• The ETRS significantly cut SO 2 emissions and related activities. However, non-targeted air pollutants were unaffected. • The ETRS reduced more polluting activities in the state sector, but it caused more firm shutdowns in the private sector. • Encouraging efforts on environmental protection crowded out efforts on economic growth.

This paper uses the spatial Durbin model to capture horizontal strategic environmental policymaking and their effects on air polluting industrial agglomeration in Chinese prefectures. Using a set of panel data on 276 prefectures from 2003 to 2009 in China, we found strong evidence in favor of the pollution haven hypothesis in China. Moreover, we observed evident spillover effects in environmental regulations at the provincial level but not at the prefectural level. Air polluting industries transferred to their neighbored provinces to avoid harsh environmental regulations when the environmental regulatory stringency of the own province was enhanced. Exploring the heterogeneous impacts of EPAs on air polluting industrial activities, we found that senior EPA staff and those working in higher EPA ranks and Environmental Monitoring Stations played a superior role in implementing environmental regulations. The results are robust to alternative spatial weights, different agglomeration indexes, and the SLX model using the ventilation coefficient as an instrumental variable.

In an uncertainty market, social learning plays a significant role in obtaining information to make better decisions. Under cap-and-trade regulation, this paper aims to investigate firms’ pricing and carbon emission abatement issues considering the impact of social learning. This paper establishes a two-period model in a market consisting of a manufacturer and heterogeneous consumers. The manufacturer produces two alternatives (ordinary product and low-carbon product) and makes decisions on sales prices and carbon emission abatement levels. Consumers make decisions on whether and which product to buy. Consumers are not sure about their valuations of products and have the opportunity to discover their true valuation by social learning. The results show that the emission abatement level on ordinary product is affected by the pricing strategy for both types of products. However, the emission abatement level on low-carbon product is only affected by its own pricing strategy. It also shows that social learning lowers the emission abatement level on ordinary product, whereas it improves the emission abatement level on low-carbon product when charging a high price for low-carbon product. Moreover, the price of ordinary product in period 1 is no less than that in period 2. In contrast, the price of low-carbon product in period 2 is higher than that in period 1.

We assess the effectiveness of China’s Two Control Zones (TCZ) policy, an environmental policy that tightens the control of acid rain and the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in targeted areas. To identify the effect of the policy on industrial activities, we use the difference-in-differences (DID) method to study industry-level activities in China’s prefectures based on a unique firm-level data set covering the period from 1999–2009. We find that stricter environmental regulation led to a lower level of polluting industrial activities in TCZ prefectures, which was associated with more closures of polluting firms in targeted prefectures and more new polluting firms in non-targeted locations. In addition, our findings suggest that the TCZ policy had more pronounced effects in the coastal areas and became more effective after China changed its assessment criteria for the performance of local officials in the late 2000s.

Regional disparities that challenge the economy and public administration must be confronted by the governments and public in developing countries. As the extensive mode of economic growth has caused many problems in China, it is necessary to find other ways to promote the development of poor areas to narrow regional disparities in the country. This paper measures the equalization of public services and residents' living standards in China, based on a provincial panel data for the period 2001–2013, to analyze the impact of the equalization of public services on China's regional disparities. The empirical results, based on spatial econometrics models, show that the equalization of all types of public services can promote the regional equality of incomes and consumptions. There is also evidence suggesting that the regional disparities are affected by other economic and social factors.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in river-and farmland-based natural groundwater recharge using reclaimed municipal wastewater pose a major threat to groundwater-based drinking water supplies in Beijing, China. The sorption characteristics of three selected typical EDCs, bisphenol A (BPA), 17 beta-estradiol (E2), and ethinyl estradiol (EE2) were investigated in river sediment-and farmland soil-water systems to simulate the sorption process and the factors influencing sorption during reclaimed water recharge. The results showed that the two-compartment first-order model fitted the kinetics of sorption very well (R-2 > 0.99). The fast sorption rates for E2 and EE2 onto soil were higher than those onto sediment, while the rate was different for BPA. The partitioning and p-p bonds might be a relatively more important mechanism for the sorption of BPA onto sediment, while surface adsorption contributed significantly to E2 and EE2 sorption onto soil. The fast sorption rate was negatively correlated to the Delta G values in all adsorption media. The average removal rate (eta) of the three EDCs was in the order eta((BPA)) < eta((17 beta-E2)) < eta((EE2)) and soil < sediment which showed that E2 was easily adsorbed onto sediment, while BPA was more mobile in the farmland-based artificial groundwater recharge system. The absolute free energy values of Delta G were less than 40 kJ/mol, indicating that the adsorption process consisted primarily of physical sorption. With an increase in pH value, the adsorption capacity and partition coefficient clearly decreased, especially when the pH value was higher than the pKa values of the EDCs. The amounts of BPA, E2, and EE2 that were adsorbed increased with an increase in ionic strength, especially for the E2 and EE2, because the amount of ion exchange and polar sorption would increase. However, these values decreased with an increase in temperature. These results could be useful for predicting a potential pathway for removal and the ecological risks of EDCs when using reclaimed municipal wastewater for aquifer recharge.

