Search Results (133)

This study examines whether stricter enforcement of mandatory social insurance contributions affects corporate income tax behavior in China. In the Chinese institutional context, mandatory social insurance refers to payroll-based employer and employee contributions to five statutory programs: basic pension insurance, basic medical insurance, work-injury insurance, unemployment insurance, and maternity insurance. These programs are directly related to social sustainability because they finance old-age income security, medical protection, workplace injury compensation, unemployment support, maternity protection, and labor-market stability. Using China’s 2018 social insurance collection reform as a quasi-natural experiment, we analyze A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2024 through a difference-in-differences design based on differential exposure between private firms and state-owned enterprises. To assess the reliability of the identification strategy, we employ firm and year fixed effects, event-study analysis, placebo tests, alternative measures of tax avoidance, and propensity score matching difference-in-differences robustness checks. The findings show a tax-fee seesaw effect: private firms subject to extensive regulatory scrutiny respond to more rigorous enforcement of social insurance contributions by increasing corporate income tax avoidance. Analysis of the mechanisms shows that the Whited-Wu index of financial constraints partially explains this phenomenon. The effect is more pronounced in firms with higher labor costs and greater administrative expense intensity, indicating that the increased response is driven by labor cost exposure and organizational discretion. By contrast, the effect is weaker among firms audited by the Big Four accounting networks—Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG—indicating that high-quality external audits constrain aggressive tax planning. Regionally, the effect is most pronounced in eastern China, where markets, labor costs, and tax-planning services are more developed. The findings contribute to the sustainable development literature by demonstrating that reforms designed to strengthen social insurance sustainability can unintentionally weaken tax compliance if payroll contributions, tax administration, and corporate financial pressures are not coordinated. The study highlights the importance of integrated fiscal governance for achieving socially sustainable and fiscally balanced development. Full article

Reform and sustainability of the defined benefit pension system has received considerable attention because it addresses the challenges of an aging population and the risk of fund insolvency. However, previous studies have little consideration to the effects of reemployed retired laborers and the sensitivity of each key reform element. The study established a financial forecasting model incorporating reemployed retired laborers and employed comparative static analysis to examine the effects of several variables on Taiwan’s public labor pension. In Scenario Three, the fund balance was projected to remain positive until 2064. Furthermore, increasing the premium rate to 17% had the strongest positive effect on the fund balance with 16-year delay, while an annual government subsidy of NT$100 billion had the second-most positive effect with 10-year delay. Moreover, solely reducing the old-age annuity amount by 10% had a positive impact on the fund balance with 7-year delay. Furthermore, allowing 50% of reemployed retired laborers to reenroll in the system had the positive effect with 9-year delay before bankruptcy. Finally, the study proposes a comprehensive reform plan for the public labor pension and offers valuable insights for other countries. Full article

This study examines the current account implications of sustainable rural tourism in Türkiye by measuring rural tourism intensity through tourist arrivals in locally embedded and small-scale accommodation structures—including mountain lodges, camping sites, hostels, pensions, motels, village houses, and boutique hotels—collectively referred to as the LESS variable. Using monthly time series data over the period 2000–2025, the trade deficit is modeled as a function of rural accommodation intensity and the real effective exchange rate. The empirical framework employs Johansen cointegration analysis evaluated through the Pantula principle, Vector Error Correction Model-based Granger causality tests, full-sample bootstrap causality tests, and rolling window bootstrap causality analysis to capture time-varying causal dynamics. The findings confirm a long-run cointegration relationship among the variables and reveal that rural tourism intensity exerts a statistically significant causal effect on the trade deficit, with the relationship intensifying during crisis periods such as the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 shock. Specifically, increases in rural accommodation intensity are found to exert a negative and significant effect on the trade deficit, indicating that locally embedded tourism structures enhance net foreign exchange retention through lower import leakage. These results suggest that tourism structures characterized by stronger local embeddedness and lower import intensity enhance net foreign exchange retention and contribute to external balance stability. Full article

