The Analysis Of Integrated Impacts Of Various Policies On Chinese Physical And Monetary Flows

In order to achieve sustainable development, many countries are implementingvarious policies to adjust the behaviours of socio-economic systems. Current isolatedpolicy analysis cannot reflect integrated impacts of various policies. This studyproposed a methodology for analyzing integrated impacts of various policies. Thismethodology could model integrated impacts of various policies on physical andmonetary flows of socio-economic systems. It could also identify the priority of variouspolicies and their optimal combination.Taking China as an example, this study analyzed integrated impacts of7categoriesof typical policies on economic growth and material flows. The policies consideredcomprised environmental taxation, resource tax reform, adjusted sectoral investment,pollutant reduction investment, technical policies, recyclable resource utilization, andenergy consumption structure adjustment. Under the integrated impacts of7categoriesof typical policies, China would achieve sustaining economic growth with graduallyreduced growth rate. The volume of material flows would gradually increase, and therewould appear a relative decoupling trend between material flows and economic growth.According to results, this study also analyzed China’s material reduction targets and thecontribution of7categories of typical policies to material flows and economic growth.These results indicated the necessity of analyzing integrated impacts of various policies.From the viewpoint of economic growth, China should focus on technical policies,recyclable resource utilization, adjusted sectoral investment, and pollutant reductioninvestment. Special attention should be paid to adjusted sectoral investment andpollutant reduction investment. From the viewpoint of the dematerialization, Chianshould focus on technical policies, energy consumption structure adjustment, adjustedsectoral investment, resource tax reform, and environmental taxation. Special attentionshould be paid to technical policies and environmental taxation. In particular, technicalpolicies, adjusted sectoral investment, and resource tax reform were3categories ofperferred policies. During the implementation of policies, the combination of technicalpolicies and adjusted sectoral investment was preferred, as this kind of combinationcould achieve both economic growth and the dematerialization. Under the neutral taxation principle, China should properly extend the scope of environmental tax andincrease the rate of environmental tax during the medium and long term. In addition,China should continue to adjust sectoral investment and improve technical levels ofrecyclable resource utilization activities and renewable energy production activities.During China’s sustainable materials management and the implementation andoptimization of policies, not only key sectors and their products identified fromproduction perspective but also that identified from final demand perspective should beconcerned, as key sectors and their products identified from final demand perspectiveare underlying drivers of economic growth and material flows.