When using reclaimed water for the river-based artificial groundwater recharge, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pollution is believed to be a potential threat to the drinking water supplies in Beijing, China. Lab-scale column experiments simulating recharge were conducted to study the migration and transformation of three selected EDCs, namely ethinylestradiol (EE2), 4-n-Nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA). The filler media of the two columns mainly consisted of fine sand (FS) in the middle section and less-permeable silty clay (SC) in the southern section, all representative soil vadose zone media from Chaobai river in Beijing. The results showed that the attenuation effect of EDCs was in the order of NP > EE2 > BPA and all of them followed a first-order kinetics, while the migration capacity was in the reverse order. The residual EDCs in different depths of SC were much higher than those in FS, suggesting that the SC soil has a significantly higher adsorption capacity. The attenuation effect of NP and BPA by unit mass was better in FS than that in SC, indicating that the biodegradation was the main attenuation mechanism. The bacterial biomass and community diversity decreased with depth in SC, while the changes in FS were unobvious. According to the DGGE fingerprints, the bacterial community in the middle layer was more diverse than in the upper layer, which was related to the EDCs concentrations and transformation products in the water-soil system. The dominant group was found to be proteobacteria, including Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, suggesting that these microbes might play an important role in EDC transformation. The described process provides a potential pathway for improving the removal of EDCs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Endocrine disrupting chemical(EDC) pollution in river-based artificial groundwater recharge using reclaimed municipal wastewater poses a potential threat to groundwater-based drinking water supplies in Beijing, China. Lab-scale leaching column experiments simulating recharge were conducted to study the adsorption, biodegradation, and transport characteristics of three selected EDCs: 17β-estradiol(E2), 17α-ethinylestradiol(EE2) and bisphenol A(BPA). The three recharge columns were operated under the conditions of continual sterilization recharge(CSR), continual recharge(CR), and wetting and drying alternative recharge(WDAR). The results showed that the attenuation effect of the EDCs was in the order of WDAR > CR > CSR system and E2 > EE2 > BPA, which followed first-order kinetics. The EDC attenuation rate constants were 0.0783, 0.0505, and 0.0479 m-1 for E2, EE2 and BPA in the CR system, respectively. The removal rates of E2, EE2, and BPA in the CR system were 98%, 96% and 92%, which mainly depended on biodegradation and were affected by water temperature.In the CR system, the concentrations of BPA, EE2, and E2 in soil were 4, 6 and 10 times higher than in the WDAR system, respectively. According to the DGGE fingerprints, the bacterial community in the bottom layer was more diverse than in the upper layer, which was related to the EDC concentrations in the water-soil system. The dominant group was found to be proteobacteria, including Betaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, suggesting that these microbes might play an important role in EDC degradation.

本文基于2010年中部六省667县（区）的经济数据,从理论与实证的角度,分析了什么因素在多大程度上导致农村金融排斥难题。文章发现,县域经济发展水平与农村金融机构多寡呈显著正相关关系,并且基于回归方程的分解分析证实,县域经济水平差距大约解释了农村金融排斥差距的33%。这一结论对商业类金融机构和农村类金融机构在县（区）的布局设点同样适用。城镇化因素在破解农村金融排斥问题方面具有不可替代的作用,控制住其他变量的条件下,如果各县（区）城镇化水平均等,那么农村金融排斥的差距大约会缩小20%。建设更加富有竞争性的农村金融市场以及设法实现农民收入更快增长,也是破解农村金融排斥难题的关键。在未来打政策组合拳时,既要有轻重缓急,又要做到因地制宜。