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Based on the panel data of the province and municipality in 2010-2021, this paper measures the fishery eco-efficiency by using the SBM-DEA model and empirically analyses how China's marine ranch construction improves the fishery eco-efficiency by using the double-difference fixed-effect model. The results show that, firstly, China's marine ranch construction can improve the fishery eco-efficiency. Secondly, China's marine ranch construction promotes fisheries eco-efficiency by improving the input efficiency of labor, fish species, fishing vessel, fishery technology extension, aquaculture area and by reducing pollutant outputs. Thirdly, the fishery eco-efficiency of the marine ranch construction region has increased annually since 2015, and technological changes, scale efficiency changes and technical efficiency changes can all contribute to the fishery eco-efficiency improvement, and increase in order. Based on the results of the empirical analyses, this paper proposes policy recommendations to improve the fishery eco-efficiency in the conjunction with the construction of marine ranch in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how urban road transport (URT) development affects haze pollution. One of the innovations of this paper is that URT development is measured by road accessibility with novel digital elevation model datasets, which have been used by few scholars. The endogenous problem caused by revere causality issue in the relationship between URT development and haze pollution is also considered. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses long-lagged values of URT development as the instrumental variable, employing the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The study shows that URT development leads to an increase of haze pollution. Moreover, mechanism tests based on moderating and mediating models support the finding that decreasing haze pollution resulted from better connection effects, while rising agglomeration effects tend to bring about increasing haze pollution, and the latter effect is larger in magnitude than the former. Current URT development may have long-term negative consequences for livability of YRD cities, and urban decision makers should reconsider the effectiveness of the current road transport investment and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Three Rural Issues", encompass challenges related to agriculture, farmer, and rural area, which hold significant importance in driving comprehensive rural revitalization efforts in China. Farmer entrepreneurship, as a crucial means to enhance productivity, create job opportunities, and increase residents' income, has gradually become a key driving force in promoting rural revitalization in the new stage of development in China. With the rapid development of rural e-commerce, farmer entrepreneurship has encountered new opportunities. This study utilizes the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data and employs a structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the direct impact of rural e-commerce participation on farmer entrepreneurial behavior, considering factors such as human capital, social capital, and network infrastructure. This study further explores the indirect effects and mechanisms of e-commerce participation as a mediating variable and analyzes the impact and mechanisms on agricultural entrepreneurship behavior. The findings are as follows: (1) E-commerce participation significantly promotes farmer entrepreneurial behavior; (2) E-commerce participation as a mediating variable has a positive indirect effect on the relationship between social trust, network infrastructure, human capital, and farmer entrepreneurial behavior; (3) E-commerce participation has a significant positive influence on farmer entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector, and farmers with higher levels of network infrastructure and human capital have a higher probability of choosing agricultural entrepreneurship under the influence of e-commerce participation. Finally, this study provides policy recommendations in terms of infrastructure construction, entrepreneurial policy environment, and education level, aiming to optimize the situation of farmer entrepreneurship and contribute to the comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization.Overall, the research in this paper effectively combines theory and empirical evidence to outline the direct and indirect impact mechanisms of rural e-commerce participation on farmers' entrepreneurial behavior and agriculture-related entrepreneurial behavior and to test the effects of their impacts. First, most of the existing literature deals with farmers in individual sample areas, while the sample selected in this paper is farmers in the whole country, which is relatively more generalizable; second, most of the previous studies explore the level of e-commerce in the inter-provincial or county areas, while this paper expands the empirical study of rural e-commerce on the entrepreneurial behavior of farmers and the micro-period of agricultural entrepreneurial behavior, and focuses on the impacts of the e-commerce activities of farmers on their entrepreneurial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses inter-provincial panel data from 2011 to 2017, a linear regression model, and a threshold model to conduct empirical analyses of the impact of the digital economy on China’s overall economic growth and the three main sectors of industry. The paper then investigates the impact and effects the digital economy has had on the economic growth of the three main sectors of industry in China’s eastern, central, and western regions. Finally, the paper investigates the most significant differences among the various regions and the threshold effects of urbanization levels on the relationship between the digital economy and economic growth. The findings indicate a significantly positive correlation between the digital economy and regional economic growth. Moreover, geographical factors notably influence this correlation. The digital economy exerts a positive effect on all sectors of industry. It may not substantially impact industrial development in regions with highly developed infrastructure. Regarding the other regions, the digital economy exhibits varying degrees of impact due to the differences in the specific indicators. The conclusion drawn by the threshold model is that the magnitude of the threshold effect correlates with geographic factors. No threshold effect was observed in the eastern region, while the threshold effect occurred in the central region when the urbanization levels for the provinces were below 0.6645. Similarly, the threshold effect was noted in the western region when the urbanization level was below 0.3931. Considering all of this, the study also offers policy recommendations that will help balance the regional development of digital economies, accelerate the digital transformation of traditional industries, enhance digital infrastructure construction, refine the formulation and implementation of data policy, and establish relevant incentive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Although rural industrial integration is a crucial pathway for advancing the revitalization of rural economies, it continues to grapple with financial challenges. This paper delves into the theoretical underpinnings of how capital marketization influences rural industrial integration. Methods: Using panel data from China's provinces spanning the years 2010 to 2020, a comprehensive index of rural industrial integration is constructed from the vantage point of a new development paradigm. The paper employs the system GMM method to empirically investigate the impact of capital marketization on rural industrial integration and to dissect its transmission mechanisms. Additionally, a threshold regression model is applied to explore the specific patterns of the nonlinear relationship between the two variables. Results and discussion: The study's findings reveal that the degree of rural industrial integration is significantly and positively influenced by its previous level, demonstrating an accumulative effect wherein the prior level of integration lays the groundwork for future advancements. The influence of capital marketization on the degree of rural industrial integration is characterized by a non-linear relationship, adhering to a "U-shaped" curve. Below the inflection point, the development of capital marketization is detrimental to rural industrial integration, whereas above this point, it exerts a positive influence. Currently, China's overall level of capital marketization is positioned beyond the inflection point, indicating substantial potential for enhancing industry integration in rural China. In addition, the study indicates that at very low levels of economic development, capital marketization does not affect the development of rural industries. As the economic development level rises, so does the impact of capital marketization on rural industrial integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine an emerging product–place co-branding marketing practice in China's rural areas. The role of this practice in inclusive development is analyzed from the perspectives of value proposition innovation, market legitimacy, media coverage and brand value. Both research and practice indicate value proposition innovation to exert an important influence on brand value enhancement, but little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. Design/methodology/approach: A moderated mediation model is constructed to examine whether market legitimacy mediates the relationship between value proposition innovation and brand value. vWhether this mediating process is moderated by media coverage is also examined. The primary data are collected from semi-structured interviews and observations conducted with two common cases to develop proper scales for value proposition innovation and market legitimacy. The research includes 100 product–place co-brandings published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2019. Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression and a Bootstrap model. Findings: Value proposition innovation has a positive effect on brand value, and market legitimacy partially mediates this relationship. Media coverage positively moderates the relationship between value proposition innovation and market legitimacy, and positively moderates the mediating effect of market legitimacy; the higher the media coverage, the stronger the mediating effect of market legitimacy. Research limitations/implications: Based on data availability and accessibility, the study sample focused on indicators from 100 brands in 2019. If the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs discloses consecutive annual information for other years, future studies could explore panel data to further test the study's conclusions from a longitudinal perspective. Originality/value: First, this paper adds to the emerging literature on product–place co-branding business models by examining the relationship between value proposition innovation and brand value. Second, this paper enriches institutional theory by including market legitimacy as a mediator between value proposition innovation and brand value. Third, this paper identifies the moderating role of media coverage, thus broadening the theoretical implications of institutional theory with respect to improving market legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reasonable allocation of grain production factors is of vital importance to food security and agricultural development. To assess the impact of agricultural factor misallocation on food security, this paper, based on the panel data from China spanning from 2005 to 2019, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of agricultural factor misallocation and food security coefficients across 31 provinces in China, using a spatial Durbin model to examine the effects of factor misallocations on food security. The findings are as follows: (1) Production factor misallocation has significant negative impacts on food security, among them, capital misallocation and labor misallocation inhibiting food security in the local and neighboring areas, and land misallocation has a significant negative impact on food security in local areas, while its spatial spillover effect is no longer significant. (2) Mechanism analysis shows that capital misallocation and labor misallocation hinder the development of transportation infrastructure and the transfer of rural labor, thereby reducing food security. Land misallocation has accelerated the construction of transportation infrastructure, promoted the migration of rural labor, and helped ensure food security. (3) The regional heterogeneity test reveals that capital misallocation and labor misallocation hinder food security in major grain-producing areas and both sides of the Hu Huanyong Line (Hu Line). Meanwhile, land misallocation hinders food security development in various grain-producing areas, as well as the southeast of the Hu Line. Based on the above conclusions, this paper proposes suggestions to improve the efficiency of land and labor resource allocation, accelerate the construction of transportation infrastructure, and encourage the transfer speed of surplus agricultural labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2016, China has progressively relaxed family planning policies to stimulate birth rates. This paper examines the behavioral health repercussions of China's 2016 universal two-child policy (UTCP) by analyzing sleep pattern data from China Family Panel Studies. Napping is a composite indicator that denotes health outcomes, job quality, and personal well-being. It reveals work conditions and environments to some extent. UTCP may lead to heightened social expectations regarding pregnancy likelihood, and changes in social expectations within the workplace may make work environments less equitable and more stressful for females. Leveraging a difference-in-difference model, this paper explores how napping behaviors among the working-age cohort have responded to the policy shifts. Our analysis reveals a gender discrepancy in response to the policy, specifically, females exhibit a discernible reduction in the likelihood of napping, as well as in the duration of both daytime naps and daily sleep. Conversely, such effects are not significant among males. These results suggest policy consequences extend beyond individuals directly impacted by childbirth or contemplating parenthood. Hence, while promoting fertility is still the government's goal, policymakers are encouraged to consider the broader challenges the female population faces from social and workplace environment factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-carbon economy represents a global transformation that encompasses production methods, lifestyles, values, national interests, and the destiny of humanity. As a significant contributor to carbon emissions, China has made a momentous strategic decision on carbon peaking and neutralization, infusing momentum into the global effort to address climate change. The rapid growth of the digital economy offers a fresh approach to achieving the "double carbon" objective and advancing the development of low-carbon transformation. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China, this paper uses the least square method to investigate the impact of digital economy development on regional low-carbon inclusive development. It is found that there is a significant inverted U shape in the impact of the digital economy on low-carbon inclusive development and the mechanism is resource allocation and ecological inequality. The threshold test found that the role of the digital economy in promoting low-carbon inclusive development shows a marginal decreasing trend. The inverted U-shaped impact of the digital economy on low-carbon inclusive development in the eastern and coastal areas and areas with a low level of factor productivity is more significant. Based on the knowledge factor spillover perspective, we found that the impact of the digital economy on low-carbon inclusive development has a spatial spillover effect, and this effect is more obvious under the role of R&D personnel mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the rapid development of digital technology and its deep integration with environmental and ecological fields, the digital economy has become an effective way to guide the transition of cities to an eco-friendly model. However, empirical studies on the nonlinear spatial effects between digital economy and ecological welfare performance are still insufficient. Methods: Based on the panel data of 270 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on the ecological welfare performance of cities and its mechanism of action using spatial econometric modeling. Results: The promotion effect of digital economy development on the ecological welfare performance of cities is characterized by the "J" shape of increasing marginal effect, and the spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of neighboring cities is the inverted "U" shape of inhibiting first and then promoting later. The mechanism test shows that the development of digital economy can enhance the ecological welfare performance of cities through the marginal incremental promotion of green technological innovation in local and neighboring cities and has a positive spatial spillover effect. The development of digital economy can have a direct U shape effect on local ecological welfare performance by influencing factor allocation efficiency and energy utilization efficiency. It also has an inverted U-shaped spatial spillover effect. Environmental regulation has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the local eco-welfare performance affected by the digital economy. As the level of rural revitalization increases, it produces a U-shaped moderating effect of inhibiting. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that digital economy development has a more significant facilitating effect and a positive spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of cities in central China. Discussion: This paper will provide a reference for the synergistic optimization of digital economy development and ecological welfare performance among regions. The findings of the study will promote the development of digital economy and accelerate the realization of the goal of "Beautiful China". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the unbalanced panel data of Chinese professional health insurance companies from 2011 to 2021, the paper constructs "PW+PCSE" model to empirically investigate the main factors affecting the commercial health insurance surrender in China from the company level. The results show that asset-liability ratio has a significant positive effect on health insurance surrender rate. The value preservation and appreciation rate of capital and R&D expenditure rate both have significant negative effects on health insurance surrender rate. These studies bring important enlightenment for domestic health insurance companies to avoid surrender risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital economy has become a "new engine" that driving global economic growth. Nevertheless, numerous controversies persist regarding whether and how digital economy can facilitate the development of emerging industries. Thus, this paper investigates how digital economy affects creative industries development in China and whether innovation efficiency mediates this relationship. Drawing upon a panel data set containing 29 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2019, an econometric model is constructed for empirical analysis. We find that digital economy significantly promotes creative industries development, and innovation efficiency plays a partial mediating role between digital economy and creative industries development. According to the influence mechanism, the digital economy of various regions could promote the creative industries development by improving the innovation efficiency. Finally, relevant suggestions were put forward from the expanding application paths, improving regional innovation efficiency, and creating an innovative environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining user data and constructing web user profiles of older adults from the perspective of elderly services is conducive to understanding their behavioral habits, needs, and usage preferences on the web, which provides more targeted elderly care services. In this paper, IGA-SOMK + + , which is a novel clustering method for constructing web user profiles of older adults, is proposed based on the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) survey data, which include 6596 older adults aged greater than 60 years. The selected data aspects include basic information, work situation, health situation, living habits, and web use services. To describe the web user profiles of older adults, a hybrid method based on improved genetic algorithm (IGA) feature selection, self-organizing feature maps (SOM), and K-means + + is proposed. Data on older adults' web use behaviors are first processed, and IGA is used for feature selection based on the adaptive crossover and mutation probabilities. SOM is then used to determine the initial center vectors of K-means + + for further clustering, which is referred to as SOMK + + (SOM-K-means + +). The results of IGA-SOMK + + are compared with those of the state-of-the-art methods, including the K-means, mini batch K-means, Agnes, K-modes, FCM, K-means + + , SOMK + + , and IHPSO-KM. In addition, the significance and robustness of IGA-SOMK + + are analyzed. The experimental results show that the IGA feature selection reduces the influence of the redundant feature factors and improves the performance of the clustering algorithm. SOMK + + overcomes the sensitivity of K-means to initial cluster centers. Moreover, IGA-SOMK + + has the best clustering effect among the compared algorithms in terms of silhouette coefficient (SC), calinski-harabaz (CH) index, and davies-bouldin (DB) metrics. For example, it increases the SC from 0.280 to 0.629. Finally, by analyzing the results, the user group of older adults is segmented to perform the deep mining of CFPS data, which verifies the feasibility of the user profile model. This paper summarizes the basic situation of the current web access of older adults in China in terms of web use services, as well as the importance of the web in their lives and in the information channels. It also provides suggestions for the current problems of older adults in accessing the web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resident consumption is an important link to smooth the domestic circulation and promote the economy to achieve high-quality development. To stimulate the vitality of residents' consumption and achieve the expansion and quality of consumption, we should not only focus on the scale and willingness of residents to consume, but also consider the motivation of consumption. The paper analyzes the impact of intergenerational income mobility on residents' marginal propensity to consume and consumption altruism motive by expanding the Over Lapping Generation Models and combining the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data. The results of the study show: Intergenerational Income Elasticity has a significant positive effect on residents' marginal propensity to consume. When Intergenerational Income Elasticity increases, the "altruistic motive" of residents' consumption will also increase significantly. Compared with rural residents, Intergenerational Income Elasticity has a stronger positive effect on urban residents' marginal propensity to consume and marginal propensity to consume education. With the effect of intergenerational factors, urban residents' consumption shows stronger altruistic motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the arrival of the era of large-scale production, sharing and application of data, digital use has gradually changed people's daily entertainment, consumption, social interaction, learning and other behaviors in its efficient form. This paper mainly discusses whether this fast and convenient behavior leads Chinese older adults to adopt healthier lifestyles. Methods: Using the most recent information from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2020, this paper conducted a descriptive statistical analysis on the basic situation of digital use and lifestyles among Chinese older adults and used a structural equation model to analyse the influence of frequency and types of digital use in a variety of different aspects of the real life of Chinese older adults. Results: Research revealed that the quality of life of Chinese older adults improved significantly as a result of their use of digital technology. The frequency of digital use (FDU) significantly improved Chinese older adults' diet, sleep, exercise, smoking and drinking, and relieved their depression. The types of digital use (TDU) had a significant positive correlation with the lifestyle of Chinese older adults, especially in the influence of digital entertainment (DE), digital consumption (DC) and digital social interaction (DI) on the lifestyle of Chinese older adults. Conclusions: Digital use can improve the health of Chinese older adults by promoting a healthy lifestyle through various means. The findings of this study have a substantial positive impact on bridging the digital divide that Chinese older adults face, as well as fostering the integration of digital use into their healthy lifestyles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, 22 indexes are selected at three levels, including the informatization development level, the Internet development level, and the digital transaction development level, based on China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020, so as to build a digital economy development index system. Moreover, 28 basic indexes are selected from three aspects, including energy construction, energy production and energy consumption, so as to develop an energy economy development evaluation index system. The development index of China's digital economy and energy economy are measured by using the entropy weight method. The effect of the digital economy on the energy economy and its mechanism are tested by the static panel, the dynamic panel, and the mediating effect and regulating effect models. The results indicate that the digital economy has pronouncedly promoted the development of China's energy economy, and the development of the digital economy can have an effect on the rationalization of the industrial structure and then affect the development of the energy economy, and there is an intermediary effect. Moreover, the upgrading of the industrial structure is conducive to regulating the digital economy and facilitates the development of the energy economy. The development of the energy economy can be better promoted by focusing on the coordinated regional layout of the digital economy development, building a reliable energy commodity trading platform, and expediting the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable agricultural development is a fundamental requirement and a crucial goal of modern agriculture. It is also a significant means of enabling farmers to increase their incomes. This paper analyses the evolutionary characteristics, regional differences and spatial convergence of the level of sustainable agricultural development using kernel density estimation, Dagum's Gini