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High-quality innovation is an inevitable requirement for high-quality economic development, and an accurate grasp of the regional distribution characteristics of the level of highquality innovation development (HQID) can better understand and simulate high-quality innovation. This paper constructs a dataset of high-value inventions based on the Chinese patent database using textual analysis methods and the criteria for High-Quality Inventions proposed by the State Intellectual Property Office, and explores inter-provincial variability and convergence by using the Theil index, α convergence, and β convergence. This paper finds that High-Quality Inventions are significantly and positively correlated with various indicators measuring the quality and value of patents. In general, the overall level of HQID is on an upward trend with clear differences among provinces, which shows a regional unbalanced but overall rapid development. From the regional differences of HQID, the regional differences of HQID have been narrowed, mainly within the region. In terms of the convergence of HQID, α convergence, absolute β convergence, conditional β convergence, and club convergence exist nationally and within each region, which indicates that the gap between the national and regional levels of HQID has been narrowing over time. HQID has a positive promotion effect on the relationship between HQID and economic growth, economic growth rate, and total factor productivity. High-quality innovation can improve the quality of input factors, cultivate new dynamic energy for economic development, and then promote high-quality economic development. In the context of the shift of IP work from pursuing quantity to improving quality, the scientific understanding of high-quality innovation, the development status, and the differences of regional innovation high-quality development is of great significance for improving innovation quality and efficiency, and effectively supporting high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green agricultural development opens up a feasible way for China to construct sustainable communities and promote rural revitalization strategies. However, a clear gap on the subject sets apart various regions in China, resulting in off-balance development. This paper, based on the panel data from 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2013 to 2020, established an evaluation index system for China's green agricultural development levels, measured the green agricultural development in different regions, and applied the log(t) model, the Ordered Probit model, and the Ordered Logit model to identify convergence trends and causes of China's green agricultural development level club convergence, respectively. Our research found the following: (1) The green agricultural development levels in various regions in China are on the rise, and regional gaps are still significant. The output of green agricultural products is the focus of various regions in promoting green agricultural development. (2) The green agricultural development levels in China's 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have converged to four clubs. China is gradually forming a convergence pattern of green agricultural development levels, with the main agricultural production areas as the core. (3) The regional gap at the level of environmental regulation for green agricultural development first narrows, then expands, and then narrows. The intensity of environmental regulation in most areas is in the first stage. This indicates that China should continue to maintain the current intensity and promote green agricultural development levels to converge towards high-level clubs. In addition, the GDP, grain production area, fiscal support for agriculture, and rural human capital can narrow the gaps in green agricultural development levels between regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Phillips‐Sul approach to testing the club convergence hypothesis has attracted considerable research interest in recent years due to its advantages over alternative methods. This paper aims to review theoretical papers that extend the Phillips‐Sul approach, empirical studies that apply Phillips‐Sul approach‐based club convergence tests, as well as the software used to execute these methods. The review revealed that, first, the Phillips‐Sul approach has seen modifications regarding the procedure of trend extraction from time series, the log t regression and the algorithm clustering panel units into convergence clubs. Second, the Phillips‐Sul approach has been widely used not only in economics and finance but also in ecological, energy and health studies. Finally, the paper provides guidance for further development of the Phillips‐Sul approach. This review is useful for researchers and practitioners investigating convergence and club convergence processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at identifying convergence clubs in suicide rates for a sample of 20 of FSU countries during the 1994–2016 period. A novel machine learning approach revels that while the null hypothesis of overall convergence has been rejected at the 5% significance level, there are four convergence clubs in the region. Within these clubs, different countries are on different transition paths and speeds of convergence, suggesting different policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global production of scientific and technology knowledge continues to grow. Advanced Western countries such as the USA and the EU countries continue to lead science and technology (S&T) in the world. The emergence of other knowledge-producing countries that occupy prominent positions in knowledge production have been changing the geography of world science and technology. By investigating the production of scientific publications and patents from a sample of traditional S&T powerhouses and the main emerging knowledge-producing countries, this paper attempts to test whether the remarkable development of S&T systems in the latter in the past few decades has led to a convergence with the former countries in S&T capabilities. The empirical analysis of convergence highlights the