Population ageing, declining fertility, and falling real interest rates have widened the global pension gap and increased fiscal pressure on pay-as-you-go systems worldwide. These structural challenges are compounded in Ukraine by an extreme demographic shock caused by war, large-scale migration, excess mortality, and a sharp contraction in GDP. This study evaluates the financial resilience and long-term sustainability of the Ukrainian pension system over 2015–2023 and assesses alternative development trajectories under heightened uncertainty. The methodology integrates demographic analysis with financial sustainability assessment and risk management approaches. A composite Sustainability Index is constructed from nine sub-indices that capture the structural, demographic, and economic dimensions of pension system performance. Scenario modelling is applied to simulate three reform pathways: structural transformation through expansion of the funded pillar, demographic adjustments, and accelerated economic recovery. The findings suggest that structural diversification of the pension system, combined with labour market formalisation and macroeconomic stabilisation, represents the most effective strategy for strengthening resilience. The study contributes to the literature on pension sustainability by conceptualising demographic shock as a systemic risk factor and by positioning pension reform within a broader financial risk management framework. Policy implications extend beyond Ukraine to other ageing economies exposed to turbulence. Full article

The coupling coordination between Urbanization Quality (UQ) and Water Ecological Carrying Capacity (WECC) represents a critical nexus for sustainable regional development within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). Focusing on 16 cities in Hubei Province over the period 2020–2024, this study constructed comprehensive indicator systems for UQ and WECC, Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis and Key Factor Analysis are then applied to analyze spatiotemporal evolution, identify key influencing factors. The results reveal that: (1) Both UQ and WECC demonstrated upward trajectories, with UQ increasing from 0.369 to 0.409, although WECC exhibited fluctuating patterns; (2) Spatial analysis identified pronounced “core–periphery” clustering effects with Wuhan as the dominant center, confirmed by the positive Global Moran’s I; (3) Hubei’s CCD advanced from 0.626 to 0.661, progressing toward initially coordinated stages, with Wuhan pioneering this transition, while 81.25% of cities remained at the moderately coordinated stage; (4) Grey relational analysis identified aquatic biological resources as the principal constraint, with piscivore biomass ratios and pension insurance participation rates (γ = 0.752) emerging as key biophysical and socioeconomic drivers, respectively. These findings provide empirical evidence for targeted interventions promoting balanced urban–water ecological development in the YREB, while contributing a novel analytical framework for examining UQ-WECC interactions in rapidly urbanizing regions globally. Full article

Desmoid-type fibromatosis (DT) is a rare, locally aggressive soft tissue tumor with a frequently chronic course and substantial impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). While international studies have demonstrated considerable symptom burden and psychosocial impairment, data from Germany are lacking. This study aimed to assess HRQoL in German patients and to identify factors associated with HRQoL. In this cross-sectional analysis, adult patients with histologically confirmed DT completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the disease-specific Desmoid-Type Fibromatosis Quality of Life Questionnaire (DTF-QoL). HRQoL scores were compared with reference data from the German general population, German sarcoma patients, and international DT cohorts. Sociodemographic, disease-, tumor-, and treatment-related factors associated with HRQoL were examined using multivariate linear regression analyses. A total of 155 patients were included (69.7% female; mean age 45.0 years). Compared with the German general population, DT patients reported clinically relevant impairments in role, social, and emotional functioning and higher symptom burden, particularly pain, fatigue, and insomnia. Compared with sarcoma patients, DT patients showed better physical, role, and social functioning, while emotional functioning and symptom burden were largely comparable. German DT patients reported consistently worse HRQoL than Dutch/UK cohorts and moderately worse outcomes than Indian cohorts. Female gender, unemployment or disability pension, intensive multimodal treatment, multiple lines of systemic therapy, and tumor location in the lower extremities were independently associated with poorer HRQoL. DT is associated with sustained and clinically meaningful HRQoL impairment. HRQoL is driven primarily by psychosocial and treatment-related factors rather than disease duration, supporting the concept of DT as a chronic condition requiring long-term, multidisciplinary supportive care. Full article

