Public views on economic growth,the environment and prosperity: Results of a questionnaire survey

The long-standing academic and public debate on economic growth, prosperity and environmental sustainability has recently gained new momentum. It lacks, however, a broad perspective on public opinion. Prior opinion surveys typically offered a simple dichotomous choice between growth and environmental protection. This study examines public beliefs and attitudes about a wider range of aspects of the growth debate. To this end, we conducted an online questionnaire survey including a country-wide, representative sample of 1008 Spanish citizens. Using factor analysis, we identify six distinct dimensions of public attitudes, referred to as: prosperity with growth; environmental limits to growth; general optimism; wrong priority; overrated GDP; and governmental control. We further analyze several specific questions associated with the growth debate, such as those concerning the desired GDP growth rate, the preferred growth-environment position, and beliefs about, as well as reasons for, a possible end or continuation of growth. We find that most respondents favor GDP growth rates of more than 3%. A majority views growth and environmental sustainability as compatible (green growth), while about one-third prefers either ignoring growth as a policy aim (agrowth), or stopping it altogether (degrowth). Only very few people want growth unconditionally (growth-at-all-costs). About one-third of the respondents believe that growth may be never-ending. We examine how support for or disagreement with different statements on growth are related to each other, as well as how they are influenced by socio-demographic, knowledge and ideology/values variables. Overall, our findings can inform public debates about the growth paradigm and its potential alternatives by providing a more nuanced understanding of public opinion. We make suggestions for future research, including modifying poll questions on growth and environment through offering a more diverse set of response options.     

日光温室电暖风机加温效果评估与经济投入分析

日光温室加温是改善冬季日光温室作物生长温度环境的主要措施之一。选择典型节能型日光温室,利用暖风机加温试验研究加温方式作用下温室内温度时间、空间变化以及在极端天气条件下和不同外界温度条件下的加温效果,并进行经济投入分析。结果表明：电暖风机加温后温室内温度明显提高且温度分布较均匀,平均温度较对照温室高4.23 ℃,其中平均最低温度提升效果最明显;低温天气时,平均温度比对照温室温度高4.24 ℃;寡照天气时,平均温度比对照温室温度高4.48 ℃。暖风机在外界温度-12 ~-4 ℃时对温室进行加温的效果最佳。通过对几种传统的温室加温方式经济投入的分析表明,电暖风机是一种投资小,耗能低,经济效益相对较高的加温方式。     

湖南省经济增长的动力机制与潜在问题分析

通过对湖南在改革开放20年以来所取得的经济增长成果的分析，探讨其经济波动性及其结构矛盾，对开放程度、使用外资额、企业固定资产投资额、工业效率、产业结构、人口规模等多方经济增长的动力机制，采用因子分析法等多种计量手段，分析湖南省经济增长的主要推动因素，揭示湖南省经济增长方式的特点和存在的问题，并提出了相应的对策。     

Spatialising the Melanesian Canarium industry: Understanding economic upgrading in an emerging industry among three Pacific small island states

This paper examines economic upgrading in the Canarium indicum (Canarium) nut industry in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Canarium is a tree that is indigenous to Melanesia, and has been the subject of several commercialisation attempts since 1988. The paper assesses the outcomes to various actors in the Canarium supply chain from attempts to upgrade industry products and processes by: (1) increasing the available resource in suitable locations; (2) improving nut products and processing techniques; (3) increasing actors’ knowledge and supply chain coordination; and (4) establishing product standards. A two-phase data generation process was implemented. Document analysis and participant observations of industry workshops initiated a set of four economic upgrading interventions that were adaptively implemented. A second stage of workshops and 76 interviews enabled outcomes to be assessed at the project’s end. Findings suggest that a small number of urban-based entrepreneurs benefit and subsequently are lead actors in industry development, but at the expense of benefits being distributed to a larger, more spatially disparate group of smallholder and small commercial growers. These economic upgrading outcomes are circumscribed by core-periphery relations in Pacific small island states and the scale of industry in each country. Thus, spatial inequalities are reproduced through the emerging Canarium industries. We argue that different routes to industry development are required in each country. Development initiatives that capitalise on the benefits of micro-enterprise clusters, joint action and regional institutional arrangements are proposed to overcome the impediments imposed by the particular geographies of Pacific island states.     

