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This paper aims to detail the relationships between urbanization, industrialization, the innovation ability of cities and local air quality in 284 cities in China using annual data. For the empirical outputs, the panel quantile regression analysis, which considers the heterogeneous nature of the data set, is employed. Initial findings indicate that (i) urbanization and industrialization negatively affect local air quality. (ii) Innovation capability of cities has a direct and improving impact on local air quality. Then, the paper estimates the moderating role of cities' ability to innovate in the polluting effect of urbanization and industrialization on local air quality. Remarkably, empirical evidence indicates that (iii) the innovation ability of cities also moderates the polluting impact of urbanization and industrialization on local air pollution. Based on the findings, the paper confirms the importance of both direct and moderator effects of the innovative environment in cities in tackling air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the nexus between energy consumption and environmental quality in light of China's 2060 carbon-neutrality agenda utilizing annual frequency data from 1971 to 2018. In order to obtain valid and reliable outcomes, more robust econometric techniques were employed for the analysis. From the results, all the variables were first differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long-run. The elastic effects of the predictors on the explained variable were explored through the ARDL, FMOLS, and the DOLS techniques, and from the discoveries, energy utilization worsened environmental quality in the country via more CO2 emissions. Also, industrialization and urbanization deteriorated the country's environmental quality; however, technological innovations improved ecological quality in the nation. On the causal connections between the variables, a unidirectional causality from energy consumption to CO2 effluents was discovered. Also, feedback causalities between industrialization and CO2 secretions, and between urbanization and CO2 exudates were disclosed. However, there was no causality between technological innovations and CO2 emanations. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that, since energy consumption pollutes the environment, the country should transition to the utilization of renewable energies. Also, the government should allocate more resources to the renewable energy sector. This will help increase the portion of clean energy in the country's total energy mix. Furthermore, research and development that are linked to the utilization of green energies should be supported by the government. Data constraints were the main limitation of this exploration. Therefore, in the future, if more data become available, similar explorations could be conducted to check the robustness of our study's outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do studies of land rights in China contribute to the broader discipline of political science? First, the Chinese case challenges orthodox theories of secure, private property rights as a prerequisite for growth and sheds light on the distinctly fiscal roots of urban bias, a phenomenon pervasive in countries making the transition from agriculture to industry. Second, studies of land grabbing in the Chinese case provide a basis for comparisons of state-society relations in authoritarian vs. democratic regimes. While democratic institutions create more openings for aggrieved actors to organize and shape policy, ordinary citizens in both authoritarian and democratic regimes use protest in order to capture a greater share of rents from land. Third, land grabbing exacerbates inequalities; research on the Chinese case in comparative context shows that exclusionary modes of land ownership and limits on full social and political citizenship are mutually reinforcing across all types of regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]