Search Results (578)

Geospatial heterogeneity plays a critical role in shaping housing tenure among China’s floating population. Using three binary indicators—homeownership, social housing, and informal housing—this study measures migrants’ housing affordability, access to public housing resources, and residential stability. Based on nationally representative data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), we examine how geospatial characteristics influence migrants’ housing tenure. The results show that both origin and destination characteristics significantly affect housing outcomes. Migrants moving to higher-tier cities are more likely to obtain social housing because these cities provide better public services and greater opportunities to accumulate human and social capital. However, high housing prices in megacities substantially reduce the likelihood of homeownership. A clear birthplace effect is also observed: migrants originating from eastern China and megacities have significantly higher probabilities of obtaining both social and owner-occupied housing, reflecting the advantages associated with more developed places of origin. In addition, marital status, duration of migration, educational attainment, and hukou status consistently influence housing tenure. These findings highlight the importance of geospatial heterogeneity in explaining housing differentiation among China’s floating population and provide evidence for improving housing policies during rapid urbanization. Geospatial factors shape both the housing choices and associated stratification patterns of China’s internal migrants, thereby exerting a discernible influence on the national trajectory toward sustainable development. Accordingly, policymakers must prioritize the pursuit of balanced regional development—with particular emphasis on aligning regional economic performance, infrastructure provision, public service accessibility, and the spatial distribution of population. Such measures would help attenuate the impact of geospatial disparities on migrant housing differentiation and, in turn, advance the country’s broader agenda for sustainable development. Full article

Urban regeneration has become a key strategy to address urban decline, infrastructure aging and socio-economic challenges, aiming to enhance quality of life and stimulate local development. Beyond physical renewal, it involves social, cultural and economic dimensions that contribute to the revitalization of communities. Recent literature frames regeneration as an adaptive and multifaceted process, drawing on concepts such as change management, dynamic capabilities and sensemaking to interpret urban transformation as a form of institutional learning. This study adopts a qualitative case study approach focused on the Libertà district in Bari (Italy), using document analysis, field observation, and stakeholder mapping to investigate both tangible and intangible outcomes of regeneration policies. Particular attention is devoted to understanding how socio-institutional and spatial transformations are translated into economic outcomes, using residential property values as an exploratory indicator of economic change. In this regard, variations in residential property values are considered as an exploratory indicator of economic dynamics associated with regeneration, while acknowledging that property price increases do not necessarily correspond to benefits for all community members and may also reflect issues related to affordability and social displacement. The findings suggest that regeneration should be understood as a coordinated and collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders and institutional actors. The analysis highlights the relevance of cultural initiatives, stakeholder interactions and changes in the physical environment as key elements of the transformation process. Furthermore, the study discusses the extent to which changes in the local real estate market may be associated with broader regeneration dynamics, recognizing the limitations of establishing direct causal relationships. Overall, the research proposes an original perspective on urban regeneration as a learning-based and organizational process in which social, institutional, and spatial transformations interact with economic change in complex and context-dependent ways. Full article

This study assesses a hybrid photovoltaic/wind/diesel/battery-based renewable energy system in an off-grid area in Zambia. System performance was evaluated through simulation using different photovoltaic panel ratings, battery types, and dispatch strategies. Using the predictive dispatch strategy, the lowest-cost option was a combination of 445 W photovoltaic panels and Li-ion batteries, which had an estimated net present cost of approximately USD 3.857 million over a project lifetime of 25 years, yielding a unit energy cost of USD 0.151/kWh. This system was 73% less expensive than one using a diesel generator, with a 96.4% decrease in emissions and a 95% renewable fraction. Sensitivity analysis revealed that changes in battery price have the greatest impact on operating costs at approximately 12%. The combined methodology using HOMER Pro^®Version 3.18 for optimization and MATLAB/Simulink Version R2024b for partial verification of the PV sub-system provides a reproducible framework that can be tailored to other regions facing similar energy challenges. Beyond techno-economic optimization, this study informs sustainable rural electrification planning by evaluating reliability, cost, affordability, lifecycle emissions, and diesel reduction while supporting energy access and climate-resilient off-grid policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Full article

