Search Results (14)

This study examines the influence of inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) on innovative entrepreneurship across 30 Chinese provinces and three regions (eastern, central, and western). Using nine years of panel data (2010–2018) and a fixed-effects model, we demonstrate that economic institution is a pivotal link connecting IFDI and innovative entrepreneurship. Our findings reveal that marketization exerts a significant partial mediating effect in eastern China, but this mediating role is not evident in the central and western regions. These results underscore the importance of regional institutional development in maximizing the potential spillover effects of IFDI. To optimize these spillovers, China should adopt regionally differentiated strategies to enhance economic institutions and foster the robust growth of domestic innovative entrepreneurship. This study also offers valuable implications for other developing economies by offering valuable implications for constructing a high-quality, open institutional framework that promotes inclusive and sustainable development. Full article

The regulation of flowering time is a highly coordinative process that involves the interplay of multiple genes. The FLOWERING LOCUS D (FD) gene is one of those important players. In this study, we identified and characterized FD genes in bamboo, a plant with the unique monocarpy flowering phenomenon. An angiosperm-wide FD gene family analysis demonstrated that unlike the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of angiosperms, which had only one FD gene, five FD copies were present in the MRCA of Poaceae, and the same gene copy number was retained in the MRCA of the Bambusoideae subfamily. Further analysis of the Poaceae FD gene family revealed five distinctive clades resulted from four duplication events, with two of these events being specific to the Bambusoideae subfamily. High levels of conservation were observed in the gene structure and amino acid composition of structural domain among the FD genes across bamboos and their close relatives, indicating functional conservation. Furthermore, gene expression profiling indicated that FD gene expression in bamboo closely resemble the expression patterns of their homologs in rice. Additionally, overexpression of two bamboo genes (Phy.ed_05093.t1 and Phy.ed_14669.t1) in Arabidopsis resulted in an early flowering phenotype, demonstrating their involvement in the regulation of the flowering process in plants. Our findings provide a comprehensive resource for understanding the evolution, structure, expression, and function of FD genes in Poaceae and Bambusoideae. Full article

Recently, China has actively advocated green transformation in manufacturing. This paper applies the Malmquist–Luenberger (ML) index method to measure the green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its decomposition of 28 segments of China’s manufacturing industry from 2004 to 2020; then, it empirically investigates their causal relationship and impact mechanism on bidirectional foreign direct investment (FDI). The results show that inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) significantly inhibit GTFP, whereas the interactive development level between the two (DFDI) significantly promotes GTFP during the sample period. After decomposing GTFP, it is found that IFDI or OFDI has a significant promotional effect on green technical change (GTC) but an inhibitory effect on green technical efficiency change (GEC), while DFDI has a promotional effect on GTC or GEC. Further research also finds that OFDI can effectively weaken the inhibitory effects in the long run; IFDI, OFDI, and DFDI have the same direction of impact on GTFP or GEC, only showing heterogeneity at the significant level, while their impact on GTC has uncertainty in different types of manufacturing industries. The more rational the manufacturing industry structure, the more significant the promotional effect of IFDI, OFDI, and DFDI on GTFP. Full article

The governance exerted by governments plays a pivotal role not only in driving local economic advancement but also in bolstering environmental management and enhancing Carbon Productivity (CP). This paper investigates the impact of two-way Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coordination development (DFDI) on China’s CP from the perspective of fiscal decentralization (FD). Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2006–2020, we apply a Spatial Error Model to discern that DFDI effectively elevates CP. However, an excessively high degree of FD constrains the potential environmental performance benefits that FDI might offer. Further analysis using a Dynamic Threshold Model reveals a significant dynamic non-linearity in the impact of DFDI on CP under the threshold effect of FD. In contrast to Inward FDI (IFDI), China’s Outward FDI (OFDI) actually impedes the enhancement of CP. Our results underscore that well-calibrated FD can align economic growth with environmental sustainability. This study offers insights into policy frameworks fostering sustainable development in China and similar economies. It indicates that tailored policies are essential to mitigate the diverse environmental impacts of different FDI flows, supporting sustainable investment practices. Full article

