Utility Representations of Preferences on General Choice Spaces

The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the utility representation problem of preferences,Sev-eral representation theorems are obtained on general choice spaces.Preferences having continuous utility functions are characterized by their continuities and countable satiation.It is showed that on a pairwise separable choice space,the sufficient and necessary condition for a preference to be represented by a contin-uous utility function is that the preference is continuous and countably satiable.For monotone prefer-ences,we obtain that any space has continuous utility representations.

A Spatial Econometric Approach to Studying Regional Air Pollution in China

Using spatial econometric method,this paper investigates the mutual influence of air pollution among 31 Chinese provincial regions,together with the effects of energy mix and economic variations.Global spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals that significant positive spatial correlation exists for air pollution;Local spatial autocorrelation analysis indicates that pollution aggregation hot spots are concentrated in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,the Yangtze River Delta and part of the central region between these two economic growth poles.This paper believes that industrial relocation is a major reason behind such distribution of air pollution in China as it has deepened the spatial correlation between interregional economy and pollution,which will further give rise to the spatial spillover effect of pollution.With the creation of the regression model of spatial and Environmental Kuznets Curve,the authors discovered that the level of pollution is closely related to energy mix and industrial structure.In addition,the inverted U-shape relationship between air pollution and economic development as demonstrated by previous studies does not exist or is yet to appear in China,where continuous growth of per capita GDP is accompanied by an increasing level of pollution.According to empirical analysis,the improvement of environmental quality at the expense of industrial relocation to neighboring regions is temporary.Due to the existence of spillover effect of pollution,regions that have enforced tighter environmental regulation such as Beijing and Tianjin are unable to acquire all benefits from such regulation.Treatment of air pollution necessitates interregional joint prevention and control.In the long run,adjusting energy mix and optimizing industrial structure are the key to fighting air pollution.But in the short run,reducing the consumption of inferior coal is the most effective option for China,which has seen multiple-fold increase in imports of inferior coal each year.

Economic Growth is not at Odds with Environmental Efforts

This paper gives an analysis on the reasons for China's rapid economic growth, highlighting its momentum and challenges. It includes the study and forecast on the growth rate during the "11th Five-year Plan" period and the achievability of energy conservation and greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, putting forward four policy recommendations in response to the new developments in the economy since 2006.

Reducing pollution by adjusting China's trade mix—A case study using SO_2 emissions

This paper investigates the impact of foreign trade on China’s pollution emissions using an input-output model. Generally speaking,as exports are more pollution-intensive than imports,foreign trade helps reduce China’s emissions. Given the huge surplus of trade in goods and declines in the ratio of import/export emission intensities,an emission deficit emerged in China’s foreign trade.The fundamental cause is the worsening product mix of foreign trade.With technical progress outpaced by foreign trade growth,however,total emissions of export goods have been on the rise.

Export fluctuation and overcapacity in China’s manufacturing industry--The inspection of the causes of excess capacity from the perspective of external demand

Intuitively speaking,there is an inverse proportional relationship between exports and overcapacity,which means in export’s busy season enterprises would expand output and improve capacity utilisation rate but control yields to avoid dull sale in slack season,causing exacerbated excess capacity.However,this is just the reflections of“sales effect”on overcapacity by export fluctuation.For some enterprises,there is indeed“competition effect”which may alleviate overcapacity because enterprises face even more fierce domestic competition for the sake of weak exports and may increase the utilisation load of existing capacity in order to cut costs.A test is conducted in this paper to verify the relationship between export fluctuation and excess capacity based on data of China's manufacturing industry from 2001 to 2013.The overall results indicate that export fluctuation is not the significant cause for excess capacity.In the small and medium-sized enterprises or in industries with higher proportion of non-state capital,the negative relationship between exports and excess capacity is more obvious,with“sales effect”taking a dominant position.On the other hand,under the influence of“competition effect”,the relationship between the two may be positive.Thus,external demand shocks exert different influence on the alleviation of excess capacity of different industries,and extensively driven exports may not have anticipated effect on the dissolution of the excess capacity.To regulate overcapacity with the aid of external market,a fair and orderly competition environment should be provided to the export subjects of different size and ownerships.