Liushou women’s happiness and its influencing factors in rural China

The economic development of urban cities in China has attracted a large number of labour from the rural countryside. The married migrant workers will usually leave their wives’ homes to look after the other family members and the farmland. A special term liushou women, has been created for this group of women. Among the 87 million rural residents, 47 million of them are liushou women according to the recent survey conducted by China Agricultural University. They play a crucial role in the development of rural economy and an essential role to the social stability of rural China. In this research, the factors that influence the happiness of liushou women were investigated in the Western part of China. Based on the population investigated, it was found that the financial situation, personality, government efficiency, conjugal relationship and relationship with in-laws are the significant factors influencing the happiness of liushou women. This finding demonstrates that the Chinese women are willing to sacrifice their personal interest for the interests of their families.

Natural disasters, economic growth and sustainable development in China: an empirical study using provincial panel data

Using a newly developed integrated indicator system with entropy weighting, we analyzed the panel data of 577 recorded disasters in 30 provinces of China from 1985–2011 to identify their links with the subsequent economic growth. Meteorological disasters promote economic growth through human capital instead of physical capital. Geological disasters did not trigger local economic growth from 1999–2011. Generally, natural disasters overall had no significant impact on economic growth from 1985–1998. Thus, human capital reinvestment should be the aim in managing recoveries, and it should be used to regenerate the local economy based on long-term sustainable development.

Motorcycle ownership and injury in China

Background. China has made tremendous progress in its economic development in the past two decades. Accompanying this economic development has been an evident shift in the modes of transport, from walking and cycling to the use of motorcycles and, increasingly, four-wheel vehicles. Such changes are likely to have also produced changes in the patterns and numbers of road traffic injuries, including increases in motorcycle injuries. However, such changes have not been well documented. The work described in this paper sought, therefore, to document the changes in motorcycle ownership, motorcyclist mortality and injury rates in China since 1987.
Methods. National traffic ownership and injury data from 1987 to 2001 were obtained from the National Bureau for Traffic Administration. Additionally, traffic ownership and injury records from 1997 to 2001 were collected from local police offices from 20 counties in Guangxi Region. Population data were obtained from the national and county statistics bureaus. Motorcycle ownership, fatality and injury trends over time were calculated.
Results. Nationally, motorcycles accounted for 23.4% of all registered motor vehicles in 1987, increasing to 63.2% in 2001. Motorcyclist fatalities and injuries increased 5.5-fold and 9.3-fold, respectively, between 1987 and 2001. In 1987, 7.5% of all traffic fatalities and 8.8% of all traffic injuries were sustained by motorcyclists, with the corresponding proportions increasing to 18.9% and 22.8%, respectively, in 2001. The changing proportions of both traffic fatalities and injuries sustained by motorcyclists were positively correlated with the change in the proportion of motorcycles among all motor vehicles. In the 20 counties in Guangxi, motorcyclist fatality and injury rates also increased between 1997 and 2001. Moreover, these rates were considerably higher than the national rates.
Conclusions. Motorcyclist injury in China is a serious public health problem. Motorcyclist fatalities and injuries are likely to continue to increase unless appropriate intervention programmes are implemented.

A study of the impact of environmental surroundings on personal well-being in urban China using a multi-item well-being indicator

We examine the relationship between atmospheric and water pollution, traffic congestion, access to parkland and personal well-being using a survey administered across six Chinese cities in 2007. In contrast to existing studies of well-being determinants by economists which typically employ single-item indicators, we use the Personal Well-being Index (PWI). We also employ the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) to measure job satisfaction, which is one of the variables for which we control when examining the relationship between environmental surroundings and personal well-being. Previous research by psychologists has shown the PWI and JSS to have good psychometric properties in western and Chinese samples. A robust finding is that in cities with higher levels of atmospheric pollution and traffic congestion, respondents report lower levels of personal well-being ceteris paribus. Specifically, we find that a one standard deviation increase in suspended particles or sulphur dioxide emissions is roughly equivalent to a 12-13% reduction in average monthly income in the six cities. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Disproportionate ownership structure and IPO long-run performance of non-SOEs in China

This paper examines the relationship between ownership structures and IPO long-run performance of non-SOEs in China. Although non-SOEs underperform the market in general after IPO but the poor performance is mainly caused by the IPOs with ownership control wedge. Non-SOEs with one share one vote structure outperform those with control-ownership wedge by 30% for three years post-IPO performance in adjusted buy-and-hold returns. Non-SOEs with control-ownership wedge have higher frequency of undertaking value-destroying related party transactions. These findings suggest that non-SOEs need to improve corporate governance such as disproportionate ownership structure to better safeguard the interest of long-run shareholders.

Does political capital create value in the IPO market? Evidence from China

This study examines the value of political capital in the Chinese IPO market. We find a positive relationship between a politically connected executive and the probability of IPO approval of entrepreneurial firms. We further identify that shareholders value those connections and give a market premium to connected firms after the firms go public. We provide evidence that other types of political capital gained through external sources, such as politically connected sponsors and PE investors, also bring benefits to the firms in their IPO approval, and these connections substitute for the effect of the executive's political connections on IPO approval. We argue that in emerging markets where government intervention is still prevalent, political capital does create value and entrepreneurial firms usually build political capital to facilitate their access to the IPO market, although other types of political capital do not bring further benefits into the post-IPO market.

