Search Results (1,159)

As a strategic material second only to grain, cotton serves both as a vital agricultural commodity and a key industrial crop. With the increasing frequency of global shocks and the deepening financialization of commodity markets, price linkages among major international cotton futures markets have strengthened. Consequently, in addition to fundamental supply and demand factors, cross-border price transmission has become a significant determinant of cotton pricing. This study employs daily closing prices of China’s cotton futures, cotton yarn futures, and U.S. cotton futures from 1 September 2017 to 31 March 2025 to examine the spillover effects among these three futures markets using time series models. The results reveal that U.S. cotton futures have dominated the Chinese cotton-related futures markets even prior to the onset of trade tensions, with strong domestic market comovements. However, both the U.S.-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic significantly weakened price co-movements while intensifying volatility spillovers. Although these external shocks enhanced the relative independence of China’s cotton yarn futures and modestly increased China’s pricing influence, U.S. cotton futures have consistently maintained their central role in price discovery. Full article

The continuous expansion of China’s cities has led to a divergence in economics, population, and public service levels among different districts within the city. This has led to different housing prices, due to the resulting impact on housing supply and demand. Previous studies, although taking into account the possible differences in housing prices among different districts, have not focused on the extent to which districts affect housing prices. This study analyzes the housing price boundary effects among different districts in Hangzhou, China, using spatial discontinuity regression methods and data on newly built housing transactions from 2010 to 2021. This study also examines the impact of the integration policy, which acts to integrate suburban counties with the main urban area of Hangzhou, and whether that policy decreases the district boundary effect. The results show that the administrative boundary effect of housing prices in Hangzhou is significant, with most districts experiencing a house price boundary effect exceeding 10%. Encouraging regional integration policies effectively reduces the housing price gap that results from internal administrative divisions within the city. Full article

Based on SWOT and TOWS analyses and combined with expert interviews, this study proposes a series of marketing strategies to enhance consumers’ willingness to purchase used electric vehicles (UEVs). In terms of the strengths and opportunities (SO) strategy, it is recommended that enterprises strengthen marketing and brand building, customize services and special features, use price advantages and environmental awareness to attract specific groups, provide convenient charging services, give full play to technical support advantages, and expand channels through cooperation with the government and manufacturers. The strategies for the strengths and threats (ST) scenario include establishing a government relations department, improving product quality and brand image, enhancing information transparency and quality assurance, and building a partner network and customer relationships. In terms of weaknesses and opportunities (WO), it is proposed to transform corporate weaknesses into opportunities by investing in evaluation technology and expanding charging facilities, strengthening market promotion and consumer education, and providing personalized car purchase advice and high-quality after-sales services. In the face of weaknesses and threats (WT), the emphasis is on reducing risks and improving competitiveness by improving quality management, internal management, and providing long-term after-sales and warranty services. The main innovation of this study lies in integrating SWOT-TOWS strategic frameworks with qualitative expert insights to develop actionable and scenario-specific marketing strategies for the UEV market—an area previously underexplored in existing literature. The comprehensive strategy proposed in this study provides a practical path for UEV companies to enhance consumer trust and purchase willingness and promote the industry’s sustainable development. Full article

Futures and forward contracts together offer farmers of all sizes important tools for shifting and managing production risk. This risk shifting is particularly apparent in the U.S. grain complex, where the United States also has a significant export position. Because of this international reach, we argue that the futures and forward markets play a critical role in reducing world food insecurity and thus contribute to satisfying Sustainable Development Goal #2: Zero Hunger. We further argue that the presence of investors willing to take the opposite side of the farmers’ natural short hedge helps futures markets perform their key functions of price discovery and risk management. In addition to these roles, futures markets also enable farmers to finance their crops more efficiently over the production cycle, supporting operational stability. Finally, we highlight that agricultural markets in the United States are supported by significant regulation at the county, state, and federal levels. These farming regulations, coupled with federal oversight of agricultural futures markets, provide sufficient confidence that the goal of Zero Hunger is being pursued in an appropriate and effective manner, reinforcing the case for agricultural futures as a meaningful component of a broader sustainable investment strategy. Full article

