| Ecological economization (eco-economization) is referred as the transformation process from ecological resource to ecological capital, and the research on eco-economization focuses on the ecological resource and the relationship between the ecological resource and the human. With the deepening of market-oriented reform in Chinese element market, there are being and to be such practices of eco-economization in many Chinese regions. So this paper probes into these innovative institutions of eco-economization according to the three main propositions of eco-economization based on the cases listed in the common combinations of the framework.It is the first proposition of eco-economization that ecological resource of an administrative region transfers into ecological capital in a transaction way. The case study of compensated use of certified emission reductions in Jiaxing city shows that pay for certified emission reductions is just the way that ecological resource transfers into ecological capital. The transformation process shows that, firstly the ecological rights become completed property rights instead of uncompleted ones; secondly eco-economization could be considered as an institutional change from using ecological rights without any payment to pay for the ecological rights; thirdly the process is dominated by a regional government and gradually shifted to be promoted by a cooperation between the government and other agents. However, ecological capital can be achieved if and only if a series of conditions are satisfied, like the decomposition of property rights, the dislocation of interest demands and the environmental infrastructures.It is the second proposition of eco-economization that ecological resource of a drainage basin transfers into ecological capital in a compensation way. The issue on the determinants of associated ecological compensation fund is considered as the most important cause of the complicated regional relationships through the case study on the dispute of ecological compensation in Xin’an river basin. The unemployment rate and emission reduction constraint are the two key factors of determining the compensation fund and the quantity of ecological capital in terms of the eco-economization. Meanwhile, the analysis of the final compensation policy shows that the environmental protection could lead to 5%-7% change of the unemployment rate and additional conditionality would specify the responsibility of the downstream government. Besides, the complicated regional relationship might also be due to the unclear benefit pursuit, unsmooth information transfer and biased policy design.It is the third proposition of eco-economization that ecological resource of a global area transfers into ecological capital in an investment way. Based on the preference analysis of the ecological investment under the framework of CDM, there is another important factor—preference influencing eco-economization so much. Based on the consistent preference assumption, the specific factors influencing the investment preference include the internal rate of return, technical efficiency and institutional benefit. It is shown that the EB prefers the project with lower IRR which means the higher additionality and sustainability, higher technical efficiency, higher ecological effect, and higher institutional benefit.According to the three propositions of eco-economization, the three eco-economization strategies are logically to be achieved. The strategy of compensated use of ecological resource includes such institutions as compensated use of certified emission reductions, pay for the certified emission reductions, carbon tax system and specific allowance system. The strategy of ecological compensation means that the beneficiaries of ecological protection or public finance should pay to the regional government or people who takes lots of ecological protections or offers the good ecological environment. And the strategy of ecological investment is referred as the investment with ecological effects or the induced investment due to ecological effects. Based on the empirical study of the two eco-economization strategies in Yangtze River Delta, the results show that it is helpful for the coordinated development of a regional economy to take different eco-economization strategies while there are structural differences among different strategies’impacts on the coordinated development.In a word, in terms of the academic angle, framework and relative propositions, the great innovations of this paper are as follows:Firstly, distinguish the two concepts of economic nature resource and ecological resource, define the connotation and denotation of ecological resource, and make the research of eco-economization concentrate on the transformation process from ecological resource to ecological capital. Natural resource can be divided into economic nature resource and ecological resource, and the ecological resources are these ecological products and services, which can be quantified but it is not easy to do the quantification, can be priced but the prices have not yet been made, can be clarified but it may be still discussed widely, can be traded but there is no such a market with the price, and the values of them can increase a lot as the time passes by but the expected values may fluctuate a lot. When all the conditions are met properly, ecological resources can transfer into ecological capital and the transformation process is just the process of eco-economization.Secondly, propose the framework of "three kinds of ecological resource--three styles of eco-economization--three mechanisms of eco-economization", and the three common propositions of eco-economization are also revealed in the framework. Compared to economic nature resource, ecological resource has the dimensional properties and can be divided into ecological resource of an administrative region, ecological resource of a drainage basin and ecological resource of a global area. Different ecological resources can transfer into ecological capital in a transaction, compensation or an investment way and there are also different eco-economization mechanisms including compensated use and transaction mechanism, ecological compensation mechanism and ecological investment mechanism. Based on the above logics, the framework suggests three common propositions of eco-economization, which is that the ecological resource of an administrative region, a drainage basin or a global area relatively transfers into ecological capital in the transaction, compensation or investment way.Thirdly, point out the conditions of forming the ecological capital; clarify how to determine the quantity of ecological capital and whether there are other possible factors influencing the ecological capital. It is the process that the ecological resource transfers into ecological capital and the ecological capital will be achieved after the transformation process if such conditions as the total control policy, the credible commitment of the government and the public awareness of implicit unanimity are met. When ecological resource can be transferred into ecological capital, the quantity of ecological capital will be determined by the potential output of unemployment rate caused by environmental protection and how many a certain government should be undertook is determined by the opportunity cost of total control policy. Besides, the preference will also influence whether the ecological capital could be achieved and the quantity of the ecological capital.Along with the deepening of market-oriented reform in Chinese element market, some ecological economic issues are required to be done in market-oriented ways. Lots of these experiences are summarized in this paper based on the case studies and they would be meaningful for the next steps of the reform. Meanwhile, several problems needed to be further probed into are also conveyed. |
