreasing by 86.97%.The Theil index indicated that the spatial evolution of 14 prefectures(cities)resembled an inverted N-shaped Kuznets curve over time.Among the influencing factors,the contributions of water-saving technology and planting structure to the change in the AWFI in Xinjiang,China from 1991 to 2018 were 154.03%and−37.98%,respectively.The total contribution to AWFI of the total population,urbanization rate,and production scale was−16.06%.This study concluded that further improvements in the economic benefits of agricultural water consumption can be obtained by continuing to promote more efficient or“water-conservation”irrigation technologies(engineering aspects),adjusting the planting structure(policy guidance aspects),and intensive management of cultivated land(management aspects).

Measurement on the Construction Level of China's Green, Low-Carbon, and Circular-Development Economic System

This study aims to measure how well China's green,low-carbon,and circulardevelopment economic system(theGLCCD Economic System)is being developed.By establishing the indicator system and indicators,the spatiotemporal range entropy weight method,Gini coefficient,Theil index,convergence model,and national and provincial data from 2012 to 2017 are employed.The construction level of almost all GLCCD Economic Systems at national and provincial levels has shown improvement during the study period.Among them,a significant boost is only observed in the development power indicator;improvement in the production system indicator and development benefit indicatorismild,andthelifesystemindicator sees a decline year by year.The construction level of the GLCCD Economic System throughout China is generally balanced but tends to expand in scale.However,the inter-regional developmenttbenefit indicator showsaconvergence trend.Based on the analysis of the similarities and differences between greenandlow-carboncircular development,the development power and development benefit,production system,and life system are incorporated into a unified logical framework.The construction level of the GLCCD Economic System is measured as a whole in a holistic manner.This study finds out the scientific connotation oftheGLCCD Economic System.The changing trends and regional differences in the construction level of the GLCCD Economic System are revealed.These findings provide a clear and reliable decision-making basis for the construction of the GLCCD Economic System.

Spatiotemporal differences and influencing factors of multiple cropping index in China during 1998-2012

Raising the level of the multiple cropping index （MCI） plays a critical role in food production of China. Therefore, exploring the spatiotemporal differences and factors of the MCI in China is of important practical significance. This paper examines the trend of multiple cropping index （MCI） changes in China at the national, regional and provincial levels during 1998-2012. Based on the Theil index, this paper explores the spatiotemporal differences of the MCI in China. Additionally, a spatial econometric model is used to identify the determi- nants of the spatiotemporal differences of the MCI from a behavioral perspective. The results are summarized as follows： （1） From the national perspective, the MCI shows an increasing trend year by year, rising from 120.1% in 1998 to 134.26% in 2012; （2） at the regional level, the northeastern region is the fastest growing area in terms of MCI, whereas the central region is the slowest growing area. The central region has the highest MCI level, whereas the northeastern region is connected to the lowest MCI level; （3） according to the Theil index value, the differences in the MCI show a narrowing trend from 0.11 in 1998 to 0.03 in 2012, which is primarily attributed to the differences among the four regions; （4） the MCI shows differences among China＇s 31 provinces, and the gap that it shows is great; and （5） the proportion of non-agricultural population has a significant negative effect on the MCI. However, the proportions of non-agricultural industry, agricultural policy, per capita operating arable land area and rural household per capita net income have a significant positive impact on the MCI. Therefore, the following policies are suggested to increase the level of China＇s cultivated land MCI： transferring rural surplus labor, increasing the farmers＇ income, accelerating the transfer of the use rights of arable land, developing the scale effect of land use, providing further support and benefits to farmers in less developed regions and major grain-producing areas, and strengthening the role of the national agricultural policy.

Regional Inequality of Higher Education in China and the Role of Unequal Economic Development

Over the past decade the scale of higher education in China has expanded substantially.Regional development policies have attempted to make use of scale expansion as a tool to reduce inequality of higher education among regions with different development levels by providing poor regions with preferential treatment and support.This paper analyzes a provincial dataset(1997-2008),aiming to provide comprehensive quantitative evidence for the development of inequality of opportunity in higher education across provinces in China over the period of scale expansion.Results show that,for higher education,regional inequality relative to provincial population size clearly decreased over the research period.Accompanying the reduction in overall inequality across provinces,inequality between poor and rich regions actually increased over the same period.However,the increase was realized in favor of the poor region.The empirical results are consistent with the policy orientation of reforming the higher education system and of promoting regional development in China over the past decade.

Regional Inequality of Higher Education Resources in China

With the expansion of the higher education system in China since the late 1990s,questions on the distribution of higher education opportunities and resources have attracted increasing attention from academics,policymakers,and the general public.While there have been an increasing studies on the development of higher education opportunity equality in China,quantitative,systematic research on the distribution of higher education resources across China is still rather limited.This paper aims at filling this gap.It provides quantitative and comprehensive evidence on the development of the distribution of higher education resources across Chinese provinces.The analysis is based on a provincial panel dataset and uses a generalized Theil index to measure inequality.Results show that higher education resources have been far from equally provided in relation to the size of provincial student populations in China.The unequal distribution has become even more pronounced over the past decade.In other words,even if high school students have an increasingly equal access to higher education in China(Bickenbach&Liu,2013b),the increasingly unequal distribution of higher education resources makes it difficult for university students to equally benefit from higher education.

Land Economic Density in China:Regional Differences and Influencing Factors

With the help of the Theil index,this paper analyzes the regional and intra-regional disparities in the Land Economic Density(LED)of the provincial-level regions in China from 2008 to 2017.The Pearson correlation coefficient is also employed to reveal the relationship between influencing factors and the LED of the empirical regions,so as to further identify differences in the LED of different regions.The paper finds that firstly,the average LED on the national scale has grown gradually from about 787 million yuan/km^(2) in 2008 to around 1,396 million yuan/km^(2) in 2017.Secondly,the intra-regional disparity in LED shows a decrease trend.Conversely,the regional disparity in LED has increased year by year.Thirdly,the LED of different regions has different correlations with their influencing factors.Finally,both education and technology input have a significantly positive correlation with the LED,and a negative correlation with urban-rural consumption ratio,which indicates that improving the education and technology input could balance regional development and narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas.