Search Results (54)

Within the framework of the carbon market mechanism, corporate investments to secure forestry carbon credits play a pivotal role in mobilizing social capital for ecological construction and realizing the value of ecosystem services. This study integrates information decision theory and Bayesian network analysis to simulate corporate investment decision-making for forestry carbon sequestration within China’s carbon market. Through this approach, we explore the decision-making mechanisms behind corporate investments in forestry carbon sequestration and conduct decision simulations. The findings reveal several key insights: (1) External factors, including tax incentives, consumer preference for low-carbon products, and societal environmental awareness, exert a significant impact on the valuation of forestry carbon sequestration investments. Internally, the challenge posed by technological costs in achieving emission reductions significantly influences the evaluation of forestry carbon sequestration investments. (2) Investment value judgments are shaped by the nature of the decision-making problem, which inherently involves a synergistic relationship. (3) Corporations recognize the importance of forestry carbon sequestration in reducing the costs of emission reduction, formulating low-carbon development plans, expanding investment opportunities, and enhancing the quality of forestry carbon sequestration. (4) The collective value judgment of corporates regarding forestry carbon sequestration in terms of cost reduction for emission reduction, low-carbon development planning, investment opportunity expansion, and corporate image enhancement significantly influences their investment decisions in forestry carbon sequestration. (5) Corporate investment decisions exhibit a strong preference for market-based pricing and risk-sharing mechanisms. Consequently, enhancing the carbon information disclosure system and the carbon market trading mechanism, as well as establishing price protection and income stabilization expectations for forestry carbon sequestration, can encourage corporates to make investments in this area. This not only aids in the green, low-carbon transformation of businesses but also addresses the challenge of positive externalities associated with forestry carbon sequestration through market-oriented solutions. Full article

For a long time, low efficiency in the transfer of rural collective land use rights and the ambiguous attribution of collective land property rights have not only restricted the mobility of rural labor factors but have also hindered the release of vitality in the rural collective economy. This has resulted in lagging growth in the income that rural residents obtain from collective economic factors, contributing to the persistent widening of the urban/rural income gap. As an important institutional innovation to address these issues, the effects of the reform of the rural collective property rights system urgently need to be clarified. The reform of the rural collective property rights system constitutes a major initiative in the transformation of the rural land system. Centered on asset verification and valuation, as well as the demarcation of membership rights and the restructuring towards a shareholding cooperative system, it aims to establish a collective property rights regime characterized by clearly defined ownership and fully functional entitlements. This study takes the national pilot reform of rural collective property rights launched in 2016 as a quasi-natural policy experiment, systematically examining the impact of this pilot policy on the internal income gap within households and its spillover effects on the urban–rural income gap. Based on microdata from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and the China Longitudinal Night Light Data Set (PANDA-China), this study constructs a five-period balanced panel dataset covering 2304 rural households across 25 provinces. A relative exploitation index based on the Kawani index is constructed, and empirical analysis is conducted using a combination of multi-period difference-in-differences (Multi-period DID), discrete binary models, and propensity score matching-difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) models. The results show that: First, the pilot reform significantly reduced the level of income inequality within rural areas in the pilot regions, and its policy benefits further generated positive spillovers via market-driven factor allocation mechanisms, effectively bridging the urban–rural income gap. Second, institutional reforms activated the potential of rural non-agricultural economic factors, establishing new channels for a two-way flow of urban and rural factors, becoming an important path to achieve the goal of common prosperity. Third, the policy effects exhibited significant heterogeneity, specifically manifested in the attributes of major grain-producing regions, initial household income levels, and the human capital characteristics of household heads having significant moderating effects on reform outcomes. This study not only provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for deepening rural property rights reforms under the new rural revitalization strategy, but it also reveals the driving role of institutional innovation in factor mobility, thereby influencing the transmission mechanism of income distribution patterns. This finding offers a China-based solution for developing countries to address the imbalance in urban–rural development and the widening income gap. Full article

Understanding how housing attributes are capitalized into prices is central to addressing urban affordability challenges. Using 2799 second-hand housing transactions from Wenzhou, China, this study examines residential price formation under pronounced spatial and structural heterogeneity. Multiple predictive models are evaluated within a unified 10-fold cross-validation framework. Results indicate that Random Forest delivers the strongest predictive performance, achieving a normalized mean squared error below 0.10 and explaining over 90% of out-of-sample price variation, substantially outperforming hedonic regression, regression trees, bagging, boosting, and support vector models. Permutation-based importance analysis identifies district location, building scale, and floor area as the dominant price determinants, while the influence of renovation quality, transportation access, and educational amenities varies across districts and dwelling types. These findings reveal strong nonlinearities and heterogeneous valuation mechanisms in rapidly urbanizing housing markets. Methodologically, the study demonstrates how interpretable machine learning complements traditional hedonic analysis, while providing policy-relevant insights into housing affordability dynamics in medium-sized Chinese cities. Full article

