The impacts of fiscal decentralization on environmental innovation in China

Environmental innovation is the fundamental support for sustainable development. Exploiting Chinese provincial panel data from 2007 to 2017, this study investigates the impacts of fiscal decentralization on environmental innovation. In particular, we discuss the regulating role of government’s environmental protection expenditures relying on the mediator effect model. The empirical analyses show that fiscal decentralization cannot only directly promote environmental innovation, but also indirectly weaken environmental innovation through the environmental protection expenditure of the local government. The overall performance is that fiscal decentralization promotes environmental innovation. It is noteworthy that there is regional heterogeneity in the impact of fiscal decentralization on environmental innovation. The impact in the east is significantly higher than in the central and western regions in China.     

Taiwanese bed and breakfast business performance: A geographic region perspective

Taiwan has prioritized bed and breakfast (B&B) business performance improvement in its tourism policies because B&Bs are a sustainable business model that can boost local economy through rural tourism. In order to identify the factors that can improve business performance, this research uses directional distance function and metafrontier approach to evaluate the technical efficiency of 18 cities and counties with B&Bs in Taiwan from 2011 to 2016. Results are divided into four geographic regions: Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Taiwan; technology gap ratios are computed to determine the degree of technical gaps for each region in order to provide information to potential B&B owners when selecting their accommodation location or region, to aid B&B managers in tailoring their business models and marketing strategies to maximize total revenues or minimize inputs, and to facilitate tourism, small businesses, and local economy with the support of the Taiwanese government.     

国内农业与旅游业融合理论研究中的若干争议思考

在国内,将产业融合理论等运用于农业与旅游业的融合发展的理论研究已出现了不少有价值的成果,但仍存在一些理论争议。通过对近20年相关文献的系统梳理,集中分析了当前国内农业与旅游业融合发展的内涵和特征、动力、阶段和测度、基本形态等基础理论中的主要争议点,并提出进一步的思考。研究表明：（1）农业与旅游业融合发展的逻辑起点是对当前国内农业发展现实困境的破解;（2）农业资源的通用性是农业与旅游业产业融合发展的内在基础;（3）旅游需求转向、管制放松和技术进步是农业与旅游业融合发展的主要推力;（4）农业与旅游业融合发展是一个动态发展的过程,其结果是产生了新的业态和新的经济增长点,受旅游需求、产品创新水平和资源环境承载力的影响,融合经济发展并非是一条持续增长的曲线;（5）农业与旅游业融合发展与农业资源通用性程度、产品创新能力密切相关,其融合发展的效应是一种经济、社会、生态多层面的综合效应,融合发展水平的测度应立足资源-创新-效应的系统视角进行探讨。由此,要进一步加强融合发展与旅游需求、农业困境及区域经济特征之间的关系研究,强化资源、主体、经济、市场的监测、评估和管理,以科学指导国内农业与旅游业的融合发展。     

基于PSR模型框架下旅游发展对民族传统文化影响机制分析

民族旅游开发对民族传统文化的影响,既有积极促进的一面,也有消极阻碍的一面。分析旅游业发展对民族传统文化产生影响的原因、过程、演化,尽可能降低其消极影响,扩大积极影响,使民族地区旅游发展与民族传统文化达到“双赢”,是民族地区旅游业可持续发展的要求。     

The Economics and Politics of Tax Increment Financing

ABSTRACT Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a popular yet controversial tool that allows local governments to use property tax revenue to fund the public costs of economic development. Since TIF gives one local government the power to affect the tax bases of the overlapping jurisdictions, there is uncertainty and argument on the part of government officials and taxpayers as to who really finances the program. To evaluate the alternative contentions, this paper presents a general methodology that identifies which taxpayers in which locations fund the TIF's expenditures, and sets forward the conditions under which such a local economic development policy can be beneficial to taxpayers. The paper applies the model to study the TIF program currently active in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The evidence indicates that the taxpayers in the entire metropolitan area subsidized the downtown activities in the early years, but now pay lower property tax rates due to the city's TIF-financed urban revitalization program.     

Spatial Distribution of Natural Villages Surrounding Plateau Lakes: A Case Study of the Yilong Lake in Yunnan

The study of the spatial distribution of natural villages is what local studies, cultural studies, urban and rural planning, and tourism planning need. In the context of gradually extinct natural villages, research on the characteristics analysis and protection of natural villages is of great significance. With the aid of the Arc GIS spatial analysis technology, it was concluded that terrain, traffic, and social economy were important factors influencing the distribution of the natural villages in the study area, so as to provide a technical reference for relevant local administrative departments to construct a livable ecological environment.     