Kazakhstan, a fossil-fuel-dependent economy, faces growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining industrial competitiveness. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCS/CCUS) technologies offer a viable pathway for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, particularly in power generation, metallurgy, and oil and gas processing. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state of CCS/CCUS technologies globally and examines their applicability within Kazakhstan. The study also explores long-term CO₂ storage mechanisms and monitoring frameworks, with attention to carbon leakage risks and the importance of addressing methane emissions. A critical part of the analysis is dedicated to Kazakhstan’s Emissions Trading System, identifying its current limitations such as low carbon prices, and limited sectoral coverage, and outlining practical reforms to enhance its role in supporting CCS/CCUS and broader decarbonization efforts. The integration of CCS/CCUS with a strengthened ETS, combined with access to international climate finance instruments and voluntary carbon markets, is proposed as a key strategy for Kazakhstan’s transition to a low-carbon economy. By linking engineering innovation with targeted policy interventions, this study offers a dual-perspective contribution. It not only provides technical insights into CCS/CCUS technologies but also presents policy recommendations that are specifically tailored to Kazakhstan’s context. The findings reinforce the role of CCS/CCUS as a crucial component of national climate strategy and industrial transformation. Full article

Accurate forecasting is essential for effective energy management, particularly in evolving and data-driven electricity markets. To address the increasing complexity of national energy planning in The Netherlands, this study proposes a hybrid multi-stage forecasting framework to improve both short- and long-term electricity demand predictions. We compare three model types, classical statistical (SARIMAX), hybrid statistical–deep learning (SARIMAX–LSTM), and deep learning (sequence-to-sequence), across forecasting horizons from 1 to 180 days. The models are trained on daily load data from ENTSO-E (2009–2023), incorporating exogenous variables such as weather conditions, energy prices, and socioeconomic indicators, as well as engineered temporal features such as calendar effects, seasonal patterns, and rolling demand statistics. Three feature configurations were tested: exogenous-only, generated-only, and a combined set. Internally generated features consistently outperformed exogenous inputs, especially for long-term forecasts. The sequence-to-sequence model achieved the highest accuracy at the 180-day horizon, with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of approximately 1.88%, outperforming both SARIMAX and the SARIMAX–LSTM hybrid models. An additional SARIMAX-based analysis assessed the individual effects of renewable and socioeconomic indicators. Renewable energy production improved short-term accuracy (MAPE reduced from 2.13% to 1.09%) but contributed little to long-term forecasting. Socioeconomic variables had limited predictive value and, in some cases, slightly reduced accuracy, particularly over long-term horizons. Full article

This study examines the impact of personal remittances on housing prices in European Union (EU) countries, while also accounting for a broader set of macroeconomic, demographic, and structural variables. Using annual data for 27 EU countries from 2007 to 2022, we employ a comprehensive panel econometric approach, including cross-sectional dependence tests, second-generation unit root tests, pooled mean group–autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) estimation, and panel causality tests, to capture both short- and long-term dynamics. Our findings confirm that remittances significantly and positively influence long-term housing price levels, underscoring their relevance as a demand-side driver. Other key variables such as net migration, GDP, travel credit to GDP, economic freedom, and real effective exchange rates also contribute to housing price movements, while supply-side indicators, including production in construction and building permits, exert moderating effects. Moreover, real interest rates are shown to have a significant long-term negative effect on property prices. The analysis reveals key causal links from remittances, FDI, and net migration to housing prices, highlighting their structural and predictive roles. Bidirectional causality between economic freedom, housing output, and prices indicates reinforcing feedback effects. These findings position remittances as both a development tool and a key indicator of real estate dynamics. The study highlights complex interactions between international financial flows, demographic pressures, and domestic economic conditions and the need for policymakers to consider remittances and migrant investments in real estate strategies. These findings offer important implications for policymakers seeking to balance housing affordability, investment, and economic resilience in the EU context and key insights into the complexity of economic factors and real estate prices. Importantly, the analysis identifies several causal relationships, notably from remittances, FDI, and net migration toward housing prices, underscoring their predictive and structural importance. Bidirectional causality between economic freedom and house prices, as well as between housing output and pricing, reflects feedback mechanisms that further reinforce market dynamics. These results position remittances not only as a developmental instrument but also as a key signal for real estate market performance in recipient economies. Full article

Under China’s ‘Dual Carbon’ strategy, the power sector plays a central role in achieving carbon neutrality. This study develops a bi-level game-optimization model involving the government, power producers, and technology suppliers to explore the dynamic coordination between shadow carbon pricing and emission trajectories. The upper-level model, guided by the government, focuses on minimizing total costs, including emission reduction costs, technological investments, and operational costs, by dynamically adjusting emission targets and shadow carbon prices. The lower-level model employs evolutionary game theory to simulate the adaptive behaviors and strategic interactions among power producers, regulatory authorities, and technology suppliers. Three representative uncertainty scenarios, disruptive technological breakthroughs, major policy interventions, and international geopolitical shifts, are incorporated to evaluate system robustness. Simulation results indicate that an optimistic scenario is characterized by rapid technological advancement and strong policy incentives. Conversely, under a pessimistic scenario with sluggish technology development and weak regulatory frameworks, there are substantially higher transition costs. This research uniquely contributes by explicitly modeling dynamic feedback between policy and stakeholder behavior under multiple uncertainties, highlighting the critical roles of innovation-driven strategies and proactive policy interventions in shaping effective, resilient, and cost-efficient carbon pricing and low-carbon transition pathways in the power sector. Full article