presence of clubs of convergence instead of absolute convergence. Four groups of countries have been identified as converging regarding their scientific publications per capita, and six convergence clubs have emerged when the production of patents per capita is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates three issues related to interprovincial inequality in household net wealth in Indonesia. First, it assesses whether inequality is dominated by inequality within or between provinces. Second, it identifies the determinants of inequality. Third, it looks at the clubs of regions formed owing to convergence or divergence in household net wealth growth in Indonesia. Using data from five waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey, we found declining inequality in household net wealth in Indonesia, dominated by inequality within provinces. Education is the biggest equalising variable for inequality in household net wealth in Indonesia. Using a club convergence approach, we also found that growth in household net wealth converged within one club and that two clubs converged over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of crisis, the study of employment is of vital importance, especially that generated by cooperatives, which show great resilience. This paper analyzes the evolution of employment created by cooperatives in the different Spanish regions in relation to total employment between 1999 and 2019 with a pioneering approach. We analyze the existence of convergence clubs among the Spanish regions using the methodology developed by Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009). The results show the existence of four clubs that include the regions that converge in relative terms of cooperative employment over the 20 years analyzed. The lack of homogeneity in the behavior of employment in cooperatives in the different Spanish regions is demonstrated, with certain divergences among regions. These divergences make it difficult to establish a model of cooperative employment for the whole of Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the efficiency variations and identifies convergence clubs in the elementary education systems across Indian states and union territories. An innovative non-oriented sequential directional distance function-based metafrontier (NSDDFM) approach is applied to compute reliable efficiency estimates and decompose inefficiency in education delivery. The regional clubs on education development are identified using Phillips and Sul’s (2007, 2009) club convergence approach. Empirical results reveal significant efficiency variations across states and years, and special category states & union territories (SCS&UTs) show higher efficiency in the elementary education delivery process relative to general category states (GCSs) during the sample period. The analysis of the regional gaps reveals that SCs & UTs employ best elementary education practices, and GCSs operate farther from the national best-practice frontier. The convergence test rejects the null hypothesis of parity in the elementary education delivery process and shows evidence of three convergent and one divergent club across states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the convergence of public expenditure and its major components using sub-national data from India. By employing the panel club convergence test, the paper finds convergence in per capita public expenditure across Indian states implying that distribution policies of public expenditure are effective and fair across the states. Subsequently, the convergence of per capita total social sector expenditure and its major components are studied. The results support the evidence of convergence for total social sector expenditures and in the case of its components, we find that six of the nine components display regional convergence. Three components, namely, per capita education, sports, art and culture expenditure; per capita social security and welfare expenditure; and per capita rural development expenditure display the evidence of divergence and the presence of multiple transition paths. From the policy perspective, these three components of social expenditures need greater attention by the state governments as these expenditures are important for social cohesion, sustainable development, and achieving millennium development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While institutions are said to be poor in China in cross-country comparison, recent research indicates that at the provincial level, institutional quality plays in fact an important role for the economic success of a province, municipality, or autonomous region in China. Our paper aims to add further arguments to this discussion by focusing on the concept of club convergence. In particular, we analyze whether institutional quality in low-income provincial level administrative divisions converges to the level experienced by relatively highly developed ones or whether there exist multiple institutional clubs over the period 1997–2007 by using the log t test proposed by Phillips and Sul (Econometrica 75(6):1771–1855, 2007). Our findings indicate that there exist multiple institutional clubs within China, three rather small clubs which follow an above-average high institutional quality path and two clubs which find themselves on a relatively low institutional quality path and which together account for the majority of provinces and autonomous regions. Using the same methodology, we find that various members of the poor institutional clubs are additionally caught in a low-income trap. In a next step, we analyze the causal relationship between poor institutional traps and low-income traps in China by using a recursive bivariate probit model. We find evidence that institutional traps are important determinants of income traps, giving rise to the recently identified phenomenon of a 'double trap'. Finally, our findings indicate that human capital and urbanization are additional important determinants of income traps, while globalization is decisive for avoiding poor institutional traps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergence in human capital is a key precondition to achieve income convergence in the