Higher Education Admission Policy and Social Class of Ethnic Minority:The Case of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,China

Gaokao has been considered as the gatekeeper of intergenerational class reproduction in today’s slowing social mobility in China.In order to bolster the fairness of Gaokao,the Policy of Bonus Scores for Ethnic Minority Candidates(PBSEMC)has been issued,whose,however,effectiveness in promoting upward social class has not been adequately empirically explored.The difference-in-differences(DID)analysis based on cross-sectional data,which is distinct from the traditional DID analysis paradigm,was implemented to assess the Reform of PBSEMC in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1988.The results showed that PBSEMC had a significant and positive impact on the social classes of ethnic minorities,and gender,residence type and occupation type were also relevant to social class,aligning with the previous literature.The PBSEMC is effective in improving the social classes of ethnic minorities.However,the PBSEMC policy should be made more precise,in order to benefit the candidates who are in genuine need of assistance.

China’s Institutional Strength,Monetary Policy Coordination and Fiscal Crowding-in Effect

As two main tools of macroeconomic policies,coordination and conflict between fiscal and monetary policies have been paid considerable attention by researchers.Under a structural vector autoregressive model that incorporates fiscal and monetary policies,this paper analyzes the monetary policy response to fiscal shocks.Our study finds that during the occurrence of a fiscal shock,the growth rate of broad money supply M2 substantially increased,indicating the adoption of an expansionary monetary policy by the monetary authority to fiscal policy expansion.Based on this empirical finding,this paper improves the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to investigate the fiscal policy effects under China’s monetary policy coordination.Our analysis shows that monetary policy coordination will significantly boost the economic stimulus effect of fiscal policy,generating a fiscal crowding-in effect.From the perspective of China’s institutional strength,this conclusion offers a theoretical explanation on the empirical fact of the fiscal crowdingin effect uncovered in the research literature,and offers a policy reference for making the proactive fiscal policy more efficient and effective.This paper suggests that China’s policymakers give full play to the country’s institutional strength by coordinating fiscal and monetary policies for high-quality economic development.

ASEAN Cybersecurity Policy and China-ASEAN Cooperation

Threats and vulnerabilities in the digital environment have brought extensive cybersecurity risks to all countries’economic and social activities.Cybersecurity and digital security governance are important issues for ASEAN countries,and they are one of the common non-traditional security issues faced by China and ASEAN countries.

A View of Beijing’s Traffic Policy:Evaluation on the Policies Released in 2010 to Ease Traffic Congestion

In today’s society where the economy is developing rapidly and the process of urbanization is accelerating,the traffic in major cities in China is facing tremendous pressure.The economy of Beijing has developed rapidly,its population is dense,the living standard of people has improved significantly,and the number of cars has increased dramatically.From the end of 2005 to the end of November 2010,motor vehicles in Beijing increased from about 2.58 million to about 4.69 million.The problem of traffic congestion has become more prominent,affecting the daily lives of the residents.

Monetary Policy Effects and Output Growth in Malawi: Using a Small Macroeconometric Model

This study tries to develop and use a small macroeconometric model to capture the main short-term macro dynamics and to forecast major macroeconomic variables of the Malawian economy. The results show that a reduction in the policy rate leads to a fall in the lending rate, but with an increase in money supply, and with an insignificant impact on output growth. The results suggest that monetary authorities in Malawi have to make a choice between the objectives of maintaining lower money supply and lowering the lending rate. The results also suggest that, despite the Reserve Bank of Malawi Act of 1989 stipulating that monetary authorities should pursue both price and high growth and employment objectives, our results reveal that price stability is the principal objective of monetary policy in the country. Suggesting that monetary authorities in the country should not only place more emphasis on the objective of stabilization and achieving low inflation, but also focus on supporting strong, sustained and shared growth. To some extent further suggesting that emphasis should be placed on policies and strategies aimed at structurally transforming the Malawian economy so that the monetary policies’ impact should translate into an increase in the country’s output and growth. Further suggesting enhanced effective coordination between fiscal and monetary policies.

