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Baskaran, T., Min, B., & Uppal, Y. (2015). Election cycles and electricity provision: Evidence from a quasi-experiment with Indian special elections. Journal of Public Economics, 126, 64–73.
Abstract: We present evidence from India showing that state governments induce electoral cycles in electricity service provision. Our data and research strategy allow us to build on models of political business cycles and targeted distribution in two important ways. First, we demonstrate that by manipulating the flow of critical inputs into economic activity like electricity, elected leaders can influence economic outcomes even in contexts where they have constrained fiscal capacity. Second, we identify the effect of elections on electricity provision by focusing on special elections held for exogenous reasons. Our results show that state governments induce substantive increases in electricity service to constituencies that hold special elections. Manipulation of the power supply is stronger in contested constituencies and during special elections held in states where the government commands only a small majority. Overall, we find no evidence of positive welfare effects from the electoral manipulation of electricity supply.
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Bauhr, M. & C., R. (2019). Transparency and the quality of local public service provision. QOG, (5), 1–43.
Abstract: Transparency has been widely promoted as a tool for improving public service
delivery; however, empirical evidence is inconclusive. We suggest that the effects of transparency on service provision are contingent on the nature of the service. Specifically, transparency is more likely to improve the quality of service provision when street-level discretion is high, since discretion increases information asymmetries, and, in the absence of transparency, allows officials to target public services in suboptimal ways. Using finely grained data from the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index between 2011–2017, we show that communes that experience increases in transparency also experience improved quality of education and health (services characterized by greater discretion), while the quality of infrastructure
provision (characterized by less discretion) bears no relation to increased transparency. The findings help us understand when transparency can improve service provision, as well the effects of transparency reforms in non-democratic settings.
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Deng, J., Che, T., Xiao, C., Wang, S., Dai, L., & Meerzhan, A. (2019). Suitability Analysis of Ski Areas in China: An Integrated Study Based on Natural and Socioeconomic Conditions. The Cryosphere, 13, 2149–2167.
Abstract: The successful bidding of the 2022 Winter Olympics (Beijing 2022, officially known as the XXIV Olympic Winter Games) has greatly stimulated Chinese enthusiasm to participate in winter sports. Consequently, the Chinese ski industry is rapidly booming driven by enormous market demand and government support. However, investing in ski area at an unreasonable location will cause problems both from economic perspective (in terms of operation and management) as well as geographical concerns (such as environmental degradation). To evaluate the suitability of a ski area based on scientific 20 metrics has since become a prerequisite to the sustainable development of ski industry. In this study, we evaluate the locational suitability of ski areas in China by integrating their natural and socioeconomic conditions using linear weighted method based on geographic information systems (GIS) spatial analysis combined with remote sensing, online and field survey data. Key indexes for evaluating the natural suitability include snow cover, air temperature, topographic conditions, groundwater, and vegetation, whereas socioeconomic suitability is evaluated based on economic conditions, accessibility of transportation, 25 distance to tourist attractions, and distance to cities. As such, an integrated metrics considering both natural and socioeconomic suitability is defined to be a threshold and used to identify the suitability of a candidate region for ski area development. The results show that 92% of existing ski areas are located in areas with an integrated index greater than 0.5. In contrary, a ski area is considered to be a dismal prospect when the locational integrated index is less than 0.5. Finally, corresponding development strategies for decision-makers are proposed based on the multi-criteria metrics, which will be extended to incorporate potential influences from future climate change and socioeconomic development.
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Gaughan, A. E., Oda, T., Sorichetta, A., Stevens, F. R., Bondarenko, M., Bun, R., Krauser, L., Yetman, G., & Nghiem, S. V. (2019). Evaluating nighttime lights and population distribution as proxies for mapping anthropogenic CO2 emission in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Environmental Research Communications, 1(9), 091006.
Abstract: Tracking spatiotemporal changes in GHG emissions is key to successful implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). And while emission inventories often provide a robust tool to track emission trends at the country level, subnational emission estimates are often not reported or reports vary in robustness as the estimates are often dependent on the spatial modeling approach and ancillary data used to disaggregate the emission inventories. Assessing the errors and uncertainties of the subnational emission estimates is fundamentally challenging due to the lack of physical measurements at the subnational level. To begin addressing the current performance of modeled gridded CO2 emissions, this study compares two common proxies used to disaggregate CO2 emission estimates. We use a known gridded CO2 model based on satellite-observed nighttime light (NTL) data (Open Source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2, ODIAC) and a gridded population dataset driven by a set of ancillary geospatial data. We examine the association at multiple spatial scales of these two datasets for three countries in Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and characterize the spatiotemporal similarities and differences for 2000, 2005, and 2010. We specifically highlight areas of potential uncertainty in the ODIAC model, which relies on the single use of NTL data for disaggregation of the non-point emissions estimates. Results show, over time, how a NTL-based emissions disaggregation tends to concentrate CO2 estimates in different ways than population-based estimates at the subnational level. We discuss important considerations in the disconnect between the two modeled datasets and argue that the spatial differences between data products can be useful to identify areas affected by the errors and uncertainties associated with the NTL-based downscaling in a region with uneven urbanization rates.
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Jiang, J., He, Y., Kou, H., Ju, Z., Gao, X., & Zhao, H. (2020). The effects of artificial light at night on Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus): Behavioral rhythm disruption, melatonin suppression and intestinal microbiota alterations. Ecological Indicators, 108, 105702.
Abstract: Artificial light at night (ALAN) or light pollution is rapidly widespread with fast urbanization and becomes an obvious environmental disturbance. Recent studies showed ALAN has multiple negative impacts on a wide range of species including bird biological rhythm disruption, behavioral and physiological disturbance and hormone secretion disorder. However, its effects on bird gut microbiota are scarcely studied. In this study, we used Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus), a widely distributed and locally abundant bird species in both urban and rural areas of China to examine the effects of ALAN on locomotor activity rhythm and melatonin secretion, and species diversity and community structure of intestinal microbiota by simulating urban and rural night light environment. Our results showed ALAN strongly affected circadian rhythm of locomotor activity with earlier start of activity before light-on and later rest after light-off. Moreover, ALAN significantly suppressed melatonin release. Last but not least, ALAN profoundly affected taxonomic compositions, species diversity and community structure of intestinal microbiota of birds. We concluded that ALAN may cause bird health damage by disrupting circadian rhythm, inhibiting melatonin release and altering intestinal microbiota. Melatonin hormone level and intestinal microbiota diversity may be important bioindicators for light pollution.
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