As a critical carbon offset mechanism, China’s Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) plays a pivotal role in achieving the “dual carbon” targets. With the relaunch of its trading market, refining the CCER valuation framework has become imperative. This study develops a multidimensional CCER valuation methodology based on both the income and market approaches. Under the income approach, two probabilistic models—discrete and continuous emission distribution frameworks—are proposed to quantify CCER value. Under the market approach, a Geometric Brownian Motion (GBM) model and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network model are constructed to capture nonlinear temporal dynamics in CCER pricing. Through a systematic comparative analysis of the outputs and methodologies of these models, this study identifies optimal pricing strategies to enhance CCER valuation. Results reveal significant disparities among models in predictive accuracy, computational efficiency, and adaptability to market dynamics. Each model exhibits distinct strengths and limitations, necessitating scenario-specific selection based on data availability, application context, and timeliness requirements to strike a balance between precision and efficiency. These findings offer both theoretical and practical insights to support the development of the CCER market. Full article

This study uses the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), a quantitative approach, with interval regression and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models to assess the non-use values of the Zhongjieshan and Liuheng Marine Ranches. The aim of the study is to quantify the monetary value of non-market benefits, examine socioeconomic influences on stakeholders’ Willingness to Pay (WTP), and provide a basis for ecological compensation mechanisms. Zhongjieshan’s annual non-use value is estimated at 28.99–30.81 million CNY (Chinese Yuan) (median WTP 74.33–78.99 CNY per person), while Liuheng’s value is higher at 108–111 million CNY (median WTP 150.20–153.89 CNY per person), suggesting greater ecological and recreational potential at Liuheng. The results show robust model performance, with minimal WTP differences. WTP for Liuheng is primarily influenced by income and environmental awareness, while Zhongjieshan shows a distance-decay effect. Visitor profiles reveal that Zhongjieshan attracts younger, moderately educated visitors, while Liuheng draws more highly educated, economically diverse groups. These findings suggest that Zhongjieshan should prioritize community-based co-management, while Liuheng should focus on high-quality, technology-driven ecological leisure development. The study also emphasizes the need for targeted awareness campaigns and supports the creation of diversified ecological compensation mechanisms beyond government funding. Full article

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) can deliver system-wide flexibility and decarbonization benefits, yet investment is often hindered because these benefits are diffuse and not fully monetized under conventional market structures. A public-asset-oriented valuation and cost-allocation framework is proposed for LDES. First, LDES externality benefits are quantified through a system-level optimization-based simulation on a stylized aggregated regional network, with key indicators including thermal generation cost, carbon penalty, renewable curtailment cost, involuntary load shedding, and end-user electricity expenditures. Second, LDES investment costs are allocated among thermal generators, renewable operators, grid entities, and end users via a benefit-based Nash bargaining mechanism. In the case study, introducing LDES reduces thermal generation cost by 3.92%, carbon penalties by 5.59%, and renewable curtailment expenditures by 7.07%, while eliminating load shedding. The resulting cost shares are 46.9% (renewables), 28.7% (end users), 22.4% (thermal generation), and 0.5% (grid entity), consistent with stakeholder-specific benefit distributions. Sensitivity analyses across storage capacity and placement further show diminishing marginal returns beyond near-optimal sizing and systematic shifts in cost responsibility as benefit patterns change. Overall, this framework offers a scalable, economically efficient, and equitable strategy for cost redistribution, supporting accelerated LDES adoption in future low-carbon power systems. Full article

Corporate governance plays a critical role in strengthening transparency and sustainable performance in emerging European markets. Romania offers a distinct context marked by concentrated ownership, uneven governance adoption and ongoing alignment with EU and OECD standards. Despite recent reforms, limited evidence exists on how governance mechanisms shape firm performance. This study examines the impact of board size, board independence, CEO duality, institutional ownership and audit committee independence on five performance indicators (ROA, ROE, EPS, NPM, PER) for Romanian listed companies between 2016 and 2024. Drawing on Agency, Stewardship, Resource Dependence and Stakeholder theories, this research tests hypotheses linking governance design to operational efficiency, shareholder returns and market valuation. Using an unbalanced panel and estimated GLS with panel-corrected standard errors, the analysis addresses heterogeneity, autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence. Results show that board and audit independence, as well as institutional investors, improve operational performance, CEO duality yields mixed effects, while board size follows a non-linear pattern. Market valuation responds positively to stronger governance structures. The study offers the most comprehensive evidence to date for Romania and provides practical implications for firms and policymakers. Full article