Elite capture,the“follow-up checks”policy,and the targeted poverty alleviation program:Evidence from rural western China

Decentralized methods for targeting poverty are widely adopted in developing countries to improve the performance of various poverty alleviation programs.A common challenge for implementing successful decentralized targeting is the existence of elite capture.China has recently implemented a nationwide decentralized poverty targeting program,the targeted poverty alleviation(TPA)policy,to achieve the national goal of eliminating absolute poverty by the end of 2020.As the largest decentralized poverty targeting program in the world,TPA's successful implementation was believed to be threatened by elite capture in some earlier reports.Since 2015,a targeting correction mechanism,called"follow-up checks"policy,has been introduced.With the"follow-up checks"policy,the elites and other ineligible households who receive benefits under TPA were removed from the program.This paper investigates the elite capture phenomenon in TPA using village census data from a poverty-stricken county in 2017-two years after implementing the"follow-up checks"policy.We find no evidence of elite capture in TPA.The elites are unlikely to become beneficiaries or receive more benefits than non-elites.Our results contradict earlier findings that reported elite capture in TPA.We argue that the reason is the accountability emphasized by the central government in the"follow-up checks"policy.Our findings imply that having proper accountability is critical for improving targeting performance by global antipoverty initiatives.

Resources and international climate change policy gridlock

Few other policy zones are as complex as the issue of climate change.If the more pessimistic projections of climate change doom are correct,then the failure to address the issue is likely to be catastrophic and irreversible.The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted the potential extinction of many species and that the existence of small-island and other vulnerable countries will be threatened if business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions continue.Climate change is a transboundary problem and requires unprecedented levels of cooperation between states and serious and sustained responses from major emitters.However,the growing demand and consumption of natural resources for continued energy security and cornucopian economic growth have undermined the outcomes of international climate change negotiations.It is argued here that there is a strong connection between the major emitters'positions at United Nations'climate talks,their possessions,dependence and consumption of natural resources,and the continued undermining of international climate change policy for unsustainable growth.This paper assesses the resource politics of the US,China,India,Canada,Russia,and Saudi Arabia and their positions at climate talks to show the link between lack of climate change policy progress and the positions of these main players.

Toward a more open and collaborative climate change policy framework in Hong Kong and Macao within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao enjoy a high degree of autonomy from the national policy system in devising their local policies,including measures related to climate change.Hong Kong and Macao each have their own climate change policies,some aspects of which are more advanced than policies in China's Mainland.While their high degree of policy autonomy has advantages,this has also isolated them from China's larger environmental management and practices that continue to advance at scale.This paper reviews the climate change policies of the two special administrative regions and analyzes their strengths and innovations,particularly in adaptation.It also identifies areas where there could be closer engagement,collaboration,and capacity-building with the China's Mainland,which has the potential for greater positive impacts,especially on a regional basis.

Renewable energy in Australia:a wider policy discourse

This paper assesses the evolution of generation technology-mix in Australia,with specific emphasis on understanding how such evolution has been shaped by wider political and socioeconomic influences.This assessment is predicated on the argument that the contemporary,quintessentially techno-economic,policy discourse on renewable energy is deficient,as it ignores climacteric political and socio-economic influences on generation technology-mix.The methodological framework employed in this paper is informed by the core tenets of technological change theory.The assessment suggests that generation technology-mix in Australia has historically been overwhelmingly influenced by the underlying technological paradigm of the electricity industry;and that this technological paradigm essentially draws its imprimatur from the wider political and socio-economic contexts.By implication,it suggests that a rapid uptake of renewables will have widespread ramifications,extending into political,socio-economic and cultural realms of a society.Clearly,existing policy discourse-that tends to focus on technical potentials,cost competitiveness,externalities and risks of various renewable technologies-is deficient.A much broader discourse is needed.This paper also made an attempt to develop a basis for such a discourse by reviewing broader aspects of the Australian society that would be affected by a rapid uptake of renewables.