旅游开发对社区居民生活质量影响分析——同安野山谷生态乐园案例

近年来随着旅游业的迅速发展,社区与景区矛盾不断暴露,引起旅游学术界的广泛关注。景区开发对社区的影响研究逐渐成为中国旅游学术界研究的热点,建立在案例基础上的旅游社区影响研究成果逐渐增多,为景区与社区的矛盾调节提供解决之道。以野山谷生态景区为研究对象,从景区开发给社区带来的经济、环境、文化3方面影响着手,研究分析景区开发给居民生活质量带来的各种影响。针对景区开发给居民带来的不利影响提出解决方案。     

当前国内外乡村旅游研究展望

梳理中国乡村旅游的发展脉络,总结目前国内乡村旅游的产生背景、发展现状及发展模式。乡村旅游主要研究问题导向表现为乡村旅游的定义、乡村旅游的消费、乡村旅游业的地位与估算、乡村旅游的行为、乡村旅游持续发展、政府层面对乡村旅游的推动、乡村旅游持续发展、旅游影响与社区参与、古村落旅游开发等方面,乡村旅游的本质是在乡村经济基础上的乡村文化。国内乡村旅游问题、成绩同时存在,问题值得重视,需要完善提高,成绩值得肯定。讨论认为：（1）促进全球一体化进程中地方本土经验挖掘,实现旅游发展与文化传承的融合。（2）乡村旅游与乡村经济、建设、环境各方面共同发展,才是根本目标,是发展城乡旅游的基本保证。     

State Fiscal Responses to Federal Government Grants

This paper examines the effect of federal government grants on state fiscal decisions. The study presents a disaggregated analysis of state government that allows for the precise measurement of important fiscal effects. State government is modeled as maximizing a social welfare function defined over government expenditures and taxes. The positive theory of grant response is tested and confirmed. The results indicate that matching grants stimulate government expenditures more than nonmatching grants. The results also suggest that federal grant cutbacks will lead to reductions in state expenditures for all key programs but that the composition of this change will depend on the nature of the federal cutbacks.     

Analysis on Driving Forces behind Community Participation in Heritage Site Protection and Tourism Development

This paper applied literature research, model analysis, considered current community-participated tourism development, established a four driving forces model on the basis of analyzing the driving forces for community participation in heritage site protection and tourism development. The driving forces and applicability of community participation in heritage site protection and tourism development from the perspectives of interests drive, government pushing, tourism development attraction and environmental protection pressure.     

Integrated Development of the Tourism and Protection of Ancient Towns

Local color is not only the cultural counter in the competition between cities,but the main cultural element that attracts foreign tourists.In recent years,many cities have regarded tourism development as a major mean of reviving ancient towns.The excavation of local culture,material reconstruction of local characteristics,and the resurgence and"reproduction"of local industries have become an important work in the tourism development of ancient towns.Apart from the discussion of the protection,inheritance,and touristification of tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage,this paper demonstrated the possibility of the integration and production capacity of local characteristic industry resources and analyzed the impact of the integrated development on the lifestyle and living atmosphere of residents in the ancient towns.In this paper,ways to realize the integrated development of the tourism and protection of ancient towns were included as follows:(1)to ensure the principal status of local residents and give full play to their initiatives;(2)to protect the local traditional way of life and improve the public service system;(3)to choose the appropriate development pattern and achieve the diversified development;(4)to improve service facilities in tourism and adjust the structure of tourism products.     

张家界市武陵源区贫困村空间分布规律研究

为加速张家界市脱贫攻坚进程及其他旅游地区旅游扶贫提供重要依据。以该区2016 年初贫困村数据为基础,运用GIS 空间分析方法中的叠加分析、缓冲分析和密度分析3 种方法,通过探索张家界市武陵源区贫困村空间分布规律,对该区31 个贫困村空间分布规律进行研究。结果表明：景区和乡（镇）政府辐射作用明显,贫困村的数量呈现出随着景区和乡（镇）政府距离的递减而向外递增的态势;贫困村呈现沿进入景区主要交通干线分布,但主要交通干线对扶贫的作用微弱;贫困村在经济薄弱的地方呈现集聚特征,而在经济较好的地区集聚特征不明显。因此加强景区的带动和辐射作用是核心,提升基础设施建设是关键,强化政府机构扶贫职能是保障,为新形势下其他地区旅游精准扶贫提供重要的理论参考。     

Who benefits from international tourism in small Pacific islands? Value capture in the hotel industry in Hawaii

There is a consensus among small Pacific islands that the extent to which they benefit from international tourism largely depends on how much of the value created by tourism remains in the local economy. This study examines how the value created in the hotel industry is distributed among the key stakeholders in a small Pacific island context. We used aggregated income statements of full-service and limited-service hotels from the STR Inc., a hotel industry data company, to calculate the value distribution among the key stakeholders in the hotel industry of a small Pacific island. We found that labour and owners captured most of the value created, whereas hotel management companies and franchisors captured a small share of the value. Our results suggest that tourism workers' ability to take united action and hence to negotiate higher wages will result in higher value capture by local labour and less value leaking out of the local economy. Our results also reveal that foreign ownership in the hotel industry is the single largest cause of economic leakages. The study has several implications for the tourism-based growth policies in small Pacific islands.     