coefficient and the spatial convergence model based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021.The results show that: (1) At the level of development, the level of sustainable agricultural development at the national level and in the three major regions has shown an upward trend with fluctuations, with the average level of development in the eastern and central parts of the country higher than the national average, and in the western part of the country lower than the national average; however, the growth rate in the western part of the country is the highest among the three major regions. (2) In terms of evolutionary characteristics, the level of sustainable agricultural development in the country and the three major regions is characterised by spatial agglomeration, with varying degrees of polarisation. (3) In terms of regional differences, the Gini coefficients for the country as a whole, within the three major regions and between regions, generally show a downward trend, with interregional differences remaining the main source of overall differences. (4) In terms of spatial convergence, there is σ-convergence and β-convergence in the level of sustainable agricultural development across the country and the three major regions, and there is a positive spatial spillover effect. The conditional β convergence results show that the eastern region has the fastest rate of convergence. The above findings provide a scientific basis for the formulation of policies related to sustainable agricultural development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of government investment funds serves as a crucial measure for governments at all levels to leverage their certification role and financial resources in attracting social capital to support enterprise development. This paper empirically examines the guiding certification effect and governance supervision effect of government investment funds on enterprise value enhancement, utilising panel data from listed companies and government investment fund investment event data spanning the period from 2011 to 2021. The research findings reveal that government investment funds significantly enhance the value of recipient enterprises. By leveraging their guidance and certification effects and governance supervision effects, these funds alleviate financing constraints, actively participate in corporate governance, and ultimately enhance corporate value. The impact of government investment funds is negatively moderated by the age and size of the enterprise, indicating that the "invest in early-stage and small businesses" investment strategy yields better results in promoting value enhancement. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that government investment funds have a more pronounced impact on the value of non-heavily polluting industries, enterprises located in the eastern and southern regions of China, and non-state-owned enterprises. This article expands the research scope of government investment funds at the micro level, providing empirical evidence and theoretical support for optimising government investment funding policies and fostering the development of a modern capital market with distinctive Chinese characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China eliminated rural poverty under current poverty standards in 2020. However, compared with rural poverty, urban poverty in China has been somewhat neglected. This paper aims to discover the changes and determinants of multidimensional urban poverty in Shandong Province, a representative province in Eastern China. Using a nationally representative panel dataset, the China Family Panel Studies, and the Dual Cutoff method, this study creates a multidimensional poverty index with four dimensions and 11 indicators to measure urban poverty in Shandong Province. This paper discovers that while the incidence of multidimensional urban poverty in Shandong Province decreased from 47.62% in 2010 to 36.45% in 2018, the intensity of multidimensional poverty only decreased from 41.27% to 37.25%, which indicates the inadequacy of urban anti-poverty efforts in Shandong Province. This paper also uses logistic regression to identify the determinants of multidimensional urban poverty. The findings suggest that income, health, drinking water, and durable goods are the main determinants of multidimensional urban poverty in Shandong Province. Based on these findings, this study provides targeted recommendations for future urban anti-poverty policies in Shandong Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between income inequality and consumption, utilizing panel data from rural China over a span of four years to validate the application of relative income theory in the domain of food consumption. Food consumption represents a significant portion of expenditures for the low-income demographic and is of vital importance to China's food security and agricultural development. To ascertain the impact of income inequality on food consumption, this paper employs a bi-directional fixed-effects model, a mediation effect model, and machine learning causal analysis methods. Utilizing four years of rural resident survey data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey database, the study empirically tests the effect of income inequality on various types of food consumption, the channels through which it operates, and the heterogeneity among different income groups and educational backgrounds. The findings indicate that (1) income inequality within rural communities positively influences food consumption, and this conclusion remains robust under endogeneity treatment and robustness checks, positively affecting the transformation of food consumption and healthy intake; (2) income inequality among rural residents promotes food consumption through two mediating channels: the "demonstration effect" and the "ratchet effect;" (3) the impact of income inequality on food consumption exhibits heterogeneity among rural residents of different income levels and educational backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of the advanced manufacturing industry and the modern service industry is an important direction for the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry. However, the existing research focuses more on the level, motivation, and economic effects of the integration of manufacturing and producer services, and less on its environmental effects. In this paper, based on the panel data from 30 provincial regions in China from 2005 to 2019, an evaluation system for the integration of manufacturing and producer services (IMP) is constructed, and the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) is calculated through the super-efficiency SBM model. Based on the analysis of the influence mechanism of IMP on CEE, the mediation effect model and the spatial Durbin model are used to test the influence of the IMP on CEE. The results show that the IMP can significantly improve CEE, and indirectly promote CEE through four intermediary factors: value addition, cost reduction, industrial agglomeration and structure upgrading. Finally, we found the level of economic development, property rights structure and regional innovation can promote CEE to varying degrees. The intensity of environmental regulation, opening level and the energy consumption structure inhibit the efficiency of carbon emissions. The total impact of the IMP on CEE is greater in the western region than in the eastern and central regions, and the western region shows a more significant spatial spillover effect. The IMP has a greater effect on improving CEE, and shows a strong spatial spillover effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Aging poses a significant challenge worldwide, with China's aging status becoming particularly severe. What is the impact of Internet use on the health of the elderly? Existing studies have drawn conflicting conclusions that Internet use improves or harms health. The purpose of this study was to explore how Internet use affects the health of older adults, and the mechanisms and heterogeneity of these effects. Research design and methods: Based on Grossman's theory, this paper constructs a health production function model. Using the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2020, we investigated the impact of Internet use on the health of older adults using fixed effect model and instrumental variable method. We also examined the mediating role of health information acquisition, lifestyle, and social interaction in these associations. Results: Internet use is positively associated with self-rated health and negatively associated with psychological sub-health level. Internet use promotes the health of older adults by facilitating access to health information, healthy lifestyles, and enhancing social interaction. And the impacts are heterogeneous at the individual and regional levels. Discussion and implications: We should progressively enhance the level of internet accessibility for older adults, while concurrently addressing and narrowing the 'digital divide'. By generating an abundance of superior health-related information, we can significantly improve health education tailored for the elderly. Additionally, it is crucial to offer extensive training opportunities designed to equip older adults with the necessary skills to proficiently navigate the internet. [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]