Perspective on the Potential Impact of Climate Change on China’s Aviation Safety Development and Policy Suggestions

With the rapid development of social economy,the strategic position of civil aviation in the national economy is highlighted,and its development potential is enormous.Extreme weather events under the background of climate change have brought great challenges to aviation safety.Starting with the rapid development of civil aviation in China,based on the trend of increasing the risk of aviation security and the risk of economic loss under the warming background,the effect of climate change on aviation safety development was analyzed from seven aspects: extreme weather and climate events affecting aviation safety,the number of takeoff limit days,fog and haze (low visibility) affecting aviation safety,flight time increasing,takeoff condition of high plateau airport changing,aircraft corrosion and clear-air turbulence,and the possible impact of the development of aviation industry on climate change was analyzed.Finally,based on the mutual influence of climate change and aviation industry,five policy suggestions were proposed,including the scientific planning of the new airport layout,the construction of the aviation meteorological data sharing platform,the comprehensive assessment of the impact of climate change on the aviation,the development of the aeronautical weather index insurance and new risk response training for aviation staff under the background of climate change.This study has a reference value for a comprehensive understanding of the interaction between climate change and the development of aviation safety in China.

THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND OUR FOREIGN POLICY

After the bombing of our embassy in Belgrade, Chinese students of internationalrelations tensely discussed about China’s international environment. The manyopinions fell into two basic groups. One expressed the belief that the war in Kosovobrought about a fundamental change of the international environment; the othergroup thought that the Kosovo War merely reflected the post-Cold War interna-tional reality rather than changing the international environment. In order to cor-

An Evaluation Synthesis of US AIDS Drug Assistance Program Policy

US Congress passed the CARE Act in 1990 in response to a dramatically growing need for resources to combat the AIDS epidemic. One of the programs contained in the Act was the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), a federally-funded but state-maintained and managed program primarily concerned with providing medication for low-income HIV/AIDS patients. While ADAP programs across the country reached one-third of all patients in 2007, these programs are now in budgetary danger due to the economic recession, state budgetary constraints, the rising cost of healthcare generally, and longer life expectancies associated with current highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This paper first evaluates the current state of ADAP, its strengths and weaknesses, and examines its sustainability in the short term if short-term measures are taken. Concluding that such measures would not lead to long-term sustainability, this paper then argues for a long-term solution to ADAP’s current problems, namely a national, centralized ADAP standard for budgetary and administrative matters. Such a program would increase the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of current ADAP programs by employing more efficient, standard policies and allowing larger, wholesale purchases of costly HAART medications. Moreover, a national policy would address the disparity that currently exists in ADAP programs today with regard to both minorities and those on the waiting lists for treatment. The institution of a national ADAP program would certainly face many political hurdles. Consequently, this paper also looks to a recent political dispute, the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), for guidance. Using the passage of the ACA as an example could light the path for passage of a national ADAP standard. Ultimately, this would lead to a more effective and sustainable program for HIV/AIDS patients in the United States.