As the European population ages, the sustainability of pension systems faces a trilemma: the structural conflict between achieving benefit adequacy, fiscal stability, and labor market flexibility. This study investigates the primary research hypothesis that these three objectives involve trade-offs under current institutional designs. We examine the structural interrelationships between economic development, population health, and institutional pension characteristics across the EU’s 27 member states. Using cross-sectional data from Eurostat and the OECD from 2023, the study employs a multivariate framework, including Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), to visualize latent trade-offs. Non-parametric statistical tests were applied to validate structural differences between the Nordic, Continental, Southern, and Central and Eastern European (CEE) welfare regimes. The paper’s central argument is that pension sustainability is less a demographic inevitability and more a path-dependent result of institutional “exit cultures” and regional health-wealth traps. The analysis explains 56.7% of the total variance across two primary dimensions, revealing a persistent east–west divide where GDP per capita and Healthy Life Years (HLYs) at age 65 are strongly coupled. Additionally, the analysis identified a fundamental sustainability trade-off: countries with higher pension expenditures and replacement rates, such as those in the Southern and Continental clusters, have significantly earlier labor market exit ages. Statistical evidence shows that the gender pension gap is the most significant factor in differentiating welfare regimes, with the CEE region showing significantly lower inequality than the Western cluster. Ultimately, the findings contribute to public administration literature by demonstrating that policy interventions must prioritize addressing the culture of early retirement in Western countries and the health-wealth trap in Eastern countries to ensure long-term viability. Full article

Population aging is widely regarded as a major fiscal risk for European welfare states and a central challenge to long-term fiscal sustainability. The article critically reexamines the deterministic assumption by assessing whether the fiscal implications of demographic aging in the European Union (EU) are mechanically driven or conditioned by policy context and institutional capacity. Using panel data for the EU-27 over the period 2014–2024, the study employs a two-way fixed-effects framework and interaction models to examine the relationship between demographic aging and key fiscal outcomes, including public pension expenditures, total social protection spending, and the general government balance. Furthermore, the analysis examines whether indicators associated with the silver economy, such as employment at older ages and digital inclusion, condition the fiscal effects of aging within countries over time. The results suggest that demographic aging does not exhibit a statistically significant association with pension or social protection expenditures once institutional heterogeneity and common shocks are controlled. In contrast to deterministic expectations, aging is positively associated with general government balance, suggesting the presence of policy-mediated fiscal adjustment dynamics rather than automatic fiscal deterioration. Interaction estimates further indicate that digital inclusion among older cohorts conditions the relationship between demographic aging and fiscal balance, while silver economy indicators do not display robust standalone fiscal effects. These findings should be interpreted as evidence of policy-mediated adjustment dynamics rather than as causal estimates of demographic effects. Building on these findings, the article advances a conceptual interpretation of the aging–fiscal nexus in which demographic pressures interact with institutional adaptation and policy capacity. Fiscal sustainability under demographic aging emerges as a policy-mediated outcome that may reflect broader institutional and governance contexts, rather than demographic structure alone. While governance quality is not directly estimated as an observable variable, the analysis interprets fiscal outcomes within a governance-conditioned institutional framework that emphasizes policy mediation rather than deterministic demographic effects. The findings contribute to ongoing debates on fiscal sustainability in aging societies by demonstrating that fiscal outcomes in the European Union are best understood as institutionally conditioned and policy-mediated rather than mechanically driven by demographic structure alone. Full article

Demographic ageing, a topic that is intensively addressed in the scientific literature, significantly influences the functioning of economic systems. Demographic ageing directly impacts the labour supply, productivity, savings, investments and the sustainability of public finances through pressure on pension and health systems. However, the efforts of ageing societies to transform and adapt to this demographic challenge through economic restructuring and innovation are recognized. Starting from the growing interest shown in the link between the demographic transformation of a society and the economic impact, the study carries out a bibliometric analysis on a dataset of 934 documents included in the OpenAlex platform, selected by filtering scientific publications according to a set of predefined criteria. The analysis of thematic clusters, co-authorship and bibliographic coupling reveals an increase in interdisciplinary research and a shift in emphasis from classical macroeconomic effects on the labour market and the financial system towards multidimensional transformations of the economic and social system, in which demographic transformation is no longer just a constraint but also a challenge towards progress through the integration of digitalization, automation and transition to AI-based economic systems to support economic development. Full article

