Search Results (599)

Time-fractional interface problems arise in systems where interacting materials exhibit memory effects or anomalous diffusion. These models provide a more realistic description of physical processes than classical formulations and appear in heat conduction, fluid flow, porous media diffusion, and electromagnetic wave propagation. However, the presence of complex interfaces and the nonlocal nature of fractional derivatives makes their numerical treatment challenging. This article presents a numerical scheme that combines radial basis functions (RBFs) with the finite difference method (FDM) to solve time-fractional partial differential equations involving interfaces. The proposed approach applies to both linear and nonlinear models with constant or variable coefficients. Spatial derivatives are approximated using RBFs, while the Caputo definition is employed for the time-fractional term. First-order time derivatives are discretized using the FDM. Linear systems are solved via Gaussian elimination, and for nonlinear problems, two linearization strategies, a quasi-Newton method and a splitting technique, are implemented to improve efficiency and accuracy. The method’s performance is assessed using maximum absolute and root mean square errors across various grid resolutions. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the scheme effectively resolves sharp gradients and discontinuities while maintaining stability. Overall, the results confirm the robustness, accuracy, and broad applicability of the proposed technique. Full article

Understanding how climate policies shape local emissions, population dynamics, and consumption patterns is essential for achieving carbon peaking and neutrality goals. As the climate change governance regime evolves, it is inevitable that, in addition to the central government, county-level regulatory actors will be involved in decision-making. This study utilizes a quasi-natural experiment to analyze county-level panel data from 2007 to 2017 as research objects. The nationwide low-carbon pilot policies established in 2010 and 2012 serve as the primary focus of this study. We employ a staggered Difference-in-Differences model to empirically analyze the impact of these pilot programs on carbon emission reductions. The results show that the policy significantly reduces carbon emissions by 30.52% on average, with pronounced spatial heterogeneity across central, suburban, and remote counties. Population redistribution contributes to emission reductions but raises equity concerns in remote counties. Meanwhile, residents remain in a high-carbon consumption phase, revealing the limitations of production-focused policies. These findings highlight the importance of integrating demand-side measures and spatially differentiated strategies into China’s climate governance framework. Full article

Against the backdrop of China’s “East-West Computing Resource Transfer” and “Digital-Real Integration” national strategies, computing power has emerged as a core engine driving the digital economy. However, existing research lacks in-depth exploration of the micro-level mechanisms through which computing power operates as a strategic digital resource at the firm level and transforms into competitive advantages. This study examines a sample of manufacturing firms listed on China’s A-share markets from 2011 to 2022, treating the establishment of intelligent computing centers by firms as a quasi-natural experiment. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences model combined with causal inference strategies such as double machine learning, we empirically test the impact of computing power investment on firms’ new quality productivity. The findings reveal that computing power investment significantly enhances new quality productivity, primarily through enabling dynamic capabilities: it strengthens risk perception capabilities by improving information environments, enabling intelligent risk monitoring, and enhancing decision-making resilience; it elevates innovation opportunity-capturing capabilities by expanding the scope of innovation search, accelerating innovation iteration, and facilitating cross-domain knowledge integration; and it achieves data element reconstruction through constructing data infrastructure capabilities, improving data operational efficiency, and optimizing data ecosystem collaboration. Further analysis demonstrates that this promotional effect is more pronounced in firms with strong executive digital cognition and intense market competition, and is more significant among non-heavily polluting, high-tech firms with high absorptive capacity, those located in eastern regions, and those with superior digital endowments. Extended analysis also reveals that the new quality productivity gains from computing power investment drive optimal allocation of human capital while potentially inducing strategic information concealment behaviors as firms seek to protect competitive advantages. By conceptualizing computing power as a contestable strategic resource at the micro level, this study unveils the micro-mechanisms of digital transformation through a dynamic capability framework, offering important implications for firms and governments in optimizing digital strategies. Full article