Policy options for addressing the high cost of specialty pharmaceuticals

The cost to U.S.consumers of specialty drugs is too high,and cost-sharing obligations are reducing patient access to affordable and life-changing medications.While accounting only for approximately two percent of prescriptions filled,specialty drugs accounted for nearly 45 percent of the U.S.drug spend in 2018,and this rate continues to rise.This review analyzes the current state of the U.S.specialty drug market and recommends six policy options for decreasing out-of-pocket costs to consumers.A systematic review was conducted,gathering articles from peer-reviewed and government resources published from January 2014 to May 2019 using databases such as PubMed,OVID,and the Congressional Research Service(CRS).Articles were reviewed for unique and relevant information relating to cost specialty drugs,industry trends,underlying legislation and policy challenges,and viable policy options.The findings show that,while the cost of specialty drug prices is growing,the rate of growth is projected to slow to a compound annual growth rate(CAGR)of 4 to 7 percent between 2019 to 2023,as compared to a CAGR of 7.2 percent from 2014 to 2018,largely due to the Food and Drug Administration's approval of 10 new biosimilars in 2018 and early 2019.However,specialty drug spending as a percentage of total spending continues to rise and can cost payers and patients more than USD 3,500 on average per month.We recommend six policy options for reducing consumers'out-of-pocket cost obligations:(1)discourage"pay-for-delay"agreements and patent evergreening;(2)align incentives across the specialty drug supply chain with value-based pricing;(3)tighten orphan drug eligibility or impose a sales tax on drugs if the sales tax exceeds a specified threshold until federal subsidies are recouped;(4)increase transparency in transactions between specialty drug supply chain stakeholders;(5)tax the direct-to-consumer advertising of specialty drugs and use the proceeds to fund public research;and(6)support copay cards and patient assistance programs.While the consensus across the industry is that the out-of-pocket costs of specialty drugs to patients are too high,industry stakeholders must agree about which set of policy options to implement.Lawmakers must explore options for reducing the out-of-pocket costs of specialty medications and gather public input on how to best align stakeholder incentives across the specialty drug supply chain.

CHANGE OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN CHINA

After 40 years of painstaking work, much improvement has been made in regional difference. The road of that development, however, is by no means a smooth one, full of setbacks and failure. The past forty years may be roughly divided into four stages: 1.a stage of rehabilitation and large scale transition towards the interior( 1949-1959), 2. the dispersion stage with an emphasis on the construction of the interior (1960-1977), 3. a stage of moving back to the coastland and relative concentration of constructions of large scale industries (1978-1980), and 4. a stage of taking the coastland as the focal point for regional development (since 1981). Since the late 1970s, China began to carry out what is known as the Open-door policy. Great changes have taken place in regional development policy.

Containing the rising cost of insulin: select policy recommendations

Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects over 30 million people in the United States.Of these,approximately 7.4 million use one or more formulations of insulin to manage their condition.There is a significant financial burden on diabetic individuals,as the price of insulin keeps increasing each year.Such consistent and drastic increases in the price of insulin are due to the complexities in the insulin supply chain,pricing mechanisms particularly due to pharmacy benefit managers(PBMs),and the dominance of a few insulin manufacturers in the market.This policy analysis has been undertaken independently and is based on information from peer-reviewed journals,government organizations and agencies,and credible news sources.Politicians and various stakeholders in the supply chain have made several policy recommendations on the pricing of insulin.From the data and information collected,we suggest basing a patient's co-payment on the net price instead of the list price of insulin,and that there should be real-time transparency in the negotiations between PBMs and pharmaceutical companies on rebates.

Scaling up private investment in low-carbon energy systems through regional cooperation: Effective trade policy measures

How to ensure energy supply and reduce environment pollution have turned into governments’ top priorities and key factors to maintain sustainable development. In this context, two major trade and investment agreements that could lead to profound influence on low-carbon energy systems development around the Asia-Pacific region are the Regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) consisted of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea and the Belt and road initiative (BRI) initiated by China. In order to have a smooth transition to low-carbon energy systems in Asia, besides RCEP and BRI, it is imperative to boost private sector investment. Success of encouraging private sector investment depends on appropriate government policies towards promoting innovations and reducing financial risks to private investors. The research questions that are examined in this study are: What type of policy measures affects trade in low-carbon transition, particularly renewable energy (RE) transition? How can investment signals and incentives be reframed to scale up private finance in RE? The objective is to investigate and to provide several feasible trade policy and investment policy tools for both national and regional markets that governments could adopt to accelerate the speed of private financing of the low-carbon energy industry, particularly the RE industry.