An extended STIRPAT model was constructed to explore the impact of green consumption behaviors on carbon emission. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2019, this paper analyzed the effect of green consumption behaviors, regional population size, economic development level and technological level on carbon emission, and then forecasted the carbon emission in eastern, central and western China from 2020 to 2035. The results demonstrate that carbon emission increases with the expansion of population size; green consumption behaviors have a significant moderating effect on carbon emission and alleviate the pressure of population growth on carbon emission; instead of following the environmental Kuznets curve, the trend of carbon emission shows an inverted "N" curve with economic growth; There is a positive correlation between technological progress and carbon emission; the increase in the level of consumers' expenditure and the ratio of the secondary industry output value over the total GDP lead to an increase in carbon emission, while the improvement of the urbanization level reduces carbon emission. Policy implications and prospects are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elucidating the impacts of service industry's agglomeration on the optimization of industrial structures holds paramount significance in advancing urban economic growth and fostering the coordinated and sustainable development of city economies. This study leverages panel data encompassing 251 prefecture-level cities spanning from 2003 to 2019, employing a spatial Dubin model to scrutinize the influence of distinct types of service industry agglomeration on industrial structure optimization. The results show that specialized agglomeration within the service sector significantly inhibits the rationalization of industrial structures and their underlying fundamentals. Conversely, heightened levels of agglomeration in diversified service industries facilitate the rationalization of industrial structure, predominantly driven by regional spatial spillover effects. Further analysis reveals heterogeneity in service industry agglomeration across cities of varying sizes concerning industrial structure optimization, notably accentuating underutilized spatial spillover effects in smaller cities. In light of these insights, this paper advocates for cities to capitalize on the agglomeration and spillover effects between the service industry and other sectors, strategically selecting optimal service industry agglomeration modes to propel industrial structure optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fintech is driving the revolution of finance and profoundly affecting the development of the financial sector. However, few studies examined how commercial banks' fintech innovation affects total factor productivity (TFP). To build up the fintech index of commercial banks, we use web crawler technology to accumulate news related to the fintech innovation of commercial banks in Baidu news. We use the panel data of 72 banks in China from 2010 to 2020 to explore the impacts and mechanisms of fintech on commercial banks' TFP. The results show that fintech innovation effectively improves TFP after a series of robustness tests. Further, we find that fintech innovation can improve commercial banks' TFP by promoting innovations of financial products, increasing risk control capability, reducing cost, and improving profit. Also, the utility of fintech is more significant in banks with more assets, facilities, and human capital, which means that fintech innovation creates a "bigger is better" mindset. Meanwhile, the result of quantile regression shows that the higher the fintech innovation, the more significant the increase in TFP, which further reveals that there is 'too big to fail' among commercial banks under digitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an important part of China's new "double-cycle" development pattern. Among the many factors affecting FDI, will the aging population have an impact on manufacturing, the key industry for FDI? This paper examines the direct and indirect effects of an aging population on FDI using panel data from 27 manufacturing sub-industries in China between 2005 and 2020. It is found that (1) the deepening of the population's aging negatively affects FDI inflows and this result continues to hold after a series of robustness tests. (2) Using labor quantity and labor cost as mediating variables, it is found that the population's aging indirectly affects FDI by reducing labor quantity and increasing labor cost. (3) The heterogeneity analysis study finds that the deepening of the population's aging significantly inhibits FDI in labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries among manufacturing sub-industries, and the inhibitory effect on FDI in technology-intensive industries is not significant. This study provides meso-evidence to support the findings of existing studies and provides suggestions and insights for the government to formulate relevant policies to actively cope with aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy provides a new path to promote industrial structure upgrading. Using panel data from 2011 to 2020 for 85 resource-based cities in China, this paper empirically investigates the impact of the digital economy on industrial structure upgrading and the primary mechanism. The results show that the digital economy is conducive to promoting industrial structure upgrading in resource-based cities, and innovation is the primary mechanism of action. According to the different stages of resource development, we classify resource-based cities into growth, maturity, decline, and regeneration cities, and we further analyze the heterogeneous influence. In terms of influence degree, the digital economy has a more prominent role in promoting industrial structure upgrading in resource-exhausted cities. In addition, we also found that the closer to the provincial capital city, the more pronounced the promotion of the digital economy to the industrial structure upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constraints and incentives of the ecological policy have an important impact on the coordinated development of ecological areas. Based on the panel data of 1613 counties in 23 provinces in China from 2002 to 2019, this paper analyzes the impact of this policy on economic development using the quasi-natural experiment of the transfer payment in national key ecological functional areas (TPNKEFA) and studies the impact of the transfer payment scale on economic development based on the panel threshold model. First, the results reveal that the TPNKEFA can significantly boost economic development, compared with the control group, TPNKEFA can increase gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP by 6.14% and 10.72%, the results have been validated by some placebo tests, and the impact of this policy on economic development is sustained and effective. Second, heterogeneity results show that TPNKEFA has the greatest positive effect on the economic development in the eastern region, followed by the central region, and the least positive effect on the western region. Furthermore, the TPNKEFA facilitates local economic development primarily by increasing human capital in ecological functional areas. Third, the capital scale of TPNKEFA has the double-threshold effect on economic development, the larger the scale is, the stronger the effect is. The capital size of TPNKEFA has the greatest impact on regional economic growth in eastern region, whereas it has the weakest impact in western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 625 industrial listed enterprises of China from 2012 to 2020, this paper employs the method of propensity score matching–difference in difference to investigate the effect of financial–industrial integration on the enterprise's green development performance and the moderating role of green technology innovation on the relationship between the two is also addressed. It finds that first, financial–industrial integration has a significant promoting effect on the improvement in green development performance of enterprises, and green technology innovation has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the two. In addition, the effect of financial–industrial integration on enterprise's economic and social performance is not significant, and it mainly promotes enterprise's green development by stimulating environmental performance. Moreover, the degree of financial–industrial integration has a moderate range in which the role of financial–industrial integration can be better played. Further, compared with state-owned enterprise and large-scale enterprise, financial–industrial integration is more conducive to the green development of non-state-owned enterprises and small-scale enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is an effective means to achieve high-quality economic development. The impact and mechanism of digital financial inclusion on regional green technology