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To fight against environmental pressure arising from growing municipal solid waste (MSW), the program of MSW source-separated collection has been launched in eight pilot cities of China since 2000. What is the impact of this pilot program on waste generation? Based on the citylevel data for 1998-2012, this study examines its impact on per capita amount of MSW by employing panel data model and inverse probability weighting method. It is shown that the policy of MSW source-separated collection has insignificant influence on reduction of per capita quantity of MSW while consumption expenditure per capita, average household size and average education level significantly accelerate per capita waste generation. Although the program of MSW source separation has not led to significant waste reduction in our analysis, source separation has provided the basis for reuse, recycling and recovery of MSW by classifying waste into categories of recyclable and recycling materials. In response to the pressure of growing MSW as a result of industrialization, urbanization and economic growth, source separation is the best approach to waste management to reduce the burden of waste disposals. Therefore, it is necessary to facilitate public participation in source separation by adoption of mixed policies combining voluntary with mandatory as well as education approaches.

Allocative inefficiency in agriculture is an issue puzzling researchers and policy-makers in China. Based on household data from the China Family Panel Studies of 2012, the present paper quantifies the potential distortions in China's agricultural production and examines their underlying determinants across regions. The results reveal that there are different levels of distortions across regions. The Middle region is facing the greatest distortion. Increases in machinery input, the proportion of non-farm income and effective labor input will reduce distortions. Household saving, farmland rent and farmland size are significantly positively related to distortions. There is a complementary effect between labor and farmland in alleviating production inefficiency, but substitution effects exist between capital and farmland and also capital and labor. The increase in farmland size will aggravate the impact of capital on distortions. Given the constraint of super small-scale farmland, facilitating land transfer is a necessary precondition for improving allocative efficiency.