Contribution of International and Comparative Approach to the Policy and Practice of Teacher Education

This study intends to identify the value and pitfalls of international and comparative approach for the policy and practice of teacher education.The structure of this article proceeds as follows:the first section focuses on explaining the meaning and the values of international and comparative approach;based on previous discussions,the second section makes a more in-depth analysis of the values of international and comparative approach to teacher education from five key themes;the final section of this article proposes and interprets the drawbacks of international and comparative approach in teacher education.

Addressing Sustainability Risks of Bioenergy—Policy Strategies and Corporate Initiatives

This paper focuses on the sustainable use of solid and gaseous biomass for electricity, heating and cooling. It provides updated findings of policy analyses and corporate strategy analyses performed in the frame of BIOENERGY PROMOTION, one of the flagship projects under the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. In particular, the paper highlights policies and measures which have been adopted by the EU and EU Member States to address environmental and social sustainability risks of bioenergy. Taking into account the conclusions of BIOENERGY PROMOTION, the paper identifies promising policy developments, but also shortcomings. On the Member State level, the paper refers to the examples of Germany and Poland. It illustrates how problematic policy priorities and policy malfunctioning in two sub-sectors (biogas from energy crops in Germany, biomass co-firing in Poland) led to undesirable environmental and social developments and how policies have been re-adjusted to mitigate sustainability risks. The paper also portrays a number of voluntary corporate sustainability initiatives which emerged due to the lack of a binding European sustainability framework for solid and gaseous biomass. The authors conclude that without a binding sustainability framework at EU level there is a risk of having a patchwork of potentially diverging sustainability regimes and initiatives across Europe causing market intransparency and insecurity for investors.

Policy and Management of Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality:A Literature Review

The vision of reaching a carbon peak and achieving carbon neutrality is guiding the low-carbon transition of China’s socioeconomic system.Currently,a research gap remains in the existing literature in terms of studies that systematically identify opportunities to achieve carbon neutrality.To address this gap,this study comprehensively collates and investigates 1105 published research studies regarding carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.In doing so,the principles of development in this area are quantitively analyzed from a space–time perspective.At the same time,this study traces shifts and alterations in research hotspots.This systematic review summarizes the priorities and standpoints of key industries on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.Furthermore,with an emphasis on five key management science topics,the scientific concerns and strategic demands for these two carbon emission-reduction goals are clarified.The paper ends with theoretical insights on and practical countermeasures for actions,priority tasks,and policy measures that will enable China to achieve a carbon-neutral future.This study provides a complete picture of the research status on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality,as well as the research directions worth investigating in this field,which are crucial to the formulation of carbon peak and carbon neutrality policies.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural poverty and policy responses in China

Given the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,a timely study on the impacts of and policy response to the pandemic on rural poverty in China is critically important because China has aimed to completely eradicate extreme poverty by the end of 2020.This paper uses data from the latest round of a nationally representative household panel survey to examine the impacts of the pandemic on rural poverty in China.Our data show that 11.9%of sample households were ever officially registered as poor households between 2013 and 2019,and this poverty incidence fell to 2.7%by the end of 2019.In the middle February of 2020,23%of the households who have graduated from poverty since 2013 perceived that they would fall back into poverty due to the COVID-19.Among those never poor households,7.1%perceived that they would possibly fall into poverty due to the pandemic.Results from both descriptive and multivariate analyses consistently show the interruptions that the pandemic caused in off-farm employment is an important channel that led households to perceive of falling back into or falling into poverty.We also find households in the bottom four quintiles when ranked in terms of household income per capita are much more likely to perceive themselves of falling back into or falling into poverty during this pandemic than those in the richest quintile.Meanwhile,our results show that the education and age of household heads,as well as being from Hubei Province matter in explaining household perception about falling back into or falling into poverty in some cases but not all.The paper concludes with a set of policy responses that China has taken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on poverty alleviation.