Financial accounting manipulation (FAM) remains a persistent concern in emerging Asian markets, yet existing studies typically assess firm resilience, market valuation, and institutional governance separately. This study addresses this gap by examining how the Resilience Factor (RF), Market Valuation (VAL), and Country Governance Index (CGI), along with their interaction effects, shape FAM. Using a panel dataset of 4303 non-financial firms across 17 Asian countries from 2012 to 2023 (51,636 observations), the analysis employs an Instrumental Variable–Two-Stage Least-Squares (IV-2SLS) approach to address endogeneity related to simultaneity and omitted variable bias. The results show that financially resilient firms are more prone to manipulation, market valuation reduces manipulation incentives, and stronger country governance constrains manipulation. Moreover, valuation moderates the governance–manipulation relationship, suggesting complementary monitoring roles between markets and institutions. Robustness checks across regions, industries, and the COVID-19 period confirm the findings. The study contributes to agency and institutional theory by highlighting how firm-level and country-level mechanisms jointly influence manipulation, offering policy implications for regulators and investors in Asian capital markets. Full article

This study examines whether strengthened prudential supervision reduces the marginal influence of internal governance mechanisms on the performance of Saudi banks during the Vision 2030 reform period. Using a panel of ten listed Saudi banks from 2018 to 2024, governance measures are hand collected to align with Saudi Central Bank definitions, focusing on insider ownership and board independence. To address endogeneity arising from performance persistence and reverse causality, two-step system generalized method of moments with collapsed lagged internal instruments and Windmeijer-corrected standard errors are employed. The results reveal that insider ownership and board independence are statistically and economically insignificant for accounting performance and market valuation, whereas lagged performance remains the dominant predictor. Hansen J and Arellano–Bond AR(2) diagnostics support instrument validity, and robustness checks using alternative estimators and variable specifications produce consistent findings. The results suggest that in contexts where prudential oversight is comprehensive and consistently enforced, internal governance mechanisms may provide limited incremental monitoring value. However, they do not imply that boards or insiders are irrelevant during crises or when enforcement is uneven. Therefore, refining supervisory tools and disclosure practices should be prioritized over imposing additional structural mandates on boards or ownership configurations. Full article

Digital platforms face a fundamental strategic decision between subscription-only, advertising-only, and freemium (hybrid) monetization models. We develop a game-theoretic framework that unifies these strategies, explicitly modeling consumer heterogeneity in both willingness-to-pay and advertising disutility, while incorporating network effects through the platform’s valuation of user-base size. Our analysis yields closed-form solutions identifying optimal strategy thresholds based on advertising market conditions. We show that subscription-only dominates when advertising prices are low, advertising-only prevails when prices are high, and freemium emerges as strictly optimal in the intermediate region. Under freemium, we demonstrate strategic complementarity: both subscription fees and advertising intensity exceed their levels in pure strategies because each instrument’s effectiveness is amplified by the other through user reallocation across tiers. Network effects universally reduce monetization intensity but alter instruments’ relative sensitivities differently across regimes—when advertising prices are moderate, freemium adjusts ad length more aggressively, while the opposite holds at high prices. Critically, freemium’s profitability requires sufficient consumer heterogeneity in ad tolerance. As consumer preferences converge, the screening mechanism fails and freemium collapses to the superior pure strategy. These results provide operational guidance for platform monetization decisions and clarify when hybrid models create value beyond traditional approaches. Full article

This study tests whether labeled green and sustainability-linked financing complements firms’ R&D to lower the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), raise valuation, and shift innovation toward climate mitigation technologies. Using a 2012–2024 panel of S&P 500 constituents with complete coverage, this study applies a staggered-adoption difference-in-differences design with interaction-weighted event-time estimators and entropy balancing; WACC is decomposed into equity and debt components, valuation is measured by Tobin’s Q, and innovation outcomes cover patent counts and the CPC Y02 share, with matched-bond and secondary-market comparisons for the debt channel. Within two years of first-time adoption, this study observes a meaningful decline in WACC (approximately 40–60 bp) driven mainly by the cost of debt, alongside higher valuation and increased innovation intensity with a larger Y02 share. Effects are larger where R&D intensity is higher and are strongest for use-of-proceeds green bonds and for sustainability-linked contracts with material KPIs and non-trivial step-ups. These results indicate that labeled financing is most effective when aligned with credible R&D pipelines and verification mechanisms, clarifying its governance role in corporate sustainability strategies. Full article