The long-run sustainability of pay-as-you-go pension systems crucially depends on the dynamic balance between social-security contributions paid by the working population and benefits paid to retirees. In Italy, the National Social Security Institute (INPS) manages the core of the public system, whose financial equilibrium is increasingly challenged by demographic aging, labor market fragility, and macroeconomic shocks. In this paper, in line with the aims of the Special Issue “Signal Processing and Machine Learning in Real-Life Processes”, we reinterpret the Italian pension system as a complex stochastic signal-processing problem. Using the most recent data published in the Annuario Statistico Italiano 2024 highlighting by ISTAT—with a focus on Protection and Social Security—we construct a set of time series describing contributions, benefits, coverage ratios and pension amounts, both at the national and territorial level. On this basis, we compare classical time-series models and a recurrent neural network with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture for multi-step forecasting of the main aggregates. The signal-processing perspective allows us to disentangle trend, cyclical and shock components, while machine learning provides flexible nonlinear forecasting tools capable of capturing structural breaks such as the COVID-19 crisis. Our empirical results suggest that (i) pension expenditure remains high and persistent as a share of GDP; (ii) the contribution coverage ratio improved in 2022 but remains below the pre-pandemic level; and (iii) regional heterogeneity in the per-capita pension deficit is substantial and stable over time, with persistent imbalances in Southern regions and Islands. Finally, we perform a scenario analysis combining LSTM-based forecasts with demographic and labor market hypotheses, and we quantify the impact of alternative policy measures on the future pension deficit signal. The proposed framework, which integrates permutation-based inference, signal decomposition and deep learning, provides a reproducible template for the real-time monitoring of pension sustainability using official open data. Full article

Household food waste remains a significant barrier to sustainable consumption goals. This study investigates the impact of sociodemographic characteristics influence self-reported food waste levels in Poland. A cross-sectional CAWI survey (N = 1000), based on the HFSSM, was conducted among adults responsible for purchasing household food. Associations between food waste and structural factors were analysed using χ² tests, Spearman rank correlations, and Mann–Whitney U tests. Age appears as the strongest determinant: younger respondents consistently report higher food waste, while older adults indicate markedly lower levels. Household composition is equally important—the presence and number of children significantly increase waste. Economic status is also relevant: pensioners and disability-benefit recipients report substantially less waste than employed and self-employed individuals. Net household income shows no significant effect. Education does not necessarily reduce food waste; in some comparisons, higher-educated respondents report slightly higher levels, suggesting that formal education does not automatically translate into effective food management routines. The findings highlight that food waste is primarily influenced by life stage, household structure, and daily habits rather than income or education. Interventions should focus on younger adults and families with children, emphasising practical skills such as meal planning, inventory management, appropriate storage, and the use of leftovers. Full article

This study suggests the concept of multifunctional social spaces (MSSs) as intergenerational communication platforms, contributing to SDG achievement and environment awareness in local communities. Retirees could perform socially significant practices via local MSS premises supported by municipalities and initiative groups. The basic social vector of an MSS is supposed to produce a synergy effect with the educational and environmental impetus of the Sustainable Environmental Education (SEE) approach. Lifelong education underlies the process of adapting various age groups to different local spaces, namely metropolis, suburb, or rural areas. Test qualitative interviews were conducted with pensioners and young people to discover attitudes towards MSS-prescribed functions within different reference groups. These interviews helped to define the preferred communication instruments for MSS operation. General types of MSSs were classified based on mini case studies. MSS introduction is supposed to influence basic social indices such as population health, life expectancy, and fertility levels in the long term, and support several environmental awareness markers. Future studies could examine such influences in detail and discuss more national and regional specifics. Municipal and regional authorities, as well as local community leaders, could use the results of this study to consider local development, SDG strategies, and roadmaps. Full article