Tree peonies are an economically important crop with flowers of high ornamental value. Most tree peony cultivars in gardens are once-flowering, and the continuous flowering (CF) trait has been revealed only in a few tree peony cultivars, such as ‘High Noon’ (‘HN’). However, the molecular mechanism underlying its CF remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that PsTFL1 functions as a floral inhibitor via the ectopic expression of PsTFL1 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Our findings suggest that PsFT and PsTFL1 interact with PsFD, and the detected interactions may occur in the nucleus. Compared with the non-CF variety, the gene expression patterns of PsFT, PsTFL1, and PsFD during the flower development indicate that these three genes may be related to the CF habit in tree peony ‘HN’. These findings will aid future investigations of CF behavior and promote the breeding of tree peonies and other perennial woody plants. Full article

Regional green technological progress is an important driver of regional green technology innovations. To explore in depth the impact of green finance and international technology spillover on regional green technology innovation, this study incorporates green finance, international technology spillover, and green technology innovation into the same analytical framework. In addition, based on a new perspective of regional innovation capabilities, this study analyzes the impact of green finance and international green technology spillovers on green technology innovation. The data were collected in 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2019 and analyzed by a panel fixed-effects model. The interaction between green finance, international technology spillover, and regional innovation capability was investigated to understand the impact of each interaction on green technology innovation. Second, regional innovation capability was used as an intermediary variable to identify its underlying mechanism. Finally, the spatial spillover effect of green technology innovation was analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. We found that: (1) green finance, import trade, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), and regional innovation capability can promote regional green technology innovation, while inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) has an inhibitory effect on the innovation; (2) the interaction of green finance, international technology spillovers, and regional innovation capacity positively impacts green technology innovation; (3) green finance and international technology spillovers can promote green technology innovation by promoting regional innovation capabilities; (4) and green technology innovations have spatial spillover effects, and innovations in one region can promote the growth of green technologies in adjacent regions. This study provides a reference not only for China but also for other developing countries to promote green technology advancement and achieve sustainable development goals. Full article

Rising protectionism and globalization have led to new interest in new regionalism. The facilitation and liberalization of two-way direct investment between China and Pan-East Asian countries result in increasing exports between these countries. By studying the relationship between China’s investment and export trade in Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian countries, this paper explores the influence mechanism of China’s two-way foreign direct investment and export trade with Pan-East Asian countries. The study discovers that with the improvement of the bilateral economic development level, China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asian countries will significantly increase the scale of China’s export trade. Yet, the total value of the export creation effect decreases over time. China’s utilization of Inward Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) has a significant inhibitory effect on export trade. The two-way interaction effect of China’s OFDI and IFDI is weak. As the level of IFDI in China increases, the effect of OFDI on exports increases—though this effect differs across regions and countries. Full article

Given that home country factors play a major role in the internationalization of emerging market firms, there is an ever-growing debate on how they influence the intensity of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from these regions. This study investigates how home country factors affect the OFDI intensity in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries. We use the entropy weight method, which uses the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and a balanced panel data consisting of 19 countries from 2007 to 2016. The results show a positive association between macroeconomic performance, formal institutions, infrastructure, technology and the OFDI intensity. Furthermore, we find that robust formal institutions, along with the quality of infrastructure and technology, positively moderate the relationship between macroeconomic performance and the OFDI intensity. These findings show that the internationalization of LAC firms is highly dependent on the contextual conditions in their markets. Full article

The reliability of systems and components is a fundamental need for the efficient development of a smart distribution grid. In fact, the presence of a fault in one component of the grid could potentially lead to a service interruption and loss of profit. Since faults cannot be avoided, the introduction of a diagnostic scheme could predict the fault of a component in order to carry out predictive maintenance. In this framework, this paper proposes a novel Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) scheme for AC/DC converters in MV/LV substations. In order to improve the reliability of the FDI procedure, the system architecture includes also an Instrument Fault Detection and Isolation section for identifying faults that could occur on the instruments and sensors involved in the monitoring process of the AC/DC converter. The proposed architecture is scalable, easily upgradable, and uses cost-effective sensors. Tests, carried out on a real test site, have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposal showing very good IFDI diagnostic performance for the 12 types of faults tested. Furthermore, as the FDI diagnostic performance regards, it shows a detection rate close to 100%. Full article

Plants can react to drought stress by anticipating flowering, an adaptive strategy for plant survival in dry climates known as drought escape (DE). In Arabidopsis, the study of DE brought to surface the involvement of abscisic acid (ABA) in controlling the floral transition. A central question concerns how and in what spatial context can ABA signals affect the floral network. In the leaf, ABA signaling affects flowering genes responsible for the production of the main florigen FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). At the shoot apex, FD and FD-like transcription factors interact with FT and FT-like proteins to regulate ABA responses. This knowledge will help separate general and specific roles of ABA signaling with potential benefits to both biology and agriculture. Full article