The connection between sugar and ethanol prices is in line with concerns about the connection between oil and food prices. This paper studies the nexus between Colombia’s ethanol and sugar prices and the role that weather shocks play. Data on production and prices from the sugar mills and climate data on precipitation and temperature are used to estimate two ways to capture the relationship between prices and the role of weather shocks. First, a reduced-form estimation is made, where the study finds evidence of the pass-through of the international price to domestic prices and how high precipitation and temperature shocks increase prices. Then, the study addresses potential simultaneity problems between prices and estimates a VEC model with exogenous variables such as weather shocks. Results show that all domestic prices are affected by the international price, and the international price is affected by the white sugar domestic prices. Additionally, sugar prices react to shocks in ethanol prices, but ethanol prices do not react to shocks in sugar prices. Finally, weather shocks affect sugar prices, with daytime temperature shocks being the most damaging. Full article

For a long time, the explanation of the various determinants of oil price fluctuations and their impact on economic activity has been based on the supply and demand mechanism. However, with various volatile changes in the international situation in recent years, such as threats to public health and an increase in regional conflicts, special attention has been paid to the geopolitical context as an additional driver of oil price fluctuations. This study examines the relationship between oil price changes and GDP growth and other macroeconomic variables from the perspective of the vulnerability of oil-importing and oil-exporting countries to unexpected oil price shocks, driven by tense geopolitical events, in three European countries (Norway, Germany, and Poland). We apply the Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model and orthogonalized impulse response functions, based on quarterly data, in regard to two samples: the first spans 1995Q1–2019Q4 (pre-2020 sample), with relatively gradual changes in oil prices, and the second spans 1995Q1–2024Q2 (whole sample), with sudden fluctuations in oil prices due to geopolitical developments. A key finding of this research is that vulnerability to unpredictable oil price shocks related to geopolitical tensions is higher than in regard to expected gradual changes in oil prices, both in oil-importing and oil-exporting countries. Different causality patterns and stronger responses in regard to GDP growth during the period, including in regard to tense geopolitical events in comparison to the pre-2020 sample, lead to the belief that economies are not more resilient to oil price shocks as has been suggested by some studies, which referred to periods that were not driven by geopolitical events. Our research also suggests that countries implementing policies to reduce oil dependency and promote investment in alternative energy sources are better equipped to mitigate the adverse effects of oil price shocks. Full article

Research concerning green marketing has predominantly focused on consumer behavior. However, aspects such as the extent to which Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) embrace green marketing values, their ability to implement the green marketing mix, and the integration of green marketing into their business culture are critically important. This research aims to provide the 4P (product, price, place, and promotion)-focused green marketing literature with a measurement tool to assess how SMEs implement green marketing practices. The study employed a descriptive design and possesses an exploratory nature. Scale development involved two stages: First, analyses were conducted on a pre-test sample of 159 individuals, revealing the initial scale structure. Second, these analyses were repeated on a larger group of 387 participants. The scale was finalized by confirming the consistency of results across both analyses. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) version 24 were utilized for descriptive statistics and the scale development process. The final validated 12-item scale demonstrates a robust three-factor structure (“Environmental Promotion”, ”Green Packaging”, and ”Green Distribution”), explaining 62.6% of the total variance. The scale exhibits excellent psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.912), strong model fit from Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and both convergent and discriminant validity, as indicated by an Average Variance Extracted (AVE) value of 0.605. The scale is deemed applicable to larger populations. Full article

