On the Expansion and Realization of the Right to Environmental Information in Environmental Protection Supervision

As an innovation in the environmental governance system that breaks the traditional hierarchical structure,environmental protection supervision has not only played a significant role in protecting tangible environmental rights but also expanded the basic scope of the right to environmental information—part of procedural environmental rights.In the supervision of environmental protection,the objects of the right to environmental information and the subjects of the obligation to provide environmental information have been both expanded,with the focus shifting from government information to Party information and from administrative organs to Party organs.This vividly demonstrates the Communist Party of China’s concrete efforts to protect human rights in the field of the endeavor to build an ecological civilization.At present,the realization of the right to environmental information in environmental protection supervision still faces problems such as insufficient standards and norms,disordered practice and operation,and lack of liability guarantee.In this context,based on renewing relevant subjects’cognition of the right to know in environmental protection supervision,we should further improve and specify the rule for disclosing information about environmental protection supervision,rationally distribute the obligations for information disclosure in environmental protection supervision,and clarify the accountability rules for violating relevant requirements for information disclosure,so as to promote the overall development of the environmental protection supervision system while guaranteeing the realization of the right to environmental information.

Does the Environmental Supervision System Improve Air Quality in China?An Empirical Study using the Difference-in-Differences Model

To effectively solve the problem of environmental pollution,the Chinese government has implemented an environmental supervision system since 2002.The environmental supervision system mainly uses the four functions of supervision,investigation,coordination,and emergency response to strengthen environmental protection supervision and law enforcement,respond to environmental emergencies,and coordinate cross-regional pollution disputes.As an important system design for China to control environmental pollution and promote the ecological transformation of economic development,the policy effect of the environmental supervision system deserves attention.This paper uses the difference-in-differences method to investigate the impact of the top-down environmental supervision system on air quality based on the 2000-2016 data for 285 prefecture-level cities in China.The results indicate that the annual average concentration of PM_(2.5)decreased significantly after the implementation of the environmental supervision system.The dynamic analysis shows that PM_(2.5)decreased most markedly in the first year after the implementation of the policy,and then the effect gradually weakened.Mechanism analysis suggests that the environmental supervision system can break the collusion between government and enterprise,encourage enterprises to carry out technological innovation,change pollutant discharge behavior and push local governments to adjust the industrial structure,enhance environmental protection awareness to reduce the PM_(2.5)concentration,and improve air quality.Comparing different regions,the PM_(2.5)in East China,North China and Northeast China are relatively high,and the pressure for air pollution control is great.Meanwhile,we find that the environmental supervision system has a significant station effect.Compared with other cities,the cities where the environmental supervision centers are located are more deterred by the environmental supervision,and their air quality has improved to a significantly greater degree.In the future,we should further strengthen the environmental supervision of high-pollution areas and non-station cities,and pay more attention to improving the long-term effect of the environmental supervision system.

Study on Effective Approaches of Funds Gap Management in Commercial Banks

Funds gap management, as the key point of interest rate management, has become a major approach to prevent financial crisis. This paper presents three ways of how to control the funds gap from the points of improving exterior environment, enhancing the supervision for central government to commercial banks and improving the internal control of the commercial banks.

环境监察工作中的公众参与

文章重点谈环境执法和监察工作中的公众参与问题,公众参与已成为当前环保战线的重要课题。

How does smog affect firms' investment behavior? A natural experiment based on a sudden surge in the PM2.5 index

This study examines the effect of environmental regulations on the investment behavior of high-polluting enterprises.Our data are from A-share listed ?rms in China from 2006 to 2014.We use a sudden surge in the PM2.5 index as an exogenous event to conduct a natural experiment.We?nd that after the event with a series of regulatory policies introduced,investment expenditure declines signi?cantly in local state-owned enterprises(SOEs)and non-state-owned enterprises(non-SOEs),whereas investment opportunity declines signi?cantly in non-SOEs compared with SOEs.However,there are no signi?cant changes in central SOEs’investment expenditure and investment opportunity.Further analysis shows that investment expenditure and investment opportunity decline for high-polluting enterprises located in East China but increase for those located in West China.Our study is the?rst to investigate the effect of smog on enterprises’investment behavior.Our?ndings reveal that environmental regulation has in?uence on the investment behavior of enterprises with different property rights and regional differences.