Search Results (16)

The integration of financial technology expenditures and green total factor productivity (GTFP) constitutes a critical impetus for sustainable economic advancement. This study employs provincial panel data from China (2012–2020) and uses the SBM model with undesirable outputs, the PVAR model, moderation effect analysis, and threshold regression to investigate the underlying mechanisms and threshold effects of financial technology expenditure on GTFP. The results show that (1) financial technology expenditure has a significant promoting effect on the growth of GTFP, with a coefficient of 0.614 (p < 0.05), indicating the need for further increases in fiscal investment in science and technology; (2) the effect of financial technology expenditure on GTFP varies across the eastern, central, and western regions of China, with stronger effects observed in the eastern region, suggesting that the government should formulate differentiated financial technology expenditure policies on the basis of local conditions; and (3) that educational investment and industrial upgrading play strong moderating roles in the impact of financial technology expenditure on GTFP, with interaction term coefficients of 0.059 (p < 0.05) and 0.206 (p < 0.1), respectively. Threshold analysis further reveals that the positive effect strengthens significantly once educational investment surpasses a log value of 9.3674 and industrial upgrading exceeds a ratio of 0.0814. However, currently, China’s education investment and industrial structure upgrading are still insufficient, necessitating further increases in education investment and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure. Full article

Tourism offers many economic benefits but can have long-lasting ecological effects when improperly managed. Tourism can cause overwhelming pressure on wastewater treatment systems, as in Belize, where some of the over 400 small islands (cayes) that were once temporary sites for fishermen have become popular tourist destinations. An overabundance of nitrogen, in part as a result of incomplete wastewater treatment, threatens human health and ecosystem services. The tourism industry is a complex and dynamic industry with many sectors and stakeholders with conflicting goals. In this study, a systems thinking approach was adopted to study the dynamic interactions between stakeholders and the environment at Laughing Bird Caye National Park in Belize. The project centered on nutrient discharges from the caye’s onsite wastewater treatment system. An archetype analysis approach was applied to frame potential solutions to nutrient pollution and understand potential behaviors over time. “Out of control” and “Underachievement” were identified as system archetypes; “Shifting the Burden” and ‘‘Limits to Success’’ were used to model specific cases. Based on these results, upgrading of the wastewater treatment system should be performed concurrently with investments in the user experience of the toilets, education on the vulnerability of the treatment system and ecosystem, and controls on the number of daily tourists. Full article

Due to the intermittent and uncertain nature of emerging renewable energy sources in the modern power grid, the level of dispatchable power sources has been reduced. The contemporary power system is attempting to address this by investing in energy storage within the context of standalone microgrids (SMGs), which can operate in an island mode and off-grid. While renewable-rich SMGs can facilitate a higher level of renewable energy penetration, they also have more reliability issues compared to conventional power systems due to the intermittency of renewables. When an SMG system needs to be upgraded for reliability improvement, the cost of that reliability improvement should be divided among diverse customer sectors. In this research, we present four distinct approaches along with comprehensive simulation outcomes to address the problem of allocating reliability costs. The central issue in this study revolves around determining whether all consumers should bear an equal share of the reliability improvement costs or if these expenses should be distributed among them differently. When an SMG system requires an upgrade to enhance its reliability, it becomes imperative to allocate the associated costs among various customer sectors as equitably as possible. In our investigation, we model an SMG through a simulation experiment, involving nine distinct customer sectors, and utilize their hourly demand profiles for an entire year. We explore how to distribute the total investment cost of reliability improvement to each customer sector using four distinct methods. The first two methods consider the annual and seasonal peak demands in each industry. The third approach involves an analysis of Loss of Load (LOL) events and determining the hourly load requirements for each sector during these events. In the fourth approach, we employ the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) technique. The annual peak demand approach resulted in the educational sector bearing the highest proportion of the reliability improvement cost, accounting for 21.90% of the total burden. Similarly, the seasonal peak demand approach identified the educational sector as the most significant contributor, though with a reduced share of 15.44%. The normalized average demand during Loss of Load (LOL) events also indicated the same sector as the highest contributor, with 12.34% of the total cost. Lastly, the TOPSIS-based approach assigned a 15.24% reliability cost burden to the educational sector. Although all four approaches consistently identify the educational sector as the most critical in terms of its impact on system reliability, they yield different cost allocations due to variations in the methodology and weighting of demand characteristics. The underlying reasons for these differences, along with the practical implications and applicability of each method, are comprehensively discussed in this research paper. Based on our case study findings, we conclude that the education sector, which contributes more to LOL events, should bear the highest amount of the Cost of Reliability Improvement (CRI), while the hotel and catering sector’s share should be the lowest percentage. This highlights the necessity for varying reliability improvement costs for different consumer sectors. Full article