Behavioural nudges modify choice architecture to steer food choices without removing alternatives or substantially changing economic incentives. This critical narrative review synthesises 62 sources from behavioural public policy, public health nutrition, food ethics, and sustainable food-system governance. It distinguishes healthy food nudges, sustainable food nudges, green nudges, and responsible food-system interventions, and compares availability, placement, defaults, labels, digital architecture, and mixed policy packages. The evidence shows that nudges influence immediate food selection, but effects are heterogeneous and weaker for sustained environmental outcomes. Price instruments address affordability, nudges address attention and convenience, and boosts strengthen decision competence; none can substitute for the others. Ethical acceptability requires a transparent, calibrated opt-out process, equity monitoring, disclosure of commercial motives, democratic accountability, and integration with structural policy. Public institutions and profit-driven digital platforms therefore require different governance safeguards. Nudges are most defensible as components of coordinated food-system policy rather than stand-alone solutions. Full article

Indigenous grains, such as pearl millet, can contribute to alleviating food insecurity in South Africa and addressing the health and well-being of consumers. Stigmatisation and a lack of consumer knowledge about indigenous grains have been found to stifle the consumption of these grains. Therefore, this study aimed to explore South African consumers’ perceived understanding and experience of pearl millet and the external product attributes that attract their attention and steer them towards purchasing and consuming this indigenous grain. This interpretivist phenomenological exploratory study used a qualitative methodology. Small synchronous online focus groups were used to gather the data. The thematic analyses revealed that consumers are generally perceived as uncertain about and lacking experience in the use and consumption of pearl millet, which results from factors such as product unfamiliarity, a lack of knowledge, the product being overlooked in stores, and various assumptions about the grain. Consumers’ perceived willingness to purchase pearl millet may be influenced by several product attraction indicators, including price, packaging, whether it is produced locally, retailer image, and quality-enhancement attributes, which marketers and product developers in South Africa should use to grow consumer interest. This study contributes towards changing the consumer perceived approach to pearl millet by identifying the factors that hamper and limit the choice of pearl millet consumption. South Africa can ill afford to neglect marketing and improving consumer awareness of pearl millet if the health and well-being of South African consumers are to be improved. Full article

Nearshoring is accelerating industrial expansion across Mexico, reshaping electricity demand profiles and placing increasing stress on a power system already challenged by reliability, affordability, and decarbonization pressures. This paper analyzes the impact of nearshoring on Mexico’s economy, with a particular focus on the electricity sector, examining challenges across generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. A critical dimension of this analysis is Mexico’s structural dependence on natural gas for electricity generation, which introduces systemic vulnerability to global supply disruptions and price volatility, particularly under geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Using a systematic literature review, this study synthesizes current evidence on how nearshoring-driven demand growth affects Mexico’s electricity distribution system and evaluates solution pathways to meet rising energy needs while maintaining system reliability and equity. Special emphasis is placed on solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment as a grid-supporting resource rather than solely as generation capacity, highlighting its role in enhancing resilience against external fuel shocks. A PRISMA-based methodology was applied using Web of Science, complemented by official Mexican sources such as SENER, CENACE, CRE, and CFE to contextualize technical findings within national policy and operational frameworks. The paper concludes with a research agenda addressing key gaps, including corridor-level load evolution, empirical validation of PV-plus-flexibility solutions for distribution reliability, and strategies to incorporate energy justice into infrastructure planning. Its main contribution lies in Integrating previously separate evidence streams on nearshoring-driven industrial load growth, natural-gas dependence, and distribution-level constraints into a Mexico-specific synthesis of resilient industrial electrification pathways. Providing a distribution-centered perspective on nearshoring, integrating the role of natural gas dependency under global uncertainty, and proposing an actionable roadmap for resilient and sustainable industrial electrification in Mexico. Full article

