Search Results (269)

Efficient plastic waste end-of-life management is a serious worldwide environmental issue motivated by growing waste production and negative effects of wrongful disposal. This study presents a comparative overview of plastic waste management regimes within the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), and Romania, ranked with circular economy goals. By using the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Waste Reduction Model (WARM), version 16, the study provides a quantified score to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within three large options of management: recycling, energy recovery through combustion, and landfilling. The model setup utilizes region-specific information on legislation, base technology, and recycling efficiency. The outcomes show that recycling always entails net GHG emissions reductions, i.e., −4.49 kg CO_2e/capita/year for EU plastic waste and −20 kg CO_2e/capita/year for USA plastic waste. Combustion and landfilling have positive net emissions from 1.76 to 14.24 kg CO_2e/capita/year. Economic indicators derived from the model also show significant variation: salaries for PET management amounted to USD 2.87 billion in the EU and USD 377 million in the USA, and tax collection was USD 506 million and USD 2.01 billion, respectively. The conclusions highlight the wider environmental and socioeconomic benefits of recycling and reinforce its status as a cornerstone of circular-economy sustainable plastic waste management and a strategic element of national development agendas, with special reference to Romania’s national agenda. Full article

This study develops a dynamic IS-LM macroeconomic model that incorporates delayed taxation and a memory-dependent income effect, and calibrates it to quarterly data for Romania (2000–2023). Within this framework, fiscal policy lags are modelled using a “memory” income variable that weights past incomes, an approach grounded in distributed lag theory to capture how historical economic conditions influence current dynamics. The model is analysed both analytically and through numerical simulations. We derive stability conditions and employ bifurcation analysis to explore how the timing of taxation influences macroeconomic equilibrium. The findings reveal that an immediate taxation regime yields a stable adjustment toward a unique equilibrium, consistent with classical IS-LM expectations. In contrast, delayed taxation, where tax revenue depends on past income, can destabilise the system, giving rise to cycles and even chaotic fluctuations for parameter values that would be stable under immediate collection. In particular, delays act as a destabilising force, lowering the threshold of the output-adjustment speed at which oscillations emerge. These results highlight the critical importance of policy timing: prompt fiscal feedback tends to stabilise the economy, whereas lags in fiscal intervention can induce endogenous cycles. The analysis offers policy-relevant insights, suggesting that reducing fiscal response delays or counteracting them with other stabilisation tools is crucial for macroeconomic stability. Full article

This study aims to explore the factors and mechanisms influencing the low-carbon development of Green Port Collection and Distribution Systems (GPCDSs) and to identify effective pathways and policy approaches to promote such development. Given the limited prior research integrating low-carbon policies, energy structure, and transportation systems, this study combines these three dimensions into a unified analytical framework. A scenario-based system dynamics model of GPCDS low-carbon development is established, incorporating factors such as low-carbon policies, energy structure, and transportation structure. The control variable method is employed to examine system behavior under 13 scenarios. The results indicate that freight subsidy policies and the internalization of carbon emission costs make the most substantial contributions to low-carbon development in GPCDS, yielding CO₂ emission reductions of 14.3% and 15.7%, respectively. Additionally, improvements in port railway infrastructure contribute to a 6.4% reduction in CO₂ emissions. In contrast, carbon taxes and energy structure adjustments have relatively limited effects, likely due to the delayed responsiveness of fossil fuel-dependent transportation sectors to pricing signals and the inherent inertia in transitioning energy systems. Full article

In April 2018, South Africa became the first African country to implement a Health Promotion Levy (HPL) on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). This study assessed sugar tax awareness among rural-based university students and involved 342 participants, with an additional 10% to account for attrition. However, only 257 students, randomly selected from six university residences at the University of Venda, reported consuming SSBs. Systematic sampling determined the room selection, and the data was collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire (8–28 October 2022). A knowledge questionnaire assessed the students’ understanding of the sugar tax. The results showed that 65.8% purchased SSBs five to six times a week, while 41.2% spent over R200 monthly on these beverages. The results showed that students had limited awareness and little perception of the sugar tax, reflecting a broader knowledge gap. Their negative behaviors toward sugar-sweetened beverages indicated that changing their consumption patterns would be challenging. Raising public awareness through taxation is widely recognized as an effective obesity prevention strategy, but misinformation, negative perceptions, and pessimistic attitudes may contribute to continued high consumption. Full article