The strategic goal of high-quality national development depends on intelligent manufacturing, where introducing and cultivating high-end technical talent is crucial. Although prior research has linked talent policies to technological innovation, few studies have examined how targeted talent policies promote intelligent transformation in enterprises. Methods: Focusing on industry fit, this study uses new-energy-vehicle companies to represent advanced manufacturing. Drawing on targeted talent policies issued by major Chinese cities from 2016 to 2022, we employ a multi-period difference-in-differences model to assess how these policies attract high-skilled talent related to the new-energy automotive sector and drive intelligent investment and technological upgrading. Results: Our findings indicate that targeted talent policies significantly boost intelligent investment, which holds for robustness tests. Mechanism analyses reveal that these policies optimize firms’ human capital by increasing the share of highly educated and technical employees, thereby enhancing technological innovation, patent output, production quality, and efficiency. Conclusions: This research extends the capital–skill complementarity theory by highlighting the importance of specialized talent for intelligent transformation. The results offer data-driven insights for refining talent policies to support the intelligent development of the new-energy-automobile industry. Full article

Educational investment is important for resilient city shaping. Based on the perspective of education resource input, this paper empirically examines the effect and mechanism of urban education investment on urban resilience construction with a sample of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2023. The study finds that urban education investment can significantly promote urban resilience governance. In terms of the effect mechanism, urban education investment mainly enhances urban resilience through two paths: science and technology innovation and industry upgrading. The heterogeneity test reveals that the differences in economic level, administrative level, education input preferences, and geographic location of cities lead to the heterogeneous performance of the incentive effect of education investment on resilience shaping. Based on this, policy recommendations are put forward in terms of strengthening the stability and continuity of urban education investment; improving the level of innovation and industrial structure; and emphasizing the problem of unbalanced education development. Full article

This study explores the implementation and impact of autonomous vehicle (AV) systems, particularly in developing countries. While AVs promise enhanced road safety by reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities, their adoption faces significant challenges, including public acceptance and infrastructure readiness. A mixed methods approach was employed, combining quantitative data from surveys of approximately 1500 randomly selected individuals and qualitative insights from in-depth interviews with policymakers, traffic engineers, and industry representatives. The quantitative analysis revealed high levels of perceived usefulness (78.8%), positive attitudes (87.78%), and expected benefits (86.09%) among respondents, indicating optimism about AVs’ potential to improve traffic efficiency and safety. However, concerns about technical reliability, cybersecurity, and the cost of infrastructure upgrades persist. Comparative analysis of physical and digital infrastructure highlighted significant gaps, particularly in road quality, markings, and internet connectivity. Policy implications emphasize the need for targeted public education to build trust and address safety concerns, regulatory reforms to ensure cybersecurity and ethical compliance, and strategic investments in infrastructure to meet AV requirements. Drawing on lessons from international contexts, the study recommends proactive stakeholder engagement and community outreach to align technological advancements with societal needs. These findings provide a roadmap for policymakers to navigate the challenges of AV adoption in Ethiopia and similar contexts, ensuring the integration of automation into sustainable and efficient transportation systems. Full article

Currently, the integrated development of agriculture and tourism is one of the most critical strategic measures in China. The rapid growth of agricultural tourism integration presents the typical characteristics of expanding regional differences. Exploring the impact of agricultural tourism integration on the growth of green total factor productivity in agriculture has important theoretical and practical significance. This study constructs a comprehensive index system for agricultural tourism integration, measuring the development level of agricultural tourism integration in 30 sample provinces from 2008 to 2018. Using the generalized system method of moments approach and Tobit model, the impact of agricultural tourism integration on agriculture was empirically tested, and the regulatory role of rural human capital was discussed. It was found that agricultural tourism integration contributes significantly to the improvement in green total factor productivity in agriculture, with rural mobility human capital, education human capital, and health human capital all playing a significant positive moderating role in this process. Finally, it is recommended that priority be given to agricultural tourism integration in the policy framework, promoting industrial chain upgrading, raising investment in rural infrastructure, and upgrading rural human capital levels to contribute the rural economic development. Full article

