A Negotiation Model of Eco-Compensation Standards for Transboundary Water Pollution

At present, the framework of the medical security system in rural and pastoral areas of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has taken shape, which plays an important role in meeting needs of the farmers and herdsmen on health care and improving the health standard. First, this article elaborates on the operations of the medical security system in rural and pastoral areas of Inner Mongolia. And then, the problems that exist in the medical security system would be analyzed. Finally, combining with the real situation in Inner Mongolia, the proposals to improve the medical security system are offered so as to improve the medical service level in rural and pastoral areas and meet the needs of farmers and herdsmen on health care. KEYWORD: NCMS (New Rural Cooperative Medical System); Medical Assistance; Public Health Services Farmers and Herdsmen; Inner Mongolia International Conference on Social Science, Education Management and Sports Education (SSEMSE 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1681 hospitalization fund, outpatient fund, insurance fund of serious illness and risk fund. 2.1.2 Compensation Standard The compensation standard of NCMS includes hospitalization compensation and outpatient compensation. Taking Erdos City as an example: 2.1.2.1 Hospitalization Compensation The limit line of hospitalization compensation (including special outpatient clinic) per capita every year is up to 200 thousand. And the compensation standard is as follows: Table1 Hospitalization Compensation standard of NCMS 2.1.2.2 Outpatient Compensation The designated medical institutions of outpatient compensation are Sumu health clinics in towns and townships in every country, community health service center and the clinics of Gacha villiage, which implements the integrated management of villages. The ratio of compensation is as follows: Table2 Outpatient Compensation standard of NCMS Medical Institution Pay Line (Yuan) Compensation Ratio Limit Line City’s hospital of village and county level 100 65% The limit line is set according to the disease categories and meanwhile, the total cost combining the limit line of hospitalization can not exceed 200 thousand. City’s hospital (including hospitals of district and city level) Under Second-class Hospital (including second-class) 300 55% Third-class Hospital 500 45% Hospitals outside the city 700 35% 2.2 Rural and Pastoral Medical Assistance System The fund of rural and pastoral medical assistance system is from government allocations and voluntary contributions of all sectors of society. And the target people are including five guarantees family with serious illness, poor households and entitled groups in rural areas. And the four assistance measures consist of regular medical assistance, medical assistance for serious illness, outpatient assistance for serious illness and temporary medical assistance. 2.3 Basic Public Health Services The meaning of basic public health services covers a lot. And here, the author refers to the narrowly meaning of public health service, of which the content is providing the disease control and prevention and maternal and child protection. The major institution responsible for the public health services is Sumu health clinics in towns and townships. Until 2010, the number of health clinics in towns and townships in Inner Mongolia is 1340, of which the number of beds is 16424.[2]And Sumu health clinics in towns and townships provides various public health services, including building health records of farmers and herdsmen, popularizing the common sense of health care, executing the national immunization plan, vaccinating, registering and reporting the infectious disease and suspected cases within the region and controlling epidemics. 2.4 Medical Insurance of Serious Illness of NCMS Since 2014, Inner Mongolia has already carried out the work of medical insurance of serious illness of NCMS, of which the target people are the farmers and herdsmen who are insured that very year. And the insurance coverage is the annual large amount of fees of certain serious disease. And the specific compensation coverage and standard is consulted to the municipal administrative department of NCMS. And 20 yuan per person from the collective funds of NCMS is taken as the insurance expense and no additional fee should be paid. Besides, the annual ratio of fund surplus for commercial insurance companies cannot be over 5%. The part in excess of 5% should return to the fund of NCMS. If the proportion of capital loss of commercial insurance for serious illness is below 10%, the insurance companies should bear the cost and as for the part in excess of Medical Institution PayLine (Yuan) Compensation Ratio Limt Line Locality The Range of Hospital City, Village and County Level Sumu health clinics in towns and towships 200 90% 200 thousand City’s Hospitals Cla-ss I Under Second-class Hospital (including second-class) County Level 400 80% City Level 600 Cla-ss II Third-class Hospital County Level 600 75% City Level 1000 Hospitals outside the city 1500 65%

The ecological compensation of cultivated land could also be called paying for the ecological service of cultivated land. It means that based on comprehensive consideration of the cost of the protection of the cultivated land and the value of the ecological service, the benefited area would implement the ecological compensation to the damaged area to motivate the actors of the protection behavior to protect the cultivated land better. A fair and reasonable cultivated land ecological compensation mechanism is critical in motivating cultivated land protection subjects’ active participation in cultivated land protection. However, most of the currently measured cultivated land ecological compensation standards are only determined from the perspective of a single interest, ignoring the participation and negotiation of cultivated land protection stakeholders, resulting in insufficient pertinence, low compensation standards, and low compensation efficiency. Therefore, by introducing a market mechanism, this study constructs a non-cooperative bargaining model and solves three stages of the game equilibrium solution under the condition of comprehensive consideration of interests of farmland ecosystem service providers and consumers. In this study, the Yangtze River Economic Belt is taken as the research area to provide empirical analysis of a cultivated land ecological game compensation standard between the subject and object of cultivated land ecological compensation in the area. The study found that, under the ecological compensation standard for cultivated land determined by the bargaining game, the cultivated land ecological compensation subject and object in the area meets the “KaldorHicks” resource allocation criterion, and the standard can take into account the interests of both parties. Meanwhile, the river basin horizontal ecological compensation quota determined by the game standard will neither cause a financial dilemma in the payment area due to the excessive compensation quota, nor financial “windfall gain” in the compensated area due to ecological finance transfer of cultivated land. The cultivated land ecological compensation standard based on the game between the two parties is reasonable and accurate for the cultivated land ecological compensation object, which not only functions as an economic incentive, but maintains long-term effectiveness of policy. Therefore, it is necessary to actively promote the determination of ecological compensation standards based on negotiation means, and to establish a sustainable ecological protection compensation mechanism involving government predomination, social engagement, and market-oriented operations, to drive marketization of cultivated land ecological compensation.