As global trade and container transportation continue to grow, port collection and distribution systems face increasing challenges, including congestion, inefficiency, and environmental impact. Traditional ground-based transportation methods often exacerbate these issues, especially under uncertain demand conditions. This study aims to optimize freight flow allocation in port collection and distribution networks by integrating traditional and innovative transportation modes, including underground container logistics systems, under demand uncertainty. A stochastic optimization model is developed, incorporating transportation, environmental, carbon tax and subsidy, and congestion costs while satisfying various constraints, such as capacity limits, time constraints, and low-carbon transport requirements. The model is solved using a hybrid algorithm combining an improved Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing (GA-SA) with Deep Q-Learning (DQN). Numerical experiments and case studies, particularly focusing on A Port, demonstrate that the proposed approach significantly reduces total operational costs, congestion, and environmental impacts while enhancing system robustness under uncertain demand conditions. The findings highlight the potential of underground logistics systems to improve port logistics efficiency, providing valuable insights for future port management strategies and the integration of sustainable transportation modes. Full article

The Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) is one of the most endangered primates globally, threatened by habitat destruction, genetic diversity loss, and ecological competition. In this study, given the critical role of the gut microbiota in host immune regulation and nutrient metabolism, we investigated the composition of and age-related variations in the gut microbiota in Hainan gibbons. Using 16S rRNA sequencing, we systematically investigated the gut microbial diversity of Hainan gibbons. We collected 41 fecal samples from Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, covering three age groups: juveniles (4–6 years), subadults (7–10 years), and elderly animals (≥13 years). This study found that microbiota composition changed significantly with age. Juveniles had higher microbial diversity and complexity, while subadults showed an increased abundance of Fibrobacter and Prevotella in their microbial communities, along with a Tax4Fun-predicted enrichment of functional genes related to energy metabolism, cell motility, and nervous system functions. LEfSe analysis identified statistically significant microbial taxa among different age groups, with Bacteroidota and Firmicutes being the dominant phyla across all groups with varying proportions. These results highlight the critical role of the gut microbiota in the health and adaptability of Hainan gibbons, offering insights for conservation strategies. The findings of this study are significant for understanding the changes in gut microbiota and their ecological functions across different life stages of endangered primates. Full article

This study examines the critical role of institutional quality in driving corporate adaptation to climate change within the EU-27 member states from 2006 to 2023. It aims to investigate how governance factors—control of corruption, government effectiveness, rule of law, and regulatory quality—influence business strategies for environmental resilience and sustainability, focusing on environmental investments and industrial production. Employing fixed and random effects regression models on a balanced panel dataset, we analyze two dependent variables: environmental protection investment corporations (EPIC), measuring investments in pollution prevention and environmental degradation reduction, and industrial production (IP), reflecting output in mining, manufacturing, and utilities. A composite institutional quality index, derived through principal component analysis (PCA) from the four governance indicators, captures their collective impact, reducing multicollinearity and enhancing analytical robustness. Control variables, including final energy consumption, environmental tax revenues, expenditure on environmental protection, and a Paris Agreement dummy, are incorporated to test the institutional quality effect. Results demonstrate that higher institutional quality significantly enhances EPIC, particularly in countries with greater environmental tax revenues, indicating that robust governance and fiscal policies incentivize sustainable corporate investments. Conversely, the effect on IP is less consistent, with higher fossil energy consumption and lower environmental tax revenues driving production, suggesting a reliance on high-polluting industries. The Paris Agreement positively influences IP, reflecting stronger climate-focused industrial strategies post-2015. These findings underscore the pivotal interplay between institutional quality and environmental fiscal policies in fostering corporate adaptation to climate change. Over the long term, strong governance is essential for aligning business practices with sustainability goals, reducing environmental degradation, and mitigating climate risks across the EU. This study highlights the need for cohesive policies to support green investments and transition industries toward renewable energy sources, addressing disparities in environmental performance among EU member states. Full article

