scholarly journals Can China’s “Tax-for-Fee” Reform Improve Water Performance–Evidence from Hebei Province

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13854
Author(s):  
Lingyun He ◽  
Kunxian Chen
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Hebei Province ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Technological Efficiency

Resource tax has been widely adopted in many countries. This paper evaluates the causal effect of reform of water resources tax on water resources performance in Hebei Province, China. By using the provincial panel data, we first measure the water resources performance of 21 provinces from 2008 to 2018 by considering the NDDF-ML method of undesirable output. We found that each province in China has gradually improved its water resources performance in the past 10 years, but there are great differences between regions. Then, we employ the synthetic control method, which allows us to consider the influence of unobservable time-varying factors to evaluate the policy effect. The results show that water performance index has increased significantly by 18.0%. The effect is mainly due to technological progress (17.3%) rather than technological efficiency (0.7%), which means no significant improvement in the allocation of water, and after placebo tests, our results are still robust. The DID approach shows a similar conclusion, but unobservable time-variation caused by other policies may lead to an overestimation of DID. In order to make good use of water resources, China should accelerate the reform of water resource taxes and pay more attention to the allocation of water resources.

scholarly journals Has the Construction of the Free Trade Zone Increased the Enterprise's Total Factor Productivity—Evidence from Generalized Synthetic Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Chao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Free Trade Zone ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Effect Evaluation ◽  
Enterprise Development ◽  
Return On Assets ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
Intermediary Role ◽  
Multi Phase

The Free Trade Zone(FTZ) is a new policy for China to open wider to the outside world. Reducing trade barriers and promoting high-quality enterprise development is an important part of the construction of the FTZ. This article takes the construction of the FTZ based on From 2004 to 2018 as a quasi-natural experiment. The study found that: (1) The policy evaluation results show that after controlling the time and individual effects, the construction of the FTZ plays a significant role in promoting TFP. (2) The construction of the FTZ can promote the improvement of TFP through innovation-driven effects and resource allocation adjustment effects. The analysis shows that patents and the return on assets play an intermediary role between the FTZ and TFP. (3) After considering the time and industry effects, the construction of the FTZ has a significant impact on the TFP growth in state-owned enterprises; the general synthetic control method was used to investigate 11 FTZ, and the construction of Shanghai free trade zone has the most significant effect on the promotion of TFP. The main innovation of this article is the establishment of the FTZ has carried out a policy effect evaluation on the promotion effect of TFP, and has conducted a robustness test using the multi-phase DID method. It has a guiding significance for improving the construction of FTZ and promoting the improvement of enterprise TFP.

scholarly journals Research on Evaluation and Improvement Policy of Higher Education Development Based on TOPSIS-Synthetic Control Method

Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Huan-Ming Zhang ◽  
Rui-Qi Ma ◽  
Meng-Xiang Deng ◽  
Xian-Bei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Evaluation Index System ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Weighting Method ◽  
Synthetic Control Method ◽  
Higher Education Development ◽  
The World

This article aims at the evaluation and improvement of the development of higher education. First of all, according to the theory and hypothesis, the comprehensive evaluation index system of higher education development level is established. The TOPSIS and the combination weighting method based on goal programming are used to measure the scores of higher education development levels of 19 major countries in the world in the recent 20 years, and the horizontal and vertical comparative analysis is carried out. Then, according to the practical feasibility, Turkey is selected as the target country to propose a higher education development and improvement policy by 2030, and the causal effect of our proposed policy is estimated using the synthetic control method. This study can provide a reference for other countries in the world to improve their higher education level.

scholarly journals Does the Kyoto Protocol as an International Environmental Policy Promote Forest Carbon Sinks?

2022 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Control Method ◽  
National Level ◽  
Forest Carbon ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Carbon Sinks ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
Commitment Period

Under the background of carbon neutrality, the carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems is an important way to mitigate climate change. Forest could not only protect the environment but also an important industry for economic development. As an international climate policy that first recognized the role of forest carbon sinks on climate change, the question becomes, has the Kyoto Protocol promoted the development of forest carbon sinks in contracting parties? To explore this, data of forest can be obtained at the national level. Hence, data of economic, social, polity and climate in 147 countries is also collected. The generalized synthetic control method is adopted. The results show that the policy effect of the Kyoto Protocol was obvious and significant. Moreover, the effect was more significant after the enforcement in 2005. Especially after the first commitment period, the policy effect of the second period is more obvious. Some policy implications are drawn.