Social and economic satisfaction gaps are theoretical differences between a resident’s socially or monetarily most preferred affordable home attributes and the actual attributes of their current home. In this study, the satisfaction gaps of two samples of respondents are predicted with their social utility data for preferred attributes in 1987 and 2020, in conjunction with the asking or sale prices and comparable attributes of single detached or similar homes merged with small-area census data for periods up to those dates. Average social and economic gaps of less than 20% affirm respondents’ overall satisfaction with their current homes, most of whom were recent movers. However, wider social satisfaction gaps among the minority of residents may reflect dissatisfaction with new suburban locations in one sample and older inner city housing in the other. Four practical and theoretical contributions of the utility modelling of residential satisfaction gaps in objective and subjective home attributes, as opposed to direct surveying of residential satisfaction, are concluded. Full article

This paper studies the effects of price-cap regulation in an oral healthcare market by developing a duopoly model of price–quality competition between a public provider and a private provider. The results show that, in the absence of regulation, the public provider charges a high price and offers high quality, whereas the private provider adopts a low-price, low-quality strategy. This vertical differentiation softens price competition but leaves some highly price-sensitive patients untreated. Under price-cap regulation, market outcomes depend critically on the stringency of the cap. An intermediate price cap narrows the quality gap by inducing the private provider to improve quality while only weakly reducing the public provider’s quality, thereby expanding the market from partial to full coverage. A high price cap generates heterogeneous quality responses depending on the public provider’s unregulated quality level but does not improve market coverage. By contrast, a low price cap expands coverage but compresses profit margins, leading both providers to reduce quality and resulting in a low-price, low-quality equilibrium. These findings highlight the trade-offs between affordability, access, and quality in healthcare price regulation and suggest that intermediate price caps may achieve a better balance between these objectives. Full article

Background: Public acceptance of vaccines during emerging infectious disease outbreaks is influenced by perceptions of safety, accessibility, and cost. Understanding these determinants during the early phase of a pandemic is important for informing vaccination policy and communication strategies. This study examined the role of vaccine cost and safety perceptions in shaping COVID-19 vaccination intention among adults in Saudi Arabia prior to national vaccine rollout. Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted among adults residing in Saudi Arabia between August and September 2020. Participants were recruited through online distribution using social media and electronic communication channels. The questionnaire assessed socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and perceptions regarding COVID-19, and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination under five hypothetical scenarios reflecting vaccine cost and the availability of scientific safety and efficacy evidence. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with vaccination intention. Results: A total of 1293 respondents completed the survey. When vaccination was offered free of charge, 57.5% of participants reported that they would likely receive the vaccine. Vaccination intention declined as the hypothetical vaccine price increased, reaching 38.7% when the cost exceeded 100 SAR. Intention was lowest when vaccination was presented under conditions in which safety and efficacy evidence had not yet been confirmed. Age, gender, educational attainment, and prior seasonal influenza vaccination were associated with COVID-19 vaccination intention across several scenarios. Conclusions: Perceived vaccine affordability and confidence in scientific safety and efficacy evidence were important factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination intention during the early phase of the pandemic in Saudi Arabia. Providing vaccination without direct cost to recipients and communicating safety and efficacy evidence transparently may support public confidence and vaccine acceptance during future large-scale immunization campaigns. These findings should be interpreted as an early-pandemic baseline and should not be extrapolated to current post-rollout attitudes. Full article

