Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China

Various land use and land cover(LULC)products have been produced over the past decade with the development of remote sensing technology.Despite the differences in LULC classification schemes,there is a lack of research on assessing the accuracy of their application to croplands in a unified framework.Thus,this study evaluated the spatial and area accuracies of cropland classification for four commonly used global LULC products(i.e.,MCD12Q1V6,GlobCover2009,FROM-GLC and GlobeLand30)based on the harmonised FAO criterion,and quantified the relationships between four factors(i.e.,slope,elevation,field size and crop system)and cropland classification agreement.The validation results indicated that MCD12Q1 and GlobeLand30 performed well in cropland classification regarding spatial consistency,with overall accuracies of 94.90 and 93.52%,respectively.The FROMGLC showed the worst performance,with an overall accuracy of 83.17%.Overlaying the cropland generated by the four global LULC products,we found the proportions of complete agreement and disagreement were 15.51 and 44.72% for the cropland classification,respectively.High consistency was mainly observed in the Northeast China Plain,the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the northern part of the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain,China.In contrast,low consistency was detected primarily on the eastern edge of the northern and semiarid region,the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and southern China.Field size was the most important factor for mapping cropland.For area accuracy,compared with China Statistical Yearbook data at the provincial scale,the accuracies of different products in descending order were:GlobeLand30,FROM-GLC,MCD12Q1,and GlobCover2009.The cropland classification schemes mainly caused large area deviations among the four products,and they also resulted in the different ranks of spatial accuracy and area accuracy among the four products.Our results can provide valuable suggestions for selecting cropland products at the national or provincial scale and help cropland mapping and reconstruction,which is essential for food security and crop management,so they can also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations.

Temporal and Spatial Evolution Characteristics of Habitat Quality in Kunming Based on Land Use Change

[Objectives]To analyze the change of urban habitat quality in different periods and study the influence of land use change on habitat quality,which plays an important role in regional sustainable development.[Methods]Taking Kunming as an example,based on land use change,InVEST model was used to evaluate the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of habitat quality.[Results]During 2000-2020,cultivated land,grassland and woodland in Kunming decreased by 277.43,324.99 and 141.72 km 2,respectively;land use transfer presented obvious stage characteristics,with cultivated land,grassland and woodland changing into construction land as the main characteristics during 2005-2010,and 2015-2020.The average value of habitat quality index in Kunming decreased from 0.3119 to 0.3022,showing a downward trend as a whole;the spatial distribution pattern of habitat quality was"low in the middle and high around"(the high value areas of habitat quality are mainly distributed around Kunming,while the low value areas are mainly distributed in the urban aggregation areas of Kunming).[Conclusions]This study can provide theoretical support for future land use planning.

“China Shock”or China Dividend?-China GVC Participation’s Effects on Trading Partners’Technological Progress

This paper explores the effects of China’s global value chain(GVC)participation on technological progress in trading-partner countries based on estimated data on value-added trade between China and 52 trading partners.We find that,first,although China’s exports lowered the total factor productivity(TFP)of its trading partners(competitive effect),its imports greatly increased trading partners’TFP(effect of scale).This implies that China’s GVC participation is beneficial to its trading partners’technological progress in the form of a considerable technology dividend effect.Second,China’s export dividend effect compensates for the negative effect of Chinese competition on trading partners’technological progress;the innovation effects attributable to China’s imports reinforce the positive effects of scale on technological progress.When innovation is factored in,the China dividend thus becomes further reinforced.Third,China’s merchandise imports have a diminishing positive effect on technological progress in trading partners as geographical distance increases,but trade in services transcends geographical boundaries,and the positive technological progress effect of China’s service imports do not diminish as distance increases.We find that the“China dividend”from China’s GVC participation is a significant contributor to technological progress in partner nations,and China’s imports are conducive to innovation and technological progress in developed countries in the long run.