Has China displaced its competitors in high tech trade?

This paper empirically investigated the extent to which China displaced its competitors in high-tech exports using disaggregated data for the period 1992–2013. To address the endogeneity problem, we used a comprehensive set of instruments for Chinese high-tech exports in relevant markets, including China's GDP and distances to those markets. Results of our IV regressions revealed that in most of the high-tech sectors, Chinese exports had displaced the exports of its developing competitors such as India, South American exporters like Brazil and Mexico, and South-East Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, especially in the period prior to the 2007–08 global financial crisis. Yet, Chinese exports had been associated with more high-tech exports of developed exporters like OECD countries, South Korea and Japan. Our findings suggest that while China became the world's top high-tech exporter, its high-tech exported products had been substitutes to those of other developing and emerging economies but complementary to that of developed economies.

Elements and mineralogical compostions from different sediment cores off the southern China Sea

The mineralogy, major and trace elements, and neodymium and strontium isotopes of surface sediments in the South China Sea (SCS) are documented with the aim of investigating their applicability in provenance tracing. The results indicate that mineralogical compositions alone do not clearly identify the sources for the bulk sediments in the SCS. The Nd isotopic compositions of the SCS sediments show a clear zonal distribution. The most negative epsilon-Neodymium values were obtained for sediments from offshore South China (-13.0 to -10.7), while those from offshore Indochina are slightly more positive (-10.7 to -9.4). The Nd isotopic compositions of the sediments from offshore Borneo are even higher, with epsilon-Neodymium ranging from -8.8 to -7.0, and the sediments offshore from the southern Philippine Arc have the most positive epsilon-Neodymium values, from -3.7 to +5.3. This zonal distribution in epsilon-Neodymium is in good agreement with the Nd isotopic compositions of the sediments supplied by river systems that drain into the corresponding regions, indicating that Nd isotopic compositions are an adequate proxy for provenance tracing of SCS sediments. Sr isotopic compositions, in contrast, can only be used to identify the sediments from offshore South China and offshore from the southern Philippine Arc, as the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of sediments from other regions overlapped. Similar zonal distributions are also apparent in a La-Th-Sc discrimination diagram. Sediments fromthewestmargin of the SCS, such as those fromBeibuwan Bay, offshore fromHainan Island, offshore from Indochina, and from the Sunda Shelf plot in the same field, while those offshore from the northeastern SCS, offshore from Borneo, and offshore from the southern Philippine Arc plot in distinct fields. Thus, the La-Th-Sc discrimination diagram, coupledwith Nd isotopes, can be used to trace the provenance of SCS sediments. Using this method, we re-assessed the provenance changes of sediments at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1148 since the late Oligocene. The results indicate that sediments deposited after 23.8 Ma (above 455 mcd: meters composite depth) were supplied mainly from the eastern South China Block, with a negligible contribution from the interior of the South China Block. Sediments deposited before 26 Ma (beneath 477 mcd) were supplied mainly from the North Palawan Continental Terrane, which may retain the geochemical characteristics of the materials covered on the late Mesozoic granitoids along the coastal South China. For that the North Palawan Continental Terrane is presently located within the southern Philippine Arc but was located close to ODP Site 1148 in the late Oligocene. The weathering products of volcanic material associated with the extension of the SCS ocean crust also contributed to these sediments. The rapid change in sediment source at 26-23.8 Ma probably resulted from a sudden cessation of sediment supply from the North Palawan Continental Terrane. Wesuggest that the North Palawan Continental Terrane drifted southwards alongwith the extension of the SCS ocean crust during that time, and when the basin was large enough, the supply of sediment from the south to ODP Site 1148 at the north slope may have ceased.

Geochemistry and mineralogy of coal samples from Dingji Mine, Huainan Coalfield, China

To investigate the geochemistry of trace elements in coals from the Dingji Mine of the Huainan Coalfield, Anhui province, China, 416 borehole samples of coal, one parting, two floor and two roof mudstones were collected from 9 minable coal seams in 24 boreholes drilled during exploration. The abundances of 47 elements in each sample were determined by various instruments. The boron concentration in the coals suggests that marine influence decreased from coal seam 1 to 13-1. The geometric means of the elements Sn, Bi, Sb, and B are higher than the average for the corresponding elements in the coals from China, the U.S., and world. The enrichment of certain elements in the Shanxi or Upper Shihezi Formations is related to their depositional environment. The roof, floor and parting samples have higher contents of some elements than coal seams. The mineral matters in the coals from the Dingji Mine were found to consist mainly of granular quartz, clay minerals, and carbonate minerals. The elements are classified into two groups based on their stratigraphic distribution from coal seam 1 to 13-1, and the characteristics of each group are discussed. Based on the correlation coefficients of elemental concentrations with ash yield, four groups of elements with different affinities were identified.