Enhancing corporate green innovation has become a critical question in the context of sustainable development. Prior studies have predominantly examined the macro-level effects of regional integration while largely overlooking its micro-level impacts on enterprises. This study aims to examine the institutional effect of regional integration on corporate green innovation. Taking the Yangtze River Delta integration as a quasi-natural experiment, we utilize panel data from A-share listed companies between 2003 and 2022 and apply a multi-period difference-in-differences method. The empirical results reveal that regional integration significantly enhances corporate green innovation, with a more pronounced effect for non-state-owned firms, large firms, and those located in non-corridor cities. Mechanism analyses further reveal that regional integration promotes corporate green innovation by alleviating financing constraints and attracting foreign direct investment. By identifying regional integration as a critical driver of corporate green innovation, this study broadens the research perspective on corporate green innovation and provides policy implications for promoting sustainability through coordinated regional development strategies. Full article

As a core component in constructing a green manufacturing system, green product design has become an essential strategy for promoting enterprises’ green transformation. This study aims to investigate the causal impact of green product design implementation on corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, addressing a critical gap in understanding how design-level interventions drive sustainable development. Based on panel data of China’s A-share listed firms from 2015 to 2022, this study employs the officially released list of green product design enterprises as a quasi-natural experiment and applies a multi-period difference-in-differences model to address this research objective. The empirical results show that, first, green product design significantly and robustly enhances corporate ESG performance. Second, mechanism analysis reveals that green product design promotes ESG performance mainly through three channels: driving green technological innovation, optimizing supply chain governance, and improving operational efficiency. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact is more pronounced in regions with a higher degree of marketization, in firms with lower financing constraints, and in firms receiving greater media attention. This research contributes novel insights by establishing a comprehensive analytical framework that integrates multiple transmission mechanisms and contextual moderators, thereby advancing the theoretical understanding of green design efficacy. This study not only provides micro-level empirical evidence for the effectiveness of the green manufacturing system but also offers important implications for policymakers and enterprises aiming to achieve sustainable development through green design practices. Full article

Drawing on panel data from 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2022, this study employs the National Pilot Policy of Information Benefiting the People (NPIB) as a quasi-natural experiment to examine how government-led digital governance shapes the digital divide among cities. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) design combined with mediation and spatial analyses, the results demonstrate that the NPIB policy significantly narrowed inter-city digital disparities, with findings robust across alternative model specifications and placebo tests. Mechanism analysis shows that digital governance promotes inclusion primarily through three pathways: strengthening strategic policy orientation, enhancing technological innovation capacity, and stimulating digital market vitality. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that policy effects vary by regional development, urbanization level, and fiscal autonomy, being most pronounced in eastern cities and those with moderate urbanization and fiscal self-sufficiency. Spatial analysis reveals that while digital governance improves local inclusion, it can generate negative spillovers among neighboring cities with similar economic structures, partially offsetting aggregate gains. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of regionally differentiated strategies, cross-regional coordination, and sustained investment in digital infrastructure to promote balanced, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation—providing practical insights for developing countries aiming to bridge structural divides and advance digital sustainability. Full article

As a pioneering initiative in the advancement of green finance, China’s Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone (GFPZ) offers critical empirical and theoretical insights for the development of a global green financial system. While existing studies highlight the GFPZ’s role in promoting pollution reduction within designated regions, it remains unclear whether its effects extend along supply chains. Exploiting the GFPZ policy as a quasi-natural experiment and employing a difference-in-differences (DID) approach, this study uses panel data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in China from 2013 to 2021 to assess its impact. The findings reveal the following: (1) The GFPZ significantly reduces emissions not only among focal heavily polluting firms but also across their upstream and downstream partners. (2) The primary transmission channel is a financing penalty spillover, whereby the policy intensifies financing constraints and reduces credit access for supply chain firms, compelling them to scale down operations. Notably, the evidence does not support the presence of a Porter effect. (3) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the spillover effect is more pronounced among upstream suppliers and firms with stronger green capacities, while excessive government subsidies tend to weaken the transmission of policy impacts. Full article

Background: Corporal punishment is a form of violence that poses long-term risks to children’s mental health and wellbeing. Understanding the attitudes that justify such practices is essential for designing preventive and health promotion interventions. Previous research suggests gender differences in these attitudes, yet the extent and nature of these differences remain unclear. Objective: This study examined gender-related differences in attitudes toward corporal punishment and their implications for youth mental health promotion. Participants and Setting: The study involved 582 university students aged 18 to 40, with a mean age of 22 years. Participants were from various fields of study and were surveyed online. Methods: The Short Situational Scale of Attitudes towards Corporal Punishment (SSS-CP) was developed for this study, depicting hypothetical conflicts between parents and children, culminating in corporal punishment. A quasi-experimental design was used, varying the gender of the participant, parent, and child. Data was analyzed using ANCOVA, controlling for previous experience of corporal punishment. Results: Physical punishment was more justified when the participant was male (6% of criterion variance), when the perpetrator was a female parent (1.3%), and when the child was male (1.8%); however, no significant interaction effects were found. Previous experience with corporal punishment also predicted more approving attitudes toward its use (1.7% of criterion variance). Conclusions: Gender differences in the justification of corporal punishment highlight how social norms shape the acceptance of violence and, consequently, the normalization of behaviors linked to poorer mental health outcomes in youth. Prevention and health promotion programs should integrate gender-sensitive components that address beliefs about violence, foster emotion regulation, and reduce the intergenerational transmission of harmful disciplinary practices. Full article

This paper examines the impact of litigation risk on meeting-or-beating earnings expectations (MBE). Whether and how litigation risk affects MBE is largely inconclusive due to potential reverse causality and measurement error. To find a causal effect, this study employs differences-in-differences tests based on the unanticipated legal event that decreased litigation risk for firms headquartered in the U.S. Ninth Circuit states. The result indicates that Ninth Circuit firms are more likely to meet or beat their earnings target after the ruling, suggesting that litigation risk negatively affects the likelihood of MBE. Further analyses show that investors’ reactions are less positive to MBE premium for firms with a decrease in litigation risk. Taken together, this study contributes to the literature by documenting that litigation risk is a significant factor influencing managers’ benchmark beating behavior. Full article

As a new engine for promoting the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade, digital trade provides new opportunities for enterprises’ low-carbon transition. Based on samples of export industrial enterprises listed in China from 2010 to 2023, this paper uses the digital trade policy represented by the cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) comprehensive pilot zone as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model to empirically analyze the policy effect of digital trade development on firms’ carbon emission intensity. This research finds that (1) digital trade policies represented by the pilot policy can significantly reduce firms’ carbon emission intensity and (2) the pilot policy can achieve the emission intensity reduction effect through dual paths of “internal innovation deepening” and “external environment optimization”. The internal innovation deepening refers to the green awareness formation and green production implementation of enterprises. External environment optimization refers to financial support resources for enterprises and institutional safeguards for innovation rights of enterprises. (3) Further analysis indicates that the policy effects are more pronounced in firms with higher risk preference, with larger scale, in heavily polluting and high-tech industries, and in the central and northeastern regions. Additionally, the policy demonstrates synergistic effects with the Belt and Road Initiative and exhibits significant spatial spillover effects, benefiting neighboring non-pilot areas. Full article

Market-based environmental regulation plays a crucial role in aligning industrial development with sustainability goals. Taking the implementation of China’s Environmental Protection Tax (EPT) in 2018 as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs a difference-in-differences framework using an unbalanced panel of 2677 manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2022 to identify the causal effect of the EPT on corporate ESG performance (MFESG). The findings reveal that the implementation of market-based environmental regulation significantly elevates the ESG performance of manufacturing firms. This positive influence is realized not only directly but also indirectly through improved financing accessibility and innovation capacity. Moreover, the enhancement effect is uneven across firms: non-state-owned enterprises, firms unaudited by the Big Four, and those situated in China’s eastern regions exhibit stronger ESG responses. Across the three ESG pillars, the environmental and social dimensions benefit most from the EPT, suggesting that market mechanisms can be effective catalysts for sustainable industrial upgrading. Full article