Under the IMO net-zero framework, a GHG carbon-pricing mechanism must not only generate an effective price signal for emission reduction, but also address the fair distribution of carbon revenues among different types of member states. In view of the differences between developing and developed countries in transition needs, responsibility attribution, and policy affordability, this paper develops a multilateral bargaining model that incorporates a responsibility–need reference point, loss aversion, horizontal fairness preferences, and a voting threshold, and analyzes the equilibrium formation mechanism for the distribution of carbon-pricing revenues. Theoretical derivation shows that a higher responsibility–need weight raises the fairness reference point of developing countries and increases their minimum acceptable allocation requirement; loss aversion operates through a rejection-threat channel by shrinking the acceptable set of proposals below the reference point; and horizontal fairness preferences compress the relative deviation gap between the two types of countries and may trigger a transformation of the support structure once certain thresholds are reached. The simulation results show that, in the baseline L-proposer case, developing countries receive $105.48$ out of the normalized revenue $R=120$, while developed countries receive $14.52$. Under the stress scenario with $q=121>N_L=120$, the mechanism requires cross-type support and yields group-level allocations of $106.56$ and $13.44$, respectively. At the same time, horizontal fairness preferences and voting rules jointly weaken the proposer’s ability to obtain additional gains through agenda-setting power. The study indicates that the IMO carbon-revenue distribution mechanism should strengthen responsibility–need orientation and cross-type support constraints while maintaining a unified carbon price signal, so as to improve the fairness, acceptability, and institutional stability of the carbon-pricing mechanism. Full article

Gavi is a multilateral public–private organization that has introduced innovative financial mechanisms to secure funding to help low- and low–middle-income countries procure affordable vaccines through pool procurement in the UNICEF market. UNICEF helps create an affordable vaccine market by organizing tenders in which manufacturers commit to supplying vaccines to meet the expected needs of such countries. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is designed to eradicate polio. Gavi supports the eradication efforts of GPEI, which calls for the adoption of at least one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in conjunction with a novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV). To support this goal, the international community relies on IPV-containing vaccines, including a hexavalent vaccine (Hexa). This study addresses the feasibility of supporting the GPEI’s IPV strategy by increasing the supply and adoption of Hexa. We use mathematical programming to examine optimal contract prices and quantities within the global vaccine market captured by a game-theoretic model. We find that new oral polio vaccines will continue to play a critical role in meeting demand for polio vaccines until Hexa production capacity is dramatically increased. We see a feasible avenue for increasing the availability of safer, IPV-containing vaccines in alignment with the GPEI strategy. Full article

This article employs exploratory data-driven modeling to examine the relationships between selected macroeconomic indicators, residential property prices, and housing affordability pressures in Poland between 2020 and 2024. This turbulent period was selected for analysis because of the unprecedented volatility triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical shocks associated with the war in Ukraine, both of which severely disrupted macroeconomic stability and construction supply chains. The study examines how key economic variables—including inflation, gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment, and average and minimum wage dynamics—are associated with residential property price dynamics within the framework of construction economics. Using statistical modeling techniques, including linear regression and Pearson correlation analysis, the study quantifies the strength, direction, and dynamics of these relationships across primary and secondary housing sectors. Our findings reveal a distinct comparative pattern of associations: average wage growth and inflation emerge as the macroeconomic indicators most strongly associated with property valuations, while macroeconomic growth and unemployment dynamics exhibit asymmetric associations across market segments. Notably, the findings suggest that the primary sector may be more sensitive to credit-related demand shocks and policy interventions, whereas the secondary sector appears to respond more directly to broader consumer trends and household purchasing capacity. By integrating macroeconomic data into a sectoral analysis, this study provides an exploratory empirical basis for discussing sustainable housing strategies. The results underscore the necessity of aligning investment and production cycles in the construction sector with macroeconomic stability to maintain long-term residential purchasing capacity and support resilient urban development. Full article