Regionalism and tourism: exploring integral links in Singapore

Traditionally, tourism development in Singapore involves creating and promoting tourist attractions to lure inbound visitors. Today in the 1990s the focus is on regional tourism, and Singapore is being developed as a ‘tourism capital’ and a hubbing centre for visitors travelling to and within Asia. Tourism development now has a regional focus and tourism enterprises are being encouraged to invest in overseas projects in the Asia Pacific. This paper explores Singapore’s forays into regional tourism. Specifically, it argues that ‘regionalisation’ and tourism enjoy a mutually reinforcing relationship. This means that regionalism provides an avenue for the tourism industry to expand and, conversely, the tourist industry provides an opportunity for Singapore to regionalise its economy. The turn towards regionalisation hints at local problems faced by Singapore’s maturing economy as a whole and its tourism industry in particular. Such local problems include: geographic constraints of site and the lack of natural attractions; limited market and investment opportunities within Singapore; increasingly sophisticated leisure needs of Singaporeans; and strategic concerns for political survival. ‘Tourism regionalisation’ helps to circumvent both real and perceived problems but this paper also warns that many challenges and difficulties will be faced even as Singapore’s regional economy takes root.     

State and Local Government Finances: Was There a Structural Break in the Reagan Years?

The Reagan administration's “New Federalism” and tax reform proposals were expected to have chilling effects on growth of state and local government revenues and expenditures. This paper examines the hypothesis that there was a structural break in state and local government fiscal behavior in the 1980s. Although the evidence is far from conclusive, it does suggest some different fiscal patterns in this decade. However, the real structural break appears to have occurred in the late 1970s and these trends have continued during the Reagan years.     

A Model of Tax Increment Financing Adoption Incentives

With tax increment financing (TIF) a municipality pays for economic development expenditures out of future increases in tax collections. If the development expenditures are the sole cause of the increased tax collections, TIF is a fair and reasonable policy. If not, TIF can distort choices and redistribute resources. This paper develops an economic model of TIF as a choice by the sponsoring municipality with an impact on an overlying government. The analytic framework isolates the impact of key variables, permits analysis of the payoff from TIF to each government, and helps inform discussions about equity. The model clearly shows that while the special nature of TIF causes it to favor projects that generate significant tax revenue, that revenue need not be truly incremental with respect to the project alone, and projects therefore need not be efficient to be financially viable to municipalities. In fact, the projects that best fit the goals of TIF legislation may be impossible to finance through TIF. Alternative government programs may be required to help towns develop areas most in need.     

日本绿色观光休闲农业的发展及其对我国的启示

日本的绿色观光休闲农业促进了农村发展。在日本,绿色观光是指在农山渔村,将当地的自然、文化和居民进行交流的一种滞在型余暇活动,主要分为农林业公园型、饮食文化型、农村景观观赏和山野居住型、和终生学习型四大类型。日本绿色观光农业发展的特点主要表现在政府、法律法规和财政预算、发展规划、民间组织、环境保护、拓展内涵等方面。日本政府逐步确立了绿色观光农业在国家发展计划中的重要地位,并通过相关法规、资金预算和协议会推动其发展。我国在积极进行新农村建设时也应借鉴日本经验,统筹城乡科学发展。     

基于村民感知的旅游扶贫效应研究——以龙湾村为例

旅游扶贫作为新型自身造血式、开放式的扶贫方式,自提出之日便受到学者的广泛关注。在文献查阅的基础上将导致贫困的因素划分为4类并分析旅游发展对这些因素的缓解消除作用。以甘肃省白银市龙湾村为研究区通过利用AHP层次分析法和模糊综合评判法,得出其综合扶贫效应感知值为3.33。其中经济带动效应感知值最高为3.72;权利提升效应感知值次之,为3.45;思想促进效应感知值与资源弥补效应感知值分别为3.31和3.15。在调查问卷数据统计分析的基础上与实地调查相结合探究了其效应感知值的差异原因,在此基础上为提升各类效应感知值提供了政策建议。目的在于为龙湾村旅游扶贫和谐、持续、稳定、合理的发展提供理论支持并尝试探索旅游型乡村发展的新路径。     

跨文化旅游对旅游地居民心理及行为的影响研究——以敦煌当地居民为例

跨文化旅游对旅游地居民心理和行为具有深远的影响。利用2010年9月在敦煌对当地居民所作的200份抽样调查资料,从当地居民对外国游客的态度和对外国游客旅游影响的感知出发,探析了跨文化因素对旅游地居民心理及行为的影响。研究发现,跨文化旅游对当地居民的心理和行为影响主要集中在文化交往、对当地传统文化的认识和环保意识等3个方面。同时,还应注意当地居民对外来文化影响的心理承受力,正确引导居民吸收外来文化的精华,让居民真正体会到跨文化旅游带来的“效益”。