Türkiye’s forest governance exhibits a persistent policy–implementation gap rooted in a governance paradox: while the Ecosystem-Based Functional Planning (EBFP) system promotes ecological integrity and adaptive management, the foundational Forest Law No. 6831 (1956) still legitimizes extractive uses under a broad “public interest” doctrine. This contradiction has enabled 94,148 permits covering 654,833 ha of forest conversion, while marginalizing nearly seven million forest-dependent villagers from decision-making. The study applies a doctrinal and qualitative document-analysis approach, integrating legal, institutional, and socio-economic dimensions. It employs a comparative design with five EU transition countries—Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia, and Greece—selected for their shared post-socialist administrative legacies and diverse pathways of forest-governance reform. The analysis synthesizes legal norms, policy instruments, and institutional practices to identify drivers of reform inertia and regulatory capture. Findings reveal three interlinked failures: (1) institutional and ministerial conflicts that entrench centralized decision-making and weaken environmental oversight—illustrated by the fact that only 0.97% of Environmental Impact Assessments receive negative opinions; (2) economic and ecological losses, with foregone ecosystem-service values exceeding EUR 200 million annually and limited access to carbon markets; and (3) participatory deficits and social contestation, exemplified by local forest conflicts such as the Akbelen case. A comparative SWOT analysis indicates that Poland’s confrontational policy reforms triggered EU infringement penalties, Romania’s fragmented legal restitution fostered illegal logging networks, and Greece’s recent modernization offers lessons for gradual legal harmonization. Drawing on these insights, the paper recommends comprehensive Forest Law reform that integrates ecosystem-service valuation, climate adaptation, and transparent participatory mechanisms. Alignment with the EU Nature Restoration Regulation (2024/1991) and Biodiversity Strategy 2030 is proposed as a phased transition pathway for Türkiye’s candidate-country obligations. The study concludes that partial reforms reproduce systemic contradictions: bridging the policy–law divide requires confronting entrenched political-economy dynamics where state actors and extractive-industry interests remain institutionally intertwined. Full article

As an emerging production factor, data assets are gaining strategic prominence, yet their application in collateralized financing faces persistent challenges, including illiquidity and risk evaluation complexities. This study introduces an innovative $P_{max}$ model to enhance the Collateral Value of data assets through insurance mechanisms, systematically demonstrating the feasibility conditions under which risk transfer optimizes asset valuation and delineating implementation pathways to integrate data insurance with asset-backed financing. Building on the theoretical framework of Value-at-Risk (VaR), this study develops a dynamic valuation model to assess the value of the collateral before and after insurance. Our analysis shows that insurance coverage for potential losses significantly enhances financing viability when premiums satisfy $P_{max}$. Empirical analysis employing Monte Carlo simulations reveals a nonlinear positive correlation between pledgees’ risk tolerance thresholds and the maximum acceptable premium $P_{max}$. This study bridges theoretical gaps in understanding insurance-value relationships for data assets while providing conceptual foundations and operational blueprints to standardize data markets and foster financial innovation. Full article

This narrative review examines how ecological and economic perspectives can be integrated to support ecosystem services management and biodiversity conservation. We synthesize core valuation approaches (accounting-based exchange values versus welfare-based measures), discuss their appropriate uses and limitations, and illustrate implications through selected cases in watershed protection, protected areas, and forest carbon. We then review design features of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) with attention to additionality, leakage, and equity, and distill lessons for policy mixes that combine market-based instruments with regulatory and informational tools. Finally, we outline opportunities and risks in applying artificial intelligence to ecological–economic analysis, emphasizing accuracy–energy trade-offs and responsible data practices. Across topics, we prioritize mechanism-focused interpretation, triangulate findings from representative studies, and highlight decision-relevant takeaways rather than comprehensive coverage. We conclude with practical recommendations for analysts and policymakers: align valuation method with decision context; pair PES with targeting and monitoring; embed price-based instruments in adaptive policy mixes; and adopt transparent, efficiency-aware analytic workflows—especially when using computationally intensive methods. Full article

While international cross-listing locations in host countries have been identified as integral to firm valuation gains, the influence of the home country information environment on firm financial market integration remains underexplored. This study examined how political stability, government effectiveness, and voice and accountability influence cross-listing destination choices amongst emerging-market firms seeking enhanced valuation gains. Using data on cross-listed firms from BRICS countries between 2000 and 2020, the study employed generalized linear models (GLMs), including probit and robit specifications, to analyze this relationship. The researchers found that stronger political stability; government effectiveness; and voice and accountability in home countries significantly increase the likelihood of BRICS firms cross-listing on advanced exchanges characterized by higher valuation gains. These results indicate that reduced political risk, effective government policy implementation and greater media freedom in BRICS emerging market countries facilitate cross-listing firms’ access to more efficient global capital markets by reducing asymmetric information, and help overcome traditional market segmentation barriers. Contrary to the conventional emphasis that home country proximity is significant for cross-listing valuation gains, these results highlight the signaling mechanism of home country governance quality as an appealing factor for firm cross-listing location in advanced exchange markets. Policymakers in emerging markets should consider governance reforms that enhance domestic firm competitiveness in global financial markets for higher valuation gains. Full article