As China’s population ages and the sustainability of the public pension system is at risk, personal savings become crucial. As such, the quality of financial planning for retirement (FPR) has been recognized as a key to safeguarding financial well-being during retirement. This study examines the relationships of two predictors (future time perspective and risk tolerance) and a mediator (subjective financial literacy) in shaping financial planning for retirement, with particular attention to potential gender differences. Using survey data retrieved from respondents aged between 23 and 60 years old, overall sample and gender-based multigroup analysis were used to examine whether gender moderates these relationships. The results reveal that both future time perspective and subjective financial literacy positively influence financial planning for retirement across all gender groups. Notably, we found no significant gender gap in retirement planning behavior. Subjective financial literacy serves as a significant mediator linking both future time perspective and risk tolerance to retirement planning, though the indirect effect of risk tolerance through financial literacy differs significantly between genders. Academically, theoretical propositions related to retirement planning can be accounted for by both genders. Practically, standardized policy can be tailored to address retirement issues across genders. The study emphasizes that financial planning for retirement in China shows no gender gap, and this provides meaningful guidance to policymakers and financial institutions to develop measures to encourage individuals to take financial actions in retirement planning. Finally, the combined interpretation of a strong effect of subjective financial literacy and an insignificant effect of risk tolerance raises concern that adult income earners in China are affected by financial literacy bias when practicing financial retirement planning. Full article

Our study analyzes the essential role of social innovation in reducing social exclusion and unemployment while improving citizens’ well-being through targeted public policies that enhance GDP allocations to social protection. Using Eurostat data and European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) from 2019 to 2020, a comparative econometric analysis of all 27 EU member states, focused particularly on Romania, examines the interdependence between social innovation, social protection expenditures, social exclusion, and unemployment rates. Regression and ANOVA models confirm a significant positive relationship between social innovation and social protection spending. However, Romania’s overall share of social protection in GDP remains well below the EU average, despite higher relative spending on health, pensions, and family support, reflecting structural limitations and a slower diffusion of innovative practices. As an exploratory effort, the study acknowledges possible distortions caused by the pandemic, which temporarily increased expenditures and altered long-term trends. Broader macroeconomic factors such as inflation, demographics, and technology were not included but may refine future analyses. The findings provide both theoretical and practical insights, suggesting that enhancing social innovation through public policy can strengthen social cohesion, improve quality of life, and support the sustainable development of national protection systems. Full article

The crisis of pension systems based on pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing has led to the introduction in some countries, including Italy, of so-called notional defined contribution (NDC) pension accounts. These systems mimic the functioning of defined contribution systems in benefit calculations while remaining based on PAYG financing. Despite many appealing features, NDC accounts cannot automatically guarantee a system’s financial sustainability in the presence of demographic or economic fluctuations. The literature proposes automatic balance mechanisms (ABMs) of the notional rate applied to notional accounts and an indexation rate applied to pensions. ABMs may be based on two indicators: the liquidity ratio or the solvency ratio. Such ABMs may strengthen a system’s financial sustainability but may produce significant fluctuations in the adjusted notional rate, thereby undermining the social adequacy of the system. In this work, we introduce a mixed ABM based on both the liquidity ratio and solvency ratio and identify the optimal combination that guarantees financial sustainability of the system and, at the same time, maximizes the return paid to the participants at fixed levels of confidence. The numerical results show the advantages of a mixed mechanism over those based on a single indicator. Indeed, although the results depend on the system’s initial conditions and the different ABM configurations tested (16 in total), some common patterns emerge across the solutions. A solvency ratio-based ABM maximizes social utility, while a liquidity ratio-based one ensures financial stability. Although not optimal for either criterion, the ABM that mixes the liquidity ratio and solvency ratio in proportions ranging from 60–40% to 50–50% emerges from our numerical simulations as the best compromise to achieve these two objectives jointly. Full article