Growing interest in sustainable urban mobility has intensified research into the factors shaping the adoption of smart bicycle technologies, yet cross-national comparative evidence remains scarce. This study examines user perceptions, mobility habits and willingness to adopt innovative e-bike technologies in Italy and Poland through a structured questionnaire grounded in the Bicycle Smartness Level (BSL) framework. Descriptive statistics and inferential tests were applied to identify exploratory differences between the two survey samples across mobility behavior, perceived barriers, technology utility and willingness to pay. Results reveal that, in these samples, Italian respondents display stronger car dependency and rate safety-related cycling barriers (traffic hazards, lack of infrastructure and road user insecurity) significantly higher than Polish respondents do. In contrast, respondents in the Polish sample attribute significantly greater utility to comfort and performance-oriented smart technologies such as monitoring systems and adaptive gear shifting. In both samples, willingness to pay a price premium converges in the €0–200 range and navigation and safety technologies are universally valued. These descriptive and exploratory findings suggest that smart cycling adoption pathways may differ across contexts: in the Italian sample, perceived road safety and infrastructure gaps appear to be central barriers, whereas in the Polish sample affordability emerges as a particularly relevant condition for adoption, with implications for policy aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 and the EU Declaration on Cycling. Full article

Stable interactions among electricity, carbon allowance, and fossil fuel markets are essential for sustainable energy transition, because excessive cross-market risk transmission may affect energy affordability, carbon-price credibility, and low-carbon investment signals. This study provides comparative evidence on dynamic connectedness, tail-state shock responses, and return-based complexity in representative Chinese and European benchmark markets. Using daily market data from the Wind database for November 2021–January 2026, the empirical framework combines time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR), quantile vector autoregression and quantile impulse response functions (QVAR/QIRFs), and rolling multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). The results show that the European benchmark system has a higher absolute connectedness level than the Chinese benchmark system: the full-sample mean total connectedness index (TCI) is 18.75 in Europe and 5.63 in China, while the crisis-period mean TCIs are 25.19 and 12.12, respectively. Post-peak adjustment depends on the reversion metric used: China shows a faster initial half-life decline from the crisis peak, whereas reversion to lower region-specific connectedness thresholds depends on the selected benchmark. Natural-gas-shock QIRFs indicate stronger upper-tail persistence in Europe, whereas China is characterized mainly by short-run directional divergence; supplementary coal-, oil-, and carbon-shock checks show that response patterns are shock-source-dependent. Electricity-return multifractal spectrum width (MFW) does not show stable full-sample explanatory power for TCI, but it provides stage-dependent auxiliary diagnostic information. These findings provide a comparative diagnostic framework for monitoring cross-market systemic risk and supporting sustainability-oriented energy-market governance under low-carbon transition. Full article

This systematic review paper examines how technical, operational, and structural factors influence the adoption of digital agriculture among small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Guided by PRISMA protocols, the study applies a hybrid thematic synthesis across six dimensions: technical, operational, policy and regulatory, governance, social and cultural, and environmental. The findings indicate that digital tools can generate substantial benefits, including yield increases of 10–30% (documented primarily for mobile-based advisory services and precision input management in East African horticulture and West African cocoa value chains) and price gains of 15–25%, with adoption rates of 70–80% in settings characterised by robust infrastructure, strong institutional support, and effective value chain integration. However, these benefits are unevenly distributed and tend to concentrate in “islands of adoption” characterized by robust infrastructure, strong institutional support, and effective value chain integration. While technical (94.9%) and operational (91.5%) factors dominate the literature, their impact is constrained by persistent structural barriers, including weak policy implementation (79.7%), fragmented governance systems (76.3%), and socio-cultural exclusion—such as gender disparities, age-related digital divides, and language misalignment (71.2%). The review identifies five minimum conditions for meaningful adoption: (i) affordable connectivity and access to digital devices; (ii) context-specific digital literacy; (iii) culturally relevant, user-centred design; (iv) robust institutional ecosystems; and (v) enabling policy and financial frameworks. Overall, the findings underscore that digital agriculture adoption is a socio-technical process shaped not only by technological innovation but also by institutional arrangements and user capabilities. Comparative cases, such as Kenya’s Farm.ink and the less successful EZ Farm initiative, further highlight the importance of integrated, context-responsive approaches to ensure that digital agriculture enhances, rather than marginalizes, small-scale farmers. Full article