innovation are tested using a threshold regression model and the panel fixed effect model, based on China's provincial Panel data (provincial Panel data are regional annual report data) from 2011 to 2020. According to the study, there is a direct link between local green technology innovation and digital financial inclusion. This paper highlights the differences in their influence by location and usage depth and underscores the necessity of government engagement to improve these characteristics. Information infrastructure needs to be strengthened, especially in areas with gaps. Greater investment in research and development (R&D) indirectly supports regional green technology innovation since it is impacted by digital financial inclusion. Interestingly, a threshold effect becomes most noticeable when digital financial inclusion rises above a particular threshold. Promoting utilizing digital financial inclusion to lessen regional differences in green technology innovation is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulations play important roles in enterprises' sustainable entrepreneurship, and their relationships are affected by enterprises' dynamic capabilities. This paper analyzed the panel data of China's new energy industry from 2011 to 2021, aiming to explore the impact of environmental regulations on sustainable entrepreneurship and the mechanism of dynamic capacities between them. The results include: There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between incentive environmental regulation and enterprises' sustainable entrepreneurial performances, and there is a positive relationship between command environmental regulations and enterprises' sustainable entrepreneurial performances; Both absorptive capacity and innovative capability of dynamic capacities negatively moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship between incentive environmental regulations and sustainable entrepreneurial performances, and negatively moderate the positive relationship between command environmental regulations and sustainable entrepreneurial performances. The results highlight the importance of dynamic capabilities for new energy enterprises, and provide a certain enlightening effect on the formulation of environmental regulation policies, as well as the application of enterprises' dynamic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: China is a significant energy consumer with increasingly severe resource constraints and environmental problems, requiring low-carbon energy transformation and encouraging high-quality energy development (HED). Green finance significantly affects the effect on HED as a cutting-edge financial strategy to support environmental improvement and encourage green development. Design/methodology/approach: Using panel data from 30 provinces from 2007 to 2019 and the system-generalized method of moments method, this paper investigates the impact of green finance on HED, and further explores their threshold effect, heterogeneous and asymmetry analysis. Findings: The main results indicate that: (1) green finance positively affects HED in China; in other words, a 1% increase in the green finance index will boost HED by an average of 0.767%; (2) as the economy improves, the positive impact of green finance on HED will be even more significant and (3) the contribution of green finance to HED is more significant in the northern provinces and areas with lower HED levels. Originality/value: This paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions to further improve the construction of the green financial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land consolidation has become an organized and widely implemented project in rural areas. However, research remains somewhat scarce on the contributing mechanism of land consolidation to farmer income in developing countries. Using provincial panel data from China, this study employs a fixed effects model to analyze the influence of high-standard farmland construction on farmer income and underlying mechanisms. Results suggest that the implementation of high-standard farmland construction can significantly augment farmer income. Reduction in agricultural production cost, improvement in agricultural management benefit and increase in non-farm income have led to the boost in income. The relationship between income and high-standard farmland construction exhibits regional disparities, with the most significant impacts concentrated in economically developed areas and low relief degree areas. Our findings suggest that it is imperative for the Chinese government to persistently promote the establishment of high-standard farmland, and further enhance its positive influence on advancing agricultural cost-effectiveness and expanding non-farm income channels for farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunding is a new type of financing favored by entrepreneurs in need of capital. Financing performance is a key concern for crowdfunding project initiators. Although a growing number of studies have investigated the factors that affect the financing performance of crowdfunding projects, there are still some issues that need to be further clarified. How does the investment behavior of backers, as the supply side of finance, affect the financing performance of project in reward-based crowdfunding? What are the moderating mechanisms of this influence by initiator characteristics and project attributes? Based on a panel data set from Zhongchou, a famous agri-food crowdfunding platform in China, this paper finds that the investment speed, the investment intensity, the number of early backers, the backers' comments, and the number of selfless backers all have significant effects on financing performance. The core trust factors of initiator characteristics and project attributes play a moderating role in the relationship between backer investment behavior and financing performance, but there are differences in the moderating mechanisms. Based on the research conclusions, practical enlightenment is proposed for initiators, crowdfunding platforms, and regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global warming intensifies, reducing carbon emissions has become a global common mission. Tourism transportation is one of the important sources of carbon emissions, and reducing its carbon emissions is a key part of achieving China's carbon reduction goals. Based on the panel data of various provinces and cities in North China from 2000 to 2022, this paper calculates the carbon emissions of tourism transportation by using the carbon emission coefficients of different transportation modes in different segments. Moreover, the temporal and spatial evolution of the tourism economy is systematically analyzed. The Tapio decoupling model and LMDI addition decomposition model are used to analyze the relationship between carbon emissions and tourism economic growth and the effects of 11 influencing factors on carbon emissions. The results show that: (1) The carbon emission of tourism transportation in North China has experienced four stages: a steady growth period, a transitional adaptation period, a stable equilibrium period, and a drastic decline period. The overall carbon emission level of tourism transportation is as follows: Hebei Province > Shanxi Province > Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region > Beijing City > Tianjin City. (2) The decoupling coefficient between tourism traffic carbon emissions and economic development fluctuates but mainly shows a weak decoupling state. (3) In terms of influencing factors, passenger size and passenger density have the greatest impact on the carbon emissions of tourism transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely harming the society and economy, the problem of haze pollution needs to be solved urgently. Local governments play an important role in the effective management of haze pollution. This paper first uses an evolutionary game model to analyze the mechanisms by which local governments choose different strategies to combat haze, and then extends the study to the micro level at the city level. Using panel data from 209 prefecture-level cities in mainland China from 2007 to 2016, a two-region spatial Durbin model is constructed to study the competitive patterns of local government haze pollution management. The results show that different from the "competition to the bottom" of provincial governments, there is a significant "imitation" behavior in the governance of haze pollution by local governments at the city level in China. In addition, a local government's efforts to reduce haze pollution are easily influenced by neighboring administrative regions, especially those with low levels of control. The research results passed the robustness test. Finally, relevant policy implications are provided to help improve the regional cooperative management system of haze pollution in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As major carriers of modern economy and population, cities and towns are vortex centers of pollution migration, and the environmental effects brought about by China's unprecedented urbanization can be imagined, although the specific scale is still a mystery. This paper focuses on the