Structural Relief System Construction in China Based on the Experience of the USA

The USA has already established the perfect structural relief system framework with perfect related research and legislative and judicial practice. Compared with the USA,the structural relief system is far from perfection on the legislative level and the judicial level.With the implementing of Centralized Examination Methods for Operators and Temporary Provisions of Concentrated Assets and Business Stripping of Operators,the structural relief system in China has been preliminarily established. However,from the technical level,microcosmic element pillar system related to stripping system has not been established yet. According to the experience in law enforcement in the USA,China shall also formulate Handbook on Implementing Relief System in the Antitrust Scrutiny of Operators to provide helpful guide for the structural relief system in China.

Conflict and Coordination Problem of Carbon Tax' Diversity Targets in China-Based on the Tax Optimization Theory

Among all the emission reduction measures,carbon tax is recognized as the most effective way to protect our climate.That is why the Chinese government has recently taken it as a tax reform direction.In the current economic analysis,the design of carbon tax is mostly based on the target to maximize the efficiency.However,based on the theory of tax system optimization,we should also consider other policy objectives,such as equity,revenue and cost,and then balance different objectives to achieve the suboptimum reform of carbon tax system in China.

Muscle Biological Characteristics of Differentially Expressed Genes in Wujin and Landrace Pigs

The biological chemistry would be responsible for the meat quality. This study tried to investigate the transcript expression profile and explain the characteristics of differentially expressed genes between the Wujin and Landrace pigs. The results showed that 526 differentially expressed genes were found by comparing the transcript expression profile of muscle tissue between Wujin and Landrace pigs. Among them, 335 genes showed up-regulations and 191 genes showed down-regulations in Wujin pigs compared with the Landrace pigs. Gene ontology （GO） analysis indicated that the differentially expressed genes were clustered into three groups involving in protein synthesis, energy metabolism and immune response. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes （KEGG） pathway analysis found that these differentially expressed genes participated in protein synthesis metabolism, energy metabolism and immune response pathway. The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery （DAVID） analysis of protein function and protein domains function also confirmed that differentially expressed genes belonged to protein synthesis, energy metabolism and immune response. Genes related protein synthesis metabolism pathway in Landrace was higher than in Wujin pigs. However, differentially expressed genes related energy metabolism and immune response was up-regulated in Wujin pigs compared with Landrace pigs. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR on selected genes was used to confirm the results from the microarray. These suggested that the genes related to protein synthesis, energy metabolism and immune response would contribute to the growth performance, meat quality as well as anti-disease capacity.

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.

Evaluating the Efficiency and Determinants of Efficiency of Rural Health Centers Situated in Punjab, Pakistan

This study calculates the efficiency of Rural Health Centers (RHCs) and investigates the impact of other variables affecting the efficiency of RHCs. The study considers 29 RHCs, 13 of District Faisalabad, 9 of Toba and 7 of Jhang;a survey was conducted to collect data from each RHC for the year 2016. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was utilized to get the scores for efficiency. Thereafter, after getting the results from DEA Tobit regression was used in the second stage. Out of the 29 Rural Health Centers, only 11 (38%) are working efficiently as compare to others. Distance from the tehsil headquarter, Distance from the road with “0” probability, Distance from private hospital with “0” probability, Behavior of the staff with “0.0064” probability and laboratory equipment’s with “0” probability, have an impact on the efficiency scores. Distance from other health facilitators, Staff’s behavior, list of medicine and equipment’s used at RHCs should be improved to increase the efficiency of RHC’s.