Eco-compensation standards for agricultural water conservation: A case study of the paddy land-to-dry land program in China

The non-point source pollution arising from soil erosion is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of the water quality of the Taihu Lake Basin. Forest plays an important role in controlling soil erosion and reducing nutrient loss. Based on the survey data on forest resources in Anji County, we estimate the amount of soil erosion and nutrient loss of nitrogen and phosphorus reduced by forest, using soil erosion modulus method and soil nutrient content. In accordance with the degradation coefficient of pollutant and regional compensation standards of environmental resources, we assess the ecological benefits of forest function in reducing nutrient loss of nitrogen and phosphorus in Anji County. The results show that the forest in Anji County can reduce the soil erosion amount at 1.51 million t annually on the average, so as to control the nutrient loss of 1 409 t of total nitrogen and 577 t of total phosphorus in soil, equivalent to annually avoiding the flow of 824 t of total nitrogen and 410 t of total phosphorus into river water; this ecological service function can make forests in Anji County get 92.55 million yuan of ecological compensation funds (about 688 yuan /hm2•a), equivalent to 15 times of the current ecological compensation standard (47 yuan /hm2). The study reveals the importance of forest function in controlling soil erosion and nutrient loss in the upper reaches of Taihu Lake Basin to water environment protection in the basin, conducive to carrying out pollution control and protection work of the water environment in the basin.

Estimates of health care demand are known to depend on the empirical specification used in the analysis. In this paper, an innovative specification, the finite mixture model (FMM), is employed to estimate the utilization of and expenditures on behavioural health care. Unlike standard specifications, the FMM has the ability to distinguish between distinct classes of users of behavioural health care (e.g. the ‘worried well’ and the severely mentally ill). This new model is tested against standard empirical specifications using data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey. Using common risk stratifiers, estimates of utilization and costs are generated with each specification. It is found that the FMM provides a much better fit of both expenditure and utilization data than standard specifications, particularly among high intensity users that standard models have been unable to represent adequately. Furthermore, the results provide preliminary evidence that there are (at least) two distinct groups of users of behavioural health care. The empirical advantages of the FMM translate into superior estimates of mean costs and utilization that have widespread application in rate-setting exercises.

Estimates of health care demand are known to depend on the empirical specification used in the analysis. In this paper, an innovative specification, the finite mixture model (FMM), is employed to estimate the utilization of and expenditures on behavioural health care. Unlike standard specifications, the FMM has the ability to distinguish between distinct classes of users of behavioural health care (e.g. the 'worried well' and the severely mentally ill). This new model is tested against standard empirical specifications using data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey. Using common risk stratifiers, estimates of utilization and costs are generated with each specification. It is found that the FMM provides a much better fit of both expenditure and utilization data than standard specifications, particularly among high intensity users that standard models have been unable to represent adequately. Furthermore, the results provide preliminary evidence that there are (at least) two distinct groups of users of behavioural health care. The empirical advantages of the FMM translate into superior estimates of mean costs and utilization that have widespread application in rate-setting exercises.

Study on eco-compensation standard for adjacent administrative districts based on the maximum entropy production

A significant number of young and middle-aged farmers are migrating to urban areas, which could facilitate farmland transfer and large-scale farming in China. While there has been active exploration in achieving large-scale farming, a replacement model has not yet been developed. The primary challenge does not stem from the modes themselves, but rather from agricultural stakeholders’ parasitic behavior on farmland transfer. This parasitism takes the form of farmers’continued reliance on farmland, village cadres leveraging their power for rent-seeking from farmland, and the virtual parasitism carried out by agricultural intermediaries. Drawing from an investigation conducted in Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei in the North China Plain, this study asserts that the key to promoting orderly farmland transfer lies in establishing a compensation standard founded on principles of social justice. The article culminates in the exploration of the specific compensation standards for farmland transfer.