Temporary book-tax differences (BTDs) serve as critical proxies for understanding corporate earnings management and tax planning. However, the drivers of large negative BTDs (LNBTDs)—where book income falls below taxable income—remain underexplored. This study investigates the determinants and components of LNBTDs, focusing on their relationship with deferred tax assets (DTAs) and liabilities (DTLs). Utilizing hand-collected data from the tax disclosures of S&P 500 firms’ 10-K filings (2007–2023), I analyze 4685 firm-year observations to identify specific accounting items driving LNBTDs. Findings reveal that deferred revenue, goodwill impairments, R&D, CapEx, environmental obligations, pensions, contingency liabilities, leases, and receivables are significant contributors, often generating substantial DTAs due to timing mismatches between book and tax recognition. Notably, high-tech industries, like the pharmaceutical, medical, and computers and software industries, exhibit pronounced LNBTDs, driven by upfront revenue recognition for tax purposes and deferred recognition for financial reporting, capitalization, amortization and depreciation effects, and other deferred tax components. Regression analyses confirm strong associations between these components and LNBTDs, with asymmetry in reversal patterns suggesting that initial differences do not always offset symmetrically over time. While prior research emphasizes large positive BTDs and tax avoidance, this study highlights economic and industry-specific characteristics as key LNBTD drivers, with limited evidence of earnings manipulation via deferred taxes. These insights enhance the value relevance of deferred tax disclosures and offer implications for reporting standards, tax policy, and research into BTD dynamics. Full article

Divergences in tax policies are evident among European OECD economies, due to varying priorities of efficiency vs. equity, influenced by the forms of direct vs. indirect taxation. The special interest of this paper is to identify how different tax forms (direct—corporate and personal income taxes (CIT, PIT); and indirect—value added tax (VAT)) affect inequality in European OECD economies in the period 2003–2020. Using heterogeneous non-stationary panel models and the (Pooled) Mean Group (PMG/MG) methods of estimation, a long-run negative relationship between direct tax forms (CIT, PIT) and the Gini coefficient was discovered, meaning that utilizing progressive direct tax forms resulted in more equity. The error-correction terms are heterogeneous, showing that developed economies decrease income inequality by using direct taxes more efficiently than emerging European OECD economies. The short-run statistically significant relationships between VAT and the Gini coefficient are discovered, meaning that certain European OECD economies effectively use VAT revenue to achieve greater equity in society. This study demonstrates that the use of indirect tax forms may be beneficial in terms of collecting more tax revenues, and that using them for redistributive programs can reduce inequality while maintaining economic efficiency. Full article

Design is one of the newer concepts emerging in tourism research. This study provides an empirical examination of the way tourism-related community place qualities influence residents’ place value. Using a mail survey of residents in a community tourism planning process for sustainability, data were collected on perceptions regarding place qualities (community design features) and evaluations of place value (quality of life). The Place Value Framework was applied to guide the measurement of concepts and analysis. Data were collected using a mail survey of community residents from the tax assessor’s database of those who owned a house, with a final sample of 376. Data were analyzed using principal component factor analysis and MANOVA. The results support a relationship between residents’ perceptions about place qualities in their community and evaluation(s) of place value. The Tourism Place Value Framework has the potential to be applied in other research contexts. Investments in new or modified place qualities can be considered by researchers and communities to influence positive, neutral, or negative resident evaluations of place value. Full article

Our study aims to evaluate the current Romanian context for tax control by correlating the legal framework with the administrative model, as derived through empirical analysis. Our hypotheses, confirmed by the observed macro-dynamics of tax control in a period of four years, are as follows: (1) the current legal framework for tax control is heterogeneous, incomplete, and influenced by administrative practices; (2) debt collection is an inconsistent outcome of various forms of tax control, contributing marginally to budget dynamics; and (3) the identification of tax-related illegal activities heavily depends on tax control, while the application of administrative and criminal sanctions varies significantly. The study highlights the need to (re)design the normative framework to enhance coherence and effectiveness; hence, we advanced a model of normative reform based on the three abovementioned conclusion. Full article

Managing risk, matching resources efficiently, and ensuring fair allocation are fundamental challenges in both finance and decision-making processes. In many scenarios, participants contribute unequally to collective outcomes, raising the question of how to distribute costs, benefits, or opportunities in a justifiable and optimal manner. This paper applies the Shapley value—a solution concept from cooperative game theory—as a principled tool in the following two specific financial settings: first, in tax cooperation games; and second, in assignment markets. In tax cooperation games, we use the Shapley value to determine the equitable tax burden distribution among three firms, A, B, and C, which operate in two countries, Italy and Poland. Our model ensures that countries participating in coalitions face a lower degree of tax evasion compared to non-members, and that cooperating firms benefit from discounted tax liabilities. This structure incentivizes coalition formation and reveals the economic advantage of joint participation. In assignment markets, we use the Shapley value to find the optimal pairing in a four-buyers and four-sellers housing market. Our findings show that the Shapley value provides a rigorous framework for capturing the relative importance of participants in the coalition, leading to more balanced tax allocations and fairer market transactions. Our theoretical insights with computational techniques highlights the Shapley value’s effectiveness in addressing complex allocation challenges across financial management domains. Full article