Reducing the disparity in consumption between urban and rural areas, as a critical component in mitigating the economic imbalance between them, holds significant importance in enhancing people’s sense of well-being and achieving collective prosperity. This research investigated the nonlinear impact of the digital economy and its sub-dimensions, including digital industrialization, industrial digitization, and the digital environment, on the urban–rural consumption disparity. We employed a systematic GMM and a dynamic panel threshold regression model and utilized dynamic panel data from 30 provinces in China. Our research reveals that the impact of digital economic development on the urban–rural consumption gap displays an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship of widening and then narrowing. This effect is primarily determined by the process of digital industrialization. The digital economy exerts a notable impact on the urban–rural consumption gap, with significant threshold effects identified for the income gap, the education gap, and financial expenditure for livelihoods; these threshold effects exhibit variation across the three sub-dimensions of the digital economy. Further analysis reveals that the digital economy plays a vital role in reducing the disparity between urban and rural hedonic and developmental consumption, while promoting the optimization and upgrading of consumption structure. Upon accounting for regional disparities in urbanization rates, it has been observed that the digital economy’s dampening effect on the urban–rural consumption gap is notably more pronounced in areas with lower rates of urbanization. To more effectively leverage the positive impact of the digital economy on bridging the urban–rural consumption divide, it is recommended that the government accelerate the establishment of a digital environment in rural areas, encourage the integration of digital industries with traditional rural industries, and optimize the investment structure of livelihood-based finance. These measures would help to create a more conducive environment for the digital economy to thrive and could contribute to narrowing the consumption gap between urban and rural areas. Full article

This study constructs a digital economy (DE) index and explores its impact on environmental quality by utilizing data from China’s 287 prefecture-level cities from 2013 to 2019. Unlike past studies, this research examines the indirect effect of DE on environmental pollution through the channels of industrial structure and educational investment. Further, it also analyzes the moderating role of economic globalization and green technology innovation in the nexus between DE and environmental quality. The empirical results indicate that DE significantly and positively enhances environmental quality by mitigating environmental pollution. This outcome remained stable after a series of empirical analyses and stability checks. Secondly, DE positively affects ecological and environmental quality by improving education levels and upgrading industrial structures. Thirdly, green technological innovation and economic globalization positively and significantly moderate the effect of DE development on ecological and environmental quality. Fourthly, associations between the development of DE and environmental quality are heterogeneous in terms of regions and markets, among which the most significant impact exists in the eastern area and the area with higher marketization. Based on the empirical findings, this paper provides comprehensive recommendations for promoting the DE and advancing China’s environmental quality. Based on the results, important policy implications are suggested. Full article

Based on the inter-provincial high-tech industry panel data from 2010 to 2016 in China, this study constructs static and dynamic panel models, respectively, to study the relationship between high-tech industry agglomeration and high-tech export product upgrading, and makes an in-depth discussion on open innovation to achieve sustainable development through industry agglomeration. This paper studies and tests the transmission mechanism between high-tech industrial agglomeration and export product upgrading, which makes up for the research gap in industry agglomeration. The results show that: (1) China’s high-tech industry agglomeration has a significant positive effect on its export industry product upgrading. (2) Regional education has a significant positive effect on the high-tech industry’s export product upgrading, and the influence of high-tech industry agglomeration on export product upgrading is negatively regulated by regional education. (3) From the perspective of influence mechanism, high-tech industry agglomeration has a positive effect on high-tech export product upgrading mediated by innovation and openness (open innovation), and then affects the sustainable development of a regional economy. (4) The high-tech industry agglomeration has a heterogeneous effect in promoting their export products; in terms of scale, the promotion effect is more significant in the large enterprises than small- and medium-sized enterprises; in terms of region, the eastern and western regions have a more significant role in promoting export product upgrading; in terms of industries, the electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry has the most obvious promotion effect. Based on the research results, this study puts forward policy suggestions such as increasing investment in high-tech industries, strengthening the degree of opening to the outside world, encouraging enterprise innovation, and promoting balanced development of the industry. Full article

To assess the green and low-carbon development of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) in China, this study utilizes an evaluation index system based on the framework of driving force, pressure, state, impacts, response, and management, and it measured the comprehensive scores of the co-benefits of carbon reduction and air pollution control in the YRB. The global Moran index was used to analyze the spatial correlation characteristics of co-benefits, and a generalized spatial measurement model was constructed to demonstrate their spatial spillover effects. The results show that the co-benefits steadily increased every year. The co-benefits had a significant positive spatial correlation and showed a development trend of “up–down–up”. According to the spillover effect test, the economic development level, education level, and intensity of environmental regulations had significant positive effects, while the level of urbanization and foreign investment had significant negative effects. Considering these results and the aim of promoting green and low-carbon development, clear detection of the spatial spillover characteristics of the co-benefits should be prioritized, followed by an understanding of the spatial transmission mechanism of carbon and air pollutant emission and transfer. Policy recommendations are also proposed including upgrading industrial structure, focusing on the development of modern services and high-tech industry, and strictly implementing the industrial environment access system. Full article