Ecological compensation is a hot subject in academic studies, and the determination of the spatial allocation of compensation payments is a key point in the research of ecological compensation. There are two kinds of thoughts in the determination of regional spatial allocation at present: “evaluation of ecological construction cost” and “evaluation of ecosystem services value”. This paper analyzes the relationships between social ecological compensation and regional socio-economic development, and establishes two econometric models with the data of 2007 from various provinces in China. Through these models, the impacts of geographical endowments on the regional socio-economic development in various provinces are analyzed from the social justice viewpoint and the concept of “equivalent value of geographical endowments” (EGE for short) is proposed. This paper analyzes the application prospect of EGE in the policy making of regional ecological compensation. The results showed that: (1) the implementation of social ecological compensation is not only an effective guarantee for each region to obtain the equal rights of survival, development and decent environment, but also an essential assurance to the coordinated, balanced and sustainable development among various regions; (2) the regional difference in geographical endowments is an important factor affecting the regional spatial variation of socio-economic development. Therefore, geographical endowments are important bases for the determination of the spatial allocation of compensation payments in social ecological compensation; (3) based on the EGE, the government can determine the spatial allocation of social ecological compensation scientifically, and avoid the “sweeping approach” phenomenon in the policy making process of ecological compensation.

Watershed eco-compensation is an effective way to solve conflicts over water allocation and ecological destruction problems in the exploitation of water resources. Despite an increasing interest in the topic, the researches has neglected the effect of water quality and lacked systematic calculation method. In this study we reviewed and analyzed the current literature and proposedatheoretical framework to improve the calculation of co-compensation standard.Considering the perspectives of the river ecosystems, forest ecosystems and wetland ecosystems, the benefit compensation standard was determined by the input-output corresponding relationship. Based on the opportunity costs related to limiting development and water conservation loss, the eco-compensation standard was calculated.In order to eliminate the defects of eco-compensation implementation, the improvement suggestions were proposed for the compensation standard calculation and implementation.

Eco-compensation is an important mechanism when applying the theory of ecosystem services to practical development, which translates the external and non-market value of the environment into real financial incentives for local actors. Scientifically formulating feasible and credible compensation standards is the most critical and key step to adjusting the benefits received by environment protectors and beneficiaries. The Inner Mongolia agro-pastoral zone is an important ecological area with an undeveloped economy in Northern China. The implementation of eco-compensation policies contributes to ecological restoration and poverty alleviation. Taking Horqin Left Back Banner, Inner Mongolia, China as a study case, a quantitative model of a non-point source pollution eco-compensation program was established by using emergy synthesis—a thermodynamics-based method in ecological economic systems—to create a comprehensive eco-compensation standard. The results showed that the eco-compensation amounts for non-point source pollution were generally below 10% of the regional gross domestic product (GDP). A 11–20% reduction in fertilizer would be accepted according to the field investigation and the optimal eco-compensation strategy reduced the phosphate fertilizer application by 20% with a compensation standard of $379.63/ha/year, which was similar to the farmers’ willingness to accept compensation. For the accurate creation of a non-point source pollution eco-compensation program, the emergy synthesis overcomes the inconsistency in the quantification of the material flow, ecological flow, and economic flow, guaranteeing the sustainable implementation of non-point source pollution eco-compensation projects.

Eco-compensation was involved in many subject area, and the concept and connotation of Eco-compensation were discussed from the multi-disciplinary perspective by the scholars of different research areas. Hydropower, as one kind of green energy,is an important component of the China's energy development. Owing to the delay of the cumulative effect on ecological environment caused by hydropower development, the unbalanced distribution of interests between the cascade hydropower stations, and the mass of industry and departments involved in cascade hydropower development, Eco-compensation system of the cascade hydropower development is becoming more complicated.For this reason, it is significant to analyze the environmental impact during cascade hydropower development, and to establish a full Eco-compensation mechanism for the cascade hydropower development. In this paper, the basic framework of the Eco-compensation system includes five parts: the subject, the object of compensation, compensation standards and methods of determining compensation, forms of compensation, process control of compensation, then the content of these five aspects was detailed. On this basis , the problems which should be solved urgently in the cascade development of Eco-compensation mechanisms have been advised,these discussion and analysis will provide some reference for the further research and practice．

Bargaining and equilibrium unemployment: Narrowing the gap between New Keynesian and ‘disequilibrium’ theories

Traditional eco-agriculture provides many ecosystem services which are important for the local environment; especially in mountain areas. In order to encourage the farmers to engage in eco-agriculture; it is necessary to establish an eco-compensation mechanism for them.As the compensation standard is one of key issues in establishing eco-compensation mechanism; this paper calculated the standard based on the farmers’ willingness to accept (WTA) and the input-output analysis of eco-compensation. We took the traditional rice-fish eco-agriculture as the research object; conducting field surveys in Hani Terrace of Honghe County. Through the questionnairesin 2011; we obtained the farmers’ willingness to accept government compensation and market compensation. Then; the research evaluated the output of eco-compensation; the economic value of rice-fish paddy ecosystem services. Finally; under different market compensation standards; we compared the input and output of government compensation. The results show that; in 2011 the government should to pay farmers 7462 yuan·ha–1·a-1to meet their willingness; but the output (ecological benefit) was only 7393yuan·ha–1·a-1. However; when the rice price increases 1 yuan·kg-1because of the limited use of chemicals in the next year; the government just has to pay farmers 4062 yuan·ha–1·a-1and the surplus will be 3331 yuan·ha–1·a-1.

COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan demonstrates the limitations of publicly available case numbers for epidemiological modeling