Although the internationalization of economies is driven by specific industry conditions or business-specific differences, the institutions that exist as background conditions directly determine firms’ strategies and interactions in the international environment. This paper contributes to the discussion on the relationship between institutional quality and outward FDI (OFDI). We used 30 indicators in 48 emerging economies in the period 2007–2017; we collected the indicators from alternative secondary sources. After we applied Factor Analysis, six factors were retained. We named the components as follows: “Transparency of government” (F1), “Research, development and innovation, R&D+I” (F2), “Inequality” (F3), “Rules on inward FDI (IFDI)” (F4), “Education and training” (F5), and “Financial market” (F6). The panel data model outcomes suggest that Factor 2, Research, development and innovation, has a significant and positive effect on OFDI. Factor 6, the Financial market, has a significant and negative effect on OFDI. When we include lagged values of OFDI stocks the results also show that the government measures transparency positively and significantly affects OFDI stocks. These findings imply that the institutional environment creates two streams of OFDI: leverage and escapism. Full article

To maintain sustainable development, the government’s macro control is very important, but the system construction of the market itself can’t be ignored. From the perspective of aggregate supply, OFDI (outward foreign direct investment) in developing countries can sustainably promote domestic employment through different kind of channels such as human capital, a reverse spillover of the international technology, and marketization processes. Based on 30 provincial panel data from 2005 to 2017, stating from the C–D production function, this article empirically estimates the total effect and regional differences in the effect of OFDI on domestic employment in China by using the main approach of Sys-GMM. The results show that the promotion effect of OFDI on domestic employment has an obvious lag; the faster the marketization process, the more significant the current period’s substitution effect and the lagged period’s promotion effect of OFDI on domestic employment. This means that it is a lagged-period process for OFDI to enhance total factor productivity and realize the effective allocation of labor resources through various channels. Furthermore, whether the domestic promotion effect of OFDI can be effectively exerted is closely related to the process of domestic marketization. A good market system environment can effectively improve the efficiency of labor resources allocation, thus promoting the sustainable development of domestic employment. China’s market-oriented transformation has not yet been completed. The sustainable growth of China’s employment depends on further promoting a market-oriented economy. Therefore, it is suggested to accelerate the improvement of market mechanisms and related system construction, strengthen the role of the government in public service, and promote the coordinated development of OFDI and IFDI (inward foreign direct investment) in various regions to promote the sustainable development of employment. Full article

This paper innovatively combines Inward Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) and Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) as a measure of two-way FDI coordinated development to consider the coupling and coordination level of FDI. Under the analytical framework of Copeland and Taylor (1994), it introduces this new measure to investigate the effects of China’s carbon emissions during 2004–2016, using the spatial econometric model and the differential generalized method of moments. We find that China’s carbon emissions show significant spatial correlation characteristics and interregional diffusion, which indicates that regional coordinated cooperative governance is key to carbon emission mitigation in China, and that China’s two-way FDI coordinated development has presented a significant braking effect on carbon emissions during the research period. Furthermore, we decompose the effects of the two-way FDI on carbon emissions into three parts. This decomposition shows that the scale effect is positive, while both the composition and the technique effects are negative. The technique effect essentially dominates the emission reduction induced by the coordinated development of the two-way FDI. Full article

This paper adopts 2009 to 2015 panel data from 27 manufacturing industries in China. A Super-SBM model is used to measure the green innovation efficiency (GIE) of China’s manufacturing industry. A panel data model is then built to systematically examine the impact of environmental regulation (ER) and two-way foreign direct investment (FDI) on the GIE of China’s manufacturing industry under a unified analysis framework. The results are as follows: (1) the overall level of the green innovation efficiency in China’s manufacturing is low, and there is still great potential for improvement. Considering industry heterogeneity, the green innovation efficiency of patent-intensive manufacturing is significantly higher than that of non-patent-intensive manufacturing; (2) in terms of the whole manufacturing industry, ER and the interaction between ER and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) have significantly negative effects on GIE, OFDI has significantly positive effects on GIE. (3) when considering industry heterogeneity, for patent-intensive manufacturing, ER and the interaction between ER and inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) have significantly negative effects on GIE, while IFDI has significantly positive effect on GIE. For non-patent-intensive manufacturing, ER and the interaction between ER and OFDI have significantly negative effects on GIE, while IFDI and the interaction between ER and IFDI have significantly positive effects on GIE. Full article