European Union; however, so far research on this topic has nearly been absent. Our paper contributes to the literature by investigating the human capital convergence dynamics within the EU over the period 1990–2016 using a nonlinear dynamic factor model. While we find evidence of absolute convergence with respect to the average years of schooling, we identify four convergence clubs with respect to learning outcomes, and the divergence across those four clubs is increasing over time. A subsequent analysis of the determinants of the learning clubs reveals that institutional and learning spillovers are decisive for whether an EU Member State is on a high or low human capital trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the role of globalization in ecological footprint for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries during the 1981–2015 period with the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework. To do so, unlike the existing literature, we follow a different path. Firstly, we test the environmental convergence (EC) hypothesis using the Phillips and Sul, Econometrica 75(6): 1771-1855, (2007) methodology. Then, we examine the impact of globalization and energy consumption on the ecological footprint (EF), and test the existence of the EKC hypothesis using the dynamic ordinary least squares mean group (DOLSMG) estimator. The convergence test results indicate that OECD countries do not converge to the same steady-state levels with regard to EF levels. However, we identify two convergence clubs that converging to a different steady-state equilibrium. The results of DOLSMG reveal that the EKC hypothesis is valid for both convergence groups. Furthermore, the impact of energy consumption and globalization on EF is higher for club 2, which includes developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the regional disparity of financial inclusion (FI) and its determinants in Turkey from 2004 to 2020. To this end, we first construct an FI index using the principal component analysis. Then, based on the club convergence approach, we test the existence of convergence to show regional disparities in FI. Finally, we examine the main determinants of provincial disparity using ordered logit models. The convergence results strongly reject the full-panel convergence, indicating a regional disparity in FI. Furthermore, our analyses reveal that financial inclusion positively correlates with population, income, and income inequality, while unemployment hinders inclusion. Overall, our results imply that policies focusing on digital financial services, increasing financial literacy, and reducing unemployment should significantly diminish regional disparities and improve FI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how institutional quality and its components (quality, impartiality, and control of corruption) are associated with the economic recovery in the aftermath of the global recession (2010–2016). The evidence suggests that the postcrisis dynamism of a region depends on whether its economy is accompanied by a good governance at the local level. The results also show the heterogeneity in the effects of institutional characteristics and other traditional determinants of growth for the high‐income club (core) and the low‐income club (periphery), respectively. This evidence can provide indications to define ad hoc policies apt to mitigate the recent surge in inequality among EU regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines price convergence among 26 regions of Turkey using general and disaggregated monthly consumer prices between 2005 and 2019. In contrast to previous studies, the results provide evidence for convergence clubs (multiple equilibria) and support the heterogeneity of consumer prices across Turkish regions. This finding is particularly valid for the disaggregated prices where there exist two to four clubs. There is also an increase in the number of convergence clubs in recent years. That is, market integration or the law of one price in Turkey does not appear to be achieved not only for the prices of nontradable goods but also for those of tradable goods either, most likely due to a combination of factors including higher exchange rate volatility, rising inflation and unrelenting regional socio-economic disparities. Our results show that the inflation-targeting regime does not help converge the consumer price levels across the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION In January 2006, the Spanish government enacted a tobacco control law that banned the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco. In January 2011, further legislation on this matter was adopted to provide a more restrictive specification of the ban. In this study, we analyze the effect produced on cigarette sales by these two prohibitions. We address this problem using a cluster time-series analysis to test whether the sales of cigarettes by brands have been homogenized with the prohibition of advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. METHODS The data source used was the official data on legal sales of cigarettes by brands in Spain, from January 2005 to December 2021 (excluding the Canary Islands and the Autonomous Communities of the cities of Ceuta and Melilla). To achieve our objective, we used log(t) test statistics to check if there is global convergence in the three selected periods according to the regulatory changes that have occurred in Spain (2005-2021, 2005-2010 and 2011-2021). Second, once absolute convergence is rejected, we applied a clustering algorithm to test for the existence of subgroup convergence. RESULTS The cigarette brands that have been marketed during the period 2005- 2021 (n=40), can only be grouped into three groups according to the behavior of their sales. When we focus on the period 2005-2010 (n=74), cigarette brands are grouped into five groups according to their sales behavior. Finally, the cigarette brands marketed during the period 2011-2021 (n=67) are grouped into three groups according to the temporal evolution of their sales. These results suggest a greater homogenization of cigarette sales after the application of the law of January 2011. CONCLUSIONS Act 42/2010 (total ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship actions) was associated with greater homogenization of cigarette sales than the application of Act 28/2005 (partial ban). This finding supports what is established in the previous literature that indicates that Act 42/2010 provided a more restrictive specification of the ban than Act 28/2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of the paper is the empirical verification of the hypothesis on the convergence of real GDP per capita of the regions (NUTS-2) in Poland and the catch-up effect of Eastern towards Western Poland. The empirical study is based on a relatively new analytical approach of Phillips and Sul convergence tests which consider significant differences in technological advancement between regions. The results show that the convergence hypothesis was rejected in the group of all regions of Poland and the group of Western Poland regions. Convergence was confirmed in the group of Eastern Poland regions. The strict catch-up effect of the Eastern towards the Western Poland regions was not observed. Nevertheless, thirteen of seventeen regions of Poland were characterised by convergence but within distinct convergence clubs. The identification of convergence clubs, however, was not determined by a sharp East- West Poland dividing line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heterogeneity can greatly influence the green innovative development of industrial enterprises. Based on the stochastic frontier analysis model of heterogeneity, this paper measures the green innovative efficiency of industrial enterprises in China for the time period of 2008 to 2017, and concludes the following results: (a) in the production function estimation, the R&D expenditure of industrial enterprises is the main positive factor in influencing green innovation, while the energy consumption the main negative factor. The effects of R&D talents and environment quality are not obvious at both stages. (b) The overall green innovation efficiency of industrial enterprises is only 0.2981 at R&D stage with an efficiency loss of 0.7019, and the residual efficiency of green innovation is 0.9966 with persistent efficiency as 0.2991. The overall green innovation efficiency of industrial enterprises is only 0.3930 at new product sales stage with an efficiency loss of 0.607, and the residual efficiency of green innovation is 0.8196 with persistent efficiency as 0.4783. (c) In the sample period, there appears to be an apparent decreasing of green innovative efficiency level from R&D stage to new product sales stage. Besides, the distribution of both overall efficiency and persistent efficiency tend to disperse, and there are great differences among years which are expanded at different stages. (d) Certain "club convergence" exists in overall efficiency and persistent efficiency of green innovation. The structural problem at R&D stage is the main factor in influencing the green innovation overall efficiency. The residual factors such as time effect at new product sales stage affect new product transformation. In order to increase green innovation efficiency, considering development level of selves, regions can establish a "club" to set up an efficient and sharable patent transfer platform, and reduce new product transformation loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the "club convergence" of economic growth by taking imperfect credit market into account in the Schumpeterian growth models with technology transfer. It derives nonlinear relationships between financial development and economic growth via the dynamic evolution of technology gap. Using a dynamic panel threshold model, we find a dual-financial-threshold effect in the "club convergence" of economic growth which is highly consistent with theoretical conclusions. When a nation's level of financial development is below the lower threshold value, the nation will not converge to the frontier growth rate, while the steady-state economic growth rate will strictly increase with the increased level. The probability of the convergence will considerably increase when the level lies between the lower and higher threshold values. The positive impact of the level on the steady-state relative output will gradually diminish with an obvious diminishing marginal utility, when the level is above the higher threshold value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a novel investigation of whether budgetary spending on economic development programs converges across US states. States use a wide array of tax and subsidy programs to try to attract firms in a highly competitive environment. If states engage in strategic tax and incentive competition as previous literature suggests, we should expect economic development spending to converge over time. Using a national database of state 'out of pocket' economic development expenditures, we apply the panel convergence method developed by Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) which endogenously identifies the number and members of convergence clubs. We find that states flock together in three spending clubs which reflect socioeconomic characteristics. The existence of multiple clubs with heterogeneous spending patterns reveals the complexity of state-level budgetary efforts put towards economic development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of club convergence has been a major focus in the field of economic growth and development. The paper analyses the club convergence hypothesis going beyond the traditional use of GDP per capita. In this study, we attempt to analyze the convergence club of 102 countries based on augmented index for measuring development. This index consists of seven major indicator of development namely education, health, access to water and sanitation, energy use, environment, standard of living and good governance. These indicators are aggregated through weights obtained from Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Using this index of development we analyzed the club formation and transitional behavior of 102 countries over a period of 1996–2015. The study confirms four final club and shows transition during 2008. Further, to understand the determinant of the club membership we used ordered logit model. The result suggested that initial level of development and globalisation are the major drives in determining the club. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the convergence of labor market institutions in the European Union (EU) to test for the economic integration of EU countries from 1993 to 2018. The convergence is measured by using a flexible approach of the log-t regression for five indicators of labor market institutions: employment protection legislation index (EPL), tax wedge, unemployment benefits, active labor market policies, and minimum wages. The results suggest no convergence in labor market institutions between the EU member states. The differences between the institutions are still substantial, and the labor market institutions are changing too slowly to converge. The empirical analysis also considers the possibility of club convergence, differentiating between the endogenous clubs based on clustering algorithm, and the exogenous clubs based on geographical proximity and similarities of labor market institutions. Convergence is present only in endogenous clubs that are determined by different demographic, competitiveness, and economic factors. Since labor market institutions are the fundamental determinants of employment and unemployment, the differences found in the labor market institutions suggest that employment and unemployment levels in the EU will hardly converge, implying weak labor market integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this study is to unravel possible convergence clubs regarding the occupancy rates of the hotel industry in the US states in the aftermath of the first COVID-19 pandemic wave. For this reason, the underlying paper resorts to the application of the generic convergence algorithm developed in Phillips and Sul (2007) for a sample of 50 US states over the daily period ranging from 01.12.2019 to 26.07.2020. The empirical analysis supports the identification of two primary convergence clubs consisting of an equally distributed number of regions (states). However, the two clubs can be merged into one after the implementation of the Phillips and Sul (2009) methodology, revealing that the first pandemic wave has eliminated any distinct (economic) characteristic between the different US states. JEL codes: L10, L80, R10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of the spatial evolution of global household energy and its determinants is needed to achieve global access to clean cooking energy before 2030. Based on a novel global household energy database, we adopt the log t regression test to identify the global trend and find the potential convergent clubs. Besides, we utilize Random Forest method and Ordered Probit model to investigate the drivers affecting the club convergence. As a result: (1) The global sample exhibits divergence from 2000 to 2020; (2) The 191 countries and regions can be classified into 3 convergent clubs, characterized by significant disparities in both the mean and growth rate of their access to clean energy; (3) Per capita GDP, urbanization level, infrastructure development, and educational attainment are identified as the most important factors influencing the club convergence; (4) Countries with a higher level of socio-economic development generally have a higher proportion of residents using clean fuels, with gas energy playing a pivotal role in driving this transformation. This paper adds more evidence to understand the disparity of global household cooking energy use, we propose that economic and infrastructure development, education attainment, and international cooperation are favorable. • Convergence analysis of country-level clean cooking is conducted. • 191 countries are classified into 3 convergent clubs by access to clean cooking. • Drivers that affect the formation of club convergence are investigated. • Policy suggestions to reduce the gap of SDG 7 are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper examines the convergence of central bank transparency across the globe using the Phillips and Sul panel club convergence technique. • We find 112 countries following four different transition paths in convergence. • We observed that middle-income countries are catching up with high-income ones in central bank transparency. • Countries with inflation and monetary targeting catch up to developed nations in central bank transparency. • Also found countries with high financial depth, trade openness, central bank independence, government effectiveness, and inflation drive convergence to club 1. We study whether there is any evidence of convergence of central bank transparency in 112 countries from 1998 to 2019 using Phillips and Sul panel club convergence technique. The results don't find evidence of a single club convergence of central bank transparency. Instead, our result reveals four clubs converging to their unique transition path. Further, we found that countries with high financial depth, trade openness, central bank independence, effective government, and inflation increase the likelihood of convergence to a higher club 1. Our findings have policy implications for central bankers and developing economies struggling with low transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural production plays an important role in food provision and income generation for the rural population. To mitigate the climate change and ensure food security, the agricultural sector has faced multiple initiatives, including the European Green Deal. Developing effective frameworks for measures under such initiatives requires identifying reasonable benchmarks. Accordingly, it is important to assess the patterns of input use and productivity in the agricultural sector. This paper focuses on the agricultural energy productivity in the European Union (EU) Member States during 2005–2019. Indeed, the EU allocates substantial support to improve resource efficiency and reduce climate pressures in the agriculture. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to apply the club convergence approach for the energy productivity the EU agriculture. This particular approach allows identifying the homogenous groups of the EU countries and, subsequently, assess the dynamics of the agricultural energy productivity within these groups. The results indicate that the agricultural energy productivity still requires attention in the EU countries, as only partial convergence was observed during 2015–2019. The EU countries were grouped into five clusters with different levels of the agricultural energy productivity. The results imply that the differences among resulting clusters remained rather stable over time. Therefore, relevant policies addressing energy efficiency issues can be developed for these relatively homogeneous groups to ensure further cohesion. The results suggest that countries with high energy productivity may show high levels of greenhouse gas intensity (and low levels of, e.g., labour productivity). Therefore, energy conservation and introduction of clean energy is a complex task that can be guided by the proposed framework and adjustment in the Common Agricultural Policy measures. [Display omitted] • An advanced approach of the club convergence is applied for energy productivity. • The case of the European Union agriculture is considered. • The results indicate that the countries have converged yet several clusters persist. • The GHG emission intensity is analysed for each cluster. • The policy implications include mutual learning within and among the clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to research the regional imbalance and heterogeneity of China ’s high-quality economic development, this paper established an economic development quality index and combined with Dagum Gini Coefficient and Stochastic Kernel Estimation based on China ’s New Development Principles. The results show that: (1) The quality of China ’s economic development continues to improve, and the main reason for the regional imbalance lies in the heterogeneity among regions; (2) The high-quality economic development level presents the club convergence effect and its spatial distribution pattern has obvious path dependence characteristics. In addition, there are trickle-down effects and osmotic effects in high-level club regions; (3) From the perspective of each sub-dimension, the regional imbalance and spatial characteristic of high-quality economic development is mainly reflected in the three dimensions of innovation, openness and sharing. In order to reduce regional imbalance, we should focus on innovation, opening and sharing. In the future, regional imbalance may still be the main formation of China’s economic space layout, but the existence of these spatial effects may become an important breakthrough to promote the coordination and balanced development of regional economy. Therefore, the government should combine the trickle-down effect and osmotic effect of high-level regions to focus on regulating the coordinated development of various regions in innovation, openness and sharing, strengthen coordination and cooperation between different geographical regions, expand the regional scope of growth poles, and realize economies of scale and agglomeration of higher magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) is one of four major national development strategies in China, accomplishing the balance between protection and development of YREB has long-term and comprehensive significance to the implementation of China's green development concept. This paper aims to have a more comprehensive understanding of the green development level of 126 cities in YREB from 2008 to 2017 by constructing an innovative evaluation system of "capacity level-coordination level-comprehensive level". And on this basis, further analysis is carried out to check whether there is spatial effect in green development by means of the Markov chain. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Urban green development comprehensive level in YREB is characterized by convergence, and the convergence phenomenon is more prominent in high-level cities; (2) In general, the distribution of high-value cities is decreasing from east to west; (3) The transition of club convergence is significantly influenced by neighbor background. Overall, the YREB is undergoing a transformation to step into the greener development path, still needs to take a series of synergistic guidance strategies to solve the problem of unbalanced regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability and stability of global forest carbon sinks confront challenges arising from deforestation, forest fires, and land use changes. The trajectory of forest carbon sink development, whether convergent or divergent, not only influences the global carbon balance but also holds direct implications for climate policies. Fostering international collaboration in the collective establishment of carbon sinks is essential to alleviate climate change. A critical imperative lies in comprehending the distribution and dynamics of global forest carbon sinks. This paper, within this context, examines the convergence trends of forest carbon sinks among 147 countries. Utilizing a data-driven algorithm, the presence of club convergence is test, followed by an analysis of the influence of economic and social factors on club convergence. While uniform convergence in forest carbon stock across the entire sample is not evident, club convergence is indeed identified among the 147 countries. This study, informed by club convergence outcomes, provides insights into the global development pattern of forest carbon sinks. Additionally, factors such as GDP, land use, temperature fluctuations, and energy consumption are pinpointed as catalysts for the formation of convergence clubs. These findings offer valuable insights into regional variations in forest carbon absorption capacity, contributing to the formulation of more effective climate policies. Achieving environmental, economic, and socially sustainable development demands a nuanced equilibrium between economic growth and forest preservation. • The development pattern of forest carbon sink holds implications for policies. • The Log t- test is employed to assess the absence of uniform convergence. • The club convergence did exist among the 147 countries. • Land should be made better utilization for sustainable forest development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine a productive efficiency index that incorporates two new production factors of sustainability—an environmental variable as an undesirable output and a well-being indicator as a desirable output—for 12 years of data from 2007 to 2018 pertaining to 47 prefectures in Japan. This study proposes a combination of a new data envelopment analysis (DEA) intermediate approach with the DEA super-efficiency model to measure the integrated productive efficiency. The approach incorporates CO2 emissions and a well-being indicator into the conventional productivity index. A three-stage analysis is conducted by sequentially adding new factors, CO2 emissions, and a well-being indicator. We also conduct a club convergence analysis of the productive efficiency and observe how clubs are formed, what their characteristics are, and how the efficiency changes over time. Through these approaches, we examine the practicality of the new efficiency measure and discuss regional policy implications. We found that higher labor productivity and carbon productivity in major industries caused increased productive efficiency. Adding sustainability factors to the conventional production factors in efficiency measurement widened the efficiency gap among prefectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers interested in studying whether convergence dynamics are in place among regions within the same country have adopted both statistical tools and empirical frameworks developed when studying convergence across different economies. We show that this approach is risky, because when an analysis is conducted at the regional level, the absolute and club convergence processes are more likely to co-exist than in the case of world economies. We propose an empirical approach where the two hypotheses are not taken as competing. Our procedure uncovers periods of convergence and periods of divergence for the three samples we studied: Italy observed at both the regional and provincial levels; EU regions; and world economies. We find a process of absolute convergence for Italian regions from 1951 to 1999, and that their convergence process ends in 1971 after a period which we define as clustering convergence. We also find a process of convergence across European regions from 1977 to 1993; that ends in 1985 in favor of a process of clustering and divergence. Finally, our procedure uncovers a process of absolute convergence from 1964 to 1975 and divergence from 1975 to 1999 in the case of world economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation explored the impacts of energy transition and brain drain on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. A panel of seventy-five countries from 2006 to 2020 and the panel quantile regression were used to realize this investigation. The empirical results from the panel quantile regression indicated that the brain drain, trade openness, and economic growth increase CO2 emissions per capita. At the same time, the energy transition, energy efficiency, and urbanization mitigate the environmental degradation in this group of countries. Moreover, the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test indicated the presence of unidirectional causality from brain drain to CO2 emissions. The same test also suggests that the brain drains at all levels except 75th has positive and expressive effects on CO2 emissions—mainly in quantiles 10th and 25th, and the energy transition at all levels decreases CO2 emissions, being this effect more intense as quantiles levels up. This research contributes to the literature twofold. First, the study contributes to the literature by finding that brain drain provokes environmental degradation, which is more pronounced when CO2 emissions per capita are low. Second, this analysis assesses the impact of brain drain and energy transition on CO2 emissions of countries with similar convergence patterns. Indeed, it has the novelty of using criteria to include the countries in the panel. This criterion selects the countries by identifying which are more homogeneous and thus reduces the noise caused by divergent countries in the panel. Therefore, this research also opens the door to exploring energy transition based on countries with similar convergence patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing disparities between European regions constitute a great challenge for sustainable development and require identification of the factors responsible for this process. Given the substantive role of R&D in shaping innovativeness and economic development, understanding its dynamics and spatial patterns can provide new insights into regional growth prospects. Although prior studies have investigated the patterns of innovation convergence, apparently none has attempted to test the convergence club hypothesis in R&D expenditure in the European regional scope. Therefore, the present study aims to fill this gap. The paper aims at examining the convergence path of R&D expenditure across European regions and at identifying the factors conditioning club membership. Data were retrieved from Eurostat's regional database and Regional Innovation Scoreboard datasets over 2008–2018. Employing a nonlinear time-varying factor model, we reveal that R&D expenditure in the examined regions follows the pattern of club convergence. The results of our research allow to identify five convergence clubs characterised by distinct disparities in the R&D expenditures. We also demonstrate that the emergence of the identified convergence clubs might be attributable to the initial differences in human capital, external knowledge embedded in patents and technological structures across regions as measured by employment in medium-high and high-tech manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. These results provide policy implications in terms of the formulation and implementation of more tailored innovation policies, based on smart development and specialisation strategies. The presence of business R&D convergence clubs requires shifting EU policy actions towards a more sustainable model promoting both the advantages of the strongest regions and the development opportunities in less-developed ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]