nonlinear response mechanism of urban PM2.5 concentration to the urbanization population scale, considering that China's urbanization development path is dominated by large- and medium-sized cities. The panel data of PM2.5 concentration of Chinese cities observed by satellite during 1998–2016 are used to capture the nonlinear characteristics of panel threshold model (PTM). The estimation results of the double-threshold PTM including the quadratic term of urbanization population show that the U-shaped relationship between urbanization population and PM2.5 concentration is nonlinear adjusted by urban GDP per capita with the two thresholds of 6777 Yuan and 10,296 Yuan at 2010 constant price. When the urban GDP per capita exceeds 10,296 Yuan, the urbanized population at the turning point of the U-shaped curve is 12.967 million people, which only appears in a few super-large cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. The size matching of urban economy and population is an important follow-up of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging has become a social issue of concern to the whole world, and as the world's most populous country, how to cope with population aging will be a hot issue that all sectors of Chinese society must think about. This paper uses provincial panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2021 to study the relationship between population aging and economic development based on the perspective of health expenditure. The DIFF-GMM model, the fixed effect model (FE), and fixed effect instrumental variable model (FE-IV) are used to test this study. The following two conclusions are drawn from the empirical study: (1) population aging has a significant inhibitory effect on economic development, while health expenditures have a significant promotional effect on economic development; and (2) increased health expenditures help to alleviate the negative impact of population aging on economic development. However, the deepening of population aging will likewise inhibit the positive effect of health expenditure on economic growth. Based on the conclusions of the study, it is recommended that the government and society should continue to increase spending in the field of health protection, encourage and guide residents to carry out self-care, and moderately increase personal health expenditure, to promote economic development with healthy bodies and realize the goal of "Healthy China". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural carbon emission reduction is inseparable from discussions about government systems, especially in countries with distinctive institutional arrangements such as China. Environmental regulation may influence the impact of environmental decentralisation on agricultural carbon intensity. Using panel data from 30 provinces in mainland China from 2000 to 2015, this paper depicts the spatiotemporal pattern and dynamic evolution of environmental decentralisation, environmental regulation, and agricultural carbon intensity. It uses the spatial Durbin model to empirically study the internal connections between the three. The empirical results show that the enhancement of environmental decentralisation, environmental administrative decentralisation, environmental supervision decentralisation, and environmental monitoring decentralisation is not conducive to reducing agricultural carbon intensity. The results also show that the enhancement of the intensity of environmental regulation of "terminal governance type" and "front-end governance type" is conducive to reducing agricultural carbon intensity, but this effect has a negative "space spillover" phenomenon. Other findings are as follows: (1) the enhancement of the two types of environmental regulation intensity is conducive to changing the impact of environmental decentralisation on agricultural carbon intensity from a "grabbing-hand" to a "helping-hand"; (2) compared with balanced grain-producing and marketing areas and major grain-marketing areas, environmental decentralisation and two types of environmental regulations have a greater negative impact on the agricultural carbon intensity of major grain-producing areas. Therefore, the central government should change how it evaluates political performance; accelerate the construction of a diversified performance evaluation system; increase the weight of low-carbon, green, and other indicators that reflect the friendly development of agriculture in the system; and encourage local governments to adjust the direction of agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the panel data of 31 provinces in China between 2000 and 2018, this study theoretically and empirically analyses the impact of environmental regulations on the adjustment of the agriculture industrial structure from the perspectives of rationalisation and optimisation. Overall, variability in the impact of environmental regulation on the adjustment of the agricultural industrial structure is identified: a negative influence on the rationalisation of agricultural industrial structure and a positive influence on the optimisation of agricultural industrial structure. The impact of environmental regulations on the adjustment of agricultural industrial structure also reflects "large country characteristics": environmental regulations are more significant at the medium and low industrial structure levels. Environmental regulation significantly impacts the rationalisation of agricultural industrial structure in central and western regions and its optimisation in eastern and central regions. Through the panel threshold model test, this paper further finds that the effect of environmental regulations on the adjustment of agricultural industrial structure is not invariant. However, there is a non-linear relationship with significant threshold characteristics. Based on the above results, some countermeasures are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long time, the decline in agricultural comparative returns and the urban–rural development gap in China have prompted the outflow of rural labor. Land transfer policies, which allow farmers to retain their land contracting rights while transferring their management rights, were instituted to mitigate the impact of labor outflow on land use and agricultural production. In recent years, tourism has contributed to the diversification of the rural economy and has had an essential impact on the urban–rural allocation of elements such as labor. In this paper, we adopt a probit model to investigate the impact of tourism development on rural land transfer-out by using data from the China Family Panel Studies. The results show that the marginal effect of tourism development is significantly negative, indicating that the probability of rural land transfer-out was significantly reduced with tourism development. The results are still valid after a series of robustness tests. A mechanism analysis indicates that tourism development inhibits land transfer by enhancing local vitality, such as increasing the local employment of rural labor and promoting participation in agricultural production. Moreover, from the perspective of rural welfare and asset prices, further research finds that tourism development contributes to poverty alleviation and increases land value. These results suggest that tourism development inhibits land transfer while promoting rural sustainable development, helping to understand the impact of tourism on rural land use and household asset allocation from a more comprehensive perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental regulation would often limit production, causing conflicts between environmental protection and industrial development. The fundamental reason is the weak compatibility between environmental regulation goals and pig production goals. In order to improve the compatibility, this paper analysed how the herd structure adjusts the impact of environmental regulation on pig production based on the rational theory on small farmer. With the use of inter-provincial panel data from 2008 to 2020 in China, a dual moderation effect model is constructed for the empirical analysis. The results show that: (1) Strengthening environmental regulation would inhibit pig production. (2) Herb structure not only affects pig production directly, but also the nonlinear impact of environmental regulation on pig production, which would be used as a specific guideline to improve the compatibility. (3) Moderate adjustment on herb structure would help to weaken the inhibitory effect of environmental regulation on pig production and realize the sustainable development of the pig industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2012 to 2019, this paper constructs the evaluation index system of basic medical and health services in China from seven dimensions: medical and health facilities, health expenditure, medical services, traditional Chinese medicine hospital services, maternal and child health care, people's health and medical security, disease control and public health. The entropy method was used to measure the level of basic medical and health services in China, and its spatial differences and convergence characteristics were further investigated. In this study, we