Voting after the change: A natural experiment on the effect of electoral reform on party system fragmentation

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-286
Author(s):  
Pedro Riera
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
System Size ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Number Of Parties

This article analyses the causal effect of the 1993 electoral reform in New Zealand on party system fragmentation using the ‘synthetic’ control method. Previous studies using cross-national evidence suggest that electoral reforms change the number of parties. However, they do not take into account possible endogeneity problems and usually focus on their short-term effects. Since the electoral system in use in this country before the change was first past the post (FPTP), I can create a ‘synthetic’ control democracy that had the same institutional framework but did not modify the rules of the game. The results indicate that the electoral reform produced the expected effects on party system size at the electoral level, but that these effects tended to disappear in the long run. In contrast, electoral system effects at the legislative level were larger and stickier over time.

Do Local Immigrant-Welcoming Efforts Increase Immigration? The Detroit Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 107808742110252
Author(s):  
Xi Huang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Local Population ◽  
The United States ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Synthetic Control Method ◽  
Skilled Immigrants ◽  
The Past

Immigration policymaking has been active at the local level in the United States over the past few decades. This study examines whether the economic development-oriented immigrant-welcoming efforts that started in 2010 in Detroit have increased the local immigrant population. It uses the synthetic control method to construct a comparison region that resembles Detroit in the preintervention periods to serve as a counterfactual. Empirical results reveal a statistically significant increase in the immigrant share of the population in the metropolitan area during the postintervention period of 2011–2014. The increase is robust to various sets of specifications and placebo tests. The share of high-skilled immigrants in the local population also increased during this time, albeit with a weak statistical significance. These findings point to the potential of immigrant-welcoming programs in attracting and retaining immigrants and immigrant talent.

scholarly journals The Effect of Enclave Adjustment on the Urban Energy Intensity in China: Evidence from Wuhan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1940
Author(s):  
Zhi Li ◽  
Ruyi Yan ◽  
Zuo Zhang ◽  
Huaping Sun
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Energy Intensity ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Permutation Test ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
The Impact

Due to the needs of China’s rapid urbanization, enclave adjustments between districts in a city have become a national phenomenon in recent decades. However, it is rarely discussed in the literature whether this adjustment can have an impact on urban energy intensity. Taking Wuhan’s enclave adjustment in 2009 as a sample and a city-level panel dataset during the period of 2005–2014, using the synthetic control method, this paper investigates for the first time the impact of enclave adjustment between districts on the urban energy intensity. The results show that the logarithmic energy intensity paths of real and synthetic Wuhan diverge after 2009, and the enclave adjustment is indeed conducive to reducing energy intensity. Although this policy effect fluctuated slightly in 2013, it remained evident and continued to expand in subsequent years. We also further adopt the permutation test and placebo test to check the robustness of the baseline results, and this policy effect was found to still be statistically significant and persistent over time. We further verified that aligning division management, changing the incentives of local officials, promoting the agglomeration effect, and regional integration after adjustment are potential contributors to reducing urban energy intensity.

scholarly journals Spillovers of Urban Road Infrastructure Investment and Operation: a Case Study Using Synthetic Control Method

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-134
Author(s):  
Xiufeng Xing ◽  
Xueying Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Control Method ◽  
Permutation Test ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Jiaozhou Bay ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Synthetic Control Method ◽  
Urban Road

This study evaluates the impacts of urban road investment and operation in China, especially the spillover effect attributable to the investment of urban road projects. Using the synthetic control method and difference-in-differences technique and taking the opening of Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and its Subsea Tunnel in China on 30 June 2011 as a natural experiment, this paper investigates the causal effect between urban road investment and its economic impacts. Results show that the project has a positive externality in terms of its contribution to the output and employment: taken the industrial relative output as outcome variable, no matter whether the covariates are controlled or not, the parameters of the interactive terms are positive; taken the industrial relative employment rate as outcome variable, the gap between the treated unit and its counterpart indicates a direct program effect for the treated city as well as a spillover effect across the cities within the sample province. Furthermore, the permutation test ascertains that the probability of achieving a spillover effect as large as the treated city is around 5.88 per cent. Overall, the investment and operation of urban road transportation infrastructure has a noticeable spillover effect. Our results are robust across a series of placebo tests.

Environmental regulation, local legislation and pollution control in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Bao ◽  
Min Shao ◽  
Dali Yang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Pollution Abatement ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Pollution Emissions

Abstract This paper conducts a novel empirical analysis of the effect of environmental regulation on local pollution emissions by taking 84 cases of local legislation among 31 provinces in China during 1990–2009. We combine the matching methodology and difference-in-difference method to estimate the causal effect of provincial environmental legislation. Our estimation uncovers that there is no significant pollution abatement effect, however, environmental legislation helps to decrease local pollution emission only for those provinces that have stricter enforcement. Such results remain robust while considering the time lag effect, different types of pollutants, choice of different comparison groups and using of synthetic control method. Generally, our study shows the importance of the enforcement for environmental legislation in China.

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