Global demand for ecosystem services like food and clean water is increasing, and it is crucial to economically value these services for the purposes of environmental conservation, land-use planning, and the implementation of green taxes. Focusing on a monoculture wheat agroecosystem, the economic value of ecosystem services and environmental damage from different farm management types is here compared with natural ecosystems in a semi-arid region in Iran during the 2019–2020 agricultural year. Using field survey data collected from 203 wheat farms with varying management practices, we estimated the economic value of six ecosystem services, along with three environmental damages. The net value of provisioning/regulating services less environmental disservices in wheat agroecosystems was highest for farms with a conservation management system, followed (in rank order) by intensive, traditional, organic, and industrial management types. Wheat agroecosystems recorded net values of 41.94% to 66.92% below those of natural ecosystems in the region. The findings show that converting natural ecosystems into wheat agroecosystems increases the value of provisioning services (food and forage) but also substantially increases environmental costs. These costs rose linearly with the value of increases in provisioning services. Full article

The harm of marine debris (MD) to the environment and human beings has been paid more and more attention. At present, the most effective way to collect macro-MD floating on the sea is to send vessels. We employ vessels equipped with a hybrid energy system (HES) composed of photovoltaic (PV), battery and diesel to carry out MD cleanup. We propose a two-stage optimization approach for vessel routing and energy management strategy. In the first stage, the vessel routing problem with a drifting time window is modeled to minimize the vessel travel time considering continuous speed. The drifting time window means that multiple time windows are set on the MD trajectory, which is used to depict its dynamic nature. An adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm considering an elitist strategy coupled with speed optimization is designed to solve this problem. In the second stage, a mixed integer linear programming model for energy management strategy is established to minimize the total cost, including the power generation cost of diesel and PV, the battery charge, and discharge and carbon tax costs. The model takes the power load balance, the power limit of each part of the hybrid energy system and the battery charge and discharge state as constraints. The correctness of the proposed models and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are verified by a numerical example. The results not only show the advantages of hybrid energy vessels in energy saving and emission reduction but also show that the drifting time window can provide a rich and effective route selection solution. Some suggestions for rational utilization of hybrid energy vessels with long and short trips are put forward. Full article

Corporate taxation assumes a pivotal role in all economies, as it constitutes a substantial source of revenue for governmental agencies tasked with fulfilling social obligations. Nonetheless, modifications in financial policies and the unpredictability of macroeconomic factors result in a significant decline in this vital revenue source for the government. This study examines the financial determinants influencing corporate tax revenue in Nigeria from 1990 to 2022. In this analysis, the broad money supply, access to credit by the private sector, borrowing costs, and exchange rates are utilized as independent variables, while corporate tax revenue serves as the dependent variable. Data pertinent to this investigation on corporate income tax are sourced from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, whereas information regarding the broad money supply and credit extended to the private sector is acquired from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Additionally, statistical data on interest and exchange rates are gathered from the World Bank. This investigation applies autoregressive distributed lag and error correction models, acknowledging the existence of a long-term relationship within the series. The significant findings indicate that the broad money supply positively and significantly affects corporate income tax in the short run, but this effect diminishes to a positively insignificant level in the long run. Additionally, the interest rate is shown to have a significant harmful effect on corporate tax income in the short run, while it becomes negatively insignificant over the long term. Other financial policy factors do not significantly account for changes in corporate income tax. This study suggests the formulation of financial policies that are advantageous to corporate organizations, particularly through the reduction in borrowing costs, to facilitate business growth and enhance the government’s ability to collect substantial corporate tax revenue. The originality of this research is apparent in its utilization of financial policy instruments to illustrate the effectiveness of financial guidelines on corporate tax receipts and to argue for particular amendments that are essential when these guidelines prove detrimental to business activities. Full article