employ the entropy weight method, σ convergence, and β convergence as our primary methodologies. The entropy weight method is used to evaluate the variability of each indicator, determine the weights of indicators, and quantify the information content of the data. σ convergence illustrates the process by which the variance of a sample decreases over time. β convergence refers to the gradual approach of variables within an economic system towards their long-term equilibrium level over time. The results show that: (1) The scores of basic medical and health services in China's four major regions (including Northeast, East, Central and West) remain in a relatively stable state, with small fluctuations and great room for improvement; (2) There are significant regional differences in the level of basic medical and health services in China, and the intra-regional differences are much greater than the inter-regional differences; (3) There is no significant σ convergence observed in China and its four major regions; however, there is a notable presence of β convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of government environmental concerns on green innovation and whether this has a "leverage effect" or a "crowding‐out effect." This study employs a two‐way fixed‐effects model to conduct an empirical test using panel data from 2010 to 2020 on Chinese firms listed in heavy‐polluting industries. The results suggest that an increase in government environmental concerns can promote corporate green innovation. However, government environmental concerns primarily stimulate strategic innovation rather than substantive innovation. After a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, the conclusions of this paper still hold. Corporate green innovation induced by government environmental concerns is not the "leverage effect" superimposed on existing innovation activities but the "crowding‐out effect" of other technological innovation. The heterogeneity tests in this paper indicate that the impact is more pronounced for firms with poorer environmental conditions, stronger political connections, and richer executive backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used the micro panel data from 2016 to 2019 of 2031 registered poor households in B Town, W County, Lu'an City of Anhui Province in China to analyze the diversified patterns and poverty alleviation effect of paired assistance based on the PSM-DID model. The empirical results show that paired assistance provided by social forces can significantly contribute to the poverty alleviation of poor households, promoting the poverty alleviation rate by 7.8%, which can be concluded through sample matching and control of relevant variables. Furthermore, based on the subsample of poor households with social assistance, we found that external social assistance subject to paired assistance can significantly improve the poverty alleviation rate of poor households by 14.26%, mainly hung on their economic base and strength of poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data from 2010 to 2020 of 151 A-share listed food-related enterprises in China, this research uses a fixed-effect model to analyse the impact of digital transformation on total factor productivity (TFP) in food--related enterprises. Our findings indicated that digital transformation has a positive and significant catalytic effect on TFP improvement in food-related enterprises. The mechanism test revealed that both cost-saving and innovation capacity enhancement effects of digital transformation contributed to the promotion of TFP improvement in these enterprises. Moreover, our heterogeneity analysis suggested that digital transformation is more effective in enhancing TFP in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the food-related industry, indicating that SOEs play a representative role in promoting advanced productivity in agricultural development. We also found that capital-intensive and technology- intensitve food-related enterprises were experiencing productivity paradox traps. Our results confirmed that digital transformation brings catch-up effects to labor-intensive food-related enterprises and those located in major grain production regions. Overall, this research can provide valuable insights for policymakers to upgrade the digital- -enabled food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst global sustainability challenges, green finance emerges as a crucial instrument for advancing sustainable development, garnering increasing attention for its pivotal role in fostering high-quality economic development (HQED), particularly within the dynamic economic landscape of China. This study delves into the nexus between green finance and HQED across 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2021. Employing the entropy method, indices for green finance and HQED index system are calculated, and their interaction is analyzed through a panel data model, incorporating tests for moderating effects of FinTech and green technological innovation, as well as assessing the heterogeneity across diverse regions. The findings highlight green finance's significant role in enhancing HQED, with notable regional disparities. Specifically, the eastern region shows the strongest impact, followed by the central region, while the western and northeastern regions exhibit weaker influences. The study also identifies FinTech and green technological innovation as pivotal moderators, amplifying green finance's positive effect on HQED. These insights underscore green finance's importance in driving sustainable economic growth and highlight the necessity for region-specific strategies to optimize its impact. Policy recommendations based on these findings include prioritizing the development of green finance, formulating region-specific strategies, and leveraging the catalytic roles of FinTech and green technological innovation to enhance the efficacy of green finance in achieving HQED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In November 2015, China launched a pilot program for its Drug Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) system, aiming to integrate production and research and development resources to spur drug innovation. While many scholars have examined the theoretical relationship between the MAH system and pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation, empirical studies have been scarce. Methods: This study uses inter-provincial panel data on China's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry from 2009 to 2019, along with synthetic control methods, to offer a robust analysis of the impact of the MAH paradigm on innovation quality in pilot provinces. We treat the 2015 MAH system implementation in ten provinces as a natural experiment and account for the mediating effects of R&D investments, allowing us to discern the underlying mechanisms. Results: Our findings demonstrate a significant positive effect of China's MAH system on innovation quality in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Specifically, the system is most effective in Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces. We also identify R&D investments as playing a mediating role in facilitating the favorable impact of the MAH system on innovation quality. Conclusion: Our study highlights the crucial importance of the MAH system in promoting innovation quality in China's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, providing vital empirical support for its adoption and further enhancement. This research also offers practical insights for policymakers and R&D decision-makers in the pharmaceutical sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green insurance (GI), as an innovative product integrating environmental protection and the financial sector, not only contributes to improving regional environmental quality (EQ) but also enhances corporate environmental risk management and awareness, driving the flourishing development of green finance and the environmental protection industry. Therefore, understanding the relationship between GI and EQ is crucial. This article delves into the mechanisms through which GI influences EQ, proposing a hypothesis that suggests an inverted "U" shape impact. Subsequently, based on panel data from 30 provinces in China spanning from 2000 to 2021, nonlinear regression models and threshold regression models were constructed to test the hypothesis. The research findings indicate: (1) Results from the fixed-effects regression model demonstrate that the impact of GI on China's EQ follows an inverted "U" shape. (2) Results from the threshold regression model also reveal an inverted "U" shape impact of GI on China's EQ, with a threshold value of 2.196. (3) Economic level and industrial structure exhibit significant inhibitory effects on EQ improvement. Technological level and environmental regulations demonstrate notable promotional effects. Population size shows no significant impact on EQ improvement. The study identifies a nonlinear effect of GI on EQ improvement, surpassing existing linear effect research, deepening the understanding of its impact on EQ, and contributing to the enhancement of regional EQ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]