Effects of Changing Relative Value of Mininimum Wages on Wage Distribution in China:Analysis Based on County-Level Data

On the basis of extending Lee's(1999) model, this paper resolves the problem of biased division in the specification of equation and employs Urban Household Survey(UHS) data,China Household Income Project(CHIP) data and county-level minimum wage data collected by authors to investigate the wage distribution effects of change in the effective minimum wages measured by relative value. The result shows that the effective minimum wage will exert a significant spillover effect on wage distribution at the40 th percentile and below, which is favorable to reducing wage gaps at the bottom. This conclusion holds true under various robustness tests. However, the shrinking effective minimum wage has created a downward drag on wages, thus widening wage gaps at the bottom. The shrinking effective minimum wage contributed 150%,53.8%,45.5% and16.7% to the wage gaps at the 10 th, 20 th, 30 th and 40 th percentiles compared with the 50 th percentile. Therefore, the key to ensuring the effectiveness of minimum wages lies in the implementation of an automatic adjustment mechanism correlated with macroeconomic indicators. Compliance with minimum wages must be guaranteed and change in minimum wages must be measured with relative value.

New Estimates of China＇s Infrastructure and Non- Infrastructure Capital Stocks and Their Output Elasticities

This paper classifies total fixed capital into three categories,namely,economic infrastructure capital,social infrastructure capital and non-infrastructure capital,and then offers complete and detailed estimates of the national time series data(1981-2012) and the provincial panel data of 31 administrative regions(1997-2012).On this basis,this paper estimates the output elasticities of the three categories of capital and then tests whether or not the production function of China shows constant returns to scale.

Influence of RMB exchange rate fluctuation on urban-rural income from the perspective of transmission asymmetry

Based on time series data of RMB exchange rate and urban-rural income, this paper makes an empirical study for the influence of RMB exchange rate fluctuation on urban-rural income by utilizing rolling regression model through direct and indirect transmission mechanisms. According to the results, the transmission effect of RMB exchange rate fluctuation on urban-rural income has features of incompleteness and asymmetry. Moreover, RMB appreciation will help to reduce the urban-rural income gap. Therefore, this paper suggests that the Chinese economy should accelerate the course of transforming mode, adjusting structure and promoting development under the new normal. Meanwhile, reform of RMB exchange rate mechanism should be promoted, living standard of residents must be improved, and the urban-rural income gap should be reduced.

The Long-term Consequences of Ordeals:Evidence from the Chinese Sent-down Movement

The Chinese sent-down movement between the mid 1950s to the late 1970s is a suffering period for Chinese sent-down youths.Using the treatment effect model and the ordered probit model,we examine the impact of sent-down experience on sent-down youths’income and happiness based on the sample of CGSS2003 and CGSS2006.By doing so,we can explore the long-term consequences of one’s suffering experience.The overall sample regression results show that sent-down experience increase 42% of individuals’income,while reducing 13% of individuals’happiness.Sub-sample analysis results are robust to the conclusion that the sent-down experience makes a positive impact on income and a negative impact on happiness.This study provides objective evidence for the historical evaluation of sent-down movement,a new interpretation for the Easterlin paradox from the view of personality latitude,new empirical evidence for supporting the new human capital theory,and useful inspiration for the the current grass-roots employment policy for university graduates in China.

Research on Credit Decision-Making of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In this paper,we establish a logit model to evaluate the non-default probability of small and medium-sized enterprises.Based on the data from 2020 National Mathematics Competition for College Students,we construct financial indicators and credibility indicators,using BP neural network and logistic regression to calculate the probability of small and medium-sized enterprises’not default.Then,we use nonlinear programming to optimize banks’credit decision and give the specific loan amounts of each small and medium-sized enterprise.

Uncertainty aversion and farmers' innovative seed adoption:Evidence from a field experiment in rural China

Based on the microdata of 705 wheat farmers in the Loess Plateau, this study empirically analyzes the impact of uncertainty on farmers' adoption of innovative seeds using a field experiment. The results indicate that farmers are generally ambiguity-averse and risk-averse. In addition, farmers with higher ambiguity aversion and risk aversion are less likely to adopt innovative wheat seeds, where their risk aversion plays a dominant role. Enhancing information access will alleviate the negative influence of ambiguity aversion on farmers' adoption of innovative seeds, and interlinked insurance and credit contracts will be beneficial to ease the adverse effect of risk aversion on the adoption of innovative wheat seeds. Meanwhile, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the inhibitory effects of ambiguity aversion and risk aversion on innovative seed adoption are more significant among farmers with lower education and household income.The government can establish both ex-ante and ex-post relevant guarantee mechanisms to help farmers preferably cope with various uncertainties in the production process, remitting farmers' ambiguity aversion and risk aversion to enhance new agricultural technology adoption rates.