The high coupling coordination of urban land use benefits is a significant factor for urbanization and sustainable urban development. This study, based on the statistical data from 2002 to 2017 of Xiamen City, constructs an index system that includes social, economic, ecological, and environmental benefits by evaluating the overall coupling coordination degree of land use benefits, using the entropy weight method (EWM), the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, and the dynamic coupling coordination degree (DCCD) model. The results show that the coupling degree of Xiamen City’s land use is relatively low, while showing a positive trend of development. In terms of the management of land use, the market should play a major role to achieve more efficient land use and promote industrial upgrading. The government should take responsibility for supplying infrastructure, perfecting related laws and regulations, intervening the land use according to the law of markets, and expanding the investment in education, as well as science and technology. Full article

Promoting new-type urbanization with the concept of green development has become an inevitable requirement for high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Grasping the development trend and influencing factors of green urbanization level in the Yellow River Basin is of great significance for implementing the international conventions on environmental protection and participating in global environmental governance. This paper selects the green urbanization level panel data of nine provinces in the Yellow River Basin from 2006 to 2018. Then, principal component analysis and factor analysis are applied to measure and evaluate the green urbanization level of each province. Furthermore, this paper constructs a dynamic panel estimation model and uses differential generalized method of moments (DIF-GMM) model and system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) model to explore the influencing factors. The results show that the overall level of green urbanization in the Yellow River Basin has steadily and rapidly increased, and there are significant spatial differences. The green urbanization level of eastern provinces is significantly higher than that of central and western provinces. In addition, the overall level of green urbanization shows a convergence trend. From the perspective of influencing factors, the factors that have significant positive effects on the level of green urbanization include economic development level, technological innovation level, and urban size. Industrial structure, foreign direct investment (FDI), and education level counteract the level of green urbanization. However, environmental regulation strength and opening degree fail to pass the significance test. Therefore, it is necessary to promote and upgrade industrial transformation, improve the quality of opening up, and strengthen cooperation in technological innovation and environmental governance. There are requirements that the government control the urban size and population scientifically and implement the environmental access system strictly in order to improve the level of green urbanization in the Yellow River Basin. It is more possible to achieve harmonious economic and ecological environment development. Full article

Uzbekistan is paying great attention to the textile industry as an industry offering a traditional production advantage, coming to the conclusion that it is necessary to establish and implement effective policies. In Uzbekistan as in other developing countries, whereas there are many strategic directions and development strategies to be considered for key industries, investment resources are limited. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize and to apply limited resources accordingly. Even though research on the textile industry in Uzbekistan is ongoing for a long time, most of the resultant literature concerns only general industrial trends and pertinent investment and advancement strategies. The present study examined sustainable, concrete, and effective development strategy directions for the Uzbekistan textile industry using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model. The SWOT-AHP model was tested in a case study on Uzbekistan’s textile industry. In the case study, the results were presented in an illustrative way by utilizing the quantitative information achieved by the model. The results indicated that the weakness and opportunity (WO) strategy had the highest importance, and suggested accordingly that priority should be given to that strategy for Uzbekistan’s textile industry development. The results further suggested that the Uzbekistan government should endeavor to upgrade obsolescent technology and solve the problems of high-priced imported raw materials and workers’ low education level, which are weak points of the textile industry of that country. Also, Uzbekistan should gradually shift the industrial structure from raw cotton to finished textile exportation, which offers relatively high added economic value. To achieve this, the Uzbek government needs to promote joint ventures and strategic alliances with foreign companies wishing to enter the textile industry through foreign direct investment (FDI) schemes. Full article

In order to achieve China’s target of carbon intensity emissions reduction in 2030, there is a need to identify a scientific pathway and feasible strategies. In this study, we used stochastic frontier analysis method of energy efficiency, incorporating energy structure, economic structure, human capital, capital stock and potential energy efficiency to identify an efficient pathway for achieving emissions reduction target. We set up 96 scenarios including single factor scenarios and multi-factors combination scenarios for the simulation. The effects of each scenario on achieving the carbon intensity reduction target are then evaluated. It is found that: (1) Potential energy efficiency has the greatest contribution to the carbon intensity emissions reduction target; (2) they are unlikely to reach the 2030 carbon intensity reduction target of 60% by only optimizing a single factor; (3) in order to achieve the 2030 target, several aspects have to be adjusted: the fossil fuel ratio must be lower than 80%, and its average growth rate must be decreased by 2.2%; the service sector ratio in GDP must be higher than 58.3%, while the growth rate of non-service sectors must be lowered by 2.4%; and both human capital and capital stock must achieve and maintain a stable growth rate and a 1% increase annually in energy efficiency. Finally, the specific recommendations of this research were discussed, including constantly improved energy efficiency; the upgrading of China’s industrial structure must be accelerated; emissions reduction must be done at the root of energy sources; multi-level input mechanisms in overall levels of education and training to cultivate the human capital stock must be established; investment in emerging equipment and accelerate the closure of backward production capacity to accumulate capital stock. Full article