Background: The quality of decision-making processes is increasingly recognized as critical to public trust and policy sustainability. Objectives: This narrative review aims to identify and describe process-focused decision support models (DSMs) applied in pharmaceutical policy, and to examine their potential contributions to improving procedural quality in decisions related to pricing, reimbursement, and access to medicines. Methods: Relevant peer-reviewed and gray literature published between 2000 and 2025 was considered, drawing from key databases (e.g., PubMed and Scopus) and international policy reports (e.g., WHO, ISPOR, and HTA agencies). Studies were included if they provided insights into DSMs addressing at least one dimension of decision process quality. Results: Findings are synthesized narratively and organized by tool type, application context, and key quality dimensions. Frequently referenced tools included the Quality of Decision-Making Orientation Scheme (QoDoS), WHO-INTEGRATE, and AGREE II. QoDoS emerged as the only tool applied across regulatory, HTA, and industry settings, evaluating both individual- and organizational-level practices. WHO-INTEGRATE highlighted equity and legitimacy considerations but lacked a structured format. Overall, most tools demonstrated benefits in promoting internal consistency, transparency, and stakeholder engagement; however, their adoption remains limited, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions: Process-focused DSMs offer promising avenues for enhancing transparency, consistency, and legitimacy in pharmaceutical policy. Further exploration is needed to standardize evaluation approaches and expand the use of DSMs in diverse health systems. Full article

Enhancing market integration levels is crucial for advancing sustainable regional collaborative development and achieving ecological protection and high-quality development goals within the Yellow River Basin, fostering a balance between economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental resilience. This study analyzed the retail price data of goods from prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2010 to 2022, employing the relative price method to measure the market integration index. Additionally, it examined the temporal and spatial evolution patterns and driving factors using the Dagum Gini coefficient and panel regression models. The results indicate the following. (1) The market integration index of the Yellow River Basin shows a fluctuating upward trend, with an average annual growth rate of 9.8%. The spatial pattern generally reflects a situation where the east is relatively high and the west is relatively low, as well as the south being higher than the north. (2) Regional disparities are gradually diminishing, with the overall Gini coefficient decreasing from 0.153 to 0.104. However, internal differences within the downstream and midstream areas have become prominent, and contribution rate analysis reveals that super-variable density has replaced between-group disparities as the primary source. (3) Upgrading the industrial structure and enhancing the level of economic development are the core driving forces, while financial support and digital infrastructure significantly accelerate the integration process. Conversely, the level of openness exhibits a phase-specific negative impact. We propose policy emphasizing the need to strengthen development in the upper reach of the Yellow River Basin, further improve interregional collaborative innovation mechanisms, and enhance cross-regional coordination among multicenter network nodes. Full article

The maritime sector is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by increasingly stringent international regulations targeting air pollution. While newly built vessels integrate advanced technologies for compliance, the global fleet averages 21.8 years of age and must meet emission requirements through retrofitting or operational changes. This study evaluates, at environmental and economic levels, two key sulphur abatement strategies for a 1998-built cruise vessel nearing the end of its service life: (i) the installation of open-loop scrubbers with fuel enhancement devices, and (ii) a switch to marine diesel oil as main fuel. The analysis was based on real operational data from a cruise vessel. For the environmental assessment, a Tier III hybrid emissions model was used. The results show that scrubbers reduce SO_x emissions by approximately 97% but increase fuel consumption by 3.6%, raising both CO₂ and NO_x emissions, while particulate matter decreases by only 6.7%. In contrast, switching to MDO achieves over 99% SO_x reduction, an 89% drop in particulate matter, and a nearly 5% reduction in CO₂ emissions. At an economic level, it was found that, despite a CAPEX of nearly USD 1.9 million, scrubber installation provides an average annual net saving exceeding USD 8.2 million. From the deterministic and probabilistic analyses performed, including Monte Carlo simulations under various fuel price correlation scenarios, scrubber installation consistently shows high profitability, with NPVs surpassing USD 70 million and payback periods under four months. Full article

Cities serve as the primary arenas for achieving the strategic objectives of “carbon peak and carbon neutrality”. This study employed the LMDI method to systematically analyze the evolution trend of energy-related carbon emissions in Hong Kong and their influencing factors from 1980 to 2023. The main findings are as follows: (1) Hong Kong’s energy consumption structure remains dominated by coal and oil. Influenced by energy prices, significant shifts in this structure occurred across different periods. Imported electricity from mainland China, in particular, has exerted a promoting effect on the optimization of its energy consumption mix. (2) Economic output and population concentration are the primary drivers of increased carbon emissions. However, the contribution of economic growth to carbon emissions has gradually weakened in recent years due to a lack of new growth drivers. (3) Energy consumption intensity, energy consumption structure, and carbon intensity are the primary influencing factors in curbing carbon emissions. Among these, the carbon reduction impact of energy consumption intensity is the most significant. Hong Kong should continue to adopt a robust strategy for controlling total energy consumption to effectively mitigate carbon emissions. Additionally, it should remain vigilant regarding the potential implications of future energy price fluctuations. It is also essential to sustain cross-border energy cooperation, primarily based on electricity imports from the Pearl River Delta, while simultaneously expanding international and domestic supply channels for natural gas. Full article