Interregional Value-Added Tax in the Era of E-Commerce: Tax Policy Design Based on Big Data from Online Retailing

The value-added tax(VAT)in China is levied and allocated based on the origin principle.Under the background of the increasing substitution of online retail for traditional offline retail,this mechanism will exacerbate the disparity of regional tax revenue,and intensify tax competition among local governments.Therefore,reconsidering the allocation mechanism of value-added tax in China can be an important policy decision,and it is influenced by various economic and social factors.Firstly,we utilize large-scale retail transaction data from an e-commerce platform to measure regional disparities in retail and consumption among different regions and then reveals present tax policy results in revenue imbalance in different regions.Secondly,we establish a model based on game theory to illustrate how the origin principle leads to fierce tax competition among regions.Furthermore,by establishing and solving tax allocation models between local governments and the central government,this study simulates and calculates the degree of revenue imbalance under different scenarios and attempts to propose policy measures.The results indicate that implementing the destination principle will reduce regional tax imbalances.Moreover,adjusting the allocation ratio between the central government and local governments based on city levels is advantageous for further reducing regional tax revenue disparities.

Factors Influencing Farmers' Willingness to Participate in the New Vocational Training

Probit model is applied to analyze some key factors influencing farmers' willingness to participate in the new vocational training for farmers based on 683 questionnaires from 8 districts in Chongqing. The results show that individual and family factors significantly affect farmers' participation will. These factors are age,family scale and years of education. Age is the most important factor,family scale is of secondary importance and years of education are the third one. Meanwhile,years of education positively affect farmers' participation willingness;there is a negative correlation among age,family scale and this willingness. Organizer,rural economic development level and training experience have no significant influence on this willingness.

Air pollution and the domestic value-added for Chinese exporters

This paper evaluates the causal effect of air pollution on the share of domestic value-added in exports for Chinese exporters.Precipitation is employed as an instrument for air pollution to alleviate the endogeneity.Our baseline instrument variable estimation identifies a significant and negative effect of air pollution on the share of domestic value added in exports.Specifically,each 1 mg/m^(3) increase in yearly PM_(2.5) exposure is associated with 3.1447 units decrease of the domestic value-added rate of firms’exports.This result holds when wind speed,air flow index and thermal inversions are used as alternative instruments.Further,it is shown that air pollution is detrimental to the health of employees,and also has negative effect on firms’productivity as well as firms’innovation capacity.All of these may have a negative effect on domestic production and therefore reduce the share of value added done domestically.Lastly,greater effect is found for the central region,the east of Hu Huanyong line,cities of low altitude and high pressure,and also for foreign-invested firms.This paper provides empirical evidence that air pollution may affect the organization of global production,i.e.,the share of domestic value added in Chinese exports,and it certainly contributes to more comprehensive understanding of the effect of air pollution.

Has COVID‑19 changed the stock return‑oil price predictability pattern?

In this paper,we examine if COVID-19 has impacted the relationship between oil prices and stock returns predictions using daily Japanese stock market data from 01/04/2020 to 03/17/2021.We make a novel contribution to the literature by testing whether the COVID-19 pandemic has changed this predictability relationship.Employing an empirical model that controls for seasonal effects,return-related control variables,heteroskedasticity,persistency,and endogeneity,we demonstrate that the influence of oil prices on stock returns declined by around 89.5%due to COVID-19.This implies that when COVID-19 reduced economic activity and destabilized financial markets,the influence of oil prices on stock returns declined.This finding could have implications for trading strategies that rely on oil prices.