With the growing focus on sustainable development, light rail transit (LRT) systems are increasingly viewed as key drivers of low-carbon mobility and spatial equity. However, as urban spatial structures become more stable, it remains unclear whether LRT systems can still enhance quality of life, property values and contribute to inclusive urban regeneration. This study explores Manchester, Sheffield, and Nottingham, three UK cities with recent LRT development experience, as case studies. Using LRT constructed or expanded between 1995 and 2019 as a quasi-natural experiment, a difference-in-differences (DID) model is applied to estimate the causal impact of LRT expansion on property prices. The results indicate that LRT construction can lead to a 4.44% to 8.29% increase in nearby property values, with a lagged effect observed after implementation. The impact is more pronounced in areas with well-developed bus networks and in lower-income areas. Further mechanism analysis suggests that the effect is indirectly driven by improved accessibility and enhanced convenience of access to local amenities. Full article

The digital economy plays a transformative role in enhancing energy efficiency and promoting sustainable development globally. As a key manifestation of digital governance, e-government has emerged as a vital instrument for accelerating the digital transformation of public administration and modernizing governance systems. This study examines the impact of digital governance on urban energy efficiency by analyzing China’s E-Government Pilot City (EPC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach and balanced panel data from 282 prefecture-level cities (2006–2020), we find that the EPC policy significantly improves total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) by an average of 2.60%. Mechanism analyses reveal that digital governance enhances energy efficiency through industrial structure upgrading, green technology innovation, and foreign direct investment attraction. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that the policy’s benefits are more pronounced in larger, non-resource-based, and non-old industrial base cities, as well as in regions with stronger institutional environments and advanced digital infrastructure. However, spatial spillover effects suggest that while the EPC policy boosts local energy efficiency, it may inadvertently reduce efficiency in neighboring areas due to competitive dynamics and industrial relocation. These findings underscore the importance of tailored and coordinated policy designs to maximize the energy efficiency benefits of digital governance. Full article

Promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry is an important strategy for China’s economic transformation and upgrading, as well as the realization of sustainable development, and the manufacturing industry is also a critical field for environmental regulation. What impact does market-driven carbon regulation have on the high-quality development of manufacturing firms? Taking the carbon emission trading pilot policy as a “quasi-natural experiment” of market-driven carbon regulation, this paper selects micro panel data from Chinese listed manufacturing enterprises spanning 2003 to 2021 and uses the double machine learning method to evaluate the effect of market-oriented carbon regulation on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. The study finds that the carbon emission trading pilot policy notably boosts the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. Further mechanism analysis reveals that the policy has exerted a significant innovation effect, while the resource allocation effect is not yet significant. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon emission trading pilot policy has a significant promotional effect on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in eastern and western regions, as well as state-owned and technology-intensive manufacturing industries. The research conclusions provide theoretical reference and practical insights for the construction of a national unified carbon market and the promotion of the green and low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing industry. Full article

Green manufacturing is an important path for accelerating the green transformation of the industrial development model. “Green Factories” certification serves as an innovative approach to voluntary environmental regulation, designed to guide firms toward optimal decision making in green manufacturing. Can the voluntary environmental regulation policy be effective, particularly in the absence of a mandatory, strictly environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework environment? Utilizing the “Green Factories” certification pilot policy released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in 2016 as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model to estimate the impacts of the voluntary environmental regulation policy on corporate ESG performance. Using a panel dataset of 2585 Chinese A-share listed enterprises from the industrial sector spanning 2012 to 2021, the results show that the “Green Factories” certification pilot policy significantly improves corporate ESG performance, and the results remain consistent after robustness tests. The mechanism analysis reveals that the influencing channel mainly works through green technology innovation, total factor productivity (TFP), and digital transformation. Heterogeneity tests further indicate that the green manufacturing pilot policy has a stronger effect on larger, heavily polluting, private enterprises that receive greater investor attention. This study provides empirical evidence at the micro level on the determinants of corporate ESG performance and voluntary environmental regulation policy evaluation, offering practical insights for promoting green manufacturing engineering development. Full article