Measuring inequality can be challenging due to the limitations of using household income or expenditure data. Because actual energy consumption can be measured more easily and accurately and is relatively more stable, it may be a better measure of inequality. Here we use data on energy consumption for specific devices from a large nation-wide household survey (n = 3,404 rural households from 12 provinces) to assess inequality in rural China.

This study reviewed the forestry policy evolution in China as of the reform and opening-up, and concluded the three basic evolution tendencies in the forestry policies, i.e., 1) The Pareto improvement has become the core principle of policy adjustments; 2) The forest tenure owned by peasants has been expanded and strengthened in practices; 3) The forest protection is an essential part included in the forestry development
strategy. Based on the review and analysis, the authors came up with the new thoughts on the future

In this study, we use a large sample from the Beijing Household Travel Survey to build husband-wife dyads, construct variables to measure bargaining power between spouses and place intra-household travel arrangements within a broader institutional framework to analyse relationships between institutions, bargaining power and travel patterns of married men and women. The empirical results reveal that bargaining power does matter in determining intra-household commute arrangements.

This study is the eighth in a series of stated-preference studies designed to enhance the basis for international benefits transfer of value of statistical life (VSL) estimates. The series has fielded essentially similar stated-preference surveys in Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This Chinese study estimates the willingness to pay for contemporaneous and future mortality risk reductions of residents of Shanghai, Jiujiang, and Nanning, China using a stated-preference payment-card survey.

The paper provides an overview of the papers included in this special issue, and presents thoughts about New Frontiers of Forest Economics. The paper argues that science does not mean analysis alone; it should be complemented by synthesis and forest economics is a promising field to rediscover synthesis as a methodology of science.

Village democratization in rural China is found to have profound impacts on many socio-economic aspects, but little is understood as to how welfare impacts may occur through farmers' principal production activities. This study helps to fill this gap by investigating how village democracy affects rural household welfare through these channels, using a unique household survey. The authors first establish a theoretical framework that links democracy to household welfare through changes in production efficiency.

We derive a pricing formula for European options for the Realized GARCH framework based on an analytical approximation using an Edgeworth expansion for the density of cumulative return. Existing approximations in this context are based on a Gram–Charlier expansion while the proper Edgeworth expansion is more accurate. In relation to existing discrete-time option pricing models with realized volatility, our model is log-linear, non-affine, with a flexible leverage effect.

Using the data of SOEs and Non-SOEs in industrial sector of China from 1998 to 2007, we investigate the impact of privatization on TFP. We construct a difference in difference model and use propensity score method to avoid the selection bias. We use the type of enterprises registration to identify the SOEs and define the privatization. The regress results show, privatization of SOEs can improve the efficiency of enterprises significantly. Some characteristics of firms will affect the effect of privatization.

The essence of environmental social governance is the simultaneous involvement of individuals and organizations in multiple ways to manage environmental common affairs. Good governance requires the government to create an enabling context in its first place through institutional building and policy making. To create an enabling context requires a fundamental understanding on what people think about the environmental problems and what shapes such perception.

Clustering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into eco-industrial parks is a promising way to abate environmental pollution from SMEs. However, to make this happen is a challenging task. The use of interfirm alliances to encourage SMEs to relocate into eco-industrial parks is a new phenomenon in China.