Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Division of Resource Economics & Management

Committee Chair

Alan Collins

Committee Co-Chair

Bryan McCannon

Committee Member

Bryan McCannon

Committee Member

Xiaoli Etienne

Committee Member

Mark Sperow

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three essays involving environmental pollution, electricity consumption, and farmland leasing in China. These economic analyses are linked by their inclusion of institutional changes which have occurred in China over the past half-century. The first essay examines the effects of environmental pollution and institutional abatement targets on real average housing prices in China. The Spatial Difference-In-Difference model shows that the overall effect of 2006 SO2 institutional abatement targets is to increase real average housing prices across provinces. The changes in both emissions of sulfur dioxide and industrial wastewater discharges have negative impacts on the change of real average housing prices.

Essay two considers one of the most important issues in electricity consumption research, namely, the electricity consumption function. This research demonstrates that metropolitan electricity consumption is a function of economic output and electricity consumption habits along with the electricity demand management reform.

Finally, the third essay develops a theoretical model to identify optimal farmland contracts. Under complete information, a fixed-rent contract is the optimal institutional arrangement from land lessor’s perspective. Conversely, a share contract is the best choice for land lessor under incomplete information. The empirical results show that the farmer who leases farmland to external individuals has a lower probability of choosing a fixed-rent contract. However, the farmer who leases farmland to internal individuals is less likely to choose a share contract.

Embargo Reason

Publication Pending

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