Geography Deserts: State and Regional Variation in the Formal Opportunity to Learn Geography in the United States, 2005–2015

The formal opportunity to learn geography in the United States is unevenly distributed across space, creating possible geography deserts. Data on the number of exams taken in Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) and bachelor’s degrees earned in geography are mapped at the state and regional scales. Normalized rates are ranked and grouped into quintiles. For APHG exams, states in the southeastern region of the United States are in the uppermost quintiles while states in the northeastern region are in the lowermost quintiles. The pattern for bachelor’s degrees in geography is somewhat the spatial inverse of that for APHG.     

地质档案在经济建设中的作用

结合新疆维吾尔自治区地质档案资料二次开发利用带来的经济、社会效益,阐明了开展地质资料专项清理,推进地质档案开发利用,为区域经济建设服务的重要性。     

Balancing groundwater conservation and rural livelihoods under water and climate uncertainties: An integrated hydro-economic modeling framework

In arid countries worldwide, social conflicts between irrigation-based human development and the conservation of aquatic ecosystems are widespread and attract many public debates. This research focuses on the analysis of water and agricultural policies aimed at conserving groundwater resources and maintaining rural livelihoods in a basin in Spain's central arid region. Intensive groundwater mining for irrigation has caused overexploitation of the basin's large aquifer, the degradation of reputed wetlands and has given rise to notable social conflicts over the years. With the aim of tackling the multifaceted socio-ecological interactions of complex water systems, the methodology used in this study consists in a novel integration into a common platform of an economic optimization model and a hydrology model WEAP (Water Evaluation And Planning system). This robust tool is used to analyze the spatial and temporal effects of different water and agricultural policies under different climate scenarios. It permits the prediction of different climate and policy outcomes across farm types (water stress impacts and adaptation), at basin's level (aquifer recovery), and along the policies’ implementation horizon (short and long run). Results show that the region's current quota-based water policies may contribute to reduce water consumption in the farms but will not be able to recover the aquifer and will inflict income losses to the rural communities. This situation would worsen in case of drought. Economies of scale and technology are evidenced as larger farms with cropping diversification and those equipped with modern irrigation will better adapt to water stress conditions. However, the long-term sustainability of the aquifer and the maintenance of rural livelihoods will be attained only if additional policy measures are put in place such as the control of illegal abstractions and the establishing of a water bank. Within the policy domain, the research contributes to the new sustainable development strategy of the EU by concluding that, in water-scarce regions, effective integration of water and agricultural policies is essential for achieving the water protection objectives of the EU policies. Therefore, the design and enforcement of well-balanced region-specific polices is a major task faced by policy makers for achieving successful water management that will ensure nature protection and human development at tolerable social costs. From a methodological perspective, this research initiative contributes to better address hydrological questions as well as economic and social issues in complex water and human systems. Its integrated vision provides a valuable illustration to inform water policy and management decisions within contexts of water-related conflicts worldwide.     

丝绸之路经济带交通运输的时空演化特征及对经济发展的影响

采用交通网络维数法、相关系数法和格兰杰因果检验分析法等定量统计方法,系统分析了自1998-2015年丝绸之路经济带九省区交通运输投资额、交通网络发育程度、交通运输能力的时空变化特征及对国民经济发展的影响。结果表明：丝绸之路经济带九省区交通运输投资额总体呈增长趋势,交通网络密度明显低于全国平均水平;交通网络发育程度不高,但增长发育速度较快,道路密度和网络维数均有很大幅度的提升,公路网的通达性水平及增速明显优于铁路网;交通设施建设对经济发展的影响显著,对国民生产总值的促进作用时滞长度为两年左右,但各省区之间的交通基础设施建设造成了不明显的空间溢出效应,体现出丝绸之路经济带各省区之间的经济联系尚处薄弱阶段。     

Are red tides affecting economically the commercialization of the Galician (NW Spain) mussel farming?

Harmful algal blooms (HABs), more specifically red tides, are among the most critical environmental factors affecting mussel cultivation in Galicia (NW Spain), and they often have been blamed for economic losses for producers. This statement is based on the correlation between days of closure of the production areas and unsold product. The present article shows that such a statement is not always correct, at least in the case of Galician mussel farming, because red tides only cause losses to producers under specific circumstances that arise from the impossibility of placing their product in the market. In addition, this article reveals the importance of finding organizational solutions within the framework of the production sector to counteract the impact of this type of phenomenon.